Another month has sailed by here at the keep and that brings us to the halfway point of the year. Typically at this point I take a look at my painting pledges for the year and update or adjust them, so I'll be doing that at the end of this post, but for right now lets get in to what I've been painting.
Zombicide Invader
I started by finishing out the Invader promos from last month. Overall I enjoyed this set, although the abomination overshadows everything else in the box. It was nice to revisit Invader, but to not have to paint a ton of stuff.
Lord of the Rings
Before jumping back into more long term projects I took some time out to revisit and revitalise an older model for Lord of the Rings. Shelob here had been gathering dust at my parents and was looking very old and tired, so I thought she deserved a fresh coat of paint.
I gave her a bath and repaired her leg and then set about giving her a complete make over. I went for a dark grey version this time, more realistic colours than my previous purples. I also used my stippling technique which I often bring out when painting bugs.
The end result was pretty monstrous. I also redid her base, filling the gaps between the stones with hot glue and tiny rocks and adding static glass and clumps. I even gave Mr Frodo a refresh.
However, somebody had to save Mr Frodo and then meant we had to find Sam. This was what Sam looked like before.
Painted probably around 20 years ago, this was not going to cut it next to my new beautiful paint job. So, out came the tickle sticks and the hobbit got himself a brand new coat of paint.
What I like about this particular update is that this shows, with time and patience and practice everyone can improve their painting game. Or at least I hope that's what it proves.
Super Dungeon Explore
Right, back to the board games. While still undecided about what my next project should be I decided I'd knock out a quick Clan for Super Dungeon. This time it was Clan Ika. I was looking forward to this nautical themed clan but in the end I was ho-hum on them.
The Oni in particular was a let down. The octopus head is cool but the pose is awkward and the tiny body feels out of place. I liked the Madoushi with his octopus hat though.
Batman Shadow of the Bat
This months big project however was Batman. I've been meaning to paint this since January but couldn't quite face starting it. The minis for Batman are okay, at best, but I did enjoy it more as I went along.
I started out by painting the heroes. I wanted to paint the set in the most utilitarian way possible, meaning, if I stopped part way through I could at least make use of the content I had painted, The heroes are cross compatible with TMNT so I started there and worked forwards.
So we have 5 heroes, Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Catwoman and Jim Gordon. However Jim Gordon has the commander class, giving him access to other characters he can control, in this case the Beat Cops or Bullock and Montoya, who can also be played as heroes in their own right if you have the kickstarter content.
With the heroes done, I began painting the rest of the content in scenario order, which is something I should do more often. This meant I could break up the blocks of identical minis and just paint a few at a time. For minions we have Hired Guns, Enforcers and Crushers.
I mixed up the suit colours to give them a more unique feel, without going too crazy. The gunners were all given specific colour accents on their hats and waist coats to match the under fire tokens to help clean up the game play and reduce the number of tokens on the board.
As well as minions we also had a batch of bystanders. These came in two poses, a male and a female pose and while painting I came up with the idea of adding a little Scooby Doo cameo in there with Fred and Daphne.
Finally we have the villains. While I've not quite closed out the whole box I did get quite far, finishing Manbat, Freeze, Joker, Harley Quinn, Scarecrow and Two Face.
And that closes out the month. A spurt of productivity that brings me to a total of 169 for the year, with a total of 48 for the month.
Painting Pledges
Here's where I stand on my painting pledges for the year.
Super Dungeon - one of each clan, Ika, Tora, Yamazaru and the Elemental Shrine (30) - Clan Tora and Clan Ika Complete (12)
Imperial Assault (7) - All Complete
Descent - Crown of Destiny, Guardians of Deephall, Stewards of the Secret & Shards of Everdark (52) - 16 Complete
Massive Darkness Hellscape (68) - 36 complete
Batman Shadow of the Bat (40) - 36 Complete
Marvel United X-Men (10) - None but Fantastic 4 & Deadpool are done, Days of Future Past Started - total 15
Zombicide Fort Hendrix (13) - Complete
Robinson Crusoe (18) - Not Delivered
Finish TMNT (8), Finish Downwood Tales (7) Finish Tail Feathers (7) - 3 Complete
A total of 350 minis across all ranges - 169 Complete
So, I think I'm doing okay, but I will make a few changes.
Drop the overall total to 300. While it's possible I'll get close to 350, I would rather succeed than fail and 300 is still not a bad target.
Massive Darkness I'll keep the target of 68 but it wont necessarily just be models from the core box as I don't need to paint 6 of everything as we'll likely be playing at 4 players max
Drop Robinson Crusoe, theres a possibility this will deliver after Christmas so it's not likely to get painted this year.
Add ISS Vanguard (9) Core Set to replace Robinson.
Completing all outstanding models on the list above would be 121, for a total of 290 so realistically I don't want to add anything new to the list. Will I succeed? Who knows, but whatever the case I'm still pretty proud that more of my games are fully painted than not!
Until next time, have fun painting,
The Duke