Warlord Games Clockwork Droids & Vashta Nerada

Here are two sets of Doctor Who villains that I recently painted - the Clockwork Droids and the Vashta Nerada, both produced by Warlord Games.

Serving aboard the SS Madame de Pompadour, the Clockwork Droids had harvested the crew's body parts to repair their damaged space ship. Only now needing to repair the broken command circuit, they stalked the original Madame de Pompadour to 18th century France, believing her brain was the missing part they needed. Dressed as French courtiers and wearing ball masks, their true nature was given away by the ticking of their inner workings. The Clockwork Droids had retractable repair tools at their wrists, which could double as weapons. You can see one on the male Droid at the far left.

The Clockwork droids appeared in the fourth episode of series two of the new series back in 2006, and it was called The Girl in the Fireplace. In this episode, the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) was accompanied by his companions, Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and couldn't find fault with it. These are beautifully sculpted figures but I did reinforce the ankle joints of the two male Droids with a tiny bit of Milliput and a dollop of superglue. The boxed set of these three figures costs £13.00. They do not come with stat cards for the Doctor Who:Exterminate game but you can buy the cards separately for £2.50 for six cards, which is what I did.

Gathering in swarms many thousands strong, the Vashta Nerada are microscopic beings, living mostly in the dark and appearing in the light as a shadow cast by nothing. Their name means "shadows that melt the flesh" - a large swarm of Vashta Nerada can strip the flesh from a creature in milliseconds. Existing on over a billion planets, including Earth, they inspire a fear of the darkness in most species as any shadow could contain a swarm of Vashta Nerada. The Tenth Doctor believed they have no weaknesses and the only defence against them was to stay away from shadows and run away.

The Vashta Nerada appeared in a two-part episode in series four of the new Doctor Who series. In episode eight, Silence in the Library, the Tenth Doctor and his companion, Donna Noble, land in the 51st century to visit the greatest library in the universe, encompassing an entire planet, but are baffled when they find it deserted. The sequel was called Forest of the Dead. As well as introducing a new alien race, these episodes also introduced the endearing River Song, who would become a recurring character in the Doctor's life. Despite being predominantly white, I found these theses three figures to be quite a challenge to paint. If ever I need any zombie astronauts for a game, these will certainly fit the bill. This boxed set of three 32mm scale figures also costs £13.00. Once again, it comes without stat cards, but they can be bought separately at £2.50 for six cards. I'd guess in time the cards will be included with the figures but at an increased cost.