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Looking really cool Graven.

Bicarb of soda turns yellow after a while, not sure how long but it's something I've seen a lot when searching for snow effects on the web so be careful.

The best although I wont touch it is by Secret Weapon, they use crushed class in theirs.

I use Army painters and put gloss varnish over the top to give it a shine.

Well I'm planning on sealing it so hopefully that will deal with that.
Anyway, better lit shot:



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Crucially that's not a shadow that's the grubbiness of the snow. And thanks!

Yep, looks fine. It was just the light throwing it off in the last shot.

I think we need a group shot or two of your BMG collection!

Huzzah! Maybe, after snowfall

Speaking of which, the arrogant axer :

Love this cocky sob. I'll try to snap a better pic anon. Snow happy!

"It's a trap, Get an ax" Like Mr. freeze. Not overly fond of the cold myself.

Nice work Graven.

The only issue I have with the snow on Freeze's base is that it looks a little too neat. It could do with some more scattered snowflakes as it appears on the axe-man's base. This would also make it as less harsh contrast with the dark base/model.

Solar_lion wrote:"It's a trap, Get an ax" Like Mr. freeze. Not overly fond of the cold myself.

I like when it is cold, dry and bright. Grey murk less so. Thanks!

Dr H wrote:Nice work Graven.

The only issue I have with the snow on Freeze's base is that it looks a little too neat. It could do with some more scattered snowflakes as it appears on the axe-man's base. This would also make it as less harsh contrast with the dark base/model.

Cheers. This is true, axe man was the first test of slightly different approach (gentle shaking, less PVA). But at least Viktor should have serious winter, don't you think ?

Progress on huntress build:
Arm much tighter in and stupid giant arrowhead removed.

Gs of back. Wondering about whether to gs butt line. Then, ready for priming!

Milder this week so can get some spray on her and Canary, who I've started on gs:


Reluctantly, though not very TV, I've kept the fishnets. Going for a dark scheme though, classic birds of Prey and dark is good for TV at least. Debating repositioning arms, as they sit out at 180. Pesky Knight Miniatures and their ridiculous joints.

I was going to go for the TV look on Canary, but the mini itself would have required too much modification to get it looking right, so I went with the comic scheme. I'm still hoping that we get a Sara Lance version of BC in the Arrowverse style when KM get round to doing more based on the show.

I noticed the giant boobs haven't been removed.

@Paradigm yeah I really dislike the bc model generally. Hopefully the arrowverse one is better.
@Gitsplitta trust you to notice that

Pinned Sickle's wrist. Ridiculous bloody casting decisions. He's 40mm so want to do something a bit more interesting with his base.

Game against Court of Owls tonight. Psyked, Bat-Rep (penguin rep?) to follow! I suspect I'm going to get murdered...

Sara was always the better Canary in Arrow anyway!

Some of KM's casting choices are... questionable at best. Looking forward to your thoughts on the Owls, they're next up on my painting desk and I'm hoping to get to play them soon.

Yeah I have issues with the casting too.

Have to agree about Sara being the best.black canary. She'd a better character than laurel on my opinion.


Looking forward to the bat rep

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Cheers. This is true, axe man was the first test of slightly different approach (gentle shaking, less PVA). But at least Viktor should have serious winter, don't you think ?

Oh yeah, of course. Keep the large pile, just break up the edges with some scatter is what I meant.

Nice work. They all seem to be coming together well (if hard work).

A bit late to the party but I had to say the butt line is good you don't want to cover up those sort of details

Paradigm wrote:Sara was always the better Canary in Arrow anyway!

Some of KM's casting choices are... questionable at best. Looking forward to your thoughts on the Owls, they're next up on my painting desk and I'm hoping to get to play them soon.

They are lovely painted up, very impressed. But oh, the casting.

carlos13th wrote:Yeah I have issues with the casting too.

Have to agree about Sara being the best.black canary. She'd a better character than laurel on my opinion.


Looking forward to the bat rep

Penguin rep! I'm a big fan of dinah, I just hope the sara mini is better.

Dr H wrote:

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Cheers. This is true, axe man was the first test of slightly different approach (gentle shaking, less PVA). But at least Viktor should have serious winter, don't you think ?

Oh yeah, of course. Keep the large pile, just break up the edges with some scatter is what I meant.

Nice work. They all seem to be coming together well (if hard work).

Okeydoke. I'm tempted to try sealing the snow with more PVA. May give it a wetter look or icier but slush is OK by me.I'll add some scatter too.

GiraffeX wrote:A bit late to the party but I had to say the butt line is good you don't want to cover up those sort of details

Hahaha trust you mate!

The crew continue, with sickle now based:


And Conqueror built:

Making a 2 part chain - appalling design decision. Yes it's posable but what a freakin nightmare.


Anyway. Penguin-rep.

A little while back I did a piece about expanding your gang within BMG. This week, I'm going to take my own advice, play with some classic villains - Penguin, Catwoman and Mr Freeze (plus 4 assorted penguin goons) - against Gotham's newest flock: the court of owls. The court has the advantage of being one of only 2 completely self-contained crews in the game (the other being Watchmen, who we'll come up against next time). With 5 models coming in at under £40, they're an interesting way into BMG and for a novice have the advantage that, whilst they lack cheap disposable characters, they are more durable as a whole than most, and many of their special rules are duplicated duplicated across characters. By comparison, my Penguin crew comes in at costing closer to £60 (granted, there are models that I'm not using). On the other hand, the court will only work with the court, so for now at least there's no room for expansion (watchmen, incidentally, are subject to exactly the same restriction).

We had a fun, balanced game in which we both made several errors (both in terms of tactics and rules) and still it felt cinematic/graphic. I learned that Catwoman is fast but fragile, and Mr Freeze is tough but not able to withstand a pummeling from the Gotham Butcher. My opponent learned not to underestimate a basic, cheap guy with an axe, let alone with a shock baton or an assault rifle.

We set up a city board with a mix of my terrain, his TT stuff and other odds and ends.

Particularly wonderful to use the tower as a sniper position.

We ended up having an almighty bust-up in the middle of the board. Butcher was exposed, so Freeze tried to toss an ice grenade and missed, getting battered for his trouble.

Despite some terrible shooting, my cheap penguin with an axe was able to take him down to the brink. The various owls were potent, but the penguins were surprisingly durable. All in all, it was the cut and thrust of a dynamic issue - gritty gang warfare, Gotham style.

So objectively, how is the game, now I've played a few? Well, it is a lot of fun but it does have its flaws: niggles in the translation from the Spanish, occasionally tricky to find things in the rulebook, and the stat card layout could be clearer. But it feels - right. It really does make you feel like you're playing in Bob Kane and Bill Finger's magnificent sandbox.

Next time, I'll be up against the Watchmen, and I'm going to play the cheapest (in actual cash terms) list I can to see if you can do Batman on a budget.

And remember to like, comment and share folks - this month's prize is the batbrat himself, Damian Wayne!

Crikey, that chain assembly looks fething mental!

That board looks so cool, as does the whole match. One thing you might want to try at some point is having the street 'grid' run diagonally across the board. I find this means there's less obvious paths than just running down the nearest street longways, and fewer initial firing lines (which helps balance gun-heavy crews).

It's sheer lunacy. Still, built now. Nice idea on diagonal alleys
Started Hush



Following some advice from Gitsplitta went with wet blending. Seems to be OK!

All of the shading is done with dark blues. Not usually my comfort zone but pretty happy.

Looks good, lovely worn leather look. and very nice shades/highlights. Like the rest of your stuff, it has a very comic-book, almost impressionist vibe to it in places which I love.

Sounds like s fun game mate. What is the building in myhe centre of thr table?


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Good job on hush too. How did you advice the leather look?

Paradigm wrote:Looks good, lovely worn leather look. and very nice shades/highlights. Like the rest of your stuff, it has a very comic-book, almost impressionist vibe to it in places which I love.

Thanks man. Funnily enough I modelled it as closely as I could on Jim Lee's art:

Canvas hangs on Wall in geek cupboard

carlos13th wrote:Sounds like s fun game mate. What is the building in myhe centre of thr table?

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Good job on hush too. How did you advice the leather look?

Thanks! It's a TT mdf modular bank. The leather was
Vj cobra leather
Vj bonewhite blended onto the wet cobra (highlights )
Vj magic blue blended wet into shadows.
Washed with nightshade.

With winter comes snow, and with the snow comes... HUSH.



Really chuffed with how he's turned out. Given me renewed sense of purpose for Huntress and BC.
Plus, went Xmas shopping today and wife picked me up a killer Croc, given that xwing wave 8 may not hit till January so that'll keep me busy in the new year!

Now:
Little heroes for little heroes!
Please take the time to look, read and maybe even bid on something tiny&geeky in this fantastic charity auction that my friend hendybadger is organising for Downs'. Joe's heart condition is very common in Downs' kids so it's an extra special cause for our family too. I may even have contributed a wee figure to it even if you're not of a gaming persuasion, it's a tremendous cause and a great way to raise money. I'm not usually the sort to go on about charity stuff but please look, like, share and bid!
http://pressganger.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/little-heroes-for-little-heros-down.html?m=1
I should add that if no-one bids on my wee bulldog I shall cry


Layer peeps,
Graven

Nice bat rep!.. I just saw that Adepticon is running a " Batman game"

That cloak turned out really well graven. I know you've been working on new techniques and that's a great start. It distinctly does not look like it's been dry brushed. Not that there's anything wrong with dry brushing, but too much of it tends to have everything start blending together in a way you don't want. This is a very nice counter-point to that technique.

Crickey, that terrain makes my tower look so tiny.

Nice work on the latest. Coat is good.

Solar_lion wrote:Nice bat rep!.. I just saw that Adepticon is running a " Batman game"

Do it! Do it now!

Gitsplitta wrote:That cloak turned out really well graven. I know you've been working on new techniques and that's a great start. It distinctly does not look like it's been dry brushed. Not that there's anything wrong with dry brushing, but too much of it tends to have everything start blending together in a way you don't want. This is a very nice counter-point to that technique.

Appreciate that mate. I've tried it with the next two also.

Dr H wrote:Crickey, that terrain makes my tower look so tiny.

Nice work on the latest. Coat is good.

Nonsense, it's perfectly adequate and what you do with it that counts, of course cheers!


So, TV gals. Terrible, terrible pics



Just for Gitsplitta, I didn't gs her coat tails. She's come up nice, layers of thin Vj royal purple over gloss Vj black, edge gw violet.





Hmm. Still not sure about this. Happy with the fishnets though.

I think crims next - orange is the new black and all.

Cya
Graven

Need better pics, but both are very promising!

Yeah, some better pics would be great (though coming from me that's very hypocritical!) but they look like good representations thus far!

Aye better pics are required, we need to see all those curves up close

Gitsplitta wrote:Need better pics, but both are very promising!

Paradigm wrote:Yeah, some better pics would be great (though coming from me that's very hypocritical!) but they look like good representations thus far!

GiraffeX wrote:Aye better pics are required, we need to see all those curves up close

Yeah I know, I know. New camera, and decent pics, will be here in 3 weeks'

In the meantime, started on Blackgate prisoners. I've deliberately used the flash on these pics, as you'll see:


Making a conscious effort to layer the oranges steadily to create vibrant jumpsuits. They're not this washed out, obviously, but you can see the highlighting. Again, just trying to be patient and more... conventional, actually, with my painting.

Definite improvement graven. Well done. Some of the highlights as still pretty severe (i.e. not blended in very well), but you can always mix a little bit of the base into your highlight color, water it down a bit and blend down the edges of rough areas.

Good progress graven, keep at it.

Cheers mate. Really appreciate your honesty and support.
So, progress.

Washes, more layers. Slowly does it!