"The Laputian Robot Troopers Are Primitive Automatons."

"The first robot seen in the film is revealed to have fallen from Laputa, which is found by the military."

This 28mm scale Laputian Robot Trooper was sculpted by "Big Mr Tong" and can be downloaded for free as part of a five-figure set of STL (Standard Triangle Language) files from his "Patreon" subscription service. Based upon the giant mechanical bodyguards depicted in Hayao Miyazaki's 1986 Japanese animated fantasy adventure film "Laputa: Castle in the Sky", the miniature was produced using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer.

Designed to "protect and serve the Laputian royal bloodline at all costs", the 107mm tall figure was initially undercoated in a mixture of "Vallejo" Surface Primer Leather Brown and Heavy Sienna, before being base-layered in Decayed Metal by "Scale 75". It was then mercilessly drowned in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade and brusquely dry-brushed with (more) "Scale 75" Decayed Metal so as to highlight its "extremely strong, dark armour." I also took the opportunity to 'pick out' its "bean-shaped" face plate with a combination of "Vallejo" Brass and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - This Zombie Hulk still needs a tidy up and his base finishing

Finally, the Heavenly Trooper's crest of the Laputian royal family was dabbed in "Vallejo" Heavy Red and washed with a tiny amount of "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. Having completed the test piece for this force, I may well now work on the printing supports for the remaining four STL files in "Chitubox" Basic, so I can 'field' a five-figure strong squad for my ongoing Robot Space Wars project using many of the other automaton-based miniatures released by "Big Mr Tong".

Alongside my Laputian Robot, I've also managed to make more progress on my Zombie Hulk by "CoolMiniOrNot". Originally, I had rather naively planned on haphazardly pigmenting my way through the "Marvel Zombies: A Zombicide Game" core box until I had four finished super-heroes, a few Zombie Heroes (!?!), and some bystanders to rescue. However, as it turns out, the rules for playing the non-undead metahumans are actually contained in the "Marvel Zombies: X-Men Resistance" expansion, so my aspirations have somewhat changed to accommodate some of the plastic models from that box too.

"Wargames Foundry" WIPs - Two Russian soldiers, a French Chasseur and British Rifleman

Disconcertingly though, considering that the base set contains a whopping eighty-seven 28mm miniatures on its own, this move somewhat significantly raises the overall figure count of the project - especially as I actually own all the cooperative board game's Kickstarter exclusive miniatures too, and will doubtless fancy slipping the odd one or ten into my already overcrowded painting schedule from time to time. Resultantly, I'm simply going to try to stick to just four heroes, an equal number of zombie foes and bystanders, as well as a smattering of the game's basic walking dead. This should give me enough to play a series of small scenarios in the new year, and additionally encourage me to apply my brush-tip to even more of the comic book characters as my campaign continues.

Luckily, my current obsession with "Zombicide" has not completely eroded my enthusiasm for my long-running Napoleonic Wars project, and I've still made some noticeable in-roads on my current quartet of "Wargames Foundry" miniatures over the past few days. I've obviously got quite a bit of work left to do on the two Russian infantrymen. But I'm pretty sure a focused session or two should see the British and French troopers 'tabletop' ready - which is lucky really as I have a load of models taken from blister FN103 - Grenadiers Or Voltigeurs In Greatcoat Marching now based, ready to be added to the Emperor's Grande Armée...