Sunday 6 March 2016

"Reload With Poison Tips."

"Harvest what we need for the organ stores. And we're out."
These ten 28mm pre-painted plastic "Wizkids" models of the U-Men are all miniature number 001 from their “Heroclix” Marvel Mutant Mayhem range. Created by Grant Morrison for the 2001 "New X-Men" Annual by “Marvel Comics”, this "so-called Third Species"  religiously believe that their bodies "must not be exposed to the air or touch the earth of the 'fallen world' until it has been perfected, hence their special suits. They carry weapons used for harvesting mutants, such as propulsion guns that fire razors or bullets."

However having painted and submitted five identical models to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge last year (as "the perfect henchmen to accompany Black Manta") I thought this time round their scuba-diving gear would simply make them excellent Pulp deepsea saboteurs or dastardly Nazi Invaders for Hellbaby and the B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence) to thwart.
"Uhh... Somebody Want To Finish Him Off Now?"
Whilst painting one of the models though, I did decide to see just how easily these miniatures could be converted, and as a result I created a slightly recognisable squad leader by replacing the relatively straightforward barrel of his rifle with the more complicated weapon of an old plastic "Citadel" Cyberman.

As with the underwater villains I've previously painted, I initially gave all the figures an undercoat of “Citadel” Abaddon Black and then started to 'pick out' all their breathing pipes, air-tanks, weapons and face plates with Ironbreaker. These metallic areas were then heavily washed with the Shade Nuln Oil.
Alien Stalker WIPs - These dry-brushed extra-terrestrials now need to be washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil
Having finished my U-Men I have started painting the first of a number of 32mm scaled resin miniatures from the "Alien Verses Predator" board-game by "Prodos Games". Despite being "the fastest of the brood" these Alien Stalkers will form part of my Walkers horde for a H.R. Giger-inspired "Zombicide" game I have in mind.

The models are actually proving somewhat difficult to paint in that they are, unlike their plastic "Horrorclix" counterparts, surprisingly rather bendy and are so full of detail that even after a couple of undercoats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black I am still finding small pockets of bare resin.   

30 comments:

  1. Well this came as a bit of a surprise as I was expecting a Batrep today. Still there as re so lovely figures on display here, those aliens look rather nice, (your going to need a hell of a lot of marines to take all the aliens you own out now!), and those U men always look good in your gloss varnish finish, suitably wet.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. BatRep should be ready for my Tuesday posting. Then Roj Blake and some friends will be battling as many Aliens as I can muster in a futuristic version of "Zombicide" ;-) I'm a big fan of the U-Men and now that I have fifteen suitably painted up I'm confident that they too will be featuring in a "Zombicide" related BatRep in the near future :-)

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  2. Whilst I am not a fan of the Marvel U-Men, I do like the figures as either WWW2 Nazi frogmen or Pulp-era frogmen. You could use them as normal frogmen in 7TV2e as stats are already provided for them in the basic rules set.

    The Prodos Aliens do look good. Very good, in fact. I was just looking at the AVP board-game on Amazon but have decided it's not for me. However, using the figures in Zombicide gets my nod of approval.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I already have already been perusing the "7TV2" Frogmen stats card for just such a time as the fiendish Hun begin their invasion of the UK Mainland :-) I'm delighted you approve of using the Aliens for "Zombicide" as I think the range "Prodos" already do is superb and what better replacement toxic zeds than an extra-terrestrial with acid for blood!!

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    2. Aliens as Toxic Zombies is such a perfect match. It's exactly what I would have done.

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    3. Ah... Clearly great minds think alike Bryan ;-)

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  3. They do have many other uses, lovely work!

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    1. Thanks Fran. The U-Men certainly do... and will :-)

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  4. Loving the U Men, an ominous looking bunch.

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    1. Cheers Michael. I like them so much that I may well get some more to heavily convert at some point.

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  5. Loving the scuba guys. I really like there wetsuits look. I have also done week 2 for Karl Hunter, I hadn't added following gadgets to my blog last time you looked so hope you don't mind me letting you know here......

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    1. Thanks Damon. Much appreciated, and I'm delighted to say I'm now an avid follower of yours ;-)

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  6. Nicely done as always Simon. :)

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  7. Nice looking U-Men they do make perfect villainous extras. Perfect as Scuba men for 7TV2e @:) Nice start to the dread xenomorphs :) Lets hope the Colonial marines are prepared!

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    1. Thanks Simon. I'm a big fan of the U-Men "Heroclix" sculpts as they do have many uses. I do have the "Prodos" Colonial Marines. but it'll be Roj Blake that'll be having first crack at the Aliens ;-)

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  8. Having another black week, Simon? Men in rubber suits, shiny xenomorphs...what's next, a tyre golem? Hmm...tyre golem...might have to venture into the loft and see what die-cast cars I have...
    Sorry, where were we? Nice work, Mr Moore. But have you bought any Khurasan Aliens yet? ;-)

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    1. It was the "Demon Trolls" I was thinking of for the fatties.

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    2. Cheers Jez. If I can get my Hooded Minions and Daughters of S.H.I.V.A. finished by next week then you'll be saying I'm having a Purple week next time :-) It just seems to be way things turn out I suppose. I have avoided "Khurasan" like the plague as I want to paint a load of my "Ion Age" 15mm sci-Fi before I venture elsewhere.

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    3. And yes those Demon Trolls are very nice indeed, and extremely tempting... Though I already used "Pendraken Miniatures" for my 15mm Aliens (even if they are supposedly 10mm figs) and OCD prevents me from mixing armies... I suppose I could always start a "Khurasan" force though ;-)

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  9. Cool U men dude! That's a lot of henchmen too. The xenomorph looks excellent Simon and will only benefit from your glossy finish.
    Can't wait to see the Aliens in action either!

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    1. Cheers Bob. You can never have too many wet-suited minions in my books :-) I'm hoping to have the "Zombicide" game just as soon as I've painted up a few more "Herocscape" Nagrubs and "Prodos" Aliens.

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    2. That will look awesome dude!

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    3. Thanks Bob. I know how much you appreciate a good "Zombicide" BatRep :-)

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  10. Looks good, Simon.

    Dynamic poses on those aliens.

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    1. Thanks Finch. The "Prodos" Aliens are a bit fiddly to stick together. But look good imho.

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  11. Proposal aliens certainly are lovely sculpts. Believable poses too.

    U men were rubbish xmen villains imo. But I do love your idea of using them as pulp frogmen baddies.

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    1. Ooo autocorrect rears it's ugly head yet again...

      Prodos, not proposal. Yeesh...

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    2. I certainly like the "Heroclix" U-Men sculpts Dai, as they have a load of uses, and certainly both the Black Manta and Germans will getting some use out of them on my tabletop.

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    3. Heh... I knew what you meant Ref "Prodos", and their entire range of Aliens really does look good.

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