"Beware The Beast Man, For He Is The Devil's Pawn."

 "Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, or lust, or greed."

This 28mm scale white metal model of a Simian is produced by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” and can be bought either separately or as part of their Simian Minions II four-figure collection. However, I was fortunate enough to obtain mine through the company's successful 7TV:Apocalypse "Kickstarter" as I thought the 'passive chimp' would make an excellent proxy for Doctor Cornelius from Franklin J. Schaffner's 1968 science fiction film "Planet Of The Apes".

"A chimpanzee archaeologist and historian", the figure was initially primed with two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Green, washed with "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green and subsequently dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo Heavy Green. His sleeves were then painted in "Vallejo" USA Olive Drab, and both his fur and leather chest covering with Heavy Sienna. All three of these areas were later shaded using "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

"West Wind Productions" WIPs - Three Commandos, two armed with Carbines and the other with an SMG

Finally I applied a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Brown and "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade to Cornelius' flesh, and simply pigmented his furry head in "Citadel" Abaddon Black. Initially I did try 'picking out' the simian's fingers and facial details using a touch more "Vallejo" Heavy Brown, but quickly abandoned this idea as I thought the contrast was a bit too much.

Having recently found myself playing some "Konflikt '47" by "Warlord Games" I have perhaps unsurprisingly started work on a few more models to help expand my British and Commonwealth Army up to 500 points. Although at some point I plan to incorporate some of the Nottingham-based manufacturer's official miniatures into my force, I'm currently only using my old "Secrets Of The Third Reich" collection by "West Wind Productions", and so resultantly have simply assembled three more of their excellent British Commandos.

"Adeptus Titanicus" WIPs - The Warhound Titan legs have been layered, shaded and weathered

Two of these figures, both armed with a Carbine rifle, will simply help me better pad out a squad of regular infantry and, in the case of the red beret-wearing soldier, an Airborne Infantry Section. However, the third model will enable me to better identify my NCOs on the tabletop as he's replaced his rifle with an SMG (for an additional 3 points).

I've also not been slacking on making some visible progress on the first of two Warhound Titans I want to field for "Adeptus Titanicus" by "Games Workshop". Indeed, I've now finished the legs to the mechanical brute, and simply now need to complete its gun-laden hull before the heavily-armed monster is ready for some action during the Emperor's "brutal civil war".

"I Am Ikon, Of The Spaceknights."

"There is nothing inappropriate about combat."

This 28mm scale plastic model of Ikon is produced by “Wizkids” and is miniature number 009b from their Marvel “Heroclix” Guardians of the Galaxy range. An Alpha Class Galadorian Spaceknight, she was chosen by her people to join Star-Lord's team of "the most powerful and formidable warriors in the galaxy" and was created by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Miguel Sepulveda for the March 2011 issue of "Thanos Imperative: Devastation" by "Marvel Comics".

"Presenting herself as Greatest living spaceknight", the figure was cut from her 'clicky' base and super-glued to a 25mm circular base. I then applied two coats of "Vallejo" Silver over the model's pre-paint job, including the Galadorian's bright pink Poleaxe, shaded her with "Citadel" Nuln Oil and dry-brushed the entire miniature with (more) "Vallejo" Silver.

"Heroclix" WIPs - Darin has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

Later I 'picked out' the Spaceknight's eyes with a couple of dots of "Vallejo" Heavy Red, and carefully washed them with a drop or two of "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson, before tidying them up with a dab (more) "Vallejo" Silver. I did consider both trying to straighten the expert combatant's somewhat bendy hand-weapon, and also painting it's energy-laden 'spear-head' with some "Vallejo" Squid Pink and perhaps a smidgen of "Citadel" Flesh Tearers Red.

However, cutting, straightening or even potentially replacing the somewhat thin-looking weapon's shaft looked like a lot of work, plus I also didn't want to show the weapon actually 'firing', but simply at the 'ready' to discharge its fearsome force. As a result, I left Ikon's Poleaxe with the selfsame colour scheme as her Plandanium Armor (Third Generation), and even managed to ignore an urge to pick out some of her side-plating with "Citadel" Abaddon Black, as is occasionally depicted in some of the comic books.

"Adeptus Titanicus" WIPs - The Warhound Titan has had all its metallic areas layered and shaded

Sticking with Spaceknights I have also been working on a "Heroclix" miniature of Darin too. I was hoping, not unlike Ikon, that this would be a rather straightforward paint-job, and provide me with some additional time to focus on other hobby-related projects. No such luck though, as having removed the figure's annoying blast effect from the end of his plandanium javelin, I thought the model looked silly simply holding onto the very end of his hand-weapon. Needless to say that lead to me sourcing an extension, some drilling, pinning and much frustration...

Fortunately, despite these minor irritations, I have made some progress on my two Warhound Titans for "Adeptus Titanicus" by "Games Workshop". I'm currently focusing my efforts on getting all the metalwork layered, shaded and dry-brushed on the warmachines' upper bodies, so I can then start working on all their intricate details as a whole over two or three painting sessions.

"Nothin' In There, It's Clean..."

"What'd you expect? We're just covering the bases here..."

This pair of 28mm scale pre-painted plastic models of Gotham Policemen were produced by “Wizkids” and are both miniature number 001 from their DC  “Heroclix” Hypertime range. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger for "DC Comics", the G.C.P.D is led by Commissioner Gordon, and "has had a long love-hate relationship with the city's vigilante known as Batman." Indeed, Gordon's replacement, Commissioner Michael Akins actually "ordered the arrest of Batman and had the Bat-signal removed from the roof of Gotham Central." Both James Gordon and detective Harvey Bullock were reinstated in "DC Comics" 2006 comic book story-line "One Year Later".

Chopped from their 'clicky' stands and super-glued to a couple of 25mm circular bases, I carefully removed the sergeant stripes from off their left sleeves with a sharp modelling knife so as to simply mark them out as low-ranking law officers. The cops were then primed using a few coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Blue and shaded in "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade.

 "Maybe I'm not being clear."

Each policeman's boots, holster, baton and pistol were 'picked out' with some "Citadel" Abaddon Black, whilst their firearms were later treated to a combination of Ironbreaker and Badab Black. I used some "Vallejo" Gold for the flatfoots' belt buckles, shoulder badges and cap badges, and subsequently washed these areas with a little Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter".

As I fancied slightly mixing up the two models' skin colours a little, I initially painted one of the figure's flesh with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, and the other with Charred Brown. However, I didn't like the way the rather watery "Vallejo" Charred Brown came out of its pot, so ended up mixing it with some "Citadel" Doombull Brown. All of these areas were later shaded using a dash of "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

 "Adeptus Mechanicus" WIPs - The two Warhound Titans have been shaded and dry-brushed

With my last two additions to Gotham City Police's uniform department completed, I have turned my attention to painting all the metallic areas on my Warhound Titans for "Adeptus Titanicus" by "Games Workshop". I've kept the two 'massive' warmachines in sub-assemblies to help me reach some of each model's underside, and resultantly managed to get my paint-brush everywhere it has needed to go so far...

Because I knew I'd be heavily dry-brushing the metallic beasts, I've been able to be rather brutal with my application of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. In addition, I plan to apply some “Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash to parts of the "god-machines", not only to suggest the wear and tear of time (and the blessing of the Chaos God, Nurgle), but also to help cover up a couple of flaws caused in their assembly, where the plastic glue badly ate into some of the miniature's detail.

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Adeptus Titanicus" April 2020

"Adeptus Titanicus" WIP - The Warhound Titan has been assembled, primed and layered

This month's themed attempt to reduce my bloated backlog of metal, plastic and resin models will primarily focus upon "two nimble Warhound Titans" from the Adeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy starter set by "Games Workshop". Despite having a healthy love for the second edition of "Epic" (or rather "Space Marine") and owning a copy of "Epic: Armageddon", I had managed to resist purchasing the Nottingham-based manufacturer's Adeptus Titanicus: Grand Master Edition when it was first released on account of its disconcerting price point.

However, the company's arguably more affordable "starting point for playing Adeptus Titanicus" containing "six incredible Citadel miniatures" was a little harder to ignore, especially as the somewhat significantly smaller war machines didn't look half as intimidating to build or pigment as the formidably large Warlord Battle titans. As a result I have assembled the pair of Warhound Scout plastic kits found in the box as two Traitor titans from the Legio Mortis, which will give me a fairly straightforward palette of black, red, silver and gold (Pre-Heresy), and then Green, Black and Silver (Post-Heresy) once they have fully given themselves over to Nurgle...

"Wizkids" WIPs - The Minotaur has been primed, washed and dry-brushed

In addition to my dalliance with "Games Workshop", I will be ploughing on with some "Wizkids" figures in an effort to help bolster the amount of civilians I can field on the tabletop. Not only do I have a few non-combatants in mind, perhaps to use as simple innocent bystanders or movable objectives, but I've become increasingly aware of owning few non-super-powered civilian forces, such as actual S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers, A.I.M. operatives or Agents of Hydra.

Having recently added to my collection of G.C.P.D. officers, I also want to be able to get some S.W.A.T. forces and U.S. Army soldiers onto my tabletop too. But first, having been badly bitten by the murderous machinations of the Roxxon Energy Corporation's CEO, Dario Agger, in "The Immortal Hulk", I thought I'd paint up the insane industrialist's "Heroclix" alter-ego, the Minotaur...

March 2020 - "Wizkids" once again dominated the month with a plethora of "Heroclix" and "D&D" models

Statistics wise, the past four weeks have proved to be a highly productive March, with my interest in "Dungeons & Dragons" ruling my painting queue and instinctive need to successfully achieve my target tally in the Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge channelling my hobby mojo. Interestingly however, my love of underground tunnel dwellers didn't limit me to just a single manufacturer either, with both "Wizkids" and "Otherworld Miniatures" benefiting from my need to populate a stone-tiled gaming table with some denizens of the deep.

Alongside "Otherworld Miniatures", this period also saw another company rise in my estimation with "Precinct Omega" and their utterly bizarre "Ballmonsters!" range. Surprisingly, I actually managed to finish off an entire team of these weird-looking sporting creatures, and fully expect to have a second squad completed before the year is out.