Weekly WIP: Batman Miniature Game Armoured Joker Thug

by Tyler Provick · April 12, 2016

Armoured Clown from Batman Miniature Game

It feels good to be back painting miniatures. Sure, I’ve explained to people that I would prefer to paint miniatures over less creative activities like watching TV. The other day, after finishing my first painting session in a long while I really felt how deeply that preference runs. For months I’ve had this nagging feeling in the back of my head that kept telling me to paint. After struggling with spent brushes and too-glossy paint I just did have the energy to go back to the painting table and the feeling grew worse and worse.

Batman Miniature Game Armoured Joker Clown

I don’t know what it is about this model that is making it such a chore to paint. I think partially the model contains so many vertical surfaces which I always find a change to shade and highlight realistically. Each night I’m only able to work on a small section at a time before I have to move on to the next. It may not even be obvious what has changed between the two pictures. In the second picture I have finished the gold on his hat and painted his hand wraps.

The hand wraps were another indication of what bothers me about the miniature. The detail is a little rough, forcing me to decide how the wraps are separated while dealing with difficult to clean mold-lines.

I don’t want to come down too hard on these miniatures. While there are definitely issues with sculpting and casting which makes painting less enjoyable the end result is worth the pain. I am starting to regret my goal of painting every miniature for the Batman Miniature Game to the best of my ability. While it made sense with Batman and Nightwing it is making less sense when I look at all the Joker henchmen I need to paint to reach 350 points. If there weren’t so many amazing painters I am determined to impress at my local store I would seriously consider reducing the quality, at least on the henchmen.

Still, this guy is almost done and then I’ll be able get started on the man himself: The Joker.