"Not All Heroes Wear Capes."

 "Some wear full plate armour and wield a raw plucked chicken."

This 32mm scale plastic model of a Knight with a raw chicken is produced by “CoolMiniOrNot” as part of their Monty Python's Flying Circus expansion for "Zombicide", and was sculpted by "Big Child Creatives". Played by actor Terry Gilliam in several sketches during the British comedy television show's first series in 1969, the "poultry paladin... on an epic crusade against epic fails" can be used as a Survivor in the cooperative boardgame.

Able to cross "any distance necessary" to give a fumbling Survivor "a good character-building whack over the head" with his raw chicken, the miniature was undercoated using a mixture of "Vallejo" Surface Primer Black and "Warlord Games" Pitch Black, before being layered with "Vallejo" Gunmetal. He was then drenched in "Citadel" Nuln Oil, and subsequently dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Gunmetal.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - Daredevil now just needs some odd details to be 'picked out'

The figure's tunic was pigmented in "Vallejo" Heavy Grey, shaded with some "Citadel" Nuln Oil, and roughly highlighted with a dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo Heavy Grey. I also took this moment to 'pick out' some of the armour plate's rivets and decorations using a combination of "Vallejo" Gold and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

Finally, I got to work on the plucked chicken using a couple of coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Warm Grey. The dead bird was then sploshed with plenty of "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade, dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Warm Grey, and toned down a little via a splodge of watered-down "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade. As a last touch, I also carefully traced out the poor poultry's sewn up eyes with some lines of "Citadel" Abaddon Black.

"Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" WIPs - Professor Krazvo is being painted from the feet up

Alongside this bizarre "Zombicide" gaming piece I have begun working on the Daredevil miniature found inside the "Marvel United" starter box by "CoolMiniOrNot". I'm not terribly sure just how powerful the Defender is in the board-game. But thought he'd make a good pairing with his old comrade-in-arms, the Black Widow - who I've previously pigmented.

In addition, I've started applying the final touches to Professor Krazvo by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio". The scientist is actually a villain according to the "7TV" ruleset. However, I plan to use him as Doctor Hans Zarkov for my "Flash Gordon" project, and have resultantly tried to utilise a palette more akin to the costumes worn by actor Frank Shannon during the science fiction franchise's 1936 cinematic serial...

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "CoolMiniOrNot" July 2024

"In Marvel United you take the role of iconic Marvel Heroes."

Despite a somewhat encouraging start to last month's plan to re-energise my hobby enthusiasm, which surprisingly even included 3D printing a number of models to be added to my increasingly long painting queue, my desire to put a brush-tip to any miniature whatsoever eventually once again died away to nothing. Much of this apathy was undoubtedly caused by my urgent need to manually cut'n'paste approximately 500 postings over to this blog from my "Wix" website after I was told I'd need to pay a whopping £273.60 by the end of July simply to maintain it.

Initially therefore I've spent a considerable amount of my recent free time simply publishing old articles and their pictures (back) over to "Blogger". However, even that plan has had to be radically changed following news from "Wix" that they actually now want £403.20 and "may" be deducting it within a fortnight of the renewal date. Obviously, I needed to therefore cancel my plan, but not before I at least had all the missing posts (minus photographs) safe and sound before I did so - just on the off-chance "Wix" simply deleted my content early in a 'hissy fit'.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - Daredevil, Ultron and Beast have all been primed

This currently means I have 280 drafts awaiting their pictures before I can (re)publish them, and not much time to paint during my hobby time as a consequence. Happily however, this 'slog' has taken me down some wonderfully invigorating trips down memory lane, and infected me with a desire to both continue my current Monty Python’s Flying Circus expansion set for Zombicide 2nd Edition, as well as recommence another "CoolMiniOrNot" project involving "Marvel United" figures.

I've also decided to see whether mixing the content of my postings up a bit might help 'keep me going', and by that I mean not just produce an endless string of finished models. But actually return to plenty of Battle Reports (possibly weekly) and other hobby-related articles, such as product reviews and my experiences with 3D printing. I think this move would take the pressure off of me having to repeatedly finish pigmenting miniatures, and encourage me to actually paint more for the games I'm playing.

June 2024 - Due to a lack of productivity there's no change at the top of the table for the second month

With this in mind, I have already plucked out my "Marvel United" models for Ultron, the Beast and Daredevil, with the intention of adding these to my battles as part of an ad hoc campaign I hope to cover over the next few weeks. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given my 'all-in' attitude to anything I attempt, I've also grabbed a few less 'monotone' figures from my huge Kickstarter Exclusives box, simply so I can potentially potter away on them too if the mood takes me.

Alongside all these comic book and comedy-based characters, I thought I might also scoop up a handful of 'close-to-completion' miniatures which have been loitering around my hobby desk for far too long. These partially-painted side-projects are predominantly metal so should help me 'break up' an otherwise all-plastic affair, and help me scratch the itch for a number of genres/subjects I've rediscovered a liking for having been neck-deep in so many old blog posts...