“I'm In The Middle Of An Interrogation.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

This 28mm metal miniature of Natalia, Female Secret Agent is by "Reaper Miniatures" and comes from their Chronoscope range under code 50149. I bought the model just as soon as I spotted it on Planetmut’s excellent blog “PM Painting”, as I thought it would make an excellent addition to my party of adventurers for Gamma World.

The two-piece figure was actually rather fiddly to assemble due to her disconcertingly fragile-looking limbs, but once the super-glue had set I was able to undercoat the covert operative with “Vallejo” Black Prime. I then treated the miniature to a couple of layers of “Citadel” Abaddon Black, heavily dry-brushed her with “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal, and picked out her gun holster, leg strap and belt with Heavy Sienna.

"The others must have cannibalized it for the blood!"

I also applied some “Vallejo” Gunmetal to the deadly assassin’s pistol, before all of these areas were ‘drowned’ in “Citadel” Nuln Oil. The not-Black Widow’s belt buckle and thigh gadget were treated to a combination of “Vallejo” Gold and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade, before I gave Natalia’s hair a lick of “Vallejo” Heavy Red. This was subsequently shaded with “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade, and carefully dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Red.

Alongside this submission to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC), I also entered (as my final entry) five more 15mm metal Xenomorphs by "Ground Zero Games". The figures are available as code SG15-X01 from the company’s Stargrunt Infantry range, and come in packs of six figures (consisting of two alternative sculpts).

The tanks have been assembled with different sets of Schürzen armour

Due to using the models for some homemade rules, the deadly extra-terrestrials were super-glued onto either a medium or small-sized plastic “Flames Of War” stand by “Battlefront Miniatures”, and primed using two layers of “Citadel” Abaddon Black. The Internecivus raptus’ were then dry-brushed with “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, before being given a double-helping of “Citadel” Nuln Oil in order to help tone down their highlights and better blend them in.

Lastly, I have finally assembled and primed the four plastic Panzer IV (7.5cm) tanks I plan to add to my German Beach Defence Company for “Flames Of War”. The “Hit The Beach” Starter Set by “Battlefront Miniatures” actually only contains three of the vehicles so as to make a 16 point platoon. However, having had a rummage through the numerous sprues I collected for their skirmish game “Tanks”, I’ve been able to add a fourth tank and bolster the unit up to 22 points worth of heavy armour.

"The Kit Fox Is A Light Clan OmniMech…”

“…With long-range combat as a primary focus.”

This 1:285 scale pre-built plastic model of a Kit Fox is produced by “Catalyst Game Labs” and can be found in the “BattleTech: Clan Fire Star” along with a Warhawk, Cougar, Fire Moth, and Nova Cat. All the pre-assembled miniatures also come with an assortment of MechWarrior pilot and Alpha Strike cards depicting various colour schemes. But as I plan to use this particular sculpt as a Caudron-Renault class French War Walker for an upcoming Weird War Two campaign using some homemade rules, I decided to go with a predominantly pale blue palette.

“Often fielded by Clan Jade Falcon”, the 32mm tall figure was initially primed with a double layer of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and washed using “Citadel” Drakenhof Nightshade. The thirty ton vehicle was then dry-brushed using (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey with a softly-bristled make-up blusher brush, before having a small circular access hatch and grill section ‘picked out’ with a combination of German Grey and “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

"They mostly come at night...mostly."

I also applied a base layer of “Citadel” Abaddon Black to the Kit Fox’s Extended Range Large Laser and Small Pulse Laser (on its left arm), 5-X Autocannon, Streak Short Range Missile rack SRM-4 rack and accompanying vents. These areas were all later treated to a lick of “Vallejo” Gunmetal and a generous splash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

Lastly, I slapped a Tricolore by “Decal Details” just above Babylon-built machine’s cockpit, and two super-tiny Croix de Lorraine on its legs. I was also hoping to use a couple of French roundels, as I have previously done on the two other mechs I’ve allocated to France’s Weird War effort. However, despite owning the transfers in several diminutive sizes, I simply couldn’t find an area of armour plating large enough to accommodate them.

"Reaper Miniatures" WIPs - Natalia, Female Secret Agent is having her final details 'picked out'.

Alongside my latest Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge entry I have also submitted five 15mm scale metal Xenomorphs by “Ground Zero Games”. These models were super-glued onto a large-sized plastic “Flames Of War” stand by “Battlefront Miniatures”, and primed using two layers of “Citadel” Abaddon Black. The extra-terrestrials were later dry-brushed with “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, before being given a double-helping of “Citadel” Nuln Oil in order to help tone down their highlights and better blend them in.

Finally, I’ve found a little time to continue working on the 28mm model Natalia, Female Secret Agent by “Reaper Miniatures” I recently purchased. This not-Black Widow has really reinvigorated my hobby enthusiasm and could well be finished within a week or two of my buying her – something I’m not particularly prone to do these days…

“The Warhawk Was Powered By A Massive 340 XL Engine…”

“…That gave it a top speed of 64.8 km/h and mounted thirteen and a half tons of Ferro-Fibrous armour.”

This 1:285 scale pre-built plastic model of a Warhawk is produced by “Catalyst Game Labs” and can be found in the “BattleTech: Clan Fire Star” along with a Kit Fox, Cougar, Fire Moth, and Nova Cat. All the pre-assembled miniatures also come with an assortment of MechWarrior pilot and Alpha Strike cards depicting various colour schemes. But as I plan to use this particular sculpt as a Bloch class French War Walker for an upcoming Weird War Two campaign using some homemade rules, I decided to go with a predominantly pale blue palette.

“Introduced by Clan Smoke Jaguar in 2999”, the 43mm tall figure was initially given a double undercoat of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and shaded in “Citadel” Drakenhof Nightshade. It was then dry-brushed using (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey with a softly-bristled make-up blusher brush, and had its cockpit windows ‘picked out’ with the odd dab of “Citadel” Abaddon Black.

"Ground Zero Games" WIPs - These Xenomorphs have been primed, based-coated and dry-brushed

I also applied a base layer of “Citadel” Abaddon Black to the Warhawk’s four Extended Range Particle Projector Cannons and LRM-10 Launcher, as well as numerous vents and the odd piece of armour plating. These areas were all later treated to a lick of “Vallejo” Gunmetal and a generous splash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

Finally, I stuck some French roundels by “Decal Details” to the mech’s front legs, the Tricolore to the machine’s upper carapace and the name “Boiurgueil” to its hull. These transfers actually took quite a few attempts as I found that they started to disintegrate very quickly in the water if I waited too long for them to detach themselves from their paper.

"Reaper Miniatures" WIPs - Natalia, Female Secret Agent is just having her details 'picked out'.

In addition to my latest Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge entry I have been progressing twenty 15mm scale metal Xenomorphs by “Ground Zero Games”. These are the last of the alien figures I purchased from the company’s Stargrunt Infantry range last year, and have been based on the small, medium and large Flames of War bases produced by “Battlefront Miniatures” to represent different sized packs of Xenomorph XX121.

Lastly, I've managed to get my hands on the 28mm model Natalia, Female Secret Agent by “Reaper Miniatures”. I spotted this striking not-Black Widow figure on Planetmut’s excellent blog “PM Painting”, and thought it would make an excellent proxy for the actress Scarlett Johansson, so the Academy Award nominee could join my other adventurers in their exploits on Gamma World…

"Salute" Loot 2021

"South London Warlords" WIPs - Paul Hicks' sculpt, the Boy With Spitfire, is slowly being painted

After almost a two-year absence, I was finally able to once again make the pilgrimage to the ExCeL convention centre in Custom House, East London earlier this month, so as to add a few more bags of lead and plastic to my ever-swelling ‘incline of inspiration’. I must confess I didn’t really know what to expect from the much delayed show, especially as a number of companies decided to announce their non-attendance at short notice, such as “Mierce Miniatures” - who appeared to have posted up their no-show decision on social media the evening before it actually started.

Happily however, considering just how many manufacturers ultimately decided not to appear without any warning whatsoever, I wasn’t just travelling up to “the Big Smoke” to purchase goodies, but to also meet up with some of my fellow bloggers like Dave Docherty (“One Man And His Brushes”), Tamsin Piper (“Wargaming Girl”) and Ray Rousell (“Don’t Throw A One”). This impromptu get together late in the morning was easily the highlight of the day, and also allowed me to obtain a little heads up as to what these prodigious painters would be potentially pigmenting for the upcoming Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC).

"Reaper Miniatures" WIPs - A Werecrocodile and Werearmadillo

Loot-wise, things were looking rather sparse for a considerably long time, despite it taking me a good hour or so to slowly make my way around all the stalls sat up against the edges of the grand hall. This year’s “lovely little commemorative figure of the Battle Of Britain” immediately caught my eye when I spied it in my goodie bag, and I also managed to pick up a “Reaper Miniatures” Werecrocodile and Werearmadillo from an early seller who seemingly had every Bones figure imaginable for sale. Yet surprisingly, that was it for quite a while as I walked past a disconcertingly high number of empty tables.

Perhaps the show’s biggest deal was from a large stand (whose name escapes me) whose numerous staff were selling both old and new packets of “Flames Of War” models by “Battlefront Miniatures” at half the recommended retail price (RRP). One of my reasons for signing up to the AHPC this year is to ‘push through’ my Late War Germans, so I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to bulk up on some reinforcements. As a result I picked up a 15cm Infantry Gun Platoon, a 7.5cm Infantry Gun Platoon, a Fallschirmjager Rifle Platoon, and a D-Day Mission Token Set. To be honest I could have bought more, but as the sellers kept having to use their phones to web-search the RRP for each blister I selected before giving me a price, my (im)patience dictated that I settled upon just the bare essentials.

"Red Eagle Miniatures" WIPs - These French Line skirmishing figures have been primed

Disappointingly, the centre of the hall was probably where the ‘no-shows’ made their biggest impact as there were some considerable holes in the line-up, and despite looking I never managed to find the likes of “Gripping Beast”, “Hasslefree” or “Troll Trader” – the last of which usually sees me fork out an inordinate amount of dosh on genres/ranges I never ever anticipated buying. To be honest, this soon caused me to return to the edge stalls for a second perusal, and thus caused me to miss Dave Stone’s “Wargames Terrain Workshop” stand completely. Though I did get to spend five minutes chatting to Duncan Rhodes about his new “Two Thin Coats Paints” range.

This subsequent, albeit whirlwind, tour of the outer tables ultimately landed me with my most expensive purchase of the day, as I returned to “Red Eagle Miniatures” and their 10mm range of Franco-Prussian models. This has always been a period which has fascinated me, but I have never properly ventured into it before now. In addition, I tend to predominantly stick with “Pendraken Miniatures” for my 10mm fix, so I actually felt a little guilty buying a range I knew they produced from someone else. However, in the end I decided to pick up a packet each from most of the e-commerce company’s infantry range to trial during the AHPC, along with a couple of cavalry units too…

Top Ten Manufacturers Of 2019 - A "Fantorical" Viewpoint

There can be little doubt that 2019 was a wonderfully surprising year for my painting, with the sudden emergence of several new miniature ranges which somewhat shockingly overshadowed my usual mainstay manufacturers. “Lucid Eye Publications”, “Modiphius Entertainment”, “Fantasy Flight Games”, “Knight Models”, and “Kitbash Games” all arguably came out of nowhere to challenge the annual dominancy of my traditional Big Four - “Warlord Games”, “Wizkids”, “Black Tree Design” and “Games Workshop”, and as a result made this period my most productive ever.

In addition, there was a noticeable increase in the amount of Fantasy-based models I pigmented that weren’t from the Mortal Realms of “Age Of Sigmar”. Science Fiction and super-hero figures have repeatedly governed my hobby-time over the past decade, yet due in large to the characterful sculpts of the “Toon Realms” range, Skeletons, Treemen, Spiders, Knights and assorted forest-bred wildlife increasingly ‘cropped up’ on my online shopping trolley too…

No.10 - "Wizards Of The Coast" - "Star Wars Miniatures Game"

There can be absolutely no doubt that I would never have painted anything concerning either the "Star Wars Miniatures Game" or "Wizards Of The Coast" during this year if it wasn't for the generosity of Phil Curran, who along with a formidable array of other science-fiction based miniatures, kindly gifted me an enormous Commerce Guild Homing Spider Droid and four Super Battle Droids. Indeed, despite owning a significant box full of models from the collectable miniatures tabletop game, I have predominantly focused on simply re-basing the figures in the past, not re-painting them. However, I felt it was only right to put my brush-tip to these lovely sculpts as soon as possible, and score some much needed points during the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge as well.

No.9 - "Crooked Dice Games Design Studio" - "7TV"

Despite having played numerous games of "7TV" by "Crooked Dice Games Design Studio" when the "cinematic style" skirmish game first came out several years ago, it wasn't until the end of 2019, with the release of "7TV: Apocalypse", that I finally became enamoured with its second edition. As a result, except for a quartet of Gabriel Hounds, I barely picked away at the Lincolnshire-based company's range until the very end of the year, when I finally finished a partially-painted female X-Commando who had been lurking in my queue for months, as well as their excellent Protoplasmic Terrors.

No.8 - "Reaper Miniatures" - "Chronoscope"

Whilst my plans to host a campaign loosely set in James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet's mid-25th century “Gamma World” never materialised, the science fantasy world did encourage me to pigment a plethora of models from "Reaper Miniatures" Chronoscope range. These varied from some distinctly "Dungeons And Dragons" stalwarts, such as the Gelatinous Cube, Stone Golem and Mind-Eater, through to some surreal adventurers, like Sherlock Holmes and a Deep Sea Diver, as well as the formidable "Bones" sculpt of Ape-X.

No.7 - "Warlord Games" - "Doctor Who: Exterminate!"

Quite possibly the biggest disappointment of 2019 was the utter lack of new releases by "Warlord Games" for their "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" Miniatures Game. Admittedly, this absence of fresh sculpts did offer the opportunity for me to pigment my quite considerable backlog of time travelling figures, but without the persistent 'buzz' of new foes to fight I soon found my enthusiasm dwindling for what is a somewhat overly-clunky rule-set. As a result, perhaps my most notable success was completely painting the range's "Tomb Of The Cybermen" set, complete with its Cyber-Leader for the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Challenge.

No.6 - "Fantasy Flight Games" - "Star Wars: Legion"

Undoubtedly one of the biggest surprises of the year, especially considering how poorly my attempt to paint the Minnesota-based company's previous "Star Wars" game had gone, was the sheer number of figures I completed for "Star Wars: Legion" by "Fantasy Flight Games". Initially wowed by the attention to detail on the range's dynamically-posed Wookie Warriors, I soon transferred my attention over to the Dark Side of the Force, by applying my brush-tip to the likes of General Maximilian Veers, some Imperial Royal Guards, a complete squad of Imperial Death Troopers and Emperor Palpatine himself.

No.5 - "Games Workshop" - "Age Of Sigmar"

Two significant-sized projects lead to me pushing through a considerable number of "Games Workshop" models for "Age Of Sigmar". On the one hand I added enough Bloodletters and Heralds of Khorne to allow me to field a 1,000-point strong Blades Of Khorne army for the miniature game's second edition, and on the other I stubbornly forced myself to complete enough of the Nottingham-based manufacturer's overly-complicated plastic figures to deploy an Iron Golem warband for "Warcry".

No.4 - "Wizkids" - "Heroclix"

Ever a stable part of my annual output, my interest in super-hero based gaming surprisingly didn’t really ‘take off’ until somewhat late in the year, with my sudden determination in October to clear my painting queue of eight old(ish) Ultron Drone figures. Before that point I had simply been 'picking away' at the pre-painted plastic figures, momentarily fixating upon the Spaceknight Firefall's fearsome battle against a clutch of Dire Wraiths, before flitting over to the odd "HorrorClix" miniature such as the Reaper of Souls and a Carnage Bot.

No.3 - "Modiphius Entertainment" - "Star Trek Adventures"

Having become increasingly frustrated by the extraordinarily long delays affecting their Robert E. Howard’s Conan Role-Playing Game Kickstarter, which was supposedly meant to deliver in June 2016, I actually once swore I would never buy another “Modiphius Entertainment” product again. But then the London-based manufacturer released their “Star Trek Adventures” miniatures and I quickly found myself neck deep in Borg drones. Two fully-painted boxes of the Collective later, as well as a half-strength raiding party of Romulans, and even I must admit that the 32mm scale resin figures had an enormously positive impact upon my productivity during 2019.

No.2 - "Black Tree Design" - "Doctor Who"

Enthused by a lengthy series of battles using some homemade rules and my desire to potentially field numerous opposing factions, as well as an increasingly nostalgic love of classic “Doctor Who”, it was perhaps inevitable that I would continue to steadily work my way through this ageing company’s (back) catalogue. A formidable force of Sharaz Jek Androids, Silurians and Monoids all helped motivate me throughout the year, and even kept my passion going when the delivery service of “Black Tree Design” left a lot to be desired, courtesy of some incredibly poor communications and month-long delays.

No.1 - "Lucid Eye Publications" - "Toon Realms"

Perhaps my biggest success of 2019 was the completion of a small-sized Undead army for my “Lord Of The Toons” project using the “Dragon Rampant” rule-set. Produced by “Lucid Eye Publications”, a company I was initially utterly oblivious to, this force of skeletons and spiders greatly contributed to my success during the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, and maintained much of its momentum for almost the entirety of the year due to a positively frantic release schedule. A genuine surprise genre, this particular range also got me as close to doing batch-painting as I have been in almost a decade of hobbying…

Top Ten Manufacturers Of 2015 - A "Fantorical" Viewpoint

The fourth article covering my favourite miniature manufacturers over the years, this period was clearly dominated by my love of British science fiction television programmes such as “Doctor Who” and “Blake’s Seven”, as well as an affection for the Doug McClure fantasy movies of my childhood. Interestingly, I also found my participation in the “Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge” something of a catalyst to start ploughing through my sizeable collection of Bob Murch’s painter-friendly “Pulp Figures” and a dalliance with the free rule-set “Pillow A-go-go” by “Fiendish Fabrications” a surprising motivator to pigment numerous “Heroclix” super-heroes and villains…

No.10 (Joint) - "Reaper Miniatures” - "Chronoscope"

Bought as an experiment to ascertain the difference between their “Bones” sculpts and metal castings, this particular sojourn into the world of “Reaper Miniatures” pigmenting a pair of Black Mist models certainly helped me make up my mind that I wouldn’t purchase any of the company’s unpainted polymer 28mm-sized humanoid figures in the future, as I found their loss of detail disconcerting. However, it did lead me to eventually purchase a fair few of the range’s larger monsters as the financial savings were quite significant. Sadly, both of my Black Mists actually ended up in Canada as payment for entering the Fifth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, and I have yet to purchase a (second) metal version of the crime-fighting vigilante to use on my own tabletop.

No.10 (Joint) – “Antediluvian Miniatures” – “Lost World”

Basing their sculpts upon some of my favourite fantasy childhood films, such as the 1976 cult classic “At The Earth’s Core”, this Ross-shire based company completely caught me off-guard with its characterful castings in the Summer and seemed destined to be one of my most popular manufacturers of the year. Disappointingly however, having quite quickly pigmented Professor Peter Cushion, I then found my attention wandering elsewhere, and not even their subsequent release concerning a squad of Guardians of Lemuria (heavily influenced by “The Warlord Of Atlantis”) managed to restore my motivation.”

No.10 (Joint) – “Steamforged Games Limited” – “Guildball”

Intrigued by this alternative to the legendary sports tabletop game “Blood Bowl” by “Games Workshop”, I actually spent quite some considerable time plugging away at the contents of a Union Starter Set for “Guildball”. Yet was ultimately beaten by the incredibly fiddly detail found on each sculpt, an utter aversion to the complexity of the actual rule-set, and a serious dislike for the ‘difficult to reach’ pose of my team’s captain, Blackheart. In fact, my problems progressing the central midfielder with a brush-tip alone were enough to put me off “Guildball” for life, especially after his head fell off part way through the painting process, and I discovered that a far more paintable pose of the player was available; albeit at a significant cost.

No.7 – “Wizards Of The Coast” – “Star Wars”/“Dreamblade”

Fuelled by the speculation concerning the imminent release of J.J. Abrahams’ “American epic space-opera film”, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", this dalliance with “Wizards Of The Coast” was initially confined to just a pair of their models from the long defunct “Star Wars Miniatures Game”. However, as part of my “Zomtober” challenge I later decided to re-paint three plastic “Dreamblade” Gutsoup Golems in order to turn them into proxy Krynoids for a “Doctor Who” flavoured game of “Zombicide” based upon the February 1976 six-part television story “The Seeds Of Doom”. Lamentably, this rather over-ambitious project was never fully finished, and despite some temptation to simply pigment a few more of the collectable miniatures game’s innovative-looking models just for the ‘fun of it’, no more of the “spawning dream creatures” saw a paint-brush.

No.6 – “Nexus Miniatures” – “Super-hero Dinosaur Zombie Apocalypse”

Encouraged by Simon Quinton’s enthusiastic postings over on “Brummie’s Wargaming Blog”, I rather badly fell in love with this company’s D-Rangers and Caprican Legion Troopers courtesy of their sculpts bearing more than a passing resemblance to the main characters from Glen A. Larson’s 1978 “Battlestar Galactica”. Admittedly, the figures themselves were a little crude and mis-proportioned, with the ‘Cylons’ significantly smaller in stature than their human counterparts. But their attention to the detail of a ‘Colonial Warrior’ uniform more than made up for this, and resultantly I eagerly painted up proxies for Apollo, Starbuck and Boomer, alongside a trio of the Imperious Leader’s finest centurions.

No.5 – “SLAP Miniatures” – “Moon Howlers”

Heartily recommended to me by Bryan Scott of “Vampifan’s World Of The Undead” blog fame, I ended up painting eight He-Wolves as an entourage for my repainted “Heroclix” model of the Hyena. Slightly painful to assemble, with plenty of super-glue, green-stuff and pinning definitively required, these furry fiends were still a joy to paint in a multitude of appropriate browns and greys, and were completed within the space of a fortnight before having them subsequently devour Batman in a Caped Crusader-inspired game of “Zombicide” by “Guillotine Games”. Sadly, my plans to pigment Skipper Fred, Bosun Ace and Steward Gladys for the Sixth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge as a (not) “Popeye” entry never materialised into anything more than a trio of colourfully-primed miniatures…

No.4 – “Pulp Figures” – “Lost Tribes”

Originally planned to be part of a much larger “Pulp Figures” contribution to the Sixth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, these Bob Murch sculpts seemed destined to be the start of a significant expedition into the savage worlds of pulp. However, despite both Jai and Cheetah joining Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor for a mid-year “Doctor Who”/“Tarzan” tabletop team-up, my enthusiasm for the somewhat cartoony range of miniatures never materialised into a full-blown painting spree, and resultantly I simply ‘scatter-gunned’ a few hominids here and gun-toting gangsters there.

No.3 – “Black Tree Design” – “Doctor Who”

It’s incredible to think that a New Year clear-out uncovered the vast majority of this “Doctor Who” treasure trove, and lead to the creation of a sizeable Cyberman force for the tabletop. In fact, with hindsight it is hard to imagine my eventual immersion into “Age Of Sigmar” by “Games Workshop” the following year, if I hadn’t been inspired to pigment quite so many Mondasian and Mark II Cybermen during this period and subsequently used them play-test the fantasy rule-set. At the time though, I was simply determined to provide my “Eaglemoss Collections” Cyber-King with a suitably large retinue, and these silver giants were reasonably straightforward to paint.

No.2 – “Wizkids” – “Heroclix”

Arguably initiated by a desire to field the numerous members of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, this range of collectable plastic figures proved consistently popular throughout the year, and helped me add a significant number of models, both large and small, to my ever-growing collection of finished re-painted “Marvel Worldwide” and “DC Comics” characters. In addition, this range of super-heroes and despicable villains caused me to re-imagine the “Pillow A-go-go” ruleset by “Fiendish Fabrications” into a short series of rooftop battles which occurred across both the Gotham City and New York City skylines.

No.1 – “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” – “7TV”

Indisputably down to my love of the BBC science fiction television series “Blake’s Seven” and “Doctor Who”, I not only managed to paint a formidable force of black-clad Federated Troopers, including a heavily-moustached Commander and cybernetically-enhanced Stefan Travers. But also progressed a significant number of Spawn, Robo Rodents and grotesquely-mutated Failed Experiments with which to vex the time-travelling Tweedy Mattinson and his Plucky Assistant. In addition, my enthusiasm for “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” saw me involve their miniatures in a number of popular Battle Reports which either saw their Freedom Fighters teaming-up with the likes of Rocket Raccoon and Judge Dredd, or the company’s Robo Rodents proving pivotal as proxy Runners for “Zombicide” by “Guillotine Games”.

“Time For Rough Justice!”

"Roughneck is a self-appointed protector of the streets."

This 28mm scale resin miniature of Roughneck is produced by “Kitbash Games” and will be one of the company's stretch goals for its upcoming "Supers Unlimited" "Kickstarter" in late 2019. Originally "a mechanic working the family auto-shop he inherited", Mike Ruiz "refused to pay protection money to the local mob when they came calling" and was subsequently pulverised by a "low-rent super-crook named Smash." Triggered by "a strong sense of right and wrong" Mike eventually recovered from his injuries to "become a heroic protector of the streets against villains..."

The vigilante was initially primed using two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey, before having his boots painted with "Citadel" Abaddon Black and his clothing treated to a layer of "Vallejo" Dark Grey. The anti-hero's trousers and short-sleeved shirt were then shaded with "Citadel" Nuln Oil, and later dry-brushed with some (more) "Vallejo" Dark Grey.

"Taking to the streets Roughneck was born."

At one point I actually tried my hand at pigmenting a city camo pattern over the crime-fighter's long pants, but in the end went with the far more straightforward palette after my time-consuming attempt simply didn't look right. Roughneck's pouch-laden combat belt was 'picked out' using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Grey and "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green, whilst its buckle was given a dab of Ironbreaker and a splash of Nuln Oil.

The imposing figure's "own crude body armour" and face mask were initially coated in "Vallejo" Dead White before being washed in Pale Grey and delicately dry-brushed with (more) Dead White. The 'official' paint-scheme shows the bruiser's ice hockey mask to carry some red markings (as per "Friday The Thirteenth"), and have eye openings wide enough for you to actually see part of his cheeks underneath. This is something I've done before in the past on a Zorro model by "Boot Hill Miniatures" 

"Mantic Games" WIPs - Three of the Prisoners from "The Walking Dead: Call To Arms" Booster Pack

However, as Roughneck's background describes him as being "compromised by now-often violent and erratic behaviour" I wanted to give the ferocious fighter a seriously scary visage, so went with the all-white, disturbingly dark eye sockets of Jason Voorhees, but without the slightly distracting red triangles. That way all your attention is hopefully drawn straight to the brute's maniacal stare...

Finally, I applied a coat of "Vallejo" White to both the street warrior's bandaged arms, and Heavy Sienna to all his leather straps. All of these areas were then shaded using a generous amount of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade, before I completed the vigilante's reinforced baseball bat off with a mixture of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil.

"You Have Walked Into My Ambush!"

"And I have brought my biggest combat spoon -- to eat your tasty brains!!!"

This 60mm tall model of Ape-X is produced by “Reaper Miniatures” and can be bought as Sku: 80001 from their Chronoscope range. Sculpted by Jason Wiebe, this polymer model appears to be a post-apocalyptic descendent of one of the "shaggy, intelligent apes" known as Dakon, which originally appeared in the 1981 edition of the "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" product the "Fiend Folio".

Super-glued onto a 50mm circular lipped based the figure was primed using two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal, drowned in "Citadel" Nuln Oil and enthusiastically dry-brushed with (more) Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal. I then applied "Citadel" Abaddon Black to the giant monkey's chest, belly, toes and fingers, layered these areas with some additional "Vallejo" Charcoal, and finally blended them into its fur with extra "Citadel" Nuln Oil.

"Mantic Games" WIPs - Dexter, Axel and a zombie

All of Ape-X's cybernetic implants and adornments were first 'picked out' with "Citadel" Abaddon Black, and subsequently treated to a combination of Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. They were then dry-brushed with some (more) Ironbreaker before being tactically dabbed with a touch of “Mig Productions” Extreme Rust Wash. This application was later ‘toned’ down with another dry-brush of “Citadel” Ironbreaker and a considerable splash of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade.

Finally, the bionic Dakon's teeth were treated to a coat of "Vallejo" White, followed by a dash of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade, and his tongue pigmented using a "Vallejo" Heavy Red basecoat and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson wash. Interestingly, it was whilst painting the giant gorilla's mouth that I realised just how much of the sculpt's detail had been lost in its transition from metal to "Bones", for in all the old pictures I was using as a reference guide, the primate's individual lower teeth could clearly be seen. Whereas on the plastic version of Ape-X I was painting, his bottom molars consisted of just a solid single line running right along the mouth...

"Modiphius Entertainment" WIPs - Three female Borg drones from the collective

Having completed my latest model for my "Gamma World" campaign, I have also been making some progress on my Prisoner faction for "The Walking Dead: Call To Arms" by "Mantic Games". I still have some way to go with Axel, but have added a lone zombie miniature into the painting mix simply to help break up the monotonous orange jumpsuits worn by all four of the inmates I want to field.

Lastly, I have completed all the base layers to my first three drones from the "Star Trek Adventures" Borg Collective boxed set by "Modiphius Entertainment". These resin miniatures now just need their cybernetic weaponry, tubing, eye attachments, body armour and pale grey flesh to be washed, before some minor metallic dry-brushed and "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey highlighting will see them done.

Top Ten Manufacturers Of 2016 - A "Fantorical" Viewpoint

The third article in my ongoing look back over the years at my favourite miniature manufacturers, this particular period interestingly precedes my utter obsession with “Doctor Who” and his adventures through Time and Space, and instead clearly demonstrates an almost unhealthy preoccupation with comic book super-heroes; both those created by “Marvel Worldwide” and “DC Comics”. In addition, I was just starting out with the then highly-controversial fantasy-based world of “Age Of Sigmar” by “Games Workshop”, and surprisingly popular “Frostgrave” by “North Star Military Figures”…

No.10 (Joint) - "Black Tree Design" - "Doctor Who"

Predominantly pigmented simply because Yeti were quick to paint and I needed some figures to post reasonably quickly, this horde of half a dozen abominable snowmen was actually the second such time I had finished an assortment of the Great Intelligence’s automatons, having previously painted a sizeable batch when the sculpts were originally produced by "Harlequin Miniatures". Bemusingly, I did later add the animated gargoyle Bok to my overall tally, but other than that “Black Tree Design” simply hit my radar through necessity/quantity as opposed to a desire to actually game with its models.

No.10 (Joint) – “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” - "7TV"

Building upon the back of a huge push during the previous year to paint up enough plant-infected humanoids with which to play a “Doctor Who And The Seeds Of Doom” flavoured game of “Zombicide”, as well as a similar desire to use “Guillotine Games” cooperative adventure board game to recreate Terry Nation’s world of “Blake’s Seven”, the only surprise concerning “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” was that more miniatures from its coffers weren’t finished during the year. Disappointingly, this was undoubtedly due to my “Doctor Who” game never being fully realised, and the “Blake’s Seven” campaign, which was actually using the original “Space Hulk” missions as a basis”, was brought to an abrupt halt after just a couple of battle reports.

No.8 - "Irregular Miniatures" - "Star Trek"

Featuring in the very first of my (Lead) Mountain Musings, a themed monthly attempt to try and reduce my backlog of unpainted lead, plastic and resin, this assortment of 6mm spaceships were predominantly posted during the month of September, and whilst the reimagined “Star Trek” vessels have never seen any actual tabletop action, the likes of ten tiny Blitzspear Class Corvettes (Romulan Raiders) and Perry Class Frigates (Soyuz-class Federation starships) still managed to leave a lasting mark upon my annual painting tally. Indeed, not only did this mini-project take on a life of its own as my initially modest ‘Federation Starfleet’ quickly dwarfed that of the ‘Romulan Star Empire’, but “Irregular Miniatures” Kitakami Class Tug (U.S.S. Enterprise) was voted my Eighth most popular model of 2016 by Dick Garrison in his annual Top Ten Miniatures - A "Rantings From Under The Wargames Table" Viewpoint post.

No.7 - "Mongoose Publishing" - "Judge Dredd"

For any pledgers badly burnt by the “Judge Dredd Miniatures Game” “Kickstarter” run by “Mongoose Publishing” in September 2012, my participation in Zomtober 2016 was doubtless something of a sore point, as I showcased several of the Undead models financed by that particular farcically-run crowd-funder. However, despite predominantly utilising the plastic torsos of “Mantic Games” zombie sculpts, there is no doubting just how strongly these figures sparked my imagination for the Undead denizens of Mega-City One, and I even went so far as to personally contact ‘Mongoose Matt’ in order to secure supposedly the last of his Zombie Judge figures.

No.6 (Joint) – “Pulp Figures” – “Weird Menace - The Strange Villainy of Pulpdom"

Despite having previously pigmented Bob Murch’s marvellous Boys In Blue collection some twelve months earlier, there can be no doubt that the motivation behind painting this particular batch of sinisterly-robed goons was entirely due a need to safely reach my target tally in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge rather than wanting to progress any actual opposition for my characterful cops. However, that didn’t stop me undertaking a simple conversion so that at least one of the fearsome figures would be better armed with a rifle (as opposed to a lantern) should their diabolical machinations ever be interrupted by the law.

No.6 (Joint) – “Warlord Games” – “Doctor Who”

This ‘handful’ of “Doctor Who” figures initially caught my eye due to representing characters from “Nu Who” as opposed to the classic BBC Science Fiction Television programme, and resultantly helped me overcome my initial scepticism concerning both their significantly larger 32mm scale and my somewhat negative perception that the Nottingham-based producer was behind a number of other popular casters receiving ‘cease & desist’ orders for their ‘not-Who’ models. In addition, the re-booted Zygons were an absolute joy to paint, despite depicting the somewhat contentious ‘official’ paint-job of blackened hands/feet, and quickly became one of my favourite factions to field whilst playing  the “Doctor Who: Exterminate!” tabletop game.

No.4 – “North Star Military Figures” – “Frostgrave”

Arguably the successor to the old “Games Workshop” skirmish game “Mordheim”, I was ultimately somewhat disappointed by the sheer brutality of combat within Joseph A. McCullough’s rule-set, and as a result found my desire to continue playing “Frostgrave” rather fleeting. However, that dissatisfaction didn’t set in until after I had finished painting both an entire warband with alternative Mage and Apprentice, and a sizeable menagerie of animals. In fact, towards the end of my time exploring the frozen ruins of Felstad I even started trying to progress enough hard plastic skeletons so as to play the skirmish game’s Mausoleum scenario.

No.3 – “Reaper Miniatures” – “Chronoscope”

Churned out like so many cans on a food factory production line so as to provide me with a plethora of points for the Sixth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, this assembly of automatons actually proved much more time-consuming that initially envisaged due to both the need to pin several of their stick-thin limbs in place and my concern that any heavy-handed dry-brushing would actually result in a breakage. Fortunately, despite these fears, I actually managed to paint a staggering sixteen of the Cyber-Reavers up, plus finish the second member of a travelling party I planned to have wander the post-apocalyptic wasteland of “Gamma World”.

No.2 – “Games Workshop” – “Age Of Sigmar”

Definitely something of a fantasy gaming revelation for me, “Age Of Sigmar” firmly took me by the scruff of the neck and before long had me producing Plaguebearers like the puss-filled daemons were going to go out of fashion. Not only did this “successor to the discontinued… Warhammer” capture my imagination enough to paint a plethora of the Chaos Gods’ finest, ranging from the diminutive Nurglings, to monstrous Beast of Nurgle, but it additionally encouraged me to complete a whopping ten-strong unit of Bloodletters as well. In fact, I probably haven’t felt quite so strong a motivation to be able to field a fully-finished faction since I worked on both a British and German force for “Secrets Of The Third Reich” by “West Wind Productions” in 2014.

No.1 – “Wizkids” – “Heroclix”

By far and away the most popular genre, these pre-painted plastic superheroes dominated my hobby table, starting with a quantity of readily re-painted OMAC robots for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, and ending with the far more time-consuming stars and stripes of Captain America. In between times I also managed to whittle my way through an entire nine-strong swarm of “Horrorclix” Aliens, a ten-man squad of U-Men, and five members of “DC Comics” Metal Men, as well as converting a few of the New Jersey-based company’s Lackey figures into the bobble-hat wearing minions of Mister Freeze during the annual “Forgotten Heroes” challenge.

"We Conquered And You Obey."

"I'm afraid the Monoids will make very short work of them."

These five 28mm metal miniatures of some “one-eyed” humanoids are produced by “Black Tree Design", and can be purchased as Code DW112 Monoid and DW138 Monoid II from the company’s "Doctor Who" miniatures range. Partially wiped out by a strain of the common cold virus before the First Doctor was able to devise a cure, the “dark and scaly” aliens first appeared in Paul Erickson and Lesley Scott’s March 1966 BBC Television story "The Ark".

Disappointingly devoid of both their voice box communicators and heat prods, the figures were primed using a double layer of “Vallejo” Heavy Green and heavily shaded with The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. The flipper-footed extra-terrestrials were then dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Green before three of their “mop-top” haired heads were pigmented using a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna and “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade.

"Good. Everything seems to be quiet. And from this moment on, this planet is ours!"

However, because I wanted two of the “one-eyed race” to stand out on the table-top as character models, I decided to give one of the Monoid’s black hair to represent their despicably evil leader, One, and another with the recognisably blonde hair of his subordinate Three. Resultantly, I applied some “Citadel” Abaddon Black, “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil to One’s cranium and “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre, “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade and (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre to the noggin of Three.

I’m hoping to get this faction involved in my ongoing “Doctor Who” tabletop campaign at some point but ideally would like to be able to field at least another five Monoids first, all of which would be Monoid II sculpts. Unfortunately, the service from “Black Tree Design” recently has disconcertingly started to resemble that delivered during their bad old days, so I’m currently unwilling to make another purchase with them, no matter how tempting their regular sale reductions are, whilst I already have an order languishing on the books.

"Black Tree Design" WIPs - Harry Sullivan is slowly having all of his detail 'picked out'

I have though managed to dig out a wonderfully characterful figure of Fourth Doctor companion Harry Sullivan, in an effort to paint up enough assistants to justify a force based upon the Time Lord himself. As the vast majority of the TARDIS crew would be unwilling combatants at best, I am already assembling a rather enigmatic-looking party consisting of Peter Cushing’s Movie Doctor (slow but has a proven track record of getting physical with a Dalek or two), the shape-changing android Kamelion (hard to hit with his stupefying disguises) and now a Royal Navy Surgeon (who can provide First Aid to his human team-mates)…

"Reaper Miniatures" WIPs - Ape-X has had all his metallic parts dry-brushed and rusted

Lastly, I have been making some good progress on my increasingly time-consuming “Gamma World” project by ‘picking out’ all the teeth and flesh areas of my “Bones” super-villain, Ape-X, by “Reaper Miniatures”. I’ve seen some truly colourful palette choices for this brute of a model on the 'inter-web', ranging from reddish brown to a ghoulish light green. But in the end have opted for the much more common black(ish) Silverback scheme, as I thought it would make all the monster’s rusty augmentations stand out that little bit more.