Thursday 21 June 2018

Warlord Games Fisher King & The Woman Who Lived

I recently placed a rather large order with Warlord Games for more of their 32mm scale Doctor Who figures. I tend to wait a while before ordering as I prefer to make one big order instead of lots of smaller orders. Another reason for sending big orders is that if you spend £75.00 or more on Doctor Who products you get a free figure of the Fisher King. To buy him separately would cost you £25.00, which for a single figure, even one as big as he is, is frankly a rip-off.
So, I have two figures of him and I only really needed one. So what to do with my spare? Simon, aka Blaxkleric decided to mount his spare Fisher King (see here) on a plinth to make him into a statue and I thought this was an excellent idea. So I stuck my spare figure onto a resin plinth I had and, hey presto, a neat piece of scenery to use in many a sci-fi game.
The Fisher King was an alien warlord who, in the 20th century, conquered Tivoli, ruling the subservient population for ten years until his apparent death. His body was transported to 1980's Earth by funeral director Albar Prentis, but he was not dead, simply waiting inside a status chamber to be recovered by his people. He turned humanoids into ‘ghosts’ which transmitted co-ordinates to Earth so that he could be tracked and rescued. He was trapped and killed by a flood, the result of the twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) blowing up a nearby dam. The Fisher King appeared in the second of a two-part episode called Before the Flood in the ninth series of the new Doctor Who series. The prequel was called Under the Lake.
As I mentioned in my intro, this is a big figure, standing 50mm tall. He is a one-piece casting. In my opinion, it was definitely worth it spending £75.00+ to get him for free. This offer still applies. I could easily put together another big order for the figures I'm missing from this range but I've no idea what I'd do with a third Fisher King model.
These three figures feature the same character in a variety of her guises - from left to right, Ashildir, the Knightmare and Mayor Me. The Woman Who Lived is the title of the sixth episode in series nine of the new Doctor Who series and was a sequel to the previous episode, The Girl Who Died. An ordinary Viking girl killed after a battle with the alien Mire, Ashildir was resurrected by the Doctor using a Mire repair kit which was able to fix her physiology. Now with a potentially infinite lifespan, she chose aliases such as Lady Sherade, Ash, El Dir, Alys, the Knightmare and Mayor Me, having forgotten her original identity over the centuries.
The last we saw of Ashildir was in the final episode of series nine, Hell Bent, in which she and Clara Oswald (in her final appearance) set off in their own TARDIS, which resembled an American diner. Personally, I would have loved to have seen a spin-off series focussing on Ashildir and Clara together, as they were two of my favourite Doctor Who companions. Clara still remains my all time favourite companion. Maisie Williams played the role of Ashildir, and was a joy to watch in all of her episodes. The boxed set of The Woman Who Lived costs £13.00 but sadly does not contain stat cards for her. I hope that Warlord Games rectifies this oversight soon.

24 comments:

  1. I also thought Clara was one of the best companions.

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    1. Good man, Phil. You obviously have good taste! :-)

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  2. Excellent mini's Bryan, and obviously only the "tip of the iceberg" if they're part of a 'large order', so yet more eye candy to come :-)
    Clara was also my favourite Nu Who companion, and I thought her story arc was just brilliant. As a "Game of Thrones" fan, I was delighted to see Maisie Williams appear in Dr Who - and yes, a Clara & Ashildir spin off would have been cool!

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    1. Many thanks, Greg. Yes, these are just the tip of the iceberg but I do have a lot of "Doctor Who" figures waiting to get painted. That said, there will be more of this range in my next post.
      Indeed, Maisie Williams had a big role in "Game of Thrones". I knew an Ashildir/Clara spin off would never happen but it is something I'd like to do with these figures. This is the beauty of being a gamer - we can go beyond the TV series to stretch our imaginations.

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  3. Great post Bryan your mind is a wealth of information, Clara was a very interesting character in that unlike the other assistants she had an agenda of her own.

    Great set of models with a great paint job whats not to like :)

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    1. Thank you very kindly, Frank. From the moment Clara first appeared I could tell she'd shine and in my opinion, she shone the brightest of all the companions and most of the Doctors.

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  4. Great to see plenty of "Doctor Who" on show, Bryan, especially when it promises more to come too. Thank you also for the much appreciated shout-out!! Your enthusiasm for Ashildir is very clear, and I'm pleased to see you've painted the trio up :-)

    Spookily, I'm testing out some new cards alongside the splendid fellow behind all the latest rule releases this weekend, and will ask what's happening with Ashildir's cards as I know "Warlord Games" are planning on releasing them for all their minis now "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" has taken off so well.

    I'm also hoping to get a look at their "Strontium Dog" stuff too, as its release is somewhat imminent now they've begun posting preview pics of the painted minis :-)

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    1. I knew you'd appreciate this post and I'm more than happy to pimp your blog. Your idea to use your spare Fisher King as a statue was inspired.

      Thanks for offering to ask about the release of Ashildir's stat cards. I know that Warlord Games will get round to producing cards for all of this range eventually.

      I've seen the heads up for the new Strontium Dogs range and obviously I'm super excited about its release. Great news!

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    2. From the author's mouth, Bryan, Ashildir's cards are done and now sold with the miniatures. They're just waiting on an additional print run and the cards will be available separately for those who haven't got them.

      "The Strontium Dog" rules look rather interesting to say the least... loving the Cool stat ;-)

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  5. While not a big fan of recent (new era) Dr Who I do like the way you have treated the figures. And I agree about the cost, to rich for my tastes!

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    1. Thanks, Clint. I agree that this range is pricey but I'm a big fan of them and luckily I can afford them.

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  6. A good use of the spare figure but it does seem very expensive if you had to buy it. Like the Highway Girl, she has a nice understated menace about her.
    I always feel a bit like a fish out of water with some of your cult and comic book hero's, this being no exception. The last Dr Who companion I saw was running around in a short corset I think she might have been called Leela. Just looked her up, it was 1977/78. Shows what an impression she made on me, ;)

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    1. Cheers, John. I too like the highway woman.
      You are right about Leela and most "Doctor Who" fans of a certain age remember her with great affection, myself included. She sure was a feisty minx!

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  7. Smashing painting Bryan, and interesting to read the background from the series as otherwise they would have meant absolutely nothing to me! I do like that "Fisher King" model (he nearly made my top ten on Simons site). Though £25.00 for a singles figure! as my nan used to say...."They can go whistle!!".

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you kindly, Roger. If I had to pay £25.00 to get the Fisher King figures I'd pass and just not bother. As we Geordies would say, "They can haddaway and shite!"

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  8. Awesome set Bryan. I've wanted to pick some of these up since they released. I'm afraid they would only be look minis since my gaming friends don't like think much of Doctor Who. My favorite will always be Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor; I grew up watching him on PBS carried on Canadian cable. I'd love to paint his mini just for the sake of nostalgia. I liked Matt Smith and David Tennant more recently, and maybe Peter Davison as the 5th.

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    1. Much appreciated, HP. With so many actors playing Doctor Who, we all have our favourites. My favourite Doctor is David Tennant. I am intrigued to see how Jodie Whittaker tackles the role. As the first female Doctor she has a lot to live up to.

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  9. Nice work!

    Reaper does monthly figure giveaways, too. But I will sometimes end up with a figure I don't have any use or need for, or even worse, multiple copies of the same. Then there will be months where I would like the figure on offer, but don't need or want to order anything else. Really, what their offer seems to encourage for me is to hold off orders and make multiple smaller orders. I suppose with the right minis I could make a pair of matching statues.

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    1. Thanks, FB. I didn't know that Reaper did monthly giveaways. Very interesting!

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  10. Dr. Who is something I never really got into. I do remember watching some episodes around the same time I was watching Fireball XL5 and Thunderbirds etc. Your miniatures look very tempting, and well done for acquiring them. I also as you, agree with large orders over small too. Especially if there is a juicy carrot for you to do so. Awesome post again as usual Bryan, and one that now has me casually browsing for DR. Who episodes on UTube. :)

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    1. Many thanks for the kind words, SW. If you're only just catching up on the series on YouTube then you have loads of viewing ahead of you. By the way, BBC iPlayer have all of the new episodes available to view with every episode from 2005 to the present day. A real treat for any fan.

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  11. Great looking collection of Doctor Who characters Bryan, and statue of course

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  12. love the creative use of your duplicate figure buddy

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