(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Adeptus Titanicus" April 2020

"Adeptus Titanicus" WIP - The Warhound Titan has been assembled, primed and layered

This month's themed attempt to reduce my bloated backlog of metal, plastic and resin models will primarily focus upon "two nimble Warhound Titans" from the Adeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy starter set by "Games Workshop". Despite having a healthy love for the second edition of "Epic" (or rather "Space Marine") and owning a copy of "Epic: Armageddon", I had managed to resist purchasing the Nottingham-based manufacturer's Adeptus Titanicus: Grand Master Edition when it was first released on account of its disconcerting price point.

However, the company's arguably more affordable "starting point for playing Adeptus Titanicus" containing "six incredible Citadel miniatures" was a little harder to ignore, especially as the somewhat significantly smaller war machines didn't look half as intimidating to build or pigment as the formidably large Warlord Battle titans. As a result I have assembled the pair of Warhound Scout plastic kits found in the box as two Traitor titans from the Legio Mortis, which will give me a fairly straightforward palette of black, red, silver and gold (Pre-Heresy), and then Green, Black and Silver (Post-Heresy) once they have fully given themselves over to Nurgle...

"Wizkids" WIPs - The Minotaur has been primed, washed and dry-brushed

In addition to my dalliance with "Games Workshop", I will be ploughing on with some "Wizkids" figures in an effort to help bolster the amount of civilians I can field on the tabletop. Not only do I have a few non-combatants in mind, perhaps to use as simple innocent bystanders or movable objectives, but I've become increasingly aware of owning few non-super-powered civilian forces, such as actual S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers, A.I.M. operatives or Agents of Hydra.

Having recently added to my collection of G.C.P.D. officers, I also want to be able to get some S.W.A.T. forces and U.S. Army soldiers onto my tabletop too. But first, having been badly bitten by the murderous machinations of the Roxxon Energy Corporation's CEO, Dario Agger, in "The Immortal Hulk", I thought I'd paint up the insane industrialist's "Heroclix" alter-ego, the Minotaur...

March 2020 - "Wizkids" once again dominated the month with a plethora of "Heroclix" and "D&D" models

Statistics wise, the past four weeks have proved to be a highly productive March, with my interest in "Dungeons & Dragons" ruling my painting queue and instinctive need to successfully achieve my target tally in the Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge channelling my hobby mojo. Interestingly however, my love of underground tunnel dwellers didn't limit me to just a single manufacturer either, with both "Wizkids" and "Otherworld Miniatures" benefiting from my need to populate a stone-tiled gaming table with some denizens of the deep.

Alongside "Otherworld Miniatures", this period also saw another company rise in my estimation with "Precinct Omega" and their utterly bizarre "Ballmonsters!" range. Surprisingly, I actually managed to finish off an entire team of these weird-looking sporting creatures, and fully expect to have a second squad completed before the year is out.

"Get Out Of My Way. Now"

"All of this hardware is nice... But covering each other is the greatest weapon we have."

This 39mm tall pre-painted "Wizkids” and is miniature number 032a from their Marvel "HeroClix" Secret Invasion range. "Known for his marksmanship with rifles and impressive physique", as well as his "trademark bowler hat", Dugan was working as a circus strongman during the Second World War when he helped Nick Fury escape the Nazis during a mission, and was created by Stan Lee and Jack "King" Kirby for the May 1963 first issue of "Sgt. Fury And His Howling Commandos".

Sliced from his 'clicky' stand with a sharp hobby knife and super-glued to a 40mm circular base, the officer of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage and Law-Enforcement Division) was primed using a couple of coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Blue and shaded in "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade. I then picked out all his straps, holster, quick release buckles, belt pouches, gloves and shoulder insignia with some "Vallejo" White and washed these with Pale Grey.

"Dum Dum" Dugan leads the Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Having looked through the various comic books I own depicting "Dum Dum" I decided to ignore the 'official' "Wizkids" pre-paint colour scheme and also pigment his boots with "Vallejo" White and Pale Grey too. In addition, I applied some "Vallejo" Gold to the model's left shoulder badge, and some "Vallejo" Heavy Red to the war veteran's moustache and hair. Both of these areas were later shaded using a little Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter".

Lastly, I layered the face of "Fury's permanent second-in-command" with "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone, washed it with "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade, and then 'highlighted' it using a dab or two more of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone. As a final touch I painted the Deputy Director's bowler hat with a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

"I should be getting combat pay on this beat!"

There can be no doubt that scale-wise this particular "Heroclix" sculpt is significantly too large for the comic book character. However, considering that Dugan was apparently killed in 1966 whilst on a Black Ops mission, at least according to the "Original Sin" story-line, and subsequently brought back to life as a robot (or rather Life Model Decoy), I don't mind the size discrepancy too much.

Alongside the leader of the Howling Commandos, I have also finished re-painting two more Gotham Policeman figures by "Wizkids". Available as miniature number 001 from their DC  “Heroclix” Hypertime range, the cops were painted in precisely the same method as the first figure I finished last week, with the exception of one having his skin treated to a concoction of "Citadel" Doombull Brown" and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

Top Ten Manufacturers Of 2019 - A "Fantorical" Viewpoint

There can be little doubt that 2019 was a wonderfully surprising year for my painting, with the sudden emergence of several new miniature ranges which somewhat shockingly overshadowed my usual mainstay manufacturers. “Lucid Eye Publications”, “Modiphius Entertainment”, “Fantasy Flight Games”, “Knight Models”, and “Kitbash Games” all arguably came out of nowhere to challenge the annual dominancy of my traditional Big Four - “Warlord Games”, “Wizkids”, “Black Tree Design” and “Games Workshop”, and as a result made this period my most productive ever.

In addition, there was a noticeable increase in the amount of Fantasy-based models I pigmented that weren’t from the Mortal Realms of “Age Of Sigmar”. Science Fiction and super-hero figures have repeatedly governed my hobby-time over the past decade, yet due in large to the characterful sculpts of the “Toon Realms” range, Skeletons, Treemen, Spiders, Knights and assorted forest-bred wildlife increasingly ‘cropped up’ on my online shopping trolley too…

No.10 - "Wizards Of The Coast" - "Star Wars Miniatures Game"

There can be absolutely no doubt that I would never have painted anything concerning either the "Star Wars Miniatures Game" or "Wizards Of The Coast" during this year if it wasn't for the generosity of Phil Curran, who along with a formidable array of other science-fiction based miniatures, kindly gifted me an enormous Commerce Guild Homing Spider Droid and four Super Battle Droids. Indeed, despite owning a significant box full of models from the collectable miniatures tabletop game, I have predominantly focused on simply re-basing the figures in the past, not re-painting them. However, I felt it was only right to put my brush-tip to these lovely sculpts as soon as possible, and score some much needed points during the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge as well.

No.9 - "Crooked Dice Games Design Studio" - "7TV"

Despite having played numerous games of "7TV" by "Crooked Dice Games Design Studio" when the "cinematic style" skirmish game first came out several years ago, it wasn't until the end of 2019, with the release of "7TV: Apocalypse", that I finally became enamoured with its second edition. As a result, except for a quartet of Gabriel Hounds, I barely picked away at the Lincolnshire-based company's range until the very end of the year, when I finally finished a partially-painted female X-Commando who had been lurking in my queue for months, as well as their excellent Protoplasmic Terrors.

No.8 - "Reaper Miniatures" - "Chronoscope"

Whilst my plans to host a campaign loosely set in James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet's mid-25th century “Gamma World” never materialised, the science fantasy world did encourage me to pigment a plethora of models from "Reaper Miniatures" Chronoscope range. These varied from some distinctly "Dungeons And Dragons" stalwarts, such as the Gelatinous Cube, Stone Golem and Mind-Eater, through to some surreal adventurers, like Sherlock Holmes and a Deep Sea Diver, as well as the formidable "Bones" sculpt of Ape-X.

No.7 - "Warlord Games" - "Doctor Who: Exterminate!"

Quite possibly the biggest disappointment of 2019 was the utter lack of new releases by "Warlord Games" for their "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" Miniatures Game. Admittedly, this absence of fresh sculpts did offer the opportunity for me to pigment my quite considerable backlog of time travelling figures, but without the persistent 'buzz' of new foes to fight I soon found my enthusiasm dwindling for what is a somewhat overly-clunky rule-set. As a result, perhaps my most notable success was completely painting the range's "Tomb Of The Cybermen" set, complete with its Cyber-Leader for the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Challenge.

No.6 - "Fantasy Flight Games" - "Star Wars: Legion"

Undoubtedly one of the biggest surprises of the year, especially considering how poorly my attempt to paint the Minnesota-based company's previous "Star Wars" game had gone, was the sheer number of figures I completed for "Star Wars: Legion" by "Fantasy Flight Games". Initially wowed by the attention to detail on the range's dynamically-posed Wookie Warriors, I soon transferred my attention over to the Dark Side of the Force, by applying my brush-tip to the likes of General Maximilian Veers, some Imperial Royal Guards, a complete squad of Imperial Death Troopers and Emperor Palpatine himself.

No.5 - "Games Workshop" - "Age Of Sigmar"

Two significant-sized projects lead to me pushing through a considerable number of "Games Workshop" models for "Age Of Sigmar". On the one hand I added enough Bloodletters and Heralds of Khorne to allow me to field a 1,000-point strong Blades Of Khorne army for the miniature game's second edition, and on the other I stubbornly forced myself to complete enough of the Nottingham-based manufacturer's overly-complicated plastic figures to deploy an Iron Golem warband for "Warcry".

No.4 - "Wizkids" - "Heroclix"

Ever a stable part of my annual output, my interest in super-hero based gaming surprisingly didn’t really ‘take off’ until somewhat late in the year, with my sudden determination in October to clear my painting queue of eight old(ish) Ultron Drone figures. Before that point I had simply been 'picking away' at the pre-painted plastic figures, momentarily fixating upon the Spaceknight Firefall's fearsome battle against a clutch of Dire Wraiths, before flitting over to the odd "HorrorClix" miniature such as the Reaper of Souls and a Carnage Bot.

No.3 - "Modiphius Entertainment" - "Star Trek Adventures"

Having become increasingly frustrated by the extraordinarily long delays affecting their Robert E. Howard’s Conan Role-Playing Game Kickstarter, which was supposedly meant to deliver in June 2016, I actually once swore I would never buy another “Modiphius Entertainment” product again. But then the London-based manufacturer released their “Star Trek Adventures” miniatures and I quickly found myself neck deep in Borg drones. Two fully-painted boxes of the Collective later, as well as a half-strength raiding party of Romulans, and even I must admit that the 32mm scale resin figures had an enormously positive impact upon my productivity during 2019.

No.2 - "Black Tree Design" - "Doctor Who"

Enthused by a lengthy series of battles using some homemade rules and my desire to potentially field numerous opposing factions, as well as an increasingly nostalgic love of classic “Doctor Who”, it was perhaps inevitable that I would continue to steadily work my way through this ageing company’s (back) catalogue. A formidable force of Sharaz Jek Androids, Silurians and Monoids all helped motivate me throughout the year, and even kept my passion going when the delivery service of “Black Tree Design” left a lot to be desired, courtesy of some incredibly poor communications and month-long delays.

No.1 - "Lucid Eye Publications" - "Toon Realms"

Perhaps my biggest success of 2019 was the completion of a small-sized Undead army for my “Lord Of The Toons” project using the “Dragon Rampant” rule-set. Produced by “Lucid Eye Publications”, a company I was initially utterly oblivious to, this force of skeletons and spiders greatly contributed to my success during the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, and maintained much of its momentum for almost the entirety of the year due to a positively frantic release schedule. A genuine surprise genre, this particular range also got me as close to doing batch-painting as I have been in almost a decade of hobbying…

"Officer! What The Hell --?!"

"I was just wondering why you didn't leave these late calls to your men!"

This 28mm scale pre-painted plastic model of a Gotham Policeman was produced by “Wizkids” and is miniature number 001 from their DC  “Heroclix” Hypertime range. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger for "DC Comics", the G.C.P.D is led by Commissioner Gordon, and services Gotham City. "Typically depicted in stories featuring the superhero Batman" as both an ally and opponent of the caped crusader, the department has "long been steeped in corruption, with numerous officers both high-and-low ranking, involved in bribery and even more serious offences such as drug-smuggling and murder."

Chopped from it's 'clicky' stand and permanently attached to a 25mm circular base, I carefully removed the sculpt's sergeant stripes from its left sleeve with a sharp modelling knife as I wanted the figure to simply be a generic law officer. The cop was then primed using a couple of coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Blue and shaded in "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade.

"Wizkids" WIPs - Another four "Heroclix" Gotham Policeman models are in the painting pipeline

The policeman's boots, holster, baton and pistol were 'picked out' with some "Citadel" Abaddon Black, whilst his firearm was later treated to a combination of Ironbreaker and (an old OOP pot of) Badab Black. I used some "Vallejo" Gold for the flatfoot's belt buckle, shoulder badge and cap badge, and subsequently washed these areas with a little Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter".

Having previously painted a few of this particular model seven years ago, and having five on the painting table currently, I thought I'd try to mix up the cops' ethnicities a little bit more than before. So decided that the skin colour of this latest recruit to my burgeoning Police Department would comprise of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone and "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade. As a final touch the lawman's facial features and fingers were 'highlighted' with a little (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone.

"Heroclix" WIP - Dum Dum Dugan is slowly having all his white straps and pouches 'picked out'.

Not only am I planning on getting these Gotham Policemen ready to help tackle a Dire Wraith invasion of Earth campaign I have planned (using my homemade rule-set "M.I.S.S."), but they'll also hopefully prove useful as I reacquaint myself with my first true full-on wargaming love, Marvel Super Heroes: The Heroic Role-Playing Game by "TSR". This role playing game absolutely floored me when it was first released in 1984, and I still remember my excitement when I discovered the American gaming company had released an expanded edition, entitled the Marvel Superheroes Advanced Game, just a couple of years later.

The initial module "Day Of The Octopus" features Spider-Man, The Thing, Captain America and Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), so my plan is to try and own painted miniatures of all the characters involved in this game adventure. However, where I can't or haven't the time, I'll instead be using the system's card-board stand-up figures, in an effort to try and create that Eighties feel to some of our games.

"During The Spellplague Of 1385 DR, The Walking Statue Appeared..."

 "...And rampaged through the city."

This 300mm tall "quality pre-painted plastic" model of the Walking Statue of Waterdeep: The Honorable Knight is produced by “Wizkids” and is available as part of their "Dungeons & Dragons" Icons of the Realms Miniatures range. Resembling a warrior in plate armour with a sword and shield, this stone construct towered over the city of Waterdeep at 57′ 3″ in height, and eventually settled in the Crown of the North's Trades Ward.

A "premium" product comprising of a separate sword and shield, I had initially hoped the model might fit on a "Citadel" 170mm x 105mm oval stand, and ordered one from "Games Workshop" post-haste. However, upon arrival it was clear that the miniature was so tall that it needed a substantially larger base if it wasn't going to topple over all the time. As a result I reattached it to the 175mm clear plastic circular base it came with, and simply primed that with some "Citadel" Abaddon Black, having first gritted it with modeller's sand.

"When stopped, the statue bowed to those who had battled it."

Managing to resist the temptation to assemble the enormous figure prior to painting, all three of its components were given a double coat of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, and washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil. Whilst this shading phase was reasonably straightforward for both the Walking Statue's 255mm long sword and 160mm long shield, the actual Honorable Knight himself proved a bit more difficult to evenly cover on account of all his joints and crannies.

Once completed though, each piece was heavily dry-brushded with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey, and then slowly treated to multiple applications of "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green and Agrax Earthshade to suggest some extreme weathering. This was a patient process, as I not only applied the washes with a brush, but also a sponge, tissue and my fingers so as to try and make the grunge look as organic as possible. In addition, a mixture of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, Nuln Oil and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade was occasionally added to the concoction for some of the deeper crevices.

My output for the Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - 508 Points

I then applied a second (significantly lighter) dry-brush of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey over the entire ensemble, before using some heavily watered-down "Vallejo" Heavy Green on some patches of moss and weeds, which clearly over time had grown on the statue. These areas were later shaded using some "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. Finally, the Knight's bird nest was 'picked out' using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. This excellent little detail was later dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna.

With my Walking Statue completed, and 60 more points bagged, I've now passed my 500 point target tally for the Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, and can finally put my paint-brushes down for a day or two. Despite the fact that I get an awful lot painted during this event, this'll probably be my last, as I find the constant need to be posting fully-pigmented miniatures quite tiring after a while. Plus, I've barely rolled a dice in anger for the majority of 2020 so far, and the year is already almost a quarter spent... 

"There’s No Hard Proof These Creatures Exist."

"There are hundreds of footprints and thousands of sightings."

This 64mm tall plastic model of an Abominable Snowman is produced by “Wizkids” and is promotional miniature number WK-005. Based upon the "folkloric ape-like creature taller than an average human, that is said to inhabit the Himalayan mountains" this exclusive figure was actually produced for the New Jersey-based company's 2015 Holiday Monthly Organised Play Kit, and was accompanied by both its character card and an instruction sheet for participating retailers that wanted to sponsor the event in their store.

Generally regarded by the scientific community "as a legend, given the lack of evidence of its existence", the model was initially primed using a couple of coats of "Vallejo" White, and later treated to a splash of Pale Grey. To be honest, although I'm a big fan of this "Vallejo" transparent acrylic wash, the Pale Grey does tend to noticeably bubble whilst drying, and can resultantly leave something of a disagreeable dusty look to a miniature.

"...Other locations may be compromised as well."

In an effort to avoid this, I therefore carefully applied the "Vallejo" Pale Grey in slow downward strokes, so as to minimise any of the aforementioned bubbling. The Yeti was then enthusiastically dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo White, and had its face, fingers and toes layered with "Citadel" Abaddon Black.

These areas were later treated to a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey and (a double dose of) "Citadel" Nuln Oil, before delicately dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey. Finally, I dotted the shaggy beast's incredibly tiny eyes with a couple of dots of "Vallejo" Heavy Red, and applied some White to its teeth. These gnashers were subsequently stained with a little "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

"Wizkids" WIPs - Five "Heroclix" G.C.P.D. figures are at various stages of completion

With the Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge finally coming to an end, and the last of my entrants sat patiently upon a shelf awaiting posting, I've had an opportunity to start planning out some of the genres and rule-sets I want to hit my tabletop with for the rest of the year. Disappointingly, I haven't yet managed to publish a single Battle Report during 2020 and therefore 'spotlight' some of the many different games I'm currently playing or learning the ropes to, such as "Warcry" by "Games Workshop" and "7TV" by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio".

Perhaps unsurprisingly therefore, having recently finished adding to my "Heroclix" Dire Wraith invasion force, the first thing I've decided upon is to set-up a small campaign based upon the "Marvel Worldwide" extraterrestrial species attempting to conquer the Earth using my homemade rules "M.I.S.S." This should make things pretty straightforward to organise and encourage me to finally complete some more plastic "Wizkids" miniatures which have been sat patiently waiting in the aisles for ages, like some additional G.C.P.D. figures to use as generic police officers...

"A Black Pudding Attacks By Grabbing And Squeezing Their Prey."

"The pudding can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings..."

This 28mm scale pewter model of a Black Pudding is produced by "Otherworld Miniatures", and can be bought as Code DM7b from their range of Dungeon Monsters. Hand-sculpted by Paul Muller, the creature made its first appearance in the 1974 "Dungeons & Dragons" set and "resembles a bubbling, heaped pile of thick, black, pudding-like goo, roughly fifteen feet across and two feet thick."

As with the Hertfordshire-based manufacturer's Green Slime, I found the "nasty, oozing creature that haunts caverns and dungeons, seeking unwary denizens to prey upon" to actually overlap the edges of its accompanying "50mm round plastic slotta-base", so ended up super-gluing it to a 60mm circular base instead. I then applied a double basecoat of "Citadel" Abaddon Black over the "mindless, underground-dwelling scavenger" and heavily dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal.

"That's what we're up against... An alien beast that calls itself a Dire Wraith!"

Finally, I drowned the Black Pudding in "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I actually found this particular 'figure' rather underwhelming, as although it has some nice detail, it is incredibly flat for an underground creature which "secretes a digestive acid that dissolves organic material and metal quickly." "Wizkids" produced a far more dynamic-looking, almost swirling version as part of their Monster Menagerie Set 2, but I have been unable to source a reasonably priced one yet...

Speaking of "Wizkids" and their pre-painted plastics, I have also pigmented eight of their 31mm tall plastic Dire Wraiths. Still potentially available as number 010a from the "Marvel" Guardians Of The Galaxy "Heroclix" range, these shape-shifting aliens "are an evolutionary offshoot of the Skrulls from the Andromeda Galaxy" and were created by Bill Mantlo and Al Milgrom for the December 1979 issue of "Rom".

"Not only Earth, but the entire Cosmos will be cleansed of you -- "

Once the models were removed from their clicky-bases and super-glued onto 40mm circular bases, they were all primed with two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and heavily washed with "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. The extra-terrestrial opponents of Rom the Spaceknight were then dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Red.

Each Wraith's pair of eyes were 'picked out' first with some "Citadel" Abaddon Black, and then a tiny spot of "Vallejo" Heavy Ochre. As I wanted the "Skrullian Deviants" pupils to particularly stand out, I didn't bother shading them, and instead simply tidied their edges up with some additional "Citadel" Abaddon Black and "Vallejo" Heavy Red.