Busting Thru Painting Funk with Space Marine Adventures

Peace Returns to the Painting Table

Been struggling with Deep Blue Painting Funk for 20 months now - my last effort at painting was enjoyable time with 54mm Armies in Plastic Brits [CLICK]...

...but suddenly and unexplainably languished. I blame the Army and our crazy OPTEMPO for leaving me too drained to appreciate artistic endeavors. I considered getting moving on it all numerous times, but the sight of my painting table left me discouraged and aghast...

...clearly some action was required.  Main thing got me thinking is that I haven't played a game with Mr. Winkie in a long while.  But the Terminator board game takes a while to set up and needs the dining room table which the Wife has been occupying with her own photography project. 

I decided I needed a quick to set up, easy to play in under an hour, but fun and interesting game that was very self-contained and had just a few miniatures. These requirements left out my:

- unpainted Space Hulk 2nd ed. game, 

- the new Gale Force 9 "Aliens - Another Glorious Day in the Corps" game, 

- "Firefly: Brigands and Browncoats" 

- and painting up my Terminator minis.   

Checking around at BGG, I stumbled onto the perfect solution:

"Space Marine Adventures: Labyrinth of the Necrons" [CLICK] 

...which met ALL the requirements, and was $25 at numerous retailers since it is a gateway game. As a dungeon crawl with three levels AND an advanced deck, AND several team combinations of 4 of the 5 included Space Marines, I'm seeing at least a dozen possible plays of the game. Hoping it recreates the success I had with the OGRE: Objective 218 card game that Mr. Winkie enjoys.

Well, couldn't get motivated to work with figures for myself, but...for Mr. Winkie?  Yeah sure!  The miniatures are very nice plastics, which did fit together pretty well.  I did a little filing and such and then used Plastruct Bonder with brush-on cap to attemble them with modest effort - maybe an hour for everything.

There are mold lines that are very visible at certain light angles. This annoys me.

So I file them down, which took about 30 minutes. I'm OK with the rough texture, as I think it will disappear under primer and painting. Also, I'm looking for a "battered around in combat" look for the armor.

I have to clean the minis again with soap and warm water to get rid of the powder.

Below, the clean, assembled, mold-line-free miniatures. The five colors gives a sort of Parcheesi feel to them as playing pieces. If you gave them a Miracle Dip wash and then painted a few important pieces [like the guns, black] they would be perfectly fine game pieces for a new hobbyist with limited skills.

As an internal set of 5 miniatures, I want them to have a consistent painted style and be as good as my Necrons, whom they will inevitably fight on the board game.

And below, a few comparison shots, against:

- Armies in Plastic 54mm blue Zouave

- Airfix 8th Army Brit

- Old Glory "Pershing Expedition to Mexico" 25mm

A lower angle, showing the relative height better: The SM are not only taller, but considerably more bulky than the Old Glory. They rival the larger plastics.

I decided to paint them in their respective color schemes exactly as on the box [so they will be a perfect fit for the game].  The base primer for SM armor [in my mind] is a sort of grey, so I grabbed a likely color from my IJN 1:2400 naval project:

Despite getting excellent coverage with a perfect day for spray painting [warm, low humidity] several coats, you can see a bit of yellow, red and green plastic in the crevices.  This will require some wet and sloppy painting, which I refuse to do on my gaming table which is covered with my favorite table cloth...this means it is time to face the disastrous wreck of my painting table.

My initial effort was to clean up all the paints and store them back in their drawers, shaking as necessary and throwing out several that had dried out [and were, like 10-30 years old so no surprise there!]. The dust was an indictment of inactivity:

But it felt good to get it cleaned and sorted out. In the end, I only need to replace a few paints, which oddly includes all the yellows.

To be interesting from the artistry perspective, I decided to try my new wet palette with a wet painting style, building up the colors in layers to show the multiple layers that - in "real life" - would undoubtedly be on the SM armor as they repair it post-action and for Saturday Morning Parade [or its equivalent 40,000 years in the future]. I found likely colors in my collection, except for the dead yellows.

I started with the Salamander, as the greens looked the most promising.

Below, the initial coats of the Blood Angel, the Imperial Fist, the Salamander, the Space Wolf, and the Ultramarine. Hoping that the wet palette will continue to provide color transitions tomorrow.

Below, closeups of the five, showing their base coats, all of which are a bit darker than the end coat will be. PP Skorne Red and Moldy Ochre, Vallejo Flat Green, Vallejo grey mixed with an unknown Polly-S grey, and an Armory Blue-08 were used, thinned about 50% with water and a drop of Vallejo Thinner Medium.

I'm satisfied with the results, and enjoyed getting back onto the painting saddle, now that my hands got the brush moving and my painting mojo working!

To summarize, my solution to the painting doldrums:

1. Pick an inexpensive, limited project: $25 and 5 models in this case.
2. Pick something that is about "the kid" since I wasn't motivated to paint for me and my projects.
3. Pick something that dovetails neatly into past and future endeavors: in this case, Warhammer minis I already have; Steel Legion infantry; two lovely commissars; a mostly-complete Necron army. These 5 kill team SM can fight the Necron miniatures on the game board instead of using the [nicely printed] counters.
4. Commit to cleaning and organizing the painting area, which had to be done someday, anyway.
5. Try a new technique to give the minis a unified style, while getting my crafty brain engaged in an outcome.

Hope these ideas help you now or someday in the future.

We had a storm whirl through the neighborhood - a bit scary with high winds. But after, lovely rainbow out back. Worth remembering that it is God's promise not to wipe out humanity despite our evils. Back then, it was thanks to one faithful and obedient fellow, Noah [Genesis 9:8-16]. Now it is thanks to one perfectly obedient fellow, Jesus.

Things are looking up in the creative realms, and some good games with Mr. Winkie will be played in the future - stay tuned!