Wednesday 8 August 2018

"I've Been So Worried I Haven't Buffed My Shoes In Two Days."

"I'm so gorgeous, there's a six month waiting list for birds to suddenly appear, every time I am near!"
This 28mm miniature of Felix was made by "Y.F.T. Design Studio" and forms part of the company's limited release 'Scarlet Midget' - Cosplay Away Team. Wonderfully similar in appearance to Danny John-Jules’s character in the "British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf", the "Felix sapiens" was initially undercoated with "Vallejo" Dark Vermillion and then later had his hair, shoes, trousers, and shirt painted Black.

Having decided to somewhat darken the descendent from the house cat's jacket, I applied a couple of layers of "Vallejo" Heavy Red to his outer garment and waistcoat, shaded these areas with some "Citadel" Nuln Oil, and subsequently dry-brushed them with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Red.
"Boys from the Dwarf."
I 'picked out' the vain feline's blazooka using a combination of "Vallejo" Black, "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil, whilst applying some "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade to his flesh. Later I applied a wash of "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson over the Cat's coat in order to slightly improve its colour and provide a subtle contrast between the jacket and his waistcoat.

Kieron Mulholland has recently caught my eye with his excellent "Cheaphammer!" blog in which he's been exploring the use of the "Marvel Heroic Roleplaying" rule-set by "Margaret Weis Productions" to run a miniatures campaign based upon a story-line from the 2005 "New Avengers" comic book series. This inspirational project, which features a superb battle report entitled "Count On Spider-Man", got me thinking about my younger days playing "Marvel Super Heroes" by "Tactical Studies Rules" and whether a return to the 1984 game would be a worthwhile investment of time...
S.H.I.E.L.D. WIPs - The two agents and "Dum Dum" Dugan need their dark blue uniform 'picking out'
Before I had a chance to dive into my loft however and dig out my original boxed set, I discovered that "Steve Jackson Games" have just released "Munchkin: Marvel Edition", along with a series of expansions concerning the X-Men, Guardians of The Galaxy, Doctor Strange and Deadpool. I've a little experience of the original "mega-hit card game about dungeon adventure" so immediately thought that perhaps the "humorous take on role-playing games" may lend itself to some fun tabletop action too.

Somewhat disappointingly, the starting players for "Munchkin: Marvel Edition" are all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and I don't have any re-painted "Heroclix" models of them... yet. As a result I've dug out a couple of basic espionage operatives, along with a languishing model of Dan "Dum Dum" Duggan, and plan to get these guys painted pronto whilst I get better acquainted with the rules. If the worse happens and my idea doesn't work out then I've at least finished a few more miniatures, and my copy of "Marvel Super Heroes" is still waiting for me in the loft...

22 comments:

  1. Nice work on the "Cat" funnily enough I have a real one sat in my lap as I write this! Really looking forward to "Dum Dum" though always one of my favourite characters.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. I rather liked the Cat mini, so he was painted rather quickly. Still not happy with Lister, despite re-doing his face with a lighter colour, but his faults aren't quite so noticeable on the tabletop.

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  2. Great work on the Cat Simon, shall be interesting to see how the super hero gaming works out, and great start on the proxy models

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    1. Cheers Dave. I wish all my minis were as much fun to paint as Cat. I'm looking forward to plenty of "Munchkin" tbh, and seeing if I can make a BatRep from out of a game. I was semi-successful when I did one for "Dice Masters" so my fingers are crossed.

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  3. Nice work. Good start on the shield guys

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    1. Thanks Simon. Not sure when I'll get round to some more of the "Red Dwarf" stuff, but it'd be nice to get Holly, Ace and Dwayne finished at some point. I'm hoping the SHIELD guys will be quick(ish) to complete but have a test "Munchkin" BatRep in mind already ;-)

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  4. Some interesting stuff here with your SHIELD agents looking particularly good. I'm missing a "Dum Dum" Duggan from my collection but I was lucky enough to get a rare Nick Fury figure in one of the booster boxes I bought.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I have a couple of Nick Fury figures somewhere but having bought them as singles I've no idea of their rarity. "Dum Dum" is badly out of scale with the other SHIELD agents, but as by this stage in his career Dugan is a Life Model Decoy I'm good with that.

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  5. Well that quiff must have taken a while to paint. The gang look great together and all you need is a vindaloo monster for them to battle against! I can see Lister and the Cat rushing to get to the lager objectives now! Agents of Shield? Another curve ball thrown into the project mix. Don't neglect those Stix Brothers, I can't wait to see them done. Funnily enough I have just been watching the Agents of Shield tv show, so it will be good to see how these figures turn out. A nice read as always.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. I have a fair few "Strontium Dog" related minis to paint and the Stix Brothers are top of that list. SHIELD has somewhat come off-field but I'm hoping "Munchkin: Marvel Edition" will keep me slowly churning out the odd "Heroclix" mini over the next few months.

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  6. Great to see the gang altogether! Now will we see Kochanski before the end of the month?

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    1. Cheers Michael. I don’t plan on doing any more “Red Dwarf” minis this month, as I try and finish off my Stix Brothers and hopefully a couple more “Strontium Dog” minis too. However, I do own the not-Kochanski mini so she’d certainly be part of the second quartet I plan to paint when I return to the project.

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  7. "But what about my feeeeet?" Love it! My wife's a big, ah, Scarlet Midget fan and I have to agree, these are amazing figures.

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    1. Thanks very much Allison. I think Kryton is definitely the pick of the bunch, but hopefully at some point I hope to find the time to do another four figures and get Ace and Dwayne finished.

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  8. The group looks absolutely fab Simon! I had no idea Dum Dum Dugan had be released with the Heroclix line, love that guy!

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    1. Cheers Ivor. "Dum Dum" is rather large tbh, but is a nice mini and my fave of the few "Wizkids" have now done on Dugan.

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  9. And the Red Dwarf crew s complete! The group do look instantly recognisable and your great rendition of Cat brings some much needed colour im.
    Of course I haven't a clue who/what Shiled are nor do I know anythingof Dummy Duggan (though I know a few), but I'll be looking to see them in their finished stae nonetheless.

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    1. Thanks Joe. The Boys From the Dwarf should be in a BatRep real soon, and having now played a game of "Munchkin: Marvel Edition", I'm now reasonably convinced I can produce some interesting RPG BatReps based upon it too.

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  10. The cat was always my favourite of the crew and you've done a great job on him.

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    1. Cheers Vagabond. Definitely one of the better models from the range :-)

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  11. "I'm gonna eat you little fishy, I'm gonna eat you little fishy!"

    He was my fav character too. :) Smashing effort mate.

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    1. Thanks Dai. Cat is one of the better sculpts tbh, and was a lot of fun to finish.

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