Starship Troopers: Brain Bug

I wasn't a fan initially of Starship Troopers (1997) as I felt it veered wildly from the tone of Heinlein's 1959 novel, but I grew to appreciate it as satire.

The authoritative Goonhammer history of the Starship Troopers Miniatures Game says "... anyone who has assembled the brain bug is truly a hero of the federation."

This miniature was an absolute nightmare and has been an albatross around my neck for at least fifteen years. The brain bug is five solid hunks of metal which don't remotely fit together. Mine is more Milliput than metal. It is carried by an entourage of chariot bugs. There is no clean fit of them to the brain bug, and I used two-part epoxy to try and get them to fit. The epoxy wasn't well mixed and turned into this frustrating tacky mess that has followed me on multiple house moves.

Picture from a keen eBay seller. Look at the flashing...

As I've found previously, however, AHPC theme rounds to the rescue! A bit of impetus has seen this bug finished. I was able to strip the tacky epoxy and used a MDF base to keep the chariot bugs in place. I drilled out a few holes in the bottom of the brain bug for pinning with nails into the base. Painting was the easiest part, using Army Painter Speedpaints Crusader Skin, Pallid Bone, Slaughter Red, and Grim Black.

Anvil Digital Forge troopers for scale.

Gloss to the eyes

Chariot bugs. Note the nails for pinning.

Greyscale Gangster

Angels with Filthy Souls is a highly-quotable 80 second metafilm, created for and shown within the classic Home Alone (1990). Starring Ralph Foody as Johnny and Michael Guido as Snakes, it is an homage to the gangster classic Angels with Dirty Faces (1938). There is a good Vanity Fair article about it here.

This is a free digital figure from Wargames Atlantic. The barrel is a bit delicate, but it was a fun figure to paint. I like the shirt garters! I was heavily influenced by Carmen 'Fun Painty Time' Cerra as I learned about greyscale and value painting. I was lucky to have a black and white source to refer to!

This was a technical task from the Analogue Hobbies Challenge. I started with a black undercoat, drybrushed white. I used a dark grey highlighted with a mid grey, the mid grey highlighted with a light grey, and the light grey highlighted with white. There's room for improvement with the tommy gun and maybe I could pick out the tie pattern, but that was enough for now. I'm not going to start a whole greyscale project- but it would be fun...

SAGA Anglo-Danes

I started this project in 2012... I just finished off the final unit of eight warriors, and can now present my 6-point Anglo-Dane SAGA force!

Anglo-Danes

Warlord

Hearthguard (GB Plastic)

Warriors (GB plastics)

More warriors

Latest warriors, finally!

Levy archers (Conquest plastics)

Dead Man's Hand characters

These figures are from Great Escape Games. I don't think the sculpts quite catch the attitudes of their inspirations, but have made me consider getting back into Old West gaming. Both figures were undercoated black, drybrushed white, and then a variety of techniques to add colour.

'Maeve Newton' and 'Dolores Wood'

I used GW Sigvald Burgundy Contrast for Maeve's dress and lipstick, it was a perfect colour match. I like the red in her hair accessory.

Maeve Newton

A little something hidden away.

I like the colour palette Dolores has.

'Dolores Wood'