Now that Adepticon is over and I’ve shared my thoughts, the normal hobby update is overdue. I have quite a few things to show off that I did over the last week and a half so hopefully there is a little something for everyone’s taste.
I did manage to finish up the Shipping Container for Fallout that I showed awhile back. Unfortunately, I tried some new foam for the rust and I don’t love the results. The foam didn’t provide the proper chipping texture that looks random and fine enough so I tossed the rest of it. I get all of the foam that I use from packaging so that isn’t as wasteful as that probably sounds! The shipping container looks good enough so I didn’t bother trying to redo it even if I can see a slight difference from the previous ones. Its great to have four containers done and they came in handy for what I’ll discuss next.
To transport my entries to Adepticon, I emptied out a decent amount of Fallout minis from my Citadel hard case and for some reason, an idea struck me. When I was in elementary and/or middle school, my brother and I collected a fair amount of Micro Machines. They were essentially miniature Hot Wheels. While we had regular cars and a town playset, we really got into buying the Star Wars ones. To this day we still have many of them in our childhood home. In hindsight, between liking model railroads and Micro Machines, I guess I was somewhat destined to like miniatures, wasn’t I?
Getting back on topic, my brother used to get out all of the ships, vehicles, and soldiers in our collection and line them up Imperial versus Rebels on the floor in a cinematic fashion. For some reason, I remembered this and got the idea that I should get out all of my Fallout minis on my table and see just how many I’ve collected and painted up since getting into the game. It was both more than I thought and not as many as I would like. It was neat to see them all out in one place and if you ever get a chance, do the same with all your minis for a game you’ve collected for a while. You’ve earned a victory lap and will enjoy seeing them all assembled in one place. I know I sure did.
Another thing I worked on was my final Neanderthal. It was sitting on my desk, along with the painted ones and I realized that if I could knock this one out, I can get them all stored away and off of my desk which is both helpful and feels good. So that motivated me to knock out what should probably be the leader of the group. This miniature is sold separately as a leader for the Savage Core game.
For this mini I tried a brand new blonde hair color scheme. While I’m sure someone else has thought of it or done this scheme before, I just referenced a photo of blonde hair and tried to recreate it which I’m proud of. I also thought, why not try to put some spots on the fur to make him stand out? I tried my best to make them look random and while its hard on the rough fur surfaces these sculpts have, I think it looks good enough and was glad I went for something new. Since all six Neanderthals are done, that can only mean that there has to be a picture of them all together. Meet the brave Ice Age hunters who will take on all manner of beasts once I get a chance to paint them!
They look great and I’m so glad I gave them all different kinds of fur colors. I think it gives them plenty of personality while still looking like they belong together. I had fun painting these and I would consider getting more pulp miniatures from Lucid Eye Publications if I can work them into my games in the future.
The last thing I’ve been working on is this lovely chap and friend of Sauron. It was really nice to have a chance to paint the newish Ringwraith mini (after crashing and burning on the mount). This sculpt is a really nice upgrade from the old ones. It was also a great opportunity to practice something new. Instead of guessing where the zenithal highlights are on a miniature which I generally do, I basecoated the Ringwraith in black and then took pictures of it under the light to see exactly where to place the highlights and shadows. For a mini with complicated shapes like this one has, this method really worked well. I think it has led to pretty realistic results too. While most of this mini came together pretty easily, the sword was tough. It has pock-marks all over it that are pretty small and not very deep so it was hard to try and preserve those. Even just edge highlighting the sword isn’t easy because of how thin it is. I have plans to use this in a display project but its taking me a while to get the base ready. Once I do get it ready to be painted, I’m sure you’ll see more of this project.
This post is plenty long enough but I just finished a video game that it is very unique and interesting so I feel compelled to write a bit about it too. I will admit that this will probably only interest people who play video games at least semi-regularly as this game is a bit obscure, but I’d hate for anyone to miss out on playing it if would appeal to them.
To people who donāt play video games, what follows may appear to be gibberish and uninteresting.Ā After putting in 35 hours, I managed to finish Nier: Automata on PS4.Ā The game is cheap and widely available for pretty much all of the consoles and on PC, if you’re curious.Ā Nier: Automata is critically acclaimed so you might have heard of it but at the same time, you might have also been like me and was reluctant to play it.Ā There are a couple of things that I think scare people away from it.Ā The first is that it is hard to categorize the game.Ā It is an action-RPG with gameplay close to Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, but thankfully, less complex and much more forgiving.Ā You can nearly button mash your way through the fights, if you want.Ā You also equip your character with different stat boosts which is mostly where the RPG comes from.Ā There are also āShooterā, āShmupā, or āBullet Hellā segments where you control a mech that flies around the screen and you shoot down other ships. Ā Iāve seen many reviewers call these section Bullet Hell and I donāt agree with that at all.Ā These sections are way easier than a Bullet Hell game or even Shmups for those who know that genre so don’t think you need to be good at those games to play this one.Ā As you can probably see, the more variety there is in the game, the more likely someone is to think, āI donāt think Nier: Automata is for me.āĀ Truthfully, even if you donāt like RPGs or Shmups all that much, neither of those parts of the game are very complicated or difficult so they are unlikely to put you off the game.Ā I know I fell into this trap with the āBullet Hellā element and it nearly kept me from playing this game which would have been a shame.
The main appeal is actually the story which will always get my attention.Ā Nier: Automata does not have your typical video game story either.Ā The story is by Yoko Taro, who I admit, I am not familiar with but to me, I am reminded of the famous Hideo Kojima.Ā For those who donāt know, he is kind of like the David Lynch of video games.Ā Where Hideo Kojima and Metal Gear Solid speculates about future military technology and how it will impact the world, Yoko Taro focuses on Androids and AI.Ā And when I say androids, Iām thinking of Blade Runner here.Ā While Nier: Automata is not cyberpunk in tone or style (its actually a post-apocalypse), there is something similar going on.Ā The subject may focus on androids (or replicants if you prefer) but for some reason, it heightens your emotion and feeling.Ā When an android feels something, it means even more than when a human does, if that makes any sense.Ā This game is unapologetically Japanese which is another thing some people may not like. While I’m neither a weeb (someone who likes Japanese culture more than their own, basically), nor a huge consumer of anime or manga, I don’t mind a video game that is very Japanese at all either. Japanese people really seem to connect with and be able to explore robotics and androids in art better than anyone.Ā Me personally, I would like a Roomba so I donāt have to sweep my floors, but beyond that, Iām not at all invested in robots.
However, it gets even more interesting because one of the main themes of the game is how hate and intolerance is easy to fall into and difficult to stop.Ā Weāve all seen movies about peace, love, and tolerance before.Ā While getting along and working things out is great in practice, the real world shows how often that doesnāt happen and what the consequences are.Ā So there is something extremely interesting and relatable going on and I canāt say Iāve ever seen something like this in a video game before.Ā What I like even more is that even amongst the strangeness, I feel like I get the game and understand a lot of what its saying.Ā I never have gotten that from Metal Gear Solid where I often feel like Iām barely understanding what Kojima is saying but I like the whacky characters and fun gameplay in spite of that.Ā Nier: Automata is like literature but still approachable and interesting.Ā It defies your expectations and will make you think.
The game isnāt quite perfect in that the side quests end up being a little tedious and the story is so good, I found it hard to find the motivation to do them even though part of me wanted to.Ā The leveling system is kind of strange.Ā Sometimes it feels like it really matters and other times you can be off from your enemyās level and still beat it easily.Ā Something else that the game does which is kind of innovative is that you have to beat it multiple times using different characters to experience the full story.Ā One of three character playthroughs is a little more repetitive and samey than the others so that was a little less fun than the rest of the game too.Ā
Having said that, the game is still addictive and enjoyable.Ā I was constantly pushing through the content to find out more about the story and the world.Ā If any of what Iāve described sounds appealing, try the game.Ā You might like it more than you think.Ā I know I did.Ā Its incredibly innovative and a piece of art worth experiencing.
Thank you for reading what was a long update. I will not be updating this weekend because I’m gearing up on new projects and need some time to make progress on them. I’ve arguably updated too much lately and am looking forward to going back to weekly updates that are hopefully a little more manageable in size.
Kuribo's Painting 
Great job on the neanderthal loincloths, haha! Though now I’m realizing what I had remembered as “loincloths” were actually “tummy warmers”!! š Ok, so back to the minis…good job on getting the neanderthals wrapped up and I like the markings you added to the fur. It makes it look like animal prints, which is pretty cool! The rust….so rust is kinda all over the place in the real world. But I think I would add some darker brown rust spots. Though I typically dot with dark brown, orange/red, and very sparingly yellow. The darker rust spots add nice contrast and shadow underneath. But like I said, rust can look really different and you might be trying to mimic something that looks very different. Ok, lastly…the Ring Wraith. All I have to say is that it’s a great looking mini and very, very nicely painted! I’ve heard of that trick of taking a b&w photo before. It appears to have worked out really nicely for you too! š
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Haha, I suppose they are tummy warmers! Its amazing how much bare skin these guys have considering the cold weather during the Ice Age! I don’t have a ton of experience painting animal stripes or spots and I think there is definitely an art to it and I look forward to experimenting with it more in the future.
As far as the rust goes, I agree that the darker rust doesn’t show up that well. I think part of that is the color I painted the container but the dark rust paint doesn’t seem to apply as well as it should. Its a little thin and watery so that doesn’t help. Since its an oil paint, I’m not sure what I can do to improve it but I’ll certainly give it some more thought.
I’m glad you liked the Ringwraith as well. I would say the photo trick definitely works. For what its worth, GW’s ‘Eavy Metal team used the technique on their version. I checked out of curiosity š
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Oh, just saw this scratch built terrain. The weathering and rust on the last few pics is really nice: https://www.reddit.com/r/TerrainBuilding/comments/12eipa7/some_pictures_og_my_first_terrain_pieces_for_my/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
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Thanks for sharing this! I’m always amazed at people who make stuff from scratch using cardboard. My brain just doesn’t work like that and can’t figure out how they manage to do it š
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There’s some pretty good tutorials out there, but it’s also an art unto itself. Once I see it, then it makes sense….but most of these people are able to take the most random stuff and create something really cool! I’ve been holding onto a few scraps that I someday want to use for terrain. Similar to what Matt has done on his pmpainting blog. But finding the time has been tough, garage is pretty cold right now (though it will probably be too hot in the Summer!), and I still have some Fantasy minis that I really want to get done.
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I knew someone who isn’t as active in the hobby lately but they used to build GW tanks using only cardboard. It was mighty impressive! Once things warm up, I’ll be curious to see what you do end up building. Its a skill I admire and respect but likely will never have myself, if you know what I mean.
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John from Just Needs Varnish makes vehicles from cardboard and/or plasticard too. Iām always impressed when he does that! š
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Me too! He really shows what an engineer can do!
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I think Faust’s said everything and more that I was going to say! š Minis are all nice and the Fallout ones look really good as a group! š My favourite in this post is the Neanderthal though! Sounds like you’re really enjoying the gaming as well!
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Cheers, John! It was great putting the finishing touches on the Neanderthals and they’ve been about as fun as anything I’ve painted this year. I’m certainly luck that between tabletop and video games, I’m never lacking in fun things to do!
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Nice job on all these! Really cool to see all the Neanderthals together, and that Ringwraith is looking great. Iām a broken record at this stage, but those new middle earth plastics are just so good.
Really cool to see all the fallout minis together too, Iām a bit lucky in that I have a fair amount of space at home and Iāve setup display cabinets so I can have my finished projects out all the time! Itās a great feeling seeing a mass of models together!
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Thanks, Nic! I’m glad to hear you like how the Ringwraith turned out. You’re spot-on that modern GW plastics have incredible details on them. They’re definitely worth the hassle to assemble!
You are very lucky indeed! I would love to have a display case setup like that but I suspect that if I don’t stop painting so many display projects, I’ll never be able to pull it off š I hope that you show off your cases and what’s inside them one day!
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Thatās a good idea maybe Iāll do a post on that someday!
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Great work on the crate Jeff, I wouldn’t worry too much as not being the same as the others, as rust doesn’t follow a set plan in real life. Fantastic work finishing your prehistoric men, some great variation in the group shot. Off to a cracking start with the ringwraith and look forward to seeing what you do with it.
With your group shot of Fallout I didn’t see your Deathclaw in the shot !
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Thanks, Dave. I agree that the crate doesn’t stand out too much (thankfully!). If I manage to get the ringwraith’s display base done, it will be due in part to the advice you provided a while back. Cutting up and sanding down definitely takes time and muscle to complete but I’m hoping it will work out well in the end. You have sharp eyes on the Deathclaw too! I accidentally forgot it and didn’t even realize it until I saw your comment. I don’t keep the Deathclaw in the Citadel case (because it doesn’t fit) so that is the one mini that missed out on the group photo with his chums haha!
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So much to love in this blog post mate. Brilliant work as always, great sculpts brought to life by your painting skills. I like the spots on the fur for the blonde leader. As for you enjoying that gameā¦ not much of a surprise that you like something with synths, er I mean androidsā¦. š
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Thank you for the kind words as always! Haha, I suppose that is a valid point. I’ve never considered myself much of an Institute sympathizer but I guess I don’t mind an android much either š
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Not an Institute sympathizer? Sounds like something a Synth would sayā¦.
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My Railroad member card says otherwise, mate! š
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Oh yeahā¦ no Synths in the Railroadā¦. Of courseā¦.
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All the fall out stuff looks good and I totally get the ā more than I thought but not as much s I hoped.ā Though I will say that routinely get that dopamine burst for seeing a whole collection out at once bc I tend to play bigger games that use the entire collection at once. š
All the cavemen look great too.
The NazgĆ»l looks more blue than black in the pictures but itās a lovely paint job. Though I hate the sculpt. I really donāt like GWs individualizing the NazgĆ»l bc in my minds eye theyāre all clones of each other (except for the witch king). The ones from 20 years ago were perfect. I know I sound old. š
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That is true. If you play an “army” sized game like yourself, then what I am recommending isn’t all that special š
The Nazgul is meant to look bluish as I was trying to capture the look in the Fellowship of the Ring where they are looking for Frodo in the moonlight. The actual robes are most definitely in black and grey in sunlight (like near Rivendell) but the lighting in the movie gives them a bluish tint so I went with that.
The old sculpts were what I would call a “drybrush special”. Great for getting them painted up quickly for a game but not much to work with if you want to paint it a little nicer than that. With that said, it doesn’t seem like the sculpts are that old and yet, they are 20 years old… Where does time go?
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Some good looking stuff there, mate.
The shipping container looks good but I have to agree with you regarding the rust.
The fur on the neanderthal looks superb and is the first thing I noticed when I saw him. The hair looks very realistic, though on my pc it looks more of a grey than blond.
The Ringwraith’s sword looks plenty good to me, nice NMM! Love the black to blue highlights, they give it a sense of malice I think.
Sorry, can’t say Nier: Automata would be for me. I have so many games waiting on my Steam account to play already, so something that doesn’t really jump out at me and slap my face, just doesn’t get a look in these days.
Great roundup as usual, Jeff, look forward to the next one.
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Thanks, mate! I’ll try and do better on future shipping containers for sure.
The sword was definitely the trickiest part on the mini so I’m glad you like how it looks. I wanted to capture the look of the Ringwraiths that are chasing after the Hobbits in the Shire and at Weathertop so I’m really glad to hear you like how it came out.
I didn’t think Nier: Automata was for me either and I gave it a try and the rest is history š If you see it on sale for a good price on Steam, it would be more than worth getting…
Thanks for giving it a read, Justin. I figure between the two of us, we’ll make sure that nobody is lacking in longer articles to read š
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The finished shipping container looks great – and even better alongside its fellows. If I can give a small bit of unsolicited advice, I think a bit of dirtying-up around the bottom parts of all of them would make them look tht bit more realistic and blend them into the mat and terrain a lot more. Just some weathering powder or even a bit of drybrush and wash around the bases. Maybe some extra chipping/wear on the corners as well. If you google image search “worn shipping containers” you’ll see what I mean – but even as is, they look great.
Love the group shot of all the Fallout models. It’s been awhile since I’ve group-shotted anything outside of the monthly round-ups, but I certainly want to do so with the Zombicide models/survivors/etc once I get more of them done. I’m awaiting a prop for my Winter Guard models and plan to do one for the Crisis Protocol box once I get Spidey completed (as well as some more road tiles).
Love the pose on that final Neanderthal – I can imagine you making that pose once you completed him! Nice work on the hair and the fur effect as well – and again the group shot looks very cool.
The Ringwraith model looks excellent. The highlights are very effective and I do loke the deep blue-green used in the shading – gives almost an animated or comic-book effect to the model.
I’ve got Nier (on PS4 and XBox these days) but am yet to get around to starting it. Just like minis (and TV, and Movies, and…) I have a huge backlog of both games to start and games to circle back around and finish. And even when I find time top play games, I spend much more of my gaming time in co-op games with M, so maybe one day…
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I hadn’t thought about it and I completely agree some extra dirt on the bottom and some extra chipping along the edges makes sense. I should be able to go back and add a bit to these containers. I’ll have to write myself a note to do that so I don’t forget! I started up a project that will likely take me a couple of weeks to finish.
Thanks for the kind words on the group shot and I look forward to seeing your MCP one as well!
It was a great feeling to get the last Neanderthal done. I wasn’t planning on finishing them all this early in the year but I’m happy to have done so. One less group of minis kicking around the backlog!
Thanks for the kind words on the Ringwraith as well. Really glad to hear a fellow LOTR fan likes it! Hopefully the display base comes together too and I can get that done in the nearish future.
I was hoping one person would say they would try Nier or that they’ve played it so you made typing all that info about the game worth it. I don’t know for sure if you’ll enjoy it as much as I did but I did walk away thinking it is a well-written and thoughtful game.
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I’m sure you’ll remember every time you check out this post! š
Speaking of group shots, I need to force myself to get those last few Drizzy Drizzle Boardgame models done, and then I’ll have another set. They’re just so crap it’s hard to motivate myself. š
Have you decided which side project will replace the neanderthals? It can be nice to have “side” models to paint when working on larger projects, and it sounds like the Ringwraith is one of those right now.
I’ve only heard good things about Nier, hence why I (re)bought it on the Xbox platform recently – it’s just with so many games to play/models to paint etc.. you know how it goes. I started playing around with Fallen Order a little while ago, and have Shadows of War as a game I started, then put down (and AC: Odyssey in the same boat – oh, and Watchdogs Legion, etc etc.
I also understand that to really get the most from Nier and it’s story you need to go the New Game+ route since things change and become different. Or is it three playthroughs? So that’s a daunting task – like a TV series you’re interested in that already has five seasons of 10+ episodes…
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Yeah, if you can keep this comment thread going for a couple of weeks, I probably won’t forget! š
I think you should do another group shot for Dungeons and Drizzles. The sculpts aren’t great but you still do a great job with them and they’re all new to me too š
I think Hellboy minis of some kind will be the side project. The minis are the fastest to paint in my backlog and that is often what I like to do on the side or to relax during a display project.
I really enjoyed Fallen Order (to my surprise) so that is well worth putting more time into. I don’t think I’ve played any of those others, if you can believe it. You can beat Nier once in about 10-15 hours. The second and third playthrough take about the same amount of time, maybe a bit less. Honestly, if I could do it over, I probably would have beaten the game for the first time and then take a short break before playing the second and third. The second playthrough was similar enough to the first that it wasn’t as exciting. Hopefully that info helps you understand what’s entailed with the game overall. Its kind of confusing because there are 26 different endings but most of those are bad endings and you can see almost everything by beating it 3 times in around 35 hours. Having said that, 35 hour long games aren’t as easy to finish as they used to be….
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Keep it going? Well, that kinda fell in a hole, didn’t it?
I’s like to do some group shots over the Christmas break. I’ve got some time booked off work for the start of the next year to work on physical and mental health for awhile so getting some minis out for group shots would be a fun part of that if I can manage,
I didn’t get far into Fallen Order. I got up to some green planet with lots of cliffs and such, but I really don’t have the kind of patience or mindset for “figure out how to get to the place in a wide open area” kind of puzzzles these days. I really just want to cut imperials up with my lightsaber, not play navigation puzzles.
I’m with you on 35 hour games, I actually find things like WoW much easier to play for longer periods due to the fact that you control your own pace of play and what you choose to do.
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Its not easy! I accidentally subscribed to all of your comments on your website last night and got quite a lot of emails today! I think that illustrates how difficult it can be to keep a conversation going in a way.
I think some group shots would be a relaxing way to spend your break!
That’s too bad on Fallen Order. I really enjoyed that game and look forward to the sequel when I get a PS5. It does take patience to get through the game and I guess that’s either a downside or part of its charm depending on which side of the fence you’re on.
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Wow, this is quite the post.
I’m always a fan of seeing a whole collection out in one go, so it was definitely sweet to see your Fallour minis collected together. You should get some friends round and play some kind of battle royale scenario!
The neanderthal chief looks great alongside his friends; I like that he’s a bit of a more imposing mini without just being comically oversized. Did you find it hard to paint him as it looks like he’s originally a fairly mediocre boardgame quality mini.
The Ringwraith looks great. How long did you spend on that black coat to get it looking so nuanced? It certainly puts my ‘just slap Nuln Oil on it’ approach to shame š
I appreciate the review of Nier:Automata. It’s been on the fringes of my mind for a while now so perhaps I’ll take the leap next time I see it on sale. I love that setting so much!
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Hopefully in a good way! š I’m glad you liked the Fallout pictures and your idea sounds like a blast to me. I probably should get some more painted up before a battle royale like that could take place but I’ll get there one day.
The Neanderthal took a bit longer than I expected but was otherwise pretty easy to paint. Its definitely lacking in details but when I can get the drybrush out, that usually means I’m painting something quicker than usual and I don’t mind that at all.
I would guess I spent something like 6-8 hours on each side (front and back) of the Ringwraith. Maybe a little more than that. It takes thin paint to get smooth blending so that is why it takes a while. This probably won’t surprise you but I never use Nuln Oil (or any other GW washes) unless I’ve watered it down with some medium. Its just too heavy and puts too much shadow the mini, in my opinion. Its definitely well worth playing around with thinner washes on anything you paint. I wouldn’t be surprised if you like the results!
I’m glad to hear you’re thinking of checking out Nier! If you’ve got the time, its well worth it and I’m sure it can be had cheaply. I’ve played post-apocalyptic games and Japanese games with mechs but never one as cool or memorable.
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