"The Voord Were Trying To Penetrate The Walls."

"Shall I follow and destroy them?"

These 28mm models of Yartek and six Voord are currently sold by "Black Tree Design” as part of their "Doctor Who" range under codes DW121 Voord Warrior and DW125 Voord Leader. The figures are based upon the treacherous aliens encountered by the First Doctor in the 1964 BBC Television serial "The Keys Of Marinus" and were originally designed by "Harlequin Miniatures" for the company's OOP rule-set "Doctor Who: Invasion Earth".

"The first in a long line of deliberate, but generally unsuccessful, attempts to find an enemy as popular as the Daleks" the Voord were all primed with a double-layer of "Citadel" Chaos Black before being heavily dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal. Each model was then washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil and, as the semi-aquatic aliens simply "wore a complete black bodysuit, which was similar to a frogman's wetsuit and flippers", could arguably have simply been left at that...

"There is no escape now except for us."

However, in order to try and break up their monotone look a little, I decided to slightly step away from their ‘official’ colour scheme by ‘picking out’ their belts and eyes with “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal, and their diving (lead) weights with Heavy Bluegrey. In addition, I painted the Voords’ commando-style knives with “Citadel” Ironbreaker. All of these areas were then subsequently washed with Nuln Oil and their hand-weapons dry-brushed with more Ironbreaker.

Because the telepathic humanoids are only cast in a single pose, I tried to break up my raiding party’s look by slightly adjusting each figures’ right arm. This decision immediately met with disaster as the first model’s knife-blade snapped off, leaving me in a bit of a quandary. Fortunately, I had a spare similarly-sized knife-wielding hand from a pack of previously painted Evil Hooded Minions by “Pulp Figures”, so was able to chop the damaged Voord’s hand off and pin on a new one; albeit the blade is facing the other way. The rest of the ‘delicate’ miniatures were then left well alone…

"I want them here when the final key is inserted and my power is absolute."

The model of Yartek was somewhat more interesting to paint on account of his sculpt capturing the leader after he had "discovered how to resist the Conscience of Marinus" and killed its Keeper, Arbitan. As a result the Chief Voord is actually depicted dressed in the dead man's robe and was thus predominantly treated to a combination of "Vallejo" White and Pale Grey. The garment was then dry-brushed with more White. Yartek's stolen chain of office was 'picked out' with Gold and simply washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

Despite failing to capture the imagination of the science fiction programme's audience in the Sixties, the Voord have made several appearances in "Doctor Who" lore as a result of them battling the Daleks ("Doctor Who And The Daleks" sweet cigarette cards), evolving into the "entirely cybernetic creatures called Cybermen" ("The World Shapers" comic book) and featuring in the "Big Finish" audio play "Domain of the Voord".

Armoured Car WIPs - The 'Interceptor' is increasingly being weathered and rusted

With so many classic "Doctor Who" models being painted recently, I have found my attention being momentarily diverted from this month's "Mad Max" project. However, that hasn't stopped me making a little progress on the "Copplestone Castings" Mgebrov Single-Turret Armoured Car I plan to use as Rockatansky's ride. Purchased via "North Star Military Figures" this 1/55th Scale resin vehicle has not only been primed, dry-brushed and washed black, but has had its metal wheels and machine-gun 'picked out'.

In addition, I have started to slowly build up the franchise's famous rust-look on the automobile using "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash. The first application was simply administered over the entire car using a "medium sized round soft paintbrush". Whilst the second is slowly being dappled over all the seams, rivets and bolts with a piece of makeup sponge in order to try and build up the layers of rust.