"I Am General Staal Of The Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet."

"Remember your status boy. We do not take orders from humans."

This 30mm-tall metal miniature of Staal the Undefeated is produced by “Warlord Games” and can be bought as part of their "Sontaran General Staal" three-figure boxed set. "Commander of the Tenth Sontaran Battle fleet" during its invasion of Earth in 2009, "Staal forged an alliance with Luke Rattigan to aid the Sontaran conquest" of the planet and made his first appearance in Helen Raynor's April 2008 BBC television story "The Sontaran Stratagem".

Originally primed using two layers of "Vallejo" Black, the alien clone's "distinctive battle armour" and dome-shaped helmet were painted using a combination of Gunmetal Blue and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, before being dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Gunmetal Blue. I then pigmented his space suit with "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey and subsequently treated it to a watered-down wash of "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade.

Sontaran WIPs - The clone soldiers need their space suits to be painted using "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey

Staal's swagger stick, having been repeatedly 'caught' whilst the surrounding area was dry-brushed, was simply repainted "Vallejo" Black, and later had the cane's ends 'picked out' with some "Citadel" Ironbreaker and a splash of Nuln Oil. Finally, the Sontaran's large, bulbous head received a layer of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone and was shaded using "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

With my Sontaran "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" faction's officer complete, I have begun painting four more of the laser rifle carrying militaristic extra-terrestrials in earnest. Disconcertingly however, I am once again finding "Vallejo" Gunmetal Blue to be a somewhat inconsistent paint, which one moment produces a wonderfully metallic electric blue layer, and then in the next a disappointing blackish oily blue instead. Resultantly, my latest batch of Sontarans don't seem to have as strong a shine to their battle armour.

Cybermen WIPs - Two silver giants from "Tomb Of The Cybermen" and one from "The Invasion"

Moving on from my previously painted miniatures, I have finished basing and priming a few more "Doctor Who: Into The Time Vortex" Cybermen in preparation for the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. One such model I have been particularly pleased to discover within my collection, and ordinarily only available as part of "Warlord Games" superb Nightmares In Silver: Cybermen Collectors set, is one of the Nottingham-based company's "The Invasion" cyborgs, which are famous for accompanying Tobias Vaughn in his failed conquest of the world from their base deep inside the London sewer system.

In addition, I have finally managed to strip the cellophane off of my "Tomb Of The Cybermen" collector's set and begun basing up its contents as well. Once these silver giants are finished I may well purchase a second box of the figures, so as to provide me with the option of fielding either a second four-figure strong Tomb Cyber-Patrol Recruitment card, or a three-model Tomb Cyber-Patrol which generates an extra Fate Token for the faction at the start of a "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" game.