Greetings, Investigators!

Just a spot to show the painting and modification progress of my Mansions of Madness collection.

In the beginning there was chaos and the setup...

Then from the wilds of the void came paint.

And finally, the black bases (used to paint each miniature) were sacrificed to the maddening void in exchange for the healing sanity of clear bases.

I recently finished this batch from Suppressed Memories (the Forbidden Alchemy portion of the miniatures) as I have wanted to use Dexter Drake since getting into the game.

Making progress on the Recurring Nightmares (1st Edition) Figure and Tile Set. Miniatures removed from bases and bathed and shaken around in warm dish liquid water to get rid of any residues remaining from production and then rinsed under plain water, left overnight to dry, mould lines get filed away, reattached to bases for undercoating. Then the painting can begin! In this instance, they've all been washed and dried, but I'm filing and undercoating as I go due to a lack of time lately. here's the progress:

Hey there! Looking forward to see you paint all the minis! Great job by the way too.

I myself am about to embark on painting all the investigators, but I'm debating if I should rebase them or not.. All my monsters are done, and on litko bases, but the investigators has me a little more hesitant to transition. Was it pretty easy to remove them with Xacto or razor blade? A few characters like Duke from Ashcan Pete's mini has me a little worried.

Thanks!

5 hours ago, Mnemonic said:

Hey there! Looking forward to see you paint all the minis! Great job by the way too.

I myself am about to embark on painting all the investigators, but I'm debating if I should rebase them or not.. All my monsters are done, and on litko bases, but the investigators has me a little more hesitant to transition. Was it pretty easy to remove them with Xacto or razor blade? A few characters like Duke from Ashcan Pete's mini has me a little worried.

Thanks!

I got some zombies done today!

I've come from re-basing Imperial Assault where all the miniatures are moulded with bases. So, I had lots of practice. I use a hobby scalpel. Basically, I angle the scalpel so it will slice as close to the base as possible. If the miniature has toes, I start at that end of the foot as occasionally you do get a little of the foot remaining on the base as you slice through, and it's best if the tiny part that remains on the base is unseen at the back. (I have a Darth Vader who has very thin toes on one foot when I used to start cutting at the heel end). Also, use a sort of see-saw motion to slowly cut, because if the blade slices too fast, it's another way of accidentally leaving some foot/boot on the base. So far it hasn't happened to any of my Mansions of Madness miniatures since doing it this way. So, sharp blade, see-saw motion, slowly.

Which glue did you use?

10 hours ago, Phoenix_FFG said:

I got some zombies done today!

I've come from re-basing Imperial Assault where all the miniatures are moulded with bases. So, I had lots of practice. I use a hobby scalpel. Basically, I angle the scalpel so it will slice as close to the base as possible. If the miniature has toes, I start at that end of the foot as occasionally you do get a little of the foot remaining on the base as you slice through, and it's best if the tiny part that remains on the base is unseen at the back. (I have a Darth Vader who has very thin toes on one foot when I used to start cutting at the heel end). Also, use a sort of see-saw motion to slowly cut, because if the blade slices too fast, it's another way of accidentally leaving some foot/boot on the base. So far it hasn't happened to any of my Mansions of Madness miniatures since doing it this way. So, sharp blade, see-saw motion, slowly.

Which glue did you use?

I used super glue on my monsters. They seem to be holding up good thus far, but occasionally the litko base gets marred if I use too much.

I got 4 minis in simple green now. Sounds like you are painting them, varnish, etc and then slice off the base at the very end.

On 2/13/2018 at 8:05 AM, Mnemonic said:

I used super glue on my monsters. They seem to be holding up good thus far, but occasionally the litko base gets marred if I use too much.

I got 4 minis in simple green now. Sounds like you are painting them, varnish, etc and then slice off the base at the very end.

I've been using that Craftics cement that Litko advertise (but found it here in Australia, as Litko won't send it internationally). I've only used superglue on the Crawling Ones as a test just recently, as their 'footprint' was very large, to see how far the superglue would fog, and I was getting tired of how much wasted glue there was when using the Craftics stuff (and the amount of dire health warnings on the packaging, the almost instantaneous drying as soon as it's out of the tube, the amount that keeps oozing from the tube, the sometimes-long holding together of parts, and the 24-hour wait afterwards when parts of glued). I should have a new glue arriving this week, Poly Zap (made by Zap-A-Gap) that is advertised as being able to glue acrylic like superglue but with no fogging - so I'm looking forward to hoping that is the case and making the switch (time will tell!).

My order of progress 99% of the time:

1. Bath/rinse, (wait overnight).
2. File/smooth.
3. Primer/undercoat, (wait overnight).
4. Paint, (wait overnight).
5. Varnish, (wait overnight).
6. Re-base, (wait overnight).

Step 1 is the easiest to batch all together. I did Step 2 all in one entire day for the MoM2E Core Set and Suppressed Memories (Forbidden Alchemy portion), but with Recurring Nightmares I have been trying to paint a group each day I have free so sometimes there will be some painting followed by a group being filed down and undercoated ready so they are ready for painting another day. (Dexter Drake went on his base after painting because I was excited, and the next day he received a normal matt varnish, and the following day I put a shiny varnish on his sword cane, hat and cloak/cape).

I finished painting these zombies yesterday:

I was disappointed in my last session as I didn't actually complete a miniature, but upon the next session I completed 3 pairs of miniatures: Shoggoth x2, Maniacs x2, Hound of Tindalos x2. The Shoggoth's eyes were the most time-intensive, requiring a few coats of the yellow and some patching of green to cover any mistakes. The Hounds of Tindalos, while looking really complicated, were actually very easy (and it turns out that one their 'tongues' is shorter than the other). My hope for the Maniacs is to put the clean one on the table first, and if it causes some damage to an Investigator, and there's still the bloodied spare available, I'll swap it over for the bloodied one. The remaining 6 monsters are smoothed and undercoated, ready for the next session - I just have to choose which gets painted next!

Mi-gos and Witches add their number to the endless horror...

All I can say is "WOW!" I have no artistic talent, so I am doomed to play MOM with lots of gray figures. Playing with a set painted like this would make playing a great game a phenomenal experience!

3 hours ago, Spike IT said:

All I can say is "WOW!" I have no artistic talent, so I am doomed to play MOM with lots of gray figures. Playing with a set painted like this would make playing a great game a phenomenal experience!

Thanks, @Spike IT ! I never thought I could possibly paint miniatures, and I don't even paint to a professional level (just a basic level where they look great at the usual distance you see them on a board game). You just gotta get some paints and brushes, watch a few videos, and you'll develop your own style. I have found doing the monsters a lot easier in Mansions of Madness very easy sometimes, which is great, so if you ever take painting up I suggest starting on some monsters - and each time you paint something you'll get better.

I agree that the thematic experience is definitely increased when the figures are painted. I went further and added clear bases too. I looked at the beautiful tiles that the figures stood on and thought, not only do I want to see then during the game but I also want the miniatures to appear as awesome as the tile art.

With the Cult Leaders joining the painted madness, and the clear bases added, the Monsters from Recurring Nightmares (1st Edition) are complete! I can now enable Recurring Nightmares in the app.

Next up on the block, the Suppressed Memories (Call of the Wild portion) monsters!

Five miniatures in one day! (Granted, four of them were very easy).

The Nightgaunts will receive a slick coat of shiny sealant.

Child of the Goat x2 and Goatspawn x2 finished.

Varnishes applied to all painted models. The Nightgaunt are looking slick! (Background fluff said that they look like oily whale hide).

Next, on to the Dark Young and the Dunwich Horror!

That glorious point where they're all painted and re-based!

Now I can add Suppressed Memories to the app, alongside Recurring Nightmares.

For painting, only the Recurring Nightmares and Suppressed Memories (Call of the Wild portion) Investigators to go!

Class Photo!

Could this be the most dangerous mansion in Arkham, Massachusetts?

This is every Monster miniature from Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition, Recurring Nightmares and Suppressed Memories.

Your paint jobs look great; I still can't help but be annoyed that Wendy is the same size as adult investigators. It makes her look like some kind of weird-o adult lady that dresses like a child.

1 hour ago, Soakman said:

...Wendy is the same size as adult investigators. It makes her look like some kind of weird-o adult lady that dresses like a child.

I remember thinking when I read the back of her card, H ow old is she? Perhaps she's an older teenager? Then when I received a copy of The Investigators of Arkham Horror and read her story, it confirmed that was somewhere around 10 years of age.

The Ladies from Beyond the Threshold are done. I chose the sneaky dress colour schemes for the Thralls to match the potential colours assigned to duplicates in the app (well, four of the potential colours). I was going to have a black dress, but I think I'll keep that for the Wraiths in Sanctum of Twilight. Originally these Thralls had much lighter skin, but then I went full horror and sunk their eyes and mouths and affected their skin as though what was happening to their arm was taking over their entire body!

11 hours ago, Phoenix_FFG said:

The Ladies from Beyond the Threshold are done. I chose the sneaky dress colour schemes for the Thralls to match the potential colours assigned to duplicates in the app (well, four of the potential colours). I was going to have a black dress, but I think I'll keep that for the Wraiths in Sanctum of Twilight. Originally these Thralls had much lighter skin, but then I went full horror and sunk their eyes and mouths and affected their skin as though what was happening to their arm was taking over their entire body!

That's what I did with my Thralls, used colors to separate them for different spawns! Nice work with everything!

What sizes are those bases ? and how many you need of each ? (all expansions)