Staff Hobby – Marvel: Crisis Protocol Alliances – Night of the Goblin 

The world of Marvel: Crisis Protocol Alliances – Night of the Goblin practically leaps off the comic page! Peter Parker, Miles Morales, Black Cat, and Ghost Spider swing through New York while the Green Goblin and his minions turn the city into their own chaotic playground. Every miniature is dynamic, packed with attitude, and shows off the personality that makes these characters instantly recognizable.

Better yet, getting them onto the table is a breeze due to our F.A.S.T. mini technology. The miniatures are produced in colored plastic, so players can assemble their team and dive straight into the action without painting a single web line or gobliny grin.

Of course, some hobbyists may see that as less of a finish line and more of an open invitation. With a cast this iconic, every miniature offers a chance to put your own spin on the game. You can recreate a classic costume or even pull inspiration from comics, animation, or video games. After all, it is your tabletop, and there is no rule saying your heroes can’t save New York in style.

To get those creative webs spinning, we asked self proclaimed “web-heads” Will Shick and Dallas Kemp to share how they personalized their own copies of Night of the Goblin. Through alternate costumes and a few self imposed challenges, each created a distinct take on the game’s heroes, villains, and goblin fueled chaos.

Will Shick – VP Creative Development & Strategy

“When approaching painting the Night of the Goblin miniatures, I knew I largely wanted to stick to color schemes inspired by the amazing artwork from our Art Director Josh Colon and artist Patrick Brown. I wanted my minis to be bright, bold, and fully saturated with color, so they would look right at home on the comic animated stage boards.

I really have to hand it to the sculptors and our incredible engineering team as not only are these minis a breeze to assemble thanks to the new F.A.S.T. system they innovated, but the ease of assembly doesn’t stop these miniatures from being filled with character and some really dynamic poses.

To keep the time to paint the set to a reasonable 8-12 hours, I relied on a combination of airbrush, oil wash, and traditional brush techniques to get great results fast, by using each tool to maximize its strengths and cover for the others’ drawbacks. This process also meant that I got to really practice at all three, and the process really helped me grow my own personal skill and individual approach to my hobby.

Despite largely following the visuals in the artwork, I did decide to stretch myself in a couple of fun challenging ways. The first was that I decided to not use any true metallics while painting this set. I felt that all things considered, using non-metallic metal techniques would lean even more into the illustrated comic and hand drawn sprite style that inspired the game. And it was a nice self-contained set to push myself to learn a technique I have commonly avoided in my hobby journey.

The second challenge was something that came about through talking with Dallas about the project. We both decided that it would be fun if we each chose a couple of characters to do alternate color schemes on, again to evoke the classic video game tradition of having alternate costumes during character selection.

I decided to pick Miles and Gwen for my two alts, leaning into Miles’ Spin hero persona. The chance to also practice painting really poppy primary yellow was also a great opportunity to improve my hobby skills.

For Gwen I really had to do a lot of image searching to find some solid inspiration, but eventually I landed on creating something that draws from a few different inspirations but is well and truly my own interpretation of her costume. Add in the fact that I got to use my favorite magenta colors and she is probably my favorite of the hero bunch. Though I did get to use a new technique on Black Cat that I will be using much, much more in the future when painting black suited Marvel characters utilizing the airbrush and transparent inks.

All in all, being able to work on Night of the Goblin has only made me more excited and eager to get my hands on the X-Men and Sentinels coming next year in the aptly named Attack of the Sentinels. I’ve already got some ideas for some alternate costume ideas and am excited to put what I learned from this experience to the test with the next batch of heroes and villains.”

Dallas Kemp – Creative Director

“Painting the miniatures for Night of the Goblin has been something I have eagerly awaited since seeing the final sculpts for the first time. Looking at these new iterations of the characters, I was immediately excited to get my hands on the minis and get some paint on them for the tabletop.

The sculpts are so dynamic and show quite a bit of growth on the sculpting team and how we approach the miniature design process. Not only that, but the new press fit engineering, or what we like to call F.A.S.T., was a new puzzle for the team to tackle. This led to some interesting design thoughts and philosophy that will carry us into the future. As we continue to develop the tech for the AMG style of miniatures, we will see more of that development.

I decided to lean into the compatible nature of Marvel: Crisis Protocol Alliances with Marvel: Crisis Protocol and convert the bases of all my Night of the Goblin miniatures to have a more street-like feel to match my MCP collection. To accomplish this, I used a scribing tool to etch concrete panels into the bases before attaching the miniatures. Then I used hobby bricks and texture paste to fill out the concept of the battle on the bases.

This little touch adds so much to the miniatures and really helps personalize the pieces. That is the unique aspect of the miniature hobby: personalization. I am eager to explore that more in the future…keep your eyes out.

For painting, Will Shick and I discussed doing some alternate and classic costumes for our project to lean into the arcade idea of alternate costumes you would unlock. I really wanted a classic Black Cat, as this new sculpt is very dynamic and shows Felicia in such a strong, characterful way. So, classic costume it was, with a base of blue and a wash of black for the basic suit.

Gwen was also done in classic style with the white, black, and magenta scheme. But as I was painting her, a new idea came to mind and I just could not resist adding in a second paint job for Ghost-Spider in a full white costume with magenta trim. I love having the same character painted differently so I can pick my vibe when we play games at home.

My two alternates, (sorry, I actually did three, Shick) were the two Spider-Men and Ghost-Spider. For Peter Parker, I went with a black suit version, as I had attempted this before but felt I could do a bit better now. Sometimes you gotta revisit an idea, ya know. I did the blue base and black wash, as with Black Cat, and then worked in tight highlights to make all the panels pop.

For Miles Morales, I was stuck for a bit. I looked at comic references and maybe played a bit too many video games for inspiration before settling on a color flip version of his costume. I think this looks quite dynamic and really makes him pop on the game board.

When Green Goblin hit the table, I decided to stick to the classic purple and green. This sculpt by Kevin Kircus just screams maniacal villainy, and I felt that the classic vibe was too cool not to do. But maybe someday I will paint another in a new scheme, as that is the draw of the hobby for me. Exploring, challenging, pushing yourself to try new things, and playing with concepts.

Speaking of…I think some mutants may be up soon for painting. I wonder where they will take me on this hobby journey and what new ideas I can explore there.”

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A huge thank you to Dallas Kemp and Will Shick for sharing the techniques, inspiration, and creative twists behind their miniatures!

Marvel: Crisis Protocol Alliances – Night of the Goblin is built to get heroes onto the table fast, but the hobby possibilities can stretch as far as your imagination. Every miniature is another chance to make New York’s heroes and villains your own.

Dallas and Shick began with the same miniatures, then followed completely different creative paths through color, costume, basing, and technique. That is the fun of the hobby! There is no single right way to paint the city, only the version that excites you enough to pick up a brush.

So, how will your collection stand out when the Goblin Army hits the streets? Share your alternate costumes, custom bases, and wildest hobby ideas with us in the comments.

Until next time, keep those creative webs spinning.

Atomic Mass Games