Thursday 19 January 2017

"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.

30 comments:

  1. One of the great things about Doctor Who is the funky aliens, in whatever shape or form they come. I have to admit to not seeing this particular adventure, but I do think that these models actually look more convincing than the actual costumes used in the show. And you've done a good job on making them look great.
    Your 'wheels' is coming along nicely too - the rust wash works particularly well. Should I need to 'rust up' some models, I'll definitely consider getting some.

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    1. Thanks Jez. I'm a huge fan of the Voord as you probably can tell, despite their scuba-gear costume. I don't feel the "Black Tree Design" sculpts are that good though. I certainly recommend "Mig Productions" rust if you ever need to do rust.

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  2. Great job on a difficult colour scheme on the Vrood Simon, the rust effect on the vehicle looks fantastic

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    1. Cheers Dave. It'll be interesting to see how the Rust effect works when exposed to gloss varnish; as that does sometimes eradicate the odd wash.

      The second layer of rust has now dried and crusted (as advertised), so I need to lightly dry-brush some it black again etc, so its not quite so orange. Hopefully the next WIPs will reveal all ;-)

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  3. I have to agree with Dave, the rust effect of your vehicle is spot on. Whilst I can still remember watching some of the William Hartnell "Doctor Who" shows (the one with the Zarbi has stuck with me forever) I just can't recall the Voord at all. Sadly, I still think they look meh, despite your valiant paint jobs.

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    1. Thanks Bryan. Its my first time using the "Mig Productions" stuff, so I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with it. The "Black Tree Design" sculpts don't really do the Voord justice, but they netted me a speedy 40 points on the AHPC (including 5 points for the conversion) and cleared a little hole in my "Doctor Who" mountain :-)

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  4. Here;s another one of my "I like what you've done, but I don't really no what to say" comments that I sometimes have to leave on people's blogs. The rust effect is intriguing though, so I'm curious to see the further work.

    I'm going to also go and check back on your Irregular Miniatures 'Star Trek' spaceships, to see if there's any that could possibly be swapped for any over-sized STAW models.

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    1. Any visit/comment from yourself is most welcome Roy. I'd be interested if you do do any STAW swaps as your re-paints are tip-top!!

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    2. Just received the (tiny) Enterprise expansion this morning - another eBay bargain - and I'm thinking of using the base / stats with the Irregular "Revised Perry-class Frigate". Most of my stuff is either Klingon / Kazan / Bajoran / Federation - Starfleet, so I could do with using the "Constitution-class" ship token and stats with a more appropriate model to work with what I have.

      Though I'll probably use the original model, as you did in an AAR as a 'time traveller' ship as it is a nice model and looks cool against the Galaxy-class models.

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    3. I'm a huge fan of the (tiny) Enterprise STAW model, Roy - I own three ;-) Its a great little mini which, as you say, looks awesome up against the TNG vessels. I'll send you a couple of photos of it up against my Borg cube. Let me know what you think :-)

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    4. Got it, thanks. It's certainly dwarfed by the Borg vessel and looks good when staged against it.

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    5. Great. Glad you like it. If you like the Borg its definitely worth keeping any eye out for; albeit the Ebay prices are stupidly high imho.

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  5. Lovely to see more Dr. Who inspired posts and I do believe that it is starting to have an effect on my purchasing as returned home last night to find a little packet from Black Tree Designs! Interceptor looks superb, by the way.

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    1. Thanks very much Michael. Plenty more "Doctor Who" to come too, as you can probably imagine. The rust effect has dried really well imho, so I'm hopeful the car will turn out nicely now.

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  6. The Voord look really good now they are painted, though as I've said not one of the n=more inspiring monsters from the old series.

    The interceptor however now looks super, so much better than I had envisaged, it really works well within the setting you've come up with, an inspired idea!

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. I did think the Voord wouldn't set the world alight, but they look okay on the tableop imho, and should make for interesting opposition for a future BatRep. Glad you like the "Mad Max" car. I'm going to see whether an even rustier look suits or not, as I can always dial it back again.

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  7. Ooh you little bugger Simon, it's because of your Dr Who posts - I've gone and placed a really big order with Black Tree!

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    1. Ha Ha Hah!! Got you Andy :-)

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    2. Yes you did, I have got at least one of every doctor and a dozen companions.....you swine! 30% off just could not resist.....

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    3. Yup! That's the way to order them. Just waiting on another First or Second Doctor sale myself for some more monsters :-)

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  8. Always good to see more of your Doctor Who figs! Great job!

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  9. I'm aware of the Voord only through browsing the Black Tree catalogue, so your description of them is certainly helpful! The warrior models look somewhat flat, almost 2-dimensional - or is that just a trick of perspective in the photo?

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    1. Sadly Hugh, the Voord sculpts are incredibly flat-looking, hence my attempt to try and add a bit of depth to them by moving their knife-arm. As a raiding party though I think they're okay; albeit a bit boring to paint tbh.

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  10. The Voord came out lovely. I think their monoposes add to their overall effect when in a group like that.

    Max's ride has rust? He must not love it all that much then. :P Rust though, looks very realistic.

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    1. Many thanks Dai. Much appreciated. I think as a small raiding party the Voord work out well enough. I'm afraid Max's ride has a bit more rust to come too ;-)

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  11. I do like Dr Who, but dislike Dr Who wargames! For me the Dr is all about not using violence to solve problems so a wargame seems at odds with his (and the TV show) Philosophy.

    But I do like how you have painted the figures.

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    1. Cheers Clint. I entirely agree with you, which is why I liked the "Invasion Earth" rules, as the Doctor's job was always about gathering objectives with his companion's help, and assembling devices to incapacitate his foes. The shooting was left to UNIT etc.

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  12. The "Voord" look weird and wonderful, which I guess is more or less what I've come to expec, so a job well done I'd say.
    They do look very alien and have painted up well, with the leader figure especially looking the part with your brushwork.

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    1. Thanks very much Joe. The Leader was definitely worth the extra effort imho.

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