Marvel Crisis Protocol: Doctor Octopus

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Marvel Crisis Protocol: Doctor Octopus

We’re drawing closer to the end of the models from my Crisis Protocol Core Set with today’s Villain – Doctor Octopus! Otto Octavius Von Biz Markie to his friends, of which there are many. Well, at least five sinister friends…

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Doctor Octopus

This just leaves one more to go from the set proper, though I have been doing a couple of extras alongside, so the proper final model isn’t near complete yet – I’ve only just finished the cleanup and assembly in fact (though by the time you read this, it should be primed at the very least!)

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Doctor Octopus

This sculpt is pretty static. Being from the core box it has a few too many parts in some ways, and lacks the overly-dynamic pose that many of this game’s models have had for some time now. I’ve painted him in a pretty bright, traditional Doc Ock scheme inspired by the comics I used to read years ago, though I do have to admit that I’m quite partial to Alfred Molina’s portrayal and outfit in the Sony/MCU films. Perhaps I’ll add a more bespoke 3D-printed version down the line in more muted, realistic tones.

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Doctor Octopus

The tentacles on this model were a pain in the arse in more ways than one. Aside from being a nightmare for assembly, I painted them with Vallejo Metal Colour, then used Tamiya Panel Wash to fill in the lines – and they looked fantastic! One coat of varnish later and all of that lustre had gone. I went over them with Vallejo Metal Varnish, and… they still looked crap. So I repainted them again with Metal Colour, then tried to blackline them again, but the Metal Colour didn’t come out as well as it had the first time, and the Panel Wash was a bit blotchy. In the end, I just gave up since I was tired and went for “good enough”. If I use mineral psirits to try and remove the Panel Wash remnants, I’m sure it’ll do a real number on the Metal Colour. The messiness is more nociable in these “glamour” photos than in hand, so I’ll just take the L on this one since I really didn’t enjoy painting this model.

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Doctor Octopus

Does Doc Ock count as a Monster for the purposes of Monster March? I’m sure he’s been called a Monster by various victims across his villainous comics run (and probably by Spidey himself on a fair few occasions) and his stature is on the larger side (even allowing for the larger scale of MCP figures). Only Swordmaster can tell us the final answer to that, though!

Realm of Chaos – Citadel Chaos Warhounds #Monstermarch7

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Citadel Chaos Warhounds

My next batch of models are a set that I started over 10 years ago. I distinctly recall sitting on the floor of the lounge room of Howard Street, assembling these models and trying to cut off some of the extra protuberences of their horns to make them look less… well.. shit.

Citadel Chaos Warhounds

The plan at the time, was to use them as Warg Proxies in Lord of the Rings SBG. (now Middle-Earth SBG). As I’d long left WHFB behind, and KoW’s rules were only a pamphlet in a box of disappointing plastic Orcs and Elves at this point in time.

Citadel Chaos Warhounds

I had then intended to use my can of what we called “the dip”. Something I’d used on a small group of Tyranids in our previous rental in Carlyle with the assistance of a hand drill. Just paint in the base colours and the dip would take care of everything else, bar the final matt spraydown and basing.

Citadel Chaos Warhounds

For whatever reason, I got distracted and that never happened. Instead, these models got loaded into a KR Multicase and came along to the next stop and then… nothing for almost a decade. I guess I must have taken them out and based them at some point, but it wasn’t until recently when I accidently found them again in that case and decided that I should finish painting them.

Completing these models at this stage was then just a matter of knucking down wih the “get’er’done” mentality and powering through them. Individually they’re nothing special, but they look reasonably good as a group – which is the point of them, really.

Citadel Chaos Warhounds, Reaper Miniatures 50153 Berkeley Zombie Survivor

When I found them I did decide that the upcoming (at the time) Monster March would be the ideal bit of motivation to get them done, since Swordmaster is always quite flexible in his approach, and every year someone is painting a regiment for WHFB/9th Age or Kings of War. Here Berkeley provides scale – I figure a bunch of 40mm-based critters composed of spikes, teeth and claws that are twice the heft of a human should count as monsters, right?

Citadel Chaos Warhounds, Chaos Beastmen, Chaos Beastman Shaman, Chaos Minotaur Lord

At this point, I’m very unlikely to use them as Wargs, as I now have a whole bunch of actual Warg models – so they’ll instead be used to bump up my slowly-growing Beastmen warband – either for skirmish games, AoS, or (eventually) a KoW “The Herd” army (once added to a MDF multibase rectangle or three). As such they also count toward my broader painting goals for 2023!

Citadel Chaos Warhounds

I do have some metal Chaos Hounds to get painted eventually. They’ll require a bit more work to rebase onto something other than the old-school ugly rectangular horse bases they’re on right now, so not something I’ll be working on anytime soon…