Sunday 10 April 2016

'The Cosmic Cube Wars' - WIP - Part Two

"Heroclix" WIPs - "Dum Dum" Dugan, Will Magnus and Platinum
Somewhat inspired by the recent “Marvel Worldwide” comic book series “Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D.” I’ve spent the past few days re-basing and undercoating a number of appropriate “Heroclix” plastic miniatures so as to field my own team dedicated to handling the “stranger aspects of homeland protection” on the tabletop.

To begin with I’ve dug out my extraordinarily over-sized “Wizkids” model of the strike force’s commander “Dum Dum” Dugan. The figure comes from the Marvel: Secret Invasion range and despite being a supposedly 28mm scaled sculpt, stands close to 40mm in height and requires a similarly sized circular base. There’s no doubt that in the comics the World War Two veteran is a big chap. But not that big. However as the publishers have recently revealed this version of the character is an advanced Life-Model Decoy (i.e. an android), I can live with the size. Plus I do like the way the old warhorse’s size makes him tower over his underlings.
S.H.I.E.L.D. WIP - This well-armed trooper will be painted blue and white 
In addition to Nick Fury’s long-time team-mate I have also started painting five S.H.I.E.L.D. Troopers to use as the bowler hat-wearing soldier’s initial squad until such time as I can either finish or source some of the official commandos like Man-Thing and Manphibian. I’ve initially undercoated these terrifically dynamic models with “Vallejo” White in order to get a good head start on their boots, gloves, belts and webbing.

I have also started work on five SWAT Specialists, to use as additional support not only for my S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. But also for the numerous Police and National Guard models I plan to field. As these figures’ uniforms and equipment will be predominantly black and blue, I’ve applied a coat of “Vallejo” Heavy Blue to each figure for now.
SWAT WIP - This well-armoured specialist will be painted black and blue 
As far as “DC Comics” personalities are concerned I’ve given in to temptation and finally purchased the Will Magus and Platinum jointly-based “Heroclix” model I needed to complete my collection of The Metal Men. This super rare Crisis sculpt was rather costly on its own, but recently came up for sale on E-bay as part of a significantly cheaper job lot. As a result I’ve given the two figures a quick undercoat of “Citadel” Abaddon Black, and started work on Platinum with a layer of the OOP Mithril Silver.

This desire to build a few more units for my “Cosmic Cube Wars” project seems particularly timely, as it has coincided with the release (and immediate acquisition) by “Games Workshop” of the two hundred and eighty page “Grand Alliance Order” unit rulebook for the company’s “Age Of Sigmar” game; the very rules I intend to adapt and use for my large scale super-hero themed battles.

24 comments:

  1. Sorry to see your having "oversize" Issues with the heroklix figs too Simon. though at least the sculpt looks better than the one I had. looks like this is either going to be one heck of a big battle or is it going to be a series? Shame Platinum and Magnus are attached they would have muck more playable a separates.

    Nice looking WIP's though.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks ROger. "Dum Dum" is indeed a monster of a "Heroclix" mini. But he should be good fun to paint and get on the tabletop. The plan is for a series of games of increasing size as I finish the different units. As soon as I have four units aside I'll start some BatReps ;-)

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  2. I shall look forward to seeing your SHIELD plans develop!

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    1. Cheers Gordon. I've managed to nab a few more so once they arrive I should have a fair few with which to choose from.

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  3. I have no problem with scale creep and will readily use oversized figures with my collection of 28mm scale figures but I would certainly baulk at using someone who is 40mm tall unless there was a very good reason for the figure to be that tall. Being non-human is a good enough reason so I guess you can just about justify this version of Dum Dum's inclusion. He's a nicely sculpted figure even though he is vastly oversized.

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    1. I was certainly surprised when he arrived Bryan, as he really does tower over his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents - as you'll see when he's finished. He is a favourite character of mine though so I'm not that bothered by him dominating the battlefield.

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  4. I must admit, playable or not I like Platinum and Magnus on the same base it makes for an interesting look!

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    1. "Heroclix" do have them as separate entities but I like this one most of all. And its a lovely little vignette.

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    1. Cheers Fran. Its nice to have the entire original team at last.

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  6. I'm not advertised to oversized miniatures on the table, which I think has come from have a mix of Redoubt and Warlord Games in the collection - after all we all come in different shapes and sizes. ;)

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    1. Absolutely Michael, and as I say "Dum Dum" is meant to be a big chap anyway... just not this big. Once they're all colour co-ordinated though I hope they'll tie together quite nicely.

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  7. I am following this with interest Blax!

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    1. Cheers Pendragon Without and good to see you commenting again :-)

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  8. An excuse to use all and any scenery, and any figure you like, in huge superhero inspired series of battles. It's going to be awesome! Looking forward to seeing just what forces will be in play.

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    1. Thanks Jez. I do hope it will be "awesome". Plenty of paint needs to be brushed yet. But I'm hoping the first 'skirmish' will be played out before long, as I always find a game gets the old mojo going better than ever!!

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  9. Whne you get these on the table I doubt the larger figures wll be noticed that much; I'm very interested to seeing how your SWAt team turns out.

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    1. I agree Joe. The SWAT figures are interesting as the pre-paint jobs made them look rather uninspiring tbh, as they're predominantly black. But having painted them blue the sculpts actually have loads of character, so I'm hoping to bring some of that out with my lighter colour scheme.

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  10. I too like the look of the SWAT guys Simon. Are they all Heroclix figures?

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    1. Hi Bob. Yes these are all "Heroclix" figures. The SWAT guys come from the Marvel Universe expansion and still 'crop up' on Ebay from time to time if you're interested in getting some.

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  11. I would love to know how you plan to use the Sigmar rules if possible sounds very interesting?

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    1. No worries Shadowking. We've already played pilot game using "AoS" for a Doctor Who based game [a BatRep of which can be found on this blog] and found they worked incredibly well. Its simply a case of working out some agreeable stats and abilities which suit models, and clubbing those together which have similar abilities (e.g. The Metal Men). I should have the first "Cosmic Cube Wars" BatRep posted after "Salute" and will go into things in more detail then :-)

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  12. I remember a former friend getting into Heroclix excited to collect a whole SHIELD force. Then found out (In Herclix rules) just how shite they were and promtly sold them. :)

    Although I'm aware of Nick Fury's sidekick characters, I never read any of the titles previewing them. Hope your own usage of these brave fellows in other rules sets shows them in rather more impressive a light than my old pal's experiences!

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    1. Heh thanks Dai. I actually did a similar thing when I first started with "Heroclix" :-) These guys will certainly be better than a lot of the foot soldiers I plan to use on account of their skills and abilities, so hopefully they won't be the fodder of yesteryear. I've plenty of unarmed thugs and crowbar-welding goons for that ;-)

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