Sunday 16 June 2019

"He's Back! As Only Jack Kirby Can Do It!"

"T'Challa returns to his rightful realm.."
This 28mm plastic “Wizkids” model of the Black Panther is miniature number 086 from the Marvel "Heroclix" Infinity Challenge range and depicts "the first superhero of African descent in mainstream American comics" wearing the costume shown during his title's third volume of adventures in 1998. Created by Stan Lee and Jack "King" Kirby for the July 1966 issue of "Fantastic Four", T'Challa would subsequently join the Avengers before "receiving numerous urgent official letters requesting him to return to his increasingly troubled homeland" and defeat the "would-be usurper Erik Killmonger".

Originally conceived as the Coal Tiger, and then briefly called the Black Leopard, the pre-painted Chief of the Panther Tribe was primed using "Citadel" Abaddon Black, heavily dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal and washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I then picked out the figure's belt, bracelets and necklace with a combination of "Vallejo" Gold and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, before applying a couple of spots of "Vallejo" Dead White to his eyes.
"Reaper Miniatures" WIPs - A Clay Golem, a Mind Eater and a Stone Golem
Whilst trying to clear myself a bit of space on my painting table, I have discovered a few partially-progressed polymer models produced by "Reaper Miniatures", and disconcertingly found myself once again somewhat distracted by the 'post-apocalyptic' background of "Gamma World". As a result I've spent a few hours applying a couple of layers to this odd assortment of "Bones" figures in the hope that I can somewhat quickly get the odd one finished off...

For starters I've got to work on a rather well-muscled Clay Golem, which as memory serves was at one point destined to be converted into General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross's alter-ego, the Red Hulk. However, as I now own an actual "Heroclix" model of A.I.M.'s co-creation, I plan to simply pigment the unaligned large construct in a brown colour scheme suitable for his involvement in a game of "Dungeons & Dragons".
"Games Workshop" Chaos Spawn - The brute has been covered in tentacles and sharp spikes
Likewise, I'm working on three plastic Mind Eaters and a (second) Stone Golem. It really is early days yet for the trio of "roaming hunters of the Underdark", but having previously half-completed one of "Reaper Miniatures" Stone Golems in the past, I have made some considerable in-roads on his slightly differently paletted brother; quite possibly because I may actually end up applying some snow to his base so as to use him in "Frostgrave".

Lastly, I have assembled one of two Chaos Spawn I hope to field for my "Age Of Sigmar" Slaves To Darkness warband. In all honesty, I actually purchased the kit so as to utilise some of its contents as conversion pieces for my Doom Lords "Blood Bowl" players. But before doing so wanted to ensure I didn't use the multi-part plastic 'bitz' I would need to build a pair of the "dangerous and unpredictable" monstrosities.

24 comments:

  1. Black Panther looks cool nice job on him Simon.

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    1. Cheers Simon. "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal for the win once again ;-)

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  2. Good brushwork on the Black Panther, a superhero that I have heard about, though know nothing about !

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  3. That is quite a flamboyant Black Panther with his cape etc! I like him though, nice job. Those dungeon denizens look really good. I saw some great Beholder conversions the other day and found myself looking at some D&D type minis before telling myself off! A Slaves to Darkness warband? Is your Khorne army finished then? Or are you getting distracted AGAIN!!!!

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. It is a great mini of the Black Panther imho. The D&D stuff are just table clearance tbh, but should be finished quite soon. No new army as such, as I realised I have a few non-specific chaos minis already in my collection, such as Slambo. So depending on how the new 1,000pt Meeting Engagements forces work, I was hoping I'd already have the minis to make the faction.

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  4. I like the Intellect Devourer best (the perfect illithid pet for any Waterdeep/Undermountain game). Unless you re using the old Mind Eater version of this critter of course.

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    1. Cheers Steve. I don't actually know which, if either, the "Gamma World" menagerie covers tbh. I just thought a brain on legs looked like a cool mini, especially as I was able to pick up three of them to form a small pack of sorts :-)

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    2. Hey Simon its your world, and Gamma World defies all the standard tropes anyway so go wild. Its a darn cool minis and having a pack of three of them is just extra, extra cool, really nice haul to think to pick up a few of these awesome critters.

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    3. Spookily my OCD will badly irk if I don't see something akin to a Devourer etc in the "Gamma World" books and try to play a game with some - madness I know, especially with the background to "Gamma World" being what it is too.

      Being "Bones" the Mind Eaters were dirt cheap too, so definitely recommended as a buy - I keep seeing them as the bugs from "Starship Troopers" swarming all over a settlement LOL!!!

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    4. LOL!!! yessss they`re very like the Starship Troopers bugs aren`t they (now THAT`S a game I always wanted to get into, but sadly the reviews on that game and the miniatures when it came out some years back weren`t that favourable.... still :( , I often look back wistfully at an opportunity missed). The new Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage Adventure System Boardgame has a nice `pack` (or is it herd) of devourers in it ^^

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    5. I've not actually seen the contents of the "Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage Adventure System Boardgame", Steve, as it was a bit out of my price range upon release and my eldest carted off that huge box of D&D you very kindly sent me one time when he visited. LOL!! Sounds good though :-)

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    6. Oh it is good, best one to date they have done yet.

      Hahaha, good to know the stuff sent has gone to a good home and being used :-)

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    7. Oh the D&D has gone to a very good home, Steve. I do have some "Dungeon Command" sets somewhere, which you've now reminded me to dig out and have a proper look at.

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  5. A very good paint job on T'Challa. I actually had that 1966 Fantastic Four comic that he first appeared in but sadly sold it in the 1980's. :-(

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    1. Cheers Bryan. Oh Lord... that's got to hurt. My sincerest condolences for that one. Jack Kirby artwork too!!

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  6. Fantastic work on the Black Panther, I like how shiny he looks.
    You got some great projects ahead of you, I look forward to see what you can achieve on them.

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    1. Thanks Wouter. I'm a huge fan of gloss varnish, as I find most of its shine soon goes once a mini is handled on the tabletop, so Black Panther is still rather shiny currently.

      I'm hoping to finally get some "Gamma World" inspired gaming in at some point this year. hence a renewed interest in some minis for it.

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  7. Nice selection, love the spawn and adore the brain on legs. Coincidentally which is weird for such a rare character, I was in a discussion about T'Challa a few weeks back, whe I was in the games store in Cork. I was talking with a total comic guy who animated like a Christmas tree as he described all these old characters from his collection.

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    1. Cheers Tarot. I certainly prefer the older "Marvel" and "DC Comics" characters to the newer ones. For starters I can still recall their exploits before everything got complicated and they all died/was resurrected at least half a dozen times.

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