Sunday 16 July 2017

"My Defence Is A Simple One."

"I was right to try and cleanse the galaxy of the alien filth! It is my life's work for which I am truly proud."
This 28mm metal model of Tomás de Torquemada is miniature number AD70 from “Warmonger Miniatures” or is identically coded as part of the “Wargames Foundry” “2000 A.D.” character range. Created by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill for the 1980 serial comic book series "Nemesis The Warlock", this leader of a "quasi-religious order in the far future" spent the entirety of his time waging war against all extra-terrestrials as he believed all non-humans were "impure." 

The miniature was initially undercoated with "Vallejo" Heavy Red before being almost submerged in "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. The former commander of the "fascist" Tube Police was then heavily dry-brushed with more "Vallejo Red" and had his longsword treated to a combination of "Citadel" Abaddon Black and Ironbreaker. At this stage I then encountered a bit of a quandary in that I felt simply leaving the Grand Master of Terra in all-red battle armour did the sculpt's excellent detail a great disservice...  
Crushed Car WIPs - The battered four-wheeler has been dry-brushed and rusted
As a result I scoured some more source material and located some examples of where Torquemada's hydraulic attachments had been 'picked out' using gold in order to make the ruler of the Mankind's Empire far more ornate-looking. I wasn't entirely sold upon this idea however, and thought that as Tomás repeatedly wore his protective garments into battle, they'd need constant repairs, and just maybe, gold replacement pistons wouldn't be so readily available, so he'd have to make do with basic metal ones. 

This approach lead me to base layer all the figure's external mechanisms with "Citadel" Abaddon Black and either paint them with Ironbreaker or "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and Gold. These parts were then washed appropriately with either "Citadel" Nuln Oil or "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. As a final touch, Torquemada's hand-weapon was dry-brushed with "Citadel" Ironbreaker, and his piercing eyes 'dabbed in' with "Vallejo" White. 
Sea Devils WIP - The 'Sea Silurians' have been primed with "Vallejo" Verdigris and then shaded blue
As something of a reasonably straightforward distraction, I have continued to make plenty of progress on the Crushed Cars I recently acquired by "Wargames Terrain Workshop". These resin vehicular ruins are destined to primarily appear upon my "Metamorphosis Alpha" tabletop, so have been washed, dry-brushed, rusted and dry-brushed again simply to increasingly age them.

Laslty, I have simultaneously been basing and priming six Sea Devils from "Warlord Games" "Into The Time Vortex" miniatures range. These towering metal figures are from Jon Pertwee's 1972 six-parter entitled "Doctor Who And The Sea Devils" and whilst not coming with any Recruitment cards or Adventure cards for the rule-set, still look destined for some battles with the travelling Time Lord at some point soon.

33 comments:

  1. Be pure. Be vigilant. Behave. He's perfect.

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    1. Thanks Natholeon. Very kind of you to say so :-)

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  2. Torquemada looks awesome Simon , the cars are looking suitably rusty. Nice start on the sea Devils when doing the faces try shading the brow with green

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    1. Cheers Dave. The cars have been grunged up a bit since, and I am hoping to have one finished/posted soon; along with a vending machine. Quite right on the sea devils. They'll be some green wash on their hands too, to try and imply seaweed/slime etc.

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  3. Sea Devils, they scared the bejesus out of me when I saw that story back in '72.

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    1. The sea devils are certainly one of my faves, Phil, although I didn't get to see them properly until a BBC repeat in the early Nineties.

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  4. Very nice work on Torquemada he looks fab. The cars look good dude. Ha one project indeed :P

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    1. Thanks Simon, I think the extra time was well spent on Torquemada. The cars are great imho, really nice sculpts by Dave. Torquemada's completion actually brings my "Nemesis The Warlock" project to an end, so I have room for another ;-)

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  5. Not a fan of the car SCULPT. Which is not a criticism of the painting (That's rather good and the rust is excellent)

    The other figures are so much better though. Good job on realising all three.

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    1. Cheers Clint. I'm a big fan of Dave's crushed car, but what a boring world it'd be if we all liked the same thing. I think it particularly lends itself to my rust technique though :-) Hopefully the sea devils will see some more progress soon.

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    2. Hmmmm, I have to say the car has `jealously` turned my head a few times now. I actually think its absolutely marvellous, accentuated by the rather cool rust effect modelling. You already know I love the Tomás de Torquemada; and the Sea Devils are most definitely on my `must buy one day` wish list :-))

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    3. I certainly like the car, Steve, but there again I own two of them :-) The Sea Devils are corking sculpts and I'm certainly looking forward to their rules being released at some point.

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    4. Every one has different tastes so what I make will not always be to everyone's taste, so will never take offence to someone not liking a piece. Just imagine if you could make that one piece that everyone had to have ! I'd be a millionaire over night and also very tired from casting it so many times ! LOL

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    5. "Just imagine if you could make that one piece that everyone had to have!" - i thought you'd achieved that with those Foo Dogs, Dave :-)

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    6. Not everyone likes them Simon, but thank you for the compliment

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    7. I like the car but would prefer it un-crushed (or at least less crushed), love your painting of it though, and the fig's are all top notch.

      Cheers Roger.

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    8. Thanks Roger. Torquemada was a bit more work than I anticipated, but was worth it in the end... imho :-)

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  6. What a great beastie Simon, he looks huge.

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    1. Thanks Michael. Torquemada is definitely heroic scale, and is bigger than his "Indyclix" version. His greatsword gives him a lot of girth too!

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  7. A very good post, Simon. Great work on all of your figures and models.

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  8. nice nice nice, keep up the cool work mate :-))

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  9. Torquemada looks great and I love those Sea Devils...always one of my favourites!

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    1. Cheers Gordon. Hoping to get the Sea Devils done sooner rather than later, as they're one of my faves too :-)

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  10. That red chap looks good, and I like the colour you've got on those Sea Devil things.

    A female Dr Who might just see me watch an episode or two, and I haven't done that since Sylvester McCoy was the Time Lord!

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    1. Thanks Roy. Glad you like Torquemada, and the beginnings of my Sea Devils :-) Might be about to step back into the world of "Doctor Who", eh? Sounds good to me!!

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  11. Tomas looks good Simon, I love Dave's cars and I've got a feeling you're going to do it justice. The sea devils are excellent! What do you think of the new Dr? Brave new world or shaky ground?

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    1. Cheers Andy. Hopeful I'll do both of Dave's cars justice. The Sea Devils are undoubtedly some of Warlord Games best Doctor Who sculpts to date. What I am finding most disconcerting about the new choice of dr who is the scorn being heaped upon long-term fans who disagree with it. I don't think it's a brave choice in that I understand the actress is good (I'd never heard of her myself), but I do think the viewing figures will be interesting after the first couple of episodes, considering it has split fandom.

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  12. Very nicely done with Torquemada, excellent stuff. :)

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  13. The big T absolutely kicks the proverbial Simon! Wow! Love your scheme very much on that sculpt.

    Sea devils scared the poop out of me when I saw the series on VHS. Those minis look great.

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    1. Cheers Dai. Very much appreciated praise :-) The Sea Devils are excellent sculpts - full of marine life!!

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