"Oi! You With Bowler!"

 "Get under cover or you'll get your flippin' 'ead blown off!"

This 28mm metal model is produced by "Athena Miniatures" as part of their Apocalypse Survivors range, and is one of eight similarly attired figures found inside the Swindon-based company's AS11 British NBC set. I actually picked it up as part of a much larger impulse buy whilst at "Warfare" 2024, as they're based on the notion of the Russians invading the United Kingdom following some great calamity - whether that be a nuclear strike, zombie incursion or some deadly extra-terrestrial attack.

This lore caused me to recall the classic "Invasion!" comic book strip created by Pat Mills for "2000 A.D." during the late Seventies, and I have subsequently painted up a squad of four Russian invaders dressed for Radiological, Chemical and Biological warfare to get me going. This time round though I thought I'd put my brush-tip to some of the country's heavily outnumbered defenders, and picked a single test piece with which to trial my chosen palette.

"Here is what to do if you want to get a lift from a Vogon: forget it." 

Resultantly, the figure was undercoated using a couple of coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Grey and drowned in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. I then carefully applied a base layer of "Citadel" Abaddon Black to the trooper's boots, gloves, gas mask and firearm, before giving the squaddie's hand-weapon and lenses a little "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I did consider using a spot of "Vallejo" Heavy Grey for the L98 A2 rifle, as per some photographs I had seen. But as the model was already predominantly that colour I decided to just keep it a dark silver so the "advanced rifle" would stand out a little more on the tabletop.

As a final touch, and something which I thought might help the British troopers stand out from their Soviet opponents, I decided to 'pick out' the chap's ammunition pouch with some round(ish) splodges of “Vallejo” Heavy Brown, Luftwaffe Camouflage Green and Heavy Sienna. This basic camouflage pattern was later sploshed with “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade, before each area was highlighted back up with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Brown, Luftwaffe Camouflage Green and Heavy Sienna.

"Games Workshop" WIPs - Two Sons of Horus Space Marines having their details 'picked out'

In addition to my British NBC Squaddie, I have also completed a fifth 28mm scale Vulgorn Guard by "Lost Heresy Miniatures" which I created using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer. This (not) "Hitchhiker's Of The Galaxy" model was predominantly painted using "Citadel" Abaddon Black, "Vallejo" German Grey and Gunmetal, with a significant splash of "Citadel" Nuln Oil, as well as a little "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, Bronze and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade on his rectangular-shaped gun.

Lastly, I've not forgotten my remaining 28mm multi-part plastic Sons of Horus Space Marines for "The Horus Heresy" by "Games Workshop", and have been patiently progressing the traitors whenever my hobby time allows. Indeed, I'm hoping to get the ten-man unit's Sergeant finished sooner rather than later, which besides a couple of Special Characters, should then just leave me with less than a handful of bog-standard MK IV Adeptus Astartes...