Wednesday 7 October 2015

Xiao Loong (Court of Owls)

Now this was a pleasant bonus for me from Week 1 of Zomtober - starting painting Xiao Loong and finishing the mini within a couple of days without impeding my planned Zomtober painting!

I have mentally set myself the challenge of painting tangentially related minis for 3 games (Pulp City, BMG and Anima Tactics) in addition to my core Zomtober painting. For BMG this has meant the Court of Owls Talons. Talons are assassin agents of the Court, and there is only ever one active at a time. In the first story-lines, many 'retired' Talons are brought back to life. They are incredibly resistant to physical trauma, have weird voices, and have risen from the dead - close enough to Zombies in some ways to count as a tangential inspiration for me!

Xiao Loong appears only briefly and is depicted as a somewhat tragic figure, ultimately seeking freedom from his servitude to the Court. This appears to be granted in final terms by Red Hood (Jason Todd), but whether Red Hood kills Xiao Loong is unclear as this happens is unclear as it takes place off-panel so is alluded to rather than shown.

In game terms, the Court is really limited by its current available Leader (Benjamin Orchard), to including only Court models, meaning a total Reputation limiting games to 300 Rep. 3 out of the current 4 Talons are Henchmen, although ability-wise they are equivalent to less-powerful Free Agents in capability, while giving up fewer VP's, and having better all around Skills and Traits than most higher-cost Henchmen. Arguably they are on par or better than Nite Owl and possibly Silk Spectre from Watchmen. Whether that proves the case on the table is another matter. Until I get more of the Court of Owls painted, not one I will be able to answer!

BMG Painting Summary
BMG characters owned: 157 (added: nothing since the last splurge)
Percentage of owned characters painted: 19.1% (30 models)

16 comments:

  1. He looks absolutely stunning, top quality work Sir.

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  2. Awesome stuff Pulpcitizen, and as with Pulp City, your postings of these have finally cracked my resolve. The Court of Owls is coming my way... ;-)

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    1. Thanks Blaxkleric. I still hope that the Court gets at least one or two more minis released by Knight; I would love to take them to a tournament some day.

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  3. What a beautiful paintjob, your NMM is outstanding!

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    1. Thanks Wouter. I should have picked out a few sharper highlights there and there, but it will suffice for me. :)

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  4. That is a stunning paint job. Soon as these guys get another pack they can use I think my resolve will finally break.
    Definitely counts towards your zomtober count though.

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    1. Thanks Mike C. :)

      And yes, I am glad I am not the only one who thinks it counts. :)

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  5. The Talons are definitely zombies.

    Ninja-zombies!

    Looks ace, as ever.

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    1. Cheers Kieron. :)

      So you are acknowledging the existence of the Talons...? :P

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  6. Absolutely wonderful paint job, PC. But...is it just me or is his body too long? Might be the pose of the figure or the angle, but the proportions seem slightly off. Didn't Benjamin Orchard have a similar issue? Same sculptor? Other than the above, cool figure (including the giant chicken foot).

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    1. Thanks Carrion Crow. :)

      In hand the proportions seem more accurate than the Leader model (although from the back I can see your point, but that may be down to how the photograph was taken. No idea who the sculptor is for any BMG minis unfortunately. Some are exquisite, others....less so.

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  7. Stunning paint job mate. Top drawer. Well sone indeed!

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