Painting Who Goes There? 2nd Ed.

Here are the minis included with the game. While there aren’t a lot of them, there is a lot of other game components. Overall the quality is very good. Some gaming boards could use better quality card stock. They could even have been done in plastic. Nonetheless a deluxe feeling game.

Rulebook layout is a bit strange and will be a pain to search through while in game. However, the rules don’t seem that complicated. There is only a lot of different cards that do each a different thing and they almost all have a chapter dedicated to them. I haven’t played it yet so we will see.

The minis themselves are pretty good. There wasn’t a lot of cleaning needing to be done. They are also pretty big. I’d say about 40mm and I really dig the comic style.

For those who didn’t know, like me, ”Who Goes There?” was the title of the novel which inspired John Carpenter’s ”The Thing” movie. In the first scene of that movie a norwegian research team pursue a running dog in the antarctic winter. I won’t spoil the movie more than that. 😀

Well here is that dog. You cannot play it in the game. It is only used as a turn marker.

I used some different techniques here. First, I wet blended my dark grey brown with pure black. I then highlighted everything with fine strokes of lighter colors trying to mimic fur strands. Culminating with pure white on the top of the fur. Some different glazes were also added to blend everything together. In retrospect I should have looked at some reference picture as a husky’s fur is the other way around with the lighter hues on its belly etc. Anyway I think it still looks like a sled dog and people in my gaming group seem to get it immediately.

What do you think?

This is the main protagonist of the novel/movie. Not played him yet but he was really fun to paint. The size of the mini allowed me to practice more advanced techniques more easily. Like 2-brush blending for example. I also tried to recreate the comic looks by using inks and Citadel Constrast paints.

I tried to give a weathered look to the fuel tanks on his back. I first basecoated them with a reddish brown. I then stippled the colors and highlights onto them. Final touch was a thinned down orange to simulate rust. I really like the effect. This technique will stay in my cookbook!

Finally, tried to do an OSL effect on the tip of the flamethrower. Didn’t really work. The light source is too small and not apparent enough. Will have to try harder on other more appropriate minis.

This is Benning the aircraft mechanic. In the movie he is one of the first victim of the Thing. In the boardgame he’s part of an add-on that was available in the Kickstarter campaign.

He was very straightforward to paint. I painted his pants and coat with P3 Greacoat Grey and then 2-brush blended some white in there.

I am really proud of his glasses. I again used Greatcoat Grey for the frame and did a non-metallic method on this. I have to say I think I’m getting the hang of this. Not the easiest of techniques for sure. I did his eyes with Liquitex inks and added details with Citadel’s Telassar Blue contrasts. This is a technique that you will see often in this projet as most of the characters wear glasses. Well, they are scientists so I guess this is fitting.

Barclay doesn’t appear in the movie. However, he must be in the ”Who goes there?” novel. I have no idea since I didn’t read it. It is on my reading list though. The closest role in the movie would be Windows as he seems to be the radio operator of the antarctic base. He is the second character which I got in the single add-on which I bought for the game.

Barclay was also pretty straightforward mini to paint. I used P3’s Jackbone for his pants and Rucksack Tan for his coat. I added a wash of Citadel’s Agaros Dunes to his coat and then highlighted from there. His glasses were done the same way as Benning’s were.

Kinner is part of the core game. In the movies the character of Nauls seems to be the best match. However, he somehow changed skin color in the game version and lost his roller skates 😀 .

The mini itself was pretty straightforward to paint. However, his green jacket was a bit challenging. Green is not an easy color to pull off. I used a basecoat of P3 Gnarls Green and then put on a wash of Citadel’s Coelia Greenshade. Then built up the layers from there with P3 Gnarls and Ioasan Green. Final highlights were done by adding some basic yellow into the Ioason Green.

Seems my camera had the same trouble as me taking the picture. The real deal is better looking in my opinion.

This is maybe the mini that is closest to the characters of the movie. Maybe except the moustache.

While the mini looks pretty straightforward, it was the one who gave me the most problems. I first basecoated his shirt and pants with P3 Rucksack Tan. I then added a wash of Citadel Agaros Dune. After that, I redid the midtones etc. with Rucksack Tan. That is where my problems started. The contrast was too stark, not enough transition. I know that it’s supposed to be a comic book style but trust me it didn’t work. After adding coats after coats of Rucksack Tan this is the end result. In retrospect, I should have simply basecoated in Rucksack Tan and highlighted from there.

What’s the saying? Hindsight is 20/20…

Another one who strays far from the movie. Maybe it sticks more closely to the novel version. I’ll try and find out by reading the damn thing once and for all. 🙂

The mini was really fun to paint. I really like the finish I was able to get on the first aid box. It was my first time using Molotow paints or inks. Don’t really know how they should be classified. For those who don’t know, Molotow One4All are a kind of markers that you can use on pretty much any surface. However, you can buy just the refill bottles and use them to paint your stuff. Marco Frisoni, uses them often on his YouTube channel. I really like the ultramat finish they produce and the viscosity and coverage is perfect. No thinning needed they go on with a single coat.

His coat was challenging as I didn’t want the blue to be too bright. In the end I think I nailed the kind of shiny fabric arctic exploration coats were made of during the 80s. His glasses are also very good if I may say so myself. 🙂 Although I struggled with the frame, which I still don’t like. But sometimes you have to finish your mini.

With that last mini, I painted everything that I own for this board game. Unfortunately, I still haven’t played the darned thing.

I planned to play it for Halloween but the big bad COVID almost struck me and my girlfriend (knock on wood). A quick test revealed us to be negative but we were still down for the count with a cold. Since we didn’t want to contaminate our guests and all the troubles that this entails, we cancelled our Halloween evening.

I guess Ben will have to wait for his battle report. Still the holidays are coming. You never know! 🙂

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with these group shots.

Cheers!