"Hey! Who Turned Out The Lights?"

"It's a swarm in a suit. But it's learning."

Officially approved by the BBC, these six metal models of the Vashta Nerada are "designed" by "Warlord Games" for both collectors and the company's "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" Miniatures Game. Based upon the microscopic beings from the May 2008 television story “Silence In The Library”, these sculpts depict the "shadows that melt the flesh" inhabiting the 51st Century spacesuits of River Song's hapless archaeological team.

Initially primed with two layers of "Vallejo" White, "the piranhas of the air" were all subsequently washed with Pale Flesh and heavily dry-brushed using more White. I then shaded the vents of their Archeological Expedition Suits with some Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter" and 'picked out' their former occupants' skulls with "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand. Finally, I washed the grinning cadavers with some additional Strong Tone Quickshade and delicately gave each 'face' a light dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand.

"It's how they hunt. They latch on to a food source and keep it fresh."

Noticing that my clumsy paint-jobs had already seemingly eradicated any trace of the miniatures' tombstone-like teeth, and spotting that on "Warlord Games" publicity paint-jobs they had not only been individually highlighted white, but also superbly shaded florescent blue in order to replicate the spacesuit's interior lighting, I was then left with something of a dilemma. Did I boldly try something similar and potentially risk ruining an area of each figure which was already rather 'soft' in visible detail and 'filling up' with pigment fast, or simply leave well enough alone, and settle for their deep set sockets to draw the gamer's eye to their sinister faces and "inspire a fear of the darkness"..?

Tricky decisions aside, I have started working on a number of the Nottingham-based manufacturer's other "Into The Time Vortex" miniatures in earnest. Apparently next month will now only see the release of Ashildr (from "The Woman Who Lived") and the Ogrons, as a result of the Slitheen being delayed in order for their pack to contain the extraterrestrial family's appropriate gaming cards for "Doctor Who: Exterminate!"

"Into The Time Vortex" WIPs - Sea Devil, Zygon, Judoon and the Twelfth Doctor

As a result I won't be quite as 'pushed' as I thought to get my current "Warlord Games" metal mountain reduced, so alongside my six Sea Devils (from Jon Pertwee's Seventies era), I have added both some Zygon reinforcements, and the Twelfth Doctor himself. I've also got some additional Judoon and Silents in the paint queue, as half a dozen miniatures seems to arguably be the acceptable minimum when using a faction in "Doctor Who: Exterminate!", and I am therefore somewhat keen to ensure I can field at least three Recruitment Cards of these 'Nu-Who' monsters.

Of course "Warlord Games" announcement that the Slitheen will now probably accompany models (and cards) for the Movellans, Victor Kennedy, an Abzorbalovian, the Genesis Ark, Supreme Dalek and Special Weapons Dalek means that September and October could well see a torrent of 'essential' purchases. To make matters 'worse', the company have also confirmed that "cards will be produced for all existing sets" and "be available as downloads and physical card booster packs" in the future; something which will undoubtedly encourage me to finally tackle my backlog of Tetraps, Clockwork Droids, Professor Yana and the Ghost.