Masters of the Universe - into Eternia once again

Whilst at Salute last month I had to pay a visit to the stand of Archon Studios. You will recall I go on and on about how great their plastic kits are and my collection of Masters of the Universe Battleground seems to continuously expand. When I bought the starter box set I also received a limited edition He-man with Battlecat and I was sure I would not be able to obtain the Skeletor equivalent as it was listed as a tournament exclusive model. I did however have my fingers crossed when I got the Archon stand just in case they had one or two floating about.  

Turns out they did, Archon had decided to make the available at shows as well, so I was super excited to grab a Skeletor and also Hordak astride his Mantisaur.

Tremble at the mighty Mantisaur

The base is a metallic artificial floor rather than the usual rocky outcrop.

My only issue was you had to place him in the saddle before adding the mantisaur legs, so I couldn't paint the separately.

What a great pose(r)

Replicating the colour of his saddle to match the original toy colour was tricky.

I drew the line at replicating the purple flock look of the original

When I first painted these two chaps I had mixed some of their colours on a wet pallette to try and match their toy colours, so when it came to painting them again, I had to try and repeat the exercise from memory. I don't think I got Skeletors blue skin to match properly, but I prefer the new look.

 

 

 

So, what else have I been painting? Surely that is not all I bought from Salute? Well, I did buy some more plastic cowboys from Great Escape Games and a box of Fireforge zombies and I have been kitbashing some zombie cowboys for a future project. I had wonderful fun throwing bits together, you only get to see three of them at the moment though as that is all I have painted. 

The chap on the right is actually made up all from the cowboys sprues. I wanted to see if I could make a 'fresh' zombie, so the pose and the pallid flesh are the only clues to his recent resurrection. (Or is he about to kick an invisible football?). Youngest and I have been making a medieval style army from Fireforge Knights plastic kits (mounted and on foot) as well, so the home has been foggy with the stench of polystyrene cement. Only future posts will tell whether I end up painting them for him or they remain grey for a while.

On the gaming side of things, I recently decided to venture to a game night of the Newbury and Reading Wargames Society. I have been a patron of their yearly show for more years than I can remember now, so I decided to go and say hello. They were super welcoming, I got to join in and roll some dice on my first visit. So, I shall be popping back next week and signing up for full membership. I, of course will be armed with a handful of Osprey games books to try and convert them all to the way of the Rampant series....