"Here's a Clue" - Hellboy Clue Tokens I

And the last clue...will be left by the late Professor Broom...

~ Hellboy Script


Well hello people of the Caesura-verse! Welcome to another Friday on The Art of Caesura!

Thanks again to everyone who has linked or commented on my detailed breakdown of the new Contrast Paints as I said before, the response from the community has been really exciting! Since I wrote that article, much more information has come to light regarding the new paint, so it will be really fun to see what everyone thinks of it when we all have it in our hands on June 15th. 

Now, back to the pre-Contrast world! Today we're looking at half of the "Clue Markers" from Hellboy: The Board Game!

In the game, as in the comics, the agents spend the first half of the mission creeping around, bopping frog-monsters / Nazis and investigating clues to give them an edge when it comes to the big boss fight at the end. What represents the clues they are investigating, you ask? Well lean in closer...

Something we hadn't really got a good look at, before the Kickstarter ended, were the Clue Tokens (which are just cardboard tokens in the retail version) so I was delighted to see the 9 unique miniatures representing clues! A really nice element of these is that they're generic enough to use in other miniature games, but still have a solid Mignola vibe.

The chest above is a good example of this: chests are ubiquitous in dungeon crawlers (and I could equally use this in Conan, Zombicide, or Age of Sigmar - even Necromunda - to represent some old and valuable relic), but this one is just stylized enough (with the broad, almost "cartoony" wood-grain) to really shine in the world of Hellboy.

This chest was super duper fast. I'd say I finished it in about 10 min (and this is before Contrast Paints). Doombull Brown over a black undercoat was shaded with Agrax Earthshade and then drybrushed by adding more and more Ushabti Bone to the brown. The handles were Leadbelcher -> Nuln Oil -> Runefang Steel.

The skeletons are delightfully Mignola with their big eye-sockets and broad details.

I painted the stones with a 50:50 mix of Abaddon Black and White Scar and then washed them with a mix of Druchii Violet and Drakenhoff Nightshade before giving it an allover wash of Nuln Oil and then a drybrush of the initial grey. The skellies are Ushabti Bone, Agrax Earthshade and then highlighted back up with Ushabti and White.

And last and MOST is a little box of untold secret treasures! 

I originally painted the box with the same brown wood tone as the treasure chest up top but it wasn't quite...ominous enough. So I started over. I painted the emblem Mephiston Red and then watered down Abaddon black and painted over the brown so that just a teensy weensy bit of brown was showing through. My idea was to make it look like a lacquered dark wood with red embossment. 

The hinges were painted with Retributor Armour and washed with Druchii Violet. The plinth was painted like the stone that the skeletons are resting on above. 

I finished off the mysterious box with a lick of gloss varnish to enhance the "lacquered wood" finish. 

And there you have it, a good start on the Clue Markers for Hellboy: The Board Game, tune in next time as we investigate more clues on The Art of Caesura!

Gaming: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Reading: The Huntress - Kate Quinn

Drinking: "Here's Johnny West Coast IPA" - Wicklow Wolf Brewing Company

Next Week:

Gimmy another clue...