“The Standard Against Which All Battle Armour Is Measured.”

“The Elemental battle armour was first introduced in 2868 by Clan Wolf."

These six 1:285 scale plastic Elemental figures are made by “Catalyst Game Labs” and can be found inside the company’s “Battletech: Clan Elemental Star” boxed set. The pre-assembled miniatures are actually supplied in groups of five miniatures on five hexagonal-shaped stands. However, as I plan to use them as power-armour wearing super-soldiers for my upcoming Weird War Two campaign utilising some homemade rules, I decided to rebase them in threes on some “Citadel” 25mm round bases.

Due to wanting all the 6mm sized infantrymen to represent the Polish defenders of Warsaw, they were all primed in “Vallejo” Heavy Brown and subsequently shaded using “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade. I then dry-brushed them with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Brown and ‘picked out’ their anti-personnel machine gun using a combination of “Vallejo” Gunmetal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

"Catalyst Game Labs" WIPs - An Ebon Jaguar and some Elemental battle-suits

I also decided to apply some “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey to their twin-tube short-range missile launchers, shaded them with a splash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil, and later give them a delicate ‘once over’ with a smidgeon more “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey. Lastly, I layered some “Vallejo” Sombre Grey to the super-soldiers’ smoke trails, washed them with “Citadel” Nuln Oil and dry-brushed their jet-streams using some (more) “Vallejo” Sombre Grey and a touch of White too.

Having completed my meagre 1939 Polish force, unless until I can acquire an extra Jenner Inner Sphere BattleMech figure or two, I’ve begun working on some reinforcements for my invading German Heer army. I’ve previously already painted quite a large collection of models to use on the tabletop as the Wehrmacht, but thought that the sculpt of an Ebon Jaguar would mix in well as a slightly heavier, more advanced model of the Stormcrow miniatures I’ve been predominantly using as Heinkel Flugzeugwerke class War Walkers. In addition, the move has given me an excuse to assemble some German super-soldiers too, which I can easily pigment alongside their much larger killing machine, as they’ll all share very similar colour schemes.

"Only two cuirassier regiments were raised during the English Civil War."

Lastly, I have actually found and resultantly repainted a small stand of old Cuirassiers by “Pendraken Miniatures” so that they’re actually fighting for Parliament rather than the King using a dollop of “Vallejo” Heavy Orange and dash of “Citadel” Casandora Yellow. These 10mm English Civil War cavalry models were actually finished over a decade ago, and have been doing little, except gathering dust, in a small box until I recently encountered them.

Somewhat shockingly, I’ve also discovered a rather large contingent of fully-painted Pike and Musket accompanying them, so have spent a little time trying to work out whether I own a useable “Black Powder” army or not. All of the figures, including nine Cuirassiers, all wear the predominantly red colours of the King’s Guard. However, having perused my copy of “To Kill A King” it would seem that only the likes of Lord Essex’s Parliamentarian army of 1943 used the pistol-carrying heavy cavalry units (and then with only a “maximum of one unit in the army” during its early incarnations).

“Meet Morrigun…”

“…The seventh warrior.”

This 28mm scale metal model of Morrigun was produced by “Wargames Foundry” and could be bought as code AD13 from their now long out of production (OOP) “2000 A.D.” range. Happily, the Nottingham-based manufacturer gave some advanced notice as to this particular line’s demise, so I managed to purchase the figure just before the sculpt was withdrawn from sale.

“The only female robot member the A.B.C. [Atomic, Bacterial and Chemical] Warriors have ever had ", the waitress on Hekate was undercoated using Grey Surface Primer by "Vallejo", before being layered with "Scalecolor" Blue Alchemy, shaded in Drakenhof Nightshade, and dry-brushed with (more) "Scalecolor" Blue Alchemy. I then picked out all of the automaton's armour and dreadlock-styled hair with "Citadel" Abaddon Black.

"Mongoose Publishing" WIPs - Blackblood is slowly having his details 'picked out'

Morrigun’s formidable looking hand-weapon was predominantly pigmented with “Vallejo” Gunmetal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil. However, the axe-headed flail’s handle was treated to a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna and some “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade. I also applied some “Vallejo” Heavy Red and “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson to the female android’s disappointingly misaligned lips.

Sticking with the comic book “2000 A.D.” and its A.B.C. Warriors, but moving across to a model originally produced by “Mongoose Publishing”, I have started work on a miniature of General Blackblood. This “most feared of the Volgans' war robots” was actually painted predominantly metallic green in his ‘official’ colour scheme. However, having recently used "Scalecolor" Emerald Alchemy on my Ro-Jaws figure, I decided to adopt the metallic silver palette used when artist Bryan Talbot was pencilling the character within the pages of “Nemesis The Warlock: Book Four”.

"Warlord Games" WIPs - This Royalist Pikeman has been glued upon a "Citadel" 25mm circular base

In addition, over the next week or so I aim to complete the first four 28mm plastic Pikemen by “Warlord Games” I’ve bought for my slow-burning English Civil War (ECW) project. Despite sticking to my initial plan of just painting a handful of models a month, I have changed my idea to simply stick each quartet of figures on to a single square base.

Instead, I’ve glued them upon “Citadel” 28mm circular stands with the intention of forming them up in blocks of ten using some MDF movement trays by “Warbases”. This system should help me with both the storage and transport of the soldiers, as well as allow me to use some of them for skirmish games (such as Smooth & Rifled by “Dadi & Piombo”)…

“The Black Templars Are A Loyalist Second Founding Space Marine Chapter…”

“…Derived from the Imperial Fists' gene-seed and their primarch, Rogal Dorn.”

These 6mm scale plastic models of ten space marines used to be produced by “Games Workshop” as part of their now long out of production (OOP) “Epic” range, and were predominantly found whilst I was busy mooching through my original box of “Space Marines” from 1991. However, I’m pretty sure the ‘beaky’ marine sculpts were actually acquired second-hand, as they were already primed on the sprue with a thick, black paint and were part of the game’s first edition, which was released a couple of years earlier than the version I bought.

These figures’ perplexing undercoat also meant that I would struggle to re-paint the diminutive Adeptus Astartes in any other Chapter colours if I didn’t want their already somewhat soft detail to worsen. So as a result I decided to make them all Black Templars and just ‘pick out’ their shoulder-pads and bolters, rather than risk anything else which would add an extra layer or two to the models.

 "Their origin can be traced back to the Imperial Fists' defence of Terra during the Horus Heresy."

I was though unhappy at the thought of my ten-man unit simply comprising of Corvus armoured warriors, so rummaged around until I had found a few (updated) sculpts wearing Mark VII armour. I’d actually previously painted these figures as Ultramarines, but felt the unimpressive thirty year plus paint-jobs could easily be expunged by the self-same heavily watered-down prime of “Citadel” Abaddon Black which I gave their ‘beaky’ brethren.

Once dry, all the space marines’ shoulder-pads were treated to a double-coat of watered-down “Vallejo” White and Pale Grey, whilst their bolters were given a combination of “Vallejo” Gunmetal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil. I did actually attempt to apply some “Citadel” Abaddon Black to the shoulder-pad ridges of the Aquila armoured Adeptus Astartes. Sadly though, my skill with a paint-brush to successfully achieve such straight lines was distinctly lacking, so I soon settled upon the entire shoulder-pad simply being a single colour, and just dry-brushed them all with (more) “Vallejo” White after applying the Pale Grey.

"Warlord Games" WIPs - Four Royalist Pikemen primed in "Vallejo" Heavy Red

Stepping well away from my latest science-fiction based entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I have assembled and primed four 28mm plastic Pikemen by “Warlord Games” for a project I plan to patiently pursue throughout the entirety of next year – if not, beyond. I have always wanted to be able to play a large, mass-scaled historical battle, yet despite dabbling in Napoleonic armies at various scales over the decades, have never managed to get anywhere close to the breath-taking numbers required for such a feat.

Having recently reread the “Pike & Shotte” English Civil War expansion “To Kill A King” though, I’m hoping a change of war theatre and century might just make such a project a possibility. Working on the principle of having two opposing forces solely consisting of a Pike unit, two Musketeer units and a troop of cavalry by this time next year, I aim to finish just a handful of figures a month, and have duly started on a quartet of Pikemen for the King’s Lifeguard…

“Simmer Down!”

“You especially.”

This 28mm scale white metal model of Simian Minion D: Man-catcher is produced by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” and can be bought either separately or as part of their Simian Minions four-figure collection. The figure is designed to be used with the company's "7TV" United Radionics Programme Guide, but I intend to field it as one of several gorilla soldiers for my ongoing project based upon Franklin J. Schaffner's 1968 science fiction film "Planet Of The Apes".

Having super-glued a Simian head onto the torso, the miniature was initially primed with two coats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, before being enthusiastically dry-brushed in Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal. It was then drenched in "Citadel" Nuln Oil, before having its trousers and sleeves pigmented using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Violet and "Citadel" Druchii Violet.

A selection of my old English Civil War collection by "Front Rank Figurines"

Next I applied a layer of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna to the ape’s “wielding a sinister man-catcher” and ammunition belt, whilst the rope on its hand-weapon was painted using some Heavy Brown. All three of these areas were later shaded using "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. Finally, I 'picked out' the gorilla’s very visible teeth using a combination of “Vallejo” White and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade.

Alongside pigmenting my latest MoVember miniature I have been following Iain White’s simply splendid rebasing of a load of 28mm English Civil War miniatures I was able to personally give him during the summer. I actually bought these old “Front Rank Figurines” second-hand myself over twenty years ago, and had planned to use them as the basis for some Pike and shot wargaming. However, having started to base them individually (on two-pence pieces) I soon lost the will to live, especially when I later discovered that the sculpts were no longer produced so I couldn’t paint any more to match their previous owner’s rather unique, colourful style.

Prince Rupert, Boy and some Royalist cavalry rebased by Iain

Fortunately, Iain has really put the effort it to rank them up appropriately, and the cavalry look especially impressive en masse. I purchased the collection in several batches, including some Scottish forces, cannons and even Prince Rupert’s pet hunting poodle Boy, and resultantly was always a bit disconcerted by the inconsistency in some the paint-jobs – almost as if some units were rather rushed in an effort to get them on the battlefield. Happily though, Iain’s basing process appears to blend them all together rather well, and I would urge you to visit his excellent blog “Caveadsum1471” for more pictures.

In addition, I walked away from our meeting with some more lead to add to my own burgeoning collection, most notably the 1988 edition of “Blood Bowl” by “Games Workshop”, complete with a full metal Dwarf team. Iain was also super generous enough to gift me his copy of the Spacefarers Guide To Alien Races by “Phoenix Games” and the excellent Starships & Spacecraft playing aid “approved for the use with Traveller” as penned by Dave Sering. Two books which have really got my imagination rocking with ideas for future space battles…