A long time ago, I picked up a few of the X-Commandos from Crooked Dice. These figures are some great 1970’s Dr Who style government goons that pop up to shoot the aliens and die in the background. This wouldn’t usually be my thing, but like anyone with a passing interest in the SAS, Crooked Dice also sold some heads in balaclavas and gas masks. They are a really neat design and so one day I ordered the trio of MP5 wielders.
And then I didn’t paint them. Over the years I’ve tried to clear them off my books, thinking about giving them away to friends rather than having them sit on the lead pile. And this is nothing to do with them quality of the models, it’s just I didn’t have any reason to get them painted up – no game demanding them, always other things in my plate. They ended up sitting on my desk staring at me for months.
So I finally just bit the bullet, sat down and painted them in an evening. They were actually surprisingly easy – the Eshin Grey/Black Contrast combo is really effective at creating black clothing with a slight sheen to the edges which (combined with other shades of grey for the hood and vest) helps makes them stand out. Of course, the red details also help to make them slightly cooler, while the ever present Iraqi sand drybrush catches the edges and makes them look suitably dusty.
In terms of use, I think they would be pretty cool as one of the mercenary groups from Libertalia, perhaps paid off to attack some Bazi Prince and his guards so we can have the ultimate special forces show down!
As always, I updated my painting totals at the end. Hopefully any future set of these figures will take much less time to work through!