"Now, That Really Is The End Of The Cybermen, Isn't It?"

"I shall leave you to the Cybermen. I'm sure they'll have some use for you."

These five 36mm tall metal Cybermen miniatures are sold by “Warlord Games” and can be found inside the Nottingham-based company's "The Tomb of the Cybermen" expansion set for the "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" miniatures game; albeit the box only contains four basic Cybermen figures. Sculpted to closely resemble the likes of heavily costumed actors Hans de Vries, Tony Harwood, John Hogan, Richard Kerley, Ronald Lee, Charles Pemberton, Kenneth Seeger, Reg Whitehead, these Cybermen first appeared in the 1967 television story "The Tomb Of The Cybermen", when the "small army" of silver giants were awoken from their long hibernation by the Brotherhood of Logicians on the planet Telos.

Having previously painted this particular incarnation of the "the fictional race of cyborgs" from the "Nightmares In Silver" Cybermen Collector's Set 1966-2013, I initially undercoated all five figures with just a single coat of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, before applying a double layer of Ironbreaker over them. The models were then washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil and dry-brushed with (more) Ironbreaker.

"The energy levels are low. We will survive. You will help us. You will help us."

I then spent some considerable time trying to make the Cybermen's eyes and mouth-slit stand out from the rest of their emotionless faces. In the past this has proved somewhat easier said than done as I've always found these particular facial details a little too soft for my skill with a paint-brush, and sadly these five miniatures proved no exception to this rule.

Originally, I did try carefully 'picking out' these tiny areas with "Citadel" Abaddon Black and then pigmenting them with a combination of Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. But afterwards I was rather unhappy with how this approach looked so in the end returned to my 'tried and tested' method of simply painting the Cybermen's faces "Citadel" Ironbreaker, shading the areas with Nuln Oil, and finally 'highlighting' the eyes and mouth with a little touch more of Ironbreaker.

Sea Devil Overlord WIPs - The "Aquatic" leader has been primed, washed and dry-brushed

I did however, having done some additional research into the on-set costumes, only paint the silver giants' upper body-tubing with "Citadel" Abaddon Black, as opposed to all their piping as I did with my previously painted Cyberman. Lastly, each figures' chest-piece light was treated to a dollop of "Vallejo" Heavy Ochre and washed with some "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade.

With my Tomb Cybermen faction finished, at least for now, I have spent some time working on a single Sea Devil I plan to use as an instantly recognisable Overlord for some forthcoming battles against the Daleks. To my knowledge the "Aquatic Silurians" never wore green vests, but the colour is enough of a contrast to make the faction's "unique" leader stand out on the tabletop, without being too different to the rest of its amphibious brethren.

Doctor Who: Exterminate! Report: The Daleks Verses Sea Devils - Part Two

A REINFORCED SEA DEVIL RAIDING PARTY ATTACKS A DALEK PATROL ON THE BEACH 

"The story so far… It is the year 2164 A.D. and the Daleks have conquered the Earth. However, their invasion has awoken a contingent of Sea Devils from their undersea sleeping chambers. Determined to rid their world of this latest threat to their global domination the Sea Devils launch a huge attack from the sea against the nearest Dalek Metropolis..."

THE ORIGINAL TABLETOP - A BEACH ON EARTH

Doctor Who: Exterminate! Report: The Daleks Verses Sea Devils - Part One

The southernmost Dalek trundled past the Southern Outcrop towards Objective Six and its lucrative four Victory Points. The Dalek Leader headed south-east towards the location of the Sea Devil Overlord, and the lone drone by the North Outcrop moved east towards Objective Two. In response the Sea Devil Ancients hiding in the surf near Objective Six were joined by three Sea Devil reinforcements, whilst their Warlord ducked north behind the Central Outcrop. To the north two Sea Devils made their way towards the lone Dalek drone, readying their Hand Weapons for close combat.

With a harsh-sounding "Exterminate!" the Daleks opened fire upon the slow-approaching Sea Devils, with those drones who hadn't moved being able to utilise their disruptors at "Full Blast"; meaning they rolled eight unmodified dice to hit as opposed to the usual four. Resultantly, one of the Sea Devil Ancients and a member of the Sea Devil reinforcements both fell dead with a brief gurgle. The northernmost Dalek drone also managed to shock one of the Aquatic Silurians near him by Objective Two and then exterminated it courtesy of the Adventure Card "Upgrade: Maximum Extermination".

THE SEA DEVILS MOVE WESTWARDS FROM THE OCEAN TOWARDS THE DALEK FORCES

Suddenly faced with a surprising shift in fortune which had the Dalek faction leading 6-5 in Victory Points, the Sea Devils utilised the Adventure Card "Sonic Summoning" to "return up to three Exterminated Sea Devil Characters to the game." These emerged from the depths near the south-east corner of the ocean across from Objective Four. To the horror of the amphibious Earth reptiles' Overlord though, one of the few Daleks who hadn't yet fired made its way to Objective Three and revealed it to be worth 5 Victory Points. The Kaled Mutants now had a substantial lead on their prehistoric opponents.

Firing upon the Dalek approaching Objective Six, the Sea Devil Ancients would have felled their opponent if it hadn't played the Adventure Card "Escape Plan" in order "to ignore the Extermination result on one of your characters on a Damage roll." But that meant nothing could save the northernmost Dalek from being cut down by a "scientifically-advanced" Heat Ray, not even the expenditure of a Fate Token to force a re-roll on the damage table.

THE SEA DEVILS TRY TO ENGAGE THE DALEKS AS MORE REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE

With so much slaughter taking place the Daleks seemed to have a commanding position on the battlefield, so remained stationary in order to maximise their firepower. As the (second) group of Sea Devil reinforcements swam towards the shore, the rest of the "humanoid turtles" bravely marched inland, seeking shelter where they could find it. Unfortunately, there was never going to be enough of it, and within moments the two remaining Sea Devils making up the faction's initial reinforcements were dead, as would have been the sole surviving Ancient if not for the cost of a Fate Token. A disruptor blast from a drone near Objective Three also successfully caught the Sea Devil Overlord, and momentarily shocked the Aquatic Silurians' leader to the ground.

Facing defeat the Sea Devils 'exhausted' the Adventure Card "Terror From The Deep" so as to allow their freshly arrived three sonically summoned warriors to disappear beneath the ocean's waves and re-emerge in the Large Pool directly behind the Dalek Leader's position. All three Sea Devils fired at the black Dalek, but despite a number of hits and use of Fate Tokens the best result the amphibious Earth reptiles could achieve was to shock the Kaled mutant onto its side.

THE SEA DEVILS TAKE THE DALEKS BY SURPRISE AND LAUNCH A MASSIVE COUNTER-ATTACK

Desperate to fell the deadly pepperpots, the Sea Devils discarded the Adventure Card "Now We Are The Hunters" allowing them to charge five inches into melee as opposed to their usual two inches. Even across the debilitating sand, this gave the three westernmost Sea Devils distance enough to close with the Dalek Leader and one of his minions, and a tense series of close combat engagements ensued. Incredibly however, despite being shocked the black Dalek still managed to fend off its attackers, whilst the plesiosaur-like warriors failed to damage the drone either.

THE SEA DEVILS RETREAT AS THE DALEKS GLOAT OVER A RESOUNDING VICTORY

Eager to escape the Dalek disruptors, the Sea Devil reinforcements retreated back into the gloomy waters of the Large Pool, and exhausted "Terror From The Deep" again in order to reappear further away in the Small Pool. Sadly, the move wasn't enough to save two of the Sea Devils, as the Daleks swung their weapons upon their position and fired. Whilst the sole surviving Ancient was also gunned down leaving Objective Six totally unprotected. Despite there still being time left for a final turn, the Sea Devil Overlord decided to live to fight another day, and signalled for his remaining people to retreat. The Daleks had won the day...

"We Intend To Make This Planet Uninhabitable For Humans Beings. "

"We shall return to our base and wait in hibernation until the radiation has faded."

These six 28mm scale metal miniatures are manufactured by “Black Tree Design", and consist of Code DW308 Silurian and Code DW315 Silurian Attacking from their "Doctor Who" miniatures range. "Depicted as prehistoric and scientifically advanced sentient humanoids who predate the dawn of man", these "reptile-like humanoids" first appeared in Malcolm Hulke's January 1970 BBC Television story "Doctor Who And The Silurians".

All of the "three-eyed land-dwellers" were primed with "Vallejo" Heavy Brown, heavily washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Brown. They were then treated to some strategically-placed spots of "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green in and around their heads, necks and hands, before being given a second, lighter dry-brush of (even more) "Vallejo" Heavy Brown.

"Our leader is dead. I killed him. I am the leader now."

Their claws, which were somewhat difficult to 'pick out' at times due to some occasional miscasting in these areas, were given a coat of "Vallejo" White and subsequently washed with Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter". Lastly, their 'third eye' was spotted with "Vallejo" Heavy Red and later shaded with either a little "Citadel" Bloodletter or Carroburg Crimson, depending on which was closest to hand at the time.

Temporarily stepping away from my painting queue I have also managed to play a couple of games of "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" by "Warlord Games" at the LVL Up Gaming Store in Bournemouth. This independent venue has an impressively sized underground 'dungeon' packed with tables, scenery, rule-sets and enough snacks to sate even the hungriest of wargamers. In addition its street-level shop shelves are absolutely bursting with an incredibly diverse range of manufacturers, genres and miniatures, ranging from a mouth-watering array of "Games Workshop" products, through to "Heroclix", "Dungeons & Dragons", "Kings Of War" and "Infinity" models.

The Cyber-Leader and Dalek Commander meet head-on, as some Cybermats engage the sucker arm of a drone.

Game-wise I twice managed to watch my three Recruitment Card-strong Cyberman faction fall to the might of a Dalek force whilst playing repeatedly the scenario "A Meeting Of Metal". The Skaro mutants really are the master of the long-range Full Blast, which allows them to hurl eight unmodified dice at that foes per Shooting Phase in any turn where a drone doesn't move beforehand. This firepower is incredibly difficult to overcome without some cunning forethought and even a small 'screen' of Cybermats couldn't save my brave cyborg warriors from being badly whittled down in numbers before they could reach their well-armoured opponents.

Interestingly a number of the game's Adventure Cards came to the fore during these battles with the Dalek "Upgrade: No Mercy!" proving particularly potent as it allows "all fully operative Daleks" an incredibly destructive "additional Shooting sub-phase at the beginning of the Upkeep Phase." Admittedly, with hindsight I feel the card's term "fully operative" probably means only Daleks that aren't Shocked or carrying any Under Fire tokens, which would lessened its impact upon our scraps somewhat. For the Cybermen, I found "Request Reinforcements" to be quite useful to bring on another base of Cybermats when one had been destroyed. These fast-moving hunters arguably seemed little more than an annoyance to my opponent, but at least momentarily kept the Dalek disruptors away from my silver giants.

"Release The Myrka."

"The Myrka can deal with it."

This 46mm long metal miniature of a "genetically modified... unknown deep-sea creature" is produced by “Black Tree Design", and can be bought as Code DW509 Myrka from the manufacturer's "Doctor Who" miniatures range. "A large species of reptile used by the Silurians for heavy backup in times of war", the "bullet-resistant" beast which can attack using a powerful electrical charge first appeared in Johnny Byrne's January 1984 BBC Television story "Warriors Of The Deep".

The Myrka was first super-glued onto a "Citadel" 75x42mm oval base, primed with two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Green, and drenched in Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter". The monster was then heavily dry-brushed using (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Green, so as to bring out the detail of its "strange kelp-like growths" under its chin and around its "rubbery" body, before subsequently being washed with "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green.

"Age Of Sigmar WIPs" - The three Bloodletters just need their teeth and tongues to be shaded

After a second (and final) dry-brush of "Vallejo" Heavy Green, the Myrka's "wide, pale eyes" were 'picked out' using a combination of "Vallejo" White and Pale Grey. Lastly, the four-legged reptiles's base was gritted with sand, undercoated "Citadel" Abaddon Black, dry-brushed in Doombull Brown and Rakarth Flesh, then washed with "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

Momentarily setting aside my month-long “Doctor Who” marathon, I have also found some considerable inspiration to press on with my Khorne war-host for “Age Of Sigmar”, courtesy of “Games Workshop” announcing the imminent release of a “brand new Blades of Khorne Battletome… along with some awesome new kits!” I’ve actually been pottering away to take my Bloodletter-based army core to 500 points over the past few weeks, and the news of some “expanded rules” for them has helped me make more progress on the final three figures I need to complete a twenty-strong infantry unit of Khorne’s Chosen.

Skulltaker WIP - The Lord of Skulls has had all his gold parts shaded and dry-brushed

In addition, my paint-brush has managed to finally get to grips with my Chaos force’s leader, the brutal herald Skulltaker, whose “particular hunger for the heads of heroes” means his miniature is absolutely covered in numerous skulls. Of course, as part of their “complete guide to fielding your very own army dedicated to the Blood God” “Games Workshop” have re-sculpted the Slayer Sword wielder as a multi-part hard plastic figure. But fortunately, I own the old “Finecast” version, which despite being made of resin is far more compactly posed than its successor and subsequently looks infinitely more painter-friendly.

The Lord Of Skulls is definitely getting a lot of love from its Nottingham-based creators currently, and I couldn’t help also pre-ordering the Blood God’s Judgements along with his new battletome and Skull Altar. These “Blood Blessings are Khornate equivalents of endless spells, summoned to battle by Slaughterpriests” and should quickly go to the top of my painting queue once they arrive within the next few days…

"I am Ultron-13!"

"I triumphed even in battle with Ultron-12, who tried to usurp my identity and my station."

This 28mm tall plastic “Wizkids” model of Ultron-13 is miniature number 216 from the "Marvel" Armour Wars "Heroclix" range, and depicts the robotic super-villain when he fought the West Coast Avengers at the end of 1990. "The first Marvel Comics character to wield the fictional metal alloy adamantium" Ultron made his first appearance in the July 1968 issue of "The Avengers".

Having removed the figure from its 'clicky-base', the Avengers' arch-nemesis was super-glued on to a 25mm circular stand, and undercoated using a layer of "Citadel" Abaddon Black in order to mask its decidedly substandard pre-paint job. He was then treated to a lick of Ironbreaker before being thoroughly shaded in Nuln Oil.

"You know the power an android can exert, Doctor. After your arms, they will remove your legs."

Following on from this I dry-brushed Ultron-13 with (more) "Citadel" Ironbreaker, and subsequently 'picked out' his small internal nuclear furnace using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and the "Citadel" glaze Bloodletter. As a final touch, I tried to tidy up the area around the homicidal robot's mouth and eyes with a thin line of "Citadel" Ironbreaker.

With the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge now entering its last thirty six hours, I have actually finished submitting all the miniatures I needed to complete in order to attain my annual target of 500 points. One such entry has been some additional Sharaz Jek Android figures by "Black Tree Design", which I needed to help defend Androzani Minor's  spectrox refinery against its twin planet's federal troops.

"Wizards Of The Coast" WIPs - The B2 Super Battle Droids have been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

These four 28mm figures can be bought as Code DW518, and were primed using two layers of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, before being energetically dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal. The robots' clothing was doused in "Citadel" Nuln Oil, whilst their submachine guns were treated to a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. Lastly, I applied two coats of watered-down "Vallejo" White onto their heads, shaded these areas with "Vallejo" Pale Grey, and then dry-brushed them with (more) White.

Sticking with science fiction-themed models I have also tapped back into the many, many marvellous miniatures Phil Curran generously gifted me with, and begun work on a quartet of Super Battle Droids by "Wizards Of The Coast". These pre-painted plastic "Star Wars" models are already close to completion, and given me ample opportunity to try out the pot of "Citadel" Leadbelcher I recently received inside one of my Warhammer 40,000: Conquest magazines.

"You Will Bring The Curse Of Aggedor Upon Us!"

"So, the spirit of Aggedor has risen again. The ancient curse of Peladon will be fulfilled."

This 28mm metal miniature of "the protector of the Peladonian king and the guardian of all of Peladon" is manufactured by “Black Tree Design", and can be bought as Code DW329 Aggedor from the company's "Doctor Who" miniatures range. Described as 'a large, powerful creature, like a bear with the head of a boar, the alien was played by actor Nick Hobbs in both the January 1972 BBC Television story "The Curse Of Peladon", as well as the March 1974 adventure, "The Monster of Peladon".

The "sacred symbol of Peladon" was initially primed with two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, washed with copious amounts of "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna. I then applied some "Citadel" Abaddon Black to the royal beast's paws, snout and forehead, before 'dotting' his tiny pig-like eyes with a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Bloodletter.

"Doctor Who" WIPs - A Monoid, Drathro and Monoid (II)

Later I 'picked out' Aggedor's numerous teeth, his tusks, claws and horn with "Vallejo" White, before generously shading them using some additional Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter". The mammal's base was gritted with sand, undercoated "Citadel" Abaddon Black, and then dry-brushed in Doombull Brown and Rakarth Flesh. As a final step the circular stand was washed with "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, protected with a coat of PVA glue, and covered in static grass.

Sticking with "Black Tree Design" and their "Doctor Who" figures, I have made a start on a handful of Monoids from the March 1966 serial "The Ark". I actually recall painting a couple of these one-eyed humanoids back when the models were first released by "Harlequin Miniatures" for their "Doctor Who Invasion Earth" wargame, and at the time probably predominantly pigmented them using the likes of Bestial Brown from the "Citadel" Colour Monster Paint Set.

"Heroclix" WIPs - A Dire Wraith and Ultron Drone

However, having recently perused the appropriate issue of the Doctor Who Figurine Collection magazine by "Eaglemoss Collections", it would seem that current thinking is that the "dark and scaly" aliens with "mop-top hair" are actually green-skinned, so I have resultantly undercoated my Monoids using "Vallejo" Dark Green. In addition, I have managed to base and prime one of my favourite Sixth Doctor villains, Drathro; an L3 maintenance robot from the September 1986 four-parter "The Mysterious Planet".

Lastly, I have also managed to assemble an impressive number of Ultron drones and Dire Wraiths by "Wizkids" with which to bolster the forces of both the Avenger's robotic arch-nemesis and the Queen of Rom the Spaceknight's main opponents. All of these plastic "Heroclix" models are reasonably straightforward to paint, so should help me finally attain my target tally for the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Challenge before the event comes to an end in a few days time.

"Khorne Is The Chaos God Of Warfare, Battle And Bloodshed."

"For his followers, war is no means to riches, lands or glory..."

These three 28mm plastic multi-part models have been assembled from sprues found inside the "Start Collecting!" Daemons Of Khorne set produced by “Games Workshop”, and were all based upon "Citadel" 32mm round bases so as to fit in with the rest of my Blades of Khorne "Age Of Sigmar" warhost. Armed with their formidable-looking Hellblades, all of the "finely detailed plastic" have been assembled using the instructions found within their box; albeit I did eventually need to buy an additional slithering forked tongue after I dropped one whilst super-gluing a figure together and simply couldn't find where it had gone...

Having finished building the models, each of the Blood God’s Slaughter-kin was given a double undercoat of “Vallejo” Heavy Red, extravagantly washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Red. Following on from this basic stage I then turned my attention to their “jagged” hand-weapons and primed them all with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna before applying a double-layer of Gold over them.

"...War is an end in and of itself, a quest to spill blood and take skulls for their infernal lord."

These bright metallic swords were subsequently dulled down using "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and had their keen edges 'highlighted' with a thorough dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Gold. This process allowed me to then ‘tidy up’ any frustrating splashes of “Vallejo” Gold I had inadvertently deposited on their horns, hands, hooves, spines and sword hilts with a little “Citadel” Abaddon Black.

In addition I used this opportunity to gently blend these blackened areas in with the rest of the Bloodletters' red coloured limbs and head. To finish the daemons off, I carefully picked out their sharp teeth using a combination of “Vallejo” White and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade, and ‘spotted’ their eyes with a few dabs of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre. Finally, I gave their tongues a base-coat of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre and later drenched them in “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade.

"Doctor Who" WIPs - A Slyther, Scibus the Silurian, and the first of three Krotons

Stepping away from the Mortal Realms, I have also been slowly progressing more miniatures manufactured by "Black Tree Design" as part of their "Doctor Who" range. To begin with I have dug out and primed a Slyther; a creature native to Skaro which "were occasionally utilised by the Daleks to act as guards at their installations."

The bizarre-looking monster is actually described on the "Tardis Data Core" website as being black in colour, but bearing in mind it appeared during William Hartnell's black and white TV tenure, I have always imagined the rubbery brute to be dark green. The Supreme Controller's pet should prove a reasonably straightforward figure to paint, so alongside it I am currently also working on the Silurian leader Scibus, and three armed Krotons...

"The Androids Are Being Overrun."

"Numbers four and nine, fall back to final defence posts. Four! Number four!"

This 28mm metal automaton is produced by “Black Tree Design", and can be bought as Code DW518 Sharaz Jek Android from the company's "Doctor Who" miniatures range. Designed by Sharaz Jek, "an outlaw who specialised in androids", to help take control of the spectrox refinery on the desert planet of Androzani Minor, these robots were eventually all destroyed by General Chellak and his federal troops during the conclusion of the March 1984 BBC Television story "The Caves Of Androzani".

Used "to harvest spectrox, as it was too toxic for humans to handle", the model was primed with two coats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, vigorously dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal and later had its scruffy dark-coloured clothing shaded with plenty of "Citadel" Nuln Oil. The programmable machine's submachine gun was then pigmented using a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil.

"Black Tree Design" WIPs - A Silurian, a Myrka and a Silurian Attacking

Lastly, I applied a double layer of watered-down "Vallejo" White over the android's head, and washed this area using some "Vallejo" Pale Grey. As a final touch the humanoid's almost featureless face was dry-brushed with (more) White so as to ensure its cyclopean eye was made somewhat distinctive from the rest of the automaton's cranium.

Staying with "Black Tree Design" and their extensive collection of "Doctor Who" sculpts, I have managed to almost finish the first three of my pilot pieces for a Jon Pertwee era Silurian invasion force, as well as finally complete all the shades and dry-brushing upon a suitably large model of a Myrka. Admittedly, I have 'bottled' trying to pick out the tiny yellow eyes on the "reptile-like humanoids", yet at least have managed to 'spot in' their 'brain boiling' red third eye, alongside their hand claws.

"Frostgrave WIPs" - A Zombie Snow Troll and White Gorilla

In addition to plenty of science fiction themed painting subjects, and undeniably aided by my listening to Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Cimmerian Barbarian - The Complete Weird Tales Omnibus" on audio, I am also making some progress on a few of my old, partially-painted "Frostgrave" models by "North Star Military Figures". I have been somewhat 'picking away' at a few of this fantasy skirmish wargame's combatants for what seems like an age, but have at long last finished all the base colours on a gigantic White Gorilla, and even taller Zombie Snow Troll.

Disappointingly, neither of these towering monstrosities will be eligible for the imminently concluding Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. However, I still hope to get the pair of formidable-looking creature encounters finished before the end of the month, so as to try out a few simple fights using "Robert E Howard’s Conan: Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of Roleplaying Game" by "Modiphius Entertainment".

"We Must Survive. We Must Survive."

"That gun will not harm me."

This 40mm tall metal Cyberman miniature is sold by “Warlord Games” and can be bought as part of their "The Tomb of the Cybermen" expansion set for the "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" miniatures game. Sculpted to closely resemble actor Michael Kilgarriff as the Cyber-Controller from the 1967 television story "The Tomb Of The Cybermen", the large imposing silver cyborg "directed lesser-ranking Cybermen and Cyber-Leaders from the Cyber-Tombs..."

Initially undercoated with a double helping of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, the emotionless monster was subsequently treated to two layers of Ironbreaker and a wash of Nuln Oil. He was then dry-brushed with more Ironbreaker, before I 'picked out' the Cyberman's eyes and mouth with a little more Abaddon Black. Luckily though, unlike the rest of the Cyber-Controller's mechanical minions, I didn't need to additionally paint all the somewhat torturous body-tubing which covers his limbs black and was therefore able to simply leave these silver.

Aggedor WIPs - The Royal Beast of Peladon has been shaded, dry-brushed and detailed

As a final touch I applied some "Vallejo" Heavy Orange to the model's "enlarged, dome-shaped semi-transparent brain case." On the small screen this part was actually lit from the inside, so in order to try and replicate that pulsating glow I randomly dabbed some "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson over the area and allowed it to haphazardly congeal.

I also momentarily considered basing my Cyber-Controller on a static grass-flocked base, in order for it to be fielded alongside all my other "Doctor Who: Into The Time Vortex" Cybermen. This was particularly tempting as I have already previously painted a Cyberman from this particular era courtesy of the "Nightmares In Silver" Cybermen Collector's Set 1966-2013, so could have potentially used the figure as one of the Cyber-Controller's minions. In the end though, common sense soon made me realise the error of my ways, and the extra-terrestrial giant was given a snowy stand.

"Black Tree Design" WIPs - The Silurians and Myrka have all been washed and shaded prior to more dry-brushing

Sticking with "Doctor Who", albeit this time miniatures previously produced by "Black Tree Design", I have continued to make some good progress on a selection of 28mm scale models from both the Third and Fifth Doctor's tenures. Foremost of these has been the sacred symbol of Peladon, Aggedor, who appeared in two of my favourite Jon Pertwee serials "The Curse of Peladon" and "The Monster of Peladon".

In addition, I am slowly working my way through a dozen Silurians, including their leader Scibus. I've actually spent a little while experimenting upon a couple of the figures with a combination of Brown and Green washes to try and capture something of their reptilian nature, but have also been practising a similar shading technique upon their genetically modified deep-sea creature, the Myrka.

"Hope You Don't Mind, Found This In The Closet Upstairs."

"Oh, I don't need a degree to figure you out."

This 28mm tall plastic “Wizkids” model of Batman Beyond is miniature number 016 from the Batman The Animated DC "Heroclix" range, and depicts Terry McGinnis after the sixteen year-old High School student assumes the role of Batman in 2039 A.D. Mentored by an elderly Bruce Wayne, the new Dark Knight made his debut in January 1999 on the "Batman Of The Future" American animated television series.

Following the super-hero's removal from his 'clicky-base', the figure was super-glued on to a 25mm circular stand, and hastily primed using two coats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black. Initially I had planned to completely eradicate the costumed crime-fighter's pre-paint job. However, despite an extensive search I was unsuccessful in sourcing a red bat-shaped decal from anywhere, so ultimately was forced to ensure that my brush-tip carefully skirted around the miniature's original chest emblem.

Sharez Jek Android WIPs - The hevaily-armed robot has been dry-brushed and detailed

I also decided against heavily dry-brushing the model with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal, as I usually do these days for my predominantly black palettes, as I wanted the masked vigilante to appear as jet black as he does in the cartoon. This meant that all I needed to do to complete the miniature was to 'pick-out' his futuristic utility belt with a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil, and dot in the bat-suit's technologically advanced eyes with a little dab of "Vallejo" White.

Stepping away from super-heroes I have made some good progress on my five-man squad of Sharez Jek Androids by "Black Tree Design". The figures are predominantly black in colour, so I have spent some time heavily dry-brushing them in "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal so as to 'lighten' them up a bit, and also 'picked out' the electronic eye of a pilot piece with "Citadel" Ironbreaker to see whether it looks better than them having plain white heads...

"Toon Realms" WIPs - Rookie The Elf, Rookie The Dragonlord and Rankle The Dwarf

With the recent arrival of my "Caverns Of The Frog King" order by "Lucid Eye Publications", I have suddenly found myself facing a bit of an uphill challenge with the amount of unpainted "Toon Realms" stuff I own. Resultantly, I have decided to try and focus upon a few of the range's 'older' heroes, whilst simultaneously finishing off the remaining skeletons I need to pigment for my "Dragon Rampant" Undead army.

One of the strengths of "Osprey Games" rule-set is that you can field single or reduced model units, so with that in mind I've realised a 'Men of The West' warband just featuring the likes of Rookie The Dragonlord, Pootle the Wizard, Rookie The Elf, and Rankle The Dwarf would easily provide me with a similar-costing force to Lord Rascal's evil minions...

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Doctor Who" March 2019

Silurian WIPs - A Silurian, A Silurian Attacking and Scibus

With the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge coming to an end in a few weeks time I thought I'd dedicate this month's themed attempt to diminish my ever-increasing logjam of metal, plastic and resin models to finally pigmenting a whole horde of "Black Tree Design" "Doctor Who" miniatures which have been building up in one of my drawers. However, rather than simply paint a number of figures from across the company's impressive range, I thought I'd try and assemble some sort of tabletop worthy force to use with either "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" by "Warlord Games", or perhaps much more likely, "Mutants and Death Ray Guns" by "Ganesha Games".

As a result I have scoured my backlog and subsequently started priming a surprisingly large number of Silurians and Silurians Attacking to use as the bulk of a "Homo Reptilia" invasion force. These sculpts are all based on the reptile-like humanoids as they were first seen in the Jon Pertwee 1970 serial "Doctor Who and the Silurians", and should prove pretty straightforward to complete once their "Vallejo" Heavy Brown "heavy duty canvas material" costumes have all been dry-brushed.

"Warriors Of The Deep" WIPs - The Myrka and Sauvix the Sea Devil Commander

Sadly, one of my few disappointments with this range is that there are no unique models to represent either the Old Silurian (Okdel), Young Silurian (Morka) and Silurian Scientist (K'to) from the television adventure, and whilst I have clearly at some point attempted to correct this omission by realigning the arms of one figure, I don't think it'll stand out particularly well on the battlefield. Fortunately though, I have found a sculpt of Scibus, "a Silurian companion of Icthar", to use as the prehistoric race's leader instead.

Admittedly, this redesigned Silurian is distinctively different to the rest of his brethren owing to him not appearing in the BBC Science Fiction programme until the 1984 story "Warriors Of The Deep", starring Peter Davison. But that individuality makes him perfect in my mind to act as the three-eyed land-dwellers' commander, and opens up the possibility of the "Eocenes" utilising a few more figures taken from the Fifth Doctor's era.

"Black Tree Design" WIPs - Aggedor, a Sharaz Jek Android and an Auton

Perhaps the most notable of these additional units will be a wicked looking model of a Myrka, which I have removed from its old "Games Workshop" rectangular stand and attached to a more aesthetically pleasing oval base. In addition, rather than simply paint up a load more Sea Devils which despite their diminutive size are still strikingly similar to the "Warlord Games" sculpts I have previously done, I plan to progress a few of the Silurians' cousin-species which are donned in their underwater people's stunning battle armour.

Of course, that doesn't mean I have completely turned my back upon working on a few other "Doctor Who" miniatures this month which I have delightfully discovered during my rummaging around. Indeed, sticking with the Third/Fifth Doctors' tenures I hope to 'polish off' at least a handful of Autons, an Aggedor and a squad of Sharaz Jek's well-armed androids...

"Sometimes Pairs Of Yellow Or Red Or Green Eyes Would Stare At Him..."

"But the eyes that he liked the least were horrible pale bulbous sort of eyes.

These five "cartoon scale white metal figures" of Lord Rascal’s Icky Spiders are produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be bought from the company's "Toon Realms" range. Sculpted by Steve Saleh, I have actually painted half a dozen of these arachnids before using a simple “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal and “Citadel” Abaddon Black colour scheme.

However, as I have subsequently decided to field a second unit of these heavily-fanged horrors for my Undead “Dragon Rampant” warband, I decided to paint my second unit of Lesser Warbeasts in a much more eye-catching palette, and then mix them in with their much more monotone brethren. As a result I decided against just super-gluing the miniatures to their 30mm lipped plastic circular bases and instead drilled a tiny hole up into their underbellies before attaching them to some pieces of wire. 

"No spider has ever liked being called Attercop, and Tomnoddy of course is insulting to anybody."

This allowed me to prime them with impunity, predominantly wash the arachnids using “Citadel” Nuln Oil, and later heavily dry-brush the furry critters without having to worry about catching their bases with my enthusiastic strokes. In order to cover as broad a palette as possible I decided to pigment my eight-legged horrors with “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, Heavy Red, Heavy Blue, Heavy Green and Heavy Violet.

Once the bulk of my work was completed, I ‘picked out’ the Icky Spiders' pointed teeth using a combination of “Vallejo” White and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade, as well as the wall-crawlers' eyes with “Vallejo” Heavy Red and “Citadel” Bloodletter. However, for my red-furred eight-leg I applied two dollops of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre over its eyes, and shaded them with “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade.

"Toon Realms" WIPs - One of Lord Rascal's Skeleton Swordsmen and Warrior, plus a Royal Guard

Only once the Necromancer’s fearsome minions were fully-painted did I drill a small hole into the models’ separately finished bases, and pin them in place using a small quantity of superglue. Lastly, the web-spinning servants were varnished using Vallejo" Gloss Acyrlic Varnish and had their stands flocked using “Citadel” Static Grass.

 With both of my Lesser Warbeast units finished, I've started priming and shading the last of the Skeleton Swordsmen and spear-carrying Warriors I need to 'fill out' my Undead force's Light Foot units. In addition, I have finished the layering on my pilot piece for King Victor's Royal Guard, having gone for a palette inspired by Gondor's Fountain Guard as seen in the 2003 epic fantasy adventure film "The Return Of The King".