Doctor Who - 11th Doctor & Angels.

In honour of the outgoing 11th Doctor...

A spot of bother for the Doctor and Amy...

The Weeping Angels are an ancient race of aliens. Their usual mode of feeding is to send their victims back in time, which creates time energy to feed on. When they are not being observed by another being, they can move very quickly and silently, but when they are being observed, they become "quantum-locked", occupying a single position in space and becoming stone.

In this state, they are frozen and difficult to destroy. They cannot suppress this reaction. If two Weeping Angels were to look at each other at the same time, they would be trapped in stone form until an outside force moves them apart. To prevent this, they often cover their eyes while moving - this makes them look as though they are weeping.

Weeping Angels.

The 12th Doctor...

Figures are Crooked Dice.

Stargate SG1.

Stargate SG-1 resumes the plot of the original feature film and follows the present-day adventures of SG-1, a military team from Earth. SG-1 and two dozen other SG teams venture to distant planets using a fictional alien portal known as a Stargate, which in the series is housed in a top-secret United States Air Force military base known as Stargate Command (SGC) underneath Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In the first eight seasons, the mission of the SG teams is to explore the galaxy and search for alien technology and allies to defend Earth against the Goa'uld, a snake-like parasitic alien race that takes humans as unwilling hosts. As explained in the series' backstory, the Goa'uld transported human slaves from Earth to other habitable planets across the galaxy thousands of years ago and now pose as gods of Ancient Earth mythologies, particularly Egyptian mythology. SG-1 eventually learns that highly evolved human-like beings, known as the Ancients, had originally built the Stargate network millions of years earlier, before they used their extraordinary powers to ascend to a higher plane of existence, after which they pledged to not interfere in the lives of other species. The Ori, who belong to the same race of ascended beings as the Ancients but who use their powers to subjugate other species, forcing them to worship the Ori and to believe a doctrine of religious fundamentalism, assume the role of the main antagonists in seasons 9 and 10.

SG1 and SG2 move through the gate following the MALP 'all clear'. A Jaffa watches...

SG1 with Captain Sam Carter, Teal'c and Daniel Jackson led by Colonel Jack O'Neill.

SG2 led by Lt. Colonel Cam Mitchell.

The Jaffa arrive...

...led by the Goa'uld Ishkur!

I have been a fan of all things Stargate since the original movie and fancied a small project to have some gaming in this setting. Stargate figures in 28mm have come and gone, with a variety of makers (Gripping Beast, Eureka etc) and they seem to be a rarity these days. Other than a unit of Jaffa (possibly Eureka) I picked up from eBay I have had to content myself with the slightly less well received sets from the now defunct Phoenix Icons via Cold War Miniatures.

Although on the 'skinny' side, with some rather delicate Ma'Tok staff weapons for the Jaffa, once painted up I think these figures look pretty good. I actually do like the look of the SG1 team! The Stargate and DHD are not bad either. Add to this the Gripping Beast limited edition System Lord and a a 'not' MALP from Ainsty I think I have a pretty good selection to get going with. I am not sure if I will add to this (maybe some more SG teams and some civilian types?) but for now I think I have enough.

I have not decided on a ruleset yet but was originally thinking of using 7TV. Herkybird has some good Stargate games over at his blog Herkybirds Nest and uses his own set of rules which I might check out.

Some of the Jaffa of Apophis.

Figures and Stargate are all from Phoenix Icons. The 'MALP' is by Ainsty. I am unsure of the makers of the figures in the bottom picture, possibly Eureka or GB?

Call of Cthulhu - Deep Ones.

Deep Ones.

"I think their predominant color was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed. They hopped irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. I was somehow glad that they had no more than four limbs. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, held all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lacked ... They were the blasphemous fish-frogs of the nameless design - living and horrible."

(H.P.Lovecraft - "The Shadow Over Innsmouth")

Hybrid children watch the sea...

Maybe it was the calling of the sea, the foul murmurs of the Esoteric Order of Dagon, or maybe the fish and chips I had at the weekend - whatever, I decided to make a start on my Deep One horde. Currently a work in progress, I have dug out all my 'Deep One' miniatures and started work on about half. Out of the initial twenty, three of these are almost done but I have most of the detailing work to complete on the others. I also have two hybrid types undercoated and then another fourteen, a mix of hybrids and pure, to begin.

A fishy collective.

The figures are a mix of old Grenadier, RAFM, em4, CP Models, Black Cat Bases, plus some Black Tree Design Fishmen and Troglodytes to bolster the ranks. At the back is a huge mutated Deep One, aka a Frog Daemon also from Black Tree. Due to their monstrous nature and the practice of mating with humans, I felt there was a some flexibility in the actual physical shapes they could potentially have. The idea is that these are a mixed bunch of pure Deep Ones right through the various stages of hybrid plus the few inevitable grotesque mutations.

...pray for Father, roaming free.

As far as painting goes, I have tried to go for the 'classic' look, as described by Lovecraft, greyish green with white bellies. I could not decide on the colour of the eyes so settled for a glowing yellowy look.

Blasphemous fish-frogs indeed!

Sarissa Warehouse

Though I seem to have trouble focusing on one project most of the time I have been recently concentrating on building up my 7TV / DWMG collection. One thing with this is that a good bit of terrain really helps with the feel of the game, whereas you can get away with a green matt and a couple of trees for a dark ages setup. I am currently trying to get a bit of 'modern' scenery together so decided to look at a few centre pieces for this.

A few months back I picked up the Sarissa Precision CityBlock Warehouse as I had seen this on a couple of other blogs and thought it looked great. I ordered and finally have got around to making it and thought I would add a few photos.

Warehouse in mid build.

Above is the warehouse in mid construction. After arranging all the component parts and figuring out what was what, I began by painting these before construction, as advised by Matt on his blog. I initially tried to spray undercoat the windows in white but overdid it a little and made the board a bit soggy. Leaving this to dry I began on the other parts, selecting a mix of greys for the 'concrete' parts and mixing up a near enough version of 'London Brick Yellow' for the walls. I painted the wooden steps, pillars and loading doors with burnt umber and the rails in black. Internal dividing walls and window were in white and the front door red. I also used a variety of reds with a wash of Baal Red to create a dirty brick look on the loading bay.

Completed warehouse with some foliage for effect.

Construction itself was relatively simple, just have some big rubber bands and some good glue handy! Follow the instructions and you can't really go wrong. Painting the thing took the bulk of my time. The etched detail can take quite a few thin layers of paint so don't be afraid to splash it on.

Rear view showing the loading bay doors.

The roof is tightly held on with small notches around the edge of the walls and lifts off to reveal the internal detail. This has clearly been designed for 'play' as the mezz level also lifts out to show the rooms beneath.

Inside showing the mezz office level.

The wooden stairs are also removable, as are the loading bay doors. There are small stands for these if you want to add them but I decided on them as they are. I also left the grey steps (back and front) to be removable.

Plenty of space inside!

You are also provided with four large box crates but I hadn't glued these when I took the pics. I also bought some plastic pallets by Siku from eBay to create some cover inside.

The Doctor wonders why there appears to be broccoli in the front garden.

The pic above hopefully gives some idea of the scale of this building - it is a bit of a beast! As I said before, it is really designed to be 'play' usable rather than being an accurate model of a warehouse. Having said that, check out what Headnhalf has done with his one - very effective!

I can't wait to get this on the table and in use. It will be an excellent centre-piece and I can highly recommend it despite it being a tad pricey at £50.

Now all I need are a few more buildings from the CityBlock range and a couple of metres of wire fencing!

The Doctor is 'Tweedy Mattison' from Crooked Dice (as if you didn't know)

Doctor Who - U.N.I.T.

The Unified Intelligence Taskforce - formerly known as the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, and more usually called UNIT - was a military organisation which operated under the auspices of the United Nations. Its remit was to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to the Earth. UNIT was not the only alien defence organisation, but it was the one with which the Doctor had the closest personal involvement.

An early 20th century counterpart to UNIT was LONGBOW. This world security organisation was set up by the UN precursor, the League of Nations. LONGBOW dealt with the occasional extraterrestrial incident, but was disbanded after the League and it failed to prevent World War II.

The roots of UNIT itself, however, lay in later alien encounters. The Intrusion Countermeasures Group headed by Group Captain Ian Gilmore, which got involved in the Shoreditch Incident, served as a specialised military force with scientific assistance would seem almost a trial run for UNIT, though not an international organisation. Though Gilmore did have two scientific advisors serving much as the third incarnation of the Doctor and Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw would later, the seventh incarnation of the Doctor did most of the work on the technical end.

A second incident was the takeover of London by the Great Intelligence, with robot Yetis and a deadly cobweb-like fungus. Assisted by the Second Doctor, another group of British infantrymen, led by Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart of the Scots Guards beat back the Yeti from the tunnels of the London Underground.UNIT themselves would later consider this to be the origin of the organisation.

The United Nations were aware the world faced threats from extraterrestrial sources. Space programmes sent probes deeper and deeper into space; mankind was drawing attention to itself. Unable to get the British government to form a permanent special operations force for alien threats, Lethbridge-Stewart went over their heads to the UN Security Council, who proved more receptive. The UN established UNIT with the mandate to investigate, monitor and combat such threats. At the suggestion of Gilmore from the ICMG, Lethbridge-Stewart was promoted to the rank of Brigadier and put in charge of the British contingent. This contingent was organisationally known as Department C19 within the British government.
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One of UNIT's first missions was an intensive investigation of International Electromatics that turned violent. UNIT agents were killed and UNIT launched a helicopter raid to liberate prisoners at an Electromatics' facility. With the help, again, of the Second Doctor, UNIT discovered the company was a front for a Cybermen invasion and was able to defend against it. Lethbridge-Stewart became convinced of the necessity of scientific advice in battling extraterrestrial threats. He recruited Liz Shaw from the University of Cambridge. Coincidentally, the Third Doctor had been exiled to Earth by the Time Lords. He agreed to join UNIT as its scientific advisor just in time to help defeat the Autons. The Doctor continued to assist UNIT. Liz and he helped them fight such foes as The Silurians and the Primords. Liz Shaw left UNIT and was replaced by Jo Grant as the Doctor's assistant, though she only had managed to take science up to A level, of which she later said "I never said I passed". When he met her, UNIT made an enemy out of the Master. UNIT locked up the Master after several attempts to destroy Earth

When the Doctor's exile was ended, his association with UNIT became more sporadic, especially after his regeneration into his fourth incarnation. 

Ministry of Defence, UNIT headquarters

The Doctor did return to Earth with Sarah Jane Smith, but would work less with the Brigadier and more with such other officers as Colonel Faraday (the Brigadier having gone to Geneva) and Major Beresford. The Doctor, however, never officially left UNIT.

As a United Nations group, UNIT often served as security at peace conferences and the British contingent had foreign soldiers such as Sergeant Zbrigniev.

UNIT often faced hostility to its operations when investigating research facilities and companies. A common tactic against them was an appeal to any contacts in the Westminster government. These forced Lethbridge-Stewart either to back down or go over the government's heads to Geneva.

(Text from Tardis Data Core)

Figures are Harlequin / Black Tree & Gripping Beast Mo-Fo.

Doctor Who - Cybermen.

Doctor Who foes: Some Cybermen.

Cybermen were a "race" of cybernetically augmented humanoid. They varied greatly in design, with different factions throughout time and space. The two major groups, from which all other known versions derived, were the Mondasian Cybermen, which originated on the planet Mondas – Earth's twin planet in the Doctor's Universe – and the Cybermen created by Cybus Industries, which originated on Earth in an alternate universe.

Mixed Cybermen faction group.

Despite the different origins, there were similarities between both groups of Cybermen, and there were groups that shared the characteristics of both. For the most part, they lacked individuality or names. Cybermen had no emotions and viewed them as a weakness. They frequently attempted to physically and mentally re-engineer humans and other humanoids into Cybermen, via a process called "cyber-conversion" or "upgrading".

Tenth Planet / Tomb / Wheel in Space / Invasion / Earthshock / "Pete's World".

I have several Cybermen on the workbench - about 16 Earthshock, 10 Invasion plus a few random others, including a Telosian and a Tenth Planet figure. To be honest, I get a little confused with all the variants!

'Earthshock' Cyberman.

Poor photo below showing some of them...

Cyber-horde!

Painted using Chris's suggested Cybermen painting method on The Conflict Cornucopia.

All figures are Harlequin / Black Tree Design.

Doctor Who - More Doctor Who Monsters!

A few of the Doctors adversaries...

The Silurians, also known as Earth Reptiles, Eocenes, Homo reptilia and Psionosauropodomorpha, were a species of Earth reptile. Technologically advanced, they lived alongside their aquatic cousins, the Sea Devils. Unlike other species, Silurians showed an important intraspecific variation (vast differentiation between breeds), such as the number of eyes, the formation of their pupils or the colour of their skin.

Silurian...

The Silurians were generally a peaceful race. Their highest laws forbade outright warfare except for defence. There was also great importance placed on the species' pure eugenics, which was believed to be their most important principle and most sacrosanct belief. Breeding between a Silurian and a Sea Devil was considered a crime punishable by death. The eggs of such a union were usually crushed and the parents executed.

The Silurians were generally led by a Triad, three Silurians who ruled jointly. These Silurians came from different backgrounds and controlled different professions, such as the military and the scientists. Silurians were also split into different tribes. The majority of Silurian warriors appeared to be female, just as the females were the more aggressive in some species of lower reptile.

Okdel, leader of the tribe beneath Wenley Moor.

Bok was a grotesque statue animated by Azal's power and used by the Master to gain control of the residents of Devil's End and resist attack. After the Master was defeated and Azal and his spaceship were destroyed, Bok ceased to be animate and was destroyed by UNIT.

"Chap with the wings, five rounds rapid"

Bok had glowing red eyes when animated and was short in stature. He was still a powerful force to be reckoned with. He could vapourise objects and people instantly and resist injury, including being blown apart. However, he did have a few significant weaknesses such as being afraid of iron, and could be mollified by Venusian lullabies.

The Doctor & Jo confront Bok.

Gell guards were blob-like creatures created by Omega, trapped in a black hole domain made of anti-matter. They had the ability to travel from Omega's anti-matter universe into that of matter. An advance guard appeared in the form of a shapeless jelly-like blob.

Anti-matter.

Others appeared more solid and could use their claws as weapons to fire blasts. They were immune to gun and rocket fire. Under Omega's command they attacked UNIT HQ. They killed a number of soldiers. They captured the Third Doctor and his friends. They took them to Omega's lair.

Blobby.

Haemovores were a species of vampire-like humanoids who evolved from humans. They fed on the blood of humans, though they could also survive in sea water, which had a similar salt content. The Haemovores had enormous strength and power, and could climb sheer surfaces with ease. They were resistant to bullets, and could only be killed by a stake to the heart. Also, Haemovores had razor-sharp claws, which they used to kill people. Haemovores could even weld metal with their hands, and older Haemovores built up armour made of metal they collected and melted together. The Haemovores could be stopped with a psychic barrier, which in humans was created by the mental processes associated with strong faith; the Doctor (and, presumably, other Time Lords and psychically-aware beings) could create this barrier at will. In the presence of the barrier, the Haemovores often responded with ear-splitting shrieks.

Haemovore - hungry.

Haemovores were known to only hunt in the fog or mist. Whether they created this fog themselves, or simply hunted when the time was right, is unknown. The Haemovores communicated with each other telepathically. This could be detected by telepathic humans. They could also telepathically control humans, making them easier to feed on. They were all controlled by Ingiger, who could kill them with a thought.Partially transformed Haemovores, about to advance upon their prey.

The Haemovores started life as humans, who were changed by other Haemovores. At first, the only signs of change were pale skin, large red lips and sharp claws. They still had their minds and memories, but a more feral mindset. As they aged, their appearance started to change: Their skin grew slimy and wrinkled, their eyes were swollen shut and their mouths turned into suckers for feeding. After a century, they were completely transformed into Haemovores.

After being killed, they would rapidly decay into charred bones and slime.

Poor skin care.

Robomen were humans converted by the Daleks into wholly obedient slaves during 2025 and the 22nd century Dalek invasion of Earth. The Daleks captured prisoners and operated on their brain in a surgical procedure called the Transfer, fitting them with large, helmet-like headsets. The Daleks' mind control technique was unstable, and the Robomen would often go insane and commit suicide.

Robomen on patrol.

Robomen also featured in the theatrical version of this story "Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD" and are the ones displayed here.

No sense of humour.

Daleks were the armoured, mutated descendants of the Kaleds of the planet Skaro. They fought the Time Lordsin the Last Great Time War, ending in the near-total destruction of both races. The Daleks were hated and feared throughout time and space. They were the oldest and most frequent foes of the Doctor, having faced him several times in every one of his incarnations.

In the background some Red 'drone' Daleks of the New Dalek Paradigm. This was an empire of purebred Daleks created by a Progenitor device, which made use of original Dalek DNA. The Progenitor was activated by the only three surviving Daleks of the previous empire, themselves "unclean" specimens since they were generated from the cells of Davros. The original five Daleks of the New Paradigm, and the leadership class once their new empire was created, were more powerful and much larger than any of their predecessors.

At the front we have gold Daleks led by a single black Dalek. These are essentially based on the 'Cult of Skaro' Daleks, (but more of 'em...)

I still have a veritable horde of Black Tree Daleks to paint and these will likely be more of a classic look.

All figures are Harlequin / Black Tree Design.