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That is one mean-looking aircraft, really menacing!

You're still doing a great job on the Marvel stuff, love the garbage truck!

Paradigm wrote:That is one mean-looking aircraft, really menacing!

Cheers mate! They're fast and nasty in game, and I'm particularly fond of this big gun/ troop transport loadout over the bomber variant.

aku-chan wrote:You're still doing a great job on the Marvel stuff, love the garbage truck!

*bows* can't quite believe the love for that lowly garbage truck

Working on my entry for this month's dakka contest, Helping Hands


I've narrowed it down to the front row, I think. The alien prospector has 3 hands AND all the ones on its rig, so that's a... Helping hand. Stilts, the droid, is offering a hand... You get the idea

inmygravenimage,

Nice work on the legions of The Hand and SHIELD for the Monthly Painting Challenge.

Cheers,

CB

I like your Enforcer dropship a lot. I was torn between that and the Asterian vehicle during the first Firefight KS. I went with Asterians in the end, but have yet to get that far along. I don't play games much larger than skirmish level, so I rarely paint anything larger than a walker.

Graven, is the belly pod on that oh so fiiiine Arbuter Gunship optional? I’m wondering if it could be swapped out for other cargo like options.

Loved the painting on that!

Captain Brown wrote:inmygravenimage,
Nice work on the legions of The Hand and SHIELD for the Monthly Painting Challenge.
Cheers,
CB

Thanks buddy, and thanks for swinging by!

JoshInJapan wrote:I like your Enforcer dropship a lot. I was torn between that and the Asterian vehicle during the first Firefight KS. I went with Asterians in the end, but have yet to get that far along. I don't play games much larger than skirmish level, so I rarely paint anything larger than a walker.

To be fair, your Asterians are stunning. My elder spawn picked up the Chira for his Asterians when we were at Mantic, they gave him the Warpath force box half price as it was the last of the old stock which was damned decent of them. I know what you mean about being mostly skirmish, it's just more convenient - we had plans for a big game of Firefight this week but the big table in the dining room is covered in all the Back to School stuff

Ragsta wrote:Graven, is the belly pod on that oh so fiiiine Arbuter Gunship optional? I’m wondering if it could be swapped out for other cargo like options.

Loved the painting on that!

Thanks, and welcome! It absolutely is, as well as having a fully detailed interior if you're so minded.
Although it's the Accuser, not the Arbiter - that's the heavy variant, which costs more £. Because more . Anyway, it can be built as the bomber variant, that's where the bomb racks go. So, easily cargo-able. However, take a look at Mantic's Hornet dropship for GCPS/Marauder. Also shiny and has more of a cargo pod vibe.

Alright?
Working on core space civilians this week for the monthly painting contest, Helping Hands, with the In The Line of Fire expansion.



And a bit of detail

Reporter, drone operator and filming drone from the Media team.

They can be an in-game irritant but have their uses glorifying your alien treasure hunting.

Prospectors, with extra hands for helping.

Again, can be a bother wandering around alien tombs looting or digging up samples but equally very good addition to your crew with a useful set of skills and unusual gear.

I've done a couple from Trading Post 5 also:

Wee not-jokaero chap. Handy mechanic, hangs out at the big trading post in campaign between missions. And, Stilts the droid. Stuff deteriorates really quickly in game so you need to stay on top of repairs.

Lots more Core Space on the way, including the crew of the Black Maria and other scurvy space scum. Loads of board gaming done too, including more Red Rising, and Terraforming Mars. Only a week left of the holidays but still, time for a bit more gaming I'll wager
Graven

Really interesting sculpts, great job on the painting. Going to have to have look at these...

Honestly core space has some of the most amazing generic sci-fi sculpts out there, both human and alien.

On my workbench right now. L-R civilians, gamers and agents from Trading Post 5, and the civilians and crews from the Ion Hope and the Black Maria from Core Space core game. Yes, they're PVC, so there are issues with mold lines and bendiness. But they're still fantastic minis, so evocative. The cardstock terrain is also excellent, though maybe a bit simplistic for a master such as yourself

They look good to me graven!

Gitsplitta wrote:They look good to me graven!

Thanks mate! They do the job, ultimately. They aim to misbehave, etc.

Been a slow few days, but been finishing off our boardgame stack.

So this summer i set a challenge for the elder spawn and myself: that by the end, we would have no unplayed games in the house ? granted anything unplayed might have met Mrs graven's
And so here's a breakdown:
#topten
(In no particular order)
1. Red Rising ?
2. Wingspan ?
3. My little Scythe ??
All 3 of these from Stonemaier games ! Definitely our new favourite boardgame publisher. And tbh Red Rising probably IS the winner overall though My Little Scythe is SUPER Kid friendly yet fiendishly tactical
4. Cascadia ?
5. Takenoko ?
6. The Mariana Trench ?
All great light to middle weight animal themed games for the whole family.
7. 7 Wonders Duel ?️⚔️ ?️?️? ?? the most vicious upper mid weight 2 player game out there.
8. Sinister Motives ?️ for Marvel Champions LCG still our favourite card game
9. Marvel Dice Throne ? a sneaky new entry for lightweight fun even if I am RUBBISH at it
And...
10. Top Gun ? just wayyyy more fun than it should be ?
Honourable mentions also to old favourites Railroad Ink (especially with Underground), Mint Cooperative, Brass Birmingham, Escape the Dark Sector, Marvel Villainous, FLUXX and DC Deck-building.

Let's also not forget the roleplaying fun of My Little Pony and Star Trek Adventures - and even tried out Multiversus on the Youngling's PS5!

So, it's not that p&m deliberately took a step into the background it's just... I'm freely taking advantage of a willing teenager while he's still at home and tolerates his old dad.

Meanwhile, I have also finished painting up all my Core Space. This was motivated by the dakka painting challenge, which is Helping Hands, so I need to pick 5... civilians (but hey, they're all scavengers of a sort) from this lot. I'd originally intended for just the Media Team/Prospectors, but might mix and match.


Nothing new here, just on a better backdrop and slightly tidied up.

Civilians! The alien in the middle is a contender. Street-Punk Girl is super shiny for some reason.

Crew of the Ion Hope from the base game. Their captain, with his hand out flat (and sneaky pistol in the other) is a maybe.

Crew of the Black Maria from the base game. Snazzy sculpts, but none I think fit the bill for the challenge except maybe the mechanic on the left.

The inhabitants of Trading Post 5, otoh, has LOADS of potential. Yeti, the wee dude with many arms, has many hands to help with

The droids also. I am particularly happy with the NED-B (Kenobi) paintjob.

So that's me. Back at work, back at the chalkface, back to dealing with other people's kids rather than my own
Graven

Fine work there inmygravenimage.

Cheers,

CB

Many thanks CB. Some of them are fairly quick and dirty, others got more attention, entirely dependent on my mood and the sculpt - tbh, that translates as mostly the Trading Post 5 stuff, as the casting quality of it and the other new releases is just plain better.

Right now my top 5 are Gan'eek (the alien in the group of 3 civilians), XL (the yellow droid), Stilts (the red droid), Yeti (multi limbed small alien technician) and Bullworth (the big alien with the prospecting rig).

Glad you were able to enjoy so many new games with your boy graven. We just got our youngest settled at university 1400 miles to the west, while our oldest is over 900 miles to the east. Spend all the time with him you can.

Gitsplitta wrote:Glad you were able to enjoy so many new games with your boy graven. We just got our youngest settled at university 1400 miles to the west, while our oldest is over 900 miles to the east. Spend all the time with him you can.

Wise words indeed. I mean our country is not.. quite as wide as yours, but I cherish the time with my various hellspawn.

'lo troops.
Back to school, quite busy, inevitably. Also, just not really had much inclination to paint, honestly. Having had very little storage space I've had to... compact myself somewhat. But I have plans, and have done a couple more bits for my Moonstone Leshavult, the Malachite Mystics.

Reagan, faun mystic. Lovely model, really tried to lean into the natural colour palette



Klaus, faun bellringer.

Lovely sculpt. Still not entirely sold on the fauns in game, but I imagine I'll eventually get the rest if only for the killer murder bunnies.

Next up, pirates, russian superheroes, Hellboy, and more Asgardians!

Oh, and if you do get a chance, please swing by my insta @sam.graven

Graven

That's really great that you worked on playing all of your board games, and thanks for the overview about them. I'm looking forward to when I can play those kinds of games with my son.

Syro_ wrote:That's really great that you worked on playing all of your board games, and thanks for the overview about them. I'm looking forward to when I can play those kinds of games with my son.

Cheers! It's a wonderful thing, to corrupt the youth My eldest is now a keen and very capable gamer - he regularly thrashes me at Marvel Dice Throne, and wins more often than not at DC Deck Building - like any of us, he has favourite games that tilt to his particular talents. We do need to do more Wargaming though (it's more a question of time and life than anything else), as it's the only way he's going to start beating me there too

Had a great time at Tabletop Scotland on Saturday, picked up Akropolis and murder bunnies for Moonstone, kids got themselves some D&D stuff. All good.

Feel like I'm settling back into the swing of things. So next up... MONKEY!

Powder Monkey for Moonstone (pirates sub-theme). Cos a deranged, drunken monkey with a bomb is clearly a brilliant plan

I'm looking forward to adding him with the Goblin Pirates. They need a friend after all

More Moonstone: Voth, the Eldritch and his Homunculus servant.

The Eldritch are kinda the Skeksis analog in Moonstone (they are the ones that are after the actual moonstones): ancient, powerful, sorcerous, devious, flashy and unknowable. Because it's much more whimsical that dark fantasy, though, I went for really bright colours (also as a contrast to his necrotic skin).

In game, he is the only model that counts as 2 figures in your troupe (of 6), and in fact can't be taken without his Homunculus (which is just a fragile wee familiar, really), so he's effectively half your army. Big risk: very brittle, but very powerful.

Fun with Osl

He's a cracker of a wee sculpt too.

Bit of detail on the Homunculus, referencing The Fate of Eric, the first narrative campaign

And lastly, Kavanagh, the Juggler

Probably the only Gnome that I like. Maybe cos he's evil.

Can't think what inspired the colour scheme

Plans are afoot for the next dakka contest. Was hoping for Snazzy, which would've been a horde of Asgardians, but I'll settle for Big Guns, as that still suits Skurge. Behold! My stuff However, I just might have to do some 40k, as that seems to be how to get the insta up, alas.

And I mentioned I got my Hellboy Big Box of Doom. So much pretty. I picked up the Drinking with Skeletons display piece also (and, in game, it is usable too!) as well as the Dice Game, which I got to design a card for (woo!)

32 for the month. Didn't think I'd beat more than one per day, but there you are.

So all in all, not bad. Not bad.

Cheers
Graven

Lots of excellent sculpts, well done for the monthly total. The small sculpts are so interesting to me. The little companions and diminutive players are so good. Guess it's the grot in me!

Incredible job on those goblins mate. Really cool.

Camkierhi wrote:Lots of excellent sculpts, well done for the monthly total. The small sculpts are so interesting to me. The little companions and diminutive players are so good. Guess it's the grot in me!

Thanks my friend. Moonstone is full of bonkers, whimsical wee sculpts.

Gitsplitta wrote:Incredible job on those goblins mate. Really cool.

You're too kind old son.

September begins with MCP - despite its gappiness and my refusal to fill - and remains a joy to paint.

Ursa Major - if you've seen Black Widow, he's the guy who arm wrestles Red Guardian in Prison - so, the first appearance of a mutant in the MCU (mebbe, who knows with all these retcons). I like the Winter Guard as a team but am utterly baffled as to why Omega Red ISN'T part of the team.

The sign is one I stole from the kids YEARS ago just waiting for the right base to go on. I loved doing his fur, I used a new AK medium drybrush that I treated myself to; a wonderful thing, highly recommended.


Continuing with the Winter Guard, Crimson Dynamo (with his very silly not darth vader hat)

And together:


Next project is a mini-dioramic base for Skurge:

Behold! My Stuff! So, he'll be on a standard 30mm (with some accessorizing) that can sit on a 60mm for display purposes/dakka contest. I've added twin assault rifles on his back (Warlord survivor ones I think, with the Vespa (which is pretty much in scale at 1/35) and more guns to follow on the 60mm. Continuing the Asgardian theme, I've also gone a wee bit dioramic for Heimdall:

A plastic £2 coin stolen from little miss, to create the bifrost "burn" mark.

And built Malekith. He's a big bugger.

The bog tiger is suitably bonkers and the whole thing just screams off the page - it's almost a Heavy Metal, Frank Franzetta vibe to the sculpt. It's genuinely a fair price for the massive figure: with its dynamic pose and dioramic base it feels as much a statuette as a miniature.

Finally, I've started Vespa for Moonstone:

Rainbow wasp scheme planned. Wish me luck...
Graven

I love that bear!

Great job on the bear!

That little wasp rider looks like it's going to be a nightmare to work on.

Gitsplitta wrote:I love that bear!

It's such a great mini. I would love them to make a bit more effort with the bases though, especially for the 40mm.

aku-chan wrote:Great job on the bear!
That little wasp rider looks like it's going to be a nightmare to work on.

Gee thanks lol I can't help but think I've bitten off more than I can chew

But, I've been away at Vespa, the rainbow wasp and neon faerie.

I think I'm happy with them.

The transitions on the thorax were hard but I'm still pleased.

The iridescent effect on the wings was done with layered inks.

Don't know if it was entirely successful but it was interesting experiment.

Pretty snazzy, I think.

Also finished the Dominion Pirates

Peggy the pirate Lass

And Swash, with his buckler

Rushed pics. Still, that's all my moonstone painted other than promo Diana and the murder bunnies ? ? ? wonder which will be first

Snagged Core Space - Wanted: Dead or Alive for a steal off eBay (under a tenner, less than half price) -Bounty Hunters and Auxiliaries (support droids and beasties). Adds loads of options for fleshing out any crew, it's been on my list for a while (but I'm just not willing to pay full price) so very pleased with the bargain.

Anyway, back to MCP next, I think I'm going to GS Red Guardian a beard and tackle Malakith on his giant heavy metal bat tiger
Hey ho
Graven

You did an absolutely lovely job with the plates on the abdomen. I think the color of the thorax and legs works really well with the orange, especially given the fantastic nature of the figure. It feels iridescent which is really impressive given that it's not.

You can always go back and fiddle with the bases. But it would interfere with the million models you paint in a week, so you'd have to come to terms with that!

Gitsplitta wrote:You did an absolutely lovely job with the plates on the abdomen. I think the color of the thorax and legs works really well with the orange, especially given the fantastic nature of the figure. It feels iridescent which is really impressive given that it's not.
You can always go back and fiddle with the bases. But it would interfere with the million models you paint in a week, so you'd have to come to terms with that!

Well, thanks, first and foremost. My output has slowed somewhat because real life does rather interfere but still
I toddle along.

Forgot to do a bit of tactica on Winter Guard. But first, let me just get a quick rant out the way for the Winter Guard:
Omega Red isn't on the roster?!
Borge moi.
*breathes calmly*
Right. Anyway. Crimson Dynamo at 4 pts is relatively cheap, with a useful leader ability (limiting your team's ability to be Pushed off Secure objectives), native power generation, rerolls and toughness. He is a big red wall, basically, but I like the fact that he emphasises a very tactical style of play rather than one that's overtly combative. Nevertheless, I'm still not sold on them as a team overall: with only 4 members, they're incredibly limited. Ursa Major, on the other hand, is 4 points of grizzly murder. As well as being a fantastic, dynamic sculpt, we get more Bleed (woo! favourite condition!) and short moves when you attack him. On that 40mm base he can really charge (and indeed, Charge) up the table and really do some damage - but he's not just a reactive piece, and this versatility means he can be used as such whilst still being used independently as mid-table support or objective hunter (especially in Winter Guard, with that leader ability) - a real contender for the 4 pt slot in a lot lists.

Darkstar, despite being relatively obscure, is a character I have quite a lot of affection for, and I'm really sold on the sculpt even if it was a bit of a PITA to assemble (as these wobbly magic types often are).

In game, high damage output with Bleed is great (again, I'm always looking for 3 pt. characters to combo with Baron Mordo) and portalling with a pal is always excellent (see previous).

She is clearly designed to be a team-up and I can see her working in a lot of lists out of faction (did I complain about Winter Guard in their own right yet?), although she is undoubtedly very strong as the support for any of her comrades. I forsee her having a future in a Convocation list with Mordo and Magik (or even Defenders - multi-portal shenanigans!)

Red Guardian rightly feels like a Captain America reskin, right down to the simple but effective sculpt. That being said, I've still added a gs beard, paunch and pouches, to bring him a bit more in line with the MCU version.

He's a bit more in your face than Cap, a bit more punchy, though still with a shield throw that doesn't require LOS.He's not a subtle figure, but a solid addition to the team; doubt he'll see play out of faction (that 3 pt slot has too many other contenders) but suitably necessary in the Winter Guard and good enough to hold his own (though pairing up with Darkstar certainly increases his durability).

And the whole team... with Omega Red, damnit!

Also making progress on Malekith and his big bog tiger, and a wee update on Skurge: paint on stuff!

Getting there.

Painted up some random 40k bits to add once the base is done too.
Yup, there's a FW Plasma pistol amongst his treasure!

So Skurge, Malekith and Heimdall are this week's agenda. Fingers crossed!

Graven

Nice work on the Winter Guard, the red and white on Guardian is striking and bold, without looking too flat.

I agree they seem a really weird choice as an affiliation of their own, being both obscure and limited. Not really sure who else they could add, short of the Red Widow from the current Avengers run (which dod feature them a fair bit, I guess). Must admit I'm glad to see Dynamo in the game proper though, one step closer to Zemo's Masters of Evil as a playable team!

Paradigm wrote:Nice work on the Winter Guard, the red and white on Guardian is striking and bold, without looking too flat.
I agree they seem a really weird choice as an affiliation of their own, being both obscure and limited. Not really sure who else they could add, short of the Red Widow from the current Avengers run (which dod feature them a fair bit, I guess). Must admit I'm glad to see Dynamo in the game proper though, one step closer to Zemo's Masters of Evil as a playable team!

Thanks, yeah, it's still a deeply bizarre choice. I would have put Magik, Colossus and basic BW in as well, so at least we had a bit of thematic coherence - a Mother Russia team, effectively, and one that could actually be fielded more viably. When you consider what a giant sprawling mess Cabal is, it seem ridiculous that they're not willing to be a bit more flexible with the newer teams. Thanks for the comments also! The white is worked up from WW2 German Khaki and the red is highlighted with flesh; the aim in both cases was to get the depth, so it's encouraging that it seemed to work !

As promised/threatened, more MCP. Apologies for massive pic dump. First up, in all its bonkers, Frank Frazetta glory, Malekith!

Feels like it should have scantily clad maiden in chainmail bikini on it for that full Heavy Metal \m/ vibe, but there we are

The quality of the plastic kits for MCP is definitely improving, much less gappy.

I am so, so conflicted about this guy. First up, the model is stonking, I love it. at £55 It's genuinely a fair price for the massive figure: with its dynamic pose and dioramic base it feels as much a statuette as a miniature... BUT.
Whilst I understand making him a Cabal leader, that simply underlines the lack of variety and forethought that went into Cabal originally - it's a vast and amorphous "bad guy" catch-all. Given that Hela is in with the Asgardians, why isn't he there too (yes, I know, he's not an asgardian per se) - they've teamed up in the past, after all. Plus he's a 7 Threat leader - so, is he really that much better than Red Skull and ANY 3 pt of your choice? Sure, he's always going to charge and hit like a brick, but his defences aren't great (4s all round)... I feel like it's the She-Hulk problem all over again (and she's only 6). He can Tactics portal, Defender style, which is very neat, but I can't help thinking he's just not... quite... there. He's not going to run with your classic Cabal big hitters, so whilst he is an absolutely beast it's a lot of eggs in one basket.
[/rant]

Anyway. Cool model. It's not like I play much anyway.

Heimdall, done MCU style.

I really enjoyed doing the bifrost (rainbow bridge)

Again, continuing the MCU vibe, I added a burn mark into the ground using a plastic £2 coin stolen from the little one

Not entirely sure if my attempts at NMM worked but, hey, it was fun.


And finally Skurge, as his iconic MCU Behold! My stuff! meme

Loved doing the display base and finding odds and ends from across the multiverse.

So we have scatter from across a whole range of games I play. I think my favourite reference might actually be the Shadows of Brimstone crate and dynamite, as that's a game of crossing time and space. The wolfskin is a wee nod to Fenris also

This is for this month's dakka contest, bring out the big guns, so he had to have Des and Troy (but there's also Cable's gun, the big shoota, FW plasma pistol, a Mantic GCPS officer sidearm and a Void Viridian blaster).

And separate from the display base (but still with some stuff).


I love these minis. I realise that in many ways the current state of Marvel vs DC is accurately reflected in my feelings about supers in hobby: I'm a DC comics fan, and prefer the DC minis games, but would rather watch the MCU (well, mostly) and paint the Marvel minis. Hey ho.

Not sure what's next. Maybe some Hellboy, maybe some more Core Space. Looking forward to getting some boardgaming on also though.
Thanks for staying tuned!
Graven.

Good Lord graven... you are getting GOOD!

Wowza.

That is top tier work there buddy. Truly excellent.