“I Am A Hacker Housed In A Fully-Armed Mobile Weapon-System."

"Your move, little man!”

This 41mm tall resin model of Battle Engine is produced by "Kitbash Games", and was bought following their highly successful "Supers Unlimited" Miniatures "Kickstarter" in August 2019. Described as a villainous "ghost who surfed in the shadows of the dark web. with many incredible feats attributed to him by his hacker callsign". I actually plan to use the casting as a robotic Allied super-hero known as Mark One for an upcoming Weird War Two campaign utilising some homemade rules.

Having super-glued Enrique Messi onto a 28mm lipped base, I first primed him with a double layer of "Vallejo" Heavy Grey before shading the "hacktivist" in "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green. I then applied a dry-brush of "Vallejo" Gunmetal to parts of the figure, such as its armour plating, limbs and head, in order to suggest some significant weathering had taken place on those areas.

"Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" WIPs - Two FedSec Troopers 'converted' with Balaclava heads

I continued to 'distress' the entire model by drenching it in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade and sporadically dabbed its joints in "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash. Once applied, these techniques really had made quite a mess of the miniature, so I blended them all together with a dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Grey. This was somewhat delicately done as I wanted to ensure that some of the previously-used "Vallejo" Gunmetal still shone through so as to give Battle Engine a slight metallic sheen.

As a final step I 'picked out' all of the armoured suit's shoulder missiles (both front and back) with a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, as well as dotted the sculpt's two eyes with some "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. I had also wanted to apply a decal depicting either an Allied Star or American flag to the model, so as to better tie-in with my own background for the automaton. But despite owning several such transfers which were small enough, ultimately failed to locate a sizeable enough flat surface.

"North Star Military Figures" WIPs - This "Frostgrave" bear has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

Alongside pigmenting Battle Engine, I have also found the time to assemble the last two of my FedSec Troopers by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio". These jumpsuit-fitted minions actually come complete with a gas-mask wearing head. However, as I wanted them to represent the Federation Death Squad lead by Section Leader Klegg (from the late Seventies BBC television series "Blake's Seven), I have fitted them with some balaclava heads instead.

Lastly, I've managed to base a somewhat large Bear rearing to attack by "North Star Military Figures". This particular sculpt has been added to the company's Frostgrave Extras rage, and has already had its basic stages completed in preparation for next month's big painting push into Joseph A. McCullough's frozen ruins of Felsted...