"The Testudo Bird Is Imported From The Core Worlds..."

"...For its delicious meat and rock-hard shell."

This 28mm scale metal model of a Testudo Bird is produced by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” and can be bought as part of their Alien Pets deal. The "flightless creature", which "is renowned for its stupidity", is only 13mm tall and is designed to be used with the company's other "Colony 87" sci-fi civilian miniatures "for any RPGs and tabletop wargames."

The bird was originally undercoated using a double helping of "Vallejo" Heavy Red, before being shaded in "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. It was then mercilessly dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Red before having its tortoise-like shell (and frustatingly difficult to reach underbelly) layered with paint taken from an old pot of the "Citadel" Foundation colour Calthan Brown.

"Future Wars" WIPs - This Zombie Trooper has had its arms and legs repainted.

The shell was later washed with some Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter" and I 'picked out' the tiny extra-terrestrial's eyes with some "Vallejo" Heavy Ochre. Finally, having looked at the 'official' paint-job on the "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" website, I decided to dry-brush the tiny monster's beak with a little "Citadel" Abaddon Black, and blend it in with the Testudo Bird's red face.

Alongside my latest Alien Pet I have been patiently restoring a previously (somewhat poorly-painted) Zombie Trooper from Mark Copplestone's "Future Wars" range. The figure has proved an absolute joy to 'touch up' owing to all of its easy-to-reach detail, and I think my idea of actually pigmenting his automatic rifle, metal knee-pads and ammunition pouches will pay off well once the figure is finished, varnished and based.

"Modiphius Entertainment" WIPs - These three Federation Officers have had their flesh layered

Unfortunately, I have had to spend a bit more time on the miniature than I first anticipated, on account of my inability to match the dark blue of his re-worked overalls with the colour of his sleeves. As a result, I have subsequently re-painted all of his clothing, as opposed to just his legs, and simply left the tear in his right sleeve alone so it still shows the animated corpse's livid green flesh.

Lastly, I've managed to make a little more progress on three of the figures found inside the Star Trek Adventures: The Next Generation Away Team boxed set by "Modiphius Entertainment". Being predominantly black in colour, I'm hoping these Federation officers will prove reasonably straightforward to get on the tabletop, and have already 'bedded down' the initial "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone layers on Lieutenant Commander Lian Zhang (Conn Officer) and a Male Tellarite, as well as the light blue flesh of Cuellas Zharath, the U.S.S. Magellan's Andorian Chief of Security.