"The Soyuz Class Starships Were Designated As An Attack Frigate Or Tactical Frigate."

A Federation frigate flotilla comprising of the NCC-1943 Missouri, NCC-1960 Beagle and NCC-1936 Long March

These three 6mm scale metal miniatures of a Perry Class Frigate are from “Irregular Miniatures” Imperial Fleet Spaceship range and can be bought as code DYE2. Measuring 30mm in length and 22mm in width, this sculpt is arguably be starting to show its mould's age on account of a few casting flaws found on its saucer section and aft quarters. However it still makes a very useful proxy for the Soyuz-class Federation starship featured in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" 1992 science fiction television episode "Cause And Effect".

Having already finished two of these 'Miranda-class derivatives' before, and been very happy with my paint scheme's match to the Federation's famous "dimmer blue" outer hull colour, I simply gave each model a double layer of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey as an undercoat and treated them to a generous wash of "Citadel" Nuln Oil. The starships were then roughly dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey before I started to 'pick out' their details using “Vallejo” Heavy Red for their Polyduranide nacelle particle apertures, Gunmetal Metal on their forward-facing saucer sensor dishes and Heavy Blue for their warp engine filed grills. All of these areas were then washed with “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson, Nuln Oil and Asurmen Blue respectively.

Ballista WIPs - The "Guild Ball" Captain contains all manner of rivets, pliers, straps and pouches 

With the bulk of my initial Starfleet finished, I have slowly been 'chipping away' at another of my 30mm "Guild Ball" miniatures by “Steamforged Games Ltd”. In the past I've managed to pick up a bit of momentum painting some of the players from the Engineer's Guild Team on account of all three models being wooden automatons, and therefore requiring reasonably straightforward colour schemes. Club captain Ballista however is proving an entirely different ballgame, courtesy of the multi-part, slightly cumbersome sculpt containing some unbelievably complicated detail. Indeed, I'm convinced that all his cogs, tools, buckles and rivets would have undoubtedly put me off this sports game for good if I had selected the  Defensive Midfielder as my 'first port of call'.

As it is I am gradually persevering 'picking out' his brass leg-bracelets, numerous steel pliers and infuriatingly extravagant crossbow... Not to mention the dozen or so rivets peppering his medieval attire. Equally as perplexing is trying to find enough contrastingly different shades of brown with which to paint all the Lord Artificer's leather. The skipper is already adorned with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, Iraqi Sand, Heavy Brown, as well as "Citadel" Doombull Brown, and is still approximately only half-completed...

Bloodhunter WIPs - The unit's champion has been washed, dry-brushed and had its details 'picked out'

Lastly I have somewhat succumbed to the lure of the "Games Workshop" Blood God, Khorne, and begun work on the leader of my "Age Of Sigmar" Bloodletters. This Bloodhunter will actually be used as a test piece for my ten model-strong unit, as I actually want to try a different paint scheme to that ordinarily used by the Slaughter-kin. The lesser daemons will still predominantly comprise of red, black and gold. But unlike those depicted within the pages of the "Grand Alliance: Chaos" compendium, I'll be effectively duplicating the more sinister-looking colour combination found inside the illustrations of the "General's Handbook".

This essentially means that instead of just having black claws, the Bloodletters' entire hands and hooves will be given a layer of "Citadel" Abaddon Black and then be blended up into their 'famous' red flesh. Their back spines will also be 'picked out' with black, whilst their ordinarily dark Hellblades (as well as their leader's horn adornments) will now be a strikingly bright shining gold. Hopefully, despite requiring a little extra time per model than my original plans, this more colourful design will really help make my unit stand out on the tabletop, and if it does become problematic then I can always revert back to their more recognisable appearance for the rest of the Crimson Death.