"The Legions Of The Shia Khan Empire..."

"...Are the main fighting force of the Empire."

This trio of 15mm miniatures by "Alternative Armies" come from their "The Ion Age" code IAF019 Legion 2nd Pioneers - Flora Grenade Guns (Pose Seven - Pioneer Discens with Flora, loading, Pose Two - Pioneer Discens with Flora, and Pose Five - Pioneer Discens with Flora, clutching the ground), and are designed to be used with the company’s “Patrol Angis” rule-set. However, I’ve both based and painted them so they can be used as a (proxy) unit of Chaos Space Marines for a home-brew game I've somewhat loosely based within the early Warhammer 30k/40k universe.

The models were initially primed using a couple of coats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal, and shaded using plenty of "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I then base-layered their skull-like face masks with a little "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, before 'picking them out' using a smear or two of Gold and a dash of "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

"Athena Miniatures" WIPs - A pair of British Apocalypse Survivors

I next applied some "Vallejo" Heavy Violet to the figures' partially visible sleeves and trousers, and washed these areas in "Citadel" Druchii Violet. This choice is somewhat different to the Pioneers' official red colour scheme - as seen in the pictures on "The Ion Age" website, as I actually intend to use the miniatures as pseudo Emperor's Children traitor marines, so I felt such a change in their palette would prove much more appropriate.

My original intention was to also just finish each model off by treating their Flora grenade guns to a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil. But despite this 'flash of metallics', I still felt that the figures looked rather bland - especially from behind. Resultantly, I also applied some "Vallejo" Gunmetal to the pipes and tubing of their breathing apparatus, and a little Heavy Sienna to some ammunition pouches running around their waists. These items were subsequently darkened down using (more) "Citadel" Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade respectively.

"Wargames Foundry" WIPs - These twenty-five year-old Highlanders are finally seeing some paint

Having completed this test base - using three models which have rather embarrassingly been sat upon my hobby table for many a year, I thought I'd tackle some much more recently-arrived sculpts in the guise of two British Apocalypse Survivors by "Athena Miniatures". One of these 28mm metal figures will (hopefully) be transformed into a bearded Bill Savage - so as to lead the King's remaining military forces against the Volgan invasion of the United Kingdom, and the is one of four children I intend to use as clue markers - as I plan to use an adapted version of "The Silver Bayonet" rule-set by "Osprey Games" for my battles.

Lastly, I have been dusting done and plonking a few basic paints on a number of "Wargames Foundry" Napoleonic soldiers I fully intend to work my way through next month, such as these approximately twenty-five year-old Scotsmen from blister B060 Highlander Flank Company Advancing. This project hasn't really got going in 2025 yet, so I thought dedicating April to the 'collar and cuffs' cause might inject it with the energy necessary for me to patiently pigment all the colourfully-dressed combatants...