Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Theophony wrote:I got a Bat Mite ....but he has no legs . I sent a email to figure out how to get a replacement. He just seemed like a fun fig to add to my collection and would be a cool crazy nutter for Necromunda. Loving the Lex corps armor guys .

I think unfortunately you'll struggle to get a replacement, KM don't have any left at all AFAIK. Be great for a fanboy civilian!
The irony is that in the new edition LexCorp are getting merged with crime, two face and black mask, none of which I play, so their appeal is a bit limited - however they're fantastic in DCUMG for filling odd points gaps so that's where they'll likely be used.

youwashock wrote:Lex and his flunkies look ready to kill the alien. Nicely done.

Yup. I plan on hunting Kryptonians with them. Zod et al are in for a shock

Gitsplitta wrote:Go for the gusto graven!

If you say so chief !

Yeah, so, I built stuff:

Pose is modelled on the comic Talia for BMG. She is a little shorter and stockier - 28mm rather than 32mm - and isn't quite right as a true substitute for the real thing (who's a sidekick for Lex) but fine if I ever want a proxy. But the point of the exercise was to practice GS hair - the original head had a bob, so wanted to try and make it longer and flow. She'll be useful as a generic spy type or survivor also.

Speaking of survivors:

May the odds ever be in her favour!
Not sure whether to GS her a pony tail. Just fancied doing an archer survivor and this happened.

Built another multiverse thing, a supercomputer:


Very nice build, quick and easy. Time and again, Multiverse have the best MDF instructions out there.
I reckon my leather clad super spy chick (not-Talia) would go well with it, maybe I should start playing 7TV

And accessorised the phone booth:

A pair of heels, a police baton, a sack (which may have a head on it, haven't decided yet) and some wire for the phone.
As well as graffiti and posters, I'm considering trying something totally new on this. I've been pondering for a while how to get convincing peeling, flaking rust. Crackle media etc never seem to really do it for me, but I wonder about layering paper painted in layers and torn away. Could be time consuming, but interesting. Thoughts?

Eyes on the prize - only 4 DC miniatures to paint! Well, apart from the 3 unbuilt thugs and Rick Flag

Later mes amis,
Graven

Dr H wrote:Nice work. Hair looks the part.

Good additions to the phone-booth.

layered paper = peeling paint/rust sounds interesting. Worth a try, you may come up with a perfect solution.
I'd say use the thinnest paper you can find; layers of paint on this scale are thin...

Cheers. Well it'll be an ongoing experiment. I just think it has potential.

Camkierhi wrote:Great work, phone booth looks interesting, glad we don't have smellavision, by the time you are finished, if it looks like the way I think you are going, it would smell bad, they always do.

Great work on the figures, hair is looking good.

Interesting to see where you go with the rust, have had some success with separating card with moisture.

Ooh, linky? And thanks still debating what body part to have hanging out the bag.

Meanwhile, started Harley Quinn's thugs.

Appalling mould lines. Really shocking. I've only done Bragg's arm so far, repositioned to be putting some punk out of his misery.
However, the puzzle is the colour scheme. They were my original choice for mime goons but actually the diamonds really interfere with that idea. So do I go predominantly black and red? Decisions, decisions.

Meanwhile, the Facebook pages for BMG have gone into total meltdown. I'm hiding

Hey ho
Graven

Yorkright wrote:Green stuff, computers and telephone booth, oh my! Very prolific as of late. Her hair looks good and I think a pony tail would be nice addition.

Thanks, I'm leaning that way too.

Littletower wrote:

Colour me interested. To add to the "possibles" list, maybe half peeled masking fluid, or even a thin layer of PVA glue, are fully lifted on the edges only after dry?

Phone booth (haven't seen a real one in ages, BTW) is looking great!

Cheers! I want to do a couple of free standing ones also, very 70s. Nice suggestion, another variation I considered is super glue onto pva (discussed for wrinkly slime on Yorkright's blog).

Red Harvest wrote:Lex turned out very well. And to echo what Nerdfest said, do some highlights with paint, especially the final ones that are white/near-white. Ands some nice definition and contrast, it does.

Try crepe paper? I have no clue what y'all call it in the UK.

Ta. Will do. I might try to do that on the heavy trooper then go back and do the rest if I like it. Crepe paper was actually my original idea for this, yeah. Just going to experiment.

dsteingass wrote:I like the little MDF phone booths and control console, I cant wait to see them painted up.

Lol me neither

So I found myself gazing on the shelf of shame in despair:


And decided something must be done!
So, started the batpod:


Happy with the cloak. Photos are pretty accurate to how it looks in RL. Early days for the rest. Looking at stills from the movie, really surprised how muddy the tires are. Still, provides some colour contrast (any colour good here).

I have another box coming from KM, and am getting invaded by Camkierhi on Thursday for coffee and terrain - busy days ahead!
Later peeps
Graven

Yorkright wrote: I have been patiently waiting for the batpod to make another appearance. Your shelf is not to bad, my painting area is at the kitchen counter... much to my wifes chagrin.

Yeah I get a row for the R2D2 cookie jar on our counter. I only get away with that because I am cook and tea maker. I too am pleased that batpod has returned

cormadepanda wrote:The Batman is excellent. Well painted cloak too. Curious about the wheels however.

Cheers. It's an experiment, going to try something new.

Dr H wrote:Good start to batpod. Cape looks almost real.

I shall blush...

Theophony wrote:Shelf of shame amatuer . When you reach basement of shame then you have hit the big time.

Oh, I used to have a garage of shame. I've just scaled things back a bit.

Well it's been quite the week.
I got promoted within the work I do for the exam board, so am now King Of Media (well not quite, but still). It's a little bit of extra money, but more than that it's helping shape the evolution and delivery of a subject I love, whilst still being a regular day to day teacher. Much more exciting is wife got a promotion at work to be Queen of the laboratory (well, Technical Manager) which is testament to her hard work - really awesome to see her appreciated. I shall settle for being emasculated by her superior earning power ...

Generally feeling pretty positive. More sleep would help, tiny still being a menace, but hey ho.

Anyway, where was I?
Oh, right, MODELS.

Challenging to photograph colour accurately.
Batpod. The wheels are getting something new, a sort of reverse-highlight, black drybrushed over the brown to create the effect of muddy treads.

Bat himself has had a couple of black washes, whilst highlights have begun on the bike and base.

Hopefully getting a maildrop later. I am cautiously excited about 2nd ed batman, some good streamlining, sensible card layout at last and only one rule change so far I'm not keen on, but don't know when I'll get my hands on the new-new stuff.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hey ho. Need to get some primer on stuff. Got the other 4 Harley goons to do and Trinity which I've picked up from a mate.
Not that I'm an addict
Cheers
Graven

Gitsplitta wrote:That looks really fantastic graven. Man, you nailed it.

thx bro

Slinky wrote:Yeah, looking good! Black is exquisite

Question is, is that enough black for the batsuit also? I suspect I'll do one more highlight, thin edging in the dark grey. Glad I gave it the black ink wash.

Yorkright wrote: He is looking stylin on his new wheels. The tires look muddy, so the experiment has paid off! Any batreps planned in the future with batman on batbike? If so can we get the bat time or bat day that it will happen?

Thanks, l'll freely admit I was skeptical! Likewise wasn't sure about the highlights on the bike but pretty happy with them still to ramp the osl from the headlights a bit.

Next Bat Game planned for 13th September, at present. Just for you, I'll play batpod, probably, though we are looking at starting a campaign based on the No Man's Land storyline.

Dr H wrote:Good work. Very batty.

Cheers mate. That was the general idea

TerrainWalker wrote:That black is spot on. For me It's hard to make a mostly black figure not look like you dipped it in black paint. Or grey.

Well done!

Big praise mate, much appreciated. And a man of your talents? Clearly an untruth there!

So no KM supply drop yet but such is the nature of international shipping. Still, gives me time to do Dr Fate, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman

Meanwhile, finished batpod:





I have it on good advice to leave it at that: had the rare pleasure of a visit from Camkierhi today (he lives several hours away at the other end of Scotland). We chewed the cud and generally discussed the joy of dakka. I also inherited a number of Cam's terrain projects:









excellent fellow that he is.
One of the things we discussed is how dakka is an outlet and safe space. It really is astonishingly friendly (well, our little p&m corner, anyway) and supportive. Real virtual friends have been made across the globe. Quite extraordinary, actually, and genuinely therapeutic. Both of us mused on how dakka has helped through some very dark times. So, guys, for the awesome ride thus far, thanks.
Till next time,
Graven

Paradigm wrote:Cracking work on the Batpod, once again you've absolutely put the 'Dark' into 'Dark Knight' with the sharp, minimalist highlights.

Appreciate that squire. I must admit you're an inspiration.

Ruglud wrote:Wooo - you hit the motherload with that lot. - enjoy the hours of gaming that you'll likely spend with the terrain. Cam is truly a generous and amazing human, not to mention obscenely talented... Maybe I need to move North of the border (i'm currently about as far away as you can get from my ancestral home that is Scotland - in Kent)

Clearly, we swapped. I'm from Kent and live here Cam is basically awesome, yes.

Theophony wrote:It I started always cool to meet up with fellow DD members. I met Grimdork last year, we didn't get to hang out and game, but it's always nice to put a face with the username .

Yeah, we didn't game either but it was great to talk techniques and just generally have a natter.

Camkierhi wrote:Was a wonderful visit, will have to repeat it at some point. Was cheaper than sending it in the post. At least it may get some use with you.

Figures are truly fantastic in person. Wonderful tones and depth.

Highly recommend getting hold of a fellow Dakkanaut. Really wonderful to meet you.

Honour and privilege was mine, sir, pleasure to meet you indeed. And many thanks for the very kind compliments (and enormous quantity of stuff).

TerrainWalker wrote:Agh, I'm jealous. It's a long swim from where I am to Scotland and it's been a couple of years since I've been.

Definitely got the jackpot out of that meetup! haha

Yeah I did ridiculously well

Speaking also of which, I got this month's releases from KM:

Not pictured: Atrocitus & Birds of Prey (trading with a mate for final Harley goons and Trinity set) and Suicide Squad (using for giveaway). It's been quite a month!
Speaking of giveaway, it's your last chance to get into my insane prize giveaway on my blog Geeking Out at bigcomicpage.com - go on, get over there, do a fellow dakkanaut a solid and maybe win yourself mountains of stuff.

Camkierhi wrote:Well I look forward to seeing those excellent models in a batbatrep in a sewer somewhere.

Tuesday amigo. Playing fist game in our No Man's Land Campaign, so I imagine the Sewers will get an outing as want to test the rules we've put together.

Theophony wrote:

 Camkierhi wrote:
Well I look forward to seeing those excellent models in a batbatrep in a sewer somewhere.

Like in an underhive?

My daughter just showed me her new phone case she bought last night. It has a chi I Batman on it saying " I love black, like the night". Proud moments when your kids start enjoying what you do .

I see the old man has taught her well

Anyway, not getting suckered into Necromunda again, even if my =][= warband is the last 40k I own.

Nope.

Definitely not.



Got a Batmite promo from a friend who worked GenCon, very exciting, he's awfully cute. Also a bit good in DCUMG.

And with all this stuff to paint, of course I started on something else: Starfire.

Now I'm fairly indifferent to the character, but my kids watch Teen Titans Go (which I'm happy to admit is hilarious if deeply weird), so really want to play her and the others in DCUMG.

Trouble is the Starfire sculpt, though very dynamic, is pure 80s nerdporn:

Now I like the laydeez as much as the next fella but comic cheesecake is one of my pet peeves.

However, I do like the current redesigned Rebirth costume:

So, by the power of GreenStuff!


I'll go with that just now I think.

Other stuff? Got a U-wing. Just cos. They're not very good but they look cool and I don't have one. So repaint at some point.

Not actually getting much done. Little one is not sleeping well at all so basically nerdlife a bit on hold. Wife's out Saturday night so going to get some time with my boys, walk some dead, maybe get batman Harley Quinn to watch. Going to try to start a BMG campaign based on No Man's Land - wrote some rules, just to get my groove on.

Hey ho,
graven

Theophony wrote:I agree on the comic cheesecake artwork and your solution looks good.
(snip)
Hope the little one settles down to get more sleep. Is she teething?

Cheers mate. Nah, just trying to break the cycle of night feeds. Being the last offspring the wife's held off on completely finishing feeding her herself. But in the last couple of weeks she's got in the habit of waking around 3 which is just horrible for both of us . We'll get there.

Gitsplitta wrote:God you're old...

what did I do? (Or is this because I'm moaning about cartoon bewbs?)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In the mean time, have discovered Orphan Black. That's some damn fine TV.

Clearly I am an old fuddy-duddy

I realise I forgot to post pics of these also:

So layering white on the prison bus (this resin DOES NOT WANT TO BE PAINTED ) and starting to paint my scrap-mdf ATMs for urban scatter.

Slinky wrote:ATMs are very cool

Ah, why thanks, hope you like the update!

Theophony wrote:White buses, era in the states anyways, are usually church buses. It works really well with that layered paint you have going on.

ATMs are looking good as well.

Cheers for info. Yeah, it's a tricky one this - for some reason, the prison bus in TWD is white, not black. Hence my colour choice.

Yorkright wrote: Liking the bus and ATM's. I am with Gitz on starfire bewbz.

I know in some ways it shouldn't bother me - she's an alien, different values blah blah blah, but I think also it reflects that I don't particularly like the 80s version of the character.

Anpu-adom wrote:Bewbs.
I would have painted the peek-a-boo part of the outfit the same as the rest of the outfit and called it a day... but then again, I'm not an old prude (and I'm lazy).

But seriously, love all of your conversion and painting work.

I agree with white buses in the states ususally associated with churches or scout troops. I can see myself needing the barred windows on my next scout trip, though.

Yeah I've seen my kids' scout troop it's basically terrifying. They keep trying to get me to help out, because I'm a teacher, but I point out that's exactly why I'm not spending my spare time with children thanks for comments too. Yes I'm clearly an old stick in the mud

Red Harvest wrote:Yeah, Just because the studio painted skin, does not mean you have to. Painting the mini in a bodysuit would have worked. It's what I would have done, but I'm really lazy about using the GS too.

Interesting comments from the guys in Wisconsin. It is known as the Dairy State.

Udderly ridiculous
That's actually what I did with Huntress, funnily enough, as I was going a more Spyral / Matron (new 52/Rebirth) look for her. A big part of it is simply being a DC fanboy. With the mini itself, the string bikini really left no wiggle room though - too much side bewb.

Now if they do a classic power girl, or Arissa Ra'ab, then I'm fine with them bewbs

Anyway...

Now, done, or time to add slaps and tags?

Camkierhi wrote:ATM's are spot on, bus is great, like the effect with the paint at the moment, if you wanted a more solid white try a solid base coat of beige or light grey, covers easier.

Hadn't thought of beige base, good tip. This bus is going to be pretty banged up though.

Slinky wrote:Finished ATMs are awesome, well done!

Not sure I want to trust LexCorp with my cash, though

But it's just a harmless subsidiary... I don't know if they're a bit clean? Also I'm not 100% on the black writing. It's a bit scrappy, might paint over it and just leave the Lex logo.

Red Harvest wrote:One of those ATM screens is begging for a BSOD. Easily done too. Print one out the right size, seal it using thick transparent packing tape, then cut to shape. I use Gorilla tape. Then glue it to the screen area. The tape gives it a nice glossy look, like a glass screen.

Lol genius! If nothing else, one is going to get squiggly doom.

As I'm on a terrain kick, and I want to test my peeling flaking paper theory...

Ready for crêpe paper layers!

And because the boys were hassling me, I stuck a flesh layer on the walker horde:

I'm convinced the punk one is based on Viv from the Young Ones (classic 80s anarchic comedy show) so is getting treated as such. Most of these are "real" mantic walkers except shambling chained dude (sedition wars thing) and tennis mom and the front left chewing on a hunk of hunk (wargames factory bits). Really happy with the angle of her arm (it's a bowstring/arrow arm). Omnomnom.

Night in with the kids, wife out so king of Tokyo followed by Batman & Harley.
Good times
Cheers
Graven

Littletower wrote:Awaiting the results of said crepe paper test!

Great ATMs too.

Tonight's plan sounds great, have fun!

It was a good night. Movie was ace, very funny, spot on.

Dr H wrote:Nice work.

Y'know, now that you have a Vivian, you'll need a Rik, Neil and Mike...

Tell me about it

A day of bits and pieces. Got my fire hydrants done:


Bit more on the phone booths:


And, unfortunately, Cam gave me an idea:

I had been pondering how best to shade the thing. I think this might work rather well.

Decided that the walker who reminded me of Vivian needed his trademark side spikes also:

Yay green (orange?) stuff.

And with our bmg campaign about to start next week, and given that I've decided to run Harley Quinn as my boss (clearly I am easily swayed by the movies ), figured she could do with a touch up (fnar). I don't really do repaints, and I chickened out of going the whole hog, but still.
Here's the original:

Her skin (and her hair to an extant) was especially disappointing so did the patented nerdfest violet wash method, and touched it up with flayed one flesh.

Also redid the reds with some thin VJ gore and added a submachine gun, so I can run her as AK Harley (which I don't have the model for, but this of close enough):



I think I'm pretty happy with that, though I may revisit further.

Adiós,
Graven

Thanks buddy. Next thing for them is hooker cards inside and the mad crusty experiment outside. Procrastination ftw!

Theophony wrote:Touching up Harley might get you whacked by Mr. J, but looks like you left her looking better than before, and more versatile too.

That is a very real risk, it's true she's a cracker for sure.

Yorkright wrote: So much DC goodness here, booths are top notch but I really like Harley. The big hammer is so that character.

Thanks man.
And here's the test of the booth, using tissue paper painted pva is still wet:

The danger of course is brush destruction, but I'm generally very pleased. Your thoughts?

Yeah, not going for glass, going for a solid peeling wall of crud success !

Dr H wrote:Good job on Viv'.
Good update on Harley.
Phone booth looks great.

All Good cheers

Littletower wrote:Tissue peelings paid off really well, very decrepit.

Maybe another layer on top would add even more to the effect of years of flyers and posters glued on top of each other and now falling apart?

(Some spray varnish might help toughening it up against brush damage?)

Cheers. Possibly, good suggestions. You can check out the finished versions below

Well I had a fantastic game of Batman on Tuesday, starting our new No Man's Land campaign. Whilst 2 of the other players (Two-Face and Green Arrow) were heading straight for the same map square, myself (Joker - well, Harley) and the Penguin player headed for separateTurf, so settled for a Scrap (you declare your moves in secret, but can always just have a fight with another player - or folk outside the campaign for that mattter - to gain resources).
Frustratingly, my phone died, so I didn't get many pics :(
Scenario was ambush, and with fewer models that meant it was me stuck in the middle, surrounded - a very, very nasty scenario indeed, requiring very careful placement. I spread myself across the board so as not to present a single target, and decided to pick off targets in different ways to usual (as a swarm just was a recipe for death).
So, my fast axe guys, Asker and August, with Mr hammer, all jumped on Emperor Penguin (Elite henchman with a scary electroshock baton - I use him all the time so I know he's a priority target), debuffing and reducing him to a bloody smear on the pavement before he could even react.

Equally, as my opponent was using Hush, I decided to break all the rules and common sense and send Harley off on her own (yeah, well, she's crazy). Having nabbed a titan dose from my Titan Hotdog stand, she juiced up, walloped him with her bat and then finished him off with her SMG the following turn. Essentially, as you may have figured, he was using my own Penguin list against me, a good strategy in theory but took the risk of me knowing how to do prioritise targets. Having avoided, for example, his shotgun guy for most of the game, the Master of Ceremonies giggled his way via grapple gun to axe him in the face also (I like axe, and Joker has access - ax-ess? - ex-cess? - to more than any one else).
Meanwhile, the fast part of the crew charged after Penguin, who they managed to chase down (eventually) and likewise wipe out.
All in all, a good if brutal game. My opponent made the mistake of chaining his activations too much, which is normally a good idea if you can (especially in a Penguin gang, as it grants bonus movement) but meant I could watch his strategy and plan accordingly. Also, I knew his crew inside out, so could anticipate most things he'd try. But we still had fun, and managed a full game of BMG in under 2 hrs, which has to be a record. It also gave us a chance to reassess some elements of the campaign system, though mostly that seems to be working ok (jsust needed to amend the rules for first aid between games).

Not much P&M done, but at least I can show a lovely thing from Camkierhi:

Yup, modular Gotham sewers I'm a lucky guy. I'm going to make a twelfth tile that's some kind of undergorund temple, from a grassy tile he also provided.

And I have at least got the Phone Booths finished:





Really enjoyed doing these, and experimenting with new techniques.

What's next on the painting desk? Walkers, I think. Maybe a U-Wing, for variety. But lots of supers to do, too.

Bye for now,
graven.

Oh you're so innocent. They're call girl cards

dsteingass wrote:Loving how you just keep adding to what is already a great game table! Does the subject mater motivate you more or less than other game systems?

Thanks man. Um, hadn't really thought about it. Probably, I guess. It's important to me to have a board that looks the part and DCUMG is all about scatter terrain, so I need to have plenty for me and the kids to throw about. Plus as the time goes on, some things end up feeling redundant - I really don't need 2 Garden of Morr crypts, for example - so they get moved on. I am planning on doing a full board of my stuff though, tentatively for a game on last Tuesday of the month.

Gitsplitta wrote:Call girls use post-its too!

It's the fact you know this...

Going back to the previous, is there any obvious urban scatter I'm missing? Anyone?

Theophony wrote:Have you done fire hydrants? And I can't remember if you have a newspaper stand. Street vendor food cart?

I have done fire hydrants, and a hot dog stand. No newspaper stand... Yet.

Camkierhi wrote:Mail/Post Boxes. Trash cans, Oil drum fire place for the people of the street. Can and bucket band for a street corner, (don't have to have people but could.) Old mattress or a fridge, (always one of those loitering around ).

Definitely second Theo's street vendor carts.

The phone booths are amazing, fairly sure I have been in there at some point, might be my shoes! Brilliant work on the weathering, and detritus.

Thanks, technically they ARE your shoes or at least provided by you. Fridge has a corpse in a bin bag in it. My kids were confused, and decided it was a blueberry. Bless. Definitely definitely definitely want to add mail boxes. Funnily enough, Fire Drums are now an objective in BMG 2nd,so...

My aim is, I think, to nab a cheap Halloween flickering tea light and stick it in there. The other thing is a loot objective for Joker, a present from his lil Harley. More GS work to come on that on the ribbons.

Speaking of 2nd ed, ACE chemicals vats leaking poison is now a thing too, as are LexCorp boxes, medical supplies and contraband, so...

On the right hand end is a real titan container. Because mine originally said ACE on them, I repainted it with the kanji from Titan Serum vials from Attack on Titan. As you do.
I was asked to do a better pic of my batpod for a friend:


And another request, this time from a guy I know for some gravestones:

Amazing what you can make from scrap mdf on a whim...
Graven

Yorkright wrote:
I have a question Graven, can you educate me on how you make cloaks look like cloth or leather?

I've replied in your blog, though I realise I didn't tackle leather in that - principle is the same, using brown, shading with purple / nightshade. However, I'm going to use your enquiry as impetus to determine what I do next: Dr Fate and Martian Manhunter.
A side note - for all their capey goodness, I'm not going to be painting the Crime Syndicate: they're going to my mate who's a former gw staff painter (wait till you see the Doomsday he's done). He's struggling with mental health issues and getting painting is helping him; he'd specifcally asked for something to focus on. It's not selflessness on my part - I'm getting serious 'Eavy Metal on my metal

Yorkright wrote: Thanks Graven.

De nada. I'll get round to doing the capes on the other too anon. I also have a BvS Superman to do so there's his as well. Your nurglettes look awesome

Red Harvest wrote:But what sort of call girl? Brazen Strumpets? Expensive Doxies? Cheap Trollops? Saucy Tarts? Slovenly Trulls?

Those of you who played AD&D BITD know where those terms are from And remember that there is dignity in all labor.

A flickering light for the fire drum would look cool.

Missing Urban Scatter? A few grocery carts.

I like the Way Harley turned out. I have no idea how good it looks IRL, but in the photo it has a nice impressionistic quality. Very artful.

Thanks mate. Ah, that takes me back. There's nothing as terrifying as a 6'5" bearded GM giggling like a hussy...

endtransmission wrote:Loving the phone booths. Can you please get an umbrella and put it on to put one of the booths?

I'll see what I can do, Mr Steed

Theophony wrote:Traffic control box (not sure of technical name, but basically the box that has the "brains" of the traffic lights), or power station junction box.

Yeah, and some sort of traffic light generally I think. Plus I like the idea of Walk/Don't Walk signs for The Walking Dead

shasolenzabi wrote:Brutal looking Harley, good dirty terrain, helps that rotten feel of Gotham and other DC cities that have declined. Ah Starfire, a fave of mine for years, new suit does look good, and respectful.

Cheers. Of course techincally she's still nekkit without paint

Dr H wrote:Oo oo, piles of cardboard boxes for people to drive through...cinematically.

Do you know, I've still not tried the vehicle rules for BMG? Must give them a go. We were talking about that last night, actually.

Great suggestions all for urban scatter. I'm on it. Picked up a flickering tea light. Needs to be dissected now.

Anyway, had a game last night, wrote down my thoughts.

This was written whilst stuck holding a baby that won't allow herself to be put down in the middle of the night. So you get to listen to me ramble...

Had my first game of second edition. The main thing is that it's much, much faster, a combination of new non-randomised movement and a better organized and searchable pdf rulebook.

However, I'm not sure I enjoyed it very much.

We set up a tight board with a mix of our terrain. I was playing my Harley Quinn list (axes, axes, axes) against green arrow and cops - and just obliterated them.

It was just one of those games that was too one-sided to really enjoy. My opponent didn't have fun, so I didn't have fun. An already fast crew really benefits from the new movement rules.

The gap between them there used to be Oliver Queen.
I do like the new rules (mostly). Not sold on the new Contraband objective - Titan is just better. My biggest fear was sewers turning into teleporters but that seems to have been less the case than anticipated. Just one of those games, I guess.

As for p&m, started this on a wonder-whim:


Yup, not even the one I spent all that time building, and certainly not something which I had on my to-do list. Anyway, not bad to start. I feel the colours are quite flat and the rudimentary attempts at NMM need a lot of work still. Also, decided I don't like the snow on the base. All my Penguin stuff is snowy, but it just looks wrong here.

My desk is still covered in walkers, but I have a drawer full of goons (I got the rest of Harley's goons, and "accidentally" got Riddler's 60s style goons in a trade), plus BvS Batman and Superman (primed but not based). What else, built and primed?
Sigh:
Wonder Woman (mounted)
Harley starter Goons
Dr Fate
Martian Manhunter
Rick Flag
Starfire

Unbuilt:
Kid Flash
Batmite
Harley Goons Set 1 &2
Riddler Starter Goons


And that's just BMG/DCU...

I may have a problem.

Later chaps,
Graven

Paradigm wrote:WW is looking badass already. Shade the skin a little, highlight the armour a bit more and pick out the brightest points in the NMM with white/off-white you're most of the way there!

Cheers - can but try!

Slinky wrote:Yeah, agreed, she looks great!

Ta!

Theophony wrote:I think she looks great so far, a few more steps and your golden. Snow base for a woman from a tropical island seems wrong though. Maybe that's where your having trouble with it.

Yeah. Fixed that.

Gitsplitta wrote:If that skirt was any shorter in the back...


Sorry to hear about your game graven. They happen unfortunately. Give it a few more tries with varying crews and scenarios and hopefully things will balance out.

Yeah, I sat with him, and made him a new list. Unfortunately, it's absolutely brutal Basically, he now has a Special Forces team (Rick Flag et al) rather than Arrow and beat cops. It's monstrous and will destroy me

Theophony wrote:

 Gitsplitta wrote:
If that skirt was any shorter in the back...

Are you saying it might let the cat out of the bag (really need an Orc putting sunglasses on emoji )

Saucy boy

Thanks guys, I think she's now about done:










And dissected a tealight:



Going to mount it on a gw base and build up the sides with plasticard I think. What an earth have I let myself in for ??
Cheers
graven

Paradigm wrote:Excellent work!

Only thing I'll be picky about is the NMM, the highlights are bang on but a couple of places look like they could do with a bit more of an extreme shadow opposite the brightest points. The sword arm bracer, the indents in the knee plates, the very bottom of the shield. Just ramp up the contrast a little further and you're golden (or at least, using browns, yellows and whites to simulate a golden effect! Woo, paint nerd jokes! )

mate, I really appreciate the feedback and pickiness. I'm not used to NMM and this is really helpful. It's the only way I'll improve.

Yorkright wrote: She looks much better with the washes and highlights, the way you did the skin makes her look more alive now.

Thanks mate. Blame nerdfest, it's using purple wash.

Gitsplitta wrote:Graven, you're turning into damn fine painter.

You're most kind. It's thanks to having awesome nerd brothers who force me to raise my game

Sorry for the general quiet. Belfast was great but tiny person came down with Hand foot and mouth, so alternately crabbit and very, very awake at 4am (still, there's always Sesame Street parodies on YouTube to keep us both happy).

youwashock wrote:Diana looks great. Nice work.

Ta!

Anpu-adom wrote:Wow, just wow.

I'd love to see your take on Martian Manhunter. I haven't even seen the model though.

As for scatter terrain, fruit cart and newspaper stand. Ripped-up section of road or sidewalk. You could play on some of the trophies from the Batcave. Most would be too small, but there is the Giant Penny, Jason Todd's costume on display, the Giant Joker card, and a Robot T-Rex.

Cheers! I have a t-rex stolen from the kids actually I am thinking about other Batcave bits and bobs generally. I've been meaning to try foamcore for broken concrete, actually, and had quite forgotten.

TerrainWalker wrote:Those phone booths are brilliant - also like the touchups on HQ.


WW looking good as well. I can really see the improvement in painting quality from the earlier days of your blog.

LEDs are ALWAYS a good idea :p

The LEDs are driving me a bit crazy actually. I'm sure I'll figure it out though. Appreciate the feedback very much indeed

shasolenzabi wrote:That is one potent Amazonian you got there!

Yup. Never going to use her BMG though. Need to force myself to use her DCU, I prefer the mounted one in general but this one is cheaper. And, you know, painted.

Red Harvest wrote:I do like the way Gal Gadot-Wonder woman turned out... even with the combat heels. A few strong near white highlights to give the shield and other parts a metallic look, as Paradigm suggested, would do wonders for the mini.

I do need to do those actually. Got distracted.

Played another game of BMG2e last night, running my high speed Harley crew (sorry, no pics ) against an alternative Arrow crew for my mate who had such a negative experience previously. I gave him some advice (some of which he took, some of which he ignored) - and I crushed him. Now, I maintain that had he listened to my (admittedly slightly counter-intuitive) tactical advice he'd have done better; Arrow is a finesse crew and you need to use a couple of fairly complex rules to optimise (small crew to pass tactically, using Scheming [Felicity, essentially, as an upgrade to Oliver] to study your opponent's action counter placement), neither of which he incorporated. But, it doesn't help that I'm running a fairly streamlined, synergistic crew that I know very well, am generally more experienced, and there is a degree of power creep from the early stuff like basic cops (although, again, I did point this out to him, and tried to get him to change his build accordingly). It's a very tricky one as you don't want to put off folk when you're trying to get a scene up and running! Seriously considering switching out Harley for some other crew, as it is of limited fun in that situaiton.

What little painting I have got done hasn't been for me. I did up Studio Miniatures Michonne and Walkers for a horror-loving colleague who has made me loads of parody posters for my classroom:


And started repainting Reverse Flash (TV) for another of my BMG buddies. He was a blob of Yellow and Black; I offered to strip him but my friend just wanted a touch up. I may have done slightly more than was asked:

Pretty happy with how it's going. Lovely model, don't own one myself, so nice to see it in the flesh. Also, he's got a lot better in BMG2e (speedsters, or at least speed force masters, can use speed tokens for regular actions now, which is very potent), so may pick one up at some point.

Martian Manhunter has been prepped and cleaned; he's next, promise!

Cheers, as always,
Graven

Gitsplitta wrote:I really like the transition in color from the boots through the lower legs. Nicely done.

Cheers. Vallejo smoke blended with Agrax earthshade and thinned out at the top of legs and forearms.

dsteingass wrote:Love that Michonne! WW looks great too!

Cheers, bit more comicy (well) than my usual TWD, especially the eyes. I do love that WW model.

Theophony wrote:Reverse flash uniform looks great. Very nice highlighting effects.
Feeling any better about the batman game yet?

Thanks, I really do need to get myself one
Yes, mostly. I love how much faster the game is to play: around 1 1/2-2 hrs rather than 3-4 hrs. It does help that the rulebook is logical, searchable in pdf form, and generally less nebulous. There are some "good" fluffy rules that are gone - notably, multiple saves for each piece of intervening terrain in ranged combat, which has the odd adjunct of you can now shoot into melee - but it is much more streamlined. I'm stil not 100% sure but my gut instinct that melee would be more deadly (or at least, happen more quickly) seems to be proven correct. Gun heavy crews are still good, but things seem more balanced. Whether that has now gone too far the other way (vid. my Axe-tastic Harley crew) remains to be seen.

So, stuff.
Annoyingly, I found the bases I'd bought aaaaaaages ago for the batpod:

Never mind. Further annoyance is I think I've wrecked the wiring on my LED for barrel; hopefully, halloween will provide. I'm going to make a non-led, OSLy one too, I've decided.

Took all your advice on wonder woman's nmm:

It was so tempting not to add/potentially ruin, but very pleased - used VJ wolf grey to do it.

Thanks for all the advice. Think I'm ready to call her done.

Began pre shade on Martian Manhunter:

The plan is to start him all in a deep purple, wet blending cloak to indigo and clothing to mid blue. The purple will also act as a good base for the red straps and deep shade for the green skin.


And, while I was doing him, I started some other stuff:

Rick Flag, Dr Fate, a Harley Goon, and mounted Wonder Woman.

The paint scheme for these goons is bothering me. The sculpts were what inspired me to go down the mime route with my main joker crew. The official scheme is black with red diamonds. I don't know whether stripey mime will work; I could just go black and red. My hoodie thugs for Ledger are in colourful tops, after all. Any thoughts, gratefully received!

Won't get much done this weekend, Dad's birthday so away at theirs, eating too much and playing board games with the kids. Wife's off out Sunday night once we get back (la-de-da!) so might get to tackle MM then.

Adiós,
Graven

Paradigm wrote:Yep, nailed the NMM on Wonder Woman! Putting on those last extreme highlights is always daunting, but so often it's the thing that really sells the effect. Can't wait to see the mounted version!

Thanks mate. She's definitely on the list

Gitsplitta wrote:Brave man with the NMM. Nicely done.

Theophony wrote:That extra white layer REALLY hit the mark. Another step towards greatness. The blood on the ground is from some lucky fellow to get beat up by such a pretty woman.

A Mr Cameron...

Dr H wrote:Great job on WW. Looks lovely.
Nice effort on NMM. Keep at it.

Cheers mucker.

Right so I finally got started on Martian Manhunter:


Yes, very purple, isn't he? Well, violet.

It looks alarming. Then, we start blending blues and blocking in others


Blues on uniform are a shade lighter than cloak for contrast.

And, against a black background


The skin and red have had no shading, they're just over the purple. No ink washes yet on anything, that's next.

And by the same method, replacing the violet with royal purple here's Dr Fate



His blue on his fabric needs to be a further shade lighter. Equally, the inside of his cloak is going to go much darker. Traditionally, his cloak is yellow inside and out but there's a phenomenal illustration in the next issue of Green Arrow (joy of reviewing comics ) where the inside is a night sky / star field. So that's going to be a thing.

Great weekend. Ate too much. Drank some. Dad built lego with kids.

All good
Cheers
Graven

Paradigm wrote:J'onn is looking great! Nice strong colours (thanks to that first coat of purple, I assume). Same for the good Doctor, looking forward to seeing him. You're on your way to a totally awesome Justice League here.

Yeah, the purple's worked a treat. JSA, not JLA Wife's out on Saturday night so me and the boys have got a game planned, them with the League (Superman, Supergirl, Aquaman, some others tbd) and me with villains (again, tbd). Had to cancel my game tonight (trying to sort Tiny's bedtime routine), so good to know I'll get to play at the weekend.

Theophony wrote:Both are looking great so far. will the symbol that Dr fate is standing on be OSL?

Cheers. Probably, aye. It's interesting that in the studio paintjob they've gone with green, rather than yellow as is customary, as it would just be too damn much - so I'm takign that and running with it further.

Anyway, when I dream, I dream of Mars...


Generally happy tthough the highlights on his face make him a bit pouty.

And more work on the Dr:


Although it's by no means there yet, I'm glad I'm doing the starfield for his cloak lining. As it is the contrast of yellow cloth and yellow metal is going to be a nightmare. Still, you can see how the cloak is progressing in the rear pic. I'll probably do his boots, helm and gauntlets along the lines of Diana's boots etc. Otherwise he looks like he's getting ready to do the washing up...

Hey ho,
Graven.

Gitsplitta wrote:Lovely.

Yorkright wrote: I haven't checked in for a bit and you have done all this wonderful work. Michon and friends are very well done and WW looks as lovely as ever.

Many thansk amigo

Theophony wrote:Looking good . Is the picture angl3 on Dr. Fate off, or is he twisted at the waist? Also his belt buckle seems really large.....like WWE large. Is that how it is in the comics also? I know that’s not on you as it’s the sculpt, but it almost looks like they made a girdle for him (one too many desserts for the good Dr.), take that off of him and he looks like Marvels the blob.

Liking what you are doing with the star field and the Ankh.

He is indeed. The original pose was all a bit I am DC Space Jesus, and not at all dynamic, so I have reposed him. But maybe not well and yeah, it really is that daft.

Yup.
Onwards:


Getting there. Can't say I'm finding him an especially enjoyable model to paint, cloak aside. Although I think I have bitten off more than I can chew with the star cloak.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Did a bit more...







Am now a bit happier.

Thanks guys. Really appreciate all the feedback - and here he is:






After all that, I rather love it