These models are heavily kitbashed. I've made two versions of the miniature, since the steeply discounted Zombicide box came with two variations (the survivor version and the zombie version). The cleaner miniature is based on the normal model, and the battle-damaged suit is based on the zombified version.
This would be a good pair of minis for running a two-stage boss battle.
Sterling is another fairly generic masked figure to add to the stable as I continue to work on my superhero RPG. In the game, he definitely has the Inspiration powerset, but I don't have a specific fighting style in mind. The body and arms are from the Wargames Atlantic "French Infantry (1916-1940)" box, while the head is from their "Partisans (1) French Resistance" box (which is also where all of the Gingerbread Gang minions come from). The paintjob is simple and done without washes, which gives it a stronger look than the heavily-washed way I often do minis.
Brickochet (like ricochet) is based on a character a friend of mine played in a playtest of my street level superhero RPG. While he called him Brick Frog, that's already a character from the Venture Brothers show, so I renamed him for my own collection. All of the components are from the "Project Z: Male Survivors" sprue. The brick held aloft was originally a book that I cut down into a brick shape.
I found a steep, steep discount on the DCeased: Gotham City Outbreak box, a Zombicide game with a few superhero/supervillain miniatures. The scale is a little bigger than I normally do, but it was a good way to get a cheap Batman figure to join my superhero collection.
I went with the blue and grey look, as opposed to the all-black or black and grey suits, and I think it turned out looking very nice.
As you can see from the comparison on the right, Bats absolutely towers over some of the other characters, but that's fine. He's larger than life.
A new box of Stargrave miniatures was recently released with what it calls "Automatons," though the figures are far more cyborg than the robots I originally expected from the name. My first thought upon seeing the drill arms on the sprue was that I could---nay, must---craft a gentleman with the right to bear drills. This guy is kitbashed from four sources:
As noted in the title, Drillman is set to be a supervillain. It feels like it would be difficult to be a hero with the "drill arms" powerset. He has a traditionally secondary-color costume of orange with green accents. With the bright orange sunglasses, it's a distinctly '80s vibe. This is very easily the kind of comic book character that the '80s would have created for a single issue, not to be seen again for decades.
(Note: No relation to the Mega Man robot Drill Man. That name has a space in it.)
The five gangers are built primarily from Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder, except for the heads. Their skulls are from the Citadel Skulls box while the four Drone skulls are Wargames Atlantic (which are a little larger). I once again removed the front parts from the Cannon Fodder rifles to make them a reasonable size and remove the "bayoneted lasgun" vibe.
Gray Matter is another figure from the "Sentinels Tactics Miniatures:
Minions" box; the character is listed as The Broker. Once again, it's
soft PVC, and the sculpt isn't great. I stuck a giant's skull from the
Citadel Skulls box onto the front to tie it into the gang's aesthetic.
Then, I just drybrushed and washed most of the figure in greys to hide
the doughy sculpt and imply that she's hidden in the shadows. It works
well enough, but I'm not entirely pleased with the finished product. A
series of mistakes led her to be placed on a tall spaceship stand, which
I installed into a custom-designed 3D-printed base; it was a lot of
very unnecessary frustration, but it did lead to the idea for the drone
swarm surrounding her.
The bases, either flat or textured, had a base layer of Vallejo Heavy Violet (72.142), then a drybrush or stipple of FolkArt Imperial Red (4669).
The "drones" can also be used in D&D as undead Flameskulls, the namesake for the gang, or as floaty magic skulls in anything that uses my skeleton horde.
This figure comes from the "Sentinels Tactics Miniatures: Minions" box from Greater Than Games (publishers of the Sentinels of the Multiverse games). Interestingly, they released both painted and unpainted sets; I got the unpainted set for a grand total of six bucks. These PVC miniatures are doughy and cartoony, but they're not too bad. It's hard to find superhero miniatures.
This figure is "The Muscle," meant to represent one of the Chairman's lieutenants in the Sentinels Tactics game. I painted him up in a different style and popped him onto a 40mm poker chip base. The picture doesn't give a great sense of scale, but he's taller than most other heroic 28mm minis, and he's obviously wider.
This figure is built from the Project Z Female Survivors sprues, combining the arm options to carry the two guns, and clipping off some of the "extra" weapons to put on display. The color choices are basically greens with either a black wash (jacket and hat) or sepia wash (shirt and pants).
After being fully painted and while still attached to the painting handle (actually just a craft paint container), Armory fell off my desk and snapped off in three pieces. Emergency superglue surgery has gotten her back into fighting form, and the fracture lines are basically invisible if you don't know where to look.
Memento's figure comes from the Project Z Female Survivors, though the head is swapped out for one from a Stargrave sprue. Even in grey plastic, this one looked like someone out of a comic book, and I think the end result turned out very well. The purple is Vallejo Game Color Extra Opaque Heavy Violet (72.142) with a wash of (possibly unnecessary) Vallejo Violet Wash (73.209). Basalt Grey (70.869) and a smidge of Stonewall Grey (72.049) set off some of the black. The two henchmercenaries are entirely from the Project Z Modern Military sprue, and are painted black, drybrushed with Heavy Charcoal and a few spots of Luftwaffe Uniform WWII. Otherwise, the colors carry over from Memento.
The road texture is Heavy Charcoal, then stippled Luftwaffe Uniform WWII, then stippled Basalt Grey. It gives it a more varied and interesting look than the flat color I've been using lately. I found that by painting the street lines first, then laying down a very thin strip of painting tape (then painting one more layer of the street line color), I could paint the rest of the road while maintaining a really smooth line.
The name, "braincase," just means the skull, but it's close enough to "headcase," which is defined as a "mentally unbalanced, unpredictable person, especially one who displays aggressive behavior." This is, in the broadest sense, a pun, or play on words.
One of the reasons Braincase isn't a top-tier villain is that he's not particularly distinctive. He's got a red hoodie, a skull mask, some nice sneakers, and that's pretty much it. He's probably more of an ambush hunter than an actual fighter, too.
The model is built primarily from the Male Survivor sprue of the Project Z game, but the normal head options were ignored, replaced for a skull from the Citadel Skulls box (much like the Devil Mayfair). Not much else to say here. I didn't have an orange I liked for the chainsaw, so I mixed (far too much) Vallejo Bloody Red and Sun Yellow to get the right shade.
The picture, unfortunately, really doesn't show the colors very well. The main green is Vallejo Heavy Green (72.146), and the grey-green is German Camo Extra Dark Green (70.896). The white is Light Grey (70.990). The golden color is Brass (70.801), and the silver is Oily Steel (70.865). That's pretty much it, but I love the way these two figures turned out. The face on the Agatha figure lacked much definition moulded into the plastic, but between the hat and the mask it's mostly obscured anyway.
Rat-a-tat-tat, eldritch monstrosities!
This is the first C:DMD:FotU figure that I've made any physical alterations to; for some reason, he was awkwardly wielding a big chef's knife in his back hand. I removed it, and it just looks like he's pulling back for a haymaker punch now. The red is just Vallejo Heavy Red (72.141) and FolkArt Imperial Red (4669). The blue is Vallejo Heavy Blue (72.143) and Craft Smart Bright Blue (402480). For the white, I used Vallejo Light Grey (70.990); it's not quite as piercing as a true white, and this formula applies very cleanly and smoothly. A Nuln Oil wash, followed by a little bit of highlighting and my normal skin technique, and the figure was finished.
On the left is Mike, the strongman, and my version looks a bit different from the official art. Why have everyman investigators when you can have a team of mystery men to fight the eldritch horrors instead? He turned out looking even better than I expected. I'm going to call him Renaissance Man for now (which is an old pun from the sidekick I painted up, Baroque Boy); the name is subject to change.
Wikipedia defines an eidolon as "a shade or phantom look-alike of the human form." On the right of the picture is Lady Eidolon, a pulp heroine who uses the mystical powers of the Hemotite Akinakes, an ancient Persian Dagger. She has some of the basic "vampire-like" powers without being a vampire herself.
Pulp heroes, assemble!
The superheroine Scheherazade, known to her friends as "Zad," has tremendous psychic powers. Along with telekinesis and flight, her powerful telepathy allows her to create incredibly lifelike illusions, seeming to alter the very world around her to fit the story she wants to tell. Locked in an eternal battle against her archenemy, Odyllic, she uses her creativity and willpower to overcome her foes and save the day.
This model is from the Bones 4 Kickstarter, and it is currently shown on the Reaper website "Rivani, Iconic Psychic." I really like the way her cape/cloak supports the figure to really sell the illusion of flying.
The colors are pretty straightforward, with bright red, white, and blue creating a strong heroic triad with a few grey and golden highlights.
Overall, I'm very happy with how Zad turned out, and I think she's more than ready to bring 1,001 tales to the tabletop.
You can never have too many generic thugs, and Gingerbread has rung in the new year by recruiting a few more dastardly goons to her criminal empire. These are painted in the same basic colors as the previous generic thugs, though this grey has a slightly greenish hue (Vallejo "German C. Extra Dark Green").
This batch also adds another special lieutenant, Mr. Mistletoe, with a heavy anti-superhero weapon. The missile weapon Mistletoe is towing appears to be an AT4 (from a Project Z sprue). According to Wikipedia, "the AT4 is a Swedish 84 mm unguided, man-portable, disposable, shoulder-fired recoilless anti-tank weapon." Technically, it's a recoilless rifle and not a missile launcher, but honestly, I'm just going to call it a rocket launcher.
So, this brings Gingerbread's gang up to 13 members:
That seems like a decent-enough criminal organization for a supervillain. (This does now outnumber the next-largest specifically supercriminal group, Redcoat's gang, which has a total of 11 members.)
Odyllic, named after a term related to the pseudoscientific Odic Force, is a master mentalist. While he only has minor telekinetic powers, his telepathy is second to none. With the accoutrements of a classic hypnotist, he uses dazzling illusions and mind control to commit crimes for fun! While he could be a serious, world-level threat, he prefers to think of crime as a game, with the heroes playing their parts in his story.
The model is another Reaper Miniature from the Bones 4 Kickstarter, and the figure is now named "Meligaster, Iconic Mesmerist, Halfling Bard" on the website. I did a little putty work to turn his bare feet into passable boots. Being a Halfling, he's a little short, but his hat makes up for it; additionally, as I'm sure he would tell you, "physical stature has no bearing on the MEASURE of a MAN'S MIND!!!!!!"
The colors are red and purple, which is a villainous power palate like Magneto. Some bright "Gehenna's Gold" paint from Citadel really makes the metal bits pop. The painting turned out really well and I'm happy with the result.
This model is made from Anvil Industry Parts. The body and arms are from the "Secret Service Team" pack and the head is from the "Wasteland Survivor Heads." The mask was painted right onto the plain white resin, with a layer of Ceramcoat Cardinal Red, then a layer of Vallejo Bloody Red (72.010). The mask's white lines are Dead White (72.001). The shirt is Heavy Red (72.141). The suit is a mix of Heavy Red and Black (70.950). Everything except the mask was then washed with old Agrax Earthshade. (Those few remaining drops are priceless.)
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.
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.
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.