Marvel Crisis Protocol WIP!

Howdy Everyone!

Just want to give a quick update on yet another new project, the ultimate Marvel Crisis Protocol!

I can't tell you how awesome it is to have a Marvel Miniatures game (that is much more approachable than Knight Models' take on superheroes). Marvel is my jam, Cap is one of my favorite superheroes, and the minis are spectacular.

If they ever make X-Men in this game I may just have a heart attack!

Anyway, I made a good amount of progress for this game:

That's a shot of my tabletop standard for 6 models. I tried to get the colors blocked in enough in as few sessions as possible to get something actually going on the table for once. Since then I've run out of steam for a bit, but I'm excited to get back on it.

Here are some details:

HULK

Primed with Vallejo Grey - it's actually nearly white, for brighter colors I've been preferring this over white lately so things don't get "neon" on the first pass.

Here I did a basecoat of Vallejo Goblin Green.

Here I heavily shaded with a mix of Goblin Green/Dark Green.

Then I recaptured some highlights with Goblin Green.

Then I added more highlights with Scorpion Green.

Lastly I hit it up with Scorpion Green/Cadmium Yellow.

With one more final pass of the same mix to emphasize the highlights.

Lastly, to get it tabletop ready, I blocked in the major areas so that it's passable!

SPIDEY

Primed with grey.

Basecoat with Blue, then highlighted a mix of Blue/Electric Blue with a final subtle highlight of Electric Blue. I did this so that there was a large amount of contrast between the basecoats and what I paint on with a brush to give it that Comic feel later.

Here I blocked in the major areas, like GW Foundation Mechrite Red, Cold Grey and P3 Sanguine for the girder.

I then highlighted the red with GW Blood Red

Hard to tell from the pic, but I then highlighted with GW Orange (forget the name). I also painted the chest logo and eyes.

Here I carefully used GW Nuln Oil to line the webbing, then shaded the eyes with GW Space Wolf Grey

And then I cleaned up the base rim, table ready!

Spidey and Hulk ready to rock!

I felt like getting more terrain ready for the game, so I took some old unpainted containers from Reaper I've had for a while and did a super quick paint job on them.

BLACK WIDOW/BLACK PANTHER

I didn't take any WIP pics until after I got to this point of table-ready for Black Widow, but essentially the black was Black/Somber Grey. The hair was Mechrite Red/Golden Skin Highlight, and the yellows were GW Goldbrown/White with a wash of Burnt Umber.

I painted Black Panther at the same time as Black Widow just to get the suit done. I love this model, I can't wait to work more on him.

CAPTAIN AMERICA/CAPTAIN MARVEL

I basecoated the blue for these guys the same way I did spidey, I think I emphasized the Electric Blue a touch more. If I could go back I think I would have added white for the final highlight, especially on Captain Marvel.

With Cap being one of my favorites I had to start working on him for more details. I blocked in all his colors to get him table ready. Initially I had his gloves and boots red, but decided to go with brown because I prefer his more practical soldier looks than the comic imitations. Plus, there are a lot of Red/Blue heroes in this box and wanted him to stand apart from Spidey and Marvel.

For the leather I did my usual red leather mix of Woodgrain/Orange Brown/Dark Sand that I've covered before.

I then painted all the skin, white areas, and banding on his torso. I'd read that folks had issues with the lines being shallow/gone, and I thought I'd be able to weather through it but in practice it was really difficult to see them. I have to clean some of these areas up later, but for now it will do.

I also started on the shield's gleams. I hadn't done anything like this on a round surface before for NMM, and generally I steer away from red NMM because it's difficult to keep it from going pink too much.

What ended up happening was that I wasn't committing to the size of the gleams being large when I should have, and ended up having the really burst-y pattern you see above. I was pretty unhappy with it but saw what was working and what wasn't, and decided to start over.

Boy am I glad I did...

When I repainted the base coat I said to myself that I need to go big in order to make it work. I kept it to 5 major "bursts" with a few lines extra. When I started laying in the highlights it was beginning to look awesome.

The technique itself is actually super simple, and I thought I was going to have to work harder to get the colors to blend. I hadn't done any glazes at this point and thought it looks well enough already and just left it as it is. I can clean up some areas, and widen the highlights a bit more at the shield's edges, but really it's good enough.

For the red I used GW Mechrite Red, Blood Red, then added Golden Skin Highlight. Using skin tones in reds helps it from going too pink and gives a more realistic tone when doing NMM.

The greys are all Cold Grey/White.

Like I said, super simple.

I can't wait to finish his blue uniform, then he's really going to stand out.

For this game I got myself a city mat from Frontline Gaming. I have other 3x3 mats but none fit the aesthetic of the game as most are for Malifaux, and I really wanted that city setting.

I slapped on some Battle Systems terrain as well as some other stuff to get an idea of a layout I'd like.

Later on I built some more of the Battle Systems terrain more to the liking of the mat, and I'm still deciding on adding more elements.

I also got some inexpensive die cast vehicles in 1/43 scale from Amazon to get some cool looking cars on the table without having to paint more stuff.

Also, scales in die cast vehicles are about as consistent as women's clothing sizes. As in, they are not at all.

Here you see the dump truck I got that is super cool. It's very small in scale when you look at the cab in comparison to the models, but it works out well in terms of game size. The pictures make it look much smaller than it really is, and the lighting washes out the models.

I got this SUV and it's probably the closest to the actual needed scale of the models.

Behind it you can see the sedan I got, along with the dumpster that came with the truck. The car is just super tiny. It technically can work for the game but it's not 1/43 at all, and may barely work for the Walking Dead instead.

Anyway, that's all for now, hope you've enjoyed the update!

10,000 Views! 100 Posts! Terrain! Frostgrave! Words! Emotions!

MERCS Shantyville

First off, this blog has finally hit 10,000 views! Thanks to everyone who stops by for a hobby fix. I know there are blogs out there who hit this probably monthly, but it's still a pretty cool milestone for a little ol' gamer like me. This is also my 100th post. This blog has always been something I did to simply track my hobby progress, it's an added bonus to hit achievements like this.

Anyway, lots of progress in terms of terrain. First off my buddy Mike and I had a hobby build day on Saturday. With his extensive know how and my good looks/charm we managed to get this thing built:

So much awesome...

Now when I say "we" I mean almost entirely "he," as this is his forte and I have little to no experience working with wood. We had been discussing doing something of a build last week and the topic of folding boards came up. A folding board is something I've wanted for about five years, ever since I first read about a build in the Privateer Press forums. I can't find the original link, but below is a picture of it:

I don't know who made it, but it's pretty spectacular

In that example he made the fold pretty seamless. The entire board is made up of Hirst Arts molds, which made it extremely heavy. It is semi-bare with more or less cosmetic elevation changes to add interest, but a Warmachine table is generally pretty void of terrain by necessity.

Not having much experience with wood working has kept my grand plans at bay, but Mike volunteered to put his knowledge to work. On Saturday we got a few materials and he went to town on the dead trees.

He had kept this idea as a prototype for future folding tables, trying to see if there were any snags or problems he'd come across. It seemed to go pretty smoothly and he had it done in about 4 hours time, which included going to buy materials and me distracting him as much as possible.

This thing turned out pretty sweet and is pretty heavy, which is something that comes with the territory. It's super strong, and I have no worries about carrying it around and falling apart or anything.

We made a 3x3 board, which is a good size to have as it's the most common size for the games we play. Also keeping it 3x3 lowers the weight to a minimum, as this thing is pretty heavy as it is and can take up the whole back seat of my car. It shouldn't have a problem for my trunk, though, I just have too many items in there to store this in right now.

I plan on making a Frostgrave inspired board with this and I am super excited. I'm picturing a frozen dockside city, complete with several elevations and resin water effects. I've spent a long time thinking about what I'd build on a folding table and I used to almost always picture a canal city, inspired by Carnevale boards (that game has such a cool aesthetic!), and a frozen version of that seems appropriate. It's most likely going to be composed mostly of pink insulation foam for all the layers and to keep it light. I also plan on using paint rather than flock for the snow effects. This keeps is much less messy and shouldn't rub off as much. Using an airbrush for snow drift effects and stippling on white should do the trick, and if need be I can add some extra stuff. If I can find an appropriate model it would be cool to have a sunken boat frozen in the water as well. This board can work for Frostgrave, Malifaux, and any other Fantasy based game or RPG easily so it works well as a prototype. Also shaping and sculpting stonework with pink foam is very easy so it keeps the barrier low on building skills.

Also I spent a bit of time punching out more cardboard from my Battle Systems Kickstarter and made another building. I quickly set up a MERCS table using the Shanty Town bits on my 2x3 mat from the Terminator game.

I'm still pretty over the moon about this terrain set. It works so well on so many levels - I quickly put this together with no real idea of what I wanted to make, I'd just put walls and stuff together bit by bit.

Also notice the Tail Feathers board game in the background, just got that one last week!

This stuff easily fills up a MERCS board, maybe a bit much for some but I don't see how it can cause much of a problem in a game. A few things here and there would make it more playable, like eliminating the railings in a few spots, but overall it's playable as it is.

I just love the visual interest it provides, not to mention this all packs away very quickly and is the opposite of heavy. I know that this is one of those things that should you see being played will instantly draw your attention. Terrain like this is what got me interested in the hobby in the first place, as to me the hobby has always been visuals above all other aspects. 

Another thing I had done over the weekend was get my Frostgrave warband together to figure out what I'd need to paint to finish it. I haven't seen some of these models in years as I had painted them over 6-7 years ago. They are still pretty interesting to look at and it's always stimulating to take a glance back and see how you've improved on painting over time. I've figured out that I only have to paint the apprentice and a warhound to have a finished warband, so one day I'll need to get to it. We have four or five players getting ready to jump in on this campaign, it's going to be a fun ride!

Anyway that's what I've been up to, until next time keep calm and paint on!

Battle Systems Terrain Review!!!

MERCS bounding down the street

YESSSSSSSSS!

So last year in September I pitched in for my first Kickstarter, the amazing terrain from Battle Systems with a post apocalyptic theme. I was floored with their City Block and took the plunge almost immediately. Then they revealed the Shanty Town add on and I was in even further. It was a perfect offering for what I've been looking for in terms of modern/futuristic terrain for several games, most notably MERCS, but also for The Walking Dead Kickstarter that should be coming in soon.

My first attempt at a simple building

I eagerly opened the 20lb box for all the cardboard goodness. I was pretty amazed at how much fit into such a small package, there's plenty of terrain just in the core boxes alone. Then there's all the free stuff, the add ons and scatter terrain they fit on almost all the sheets. It's definitely got value, but most importantly it's an easy way to have great looking terrain for any board without the time and skill needed to devote to either scratch-built or unpainted terrain.

More coverage with experimentation

I began by making very simple builds just to see how the various pieces worked. I didn't pop out a good portion of the pieces as I didn't want to have tons of stuff not built and have to rummage around later to find them. There are so many things that add even more realism to the board like furniture scatter terrain, different types of stairs and crates, and even dilapidated walkways. I hardly touched the Shanty Town stuff as I wanted to make more complex buildings and walkways with it.

I opted to try filling out the regular street mat as it seemed to be the easier one to quickly fill out. It doesn't require as many floor tiles as they are printed on the mat, and the squares provided a quick guide toward my build. The greatest part about this mat is that you can build so many different layouts, an incredible testament to the creators' planning. You can make the floor parts into pavement using their roof squares, you can use a floor panel to cover the roads to make bigger interiors, and if you have enough stuff you can make the entire mat as an internal building! I really want to make a cool mansion using the walkways, as an entirely interior MERCS game seems really unique (not to mention other games, like Zombicide or Walking Dead, to make a Resident Evil type of board!).

Full coverage of the 2x2 mat

Here you can see I added quite a bit more stuff, including a wrecked-out building on the bottom left and a small type of outpost at the top. I probably spent a few hours building it at most, but this included opening, studying and popping out the terrain - I anticipate getting very quick at building these in the future.

So much awesome, it's better than anything I could make and much faster

It's like Legos for terrain and it can get dizzying with the amount of options you have. Once you get into it your imagination runs wild with the possibilities. I kept everything fairly standard, but I already see myself making some really cool stuff now that I know how it works all together. 

The fences provide quick ways of LOS blocking while pieces like the Park Bench and Barricades add tons of flavor you don't normally see on a board

I got a total of 3 different mats, a regular City one, a mat that looks like a Desert landscape and one that is a transition between the two. If I include my Deadzone 2x2 mat I can make a 4x4 table if needed and definitely can fit these on my 3x3 mats. The sets go extremely well together, as their different visuals create a lot of interest together while having several qualities shared between the two.

Air Condition Units provide easy cover on roofs while adding in a realistic touch

Although I don't have any pictures of it I did create a house using their Suburban House add on that fits well enough in games like Malifaux as it has a certain aesthetic that can fit in on Western boards (as long as you don't include the garage). I wasn't fond of it when it was first revealed during the project run, but an image of a fully built house on the desert mat had me sold.

This is an incredible build by the creators to show its versatility, the house easily fits into Malifaux

 Waiting almost a full year for this stuff has been agonizing, but regular updates and nearly daily responses to the comments section gave me full confidence on receiving their product. I had already researched their previous Kickstarter projects and saw that they had a great reputation already built. They always had timely updates, responded to almost every individual question and put out their stuff in a timely fashion - something that not many Kickstarters are able to achieve. This time was no exception and arrived within a few weeks of the projected delivery date. Delays are always expected but this one exceeded my expectations.

These stairs are not only impressive visually but provide great function as you can stand miniatures on every step

I may be performing MERCS demos in October and plan on building up a few layouts for them. This stuff makes it easy to transport and build on arrival with some planning. I'm able to transport this stuff in a small container should I need to, and I'm pretty sure I'm able to get more efficient with it in the future.

Cat for scale

One of the main reasons why I love this stuff is how easily you're able to add elevation into your games with it. Elevation is one of those things that gets ignored when building tables, as in a lot of rules sets it may not be elegantly handled and creates issues while playing (I'm looking at you, Malifaux!). However is a lot of modern to futuristic games, notably shooters, elevation is key to creating an interesting game. A simple slight adjustment to floor levels alone creates visual interest, but also can change how you approach movement in a game. Interiors are another point of contention for gaming, but I love going into buildings for shoot outs as it creates a whole different dynamic to how you attack. One minute you're safe, another a model pops out to shoot you point blank range! And with this stuff you're able to access every single level with ease. This was something I found lacking with TerraClips, a similar product I've talked about a while back, where although you're able to create multi level stuff it's not exactly locked in place and stable. This stuff stays in place very well and is very strong, I have full confidence in my models being on the roof.

Cat for lulz

I hardly touched any scatter items that were included as I concentrated on items that added the most bulk on a table. The ones I did build were pretty incredible in their design considering they're all made on two dimensions. I was particularly surprised at items like the dumpsters and the park bench, they help create a more lived in space for such a small item. My only minor issue with the dumpsters and the big crate are that you will have to use glue if you want their lids to stay on, which I'll eventually do. It's not major at all, and some will want to keep the lids off, but for someone like me who's not planning on keeping them that modular will have to add more work into it. For the most part, however, you're not going to need glue at all. The stairs are really snug when put together, something I worried about when I first saw them. The stairs that came with the TerraClips system were a nightmare for me, as their fit was not good at all and kept coming apart while I was building them. These ones not only look better but fit so well that I just leave them in the box without any glue and have full confidence that they will never come apart.

If you're familiar with making card terrain at all then you'll realize that using a marker or pen on the edges will help enhance the look of the terrain significantly. I had purchased some decent artist markers in preparation of the build for this reason. I've mostly used black and brown, with some maroon and blue for some parts. This greatly improves the look and hides the fact that it's all made of cardboard for the most part. A lot of the parts like walls actually match their edges well enough that it's not entirely necessary to use the markers on. I'm sure that you can make them look even better with it, but I didn't find it to be distracting on the walls or lighter pieces of terrain like the AC Units. On some scatter it was completely necessary to elevate the terrain, like the lookout post (not pictured), crate or the park bench. You'll mostly find that on the darker pieces you'll want to use your marker, as the lightly colored card edges will stand out most with those.

Some decent lanes of fire for the FCC House 9

Of course I had to pose some miniatures on this stuff, it just begs for it.

I love this stuff!

Overall I expected this stuff to be the bee's knees, and it did not disappoint. It should be available for retail purchase on their web store by the end of September, I highly recommend getting some yourself if, like me, you find your terrain priorities getting pushed to the back burner due to time and other hobby needs (like thousands of unpainted minis!). They come from the UK, so shipping may be an issue, but it's one of the few times I find it worth the extra price. Soon they'll have another Kickstarter for their Sci-Fi line, I'm sure it will fit in nicely with the Urban sets. Once I build more layouts I'll post more pics!