Blake's Seven - "The Way Back" - WIP - Part Five

Having re-watched a few of the early episodes of the British Science Fiction Television series “Blake’s Seven” in recent days I’ve managed to make a bit more progress on these two Freedom Fighter models by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio”. Unfortunately this has actually meant a bit of a re-paint for both models as I realised that the planned colour schemes I was following for them were somewhat at odds to the costumes worn by Vila and Jenna in the stories “Time Squad” and “Mission To Destiny”.

As a result the all-purple look I had planned to give my female Freedom Fighter has been changed to red, and the light brown outfit of Vila has been replaced with a much darker costume, with dark blue and purple-pink sleeves. I’ve even changed the colour of the thief’s toolbox to the red and grey of the televised episode.

This also seems to be a time of great challenges in the blog painting world, two of which have certainly caught my attention. The more time-consuming one is undoubtedly going to be “The Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge” by Curt over on his “Analogue Hobbies” blog: http://analogue-hobbies.blogspot.co.uk

This looks set to be four months of painting mayhem as I try and paint up 500 points worth of models; a somewhat tough target bearing in mind I’ll only receive 5 points for every 28mm foot figure I paint during this time. Fortunately there will be a few themed submissions which will earn me extra points, and frankly I think I’m going to need to rely upon these to get the job done. Two of the themes will be ‘Hot’ and ‘Anti-Hero’, so I’ve already selected and based two “Heroclix” models for them. Indeed I think I’ll be spending a fair bit of time over the next few weeks getting models prepared and primed ready for the start date of 5^th December. The Hulk figure is actually one of two of the same model I’ll be painting as part of the challenge so I can send one to Curt as my (anti-hero) Challenge entrance fee.

The third model I’m currently pottering about with is Devil Dinosaur, a “Marvel Comics” character created by Jack “King” Kirby. Michael over at the “28mm Victorian Warfare” blog is having another Dinovember: http://28mmvictorianwarfare.blogspot.co.uk

I’m rather committed at present what with both Mo’vember and Oldhammer but I thought it was such a cracking idea that I couldn’t help but dig out the bright red Tyrannosaurus Rex and show my support by giving the rather large plastic model a lick of paint.

“The Crime Isss Life. The Sssentenssse Isss Death!”

This 28mm metal model of Judge Death was sculpted as part of the October 2012 "Judge Dredd Miniatures Game: Block War" kickstarter by “Mongoose Games” and can be purchased as code JD20125 from "Warlord Games". As there seems to be numerous versions of the Deadworld Judge and as I was using the model as my last (late) submission for Zomtober 2014, I decided to paint him up as the rather putrid decaying version as illustrated in “Judge Dredd: Mega City One Archives Volume Three: Lawbreakers” by “Mongoose Publishing”; albeit I’ve gone with green knee-pads as opposed to bone coloured ones, simply to try and avoid an ‘ivory overload’ with the figure’s uniform.

As the majority of the model was to be black, I gave the figure a double undercoat of “Citadel” Abaddon Black and then used “Vallejo” Heavy Grey for the Dark Judge’s knee-pads and belt. I then washed these with “Citadel” Thrakka Green. For his bone shoulder-pad, pterodactyl shoulder-pad, elbow-pads and belt buckle I used a combination of “Vallejo” Iraqi Sand and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade. I’m not sure I’ll be using the Shade again except on bases, as once again it gave the model a really goopy thick covering, and I was close to repainting the areas and starting again. Fortunately I think the gloss varnish has lightened the areas just enough to hold my ‘Eavy Metal’ syndrome at bay.

“Dying isss good. Dying isss easssy…” Batman and Judge Dredd battle the Dark Judge

I painted Death’s portcullis visor and badge with Boltgun Metal and then simply washed it with Nuln Oil. It was at this stage that I spotted a slight flaw in the sculpting of the model. I’ve seen various pictures of Judge Death with a red trim to his helmet, no trim or a silver trim. This model has the trim etched into the bottom of the helmet at the back but didn’t seem to have any such ‘guiding details’ on the front. As a result I painted a thin line of “Boltgun Metal down the sides of his helmet and then followed the ‘trim groove’ at the back. I then washed the entire colour with more Nuln Oil in order blend it all together.

As I wanted the flesh to be a different colour green from that of the uniform, I undercoated the appropriate areas with “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and then shaded them with “Citadel” Nuln Oil. I then applied a wash of Thrakka Green in order to give the impression of rancid rotting flesh.

I’m also close to finishing this nicely posed “Heroclix” plastic miniature of The Rhino; one of Spider-Man’s more popular supervillains from “Marvel Comics”. Rather than simply slap a dark wash over the miniature’s grey undercoat, and then dry-brush it, I’ve slowly layered wash after wash over the different areas of the model, petering them out as I’ve reached the outer extremities of his limbs.  

'Oldhammer' - Lizardmen Army - WIP - Part One

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been part of the discussions on Space Cow Smith’s excellent “Tales From Farpoint” blog regarding collecting and painting an ‘Oldhammer’ army similar to the method made famous by the old “White Dwarf” series of articles entitled “A Tale Of Four Gamers”. The plan is to run the project for the next six months with the main goal being that every month we paint at least 5-6 miniatures; either ones from our current lead mountain or up to £25 worth of ‘new’ ones. Space Cow Smith has actually created a blog called “A Tale Of Several Gamers” for us to all post our ‘Oldhammer’ themed posts on so if you’re interested or want to take part then I’d recommend you give it a visit at:

A Tale of Several Gamers is Go!

Or simply pop across to “Tales From Fairpoint” at:
http://talesfromfarpoint.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/a-tale-of-several-gamers-is-go.html

As I really wanted to try and capture the spirit of the original “Games Workshop” editorials, I’ve decided to stick to just models made by the British games manufacturer and so have chosen to build a small force based upon the 1996 “Warhammer” Lizardmen Army book.

As a result I scoured Ebay for a reasonably priced small band of Skink Warriors with which to begin my cold-blooded army of Lustria. As one of the challenge’s other goals is to create a force capable of telling a story, I eventually decided to purchase a collection of seven ‘old school’ metal skinks for £15 including postage and packaging. I had promised myself that I wouldn’t spend more than £2 per (foot) miniature but as this auction contained a drummer, standard bearer and a champion I figured it was actually fairly priced. Certainly it was nowhere close to some of the other outrageously high bids other sellers seemed to be anticipating for their half missing partially damaged or horribly painted Lizardmen plastic miniatures.

Admittedly the champion was missing his metal base tab but I recognised him as the Skink model from my Army Book and knew he carried ‘The Favour Of The Gods’. Thus Gluckle the Greedy was born, white skinned with the mark of the Old Ones and destined for greatness. He would be my warband’s leader and take them deep into the ancient tombs and crypts of Lustria to seek his fortune, no matter how many of his followers he lost.

For now I’ve based all of my fledgling regiment and undercoated the majority of the skinks with “Vallejo” Turquoise and then washed them with “Citadel” Asurmen Blue in order to bring out the detail on them. As Gluckle is going to be an albino, I’ve simply painted him white and then, having given him a watered wash of Nuln Oil, applied a layer of Abaddon Black over all the non-flesh areas. I aim to get the majority of these foot soldiers finished by the end of the month, and then hopefully add some Saurus Warriors to my force.

As one of the challenge’s other goals is to actually play some games with the figures, I’m actually hoping to try and go right back to “Citadel Miniatures” beginning and use these figures with the original ‘Mass Combat Fantasy Role-Playing Game’ rules from 1982; albeit using their statistics from the 1996 Army book. I’ll need a second force (for my opponent) at some point in order to do this, so for one or two months during “A tale Of Several Gamers” I also plan to paint up an opposing warband of the Undead. And as Gluckle the Greedy will be pilfering the graves of the ancient dead, that undoubtedly means lots of Mummies… 

“I Need Blood. I Need Strength. I Demand Power!”

This 28mm plastic “Wizkids” model of Dracula is number 12 from the “Heroclix” Marvel Amazing Spider-Man range and is the first of my five submissions for the Mo’vember 2014 challenge Dick Garrison is running over on his blog “Rantings From Under The Wargames Table”. The sculpt is actually based upon the Lord of Vampires from the Seventies “Marvel Comics” title “Tomb Of Dracula”. He was drawn by Gene Colan, and actually sketched to resemble the features of actor Jack Palance with a thin moustache. Rather than simply leave the majority of the model black I tried to replicate some of the colours employed by comic colorist Glynis Wein during her time on the book.

As a result Dracula’s suit was painted with “Vallejo” Heavy Blue and then washed twice with “Citadel” Nuln Oil to give it a dark shadowy look. I applied a similarly heavy wash to the vampire’s shoes, once I’d given them a coat of Adeptus Battlegrey. I originally just used “Vallejo” Heavy Red for the inside of the figure’s cloak. But then saw a few illustrations of the comic book character which showed the entire upper part of the garment to be red. Deciding I wanted the model to be as colourful as I could, I went back and simply painted the whole area red before applying a glaze of “Citadel” Bloodletter to it. I’m not actually a big fan of this glaze and how it looks when applied to “Vallejo” Heavy Red, but what it does do is make a very ‘stickable’ surface for an application of the “Citadel” Shade Carroburg Crimson. I think this particular shade works very well, and really gave some shadowry depth to the cloak’s red.

If you're interested in "Tomb Of Dracula" by "Marvel Comics" then a review of Issue 9 can be found on my daily American Comics blog here: http://thebrownbagaeccb.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/tomb-of-dracula-9-marvel-comics.html

In the meantime I have been persevering with this “Judge Death” miniature by “Mongoose Publishing” and finally got the model to the stage where I simply need to tidy up the odd area here and there before applying a protective coat of gloss varnish to it. Unfortunately it’s going to be a little late for the official end of Zomtober 2014, but I’m determined to complete it now the end is in sight.

In addition, I always like a couple of simple and large models to ‘tinker’ with whenever I tire from some of the more precise painting the smaller scales require. As a result I’ve started putting a few coats of paint on these “Heroclix” models of Dragon Man and Lockjaw; the later model being my Mo’vember submission for next weekend.

If you're interested in Mo'vember then please have a look at Dick Garrison's first posting on his blog here: http://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2014/10/31/movember-week-1 

“Chrtt? Chrrt!”

This tiny 28mm plastic “Wizkids” model of a couple of squirrels on a tree stump actually forms part of the pre-painted Squirrel Girl miniature from the “Heroclix” Marvel Captain America range. The mutant super-heroine is actually accompanied by a number of the small rodents, so I’ve painted and based these two to represent Monkey Joe and Mister Freckle. 

Unsurprisingly the model was very simple to paint with the tree stump given a couple of layers of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna and the two squirrels a coat of Heavy Red. Everything was then washed with “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade. There’s actually a third squirrel sculpted onto the shoulders of “Heroclix” miniature number 56 but I thought that one would make an excellent looking Tippy-Toe if I left it where it was and gave it a little greenstuff ribbon. 

I’ve also finally finished painting the five 28mm Thug miniatures from the “Heroclix” Marvel Infinity Challenge set. The figures actually complete the thirteenth and last of my painting challenges for 2014. I’ve previously painted one before but swapped a couple of colours around for some of the models just to slightly break up the monotony. As a result, although all of the trousers were painted with “Citadel” Shadow Grey” and washed with Asurmen Blue, the shirts were given a coat of either “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey or “Citadel” Adeptus Battlegrey before being treated to a wash of “Nuln Oil”. I also used either Dark Flesh or “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna with a “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade wash for their skin.

This week’s Top Ten Miniatures in my painting queue has changed from last week with four new additions. The first two are a couple of the plastic models I plan to paint from my recently arrived “Myth” kickstarter boxed set, and the third is a resin figure from “Ramshackle Games” that has taken me an age to get back ‘on the table’ despite my basing and undercoating the 28mm miniature a few months back. Lastly I’ve based the “Heroclix” Squirrel Girl model which accompanies Monkey Joe.

“A Few Days In Space. What's The Worst That Could Happen?”

This rather tall 28mm plastic “Wizkids” model of Mister Fantastic is miniature number 72 from the “Heroclix” Marvel Clobberin’ Time range. Despite the pose being more in line with the cartoonish Plastic Man from “DC Comics” than the serious scientist Reed Richards, I still think this is a great looking model and has been great fun to paint; albeit it the Fantastic Four emblem on his chest took a fair few attempts before I decided that retreat was the better part of valour.

There seem to have been a variety of different shades of blue used as the colour for the costume of the Fantastic Four over the years, so I decided to simply stick with the dark hue “Wizkids” had already pre-painted the figure with. However, whereas their leader of the famous FF had just been given a very heavy drybrush over a black undercoat, I wanted my Mister Fantastic to tie in with the colour scheme I’d used for the shorts of his team-mate Benjamin Grimm, a.k.a the Thing. As a result I gave the model a couple of coats of “Vallejo” Heavy Blue before applying a double wash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

In between these various applications I desperately tried to keep picking out the circle on his ‘4’ chest emblem with “Vallejo” White. But after more attempts than I care to remember I decided there simply wasn’t enough of the circular border to paint with my brush skills, so simply picked out the number in black and have left it at that… for now at least.

Mister Fantastic and The Thing battle the Mole-Man's Moloids

If you’re interested Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four appear in my latest review of the old “Marvel Comics” 2006 series of “The Thing” here: http://thebrownbagaeccb.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-thing-4-marvel-comics.html

Or if you’re interested in how I painted Ben Grimm then you can find my posting here: http://fantorical.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/its-clobberin-time.html

This is the first of five miniatures I plan to paint as part of a fun Mo’vember challenge with Dick Garrison from over at the “Rantings From Under The Wargames Table” blog. It’s Dracula from the Late Seventies “Marvel Comics” series “Tomb Of Dracula” and depicts the Lord of Vampires, courtesy of some superb art by Gene Colan, with a fine dastardly moustache. Rather lazily I was originally planning on simply painting in the face and hand and finishing there; as the rest of the model’s clothing should be black. But as this character is well-known, in comic-fan circles anyway, for his billowing cloak and suit’s blue highlights, I’ve picked out his suit and trousers with an appropriate colour.

If you’re interested in taking part in Mo’vember then please either leave a comment and link to your website, or visit Dick Garrison’s excellent blog here: http://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com

"No, I'm Coming Back."

This 28mm metal model is one of the two miniatures found within packet Future Freedom Fighters 1 by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio". The retro space liberator is the first of the "Blake's Seven" figures I plan to use for a series of "7TV" games which should hopefully re-enact some of my favourite episodes from the British science fiction television show, starting with the opening story "The Way Back".

To begin with the model was undercoated with "Citadel" Abaddon Black before I applied a coat of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey to the figure's trousers. I then washed this area with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. The belt and pouch were picked out using "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and was washed with "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. I painted the Freedom Fighter's jumper with a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy green and "Citadel" Thrakka Green before applying several thinned coats of "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand" to his shirt.

Originally I then washed the sleeves and collar with more "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade but the shade came out too thickly for my liking and darkened the 'yellow' shirt much too much. As a result I repainted the sleeves, and tidied up the garment's collar with another coat of "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand and then washed all the areas with some watered down "The Army painter" Strong Tine quickshade. The teleportation bracelet was incredibly fiddly with all its buttons so I simply painted it with "Citadel" Boltgun metal, washed it with Nuln Oil and then, as they're supposed to be a tan-copper colour, washed it was Agrax Earthshade. I painted the barrel of the Liberator's hand blaster "Vallejo" White before washing it with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I then drybrushed the weapon to lighten it up and bring out the detail. Finally, I was tempted to just paint the model's hair black, but as I wanted him to be Roj Blake, I dug out an old pot of "Citadel" Dark Flesh and applied a coat of that to this head, along with a liberal wash of Devlan Mud.

As my final miniature for Zomtober 2014 I plan to complete painting this model of Judge Death by "Mongoose Publishing". It's taking some doing as I am finding some of the details to the sculpt to be of a similar standard to the Judges I've previously painted; that is instead of a clean cast some of the figure's edges appear to have been torn away creating a rip-like effect to some parts of the miniature. Nonetheless I've finished painting and inking the Deadworld judge's kneepads and belt, layered his first coat of 'ivory' upon his shoulder pads and elbow pads and finished his belt buckle. I've also picked out his judge's badge and the poor stitching to the top of his uniform.