Stargate Project: Goa'uld

 An essential part of any Stargate project are the villains of the show, the Goa'uld.  A race of evil parasites, they take control of their human hosts and pose as gods, ruling the human population on various worlds as slaves.  The original movie and the early seasons of the show feature Goa'uld named after Ancient Egyptian dieties.  Later seasons expand to using gods from other cultures.  I suspect they were running out of Egyptian ones.

I wanted to use Egyptian-themed miniatures.  I had seen another gamer use the Wargods of Aegyptus range from Crocodile Games.  I searched through their catalog and picked out several possibilities.  The offical retail prices are high, but I eventually found 3 on sale at Noble Knight and bought them.  And then they sat in my closet for several years.

When I started on this project in late 2024, I got them out and started painting.  The Crocodile figures are on the fantasy Egyptian end of the spectrum, but given that Stargate mixes ancient motifs and scifi, that didn't bother me.  I think the faces on these are very expressive, they express the proper contempt for their slaves and enemies that was displayed on the show.

I took photos of these earlier in 2025, but recently got a new iPhone so reshot them with the better camera.

This is my favorite of the Wargods miniatures witth a great pose and arrogant expression. I can definitely see him saying a phrase used on the show "Bow down to your god."  I am leaning towards naming him Amun or Thoth.

I think this one resembles Aphophis from the show, the main villain for the first few seasons.

I've named this one after the goddess Bastet because she has a catlike face.    

A small falcon and sarcophagus statue came in two of the packs, so I painted them up as objective markers.

I wanted more than 3 Goa'uld for the scenarios I had in mind.  I monitored ebay and other websites for a while but couldn't find any more of the Wargods range at a price I was willing to pay.  I searched the Lead Adventure Forum for Egyptian topics and found a reference to Dragon Bait Miniatures  I had never heard of this company located in Massachusetts, USA.  They carry several small lines from different sculptors: historical, fantasy, pulp, and scifi, including an Egyptian range.  They looked good in the photos so I ordered several packs and they arrived 3 days later.

They are great miniatures.  There was little-to-no flash and the detail is excellent.  I enjoy painting but these were fun to paint, which doesn't happen often for me.  I encourage you to check Dragon Bait out and see if they have anything that catches your eye.

This Pharoah is perfect for my games.  He looks like a temple painting come to life. I think I will use him as Horus.                           

Queen Cleopatra VII, based on the Elizabeth Taylor version according to the Dragon Bait website; I can see the resemblance.  The headdress is fantastic.  She will be Sekhmet.                                         

This miniature and the next one came in a set with the pharaoah.  They could be used either as minor Goa'uld who serve the greater ones or human servants. A nobleman according to the website, I will use him as a minor goa'uld named after the god Ptah.                   

 Described as a priest on the website, perhaps one of the jaffa priests?

I think they mix well.  This project is almost complete, I am finishing a few more things now, with a month to go until Historicon.

Stargate Project: Columns, Obelisks, & Statues

This is the second post covering terrain pieces for my Stargate project. It includes the smaller items. You can see the larger ones here. A nice benefit is that all of these pieces can be used in historical games as well.

I painted these with the same method as the buildings.  I started by spray priming them with two coats of Army Painter Skeleton Bone. Next was an application of Skeleton Bone with a large brush, to cover any areas the spray didn't fully cover and to give a nice even base. Some of the pieces had details that I painted individually.  Then I gave them a wash with watered down Army Painter Soft Tone. This shaded in the hieroglyphs and other details. The final step was two coats of Krylon Matte Varnish.

I bought these four 3D printed columns from Miniature Building Authority as a set. The detail is excellent and each side has different designs. I have them arranged so that you can see each of the sides. The miniature is a 28mm Roman from Footsore's Gangs of Rome range.

A large obelisk from Armorcast with a 28mm Macedonian from Aventine for scale. All the Armorcast pieces have a large variety of hieroglyphs on each side and are nicely done. I have been tempted to go back and paint the larger hieroglyphs similar to how I did some of the buildings in my last post, but have not had the time.  It may be a future improvement.

Two more pieces from Armorcast, (l) a ruined obelisk and (r) a ruined column.  I used the ruined column as a test piece when initially working out the paint scheme.  

Two statues devoted to the Egyptian god Set. The statue on the left is from Dragon Bait Miniatures, whose products will figure prominently in a future post on this project. I have dubbed the jewel on top 'The Eye of Set'. The statue on the right is from Miniature Building Authority and is a 3D print.

Stargate Project: Terrain

An important part of my Stargate project is the terrain. The original movie featured Egyptian buildings in a desert setting, while the tv show retained the buildings but took place on a variety of worlds.  Most of those worlds bear a suspicious resemblance to the Pacific Northwest, since it was filmed in British Columbia.  While the show broadened out its settings to other historical eras from classical to medieval, I wanted my project to focus on the original Egyptian style.  So a set of Ancient Egyptian terrain pieces was required.  A bonus is that all of these pieces can be used in historical games as well.

In October 2024 while visiting my friend Mike in Ohio, he gave me a large box of Ancient Egyptian pieces that he had acquired over a decade ago from another gamer and didn't have any plans for.  It was all from the Armorcast line.  In early 2025 I started painting them.  My goal was the sandstone look of Ancient Egyptian monuments we are all familiar with.  I normally paint buildings one at a time, but since I was going to paint them all in the same style, I did two large batches.  

I started by spray priming them with two coats of Army Painter Skeleton Bone.  Next was an application of Skeleton Bone with a large brush, to cover any areas the spray didn't fully cover and to give a nice even base.  Some of the pieces had details that I painted individually.  Then I gave them a wash with watered down Army Painter Soft Tone.  This shaded in the reliefs and other details.  The final step was two coats of Krylon Matte Varnish.

This post has all the larger pieces, there will be a second post with the smaller items.  

First up are my favorites and the most detailed; two identical small buildings with reliefs on each side and a large scarab beetle on top  The reliefs were large enough for the detail to be easily visible when painted in the style that Egyptian temples were decorated.  For the scarabs I wanted to do something different.  My friend Mike has experimented with color-shifting paints and after a discussion with him, I bought a bottle of Folk Art Purple Flash.  You have to paint it over a black base.  I tried using a blue metallic base on one but it did't turn out well so I started over with black.  The color-shift paint goes on as a transparent purple and dries as a purple-blue that does appear different as you look from different angles.  I like the way they turned out.

Each side is different: the one on the left shows the rear and the one on the right shows the front.

Right and left sides

The top with a 28mm Macedonian from Aventine for scale.

One more look at the front.

Two small pyramids.  What treasures are beyond those doors? The miniature is a 28mm Egyptian from Footsore's Gangs of Rome range.  

Two statues of Anubis.  I used ancient representations of Anubis as a guide, so began with the same Skeleton Bone base, then applied two coats of GW Black Templar contrast paint, and added the gold details last.

The last of the Armorcast pieces.  It came in two sections, the base and the vertical obelisk.  The base section is very busy, with an eagle (or falcon?) at each corner.  The wash didn't turn out as well on it but I'm sure it will look fine on the table.

I acquired 7 identical large Egyptian statues at the 2025 Siege of Augusta convention from Garrison 3D out of Florida.  I recall that they were left over from a special project so not part of their normal product line.  They are 6.25 inches/5.9 cm tall and will certainly add to the atmosphere.  I am not sure what material they are made of, they aren't the usual 3d prints.  The surface is very rough and a bit pockmarked and they soaked up a lot of paint.  I skipped the soft tone wash on these after I tested a small area on one and couldn't tell much difference.  You can see that they tower over the 28mm miniature.

28mm Crossbowmen

 At the end of summer 2024, I was burned out on painting classical & dark age historical miniatures.  I had painted 7 armies for Saga over the previous 11 months and needed a change of pace.  I slowly worked on other periods throughout the fall.  In early January, I was looking for a small batch of miniatures to paint and looked through my list of unpainted miniatures.  I settled on this batch of 8 Norman crossbowmen by Crusader.  It was small enough that I could complete it quickly.  

I no longer have a Norman army, so they were not part of a larger project, just a one-off.  Will there be another Norman army in my future?   Perhaps, I do have a pack of 12 Victrix Norman heavy cavalry that I bought secondhand at a good price.  Not enough for an army, but who knows what I will find at a future convention flea matket?  And they did help me get interested in painting medievals, I have completed an English Hundred Years War army since January.

I am a fan of Crusader, their miniatures are comsistently well-sculpted and mix with most other manufacturers.  The pack of 8 followed the usual Crusader mix of 4 poses, 2 of each.  They were all in mail, and I didn't use any particular colors for their clothing, so it was a simple paint job.  

First group of four crossbowmen.

Second group of four crossbowmen.

Stargate Project: SG-1

For years I have wanted to do a project based on the Stargate movie/tv shows, specifically Stargate SG-1 which aired from 1997-2007.  It is available to stream free on demand at PlutoTV.  Over the years I've collected miniatures for this project.  When I was considering what game to run at Historicon 2025, I decided that I was finally ready to take the plunge.  I will be using the 7TV rules, one of my favorite rulesets which is perfect for this type of large skirmish game.

I decided the first task was to paint the forces of Stargate Command, based under Cheyenne Moutain, Colorado.  I painted them during the winter of 2024-25.  I used green uniforms with black equipment as that is the most common uniform worn in the show, though they occasionally wear khaki or black.  Part of my research is rewatching the entire series.

SG1 (l-r): Teal'c, Daniel Jackson, Colonel Jack O'Neill, General Hammond, and Major Samantha Carter.  You can't do a stargate game without the stars of the show.  Hasslefree makes these and as usual with their miniatures, they did a good job depicting the actors.  I did have to paint the Apophis symbol on Teal'c's forehead freehand and I wish he was carrying his staff weapon.  All of these were one piece except for Daniel's pistol arm.

                                                    A close-up of O'Neill & Carter

Teal'c & Daniel Jackson

General Hammond in his most frequent pose, exasperated that SG-1 isn't following orders.

I wanted more teams of 4-5 miniatures each so started looking at modern 28mm manufacturers.  Then I remembered that I had 2 sprues of Warlord/Wargames Factory Modern Military.  I bought them years ago during a $1 sprue sale along with some zombies and had nearly forgotten I had them.  Warlord marketed them as part of their Project Z range which has disappeared from their website.  Each sprue has 4 miniatures so that would give me 2 more teams.  They are not the most detailed miniatures, but I already had them and there are a lot of weapon and head options on thesprue.  I painted one team with black helmets and one team with green helmets to make them visually distinct.  With the limited color palette, these painted up quickly.  I painted the badge with their team number on the upper right arm but it hard to see in the photos.  There are several websites that list the various SG teams along with known members as they appeared on the show.

SG-3, a Marine team led by Major Castleman.

SG- 6, an Air Force team led by Lt. Colonel Barnes.

I used some Crooked Dice X-Commando miniatures for a 4th team.  I have more of these that I painted in black uniforms back in 2017.  I got them out and touched them up so that I could use them as well depending on the size of the scenario: Old X-Commandos.  I haven't given them a team number, perhaps the second iteration of SG-10, whose original members were lost in a black hole.

The full SGC force.

What will be next in this project?  The villainous Goa'uld.