Wednesday 5 December 2018

"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. 

24 comments:

  1. Great Who-ian post!

    I like Staal, though don't recall his armour being grey in the show?

    And you know I am a fan of all things Cybermen - looking forward to seeing these classic versions painted up mate.

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    1. Thanks Dai. The new Sontaran space suits are blue-grey, hence the blue-grey layer and blue shading. The Cybermen should be some of the first “Doctor Who” minis I finish for the AHPC, so should be posted early 2019 as a result.

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    1. Cheers Simon. I’ve another 10+ Sontarans to paint though :-)

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  3. Nothing to dislike here, Simon. A great post. Cybermen and Sontarans are a great combo.

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    1. Cheers Bryan, hopefully I'll be able to put them on the tabletop against one another soon too.

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  4. Really nice work on Staal, I think I remember him from the series, though I might5 be getting confused with the ones that were in a Sarah Jane adventure (as I watched that for a while too). I do like those Cybermen, real classic stuff, such a shame they are 30mm and wont mix with any of my stuff.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. SJS fought a few Sontarans in her time I believe. perhaps you could be tempted to branch out into "Warlord Games" scale at some point? I know I haven't regretted it :-)

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    2. Ha ha, I think I'm more likely to be tempted to go down a scale, than up as you know I have a hankering to do some 15mm painting. :-)

      Cheers Roger.

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    3. I dont blame you with the 15mm at all, Roger. There's some great ranges out there; especially sci-fi :-)

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    4. Oh well typical then that I was going to go Fantasy! :-)

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    5. LOL. You could certainly tempt me down that route, Roger, with something like "Alternative Armies" :-)

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    6. Ha ha, it wont ne AA, but someone (possibly two) else but I'll say no more till I'm ready to order next year :-)

      Cheers Roger.

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    7. Oohh... Sounds like a future themed month coming in 2019 then ;-)

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  5. Good stuff Simon! It always amazes me how much your able to work on, and at such a consistent pace too 🙂

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    1. Cheers Ivor. I find a change of scale or genre is as good as a rest. LOL!!

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  6. A very nice General Steal, particularly the painting of his head, it looks very gnarly.

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    1. Thanks Vagabond. I can’t believe its taken me so long to get him done tbh.

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  7. The SOntarons are a lot more clourful than I remember them (in Black & White TV days).

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    1. Cheers Joe. Staal is one of the "Nu Who" Sontarans, hence their blue-grey attire as opposed to silver and black.

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