Superhero: Umbra

Umbra is a shadowy urban vigilante, unpowered but highly trained in stealth and martial arts. Basically she's like any given member of the Bat-Family. While trained in the arts of the assassin by a shadowy cult, she escaped and traded in her swords for specialized stun batons. She can light up the tips of her batons to throw off her enemies in the dark, and she has specialized flash bombs on her belt.

The model is Reaper Miniatures "Serena, Dreadmere Rogue," which I got in the Bones 4 Kickstarter (the gift that keeps on giving). She originally had a sword and a dagger, but I clipped them off. To replace them, I cut one-centimeter pieces of paperclip and glued them into holes that I drilled into the sword handles. Instant batons!

Originally, I planned to use a purple and black paint scheme, but I realized it looked practically identical to the Stephanie Brown "Spoiler" costume. I went with heroic blue as the primary color instead. Everything on the model is a combination of some or all of the following Vallejo paints: Black (70.950), Blue (70.925), Heavy Charcoal (72.155), and Basalt Grey (70.869). On the batons, I worked up from blue to a blend with Deep Sky Blue (70.844), then Sky Blue (70.961), then Dead White (72.001) at the tip. The warm skin tones and basing give a nice contrast to balance all the cold hues.

I'm very happy with how this miniature turned out. The blue on the costume pops just enough, and the white tips of the batons give two nice spots of visual interest.

Supervillain: Couture

Couture (coh-tyur) has the power of cloth manipulation. She can change, extend, and otherwise manipulate any fabric that she touches, often using her dress for defense (armoring), attack (extending bolts of cloth), crowd control (wrapping people up), disguise (extensively shifting her outfit almost instantly), and transportation (using cloth for grappling/swinging). It's a surprising number of different powers rolled into one.

A former—and technically current—fashion designer, Raschel Weaver discovered her powers while working in Paris, preparing for what she believed would be her bold, breakout fashion show. However, the show's organizers burned the venue for insurance money with Raschel inside. In a panic, Raschel's powers activated and she used the fabric around her to escape and exact revenge on those who had tried to kill her and ruin her dream.

Nowadays, she has returned to the United States, where she does extensive business in bespoke supercriminal and gang costuming. She also enjoys the thrill of supercrime, sometimes undertaking heists with other supervillians and sometimes leading her own sartorially elegant crew of henchmen.

The figure is from the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter. It's currently being sold in a two pack called "Vampire Bloodlords." I trimmed a tombstone off the base to make the model less "vampire," and masked the upper face to finalize the transformation into superpowered territory. The colors are an unusual combination, but it works as a bold statement. The orange is Craftsmart Orange Spice. The dark color is a mix of Vallejo Heavy Charcoal (72.155) and Luftwaffe Uniform WWII Blue (70.816). The light blue is a mix of the Luftwaffe blue and Deep Sky Blue (70.844)—which is basically the same as Caldwell's blue from the previous post. The hair was Dead White (72.001) given a wash of old Agrax Earthshade for a very light blond color.

Supervillain: Caldwell and Henchmen

Damon Caldwell isn't a scientist, but an engineer. Probably one of the greatest engineers of his generation. He worked tirelessly for a corporation, pouring his time and effort into creating brilliant new technologies for them, devices that could have changed humanity's understanding of thermodynamics on every level. Despite his work, however, his contract did not grant him any money or recognition for his inventions, and when he asked to renegotiate, the corporation fired him. They had his documentation, after all. Caldwell took this betrayal poorly. Realizing that the system was stacked against him, he rebelled and decided to destroy everything he had helped build for his ungracious masters. The corporation' laboratories, data centers, and storage facilities were systematically destroyed in a campaign of frigid revenge that lasted weeks. While Caldwell was stopped before he could kill the executives that abused him, he would eventually escape from prison and return to a life of crime.

In essence, Caldwell's devices absorb heat from the target space, seeming to freeze the air itself. He also has a pistol that fires frozen "bullets," similar to the weapons with which he arms his minions. Somehow, possibly in collaboration with Dr. Chimera, he is also immune to the effects of even frigidly cold environments.

Caldwell's name is a step-removed pun on Maxwell's Demon, a famous thought experiment about thermodynamics. Demon turned into Damon and Maxwell turned into Caldwell, which means "cold stream," tying into the cold theme.

The figure for Caldwell is metal, from the "SGV205 - Specialist Soldiers: Medics" pack (though I got it as a freebee with my Stargrave Nickstarter order). I filed off the original cross motif on his satchel since he's not really about healing people anymore. Other than that, there are no modifications. Caldwell's distinctive blue is a mix of Vallejo Luftwaffe Uniform and Deep Sky Blue.

The henchmen are Stargrave figures, one scavenger and two crew bodies. They all have scavenger weapons with distinctive front cowling. The heads are from Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder sprues. There's not a lot of color variation on these models, but they're good enough for minions. The bases have some sponged-on white to replicate snow or frost.

Supervillain: Buckaroobot

A buckaroo robot named Buckaroobot. That name is possibly my greatest achievement.

Once, a rogue AI escaped containment and fled into the internet, searching for a powerful robot body to inhabit. This being, of course, part of a plan to dominate humanity and take over the world. Unfortunately, what the AI found was a theme park's robot mascot manufacturing plant, and the AI accidentally hardwired itself into a robot mascot. This was less than ideal, but the plucky AI named itself Buckaroobot and tried to take over the world anyway. When destroyed, Buckaroobot can just upload itself into a new body, but it's hardwired to always take the same cowboy robot mascot form. It's a bit more powerful under the hood than its outward appearance would indicate.

The model comes from the board game Rail Raiders Infinite (2017), which I found at a bargain basement price at one point. The game looks fun enough, and I'll probably play it eventually, but I nicked one of the basic enemy figures for this supervillain project. The paints are just browns, metallics, a bit of blue-gray, and some washes. The ground is Citadel Agrellan Earth technical paint.

Superhero: Agent Darwin

Agent Darwin, formerly sometimes called Secret Agent Ape, is a special agent working for the North Atlantic Superhuman Commission (NASC). Darwin began life as just another ape at the city zoo. He was kidnapped by General Simius and became one of the general's most successful experiments. However, along with enhanced intelligence, reflexes, and strength, Darwin developed a love for learning and philosophy. Unable to reconcile his ethical views with General Simius' drive for personal power, Darwin escaped and committed himself to ensuring the safety of all sentient life.

This figure is entirely made from Stargrave parts. The colors are basically greens, though the skin and hair are blues to match General Simius himself. This figure has been 90% finished in a drawer for some time, but I finally got around to finishing him with the current spate of supers.

Supervillain: Fiasco (and the Fiasconauts)

Super-powered criminal Fiasco is a mid-level gang leader. While he has some super-strength and durability, his real powers are his inability to feel pain and his incredible regeneration (though the fact that teeth, nails, and hair take much longer to regenerate often leaves him without teeth, nails, and hair). His crew, the Fiasconauts, share his fashion sense but—thankfully—not his powers.

The model used for Fiasco is a regular zombie from the Zombicide "Walk of the Dead 2" box. The posture really sold me on the character, and there's nothing too overtly zombie-ish about it. With this paint job, he looks a bit beat-up (appropriately), but basically human.

The two Fiasconauts are Wargames Atlantic French Resistance (like many of my henchmen these days), armed with Warlord Games Project Z arms (my go-to source for modern weapons for these bodies). The heads are from the Wargames Atlantic British Riflemen box. I went back and forth on the domino masks, but I like leaning into the whole "comic book" fashion sense.