"Our Father, Who Art In Heaven..."

"Hallowed be thy name."

This 28mm scale resin model of a Praying Mouse is produced by “Oathsworn Miniatures" and was part of the company's "Burrows & Badgers: Furs & Feathers" Kickstarter way back in July 2017. Known as 'Pious' Tom, the Mouse Monk, the figure was originally given away for free during the crowdfunding campaign to any "Pick'n'Mix" or "All In" backers. However, it has since become available to buy as part of the North East English company's "Burrows & Badgers" range on their website.

Due to the sculpt being knelt in prayer, I recall initially being somewhat tempted to plonk the small rodent onto one of the thin-lipped 40mm plastic circular bases I regularly use for my objective markers. However, in the end I superglued the tiny animal onto a lipped 30mm round base instead, and set about priming them with a couple of coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna. The monk's robe was then shaded using a far amount of "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, before being roughly dry-brushed in (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna.

"There's nowhere to run!"

Having studied the mouse's 'official paint-job', I next applied a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Brown and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade to the critter's hood. This area was later highlighted with a careful dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Brown. The monk's hands, feet and tail were simply layered in "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone, washed with "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, and subsequently treated to some additional lines of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone along its fingers and toes.

For the figure's face, I decided to try something a little different (and definitely much quicker), by simply giving the area a rough dry-brush of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone over a Heavy Sienna base-coat. The entire head was then shaded with "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, and lightened with a much softer dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone. Finally, the closed eye slits were just darkened with a streak of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, whereas the creature's fingernails and claws were given a lick of "Two Thin Coats" White Star, and darkened down with (even more) "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

"The Volgs are coming down everywhere!"

In addition to my impulse paint-job - having only discovered the partially-painted model in a drawer the day before I finished pigmenting it - I have also completed the last two 28mm metal single-cast British NBC soldiers produced by "Athena Miniatures" I bought at "Warfare" 2024. Largely finished using lots of "Vallejo" Heavy Grey and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, the troopers' semi-automatic L98 A2 rifles and lenses were treated to a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil.

I also splattered their ammunition pouches with some round(ish) dollops of “Vallejo” Heavy Brown, Luftwaffe Camouflage Green and Heavy Sienna, before drenching their equipment bags with a splash of "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. This basic camouflage pattern - which I've previously used whilst painting my 15mm German Panzergrenadiers for "Flames Of War" - was subsequently highlighted back up with some extra splodges of (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Brown, Luftwaffe Camouflage Green and Heavy Sienna.