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| "Rassilon's discovery, all mine. I shall have supreme power over the universe." |
This 28mm metal model of the Master is produced by “Black Tree Design", and can be bought from their "Doctor Who" range as code DW431 Decaying Master. Sculpted to replicate the emaciated renegade Time Lord when he was rescued by Chancellor Goth on the planet Tersurus, this incarnation of the Master sought the power of the Eye of Harmony in order to "restart his regeneration cycle, even though Gallifrey would be destroyed by doing so", and first appeared in the October 1976 BBC Television story “The Deadly Assassin”.
The miniature was initially undercoated with two layers of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, and heavily dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal. The despicable villain was then shaded with "Citadel" Nuln Oil, before having his putrefying hands and face 'picked out' with a combination of "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand and "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade.
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| Sontaran WIPs - Stike, Linx and Varl have all been primed and dry-brushed |
As a final touch I painted the time-travelling fiend's 'soulless' eyes with "Vallejo" Dead White, and 'pooled' a little Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter" over them. I also tried to highlight the Master's skeletal teeth with (more) "Vallejo" Dead White, but found the tiny detail incredibly difficult to find with my brush-tip. In the end I therefore settled upon a brusque application of acrylic across the mouth area, and blended it in with a second application of "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade.
With my interest in "Doctor Who" maintaining an all-time high currently, and spurred on by my recently painted "Black Tree Design" Sontaran Warrior, I have based, primed and dry-brushed three more of the company's "militaristic clones". These characterful miniatures represent Jingo Linx from the Third Doctor adventure "The Time Warrior", as well as Stike and Varl from the Sixth Doctor story "The Two Doctors".
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| Locust Beta WIP - The Viridian extra-terrestrial has been assembled, based and under-coated |
Disappointingly I've discovered that unlike the Daleks, Cybermen, Sea Devils, Ice Warriors, Draconians and Autons, "Black Tree Design" don't do an 'army' collection for their Sontaran figures. So resultantly, I'm now somewhat tempted to purchase a few more basic Sontaran Warrior sculpts and use the aforementioned 'named' models as officers in order to replicate their "eternal war throughout Mutter's Spiral against the Rutan Host." Of course, I don't own any Rutan miniatures either, so this is clearly a "Doctor Who" project for another day...
By way of a diversion, I have also assembled the second of my Viridian Clade models for "Wild West Exodus". This plastic Locust Beta came in a whopping thirteen pieces, and actually required me to print out its instructions from off the "Warcradle Studios" website in order to ensure I had super-glued it together correctly. I have high hopes for this "Sci-Fi Western Miniatures Game" and plan to get my extra-terrestrial posse all primed ready for a big painting push in a couple of months time.
Nice job on the master Simon, the sontarans are progressing well.
ReplyDeleteThat seems a lot of pieces for the viridian interesting shapes though
Thanks Dave. Simple stuff for the Master, but he's a fun mini imho, as are the Sontarans. The Viridian just goes to show how much more complicated the modern-day sculpts are :-)
DeleteLovely job on the master mate. Sontarans are off to a good start looking forward to seeing them done. Wow that's a lot of pieces I imagine it's to ensure they cast properly, keep the detail and don't wear the molds as much.
ReplyDeleteCheers Simon. I've been meaning to paint the Decaying Master for quite a while, so its good to have him finally done. The Sontarans should be reasonably straightforward too. I was hoping the "Wild West Exodus" would be a little easier to assemble and prime, but as it is they are somewhat slow going.
DeleteNow that Warlord have released the Master boxed set, does that mean we'll see their version of the decayed Master gracing your painting table in the future? As for the Sontarans, whilst the recent iterations show a large force of this race, we only got to see individuals in the classic series, which might be why BTD chose to only represent named characters. Does seem a little odd, bearing in mind that they produce boxed sets of various other warlike races...
ReplyDeleteI have to say I'm not overly enamoured of the WWX range. I've got no issue with the subject matter and their demo tables at Salute were lovely, but the miniatures don't grab me.
Indeed I am currently working on the "Warlord Games" version of the Decayed Master, Jez, but wanted to get this one finished first. It is strange about "Black Tree Design" not doing a Sontaran box.
DeleteSpookily I wasn't impressed with "Wild West Exodus" until I saw their demo table with the Viridians on it. That's what made me pick up a couple of posse boxes. I do own some cowboys, but it was the aliens which won me over.
I was bursting to get into WWX but something kept holding me back, maybe it was some of the sculpts, they left me dubious, I don`t know. But it was a something a blogger posted which finally convinced me not to go for this. Mostly his words reminded me that we have a lot of nice wild west figures anyway, and how much cooler it would be to add these into our existing games, throw in a bit of DW and away we go, woohoo!!
DeleteWise words Hils, but sadly I couldn't resist these aliens when I saw them at "Salute" - hopefully I can paint them up half-decent and you'll see why I succumbed :-)
DeleteI`m sure they will look lovely.
DeleteWell their white and black paint-scheme will certainly help, I think :-)
DeleteAnother great post. The Master looks great and those eyes look quite disturbing. Good job on him. Looking forward to seeing the Singer and done, so you have me booked there. I must admit the forthcoming Warlord Sontarans may see me make my first Dr Who purchase as I think they are superb! The WWX stuff looks awesome too. Those Watched models are brilliant so I can't wait to see what you do with them. I have been watching some battle reports on the game and I think it looks really good. I would highly recommend the excellent Battlehammer videos, although the language is a bit fruity, so he warned! Great post, enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Undercoat. The Sontarans should be finished and posted over the next few weeks and hopefully lead up to the release of "Warlord Games" versions. Lots of "Wild West Exodus" stuff coming too - just got to find the time to assemble them all.
DeleteThe Master figure is passable but is not one I'll be buying. I much prefer the ones from Warlord Games. I'm sticking with them for all of my "Doctor Who" minis now. However, I do like your Sontarans and the Locust Beta is simply superb. I can't wait to see it painted up.
ReplyDeleteCheers Bryan. The Decaying Master was certainly fun to paint, and I'm hoping to do a comparison with the "Warlord Games" version once I've finished that version. Hopefully I can get quite a few of the "Wild West Exodus" minis assembled over the next few weeks and then spend a month or two painting them up :-)
DeleteFor such a simple sculp the master figure is quite disturbing, whilst the Sontarans are loking good and wll come together as a very distinctive opposition for the Doc and others (I like SOntarans a lot).
ReplyDeleteLobster man though would drive me crazy having to assemble - I get annoyed just having to glue weapons to figures!
Thanks Joe. I think the "Black Tree Design" Decaying Master is a wicked-looking sculpt imho, and definitely captures his malevolent presence. Lots of Sontarans coming, so please stay tuned. I'm certainly glad I wasn't planning on cracking open the "Wild West Exodus" box and expecting to paint them straight away!! ;-)
DeleteReally nice stuff, I love that Master figure, great work on the painting there, I too love the Sontarans, shame there was never an army box of these.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the Willd West connection with the Viridians though I can't see it myself?
Cheers Roger.
Cheers Roger. I too think the Master is a great figure. Hopefully I can get the Sontarans finished before the "Warlord Games" versions are released.
DeleteThe Viridians are part of the Watcher faction, but besides that I don't currently know much else about them in "Wild West "Exodus". They just looked awesome at "Salute" so I bought them :-)
That's a wonderfully dark and brooding Master.
ReplyDeleteThanks Michael. I think the sculpt is spot on, imho.
DeleteThe master looks all sorts of creepy. Good job.
ReplyDeleteSontarans are hilarious characters. Shame you can't add to them for a bit more individuality. Doesn't Warlord make a range you could add to your collection?
Cheers Dai. "Warlord Games" will be releasing their Sontarans next month, but due to the differences in scale etc they won't be very compatible. Perhaps that's why I've got my eye on getting some more "Black Tree Design" potato heads at some point ;-)
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