I’ve made progress on two projects this week and I have some gaming experiences to share as well. So let’s not waste any time and get started!
First up, I have finally started painting up some Hellboy stuff. I had to wait for some Contrast paint I needed to get started. Yes, that’s right. I’m finally giving the Contrast paints a try. Why did I finally do so? Well, with Hellboy, I have 100+ minis I need to paint to be able to fully play the game so I knew that my typical painting strategy of painting everything the best I can wasn’t going to work here. I need to speed myself up and be willing to sacrifice a bit of quality for time or else I’ll never get the project done and then not have time for other things I’d like to do in the future. So I really focused on getting good results fast and I have the first two frog monsters mostly done. There are four different sculpts but twenty frog miniatures in total to paint so you’ll probably be seeing a lot of these. I’m happy to report that it took me about 2-3 hours to paint each one, which for me is quite fast. I usually spend x3 or x4 times that on Fallout minis for example.
What do I think about these sculpts? Well, they’re a bit rough to be honest. The mold lines are pretty nasty and not easy to remove. The detail is not bad but it isn’t amazing either. They’re definitely a step down from most Fallout minis and they’re also nowhere near Games Workshop quality. But they certainly aren’t terrible either and I think the final results look pretty nice, especially considering how quick I got them done. It is nice that you don’t have to spend any time assembling the minis too. That saves a bit of time anyway. One thing I haven’t decided yet and I’d be curious to get some opinions from those who read this, should I give the frogs a base with dirt and grass or just paint the rims black and move on? I don’t mind taking the time to do the bases with dirt and grass though Hellboy mostly features indoor tiles (example pictured below) that have a bit of a cartoony look to them so maybe it isn’t worth adding dirt and grass. Doing so might even be a bit distracting… Let me know your thoughts below and we’ll decide this through a good old-fashioned vote (or maybe just on who puts forth the most convincing argument!)
I didn’t focus solely on Hellboy this week though and mixed in a bit of terrain work for Fallout as well. Here is a quick teaser for the largest and most complicated piece of terrain I’ve made yet. It will take me a while to get it all worked out but I’m making progress on it and finding the process pretty enjoyable thus far to boot so I’d say bouncing between the two projects is working thus far.
I also wanted to do a quick round-up of all the post-apocalyptic terrain and miniatures I painted for Dave Stone’s Post-Apocalypse Challenge for October. The Wargamesculptors Blog is always a great read and he is good bloke to boot, so give it a visit! The lighting for the photos below was a challenge as I had to hijack the dining room table. I really am going to have to get a folding table for my room one of these days. At least I got the railroad track fixed and with ballast properly applied!
And that brings us to my gaming experience from this week. I’m going to have to eat my words because I’m flip-flopping again (though this will be the last time I believe) on the Fallout Board Game. Why? Well, I tried to play it again this week and truthfully, I had a bit of a rough evening and some things negatively impacted my attempt to play it but even with that, I realized that I’m just not feeling this game and that my time is better spent elsewhere. There are a couple of reasons why. First of all, the game has too much “maintenance” for the strategic payoff. What I mean is that every turn, you have to move enemies around the board and you’re adding new ones as you explore the map. This becomes tedious the more you play the game as you start to spend more and more time doing that than you do using your actual characters to win the game. I played with three characters this week because playing with two makes the game’s difficulty too high and that ended up being disappointing as well. The characters are not very different from each other and so there is a lack of strategy and theme there that could have been improved. I was also having trouble tracking all the different rules across the three characters for some reason. I don’t think the game is that complicated but it feels like some of the rules don’t really pay off the way they should. I think its because there isn’t a ton of strategy to the game. You have goals you have to pursue and the choices you make are more around, which character is going to be best suited to accomplish that goal quick enough. Maybe that is the wargamer in me speaking but this game just isn’t quite as much fun as I imagined/hoped and the games weaknesses do detract from the fun that is there.
The other thing I realized is that I can enjoy Fallout: The Board Game but I have to play it in a different way than I’d like. I need to completely remove myself from all distractions and clear out two hours to play. If I can concentrate and not be interrupted much, I know I can handle the rules and there is some fun to be had playing it. Unfortunately, I don’t have time like that to devote to the game and I don’t think it is quite fun enough to deserve extra time being allocated either for some of the reasons stated above. I’d rather play Fallout: Wasteland Warfare and I’m pretty sure Hellboy is going to be more fun. More importantly, I realized that I already have a game that I’d much rather play and it fits the time I usually have for gaming/relaxing on weeknights better and that is Arkham Horror: The Card Game. I’d been playing Fallout for an hour or so and I thought to myself, I’m not having that much fun here and I’d really rather being playing Arkham. That is when I knew it was time to move on from it. Fallout: The Board game isn’t bad, but it isn’t the game that I want to play right now. I don’t think that I’ll likely want to really play it much more but I’m going to hang onto it for a while and see if I change my mind. If not, I’ll sell it on and get my money back. Probably when its out of print and worth a bit more. To be clear, I’m not sad or upset that Fallout The Board Game hasn’t worked out. In many ways, its a relief to know that I can focus on other games I enjoy more.
In case you were curious, I have since started a new campaign in Arkham and enjoyed my first game quite a bit. Perhaps I’ll check in next week and share a bit more about how its going if the mood strikes. Its definitely an excellent game and one I’ll be playing plenty more of in the near future. I know this was a bit long so thank you for reading and I look forward to your thoughts as always!
Kuribo's Painting 
This are some mean looking frogs! I’ve started dabbling more seriously with contrast paints recently and they’ve been very useful indeed, getting through this many models is a great use for them. I like the idea of just doing black bases, I think sand and grass will clash too much with the cartoony look of the tiles. With regards to the fallout game, I agree with you, if you’re not enjoying it then definitely do something else with your time, it can feel like waste but at the end of the day we play games to enjoy ourselves!
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I’m glad to hear Contrast paints are working well for you too, mate. I’m leaning towards black bases for the exact reason you described. The shadows are so heavy in Hellboy that you might as well make the bases match that! It sounds like we have a similar philosophy when it comes to gaming too. I gave Fallout a chance and it didn’t work out and so its best to move on and focus on things that are fun instead!
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Those painted frog minis look great! Especially if they took you a lot less time than usual.
I would also suggest using black bases. I find that for board games, that looks more suitable and neat than the typical sand and grass wargaming bases. It also requires less effort while still giving good results.
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Thanks, mate! 🙂 I’m leaning towards black as well. I think it will save time and match the tiles pretty well. Thanks for weighing in on this! 😀
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Enjoyed reading this, Jeff! 🙂 I like the frogs, although not sure why they’ve been sculpted with “rags” around them! In the short term, you could just paint the bases in a plain colour, knowing that you could come back to them later. I’m never a fan of black on bases, but you’ll have an idea what might work best by comparing them to the game components. If you can replace the bases, you could go for clear ones – I personally don’t like them much, but Justin over at The Solo Meeple has used them and they do look good in a boardgame setting. Can’t really comment on your Fallout dilemma, maybe time will tell how you feel! However, I do like the way your railroad track matches your game mat! 🙂
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Thanks for giving it a read, John! So the frogs are people who have been transformed into monsters by Cthulhu-like gods. So remnants of their clothing remains. That is interesting that you don’t like black bases. They are pretty common in board games but not wargaming, I suppose. I am right there with you and I think Justin is a heretic for using them!!! 😉 I just don’t think clear bases do what they’re intending and its better to paint your bases in some way shape or form. Of course, we’ll see if he has anything to say about this in the comments 🙂 Thanks for the kind words on the railroad too. I’m well on my way to building a train themed “board” for Fallout 🙂
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The frogs are looking great Jeff, and at a lot quicker rate than normal. As for the base dilemma, I would go with a flag stone style base as these seem fitting for the gaming tiles. The scenery you’re working on is looking great with excellent weathering. Glad you enjoyed the challenge, and was great having you take part.
I think you are making the right call for you with the board game, and leaving it a while to try again, is a very logical idea.
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Cheers, Dave and flagstone style bases are something I hadn’t considered. I will give that some thought though I wouldn’t be surprised if I go with black bases in the end and laziness wins out 🙂 Thanks for the kind words on the terrain as well. I’m starting to find my footing with MDF terrain thanks to Fallout and I’m hoping to really improve my collection during the rest of 2021 and into next year!
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For the bases could always just put some stirland mud on the frog’s heels and drag it across the base. Filthy frogs.
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That’s not a bad thought, Bret. I think it needs to be understated and your idea is a great way to accomplish it. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Those frogs are looking good. I vote for painting their bases in a way that least slightly resembles the dungeon tiles they’ll be played on.
Not that you need my advice, but I reckon that you should put the Fallout board game back in its box for a while as it is clearly not your cup of tea. Spend your hobby time on the stuff you enjoy the most.
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Thanks, mate and your vote has most certainly been tallied 🙂 I completely agree with you. I’d be surprised if I play that board game again as I already have more fun options. Thanks for stopping by as always!
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Sorry to hear that the Fallout Board Game is not working for you right now but I agree with your decision to focus on playing what is fun to you. Time is precious, make the mot of it.
The frogs look great! Mrs. GG is a big fan of Contrast paint. I like using it sometimes, it depends on what I am working on. It clearly works well on the frogs.
For bases, I think it is a question of application. If you intend to use minis elsewhere as well, then generic themed bases to match all the applications makes sense. Bret’s suggestion for example would be good for that. Otherwise if they are just going to be used for the boardgame perhaps going just black would save more time.
It is great to see those Institute minis together! Building a better future for humanity!
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Agreed, mate. That board game probably going to be sold on eBay down the road and I don’t think I’ll play it again.
Thanks for the kind words on the frogs. I don’t think these minis will be used in anything else. The miniature scale isn’t going to make them work well for many other games so I’ll take that as another sign that black bases are the way to go 🙂
At some point in the near future, I plan on getting some more terrain and doing an Institute group shot so I hope you’ll be looking forward to that 🙂
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Nice work on the frogs, they’ve come out very nicely. I’m no gamer and opinion on the bases seems divided looking at other commments. All I’ll say is just do them all the same, my OCD wouldn’t allow me to do otherwise. 🙂
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Cheers and I completely agree. The bases will all match come hell or high water! 😀
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The froggies look really good! How did you get on with the contrast paint? I’ve been tempted but do you have to get the primer coat perfect so brush strokes/blotches don’t show through?
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Thanks, Matt! I use GW’s Corax White spray and while that isn’t “carefully engineered” for Contrast paints, it worked well enough for me. I found that it took two coats of the Contrast paint to get the coverage I was looking for which surprised me. The main downside that I can see is that you have to give them about 20-30 minutes of drying time which is something to work around. Contrast paints are definitely a bit different than what I’m used to but overall, they’re pretty easy to use and if you’re not display painting, I think they’re useful and worth giving a try.
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You’ve done a grand job of the Frogs, Jeff, though they sound like typical board game minis in terms of quality.
How did you find the Contrast paints? I wasn’t sure about them when I first used them, but since then I’ve found them useful for lots of things, especially undershading for glazes.
Basing board game minis is a bit of a quandry. Put them on dirt and grass and they look odd on indoor tiles, and vice versa. Whilst keeping them plain can look a bit dull, it might be the way to go. Have you considered transparent bases?
You’ve convinced me that giving Fallout: The Board Game a miss was the right move. Sounds like you don’t get a big enough payoff for the work you have to put in, which can be common in those types of game. Gloomhaven takes a fair bit of ‘housekeeping’ but the reward makes it all worth while. Everyone has their own perspective on this, I guess, and whilst I don’t mind putting a lot of time in to a game there has to be some payback to make it worthwhile.
Looking forward to hearing about your latest Arkham adventures🙂
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Thanks, Justin and you’re right that they’re fairly standard board game fare. A bit disappointing considering Mantic makes wargaming miniatures but I have bought enough of their product to know it isn’t GW quality.
The Contrast paints do work well when you want to paint fast. It is easy to miss spots on a mini when using Contrast but other than that, I found them worthwhile and effective. I agree that you can’t win with board game bases. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but I actually (stupidly) rebased all Mansions of Madness minis on resin bases which required pinning. It was a massive extra expenditure of time and is one of the reasons I gave up on the game. Once I started painting higher quality minis, I couldn’t bring myself to keep doing all that extra work. So I’m cognizant of that here. If you take a look at other comments above, John and I were teasing you a bit on your love of clear bases 😀
I won’t go into great detail as you’re one of the few who also plays Arkham but I imagine I can provide a brief weekly update on how its going 🙂
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Lol! That’s what happens when you haven’t the time to read all the comments!
The Mansions bases are just unusable, so something has to be done with them. The artwork on the tiles is worth showing off and the clear bases do this; I think they work well in a game with good tile art. I started by pinning them, but gave up after the first couple and resorted to superglue!
Bases are not my forte. I’m not particularly creative in that way. I really should experiment more and that way I’d probably improve.
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I couldn’t agree more on Mansions bases! They were a very bad idea by FFG and most people aren’t using them as they intended. Basing is something that wargamers excel at but I don’t think it is as required for board game painters. What I can say is that there are tons of videos on Youtube (usually relating to Warhammer) with basing ideas so I’d say give some of them a watch for inspiration and ideas. Of course, figuring out where to get really nice and unique basing supplies is an art in and of itself and there are some like myself who know the secrets of where to look too 🙂
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I don’t know what it is about basing. I know it’s an important part of the process. I know that a bad base can make a well painted miniature look bad. But I just can’t seem to get excited about it, it’s the one part that I don’t enjoy doing, and it shows in the final product.
I’ve watched the videos, I have plenty of basing materials, I just lack the vision I think. As I said, practice would improve things, but by the time I think about the base I’ve a queue of other miniatures waiting to be painted that look a far more interesting prospect than spending time on it. It’s something I have to force myself to do otherwise they’d all just be painted black!🤔
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A lot of people don’t enjoy doing it because its often one of the last things you do when painting a miniature. I really enjoy it and take it as a challenge to come up with creative new ways to base miniatures. Just think of it as a chance to express yourself creatively and you may enjoy the process a bit more 😉
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Wait, there’s a hundred plus miniatures in the Hellboy game? How big are these miniatures?!! Crazy. Frogs look good though. You can’t expect crisp sculpts from board games miniatures.
Just to be different; I’m gonna suggest you paint the bases the same color that is predominant on the miniature. In this case green.
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Yeah, you get a lot of repeat sculpts where you have 5-20 of the same enemy minis. I think they’re 32mm, definitely bigger than LOTR ones. And you’re right on board game sculpts. They just aren’t up to wargaming quality unfortunately.
Your suggestion is a wild one! You live dangerously, my friend 😀 Thanks for stopping by as always!
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They’re not bad models by any means – and yep – from the BG!
As for the bases, if you can be bothered, perhaps adding a couple of flagstones (cut shapes from thin card) in dark grey and then adding a little dirt, which would make them look more complete as well as versatile to different scenarios, both indoors and outdoors – and even other games! 😉
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The flagstones are a good idea. I should have done something like that from the beginning before I painted them as I think it would be safer that way. If only I had consulted you a bit sooner! 🙂 I think I may try putting some dark looking dirt on the base and leaving it at that but we’ll see. I’m going to set them aside for a bit and think about it.
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Those are looking good, shows what can be done with Contrast in the right hands (I’ve been using Contrast since it was released and I still don’t think I could produce results like that). Looking at them (and the next post because I’m behind in my reading) I’d say getting something on their bases is a must. Sadly many of us – and I’ll admit I’ve been guilty of this myself in years gone by – don’t do anything with the bases on our miniatures and just leave them blank, with the result that even if it’s intentional a blank base always looks unfinished – to my eye at least.
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Just to make sure you aren’t being too kind to me, I only used contrast for the base color and shading. I used regular layer paints for the highlights! Thanks for weighing in on the bases too. As you probably saw, even the black base isn’t quite enough to my eyes. I’ll give them something simple to spruce ’em up a bit more! 🙂
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