Sunday 10 November 2019

"We Must Return To The Collective."

"The sick and injured are reabsorbed. Others take their place."
These three 32mm scale resin miniatures of Borg drones are manufactured by “Modiphius Entertainment” and form part of their ten-figure strong Borg Collective boxed set. “Designed for use with the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game”, these models are based upon the American science fiction franchise’s cybernetic aliens which made their first television appearance in the May 1989 episode “Q Who”.

Created by executive producer Maurice Hurley as an alternative to the disappointingly unthreatening Ferengi, the Borg were simply based on 28mm lipped plastic bases instead of their supplied (sometimes slightly warped) 30mm resin scenic stands, and primed with two coats of “Citadel” Abaddon Black. They were then heavily dry-brushed using some “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal”, and much more lightly dry-brushed with “Citadel” Ironbreaker so as provide the myriad of cables that snaked around their bodies with a metallic-looking highlight.
"On a Borg ship we live with the thoughts of the others in our minds.
I later applied some additional “Citadel” Ironbreaker to the cyborgs’ multi-purpose prosthesis, some of their facial implants, and wiring. These areas, along with my original dry-brushing, were subsequently tidied up using a little more “Citadel” Abaddon Black and then shaded with Nuln Oil, before being lightly dry-brushed with (more) Ironbreaker.

Some parts of the Borg's bodysuits were also ‘picked out’ using a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil. As I wanted to give the Borg’s flesh a somewhat necrotic look, I base-coated their faces and the odd elbow with “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, washed them with “Citadel” Nuln Oil and later added some extra “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey to their noses, cheeks and brows.
"Warcry" WIPs - This Iron Golem has had all his chainmail and weapons primed, washed and dry-brushed
Having previously painted several of the television series' "recurring antagonists" previously, I stuck to ‘dotting’ the male drone’s eye with "Vallejo" Dead White, and straightforwardly spotted the female eye sockets with a dab of “Citadel” Abaddon Black. Lastly, I placed a tiny dollop of “Vallejo” Dark Vermillion at the end of each model’s “sophisticated ocular implant” and shaded it with “Citadel” Bloodletter.

Shifting focus to my much more time consuming collection of "Warcry" miniatures by "Games Workshop", I have made some strong progress on the second of my Iron Golem warband's Legionaries. Armed with two formidably-spiked fighting hammers, this hard plastic sculpt is definitely making me regret gluing some optional bolas onto his left hip, as the spare weapon has ended up almost completely blocking my brush-tip's access to the figure's frustratingly detailed 'under-carriage'...

16 comments:

  1. The Borg look great Simon, keep plugging away with your Warcry, you'll get there eventually

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    1. Thanks Dave. Just two more drones to go and that'll be my twenty-two figure Borg Collective finished - phew! I'm certainly hoping to reach the end of my Iron Golems, as there's so much more "Warcry" that I want t paint :-)

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  2. Didn't know you could buy Borg figures?

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    1. "Modiphius Entertainment" sell quite a few "Star Trek" miniatures now, Ray, well worth a look, imho. But I would shop around for a discount rather than pay their actual prices.

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  3. Nice work mate. The three of them turned out great!

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    1. Cheers Simon. I'm pretty happy with my painting formula for these guys now.

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  4. Always good to see more Borg on the table as the collective reaches its full force.
    The only slightly oversized weapons with Warcry is good to see.

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    1. Thanks Joe. I've probably only got one more Borg-related post to come and then they'll be done; albeit I want to get them in a BatRep soon :-)

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  5. Loving the Borg Simon, how many have you done now?

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    1. Cheers Michael. Including the Borg Queen and Locutus, I have twenty done with two more left before the entire collective are finished.

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  6. The Borg are becoming a decent collective!

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  7. So many Borg now, right? Great stuff, hope there's some rules for newly "converted" Borg too in your game rules?

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    1. I have indeed have many Borg now, Dai, and once the last two drones are finished I'm hoping to get them on the tabletop soon.

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  8. Your Borg army is growing rapidly, soon there's almost no one who can stop them.
    Great job Simon!

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    1. Thanks Wouter. Though I'm pretty hopeful Jame T. Kirk will put the cybernetic Borg in their place once they hit the tabletop against one another.

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