Thursday 19 January 2017

From SimonM: "Black Tree Design" Doctor Who And The Voord (40 points)

"Shall I follow and destroy them?"
These 28mm models of Yartek and six Voord are currently sold by "Black Tree Design” as part of their "Doctor Who" range under codes DW121 Voord Warrior and DW125 Voord Leader. The figures are based upon the treacherous aliens encountered by the First Doctor in the 1964 BBC Television serial "The Keys Of Marinus" and were originally designed by "Harlequin Miniatures" for the company's OOP rule-set "Doctor Who: Invasion Earth".

"The first in a long line of deliberate, but generally unsuccessful, attempts to find an enemy as popular as the Daleks" the Voord were all primed with a double-layer of "Citadel" Chaos Black before being heavily dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal. Each model was then washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil and, as the semi-aquatic aliens simply "wore a complete black bodysuit, which was similar to a frogman's wetsuit and flippers", could arguably have simply been left at that...
"There is no escape now except for us."
However, in order to try and break up their monotone look a little, I decided to slightly step away from their ‘official’ colour scheme by ‘picking out’ their belts and eyes with “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal, and their diving (lead) weights with Heavy Bluegrey. In addition, I painted the Voords’ commando-style knives with “Citadel” Ironbreaker. All of these areas were then subsequently washed with Nuln Oil and their hand-weapons dry-brushed with more Ironbreaker.

Because the telepathic humanoids are only cast in a single pose, I tried to break up my raiding party’s look by slightly adjusting each figures’ right arm. This decision immediately met with disaster as the first model’s knife-blade snapped off, leaving me in a bit of a quandary. Fortunately, I had a spare similarly-sized knife-wielding hand from a pack of previously painted Evil Hooded Minions by “Pulp Figures”, so was able to chop the damaged Voord’s hand off and pin on a new one; albeit the blade is facing the other way. The rest of the ‘delicate’ miniatures were then left well alone…
"I want them here when the final key is inserted and my power is absolute."
The model of Yartek was somewhat more interesting to paint on account of his sculpt capturing the leader after he had "discovered how to resist the Conscience of Marinus" and killed its Keeper, Arbitan. As a result the Chief Voord is actually depicted dressed in the dead man's robe and was thus predominantly treated to a combination of "Vallejo" White and Pale Grey. The garment was then dry-brushed with more White. Yartek's stolen chain of office was 'picked out' with Gold and simply washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

Despite failing to capture the imagination of the science fiction programme's audience in the Sixties, the Voord have made several appearances in "Doctor Who" lore as a result of them battling the Daleks ("Doctor Who And The Daleks" sweet cigarette cards), evolving into the "entirely cybernetic creatures called Cybermen" ("The World Shapers" comic book) and featuring in the "Big Finish" audio play "Domain of the Voord".

Some more villians from Dr Who! I freely admit my Whovian knowledge is limited, even my comic book knowledge is dated(my daughter informed me that Wolverine is now a girl!)
Nonetheless, these fellows do look appropiatly sinister enough to not only harrass the good doctor, but also any intrepid band of Scifi or pulpy heroes.
you say 35 points, but I had to go back and search for the adjusted mini, so I'll pip you up a further 5 for an even 40. Good work, Simon! I'll also refrain from engaging in any drinking games involving Dr Who trivia with you, it would go very badly for myself!

26 comments:

  1. Love the guy in white. Great work

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  2. Good work mate. Your painting is clearly improving as the challenge progresses.

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    1. Cheers Clint. I think I'm finally getting the hang of painting all these models black ;-)

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  3. Enjoying the Dr Who entries you are doing

    Ian

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  4. Good work - especially on the leader. I feel your pain on the rather limited sculpts BTD offer.

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    1. Thanks Edwin. BTD's sculpts are somewhat limited sadly. but they did very quickly seem to produce a range which covered the entire classic who run.

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  5. Nice job Simon - loving all the Dr Who flashbacks your posts always induce :-)

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    1. Cheers Paul. I do like these AHPC posts to both inform and bring back the memories of "classic Who" :-)

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  6. More lovely Dr Who weirdness. Well done.

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  7. Fun to see more Doctor Who! Well done.

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    1. Cheers Rod. I've a few more "Doctor Who" entries in the pipeline.

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  8. All of this center-justified text makes me think I'm taking a class in poetry. ;) Great work Simon. I've learned more from you about Dr. Who that I ever expected (or perhaps even wanted). Bring it on!

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    1. Many thanks Curt. I fully appreciate I'm a niche genre wargamer, so like to 'educate' with my postings ;-)

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    2. I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

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  9. I love all this classic Dr. Who stuff you do!

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    1. Cheers Jonathan. Glad you enjoy the postings.

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  10. This entry reminds me of how little I really know about Dr. Who.

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    1. Shame on you Michael. I'll do my best to enlighten you ;-)

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  11. The leader is quite distinctive!

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