"It'll Breed. You'll Die."

"Everyone in the company. Will Die."

These three 32mm scale Cheetah Aliens are produced by "Papsikels Miniatures" and can be downloaded for free as part of a six-figure set of STL (Standard Triangle Language) files from their "Patreon" subscription November 2022 release - Aliens Verses Skull Hunters 2. Based upon a species of H.R.Giger's infamous deadly xenomorphs, the figures were produced using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer.

Inspired by a statue of a xenomorph crouched on all fours which H.R. Giger had exhibited at the opening of the Austrian Ars Electronica institute in 2013, the trio of death-dealing extra-terrestrials were undercoated in Doom Death Black by "Duncan Rhodes Two Thin Coats" and dry-brushed with Scorched Earth. I then drowned them all with Oblivion Black Wash to help make their base layer decidedly dark.

"Games Workshop" WIPs - These Castellans Of Dol Guldur have had all their metal areas 'picked out'

I next (re)dry-brushed the models with (more) Scorched Earth, before applying a light highlight of Dust Bowl across all the prominent raised areas. Finally, to help blend all the different browns together, I sploshed Battle Mud Wash all over the trio with great gusto. This left me just needing to 'pick out' all the aliens' metal teeth with a combination of Sir Coates Silver and Oblivion Black Wash, as well as apply a coat of Doom Death Black (and later "Coat D'arms" Gloss Varnish) across their foreheads.

One of the things which did concern me about these particular three sculpts was both the fragility of some of the figures' contact points upon their "Citadel" 60mm oval bases, as well as some large open (and arguably therefore boring) areas on their stands. Resultantly, I snuck a few 3D skulls by "Encounter Terrain" under the odd claw, as well as created the odd 'brain pile'. These were pigmented using White Star, Battle Mud Wash and some "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.

"Warlord Games" WIPs - This Spirit Jaguar has had its gold armour layered and washed

Alongside these latest submissions to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC) I have continued to make some progress upon my first batch of Castellans of Dol Guldur by "Games Workshop". Perhaps somewhat naively I had hoped that these predominantly cloaked figures would be a reasonably quick little project (as I own half a dozen of them). But each figure is actually packed full of elaborate detail, whether it be simply their ornate armour, swords, daggers or belt buckles.

Somewhat less fiddly to put a brush-tip to, at least at this early stage, is the resin Spirit Jaguar by "Warlord Games" I recently chose to pigment after randomly selecting it from a set of twelve figure-filled drawers. I'm using the miniature to test out a new technique for bright gold, using a "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade wash and "Vallejo" Silver dry-brush. Currently, things are looking good, even after I realised that I hadn't needed to be meticulously neat with my "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna base coat for the gold armour as I'll be making a mess with my dry-brushing anyway...