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Kimera Models – Minerva II

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Yes, you read right. Like the great band, Led Zeppelin, I’m now uncreatively but confidently not naming my posts with anything but a roman numeral. If that leads me to A Stairway to Heaven in miniature form, I’ll take it!

This week, I mostly worked on the cloth part of Minerva’s dress which may or may not prove to be a good idea in the long run. As is always true with cloth, you have to glaze it carefully to get smooth blends and so if I were to spill paint on it, that would be incredibly annoying and hard to fix. I was excited to try and push a color scheme I used on Bastian Carthalos for the cloth as well (pictured below). Being able to go from dark purple to a pink color definitely adds something to it. Most depictions of Minerva and Athena show her in red and/or white. I thought purple/burgundy/pink would really look nice. Also, in Roman times the emperor got to wear a purple robe because purple dye was nearly impossible to get. So I think that is a nice fit for Minerva as well.

One lesson I learned this week is that getting a bigger brush or two, wouldn’t go amiss when working on larger scales. I’ve gotten some dried paint in places on this miniature which is always an annoyance and I made a small modelling mistake trying to fix uneven resin which you can’t even really see in photos thankfully. So I’ve certainly learned a few lessons on this one thus far and will try to do better on future 75mm minis in the future.

But did you get any Black Friday deals this week, I hear you ask! Way too many, to be perfectly honest. Fallout stuff was 50% off so I got all of the early card packs. That way I have what I need to play the Institute and Raiders in the near future. I also have a bigger gaming table so I can lay all the cards out which will be nice. I also bought a boatload of terrain from Black Site Studio. I got more road pieces to give me lots more options in the future and also a really destroyed house which should be perfect for Super Mutants or Raiders and a big two-story house which are pretty common in Fallout 4. That should keep me busy in 2024 and I’ve decided to knuckle down and focus on building up my terrain collection around more residential/suburban setting. I figure if I don’t focus on a particular area and build my collection up in that way, I’ll end up with a bunch of random stuff that doesn’t make for a cohesive battlefield.

No comics talk this week as I’m still rereading a series that I will likely talk about next week. I did want to share my experience playing Arkham Horror which is going to take a shocking turn! As you all may recall, I had a game going and the table collapsed which caused water to spill on a bunch of cards which was a bit of a disaster at the time. To my great surprise, the cards mostly kept their shape and were not messed up by the water once they fully dried. They’re a bit weakened but when sleeve them up, its not noticeable. Full credit to Fantasy Flight Games for designing a card that can absorb water and survive. I know that in my old TCG days, that would not happen. If the card got wet, it was shot!

Setting that aside, I tried to go back to playing Edge of the Earth which I have never beaten in a satisfactory fashion and well, the short version is that I didn’t do it this time either. I built what I thought would be pretty good decks but they struggled mightily in two straight scenarios. What really frustrated me was I was doing fine in an easy scenario and I drew back to back cards that basically guaranteed that an investigator died. This is really unfortunate because I don’t like how the game handles investigators dying. Its really one of the only things about the game I don’t care for. You’re supposed to stop using that investigator because they’re dead or went crazy and pick a new one (without the experience the previous one earned, so there’s a penalty to it) and continue on with the new one. For some reason, this rubs me the wrong way and I want to use the investigators I started with and don’t want them to die.

Not only was I irritated at this bad luck but I also realized something that I’ve been feeling this year. As much as I love Arkham Horror, I’m struggling to keep up with it. I bought it when I was low on video games to play and so playing a campaign that is around 12-15 hours long wasn’t too difficult. Now that I have a steady stream of new video games to play, I’m struggling to play Arkham and when I do, it is getting harder to see a campaign through. It requires playing 1.5 hours (give or take) about 6-8 days “in a row”. I sometimes don’t play on consecutive days but I don’t like taking 2-3 days off from a campaign for whatever reason. When you add to that, the possibility of death in a campaign and how I don’t enjoy that, I’m thinking the game does not fit into my gaming needs any longer.

I’m thinking that it might be time to get rid of Arkham because I don’t imagine I’ll be any less busy in the future. I’d like to have a card game to play but I’d love for it to be more of a one-off game instead of a campaign. Generally, card games are faster to setup and play than board games and wargames so it kind of fills a niche that Hellboy and Fallout don’t already cover. I’m not going to do anything with Arkham or pick up anything new right away as I need to give it some thought and do some research and see what’s out there that I might enjoy first.

Honestly, this is why I tell my wife that I can’t imagine getting any tattoos. There are too few things in my life that I can say with certainty will always be important to me. I LOVED Arkham Horror since I bought it and I am surprised that I might not play it again, but here we are. For those that are wondering, my wife thinks my rationale is silly but hey, it makes sense to me!

26 thoughts on “Kimera Models – Minerva II”

  1. Fantastic progress on the big scale model, and yes larger brushes can make life a lot easier ! LOL Not to say the smaller brushes wont get an outing as well. Sounds like you have a solid plan with your new scenery purchases, and look forward to seeing this develop over time.
    Sounds like you have a lot of research on your hands before you find a card game that suits you perfectly, unfortunately I can’t offer any advice on this, as I’ve never got into card gaming, liked the artwork on friends collections, but that was as far as I ever got.

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    1. You said it well, Dave. On this miniature, having some brushes of both sizes is handy, instead of just smaller ones. I will probably grumble a bit working on some of the terrain (though the road pieces have been pretty straightforward thanks to your advice) but I think this year will be another big step towards having an impressive Fallout terrain collection.

      I know what you mean on card games. The best tend to have great art which I like too. They can be expensive to play (like Warhammer is) if you try to keep up with the tournament scene but thankfully, you don’t have to, if you don’t want to.

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  2. Love the look of the cloth, a really nice rich colour. Looks like this model will end up nice and saturated which I really like!

    I can recommend larger brushes, I love painting with the largest brushes I can, you can get really nice results with those larger brushstrokes. I’m not sure what brush size you tend to use, my default paintbrush size is a 0 or 1 but I have a 2 and a 3 that come out fairly often for larger areas. I have a couple of smaller ones I use very rarely for hard to reach eyes or really detailed freehand.

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    1. Cheers, Nic! There should be a good amount of saturation though I will work on counterbalancing that a bit where I can to hopefully maintain harmony.

      I have a W&N 1 and an Artis Opus 2 that I don’t get on with. I need to get a Winsor & Newton 2 and 3 for these larger minis, I reckon. I have had 0’s and even 00’s and I agree that they don’t see a lot of use. The bristles are so small, you have to be careful with them.

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    1. Thank you, John! Another week and a bit more progress. My wife lets me do whatever with my hobby and with my room so I’m very thankful for that. She thinks I should want to get a tattoo of something (anything!) and is thrown off by the fact that I’m pretty disinterested in getting any 🙂

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  4. Looking good mate, but no surprise there. I like your color choices.

    The Modiphius sale almost seduced me into getting into Fallout Wasteland Warfare proper but in the end I resisted that and just got a few models that I can use in other games, like robots and the new plastic power armor set. Oh and 5 Leagues from the Borderlands since 5 Parsecs from Home is so amazing.

    As for Arkham, everything has its time. If that time has passed for you with Arkham then so be it. Cherish the joy it brought you in the past and sell it off to buy more Fallout terrain to continue impressing me with.

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    1. Thanks, mate! Hopefully, Minerva will continue to take shape over the next couple of weeks.

      The Modiphius sale was really nice. I don’t think they’ve done many sales at 50% off before. Its too bad they didn’t hook you on Fallout Wasteland Warfare but staying focused is probably a good idea.

      What you said about Arkham is very true. Sometimes things happen in a way we don’t expect but I feel as you do. I appreciate the game and while I’m sorry to not be able to play it as much as I like, I will cherish the good times I had playing it all the same.

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      1. It feels like Black Friday sales, at least in this hobby, have only really had 50% off sales more commonly in STL’s this year. I almost succumbed to the temptation of a 50% off Mayan army from Warlord Games but the all in sold out and once it was gone it was much easier to resist the smaller sets. There are plenty of Victrix minis I want but 20% off retail is still more expensive than what I can find elsewhere. Just as well I suppose, too many good Black Friday sales and I would just be entirely too tempted to get even worse about side projects.

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      2. Yeah, the terrain I bought was 25% off and they only do one sale a year so I’ve noticed that too. Way to stay strong and resist those sales! I definitely overspent this year though I didn’t buy very much to paint so I can feel good about that anyway. I’ve got enough of that to work on as it is for a bit.

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      3. I have to stay strong for the to be released eventually new Quar.

        My tattoos might be something I would not get today but they are a constant reminder of who I was and what I was going through when I got them. They were quite a hassle when I was in the police as many folks, including some bosses, thought the they looked “too aggressive” (generic tribal designs on my forearms). Every year I feel less like the warrior I used to be but the ink reminds me. Perhaps not tasteful but I do not regret them.

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      4. I think we’re about due for some painted Quar, mate! 😉 I think you have a good approach and mindset to tattoos. My wife’s tattoos are sentimental and have great meaning to her. I think they’ll age well in that sense. Having ones that remind you of the past is not a bad thing either, well, as long as it isn’t an ex or something like that!

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      5. Yeah, 2023 was supposed to be my “Year of the Quar”. I have plenty now but none finished. I have been putting most of my free hobby time towards getting things ready to move on and then moving them on. And I still have more to do.

        But I will get to my Quar and my Anyaral critters at some point. 🙂

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      7. It is made worse if you are not willing to just get rid of stuff. I keep getting things to a condition I am happy to let go generally, ie if I started it I want it based and primed. Untouched sprues can go as is but otherwise I am also doing things like kitbashing left over bits to make complete minis to trade. It is what has allowed me to get some GW stuff I am not keen to pay retail price for. But it costs me time.

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  8. Firstly, I absolutely love the way you’re painting the cloth on Minerva. It’s so rich and realistic that I can hardly believe that it’s only a 75mm mini.

    For Arkham Horror, don’t beat yourself up if you fall out of love with a game. The world is full of stuff that you ‘have’ to do, like work, chores or whatever. Spend your free time doing the stuff that excites you, and if that is a computer game right now then just enjoy it. The card game will still be there when your mood swings back around.

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    1. Cheers, mate! 😀 I’m really glad you like it. I’m pretty happy with how its turned out too.

      Those are some good words of advice! I agree that sometimes things in life change and while we may really like something, we may not be able to keep playing it or enjoying it in the way we might hope. I don’t think I’ll keep Arkham because I’m pressed for storage space and I’d like to try out some new games that might better fit what I’m looking for right now. I will always look back on Arkham Horror fondly though. It isn’t really a game that I fell out of love with like I did the LOTR LCG, also by Fantasy Flight and I’m thankful for that 🙂

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