Sunday 24 December 2017

From Curt: Three Heroes from 'Mansions of Madness' (15 Points)


Just a small entry from me tonight. This time it's three investigator/heroes from 'Mansions of Madness'. 


The 2nd edition of Fantasy Flight Games' 'Mansions of Madness' has become a well-enjoyed staple within our group since it was released almost two years ago. The first edition used a One-Against-Many game mechanic, where one player played the nasties of the 'Mansion', while the rest of the players worked cooperatively to uncover the mysteries and survive. This mechanic has worked well with many other FFG games (Descent, Imperial Assault, etc.) but its implementation was flawed in MoM to the extent that whoever played the 'Mansion' could quite easily defeat the investigators in short order. 

The publishers, to their credit, rectified this with their 2nd edition by using an app to run the Mansion, thereby allowing the players to work together as a cohesive team. It's been a great success with our group, with us being able to enjoy not only all the old expansions, but the new content as well. I've even used it at work as a team building exercise (nothing like avoiding being eaten by a Shoggoth to bring a group of people together)!


The base game comes with a load of plastic miniatures to represent both the investigators and the various eldritch horrors they encounter. The minis are roughly 28mm in scale and for the most part are rendered quite well. My main criticism is with the quality of the plastic  itself, as the early releases were a somewhat soft, making them an absolute swine to remove mold lines and clean-up flash. Thankfully, the more recent models use a harder plastic which is much easier to work with.

Anyway, until now I've been using other miniatures from my collection to represent the heroes, but thought it'd be fun I'd try to get a bunch of the stock ones done-up during the Challenge. So, here are three heroes from the core set: Mandy Thompson, Ashcan Pete and Gloria Goldberg. 


Fairly basic paintjobs on the whole. I tried to keep the colours punchy and as close to the game art as possible. 


I trimmed away the original plastic bases and replaced them with clear acrylic ones as I like the look of them better, especially with tile-based games. After the hassle of cleaning the figures up they were actually quite fun to paint.


I'll see if I can get a few more done over the Challenge and perhaps I'll try to do-up one or two of the monsters as well. 

Thanks for dropping in folks. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas holiday break!

Curt

43 comments:

  1. Lovely works. Using app to control the mansion is a really neat idea. Have a great Christmas, my 1st post is almost ready, at last

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  2. Nice work on these! Mr. Thompson definitely is my favourite from this group.

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  3. I actually see a 4th hero there - Pete's dog! Lovely work Curt :)

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    1. You're absolutely right Tamsin, 'Duke' is very much a hero in 'Mansions of Madness'

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  4. really nice work looks like a cool game

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  5. Fantastic work Curt. These are very impressive.

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  6. Even though I have never heard of this game before your post, I really like what you've done with these figures!

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    1. I think you'd really enjoy it Sander. It might be a good option for your class as it supports 5-player cooperative.

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  7. Nice looking figures, I see what you mean about the clear bases.
    Best Iain

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  8. Great stuff dude - and Merry Christmas everyone!

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  9. Great work in these figs Curt, you've captured the characters well. I like the clear bases. Looking forward to many scary encounters with this crew.

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    1. Thanks Pete! I hope to get a few more done before our next outing to the Mansion. :)

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  10. Great work Curt. I was in doubt between the boardgame and the card game, and fiannly opted for the latter. Great game with potential to play solo that I'm enjoying a lot

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    1. The card game is brilliant, I've played a few of the campaigns and really enjoyed it. BTW, you can play solo with Mansions as well. Just in case you want a future option. :)

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  11. Great work on these, Curt! Quite hard to pick a favorite, Although Ms Thompson is probably the toughest one!;)
    You all have a Merry Christmas! I'm stuck at work for the next four days...it'll be easier to bear if you all have a lot of fun! ;)

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    1. Thanks Dave, all the girls in the Mansion series are tough as nails.

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  12. Must say I haven't seen this game but the figures and painting (of course) are great.

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  13. I have painted some of these up in previous challenges so good to see you do them in style

    Ian

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  14. Nicely done MrC . I do think the transparent bases is good idea too .

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  15. Fantastic work, particularly for “fairly basic paint jobs” ;) the denim has come out particularly well.

    I’m a fan of the game too, the second edition is far superior and we had the same issue with the first edition, the keeper was more like a GM.

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    1. Cheers Jamie. Yes, you always felt like you had to pull your punches when running the Mansion - otherwise things would get quickly out of hand for the investigators.

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  16. Very nice work, Curt. Having painted figures for these board games adds to the experience and these are lovely.

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  17. Sweet brushwork mate. All lovely but I think Mandy is my favourite. Keep em coming!

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    1. She's mine as well but I have a soft spot for Duke as well.

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  18. Good stuff! I’m planning for some of my Mansions stuff to emerge during the Challenge as well.

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  19. Cracking work Curt! Those clear bases are a really good idea.

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    1. Thanks Samuli! Yeah, I like them for these tile type games. This way your groundwork always matches!

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  20. Great work Curt! Even though I cut the bases for you, I am not sold on clear, I think I prefer plain black, but to each thier own! The figures look lovely either way.

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  21. A very nice game which we played a couple of times with our group too. Actually we all enjoyed it but I'm not completely sure about the app. It seems to not forgive mistakes if you miss some description accidentally...

    Lovely work on the figures!

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    1. Thanks for your comment Stefan! One thing, if you go to the book icon on the lower left of the screen it will take you to a 'Message Log' where you can review all the things you've done in the adventure to-date. It keeps the exact wording of all messages/activities that you have encountered. I hope this helps.

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