The Zombicide Invader Six - Speed Paint Edition

10.27.2022

Last Week I had my first post in a month with 3 so-so minis. Now, I have a much better batch to show off.

I had already started on 1 more armored mini, with another one primed, when I told Jerry I thought I needed a break from armor. He wholeheartedly agreed, which is what any good friend should do. I picked 4 more minis devoid of armor and primed them. To make it even more fun, I decided to break open the Army Painter Speed Paint set I bought sometime last year. I've read mixed reviews on these - mainly that they will sometimes reactivate the paint they're layered on. Since you can't learn unless you do, I went and did.

Didding worked out well. Partially because I had 23 paints to choose from in the kit, I had fun using little bits of different colors here and there. The Speed Paint Leather works a lot better for me than the Citadel Contrast Leather. That seemed true for most of the browns. I ran into the paint re-activation problem when adding a purple (Citadel) wash on top of a couple of layers of purple Speed Paint. I think I salvaged it, as it was on the butt of a purple jumpsuit. Now a very highlighted purple jumpsuit. The 2 armored guys also got a taste of some Speed Paint dabs here and there.



Now there are 10 more minis left for Zombicide Invader. Some have armor. Some do not. 1 is an alien pig.

The weather is also in the sweet spot for me to get back to putting together buildings, well really 2 Trailers, for Potham. I want to finish ZI, but I also don't want to wait again until it's too cold to get outside for multiple passes of spray paint. I don't do well when I mix my focus, but we'll see what happens on the next post.


gaming miniatures Zombicide Invader

Zombicide Invader - 3 More Good Guys

10.20.2022

3 more non-zombie Good Guys for Zombicide Invader. This isn't much to show after almost a month of no updates, where I've undoubtedly been toiling endlessly painting these little buggers. I was trying to up my game on painting details. It halfway worked. While I think I did a better job painting and bringing out those details I concentrated on, overall these minis just seem... kind of ok.

Playing around with my selection of metallic paints for armor bits looks ok, but everything seems more muted. I tried out some of the colors I forgot I had, like Gunmetal Blue. I should remember that's to be used sparingly on accent bits, not most of a backpack. I'm still getting splotchy skin - maybe it's time to go back to adding a pale/flesh coat before skin-like contrast paint, instead of applying directly to white primer?

As it is, these 3 are done enough. There's 3 more that I've been working on a little bit at the same time, so maybe there won't be another month before the next update. Maybe.


gaming miniatures Zombicide Invader

Zombicide Invader: 3-Guy 2-Guns

09.26.2022

A continuation of my Zombicide Invader Good Guys (I think) progress, as 2 gun thingies and 3 people thingies get checked off.

I really needed some color choice help on the guns. Even looking at what other people have painted, I didn't find a combination that I liked and thought I could pull off. As it is, I stuck with some simple colors hoping to not make things look too cartoonish, while still trying to keep the metallic look to things. I'd give myself a solid C on those.

For the trio of people, I found a black with red lining color scheme I liked for the clothes, and I had fun trying that out. I've done some similar things in the past, but this was the first time I went into with forethought and took into account not just she colors and shadows, but also the nooks and crannies where I was going to put the wrong color of paint while trying to get to another part. These turned into a weird balance of good and bad discoveries. I'm not sure what I did different than normal, but the skin was splotchy. For the (outer) black coats, I used a purple wash to try and bring out some shadowy highlights. That's a trick I picked up from all of the Batman cape painters on YouTube. For a first attempt at it.... not too bad.

I seem to take horrible pictures of minis with a gloss seal. Picture-wise the details seem to be covered up on these, but with a naked eye they're not that bad. or maybe I have a forgiving eye?


gaming miniatures Zombicide Invader

Zombicide Invader: The Return

09.08.2022

After mechs last time I find myself returning to Zombicide Invader, but this time going the opposite direction of alien zombos and instead sticking to the mech-like blockiness afforded by gun emplacements wielded by robots.

Yet again I still have no idea about the rules that go with what I'm painting, but all that can come later and would just get in the way now!

I still have the goal of getting Zombicide Invader painted and ready for a potential game with Jer and Keith by the end of the year. All of the alien zombos are painted. All that's left is 28 non-alien zombos. I would say good guys, but those unread rules could come back to haunt me.

I picked the biggest things remaining to paint first. Some evil looking robot thingies, with guns and pointy bits. Like the Battletech mechs from last time, I didn't want to go too colorful to keep things from looking cartoonish. This also ended up being discovering that I really like Citadel Necron Compound for a metallic drybrush. For most of these I just primed grey, Nuln Oil wash, Necron drybrush, and then picked out some details to colorize. After the fact I might need to use some gloss coat to make the metallic parts stand out better, but I kind of like the dull look right now.

4 down, 24 to go.


gaming miniatures Zombicide Invader

BattleTech: Miniature Force Pack - Clan Support Star

08.29.2022

On a recent trip to Nashville, I tricked my good close personal friend Charles G into purchasing a Battletech game. For my goading, I agreed to get a support team for him to quash should the need ever arise to do battle. Also, it's been a while since I painted something that didn't have eyes.

I picked up the BattleTech: Miniature Force Pack - Clan Support Star, and I have no idea what that means in terms of game play. I have a copy of the rules.. from the 90's. I'm not sure I even read the rules in the 90's. But that's not the point of this. This is a game in which my good close personal friend Charles G has always enjoyed the background and history - kind of like Warhammer 40K. This was an excuse to buy some toys and read some stuff under the guise of "yeah, we'll play that"; which we actually might.

I went fairly simple on the paint job, as too many colors would look overly cartoonish, and I came across some paint jobs online that lost the scale for the mechs and started to look like man-sized powered armor. Vallejo Olive Drab for the base coat. Each mech got a different green-based contrast paint for some highlights/panel and parts differences. I had fun trying to add in the plasma-green for energy weapons (I think it worked). Sky Blue for windows and canopies still works well, although adding it a drop at a time to get color coverage while not overlapping non-windowed details took a steadier hand than I thought I had. I found some Citadel Nechron Dry "compound", as it didn't claim to be paint. I honestly thought it was dried up paint, but when I dragged the brush across it, it had a rubbery bounce-back to it. It had a nice metallic look so I thought I would give it a try at drybrushing instead of the tried and true Use Too Much Paint/Try To Find The Sweet Spot/Now I Need More Paint method. I've got to say, while the first swipe was a little heavier than I generally wanted, after that it was a really goo drybrush. I don't care for the pots they're in, but I'm finding more and more Citadel paints (and paint adjacent) that I like.


Battletech gaming miniatures

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