"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...