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Happy Monday folks! I’ve managed to get into a bit of a groove this last week, and I’ve started a new RT army project that has been on the back-burner for far too long – the rather magnificent ‘Eru-Kin’ Kickstarter from Diehard miniatures. I’m aiming to get a command squad and two basic troop squads done this side of Christmas, and then get into some fun stuff in the new year, with (hopefully) a playable army on the table in time for BOYL.
Anyway, let’s take a look at what I’ve got so far – he just happens to be the General, and is such a stonking model:
So we kind of have a Slann thing going on here, but clearly this mini is heavily influenced by the Predator, which is kinda neat given that Pred is 30 years old this year, (shit… now I feel old). Man, I absolutely love that film – in fact, I would put it down as one of my all-time favourites, along with Aliens, Terminator (1&2), Blade Runner, Mad Max, Dune and Robocop (original)… My love of science fiction has deep roots – one of my standout memories was a bunch of us in a mate’s bedroom, all huddled around a small portable TV & Betamax player, watching the Predator pick of Arnie’s team one by one in the relentless claustrophobia of the jungle. The sheer impact and visceral thrill of this film totally blew my mind… Heady days my friends, heady days. *sigh*
Anyway, in terms of paining, I took it fairly easy on this guy – muted primaries, the serviceable & cool blue-grey offset by some asymmetrical red armour plates and bright splashes of glossed yellow flesh. I tried for a bone effect on the helmet & weapons, which is nice from a colour balancing perspective, but I need to go back and tidy up the guns. I also took advantage of the ‘foot on rock’ posing of the base mini, and mounted him on a neat little base topper (I got it for free for supporting the new Ghost Archipelago game from Osprey). I’m going to add some vines and stuff to the base at some point, but I want to see how the rest of the army evolves before I commit. The whole colour scheme might look familiar to some of you, because I basically copied the scheme I used on my Colony 87 not-Slann a couple of years ago:
So, there we have it – the humble beginnings of a new army. I feel a strange urge to paint up some Catachans, do some jungle terrain, and shout ‘Get to da chopper!!!’ :-)
Leadballoony - It's a lead thing 
Quite a cool model, and your chosen palette works well on him. There’s also a bit of an echo of the Mass Effect armour in the scheme that is more apparent on his armoured frame then on the robed Slann.
Cheers dude – don’t know about Mass Effect, so I’ll take your word for it ;-)
The armoured Diehard models are fab.
Nice work on that guy Alex. I really like the scheme. The off white weapons and helmet work really well.
Cheers matey, glad you like him – I expect this guy to evolve slowly as the project progresses (e.g. I’m thinking I may add some Predatoresque markings further down the road)
He looks great Mr Leady :)
I like the different take on his helmet and weapon too.
I used to love T1 as well, up until a few days ago. I rewatched it…..it’s aged terribly :(
See you in the soup old boy :)
Dude… we’ve ALL aged terribly ;-) Thanks man, glad you like him!
Speak for yourself :D
;-)
Lovely retro feel!
Cheers dude :-)
Nice work my friend. Really good colour selection and your painting just gets better and better.
Cheers dude – nothing too experimental with this guy, just a good old ‘back to basics’ approach that seems to suit this kind of mini :-)
Awesome work sir!
Thank you! Just a test piece really, but I’m happy with how he came out :-)
Enormously cool! I have Eru-Kin from both KS waiting to be painted, I’m keeping an eye on your work ;)
Thank you Suber, and likewise! Still having issues commenting on your blog unfortunately, but certainly following closely :-)
I didn’t go in on the Eru-Kin Kickstarter as I still had all of their previous one still to paint up… I wonder where I left them…
Oh, I know that feeling mate, I had a good sort out a few weeks ago and was shocked at how much I had squirreled away! These guys forced their way to the front of the queue ;-)
I’m using a Kanban board to keep track and I think a general tidy up of my desk is going to take until the end of the year…
Yikes!! Look on the bright side – all kinds of lost treasure must await your discovery :-)
Stop talking, more painting!! ;)
That was me btw ;) Tim Prow
That was me btw :)
Oh cool – welcome Tim, and thanks for sharing your thoughts re. vehicles on FB yesterday. I hope you enjoy the direction I’m taking this project mate – must be weird seeing your sculpts ‘in the wild’ so to speak… I hope I can do them justice :-)
Nice work… I’ve not seen these models before. Looking forward to seeing where you go with this project ;)
Love the model and the colours you’ve chosen work well man. Predator is one of my faves too. The soundtrack is iconic and phenomenal
Cheers IRO – I couldn’t agree more re. Predator.
Did you know that the chopper pilot at the end is actually the dude that’s in the predator suit?
Yep, I did know that… and that Van Dam was originally cast as the Pred but huffed off when he found out his face would be hidden throughout, and that Hawkins (Shane Black) is directing the 2018 Predator reboot ;-)
Yeahhhh!!! Pumped for that.
Cheers Warbs – me too dude! It’s always an exciting time when a brand new army gets started ;-)
Ahh, that is so cool! Great work.
;-) Cheers mate
I have every faith in you Alex ;)
So cool, mate. Lovely Predator feel and I can tell we’re about the same age looking at the fav films you list there. Great choices!
Cheers dude, and yeah – I suspect that is a fairly common list with hobby folks of a certain… vintage… ;-)
Yeah, not too many surprises on that list. 😄
Very neat! I agree, that was a good movie with some memorable lines and scenes.
Cheers Ann, & yeah, such a cool movie :-)
Funnily enough I just found my copy of Predator – time for a rewatch I reckon :-) Very nice model, not one I’d seen before, and you’ve done a great job on him. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.
Cheers dude & do it! Always worth having a re-watch ;-)
That’s a great kick-start to the army – as cheetor said, the bone helmet and gun really do set off the rich deep blue. Will you keep the colour scheme across the whole army, or do you plan to vary it? Very much looking forward to seeing the results.
Now, I really must paint up the couple of Eru-Kin I have too ;)
Cheers dude – humble beginnings but hopefully it’ll grow in a pleasing way :-) I am going to keep the basic colour scheme, but will play with different asymmetric patterning with the red, and will also a range of flesh colours as per the RT fluff for Slann, with brighter being for more important characters ;-)
Amazing work, love the color schemes and especially the rifle. I hadn’t seen this mini before and am looking forward to seeing the rest of the team.
Cheers dude – he’s a handsom chap, and the rest of the crew are really cool… I’m looking forward to getting them done