Marvel Baddies in the house

So, 

Last year I picked up Atomic Mass Marvel Crisis Protocol (MCP) game, my buddy Mike also did as well, but too many other games came out at the the same time and the game got shelved. I did manage to assemble my models, but that was about it.

MCP Game

Well, just recently my other buddy, Robert, just finished watching all the Marvel movies in a row and expressed interest in trying the game out. I also had an extra copy of the core rules that I traded to him for a few more bad guys. Anyway we talked about getting this on the table, so since I had nothing to paint, I decided to bust out two bad guys to try my hand finely painting up some of these models.

So I decided to ease into the painting and started with a favorite of mine, the Red Skull. Now its a simple paint scheme and I have painted up two other models of the Red Skull before, so I felt pretty good tackling him again.

Red Skull in all his Glory

After I completed Red Skull, I moved onto Doc Oct as my second bad guy. For such a simple paint job it was challenging to make look correct, but I am happy with the results.

Doctor Octopus 

So there you go, two MCP models painted up for the game, also I crossed a bridge, even if I never play this game, I will continue to paint up the models as the 10 year old inside of me always wanted to have Marvel Super hero models and now 42 years later I have a company making them. Now I can't wait for the Xmen to come out!

TK

Riders of the Riddermark

Well,

So I have been having an interesting chat on the FB group I belong to about a game that we all love playing Lord of the Rings Strategy battle Game. A good friend posted up a nice picture from another modeler and he mentioned he missed the game. This got me thinking about the game and wanting to paint up some more models for the game.

Riders assembled

So I decided to bust out the models and I also busted out my old legions of Middle Earth book and built a quick list for 347 points. Its lead by a generic Captain as I need to wait to find a Emoer model to lead them, right now its a Royal Guard model standing in.

Generic Rohan Captain leads the Riders

So my plan is to paint up the whole force by the end of August, which at first I thought no problem, then I remembered that Rohan players need dismounts if their horses get taken down, so I dug out enough Riders on foot to match the number of mounted models. I think that puts me around 36 models then.

So August will be busy as I paint these, some Marvel Crisis Protocol and some cars for Gaslands, will be interesting to say the least. 

TK 

They Live...

So,

A buddy of Mine, Mike from Ddgreenskins blog after each Grumble Bowl (local Blood Bowl event) builds a new team and he suggested why not do that myself. I had a couple of choices and a few 2nd teams, but I figured I would give it a go with a team I did not have, Undead.

Whats better then one box, but two of course!

I had one box of Undead for some time, but with the boxes I found that you really need two boxes to be able to cover most options for the team. For example, you can have up to four Ghouls while the box set only has two in it. So two weekends ago I went down to my local shop and picked up another box.

Some nice models in the box

So with the second box acquired, I set out to build the models. Now anyone that knows me understands that I can not have duplicate models in a project, I have to convert the duplicates to give them each there own look. Now I have to say, that these models are a pain in the butt to assemble, the skeletons reminded me of the early days of GW with the torso and legs being glued together on the back bone, well these did as well. Very finicky and a pain to get together, I would not recommend this to a beginner as the first plastic team to assemble. This took me a few hours just to get all the models assembled. I did start altering one of the Ghouls so I would not have a duplicate pose.

Team picture minus paint

 So the second box was for the zombies, skeletons and two other ghouls. So i started with the easy ones, the Ghouls/ Having a large AOS Flesh Eaters army so that means I have a huge amount of extra bits. So I did some arm swaps and head swaps to get three unique looking models.

Some conversion work

 I then tackled the skeletons which many look the same, not alot O could do about it, but their arms are in different poses. The Zombies were a bit more fun, as I cut and reassembled limbs to give each one a different look. In the below picture you can see two of my custom tokens that I use for the game. The Undead comes with a Hand reaching up to be used for rerolls, TDs and turns. You also get a coin for flipping. So I took the had and placed the coin in it, this will be my TD token. Then the other hand I added a single dice to be my re roll counter. The hand all by itself will be the turn token, little things like this make the team.

Tokens and models

 So there you have it, this past weekends work, now onto painting and planning a team display board.

TK

Well,

This Rona thing doesn't want to end and I am experiencing some sort of gaming depression from not being able to game. I have projects, but I am in the mood of why? Why should I finish these? Whats the point? That sort of thing. So to combat that I decided I wanted to do some model building to sort of switch gears. Now for years I have been seeing the Star Wars kits from Bandai, so this past weekend I decided to pick up a few of their kits.

One kit I picked up was this traditional Storm trooper kit. Being a fan of the movie, one year for Halloween my mother made me a Storm Trooper costume out of black sweats and foam trays that meat comes in (washed of course) and a papermache helmet. So when I saw this kit I knew I had to give it a go.

Aren't you a little short to be a Stormtrooper?

 Now my only experience with the Bandai kits, was a few years ago I built a basic Gundum kit and what I remembered of that it used very little glue. This kit is the same thing, used minimal glue and everything is pre painted. The other thing that I noticed is that there is no flash and I mean none on any of the frames! The Japanese have truely mastered the plastic model kits, heck even some of the frames are molded in different colors on the same frame!

At the Ready!

The detail on this kit is amazing and as I said most of it did not require any glue. The only issue I had was there is an ammo pouch or something on the left leg, when I went to snap it on, it broke in half. I glued it back together once I had it on his knee, other then that, it was the only issue.

Back Detail

 So it took me about 4 hours to assemble the kit, did not painting on it and used very little glue (non was actually needed. So I highly recommend this kit for beginners or advanced modelers alike. All you need is a good way to remove the parts, maybe a sanding stick, but that is it. Now I am planning on picking up at least one more Storm trooper as I want to weather one like the troopers in Mandolorian, with dirt and stains on it. Heck, I may try to build a collection of these kits!

Looking very imposing!

So there you go, I am working on another Bandai kit for my son, all I can say is, Too infinity and beyond!

TK

Diablo Canyon build

Well,

This Fourth of July weekend I got back to working on my Canyon boards for Gaslands as well as other games I play. So leading up to this past weekend I have been watching a few videos on doing Tombstones out of pink foam for decorations at Halloween. One product that most DIY haunters use is this product called Drylok, which is used to seal up floors and walls to keep moisture out for basements and such. Well the haunters like it because it adds a flexible hard shell that keeps the foam dry. They also like it because it has small particles in it and looks like stone when dry. So I went to Home Depot and bought a gallon for less then $25.00 to try out.

Magic in a can!

 I have been looking at using quick drying tile grout as I knew it would be hard, but it also added a ton of weight. And when I saw the Drylok, I figured if it helped keep the foam from getting mashed up and had a good finish, it was a win win for what I was going to use it for.

Foam canyon

So Thursday night I applied a liberal coating of the material with a cheap 4" brush and went to town. Now the Drylok is very thick and it recommends mixing it while working with it. I also dabbed the material on as opposed to painting it on as I could tell it would leave brush marks and I wanted a more natural look to it.

First pass on the canyon

 Here is a close up once it dried, which it was set up in about an hour, but I left it over night to dry all the way. It covered the foam very well and it has a very natural look to it. I also used the Grey color, they do have a tint able version for a few bucks more, but as I was going for stone, grey would work out very well and I may be doing some tombstones so grey was perfect. 

Close up once dry.

 So with it dried, I went to painting it. Now another paint method I picked up from the Haunters was what they call Tea Staining which is pretty much what we call washes in the hobby. But it gave me an idea, so I busted out some Americana Burnt Umber and a cup of water and started to wash it over the base grey, I liked it so much that I did all four boards with one container of the Burnt Umber. Basicly I watered down the paint and washed it down from the top and let it naturally flow down the cracks. Once it had dried I did the same with a black wash, followed by adding in some Raw Sienna. Once that was dried completely, I started dry brushing on Americana Mississippi Mud and Desert Sand colors to the rocks.

Top no dry brush, bottom with drybrushing.

Another close up of the painting with two boards stacked on top each other.

I was only able to get one of the four sections dry brushed and will be doing the others over the next few days, I will then be going in and adding some small details to the boards like clumps of dried grass and such.

Canyons coming along.

So overall I love the drylok and the painting, one thing that I can't stress enough, is to wait until the washed dry completely or you will get a muddy look to the colors. Variety on colors also, the more colors you add in the more realistic it starts to look.

TK