Some Avengers Assembly Required

It will come as no surprise to anyone who's read the last two blog posts that I've started Marvel Crisis Protocol.

Read on, True Believers!

The Core Set seemed a good place to start (and certainly the most cost-effective away of getting ten characters at once), so I got that last year for my birthday, assembled and primed the models, and waited for an opportune moment.

The fun thing about taking on ten different characters was devising the different approaches to painting them. No twenty-guardsmen-at-once going on here!

"Mr Stark? I'm not painted so good..."

Spider-Man was up first. My main concern was his webbing, which my spider-sense told me I would struggle to paint in at the end stage (by Warhammer standards, these models are petite).

So I went with a black undercoat, then followed with the 'slapchop' method of drybrushing up from grey to white (leaving black only in the deepest recesses). I then did the blue with Celestium Blue contrast and the red with Blood Angels Red contrast. Took care of the eyes and spider symbols and pow!

The Adventures of Tin-Tin

Iron Man was next, and another one for the contrast paints. I primed him in Leadbelcher, then covered the red and gold parts with Blood Angels Red and Nazdreg Yellow respectively. This gave me a good metallic colour. 

A bit of white for the eyes and arc reactor, given a glow by Frostheart contrast and shellhead was ready for action!

Easiest Rubik's Ever

Red Skull was another one with a black undercoat, but I want easy on the drybrushing, leaving his trenchcoat fairly dark (I gave it a wash with Nuln Oil to bring it back down). Boots and straps were done in Black Legion Contrast, so they were even darker and shinier, like leather.

The head was drybrushed almost white, then given a Blood Angels Red contrast. The Cosmic Cube was Ulthuan Grey with Frostheart and some drybrushing for the light source.

Finding Zemo

If I'd know the trouble Baron Zemo was going to give me on the tabletop, I'd have stepped on him instead. But he was actually one of my favourites to paint: starting with a grey primer, drybrushing up to white.

And then it was contrast time: Dryad Bark for the trousers, Snakebite Leather for the jacket, Shyish Purple for the gloves and waistcoat, Sigvald Burgandy for the mask.

You'll have noticed a contrast theme developing here - it wasn't my intention at the outset, but with models this delicate, it seemed a good way of adding bold colours without obliterating the detail.

Robot California

Ultron was very easy - Leadbelcher primer, Nuln Oil wash, Iron Hand Steel drybrush and then Blood Angels Red for the innards, with some Troll Slayer Orange highlights.

Enemy of Kree-Lar and In-Cel.

Captain Marvel was a grey primer with white drybrushing. The blue was Celestium Blue contrast, drybrushed with Temple Guard Blue to bring out the details and give it a 'cosmic' look. The red was Blood Angels Red, with highlights of Mephiston Red, and the face was the traditional Bugman's Glow, Reikland Flesh, Cadian Fleshtone.

I could paint this all day.

I struggled to get the blue of Captain America's uniform right. I thought Celestium Blue contrast was too dark, so went with Talassar Blue, even though I guessed it would be too bright and shiny. 

Many stages of Tyrian Blue and Drakenhof Nightshade washes, drybrushes with Calgar Blue, and 'toning down' with Lahmian Medium and I think we finally got there. The boots and gloves were a much more straightforward Blood Angels Red.

Bozhe moi.

Black Widow was, unsurprisingly, a black undercoat with grey drybrushing, then Nuln Oil and Black legion contrast for the boots and straps.

The face was Bugman's Glow, Reikland Flesh and Cadian Fleshtone, with Mephiston Red for the hair, with Jokero Orange highlights.

Bonehead.

Crossbones in another man in black, so got the same undercoat and drybrushing. With him, I went all the way up to white, to catch his skull mask, and then toned it back down, with Dryad Bark for the straps, Black Legion for the boots and leadbelcher for the metallics.

Bugman's Glow, Reikland Flesh and Cadian Fleshtone for the skin again (I need some diversity in my squads). There was space to fill around the eyes, but I left them in shadow, to look more skull-like.

Captain Calamari.

And finally a colourful villain from the set! I'll need to do more spider-foes, as they don't shine away from a bold palette. Doctor Octopus started grey, with white drybrushing. I put Iyanden Yellow contrast on his gloves and boots, but that wasn't bright enough (you can see it in the recesses), so I gave it a traditional highlight with Yriel Yellow and a glaze of Lamentor's Yellow.

The green was a more straightforward Karandras Green, with the tentacles in Leadbelcher and Nuln Oil. The laser tips were Magmadroth Flame over white, with dots of Iyanden Yellow.

Just Jen.

And finally, a bonus model! She-Hulk was a Christmas present (inspired by recently viewing the TV show) and one of my favourite character designs (I like the idea of sneakers being part of a superhero uniform). More traditional acrylics here, although I did start with grey and drybrush up to white, to give me a steer on the white uniform, and then went over the highlighted parts in Ulthuan Grey. The purple half was Xerxes Purple with Genestealer Purple highlights.

The green flesh was Waaagh! Flesh base, layered up from Elysian Green to Moot Green. Black Legion hair with Kabalite Green highlights.

Naturally, I couldn't have things all my own way, so the core set also came with terrain. A trash can, lampposts and traffic lights were all simple drybrushes. The yellow of the traffic sign was Averland Sunset with Fuegan Orange - I thought I'd gone too far, but it gave just the colour I was after.

And just to give me a challenge, I did the crossing signs in freehand.

A couple of dumpsters - starting with a yellow or green prime and drybrushed up from there.

The same with the cars: a blue or yellow base and drybrushing. The windows were Thunderhawk Blue with Lothern Blue drybrushing, and the lights were Ulthuan Grey with a glaze of Gulliman Blue or Magmadroth Flame,

Once again with the freehand for the licence plates - a lot trickier than a Blood Bowl base rim!

The centrepiece of the scenery is the newspaper kiosk. A bit more of a challenge, but quite fun to do, and enough scope to add a few easter eggs - such as filling the comics display with special editions printed to a tiny scale.

I threw in a bit more freehand graffiti around the back - one for fans of Falcon And The Winter Soldier. 

And that's everything! It was an absolute tonic to paint - lots of nice primary colours and iconic characters, and nothing to really stress about in the execution. 

As a side-note, due to my abandon-at-90% habit, I think it may also be the first hobby set I've painted to completion since HeroQuest!

(although I'm already building up a backlog of unpainted heroes, so normal service has been resumed)