Sanguine Anger

Much that CMON has done lately has irritated me. However, one thing I always enjoy are token upgrades/gameplay bling and they usually get those right. These are the 9 pillage, saga, and doom tokens. They’re wholly unnecessary but will nevertheless be a posh addition to the game.

Batch painting flesh. The first coat (after airbrushing base flesh and a skin wash) always takes so long. It’s so tempting to change it up with painting other colors on clothes, etc. but I have learned that sticking to skin is worth it. The next highlight goes quicker, the final highlight even faster. And once the flesh is done you’re 90% of the way there. Doesn’t seem possible when most minis (excepting that big hairy naked man, the giant and the troll—all on the front left in the pic) have so little flesh. But it’s true. Get the flesh right and the mini comes to life.

Side note to any of you Blood Rage players out there: you may have noted that I’m painting the gods expansion. I already have this expansion, have painted it up, have played with it and really enjoy it. “Why”, you might ask, “are you painting it again?” The answer is that these are the embiggened gods. This will be excellent but leaves me with the old, small gods as surplus. If you enjoy Blood Rage but don’t have the Gods expansion, comment or send me a pm and I’ll ship them out to you. It would be good to find them a new home.

Pretty sure the difference with the final skin highlight won’t show up on camera. It may not even be worth doing but…it really does sell it for me, if only on a subconscious level.

1. Base with Vallejo 74.004 Base Flesh
2. Coat with Vallejo 72.093 Skin Wash
3. Highlight back up with Base Flesh
4. Highlight with Vallejo 74.006 Natural Flesh
5. Final highlight with 50% Natural Flesh and 50% Vallejo 74.007 Fairy Flesh

It’s not often that I have an excuse to revisit old minis and paint up a new version. The embiggening that CMON did with the gods, however, gave me a reason to paint, after three years, the same characters. It was a nice opportunity to see the progress that I’ve made in that time. I’m not a faster painter but I am an incrementally better one.

The group shot above is the original, small,  gods. The individual shots are the new ones. It may not come through in the photos but there is a subtle but marked difference. The old ones are certainly fine for the tabletop but they aren’t nearly as alive.

So if you’re discouraged, keep at it. We don’t improve all at once but we do improve.

Btw, if anyone wants the old gods (cards and everything) get in touch and I’ll send them your way.