Monday 10 December 2018

"It's A Yeti!"

"It must have been left over from the Games."
This 28mm metal model of a Yeti is produced by “Black Tree Design" and can be bought from their "Doctor Who" range as code DW209 Yeti Attacking. "Cuddly but ferocious", this cryptozoological creature was actually a robot controlled by the Great Intelligence, and was created by Henry Lincoln and Mervyn Haisman for the September 1967 television six-part serial "The Abominable Snowmen".

Having previously painted a veritable horde of these figures in the past using both "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and Heavy Brown I decided to use Heavy Bluegrey as the base colour for this particular Yeti, so as to be able to use him as a 'leader' on the tabletop should ever the case arise. The miniature was then heavily washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil and dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey.
Mandrel WIPs - The three extra-terrestrials have been primed and dry-brushed 
I picked out the furry automaton's eyes with “Vallejo" Heavy Ochre, and his formidable-looking sharp claws with Dead White. Both of these areas were subsequently washed with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade, before I highlighted its eyes with an additional spot of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre. The recurring foe's hands and feet were simply pigmented using "Vallejo" Black.

Sticking with both "Black Tree Design" models and my partially-painted "Doctor Who" ones, I have 'dusted down' three Mandrel's from Tom Baker's tenure as the travelling Time Lord. I actually own a few more of these "humanoid creatures native to the planet Eden", but plan to use this initial trio to work out a straightforward palette for their red scales, dark fur and large, glowing green eyes.
X-Commandos WIPs - The four soldiers have been assesembled and under-coated
With the start of the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge now less than a fortnight away, I have momentarily turned my attention away from preparing my embarrassingly high number of 'long-forgotten' "Lord Of The Rings" models in favour of some of the many "Crooked Dice Game Design" miniatures I own. These days the company peddle their X-Commando sculpts as part of Department X's forces (for the rule-set "7TV"), but in my mind they make marvellous proxies for the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce soldiers which so bravely fought off the Sontaran invasion of Earth in 2008.

I'm actually hoping to make a welcome return to Spy-Fi gaming in the New Year, alongside some "Post Apocalyptic Wargaming in the World of Cult TV" courtesy of the recent "Crooked Dice Game Design" Kickstarter "Apocalypse", so have already started rooting through my drawers looking for any additional X-Commando miniatures I own. In addition, don't be at all surprised to see a few of the manufacturer's now long Out Of Production (OOP) figures, such as Melody, William, Daisy and May, alongside some other Temporal Travellers and Plucky Assistants...

28 comments:

  1. Great work on the yeti Simon, will have a look at reference pictures of the Mandrel and come up with a set of colours you could use for them. The commandos look like they would have a lot of uses for multiple games

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks very much, Dave, and for your generous offer Ref the Mandrels. However, I’ve actually almost finished the trio now, as their WIPs were taken a while ago. The X-Commandos do indeed look the business imho.

      Delete
    2. no problem, as I found it's not just red, it has green and silver in it to

      Delete
    3. Yes. I’ve got some green dry-brushing still to do on their mouth frills ;-)

      Delete
    4. there's a green element in the body scales as well, easily achieved with a green glaze over the red you've done

      Delete
    5. Cheers Dave, I might try that if I re-paint the red on my Mandrels, as I'm not sure the red dry-brush works as well as a red layer with black shading would... Decisions, decisions :-)

      Delete
  2. It loked a bit like a man in a suit, but as it's a Dr. Who opponent, it's very fitting. (Love your rendition of it)
    The 'X Commanoes' look like great sculpts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Joe. I thought a grey Yeti would make a nice change from the brown ones I have painted previously. I’m a big gain of the X-Commandos, and hope to do them justice.

      Delete
  3. The painting is abominably good, is that a word?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL!! Sounds like a great word to me, Fran :-)

      Delete
  4. Great work, Simon. I actually remember watching the episodes featuring the Yeti on TV when they first aired. That's showing my age!
    I'm afraid I'm not a fan of the Mandrel - he looks too much like a Scooby Doo villain.
    I do like the Commandos, however. I also have that set but haven't got round to painting mine yet. Like you, I'm also looking forward to playing the new 7TV Apocalypse game in the new year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Bryan, it’s a pity you didn’t have a video recorder back then to record the missing episodes!! LOL. “The Nightmare Of Eden” didn’t do well in its day, but is one of my fave Tom Baker stories for some reason... Lots of “Crooked Dice” stuff to come over the next few months, as I’ve a bit of a “7TV” backlog.

      Delete
  5. I've a fair few DW figures that need completing and they have moved up my painting queue, as the current season of Who has left a bad taste in my mouth, so want to cleanse my palate with some 'proper' Who.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I must confess that I’ve only watched a few of the 13th Doctor stories myself, and then predominantly because I have been asked to pen an article on them for the “Doctor Who News” website. It’s simply not my cup of tea...

      Delete
  6. That Yeti is awesome! Really great paint job, I love everything about it. I don't remember the Mandrells but can't wait to see them finished. If they are half as good as the Yeti they will be stunning. The soldiers are a great find and, as you say, can be used in a multitude of games. Loved this post a lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Undercoat. It's a pity "Warlord Games" haven't yet released their versions of either the "Abominable Snowman" or "Web Of Fear" versions. I may well return to my Mandrels following a rethink with their base colours, and hope to do a lot more "Crooked Dice" soldiers over the AHPC.

      Delete
  7. Nice work on the Yeti, those were a couple of great 2nd Doctor stories! I too liked the Nightmare of Eden story, not my fave (Keeper of Traken, take that spot) but still good classic stuff.

    The unit trooper look nice figures too, cant have too much "cannon fodder" can you, I'm afraid the names you mention at the bottom of the post mean nothing to me, are they actually character names or "not" versions?

    Cheers Roger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Roger, I always enjoy the Yeti as both minis and in their two classic Troughton stories (as well as "The Five Doctors" too).

      Shame on you for not recalling those "not" version names, as I believe you own a bag of the Temporal Travellers?

      Delete
    2. Ahhhh, I take it then that Daisy is Rose, Melody could be River "Song", but I cant figure out how May and William become Jo and SJS?

      Delete
    3. William was "Crooked Dice" Rory, and May was actually Amy Pond, Roger - befuddling I know. I think I sent you a May but probably not a William.

      Delete
    4. I believe they’ve since turned her sculpt into a ‘Road Warrior’ post-apocalypse mini to avoid BBC infringements.

      Delete
  8. Nicely done with the Yeti BK. :) Cracking stuff. :)

    By the way, did you finished those supers you started recently? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Leon. The Supers are both primed and ready for the AHPC, as I thought they'd get far more coverage being posted up on the events site (as well as mine) than they'd normally get. Hopefully, that'll generate lots of fans across both sides of the Pond ;-)

      Delete
  9. Replies
    1. Thanks Simon. I do like the “Black Tree Design” sculpts of their yeti, as they have loads of character and are pretty straightforward to paint too.

      Delete