(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" Monster May(hem) 2022

"It should be a proper monster - no skeletons or orcs."

This month's effort to diminish my embarrassingly large ‘pinnacle of promise’ will be somewhat shaped by Angry Piper’s annual Monster May(hem) challenge over on his excellent “Dead Dick's Tavern and Temporary Lodging” blog. The rules of the event are pretty straightforward, in that “any monster will do” as a painting subject, so having had a rummage through my “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” backlog, I’ve hooked out several semi-forgotten miniature monstrosities which should fit the bill quite nicely.

To be honest, I’m not too sure just how many of these models I’ll actually complete over the coming weeks, as I have plenty of other painting projects on the go. But I thought trying to get at least one of the large(ish) leviathans tabletop ready per week might be an achievable target to aim for; especially as the odd one or two have already been assembled, based and even partially-pigmented.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - The Incredible Hulk, Red Skull and Iron Man

In addition, I aim to finish at least a couple more super-heroes from the Marvel United core box set by "CoolMiniOrNot". These hard plastic 40mm models have definitely helped motivate my hobby mojo once again, and resultantly I’ve found myself merrily working on three of the board game’s miniatures pretty much simultaneously – which isn’t something I tend to do, as I much prefer to just predominantly work on just a single figure.

Hopefully, I should have both the Red Skull and Incredible Hulk finished quite soon, as the pair are arguably a good two-thirds complete already. The only figure rather lagging behind is Iron Man. But now I’ve finished dry-brushing all his “Vallejo” Gold joints, I intend to get all his metallic red armour polished off within the space of a single, focused painting session.

April 2022 - Plenty of 2mm Land Ironclads has helped "Brigade Models" make my Top Five table

There’s no doubt that my output over the past four weeks has been pretty dire. In fact it was the second poorest showing I’ve had in nine years. But I’d argue that such a down turn in productivity was quite understandable considering the amount of models I churned out during the three-month long Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Luckily, my interest in “Brigade Models” 2mm range of Land Ironclads at least kept my brush tip ‘ticking over’.

This coming month though should see a welcome return to form, largely due to my desire to finish off the three remaining "CoolMiniOrNot" figures required to complete a solo game of Marvel United. On top of that, I’m rather enjoying my time working on my “The Planet Of The Apes” project once again, and considering that I’ve selected more miniatures from “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” for Monster May(hem), I’m confident that I’ll continue to pigment plenty of the Lincolnshire-based manufacturer’s products for the foreseeable future.