Our story begins several years ago, when I was making minis for one of my most successful Cthulhuween one-shots, a mash-up of H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" and John Carpenter's "The Thing." It was a delightful exercise in paranoia, and I will be sure to chronicle that particular adventure another time. But it meant that I would need a bunch of minis in arctic gear, and that meant Heroclix and putty.
I got a bunch of clix minis and added hoods and fur collars with putty. Most of these minis came from a big batch of them I had gotten years earlier. My FLGS was selling Heroclix singles for a while, and I would come by and pick up one or two when a project called for it. One day when I went in and asked to see the box of loose singles, the guy behind the desk said that I was literally the only person who ever went through them, and they were taking up valuable space behind the counter. So he told me to just take the lot of them and good riddance. This was a real boon for me, and I am still finding uses for some of that original batch of free Heroclix.
One mini in that batch was the Marvel superhero (and long-time Avenger,) Wonder Man. He was actually one of my favorite characters from the brief time I read West Coast Avengers back in the late eighties, and he is even more of a favorite as a Heroclix.
Now, the character has had many costumes over the years, not all of them winners...
 |
| Don't judge; I've seen your yearbooks. |
No Spandex, no jet packs, just a regular guy with pants, boots, a pocketed jacket with popped collar and glasses. When I first saw him in the big lot of minis, I knew he had a lot of versatility, and knew I'd find a use for him. Then, years later, the Antarctica adventure came along, and I found a use for him. A little putty around the collar sculpted into fur, and voila!
The paint job leaves a bit to be desired, but it served admirably for the adventure. But that was my only Wonder Man, and I sort of wished I had more, since there was so much more I knew I could do with that mini.
Flash forward a few years (a couple of weeks ago,) when I saw a huge lot of 175 Heroclix minis going for cheap on Ebay. They were all from the Avengers set, and there were multiples of each one. I couldn't pass up the deal, and picked it up. Included in the lot were no less than FIFTEEN WONDER MAN MINIS!
This was enough to really experiment with impunity, so I decided to take this opportunity to show just how versatile a mini could be, and how many different ways one could use a mini.
To start, I wanted to show how a simple repaint could entirely change a mini's character.
My first offering is your basic, everyday military officer. I had to fold down the collar, and trim it down in the back a bit, but it I think it works great. I could always go in later and add a holstered pistol if I wanted to further enhance it.
Next we have a big game hunter, fresh from safari. All it took was some khaki and earth tones and yellow lenses for the glasses, and you're done. I could accessorize with a rifle slung over the shoulder and a canteen or some binoculars.
So those are some easy modifications, but there are plenty more ideas, perfect for modern games, that would require no more than a repaint.
And if you are willing to do some minor modifications, there are even more possibilities for all kinds of games.
If you have the basic putty skills necessary to fill out the cuffs of the pants (I would suggest trimming them down first,) you could make yourself a resident of beautiful Miami:
The skin tone got a little wonky, but the powder blue guayabera shirt and the loafers with no socks just scream Calle Ocho. This guy could pass for one of my neighbors growing up...
But maybe the modern era is not your bag. If you want a more sci-fi look, I trimmed off this fellow's lapels, and removed his shades, and it changes the entire mini.
Here you have an instant stereotypical Corellian smuggler, complete with blood stripe. I could easily add a blaster holster slung low on the hip for the added touch (shaggy copilot not included.)
Looking to get medieval on your game? with a little head swap, some scraping to remove the jacket pockets, and some putty to form the flap of the tunic and a rope for a belt, we have a peasant.
 |
| Had to use some bras rod to make a neck for the new head, which was one I had snipped off a Orlock ganger some time ago. |
The flaps for his headband were sculpted along with the rest of the neck. I wanted him to be usable as either a Western-style medieval peasant or an Eastern style one (I just might have a seven samurai themed one shot in the works...)
"But what about Fallout" you ask? "With your perpetual obsession of the post-apocalyptic sandbox, surely you will not leave out a Fallout-inspired creation?"
Fear not, gentle reader; of course I can see a perfect use for this mini in Fallout.
As you can see, Wonder Man works great as a roving merchant. I used putty to make the backpack and pants pouches, as well as the hat and goggles. Then I added an ammo box from the WW2 Germans I had leftover, with more putty for straps. The same sprue gave me the ammo pouches that stick out the front.
Now he's ready to wander the wastes, pack brahmin in tow (to be modeled at another date.)
So there you have it: seven variations on a theme. But I don't have to stop there: I could (and almost certainly will some day,) use putty to make the pants into jodhpurs, and sculpt a beret on top, and he will be the very model of an old-time director. Remove the pockets of the jacket and paint it white and he's a field doctor. All black or grey and he's the leader of a mercenary band. The uses are (practically) endless. So try looking at minis (especially any that you happen to have a bunch of,) in as many different ways as possible.
 |
| Akimbo Team, Go! |
No comments:
Post a Comment