Wednesday, February 24, 2016

All-Star Ninjas on the Scene!!!

I didn't go as far overboard as I could have.
Another Kickstart error fulfilled by Soda Pop Miniatures! This makes two they've finished in less time than Palladium Books has taken to fulfill Robotech, and it seems as though that will remain to be the case for a long time to come. I wouldn't be surprised if they finish Super Dungeon Legends before the rest of the Robotech minis ship.

Bitterness aside, the first thing to do with miniatures such as these is to paint them. Clan Iga looked to be the coolest to me, what with their red skin and purple outfits, so they were to be first. Much the same as with Super Dungeon Explore, I started with white primer.

 Their red skin was tackled in pretty much the same manner as the kobolds I painted for the first edition of Super Dungeon Explore. If you click the name on the list to the right you should be able to find my technique. The next part will be a bit of an issue. I need to start on the Dark parts of the models after painting the skin in a bright color and without slipping up and getting another color on the vibrant red. Basically everything from here, except for the hair, is dark purple, black, or metallic (and metallic colors work best over a black basecoat). This will require a steady hand, and a fair bit of patience, but it can be done. Albeit rather slowly. I'm probably going to need a new brush with a finer tip to get into the crevices without touching the wrong bits as well.

I decided to start with one of the Iga named characters, Yobuko. Honestly, I don't really care for the character, his rules, or his sculpt. That made him the perfect guinea pig for my tests. He's done now, and while I still dislike the mini, the color scheme will work out okay.

In unrelated news, I tried a game of Age of Sigmar using the "Age of Balance" comp system. It's basically a rough & ready deal, focusing not so much on "perfect" values (they make a rather convincing argument that no such thing exists) but on "fair" games. In other words, yes the system isn't flawless, and yes it's open to abuse, but what system isn't?

I have a few thoughts about the game. as with all battle reports I have read, the game pretty much devolved into a big scrum in the center of the battlefield. This may well have been due to the fact that the game was Daemons vs. Daemons, a pair of armies not really known for their shooting. Perhaps plunking Skaven down across the board will change things? One thing's for sure, much like Lord of the Rings, the game needs scenarios to eliminate repetitive gameplay.

I think I'll see if the Age of Balance comp system and the PPC scenarios mesh. A little tweaking may be needed, but with luck not too much.

I'll be playing X-Wing for a couple weeks while prepping for a store championship, so don't expect too much hobby progress soon. That having been said, I'm painting up objectives for AoS PPC scenarios today, so maybe I'll have something to show off soon after all!