"Destro Is The Faceless Power Behind MARS"

"He dons his silver battle mask (a family tradition) and enters battle himself..." 

This 28mm metal miniature of Laird James McCullen Destro XXIV is from a private collection and thus not commercially available. Luckily however, I was fortunate enough to be able to acquire a spare casting of the "state-of-the-art weapons manufacturer" and subsequently chose to paint him in a palette similar to how the cut-throat businessman's carded action figure appeared in 2014.

Originally primed with two coats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, the "Laird of the Castle Destro in the Scottish Highlands" was dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal and later heavily washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. His hand-weapon was treated to a layer of "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey, whilst his belt buckle, hands and beryllium steel mask were 'picked out' with "Citadel" Ironbreaker. All of these areas were then treated to a wash of Nuln Oil. Finally, his jacket's fleece was painted using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.

"Hell Hounds track fleeing prey relentlessly."

With the third of this month's six planned "G.I. Joe" related figures completed, I've actually spent some time rummaging through my old collection of unpainted "Dungeons & Dragons" models, looking for something suitable to add to my "Expedition To Barrier Peaks" collection. Quite remarkably, my search not only revealed an old 2002 sculpt of a Hell Hound from the "Chainmail Miniatures Game" by "Wizards Of The Coast", but a fully based one at that.

Ordinarily, I don't usually dwell upon previously finished pieces, especially ones which come from a time when my painting technique was 'a little simpler'. However, considering that I did a little extra work on this "supernatural dog" by placing a plastic "Games Workshop" tombstone beneath his torso, I thought this particular 'protector of the supernatural' was rather noteworthy. In addition, you can bet he's going to turn up at some point to plague the Grand Duchy of Geoff's party of adventurers.

Mondasian Cyberman WIPs - The silver giant has been washed and had his 'flesh' picked out

Lastly, I have been working on the final miniature found within the "Nightmares In Silver" Cybermen Collector's Set 1966-2013 by “Warlord Games”, the Mondasian Cyberman. Initially a pleasure to paint, despite all its tubes and wires, I'm now somewhat struggling to pick out the silver giant's eyes and mouth.

Admittedly, if one follows the colour scheme shown in the 1966 televised "Doctor Who" serial "The Tenth Planet", then these facial features should simply be black sockets. But I think that would do the sculpt a great injustice, so I'm desperately trying to give the cyborg's mouth slit and eye slots a glimmer of metal around the edges. Unfortunately though, such a noble intention would seem somewhat beyond my skill with a paintbrush...

"Hammerers Are Not Built For Fancy Tactical Maneouvers..."

"On the battlefield, commanders simply point teams of these constructs at the enemy and let them go."

These three 40mm tall metal Hammerer models were produced by "Wizards Of The Coast" for their 2002 edition of "Chainmail", and each boxed kit came with a separate body, left arm with cutters and right arm with hammer, as well as a (disconcertingly small) 25mm stand. Sculpted by Jim Warner, the "Good Construct" was part of the rule-set's Thalos faction; a force which "consisted largely of humans along with a few half-elves, gnomes and gnome created constructs."

Each of the automatons were originally undercoated with "Citadel" Abaddon Black but were subsequently treated to a double layer of "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey. They were then washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil, before being dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey in order to better bring out a lot of the models' details, such as their gnome runes.

Air Elemental WIPs - The "Dungeons And Dragons" model has been washed, dry-brushed and re-washed

Because the "heavy, solid, and deadly" Hammerer gets its name from the powerful hammer-arm" it wields, I felt the automatons would be ideal to represent some of the Police Robots found patrolling the crashed spaceship in the "Dungeons And Dragons" module "Expedition To Barrier Peaks". In addition, their pincer-arm, which "is used mainly for lifting things", would arguably allow them to 'moonlight' as Worker Robots too.

This meant the constructs had undoubtedly spent "several decades" standing motionless in the vessel's lower cargo bay, until such time as a computer malfunction had ordered them to erroneously start clearing the hold and periodically discharge "more of the [craft's] unwanted goods" outside. As a result I treated each figure to a light coat of "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash, and then dry-brushed the vast majority of the enamel type wash away with "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey.

Cybermen WIPs - These two Cybermen represent the Seventies and Late Sixties

Sticking with "Dungeons And Dragons" I have made some considerable progress on my plastic Air Elemental by "Wizards Of The Coast". The miniature from the "Elemental Evil" expansion has been both washed and dry-brushed, and now just needs to have his brown ink striations blended in with the rest of its swirling vortex to be finished.

I have also turned my attention towards two more of the miniatures found within "Warlord Games" "Nightmares In Silver" collectors set. These two Cybermen, one from "Revenge Of The Cybermen", and the other from "Invasion" have been washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil and will require a hearty dry-brush of Ironbreaker before I can begin 'picking out' all their cybernetic detail...

"Credo!"

"I am the shape of things to come - The Lord of the Flies - Holder of the Sword Sinister..."

This 28mm pre-painted plastic “Wizkids” model of Nemesis The Warlock is miniature number 109 from the Indy “Heroclix” range. Originally created by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill in 1980 as an anti-hero for a series of one-off stories inspired by popular music within "the British comic anthology 2000 A.D.", the "fire-breathing demonic alien" would go on to make semi-regular appearances for the next nineteen years and end his days haunting the Earth in a spectral form, tied to the extra-terrestrial's organic spaceship, the Blitzspear.

Before painting this miniature, I first removed its horribly bendy Sword Sinister and replaced it with a far sturdier double-handed variant from the "Frostgrave" Soldiers sprue sold by "North Star Military Figures". The Warlock was then primed with "Vallejo" Heavy Red and had both his armour and hand-weapon 'picked out' with a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil.

Legion Cybermen WIPs - The silver giants have been washed, in preparation of dry-brushing and detailing

Predominantly dark(ish) green in the comic book illustrations I sourced, Nemesis' flesh was initially layered with "Vallejo" Heavy Green and subsequently shaded with "Citadel" Nuln Oil, before being highlighted with more "Vallejo" Heavy Green. His great sweeping cloak was similarly painted, albeit using "Vallejo" Heavy Red" and "Citadel" Nuln Oil. Finally, I picked out the freedom fighter's eyes with some "Vallejo" White.

With the "mysterious leader of the secret resistance organisation Credo" finished, I have been able to turn my eye back upon a couple of metal miniatures from the "Warlord Games" "Nightmares In Silver" collectors set. The East Midlands-based manufacturer plans of releasing both the Vashta Nerada and (Jon Pertwee era) Sea Devils later this month, and despite neither box actually containing any of the recruitment cards needed to field them for "Doctor Who: Exterminate!", I'm rather keen on getting the models painted and on my tabletop. As a result I'm really going to need to 'crack on' with these silver giants and steadily work my way back through their numerous incarnations...

Hammerer WIPs - The constructs have been shaded, dry-brushed and distressed

Lastly, I am close to finishing work on the three metal "Chainmail" Hammerer models I want to use for an upcoming "Mutants And Death Ray Guns" scenario based upon the "Dungeons & Dragons" module "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks". Sent to a cargo hatch by "a computer malfunction", I'm hoping to use these formidably-sized metal miniatures to represent the worker robots who "promptly cleared" the opening of fallen earth and stone, and unloaded the crashed spacecraft's "requisite cargo" of various alien fauna and flora.

Armed with huge, pincer-like claws and enormous hammer-shaped limbs, I've actually stepped away from the grisly, bloody-splattered colour scheme suggested by "Wizards Of The Coast" for these Jim Warner sculpts, and instead gone for a more rusty appearance; something arguably far more suitable for an automaton who has simply been stood motionless within the confines of a seemingly inactive exploration-colonisation vessel for "several decades".

"The Perimeter Isss Clear!"

"It ssseemsss ssssomething has been inssscribed."

This 28mm scale plastic "Wizkids" model of Manphibian was kit-bashed predominantly using the scaly green extra-terrestrial's miniature from their "Heroclix" Amazing Spider-Man range. However, because the pre-painted figure has no feet (on account of the original sculpt depicting "the creature from the deep" stalking through the waters of a lake), I additionally super-glued some boots, grenades and pouches belonging to a "Games Workshop" Cadian soldier onto the miniature.

Created by Marv Wolfman, Tony Isabella, Dave Cockrum and Sam Grainger, the alien first made his comic book appearance in the September 1975 issue of "Legion of Monsters" by "Marvel Comics", and would develop from being a simple monster seemingly seeking revenge upon the murderer of his mate, into a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Special Threat Assessment for Known Extranormalities (S.T.A.K.E.) department and one of Dum Dum Dugan's "Howling Commandos".

Gorgon WIPs - The Brass Bull now requires just a final dry-brush of "Vallejo" Brass

The miniature was initially primed with “Vallejo” Heavy Grey, and then had its boots and numerous large waist-bags painted using a combination of White and Pale Grey. His automatic rifle was undercoated with "Citadel" Abaddon Black, double-layered with Ironbreaker and finally treated to two washes of Nuln Oil.

In order to try and give Manphibian's skin a "shimmer quality" I shaded the entirety of the S.H.I.E.L.D. weaponsmith's scales with both Biel- Tan Green and Agrax Earthshade and subsequently used a little Carroburg Crimson on and around his webbing, and some Druchii Violet in the model's darker recesses. The entire monster was then lightly dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Heavy Grey. As a final touch I highlighted the extra-terrestrial's eyes with "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.  

Hammerer WIPs - The constructs have been assembled, primed and based

With my latest entry for this month's "Forgotten Heroes" challenge finished, I have spent a little time washing and dry-brushing a Brass Bull by "Reaper Miniatures". This large "Bones" figure will double as both a formidable-looking statue and as a living Gorgon for my forthcoming "Dungeons & Dragons" campaign, and, besides needing it's paved stone-slab base to be painted, simply requires a final dry-brush with "Vallejo" Brass to be tabletop ready. 

In addition, I have assembled, based and primed three metal "Chainmail" Hammerer models. Sculpted by Jim Warner, these large Out Of Production (OOP) constructs will be used as proxy Police Robots for "Metamorphosis Alpha", and may well accompany my small Twig Blight band as extra guards of "the metal doored cave" which is initially encountered by the Grand Duchy of Geoff's adventurers in "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks".

"I Suppose You've Come For Me?"

These models are the ‘classic version’ of “Crooked Dice” Game Design Studio's "Robo-Rodent Infestation", and are sculpted by Greg Storey. As I wanted them to represent the Cybermats seen in the September 1967 Doctor Who TV story "The Tomb Of The Cybermen”, I simply drybrushed them with Boltgun Metal before painting their eyes with a combination of Skull White and Baal Red.

These models are from “Crooked Dice” Game Design Studio's "Femdroid Harem", and are sculpted by Andrew Rae. As with the sculptor’s previous model, “Pandora King”, the builds of the 28mm miniatures are very slight and don’t readily lend themselves to the ‘black-lining’ painting technique I employ. In addition, the figures’ bases, which were sanded before I started painting the models, almost completely covered over the detail of the Femdroids’ slippers; somewhat ruining the silky and fluffy aspect of the scantily-clad nighty-wearing killer robots.

FUTURE PROJECTS: Waiting in the wings are a small number of "Revell" 1/72 plastic KSK Modern German Commandos to be painted up in order to try out both the "Battlefield Evolution - Modern Warfare" rule book by "Mongoose Publishing" and the "Flying Lead" PDF by "Ganesha Games"; A party of Hyena Men (Gnolls from the "Wizards Of The Coast" "Chainmail" 28mm metal fantasy skirmish range) for "Song of Blades and Heroes"; and a "Crooked Dice" "7TV" battle report featuring ("Heroclix" versions of) the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder.