2020 Wrap Up

A few months into the pandemic I realized I was watching way too much TV.

Don’t get me wrong the first couple shows were great. There were a number of shows that I wanted to watch but after I got through that backlog it didn’t feel great to just watch TV. I needed to get back into painting miniatures.

I saw Marvel Crisis Protocol at Gen Con 2019 and had resisted but I knew I wanted to get back into miniatures and a skirmish game is right up my alley. I picked up Marvel Crisis Protocol around June and started painting.

I started rewatching the movies and painting a mini for each movie. That turned out to be too much work and I stopped writing a post, watching a movie, and reading a comic for each mini. BUT I still kept painting minis which I’m super happy about.

I did want to point out a few of my favorite minis and rosters.

Affiliations

First Complete Affiliation

I completed my first roster which was Asgard.

I also tried 2 small thing to make these minis my own. With Thor I freehanded some runes onto his base. They’re supposed to look like the charred runes left by the bifrost. With Valkyrie I wanted to go with Tessa Thompson from Thor Ragnarok.

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It helps that it’s only 4 models but it’s still an accomplishment. And as you’ll see in the 2021 recap I continued adding Asgard as they added 2 new models.

Affiliations Started

With the started box for Marvel Crisis Protocol and a few extra boxes I opened up a ton of rosters

• Asgard (4)
• Avengers (5)
• Cabal (6)
• Criminal Syndicate (4)
• Guardians of the Galaxy (3)

This is a great start to my collection. 5 different affiliations is a ton of flexibility for only spending a few hundred dollars. And it includes some of my favorite characters from the Marvel universe.

Favorite Affiliation

My favorite affiliation at this point is Asgard.

They’re really durable with Thor’s leadership and if you roll well he can really do well in a fight. Valkyrie is one of the best 3-threats in the game even after some tweaks to her card.

Loki and Hela are less interesting to me. I use them in some fights but I don’t love either. With their addition of Angela & Enchantress in 2021 they’re much more my speed. I do want to try Loki with the new Space gem. Maybe that will work with my playstyle.

Models

In addition to rosters and gameplay it’s worth talking about the hobby. It’s arguably my favorite aspect of miniature games. I also tried new things this year and some things worked well and some not so much were learning opportunities.

Favorite Model

My favorite model from this year is Magneto. He’s a leader of the Brotherhood affiliation and he’s also a powerhouse model. Kind of like Lysander if you’re used to Warhammer 40,0000.

His purple cape came out great as did his red body suit. I started really taking my time on capes which have gradual transitions. It’s worth the time especially on leaders.

And by the time I got to Magneto I wanted to start dry brushing my bases. Before Magneto I painted a solid color with a wash on the bases but I wanted something a bit grittier so I tried dry brushing and loved the effect.

Most Ambitious New Technique

I tried painting non-metallic-metal or NMM on Ultron. I basically tried to paint Ultron with a chrome body where it reflects the environment around him.

It took me forever and I’m not quite happy with it. But I am happy I tried. I’ll probably try again with a future robot.

Favorite New Technique

My first real try at a new technique is object source lighting or OSL. That’s where you paint the reflection of a glowing object and the first model I really tried it on was Red Skull.

What I Plan to Do in 2021

2020 was a success! I have one complete affiliation and I started several affiliations for a ton of play options.

I only just started Brotherhood and they are a ton of fun. I can’t wait to get more Brotherhood models.

We know Angela & Enchantress are coming out for Asgard. I want to build and paint both of them not just because they look fun but also because they’ll help me complete the affiliation again.

Terrain is something I struggle with. I find it boring to paint terrain so I hope I paint more but if I’m honest I doubt I’ll do a ton more.

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