12 December 2010

Review and showcase - Khurasan Space Demons

One of the first lines that caught my eye in 15mm is Khurasan's line of Space Demons (Giger-inspired Aliens), but I wasn't ready to purchase them until I was confident in my ability to give them a proper paint job. Cacique Caribe over at TMP posted a tutorial about his own method, and it looked and sounded very feasible. So I ordered a "starter bundle" consisting of a Queen, two packs of Assault Warriors, and a pack of Hammerheads.


The minis are fantastic - the web store photos simply cannot do them justice. The poses are aggressive and varied, the detail is unbelievably good, and they required almost no cleanup. Getting them glued onto bases (3/4" washers) and primed was a quick process.

Then I hit the local hobby shop for some metallic sprays. The painting technique calls for the entire miniature to be painted with a metallic (spray is the easiest way) followed by a straight-out-of-the-bottle wash of Citadel Badab Black. In his original post Cacique Caribe used Testor's Arctic Blue. I decided to go for some variety with my own Demons... if nothing else, it will make distinguishing them on the tabletop far simpler. So I sprayed eight Assault Warriors as a test, let the spray dry for an hour, then hit them with the Badab Black wash. The results were everything promised... it actually took me longer to finish the bases using my ash waste/urban rubble formula than it did to paint the figures themselves. The test eight took about 45 minutes to complete, and the finishing touches to the bases were applied after the wash dried overnight. All in all, I'd say it was less than three hours' work (not counting drying times) start to finish to do all 25 minis.


I used Testor's Model Master Turquoise Metallic on the Assault warriors. It's a far brighter finish than fans of the Alien films are used to, but I think it's a fantastic effect on the models.


Testor's Arctic Blue was used on these Hammerheads. I don't consider these to be completely finished just yet... as soon as I choose my "bio acid" color, I'm going to put droplets of that color on the "spitters" on either side of the head. When I eventually add a Colossus to this army it will be this same color.


For the queen I went with Burgundy metallic. This is also the color that I will use on the Nymphs when I eventually get a few packs of them.


I would also like to add a King and a couple packs of Infiltrator Warriors to the mix.. I'll probably use a purple metallic on them as an homage to GW's original Genestealer color scheme. But what I have finished now is more than enough Space Demons to play small skirmish games, or to use with Paper Make It's Space Base for some Space Hulk style action. I can't wait to get more... these are by far the easiest and most enjoyable paint jobs I've ever done!

Chris

2 comments:

  1. Khurasan aliens are fantastic and your paint job with metallic spary and wash is wonderful and very original!
    I think I'll try it!
    thanks for sharing the pics!

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  2. I am really impressed by this showcase. Excellent looking paint jobs on these great models. I have plans for a game running in my 15mm base for a corridor style fight. Up close and personal with the aliens will be hazardous!

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