“Earth Elementals Speak Terran But Rarely Choose To Do So.”

"Though an earth elemental moves slowly, it is a relentless opponent."

This 67mm tall model of an Earth Elemental is produced by “Wizkids” and can be bought from their Nolzur’s Marvellous Miniatures range. Able to “travel though solid ground or stone as easily as humans walk on the earth’s surface” the summoned creature made its first appearance in the original 1974 “Dungeons & Dragons” boxed set by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and “can come in almost any shape, size, and composition imaginable.”

Unable to swim, the monster was first primed using a double-layer of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna and somewhat submerged in “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. The figure was then enthusiastically dry-brushed in (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, before receiving a significantly lighter ‘dusting’ with a make-up brush containing a little Heavy Brown.

Alien warriors tear down the mighty Godzilla, whilst some Alien Stalkers fast approach Mister Fantastic

The Elemental’s formidable maw was darkened using a combination of “Citadel” Abaddon Black and Nuln Oil, and subsequently shaded with (more) Strong Tone Quickshade by “The Army Painter”. Finally, I ‘picked out’ the model’s eyes with a couple of dabs of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre and shaded them with a spot of “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade…

I have also paid another visit to the LVL Up Gaming Store in Bournemouth so as to play-test the revised statistics for H.R. Giger's Aliens for my homemade rule-set "M.I.S.S." On this occasion I brought along one of my 3 x 3 foot "Deep Cut Studio" mats for us to battle over, and absolutely covered the Space Hulk with as much pre-painted terrain by “Tablescape” as we could muster.

Groot attempts to hold off an Alien attack on one flank, whilst Ben Grimm decides its Clobberin' Time

Facing eight lethal Xenomorph warriors, including their leader Grid, as well as a unit of Alien Stalkers and Alien Infants, my opponent went for an odd mix of super-heroes with which to fend them off; including such notable "Marvel Worldwide" characters as The Thing and Mister Fantastic, alongside the fearsome Godzilla and smart-mouthed Rocket Raccoon. The game ended being rather long, and reasonably bloody, with the 'King Of The Monsters' somewhat surprisingly being overrun rather quickly on one of the heroes' flanks.

Fortunately, the likes of Man-Thing and Vampire-By-Night managed to steady the ship, whilst The Thing and Groot kept the other flank somewhat more secure. The fight was finally won by Reed Richard's 'Fantastic Ten' by only a handful of Victory Points, with the 'Man Of The Match' award going to Rocket Raccoon, after the gun-toting animal solidly held the centre throughout from atop a pile of wooden crates.