Just want to give a quick update on yet another new project, the ultimate Marvel Crisis Protocol!
I can't tell you how awesome it is to have a Marvel Miniatures game (that is much more approachable than Knight Models' take on superheroes). Marvel is my jam, Cap is one of my favorite superheroes, and the minis are spectacular.
If they ever make X-Men in this game I may just have a heart attack!
Anyway, I made a good amount of progress for this game:
That's a shot of my tabletop standard for 6 models. I tried to get the colors blocked in enough in as few sessions as possible to get something actually going on the table for once. Since then I've run out of steam for a bit, but I'm excited to get back on it.
Here are some details:
HULK
Primed with Vallejo Grey - it's actually nearly white, for brighter colors I've been preferring this over white lately so things don't get "neon" on the first pass.
Here I did a basecoat of Vallejo Goblin Green.
Here I heavily shaded with a mix of Goblin Green/Dark Green.
Then I recaptured some highlights with Goblin Green.
Then I added more highlights with Scorpion Green.
Lastly I hit it up with Scorpion Green/Cadmium Yellow.
With one more final pass of the same mix to emphasize the highlights.
Lastly, to get it tabletop ready, I blocked in the major areas so that it's passable!
SPIDEY
Primed with grey.
Basecoat with Blue, then highlighted a mix of Blue/Electric Blue with a final subtle highlight of Electric Blue. I did this so that there was a large amount of contrast between the basecoats and what I paint on with a brush to give it that Comic feel later.
Here I blocked in the major areas, like GW Foundation Mechrite Red, Cold Grey and P3 Sanguine for the girder.
I then highlighted the red with GW Blood Red
Hard to tell from the pic, but I then highlighted with GW Orange (forget the name). I also painted the chest logo and eyes.
Here I carefully used GW Nuln Oil to line the webbing, then shaded the eyes with GW Space Wolf Grey
And then I cleaned up the base rim, table ready!
Spidey and Hulk ready to rock!
I felt like getting more terrain ready for the game, so I took some old unpainted containers from Reaper I've had for a while and did a super quick paint job on them.
BLACK WIDOW/BLACK PANTHER
I didn't take any WIP pics until after I got to this point of table-ready for Black Widow, but essentially the black was Black/Somber Grey. The hair was Mechrite Red/Golden Skin Highlight, and the yellows were GW Goldbrown/White with a wash of Burnt Umber.
I painted Black Panther at the same time as Black Widow just to get the suit done. I love this model, I can't wait to work more on him.
CAPTAIN AMERICA/CAPTAIN MARVEL
I basecoated the blue for these guys the same way I did spidey, I think I emphasized the Electric Blue a touch more. If I could go back I think I would have added white for the final highlight, especially on Captain Marvel.
With Cap being one of my favorites I had to start working on him for more details. I blocked in all his colors to get him table ready. Initially I had his gloves and boots red, but decided to go with brown because I prefer his more practical soldier looks than the comic imitations. Plus, there are a lot of Red/Blue heroes in this box and wanted him to stand apart from Spidey and Marvel.
For the leather I did my usual red leather mix of Woodgrain/Orange Brown/Dark Sand that I've covered before.
I then painted all the skin, white areas, and banding on his torso. I'd read that folks had issues with the lines being shallow/gone, and I thought I'd be able to weather through it but in practice it was really difficult to see them. I have to clean some of these areas up later, but for now it will do.
I also started on the shield's gleams. I hadn't done anything like this on a round surface before for NMM, and generally I steer away from red NMM because it's difficult to keep it from going pink too much.
What ended up happening was that I wasn't committing to the size of the gleams being large when I should have, and ended up having the really burst-y pattern you see above. I was pretty unhappy with it but saw what was working and what wasn't, and decided to start over.
Boy am I glad I did...
When I repainted the base coat I said to myself that I need to go big in order to make it work. I kept it to 5 major "bursts" with a few lines extra. When I started laying in the highlights it was beginning to look awesome.
The technique itself is actually super simple, and I thought I was going to have to work harder to get the colors to blend. I hadn't done any glazes at this point and thought it looks well enough already and just left it as it is. I can clean up some areas, and widen the highlights a bit more at the shield's edges, but really it's good enough.
For the red I used GW Mechrite Red, Blood Red, then added Golden Skin Highlight. Using skin tones in reds helps it from going too pink and gives a more realistic tone when doing NMM.
The greys are all Cold Grey/White.
Like I said, super simple.
I can't wait to finish his blue uniform, then he's really going to stand out.
For this game I got myself a city mat from Frontline Gaming. I have other 3x3 mats but none fit the aesthetic of the game as most are for Malifaux, and I really wanted that city setting.
I slapped on some Battle Systems terrain as well as some other stuff to get an idea of a layout I'd like.
Later on I built some more of the Battle Systems terrain more to the liking of the mat, and I'm still deciding on adding more elements.
I also got some inexpensive die cast vehicles in 1/43 scale from Amazon to get some cool looking cars on the table without having to paint more stuff.
Also, scales in die cast vehicles are about as consistent as women's clothing sizes. As in, they are not at all.
Here you see the dump truck I got that is super cool. It's very small in scale when you look at the cab in comparison to the models, but it works out well in terms of game size. The pictures make it look much smaller than it really is, and the lighting washes out the models.
I got this SUV and it's probably the closest to the actual needed scale of the models.
Behind it you can see the sedan I got, along with the dumpster that came with the truck. The car is just super tiny. It technically can work for the game but it's not 1/43 at all, and may barely work for the Walking Dead instead.
Anyway, that's all for now, hope you've enjoyed the update!