Outside My Comfort Zone - Part II

The middle of March is nearly here and I've made a little progress (perhaps not as much as I wanted) on my dragon model. After filling in gaps of the parts I glued in last time, I primed the entire model with Army Painter brush on primer. I really like the stuff - it goes on very thinly (and its easy to apply). It dries relatively quickly and paint adheres well and with good color and coverage. It is a bit of a hassle for a model this large, but I normally do small models, so the little extra time that took was no big deal.

Getting started

Underside of wings started

I've still been trying to figure out the colors I want to use for the wings and the ridgeback. Not having a good idea of what I want to do, I started with P3's Sickly Skin to base them both white. I started painting the spines on the back using Citadel Incubus Darkness, but I didn't like the color - It felt too dark and if I based the dragon with that, it wasn't go to match what I had in my head. I switched to Citadel's The Fang and base painted the body and non-membrane wing parts. The color was much much better.

Washed with Sapphire

Its always something...

After pouring over a number of pictures of dragons and birds, I finally decided how I wanted to do the underside of the wings. I first washed them with Secret Weapon Wash Golden Brown and used SWW's Sapphire on the body. I prefer Citadel's shade line for washes, but Sapphire is much brighter blue than Citadel's blue shade. Though you can't tell easily from the picture, the Golden Brown wash has small flecks of shiny gold - enough to give what you use it on a little "glitter" but not enough that it makes whatever you cover look metallic. The next step of the wings was to use a combination of washes on the membranes. I used some Agrax Earthshade on the upper edge and a thinned down P3 Bogrin Brown on the lower edge of each section, blending them as best I could. After, I used a mix of Golden Brown and Sepia mixed together to go over the whole area, further blending the colors together. The Bogrin felt like it got a little lost, so after the wings dried, I went back and added a bit more of the thinned Bogrin to bring out a little orange. Unfortunately, I screwed up one section and it was far too dark from the Agrax and I had to start over - I re-painted the base paint and repeated the process on the one area.

Corrected wing + scale detail

Scale detail in the first section

As the wings dried, I started working on the scale detail. One painting video I watched recently had suggested that painting large figures is easier if you do it in sections rather than trying to do too much at once. I elected to do the scales from the head down to the hip on one side of the body. The scales are a series of layers:

• Base: Citadel The Fang + Secret Weapon Wash Sapphire
• Layer one: The Fang (yes, I highlighted with the original base color)
• Layer two: P3 Gravedigger Denim
• Layer three: Citadel Thunderhawk Blue
• Layer four: Citadel Fenrisian Grey

Each layer was done as a series of thinner and thinner brush strokes to enhance the look of each scale and give it a more textured look. The model's scales have a little bit of texture, but I wanted them all to really show it and dry brushing wasn't going to bring that out. I also repeated the scale process for one side of one of the wings (the wing that attaches in the area I just completed). I still need to figure out how I want to do the spines and the top portion of the wings so that I can finish and attach them. And then of course, I'll have to fill and texture the gap and paint everything to match. Still a lot of work to be done and not so much of the month left! I can see a few long nights ahead. 

Be sure to check us out at PunchBoard Media!

Outside My Comfort Zone

Reaper Bones: Cinder

As we head into March, I started thinking about my painting goal for the next month. The year-long goal is to finish at least one Descent figure a week. Four weeks in March makes the goal fairly simple - three Carrion Drakes (those are the last of the Labyrinth of Ruin figures) and one other figure (probably the Raythen hero to finish that pack).

So why this post and what is outside my comfort zone?

Well, at the end of March is the Arizona Game Fair - a standard gaming convention here in my neck of the woods. As I looked over the activities, I saw that they are having a miniature painting contest. Now normally, I paint to standard below competition level - tabletop. That is to say, I do more than just get some paint on the figures, but I'm not trying to make them all perfect either. It is hard to justify spending hours on a couple of guys that might be on the table (in my eyesight) for a total of five minutes! Of course, some models are fun to try and make look really good, but for the most part I  wouldn't consider putting them up to be judged against other models.

Since there is a month until the game fair, I've decided to step outside my comfort zone and try and put together something for the contest. That's how we grow and get better - stretch and make mistakes and learn.

So I went and dug in my crate of things and found Cinder. A dragon model from a Reaper Bones order that I had never even un-bagged. A dragon. Good room for a little creativity and still a little "safe".

So I started tonight with the assembly. The model comes in multiple parts:

• Body with one leg
• the other leg
• two arms
• two wings
• top of the head
• base

Right off the bat, I'm doing stuff I don't normally do - assemble the model. No big deal, a drop of super glue and parts slide together. A leg, head, and two arms and I have something that almost looks like Godzilla. 

Except that of course the glue-in parts have gaps. gaps that need to be filled in with some liquid greenstuff (which despite the name isn't liquid). Citadel's Liquid Greenstuff is just model putty that is soft enough to spread with a brush. 

So I set about filling in cracks (like drywall spackle). The toughest part is trying to figure out (because once you start spreading it, it can be hard to tell) if I'm filling in the cracks or filling in a bunch of details too. 

I also start noticing a bunch of mold lines. Normally, I'm far too lazy to spend a bunch of time cleaning those off the models. Again, it is one of those things I just don't feel make a big difference in a tabletop model - Descent models have enough other flaws that I rarely notice a little mold line.

Well, this model is supposed to be a competition show piece, so I spend a little time with the file cleaning the stuff I'm seeing. I'm pretty sure that after I start priming this, I'm going to find a bunch more. 

One thing I don't do is glue in the wings. I'm still thinking about how I want this to look and not sure I want to limit my access to spine. I figure it can't hurt to start priming the wings, so while the green stuff is drying, I start priming the wings. I'm using Army Painter brush on primer to give me a nice neutral grey. 

By the way, I was right. As I'm priming the wings, I realize I have some mold lines on the wings to clean up. Sigh. No big deal, I want this to look good and I have a month to work on it. I don't have to get it done all in the first couple of days.

It is all part of the process. Who knows? Maybe I'll start really seeing all the mold lines and feel I should clean them up and all my work will take that next step. That's part of the goal here - not show off my questionable skills as a painter, but total a leap and see how far I have to grow.

So the next step is more primer and more clean up. I'll have to decide on whether to assemble the wings and take care of that now or after I work on the spine. I started looking for pictures of dragons to get some inspirations. About all I'm sure of is that I don't want to do either red or green. There are more than enough of those out there already. I'm thinking dark blue - almost black. Stay tuned!

Be sure to check us out at PunchBoard Media!

Painting Descent - February

Here is my February update for painting - the month isn't over, but I don't anticipate finishing anything over the next two days.

Over on BGG, the Painters Guild runs a monthly "Challenge List". For February, my goal was a modest 7 figures: four Goblin Witchers, two Archyura, and Ariad lieutenant figure. I blew that goal out of the water and also finished: Queen Ariad lieutenant, Raythen Lieutenant, and two heroes - Ulma Grimstone and Logan Lashley. My goal has been to average a figure a week, but I know from experience that a group of small figures will take only a few days, so I felt silly saying all I'd get done  is one group of four Goblin Witchers. As silly as it sounds, I have thus far not quite averaged 2 figures a week, so I have tried to be reasonable about my estimates so I don't get behind.

 Here are my lifetime totals for Descent and the figures I finished for the month:

• 63 monster figures done
• 20 hero figures done
• 11 lieutenants done
• 17 figures done in 2019 through 9 weeks

Goblin Witchers

Archyura

Ariad Lieutenant

I wasn't a big fan of any of those models and glad to just have them done. I dislike doing multiples of the same thing anyway, but the goblins were really uninteresting to me. The spider/crabs were also fairly boring (but turned out better than I thought they were going to). I almost never cut the models from the base, but they were so low that I had to in order to paint the bottoms. Ariad was ok until I got to the gold. I hate lining anything with gold paint. No matter how carefully I do it - it always looks gloppy in the end.

I got through my original goal early in the month, so started work on a few "bonus" items.

Queen Ariad Lieutenant

Queen Ariad might be one of the worst large models that FFG has ever done. It is just lazy and lacking details. The reference art is also terrible, so I whipped through this model in no time flat, glad to be done with it.

Ulma Grimstone

Logan Lashley

I finished the heroes I had left to work on from the Labyrinth of Ruin expansion. I wasn't excited about these two models, but they ended up being more interesting than I anticipated. Ulma's reference art looked like she had blown up a potion with her goggles on, so I went with that and made he forehead and chin look darker - that turned out decently (her face and goggles are just about the only interesting feature of this model). Logan has a stupid number of belts and things which meant trying to color them all differently enough to stand out as different features. That being said, a whole bunch of green and browns and belts make for a boring (to paint) mini.

Raythen Lieutenant

Reference art

The Raythen Lieutenant model was also a bit junky. First, the model was crap - lots of mold lines and flash - worse than the normal FFG stuff. The reference art was also really lazy. Black cape and burgundy armor with silver trim. I went ahead and decided to try out two-brush blending on the cape as something new. It is hard to tell from the above picture, so I put another just below that better captures the true colors. The cloak is really a dark green with black radiating out from the head/shoulders. The cloak ended up looking good enough that I didn't really care that the rest of the paint job was fairly generic.

The only other thing of note - I switched from using black gesso to using Army Painter's brush on primer (grey). I've decided to give this a whirl and see how it goes. So far so good, but I can definitely see keeping the black around for some work. I also grabbed a new set of P3 paints and so far they are fabulous on the Army Painter primer. I still like Citadel's paint line for a number of things (metallic and washes and glazes), but I suspect I'm only going to keep colors I can't readily get in P3's line. Logan and Ulma were probably 85% P3 paints - I even printed out a nice paint rack for them:

Bonus, printed with glow-in-the-dark material

Be sure to check us out at PunchBoard Media!

Hobby Painting - Brushes

Hobby painters are funny. Maybe human beings are just funny - and by that I mean quirky. People that play tabletop games are of course quirky (but in my experience, not all that differently quirky than lots of hobbyists as things relate to their hobbies). But of course, miniature painters are a whole category of quirky within the tabletop gaming world.

A couple things recently caught my interest - different discussions, posts, videos etc that related to painting, so I thought I'd just share some random thoughts about some Things of No Interest. Today we are talking about... paint brushes.

When you boil it down, you basically need three (hundred) things to paint minis. Minis, paint, and one or more brushes. I belong to a couple of different groups on BGG and FB for minis and one of the most frequently asked questions is some variation of, "What brushes do you use?", "What brushes are the best?", "What brushes should I start with as a beginner?"

I'm not even going to try and answer which you should use. One, I'm no expert. Two, google can help you research.

I can tell you what I use and why. I mean, at one point I was asking the same questions. I currently use Kolinsky Sable brushes by Kalish. The general consensus seems to be that Kolinsky Sable is the best choice for a lot of painting. The overwhelming brand recommended in most painting forums is the Windsor and Newton Series 7 (and if you want to know why, watch this short review video).

I do not own any Windsor and Newton brushes. You don't need to own any to do quality work (but after watching this video recently, I may go play with my brushes and seriously consider buying some). For the most part, I've been happy with my Kalish brushes. They are reasonably priced ($7-8 each, including shipping) and work well for me - and that is really the key. Finding a set of tools that work well for you. I'm not a pro painter, I don't do it for money and I don't enter competitions, so spending 3x as much money per brush (to this point) hasn't seemed reasonable to me, as I'm not frustrated with the tools I have.

I have used a number of different brushes since I started painting and most were cheap synthetic brushes. I started spending a little bit on sable brushes, because the synthetics didn't hold sharp points well on my 0 and 00 brushes. That being said, I also started taking better care of my brushes as I spent more on better brushes and that makes a big difference too. Cleaning your brushes with brush soap after using helps keep paint out of the bristles and helps keep the tips nice and pointy.

In the last year or so, I've also started using larger brushes (size 1 and 2 vs 0 and 00). Better quality brushes with sharp points/tips do matter when you start going to larger brushes. The main reason I use larger sized brushes for my main jobs is that they hold more paint, which makes painting figures much faster.

Other than your standard round brush (which means the "belly" of the brush is round, not the brush - a round brush is actually tear shaped) I have a few other "specialty brushes I use as well. I have a pair of old beat-up flat brushes that I used for dry brushing, but they were getting to the point where I wasn't quite happy with the results. I bought a cheap package of synthetic angled flat brushes to replace them, but I haven't even tried them out yet because of this video:

Yep, I am currently (mostly) using $1 makeup brushes from Walmart to do my dry brushing. The results are as good as shown in the video. I highly recommend grabbing some and trying them out. I also keep some of the random synthetic brushes around for doing washes (so I don't stain my good/main brushes). I use one of the bigger synthetic brushes for priming the models in gesso, but I'm looking to try a new brush-on primer (out of curiosity as much as anything) so I might make the switch and ditch that brush. Or maybe I'll keep it for misc playing around - because again, the secret is finding what works for you!

Be sure to check us out at PunchBoard Media!

Cult of the Not So New February 2009

Here we are in February 2019! Time to look back at the hotness from 10 years ago! 

BGG user JonMichael Rasmus (jmsr525) has been doing analysis of the games and their trends each month for what seems like forever. I like looking back, because frankly, there are lots of good games that didn't come out in the last two years, and lots of games you probably heard of that don't get played (for good reason). So sit back and enjoy this blast from the past. Based on information in the geeklist - BGG Top 100 Analysis February 2009

Prime Movers

• Space Alert: +14 to #83. Space Alert is a cooperative team survival game. Players become crew members of a small spaceship scanning dangerous sectors of the galaxy. The missions last just 10 real-time minutes (the missions came on a CD, which required you to have a CD player). When this was released, everyone wasn't running around with a smart phone and bluetooth speakers - so a CD was a reasonable way to release the soundtrack. At the time, it did something new and interesting (and was a short co-op where you played in a panic) and how the heck is this still sitting at #168? I assume you can download the soundtrack now, but still...

Falling Stars

Well, technically there were no falling stars, but Mr. Jack fell 6 spots to #76 (a "falling star" was something that dropped more than ten spots). Mr. Jack is two-player game where one player is secretly moving Jack the Ripper and the other player is trying to catch the first player (think of it like a two-player Scotland Yard). A decent little two-player that has an expansion and a variant or two. The original currently sits at #447. If you want to give it a whirl, you can even try it online - http://www.hurricangames.com/en/games

Hot Lava Birth

• Cosmic Encounter - this oldie but a goodie (seriously, this was I think the 4th or 5th edition of the game) was redone by FFG in late 2008, so received a resurgence and push into the Top 100 at #89 (currently #113). CE is one of those love it or hate it negotiation games where each player takes on the role of a faction (each having their own rule breaking power) that wants to take over the galaxy. FFG saw the potential of a game with a built in fan base and a good amount of expansion potential and ran with it.
• RoboRally - I have no explanation for why this game from 1994 might have jumped into the top 100 (at #98, currently sitting at #366). If you have never played it (and it was redone in 2016) then you are missing out on one of the few "programming" games out there. The game setup is simple - put out a number of boards representing a factory. Program a handful of moves into your robot, then everyone executes the moves. Of course, you are trying your best to both foil the other player's plans while trying not to have yours screwed up. Its chaotic and some people love it. Others really hate the chaos and having their plans screwed up after their first planned move. I think it was too long for what it is and it has a little bit of a Mario Kart problem - if you can pull away from the group, you have the best shot at winning. Get knocked around a little and stuck in the pack and you are hosed for most of the game. Honestly, it defeats the purpose of the game if you get away with pulling off your moves every single round (leader) and its frustrating when you can't do anything. So, the chaos is fun for a bit, then I'm not sure where the entertainment is in this game.

Top Ten Trends

I like the top ten trends. Some of the PBM folks were talking about the #1 spots earlier and I had a fair idea of a number of them just because of this particular topic.

• Through the Ages (+1 #7) - TtA kept on with its steady rise (though it never held the #1 spot). I've mentioned it many a time in the past - I was a huge fan of this for a long time, but after a number of games, it fell out of favor with me due to a couple of (IMO) serious issues. For a longer game, bash the loser sucks, especially with no way to recover once it starts. If you enjoy this, great, have a good time.
• Swapping places with TtA in the top 10 was the super classic area control game - El Grande. El Grande has fallen outside the top 50 (currently #57), but is still a phenomenal game that everyone should play at some point (if you are a euro-gamer). 

Top 5 Winning Movers

These are the highest ranked games that have shown any positive position movement in the last month that aren't in the top 10. I especially like this portion of the article, because typically games that showed some kind of movement upwards in the top 100 were (and often still are) good games.

• Command and Colors: Ancients - this was about the 5th iteration of Borg's C&C system and is one of the best. I don't have any particular love for this setting, but as a "light" wargame, the system is really well done. Well done enough to have at least 5 expansions. If you have not ever played any of the C&C games, don't let your attention wander to the variations that have minis - the blocks work really well here (the biggest drawback of this game is actually sticking the damn blocks).
• Die Macher - game number 1 in the BGG database! Who wants to play a game about elections in Germany? Well, besides being a crazy brain burner, it is an amazing game. The theme sounds dry as toast, but it works perfectly (and what you do makes sense, despite being a dry-euro-cube-pusher). All euro-gamers should play this at least once. Even if you only try the "short" version.

• Goa - I have never tried this game. It came out a few years before I got into boardgames again and by the time I arrived on the scene, the local group had pretty well played this out. As most newbies soon learn, there are so many games out there you don't know what you are missing (if anything). I've been told this is best with people of similar experience, so someday I'll need to find a copy and a group that has never tried it (or they need to release an app of the game).
• Le Havre - Some find this game a little dry (it is), but I think this is one of Ewe's better games. It takes a few plays to get a handle on the flow and the main buildings that will come out, but after those few plays, this is a beast of a mid-weight engine building euro. I'd rather play Ora et Labora or Caverna to get my Ewe fix, but this is definitely in the mix.
• Battlestar Galactica - oh BSG... This is one of the more popular co-op/traitor games, but its length and my lack of desire to play this kind of game has always kept me away. Love the source material, but not enough that I want to play it. I'd rather play One Night Werewolf for a quick fix of the traitor genre, and Eldritch Horror is one of the few co-ops I'd actively try to play, so this just isn't my cup of tea. That said, she still sits in the top 100 at #64

And that's all for this look back at BGG history and what was hot a decade ago.

Be sure to check us out at PunchBoard Media!

Painting Descent - January

Just wanted to post a quick update as January wraps up. Over on BGG, the Painter Guild runs a monthly "Challenge List". For January, my goal was six figures: Bol'Goreth (a lieutenant), a set of four monsters (Volucurix), and a hero (Pathfinder Durik). I got them all done (finishing Bol'Goreth tonight). Here are my lifetime totals and the figures I finished for the month:

• 57 monster figures done
• 18 hero figures done
• 8 lieutenants done
• 6 figures done in 2019 through 5 weeks

Bol' Goreth

Volcurix

Pathfinder Durik

Be sure to check us out at PunchBoard Media!

Descent Session Report: Heirs of Blood Campaign - Part I

Prelude

As those that take an interest in Things of No Interest may know, I have a lot of Descent stuff. Like, a lot. Base set, two large box expansions, 4 small box expansions, a number of hero and monster sets, and the Heirs of Blood campaign book.

The original 2nd edition of the Descent base game came with a campaign - The Shadow Rune. At some point, Heirs of Blood replaced The Shadow Rune as the default campaign and they released the hardback book for owners of the original. I am one of these people.

However, without a regular group to play this, everything sat around while I was painting the figures. Then FFG released the Road to Legend app, which allows for the game to be played solo - much like the solo quests that FFG released for Descent, but rather than sets of cards specific to a setting, it was all handled by the app. And this was great and let me start really playing the game. Unfortunately the app has a couple of small drawbacks. The app has its own campaigns and handles travel on its own. This means that all the campaign material that come with the expansion boxes sits unused. It also means that a lot of the game material sits unused (all the overlord cards etc).

Prior to RtL being released, I found a solo system that had been developed by a BGG user - RedJak. RedJak had developed a system called the Automated Overlord Variant (RAOV) which was a set of rules and cards that gave an AI setup for monsters and for each quest of each bit of published material from FFG. This system was great, but maybe a hair clunky - keeping track of all the overlord stuff and hero stuff was a little much. RedJak also developed a system for creating random dungeons (DelvenDeep). Eventually the two systems were somewhat combined to create RedJak's Automated  Monster Variant (RAMV) which took out a lot of the overlord stuff and replaced it with a more streamlined event system. Interestingly, RAMV plays a LOT like the RtL app - except that you play the actual published campaigns.

So here we are. I decided that I wanted play through some of my actual materials. I already had all the RAMV cards printed up and ready to go. I also decided that I didn't want to have a set of figures in progress with painting needing to be used, so I decided that I was going to play the Heirs of Blood as the intro campaign, using only the base set - heroes, classes, monsters, shop cards, conditions, travel cards, and lieutenants. For the second half, I may end up adding in any monster and hero set that I've finished painting. One last note - I'm using the amazing D2E Campaign tracker this online tool tracks everything and is a great way to log your adventures.

Intro Quest - Acolyte of Saradyn

A caravan of monks that the heroes were tasked to protect had run into a goblin ambush on its way to the monastery. The heroes arrived just in time to come to the aid of a young boy that was fighting off the attacking goblins.
The heroes managed to fend off the ambush and saved what little valuables were left. They learned the boy's name was Tyrus and, as night set in, the heroes were met on the road by an elder-priestess of the monastery called Helena, who invited them to where her army was camped.

Acolyte of Saradyn is a little intro quest to get your juices flowing. The maps is tight and the goal is very easily achieved - defeat the "attack dogs" (Barghests). There are three villagers that you can rescue (one per round). I only rescued two, because I won before the end of the second turn. Yeah, it was that simple.

That's ok, this allowed me to refamiliarize myself with the RAMV system and enjoy a quick playing.

After a lot of quests, there is a choice of quests to pursue, which allows for replaying the campaign with fresh adventures. I was presented with two choices (the choice usually goes to the winner of the previous quest, the Overlord or the Heroes). Having no idea what might be more interesting, I simply picked the first option - Siege of Skytower.

Siege of Skytower

The heroes were visiting a bastion overlooking the valley when it came under assault of the Overlord's forces led by Belthir and Sir Alric Farrow, with the goal of taking the bastion's tower. 
 As the Overlord's minions managed to breach the gate and take tower of the bastion, the heroes only choice was to retreat and fall back to the monastery.

Now things are getting real. The map was larger and there were a ton of things to setup. First up was the campaign travel steps. There were three travel steps:

• In the first step the overlord would have normally gained a card. With RAMV and no overlord, the rules say to draw a certain kind of card, which said to replace the master monster with an agent (Merrik) in the first monster group.
• Nothing happened
• Each hero ended up failing a random test and started the quest with one less health and fatigue point. 

Swell, an extra hard monster (Merrik) instead of what ended up being a master goblin archer. Not quite the same at all. The quest already included TWO lieutenants - Sir Avric and Belthir, goblin archers and cave spiders, plus two random groups (which ended up being zombies and flesh moulders). Ugg. At the start of each round, the overlord side would bring in 3 goblins or flesh moulders (which were going to try and run off the map on the other side). Additionally, a new cave spider would get added at the end of each round (if one was available). All in all, a steady stream of things to deal with throughout.

For the heroes, the goal was to last 8 rounds without letting too many of the bad guess through. The map had three routes to the exit and three doors (only one of which could be shut at a time) that could be closed via remote switches. Sadly, the remote switches were guarded by zombies. 

The good news was, what looked overly hard at first, wasn't too bad. The goblins and flesh moulders only goal was to move off the map, so unless they couldn't move, they wouldn't attack. This meant really only having to take out the spiders and zombies. It also turned out that Belthir was just a story thing - he just flew around the map trying to move guys towards the exit in a faster manner. Sir Avric also wasn't going to attack, but only try to escape - he just counted for a lot more than all the little guys AND if he could be defeated, there was a good reward for the heroes. 

Starting to get overwhelmed!

Right off the bat, I ran a hero to the switches to flip them until I found the secret waterfall door. I lucked out and closed that on my first try, but that hero (my fighter) ended up alone and surrounded by zombies - they would later knock her out. The other two (thief and mage) took the responsibility of trying to thin down the spiders and anything that got through via the other two routes the monsters could use to exit. 

The first couple of rounds weren't too bad, but neither did I take command. I got rid of the master cave spider, but had a hard time getting rid of the others. My thief did manage to find a shield, which was a nice surprise. He has lots of ways to hide and defend himself (and as you'll see, it didn't matter). My mage had a lot of bad attack rolls and just slowly was getting beat up.

He's getting away and there are no heroes!

About halfway through, the flood gates seemed to just open up and the monsters started overwhelming the team. I had slowly picked off the zombies and turned to trying to kill off Sir Avric to win the end-of-quest relic. Though he didn't fight back, he was a bear to try and kill. While I was working on him, the spiders were working on my thief and mage and knocking them out again and again. Eventually, Merrik joined in and the spiders killed my mage and thief enough times that Sir Avric slipped through and I came up about one round short of beating him. 

I also ended up having some bad luck in that a RAMV global event reduced my ability to recover down to one die (instead of two), so my heroes were getting knocked out over and over with no real recovery.

With heroes down (and the damn fast goblins) a flood of bad guys got through and ended my chances for a quest win in the seventh round!

So, my first real quest (the intro REALLY didn't count) wasn't a win, but it was a success. RAMV worked really well for playing the defined scenarios. An interesting note - D2ETracker has stats on all the quests. This particular one favored the Overlord by a hair (52% of the recorded wins). The fact that my result was very close is a good sign for things to come. Until next time!

Be sure to check us out at PunchBoard Media!

Painting Descent - Pathfinder Durik

Let's paint this guy!

Thought I'd share what it looks like over time as I work through a figure, so I took some work in progress pictures as I painted this figure (recall from last time, the goal is one a week for the year, so I am technically behind so far for 2019).

 I always prime my figures - I don't trust the plastics and I've always had decent results with the gesso I use (ProArt black gesso). Gesso shrinks as it dries, so I don't feel like I lose detail on the figures and I don't have to deal with outside temp or conditions in order to spray - I just brush it on.

Generally speaking, working from the inside out makes it easier to paint, so that means starting with the lowest areas - the skin. I wanted to start with the skin as I planned to dry brush after the base color and wash, and I'm sloppy about it, so not having to worry about overpainting is a good thing.

I picked a good grey/blue base color (Fenrisian Grey - Citadel) and thinned it down so I could apply a couple thin layers. After the skin layers dried, I needed to apply a wash. Citadel's washes are my preferred choice, but their blue is much too dark and their blue glaze is too bright blue. I have a number of Secret Weapon Washes too, but I don't like they way they flow as much as the Citadel washes.

I ended up settling on Secret Weapon Washes' Sapphire with a drop of Citadel's Drakenhof Nightshade and a couple drops of water to thin it. The color was just right and didn't darken the skin too much overall.

Once that dried, I went and dry brushed over the skin with an off white (Citadel Screaming Skull). The point was to reduce the blueness a bit while highlighting the face and areas like the hands. Once that was done, I went back and added a bit more of the wash to the recess of the eyes (I picked up an eye trick - the idea is to darken the eye socket area, which you will then add white for they actual eye. The extra shade in the socket area helps it to look more natural and less like "ping pong ball eyes). With the skin more or less done for now, it was time to move on to the rest of the bulk painting areas.

I have a nice tan color I like to base lighter colors and browns with from P3 (Rucksack Tan) that I've thinned down for my airbrush. I also use it to brush on (as I did here). I basically hit all the furs, boots and the areas I play to lay down a lighter color (the wraps on his wrists). After taking this picture, I decide that I'd apply another layer of the tan to the skins and just use washes to get the color I wanted. The nice part of this technique is that it's faster. I don't have to worry about a little bit of the black primer showing through the tan, once the wash is applied, it'll look just fine - uniform color looks unattractive and cartoonish because of the lack of shading and on things like furs, variations look much much more natural.

Now, the picture above doesn't show the back side, so I have some leeway in colorings, though the cape does appear to be fairly light. I don't particularly like light furs, so I went with a more orange color and plan to "lighten it" with some dry brushing.

So here we have the next phase. I applied two different washes to the cape/furs. Citadel Fuegan Orange to the upper part and their Reikland Fleshshade to the lower. I also took some straight (untwined) Rucksack Tan and went over the boots, one armband and the cloth between his legs.

I pulled the Screaming Skull back out and did the fur on his boots and the wristbands.

The fur edge of the boots I wanted to be dingy, so I washed those later with Citadel Nuln Oil wash. The boots, warps and cloth I wanted a more subtle shading to, so they got my go to wash - Citadel's Sepia. If the cloth had been wrapping a mummy or some such, I would have gone back and used a little bit of a light green to really make the wraps look good.

As you can see here, the furs already have a bit of a pop to them. The wash settles into the recesses and stains the original color (that color being the same as the boots here). Furs are soooooo much easier to do than cloth capes and robes.

After they dried, I went and dry brushed a bit of Elfic Flesh onto the orange fur. The light color stood out far too much against the darker orange, so I pulled the Rucksask Tan back out and dry brushed a little of that into the orange cape as well. The color of that blend was much better.

While I had the tan on the brush, I also barely hit the lower fur to help that along.

At this point there wasn't much left to do but some of the detail items - the necklace, some feathers, and the weapons on him. And of course, the eyes.

And there is the finished result. My picture skills are a bit suspect, but he came out pretty decently. He'll look really good on the table. And if you are wondering, I totally cheat on the eyes. After laying down a small amount of white, I use a micron pen to dot the eyes - saves me so much frustration. Time to get back to painting!

Be sure to check us out at PunchBoard Media!