Bug-Eyed Monster

Since I've been painting a lot of sci-fi figures and reading various rulesets aimed at Flash Gordon-style derring-do, I've definitely been in a pulp sci-fi mood lately, and it dawned on me that I'll need at least one Bug-Eyed Monster to serve as an adversary or complication on games; Osprey's Rogue Stars has a "Space Demon" complication on its mission-generation charts, and BEMs are such an iconic aspect of the genre that I knew I wanted to do one.

Fortunately, I had the perfect figure sitting in the box my Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter came in.  From their "Dreadmere" expansion, this brain-on-tentacles looked like it had just slithered off a cover painting for Astounding Stories.  I quickly washed it and glued it to a 40mm round base and, once dry, base-coated the brain in Vallejo "Warlord Purple" and the tentacles in Reaper "Brilliant Green."

The brain was then drybrushed with Vallejo "Squid Pink" while the tentacles got thin layers of Reaper Viper Green, Vallejo Escorpena Green and Livery Green built up towards the tips of the tentacles, leaving the base of each one darker.  Once this had dried I glazed the tentacles in GW "Wayfarer Green," and picked out the eye with Vallejo Fire Orange and Golden Yellow, dotting in the iris and drawing the veins in Reaper Fresh Blood Red and finally painting the pupil with a dot of Pure Black.  Pure Black was also used to pick out the claws on the undersides of each tentacle. 

The base was painted Reaper "Cloudy Gray" and will be getting flocked tomorrow, and hopefully varnished as well.  Now to find a proper Flash Gordon-style figure to oppose this horrible monster...

Galactic Heroes - Demo Crews

I've been puttering away on 11 figures from Diehard Miniatures for the last week, and last night I finally finished them.  I now have two demo crews for Wiley Games' "Fistful of Lead - Galactic Heroes" sci-fi skirmish game, so I can run a few solo games and teach myself the rules and then, hopefully, teach other people as well. 

LILLITH'S HIRED GUNS:
Bounty Hunter Lillith, equipped with a jet-pack, blaster pistol and electro-whip, has hired a few mercenaries, led by cyborg Steve Austen, to strengthen her bargaining position.  After all, sometimes the extra money is worth bringing them back alive. 

BLACK SKULL'S SPACE GHOSTS:
Once an ordinary space pirate, the villain known as Black Skull became so much more upon his discovery of the Staff of Unlife.  The Staff granted him the ability to raise the dead and compel their service, but at a hideous cost: his own face withered into a blackened skull.  Now, completely mad and attended by terrifying revenants, he roams the spaceways taking what he pleases. 

Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong; can you hear me, Major Tom?

The way his visor leaves just his teeth and chin visible reminded me of the cover art
for Megadeth's album "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?"

This sculpt reminded me of the undead airmen in the "B-17" segment of the 1981 animated
film "Heavy Metal." The segment had been written by Dan O'Bannon, who also wrote
1979's "Alien."

He's wearing the same style of armor and helmet as the guys in Lillith's crew above,
so I decided to interpret him as a "new recruit" in Black Skull's forces.

His armor made me think, not of Space Marines, but of the astronaut ghost from Scooby-Doo.
Hence, he is the Space-Kook.  

Spaceship Engineers

Finished two more figures from Lead Adventures Miniatures, a pack of Spaceship Engineers who will be pressed into service as members of a very aggressive salvage crew in future games of Galactic Heroes or Rogue Stars.

I got a package of figures from Diehard Miniatures earlier this week, and as of this morning I had them all assembled, cleaned, based and primed.  I've also got them arranged into crews per the Galactic Heroes rules so I can start trying the game out soon.  Here's a bit of a teaser shot of the WIP figures on my table: