Monday 8 October 2012

Danger on Outpost 32 - SHM Aliens Finished

Another day of painting, another step closer to playing the USE ME Danger on Outpost 32 scenarios.

With the Zeta Reticulans out of the way, I was left with five HOF Muster Troops and nine figures from the SHM Range. I decided to group the Human Bounty Hunter mini in with Muster Troops - those can wait for the next painting session. That left me with four armed aliens, three unarmed aliens and one human miner (which I'd already decided to paint as an alien anyway). The molds on the SHM Range figures are still nice and fresh, so there was very little to clean or file. I proceeded in the same way as the Zetans - white glue to mount four figures each to two craft sticks, and sprayed with white primer.

The process from here was a little more complicated, but a bit more fun. With the Zetans, I was able to paint them assembly-line style. All the grey on the first stick, then grey on the second stick, then grey on the third stick, then orange on the first... and so on. But I wanted to give each of these alien figures a unique paint scheme. So I painted all of the base and highlight colors on one figure before moving onto the next, then went back with the final washes and touch-ups after all eight figures were finished.

Here's the completed "unarmed" figures:


On the left is my favorite sculpt of the lot - the Starport Urchins. It's a "mama bear" alien figure (that somewhat reminds me of the Mystics from The Dark Crystal) clutching an assortment of four alien children. I decided to paint the tallest child as a human, since there were no obvious alien features. In hindsight, I should have reversed the blue and green of the second and third figures - there isn't much contrast between the green child and its foster mother. But overall, I like the finished result.

The next figure is called a Baroka Crime Lord. It's a pretty ubiquitous sculpt - could be used as a village elder, an old spice trader, or even some kind of Yoda-esque mentor figure. It has quite a few details that I didn't pick out this time, but I can always paint another one in a different style later. The Miner was sculpted as a human, but I used Vallejo Heavy Warmgrey to give its skin an alien color. I really like its mining tool, which could also be used as a large spanner in a starport workshop. Finally we have the Calamite Preacher. It looked like an aquatic being to me, so I thought a blue robe might have some religious significance.

Moving on, we have the armed figures:


I fought the temptation to paint the Snake Alien in the same green scheme as my Critical Mass Astagar and went with black scales. For its clothing, I decided to get some more practice with yellow - a color that has never quite been within my painting skills. Well... I obviously need more practice. On the other hand, I'm very pleased with the white armor on the Trandan Mercenary. It would be great to see a few Trandan variants - I would like to field a complete team of this race in future games. The Gizbin Mercenary reminded me more of a Star Wars alien than any other sculpt in the lot. It definitely has a future as a bounty  hunter in one of my game settings. 

Finally there's the Prang Soldier - in my opinion, this is Eli's best sculpt. This guy just looks as strong as a gorilla, and clearly possesses a very advanced tech level on top of the brute strength. Eli has already been working on a few variants of this sculpt, and I'll buy plenty of them when they're available. This species will play a key role in a space opera setting I've been writing in my spare time.

My average working time on this batch was about 25 minutes per figure, and they are certainly ready to play.  So, in three sessions, I've finished 21 out of the 27 figures included in Danger on Outpost 32. Just a half-dozen humans left to finished, and then it will be time to start picking apart the game scenarios.

Cheers,
Chris

13 comments:

  1. Wow, such high praise from you Chris.

    The snake man is not mine but is a nice sculpt.

    I am working on the Prang but they got caught in the middle of a month-long break from sculpting and I am just now getting back up to speed.

    The star urchins was a hugely fun sculpt and was highly experimental but seems to have worked out.

    -Eli

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    1. Yeah, the Urchins figure is a very useful piece. Next time you're bored, maybe whip up two or three more aliens carrying boxes, duffel bags, and suitcases? That would give us a perfect refugee set.

      Whenever the Prang are released, I'll be first in line for the new ones. :)

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    2. Once I have finished my backlog of stuff, I would like to go back to doing more spaceport dressings.

      Future sculpts will likely try to repeat some of the same species I have done so far. I am getting the feeling that I am bloating the universe with too many orphan species.

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  2. Great work Chris. Yellow is always a %!+@# to paint. Your snakeman looks pretty good. Wish minis I paint yellow would come out as well.

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    1. One of the problems is the paint itself. Vallejo Game Color is usually the right thickness and pigment, but my Moon Yellow seems really thin. I might have to follow your recommendation and try a Reaper Master yellow next... the metallics I've tried so far are great.

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    2. Doesn't Valejo have a line of colors that have extra pigment?

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    3. Yep, and I'll mention them in the next article. They have an Extra Opaque subset in the Game Color Range. I used the Heavy Goldbrown as a base for yellow on the HOF Muster troops, with just a final drybrush of the thin Moon Yellow. Much better results.

      Another thing I'll try is the Yellow Snow wash from Secret Weapon Minis. Their washes have been a good complement to my lazy painting style.

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  3. I am amazed at just how many different ways I have seen the SHM miniatures painted. More than a dozen ways now and eac colour scheme different. The Snake Alien with pistol was designed by Steve Hazuka.

    There has been a lot of love for the Star Urchin family too, very odd sculpt but that makes it special.

    As for the Prang...I would not mess with him!

    GBS

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    1. That's something I love about 15mm compared to "canned" systems - there are absolutely no rules for what color our alien skin, power armor, and vehicles are supposed to be.

      Use even the wrong shade of green on a 40K Ork or Salamander Space Marine and you'll never hear the end of it.

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    2. Gavin, please send me links. I am scrap-booking picks of my stuff painted by others and have only found a few from regular sources.

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    3. I will do what I can Eli but most of them were showed to me in person at Salute 2012, I don't know the names of the painters or if they are online at all.

      GBS

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    4. Awwww..darn. I understand man and what a treat that would be to run into somebody in person like that.

      -Eli

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  4. These look great, very inspiring as my own SHM figs creep closer to the front of the queue! Nice work all around, I may have to 'borrow' the Trandan Merc scheme!

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