It's not about the mummy, mummy

Don't worry about the price tag because these MILPs (Mummies I Like to Paint) were straight out of the bits box.

Why am I painting Mummies?

Well, basically, as I said, I've discovered over time that I quite like painting them. I find it quite relaxing and therapeutic and suitable subject for when I'm in an odd headspace.

I think this was a discovery that evolved out of painting bandages and wraps on models and really took root when I painted the Mummies in my Heroquest set.

Speaking of which...

That is exactly where this chap is from. He's one of the chunk of spare Heroquest miniatures I have in the bits box and so I carefully removed from his base, plonked him on a round base and got to work.

I slightly change my approach to the bandages as I didn't start with a bone colour, but when for a Ghoul Grey (from Colour Forge) undercoat, then hit with a coat of Skeleton Horde followed by Agrax Earthshade and picking out each bandage with Ushabti Bone.

This second sculpt is from a board game called Dark World, which I bought for the miniatures (some of which were truly awful - the Mummy being one of the best). He has more awkwardly thin bandages and more flesh in show... especially in his MASSIVE hands.

For the flesh I went for green rather than my usual blue-grey as the wash I usually use was coming out too blue. Plaguebearer Flesh contrast paint followed by Agrax Earthshade did the job.

There's really not much more to say, other than they are going with my rather miscellaneous collection of pulp miniatures for 7TV. I don't have much that fits with ancient Egypt, but I might be encouraged by this to at least put together enough for an epic desert adventure.

Acquired: -73

Painted: 405

Lead Mountain: 367

Retail Therapy

I've been lack a bit of focus in my painting for the last couple of weeks and have been a touch frustrated with a couple of purchases which has prevented me from completing some goals I'd set myself (hence the lack of a post last week).

Therefore I decided to sit down and churn through some bits and pieces of 'street' furniture I've had floating about for a while as a way to de-stress.

Most of these are bits from various Mantic Terrain Crates that I was given (last year?) as part of the 7TV Secret Santa I participate in annually.

I hadn't got round to most of them because they are internal features (mainly from shops) and I don't tend to game in building interiors.

First up are these shelving units and a clothes rail. The produce on the shelves were all separate pieces, and I've added some other bits I had floating around. I kept the shelves dark so they might conceivably work in a variety of settings, for example Pulp or Post-Apocalypse.

I haven't worried about doing too much detail on the packaging or clothing as these are background elements and I didn't want to make them too specific.

I took a similar approach to the bending machine, giving the impression of a variety of brands but not worrying too much about doing more than painting each item a different colour.

The magazine rack I kept as faded paper without any colour, again so that I would hit into a variety of settings.

I'm struggling to think of when I might use the janitor's trolley. However, it is a funky little thing.

I bought this skip years ago at a wargames show. In fact it was Sheffield Triples, which might give an indication of how long I've had it.

I never got round to painting it as it is warped and had a broken section. I did however paint the other one I picked up at the time.

I decided to stop fretting and filled it with rubble, including a resin bin bag, and used a tarpaulin made from masking tape to cover the damaged section.

Finally is the teddy bear, which was really easy to to - easier and faster than anything else in this post, and a mcguffin from the launch of 7TV Apocalypse.

I'm not sure I'll ever use it as a mcguffin, but it will work fine as scatter terrain in Fallout or other post-apocalyptic games.

My shopping frustrations (more on this in a future post) have led to me binning several miniatures after stripping anything that might be salvageable. I've also sold some metal Death Company that I was never going to use (I have 10 painted already), and so I've actually made a bit of a dent in the lead pile this week.

Acquired: -83
Painted: 52
Lead Mountain: 524

Gifted Scientist

It feels like I keep returning to painting scientists, and my Faculty of Cryptobiology and Pseudoscience for 7TV: Pulp, just keeps growing.

The latest addition to the team is apparently called Dr Friedman, and is a 'mad' scientist (apparently specialising in chemistry) from the Reaper Chronoscope range.

He was given to me as part of the annual 7TV Secret Santa on the 7TV Productions Facebook group, where willing participants are paired up and exchanged unwanted miniatures from their lead pile as gifts. It's a nice little tradition I've taken part in for several years.

This year I sent off and eclectic group of Grenadier Sci-Fi cops, a suited pulp thug, a mummy and a dog. In return I received three Artizan Designs field agents from their Kiss Kiss Bang Bang range, and the esteemed Dr Friedman. 

As with all Reaper Miniatures, Dr Friedman is I really crisp and clean sculpt which needed minimal cleaning. The model lacks extraneous detail and so was quite quick to paint, especially as I mainly used contrast paints as my base coats and highlighted up.The bottles were hit with a touch of gloss varnish to give them an appropriate shine.

I used to really worry about large expanses of white, but I've become a lot more calm about the whole thing. Yes, the pain could be smoother, but this isn't a dress uniform or a superheros cape, it's a lab coat. It's going to be a bit worn.

All in all I'm happy with this one. And unexpected arrival, but pleasing nonetheless.

Acquired: -58
Painted: 390
Lead Mountain: 626

Lurkers from the Deep: Issue 5, The Finale

Whilst a furious battle raged between government forces and the nefarious Cult of Kutulu in and around the cesspit town of Marshport, the real battle was about to take place among Dagon's Teeth, a nest of rocky outcrops huddled by the coast.

The agents of the Occult and Scientific Reserve plunged towards a hidden temple where a foul ritual was underway, as the last remnants of the Cult of Kutulu attempted to bring Great Kutulu himself into the world and, undoubtedly, end the world in madness and despair.

We have finally reached the finale of the Lurkers from the Deep feature pack for 7TV. Matt and I have battled through the slum streets of Marshport to determine the fate of the Cult of Kutulu...and the world.

The villains had the upper hand in three of the four scenarios we'd played, but several of those games had been very close. Also, the only impact of the villains victory in the last scenario, Turning Tides, was that they would get an extra Fishfolk Devil and would take the first turn.

The board layout saw the temple of Kutulu in the centre, surrounded by a dangerous sea and rocky islands that were all counted as difficult ground.

The heroes would be deploying at specific points around the edge, whilst the villains would be in the centre trying to complete a ritual. The ritual would be enacted by keeping enough Acolyte extras (the red robed cultists) next to the six pillars each turn to complete a countdown. The heroes needed to stop this from happening.

We made a couple of slight changes to the game: the sea was dangerous to enter, but we ruled that models with the aquatic special effect would not be affected by this; we also decided to allow the Tentacles of Kutulu to begin in the water, as that made sense.

The Occult & Scientific Reserve (Matt)

Professor Jemima Wittwood (Star)

Agent Maggie Stone - Rugged Veteran (Co-Star)

Howard Ashton - Gadgeteer (Co-Star)

3 Soldiers of Fortune (Extras)

5 OSR Agents (Extras)

Armed with plenty of guns, but slowed by terrain, they would have their work cut out getting to the Acolytes to stop the ritual.

The Cult of Kutulu (Me)

Doctor Fiske (Star)

High Priestess (Co-Star)

3 Tentacles of Kutulu (Extras)

4 Dagonites (Extras)

2 Fishfolk Devils (Extras)

6 Acolytes (Extras)

Necronomicon Maguffin

This was a great game. The best of the campaign.

Although Matt had all of the guns, he was really impeded by terrain and my minions early in the game, was struggling for plot points and couldn't get clear shots on the Acolytes.

I was racking up ritual points and plot points due to the Acolytes serving as nothing short of batteries for me and the situation was made even worse for Matt when I used the Necronomicon to bring back pretty much all models he had killed. Injury was added to insult when the High Priestess took out Howard Ashton with a little help from a misplaced torpedo from the Navy.

However, as he closed in, the Acolytes ran out of places to hide and the Soldiers of Fortune took a heavy toll, ending the ritual just two points from completion.

The final struggle saw us both desperately trying to axe the other cast and get statuses on each other's stars and co-stars, resulting in a 3-1 minor victory to Matt.

This was a suitable climactic finale to the campaign and a really close run thing. 7TV really suits narrative campaign play and I can highly recommend Lurkers from the Deep, which I believe is being updated for the new edition of the game.

With the fantastical adventures of Orsa the Fearless, and the eldritch horrors of Lurkers from the Deep behind us, our next 7TV campaign pack adventure will take place during World War II, when some heroic, if bumbling, Home Guard defend their small seaside town from the undead in Vlad's Army.

Lurkers from the Deep: Issue 4

The US Navy offered long range fire support to the forces engaged in the Battle of Marshport, but the storm raging all around them blinded them to the fact that the warship was drifting dangerous close to the jagged coastline.

Seeing the danger from the shore, Murdoch's Marauders, a small force of US Rangers, were dispatched up the headland to signal the ship of the peril it was in.

Finding an old sewage pump house overlooking the sea, Captain Murdoch opted to blow it up to signal the warship.

However, eldritch forces were converging on them, alerted by unknown means to Murdoch's plan, intent on preventing the Rangers from denying their master his prize.

Turning Tides is the fourth scenario in the Lurkers from the Deep feature pack for 7TV and sees a group of US Rangers trying to ferry fuel to increase the size of an explosion, whilst a range of Lovecraftian horrors try to stop them.

As usual, Matt woul be commanding the forces of law and order, Murdoch's Marauders:

Captain Murdoch - Star

Rugged Veteran - Co-Star

US Ranger Sergeant - Extra

6 US Rangers - Extras

US Ranger Sniper - Extra

Army Medic (Doctor) - Extra

Again I would summon the devotees of Kutulu to do my bidding:

Eldritch Horror - Star

6 Fishfolk Devils - Extras

4 Triggermen - Extras

2 Protoplasmic Horrors - Extras

The Protoplasmic Horrors will not feature in the action below as they are so slow moving I decided to simply use them as a plot point battery and not bother trying shift them.

The aim of the battle was simple. Matt had to move barrels from the shed to the pumping station and I had to stop him. At some point during the finale, the bomb would go off and we would both score points based on how many barrels of fuel had been added.

We made the decision that we would play to the end of the countdown deck rather than to the explosion as it meant that the explosion might actually effect proceedings by injuring models.

What initially seemed to be a bit of a turkey shoot for the Rangers took a nasty turn when they lost their Sergeant early in the fight. This meant Matt was unable to use the Rangers as a unit and was restricted in what he could achieve.

Also, the random weather table negatively affected Matt by preventing him shooting on the first turn slowing him down two turns in a row after he picked up the barrels. This meant that my forces were able to reach him without take too much damage.

I really liked the arrival of the Eldritch Horror late in the game (Matt was less keen) as it really captured some of the essence of Lovecraft's tales with situations going from bad to worse to "oh my god it's a giant formless horror with gribbly bits and it's eating my soul!" My favourite moment was dominating the Rugged Veteran and making him jump in the sea for the fun of it.

The final score was 4-1 to the forces of Kutulu, which means I'll go into the final battle with an extra Fishfolk Devil in my cast, aiding my attempt to complete an unholy ritual without interruption.

Lurkers from the Deep: Issue 3

Whilst the Police and FBI hit Dr Fiske's factory and the Finley cannery, Colonel Roth led the main force directly in the heart of Marshport, where they were met in pitched battle by a horde of fanatical cultists and gibbering eldritch horrors led by the Mayor Newbury, the apparent leader of the Cult of Kutulu.

The Battle of Marshport is the third scenario from the Lurkers from the Deep feature pack for 7TV: Pulp, and sees what is probably the closest to an outright battle that I've ever played in 7TV.

Again, I took control of the 'fishy' inhabitants of Marshport, who are all part of the mysterious Cult of Kutulu:

Mayor Newbury - Star

Shoggoth - Extra

Police Chief (Dirty Cop) - Extra

High Priest - Extra

2 Malign Zealots - Extras

4 Dark Disciples - Extras

4 Fishfolk Hybrids - Extras

2 Protoplasmic Terrors - Extras

For the purposes of the game, we made a small change to the Cultist Coven unit card to replace the two required Gibbering Lunatics with Fishfolk Hybrids, allowing the Malign Zealots to lead two separate units. Not doing this would have meant that the villains would have had no chance of activating all their forces each turn.

Matt took control of the National Guard unit which had been called in to deal with the insidious threat emerging in Marshport:

Colonel Julius Roth - Star

Spiritual Custodian - Co-Star

Army Officer - Extra

2 Army Sergeants - Extras

8 Army Privates - Extras

Army Flamethrower - Extra

Truck - Vehicle

Again, as an extremely minor change, we played the Flamethrower as a two man team to reflect the two wounds on the card and the fact that I had a spare model. Also, we ran most of the heroic force as a Military unit, which gave this cast a very efficient activation cost each turn.

The battle saw the Army pushing in from the top right corner of the table and the Cult moving out from the House of Dagon temple in the lower left. The objective was a straightforward 'kill them all' mission for both sides, with the only wrinkles being the Protoplasmic Terrors and Shoggoth being able to move across the table via sinkholes (the craters) and the Inferno peril card being in play - which I forgot about and was unable to avoid with half my force at the end of Act One.

The villains took an absolute mauling in that battle. A combination of Matt maximising his plot points, the Army having better weapons, me forgetting about the Inferno, and all the negative objective effects hitting the Cult made things extremely difficult. However, because of the even split of objectives, all the stars and co-stars escaping unscathed and the way the victory points worked, the final result was only a 4-3 victory to the heroes.

Although I was unlucky in places, this scenario felt quite one-sided. Had we not made the tweak to the Cultist Coven unit card, that feeling would probably have been overwhelming. One of the key elements of designing 7TV casts is thinking about how many plot points are required to activate the entire cast. Even clanging the units still meant I was stretched to active all of the villains, whereas Matt had plot points to spare each turn.

Additionally, despite the special rule about sinkholes, the Protoplasmic Terrors still moved too slow to take advantage of this. If I were to play this scenario again, I might suggest that the Shoggoth and Protoplasmic Terrors begin play in the sinkholes, perhaps with the Shoggoth only emerging in Act Two as a balancing factor.

However, much fun was had and the campaign moves on apace. I think I have everything I need for the next scenario...except for a lighthouse...

Kill It With Fire!

I'm still building up to the Battle of Marshport, the third scenario from the Lurkers From The Deep feature pack for 7TV. Completing the heroic cast required the addition of a Flamethrower, and the the villains needed me to conjure up one of the defining Lovecraftian eldritch horrors: a Shoggoth.

The Flamethrower team are Warlord Games metal models I picked up from eBay. I'm never massively impressed by Warlord's metal models, as I find them a bit spindly and awkward when compared with their plastics and other ranges like Crusader Miniatures and Artizan Designs.

However, they came in a pack of two, and I couldn't actually find any other US Army flamethrowers available that I liked better.

Painting was done exactly like the rest of the GIs but I found them faster and more enjoyable to paint. It could just be a numbers thing, but I do prefer painting metal to multi-part plastics. It could also be simply the fact that they are both kneeling and so there was proportionately less to do.

Anyway, my heroic cast for scenario 3 is complete and I definitely have a tine US Bolt Action force now, because Flamethrowers, according to Bolt Action gamers, were used in every engagement in World War II - often mounted in Jeeps and sent barrelling forwards towards the enemy.

"a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light all over the tunnel-filling front that bore down upon us, crushing the frantic penguins and slithering over the glistening floor,"

- H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness

The formless horror that is the Shoggoth is one of the most iconic creatures in H.P. Lovecraft's work, possibly only behind the Deep Ones and the Big C himself in notoriety.

Although there are many companies that make excellent interpretations of the creature (including Crooked Dice), the whole 'formless' bit gave me an idea of how I could make one myself.

Hot glue.

My Shoggoth is simply hot glue squirted straight from the gun onto a resin base I had lying around and allowed to dry. Most illustrations of Shoggoths feature eyes, maws and tentacles which are simply some chaos bits (Screamer eyes and tendrils, Pink Horror mouths) I had left over pressed into the glue before it dried.

Painting is just a coat of Emperor's Children with a Baal Red wash and the details picked out. Shoggoths tend not to be depicted as pink, but I wanted mine to match other similar monstrosities I've done in the past as my Lost Faculty of Cryptobiology and Pseudoscience cast.

Overall, I'm really pleased with how this turned out and I'm not considering using similar techniques to make some Chaos Spawn for 40k using more leftover Daemon bits. Unfortunately, it doesn't count towards the Lead Mountain as I never considered the bits box as part of the problem.

Acquired: 71
Painted: 178
Lead Mountain: 493