Saturday 23 March 2019

"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.

24 comments:

  1. The Silurians turned out great Simon, sound's like the cybermen are a little underpowered against the daleks, as in the series they seemed pretty well matched

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    1. Thanks Dave, I have more Silurians to finish off, but these gave me enough points to take me over the AHPC finishing line!! I've been lucky enough to discuss "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" with its current rules writer for many an hour, and he admits the Daleks are THE faction to play in the game. But there again they would be I suppose, and I play them knowing that :-)

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  2. Ugly looking well painted feckers!

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  3. Rather nicely painted Silurians but not a faction I'd want to buy from Black Tree Design as I've been reading many an angry comment about their slow (and in some cases, non existent!) delivery times and lousy customer care on the LAF. Whatever their excuses it is inexcusable behaviour.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I'm actually waiting on some "Black Tree Design" reinforcements for my Silurians currently, having ordered three weeks ago. As usual though I've paid via PayPal and will raise a case against them if I don't hear anything in a weeks time. As memory serves this has worked well before with them :-)

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    2. I’ve just received my “Xmas presents” from Black Tree, better late than never I guess...

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    3. Hi Andy. Spookily, “Black Tree Design” have just contacted me to apologise for a months utter silence with my current order. Apparently they need “a little more time” before my order will be ready...

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  4. Excellent work on the Silurians mate. :)

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    1. Cheers Phil. Hope to have some more posted soon.

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  6. Inresting opposition for the doctor and the claws stand out too!

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    1. Cheers Joe. The claws were a bit disappointingly miscast tbh, so i'm pleased they still stand out.

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  7. Those Silurians look great mate, I think I would be disappointed if the Daleks weren't the ultimate bad boys of the DW universe! (after the Doctor of course).

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. I'm very happy knowing the Daleks are a bit overpowered in the game, as I play for fun, and you can always off-set their advantage by allowing your opponent to have an extra recruitment card.

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  8. Lovely stuff Simon, I remember these beasties well

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    1. Cheers Andy. I have another handful to finish off over the next few weeks.

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  9. Fantastic work on these Silurians!
    Good to hear you also het some games in from time to time. It would be a shame to only let these minis collect dust.

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    1. Thanks Wouter. I’m hoping to play a few more games this year, and at least post one BatRep per month if I can. I have a few more games of “Doctor Who: Exterminate!” planned for next month, so expect a few more short AARs being snuck into my painting postings from time to time.

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