Doctor Who, One and Two

A little progress on my wife's birthday present. The first two Doctors meet to confer about a sinister door in a recently abandoned cellar. 

Of course, when the Doctor's around, there's bound to be trouble that needs sorting out...

The figures are by Black Tree Designs. I searched for images from the first two Doctors and chose the simplest costume designs. The BBC put Hartnell in two types of trousers, one of which is a mid grey chequered pattern as shown above. The other was more of a houndstooth design. I found this choice a bit puzzling, as it would normally have been too 'busy' for the primitive TV cameras of the time to process. I did the chequered pattern using a fine sharp pencil.

Next up will be the Fifth Doctor personified by Peter Davison. This is likely to take a bit more work due to the fine red stripes on his costume.

Second batch of crossbowmen

The second and last batch of crossbowmen are now off the painting block and ready to make a thorough nuisance of themselves on the vasty fields of France or elsewhere when required

My wife's birthday is coming up in a few weeks, so I'll put the Lion Rampant stuff aside for a while so I can concentrate on painting the Doctor Who figures I bought for her a long time ago. Once they're done she'll have all the Doctors from Hartnell through to Matt Smith. I'm not sure if anyone's produced a Peter Capaldi or Jodie Whitaker figure yet, but I suspect it'll only be a matter of time. I keep getting tempted by the 7TV rules for gaming 60's and 70's TV tropes. Can anyone tell me if they're playable solo?

Doctors Who and Friends

I've not really been in the mood for gaming lately, so I thought I'd see what my lead pile had to offer by way of a diversion. I found a set of Black Tree Designs 28mm Doctor Who figures and a batch of Minifig 15mm archers from the 13th century Barons' War which have lurked in the pile for way too long. 

I wondered if the archers could double as Saxon bowmen, since they have the same overall look, but these chaps have hoses and pointed shoes, and their ammunition is thrust through their belts, which I don't think was a Saxon custom. I have a pile of other figures from this period, so I may paint them up over time. Since we're under a COVID curfew which may well turn into another lockdown order, I suspect I'll have time enough...       

Up on the wall

A milestone passed yesterday when I framed and hung the Dux Britanniarum map up on the wall. Featuring the beautiful artwork by Coral Sealey, it now has pride of place over my desk. Picturing doing this was one of the things that kept me going through the stressful times involved in the house move.

Alongside it is my wife's framed collection of Doctor Who photos autographed by the dapper Peter Davison, the lovely Colin Baker, and the late Anthony Ainley, and another by Ray 'Diamond Geezer' Winstone from his Robin of Sherwood days.

Sadly another casualty of the move was revealed yesterday when my wife unpacked a box of ornaments. This little teapot-shaped salt shaker, a family heirloom and an antique over a hundred years old, had broken apart. Its mate survived, and shows what the other looked like.

Obviously the best way would be to have it professionally repaired, but that's beyond the reach of our pockets. If anyone can suggest a good adhesive I'll attempt a repair myself. All these modelling and sculpting skills learned over the years should count for something...

The Four Doctors

My wife and I are big fans of Doctor Who. Like many Americans her 'first Doctor' was the Fourth, played by the great Tom Baker. I go back slightly earlier to the end of the First Doctor in William Hartnell's tenure. We have a number of 28mm figures of the Doctors along with some of the Companions, but lacked four of the Doctor's incarnations along with two familiar recurring characters.

This lack has now been rectified.

From l-r, First, Second, Fifth and Seventh Doctor. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart keeps a wary eye on the sneering Master.

These are Black Tree Designs sculpts. I took advantage of their winter sale to order the four missing Doctors, along with the formidable Brigadier and the dangerous Master. Black Tree's excellent service saw my order taken on Wednesday to arrive on Saturday. Good stuff!

The castings are clean and crisp, with little flash. The sculptor did an excellent job of capturing the faces, from Hartnell's cunning smirk through Troughton's frown, Davidson's cavalier charm and McCoy's inquistiveness. The Brigadier is the essence of Nicholas Courtney's military alter-ego. The Master is perhaps the weakest rendition, looking more like a vampire than Roger Delgado or Anthony Ainley.

I'll clean off what little flash there is, remove the Slotta bases (which I don't like) and give them all a good soak before painting. Once done I'll glue them to bases of clear plastic.

Just before Christmas I took the plunge and ordered the 15mm Romano-British starter army from Splintered Light Miniatures along with a set of twelve villagers. All in all, a busy start to a new painting year.

Archon 40 - Photos

We're back from an enjoyable weekend at Archon, the premier SF/Fantasy convention in the American Midwest. It's the 40th anniversary of the convention, and my 9th year as a panelist. As always there was so much to see and do we didn't find time to get around everything, but we made the most of it.

As requested, here are a few photos of the event. Claudia Christian (Commander Susan Ivanova from Babylon 5) was one of the Guests of Honour this year. We all appreciated the fact she made an effort to attend in spite of breaking her foot a few weeks ago. She's quite a whiz on the motorised scooter she had to use to get around!

At the fan Q&A session.

Signing autographs in the hall. My wife later got an autographed CD of her songs for my upcoming birthday.

A member of the High Council of Gallifrey made an appearance.

This friendly little chap was wandering the halls. He looks familiar...

A fine Steampunk Lady, with a working flamethrower (!)

Doctor Doctor..!

With my wife resting after an operation last week I suppose it's not surprising I have doctors on my mind. Since she's a big fan of Doctor Who I thought I'd press on with painting up the figures I bought from Heresy Miniatures and Black Tree Designs.

The Ninth Doctor (front right) and Tenth (right column, 3rd from front) need just a coat of varnish. The Third Doctor (front row, second from right) is almost finished. I'll deepen the colour of his cloak using inks. The pterodactyl in front was coloured using brown acrylic pain for an undercoat and green and yellow acrylic inks, tips I picked up from Colonel O'Truth's blog. I'm debating whether or not to add a red stripe down the spine from the head to the tip of the tail.

 

Doctor Doctor!

Milder weather is here and I will be able to reclaim my table for gaming again soon. At the moment it's still playing host to trays of seedlings ready for transplanting once the frost risk is over, which should be around May 15th. My next planned game is from my Darkest Africa campaign.

In the meantime I have a batch of Doctor Who figures ready for the painting block...

The figures are mostly Heresy Miniatures from a recent special offer, with the Third Doctor and Sarah-Jane (plus pterodactyl!) from Black Tree Designs (North America). Thanks to Shadowking's blog I was led to a wonderful source of cult TV figures at Crooked Dice. This company produces a treasure-trove of figures suitable for skirmish gaming and Pulp games. They even have stone angels - Don't blink!

Our new video catalog!

Hey! We just made our first video catalog! Check it out!

Amy and the Sunflowers

For those aficionados of the British classic sci-fi series Doctor Who, here's a few shots of a diorama I made recently. You make recognize it from the episode Vincent and the Doctor, which aired earlier this year. A customer over on my Etsy emporium commissioned me to make this particular scene where Amy Pond is surrounded by sunflowers, thus inspiring Vincent van Gogh to paint his famous picture. The figure is by Heresy Miniatures, who make a number of characters not a million miles removed from those of the Time Lord and his friends and enemies. I hope you enjoy, and if anyone wants a similar diorama made, let me know!

Goods for sale!

One of the advantages our hobby has over many another is the ability to sell on painted figures and models in order to fund new ventures and periods. It's no different with me, so to cut to the chase, I've put some goodies up for sale on eBay.

Below is a pair of bookends with a Doctor Who-ish theme. With a TARDIS and a tentacled monster lurking behind the door, it's a hand-made one of a kind item.

And below we have a steam tank, suitable for any Victorian sci-fi game.

With its companion steam exploration vehicle, for comfort and security in hostile climes.

Last but not least, a warband of twenty Apache Indians, again suitable for Victorian sci-fi or plain old Plains Wars.

Get 'em all while they're hot!