Or rather, some of his rogue gallery… My friend wanted to get a dedicated minis game night going. The goal was to hit something we haven’t had on the table in a while. I must have baited him earlier by talking about the fact that while the “Bat Boxes” Knight Models was putting out were really cool, I have no need to get any. This wasn’t because there was anything wrong with them, rather I have tons of Batman models already needing painting and had no real compulsion to try. As if to challenge this lack of will, he decided he wanted BMG (Batman Miniature Game) to be the game of the evening. I took the bait and busted out my minis to see what kind of army I could field.
The outlook was bleak. I hadn’t done much with the set after getting the first three figures painted two years ago. I wrestled with the idea of just falling back to the easier stance of using what I had ready or, egads, unpainted models (shudder). I decided to lay back was to admit defeat and I needed kick things into gear and get shit done.
We talked again about our plan for Batman and decided to go bold and pit a full 350 point crew against each other. This was a bit daunting as that left four more models to paint up from the Jared Leto Joker crew. Luckily, I had an ace up my sleeve: my Clayface model I painted up back in December. Working out the math, adding Clayface would mean I’d only need to paint up one measily model to get to 338 points (ironically the same point cost as my friend’s Batman crew- technically we could fill in each with another cheap model but neither of us really have any).
The only model I needed to paint up was another of Joker’s cosplayers, this time it was the Goat Head Priest model. I remember struggling with Knight Model figures in the past due to their models having so much freehand painting. Either I’ve gotten better/faster or the details on these figures were easier to duplicate.
The Goat Head Priest went together extremely simple with a black priming and then detailing and highlighting. I finished him so fast, I decided to grab another figure just to keep the momentum going.
Of course, by “one” I meant “twins.” The Grin Twins were even easier than their goat-like brother. Again, another black primer and then some details and highlighting (usually with a dry brush). Things were going well and I only had one more model in the Joker crew left so I plowed straight ahead.
Now here was the pain-in-the-ass details I remember from Knight Model figures. I worked mainly on the face first to get it to where I wanted it. The deep eyeshadow and small tear tattoo along with the platinum hair and faded color highlights ended up coming together well enough, especially from the distances we’re playing. I cheated a lot on the rest of her tattoos, just making eligible scribbles and dots. Lastly, I tried a wash to simulate the stockings and that went pretty poorly but from the table distance, it was fine.
And like that, I was done. Joker crew complete and I could play a full 350 points if I wanted. I decided to stick with my Clayface team only because I really wanted to see him on the table. The night before, however, I realized that I forgot something- my objectives.
Luckily, they came together quickly too. Ace Chemical barrels were actually quite fun as I had planned from the get-go to have a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle “ooze” coming off of them to give them more character. The bright lime green paint worked well and I was pleased to see them come together.
The Ammo crate, Loot pile, and Wavnetech box also came together quickly and easily. No big surprises here, just base color slight detail and a wash or dry brush highlight.
All-in-all a very successful week of painting last week. My friend’s plan worked like a charm. Well played Colton, well played