Thursday 7 December 2017

"May I Have Permission To Address The Emperor?"

"My life at your command."
This statue of a long-deceased Draconian Emperor was created by pinning a ‘spare’ metal figure from “Warlord Games” “Into The Time Vortex” range onto a suitably-sized, square-shaped resin plinth, and then super-gluing the “Telfer Model Design” casting upon one of the thin-lipped 40mm plastic circular bases I try to use for all my scenic pieces. Dedicated fans of the 1973 Jon Pertwee six-parter “Frontier In Space” will doubtless note that the “Doctor Who: Exterminate!” miniature is actually that of a Draconian nobleman rather than the Emperor himself, but the effigy is significantly ancient and fashion trends have clearly altered over the passing centuries…

Once assembled and fixed in place, the model was primed with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and subsequently treated to a double coat of Brass. The figurine was then heavily washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, and dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Brass. To give the idol some ‘weathering’ I applied plenty of "Citadel" Nihilakh Oxide over the model, and later ‘blended’ this in with the rest of the colour scheme by giving it a second dry-brush of "Vallejo" Brass.
Twelfth Doctor WIPs - The Time Lord just needs a hearty application of "Citadel" Nuln Oil
With the actual statue itself now finished, I undercoated its stone plinth with "Citadel" Abaddon Black, and later applied two layers of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey. I then shaded it with “Citadel” Nuln Oil before carefully dry-brushing the stone with more “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey. Finally, in order to imply that the plinth was somewhat neglected and overgrown, I took some dabs of static grass and (PVA) glued them to parts of the slab around the sculpture's base.

Sticking with "Doctor Who" momentarily, I have made some considerable progress on my "Warlord Games" figure of the Twelfth Doctor, as played by Peter Capaldi. To be honest, I was initially about as enthusiastic to paint this particular miniature as I would be to watch the Scottish actor's first two painfully dire televised seasons as the travelling Time Lord. Nonetheless, once I got going on the somewhat sedentary-posed model I simply couldn't put my paintbrush down until he was almost ready for varnishing... 
James Kirk WIP - The Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise is almost ready for some washes
Arguably one of this year's biggest gaming disappointments, in my mind at least, was the release of "Star Trek Adventures" by "Modiphius Entertainment Ltd". Not only was the Fulham-based company's (entry) price point both bitterly disappointing and staggeringly high, charging £395 for their Borg Cube Collector's Edition Box Set. But, having seen the models and horribly out-of-scale geomorphic floor-plans in the flesh at "Warfare", "the highly anticipated... miniatures line" is rather underwhelming in the value-for-money stakes too. 

Fortunately, I did manage to 'snag' one of the role-playing game's 32mm "initial" models of Captain James Kirk twelve months ago. This single-cast  resin sculpt is admittedly, completely dissimilar in both style and physical proportions to the recently released multi-part Original Series Bridge Crew, so won't easily fit in with the rest of the range. However, as the Federation Officer is already half-started, I thought I take full advantage of my Partially-Painted Pledge Challenge and get him finished.

40 comments:

  1. The statue looks great. It would be far too easy to "Overdo" the verdiris Personally I think it is spot on. Nice job mate

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  2. Love the Emperor Simon and who doesn't have a suitable sized resin plinth lying around. :) I was interested to read about the Start Trek game - £395, ouch!

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    1. Cheers Michael. The Star Trek RPG was a bitter disappointment to me, especially the pricing. Of course you can pick up the Borg Drone Bundle for just £250 - no minis, and the rule-book is only £45 if you just want the basic version...

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  3. Painfully dire, that’s being very generous to Mr Capaldi.

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    1. LOL Simon. All I would say, is very much like this "Warlord Games" sculpt, Mr Capaldi's 12th Doctor has grown on me in this last season. Indeed, I'd actually rate "Heaven Sent" from his second series as one of the best episodes/stories ever imho.

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  4. The statue looks impressive. As Clint says it is easy to overdo weathering but this looks nigh on perfect. Good job sir. The doctor is coming along well, nice job there. (His last season was pretty good though!) Kirk looks good too, although he isn't sucking his stomach in enough to be a truly accurate sculpt. I do think he looks cool though. A nice sci fi mix today, what a nice surprise, although you are missing the best franchise by missing out a model from that galaxy far far away! A very good read, keep it up.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. I thoroughly enjoyed almost the entirety of Capaldi's last season with the first and last episodes being disappointments. I've now finished the Capaldi mini and he should be posted up next week as a result; definitely one to hit the tabletop soon!! The "Initial" Kirk model definitely isn't as 'heroically-sized' as the regular sculpt, that's for sure ;-)

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  5. Nice stuff Simon, in fact beyond nice with the statue which is excellent :-)
    I hope you've remembered Peter Capaldi's crombie has a maroon lining ;-)

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    1. Cheers Greg. I did try and stick to the paint scheme as shown in the official BBC ‘The Hybrid will stand in the ruins of Gallifrey…’ photograph, but I guess I missed the maroon lining bit ;-)

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  6. Great work on the statue Simon turned out really well, the Dr is looking good to. Very interesting on the Star Trek information that is a lot of money for a starting set !

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    1. Thanks Dave. Much appreciated. You can get some of the Star Trek RPG stuff cheaper but when "Modiphius Entertainment Ltd" first released photos of the Borg Cube Collector's Edition Box Set is was clear that was what everyone would want to buy... and then the prices came out, and the FB backlash began...

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  7. Trek kicks Who's ass! And that, there, is some smash-mouth, trash-talking, rooting, tooting, son-of-a-gun, motivational speaking. Wooo! (does the Rick Flair swagger walk)

    Soon be 97 to go, Simon.

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    1. Cheers Roy LOL :-) I've already finished the five minis for the Partially-Painted Pledge Challenge for next week, so expect that PPPC tally score to drop down rapidly over the course of the next few posts. Love me some Nature Boy whoops!!

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  8. Very good work on both of the Doctor Who figures. Like you, I was very much disappointed by the pricing of the Modiphius Star Trek games and figures. I may have got into this game but at the current prices, no way.

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    1. Simon, I just saw an announcement for these figures - https://wizkids.com/heroclix/star-trek-heroclix-away-team/
      They do look very, very good. I must admit, I am tempted by them.

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    2. Thanks Bryan. I appreciate the "Star Trek" licence must be financially tough to pay. But I also think "Modiphius Entertainment Ltd" have badly estimated how much people will fork out for their minis - the FB backlash was incredible to see when they first issued the costs, and even increasing the Klingon/Romulan packs from 8 to 10 minis did little to abate the £40 boxed set gnashing of teeth!! I do own the Original Crew though - having bought it at a discounted price I might add, so will let you know how they assemble etc in a future post.

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    3. I'll be ordering some from the US this evening, Bryan - many thanks for the link. Obviously because of my Pledge they'll be a Christmas gift, but email me if there's anything you particularly fancy?

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    4. Sorry to butt in Blax and Bryan. Having never bought any Heroclix items before I was wondering if you could advise me on the best way to go about it, with these Trek figures, please.

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    5. Hi Roy. UK-wise your best bets, imho, are "Blue Rat Games" and "E-Bay". I haven't seen the "Star Trek" ones on either yet. But "Troll And Toad" have them all as singles already, and as most are only $1-2 each, I find them incredible value compared to the £3-4 I usually find UK minis to be. Of course its the P&P which can be an issue, but even then I find the US far better vfm than UK - and they have most of the rares too.

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    6. Cheers Simon, I look into those. Currently watching TOS on tv, and I'm starting to feel like yourself and prefer it to the (chronological) other tv shows. I've got some metal Klingons, as you know, that will work for the Motion Picture era, and am sorting out my STAW Klingon and Federation 'fleets' to match that time frame. So far my Starfleet 28mm mini's are the not-Star Trek from CP Models, but they're generic and I like the look of these Heroclix characters (they probably won't match size-wise). Ain't got a clue when I'll ever get to paint all these...?

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    7. You're very welcome Roy. I tend to stick "Heroclix" on their own these days, due to their differing scales, so will post up some scale pics when my "Star Trek" ones arrive, if you remind me :-)

      "Ain't got a clue when I'll ever get to paint all these...?" - Hence my four-month Partially-Painted Pledge Challenge :-)

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  9. I like the statue very much, but the other 2 models don't represent their real-world inspirations very well, or so it seems to me.

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    1. Cheers Hugh. The Capadi sculpt is definitely growing on me tbh, but I agree with the Kirk mini; albeit once I've painted his head brown, I'm convinced he'll look a bit more like Shatner.

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  10. Nice statue, I like the doctor with the guitar but my favourite is Kirk, I've got a pile of citadel trek tie ins from the time of the first film, not my favourite period and of course very 25mm.
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. I personally love the first film era, so by all means let me know if you want to quickly reduce your lead pile of them. Always happy to do an exchange or deal :-)

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    2. By all means, some of them will have been painted by teenage me in entirely inappropriate enamels I'm afraid but I can't see ever using them, my email address is caveadsum1471@yahoo.com drop me a line I'll take some photos of what I have and we can sort out some sort of exchange I'm sure.
      Best Iain

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    3. No probs Iain. Email sent :-)

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  11. Seeing your 12th Doctor has reminded me that we must get on and paint ours along with the Paternoster gang.. or we`ll have no Christmas special AAR to present lol

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    1. That sounds awesome Hils, and what a great festive idea for "The Game Cupboard" :-)

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  12. Being last to comment not much more I can add lol! Love the statue, the colors and tones are spot on. I grabbed the older version of Trek Wizkids figures last year https://www.ebay.com/itm/Heroclix-Wizkids-Star-Trek-Tactics-7-Figure-Team-Crew-Set-New-/292359566938?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10 Just to give you an idea of what they look like. Another option. Perhaps you can find them cheaper on your side of the pond :)

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    1. Cheers Ivor. Much appreciated. Bizarrely, "Troll And Toad" is actually by far the cheapest "Heroclix" seller I know despite the $16 postage I pay - though obviously I need to buy a bulk order to make it worthwhile. I don't own the New Crew as I'm not a fan of the reboot tbh, but I'd be interested in your opinion of the minis as potential repaints?

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  13. Cracking job on the statue and nice progress on the Doctor and Kirk!

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  14. Love the statue. I must get some of that GW oxide paint. The 12th Doctor is great. Like the way you have done the glasses. Must agree the Star Trek RPG was a big disappointment. Was thinking getting some of the figures to play out Away Party games, perhaps using Ganesha Games rules but not too sure now.

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    1. Cheers Mark. The "GW" Oxide Paint is awesome imho, and worth its weight in gold for bronze statues etc. Hopefully the finished Twelfth Doctor won't disappoint either ;-)

      I just don't understand what "Modiphius Entertainment Ltd" are up to with "Star Trek" tbh. The floor plans look awesome but are far too small for the minis, and everything is far too expensive for what it is, imho.

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    2. An opportunity missed by Modiphius IMO. Shame really I was going to get some of the Klingons, but probably not know. Of course not being in the industry I don't know how much they have to pay for the Licence etc.. Anyway returned to the Dark side and started 40K again!

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    3. I think the massive turnaround in "Games Workshop" and its attitude to its fans has really altered the wargaming landscape, Mark. I think the new "WH40K" has caught everyone by surprise, plus "Necromunda", plus "Age of Sigmar" - there's so much out there to attract our money.

      Why therefore would anyone invest in a terribly expensive new game, which clearly has teething issues (e.g. incompatible scale between floor plans and minis) and could well see the company fold (I'm thinking Spartan Games and the "Halo" licence - which can't have been anywhere near that of "Star Trek") imho.

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    1. Thanks Leon. I've subsequently added a little more grass around the brass statue's base in order to fill in a couple of gaps.

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