Sons of Batman 02 & 03 (BMG)

Commenced alongside Son of Batman 01, I held back finishing these two minis until I had a clear colour scheme from tackling the first one. My main drivers for painting them were wanting to (hopefully!) do a Batman crew without Cops, and also to get some 'quick wins' in the painting queue in July both of which the three Sons of Batman satisfied.

Some former members of the Mutants gang in The Dark Knight Returns became vigilantes inspired by the return to the public eye of an older Batman. In terms of style, these are very close to what was depicted in the original comic book.

In terms of game play I have yet to use a Batman crew, but I think Son of Batman 02 (with the Shotgun) will be a fairly close substitute for Agent Ron, in Reputation and Funding costs. Son of Batman 03 on the other hand, is a trickier decision. In effect at 39 Reputation he is roughly equivalent to two Cops, meaning one less model in a hypothetical crew. At Defense 4 and Endurance 6 with Hardened and counterattack he seems very much set up for tanking an Objective, which makes his Follow Me Trait somewhat redundant. As a consequence I have my doubts about using Son of Batman 03 despite his very good aspects.

Not sure what I will paint for BMG next, or when I will next paint something from the range as this month I have managed to paint stuff for three other ranges which has been nice. That probably means I will end up being BMG-centric next month without realising it! More importantly, this takes me to 10 painted minis for the month overall, which is pleasing and gets me back on course for my annual target. In addition, these are the 48th and 49th BMG minis for, so the next one will be something of a milestone.

BMG Painting Summary
BMG characters owned: 226 (added: nothing)
Percentage of owned characters painted: 21.7% (49 models)

Son of Batman 01 (BMG)

Son of Batman 01 is the first BMG mini I have finished in seven weeks, mainly due to a big painting slow-down in June, and also a conscious effort to get stuff done for other ranges. That said, I plan to finish the other Sons of Batman in the next few days, so more BMG will be on the horizon. I painted this one first to quickly test out how I wanted to tackle the colours, so it is very probable that the other two will be tackled as a pair. Unfortunately the pictures make the eyes look a little wonky; I don't feel they are as misaligned up close. Not a great paint job, but it will do.

The Sons of Batman are Henchmen options for Batman crews naturally, and were featured in the Dark Knight Returns comic from the mid 80's. They started out as members of the Mutants gang in that story, and with the Batman's return, some became vigilantes inspired by the legendary hero.

In game terms they are additional Henchmen choices, and give an alternative to the various Cops. This one is very cheap at 14 Reputation and $100, and seems ideal for sitting back and guarding/contesting an enemy Objective, likely equipped with a Whistle. If I put a Batman crew together at some point, I can imagine using at least two of the Sons of Batman, but possibly not all three since I feel the Reputation cost for one is too high for what he does.

BMG Painting Summary
BMG characters owned: 226 (added: a lot - Kid Flash, Starfire, BtAS Black Canary, Frank Miller Oliver Queen, Robin/Carrie Kelly and Sons of Batman, Frank Miller Joker and Robotic Dolls, John Diggle/Spartan, TV Flash, TV Reverse Flash)
Percentage of owned characters painted: 20.8% (47 models; the percentage dropped because of the 16 new additions)

Black Panther

Black Panther is the third MUMG mini I have painted in the past couple of weeks, and will probably be the last one for a while from me, as I start to refocus on other lines. Black Panther is one of my favourite Avengers (he would make my ideal 'best seven' lineup without doubt), so being able to get a quick win in the painting was a real bonus.

Reading a run of Avengers comic books from the late 1960's when I was a teen (thanks Peter Atkins!) is what made me like the character, and I continued have ever since. Frequent positioned as ruler of the (fictional) African nation of Wakanda, T'Challa also bears the mantle of the Black Panther, having earned his right to the honourable name and trappings. I loved his inclusion in Captain America: Civil War, so as soon as I saw the mini (which I think is an excellent sculpt, and was very cleanly cast which was very welcome), I knew it would be one of the first MUMG characters I would paint.

The painting used my standard approach to not-black black, and the biggest struggle was trying to pick out the eye-piece lenses. I wish all minis and painting offered quick wins like this! Alas not!

If and when I start playing MUMG, I think Avengers/good guy superhumans will be the team i try, so will be built around Black Panther and Black Widow and building from there. If the 'standard' game size for MUMG is 50 levels, then to match that I think I am looking at something like another four or five minis to paint up.

MUMG Painting Progress
Minis Painted: 3 (16.7% of minis owned)
Minis owned: 18

Black Widow

Black Widow was another quick paint job after recently completing Groot, but in my more usual approach. I started this one, like Groot, as a way of getting a 'quick win' of getting something done after June's slowdown, and was surprised just how swiftly (for me, anyway) I was able to get the main work done. I found it a very nice model to paint, probably because of the quick turnaround as well as the subject matter. That said, I do need to soften the shading around the face so it doesn't look so heavy, which I only spotted after taking the picture!

The mini was an earlier Knight Models Marvel release and has been superseded by a different pose sculpt, both with same costume and trappings. Not sure whether she can be used in official Knight tournaments based on their proxy restrictions in BMG, but time will tell!

After painting so many (not-quite-black) black costumes lately, this was really straightforward, especially as she has four main colours. I opted for painting her hands as gloved rather than bare, since it just seems more logical she should have them. While tackling Widow, I have made a small start on her team-mate Black Panther who I hope is another quick win. After that, I don't plan to tackle another MUMG mini for a while as I want to get into some backlogs for Pulp City, GI Joe and BMG, and finally start some Dropzone Commander painting.

Groot

Groot is the first MUMG mini I have painted, and something I tackled as I felt I could finish it pretty quickly, once I decided to use a similar approach to the one I used for Father Oak for my own Pulp City collection (click for link).

The technique involved painting a grey-brown base coat, and then two lighter quick dry brush coats, with some olive green dry brushed to bark edges. This was followed by painting some but not all vines olive green. Then I applied a very thinned down wash of Gryphonne Sepia, followed by Soft Tone, then Devlan Mud. Finally I picked out some edge highlights with VMC Stone Grey, and painted the eyes and mouth. All told, maybe an hour and a half over 3 sittings. It is no award winner, and maybe a little lighter in colour than is preferable, but I am happy with how it turned out, especially to get it finished so quickly with recently losing my painting momentum.

I really enjoyed the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, but have no desire to tackle them for MUMG in the near future as a faction since a couple of sculpts leave me a little cold. They are not bad, I am just not grabbed by them. However, I do foresee me getting to grips with Avengers as I love the team and prefer their sculpts, which is my way of saying that Groot won't be joined by other GotG minis any time soon!

Mr. Tannen (Malifaux)

Mr. Tannen is the second Malifaux mini I have finished (after Mr. Graves back in April). I started Tannen at the same time as Graves, but then he fell by the wayside as I finished off a few other bits and pieces. I struggled with bits of the mini as it is designed in a hunched over pose which is nice, but awkward at the same time. Not the hardest or most intricate of models, but for me for some reason not the easiest. Still, I do think the Malifaux plastics are nice kits and cannot fault the first two I have tackled.

I still know very little about the various characters in the game (I keep meaning to pick up the rule-books other than the small Rules Manual I have), but I know the two i have painted so far can work together, and I feel that visually Tannen and Graves fit neatly with one another.

I don't know if I will ever play Malifaux, but if I do, I need to get a few more models painted to say the least. Not sure when that will be however...

On the painting horizon next I think will be some G.I. Joe minis, some Pulp City, and maybe finishing some BMG odds and ends. And on top of those, I do really need to make a start on my Dropzone Commander force.Hopefully I will recover some momentum sooner than later, so watch this space.