"If It Gets Off This Planet."

"It'll kill everything."

These 10mm scale metal Xenomorphs are produced by “Pendraken Miniatures” as code SFC5 Small Creature from their Alien Creatures range, and come in a pack of ten single-pose sculpts. Somewhat disconcertingly though, the models are actually 15mm in height from base to tail-tip, so seemingly fit in far better with other figures from that larger scale rather than anything else found inside the Middlesbrough-based manufacturer's 'Old Science Fiction' range.  

The critters definitely seem to show H.R. Giger’s creations during the early stages of their transition from Chest-burster to adult drone, so in August 2021 I simply pigmented them as smaller versions of the dark grey/black "endoparasitoid extra-terrestrial species" depicted on the Silver Screen. This time round though I was tempted to change their palette to the much lighter, almost white-coloured hue seen in Ridley Scott's 2017 film "Alien: Covenant".

"London Is Only Thirty Minutes Away!"

However, as I was planning on just adding these miniatures to my current horde of Xenomorphs, I eventually decided to stick with their 'original' colour, and subsequently undercoated them with a couple of lashings of "Citadel" Abaddon Black. The models were then dry-brushed using "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey, and treated to a double-helping of "Citadel" Nuln Oil so as to tie them in with the rest of their brethren.

One change I did make though was to create two bases of four figures each, in order to represent a pack of the predators rushing at their prey, as opposed to just plonking them in pairs upon the small plastic "Flames Of War" stands by "Battlefront Miniatures" I have used in the past. This was done purely to add an extra element to my homemade rules, and increase the chances that the young Xenomorphs' opposition could potentially get swamped by the rambunctious infants - and resultantly be torn to bloody shreds by them.

"Wargames Foundry" WIPs - This Austrian Jaeger is having all his details 'picked out'

In addition to my latest Alien reinforcements, I have completed another of my Soviet invaders by "Athena Miniatures". Taken from my third AS12 Russian NBC four-figure set, this 28mm metal model was painted using “Vallejo” German Fieldgrey WWII , "Citadel" Nuln Oil, "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, and "Vallejo" Gunmetal.

Finally, I have started to turn my attention to an Austrian Light Infantryman from the "Wargames Foundry" blister AN038 Jaegers 1805-15 Running. This will be a test piece so I can work out how best to tackle all the soldier's straps, cuffs and collars, before moving on to paint at least another three identical figures to form a tiny unit (for "Black Powder")...