"We Have Ruled Your Lives Since Your Lives Began."

"You should kill us all on sight."

These "finely-sculpted" and 40mm tall "pewter" models of three Silents are produced by “Warlord Games” and are designed for use with the Nottingham-based company's "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" miniatures game. Genetically engineered to be the confessional priests of the Church of the Silence, these mouthless creatures first appeared in the 2011 BBC television story “The Impossible Astronaut”, and were "capable of obliterating enemies by absorbing electrical energy from the air and discharging it from their hands at a vastly more potent level."

Initially primed with a double coat of "Citadel" Chaos Black, these miniatures were all heavily dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal and then washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. Two of the bony-faced humanoids had their discoloured shirts 'picked out' with a combination of "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. Whilst the third figure had his arms slightly repositioned (through careful bending) and his collar painted in "Vallejo" Verdigris and "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade in order to mark him out as the faction's Leader.

"But you will never remember. We weren't even here. Your will is ours!"

All of these members of the "religious order created by Tasha Lem" had their ties re-painted with "Citadel" Abaddon Black and their pinkish skin pigmented with "Vallejo" Heavy Warmgrey and some watered-down "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade. These areas of flesh were then highlighted with some additional "Vallejo" Heavy Warmgrey, before receiving a final wash of "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade in order to 'blend' the pigments together and create some extra shadowing.

In the "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" game the faction certainly have some interesting special Traits, such as "Hard To Hit", which means that "all shots against a character... count as inaccurate", "Sneaky", which means that a Silent Veteran "may always claim cover even if in the open", and "Forgettable", which can allow one of Madame Kovarian's allies to "double its range if its not in the line of sight of an enemy character." In addition, the Silence's Adventure cards, such "Hypnosis", which gives you control of an enemy miniature "within 6" of one of your Silent characters" can really throw off an opponent's assault, whilst allowing the aliens to release the fearsome might of their "Electrical Discharges."

"Space Vixens From Mars" WIPs - Uhura, Mathews, Rand and Rayburn

Rather embarrassingly, I began work on these four “Space Vixens From Mars” miniatures some eighteen months ago, and never got past undercoating them. The 28mm metal figures are actually the first of several 'Federation' sculpts from the manufacturer's 'Personalities of SVfM' range that I began painting up as proxies for a “Star Trek” campaign, but were then sidelined on account of their uniform's elaborate and fussy chest insignia.

At the time I did try cutting the medals and war ribbons off with a sharp modelling knife and priming over the top of them with "Vallejo" Heavy Red. However, this then left each figure with a distinctly flat and noticeable area on their chest, which I have only now managed to 'grind' away to my satisfaction (having bought a set of small metal files).