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Fallout – Hitting the Streets

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I don’t know if it is the malaise brought about by February or work being busy, but I’ve been feeling a little burnt out this week. One of the things I painted this week probably didn’t help matters much either truthfully. I thought I’d tackle a miniature that’s been assembled and primed on my desk for months now. Unfortunately, it didn’t bring me a ton of joy working on it. This Minutemen member (or should I say Minutewoman?) has a pretty rough sculpt. Her face looks slightly deformed on one side (its hard to see in the pictures below) and the rifle was a pain to paint as well. She hasn’t been varnished or had any rust applied yet which should make her look quite a bit better. The one thing that was an interesting experiment were her denim jeans. Denim is tough to paint realistically on miniatures. I don’t think I’ve ever really mastered it and I thought I’d try a kind of stippling effect to show distress. I think it looks pretty decent. Not display miniature worthy but good for a gaming piece like this.

While it was good to get her nearly done this, I’m more happy with the piece of terrain I’ve nearly finished. I want to give a special thanks to Dave Stone of Wargames Terrain Workshop who answered my many terrain questions as I worked on this. Not only is he a sculptor extraordinaire, but he does house calls. Anytime I needed something, he popped over the Atlantic in his private jet and gave me a hand! In all seriousness, it was his idea to texture the street terrain with model railroad ballast and it really brought the asphalt texture to life. Dave deserves credit for the paint lines idea too which came out very nicely as well. I haven’t varnished this thing yet but once I do, I’ll add some dead grass in a few places to complete the post-apocalyptic look.

I’m excited to be working on this terrain because one of the things I really need are some roads to bring Fallout to life. The Black Site Studio roads took a long time to be made and delivered but I think they meet my high standards for terrain nicely. The system is modular so I can do curved roads and three and four way intersections as well. I only have straight pieces to work on currently but I will almost definitely get more to increase my table layout options. My only concern, if I have one, is that you can’t easily have beveled or scenic edges to the street which makes these best suited to represent city streets and not a county road. I’d love to have the best of both worlds but if I can only do city streets well of the two, I’ll take it. While I didn’t take pictures of it, another thing I like about this terrain is that each piece has little pegs underneath so you can fasten them together seamlessly and they won’t move around much during games which is a nice touch. Here is one last close up photo with the only painted Fallout mini I had at hand this evening. I’m sure I’ll be using these more for scenic pictures in the future, let alone, in battle reports.

To try to get out of my funk this upcoming week, I think I’m going to mix it up and paint something non-Fallout. I am pretty happy with my progress on Fallout stuff so far this year though. Its going better than I expected and I should be in a much better place by the year’s end.

Speaking of Fallout Wasteland Warfare, Modiphius recently announced that future waves for Fallout are going to start shipping with generic flat bases like Games Workshop and most miniature companies use. The reason for this is that the costs to make miniatures are rising once again and this will help them keep prices down. I was going to try and write an article to address this change and what I think the defining flaw of Fallout Wasteland Warfare is, but I’m not sure I have the time or energy to do it so I’ll mention it briefly here.

I think Modiphius has done an admirable job keeping prices down for the game. No disrespect to Marvel Crisis Protocol players out there but I’m shocked at how overpriced those miniatures are compared to Fallout. At the same time, Modiphius continually tinkers with things in the game so that it is consistently inconsistent. The cards went from being included in every box of miniatures, to being sold separately with each wave of releases, to now being punch out cards available in rules supplements. It causes a lot of confusion amongst new players as you can imagine. In my opinion, the change in basing is a bit of a problem because people are not going to be able to replicate the resin bases from scratch materials very easily. It would take a lot of work to try and match what Modiphius has already released and it probably isn’t worth the effort. It sounds like Modiphius will release a box of generic resin bases like we’ve been getting with every miniature release thus far which is good but the price of the bases is going to be around $30-40 so that doesn’t feel great either. I know they’re trying to do the best they can and the game is great overall so I don’t want to criticize Modiphius too much but I will say that changes like this do drive me a bit mad. I wish that they could keep things more consistent and its something I’d like to see them try to improve in the future, especially if they ever do a Second Edition.

Lastly, I saw that Warner Bros. is planning on making a lot more Lord of the Rings movies. We don’t know yet whether these are going to be movies about a character or characters that fills in their backstory like perhaps a movie centered on Glorfindel and what he did outside of the books (and well, Peter Jackson’s movies since he was replaced by Arwen!) or if they’re going to reboot The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. I like Rings of Power and I look forward to future seasons but I don’t think that the path that Warner Bros. is going down is a good one. If Star Wars can’t release stuff that is of a consistently high quality, I’m not sure how Lord of the Rings can since the world is smaller and there is less room to add new interpretations. When I was younger, I always thought it would be so cool if we had more Star Wars and I loved things that expanded that universe. The same was true of Lord of the Rings. I feel like all the media companies are trying to punish people like me now because they won’t stop milking anything that is good or beloved until they get every last dollar from it. I have become more detached from watching TV and movies in the last six months than I have been in years because I can’t keep up with everything Marvel and Star Wars, even if I want to. If you add LOTR on top of that, the task of staying current on TV and movies feels about as challenging as making the trek to Mt. Doom! All this is to say, I’m not optimistic about Warner Bros. plan and I wish that we get back to the time where something new in Star Wars or Lord of the Rings was special and hotly anticipated. When something new comes out, I feel indifference a lot of times and sometimes even dread. I don’t want to see another character or franchise tarnished by average or even below average content and it seems like that could very well be our fate over the next few years across all three of these great properties. I hope I’m wrong! What do you all think about this news?

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65 thoughts on “Fallout – Hitting the Streets”

  1. Regarding Lord of the Rings, I’ll go with the saying of hoping for the best while preparing for the worst.

    I like the pose of the Minutewoman, and any detail that may be lost won’t be noticeable at gaming level. The addition of the ballast on the road really does make a difference and fits a post-apocalyptic theme.

    Changing a base style is a non-starter for me, it’s hard enough to go back and change the grass / tufts if I change my mind.

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    1. I think one thing that undermines my confidence is look at how Warner Bros. has done with DC movies and TV shows…

      Thanks for the kind words on the painting as well. It was nice to get a few more things done for Fallout this week.

      While Modiphius is going to offer the option to maintain the same bases as they’ve been providing for free, the added cost and hassle of having to buy them is going to irritate a lot of people. I think they should have just kept the bases packed in with miniatures and increased their costs. That would have been more popular than what they decided but then again, I recognize that a price increase wouldn’t put me off buying them at all. There are probably people who can only afford to buy stuff at the current price and would quit if the prices increase further. I’d hope that Modiphius did their research on this and know what they’re doing!

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  2. I like the mini and the road strip, both look really good, Jeff! 🙂 The denim jeans and yellow line on the road have come out very well I think!

    Not sure on the bases thing with Fallout minis. I’ve always had to make bases for my figures so it wouldn’t bother me. Are Modiphius trying to keep costs competitive to stay in the business and assume that people want the minis and will live with whatever base solutions fall out (couldn’t resist that)? I don’t know! People might be quite happy to have a go at their own bases if it keeps them playing.

    As far as more LotR films go I keep an open mind these days on such things. I would have liked to have watched more Star Wars stuff but not if it meant being subcribed to media franchises to do that, since I just don’t watch enough TV or films to make it worthwhile. I enjoyed the Rings of Power for what it was (since I have an Amazon Prime subscription anyway) but then I don’t get hung up on how these things may be seen or perceived to not follow the lore built up behind them – they are, after all, works of fiction to me! I’ve given up on Marvel and lost track of it completely, even though I’ve enjoyed most of the films and really enjoyed Agents of SHIELD. Fortunately my great nephew is a big superhero fan and can keep me right on all of it!

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    1. Thank you, John! When you paint stuff that doesn’t bring you tons of joy, it is very gratifying to know that it still turned out well and that people appreciated it.

      I think Modiphius is trying to keep miniature prices down for sure. The strange thing is that everyone else is increasing their prices including Games Workshop so I would have naturally thought Modiphius would do the same. Instead it seems like they’ve chosen a more complicated solution that still ends up passing the cost onto consumers unfortunately. I guess if you don’t like the resin bases or don’t want to pay extra for them, you now have that choice which could be a good thing. I would have preferred a price increase which is simpler and easier to deal with but that’s not the road Modiphius went down so I will have to adapt.

      If it is possible to maintain your mindset on new media, that is definitely for the best. I’m mostly a stickler for quality. I want to watch great Star Wars, Marvel, and Lord of the Rings content but when it is all connected and some of it ends up being bad, that is a real turnoff. So that is a concern for me. At the same time, my other concern is that keeping up with one of these franchises is becoming more and more a hobby in and of itself which is hard to imagine. When I was growing up, I was lucky if there was a movie or two that I wanted to see in a year, now there are movies that come out that I might enjoy but I probably won’t ever have the time for them. It is a good problem to have but I think I’m sensitive to burnout and I think that Hollywood and/or these media companies are not at all bothered if we’re feeling burnt out as long as they can make some money unfortunately.

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  3. Love the denim effect and the road looks spot on too. I am with John. All of my 3D printed minis come with bases that I can use, but I always end up just going for a round MDF base. I suppose the only ones I might print something for are the Aliens ones as I used granny grating for the original smooth bases. I decided I wanted them on metal grating style floors. Anyway as for films… I got a couple of episodes into the Rings of power and then gave up… not because I didn’t like it, more that I couldn’t be bothered having to think about it. I went for films I had seen loads so knew what happened. Lord of the Rings…awesome… the Hobbit, utter shite. So it does make me worry. However the hunt for Gollum would make a good film. I watched both Squid Game and All of us are Dead and thought …please don’t try to make another one.
    It would be much of the same. Even Tolkien decided to change his second Bilbo book as it was going to be more of the same. Good on Modiphius for keeping the price down. Totally annoying that the cards you need will be separate though.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words, mate! Of course, this is totally subjective, but in my opinion, it would be hard to have Fallout minis that are based on your own and to have the resin bases side-by-side. Many of the resin bases have heavily damaged concrete and sidewalks on them that would be hard to replicate. It is definitely doable but I think the average hobbyist is going to find it difficult to keep them looking consistent. I guess time will tell on that one!

      I agree that there is room for LOTR content that is good and I will certainly hope for that here. I’m not sure if there are even six movies worth of great content but we will certainly see!

      As far as the cards go, the easiest and cheapest way to get them is to just use the Fallout Wasteland Warfare app and buy them in there. Buying the actual cards is a bit pricier and more of a hassle, unfortunately. If you don’t mind using an app in your gaming, that is what I’d recommend for most people. Of course, I haven’t been able to push you to buy the game yet so I’m not holding my breath on you adopting the app 🙂

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      1. Regarding the bases… I do mine on mdf so I don’t have to march them to anything.
        As for me getting the game … I think, I shall get it, have a wobble, see something pretty and buy it on impulse then don’t have the cash to get it. 🙂

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  4. Excellent work on both the Minute Woman and the road Jeff, both look great. Glad you enjoyed all the visits from me in my private jet which is called Emile ! LOL
    As for the company changing how they do things, I think a lot of companies have seen how GW treat their customers, and get away with it, they’re trying the same tactics.
    Years ago I was excited to see the movie Judge Dredd but was left cold by what was produced, having read many of the comics, it didn’t follow along properly. Then they made a new movie which I also had problems with, and in an ideal world, a combination of the two movies would be perfect ( backdrop and effects from the first, the character portrayal from the second, and a better villain), and this comes from my OCD wanting things how they should be. To be honest it was spoiling my enjoyment of a lot of media, so I tried to go into each new movie and series with an open mind and no preconceived ideas of what it should be, and I enjoy a lot more ( not everything mind you), what are we looking for from entertainment ? well to be entertained for one, and to escape from the troubles of daily life for a brief period of time, so try to make the most of these moments. Even if a film is terrible but I walk out with a few new scenery ideas, I’ve gained something.

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    1. Oh wow, you didn’t tell me your jet has a name too! Who knew making terrain was so lucrative 🙂

      Thanks for the kind words on the painting as always. I would assume it is hard to be a Judge Dredd fan as the movies have never lived up to the source material. Maybe one day another attempt with be made that fares better. It certainly gives you perspective on other franchises that have had quality content. I understand what you mean about keeping an open mind. Being that my background in education revolves around thinking critically about what I’m reading or watching, it isn’t easy to shut that part of my brain off! I also know that my interest in Star Wars has been severely damaged by the J.J. Abrams trilogy and then Book of Boba Fett. So for me anyway, low quality content does impact my enjoyment and investment in something. I’m finding it hard to be invested in anything as Star Wars and Marvel to a lesser extent have let me down. Lord of the Rings seemed like the one refuge from that and now it is changing for the worse too. It seems like the only way forward is to stop watching or at least try to be less invested in each property. Neither of those options are as appealing as I would like but you can only take what you are given.

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      1. There is a Judge film that did the franchise Justice, Judge Minty, which you can see on Youtube, Rebellion (who produce Judge Dredd comics) Really liked it, and their follow on short, Search Destroy (Strontium Dog) they actually premiered the film at their comic convention. I have a real soft spot for this one as I was in it ! LOL

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      2. Ahh… so royalties from your acting career is what led to Emile, that makes sense! 😉 Have you thought about playing Warlord’s Strontium Dog game at all? As someone who doesn’t know Judge Dredd at all, it never tempted me but it seems like it could be in your wheelhouse, especially if you ever got tired of Star Wars which I’m not sure will happen!

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      3. I wasn’t keen on the game mechanics of Strontium Dog, and Judge Dredd by Warlord, plus they did both games at different scales, which was annoying as they crossover in the comics ! LOL

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  5. I absolutely love your Minutewoman! Brilliant, especially the denim. Although I must admit a bit of a soft spot for the Fallout 4 Minutemen design. From the jury rigged tricorns to the laser muskets I think they are a great concept, well executed… to a certain degree. Much as I like Preston Garvey, and I do really like the character, he does get a bit… tiresome… after awhile. It would have been better to have him become the General.

    Despite my love for the Institute the Miniutemen come a close Second and I always try to help all those settlements Preston wants to send me to.

    The road looks perfect. I am envious!

    I hear you on the Middle Earth potential movie news. Thanks to the Hobbit trilogy I am not optimistic. I much prefer the animated Hobbit movie by Rankin Bass. And I understand your sense of overload. It is frustrating not having time to watch everything I want to, especially when I have to wade through tripe like Star Trek: Discovery and Picard or mediocre nonsense like Book of Boba Fett and She-Hulk.

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      1. Its a great deal and I didn’t know it was happening. If I had a printer, it would be a no-brainer. I own most of the rules supplements in that deal already and if not for that, I’d definitely jump on it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention all the same, mate!

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    2. I’m glad to hear you like her and the Minutemen were my favorite faction (even more so than the Railroad who I also aligned with) because of their do-good mission. Preston Garvey does have repetitive statements which has earned him a bad reputation but beyond that, I think the Minutemen are great too.

      The idea that Warner Bros. might try to redo LOTR and/or The Hobbit movies is particularly crazy in all of this. I think that will be a really hard sell for many people, not just hardcore fans like me. You manage to watch a lot more TV than I do these days. I’m behind on it and movies now. I’m starting to retreat more and more into just playing video games and mostly forgetting about the rest but time will tell on that. As with anything, if the six new movies are all fantastic then we’ll change our tunes and say how great of an idea it was, I’m sure!

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  6. As I said in a previous comment, mate, I refuse to read any more of your Fallout posts… right?

    I agree that MCP minis are way overpriced and I only get them when they’re on offer, but it sounds like Modiphius can’t maintain any game consistency, which I would find more annoying than paying through the nose.

    MCP have started releasing faction packs, which help bring the cost down, but that’s annoying for those of us who already have some of the characters in the box.

    I wonder if WB will base the films on the history dragged from the Silmarillion or some of the other books Tolkien wrote about the world, that would be good… possibly!
    I agree with your thoughts on Star Wars and I too can’t keep u with everything. I still have to watch the Dr. Strange film and the ones that follow!

    Oh! Great post mate, I read it in the end😉

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    1. All I can say is that I’m surprised to see you in these parts, mate 😉

      That is good to hear that MCP is trying to lower their prices. $40+ for a single miniature is high considering the size and details of those minis. Truthfully, I’d rather paint a GW equivalent for that price but that’s mostly because they make better display pieces. You can get 3 Fallout minis for around $30 and 5 or 6 minis for $40-50 as well so that is a huge difference from MCP.

      I’m curious to see what WB ends up doing. I saw since writing my negative reaction that they’re trying to use Peter Jackson for the movies which is a great move in my eyes. I’m still not excited about more movies but at least they’re putting it in capable and proven hands. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who can’t keep up. Where do we find the time with all the painting and gaming we have to do!?

      Thanks for giving it a read and it doesn’t sound like it cost you a penny either 😀

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      1. Most MCP boxes have two characters in. The ones that don’t tend to be the larger ones, such as Thanos.
        Having Jackson on board is a good move, let’s see what happens, eh?

        Yes, my wallet remains intact!

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  7. It might interest you to learn that I recently actually played Fallout Wasteland Warfare. My buddy has it and had me over to play it. Well, I invited myself over for a game but I graciously let him pick.
    It’s a GREAT skirmish system. I really liked the rules. I can see why you like game so much. Though man there are a LOT of icons and special dice.
    I’ve never played the video games so the world is a little wonky to me. But he was excited to show me a trailer for a Fallout series on Amazon I think. 😀

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    1. That is the most shocking news I’ve heard in a while! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it, especially as someone who doesn’t know Fallout very well. There are too many icons and special rules probably for the game’s good. I wouldn’t mind seeing them tone that down a bit in a Second Edition.

      What factions did you and your opponent use? I haven’t played all of them but I’ve heard how some of them play so I’m curious to know more!

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      1. First game was Survivors (me) versus Super Mutants and second was Brotherhood of Steel (me) versus Robots and a Deathclaw. The second scenario was one my buddy designed. It was fun.

        He also had a cool card holder that held the character cards and their equipment so everything was organized.

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      2. Those are all good factions to use. I was hoping you didn’t use the Enclave which have a reputation of being overpowered. A card holder does sound handy. I need to eventually come up with something like that for mine though truthfully, I’ve exclusively used the app in previous games to save table space.

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  8. The face on the one side of the mini looks really good. I can see how the other side was more challenging, but you did a good job on it as well. As for the movies, we just did a second watch of The Mandalorian… and although it might seem like they are over saturating the market, I feel like that show got the essence of Star Wars better than most of the movies. It would have been an injustice to not have it at all. Now, do we do need even more Star Wars shows and movies? Probably not, but I’m okay with not watching ever single Star Wars thing that comes out. I nearly passed on Andor. I do watch all the Marvel shows and movies that come out, but there could also be a point where I skip some of them as well. And lastly, that terrain looks ace! Do you have a link to the ballast you bought? I’m thinking that plus some PVA might be really nice for quick and dirty mini bases.

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    1. I’m glad you like how she turned out. I feel like I did what I could with her anyway. The Mandalorian has been good overall and is a smash hit for Disney Plus so I suspect that really got people excited over there and they thought they could crank out lots of TV shows instead of movies since they weren’t doing as well at the box office. I commend you for keeping up with all of the Marvel shows, there have been a lot in the last couple of years! There are some I haven’t seen that I would like to but I don’t know if I’ll find the time unfortunately.

      I would link to it but Woodland Scenics’ website is kind of a mess these days. So instead, I’ll give you the name and you should be able to track it down pretty easily. Woodland Scenics B74 Light Gray Fine Track Ballast. I found it on eBay and Amazon so hopefully that helps! It should look great as a mini base, particularly if you want an asphalt type of look.

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      1. Well, she turned out great, so I wouldn’t worry too much! I can’t say all the Marvel shows have been great, but they’ve been okay. I never watched Agents of SHIELD though, which I think is also part of the MCU? It seems like so far, you can skip most of the shows and still enjoy the movies. There was some tie-ins with WandaVision and Loki in the Dr. Strange and the Ant-Man Quantumania movies, but you really don’t have to watch the shows. We watch so much stuff, that I tend to forget anyways. ;P Thanks, I should be able to easily find that ballast now! 😀

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      2. Cheers, Brian! I agree that Marvel shows have mostly been good not great. They haven’t felt essential to watch either which is why I skipped She-Hulk as it is a character I don’t have an attachment to. I worry about forgetting too. When we look back in twenty years, what Marvel content are we going to say stands out or is a must watch? There is a lot of of it and there is a lot of a similar quality too (good to great) so it isn’t as easy to answer that as I would like!

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      3. Did you watch Hawkeye or Cap/Winter soldier? Those were the most superhero of shows. I liked She-hulk, but it’s more of a comedy/spoof type show. Loki I didn’t really care for. Although I loved the older Moon Knight comics, I really didn’t like the show.

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      4. I agree that Hawkeye and Winter Soldier stayed very true to their comic book origins. I liked Loki and Wandavision best as shows surprisingly because they took more chances and were more engaging to me as a result. I haven’t watched Moon Knight but I love the character too. Its a bummer that the show wasn’t that good because I thought it had a lot of potential to bring the character to new fans.

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      5. Did you read the more recent Moon Knight comics or the series from back in the 80s? I think the show is mostly based off the more recent stuff, which I haven’t read.

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      6. Not to make you feel old, Brian, but I was born in the 80’s 🙂 I haven’t read older Moon Knight but I really enjoyed Moon Knight from the 2000’s and up. There is an emphasis on exploring a superhero with mental illness which is something different in that crowded space.

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      7. Haha, my daughter lets me know just how old I am all the time!! You might really enjoy the show then, as I think most of it must come from later stories. The 80s Moon Knight is where the ‘Multiple Identity Disorder’ (which has changed quite a bit since that version of the DSM) originated, but the hero reminded me
        of DC’s Batman more than anything. Though often fighting things with a supernatural bent.

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      9. Some are better than others but the Bendis ones are worth reading. The one by Jeff Lemire is awesome as well. The art is jaw-dropping and the story is a lot like One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. With that said, time is the one thing we’re all short on so I can’t blame you for not having read them!

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      10. Yea, I think it’s mostly based off the Lemire run. I have the Bendis run and will eventually read that. Honestly, he’s far from my fave writer though. His Daredevil, probably the best thing I’ve read of his, was ripped off from Millers work and several crime/gangster movies. The art by Alex Maleev however, is just beautiful. I wish Maleev found a better writer to work with, but I guess they must get along as they have done a lot of work together.

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      11. Bendis has a very chatty writing style that some people don’t like. I don’t like all his work but I really enjoyed Daredevil and Powers both. Powers is a very interesting exploration of superheroes and celebrities in our society. That may not sound that interesting, but I swear it is! I couldn’t agree more on Maleev’s art. He is top-notch and a real favorite of mine too. Greg Smallwood’s art in Moon Knight is top-tier as well if you decide to read the Lemire run.

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      12. It’s not Bendis’s style of writing that bothers me. It’s that I feel he is a hack. He doesn’t research the characters he uses, and often rips off his ideas straight from other writers and/or movies. Daredevil was one of his better runs that I’ve read, but without Frank Millers original DD run and gangster movies, Bendis wouldn’t have been able to write it. There are much more talented writers out there, but for whatever reason they don’t get near the focus that Bendis has gotten. He’s probably just better at playing the political game.

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      13. Those are strong words, Brian! I can see what you’re saying and why you might not like him. Truthfully, the biggest problem with Daredevil in my opinion is that the best version of the character is Frank Miller’s and Bendis’s gritty style. Other writers have tried to go in a different direction and for me, those have never worked out as well. This is all totally subjective of course, but I wish another writer would crib Miller and Bendis but I’m not holding my breath!

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      14. I’d have even stronger words in person, haha! Unfortunately, Miller ruined the character (DD). The best stories since have at best been rehashes of Miller’s run (like Bendis’s). I think someone needs to take the character in a totally different direction, but they’ve tried that too and it never seems to work. I had hoped for years and years that Miller would one day return to the character. And when he did (Born Again), he basically put a nail in his coffin. That’s what writers have been struggling with forever.

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      16. I think it’s more about money than actual investment in the character. The big superhero comics are just trying to stay afloat nowadays. The formula seems to be try something new, it doesn’t work, reboot and rehash the old stuff. That works for awhile, then they try to go in a new direction again, like in circles.

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      17. I think that is a child’s duty 🙂 Moon Knight can be very similar to Batman and Daredevil which I like. I’ll have to check those out because Brian Michael Bendis did a great run (8-12 issues) where Marc Specter thinks Wolverine, Captain America, and Spider-Man are “talking” to him and helping him bring justice. It sounds like it could be played for laughs but it is fairly serious and well done. I doubt the TV show took inspiration from those comics though as it would have been too expensive to get those actors!

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      18. No, I think it was a run after Bendis. I’ve seen the covers for the later series and was intrigued because they changed Moon Knights costume to something like a white tuxedo.

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  9. Nice job on the model! Poor casts can be really dispiriting when painting so well done sticking to it. The road looks great ballast clearly works well I’ll have to remember that.

    As for lord of the rings that’s news to me, fingers crossed they don’t run the IP into the ground!

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    1. Thanks, Nic! I couldn’t agree more on poor casts. I’m concerned that LOTR is going to be run into the ground as well. Even if everything that comes out is good, at what point is too much? I guess there’s a decent chance that we’re going to find out!

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      2. I couldn’t have said it better myself! I can’t speak for many other commenters but I’m pretty confident that you and I have plenty of other video games we can play instead if it comes to that 🙂

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  10. Good work.

    I hope that you get out of the hobby funk, but to be honest if that happens to me I just let the hobby go until I’m ready to come back to it. Life is full of stuff that you have to do whether you like it or not; no point adding to that list.

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    1. Thanks, mate. I’m doing better this week, thanks to mixing up what I was working on. Sometimes you just need a change in miniature subject to keep things fresh.

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  11. First of all, the minutewoman looks great to me (although I too have tried to master the technique of photographing miniatures from an angle that hides the sculptors’ errors for them!). A good entry for Fembruary too. The road looks excellent too – of course it does, between your brush skills and Dave Stone’s terrain wisdom that was never in any doubt! It’s in better nick than a lot of the roads round here too! Oh come on – they’re not making more LotR films are they? I fully agree with your comments, the rush to milk more and more content at lower and lower standards of quality has been the death knell of many film franchises. The Peter Jackson LotR films were outstanding, they should leave it at that.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words, mate! Truthfully, painting up the street was not difficult or too time-consuming. It was mostly just drybrushing. Sadly, there are plenty of roads here that get worse than this in the winter too so I can relate!

      Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your perspective, more movies are definitely on the way. I am hoping for the best but also prepared for disappointment, especially after seeing how Star Wars has been mismanaged by Disney mostly by making too much content in too short a time.

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  12. Hope you’re feeling a bit more chipper Jeff. I do like the Minutewoman and the apocalyptic road section – and Dave is ahis his folks would say – a top bloke. As for keeping up on TV, I’m way behind on Rings of Power and will catch up later. Lately, all I have time for is the Boston Bruins!

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    1. Things are a bit better now thankfully. I’m glad to hear you like both things I finished last week. Dave certainly is a top bloke!

      I enjoyed Rings of Power though opinions vary. Fortunately, it will be there when hockey season is over too thankfully!

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  13. Big post, mate! So I’ll take it in chunks –
    Fallout Girl looks great – the denim is fine as well – remember that even blue denim comes in so many different looks depending on how distressed and weathered it might be. I wanted Sam the farmer’s to be really faded/desaturated and washed out (some light dirt would have worked well on him, but I forgot!) and powders can be hit or miss sometimes. if the model’s face is slightly messed up but it can’t be noticed in these photos, then it’s going to be even less of an issue on the tabletop!
    The road section looks great as well – I need to get back onto doing my own tiles. Marouda is just finishing up cooking some dirt from the backyard for the next pair, and then I need to finally get back to the roads. I like the dirt and texture you’ve added to yours here – very suitable for fallout and honestly I think they’d work well enough in the wastelands as well – just jumped into my FA4 save (that I haven’t loaded since F76 came out) and while most fo the roads between towns there that I checked aren’t sealed with sidewalks, I still don’t think using these in an out-of-town setting would be a detriment to your games. If you wanted to go more immersive, I’ve seen many a WWII table use loose ballast to “blend” in terrain features together really successfully. Too messy for me, personally – so I just live with harsher edges, but YMMV.
    Shame about the bases, but ultimately it seems like one of those things that people either will or won’t care about – and those who do will either purchase the resins or be able to scratch-build (or print) their own. I can’t see the game getting a proper second edition – maybe a new starter set with some tweaks, but not a “true” second edition. With licenced games you get what you get and you need to get in and get what you want before it can’t be got no more once the licences expire. Hence my purchases of MCP stuff over the past few years despite not getting much painted until recently.
    Recent waves of “core geek” franchises have made me care a lot less about them as they try harder and harder to be inclusive and, well, “woke”. I’m all for diversity and actual inclusion but not quite as keen on race/gender swaps and wholesale rewrites of existing characters as the writers and producers of such media have shown that they want to make things for themselves rather than existing fanbases. Not that everything is awful, but a lot of these franchises are suffering right now from a drop in quality.
    If WB is behind something, I’m not exactly hopeful – but I’ve managed to learn to (mostly) not care anymore. Hooray!(?)

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    1. Cheers, mate! You have more experience painting denim than myself and seem to have it down. I did a little photo referencing and was thinking the exact same about how much variation there are in jeans. Its pretty amazing!

      That is kind of Marouda to help you out with your terrain! I agree that sidewalks aren’t really prevalent in the game but it isn’t a deal breaker if the terrain has them. I certainly can’t be bothered to make a second set of roads without them. I’ve seen what you’re talking about with ballast and I don’t love the look either. The bigger thing for me is that I don’t want to have to clean it up after every game so its not something I’d be likely do either.

      That’s interesting that you don’t think Fallout will get another edition. With the original designer leaving the game a while back, I would think that makes it even more tempting for Modiphius to have a Second Edition though I could be wrong! I’ll figure something out with the base change too. It isn’t a deal-breaker for me, thankfully.

      I know many people feel like you do about diversity and inclusivity. Its never bothered me (if there is a character that I can’t relate to, I just ignore it, Ms. Marvel is a good example of this). Having said that, I feel like the problem is that there is so much content and a lot of it is good, not great so there isn’t anything making me want to keep up with it anymore. The more that gets released, the less appealing following a franchise becomes. I have tons of gaming I can do as it is so I’m not hurting for things to do!

      And don’t get me started on WB… I know exactly what you mean about not being attached to the properties they manage!

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