Monday 9 January 2017

SDE: The Witch Queen

Introduction

I'm supposed to be writing up a battle report for my first game of Congo, but it's taking too long.  Battle reports are a lot more work to prepare than other types of blog article!

In the meantime, here's a model for Super Dungeon Explore that I completed a few weeks ago.  I've been meaning to show it ever since then, but just haven't got round to it.  Oh, well, this one won't take long to publish...

Beatrix, The Witch Queen


Beatrix the Witch Queen is a boss-level villain, sold as a separate expansion for the Super Dungeon Explore board game.  She comes with 6 little ghosts that are used in the game as a form of Creep; they're not deployed alongside her and consequently I've not bothered to show them this time.



Beatrix rides on top of a wheeled pumpkin that is drawn by two black cats.  I think that the camera flash has picked up something strange in the cats' paint, because they appear to be medium grey in some of these pictures.  In real life, they are much darker than that.



This is quite a large model; it's a puzzle to me how the designer managed to fit so much onto a standard, large-sized SDE base.  Some of the nooks and crannies were quite hard to reach with a paintbrush, especially around the underside of the pumpkin.



I would prefer my models to come unassembled, but these more recent SDE pieces are glued together and "ready to play" out of the packet.  That can lead to some strangeness, such as the cats' feet not touching the ground.  I did consider trying to glue them down (using clamps), but in the end I decided that the tension on the model would be too great and something would probably break if I did that.  in the end, I decided that the witch's magic probably allows the cats to fly through the air!


So, Congo next time, OK?

12 comments:

  1. What a great miniature and nicely painted too. Looking forward to the Congo write up as thinking that it might prove a interesting diversion for me this year.

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    1. Thanks, Michael. I'll get right onto that Congo report then :-) .

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  2. These miniatures fascinate me, they have that Pokemon - Manga style to them.
    From the pictures I'd guess they're open to a more artistic style of painting than a typical mini.
    Beautiful looking items, even if not my style of gaming.

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    1. Figures like the SDE models are very much a product of the chibi style, as are Pokemon/manga/... They can (indeed, *should*) be painted in a somewhat cartoonish style for full effect, I believe.

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  3. Chibis are not my thing, but this is nicely done C6. I look forward to the Congo report

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    1. Thanks, dGG. I'm putting off the Congo report, at least for tonight.

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  4. This must have been a fun piece to paint, but the flying cats would kick in my OCD tendemcy.

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    1. It took a surprisingly long time to paint. I agree that the "flying" cats do bother me as well, but I don't want to risk the model by taking drastic action now...

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  5. Such a cute figure. I like her a lot.

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    1. Thought she might appeal to you, Bryan :-) .

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  6. I have to say you've mastered the art of painting these figures in the style they need. Flying cats aside (and who doesn't need some flying cats?), this is a lovely figure. How effective is the character in the game? And will we see her ghosts manifesting on your blog soon-ish?
    As for Congo, I have a feeling that it might be this year's Frostgrave. Does it allow for the more fantastical elements, such as Dinosaurs and the like? Although doing a game based on 'The Ghost and the Darkness' also has appeal.

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    1. You know, I haven't even looked at the Witch Queen's game stats yet and so I cannot tell you how good she is in the game :-) . The ghosts are very simple models; it's hard to paint what is essentially a white sheet with much conviction!

      As written, Congo doesn't have provision for monsters - although one of the scenarios does have detailed special rules for a certain giant ape. I've no doubt that some fan add-ons would make this possible, though.

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