(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" December 2018

General Staal WIPs - The Sontaran Commander will be accompanied by two clone soldiers

Presumably just like eighty-three other participants I am currently busily prepping and priming a multitude of miniatures in order to have them ready for the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC) which starts towards the end of this month. However, last year I actually decided not to enter Curt Campbell's three-month long event so as to instead predominantly focus upon simply reducing the minor mountain of models which I had previously dabbled with, yet failed to finish.

This time round I actually aim to have a go at both, and for starters try to wade through one of my hobby drawers disconcertingly packed with half-completed "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" figures produced by "Warlord Games". Rather embarrassingly I have been pottering around with General Staal and a sizeable Sontaran faction since "the Undefeated" was first released as a boxed set in May 2018, so the first 'goal post' for my Partially-Painted Pledge is to finish the commander of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet along with a handful of his armour-clad troopers I've started pigmenting in the past.

"The Time Warrior" WIPs - Commander Linx and Irongron has been based and primed 

Alongside these "militaristic clones from the planet Sontar" I have also pulled out my somewhat ploddingly progressed Draconian faction, and a similarly stalled collection of Daleks which I had intended to use as The Cult of Skaro. Fortunately, many of these miniatures only require a minimum of concentrated hobby-time so as to be ready for a protective coat of varnish, but there are a few other half-finished forces, such as my Tetraps and Vervoids, which will need more tender loving care before being tabletop ready.

Stepping away from the "Into The Time Vortex" figures I have already started painting in the past, I have additionally started prepping and priming a considerable number of other previously unopened miniatures from the range, especially those which I can potentially use for a few of the AHPC's fortnightly themed Bonus Rounds. One such set is the Nottingham-based manufacturer's two-figure set based upon Jon Pertwee's 1973 four-part story "The Time Warrior", which contains the characterful sculpts of Irongron and Commander Linx.

Dalek and Ogron WIPs - The Kaled Mark III Travel Machines are almost finished

According to the TARDIS Data Core Jingo Linx "was forced to make an emergency landing on Earth while on reconnaissance when his ship was attacked by a squadron of Rutan fighters", and that makes the Sontaran Commander in the Fifth Sontaran Army Space Fleet, alongside the "robber baron and leader of a local bandit gang", absolutely perfect entrants for the AHPC 'Reconnaissance' round.

Slightly less straightforward will be my use of the Tomb of the Cybermen Collectors Diorama as a 'Water Feature'; as the ice-bound underground hibernation complex starts to melt when the silver giants awake.  This metal and resin "miniature tomb" comes complete with "two highly detailed metal Tomb Cybermen", but ideally I want to additionally add the four figures from the "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" "Tomb Of The Cybermen" boxed set to the mix, as well as their Cyber-Leader...