Wednesday, 1 April 2026

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Modiphius Entertainment" April 2026

Last month's output was surprisingly dominated by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" and Super-heroes

Having successfully completed my four-month long Partially-Painted/Printed Pledge (PPPP), and rather pleasingly managed to better last year's 'score' of 246 points by a further 13 points, I thought I might turn to a range of 28mm "soft resin" models I haven't paid much attention to for six years. Indeed, it's been so long since I last picked up one of the Star Trek Adventures Tabletop RPG figures produced by "Modiphius Entertainment" that the entire range appears to have subsequently been 'shelved' as a physical product, and are now only available as part of their "Print at Home" STL (Standard Triangle Language) files.

Perhaps slightly disconcertingly I haven't actually decided to pigment a quartet of these figures over the next few weeks through choice either. But rather as a result of a D12 dice roll, which saw me number a dozen of my hobby drawers and then randomly pick one for this month's project. However, as luck would have it, the particular container chosen was simply packed full of all sorts of goodies, so in the end I did have some say in what my brush-tip would be tackling throughout April.

"What is your name..?"

Furthermore, I have also finished another 28mm scale white metal model by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” for the Angry Piper's "Forced March" painting event over on his "Dead Dick’s Tavern and Temporary Lodging" wargaming blog. Available either separately as Alien Legionary 1A, or as part of the company's four-figure Alien Legionnaries set, this Ernst Veingart sculpt is clearly strongly influenced by Danilo Donati's costume design for the Emperor Ming's minions seen in Mike Hodges' cult 1980 movie "Flash Gordon".

The trooper was predominantly pigmented using "Vallejo" Heavy Red, "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson and Abaddon Black. However,  his belt buckle and shoulder epaulettes were treated to a little "Vallejo" Gold and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, whilst his gloved hands received a smidgeon of "Vallejo" Dark Vermillion and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.

March 2026 - The battle between "Wargames Foundry" and "Games Workshop" is hotting up

Unfortunately, the previous month has been the worst March I've had productivity-wise since I first started noting my output well over a decade ago, and disappointingly I fear a lot of that inactivity has been due to my trying to push on with older projects as opposed to cracking on with newer ones. True, I have made a bit of a dent in my backlog (in some places). But a lot of the models I have finished won't see the tabletop on account of me still not having enough miniatures from that range for an actual game.

I'm therefore really hoping that my idea of randomly mixing up my painting subjects with some more recent purchases/3D prints will "Gee me [back] up". In recent years this month has been a rather slow time for me, so it should also offer me a good opportunity to get back on track with a few long-term gaming plans (e.g. Fielding some more Napoleonic units by "Wargames Foundry" for "Black Powder). In addition, despite my best intentions I still haven't got many actual battles 'in the books', and firmly believe that these spur me on when the hobby mojo is weakening...

9 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Michal. Not as many as I was hoping to get finished. But still a few.

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  2. Another great Ming's minion Simon, how many painted one's do you have now ? Good amount finished last month, hopefully this month will be a lot better for you, as you wont be suffering from challenge burnout, like previous years.

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    1. Cheers Dave. I do plan to feature Ming's Minions in a BatRep so that should show how many I've got - a good half-dozen or more I think..? I always seem to have my productivity tail off over the next few months, so this year it'll be interesting to see whether that happens again.

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  3. Still a good months output mate, and some lovely figures on display too in my opinion.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. It was nice to finish Luke Cage, Black Canary and Squirrel Girl after so long.

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  4. Great output in my opinion, Simon, both in quantity and quality! Thanks so much for participating in Forced March. Hope to see you for Monster May(hem) too!

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    1. Cheers Keith. I was glad to get the unit of Ming's minions finished. And I do indeed intend to try Monster May(hem) if you'll have me.

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  5. Congratulations on surpassing your painting challenge score, well done!
    I do like those Ming soldiers, so always nice to see another. Red is such a striking colour on the tabletop.
    I am not sure I could use the vagaries of chance to determine what I paint next so more power to you for doing so.

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