Have you ever met my cousins?

The preparations for Poldercon are going as planned. With friends and family volunteering as guinea pigs, I've  been able to run 3 try-out sessions. Each session has led to some adjustments to the set up and the scenario, hopefully resulting in an enjoyable demo on May 1st.

Meanwhile I've painted a couple more miniatures, which have been staring at me across my hobby desk for several weeks now. They are some reinforcements voor the Scylla. The models below come from the same starterbox. The painting method was the same as with the Scylla models mentioned in a previous post, mainly using Contrast Paints over a 'zenithal primer'. 

Vito and Roberto Vendetta are the Heroes from this set, and despite being family (brothers, maybe?), they are very, very different. These differences go well beyond Roberto's slight tan and Vito's unhealthy pale complexion - although for someone who's undead Vito's paleness might actualy be considered a good thing. 

In the game, Roberto is a dangerous sniper with an extremely powerful gun. He's kept in check by only being allowed one specific target at the start of the game, and he can only pick a new target after the previous one has been taken out.

Vito on the other hand, wields a tommy gun and has stats that are not overly impressive, but very suitable for an undead Halfling. What makes up for this, is that any time a model with the 'Vendetta' ability (usually a Hero) is taken out within 6" of him, he gets a free activation. If a model with the 'Famiglia' ability (a.k.a. Henchmen) gets taken out, Vito gets +1 G in his next activation, making him more accurate.

The Henchmen in this set are two Halfling workers, of which you get two for the cost of  '1' in the game. They provide some - not quite deadly- close range fire support and serve as expendable harassment 'troops'. Keeping them close to Vito so he can 'avenge' them when they inevitably get taken out sounds like a good strategy.

Then there are two big cousins, an Ogre Thrower and an Ogre Gangster, providing some much needed muscle in a faction dominated by weedy Halflings. The Ogre Thrower has the interesting ability to throw enemies through the air, potentially at other enemies. Ogres are not known for being great shots though 😅 

 

Clank, clank, tick-tock-tick-tock

 A quick little update with some models for the Inventors. This week I painted a bunch of golems, in the shape of a 3 Clockwork Servants and a 2 Wind-up Soldiers. They are nice little models to paint and are a quick and easy way to increase your henchmen choices. 

The little Clockwork Servants help your other, bigger, golems to perform at maximum efficiency. Lubricating joints, tightening nuts (no pun intended) and boosting the batteries - there's nothing these little fellas can't do. They're also handy for holding your tea while you're trying to decipher those oil-stained blue prints to find out where the red wire needs to go.

Playing with toy soldiers becomes a lot more exciting when the toys actualy shoot back. The cork guns of these troops have a limited range to minimize collateral damage - so one doesn't need to fear upsetting the neighbours by stray corks hitting their cat.

Next on the painting table are more Inventors to boss the golems around, plus an extra Lab Assistent and the pinnacle of golemic science: the Biocognitive Golem.

It's all in the family

Since the previous post I've been hard at work getting some paint on the Scylla. For these maffioso Halflings I wanted to try a different painting method than the traditional grey/black undercoat followed by layers and highlights. I decided to give Contrast Paints in combination with 'zenithal priming' a try. 

I first primed the models with Uniform Grey from The Army Painter, followed by a light spray of GW's Wraithbone from the top at a 45 degree angle. The idea behind this is that shadows become darker and highlights become lighter, provided that you let the primer shine through the actual paint your using. Contrast Paints are ideal for this, as are the various similar products that are now available (like The Army Painter Speedpaint or Scale 75 Instant Colors).

You can also use this approach with normal paints, but that requires you to carefully thin them down and applying them in very thin layers. This can create very nice results, but to me this feels like quote a slow proces, where it's the speed that made me think of this method in the first place.

I'm very pleased with the results, especially considering how fast and easy it was. Apart from the zenithal priming and using Contrast Paint, I only did a bit of drybrushing and the odd extra highlight (mainly for white cuffs and the like)

First here's little Julia Vendetta, carrying her favourite octopus pet - Octavian. Julia is the youngest of the Vendetta family and a much loved - if somewhat wayward - granddaughter of its matriarch. 

She's flanked by two of her slightly taller bodyguards. Size doesn't matter all that much when you're holding a tommy gun 😁

Two big cousins for those occasions where one needs muscle in addition to hot lead.

And the leader of the famiglia, La Donna: Sybilla Vendetta. In the background are her favourite tentacled friends from another dimension, who she summons if people don't show proper respect to the elderly.

 

They call him a two-faced character

Update about some progress on the painting table. 

Today I completed the painting of the notorious Mr. Cheng and one of his more dangerous servants, Onryo. Together with the Dragonlings and Hisao Shiryo they complete a Triad starter box. 

I painted Hisao Shiryo quite a while ago, probably not too lang after GW launched its contrast paints. 

The pipe smoke was a bit of an experiment , using Warp Lighting thinned down with Contrast Medium. I must say it is a great tool for easy blending.

For painting the skintone I used the guide in the link below; it offers colour suggestions for any skintone you can think of: 

http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1310-ethnic-skintones 

 Next step will be to paint a starter box full with inventive ladies and gentlemen and their minions.

Beware, here be dragon(lings)...

Another thing I'm aiming for with this blog is keeping my own hobby momentum going. For the first part of this year I've set myself the goal of completing some of the Wolsung starterboxes, which over the years have accumulated in my attic.

So to start this I've gone for something which is quick and easy to paint, an easy win so to say ;) Here are some Golemic Dragonlings for the Triad of the Lotus Dragon, as dangerous as they are cute :D