The Land That I Forgot

Some years ago, I engaged in a solo campaign following the events of the Marvel New Avengers comic books using a range of co-opted and converted miniatures (along with several of the better Heroclix sculpts).

The adventure saw the heroes join forces to prevent a supervillain prison break, before heading off to the Savage Land, where they encountered several dinosaurs and...nothing happened...

...until now!

Basically, the next stage of the story would have seen the Avengers ambushed by the Savage Land Mutates, but I just didn't have the appropriate miniatures.

In theory, I could have used a motley collection of beastmen and mutants, but the Mutates are a specific collection of characters and I wanted to do them justice.

Fast forward to the last few weeks and I found myself painting my Danger 5 miniatures from Crooked Dice and watching the first series again when I was reminded that the model I'd bought to represent one of the Mutates could easily pull double duty as a Danger 5 villain.

That character was Sauron.

No, not that one. This one.

Sauron is a mutant with the power to absorb the life force of others by touch, but if he absorbs mutant energy, he turns into a pterodactyl.

If this seems a silly idea, that's because it is. It's so silly that the only other time I've seen a pterodactyl-man is in Danger 5, the silliest TV show in existence.

The model is a Heroclix sculpt which took very little effort to paint, and only a small amount of boiling water to get the wings in shape.

I used another Heroclix model for the wolf man mutate Lupo. The model is actually a DC villain called Hyena, rebased and repainted grey.

Technically, Lupo seems to have some sort of white hood around his head (making him look like a panda) and white briefs (which looks like a nappy) in many images, however, not in all of them and that's enough for me. The original design for Lupo actually had him just as a barbarian type with big hair and fangs.

The final member of this trio of terror is the imaginatively named Amphibius (presumably because he's amphibious), a frog-like mutate.

The model I've used is a rather ropey Kuo-Toa from the D&D Miniatures Game by WizKids. It's spear also needed hot water to bend it into shape, and the model needed flash trimming.

Not a great result. But more than enough for my purposes.

These were more a mini project to do whilst I was printing the next house for my Venice board and I've no idea if I'll return to my campaign. But I am tempted to see if I can cobble together a few more of the Savage Land Mutates.

Acquired: -113

Painted: 506

Lead Mountain: 216

Extinct Species

As get towards the bowels of my backlog (that sounds wrong), I'm coming across long forgotten project from defunct miniature lines.

A good example is Sabertooth, from the all too brief run of Marvel miniatures from Knight Models.

Why do I have him? He was a late addition to my unofficial Marvel project. Most of the miniatures I used were priced from different ranges. But I'd never found a suitable Sabertooth and he became available.

Why didn't I paint him at the time? He's a bit big really. The Knight Models range are tall next to the 28mm miniatures I used, and Sabertooth is a big boy for that range.

Why did I choose to paint him now? Honestly, because he was there. When I was fishing out random 7TV stuff to paint, he was already assembled, and so he got back in the queue.

I actually really like the miniature, the Knight Models range were always good, I was just disappointed at how huge he was. There's lots of nice details, but as always with Knight Models metals, there are a few chewed up bits at the joins.

Painting was easy. Nazdreg Yellow, Garaghak's Sewer and Skeleton Horde contrast paints were used to put down a base coat and then I washed the brown before highlighting the yellow and bone.

I'm really happy with how the fur round his neck has come out and I wish I could get things as good when highlighting musculature. It's not a massive problem if this model turns out a bit cartoony, but I'd like to be able to have not-cartoony as an option.

It's been a while since I painted any traditional superheroes and it's a nice reminder of how simple their colour schemes are. They are really good for getting done in a single session.

This was the last unpainted Knight Models Marvel miniature I own and with them long out of print, I might need to do a bit of digging if I want to get him a few friends in the same scale. I'm not sure I'd want to pay through the nose for them though.

Acquired: -119

Painted: 485

Lead Mountain: 231

P-P-Paint Up A Penguin

Still riding high off watching The Penguin (which I, once again, thoroughly recommend), I turned my attention to the titular 'hero' of the show and finishing off the gang members that I had previously not got around to...

...of which there were several.

When I was playing the Batman Miniatures Game, I didn't immediately go for collecting the Penguin Gang as having not played the Arkham City video game, the look of them didn't really speak to me as being right for my vision of the Penguin and his cronies.

If I'm honest, they still don't (I've always viewed Oswald Cobblepot as being more of a monster - a vision the TV show supports).

However, Arkham City, and therefore the Batman Miniatures Game, went for a more uniform, paramilitary look, which I suppose is fitting given that they are a large gang trying to rule an open-air prison by force and it also made them visually distinct from the other gangs.

Therefore, in my original paint job (which I set out to emulated) I went for a blue grealy urban camo effect on the trousers, contrasting with orange elements from the prison issued gear.

I like the overall look but I was struck by how awkward and janky some of these 'premium' metal sculpts seem now.

To be honest, I can see why Knight Models made the switch to resin when I compare them with this unfeasibly large gang lieutenant, unimaginatively named Big A.

He's a model from the third edition of the game, which is where I stepped away, and it is just a much cleaner sculpt, although a bit boring in his stance.

Resin also allowed them to get smaller details (I still carry the trauma of trying to attach separate metal hands in spindly wrists) and so made these armed penguins possible.

They are clearly inspired by the ones that appeared in Batman Returns, but I chickened out of trying to paint stripes on the missiles, opting instead for an easier military look.

Whilst I was working on the gang and trying to match models I painted years ago, I took the opportunity to tidy up the handful of Penguin's goons I'd already painted.

I added a bit of highlighting to brighten them up and give more definition on faces and weapons. The baton had also broken on the armoured guy and so I opted to give him hand swaps ashus were tiny and would have been a nightmare to reattach a weapon to.

And so my Penguin gang is finished and looks suitably large. The only time I ever used them was in a tournament, backed up by my hulk proxy of Solomon Grundy. I believe I did okay with them but I remember Penguin as being one of the better 'swarm' gangs.

The only thing I can imagine I'll ever add to them is a Duck Tank like the one in Batman Returns.

Acquired: -73

Painted: 423

Lead Mountain: 349

Family Business

After really enjoying watching Peacemaker: Season 1, I realised that I still hadn't watch The Penguin either and it would probably be good to keep me in a DC frame of mind as I tried to work through my backlog from the Batman Miniatures Game.

Spoiler alert!

It worked.

I've burned through the eight part series and can highly recommend it as genuinely one of the best series I've watched in some time.

The action focuses on the Penguin scrabbling for position amongst the crime families of Gotham, most notably the Falcone family.

As it happens, a large chunk of the backlog I have to work through are from the Penguin gang and the Organised Crime faction, specifically the Falcone family...how fortuitous.

First up we have the head of the family, Carmine 'The Roman' Falcone, appearing here in the white-haired guise he takes in the seminal comics Batman: Year One and The Long Halloween.

However, it doesn't really matter what medium you encounter Carmine Falcone in. Whether it's in print, TV, game or film, things rarely end well for the Roman.

Along with Falcone, I had three more Knight Models mob goons which came with him. Technically their names are (from left to right) Vipera, the Bull and Troy Sins, but they are generic henchmen who could equally take order from other gangsters like the Ventriloquist or Black Mask.

I must admit, I'm not a great fan of painting men in suits. I'm not great at making single colours look good without plenty of folds to shade. I've done a better job on the grey suit, and I'm trying to not look too closely at the brown one.

This is Carmine's wayward son, Alberto Falcone, aka The Holiday Killer, as he appears in The Long Halloween.

The model is a Heroclix sculpt (and therefore has limitations) which always felt spindly alongside the other chunky models in that range. However, it matches fairly well with the more truescale Knight Models range.

Coincidentally, when Knight Models shifted their production to resin, the four models I have are bundled as a five with the Arkham Origins version of Alberto - meaning that I'd struggle to pick him up individually.

Finally, we have my take on one of the central characters of The Penguin, Carmine's daughter and Alberto's sister, Sofia Falcone/Gigante.

The model is from Crooked Dice, and although a little short let than the others (although this is often less of an issue with female characters), she does have an outfit close enough for me to Sofia's costume from the final episode.

Interestingly, whenever Sofia appears in stories based in Gotham, she almost always ends up as the head of the family once her father and brother have fallen by the wayside.

I'm a big fan of Cristin Milioti's version of the character in The Penguin, but this is very much a departure from the hulking brute that appears in The Long Halloween and Dark Victory.

I'm quite pleased with my Falcone gang, although I struggle to see a time when they will all be used in the same game. However, they are also generic enough that they probably have multiple uses.

Acquired: -73

Painted: 415

Lead Mountain: 357

Soldiers of Fortune

I've wittered before about the ad hoc way my brain works when selecting what to paint next, and so it should come as no surprise that finally getting round to watch season 1 of Peacemaker would cause me to return to my backlog for the Batman Miniatures Game.

These are Bane's mercenaries and represent a weird crossover between movies, games and comics.

In appearance they are similar to the hired guns who work for Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, but three of them came with the massive comic version of Bane, who generally works alone. However, the game is built around leaders and gangs, so this odd mash up is what we have.

In terms of painting, I've not done anything too special, instead relying more than usual on contrast paints. However, I have taken to doing a final light dry brush at the end with pale grey or ivory to pick out details, something that was necessary on this largely black armoured model.

The three models that came with Bane are actually resin rather the metal that the rest of my BMG collection are cast in, this is because they are from the third edition of the game, which is where I jumped ship.

I should stress, this decision was not about the switch to resin, as these were significantly easier to work with that some of the metal BMG minis I work with. However, I am concerned with the durability of some of the more spindly bits - specifically this sword.

The tomahawks on this chap are also worrying, although it was actually his foot that snapped when I was assembling him, which is why I used the tyre on this resin base to hide the damage.

Initially, I wasn't keen on this sculpt, but I warmed to it as I painted him, although I'm still perplexed by the tomahawks.

Whereas, ice axes are a much more sensible choice.

This sculpt reminded me of lots of the issues I had with Knight Models sculpts when I was heavily into the game. The metal is quite soft and to the ice axes are quite flimsy (although not as worrying as that sword); the right arm is joined at the shoulder and the junction wasn't clean, so there's a bit of a messy gap; although, if you look closely, the arms are different thicknesses.

Mind you, for all their failings, I am also reminded of what I liked about the range. This sculpt has bags of character with his pose and muttonchops giving real redneck hunter vibes.

The hat being red is entirely coincidental.

Here's the whole gang with Bane. Despite my misgivings about how they work together, I am really pleased with the outcome.

Will I play the game again? That feels unlikely, but these five miniatures are actually quite versatile in terms of modern gaming and so could easily get table time in other setting.

Acquired: -73

Painted: 410

Lead Mountain: 362

Lava, Death and Robots

For reasons I won't go into, I needed a bit of a simple and straightforward palette cleanser this weekend, and so I turned to a recent opportunistic purchase that took me back to the mean streets of Pulp City for the first time in a while.

I recently took advantage of Kitbash Games having a sale (with a significant discount) as they moved their production from resin to something else.

This gave me a chance to pick up some models I've been considering for a while and to tide me over until the Pulp City: Full Effect campaign fulfills.

First up is Magman, Powerhouse for the Shadow Axis team of villains that I painted back in 2020. He is one of only a couple of members of that team that I don't have, and as he was in the sale I decided to grab him.

As you can probably guess, he is basically a great big bruiser made of lava, making him a veritable eruption of destruction on the table top. The downside being that, common to all Powerhouses, he is a drain on activation dice, rather than providing them.

I took a fairly simplistic approach to painting him, inspired by, but not exactly the same as, the method I used for my Balrog.

I undercoated the model in red and then gave him a heavy dry brush in black. After this I picked out all the deepest cracks with white and clgave the whole model a wash of Cassandora Yellow, which settle unevenly and gave the orange/yellow effect.

After this, I again dry brushed in black to tidy things up, followed by a light dusting of grey for highlighting.

The base is scratch built from card and aluminium mesh to fit in with the rest of the gang as I didn't have a suitable 50mm resin base.

The remaining two models are technically Omega Drones from the TechNet faction, which I don't own any other models for. However, I shall be using them as proxies for Sentry Bot minions (the cards for which are available from the Pulp City Limits Facebook group)

I'm using them as Sentry Bots as I struggle to field enough minions as I'm allowed to in my Red Republik and A.R.C. factions. Specifically, robots are a better fit than the ninjas I have for the scientific arm of the Ape Revolutionary Committee.

When I said I was looking for something simple to paint, it was the Omega Drones followed a simplistic pattern I've used on several projects. Spray silver, black wash, pick out feature colour.

I opted for glowing blue on these guys as I felt that red would look a bit too Terminator, whilst green might suggest Necron too much.

Although they were simple to paint, I'm pleased that I been able to get something done this weekend and keep myself occupied.

Acquired: -73

Painted: 403

Lead Mountain: 369

Strange Days

I don't know why or how my motivation strikes to bring me round to projects that have remained untouched for a long time.

Perhaps I should see a psychiatrist...

Enter Dr Strange...no, not that one!

Dr Hugo Strange, the cutting edge psychiatrist who, according to various versions of the Batman story, uncovers the truth behind the mask and uses that information for leverage and power.

This miniature comes from the Batman Miniatures Game, something I haven't played in many years and I think he's ended up getting painted today because he's quite a simple model to get done.

Does this mean I'm about to start playing the Batman Miniatures Game again?

Probably not.

Does this herald a run of Batman related content on this page?

Who knows?

All I know is he was a relatively easy win.

Acquired: -61
Painted: 380
Lead Mountain: 632

Freedom Force: In Full Effect

I'm aware that I bounce around my many different projects with little rhyme or reason, often leaving things unfinished only to return to them at a later date when motivation strikes again.

Such is the case with this post where external events (to be discussed later) have brought me back around to my Freedom Force project to (almost) finish off my existing backlog.

The latest surge of miniatures for this project came from a Kitbash Games Supers Unlimited Kickstarter releasing a new team called the Glory Guard, which are heavily influenced by the Freedom Force game and I've chosen to lean into with my painting and modeling choices.

I now only have a single miniature from the Glory Guard Kickstarter to paint: Enigmiss. Unfortunately, the member of Freedom Force that she looks like is Alche-Miss, who I've already converted, so I'm considering alternative uses for her.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. The latest models to get paint on them are a somewhat contrasting affair, and not only because they have largely been done with contrast paints.

We have the monochromatic Tombstone and the eminently more vibrant Quetzalcoatl, both of who are characters which turn up in the time-travelling sequel, Freedom Force Vs the Third Reich.

Quetzalcoatl is a character which plays on the superhero trope of ancient gods bestowing power on a suitable mortal in the manner of Thor (the original comics version) or Shazam. In this case it's an Aztec god who imbues Jonny Azotl with a range of powers appropriate to a giant flying snake.

This model was the most fragile of the set and in fact I managed to snap his ankle whilst cleaning the model. However, it's also probably the most detailed and took the contrast paints and washes really well leaving me really happy with the outcome.

On the other hand, there's Tombstone. The vengeful spirit of a man executed for a crime he didn't commit who no stalks the guilty, bringing them to justice. Deadman meets the Shadow, if you will.

When it came to painting this one I have arguably relied too much on contrast paints and the initial reference picture I used made it clear that his colours are black, grey and silver.

However, the reference material varies and, as you can see, there were options for a more colourful approach. Adding in the fact that the Basilicanum Grey paint has left him looking quite dirty means that overall I'm not very pleased with the outcome.

I think I'm found to revisit him and highlight the black with purple and clean up the grey to see if I can get an outcome I'm happier with.

As the Glory Guard came with stat cards for both Super Mission Force and Pulp City, I can now field a version of Freedom Force in both games along with 7TV, where I've been using custom profiles.

However, it's Pulp City that provided the motivation for me to get back to these two models, and this is the reason...

Kitbash Games are currently running another campaign, Pulp City: Full Effect, this time on Gamefound to fund the first additions to the main Pulp City setting in a long time (this was originally due in 2020, but 'stuff' happened, if you remember). It's also the first time that the rulebook has been available since the company changed hands, so it marks a real relaunch of the game.

The campaign can be found HERE.

I have somehow now amassed five teams and a motley selection of independent heroes for Pulp City, and so I'm looking to pick up any members of Red Republik or the A.R.C. (such as Simian Jones above) that turn up in the campaign, and with more stretch goals (based on both funding and backers) I'm checking back daily to see what else to add.

I'm also toying with the idea of starting another team, Settlers Green, simply as an excuse to buy the somewhat intimidating Tri-Bal model. There are three members of the team currently available in the add-ons section at the bottom of the page with more that have been teased.

Alternatively, there is a brand new team, Discord, available as a multi-buy, new versions of older characters and with Pulp City's mechanic of being able to build teams in multiple different ways, you could just grab the models you like and go from there.

Am I shilling for the company?

Well, yes. Leon is a friend and I'd like to see him get the game back to where it was. Partly because I want him to do well, but also because it's a really good game that I'd like to play more.

Acquired: -61

Painted: 360

Lead Mountain: 652

Law & Order

"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."

Well, not quite.

In Patriot City, in the world of Freedom Force, Law and Order are not separate, but rather are two faces of the same hero.

An honest cop and a lawyer who was blinded by a mob hit, Law and Order were hit with Energy X whilst in witness protection and were fused so that only one of them can be active at a time.

In my play through of the original game, I've fought alongside Order as an NPC in one of the scenarios involving the gangster Pinstripe, and the two are available to recruit, but I've not gotten around to spending my prestige points on them yet.

These models are again from the Kitbash Games Glory Guard Kickstarter and are sold under the names Truth and Justice.

Law

Mild-mannered Sarah (no last name) was blinded in a mob hit on the Judge she worked for, and later almost killed in witness protection.

As Law, despite wielding a blade with deadly accuracy, she is primarily a protective hero, able to heal, shield and remove conditions for her ally.

Painting wise, yellow and white was never going to be a walk in the park, but I'm quite happy with how she turned out. I had several goes at the white, using washes, drybrushing and contrast paint until I got to a place I was happy with.

Conversely, the Averland Sunset I used for the yellow was a bit watery and ended up working quite well over a Grey Seer undercoat. A happy little accident.

All in all I'm really happy with how she came out. I didn't do the scales on her to nic because I'm not a masochist and they are also represented on her belt buckle.

Order

Officer Samson had been tipped off by corrupt cops to leave Sarah to her fate, but stayed to protect her despite his misgiving. 

As Order he is a classic 'brick' superhero, a heavy hitter with massive strength and toughness, but prone to flying into a berserk rage.

Although quite straightforward, I'm less pleased with my painting of Order. It might be to do with the darker palette, or it could be because of all the models from the set, this had most work to do on mould lines and filling bubbles.

I ended up finding him a bit of a chore. His skin is Mournfang Brown washed in Nuln Oil, whilst the tunic is highlighted Kantor Blue.

I probably need to put more work in to make the details pop, but I found the sculpt a bit of a paint to work around.

He's fine, but my least favourite to paint so far.

With Law and Order finished, I've now completed all of the heroes I own from the original game and have now put together almost the entire team. I still have a couple of characters from the sequel, Freedom Force Vs the 3rd Reich, along with an alternate version of Alche-Miss.

The notable characters I'm missing are El Diablo, Man-O-War and Bullet l, who are actually some of the characters that I use most when playing and I'm keen to include them. Finally there are the optional recruits of Blackbird, Iron Ox and Super Collider, who I'm less fussed about.

When I started this project, I never really thought that I'd get more than a handful of the team done given how specific the brief was. However, the fact that I now can field several different team lineups is largely due to Kitbash Games.

I also have several villainous groups to put against the heroes of Patriot City: Nuclear Winter's frozen forces; Pinstripe's gang of goons; Shadow's dark minions; and dinosaurs propelled through time.

I'm going to wait until I've played it before moving on to characters from Freedom Force Vs the 3rd Reich, however, I might put a bit of effort into the villains that I haven't yet put together: Mr Mechanical, Pan, Deja Vu and the Dominion.

In other news, I've picked up another couple of units for my Badab War project, and so I've gone backwards on the progress. I'm thinking that I might need some honest conversations about whether I'm going to keep some of the backlog that I don't look like getting to.

Acquired: -70
Painted: 300
Lead Mountain: 683