WIPs 160415

Progress! I've had a couple of good sessions this week :

Martin from Escape has had a little highlighting on the skin and a lot of faffing on the cloak, which has gone as far as it's going to. Next it's nmm and the weapons.

The Riot girl had the touch up done and now just needs basing.

The sniper from Aetherium is the main event - watching a Painting Buddha Academy video on wet on wet blending helped me massively here, I still have a long way to go with the technique but for a tabletop/test model I'm happy with it. Also the the metals have had some shading, the hair's had a highlight and I've tried to vary the highlighting on the various black cloths - these still need work.

And then this guy escaped a newly received box...

Works in progress

The state of the desk... most of this was done over a week ago before a holiday...

The Riot Girl promo, from Aetherium. Almost done, this was a test model and I messed up the priming. That said the trousers and top came out nicely. I'm not happy with the cloak (I'm never happy with cloaks, need to watch some guides). There's a little touch up left to do and some decisions to take on basing.

The flesh tone challenge 3 - built and primed, waiting a long session to start.

More Aetherium, this is the sniper promo model. Mostly just base colours so far (taken from the cool art in the rulebook), with a bit of shading on the hair and cloak. There's a long way to go on this.

Escape and the difference backgrounds make! The orange is more or less done but washes out in the picture whereas the flesh only had one pass but looks good already... the other Escape models have all been 'finished' at about 90% done, this one may be similar. There are always elements of these sculpts I enjoy painting - here the flesh and overalls - and elements that don't seem to work (the canister looks like it's glued on too high, the blades/rods are fuzzy on detail and despite multiple hot water attempts would not straighten). 

The aim for the week is to complete the Aetherium and Escape models, and get a start in on the flesh tone work. But then a box from Soda Pop/Ninja Division just arrived...

Unboxing Aetherium part 2: the models

So I wrote most of this last week then delayed posting while spending a week in a tent with the family (kids aged 1 & 4, not so much sleep, lots of sunshine). While away I skimmed the rulebook, looking mainly at the fluff.
In the core box you get two factions - the Axiom and the Nanomei. The Axiom are Aetherium's version of quasi-religious officialdom - fanatical leaders in robes and enforcers in riot gear:

We get two characters - the priest waving his hand and the the female leader - five riot shield guys, the grenadier, two hounds and two scenery pieces - these are the little brothers of the monoliths from the last post, they are key to the game (it seems they stabilise areas of the digital dimension to allow human minds to exist there)

This is the Axiom leader - Lady Aemelia Mastrona - I won't spoil the backstory but she's an interesting character. The model is well cast (as they all are), there are a few bits to trim and mould lines to clean but nothing too difficult.

Opposing the Axiom we have the Nanomei - anarchist types, scrappily dressed:

We get two multi-model units (the picketers and the riot grlz) - and three more character like models (although except for the guy in the mask - The Masque - the single models can be fielded multiple times. My favourite at first glance is the Tov:

The Nanomei I received had several shades resin used for different models, as below. Whether there's any difference beyond colour I'll see when I get to cleaning up the models, the detail on each cast is crisp.

There was a third blister pack in the box containing the two Kickstarter exclusive models - an extra riot girl and an Axiom sniper. I decided (after reading the training scenario and seeing I'll need most of the models to play from the beginning) to paint these as test models. Here they are, primed...

... several times over. Yeah, read the instructions! The little paper insert with the model prep info from the caster is IMPORTANT! I cleaned up the vents and mould lines (less than 5 minutes work) and gave them a good wash. The instruction sheet specified a primer to use, but I figured (rather than looking for this or its UK equivalent) I'd just give it a go with what I had... Vallejo white brushed on wouldn't stick, neither would Tamiya spray. A mix of Vallejo white and some old Citadel foundation (Khemri Brown) eventually did the job on the riot girl, and several attempts with Vallejo grey brushed on worked on the sniper... at this point I decided I'd definitely prep all the other models together and prime as one with the advised primer.

Once primed, the paint went on easily - I'm further on than this now but here's how the riot girl started:

Unboxing Aetherium (Part 1)

So a little under a year ago I backed the Aetherium Kickstarter, a decision influenced by this interview at House of Paincakes.  I liked the vaguely Matrix like atmosphere, the sculpts looked good and the gameplay seemed a bit different. It was also a 'proper' Kickstarter - a new company (or rather Collective - Anvil 8 Games), a new idea, raising the cash needed to get it made. A couple of weeks ago a heavy box arrived, here it is:

My first thought was 'this box is heavy'. I'd followed the vaguely production updates from the Kickstarter but not looked in detail at the components as they were revealed. I wondered what I would find inside... This lot apparently...

This lot to be exact:

First the piece of paper - hang onto this! The models in the box are resin, this is a quick (and useful) how to work with resin sheet. Then - that is one big, heavy mat!

The quantum noise mat, on which the game is played. Having seen pictures of the game set up, it visually conveys the 'noise' very well. It's robust too, as is much of this game kit. Next out:

Counters - 2 types, acrylic and heavy card stock, colourful and thick:

(Ok it's not a micrometer but you see these aren't flimsy.

Cards:

There is a small pack of these, unit cars and some kind of action cards, more on these when I get to a play through.

Dice (17mm ish by my measure) 

They roll satisfyingly:

Bases (these are the only component I'm not sure about they're very chunky and will need some thought in painting):

Then it's the miniatures themselves - three clamshell packs, one with each faction, the third with the Kickstarter exclusive models (I'll look at these next time).

I haven't had a gone over the miniatures properly yet - that's for the next post - but here's a quick snap of the detail:

These are good! Clean details, minimal mould lines.

Then we have the game ("Schema") tiles:

These are also nice and thick, they have a nice gloss finish and bold colours.

The rulebook (Thick again - there's a theme here - and pretty too, plenty of art, I can't comment on the text, I need to read it...)

Another game tile:

The player boards ("Command Consoles"):

And finally a couple of odd rocks (yeah ok, they're actually nice, there is a lot of detail in the surface waiting to be painted, and I'm sure they're important in game, but when I first picked them out of the box there was a 'what's this doing here?' moment).

So that's a quick look at the contents, next time I'm going to open the miniatures. The plan with Aetherium is to paint before playing so I'll have a look at the rule book and see what's needed on the bench first...