Marvel Minis by Knight Models and...Kinder Surprise?!

After I had my original four Avengers figures painted for the Marvel Universe Miniature Game, I knew I wanted to build up the list while I waited for some more cosmic figures to be released. Having already built several other early-release figures I looked through the cards and chose Wolverine, Black Panther and Deadpool to join my team. Deadpool still taunts me from my painting table, but the other two are finished and ready for battle.

Wolverine is a nicely done sculpt. Appropriately small of stature and big on the snarls, he was a simple model to build. Only the forearms were separate and fit together easily. I mounted him on a resin base insert I had rattling around. Even based on that, he's still shorter than all the other Avengers, even Black Widow.

I did some looking around online to see if I could find inspiration for a costume colour scheme, and ended up with the two-tone blue you see here. I think it fits nicely. His skin is GW Tallarn Flesh, washed with GW Badab Black, highlighted with the base colour and then a very light dry brush of P3 Menoth White Highlight.

The suit is GW Mordian Blue and P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight. The claws were done with P3 Cold Steel. All the blue were dry brushed using Army Painter Ash Grey then washed with GW Asurmen Blue, along with the claws. I reapplied the base colours then highlighted the claws with GW Mithril Silver.

Black Panther is a similar build to Wolverine, with only his arms being separate pieces. I had to use a little putty to smooth over the gaps on him. After priming him grey I applied two thin coats of P3 Thamar Black, followed by a solid dry brush coat of AP Uniform Grey. His necklace got a coat of P3 Cold Steel. This was all followed by a wash of GW Thraka Green. The gloves and boots got a heavy dry brush of P3 Trollblood Highlight, and a much lighter one on the raised areas of his suit. Finally I gave everything a wash of GW Badab Black and then retouched the necklace with GW Mithril Silver.

I was tempted to go back in and to some brush highlighting on the suit, but opted not to. I like the soft transitions of colour and didn't want to have sharp areas that would make it look too shiny.

Finally we have Spider-Man. If you were paying attention you already know that he's not by Knight Models, although they do make one for the Spiderman Miniature Game. I picked up a few Kinder Surprise eggs at a dollar store in July, and this little guy was inside one of them. The detail isn't great and he's a touch large in terms of scale, but after I glued him together I decided to rebase him and throw it into my collection.

From a table distance away, I feel like he looks just fine. Certainly not KM calibre, but hey for $1.25 I'm not going to complain!

Animal-themed heroes to the rescue!

BMG Nightwing Paint & Review

Nightwing was a spur of the moment paint job a few days ago. While waiting for some washes to dry on another batch of figures I ended up alternating work on him. Although initially not very excited by the pose I'm really quite pleased with how he turned out. He took also took a minimal amount of time to do, clocking in at under 45 minutes start to finish including dry time.

After priming him grey I applied two thin coats of black to get nice even coverage on the suit and mask. I followed that with a wash of GW Asurmen Blue, and once dry applied a light dry brush coat on all the black of AP Uniform Grey. It has a slight touch of blue in it and brought out the models details perfectly. The hair was done the same way, followed with two ink washes of black.

On the blue detailing I painted a solid coat of P3 Platinum which I followed with two even coats of Tamiya Clear Blue. The face was done with a base coat of GW Flesh and then some highlight of Elf Flesh.

In terms of gameplay I think Nightwing is one of the best Batman-affiliated free agents for his points. If he is ideally positioned and undamaged he can attack twice in the same activation, using 3SC+1AC for Electric Storm, and the remaining 2AC to net another three attacks through combo with his electric baton. Handy and mechanic mean you're very likely landing two of those attacks.

The biggest challenge to laying down that kind of beating is his 6 willpower. If you've suffered anything more than 1 damage you'll be unable to do this, so if possible, picking up a Titan on the way to the fight is crucial.

Nightwing is also highly mobile with Batclaw and Acrobat. He can get where he needs to be faster than most free agents, climb scenery more easily, and with Sneak Attack can stop his target from defending in certain situations. He also has some ranged weaponry when necessary, although I'd suggest saving those as a last resort.

In my last game using Nightwing I was able to knock down AK Red Hood, forcing him to flee combat or take a KO in the next turn. Shortly after I was able to land several solid hits on Dark Knight Returns Batman and KO him. To add insult to injury, acrobat let me climb up to activate the Batsignal for another 4VP that same round. I know I won't always be that lucky, but the potential for damage output, combined with his mobility makes him a current favorite for now!