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Writer's pictureBlaxkleric

“I Am A Hacker Housed In A Fully-Armed Mobile Weapon-System."

Updated: Sep 3, 2022

"Your move, little man!”

This 41mm tall resin model of Battle Engine is produced by "Kitbash Games", and was bought following their highly successful "Supers Unlimited" Miniatures "Kickstarter" in August 2019. Described as a villainous "ghost who surfed in the shadows of the dark web. with many incredible feats attributed to him by his hacker callsign". I actually plan to use the casting as a robotic Allied super-hero known as Mark One for an upcoming Weird War Two campaign utilising some homemade rules.


Having super-glued Enrique Messi onto a 28mm lipped base, I first primed him with a double layer of "Vallejo" Heavy Grey before shading the "hacktivist" in "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green. I then applied a dry-brush of "Vallejo" Gunmetal to parts of the figure, such as its armour plating, limbs and head, in order to suggest some significant weathering had taken place on those areas.

"Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" WIPs - Two FedSec Troopers 'converted' with Balaclava heads

I continued to 'distress' the entire model by drenching it in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade and sporadically dabbed its joints in "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash. Once applied, these techniques really had made quite a mess of the miniature, so I blended them all together with a dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Grey. This was somewhat delicately done as I wanted to ensure that some of the previously-used "Vallejo" Gunmetal still shone through so as to give Battle Engine a slight metallic sheen.


As a final step I 'picked out' all of the armoured suit's shoulder missiles (both front and back) with a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, as well as dotted the sculpt's two eyes with some "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. I had also wanted to apply a decal depicting either an Allied Star or American flag to the model, so as to better tie-in with my own background for the automaton. But despite owning several such transfers which were small enough, ultimately failed to locate a sizeable enough flat surface.

"North Star Military Figures" WIPs - This "Frostgrave" bear has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

Alongside pigmenting Battle Engine, I have also found the time to assemble the last two of my FedSec Troopers by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio". These jumpsuit-fitted minions actually come complete with a gas-mask wearing head. However, as I wanted them to represent the Federation Death Squad lead by Section Leader Klegg (from the late Seventies BBC television series "Blake's Seven), I have fitted them with some balaclava heads instead.


Lastly, I've managed to base a somewhat large Bear rearing to attack by "North Star Military Figures". This particular sculpt has been added to the company's Frostgrave Extras rage, and has already had its basic stages completed in preparation for next month's big painting push into Joseph A. McCullough's frozen ruins of Felsted...

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joehcc
joehcc
Apr 15, 2021

'Battle Engine' looks a great sculpt and the subtle rusting gives him a very distinct look. The bear isn;t great, but should paint up well.

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Blaxkleric
Blaxkleric
Apr 15, 2021
Replying to

Cheers Joe. I was rather pleased with how Battle Engine turned out. The bear has turned out a bit better than was expected and should be posted soon.

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undercoat2670
Mar 29, 2021

Great work on Mark One. I really like the aged and rusting metal effect, good job. Shame you couldn't get an allied star on him as it would have really shown his allegiance. Still looks fab though.

I too prefer the helmeted troopers but variety is good. Not the best sculpt of a bear I have seen, but nice nonetheless and with your the painting technique he should turn out very nicely indeed.

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Blaxkleric
Blaxkleric
Mar 29, 2021
Replying to

Thanks Undercoat. Such is life with the decal, and I suppose it does allow for Battle Engine to be used in other non-WW2 settings. The bear is already finished and looks okay. Although I did have to go back and paint in a few more teeth which don't appear all that well on this sculpt but are clearly visible on the advertised paint-job.

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wargamesterrainworkshop
wargamesterrainworkshop
Mar 29, 2021

Great work on Mark One Simon, like the rust showing adds to it's age, and great progress on the rest

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Blaxkleric
Blaxkleric
Mar 29, 2021
Replying to

Cheers Dave. All the minis on show in this posting are now finished. Indeed, I have enough painted figs in my backlog to cover all my postings for April - so I might need to add a few more days in the month to catch-up, LOL.

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wsd50
Mar 29, 2021

That "Mark One" figure is a really nice sculpt, and your painting has brought out all the detail beautifully, looking forward to some of the WW2 batreps when you get round to playing your games. 😀


I think I like the Fedsec troopers better when the have the helmets on, but | fully understand why you have left them off this time, The bear looks good too, after your recent fur covered mini's I'm sure you'll do a cracking job on him too.


Cheers Roger.

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Blaxkleric
Blaxkleric
Mar 29, 2021
Replying to

Thanks very much, Roger. I should start posting up the Weird War Two BatReps soon. I've got a few more finished "Supers Unlimited" minis to post first.


I thought the two balaclava heads would work well to mark out Section Leader Klegg's Death Squad (as they essentially act as wound tokens tbh). I prefer painting the gas-mask heads too - as I don't need to pick out their eyes that way.


The bear is now finished, as are the FedSec Troopers, so they should all be posted up soon,


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