I picked up this board game not too long ago, and I decided to paint the miniatures as part of my “Paint 100 Miniatures You Already Own Before Buying Anything New” challenge to myself. As of my last post, I had only painted two miniatures so far this year. Pretty dismal output, but hopefully that’s on the upswing.
As you can see, these miniatures aren’t too bad. They’re about 40mm or so, but don’t quote me on that as I didn’t actually measure them. The game is based on the first (and best) Indiana Jones movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark. You can play as Indy, Marion, Sallah, or Marcus Brody (who else were they gonna choose, Jock?).
Here are my painted versions.
I’m mostly happy with them, except I might need to tidy up Indy’s raccoon eyes a bit. The astute among you may notice this game (which I haven’t played) comes with some kind of apparatus for tipping the hourglass, which presumably contains the eponymous Sands of Adventure. I plan on painting this too, maybe as part of the Season of Scenery.
But wait! There’s more! Not one to miss an opportunity, I decided that while I was painting these, I could paint their smaller counterparts, i.e., these old Indiana Jones TSR Miniatures from 1985. After all, I was using the right colors already…
As you can see, most of these miniatures suck. They’re also made of that shitty metal TSR used in their miniatures line. I have railed about this shitty metal before, that it’s prone to metal rot and seemingly defies paint. The miniatures I have are actually rot-free (so far), so I wasted no time in priming and rebasing them.
Anyone else notice Indy can tie his shoes without bending over? Look at the arms on him!
The boxed set contains miniatures from the first two movies. I decided to paint the Raiders miniatures first. I’ll get to Temple of Doom soon. The first three were conveniently also part of the Sands of Adventure game, so I painted them right alongside each other.
Some folks will never have their face melted off for gazing upon the true face of God, and then there’s these three: L-R: Colonel Deitrich, Belloq and Toht. I lost count of how many times I re-primed and painted Toht’s hat brim. Damn thing just didn’t want to accept paint at all.
This little project brought my total painted miniatures this year from 2 to 12 (so far). Still not a great output, but I’m on my way. In other news, I’m also challenging myself to “Read 100 Books You Own Before You Buy Any New Books”. I’m on book 22 so far, and I’m reading stuff that’s been on my to-be-read shelf for years (in some cases, decades), so I seem to be doing better at that.
Fantastic work on both sets Keith, you’ve captured the character of each of them with your painting, especially on the TSR models, as you had a lot less to work with. 12 models is not a bad total mate, and as they say the only way is up from there, and 22 books already is impressive mate.
Appreciate the kind words, Dave. But I look at the output of guys like you and IRO and Azazel and I feel a deep sense of shame. 🙂 I gotta get my ass in gear for next month…for as you know…it’s MONSTER MAY(HEM)!!!!!
Excellent paintjobs all round I’d say, especially considering the diminutive size of some of those figures. I was given a demo of the Indy boardgame at a convention in London last year, and can’t say I was taken with the hourglass/shifting sand gimmick. Tbh, the rest of it sounded okay. But that one thing made me walk about after a 10 min demo – much to the chap’s annoyance I’d wager.
I seem to recall being a fan of the TSR Indy game myself. I own a few of the expansions too, with Indiana Jones and the Rising Sun being my fave – though I think that was published after TSR lost/dropped the licence..? Good nostalgic trip mind, and I may now have to dig them out. LOL!!
Thanks, Simon! I’m actually working on a new adventure for the old TSR Indy game. My last post was all about how crazy that is, but I’m still doing it. Not a great game, but unjustly vilified, IMHO.
Nice paint job on these decent metal models. If making adventures for a dead RPG is making your creative juices flowing then why not? You could always use house rules to spice it up a bit.
Thanks, Jon! I may have to do that, as there are some pretty big gaps in the rules. For example, you can shoot at a vehicle just like a person, and you roll to see how much damage you do. So presumably, Indy could fire away with his .45 and blow out the engine block of a pursuing car (unlikely). However, let’s say Indy had a bazooka and shot the same car. He has no greater chance of destroying the car than if he used his .45!
That’s silly. Would the car always explode if he enough times? Little known fact, Germans filled their tires with gas. I am hoping you continue your passion for all things Indy till May so you can paint up some monsters. I haven’t watched the TV series, maybe Young Indiana Jones encounters a Wendigo or Loch Ness?
Good ideas, and there’s a bit of the supernatural in the scenario I’m writing, too…Monster May(hem) will soon be upon us, and I haven’t forgotten about it. Get your monsters ready!