"Feral Spirits Of Winter And Hunger..."

"...The Wendigo are twisted souls of mortal men and women who committed cannibalism in life."

This 28mm metal Wendigo is made by "North Star Military Figures" and can be bought as code Drac111 from the company's "Dracula's America" range. Possessing "a craving for fresh meat that can never be sated" the disconcertingly bizarre-looking model is one of skirmish game's "unique Entities" which can be summoned during a battle.

Initially undercoated with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, the "wilful creature" was heavily washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and subsequently dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna. The figure's antlers were then painted using a combination of Heavy Brown and Strong Tone Quickshade, whilst its hands and mouth were treated to some "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.

"Recently, another earthquake uncovered an upper air lock..."

Alongside the first of my "Dracula's America" miniatures, I have also managed to finish painting one of the two airlocks uncovered by an earthquake in the "Dungeons & Dragons" module "Expedition To Barrier Peaks". Created by drilling away a portion of an old resin rock formation manufactured by either “Terrain Warehouse UK” or “Total System Scenic”, and super-gluing one of "Second City Games" airlocks to it, the ensemble was first primed using some "Vallejo" Heavy Brown and later washed with plenty of "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

The large rock was then dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Heavy Brown, before I 'picked out' the actual airlock itself using Gunmetal Grey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil. As I wanted the distressed doorway to appear suitably rusty, I liberally applied some "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash over all the sculpt's detail and then dry-brushed the majority of it away with some "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey.

Sergeant Slaughter WIPs - The drill instructor just needs his hat, moustache and hair painted

I've still got quite a way to go before I manage to clear my painting table, but the completion of the 42mm tall Wendigo miniature, and a significantly sized piece of scenery, has helped me obtain enough 'elbow room' with which to get some pigment upon my penultimate "G.I. Joe" model for this month, Sergeant Slaughter. I've decided to try and duplicate the drill instructor's colour scheme from his 1985 carded action figure, and resultantly have found myself working in olive, charcoal, red and flesh...

"They Are A Roving People..."

"...With their own distinctive ways and their own aims and values..."

These two 28mm metal Boromite models are manufactured by "Warlord Games" and form part of the race's five model strong Gang Fighter boxed set. Armed with mag pistol and reflex armour, the Gang Leader is also carrying a Lectro Lash. Whilst the Ganger is depicted carrying a mag gun along with his reflex armour. These soldiers are part of my slowly progressing Scouting Force for "Beyond The Gates Of Antares" and, 'in-game' have been additionally armed with plasma grenades ("at 2pts per model").

Initially primed with two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey, the figures were washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil, and then had their weaponry 'layered' with some Chaos Black. The brutish-looking extra-terrestrials' armour was slowly painted using "Vallejo" Heavy Ochre, and subsequently shaded with some watered-down "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade.

"...that mark them out from other panhuman morphs."

As each miniature's waist girdle is simply packed full of detail and equipment, I decided to 'pick out' the mining aliens' pouches with a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Brown and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, and shaded their "Citadel" Ironbreaker mag weapons with Nuln Oil. Finally, I applied "Vallejo" Heavy Khaki and later "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green to the Gang Leader's Lectro Lash, and his armour's wiring with "Vallejo" Heavy Blue and "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade.

In addition to these two figures, I have also painted a Boromite Spotter Drone to compliment my 500-point strong force's Overseer Squad. The Tactical Infantry Command Unit's blister actually comes with one of the buddy drones in it, but unfortunately for some reason mine contained one belonging to the Algoryn by mistake. Rather generously however, "Warlord Games" have since sent me a three-model metal sprue as a replacement.

Boromite Overseer Squad

Unsurprisingly, I used exactly the same palette on my Spotter Drone as I have used for my soldiers. Costing just 10 points, the device "can relay information from their sensors directly into their unit's combat shard" and "share information with other spotter drones". On the battlefield this means one of its primary uses will be to allow me to "re-roll one miss each time" a unit shoots "so long as at least one spotter drone has line of sight to the target."

By way of a distraction from all the Boromites' intricate detail, I have managed to spend some hobby-time assembling one of the two airlocks uncovered by an earthquake in the "Dungeons & Dragons" module "Expedition To Barrier Peaks". In essence I have drilled away a portion of an old resin rock formation by either “Terrain Warehouse UK” or “Total System Scenic”, and fitted to it one of my recently acquired airlocks sold by "Second City Games".

"Expedition To Barrier Peaks" WIPs - The uncovered air lock has been primed, layered and washed

Admittedly, on its own the scenic piece looks as if the entranceway probably leads no-where. But once painted and on an appropriately decorated tabletop, it should hopefully appear to lead to a service lift which will then convey its occupants down to the submerged spaceship's officials, officers and technicians quarters...

Beneath The Surface - Part One

Having spent the weekend reading the "7TV" rulebook by "Crooked Dice" and continuing the theme of "Doctor Who And The Silurians" and its potholing adventures, I plan to build and paint up a number of pieces of cave-based scenery so as to replicate an underground network. However, rather than build specific terrain boards, I plan to base my rock formations and cave pools individually. Then they can simply be placed upon a brown cloth at irregular intervals across the table and (hopefully) generate the impression of a cave system, ready for exploration.

The larger of these resin pieces are from the ‘Battlefield Scenery Rock Formations’ range by “Terrain Warehouse UK”, whilst some of the smaller rocks, areas of rough terrain and cave pools are from “Total System Scenic”. In addition, there are a couple of pieces from the ‘Eccentric Range’ of “Frontline Wargaming”, specifically “ER10 Movie Power Units.” All have been based on either pieces of wood or plastic in order to make them sit flat upon the surface and to increase their stability.

A couple of the larger rocks, as well as the Needle Monument (all from “Terrain Warehouse UK”) have also had their bases covered with sand, in preparation for these to be drybrushed first with Dark Flesh, and then Dheneb Stone, before being washed with Devlan Mud. This will bring all the scenery in line with the basing colours used for the "Crooked Dice" 28mm models. In addition the Needle Monument has also been given its first undercoat of Dheneb stone.