It's A Bug's Life!

Or as Monty Python would say: " And now for something completely different." This time last year I bought some packs of Pendraken Aliens, I think to be used in some Dragon Rampant games, but to be honest I can't remember! I know I did intend to finish painting them by the end of February for Pendraken's annual painting contest but, well, that never happened, as like so many projects, I moved onto other things.

But having sat there being moved each time I needed to access my paints, I thought why not just get on with it and finish them? And so I did. I had intended on some very fancy painting of markings on the heads, some subtle highlights etc, but these went by the wayside as I realised that my shaky hand was not up to the task, plus frankly I would notice said higlights when on the table top. A shame really as they are very nice sculpts!

So with my practical head firmly in place and with a desire to finish off more projects this year, I went with a very simple colours scheme of black bodies, with some colourful marking on the heads that I could just about manage, finished off with some gloss lacquer to give that shiny carapace look. This meant that whilst they look fine for a game, they do not photo well, but hopefully you can get an idea from the following:

'Alice the Alien'. The mother of the brood depending upon the rules used, with the Hive Mind approach as it were. I couldn't decide upon which colour to use and where for the markings, so just left her overall black instead.

Some mid-level Aliens, the red denoting close combat chaps.

More mid-level, but the green meaning some ranged gas attacks.

The Critters, in this scheme...

... and this one.

Some Scorpions (there are three) for a larger close combat bug.

Alice and family off for a picnic. I had no idea how big the sculpts were until they arrived and, whilst larger than I thought, they actually work really well. A standard 10mm figure and pack horse to give an idea of size.

Every Alien needs an egg or something similar, so at Xmas whilst SWMBO was shelling walnuts, I thought these would make a good bit of terrain for an Easter egg hunt! The texture is just great and I pondered over what colour to paint them, tempted as I was to try and make them blend in. In the end gloss black won out as I really wanted them to stand out when on the table. 

The finished product.

Given how often they are going to get played with, I'm happy with my simple and quick paint job. It would have been nice to spend more time on them, but many other projects deserve more time and attention! Still it's nice to see them finished. I do have some other 'bugs' to be assembled, but I'm in no hurry to do this.

Rules wise they will be used with 'Dragon Rampant' as originally planned and now I have 'Xenos Rampant' too, I'm sure they will get a look in with these too. I have some more odd figures to paint as I'm really enjoying this process, so hopefully I might even get in a game soon.

As always thanks for reading and commenting too:)!

TTFN.