Forget the drama of Harry, Charles, and William. The real King of Britain is here! That’s right, Hellboy gets that title in the Wild Hunt volume of the comics, which happens to be one of my favorites. And that is the inspiration for the sculpt I’m working on comes from. It also happens to be one of the best sculpts in the Hellboy range so that is why I selected this one for Brush with Death. This is very much a work in progress so you’ll be able to spot at least one thing that I need to clean up but this is where I am after a week’s work.
Most of my time was spent glazing the cloak which took some time and patience but it was fairly enjoyable overall. The face needs some further work but you can already start to see where this miniature is going. I’m pretty confident that I can get it done in a couple of week’s time which means I’ll be all set to enter three miniatures in two painting competitions, which is pretty cool. I also went ahead and got my badge for Adepticon so I can enter in the competitions and we won’t see a repeat of last year so that’s positive as well.
Truthfully, I have been sick all week and am surprised I made this much progress on Hellboy. I found out today that I have some kind of virus and not strep throat, flu, or COVID which is good I suppose. My symptoms are aches, fatigue, and congestion in my throat so I suppose it could be worse. I’m hoping to be on the tail end of it now and feel like myself again soon. Its certainly put a damper on my week.
With that said, I have been working towards my yearly goals. I finished The Poison King which is a good book about Mithridates. While I don’t know that he gets the credit he should, Mithridates is one of the most formidable enemies of Rome. I would say he deserves more praise and attention than Boudicca gets, for example. I’m currently reading something completely different but I’ll hold off on saying more until I finish it.
Lastly, in Arkham Horror corner, I was able to give Return to the Night of the Zealot a go with interesting results. I played with the intent of getting the achievements of not killing any cultists or ghouls. That is basically the only enemies in the campaign so that means you’re not doing much fighting at all, which is something I’ve never tried in the game. To accomplish this, I built two decks with investigators I can’t recall using previously. I used Wendy Adams, the Urchin who is a pretty powerful character and I enjoyed using her. I also used Monterey Jack, who is one of the worst investigators in the game though I didn’t realize it until I used him.
He has a great ability and some decent stats, especially with a 5 in Agility. However, his one Willpower is such a problem. He can’t pass any Willpower tests almost and so he takes a lot of damage, especially psychological damage from encounter cards.
A simple card like Frozen in Fear, can pretty much ruin his day and it nearly did for me. Losing an action a turn for a long time just makes it really tough to win and makes Monterrey Jack seem too weak to use very much at least with the cards that I have now.
In spite of his disappointing performance, I managed to just barely accomplish my goal. Evading monsters and not killing them is interesting because it can be more efficient early on but once enough monsters come out, that changes. It is also really hard in this campaign because a lot of cultists have Doom. Doom shortens the time you have to win a given scenario and the easiest way to deal with it, is to just kill those cultists. That was not an option when going for these achievements however. If not for the option of sacrificing Lita Chandler in the final scenario, there is absolutely no way I would have been able to “win” this campaign. I was barely able to get any victory points the whole campaign and it felt like I was at a major disadvantage compared to playing normally. With that said, it was fun and a very interesting experience. Arkham Horror remains the card game of card games for me. I feel like I satisfied my urge to play for now and will take a break for a bit, but I’m sure I’ll get back to it soon enough. There’s plenty left to do just in this campaign alone as you can see from my updated Achievements List.
Kuribo's Painting 
Nice job on the model so far! Nice to see you bounce back after making the decision on the witch king. Hopefully the sickness clears out soon.
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I think I might be getting better finally though I thought that earlier in the week and then felt sick again so I can’t be too sure. I’m glad hear Big Red looks good so far and I’ll see if I can’t improve upon it further this week đ
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I’m probably not allowed to say Hellboy would make a decent king over here, so best I don’t! That is a nice mini though, Jeff, and looking really good so far! đ Sorry to hear you’ve not been well, but there seems to be an awful lot of nasty stuff doing the rounds at the moment, so hope you get over it soon. Not read about Mithradates (or even Boudicca for that matter) so I maybe should work back in time with reading history. Nice to see you still enjoying Arkham Horror!
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Haha, don’t get yourself in any trouble with the Royal family. They seem to have their ways to get people in line đ Although as a former colonist, I guess they don’t have much sway on me đ
I seem to have turned the corner so hopefully I am finally better, thankfully. There are plenty of great subjects in ancient history worth reading about so I would be very supportive of that, John! I think you just have to find what interests you the most and get to reading đ
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Great progress on Hellboy, it really is a nice sculpt, so enjoy your time on it. Good you’re still enjoying the card game, and working your way through to complete all the goals, and great news you have your badge to be able to enter the painting competition this year.
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Thanks, Dave and I agree on the sculpt. Its probably the best Hellboy one Mantic has created. Other than being sick, I’d say that this was a very successful week overall.
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Very nice work on the figure mate, looking excellent so far. Hope you feel better soon. đ
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Thanks, mate! I’m feeling more like myself today so hopefully I’ve turned the corner finally.
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That is a great pose for Hellboy very dynamic!
Curious about what else you are reading, Mithridates was below my radar on Roman wars so had to go read about him, thanks!
While you are reading scholarly books, I’m rewatching the Starz series of Spartacus….
Hope you feel well soon and glad you are ready for Adepticon.
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It is a great pose and fits Hellboy’s “charge in and ask questions later” attitude too.
Mithridates is more of a Republic era enemy to Rome and I think that keeps him from getting as much attention though it is definitely unfair because he was quite influential and was never killed or captured by Rome, much like Hannibal. I will give a big hint that I’m reading something by Tolkien though I can’t say anymore than that!
No shame in watching Spartacus! I’ve never watched it but I do really like Rome by HBO. That has some great actors in it and its a shame there were only two seasons.
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I think part of the reason I hadn’t heard of Mithridates is that he was of the Republic era and in a geographical area that doesn’t get much attention in the history/ wargaming world when discussing Roman wars.
I keep meaning to watch Rome, as well as Andor, etc.
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Both Rome and Andor are well worth your time mate.
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Yeah, the Republic era seems to be all about Hannibal and elephants to me, which I don’t understand because other conflicts are just as interesting.
Rome I can recommend, just like Rick does. It covers Julius Caesar and Augustus basically but the show has excellent production values and great writing so its worth it even if those two aren’t your favorite Roman rulers. They tend not to be for me, for example.
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I hope you feel better soon mate. The mini looks fantastic and your patience on the coat really paid off. The shading is flawless.
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Thanks, mate! I think I’ve turned the corner finally which I’m very glad about. I’m glad you like Hellboy so far. There’s plenty more to come, especially since I’m taking my time and enjoying it thus far.
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Hellboy is looking great so far. Itâs funny how hard cloaks can be. I used to think they were so easy. Just one coat and highlight the edges, right?!? Haha! That face is going to turn out great too. The highlights are already looking nice. Sorry to hear you caught a virus, get week soon!
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Thanks, Brian! It is. I often see people who paint to a tabletop standard being really pleased with how they painted a cloak and I often think, they have no idea how much time and effort it would take to “level up” that part of the miniature. It really does take a lot of patience and time! I’m feeling better today finally so I think I’m finally on my way to feeling normal. Just in time for the three day weekend to be over, just about! đ
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Good call on getting the badge/ticket. I remember the last timeâŚđ
That HellBoy is super cool looking. I must remember to read those comics one day.
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I did learn something from last year’s fiasco anyway đ I’m glad you like him and I hope you’ll like him even more when I’m done. The Hellboy comics are excellent and well worth reading. They’re better than any of the movies, some of which are not bad themselves.
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Another fine piece brought to life by your artistic talent mate! đ
Sorry to hear you have been ill and I fervently hope that you are soon on the mend.
I am a bit surprised an archeologist named Monterey Jack is anything other than awesome.
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There’s plenty more to go but its off to a good start anyway! I think I’m better or just about turned the corner anyway so I appreciate that. You would think Indiana Jones’s long lost cousin would be more awesome and able to stand up to Lovecraftian horrors but apparently not!
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You always take minis to the next level mate!
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You’re too kind and I do what I can anyway!
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Man, I can’t take my eyes of that cloak. You’ve done an awesome job on it and in a colour scheme that would be challenging.
The Poison King – I’ll have to add that to my reading list, love anything to do with Ancient Rome, including her enemies, and you’re right, he should get more credit for his achievements.
I like the way AH seems to have developed. I like the idea of an achievement list, it adds more replayability into the mix. Monterey Jack’s a bit of a mix-up. His abilities look really useful, but as you say, that 1-willpower drags him right down. Maybe there’s a niche for him out there somewhere?
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Thanks, mate! It did take a while to get the colors looking decently smooth and I could probably refine it further if I have the time and patience. The Poison King is very readable so that helps make the pages go by quickly.
The achievements encourage you to set goals for yourself and try new things and I really appreciate that about them. I think if I owned all of the investigator cards, I probably would have a very different looking deck for Monterey Jack. He’s certainly one I’d consider revisiting later on when I have more cards in my collection.
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Nice post, and long live the King (looks great indeed). excellently painted.
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Thanks, Mark! I hope you’ll continue to feel that way as I get the King painted further in the coming weeks.
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Great work on Hellboy, and as a Brit I’d take him as King over Charles III any day LOL!
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Haha, cheers, Matt! I’ll gladly take Liz Sherman over Camilla too for that matter!! đ
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Great work on Hellboy so far! Cloak and face are looking good. Also good to hear that you’ve been getting some games and even reading in. Particularly that AH has managed to remain entertaining. đ
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Thanks, mate! I’m painting this one for you and Ronny so hopefully I’ll make you two proud đ AH is great fun. So much fun and so much money that even though I bet I’d love Marvel Champions, I’m going to need a pay raise and more vacation time to be able to play it.
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Awww, very nice of you, mate.
Marvel Champions isn’t bad at all if you don’t feel a need to go all-in on an OCD level and buy every new pack when they come out. The core comes with 5 heroes and 3 villains and a whole bunch of cards you can deck build with in a not-too-big box for a one-off cost that’s comparable to 2 GW character models.
I know a lot of people prefer AH, including the SUSD crew, but it’s solo-playable and Marouda and I both enjoy it as a quick fun game when we break it out. An enjoyable watch either way… đ
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I do what I can! đ I haven’t probably bought half of the releases for Arkham yet so there is still a lot there I want to buy. In the future, I may be able to squeeze Marvel Champions in a little better if I get tired of Arkham or have more for the game. Of course, the video you shared might change my mind. You never know! I’m fickle and prone to buying too many things for our hobby like everyone else đ
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I haven’t seen you post about buying in to it yet… đ¤
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Too poor and not enough time, mate đ Maybe one day!
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Great work on Hell Boy he is coming along great. And hope you are feeling better soon!
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Thank you, mate and I am feeling healthy again which is a relief!
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Nice work on Hellboy. Do you use the different minis at different points in the game?
I really love the idea of the achievement list you’re using for Arkham Horror. Is it an ‘official’ one, or did you make it yourself? I did once take part in a Malifaux tournament that had a list of achievements, and there was a little prize at the end for whoever had the most.
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There are some variations in how he plays in the board game, depending on which version you choose at the start of the game. Once you make that choice, you stick with that character the whole game. This particular version of Hellboy has his own “stat-line” and unique abilities, I believe, though I’d have to dig up the card to be sure.
The achievements list is the official one for Arkham. I really like the idea too and I’ve heard of that idea for miniature tournaments and I think its a great idea, especially if you get a cool prize for doing so. It would be cool if more manufacturers created these sorts of things.
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