It's not Ripley, honestly

 Once again, I've gone back to finishing off some of the huge pile of random models that I've accumulated over the years.

First up, here's an entirely original space explorer, made with Frostgrave female crew bits and a barbarian's head. 

Second, I found a broken knight from a Privateer Press game, which I'd bought in a bunch of stuff ages ago. It was missing arms and a horse's head. I added a medieval head and used green stuff to make armour for the horse's neck, to fit the style of the body. The armour reminds me of bomb diffusal suits as much as medieval barding. The rider's arms came from an Atlantic Games "Grognard" soldier.

The paint job is somewhat menacing, in vaguely fascist-looking colours. I added a number to the horse's rear to suggest that this isn't a knight: it's Faceless Trooper 04, out to do evil.

And finally, a couple of female models that I've had for ages. The lady on the left was done in a cyberpunk style, and the woman on the right was painted in a dark blue business suit. They're not amazing castings, but they'd probably make decent random space people. They might be the quickest paint jobs I've ever done, including the plastic monopose termagants from last week.

More weirdness next time!

Zoat!

There are many strange things in Rogue Trader, the ancient tome from which Warhammer 40,000 comes. Some have been elaborated in ever-more-excessive detail (space marines), others haven't changed much (imperial guard) and some have more or less disappeared. 

So, very briefly: zoats were great big tortoise/rhino/ogre centaur things that worked for the tyranids as elite troops and, weirdly, ambassadors. The tyranids produced hormones that made the zoats loyal, but every so often some zoats would break loose and usually ended up working as mercenaries. Famously, according to Rogue Trader, the zoats lived on "Zoatibix". 

There were four 40k zoat models: they all used the same lower body, which makes me wonder if they weren't very popular.

The zoats appeared in the first tyranid army list, which was published in White Dwarf. However, by the time the first codex appeared, they had disappeared. They got a sort of mention in a later codex, as "Colossi" who fought in the "Zoastra-Attila War" against mankind. A zoat appears in Blackstone Fortress, so they're clearly out there somewhere.

Anyhow, I like zoats. Perhaps it's that they're a bit like dinosaurs, or just that they're rather odd. I was very lucky and won an ebay auction for two zoats for a pretty reasonable price on ebay (they normally go for silly money). I painted the first one in a scheme reflecting the model shown in Rogue Trader.

There's loads of good detail on this model: just the two pistols are great sculpting. I was surprised and impressed by how crisp and neat this thing is. It's listed as being sculpted by the Citadel Design Team in the old blue catalogue, but I'd be interested to know who was involved. 

I also took the chance to paint up a few old plastic termagants. These models don't actually overlap with the zoats, but they've got a certain goofy charm.

Dire Avenger and Dark Reaper Exarchs

 Last year, I "finished" a squad of Eldar dire avengers. I wasn't terribly happy with them, as I felt that they could do with a bit of tidying and weren't quite "enough". I went back and neatened the painting a little. I also painted the "fins" on the sides of their guns bright red, to make them a bit more interesting to look at. I added three more basic soldiers to the unit. 

And this gave me the opportunity to paint the exarch for the unit. In true Warhammer style, you can tell that he's in charge because he's pointing at something and has a bigger hat than anyone else. Just in case there was any doubt, I put him on a larger base. I originally thought this was a slightly boring model, but I really came to like the miniature in the course of painting it. It's very stylish, like the rest of the old metal Eldar, and the balance between sleekness and detail is just right.

Here's the exarch.

And here's the whole squad, ready to do battle in rooms with high ceilings.

I also finished off a 2nd edition dark reaper exarch that I had lying around. This guy is a space elf who dresses like the grim reaper and hits people with a bolas made of crystal skulls. Strange to thing that there are people who take 40k seriously. Anyhow, I used the old 2nd edition trick of reversing the colour scheme: his unit are black with bone details, but he's bone with black details. Another really nice miniature. I used a very thin chestnut ink glaze to make his armour a bit more interesting.

That means that I've finished a squad of all the aspect warriors in the 2nd edition codex, with the exception of the Shining Spears. (I'm not counting them, because there are no pictures of them in the codex, and the models were a later conversion kit for the jetbikes.) Result! 

I'm not sure what I'll paint next. There are certainly more Eldar to do, but I recently won an ebay auction for two really obscure models that I've wanted for years. I've just got to figure out how to get all the paint off - it sticks between their scales...

Bionic Ogryn

 Time for another space weirdo, except this one is a bit bigger. I had an old fantasy battle ogre bull lying around, painted thickly by someone else a long time ago. I'm not a big fan of the plastic ogres: I think they're fairly ugly models (and not in the right way), and they're quite boring, static miniatures. Not terribly inspiring.

So I chopped this guy up and turned him into a bionic 40k monster. He got a new leg, made out of an ork piston, plasticard, sprue and the dome from a Tau helmet. His left shoulder was a spare dreadnought claw, and the thing on his back is a faceplate left over from the knight armiger I made a little while ago. The pistol is a meltagun from the armiger, too. A bit of tank track functions as stomach armour. Lots of other little leftover bits add detail (ie I can't remember what they are).

The left arm came from an old sentinel. I think he's some kind of bodyguard or hired gun. I quite like models of this size: they can be modified quite easily, and will take a lot of extra detail. I painted him in the new way I've been painting metal, working up from dark brown, and used purple and red glazes on his skin to make him look unhealthy.

I reckon he explodes if you shoot the red button on his back. Perhaps I've been playing too many computer games. Next time, something a bit prettier.