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Warhammer AoS – Running out of Time

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After taking a week off, I have a lot to share. So much so that I’m going to have a little Table of Contents to make it easy to find what you want to read and skip what you want. Here’s a look at what’s on tap for this update:

Painting Progress

Review of Hawkeye

Arkham Horror: The Card Game Update

Painting Progress – I think this week’s update gives you a good sense of what this mini looks like and you get to see some of my favorite parts of it. So hopefully it is worth the wait! Here’s a look at the front and back.

As you can see, there are some major Greco-Roman influences in this mini from the lightning bolts to the mask, and that is why I wanted to paint it. I really wanted the mask to have the look from Greek dramas as I think it will really make this guy look like a stone cold killer on the battle field. I’m really happy with how the mini is looking overall. It looks almost exactly like I envisioned in my head which is not something I can always say about these display projects. There is some bad news though. There’s only two and a half weeks until the competition and I still have a lot to paint. Arms, shoulder pads, the weapon, and something on the base still need to be done. That is a lot to do at the pace I’ve been painting. Its really going to be a race against time to try and finish this guy. What concerns me is that if I make mistakes (which I might just do), there is very little time to try and fix them. I can only hope that the short lead-in time for the Golden Demon will help lower the quality of other entries and give me a fighting chance. Time will tell and I need to paint a lot in the meantime to be able to to even enter this guy in the competition.

Hawkeye Review – There’s a lot that I can say about this one but I’ll try to be concise.  I would say Hawkeye is kind of like Home Alone with a little less cartoon violence meets a Marvel show.  Jeremy Renner is a great actor (if you haven’t seen The Town, which is a great crime/bank robbery movie, you owe it to yourself to give it a watch), but his character is the blandest Avenger in the movies.  Thankfully, Renner finally gets to be a more fully-fledged actor in this show and show his ability.  I would also say that having read the comics the show is based off of, the show improved upon it.  The comics tried really hard to be funny but also tried extremely hard to be hip.  They turned that down somewhat in the show which was a very good idea because I hated that about the comic unfortunately.

My biggest complaint about Hawkeye is that while there are plenty of enjoyable parts, I think it tried to be all things to everybody and nobody is going to be happy with it.  What I mean is that the show tries to be funny and I think it appeals to a more casual fan of Marvel content as it is light-hearted and features a young superhero learning her trade with Kate Bishop.  And yet, there are multiple cameos of Marvel characters that appear in movies and TV shows that only diehard Marvel fans will know or care about.  Casual fans will find their appearances boring or not that meaningful but hardcore fans may find the show’s light-heartedness a turn-off and seeing at least one very serious and dangerous characters being bettered is not likely to make them happy either.

Echo, aka Maya, was an odd inclusion in the show for me anyway.  I think of her as being an excellent foil to Daredevil because she is deaf and he is blind.  Yes, it is perhaps a bit sentimental or hokey, but they make a great pair and so to see her serving as a villain with somewhat thin motivation was disappointing.  I hope that they have bigger and better plans for her in the future.  I imagine Kate Bishop will be around more in the future as well which is fine, I guess.  All in all, I didn’t have high expectations for Hawkeye and I found it to be good but far from a favorite in the Marvel TV series. 

My rankings of the Marvel TV shows are now as follows:

  1. Wandavision
  2. Loki
  3. Falcon and the Winter Soldier
  4. Hawkeye

Arkham Horror: The Card Game Update – I was able to finish my Return to the Night of the Zealot campaign and it didn’t go especially well.  I did get to the final scenario which is certainly not bad but really across all three scenarios, I didn’t have all that great of luck and it felt like the decks I played could have performed better.  I used Daisy Walker, Librarian extraordinaire, and Zoey Samaras because both are really good at what they’re designed to do.  Unfortunately, I didn’t do quite as well at Midnight Masks as I would have liked (I just ran out of time as you always do in that one) and The Devourer Below is a punishing scenario.  I tried to gather clues but I now see that there are two approaches to that scenario.  You can actually do a gamey thing and just sit around and do nothing and actually have a better chance of winning the scenario or you can try to stop the evil creature from being summoned and have a much, much tougher road.  I went for the tougher road and died before the monster got summoned.  I’ll do a review of the Return to the Night of the Zealot set in the nearish future and despite dying horribly, I did have fun with it and appreciate the life it breathes into the original campaign. I didn’t have much desire to replay it before getting Return to the Night of the Zealot and now I imagine I’ll play it quite a few more times in the future so that was money well spent. I’d like to pick up some new cards if I can swing it but I was surprised to find the Nintendo Switch OLED in stock on Amazon so I got one and I also bought something else hobby related that will show up in a future update too. That’s more than enough for now though. I better go get some more painting done! 

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41 thoughts on “Warhammer AoS – Running out of Time”

  1. The model is looking great! Big fan of the variety of metal tones you’ve included, keeps the whole thing from being overwhelmingly one colour. Good luck over the next few weeks as you get it finished!

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Thanks, mate! I’m happy with the color selection so far too. One of the few times I feel like I’ve gotten them right on my own. I often ask a friend for advice when I’m not sure. Fingers crossed I can get this done in time for the competition! 🙂

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  3. Loving the mini mate. You are right about that mask, it really makes the mini for me and your brushwork is brilliant

    I agree with you about Hawkeye. It was nice to see Renner get to stretch his often under appreciated acting skills to make Hawkeye a much more interesting Avenger. The show was OK, certainly not time wasted but not as engrossing as other parts of the MCU. There were moments in the show where I got the impression Kate Bishop was either intentionally or unintentionally channeling Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow. Little mannerisms and turn of phrases. Not sure how I feel about that.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Thank you, mate! I’m glad to hear you like the mask as well. It was the most important part to get right in my opinion and so I’m glad to hear the positive feedback.

      I’m glad to hear you think the same way about Jeremy Renner! While I need to watch the movie still, I think Black Widow as portrayed by Scarlet is pretty lifeless and uninteresting so Kate Bishop shouldn’t be channeling her at all, if possible.

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  5. The model is absolutely stunning, the NMM is so well done! I love the lightning bolts and the mask. The colours you’ve used complement each other beautifully and the whole thing is just great. Good luck getting it finished!

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  7. like the mini.

    Agree about Hawkeye, but would rank the show higher in the current Disney generated MCU. For me I made it 5 episodes into Wandavision, mostly because the wife wanted to see more, for me I didn’t make it through Ep. 1. I would put F&WS first, then Loki, then Hawkeye (it would have been higher if they ditch Kate’s character and just gave me a good Hawkeye story!), and Wandavision only when I get to the end of the Internet. I fear Marvel is going the same way as Star Wars under Disney.

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    1. Thanks, Eric! I know that not everyone liked WandaVision and I can understand that. I couldn’t get over the plot holes and a few other things with Falcon and The Winter Soldier but I think many Marvel fans think more like you than me on the show. I agree that Disney is making too much stuff too fast and while everything has been good, there hasn’t been much blowing me away thus far. They need to slow down a bit and focus on quality over quantity but I don’t think that is very likely to happen based on how they’ve managed Star Wars…

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      2. You have a lot of catching up to do then, mate! There are plenty of good movies and TV shows to watch if you have the time and desire. Having said that, there are so many that you might find it a bit overwhelming to start catching up now!

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  11. The model – and particularly the mask looks fantastic so far. Just don’t get wrapped up in having a chance at winning – competing in these things is really it’s own reward, and there are people who only paint one or two models a year expressly for competitions. if you can get it completed and entered, then that’s your win. 🙂
    Haven’t watched Hawkeye yet, so skipped over that section. Good that you’re still enjoying AH, and have fun with the Switch! 🙂

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    1. I have no expectations of winning. I’m mostly just concerned about putting the best work in front of the judges that I can. Having obvious mistakes won’t help me much so I’m trying to clean those up and prevent them from happening as much as possible. Its easier said than done though!

      I really like the Switch so far and strangely, I ended up buying Bioshock (which I’ve played before and love) and having a blast playing that again 🙂

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      1. I’ve got a bunch of games for the Switch, but truth be told I don’t play it much. We did start playing some Mario Kart on it again recently, which really is one of the best things it has going for it. A true classic right back to the SNES! (and now a bunch of classic tracks coming back as DLC as well!)

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Mario Kart is always fun to play with a friend (or two!). I really like platformers (probably because they were so common when I was young) so I’ve been playing some old ones like Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

    1. You can get up to a bit more when you don’t post every week as it turns out! 🙂 Thanks for the kind words and I’m really glad to hear you like the mask. Its the focal point of the mini so its always important to get it done right!

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  13. Excellent progress on the model Jeff, try not to get too wrapped up in the winning at the show, and enjoy painting the model as your hobby, you’ll get better results that way, and have a model you’re happy with.
    Enjoyed Hawkeye, was always one of my favourite characters as a kid, as I was doing competition archery at the time, and agree Jeremy is an excellent actor, if given a role he can work with.
    Good to hear that your latest purchase for Arkham Horror has increased your enjoyment, and hope y our new purchases do as well.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. I won’t be winning any prizes I don’t imagine, but I hope to put my best foot forward, if you know what I mean. Of course, at this point, it will all come down to how much I can get done with the time I have.

      Glad to hear you liked Hawkeye too. I had low expectations and it was more fun than I expected which was a pleasant surprise!

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  14. Your painting looks really great to me and I hope you’re able to complete it in time for entry.
    It’s a strange looking model to me; I don’t know what I was expecting for a head bout I did not expect Davy Jones from the pirates movies. It looks cool and you chose a nice color for the face. But still surprising. 😀

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    1. Thanks, Stew! I hadn’t thought about a resemblance to Davy Jones but I can see what you mean with that. You can use a human head or this mask and I think most people will take the human head but you can guess my preference! We’ll see if there are any other surprises for you on this mini as I get it done 🙂

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  15. Wow, the Stormcast is incredible! Keep going, it would be a bit of a shame if you missed the deadline for inclusion. I recognise that the Golden Demon standard is very high but the work you’re doing here is really amazing.

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  16. The miniature is coming along nicely. I hope you do well in the competition.

    Interesting movie review. I agree that movies that try to be all things to all people often end up pleasing fewer people than not. I haven’t seen any Marvel or superhero movies in general lately; my husband and I are kind of superheroed out these days, though more him than me.

    I really like Arkham Horror and try to make as many games of it when I can, when one of my friends, who owns most all of the supplements, etc. plays. I’ve played Daisy Walker a couple of times and agree that she is good at what she can do.

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    1. Thanks, Ann! There’s certainly been no shortage of superheroes in the last 10-20 years and I can understand why some people are tired of them. Disney isn’t helping with how fast they’re cranking out Marvel content but they must be making money or they wouldn’t still be doing it.

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    2. I hit reply too quick! I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying AH as well. Daisy is a bit helpless when monsters come calling but she can investigate as well as anybody at the same time 🙂

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  17. Wow, coming along very nicely Jeff, I do hope you get him finished without any dramas.
    I haven’t seen Hawkeye yet, but what you say doesn’t surprise me. I don’t think Disney know what market to aim the Marvel series’ at, and for me, it’s ruining things. I don’t personally mind which way they go, either aim at the casual fan or go hard-core, but trying to mix them together doesn’t please anyone.🤔
    On a side not, Yasmin has seen them and she’s decided to dress up as Kate Bishop for world book day!
    Glad you enjoyed RttNotZ, looking forward to your review – how did you find Daisy and Zoey, did they work together well, can’t think we’ve played them together?
    I know one thing, you’ve made me want to play the game again – selfishly, I’d like to play on my own, so I’ll have to sneak in a game when Yas is busy revising😉

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    1. Thanks, mate! 🙂 I think more casual Marvel fans and female fans are most likely to enjoy Hawkeye. I think Kate Bishop appeals to them the most so I’m not surprised to hear Yasmin likes her!

      Daisy needs to be babysat by a character who can get rid of any monsters that spawn on her so in that sense Zoey works well. I used to think Zoey was really overpowered because she’s one of the better combat characters through Dunwich Legacy but I’m not so sure that she is. She’s good but not as crazy powerful as I feared.

      I hope you’re able to get some games in! I’m on a little bit of a break to focus on painting but I’m already looking forward to playing more. I want to give RttNotZ another go before reviewing it so hopefully later this month, I’ll be able to do that!

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