Sunday 4 December 2016

“You Are Too Clever, Doctor. Clever And Dangerous.”

"Destroy him. Die, Doctor, die!"
These "finely-sculpted" and rather overly-large 28mm scale "pewter" models of six shape-changing Zygons are produced by “Warlord Games” and were some of the first “much-anticipated” miniatures which ‘materialised in stores’ as part of the Nottingham-based company's Doctor Who Miniatures Game range. Arguably based far more upon the “fictional extra-terrestrial race” depicted in the 2013 BBC television story “The Day Of The Doctor”, as opposed to the Warlord Broton’s more obvious rubber-suit wearing brethren from the 1975 tale “Terror Of The Zygons”, these figures are wonderfully detailed sculpts and proved such an absolute pleasure to paint that I quickly went from possessing just a pair of the stranded aliens to owning an intimidating half a dozen.

Originally primed with two layers of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone, my ‘go to’ pot for portraying flesh since the frustrating cessation of “Citadel” Tallarn Flesh and Pallid Flesh, these miniatures were all predominantly painted using a colour scheme inspired by that recommended on the “Warlord Games” “Into The Time Vortex” website. However, rather than simply ‘build up’ the figures’ shading with increasingly lighter layers of red, I instead just heavily washed them with “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson and then dry-brushed them with more “Vallejo” Heavy Skintone.
"The humans will be following our course by their radar. Transmit a jamming signal."
One somewhat contentious suggestion from the Zygons Paint Guide was to paint their hands and feet in black. Such an obvious physical feature of the “shape-changing humanoids” certainly wasn’t evident during the Tom Baker era, and wasn’t all that noticeable during their recent appearances in “The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion” either. However, as the more ‘modern-day’ monsters now appear capable of firing “electrical charges from their hands that can stun or disintegrate” the thought of blending in some old OOP “Citadel” Chaos Black over the ends of their sucker-covered limbs appealed as I thought it would make the models more interesting to the eye…

With my ‘distracting’ refugees from the Zygor homeworld completed I have finally been able to start working on my monthly unit for the “Age Of Sigmar” rule-set by “Games Workshop”. In the past, I’ve painted up a sizeable gathering of Plaguebearers, Nurglings and Bloodletters, as well as a Beast of Nurgle, Rotbringer’s Sorcerer, Herald of Nurgle and Lord of Plagues. However, I haven’t yet really tackled any of the corking scenery currently being produced for the “tabletop wargame” which replaced “Warhammer Fantasy Battle” in 2015.
Balewind Vortex WIPs - The scenic piece has twice been dry-brushed and had its details undercoated in black
This “multi-part plastic kit” of a Balewind Vortex will change all that, and arguably count as an additional ‘unit’ for my Host of Nurgle, due to the “swirling, violently swaying vortex of fell energies” needing to be summoned by my force’s Chaos Wizard before it can be placed upon the battlefield. Indeed, as far as “Age Of Sigmar” is concerned the “platform from which” powerful spells may be cast cannot actually be set up at the start of the game and instead can only be conjured upon the successful roll of a 7 or higher during the Hero Phase.

A genuinely formidably-sized piece of scenery, I’ve decided to paint the model in three separate pieces before assembling it. As a result I have begun working on the base of the “howling gusts” and not only undercoated it’s skull-festooned icon-covered stone foundation with “Citadel” Abaddon Black, but also started building up the dark foreboding carvings with plenty of dry-brushing.

30 comments:

  1. Zygons eh ? Never heard of them (no surprise there I'm guessing), but they do look the part of a great antagonsit for the doctor!

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    1. They were a one-off, but particularly memorable foe from Tom Baker's second season, Joe. However in recent years they've made a bit of a comeback and appeared in a few more stories; albeit I haven't really enjoyed the new serials myself.

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  2. Great colour scheme on the Zygons, really look the part. Great start on the vortex has a nice magical glow to it

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    1. Thanks Dave. I'm actually using the colour scheme from the box's guide, and may use it to practice a similar paint-job on my Aztec Style Serpent Statue (which has arrived thanks very much!!).

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    2. No problem Simon, should be a very interesting colour scheme on the statue and will be a change from having to do grey ;)

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    3. "will be a change from having to do grey" - That's what I thought too, Dave ;-) Although my main motivation is to use it as a totem objective for my Weird War Germans, so I thought the colour scheme needed to be a little different than usual plain stone.

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  3. Lovely job on the Zygons...the black hands look good!

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    1. Cheers Gordon. I wasn't too sure about the hands to begin with. But once I'd got going thought they looked rather menacing.

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  4. For the most part I do like how you have painted your Zygons. However, I would not have painted their hands and feet black. Looking at photos of the Zygons on Google Images I can't see any black hands or feet. However, if you like them, then great. Just ignore my criticisms.

    I have just ordered the Warlord Games 12th Doctor and Companions set from a dealer on eBay for 10% less than the RRP. Good bargain, especially as post and packing were free. I was going to wait until the "Into the Time Vortex" rulebook was released before buying any figures from this new range but I just couldn't let such a bargain pass me by. Plus, I finally have a figure of the best assistant ever - Clara Oswald.

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    1. Thanks Bryan. The latest 'costumes' do seem to have black fingers/toes, but as you say I couldn't find any pictures of them which showed such evidently dark entire hands and feet. However, I do like them as it breaks up their somewhat monotone look imho.

      Great news about the Twelfth Doctor, if it means getting your hands on the Impossible Girl!! I do own the "Crooked Dice" version but wasn't terribly impressed with the sculpt tbh. I look forward to seeing yours painted up and your thoughts on the castings themselves.

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  5. The Zygons have painted up rather nicely Simon, though they are not as orange as I remember, perhaps they aren't in the new (spit spit) series, I do like the look of that vortex thingy though as you know I've been thinking along those lines myself on and off. Might have to take a look at that next time I'm near a GW.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. I have previously painted up some "Black Tree Design" Zygons quite a bit more orange, but that was a long time ago. In addition the new series don't seem quite so orange, and there wasn't a hint of it in the "official" colour scheme guide...

      I'd thoroughly recommend the Balewind Vortex as a piece of scenery, even if you don;t play "Age Of Sigmar". It looks awesome imho and the painting guide is very useful too.

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  6. Looks like I probably will be buying some of those Zygons, Simon, as they are very nice and do resemble the ones from the new series. I have to admit that I am a fan of the (majority) of the new series - there's some very clever stories in there. But I realise that not fans of old Who are fans of Nu-Who - I like both. X

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    1. Thanks Jez. I certainly like these Zygon sculpts, and think they do the new series full justice. I must confess to being somewhat underwhelmed with a lot of the new stuff though; especially Caplpaldi, whose incarnation has only provided one story I actually like!!!

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    2. It took me a while to warm to Capaldi, but the most recent series I did enjoy. The episode where he was trapped in the castle/confession dial was really quite cleverly done. Tom Baker's still my favourite though.

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    3. "Heaven Sent" is the only Capaldi story I've so far really enjoyed, Jez, and quite surprisingly (to me at least), I'd rate it as one of my all-time faves too!!

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  7. Nice work on the Zygon's dude are they really that much taller than most other figures?

    Nice start yo the balewind vortex you've got a good contrast going there.

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    1. Cheers Simon. The Zygons are quite tall tbh, but no-where near as much as the Silence; which are especially tall imho. I will try and do some comparison shots and post them up. I'm enjoying the Balewind Vortex, and certainly seem to have been painting up a lot of terrain/scenery over the past few months.

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  8. You got me side-tracked onto SotTR and then go back to Dr Who! I do like the Zygons though. Typical BBC men in rubber suits! But just as brilliant for that! You have done well to realise these so nicely.

    I have nearly finished another SotTR figure though so focused on that for the moment.

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    1. "You got me side-tracked onto SotTR and then go back to Dr Who!" - Have no fear Clint, these particular Dr Who foes were painted last month, so assure you I'm earnestly painting my "SotTR" stuff currently. Glad you like the rubber-suited figs :-)

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    2. Just finished 0ne more SotTr fig in the last 10 mins. I shall wait to get a few more done be fore I show them though.

      Currently working on some wolf runners.

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    3. I've never owned any Wolf Runners, Clint, so I'll be very interested to see how they turned out. Great to see your mojo is currently working overtime; just in time for the AHPC too!!

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    1. Terrific description Fran!! Disconcertingly gruesome but terrific :-)

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  10. Those Zygons. Lovely sculpts and you've done a great job painting them. But is it only me that thinks they look rather phallic and obscene?

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    1. Many thanks Roy, much appreciated, and yes, it is only you ;-)

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  11. Love what you're doing with the vortex Simon, the raised areas are cracking. The zygons look fine dude,nicely done.

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    1. Cheers Andy. The Balewind Vortex is going to take a while tbh, but should be well worth it. Glad you like the Zygons - my fave "Warlord Games" "Doctor Who" minis yet!!

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  12. Zygons look flippin brill mate. Right out of the series. I like the black hands as it offers up a little more interest in an otherwise fleshy appearance.

    Agree on the AoS scenery - it's all very elaborate in design and should make your games rather thematic indeed. I like the layers you've applied thus far.

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    1. Thanks Dai, I'm absolutely delighted with them. Hopefully they'll bring out a couple more poses and then I can buy enough to field a full dozen ;-)

      Lots to do on the "AoS" scenery, with a few nice "Wargames Terrain Workshop" pieces in the pipeline too!!

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