(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Games Workshop” March 2024

"The Horus Heresy is a dark, far future military space opera."

Following my early departure from the Fourteenth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC), I figured this month may well provide an ideal opportunity to finish the last ten Sons Of Horus tactical Space Marines I need to fill out for my Traitor Legion's 500-point core force. I've actually got a few other partially-pigmented "Games Workshop" plastic figures to polish off too, including the army's Praetor and Esoterist Consul. But my main mission will be to get my (old) Mark IV armoured warriors completed and finally on the battlefield ready for some games.

To do this I'm planning on stepping away from my tried and trusted method of 'base layer/shade/dry-brush' in favour of leaving the final wash and rough highlights until the very end. This cunning notion should save me some significant time whenever I make a mistake by catching my brush tip on an armoured leg or arm, as in the past its resulted in my painstakingly redoing all of the above stages again - repairs which never quite look right despite my best efforts to blend the re-painted area back in with its surroundings.

"But they kill for survival, food, self-defence."

In addition though, I do still aim to finish off many of the miniatures I had set aside for the AHPC and its Challenge Library bonus points. One such potential entry (for the Science Fiction section) were five more 15mm alien models by "Ground Zero Games". Available as code SG15-X01 Xenomorphs, the six-figure pack contains two similar(ish) poses, and are clearly based upon H.R. Giger's famous extra-terrestrial killers from Ridley Scott's 1979 science fiction horror flick "Alien".

Ordinarily, I usually tackle 15mm miniatures individually on wooden sticks. However, on this occasion they were all permanently placed upon a "Battlefront Miniatures" large plastic base, before being primed in "Citadel" Abaddon Black. The deadly creatures were then enthusiastically dry-brushed "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey, and darkened back down with a positive drowning in "Citadel" Nuln Oil.

February 2024 - "Black Tree Design" has maintained its early lead due to my continuing interest in "Doctor Who"

There's probably little doubt that the last four weeks have not seen me at my most productive - largely due to my disenchantment with the AHPC and subsequent decision to take some time away from the painting table once I'd left the event. But I did still manage to rattle off a good few figures from my "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" backlog, as well as some more "Doctor Who" models by "Black Tree Design".

Looking to the imminent future, I aim to get many more science-fiction figures finished from both these manufacturers, as I've finally managed to start playing the latest incarnation of "7TV" and want to set several campaigns in the worlds of "Flash Gordon", "V", Planet Of The Apes" and "Doctor Who". Add this to my primary goal of getting another Space Marine squad completed, and all this enthusiasm bodes well for a busy time to be had...