And now we get to the main event. If you are here, you likely have some familiarity with BLKOUT by now. You know that there are four main forces, and likely either already have or soon will be picking your favorite. When I read about Boone, and decided that they basically were like US Army Rangers in Space, I knew those were the faction for me.

I decided to buy and split the starter set. The UN force went to a buddy, and I had the team I wanted.

Apparently I was so excited to dive into these, that I neglected to take pictures of the figures prior to putting them together and priming the them.

One thing that I noticed when comparing these to the BLKLST mercenaries is that the multi part pieces had a lot more to clean up. I dont know if this is an apples to apples comparison, which I would continue to be curious about through this project (see below).

I used a sonic cleaner and some dish soap to ensure the figures were cleared of release agents and ready for paint. Based on my research, this is a very common way of cleaning up resin figures.

Turns out this was a bad idea, at least for the robot in the Boone kit. The resin reacted and became super soft, and almost crumbly. This led to a piece of the gun breaking off of one of the arms. Being both surprised and concerned by this, I reached out to customer support.

While there was a short delay over the holiday weekend, first thing Monday morning they had a replacement order drawn up for me to address the issue, turning the above sad picture into an outcome I was happy with. Their warranty states: “We offer a 100% guarantee on any issues with our product. We value our customers and will do what we can to make the product work for you!” At the end of this experience, I believe they lived up to that.

Minor setback aside, once the rubber hit the road, these painted up great with speed paints. They have so much detail that just the contrast gives a lot to look at.

This time I went with a zenithal highlight instead of drybrushing. I used white ink from a 45 degree angle all the way around the model, then did a second layer from directly above the model to create more of a gradient.

Again, because high speed military forces should probably be wearing pants, I started with a green pants on my squad. Next, I did a lighter tan for the shirt and helmet as a foundation. At this point, I noticed some slight reactivation of the white ink, which I did not want to exacerbate further. I left the layers dry, then applied a gloss varnish to the model.

I then continued applying layers of color, this time an olive, to the packs and armor, as well as the helmet, and a black to the weapon.

On Saturday, Adventure Games did a demo for the game. The turnout was quite impressive, and I had the opportunity to both provide guidance on the rules as I remembered from my demo at Adepticon, and play games to get some reps in.

The gameplay mechanics is where BLKOUT shines the most. It is simultaneously fast and complex. It keeps you engaged, and is the closest I have seen a tabletop game feel to being a real-time game. It really has that level of engagement. Combined that with the minimal needed investment and ease of transport, and needless to say ESS has something pretty special here.

In a slight change of plans for this project, we got enough engagement that one of the attendees, Dakota, and I were talking afterwards, and worked out that I was going to pass on these models to him. This will allow him to get to playing more quickly, and will allow me to fulfill my curiosity regarding materials/production process. Dakota is a very talented hobbyist. Check him out at Electric Eye Miniatures.

I decided that I wanted to get another set of Boone because I want to compare how the one piece and cast models look and compare to each other. I took close up photos and will be delivering these to their new home this week. I will then take comparison photos one the one piece models arrive.

So, the Boone project goes on a slight pause…….I wonder what I can work on until then. Until next time.