Wednesday 27 March 2019

"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.

16 comments:

  1. Superb work on the Cybermen, Simon. I really do like them a lot even though I have yet to buy them. As for your Sea Devils, I always love how yours turn out. I do own this set but haven't got round to painting them yet. Good call to paint the leader slightly different to the rest.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. The Tomb Cybermen are great sculpts, but their facial details are a tad too soft for my liking... or at least the technique I like to use for such fiddly details. I think the green vest will be a good compromise colour to highlight the Overlord... at least until “Warlord Games” produce the Sea Devils from “Warriors Of The Deep”.

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  2. I agree with Bryan that making the sea devil leader visually different was a good decision.
    I always liked the tomb of the cybermen when they awoke from their cryogenic chambers and broke free.

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    1. Thanks Phil. The Tomb Cybermen coming to life is an iconic moment in “Doctor Who” I hope to replicate at some point as I own “Warlord Games” tomb scenic piece.

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  3. Great work on the tomb cybermen, very interested to see how the green works on the seadevil leader

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    1. Cheers Dave. Glad to have the Tomb Cybermen finished, as they’ve been on the painting table for a while now. The Sea Devil Overlord should be finished soon, now I’ve finished the white belt :-)

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  4. Quite a menacing looking group, well painted.
    The Overlord seems like a great miniature and a fitting leader.

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    1. Thanks very much Wouter. Hopefully I'll get the Tomb Cybermen out on the tabletop in a BatRep at some point. I'm planning on getting the Sea Devil Overlord finished soon before I next settle down to some games of "Doctor Who: Exterminate!"

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  5. I always enjoy seeing how you bring Cybermen to life and these are no exception - great stuff.

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  6. Great work on the "cybers" Simon, they look like they could have walked off of the set!

    I never understood why the Cyberleader never had a chest panel, I suppose he was just a more advanced version?

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. I do like the Tomb Cybermen a lot. I think the Cyber Controller was indeed supposed to be a more advanced version than his minions. There was also supposedly only one as opposed to numerous Cyber Leaders.

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    2. You are right of course, the leaders had black pipes in their helmets (or some other variation).

      Cheers Roger.

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    3. I did like the fact that Michael Kilgarriff was rehired for "Attack Of The Cybermen", even if he was a rather portly Cyber Controller.

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