Quarter 2 2016 Painting Summary

Some mixed feelings of where I am at with painting right now. On the whole, I have managed to paint quite a few minis in the last three months. However, unfortunately for a little over two weeks one of our cats has been very ill, and supporting him has meant my wife and I have been pretty tired and I have not been feeling particularly motivated to paint, so less output in June than originally hoped for. The most important thing is making our little cat as comfortable as possible for as long as possible, and hobby stuff will be there in the future.

In all I painted 12 minis in the last quarter, across 5 ranges, adding a couple of new ranges (Malifaux and G.I. Joe). I didn't play many games in the last three months, but have done some game design writing, and continue to work on the ongoing development of Pulp City with the rest of the Pulp Monsters team, so mixed outputs overall.

Painted in Q2 (-1 from Q2 2015)

• Pulp City: 5 minis
• BMG: 4 minis 
• Freebooters Fate: 1 mini
• Malifaux: 1 mini
• G.I. Joe: 1 mini

Not sure how things will progress over the next few weeks, but I will try and add stuff from time to time.

Sgt. Slaughter (G.I. Joe)

Only my second painted mini this month, and a bit of a surprise, even to me. A couple of months ago I would not have envisaged on starting yet another project, but I suspect that in painting Sgt. Slaughter I may have done just that!

I first encountered G.I. Joe through Action Force and Marvel UK in the 80's. Over time I grew to understand to rich background more and more and the distinction between Action Force and G.I. Joe, but then left it until IDW comics relaunched G.I. Joe in 2008. There are 4 or 5 IP's I love above all others, and G.I. Joe would certainly be up there. I was lucky enough to get hold of this mini and others from someone's private commission and they are not available commercially.

While not my favourite character (that would be one of several: Beach Head, Snake Eyes, Chuckles, Lady Jaye, Flint or a few others - they have a lot of characters!) , I thought former WWE/WWF star turned G.I. Joe drill sergeant Sgt. Slaughter would be a good tester for the olive colour I had in mind for some of the Joe's uniforms. I didn't follow the exact colour scheme on the action figure versions, but went for something that felt right with those points of reference.

The base is by Tiny Worlds, and I will certainly be getting more - I am very impressed with the first ones I picked up from them.

I have been very inspired by the thought of painting some more G.I. Joe minis, to the extent that I have been working on some game ideas, and re-purposing some previously unused game development work. The rules I am working on have the working title of Squad Wars (there is a reason or two behind that title), so hopefully this year I may get some G.I. Joe (and Cobra!) gaming done. Watch the blog to see how I get on.

G.I. Joe Minis Painted

G.I. Joe team: 1

Cobra: 0

Black Flash

Black Flash is the 46th BMG mini I have painted, and while not hard to complete by any stretch, it is far from a great mini (more on why later).

In the comics, I gather Black Flash is an avatar of death for those who access the Speed Force. I have not been a regular Flash reader since the early 80's, so while I am aware of the character, I am not that familiar with it. In BMG games Black Flash is essentially an effect token: he is not a starting member of your crew, but a representation of 'something bad' happening a Speedster fails a Paradox roll and then rolls 'double '6 on 2d6. Suffice it to say that probability suggests he won't likley crop up that often.

The mini was free as part of 'The Flash and The Arrow' expansion book pre-order. As an exclusive incentive, I am sorry to say I think he is a pretty odd choice as designed in game terms - something to paint up on the off-chance it very occasionally shows up. A better option may have been an alt-costume Arrow/Green Arrow or Flash mini that can be used directly and still ties into the book theme.

While I am not planning to paint up any Speedsters any time soon, this mini just looked like a quick win in maintaining painting momentum. Not sure what I will paint next for BMG as I have already achieved my target for year, plus a few extra. That said, I would like to finish the Joker crew, the Watchmen crew and maybe get a Team together.

The casting wasn't great, once again. Some recent Knight Models stuff I have found to be nice and crisp, of much higher quality than stuff I had assembled previously. This felt to me like them back to some of their worst casting. The cast itself had a roughness in terms of lumps of flash, but also that weirdly paint would not flow into some micro-pits. As I painted, I kept seeing the glint of metal that paint had not adhered to properly. That said, it wasn't a difficult paint-job once I had blocked in the reds, although some of the definition for the red lightning stroke banding was lacking in places. I have seen that on other BMG minis where it seems the sculptor has simply not bothered with continuing some aspect of detailing (Nite Owl was a previous example, and having assembled but not yet painted comics Black Canary, she is another).

BMG Painting Summary
BMG characters owned: 210 (added: nothing new, but some stuff is due imminently)
Percentage of owned characters painted: 21.9% (46 models)

Sniggering (Joker Henchman)

Sniggering is done, but he is far from a favourite mini, on that more in a bit. The model is the third Henchman addition to my planned eventual Joker crew, and it is pleasing to have regained some momentum this month as this is the fifth mini I have completed across three ranges.

Sniggering has the always threatening 'Automatic Rifle', easily one of the best weapons in the game and one that is well worth its cost as it can create a sense of threat for most characters. In the tournaments I have attended, I rarely see any crew leave out their automatic rifle option if they have one. It seemed sensible to make sure Sniggering made it into the list. End 5 and Willpower 5 gives him a decent opportunity to ensure he can use his weapon even if attacked, while retaining mobility or capacity to reload from Ammo.

On to the mini. Not my favourite as I said. The casting was rough as heck in places as can be seen from the poorly cast wrist bands if you look closely. Parts were also a bad fit, which may be partly due to some of them serving for different models. And because of the design, some places were really hard to reach with a brush, which only became apparent as I progressed. I started painting Sniggering at the same time as August, and he got abandoned part way through as I concentrated on other stuff, but in the past few days I resolved to thin down the backlog of part-painted minis and this became a prime target. the current list I am thinking of taking is: Joker (Arkham City); Hush (for Take the Lead and Strategy shenanigans); Victor Zsasz; Sniggering; August; Contra-Auguste; and Six (the tournament Joker Henchman card). To make that up would take three more minis which isn't too much, so could be done this year.


BMG Painting Summary
BMG characters owned: 210 (added: Hawkman, Black Flash, Flash, Professor Zoom, BtAS Green Arrow and Batgirl, Classic Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and discovered a miscount previously!)
Percentage of owned characters painted: 21.4% (45 models; the big batch release set back my percentage a bit)

Bonaccia (Freebooter's Fate)

My Brotherhood crew's ranks grow again - finally! I have finished Bonaccia some 18 months or so on from my last Freebooter's Fate mini (Trucco).

I started Bonaccia a long time ago, some time in 2015, possibly even earlier. But I just kept putting her to one side, and not finishing her. Recently I was determined to rectify that, and so she is now finished, even if not my favourite paint-job in the crew (I think partly due to the colour scheme I selected). That said, being 'done' is the most important thing, so another mini is chalked off.

As another Specialist, the nearest comparison I have so far to Bonaccia is Apagado. Bonaccia costs 5 doubloons more, for which Apagado has a slightly stronger left-hand attack and slightly more vitality, while Bonaccia gains Blade Mistress, adding +1 Attack which is very good! I am sure Rob won't be looking forward to facing her with his Pirates! Then again he will probably shoot her as much as he can after recent experience.

Bonaccia takes my crew to a total of 495 doubloons. I can take one more Specialist and still make a game-legal crew (the Brotherhood may take up to two Specialist per Deckhand, and I have two of the latter), so I will need to have a think about what I paint next for the game. I am tempted to paint another Brotherhood Specialist, but I could opt for my first Mercenary instead.

I hope Bonaccia gets a run out on the gaming table soon, especially as I have recently acquired a cool-looking gaming mat for our games.

Catwoman (Animated Series)

Catwoman (in the Batman Animated style, after Batman in January) is my 44th BMG mini I have painted. This was a 'quick and done' paint-job because my painting momentum has recently dissipated. I decided I was going to get her finished today, having previously applied the main grey colour only as a consequence of painting something else, then painting the belt, then putting her to one side for a few weeks.

Overall I am happy with the simple paint scheme and results, and it is nice to have another mini 'done' this year and especially this month. Hopefully this kick-starts me into finishing a few more minis from different ranges and games this month.

I think Knight Models did a good job translating two-dimensional cel animation into a three dimensional sculpt. The model is a single piece which is a nice change for this range, and the only real hassle was needing to trim the slotta tab to fit a channel I widened in the base (this is because I want all my painted BMG minis to have the same base style - Fraktured from Dragon Forge Designs, and this sculpt has her whip trailing along the slotta tab).

I don't really foresee using this version of Catwoman in many games, basically as for me she does not stack up well enough as an alternative  to the Arkham City Catwoman. The main reasons for that are lack of extra VP scoring; Endurance 4 which makes her vulnerable to attacks doing 2 damage; and Willpower 5, making her available counters for Dodges and move and Defense more limited. That aside, I really do like the mini as I am a big fan of Batman the Animated Series and related shows. When I eventually have a few more Animated-style minis done I will do a group shot of them together.

BMG Painting Summary
BMG characters owned: 201 (added: nothing)
Percentage of owned characters painted: 21.9% (44 models)

Boris/Mr. Pink

Boris is part of the 'Mobsters' blister pack and not really a mini I planned to include any time soon in my Black Mask crew, primarily as he would compete with what I feel are better options for funding (like Mesh or Deadshot); as Boris is conceived he looks pretty durable with Street Guy backing up Defense 3 and Endurance 7; I feel he is decent enough but Anatoly and Mule Goon also offer similar durability, so nothing new there, and his Funding takes out an ammo equivalent.

The reason why this mini stepped up the painting queue is the 'tournament card' version of his rules as Mr. Pink. The Mr. Pink version has Defense 4 (yet still a Henchman), Endurance 6, has a Bulletproof Vest and is immune to Arrest thanks to Runaway. He also adds Informer (a free 'pass') and has a 2 Blood Gun, but most of all costs $0! He has a high Reputation cost (55), but in my opinion that is worth paying for the rest of his package, especially as he offers a different kind of durability than Anatoly, Mule Goon (and especially Boris). I recently managed to acquire a copy of the 'tournament card' and that motivated me to get him done sooner than later.

The model had some big chunks and lumps of flash, which was an issue; cleaning up his face left some markings, so I decided to paint that up in a different shade of pink to invoke a sense of scar tissue (probably not visible in the pictures). In all, once again not a great cast from Knight Models unfortunately. On the plus side, for whatever reasons I was able to get the mini turned around pretty quickly (by my slow standards!), so most importantly this marks another minis 'done' from the range', and further progress to my annual painting tallies ( I am ahead of the same point last year which is nice), as well as now meeting my target for BMG minis for the year.

BMG Painting Summary
BMG characters owned: 201 (added: Ice Penguin and Savage Penguin)
Percentage of owned characters painted: 21.4% (43 models)