This week began with a blizzard here in Massachusetts that dumped a ridiculous amount of snow on us in roughly 24 hours. Although we knew it was coming, the actual snowfall far exceeded projections. We are a state that doesn’t tremble at the thought of snow. It’s hardly our first or (even our hundredth) rodeo.
Still, this was a cast-iron bitch of a storm, and although it ended on Monday evening, it will take weeks to clean up. My town got close to 40″ of snow, but the drifts in my yard were well above five feet. It took me a full day to snow blow and shovel my driveway and property, and at 53 years of age, let me tell you it sure sucked. There’s no parking anywhere in the city where I work (it got more snow than I did), so I stayed home most of the week. So did everyone else.
You would think that would give me plenty of time to focus on my hobbies, but not really. I was so exhausted and sore that I just wanted to sit there and not move. After gripping a snowblower all day, it’s not like I could hold a paintbrush steady, either.
But that’s over, and March approaches. Time to get the units ready for painting. “Forced March” is upon us!
Here is a list of all those who have confirmed they are participating in my new challenge, which, as a reminder, is to paint a unit of infantry or cavalry in the month of March. Any scale, any genre…but I define a unit as “more than one model belonging to a group designed to deploy and function together in combat.” While technically units can be a single model (such as a vehicle, artillery piece or a monster), I’m hoping for at least three models.
But of course, there aren’t any miniature painting police here, so do what you want.
and a newcomer this year, whose name I do not know, but who has thus far not lived up to their namesake, @horridperson!
If I missed anyone, or if anyone else wants to take part, you need only let me know in the comments below, or drop me an an email at angrypiper@angrypiper.com, or PM me on Instagram @angrypiper. I will add your name and website/IG account (if applicable) to the blogroll forthwith! If you don’t have either of those and still want to take part, no problem! I’ll host your images here on this very site.
Let’s get priming (if you haven’t done so already)!
I’m still working on a project I started in December with the intent of finishing by the end of 2025. As you can see, that hasn’t happened. I just can’t seem to paint for long periods of time, and this project contains 20 miniatures. (That’s half of what was originally planned, by the way.)
Painting such a large number of miniatures is something I haven’t done in a long time, and it got me thinking about starting a new challenge for March, entitled, appropriately enough, “Forced March”. What are the rules?
Paint an infantry or cavalry unit in March. This can be any size unit, although I feel like it should be more than a one-model unit (like a giant, for example). Vehicles are allowed, but again, preferably more than one. So, a squad of Eldar jet bikes is fine, but a Leman Russ is just being lazy. This can be for any game and in any scale.
So these Dwarfs would work.
Ditto for these Klingons.
Or these Colonial Marines.
Or even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They’re a unit, too, right?
Let me know if you want to participate and as usual, I’ll link your blog/site/Instagram account when the challenge commences! At the rate I’m painting, I likely won’t be doing anything too ambitious, myself. I’m hoping another challenge might kick me in the pants and jazz me up, because Monster May(hem) will be here before you know it!
For my last submission to Forgotten Heroes this year, I present: The Escapist!
The Escapist first appeared in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay, Michael Chabon’s fantastic novel published in 2000. He’s the fictional character created by a couple of Jewish cousins working in the comics industry back in the 1930’s, the Golden Age of Comics. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Kavalier and Klay are an homage to the creators of Superman, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, only Siegel and Shuster weren’t cousins and Siegel (to my knowledge) wasn’t gay.
If you haven’t read this book, I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s a novel about persecution, fear, Jewish identity, family, love, perseverance and heroes, both real and created. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Chabon won a Pulitzer Prize for it in 2001. Three years later, Dark Horse Comics published a series of comics, Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist, which featured stories about the character written and drawn by different comic creators. I don’t have any, but I wish I did.
But what about The Escapist himself? Because it’s early and I have to go to work, I’ll cut and paste Wikipedia for the benefit of all.
The character’s modus operandi is part of a recurring theme of escapism in the novel, representing the imaginative and positive effects of escapism in superhero comics as well as Kavalier and Clay’s attempts to escape from the troubles of their past. Joe Kavalier has fled to America from Nazi-occupied Prague in Europe, leaving the rest of his family behind. Unable to help them, he starts fleeing from himself and everyone trying to get close to him. Sam Clay also wants to escape from himself – both his polio-stricken body and repressed homosexuality.
The Escapist’s true identity is Tom Mayflower. He is the crippled nephew of escape artist Max Mayflower (who performs under the stage name of Misterioso). When Max is fatally shot while performing onstage, he reveals that he isn’t his real uncle, having rescued him from a cruel orphanage as a baby. He gives Tom a golden key and a costume, explaining that he was recruited long ago by a mysterious organization called the League of the Golden Key to fight tyranny and free the oppressed. With his dying breath, Max commissions Tom to carry on his work. As long as Tom is wearing the costume and the key, he finds that he is no longer lame of leg and can perform amazing feats of escapology. Tom uses his powers to fight crime under the guise of the Escapist, especially against the evil forces of the mysterious criminal network, the Iron Chain.
To make The Escapist, I used this Animal Man Heroclix as a base miniature. He’s pretty much perfect.
From there, it was an easy paint job, as The Escapist’s costume is a black/grey skintight leotard and a TMNT-style bandanna domino. Not hard.
Although I was happy with the result, he looked somewhat blah, so I added the chains. It’s an actual necklace (worthless, of course) that I clipped and superglued into a pile at his feet. One quick metallic drybrush later, and voila! The Escapist has escaped!
That’s it for Forgotten Heroes 2025. Thanks as always to Jeremy for hosting it. I’ll be making the rounds to everyone’s blog to see their contributions and heap well-deserved praise upon them!
I’ve always been a huge fan of the Heroes for Hire (especially Power Man), so I have a near-complete run of Luke Cage, Power Man and Power Man and Iron Fist. Power Man and Iron Fist have (or at least had) very few recurring villains, but Chemistro was an exception. No less than three guys have called themselves Chemistro. Luke Cage fought the first two on his own before partnering up with Iron Fist for the third.
The first Chemistro, Curtis Carr, was a chemist who invented an “alchemy gun”, with which he could turn stuff into other stuff. His bosses claimed it as company property, so he stole it back and used it to get revenge. He blew his own foot off with it in the process, and Power Man sent him to the slammer.
While in there, he was cellmates with a guy named Archibald Morton, who forced Carr to reveal the secret of the alchemy gun. Morton tried to build one himself, but since he’s a dummy and not a scientist, it exploded in his hand. This gave him the powers of the alchemy gun without the gun. He also ran afoul of Luke Cage and lost.
The third Chemistro is Curtis’s younger brother Calvin, who stole a new gun and tried his hand at being a criminal until Power Man and Iron Fist shut him down with the help of Curtis, who didn’t want his younger brother doing crimes. As far as Chemistro’s history goes, that’s as much as I know, but he’s apparently still around. Check Wikipedia for updates if so inclined.
To make Chemistro, I used this Thunderball Heroclix as a base model. I mean, you can’t do better than this. He’s not even carrying his wrecking ball, so I don’t have to remove it.
I slapped on a retro raygun bit I had in the bitz box, and voila! One repaint and rebase later, and here’s Chemistro!
I’m hoping to get my last one done over the weekend for posting on the 30th. There’s a little more work involved with that one, but the costume is easy to paint. Fingers crossed!
For my first submission to Forgotten Heroes 2025, I present The Man Who Cannot Die, The Phantom!
One of the first costumed superheroes, the Phantom debuted in 1936 and is still in syndication in newspaper strips today. He was the first hero to wear a skintight suit, and the first to have eyes with no visible pupils. There was a movie that came out in 1996 starring Billy Zane that I know I’ve seen but can’t remember anything about, and a Scifi channel miniseries that I know I haven’t seen.
The Phantom is actually a title, not a name: twenty-one generations of the Walker family have worn the suit. Since it’s passed down from generation to generation, the myth developed that the Phantom is immortal. From Wikipedia:
The Phantom was 21st in a line of crime-fighters which began in 1536, when the father of British sailor Christopher Walker was killed during a pirate attack. Swearing an oath on the skull of his father’s murderer to fight evil, Christopher began a legacy of the Phantom which would pass from father to son. Nicknames for the Phantom include “The Ghost Who Walks”, “Guardian of the Eastern Dark” and “The Man Who Cannot Die”.[6]
Unlike many other superheroes, the Phantom has no superpowers; he relies on his strength, intelligence, skill at arms (he carries two holstered handguns, a revolver and a 1911 .45 autopistol, one on each hip, and is an expert marksman with both), and the myth of his immortality to take action against the forces of evil. The 21st Phantom is married to Diana Palmer; they met while he studied in the United States and they have two children, Kit and Heloise. He has a trained wolf named Devil and a horse named Hero, and like the 20 previous Phantoms he lives in the ancient Skull Cave.
To make the Phantom, I used this Daredevil Heroclix. I cut off the billy clubs and up-gunned him by giving him twin machine pistols. The bottom parts of the clubs now look like ammo clips.
Pretty much all that was left to do was repaint him, although I removed a good part of his billy holster and filed down his horns first. (I didn’t care enough to give him a second holster, though). Looks like I missed a spot on his left toe. I’ll fix it, but I’m not taking the pictures again.
There’s quite a bit of variation in his costume colors. A quick Google search shows his signature purple suit varies between royal purple to pastel lavender, and the stripes on his briefs have been blue, red or yellow. I stuck with the blue.
The Phantom was created by Lee Falk, who died in 1999. Fun story: In 1993, I was 21 years old and working in a comic shop. I had occasion to spend a fair bit of time with a woman 17 years my senior who worked for a major advertising firm in New York. Once, while we were not doing what we usually did when we saw each other, she mentioned that I should meet her friend Lee sometime, since I was into comics. She described him as a lovely old guy. She met him while doing marketing work for King Features Syndicate, who owned, among other things, The Phantom. Yes, she meant that Lee, and no, I never met him.
Anyway, imagine my surprise when, researching this hero, I discovered that there has been a recent video game released featuring the character that looks awesome but has been described as an “experience in frustration” and a “barely functional mess”. Yikes.
Nyarlathotep… the crawling chaos… I am the last… I will tell the audient void…
For my second submission for Monster May(hem) 2025: I present a classic Grenadier miniature from 1985: Nyarlathotep (also known as the “Spawning Horror” once Grenadier stopped making Call of Cthulhu miniatures). I’ve had this miniature since it was released, so it’s great to free it from my pile of shame!
As you can see, the miniature is sculpted on a long, narrow base. I found a circular base wide enough to mount the miniature with no overhang, but that left a lot of extra space, so I added a few rocky bits with some green stuff before priming. I intended to make this a lava base, as Nyarlathotep, being the Messenger of the Great Old Ones, probably hangs out in inhospitable locales and wouldn’t be bothered all that much by lava.
Then I changed my mind and decided to make it a foul, swampy base, complete with Vallejo Water Effects you somehow can’t see in these pictures, but trust me, they’re there.
There’s a weird part of his back that I didn’t know how to paint, so I decided to make it the “three-lobed burning eye” referenced in Lovecraft’s story The Haunter in the Dark. Trouble was, there is an obvious slit in the middle which makes a “three-lobed eye” look dumb, so I just made it a big eye. Not totally happy with it, but whatever.
Nyarlathotep is the Lovecraftian Outer God that has the most interaction with humans, as he derives pleasure from corrupting and tormenting humanity. He offers forbidden knowledge and eldritch power in exchange for worship and depravity. Nyarlathotep is rumored to have over 1000 forms, including this one, known as the God of the Bloody Tongue, but he’s also happy to take human form as needed.
This miniature is actually pretty small, probably because it’s 25mm scale. If it were made today I’m sure it would be much larger, considering this form of Nyarlathotep is usually about the size of a house.
And finally, here’s a better look at the base. I’m glad I went with swamp over lava, but I’m annoyed my water effects aren’t visible in the pictures.
Monster May(hem) is at the halfway point, and we have some great stuff so far! Check out all our participants and their contributions so far!
Monster May(hem) continues until the end of May. I’m hoping to do at least one more, hopefully two. I’m keeping up with submissions and will post them here as they drop! Thanks to all!
My first submission for Monster May(hem) 2025 is this thing: the Avatar of the Abyss.
This miniature is from B=Sieged, a game released by Cool Mini or Not back in 2015. I don’t play B-Sieged and never have, but on one of my Miniature Market binges I tacked this guy onto my order as, IIRC, he was only like two bucks, probably because no one else ever played B-Sieged, either. CMON is notorious for releasing games and then abandoning them, so their miniatures often find themselves in online clearance bins. (They make some pretty good miniatures, so it’s often worth the wait.)
Anyway, I would have no reason whatsoever to paint this miniature were it not for Monster May(hem). I thought about which colors to choose for far too long before I just settled on painting him like the box art.
I’m not totally happy with the color transition on the abdomen. My guess is he’s meant to be belching forth fire or something. I used a wet-blending technique but I kind of rushed it. It will do, but it’s far from perfect.
This is one of the many miniatures I have collected over the years that I have no planned use for, had no real intention of painting, certainly did not need and probably shouldn’t have spent the money on (even though it was dirt cheap). That being said, he’s not bad-looking all painted up, and he took me less than two hours total to paint.
I kept the basing simple: just a grey drybrush over some black paint, with a few Army Painter scorched tufts thrown on for good measure.
One down, and at least one (or two) more to go. I have another miniature I’ve had since the late 80’s I want to paint, and another I’ve had for almost 15 years that I was going to get rid of, but decided to keep. (That one looks like a cast-iron bitch to assemble, though, so we’ll see if I can summon the patience.) And then, there’s that Dragon I was supposed to paint last year that I never got around to…
Here is the blogroll of participants thus far, meaning those who have let me know they want to take part. From the blogosphere:
Dave, from Wargames Terrain Workshop, painted a Dewback (I was considering painting one of these myself, Dave!), and if I know Dave, he’s not done yet;
If nothing else, this random miniature from my pile of shame has got me painting again, so that’s something. Looking forward to seeing what everyone does! I’ll update this list periodically, but don’t let that stop you from checking out all these blogs and IG accounts yourself. As always, there’s a lot of talent here!
No big surprises there. These are my peeps, after all, although I’m thrilled that Monster May(hem) has lured Matt out of the wilds of Vermont to join us again after a year’s absence!
Anyone else who wants to take part need only let me know in the comments below, or drop me an an email at angrypiper@angrypiper.com, or PM me on Instagram @angrypiper. I will add your name and website/IG account (if applicable) to the blogroll forthwith! If you don’t have either of those and still want to take part, no problem! I’ll host your images here on this very site.
Like last year I plan on making every effort to be in The Paint Pit channel of my Discord server this month while I work on my monsters. That’s usually between the hours of 5:30-7:30 PM (EST) on weekdays here in the States, and anytime I can get to myself on the weekends. Can’t promise I’ll be there every day, but if I’m not, feel free to hang out and meet some of the other participants, if so inclined. Don’t have an invitation to my Discord server and want one? Read this first, and then contact me.
Without further ado, Gentlemen (and Lady), PAINT YOUR MONSTERS!!!!
Hi. I’m The Angry Piper. You might remember me as a guy who used to paint stuff. Not so much these days, but if I can’t get off my ass for what’s fast approaching, then I should just hang up my painting kilt for good. May is upon us, and that can mean only one thing. It’s Monster May(hem) yet again!
Veterans of Monster May(hem) will recall that it is a painting challenge I host annually in May (duh), which focuses on painting monsters. It is open to both old-school blog scrollers and new-fangled Instagrammers. Monster May(hem) does not discriminate.
What is Monster May(hem)? Why, it’s the month you paint monsters, of course. Any monster will do, although it should be a proper MONSTER, something big and mean. I mean something truly beastly; like a manticore or a hydra or a giant, irradiated chicken. Your monster(s) doesn’t have to be strictly a fantasy miniature, and it may be any scale and from any manufacturer. For example, I painted those wampas last year (and not much since.)
How many monsters you paint is up to you. The minimum is one, of course; but feel free to do as many as you like. The only caveat is that they get painted sometime in May. I will link to your stuff throughout the month, and (if it’s not there already) add your blog/website/social media to the blogroll on the side! If you don’t have a site of your own and still want to participate, I’ll happily host your pictures here and ensure you get proper attribution! (And I’ll be much better about it than I was with the Year of the Dragon challenge last year.)
So if you’re in, let me know in the comments below or reach out on Instagram. I’ll post the list of participants in the next post. Until then, go find some monsters to paint!
I know. I already have a post entitled “How Not to Host a Painting Challenge.” Turns out I suck at hosting painting challenges, because I had an entire fucking year to paint a dragon, and I failed. This dead dragon represents my efforts. It’s a resin piece by Dave Stone. I completed it for the Season of Scenery in 2022. (I failed to take part in the Season of Scenery last year, one of the many things at which I failed.)
Now, lest anyone think I didn’t put in ANY effort whatsoever, I planned on painting this classic Sandra Garrity T’Char, Dragon of Flame and Fury. This is how far I got.
I was going to prime him (I’ve decided T’Char identifies as male) white, because I was going to paint him blue. Screw Dragon of Flame and Fury, I have enough red dragons. Now I think I’m going to prime him black after all, because I’ve reconsidered the blue (but he still won’t be red). I filled all the gaps but left the wings off, because while I was fitting them it became obvious that if I glued them to the body prior to painting, I would have problems painting and shading.
Then, I set about finding stuff to add to the base. I added some Nolzur’s treasure piles. but I still have more space to fill. If I was a talented sculptor (like Dave or Roger) I could sculpt some more treasure piles, but I’m not, so I didn’t. Instead, I decided to use the “dungeon dressing” bits from an old Kickstarter I backed, along with an assortment of weapons and stuff to round out the treasure hoard.
That was in late November, when I knew I had to get on the stick and paint this fucking dragon, because I only had a month.
I recently reorganized my “miniatures I will never paint before I die” (aka my miniatures), and one of the boxes I labeled clearly indicated that the dungeon dressing bits were inside. They weren’t. That set me off on a quest to find where I put them. A quest that took me two weeks, because of course it was in the last place I looked, because WHY THE FUCK WOULD I PUT DUNGEON DRESSING BITS IN WITH MY OLD WEST PROJECT (which I also will not complete before I die)?
I blame gin. Or whiskey. Something alcoholic, anyway. Like me.
I’ll get it done eventually, and I’ll post it. Just know the shame is real.
My 2024 painting output has been dismal. 43 miniatures. On the plus side, I managed to paint the miniatures for three board games (one of which I actually managed to play): Indiana Jones: Sands of Adventure, Horrified!, and Alien: Fate of the Nostromo. I painted all the old TSR Adventures of Indiana Jones miniatures, something I’m guessing not many folks have done. I even painted two of Dave Stone’s cowboys, which means I now have painted all of Dave Stone’s cowboys (the ones that are human, anyway). I hosted Monster May(hem) without fucking it up and took part in Forgotten Heroes, which is my favorite painting challenge. (When I stop doing that, you know I’m either done for good or dead.)
On the downside, I painted 43 miniatures, which is disgraceful by almost any standard. (Unless you’re one of those unbelievably talented folks who spends six weeks on a miniature and it looks FUCKING ALIVE when you’re done. I’m not one of those people.) I also pretty much dropped off the blogosphere (although I have been active –somewhat–on Instagram), so I am 100% sure I missed some Year of the Dragon submissions, and failed to give proper recognition. I know Dave did more than one dragon (and I’m guessing he probably made at least one himself), but I haven’t been around to see. If you’re so inclined, drop your submissions in the comments section here. I deeply apologize for missing them.
In my defense, 2024 has been a fucking year here in the States (and everywhere else). It’s been tough to focus on anything that brings me joy. To say I have been unmotivated is an understatement. Every year around this time I make some hobby resolutions. I’m not gonna do that this year, since I’ve pretty much failed at the ones I’ve made for the past five years or so. I’ll paint what I paint, I guess.
As far as gaming goes, I’ve actually made some progress. I ended my self-imposed isolation from gaming to run a few games last year: some old-school Marvel Super Heroes and Star Frontiers, some OSL Lamentations of the Flame Princess, a session of Slasher Flick, a session of Hard City, and a couple of sessions of my own original 1970’s Street Crime RPG (to be released at some point). All these game sessions were virtual. I wrote several gaming scenarios for various games, including a new one for my game, entitled “Nicky Fucks Up”. I even got to PLAY in a game rather than run it for a change: a session of Dragonbane, which, despite having anthropomorphic ducks in it, I found to be really fun and a great system I would like to run in future. I’m committing to running at least one campaign in 2025. I even have four players already.
I really enjoyed the “Year of Pop Culture” in 2023, and I have a bunch of miniatures to paint that I didn’t get to back then, so why not bring it back for 2025? I’m not promising anything, mind you. Just considering.
I hope to be around a bit more going forward. Happy New Year, everyone.
