"Air Elementals Are Fast, Flying Creatures Made Of Living Air."

"Primitive and territorial, they resent being summoned or doing the bidding of mortals..."

These four 15mm scale metal miniatures of some Lesser Air Elementals are produced by “Alternative Armies” and can be bought either separately as blister HOT88 Lesser Elementals or as part of the company's pre-made twenty-four point strong HOTT1017 Elemental Army pack. The diminutive sculpts count as Lurkers for "Hordes Of The Things", with two figures sitting upon a rather barren-looking 40mm x 30mm base.

Each model was initially super-glued upon a wooden baton to help my brush-tip better reach all their details, and subsequently primed with two coats of "Vallejo" White. The animated vortexes were then shaded using the "Vallejo" Game Color Wash Pale Grey, before being dry-brushed with (more) White.

"...And much prefer to spend their time on the Plane of Air, swooping and racing through the endless skies."

I did consider applying a little "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade to folds of the billowing figures, as I have done before when painting 28mm sculpts of Air Elementals. But ultimately, I decided to leave well enough alone. I did however, spot the creatures' mouths with a tiny dollop of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, before covering them with some additional "Vallejo" Pale Grey" so as to tone down its darkness.

In addition to my latest "Alternative Armies" miniatures I have completed a 28mm metal model are from "Westwind Productions" "Secrets Of The Third Reich" blister B-SOTR05 British Commando Carbines. This figure has actually had his Gas Mask Head replaced with one taken from the manufacturer’s excellent ‘Separate Head System’ ‘blister’ SHS-SOTR09 “British Para Heads In Berets With Gas Masks”, as I want him to be part of an Airborne Infantry section on my “Konflikt ‘47” battleground.

"Commandos and paratroopers played a vital role in ensuring the landings at Normandy went to plan."

The model was undercoated using "Citadel" Doombull Brown and washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. I used some "Vallejo" Charred Brown, "Citadel" Ironbreaker, "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and "Citadel" Nuln Oil on his rifle, and an old OOP pot of “Citadel” Knarlock Green, Biel-Tan Green and later Devlan Mud on the veteran soldier's body armour.

The Paratrooper's gas mask filter was painted using a combination of "Citadel" Knarloc Green and Devlan Mud, whilst the eye filters were simply ‘picked out’ with Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. The figure's famous red headwear was pigmented with "Citadel" Mechrite Red, before receiving a couple of generous coats of Bloodletter. This glazing technique was applied as an alternative to my former concoction of "Citadel" Blood Red and Baal Red, as rather disappointingly, both products have long since been withdrawn by “Games Workshop”.