I decided to get the Crossroads 7 set as part of Wyrd’s Gencon sale. The overlapping auras seem pretty neat, and I thought it would work nicely as a second option if I declared any faction that I don’t have many choices in (like say, Outcasts or Resurrectionists).
Wrath
This is the model that almost makes me wish I held out for a translucent set. Then I remember how much I hate dealing with the translucent plastic, and I decide not to worry. I really like how his skin turned out. I went with purple to tie into the rest of my Neverborn.
Gluttony
This model is kind of interesting, in that it’s a Gremlin, but not actually a Gremlin. I guess the voodoo dolls tie into Zoraida. The blue snake kind of looks more tropical than swampy, but I like the splash of color that it adds to the otherwise muted tones.
Envy
Envy is a beast. You can’t get all his feet on a 50mm base. I considered trying to pose it as rearing, but that looked pretty dumb. In the end, I scavenged some wood chips and painted them to match the basing on the rest. I decided to do the mechanisms as brass, with iron armor plating.
I picked up these models on something of a whim from Monkey Sword Games, after getting a flier at Califaux. I figured since Lenny can summon Piglets, I should have some. I painted them up quick in between other projects.
Piglet (open mouth)
I tried for a bit more of a wet blending technique with these guys. It didn’t turn out entirely smooth, and in some places there are tide marks. More practice is needed. As usual, looking at them at the tabletop hides a lot of these flaws.
Piglet (sitting)
The feet provided much too small of a contact point for pinning, so they’ve just got CA glue holding them onto the base. I tried to get at least one foot on the wood planks, which seems to hold better than the textured parts.
I picked up the translucent No Shelter Here at Wyrd’s Easter sale. After Ross came over and took the Bay Area Open with Pandora I figured I should get around to painting her up.
I kind of hate working with the translucent stuff. It’s brittle and is a pain to deal with mold and seam lines. You can get some neat effects with it though.
Pandora
As I did with Tara, I mostly painted over the translucency. Only some areas are left, to try to get an interesting effect. On Pandora, only the smoke coming out of the box is left.
Poltergeist
The Poltergeist’s entire lower half is translucent, although with some paint and washes applied to give it texture.
Candy
There wasn’t anything on Candy that I felt I could justify as translucent, so I just painted the whole thing. Her tiny feet were a challenge. They’re too small to pin without getting mangled. Instead, I used plastic glue to weld the feet to some plastic rod, which I could sink through the wooden planks and to the plastic of the base itself. I haven’t really played with the model enough to know if it worked yet.
Baby Kade
Baby Kade’s knife and eyes are left translucent. I was really happy with the texture of the skin, but then I kind of ruined it with harsh lines in the final highlight. Oh well.
Sorrow (arms out)
Sorrow (arms down)
Sorrow (arms down)
The Sorrows got similar treatment as the Poltergeist. Some of them really show seam lines, which are a real challenge with the translucent medium.
I think the translucent bits worked out pretty nicely. We’ll see if the pain of working with it fades before the next sale.
Dropzone Commander has intrigued me for a long time. The scale is interesting, and I really like the nesting models. I played a demo at the Hawk booth at Adepticon, and got a starter as swag. I kept waffling. I got a second demo at Endgame (thanks Kyle!) in May. Finally I decided to take the plunge.
I figured I should go ahead and sign up for the Bay Area Open, because everybody loves a newbie at a tournament. Right? I wanted to get at least one real game in first. Since I only play with painted models, that gave me a hard deadline for getting things painted: July 4.
I had the PHR starter army, but swapped it for UCM. The UCM aesthetic speaks to me, plus I could get a second set of some core models in the two-player starter. I picked up a semi-random collection of other interesting models: A Kodiak for command, Wolverines in Ravens, plus Falcon and Eagle gunships with Archangels to taste.
For the basic look, I liked the idea of doing arctic camouflage. The problem with camo is that it is designed to break up the shape of the object. A gaming model really needs its shape defined for it to work. Fortunately, a bit of edge highlighting can bring the shape back without ruining the look of the camo. Stippling the same off-white gives a frosted look. I also added some weathering powders around the wheels to give a bit of color, and help to provide some contrast with any board color. A few test models would prove the scheme.
Bear
That settled, I could go about painting up the rest of the ground forces.
Bears and Kodiak
Sabres
Rapiers
Wolverine-As
Legionnaires
Next up, the dropships. I had a bunch of Condors from the starter boxes, plus a set of Ravens to carry the Wolverines. I went for a similar scheme, with camo for the major body panels and exposed metal for the rest. I figured the clamps would get dirty like the ground vehicles, so hit them with weathering to match.
Raven-Bs
Condor
Finally, the gunships and fast movers. The UCM dropship and gunships look a lot alike, especially from a few feet away. They share a hull design, and the main difference is on the underside. I wanted to give the gunships a distinctive look. I settled on a solid blue, centered around the same color as the spots on the camo.
Falcons
Eagle
Archangels
The army looks cohesive as a whole, although different components have their own appearance.
I had to rush a bit more than I would have liked, but I was able to get everything done in time. After a couple of games (and a bit of a break), I’ll see about expanding the force. And I’m already lusting after the Resistance models.
