"I am Ultron-13!"

"I triumphed even in battle with Ultron-12, who tried to usurp my identity and my station."

This 28mm tall plastic “Wizkids” model of Ultron-13 is miniature number 216 from the "Marvel" Armour Wars "Heroclix" range, and depicts the robotic super-villain when he fought the West Coast Avengers at the end of 1990. "The first Marvel Comics character to wield the fictional metal alloy adamantium" Ultron made his first appearance in the July 1968 issue of "The Avengers".

Having removed the figure from its 'clicky-base', the Avengers' arch-nemesis was super-glued on to a 25mm circular stand, and undercoated using a layer of "Citadel" Abaddon Black in order to mask its decidedly substandard pre-paint job. He was then treated to a lick of Ironbreaker before being thoroughly shaded in Nuln Oil.

"You know the power an android can exert, Doctor. After your arms, they will remove your legs."

Following on from this I dry-brushed Ultron-13 with (more) "Citadel" Ironbreaker, and subsequently 'picked out' his small internal nuclear furnace using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and the "Citadel" glaze Bloodletter. As a final touch, I tried to tidy up the area around the homicidal robot's mouth and eyes with a thin line of "Citadel" Ironbreaker.

With the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge now entering its last thirty six hours, I have actually finished submitting all the miniatures I needed to complete in order to attain my annual target of 500 points. One such entry has been some additional Sharaz Jek Android figures by "Black Tree Design", which I needed to help defend Androzani Minor's  spectrox refinery against its twin planet's federal troops.

"Wizards Of The Coast" WIPs - The B2 Super Battle Droids have been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

These four 28mm figures can be bought as Code DW518, and were primed using two layers of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, before being energetically dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal. The robots' clothing was doused in "Citadel" Nuln Oil, whilst their submachine guns were treated to a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. Lastly, I applied two coats of watered-down "Vallejo" White onto their heads, shaded these areas with "Vallejo" Pale Grey, and then dry-brushed them with (more) White.

Sticking with science fiction-themed models I have also tapped back into the many, many marvellous miniatures Phil Curran generously gifted me with, and begun work on a quartet of Super Battle Droids by "Wizards Of The Coast". These pre-painted plastic "Star Wars" models are already close to completion, and given me ample opportunity to try out the pot of "Citadel" Leadbelcher I recently received inside one of my Warhammer 40,000: Conquest magazines.