(Lead) Mountain Musings - "CoolMiniOrNot" June 2025

"In Marvel United, players must work together to stop the plans of an evil Super-villain."

After a pretty miserable May where I frankly painted next to nothing, I thought I'd try to remotivate myself by tackling a number of half-finished 40mm plastic super-heroes and villains by "CoolMiniOrNot". This will certainly help clear a little space on my hobby table as I rather embarrassingly own a fair few of these Marvel United gaming pieces, having decided to 'invest' in the range rather than purchase any more "Heroclix" figures, or those outrageously expensive models produced by "Atomic Mass Games" for Marvel Crisis Protocol.

Furthermore, I aim to complete all the various creatures by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" I began assembling and priming for Angry Piper's "Monster May(hem)" monthly challenge over on the "Dead Dick's Tavern and Temporary Lodging" blog. Obviously that particular event is now over. However, as I only managed to pigment a single entry for it, I thought I should at least conclude what I started - as opposed to my usual tactic of just sticking the things in a drawer, or plonking them on a shelf simply to gather dust.

"The United Nations called upon Argentina and the United Kingdom to reach a settlement of the sovereignty dispute."

With this mental attitude in mind, I have also finished five more 10mm metal British soldiers by "Pendraken Miniatures" which form part of the company's Falklands British Army Pack. Consisting of a single figure from the following codes: FLB20 - Advancing with SLR, helmet, FLB21 - Advancing under fire, helmet, FLB22 - Kneeling, firing SLR, helmet, FLB23 - Standing, firing SLR, helmet, and FLB24 - Standing, firing SMG, helmet, the quintet were super-glued onto a 30mm x 40mm plastic base.

The models were all undercoated with a couple of layers of "Vallejo" Heavy Grey, and drowned in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. I then dry-brushed them with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Grey, and patiently 'picked out' all their boots, hands, faces and weapons using "Citadel" Abaddon Black. For the troopers' skin I applied a little drop of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone, followed this up with a dash of "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade, and ended the process with a small highlight of (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone. 

May 2025 - "Athena Miniatures" joins "Black Tree Design" as my favourite current manufacturer

Lastly, the soldiers' guns were simply given some "Vallejo" Gunmetal and splashed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. Whilst I applied a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade to any visible rifle butts, and any visible rear ammunition belts or backpacks.

Despite the disappointing output of last month, this humble blog did receive its one millionth visit, which is definitely one milestone I never thought I'd reach. Whether such a landmark will help me break the current funk I'm suffering with I don't know. But it has already caused me to pick up my brushes for a few hours, so I'm increasingly hopeful I'll have a fair few miniatures to post about over the forthcoming weeks.