Marvel Crisis Protocol: Phase 2

 The mighty Marvel Marching Band goes on!

Don't tell me you can't hear that music in your head.

Having completed the Core Set earlier this year, I was very much bitten by the comic book bug (I await superpowers any day now).

I'm sure there's a sensible way to collect MCP models, but I just went for the candy-store approach of everything and anything I thought was cool.

And they don't come much cooler than Lizard! Dr Curt Conners is probably one of the best sculpts in the series, with an absolutely bonkers pose of leaping mid-air from an exploding manhole cover. The model is so cleverly posed on the splashing water, it took me some time to work out where it should be attached.

For painting, it was a straightforward start of zenithal highlights, followed by contrast paints, then some layering on the white lab coat (always the trickiest) - I love that he even has saliva modelled onto his lizard jaws.

Wasp was simple - just a case of keeping the yellow bits from the black bits - but on a very small scale. The black started with a Chaos Black primer, then drybrushing up with grey and bringing it all down again with a Nuln Oil wash - an easy method of getting more from simple black.

For the yellow, it was a base of Ulthuan Grey and then Iyanden Yellow contrast. The wings were transparent, so I didn't even prime them, just washed with blue.

Okoye was my first foray into third-part miniatures - Trident Studio, in this case. I wasn't planning on starting a Wakanda faction (yet), but Okoye is very useful for She-Hulk's A-Force (and she's also my favourite Wakandan).

The sculpt was very good - there's really a lot to be said for the 3D prints of the heroes (not least in the wallet) - and it was a nice change of pace to paint her with the more earthy tones of the royal guard, rather than bright spandex.

Goblins aren't really new to me, so Norman Osborne was just a fun paint. Mostly layers of greens and purples, with a bit of wash to brighten up the pumpkin bombs and drybrushing for the vapour trail. Lovely!

For a character that is basically a white suit, Kingpin really did require maximum effort from me. I started with drybrushing white over grey, but that was just to get my bearings. After that it was layering, layering, layering, all the way past Ulthuan Grey to White Scar.

The flesh tones took a bit of work too, and I was very careful when adding in the final bits of colour. You can't see from this angle, but the sign he's stepping on is from Nelson & Murdock attorney's - nice! 

I had no real faction for Moon Knight to join (although he can team up with Spider-Man), but I just loved the Mr Knight variant so much, I had to have him. 

I also guessed he wouldn't be that much of a hassle to paint up, and so it proved: white primer, wash of blue, heavy drybrush of white, followed by white layering and a final wash of Apothecary White contrast to level him out.

Mysterio is from another third-party sculptor, C27 Collectibles, and an absolute banger of a sculpt (his official one is pretty good too, but I had no interest in the other half of his box, Carnage). 

He was a mix of techniques: glazes and drybrushing for his helmet; basecoat, washes and layers for his cloak, zenithal and contrast for his body and contrasts, drybrushing and washes for his smoke. He looks great, and he's an absolute menace on the table.

Venom was an interesting one: the black was very easy (using the above method, and then some extra picking out of his veins), but then I had to go very carefully to pick out the spider symbol and eyes.

Oddly, the box art hadn't shown the spider symbol's abdomen coloured-in (which isn't comic accurate), which now makes me double-check colour schemes.

Of the new wave of Marvel superheroes, Ghost-Spider has one of my favourite costumes - until I had to paint it. White cloth, hot pink underlay and, for some sadistic reason, tiny turquoise checks under the arms.

With a little brush and a lot of patience, I think I managed to just about do justice to Gwen.

And my reward was Rhino! An absolute chonker of a model that screamed 'drybrush me or else!' With the skin done so easily, I could spend more time on the face, toes and horn - the only bits left.

He's from Trident Studios and, in my option, a better sculpt, since he's actually charging (the official one is fist-planted in the ground). On the board, he seems a fun bulldozer - unless he's up against Hulk.

And then it was back to tiny scale! Miles Morales Spider-Man is one of the smallest heroes, and needed his red webbing to be picked out individually (no zenithal cheating like his predecessor). He is, however, blessed with the best spider-pose.

And then it was back to easy mode! (you see how painting these models can keep you constantly engaged). Abomination is something of a household favourite, so we added him to the roster, even though he doesn't have an actual model (we'll be proxying for Ulik the Troll).

A basic drybrush, followed by a turquoise contrast and Blonsky is done. Namaste!

There's a story behind this one: Gitsnik the Great - a fellow denizen of Winters SEO server and Weekend at Burnie's - heard how I liked the original Captain Mar-Vell and gave me his Heroclix one as a present.

Heroclix just about scales right, but is a much softer plastic - so with a respray and some emphasis on the definitions, the Kree warrior is resurrected for battle, by Hala!

The next two models don't belong to me (although they are residing my cabinet for safekeeping) - Mrs Stylus is a fan of Captain Carter, so I got the sculpt from Trident Studios as a present.

She was enjoyable to paint - but probably the toughest assignment yet (especially as I was painting for a present). The tiny details of the Union Jack motif, not to mention Peggy's face (most of the previous guys have been masked), but very happy with how it came out. I'm going to use Red Guardian's profile (USSR Captain America) as a proxy.

And you couldn't have Captain Carter without the Hydra-Stomper! It's a brute of a model, and so well-realised from the animation. Painting him was a simple green-overbrush from a black base, with metal bits picked out and some blue glow for the eyes and chest panel. The real tricky part was freehanding the US star and serial number.

As with Captain Carter, I'll proxy rules for him using the Red Guardian (USSR Iron Man), so they can form an ersatz team.

I was always going to get a Hulk - and once again Trident Studios provided the best option. He's got a proper Hulk rage look to him, and the face even has a hint of Mark Ruffalo. The three Wolverine-style claw marks along his trousers are an excellent nod to canon.

I decided to do as proper job as I could: starting with a dark green base and then working up with many thin layers. Same for the purple trousers and I think I might have a new favourite model. It doesn't hurt that he's tremendous fun on the table - whether slamming Rhino about like a rag-doll or dumping Red Skull in the trash.

Another one for the web warriors is Black Cat (Felicia was in the first Spider-Man comic I ever read, so it's had an indelible effect on me). This sculpt is from C27 Collectibles, as the official model is posed in mid-backflip that is momentarily impressive, but just a bit odd for a tabletop piece.

Once the black and white was sorted the hardest part was layering the skin, picking out the mask and choker, and trying not to overdo the lipstick. 

One of the lesser villains now - Viper (a fairly big character in the comics, with a fairly forgettable role in the most-forgettable Wolverine movie). The box of Viper (and Sin) was an exception to my 'buy what's cool' rule - I picked them up because they were an opportunity to fill out my roster of Hydra villains, and because the box was at a knock-down price (I now guess that to be because both characters are not well-regarded in-game).

But Viper was a cool model to paint - a nice mix of greens (some with contrast, some with layers), although the face needed to shading to be emphasised, so it didn't look flat as a theatre mask.

Ant-Man was painted a long time after his counterpart, the Wasp, partly because I didn't need him for A-Force, and also because I thought he wouldn't be as fun to paint. I was wrong in that sense - he was basically black and red, but it was a nice evening's work (that's another good thing about these models - very easy to get a dopamine hit of 'one-and-done' completion).

Sin is the other half of the unloved box set, but she was enjoyable to paint (and I managed to make her face suitably manic, considering she is Red Skull's daughter). On the table, she has some nice interactions with Crossbones, and can even be a faction leader, so that will be fun to explore.

The fact that I bought Kraven the Hunter first, yet was almost last to be painted, says something about my enthusiasm for him. I mean - he's not exactly dressed in everyday clothes, but he's not an animal and/or goblin-themed monster like the rest of his counterparts, is he? Just a lot of safari beige to paint.

I was wrong about that - once I'd bit the bullet and pulled out every yellow and brown in my collection, I had great fun painting him. I even added leopard print to his trousers to prolong the fun. Welcome to the Spider-Foes, Sergei!

I've been raving about the quality of third-party prints so far, so for the sake of balance, I have to say I was a bit let down by the Trident Studios Hawkeye. The face likeness is very good, and the tactical 'jumping backwards' is movie-accurate (although I'd have preferred a standing shot) - but the scale is off. A mere mortal shouldn't be able to eyeball Iron Man or Thor, and this is the first model I've considered moving on and getting the official version.

But to end on a high note - I was saving this one until last as my reward. Trident Studios did a great job of the original Thor (by far my favourite look) - the sculpt did come with lightning zapping off his hammer, but I snipped them off, as I thought it was distracting and we couldn't see Mjolnir.

Lots of layering to bring out his bright, comic book colours, and the Mighty Thor completes this phase of painting models!

(spoiler: it won't be the last phase)