"I Want Fifty Legions Of Sardaukar On Arrakis At Once!"

"This is genocide... The deliberate and systematic destruction of all life on Arrakis."

These four 28mm scale Sardaukar were sculpted by "Big Mr Tong" and can be downloaded for free as part of a ten-figure set of STL (Standard Triangle Language) files from his "Patreon" subscription service. Based upon David Lynch's vision of the Emperor's elite warriors as first seen in his 1984 American science-fiction film "Dune", the miniatures were produced using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer.

The models were primed in "Citadel" Abaddon Black, and heavily dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal. Their belts were then 'picked out using a thin line of "Vallejo" Steel Blue, and their lasguns with Gunmetal. As a final touch, each figure was mercilessly marinated in "Citadel" Nuln Oil (so as to recreate the smoky black appearance of their survival suits as seen on the Silver Screen) and their distinctive green face-visor fabricated using a combination of "Scalecolor" White Alchemy and the "Citadel" Contrast paint Warp Lightning.

"Big Mr Tong" WIPs - These Sentry Robots are ready for their metallics to be applied

Alongside my third submission for the Thirteenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC), I have managed to progress another five-figure batch of Big Mr Tong's 28mm scale Sentry Robots. I've actually painted ten of these miniatures before, back when I didn't own a 3D printer, yet unlike the ones I bought from “Twisted Pinnacle 3D” on "Etsy", none of the hand-weapons broke off the models during their clean-up.

As a result I wanted to make the quintet stand out a little bit from the others, so looked to Gary Nelson’s 1979 American science fiction film “The Black Hole” for inspiration, and found it with Hans Reinhardt's scathing criticism of Maximillian's security forces following Doctor Kate McCrae's rescue from the Cygnus' Hospital - "Your crack unit, outwitted and outfought by some Earth robot and that antique from storage!"

"Alternative Armies" WIPs - Three Retained Knights all ready for shading

This has caused me to start 'picking out' the metallic panel on the back of their heads in preparation for pigmenting them with "Vallejo" Gunmetal and somewhat awkwardly designating them as part of Maximillian's aforementioned elite force, This detail is actually visible on all the Sentry Robots seen in the film (along with some side plates) but was something I never bothered to pick out on my original ten figures,

Lastly, a clumsy spill (or rather splodge) of "Vallejo" Heavy Red has given me some considerable incentive to finish three (more) 15mm Retained Knights by “Alternative Armies”. In the past I've completed quite a few of these 'beaky' sculpts from the company's "The Ion Age" range to use as proxy space marines, so having had my accident, I quickly dusted down a trio of previously-started (not) Blood Angels, and put what paint I could save to immediate good use...