Greetings Terrans, I have another brace of heroes from the Cursed City game to share this week, but before we get to that I want to let you all know that I will NOT be running Fembruary this year. I’m juggling too much at the moment, with work, studies, family, home renovations, hobby and fitness all competing for my attention, and honestly I just do not have the bandwidth to coordinate another thing at the moment. That said, please do go and paint some fantastic female figures from your collections & tag them as Fembruary! I will be doing the same, but I just don’t have time to do all the wrap-up work at the end of it all. Maybe it’s time Fembruary just ‘was’ rather than it be something led and curated, but that’s for another day – key thing now is please do go for it, but don’t expect me to do an end-of-month summary 😊
Right, back to the Cursed City, and a pair of balanced characters that look equally effective at range as they are in melee. First up, it’s ‘Jelsen Darrock’:
First things first, let me get the whole ‘Can you smell what Darrock’s cookin’?’ guff out of the way. There is no way that is ever getting old in my immature little mind, so I just need to get it out there & move on. Second things second, what a model… Jelsen is an absolute cracker of a mini with a great pose, a lovely level of detail, and a real understated quality to him. I think this is another one of the top tier of minis from the set, and was a joy to paint. As with the Dorf, I’ve corroded the metal to imply entropy and decay, while the leather is worn and cracked. The overall feeling is one of the character being worn and tired, but still ruthlessly effective and dangerous.
.
Next up is the rather fabulously named ‘Glaurio Ven Alten III’:
He cuts a fine figure, striding forward with his pistol drawn & hand resting on his sabre – again, another top-tier mini in my opinion. I wanted Glaurio to look quite grand, even if that grandeur is somewhat faded & tired looking. I gave him a slightly darker skin tone to imply a touch of the exotic, and I picked out his jewellery & buttons in gold to really push that angle, (although the more mundane metals still show corrosion & wear). I think the mirror is a nice touch, and I loosely painted a hint of reflection in there. As a side note, this is another mini that I would like to bring into the 40k universe – he’s crying out for a las pistol & pith helmet if you ask me!
.
Anyway, that’s it for another week – next post will be the final two heroes & then Cursed City is done. Laters Potaters
Leadballoony - It's a lead thing 
Both models look excellent Alex, your painting on each is sublime, and all the extra work you’ve put in has really paid off.
Can fully understand on the time constraints that running a challenge can have, and with how much you have going on at the moment, sounds like a wise decision to not do the roundup this year, have already put aside some models for the challenge, so will just paint them in February anyrate.
Thanks mate – both for the kind words, and for the support! I’m gutted to not be doing a roundup, but I know it would just be too much additional ‘stuff’
I’m impressed with these Cursed City sculpts Alex and you really are doing a wonderful job on them. They are becoming quite a collection. As for Fembruary mate you can’t spread yourself to thinly (which is another way of saying I haven’t bought any female figures to paint yet because I have to much going on as well and am happy to pass this year!). As you say, maybe it’s time to move on but see how you feel this time next year because it’s still a great idea. 🙂
Cheers mate, they’re great aren’t they? I really do feel like I’ve bitten off too much atm… Turns out doing a Masters part time is bloody hard! 🤨
Excellent work yet again, Alex! Also, the Darrock/Rock…man oh man, that’s never leaving my head :D
Cheers dude, and you’re welcome 🤘😁
Those are a very fibe pair- great painting.
Cheers,
Pete.
Cheers dude, they’re a joy 😊👍
Superb work mate. Suitably dark but I like the details are still picked out nicely. I’m glad you did a Rock joke because I was about to haha. No worries on the Fembruary thing too. I’ve got a lovely piece lined up for this years submission. I just hope I can do the sculpt justice with my slap happy painting style haha.
Cheers mate, glad you like ‘em! Shame about Fembruary, but needs must 😊
Terrific stuff. Your colour selection is spot on for the ‘faded nobility’ look that they have going on. I like that the poses are rather understated while the actual mini is rather busy with cool little details.
Cheers mate, that’s good to hear & yeah, they are superb minis 😊👍
Excellent yet again mate! You may be busy but you’re certainly powering through these. I’m far too much of a hobby butterfly at times but I’m sure I’ll get around to finishing mine sometime in the next decade or so. Completely agree that Glaurio Ven Alten III would be perfect conversion material for an Imperial Guard commander, another reason that I’m glad to see this game making a comeback – until now anything like that was too rare and expensive to try. Oh and how did I not notice Da Rock?! That’s a joke that’ll be wheeled out every time I play now! Fair play regarding Fembruary, you’ve done a fantastic job setting it up and nurturing it through the first few years but now I reckon it’s ready to stand on its own as part of the hobby calendar like Orktober.
😊 Thanks mate, on all counts – full disclosure, I painted them over Christmas & am stringing the posts out to cover this period 😂
I’m glad you said that re. Fembruary – I also think it time that is (hopefully) becomes its own thing. Fingers crossed eh? 🤞
No shame in that mate, I’ve been known to do the same thing if I’ve got a lot of stuff finished and I know a real-life busy spell is coming up. As for Fembruary I have every confidence that in years and decades to come there will be plenty of people participating who have no idea of where the idea originated, just that it’s something that they do every year because it’s part of the hobby calendar. Or maybe, if we’re really lucky, it’ll die out because painting female miniatures will no longer be something of note but just a normal part of every army. Either way I’ve got a big box full of female miniatures I’m going to try to batter through again this year. :-)
Oh wow. Outstanding work again on a couple of really good sculpts. Jelsen’s overall air of menace really comes through thanks to the muted colours and battered armour, and Glaurio is just a masterpiece of getting every detail spot on, from his expression to the creases in his boots. Absolutely magnificent painting.
Aw, thanks mate, that’s really kind 😊
Very nice! :-) I really like ’em!
Cheers dude 😊👍
They’re spectacular. Darrock has a lot of Blanchitsu vibe, I love your paintjob there. And I agree, Glaurio is just perfect for a Rogue Trader or any other kind of 40K character of the like!
Cheers mate, they’re fab minis for sure & such a pleasure to paint – glad you like ‘em dude 🤘😊
Both are probably my top two hero minis in the box. Darrock was hands down my favourite and almost the entire reason I nearly picked up the box (I’m still tempted to eBay it but I already have the father/daughter witch hunters, so I’m not as eager now). Such a good sculpt and I love the way you painted the armour on him.
Cheers mate, yup, deffo a top tier pair… You’ve got me thinking I should go pick up those other witch hunters too! 😁
Smashing work on both figures mate, especially the metallic’s and rust.
Fully understand about Fem’bruary, I’ve got a couple of fig’s to paint up for it (and more ordered, but it looks like they wont be here in time anyway 4 to 8 weeks post time!!!). For some reason this year looks like it’ll be a bugg*r for a lot of us hobby wise.
Cheers Roger
Cheers mate & no worries – busy times I’m afraid to say!
Pingback: Sending a Signal that it’s Fembruary – Suburban Militarism
Fantastic work on these yet again, Alex! Once again yoiu’ve pulled off the dark and grimy without looking boring look on these guys. There’s also some really good ideas for the heroes to be non-duplicated in that near-mandatory second copy of Cursed City.
Cheers again mate – there certainly are a few I’ll be picking up as singles & converting 😉