From SidneyR: Flemish Horse from 1688 and Nordlingen beginnings (105 points)

Greetings fellow Challengers!!

With the Challenge now 9 days old, it's taken me a little time to post my first entry.  

Christmas very much 'got in the way' for me, but with the festivities now partly out of the way I've been able to spend a little more time with my paintbrush.

My first submission features the first half of a regiment of Flemish Horse, 6 cavalry figures, from the regiment of Pfilps de Vichet (and yes, I think that's the correct spelling - although any Flemish speakers can correct me).  The regiment was part of the forces raised by the Spanish Netherlands in the 1680s, which make them perfect for my 1688 project based around my fictional Flemish town of Laarden.  I chose to configure them as using pistols as their primary weapon of choice, and interesting contrast to the more impact-focused French Horse they faced in the field.

The figures are from the 25/28mm Wargames Foundry range, sculpted by the Perry Twins in the late 1980s.  I've added some greenstuff feathers to the hats, but otherwise these are pretty much the originals which have sat in my lead mountain for quite a few years.

I've also been continuing work on my 2mm Thirty Years War project.  After collecting armies for the battle of Lutzen in 1632, the next additions are based around the Spanish army of the Cardinal-Infante which made the long march through Italy and Germany to be present at the battle of Nordlingen in 1634.  Here I've painted some German horse, Spanish demi-lancers, a party of Croat scouts or vedettes, some Spanish commanded shot and (to balance things out) some Swedish and Finnish scouting horse.  The command bases are the Cardinal-Infante, and the Count of Fuensaldana, one of the Spanish-Imperial commanders of the later Thirty Years War.  

The bases are colour coded for ease of recognition on a snowy tabletop - blue for Swedes, Black for Germans and deep (Hapsburg) red for the Spanish.  I've experimented with some 1mm snow 'flock', which is quite fun.  It's really like a fine dusting of miniature cotton, but makes quite convincing show, which would be decent 'slush' in a larger scale. I added the labels for the commanders from a printed PowerPoint file, trimmed and glued on with PVA.

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First, welcome back to the Challenge, Sidney!

Lovely work as always Mr. Roundwood. Those venerable Perry castings have come alive under your brush. I always enjoy seeing your use of colour and particularly like the warm tones you've used for these fellows.  I also like that the tan round hats, with their jaunty feathers, help tie the unit together. Well done, sir!

Your 2mm work continues to impress, Sid. I had the pleasure of playing a few games with Sidney when we where in the UK this past year and can attest to the craftsmanship behind this project - it's absolutely stunning to behold. The light dusting of snow really helps establish the setting for these figures. I look forward to seeing your Nordlingen chapter of the Thirty Years War come to fruition over the coming months. 

Now, more please. :)

From Anthony O - Grav Tanks and some Space Clowns (40 points)

To finish off my entries for the free-for-all I painted up a Falcon and Wave Serpent Eldar Grav tank along with two random Eldar Harlequins I had hanging around.

The Falcon and Wave Serpent were painted using the blister pack foam, same as the jetbikes I posted a few days ago. I find this technique really quick and easy and hopefully these bigger miniatures will show you in better detail the effects that can be achieved. I had a few comments about using blister pack foam to do chipping, that's how I started as well before looking at a miniature one day and thinking that it could be using to more wide spread blending.

I did up a guide a year ago for Bolt Action LRDG vehicles using this technique to provide a cheap and easy alternative to traditional brushes and airbrushes. A major bonus is how cost effective it is as we all have buckets of foam lying around. If you wanted to take a look at that guide just search for Bolt Action - LRDG review and painting guide and it should pop up.

The Harlequins were an extra blister among the Eldar I obtained as a trade and I thought I would paint them as a challenge. I can't spend long on individual miniatures as I consider myself an army painter and I get bored easily so these were painted in around two hours. The miniatures are very detailed and were fun to paint. No idea if I can ever actually fit them into a list but that never stopped any of us painting things up before right?

For points the tanks are 15 points each and the Harlequins are 5 so a total of 40 points for this submission.

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Space Clowns. That kills me. How apropos.

<rant mode/on>

 I can't tell you how much Greg and I despised fighting Eldar, especially early lists run by our friend DaveV, who is an absolute artist at using these aesthetic freaks. With their insane weapons, unkillable Wraithlords, silly floaty-jetty things and ridiculous Farseers it was a guaranteed recipe for the snapping of crayons. Every time one of our Marine armies would face them, there would be nothing but smoking boots and Rhino parts by turn six. Infuriating. Whenever I see an Eldar army my hand immediately twitches, wanting to grab a hammer. 

Ahh, I feel much better now.

<rant mode/off> ;)

Lovey work Anthony! I can clearly see your sponge effect on the wings of the Falcon and Wave Serpent - very effective. Again, I really like the contrast provided by the black 'splinter pattern' on the hulls. 

For two hours work those Clowns are pretty darn impressive. I still want to hit them with a hammer but they'd just dodge away...

40 points for you - well done! 

From KenR : 28mm WWI Turkish Infantry (115 Points)

Entry 2 is here and it's more troops for my Mesopotamia collection. These fine fellows are 28mm Turkish Infantry from Woodbine Design Company.

As well as introducing new units I have decided to use the AHWPC to get some half finished units done as well. When I set off with this collection a few years ago I had no real plan other than buying some of those lovely new Woodbine Figures and finding a set of rules.

Having decided a while back on unit sizes etc (2 Fig HQ and 4 Coys of 6 to 10 Figs + a MG) I found that I was short on one battalion (notice I didn't think I had too many and sold the excess, typical gamer!) by 18 Figs and an MG (the MG being a base of 3 figures plus the MG itself) so these have been sat in the to do pile for a while.

So other than Cavalry that's my Turks (probably) done, there are lots more WWI to come though, with Brits, Highlanders and Indians prepped. I make it 21 figures at 5 pts a piece plus 10pts for the crew served MG for a total of 115 points.

Next up however will be the first dent in the second half of the big push this Challenge my 28mm early war Forces for North Africa, stand by for 3 Matildas.

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Very nice work work, Ken. Those Woodbine miniatures are real gems and you've done them proud (and you can never go wrong with having a red fez in a unit). I love your comment on the initial purchase, selloff and purchase again. Question: What rules are you using for this collection? 

115 points it is - Well done!

From PaulS: Adeptus Mechanicus (112 Points)

Earlier in the year I had a go at the 4 Generals painting challenge, where you start painting a new 40k army with the Quick Start box and slowly build up. These are the last few bits in the painting backlog.

This is the third Magus I've built, this time using the left over bits from the second. Both weapon army are from the Forge World kit, spliced onto the plastic body once the torso had been spun 180 degrees so that the robes sweep backwards instead of forwards.

Another box of infantry has generated 5 more Rangers to add to the pool

...and 5 more Vanguard.

To act as a screen I started to convert leftover Empire Flagellant bodies with some spare AdMech parts to use as some allied Adeptus Militarum conscripts. There are now another 11 to add to the squad, which means it is now only 1 shy of the minimum squad size.

So this little post is another 21 28mm figures and the magus, who towers over the others. Points on him are up to you Curt.

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Wow, lovely brushwork Paul!

Ever since reading Dan Abnett's 'Titanicus', the Adeptus Mechanicus has become one of my favourite 30K/40K 'characters'. To me, the Mechanicum is what would happen if you left an OCD IT department on a planet by itself and came back ten generations later. :)

These guys look brilliant. The ubiquitous red is spot on, and I like the mixture of warm brass and various tones of alloys, especially on that amazing Magus figure (love the simple-but-effective 180 turn to the lower half of the figure). I'm a bit conflicted on how GW has approached the Mechanicus as they often seem a little too well-fed for me. I wish the human-cybernetic guys were a little more emaciated, similar to how John Blanche has them in his dantesque art. Anyway, your guys look terrific and I really like your use of Empire flagellants as las-fodder - a brilliant bit of kit-bashing.

These guys will give you 120 points for your climb up the points roster. Wonderful work, Paul!

From NoelW: Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Durnfurd (5 Points)

My first post to my first challenge and, to be honest, it's a bit disappointing. Just about everything that might've gone wrong, seems to have happened - I finished this figure (WI's Giants in Miniature Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Durnford, as realized by Burt Lancaster in "Zulu Dawn") on December 21st. Trying Humbrol matt varnish for the first time, I produced a horribly shiny model, and attempting to matt that shininess with an artist's varnish (a) didn't work that well and (b) over-varnished the figure, obscuring some of the detail. By then, Christmas loomed, so the figure was put aside, and when I came back to it, I decided I had to repaint some of the detail as well as I could. The result was a lightening of the blue coat so that it's some distance from what I take to be the historical dark blue.

Here's the figure:

As you can see, I've also problems with photography. My little Sony camera is great for photographing demo games at shows, but can't get decent closeups of individual figures. And the background I'd hoped to use has somehow been mislaid in the disruption of putting up guests over Christmas.

All in all, not the most auspicious start! I promise to try harder for the next post.

But I'm still excited about my participation in the challenge. Although I've set a low target of 500 points (and if I manage only one figure every nine days, I'm not going to get close to that, am I?) I'm hoping it will inspire me to work towards something closer to 1500, which will mean that not only Zulu Wars, but ECW, French in Egypt, Peninsular Spanish, Operation Sealion and various other projects will all benefit.

Fingers crossed.

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First, welcome to the Challenge, Noel. It's great to have you along with us.

Varnish issues aside (and many of us have had this problem, I can assure you), you've done a wonderful job on this figure. I particularly like the detail on Durnfurd's face and the highlighting on his webbing - lovely stuff. 

In looking over your list of projects I'm very much looking forward to the coming months of the Challenge to watch your progress. Now that you have the range scoped in with your brush I expect to see you here on the blog often. :)

From Curt: 'Kingdom Death' Prologue Survivors and The White Lion (43 Points)

Last year Byron came for one of his visits and introduced our gaming group to 'Kingdom Death', an artfully composed hybrid of a horror RPG, tactical skirmish and board game.

While the gameplay is (brutally) ingenious and the figures are amazingly sculpted, the themes are very, VERY adult, and so definitely not to everyone's tastes.  Nonetheless, we loved it and became hooked. So when the Kickstarter went up last year for the updated version I lost my wits completely, mortgaged the dogs and backed it to the hilt. Anyway, the first avalanche of stuff (suitably titled 'Monster 1.5') arrived at our door this autumn, so I thought I'd use the Challenge to  complete some of the core elements of the game.

These first four figures comprise the 'Prologue Survivors'. These poor souls awake in a world of darkness, with no memory of their past, little clothing and only lanterns and a few shards of masonry as weapons. 

Since I'm going to have a LOT of figures to work through, I decided to save myself the torture of determining what colours to use figure-by-figure and instead use a hybrid greyscale effect that incorporates lanterns' glow for a bit of visual interest. 

The main elements of the effect was achieved using an airbrush and then switching to thin glazes to highlight both the greyscale and lantern glow. I realize it's a little over-the-top but I think it works okay for the game's setting. 

The beginning scenario has the four survivors being immediately set upon by a huge lion. Using only their bare hands, some stone shards and lanterns they are forced to fight for their lives. 

I decided to use the same lantern-lit greyscale effect for the White Lion, with a fallen lantern providing under-lighting to the lion's face, underbelly and flanks.

The light effect of the dropped lantern.

These figures are quite large, with the humans coming in at around 40mm. The Lion is very large in comparison and he is considered a pretty small creature in the game! 

I hope to get a few more of the monsters for the game done this Challenge - wish me luck!

Curt

Title: 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'

Artist: The Nylons (1986)

From KentG: 28mm Perry Miniatures Dragoons (110 Points)

This batch of 11 Dragoons is more of a test run for the 5 boxes to come, I wasn't even sure i'd paint these as they were missing some carbines and other bits, also one arm was wrong but i thought what the heck good practice,  i got a new book for Christmas painting war French army so i tried out a couple of the horses they had in the mag i need to work on them but i'm happy with the first attempt. also need to work on the green not quite right but as i said a few more boxes and we shall have it.

 I'm one stand short but i'm sure i'll find a couple of them hiding somewhere.

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Beautiful and prolific work as always Kent. 

I've done a few units of these in the past and can attest that they are great models to work on. I must say I really like the leopard skin helmet wrap you did for the officer - lovely stuff.  I think you certainly have 'your eye in' for the upcoming boxes!

And with this entry Kent slips past the pack, back into the lead in the points race. Crack on Kent!

From IannickM : Ukag's Mercenaries and Graaz the Savage (35 Points)

Hi everyone, finally here's my first post of the challenge! 

This year is a bit different for me as I'm also running an Oldhammer painting Challenge (The Old World Army Challenge) so I'm basically doing two challenges! Fortunately, double dipping is allowed and so there was no way I'd miss the Analogue challenge! It does mean however that you should expect a healthy dose of Oldhammer goodness, mostly in the form of the greenskin kind, as I'm working on a Forest Goblins army. 

My first entry is pure Oldhammer, with a trio of maybe the most iconic figures ever produced by Citadel Miniatures, the famous Jes Goodwin's Ogres mercenaries. Yes, appropriately, I start the challenge with a trio of monsters!

Ukag's Mercenaries

These guys are exactly how I imagine Ogres, with their touch of oriental/slavic armour and fashions. While my Goblin's colour scheme is a very colourful triad of yellow, orange and red, I wanted these guys to have a more somber, "business" look, while still fitting in the army. Consequently I used yellow and red to tie them the army, but offset by greys and dark green. I'm super happy with them, it's been a while since I've been that satisfied with a unit.

Boss Ukag himself, maybe my favourite miniature ever

For Ukag, the Mercenary Boss, I couldn't resist doing some stripped pants, and I'm quite happy with the results. The big yellow emblem really gives him a dash of colours on an otherwise subdued scheme.

Then we have "Mace" Nakog; I had to do one of the Ogres in a Christmas colour scheme, just had to!

"Mace" Nakog

And the third Ogre, Gurot the Butcher, a fantastic figure which was a lot of fun to paint. The mix of grey and yellow works really well I think, more than I first anticipated! 

Gurot the Butcher

And to finish this first submission, here is Graaz the Savage, the Warlord of my Forest Goblins army. It's the only figure of the project more recent than 1992, and comes from the Oldhammer inspired GreenSkins Wars from Knightmare Miniatures (Goblin fans have a look at their ranges there's a lot of awesome pieces). The figure is a bit bigger than the other goblins in my collection (although all were sculpted by Gobbo master Kev Adams) but it works perfectly as "DA Big Boss" of my army. It's also very Forest Goblin in it's style. 

So to open the Challenge, I believe this gives me 35pts. 10 each for the Ogres, who are rather large figures more on the 50 than 40mm and 5 for the goblin. 

Wishing you all a great Challenge!

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Welcome back to the Challenge Iannick!

These guys are so awesome. I clearly remember when they were first released and being amazed at how cool they were. The trio has aged very well and you're vibrant brushwork really has done them justice here, Iannick. While Ukag is truly iconic, I have to say that I particularly like Gurot, hunched over his great axe, contemplating his impressively snaggletoothed underbite. 

Graaz the Savage is brilliant as well. I like his red gemstone necklace and boarskin cloak - well done.

I look forward to seeing these fellows grace your Old World Army Challenge.