"You’re My Prisoner."

"Congratulations. Surely a strategic triumph for the Romulan Empire."

These three 32mm scale resin miniatures of Romulan Uhlans are produced by “Modiphius Entertainment” and form part of their ten-figure strong Romulan Strike Team set. Originally created in 1966 by writer Paul Schneider to potentially represent “what the ancient Roman Empire might have looked like had it developed to the point of spaceflight”, the extraterrestrials were re-introduced after the launch of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in the episode “The Neutral Zone”.

Just like all the other previously painted Romulans I’ve finished, this trio were actually based upon simple 28mm lipped bases rather than the 30mm scenic stands which they came supplied with, and primed using a double layer of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey. The Uhlans were then shaded in "Citadel" Nuln Oil before being carefully dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey.

"Para Drop Armour is the pinnacle of German technological achievement."

With their tunic’s quilt-pattern now somewhat visible I applied some “Citadel” Abaddon Black to the officers’ boots and hair, before treating each soldiers’ trousers to a combination of "Vallejo" Dark Grey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil. Later I pigmented their flesh by using my ‘tried and trusted’ technique of applying a wash of “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade over a coat of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone. As a final touch I went over the Romulans’ disruptors, belts and collar emblems with a little “Citadel” Ironbreaker and splashed these areas with some Nuln Oil.

Shuffling across from science fiction to weird war, I have managed to re-base a few more figures from my long-forgotten collection of “West Wind Production" models. These particular miniatures belong to Andy Cooper’s "Secrets Of The Third Reich" German range, and consist of a well-camouflaged Mech Grenadier Sniper and a pair of heavily-weaponed Paratroopers in Drop Armour.

Two units of British Airborne drop between the German lines just as Nazi zombies storm the Tommy's trenches

At their original time of painting I was clearly in a great hurry to get the Paratroopers on the tabletop, as I not only just predominantly painted them dark grey as opposed to something more akin to their official camo-colour scheme. But I also super-glued them to a couple of under-sized 25mm stands. Resultantly, I have been able to use this opportunity to both super-glue/green stuff them upon some 30mm lipped bases, as well as strip away most of the unsightly white powdery modelling putty surrounding each sculpt’s metal feet tags.

My enthusiasm for this particular genre has further been re-fuelled by a couple more “Weird War Two” battles using my home-made rule-set “M.I.S.S.” These games featured the first deployment of some British Airborne behind enemy lines, and proved a great success in forcing the opposition to hold back some of their troops in order to safeguard its early won objectives from being suddenly overrun later in the day…