Saturday 13 April 2019

"It's Called A Slyther."

"Mainly it roams the mine area at night in search of food."
This 28mm metal miniature of a "creatures native to Skaro" is produced by “Black Tree Design", and can be bought as Code DW128 Slyther from the manufacturer's "Doctor Who" miniatures range. Regarded "as a sort of pet" by the Black Dalek commanding the Dalek operation at the Bedfordshire mining operation, the monster was operated by Nick Evans and appeared in Terry Nation's November 1964 BBC Television story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth".

Despite being described as "large, black creatures", whose "skins were so thick that they were immune to the stings of the Varga plant on the planet Skaro", I've always personally envisaged the slow moving, tentacled horrors as being green in colour, so inevitably primed my model with two layers of "Vallejo" Heavy Green before drenching the figure in "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I then dry-brushed it with (more) Heavy Green and 'picked out' its eyes using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Ochre and Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter".
Hexgorger Skulls WIPs - The Judgements of Khorne has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed
Stepping away from science fiction and plummeting headlong into the fantastical Mortal Realms of "Age Of Sigmar" by "Games Workshop", I have made some considerable progress on the first of my Judgements of Khorne models, namely the Hexgorger Skulls. Summoned by "violent vows against sorcerers" these two formidably-tall multi-piece plastic sculpts have been primed, washed and then patiently dry-brushed using "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand and White.

These 'magic hunters' have proved slightly problematic to paint due to my fear of snapping their gushing blood streams at the point where they create an impressively detailed splash. So I've been handling them far more delicately than I usually do for what in essence I view as pieces of terrain. Fortunately, the underwhelming joints, fastened with super-glue, seem to be holding out well under my paint-brush, and should hold out whilst I douse the pair in "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson before tidying the miniatures up.
Kelly Gang WIPs - The criminals have had their shoes and overcoats base layered
Long-time sufferers of this blog will be very aware that if a genre should suddenly catch my attention then I can be prone to dragging a figure (or five) straight to the top of my painting queue, and rather naughtily I have done just that with my Kelly Gang by "Great Escape Games". This marvellously armoured boxed set have really caught my imagination, especially when I thought they might make for a rather fun villainous gang of desperadoes for Mad Max to encounter during his post-apocalyptic Australian travels.

Resultantly, I have been applying a few base layers to the bushwhackers coats and shoes so as to get them ready for some serious shading. Somewhat disappointingly however, I have found a few of the models to be rather poorly cast in places, especially where their windcheaters meet their trousers, and have therefore had to do quite a bit of cleaning up to either remove some 'blobbing' or smooth down some jagged edging... 

26 comments:

  1. Great work on the Slyther Simon, the Khorne skulls are coming on nicely, and good start on the Kelly gang, shame about the castings but a common problem with metals

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    1. Thanks very much Dave. The Slyther was very straightforward as you can probably imagine. I hope to have the Khorne skulls finished soon but the Kelly Gang are very distracting ;-)

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  2. I like your idea of using the Kelly gang as post apocalypse villains.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I need to get my Max and Imperator Furiosa out to see how they match up scale-wise to the "Great Escape Games" minis. But hopefully they'll not set off my OCD :-)

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    2. If it's the apocalypse, you may have even more variation in height due to mutation, just look at the height variation in Fury Road Simon

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    3. Sadly, that common sense approach just doesn't work for my OCD Dave, which is why I rarely mix manufacturers on my tabletop. Even different sculptors within the same company can trigger my irrational dislike to put certain minis together on my tabletop.

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    4. I know it's a weird thing when it comes to miniatures a lot of people want them all the same height and proportions, yet real life is the exact opposite, for example you are a lot taller than myself. But each to their own as I always say and wont judge ! LOL

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    5. It drives me crackers tbh, Dave. I can cope with different sized people if they're all sculpted by the same person, like Bob Murch's pulp stuff. But as soon as I see two miniatures side by side with different proportions it just starts to irritate me for some reason :-)

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    6. For some reason only the ROFL posted, I had put that I had no room to judge with my OCD making me make all the denizens of Jabba’s palace and the cantina

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  3. Though probably not one of the most realistic monsters of all time :-) you've still done a bang up job on the Slyther, and those Skull thingies should look the biz too once the blood is added.

    Actually a chap with a bucket on his head sounds very "post apocalypse" to me!

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. I think the Judgements of Khorne are wonderful designs, and these skulls should certainly make nice scenery pieces/objectives in some other games too. I think a post apocalyptic weird wild west is the way I'll be going with my "Great Escape Games" cowboys.

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  4. It's a strange creature for sure, a bit like the things they threw at the screen in the early Star Trek episodes too. Despite all its flaws, it still is a very fun villain and the way you painted it, it looks quite good.
    Great job on the skulls and bucketheads so far too .

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    1. Cheers Wouter. I'm a big fan of those early "Star Trek" monsters too, with the Salt Vampire being a particular fave. Its a shame no-one has produced a range of the lesser seen monsters like the Mugato. Hopefully the Khorne skulls and Kelly's Gang will be finished soon.

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  5. With the wild west figures you could also use them in zombie games, I have some Artizan Designs The Earp's and Ill Buono,Ill Brutto,Ill Cattivo.

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    1. Absolutely Phil :-) I did paint up a bunch of zombie cowboys during "Zomtober" a couple of years ago. I didn't know about the "Artizan Designs" figures though - another couple of sets to add to my shopping list. LOL!!

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  6. Looking good.

    I really like the Slyther. especially fun because I plan to do a bit of Doctor Who gaming later this year. Very nice Simon. Inspires me a lot.

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    1. Thanks very much indeed, Steve. The Slyther is one of my fave William Hartnell monsters, even though it is only fleetingly seen. I hope you'll be posting your "Doctor Who" gaming when it takes place? It's always fun to see what other people are doing with the Time Lord :-)

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  7. Loving the Kelly Gang, always felt that they might be my 'in' with regards to Dead Man's Hand.

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    1. Cheers Michael. I certainly hope to have a few "Great Escape Games" figures featuring in some BatReps later this year, and Kelly's Gang should be first in the queue once I've finished painting them.

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  8. he slyther (?) monster really doesn;t grab me, but the skulls and the Kelly gang realy pop even if unfinished !

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    1. Thanks Joe. It's funny how some monsters capture the imagination and others don't. Glad you like the Skulls - they're almost finished :-)

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  9. Unlike most miniatures enthusiasts, I've never cared for Games Workshop's figures, but those Hexgorger Skulls are just cool looking! Might have to find myself one of those. Nice.

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    1. Cheers Xredmenacex. I certainly like the Hexgorger Skulls.

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