And today we have my final models for Swordmaster’s Monster March painting challenge, though there remain a few more to come for Ann’s “Neglected But Not Forgotten” challenges (2 more posts, to be precise). Also, one more Monster March model from Marouda to (hopefully) be posted up tomorrow.

I. AM. GROOT.

“But Azazel!” you theoretically argue. “Rocket and Groot aren’t monsters! They’re heroes, and Rocket is sooo cuuuute! And Groot is soooo adorable!” Well, sure. I’m not going to argue the latter of those points. They are both heroes, of course, but in wargame terms, just take a look at the pair of them. Even if you really want to disqualfy the triangle-faced monkey because it’s small, the other one is basically a Treeman/Ent/Huorn/etc, and we know that those qualify for this sort of thing!

Anyway, the painting of these two took months. Even though one is a small figure and the other one is theoretically very simple (what with the wood and all) the assembly on Rocket was pretty crappy, as FFG/Atomic Mass use way too many parts for their models, but even when I was past that, I ended up agonising for ages on them. Groot was actually “finished” at one point, but I was still unhappy with him, so I brought him back inside and did some more until I was satisfied enough to call him done.

I did add a bunch of extra detail to their bases, mostly slate shards and some sand in order to really mess up the sidewalk where it’s been smashed in and smashed through by Groot’s extended arm (just look at what Rocket’s standing on up there!) The little debris on both of their bases just looked too clean, so I added the slate so we could have some more shattered concrete!

It’s another case where the challenges literally were the things that got me motivated to finiosh this pair off. Especially the Monster March one, since I knew I could double-dip with Ann’s challenge for Groot. In the end, I still had to force myself to wade through Rocket, but he came out ok in the end.

And yeah, I realise that starting my Crisis Protocol heroes and villains by sidestepping the core set models and going right for an expansion maybe isn’t the usual way to do it, but I was sucked in by the prospect of painting Groot quickly. And failed at that. I’ve got another two CP models on the desk that I’m honestly not looking forward to moving on with as well. I’d love to play the game, but painting these models is a real drag, unfortunately.

I’ll get a Monster March round-up post together in the next couple of days, and then finish up my final other models from March, and then a Monthly round-up, so at this rate I’ll be finished with March posts in about a week. I should hopefully have something painted from April by then…