'The Cosmic Cube Wars' - WIP - Part Two

"Heroclix" WIPs - "Dum Dum" Dugan, Will Magnus and Platinum

Somewhat inspired by the recent “Marvel Worldwide” comic book series “Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D.” I’ve spent the past few days re-basing and undercoating a number of appropriate “Heroclix” plastic miniatures so as to field my own team dedicated to handling the “stranger aspects of homeland protection” on the tabletop.

To begin with I’ve dug out my extraordinarily over-sized “Wizkids” model of the strike force’s commander “Dum Dum” Dugan. The figure comes from the Marvel: Secret Invasion range and despite being a supposedly 28mm scaled sculpt, stands close to 40mm in height and requires a similarly sized circular base. There’s no doubt that in the comics the World War Two veteran is a big chap. But not that big. However as the publishers have recently revealed this version of the character is an advanced Life-Model Decoy (i.e. an android), I can live with the size. Plus I do like the way the old warhorse’s size makes him tower over his underlings.

S.H.I.E.L.D. WIP - This well-armed trooper will be painted blue and white 

In addition to Nick Fury’s long-time team-mate I have also started painting five S.H.I.E.L.D. Troopers to use as the bowler hat-wearing soldier’s initial squad until such time as I can either finish or source some of the official commandos like Man-Thing and Manphibian. I’ve initially undercoated these terrifically dynamic models with “Vallejo” White in order to get a good head start on their boots, gloves, belts and webbing.

I have also started work on five SWAT Specialists, to use as additional support not only for my S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. But also for the numerous Police and National Guard models I plan to field. As these figures’ uniforms and equipment will be predominantly black and blue, I’ve applied a coat of “Vallejo” Heavy Blue to each figure for now.

SWAT WIP - This well-armoured specialist will be painted black and blue 

As far as “DC Comics” personalities are concerned I’ve given in to temptation and finally purchased the Will Magus and Platinum jointly-based “Heroclix” model I needed to complete my collection of The Metal Men. This super rare Crisis sculpt was rather costly on its own, but recently came up for sale on E-bay as part of a significantly cheaper job lot. As a result I’ve given the two figures a quick undercoat of “Citadel” Abaddon Black, and started work on Platinum with a layer of the OOP Mithril Silver.

This desire to build a few more units for my “Cosmic Cube Wars” project seems particularly timely, as it has coincided with the release (and immediate acquisition) by “Games Workshop” of the two hundred and eighty page “Grand Alliance Order” unit rulebook for the company’s “Age Of Sigmar” game; the very rules I intend to adapt and use for my large scale super-hero themed battles.