Strange Days

 The Mighty Marvel Marching Band moves on apace! 

Invisible helicopters are great for stealth deployment.

I'm starting to think that being an obsessive completionist and a Marvel superfan may have sent me down a certain path.

No matter, as long as I have room in the cabinet (about half a shelf, at last count), I don't have to think about it.

I couldn't collect the Avengers without their organiser-in-chief, Nick Fury jnr. In what must be a first, the actor's likeness was agreed-to in comic form years before the movies were ever made (though you can't deny Sam Jackson's done well out of it).

Ironically, Fury doesn't come with an Avengers affiliation, as he's more of a S.H.I.E.L.D. guy.

Which brings us to a new feature of the Crisis Protocol game - Grunts! These are recyclable flunkies that are attached to some of the leader-like characters (Fury, Red Skull etc) to give a new (and, dare I say, expendable) element to playstyle.

Shout out to the man in the bowler hat: 
Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan

Whereas this miniature is not a Grunt, but just a crowded base for Nick Fury snr and some of his pals from the Howling Commandos. This elder member of the eyepatch dynasty was based on Dean Martin, and originates from the Golden Age of comics - I picked them up so Captain Carter and the Hydra-Stomper would have some company.

This Daredevil originally came with a swirl from his billy-club grappling rope. It was too fussy for me, and just made it harder to appreciate hornhead himself, so it got snipped away.

As an aside in the benefits of following rule-of-cool, this version of Daredevil had the reputation of being one of the worst characters for his rules and power level. But Atomic Mass Games have recently released an updated file card (for free - they're good like that), and he's once again playable. I would have played him anyway, but it's nice to know you can pick up your favourites with confidence.

Black Panther was added for his Avengers credentials, although it does open up the possibility of a Wakandan faction too. The challenge with painting him was getting some kind of colour definition (you see, the thing about black panthers, as Holly might say, is they're black). 

I went with a slightly purple tint, to show that kinetic energy build-up, and kept a steady hand for the silver trim.

This is the mid-range Killmonger design, without the outrageous mask of the comics, or the special forces gear of Michael B. Jordan's portrayal. Still, he looks menacing enough, and his rules are quite nasty in-game. I maybe should have had his foot up on a pile of rubble, since stepping on a panther statue everywhere you go seems a bit odd (if symbolic).

Speaking of someone who brings their own scenery with them: Dr Strange and his mystical portals. Once the portal itself had been wet-blended and drybrushed, the sorcerer supreme himself wasn't so difficult (I'm used to capes by now). The only tricky part was free-handing a goatee on him - the sculpt didn't offer much help there.

And you can't have Strange without his faithful companion and absolute catnip for puns: Wong!

I got to try out some nice layering for his outfit, and went with a pale mist for his jumping-off point, since I seem to have a lot of characters jumping off firery bases already.

It's a nice sculpt, and seems like a very useful support character in the game, but he is based on the comics Wong - who is basically Strange's butler - rather than the more sassy and empowered Wong of the movies. 

There is a third-party sculpt that looks much more like Benedict Wong, and I was tempted to get it, but two Wongs don't make a ... I'll leave it there.

Wassup, turtle-slappers?

I went off-script with this one, but Spider-Man Noir is one of my favourite characters in one of my favourite movies, so he's joining the Web Warriors. I'm going to use him as a proxy for Agent Venom, which should fit close enough.

As you can imagine, I didn't strain the colour palette with this one, although I did try and get many shades of grey in there. Also, from my knowledge of Noir, the medium is not just darkness, but the contrast of light, so I tried to show a single point of light and emphasised that on the character.

That's all for now, but rest assured there is more to come. Until next time, Biscuit Boxers!