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Monsterpocalypse – General Hondo I

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Happy Memorial Day for those who are celebrating! Last week I promised a surprise miniature and I’m hopefully delivering. And it doesn’t get cooler than an ape that is inspired by King Kong! General Hondo is one of the most fun Monsterpocalypse miniatures in my opinion and it was one where as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to paint it. I’m also happy to report that he’s a pretty good quality sculpt. Its a resin mini and a chunky one at that and the details are all pretty crisp. Its not quite Games Workshop quality but I have very few complaints and I think it will paint up nicely in due time. Truthfully, I wish I were a bit farther along and had more progress to show but it took a while to get the parts you do see right.

I’m pretty proud and happy with those copper knuckles! Its my first time trying to paint copper in NMM and I think it looks pretty good. I started with painting the inside of the arm and a bit on the General’s side because its hard to access with a brush, even if those parts of the miniature are fairly boring overall. That way I could safely attach that bottom arm to the mini and begin painting in earnest. I’m waiting on attaching the other hand for pretty much the same reason. If I attach it now, the side of Hondo’s face will be really hard to paint.

As you can probably tell from the base, this is a pretty big miniature overall. But how big is he? Compare him to a Fallout and MESBG mini, that have been laying around on my desk and should be stored away. You can tell by the dog hair that’s on the Ringwraith…

I have plans for some kind of a diorama with this mini and since I’m feeling inspired, I’ve started painting him even though I don’t have quite a few other things that I need for the diorama. I do have a couple of buildings for Monsterpocalypse as well. Unfortunately, priming one of them makes it hard to see the details, which are quite nice, but they look like they’ll be fun to paint too. The Empire State Building could be pretty handy for that diorama as well…

When I haven’t been painting or playing video games, I’ve been doing some Warhammer window shopping and contemplating what my return to gaming scale display painting could look like. I’ve talked about it several times in the past but to reiterate, one thing that has struck me is that painting smaller infantry models do not make for impressive display pieces, in some ways. They’re so small that you have to get really close to see and appreciate the details. Take this picture of Minerva, Eomer, and the Knight-Adjudicator. Minerva is 75mm and she is much more noticeable on the whole to me anyway. Its not that the others are less interesting, its just that you have to get much closer (and having good lighting helps too) to appreciate them.

Fortunately for me, Games Workshop is pretty happy to oblige. One thing that is noticeable about both of the Warhammers now is that GW has gotten really good at making centerpiece models. Nearly every faction has a couple of them now and they’re impressive looking. Take for example, the relatively new Cities of Sigmar faction. They’ve got several large miniatures that are packed full of details.

All three of these are great centerpiece miniatures that would be impossible to miss at a miniature show or even in a display case, I’d say. One potential drawback is the larger the miniature, the longer amount of time it takes to finish but I have spent tons of painting on smaller infantry models as well so there’s no getting around it, I suppose. I should also mention that as more and more of these detailed and impressive miniatures get made, I do question who GW is making them for. At times it seems like its more for me than people playing the games who want to get their armies done and on the table, I would imagine!

The one thing I am wary of are big models that have a lot of repetition in the painting. Taking the manticore in the picture above. There are are A LOT of feathers to paint on that one. I haven’t enjoyed painting feathers all that much in the past so I’d be very reluctant to take that model on even if I quite like the lady steering it. And there are quite a few other miniatures that would fit into this camp. Take this Tomb Kings model. That’s an awful lot of bone to work through before you get to the more interesting parts at the top…

So giving some thought about what would be the most fun and impressive to paint is going to be key. One other thing I’ll be looking for are minis that you can capture a setting or environment with. Games Workshop has gotten better and better (for the most part) with their basing of miniatures. For example, one of the reasons why I painted the Knight-Adjudicator was because I liked the pose and how the ruins played into the miniature. There was also plenty of room to create a setting which basically ended up being Seattle or somewhere on the West Coast.

Some of you may have heard of the term tactical rock to describe a lot of miniature bases, but I’d like to submit to a new kind of rock as well. Games Workshop is starting to evolve into placing “mood rocks” on their miniatures. Take for example this miniature pictured above.

While the body language and the stern expression do a lot for the mood of this piece, let’s give some credit to those ruins as well. They really help create an environment or atmosphere that matches the rest of the mini. This is something that only Games Workshop is doing currently and I can’t say I’ve seen any of their competitors be able to match it. When I see a base like this, I naturally think about how I can fill it out to create an environment or create even more of a narrative in addition to the miniature itself. That is something that you can’t do with a bust and its something I’ll be looking forward to doing in the future. Once I finally make up my mind on what exactly I want to paint!

30 thoughts on “Monsterpocalypse – General Hondo I”

  1. I really like the NMM you’ve done on the knuckledusters! I have given NMM literally one go and gave up as I couldn’t get the technique right and after realising how much longer it would make the painting process. I’m looking forward to seeing General Hondo’s progress!

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    1. Thanks, Matt! I really enjoy painting NMM. Its a fun challenge but it isn’t for everyone at the same time. Kudos to you for giving it a try and seeing what you think of it!

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  2. Cracking start on Hondo, the copper looks great, but wondering why you didn’t go with brass from a fighting point of view ? The buildings will help with the height element for the diorama.

    When it comes to your next display piece, find the right model is key, as you don’t want to get half way through, and get bored of it.

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    1. The main reason is because I thought copper would be a fun challenge to paint and that brass wouldn’t stand out from another metallic color that I’ll need to use on this mini. We’ll see if that was a good idea next week after I work a bit more on the gauntlet.

      I think you’re right on that, Dave. On a massive miniature that you paint slowly, it’d be really easy to lose motivation and that’s something I really want to avoid.

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  3. That is one nice gorilla/monster! It’s also nice that it has a lot of armor vs just fur. It’s hard to make just a black figure look good but having the addition of other items will add to the overall visual appeal.

    As you said, GW has two distinct customers – Golden Demon participants and ones who actually play games. Probably should add two more, collectors and ones who set up scenes with them (me). In seeing battle reports and convention gaming pictures I don’t think I have ever seen any of the large models. Especially if a requirement is having painted figures to participate.

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    1. I’m not only glad you like it but I agree that if he didn’t have armor, he wouldn’t be very interesting visually or to paint.

      Haha, I am glad that you set up a category for yourself in GW’s customer base! I do like the categories you’ve listed out there too. They seem pretty on the money to me. In GW’s defense, you play one of their only games that is not susceptible to dioramas being passed off as a single character in a game so you’ve got it easy in that sense 🙂

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  4. That ape is looking fantastic already, top work on his brass knuckles. Fully agreed with you on GW being the masters of awesome centre-piece models. I’ve been very tempted by that Cities of Sigmar general on the horse, an absolutely outstanding miniature, but even for me – with 20+ years experience painting miniatures – he’s a little bit intimidating!

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    1. Thanks, mate! I’m glad to hear you like Hondo so far. Is there a particular part of the mini that’s scaring you away? There are a lot of parts of the mini that are very forgiving. The metal bits can be done in TMM pretty easily and the base can be drybrushed pretty heavily too. There are parts that are less straightforward so too of course, but I reckon you just need to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in!

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      1. I think it’s the fact that it’s one of those models that really deserves to be painted to the very best of my ability to do justice to the level of character and personality and I know I can’t, currently, devote the time, space and attention it needs. Maybe in a couple of years I’ll take a shot, for now I’d better stick to easy wins!

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      2. That makes perfect sense. Timing matters when you paint certain things or take on a particular project so I think waiting until you’ve got time and energy to focus on a mini like this is very smart!

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  7. I already commented on E.Honda in the other post, but the buildings look pretty promising as well.
    Something I forgot to mention in the other reply was that you should remember that you are allowed to paint more than one thing at a time.
    I’m not suggesting that you have fifty projects and hundreds of minis on the go at once (!) but it’s fine to have a few projects to jump around depending on what’s inspiring you at any given painting session. 👍

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    1. I think I might have forgotten to mention it and if I did, shame on me. This whole project is inspired by the buildings you were printing. I had a look around and before you know it, I’m painting E.Honda and planning out my most ambitious diorama yet. Since you mentioned the sumo wrestler, maybe I’ll set it in Japan in honor of Street Fighter II! So thanks for the inspiration, mate! 😀

      You make a good point on juggling more than one miniature. I tend to have a one track mind when it comes to display projects, partially because I’m always afraid I’ll forget how I painted something or not be able to replicate a particular color texture but you’re right that it probably is more doable than I think.

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      1. Just write down (note form) anything that you’re going to need to replicate as closely as possible. Or just take a pic of the paints you’re using. Not really that different to when you’re coming back to things after a week or so anyway. And of course, a little variety gives you something to go backand forth between, keeping motivation up (ideally) as you’ve got something cool to “reward” yourself with.

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      2. I’ll give it a shot. I’m a lousy record keeper and rarely write down anything I use. I figure the mental challenge of reverse engineering things I painted in the past makes me improve as a painter but its always good to try new things so I’ll see what I can do!

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  8. That’s some top King Kong-ing you’ve got going on there mate. I reckon you shouldn’t use him in a diorama and instead play a game of Fallout where Hondo comes in and beats all the gangs senseless 🙂

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  9. Looking forward to seeing what he is holding as it sounds very interesting.
    I had to look up NMM painting and instantly knew it was well beyond my abilities 😂😂. I was wondering how you got it so right and now I know, learn something new every day, top marks for achieving this skill👍🏻.
    Had to laugh at your comment about painting feathers😆, those models are amazing and it always amazes me how you guys get such grand results,it must take a lot of patience😉.

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    1. He’s carrying something over the top and fun. It also shows the scale of the monsters which is cool too.

      I’m glad to hear you learned something from this article too haha! With the scale you paint, I think you’d be better off using metallic paints. Trying to get the effects of NMM on really tiny weapons would be very difficult!

      We all have our limits and even my patience is not unlimited. If I see too much of one thing that you have to paint, I’m probably out, especially on a bigger model like those I shared 🙂

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