Doctor, Doctor!

Work on my Doctors for Carnevale continues and I think it's clear that when we get to the Ordnance Doctor and the Apprentice Doctor, we are reminded that not al PhDs are medical.

The Ordnance Doctor brings heavy ranged weaponry into a game where, so far, my collections most significant ballistic missile has been a crossbow bolt or a pistol shot.

The Spirit Cannon is not only a powerful gun, but also the Ordnance Doctor can draw on the energy of nearby madmen to make it vastly more dangerous.

Increasingly, I'm leaning into painting my Carnevale miniatures with contrast paints. I'm finding that they do a really good job with the more detailed sculpts, particularly the decorative elements.

The down side is that I'm having much more of a battle with mould release agent than usual, even though I do clean the resin. However, I've found that even contrast paint can swamp the issue if you are persistent enough.

The Apprentice Doctor is an interesting character as you can choose to give him a special ability or attack type of one of the other Doctors at the start of each game.

Obviously, with this sculpt holding a gun it makes sense for the Apprentice Doctor to imitate the Spirit Cannon (without the ability to upgrade it) or risk causing all kinds of confusion.

Again, I went with contrast paints for the most part, and I'm finding that I'm much more happy with Darkoath Flesh as a base skin tone than I've been with Gulliman Fresh previously. Also, I'm really liking Gore-Grunta Fur as a way of achieving red hair.

So the Doctors are almost done, and there's only one model to go. She's a big one though.

I'm really happy with how this game is coming together as the muted palette ties them together and the pale blues present here and there really make them pop.

Acquired: -90
Painted: 168
Lead Mountain: 391

Electric Blue

Next up for the Doctors is the Electron Cannoneer, a somewhat more sane henchman (although the bar is low in this faction) armed with a weapon capable of sending deadly beams of electricity arcing into the enemy.

The model is quite simply equipped and posed, a factor that made sure it was next in the queue and it reflects a move that TTCombat seem to have made in their more recent sculpts of including much more gender equality in the range.

I was previously somewhat critical of the different representation of the Rashaar slaves based on gender, but there seems to be more thought going into their sculpting to avoid lazy cliches.

I've tried to maintain a definite theme to each of my factions, both in terms of basing and colour scheme. Having already opted for the terracotta bases, I wanted to carry the pale blue (evocative of medical scrubs) of the energy source through the rest of the models.

I'm absolutely delighted with the blue I've achieved on this model using a base coat of an old Ice Blue paint, washed with Drakenhof Nightshade and then highlighted with Ice Blue again. Combined with the Nihilakh Oxide on the energy sources it not only ties the models together, but contrasts well with the bases.

I actually made a mistake assembling this model as I briefly misplaced the copier coils from the top of the pack. I opted to fill the gaps with parts of one of the pistons from the leader model (one of which was also missing, for real this time) and turn them into glowing energy bulbs like this on the Madmen.

When the coils showed up, I'd already stuck the alternatives in, and so I only added one coil. I now have two others spare to add to another contraption at some point.

I'm a bit irritated by this, but I actually think it's come out well.

The gang is coming along nicely, and I've definitely got a coherent colour palette that I'm happy with. I feel if all the factions in Carnevale, the Doctors suit a more uniform feel as they are based in an institution.

Acquired: -90

Painted: 166

Lead Mountain: 393

You don't have to be mad to work here...

...but you will be.

Returning to the mean streets of eighteenth century Venice, I'm finally bringing some of the Doctors of the Ospedale into my collection of Carnevale miniatures

Unlike with the proxied Vatican or Strigoi, I've opted to return to the official models and picked up the La Grazia Industrial Works starter gang with some birthday money.

First out of the wards are some asylum patients who have been 'repurposed' after the Doctors discovered that the mentally unstable could be used to generate eldritch energies to power their magics and fiendish technological devices.

The Voltage Bombadier is two asylum inmates strapped together to power a device that can give off blasts of explosive force surrounding them. 

Looking at the rules it appears that this model is intended to run on a one way trip into the midst of an enemy line and detonate, hitting as many opponents as it can.

I'm terms of painting, I've kept things very simple, using mainly contrast paints (Darkoath Flesh, Skeleton Horde and Garaghak's Sewer) as base coats, used Leadbelcher washed with Agrax Earthshade for the metals, and then Nihilakh Oxide over white for the glowy bits.

I opted to go for a terracotta or brick colour for the bases for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I wanted to do a different form of basing that distinguished the Doctors from the other factions, secondly I figured that these could be tiles from within their institutions. Finally, I felt that grey bases like the Guild and Rashaar would wash these models out.

The other model is intended to be a Carrion, an inmate who has been fitted with tools and weapons to allow it to climb and steal and it doesn't actually come in the La Grazia Industrial Works box.

Some time ago I bought a batch of mismatched and miscast Carnevale miniatures from eBay which have been cleaned up and added to my forces (and actually started my Vatican force off). The last unused piece was the top half of a Carrion.

With the arrival of my birthday present, I dug through my bits box to find a lower half to complete the model and settled on the legs of a Wizkids D&D miniature, and I also replaced the hands (one of which was miscast) with some taken from the Frostgrave Wizard sprue.

The odd pose comes from the fact that the original Carrion sculpt is bent over backwards scuttling on its hands and feet. I couldn't totally replicate that pose, but this perhaps evokes the idea that this one is contorting himself into that position.

I'm already enjoying the distorted steampunk vibe of the Doctors and will enjoy getting the rest of the box painted.

Acquired: -90

Painted: 165

Lead Mountain: 394