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.

Top Ten Miniatures Of 2016 - A "Rantings From Under The Wargames Table" Viewpoint

Incredibly it’s that time of year again when Blaxkleric loses all sense of editorial standards and lets me loose on his most excellent blog to share with you, his dear readers, what, in my humble opinion are my ten favourite figures (a loose term as you will see later) that he has been kind enough to share with his blogging audience from this year’s Fantorical posts. 

Now this job, a joy as it is to perform, becomes harder each year with the standard of Simon’s brushwork (and it would appear his output!) ever increasing. It is however, also a pleasure looking back over the postings and figures that Simon has produced over the year and indeed this year’s number one figures (yes there are two, and no as you’ll hopefully see, I don’t think that’s cheating) were in fact a couple of chaps I had completely forgotten Simon had painted. But I’m getting ahead of myself, anyway here in ascending order are the results of the North West jury….

No. 10 - Beast Of Nurgle by “Games Workshop” - October 13th

"Even after death, however, its presence lingered, as crops grew sickly and many fields had to be torched..."

Though I have to say that I am not the biggest fan of either "Games Workshop" or their Chaos ranges, there was something about this impressive twisting horror that made him stand head and shoulders above his disgusting brethren in my books, and pushed him up to the number ten spot in my list. Simon's superb painting of all of his Nurgle force was suitably “pustulous” (good word that, I should copyright that!) but this is the best figure from his Chaos output for me.

No. 9 - Chinese Guardian Lions by “Wargames Terrain Workshop” - November 29th

"...By the Sixth Century AD they were already popularly depicted as guardian figures."

Okay, this isn’t exactly a wargames figure as such, but I just had to include these wonderfully painted pieces of scenery in my top ten. There has been a bit of an oriental theme running through several blogs this year ("Carrion Crow's Buffet" and "Da Gobbo’s Grotto" immediately spring to mind) and there has been some stunning stuff on show. Simon's contribution is no less worthy of praise. The colours, finishes and tarnishing on these “Foo Dogs” is superb and just so… right. There’s no other way to put it. These would make a great addition to any oriental battlefield (or Chinese restaurant for that matter).

No. 8 - Kitakami Class Tug by “Irregular Miniatures” - September 28th

"Risk is our business. That's what this starship is all about. That's why we're aboard her."

I’m a fan of "Irregular Miniatures". I think for the prices they can’t be beaten. To be honest though, some of the ranges are better than others, and these newer spaceships are some of the very best. I own quite a few of the ships myself, but not any of the “Federation” inspired ones that Simon spent a couple of months churning out beautiful examples of. Once again he managed to produce utterly faithful representations of iconic heroes from my youth (albeit this time a starship). Every ship in his collection could make this list, but the very fact that the ship he chose to be his U.S.S. Enterprise was not “line for line” an exact clone of the TV ship, yet he still made instantly identifiable as such, is what made it my stand out of the bunch.

No. 7 - Tree Of The Damned by “Wizkids” - August 3rd

"...Lamenting deeds of which the flowery ground is conscious."

Have you ever seen the film “From hell It Came”? No? Then you should as it is about a malevolent tree stump that kills people, and it’s terrible (but in a good way). The second I saw this miniature I was immediately reminded of that film, though Simon's “stump” is way more impressive than the one in the film. Basing it on a 40mm figure base was an inspired choice and the amount of detail and shading he’s put into the finished product is first rate. If only he’d finished it in matt varnish it would have been perfect (sorry Simon, had to get one dig in about this). 

No. 6 - Fangtooth by “Steamforged Games Limited” - February 5th

"The red mist that flooded the creature's vision dissipated, along with the murderous rage."

I rather think Simon would kill me if I didn’t include at least one of his “Guild Ball” players in my list. Especially considering the enormous amounts of trouble they appeared to cause him when it came to putting the figures together. It is fortunate then that this muscle bound hulk of a brute impressed me so much once he was finally finished. Looking like an escapee from a Mad Max movie, the subtle shading on his flesh is what impressed me most about this chap.

No. 5 - Alien by “Wizkids” - February 23rd

"Besides it looks like the bones were bent straight out."

Now does this count as an actual playing piece or a piece of scenery? I’m not sure, but I do know that either way this is one impressive little xenomorph. Simon has impressed me with his “Alien” figures on numerous occasions now, with his 15mm versions making it up to Number Seven in my 2014 choices. Simon is the master of “black” figures, getting the shading just about perfect in my books. Add into this his use of gloss varnish and you have a rather gory recipe for success.

No. 4 - Zombie Mistress by “Warlord Games” - October 30th

"Don't they know how many corpses there are in the world?"

One of the highlights of the year has of course been “Zomtober”, and as always seems to be the case Simon put his distinctive spin on it once again, taking inspiration from the “Judge Dredd” story “Judgement Day“. All of his Mega City One zombies were worthy of note, but it was this little lady that stuck out in my mind as the star of the show. Brimming with understated menace Simon’s brushwork as is excellent as always and the details and colour choices brought her wonderfully to (un)life.

No. 3 - Failed Experiment Scientist by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” - May 24th

"Nurtured. You don't mean to say you've been feeding him?"

Following on from the Zomtober entry above this figure was part of Simon’s project for the same from 2015, “The Seeds of Doom”; this was of course the classic Tom Baker adventure and this figure of Arnold Keeler perfectly portrays the character's descent from infected human into what is effectively a big slimy compost heap. I was very impressed with the way Simon blended in the “Krynoid” parts with the human underneath, not easy to do convincingly but carried out with great aplomb.   

No. 2 - Enchanter by “North Star Military Figures ”- November 13th

"Enchanters are hands-on wizards who work their magic by investing it in objects or people."

Well last year Simon's excellent "Frostgrave" Witch made it into the top ten, and it appears he’s done it again this year with this equally spectacular Enchanter. Once again the level of detail he’s added to the figure is awe-inspiring and his colour choices are as always spot on. If anything I think I like him better than the witch!

No. 1 - R2-D2 & C-3PO by “Fantasy Flight” - January 19th

"Don't blame me. I'm an interpreter. I'm not supposed to know a power socket from a computer terminal."

As I mentioned at the start of this piece, I had completely forgotten about these two wonderful figures. Indeed, when I was re-working my way through Simon's posts for the year I had initially added one of his (also excellent) Stormtroopers to my short list. But then I came across these chaps and I immediately thought I’d  discovered my potential “top spotters”. The colours are perfect, the details are absolutely spot on and the character in the figures is top notch too. They look as if they had just walked off of the film set. I covet these figures greatly and I think anyone would be justly proud to have them in their collection and that’s why for me they had to be my top choice from Simon's 2016 output.

"The City's central computer told you? R2-D2, you know better than to trust a strange computer."

This is of course just the merest glimpse of Simon’s awesome output for the year, and I’m sure many of you (including Simon) will disagree with many of my choices. There were simply so many excellent figures to choose from I could easily have filled out a top twenty, but special mentions must go to his "Frostgrave" (Witch) Apprentice, The OMAC, Vampire By Night, Captain America, and Manphibian; who would have been a shoe in I’m sure if he’d only finished him! The list could go on and on, but I’m happy with my list as it stands, so it only remains for me to thank Simon, for once again letting me loose with his baby, and to wish you all the very best of 2017’s.

I can’t wait to see what he presents us with then, Cheers Roger.

“The Class Served With Distinction In The Dominion War…”

A Federation fleet with the U.S.S. Brattain in the centre of the formation, and U.S.S. Lantree at the rear 

These two 6mm metal miniatures of an Oberon Class Destroyer can be found within “Irregular Miniatures” Imperial Fleet Spaceship range as code DYE3, and are the final two models that I painted as part of “Star Trek” September. Measuring 30mm in width and 35mm in length, these pleasingly detailed vessels make good proxies for the Miranda-class Federation starships featured throughout the American science fiction television series "Star Trek” and as a result will represent the U.S.S. Brattain and U.S.S Lantree.

Originally seen in the “Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan” motion picture, the Miranda-class would actually go on to be “present in several major Federation engagements against the Borg, including the Battle of Wolf 359 and the Battle of Sector 001.” In addition they also participated “in numerous Dominion War battles” such as the First and Second Battles of Chin’toka and the Battle of Cardassia.

Mega-City One Undead WIPs - This zombie predominantly just needs his face and shoulder-pad to be washed

Having painted one of these "Irregular Miniatures" sculpts before, both of the “escorts” were initially primed with two layers of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil. The vessels were then dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, before having their impulse engines painted with “Vallejo” Heavy Red and their warp nacelles ‘picked out’ with Heavy Blue. These areas were then appropriately washed with either “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson or Asurmen Blue.

In the past I have had a nasty habit of drilling straight through the miniatures’ saucer sections whilst fitting them upon the old OOP “Games Workshop” ‘ball and socket’ flying stands I use for all of my “Irregular Miniatures” space ships. But on this occasion I somehow managed to enlarge the required holes without causing any damage to the models, and therefore didn’t need to find any ‘bitz’ with which to cover over a mistake. As a result both of these ‘untarnished’ vessels look slightly different to my U.S.S. Reliant; which required a piece from an old "Brigade Games" "Aeronef" mast in order to mask a ‘basing mishap’.

Mega-City One Undead WIPs - This Justice Department zombie from "Necropolis" is almost finished

With last month’s project now finally concluded, I have committed my meagre hobby-time to finishing off the few 28mm scale multi-part zombies I still want to complete as part of Zomtober 2016. These brain-eating plastic cadavers, based largely upon “Mantic Games” sculpts, have proved enormous fun to paint on account of their futuristic knee-pads and shoulder-pads, and the fact that they represent some of the unfortunate Mega-City One citizens from the “Judge Dredd” comic book event “Judgement Day”.

In addition I have managed to assemble one of the figures, using some “Mongoose Publishing” metal components, as a hapless Justice Department tank commander. This particular individual was driven insane by the Sisters of Death during the twenty-six part 1990 story “Necropolis” and had to be gunned down by robots after he killed his crew believing them to be living skeletons. The man’s corpse was then presumably reanimated, along with sixty million other citizens, during Sabbat the Necromagus’ subsequent attack upon Mega-City One.

“My Friends, The Great Experiment...The Excelsior, Ready For Trial Runs.”

"Stardate 9521.6. Captain's Log, U.S.S. Excelsior. Hikaru Sulu commanding."

This 6mm scale metal miniature of a County Class Heavy Cruiser is by “Irregular Miniatures” and can be found within the company’s New Spaceship Range under code DYE5. Measuring 28mm in width and 60mm in length, this rather formidable-looking vessel will be used as a proxy for the Twenty-Third Century excelsior-class starships first seen in the 1984 Science Fiction Motion Picture “Star Trek III: The Search For Spock” and as a result will represent Captain Hikaru Sulu’s first command, the U.S.S. Excelsior (NCC-2000), during my planned “7TV” space battles.

Having painted several of "Irregular Miniatures" Imperial Fleet vessels up as Federation starships over the past few weeks, I stuck to my ‘tried and tested’ technique of initially undercoating the model with two layers of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, washing it with “Citadel” Nuln Oil, and then dry-brushing it with more “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey. In addition I decided to 'pick out' some of the prototype vessel’s more colourful areas such as its warp nacelles with a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Blue and “Citadel” Asurmen Blue, and its saucer section’s deflector dish with “Citadel” Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil.

Herald Of Nurgle WIPs - The converted Plaguebearer has lost his scythe's Nurgling 

Originally I also started to paint a number of areas of the spacecraft with “Vallejo” Heavy Red and “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson. However I soon found myself struggling to reach some of these details, particularly those around the front end of the Excelsior’s nacelles, with my brush. This was partially due to the vessel’s main hull getting in the way. But I was also somewhat frustrated by the quality of the miniature’s casting, which was a little ragged and torn around the edges. In the end though I finally decided to abandon my plans when I realised just how predominantly red the extra work made the model look; something I especially wanted to avoid considering that the potential “fastest starship in the entire Federation” appears somewhat blue in colour when seen on the silver screen due to its transwarp drive.

As a result the majority of these red areas were treated to a layer of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil and then dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey in order to ‘merge’ back in with the rest of the vessel’s main hull colour. Annoyingly though, even this simplification of the vessel’s paint scheme didn’t ultimately help lessen my time spent on the model as I ended up having to re-paint parts of the warp nacelles following my “Coat d’arms” Gloss Varnish suddenly going all cloudy…  

Mega-City One Undead WIPs - The futuristic cadaver has had his torn attire base-coated and washed

With my “Star Trek” themed “Irregular Miniatures” monthly project now concluded, I have started working on a second Herald of Nurgle for my “Age Of Sigmar” Tallyband. I have admittedly already begun painting one of these multi-part plastic miniatures this month. But having bought another “Start Collecting!” Daemons of Nurgle boxed set from “Games Workshop”, I thought I’d paint the two Plaguebearer heroes simultaneously.  I have however decided to convert this former Balesword-wielding Daemon by replacing his black-coloured sword with a Putrid Blightkings scythe and swapping his H.R. Giger-inspired head for that of a champion Plagueridden.

I had also added a second Nurgling to the Herald’s assemble by super-gluing one of the cheeky imps onto the staff of his hand-weapon. However, having primed the model, washed it and dry-brushed it, I came to realise that the additionally tiny terror was making the miniature appear a little too busy for my liking, and I have now ‘clipped off’ the "Tiny Plague".

"STAR TREK: ATTACK WING" - The U.S.S. Enterprise-D & U.S.S. Constellation battle The Doomsday Machine

Sadly, the Gleeful Castoffs’ removal has slightly mucked up the binding two-thirds of the way up the scythe’s shaft, but I now plan to simply paint that area “Citadel” Abaddon Black and maybe highlight it with a little Charcoal in order to cover over my mistake. If this doesn’t work out then I think my grey-stuff skills may suffice to re-sculpt the damaged cloth fastening.  

Fortunately none of these distractions have been particularly detrimental to my painting plans for Zomtober 2016, and my “Mongoose Publishing” Mega-City One Undead. Indeed, having already finished one of the futuristic cadavers (to be posted at the weekend) I am currently steadily progressing a second of the nine “Judge Dredd” knee-pad wearing corpses that I want to have finished before the challenge is concluded.

"Fate. Protects Fools, Little Children And Ships named Enterprise."

"Risk is our business. That's what this starship is all about. That's why we're aboard her."

This 6mm scale metal miniature of a Kitakami Class Tug is by “Irregular Miniatures” and can be found within the company’s New Spaceship Range under code DYE10. Measuring 27mm in width and 68mm in length, this somewhat flat(ish) sculpt, at least when viewed from the side, makes a fairly recognisable proxy for one of the Constitution-class starships shown on the Sixties American Television Science Fiction series “Star Trek”, and as a result will represent the U.S.S. Enterprise during my planned “7TV” space battles.

Having now painted several of "Irregular Miniatures" Imperial Fleet vessels as Federation starships, I followed my usual technique and colour scheme by simply undercoating the model with two layers of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, washing it with “Citadel” Nuln Oil, and dry-brushing it with more “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey.

The U.S.S. Enterprise leads a Federation fleet against a flotilla of Romulan raiders

I then 'picked out' some of the vessel’s more colourful areas such as its field impellers with “Vallejo” Heavy Red and “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson, as well as its main deflector dish with “Citadel” Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. As a last thought I also added a couple of “Vallejo” Heavy Blue dots to the spacecraft’s forward phaser array, and washed them with “Citadel” Asurmen Blue.

Unfortunately, despite the relative straightforwardness of this Federation starship’s paint-job. The model itself proved somewhat difficult to assemble beforehand. This was primarily because the design doesn’t seemingly allow for the fact that the Tug’s separate warp nacelles need something stronger than just super-glue in order to remain attached to the top of its main engineering section. As a result I felt compelled to drill two ‘fixing’ furrows along the rear of the vessel’s hull and ‘slot’ the two pieces into them first.

"Irregular Miniatures" WIPs - An Oberon Class Destroyer, Revised Perry Class Frigate & Jarl Class Frigate

In addition, because I wanted the U.S.S. Enterprise to sit upon one of the old OOP “Games Workshop” flying stands I use for my spacecraft, I also had to carefully remove the rear of its deflector dish before there was enough room to affix the somewhat bulky ‘ball and socket’ element of the base to its underside. This problem proved particularly annoying as it resulted in me drilling straight through the saucer section and thereby needing to cover over the offending hole with a metal piece from my bitz box. Luckily the Seventies "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" version of the N.C.C.1701 was in fact a refitted Constitution-class starship, so the repair is easily explainable...

With the deadline for my “Star Trek” themed “Irregular Miniatures” project now in plain sight, I have been pushing on with a few more models from the manufacturer’s range. These vessels predominantly involve Imperial Fleet spaceships, such as the Oberon Class Destroyer and Revised Perry Class Frigate. But I am also hoping to perhaps still paint a few more craft from their Dysonian Fleet in order to be able to ‘field’ something other than Blitzspear Class Corvettes for my Romulan flotilla.

Nurgling WIPs - These tiny daemons are riddled with zits, open sores and gore

Finally I am making some good headway through the mass of Nurglings I need to paint for my “Age of “Sigmar” Host of Nurgle. These three stacks of tiny mischievous daemons are packed full of characterful detail and are proving a real slog now my brush is waist-deep in their entrails, slobbering tongues, horns, red eyes, pointed teeth and pustules. Fortunately I’m now almost halfway through the number needed to use a minimum-sized unit on the tabletop, with most of the Khan’gurani’i requiring just a combination of “Citadel” washes before being ready for some final pock-coloured highlights.

"A Rotbringers Sorcerer Is A Wizard."

"Opening his blistered mouth impossibly wide, the sorcerer vomits..."

This 28mm Finecast "Age Of Sigmar" model of a Rotbringers Sorcerer is made by “Games Workshop” and "can attempt to cast one spell" in each of my Hero Phases, as well as "attempt to unbind one spell in each enemy Hero Phase." In addition the portly wizard "knows the Arcane Bolt, Mystic Shield and Stream of Corruption spells"; the latter of which allows him to vomit forth "a powerful torrent of disease and filth" that can inflict 3 mortal wounds upon an enemy unit within 7 inches.

As this miniature is actually the first figure made from the Nottingham-based manufacturer's much-maligned resin that I've assembled and painted, I must confess to initially being very impressed with its crisp detail. In fact, apart from some minor pieces of flash which were easily removed with a sharp modelling knife, I genuinely couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Admittedly, the model has essentially no weight or heft to it whilst in the hand, and the magic user's Rotwood Staff is still disconcertingly bendy to the touch. But all in all, I was genuinely looking forward to applying my brush and a limited palette to the mortal hero... 

Bloodletter WIPs - These lesser daemons have been washed and dry-brushed

However just as soon as I started trying to dry-brush "Vallejo" German Grey over the Sorcerer's "Citadel" Abaddon Black undercoat I began spotting all the tiny wedge-shaped pieces of "Finecast" that were predominantly dotted about the folds of the Rotbringers' cloak. Presumably these were caused by the casting process, and soon took the wind out of my sails as I continually had to stop dry-brushing, cut away another piece of resin I'd missed, and then re-undercoat the area with more Abaddon Black. Sadly by the time I had finished this process any enthusiasm I had had for the miniature had been exhausted and I had to force myself to start painting his undergarment "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna.

Incredibly it wasn't long before I encountered precisely the same problem with this piece of clothing as well, and once again spent some considerable time cutting away tiny little triangular pieces of "Finecast" from in between the wizard's robes. Having finally finished this area I then started picking out the corrupted one's scrolls with White and skull adornments with Iraqi Sand, I also took the opportunity to pick out his maggots (and pimples) with Heavy Ochre. All of these areas were then washed with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade.

In order to make his Rotwood Staff appear rather sickly-looking, I initially gave it an undercoat of "Vallejo" Heavy Brown and picked out its dripping skull-festooned icon with Heavy Khaki and Iraqi Sand. The main areas of wood were then washed with more Strong Tone Quickshade. I did however then use both "Citadel" Thrakka Green and Carroburg Crimson for the slime and matted areas further up the pole, and as a final touch, gave the innermost skull a light dry-brush of Iraqi Sand to bring out its detail.

Kitakami Class Tug WIP - The vessel should make a good stand-in for the NCC-1701

Sticking with my Host of Nurgle, I am currently in the process of washing my (allied) unit of ten Bloodletters with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade, and dry-brushing them with "Vallejo" Heavy Red. I'm actually aiming to have the lesser daemons finished before the end of October so they can accompany my Plaguebearers on the battlefield, or perhaps just simply be summoned by my Rotbringers Sorcerer when the moment takes him...

Lastly I have started adding the details to the only "Irregular Miniatures" Kitakami Class Tug I currently own. The spacecraft still needs some additional dry-brushing and tidying up. But when finished will hopefully make a sound proxy for a  Constitution-class Federation starship, and allow me to finally field Captain James T. Kirk's U.S.S. Enterprise.  

"The Soyuz Class Starships Were Designated As An Attack Frigate Or Tactical Frigate."

A Federation frigate flotilla comprising of the NCC-1943 Missouri, NCC-1960 Beagle and NCC-1936 Long March

These three 6mm scale metal miniatures of a Perry Class Frigate are from “Irregular Miniatures” Imperial Fleet Spaceship range and can be bought as code DYE2. Measuring 30mm in length and 22mm in width, this sculpt is arguably be starting to show its mould's age on account of a few casting flaws found on its saucer section and aft quarters. However it still makes a very useful proxy for the Soyuz-class Federation starship featured in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" 1992 science fiction television episode "Cause And Effect".

Having already finished two of these 'Miranda-class derivatives' before, and been very happy with my paint scheme's match to the Federation's famous "dimmer blue" outer hull colour, I simply gave each model a double layer of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey as an undercoat and treated them to a generous wash of "Citadel" Nuln Oil. The starships were then roughly dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey before I started to 'pick out' their details using “Vallejo” Heavy Red for their Polyduranide nacelle particle apertures, Gunmetal Metal on their forward-facing saucer sensor dishes and Heavy Blue for their warp engine filed grills. All of these areas were then washed with “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson, Nuln Oil and Asurmen Blue respectively.

Ballista WIPs - The "Guild Ball" Captain contains all manner of rivets, pliers, straps and pouches 

With the bulk of my initial Starfleet finished, I have slowly been 'chipping away' at another of my 30mm "Guild Ball" miniatures by “Steamforged Games Ltd”. In the past I've managed to pick up a bit of momentum painting some of the players from the Engineer's Guild Team on account of all three models being wooden automatons, and therefore requiring reasonably straightforward colour schemes. Club captain Ballista however is proving an entirely different ballgame, courtesy of the multi-part, slightly cumbersome sculpt containing some unbelievably complicated detail. Indeed, I'm convinced that all his cogs, tools, buckles and rivets would have undoubtedly put me off this sports game for good if I had selected the  Defensive Midfielder as my 'first port of call'.

As it is I am gradually persevering 'picking out' his brass leg-bracelets, numerous steel pliers and infuriatingly extravagant crossbow... Not to mention the dozen or so rivets peppering his medieval attire. Equally as perplexing is trying to find enough contrastingly different shades of brown with which to paint all the Lord Artificer's leather. The skipper is already adorned with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, Iraqi Sand, Heavy Brown, as well as "Citadel" Doombull Brown, and is still approximately only half-completed...

Bloodhunter WIPs - The unit's champion has been washed, dry-brushed and had its details 'picked out'

Lastly I have somewhat succumbed to the lure of the "Games Workshop" Blood God, Khorne, and begun work on the leader of my "Age Of Sigmar" Bloodletters. This Bloodhunter will actually be used as a test piece for my ten model-strong unit, as I actually want to try a different paint scheme to that ordinarily used by the Slaughter-kin. The lesser daemons will still predominantly comprise of red, black and gold. But unlike those depicted within the pages of the "Grand Alliance: Chaos" compendium, I'll be effectively duplicating the more sinister-looking colour combination found inside the illustrations of the "General's Handbook".

This essentially means that instead of just having black claws, the Bloodletters' entire hands and hooves will be given a layer of "Citadel" Abaddon Black and then be blended up into their 'famous' red flesh. Their back spines will also be 'picked out' with black, whilst their ordinarily dark Hellblades (as well as their leader's horn adornments) will now be a strikingly bright shining gold. Hopefully, despite requiring a little extra time per model than my original plans, this more colourful design will really help make my unit stand out on the tabletop, and if it does become problematic then I can always revert back to their more recognisable appearance for the rest of the Crimson Death.     

"They Call Them Mainsprings."

"The construction of them is one of the Cogs most closely guarded secrets..."

This 30mm metal model of the “Guild Ball” Engineer Mascot, Mainspring, is made by “Steamforged Games Ltd” and proved to be something of a difficult painting experience despite the relative simplicity of its colour scheme. The majority of my discomfort was as a result of the multi-part miniature being somewhat too large for its base, and subsequently sitting over the circular lip. This disconcerting placement not only continually irked my sensibilities, as I like my models to fit within the confines of their stands, but also made it nearly impossible to reach some of the figure's details with my brush.

Fortunately despite being cast with separate limbs, the "anti-personnel mine" did prove reasonably straightforward to assemble, at least once I worked out which way it was meant to be facing, and was initially treated to both an undercoat of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna and a wash of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. With the Mechanica's priming phase finished I then dry-brushed the wooden construct with more “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna before picking out its metallic joints and numerous gears with a combination of “Citadel” Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil.

"Irregular Miniatures" WIPS - Perry Class Frigate, Oberon Class Destroyer and County Class Heavy Cruiser

Finally, I applied some “Vallejo” Gold to the edge of the construct's carapace, the ends of its insectoid legs, as well as its canopy's bolts, and washed these areas with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade in order to imply that they were made from polished brass. The Indar's ball was quickly painted using "Vallejo" Heavy Brown and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

As I'm still building up enough players to field the Engineer's Guild, I haven't yet used Mainspring on the "Guild Ball" pitch. The 'giant cockroach' does however appear particularly useful in front of goal on account of its "Super Shot". This Character Play allows the model to add +1 dice to its dice pool and +2" to its range when Kicking; effectively providing the mascot with a 2/6" shot. In addition, the Indar machine can "Overheat", causing "all other models with the 3" pulse [to] suffer 3 Damage and the Burning condition" when it "suffers the taken-out condition during the Activation Phase." Little wonder "even the Engineer's players exercise caution" around the wooden device.

Blightlord WIPs - The Putrid Blightking has been undercoated, washed and dry-brushed

Having recently finished a flotilla of ten 'Romulan Raiders' by "Irregular Miniatures" I have found my own version of the Utopia Planitia Starfleet Yards on Mars busily constructing an equally formidable Federation force. As a result I've partially painted three more of the manufacturer's Perry Class Frigates to use as 'Soyuz-class Federation Starships', two more Oberon Class Destroyers to use as 'Miranda-class scientific/patrol vessels' and a County Class Heavy Cruiser to use as the NCC-2000 U.S.S. Excelsior.

"STAR TREK: ATTACK WING" - Commander William T. Riker confronts the Borg

Finally I've been assembling a number of multi-part plastic "Games Workshop" models to add to my diminutive "Age Of Sigmar" Nurgle host. This Blightlord is the leader of nine other Putrid Blightkings I hope to build and paint next month. However the "enormous, bloated warrior, festering with pustules and plague" was simply too tempting a figure not to prime, wash and dry-brush. As with my Lord of Plagues I plan to paint the favoured mortal servant of Nurgle predominantly green, and use a combination of "Vallejo" Brass and the "Citadel" Technical paint Nihilakh Oxide on both his armour and weaponry.

"Beware Romulans Bearing Gifts."

"Romulans were aware of Humanity for some time before Earth knew of them."

These ten 6mm scale metal Blitzspear Class Corvettes can be found within “Irregular Miniatures” Dysonian Fleet Spaceship range as code DYD1 and measure just 20mm in length and 11mm in width. Appearing somewhat reminiscent of the spacecraft seen in the old Thirties "Flash Gordon" Science Fiction Film serials, the tiny vessels will also hopefully make a good proxies for a flotilla of Romulan Raiders in my "Star Trek" fleet battles using an adapted version of the "7TV" rule-set by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio".

All the models come with a pre-drilled hole in order for them to be placed upon flying stands. However I found them to be too small to hold the old OOP "Games Workshop" 'ball and socket' stems I wanted to place them onto, so each hole subsequently had to be enlarged. It was at this point that I discovered just how fragile these sculpts are, with the vessel's wings seemingly being 'paper-thin'. As a result just simply holding the miniatures still in order to drill them became something of a major task if I wasn't going to bend or even tear off one of their wings accidentally; something I had previously done whilst working on an Imperial Sheriff Class Police Ship.

The U.S.S Bozeman is ambushed by a small flotilla of Romulan Raiders

To begin with all of the vessels were treated to a double undercoat of "Vallejo" Heavy Green and washed with "Citadel" Thrakka Green. Each raider was then lightly dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Heavy Green and had their exhausts and command domes 'picked out' with a little "Citadel" Abaddon Black. These areas were subsequently painted either with a combination of Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil or "Vallejo" Heavy Green and "Citadel" Thrakka Green. Finally all the models were given a protective layer of "Coat d'arms" Gloss Varnish.

"Irregular Miniatures" currently produce two other kinds of similarly-sized Dysonian starcraft, the DYD11 Revised Blitzspear Class Corvette and DYD12 Rapier Class Gunboat. As a result I plan to use this early (and therefore somewhat) 'inferior' Romulan vessel as little more than a lightly armed 'guard' of the Star Empire, whose stinging close-range attacks and 2" Blocker (Physical Trait) will prove more of an annoying hindrance on the tabletop than a definite threat. Unless of course they are fielded in numbers...

Nurglings WIPs - These razor-sharp toothed terrors now need to have their horns, eyes and teeth 'picked out'

In addition to completing my ten Romulan Raiders I have also finished a second of "Irregular Miniatures" DYE2 Perry Class Frigates. As with the first 'Soyuz-class Federation Starship' it was undercoated using “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil and dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey. I then used some “Vallejo” Heavy Red for the two Polyduranide nacelle particle apertures, Gunmetal Metal on its three saucer sensor dishes and Heavy Blue for its four warp engine filed grills. These areas were finished off by being washed with “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson, Nuln Oil and Asurmen Blue.

Finally I am still making some headway with my Nurgle Host for "Age Of Sigmar". One of the units I hope to soon field are three stacks of Nurgling bases. Setting aside my frustrations that ultimately a number of these cheerful psychopathic terrors are actually going to be hidden from view behind some of their brethren once the models are properly assembled, I have finished priming, washing and dry-brushing the remaining six rows needed to complete the horde.