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| "It's common in ritual sacrifice to take the heart of the victim." |
This rather oversized 40mm pre-painted plastic "Wizkids" model of the Alien Grid (also known as Nethead) is from the "Horrorclix" AVP Alien Verses Predator: Aliens Collector's Set. The figure is based upon the "alpha-Alien" which kills the predators Chopper and Celtic in the 2004 science-fiction horror film "Alien Verses Predator" and carries the distinctive head injuries caused by its being momentarily incapacitated by a net launcher.
I initially gave the vicious extra-terrestrial an undercoat of "Citadel" Abaddon Black before simply dry-brushing the model with "Vallejo" German Grey. Grid was then washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil before I applied a second, significantly lighter dry-brush of more "Vallejo" German Grey over its more prominently raised surfaces. The Alien's mouth was painted using a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, whilst its head's carapace was given a coat of Abaddon Black. Finally I picked out its ‘bleeding’ head injury with some “Vallejo” Heavy Khaki and “Citadel” Thrakka Green. As the fresh lacerations were very fine, I tidied up my brush work by dabbing a face blusher pad with some Abaddon Black on it over the area. These helped cover up any stray areas of “Vallejo” Heavy Khaki and restrict the bright green paint to just the deepest recesses of the mutilation.
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| "Hey. Hey, hey, come here, take a look at this." |
In addition to Grid I have also painted three more of the Xenomorph drones which the motion picture "AVP" shows being born inside the pyramid Weyland's archaeological party find beneath Bouvet Island. These Aliens were all painted in the same way as their formidable 'leader'. Although one of them, a terrific sculpt of an alien whose tail had been partially severed, required the acidic blood spurting from out of its wound to be painted using a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Khaki and “Citadel” Thrakka Green.
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| Xenomorph Drones lead by the alpha-Alien Grid |
Originally a couple of the miniatures generously gifted to me by Bryan from "Vampifan's World Of The Undead" were actually based upon either a piece of ornately carved stone or masonry. Having removed the Alien figures from these pieces of terrain I decided to turn them into objective markers by super-gluing them to my usual thin-lipped 40mm circular bases and undercoating them with "Vallejo" Heavy Brown. The scenery was then heavily washed with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade before being dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Heavy Brown.
They look so cool grouped together, although I'd hate to face that lot! You've done a bang up job on painting them and getting them done so quickly. I guess it helps that they have such simple colour schemes. I hope we'll see them all in a batrep some time soon. I'm so glad you like them, my friend.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Bryan, I'm absolutely delighted with them. Hopefully the final four will be finished this week, including the Alien Spawn marker. And then I fear Roj Blake may well soon be facing his ultimate challenge ;-)
DeleteVery menacing there. :)
ReplyDeleteGood stuff sir. :)
Cheers PulpCitizen :-)
DeleteThey look great. Nice and slimey looking as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon. I know my gloss varnish isn't to everyone's taste. But it does work very well on these.
DeleteI want some of these, for no other reason than they look so damn cool!
ReplyDeleteIndeed they do Michael, and I'm extremely grateful to Bryan for sending me some of his :-)
DeleteThose look suitably menacing Simon, Roj had better look out! good thing the BBC could never run to effects that scary.
ReplyDeleteBy the way I think my kind gift from you came the other day but I was in bed, and by the time I'd come out of my comatose state the postie had taken it away again, so it'll have to wait till Friday before I can get it from the post office. So many thanks in advance, I'll thank you properly once I get it.
Cheers Roger.
Thanks Roger. I'm hoping to get quite a few BatReps done over the forthcoming months, otherwise I'll never use all the minis I'm currently painting :-) Hopefully you'll like your gift once you pick it up from the Postie.
DeleteNice work, Simon. A suitably menacing force to be reckoned with. No Predators though? I have a set of not-Predators from Copplestone which I really ought to get around to painting at some point. I'll be interested to see which rules you decide to use for the bat rep.
ReplyDeleteCheers Jez. I want to finish off the final four Aliens first and then it'll be the Predators turn :-) Probably going to go with "Zombicide" for the BatRep rules as I want to try out some toxic runners ;-)
DeleteLoving your xenomorph work Simon!
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob. Pretty simple stuff tbh. But they do rather dominate the tabletop when placed together :-)
DeleteThis is one case where a gloss coating is entirely appropriate; the original alien as envisaged by H.R.Giger was, I believe, hard and chitinous on the outside :-) . Though the later films spoilt this by adding lots of Hollywood slime :-( .
ReplyDeleteCheers Hugh. I do like the gloss effect on these beasties to be sure. Though I also like the "Hollywood slime" too... Not that I plan to add any such such to my remaining four Aliens :-)
DeleteSo Flippin cool!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I have something I need to send you to go with these. Email me?
Deadestdai at Gmail dot com
Thanks Dai. Very much appreciated and email sent :-)
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