Sunday 27 January 2019

The 'Sport' Theme Results are now UP!



Hi All!


The votes are in for our 'Sport' bonus round! We had a very respectable showing, with the entrants treating us with visions of all things, well, sporting! Thanks to all the participants for their entires.

First up, for our Honorary Mentions, we have:

JamesM's 'NAAFI Van' 




BenF's 'A Spot of Tennis?'




MichaelA's 'Private Dancer'





PaulSS' 'English Archery Tournament'



and, PaulOG's 'Gladiator Sagittarius and Dux the Spectator'



Bravo! Great work fellas!


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In Third position, for 25 bonus points, we have:

MartinN's sad and evocative 'To the Green Fields Beyond...'





In Second place for 50 bonus points:

RayR's very cleverly crafted 'Lacrosse'






And, in First Place, for 75 bonus points and a gift certificate from Regina's 'Comic Readers', we have Byron's orktastic 'F1 Race Car, Ork Style'






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https://comicreadersregina.wordpress.com/

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Congratulations to our people's choice winners and, again, a big THANK YOU to all our participants for making this Bonus Round a wonderful success! Great work everyone!

If you're interested in seeing the voting results they can be found here.

Now, please get back to your hobby desks and get busy working on your submissions for our next theme round, 'Mercenary'. All entires are due by midnight this Saturday - I will have the gallery up next Sunday.

Have a great week!

Curt

From SidneyR: The French King's Hussars (20 points)

.... and from Roundwood Towers based in Perfidious Albion....

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Just beneath the sledgehammer of doom for the Lost Painting Souls of Challenge IX, here's some nonsense from late seventeenth century Flanders for your (very) late Saturday night and Sunday morning viewing.  Two hussars from the army of Louis XIV, somewhat hastily painted (please don't look too closely!).  They're fine sculpts, one from the old War-games Foundry range, and one from The Assault Group.  

Both in 28mm, and a total of 10 points - a small amount, but 'from acorns come oak trees...', right?









I've not been in the Challenge so far - for which many apologies.  Well done to everyone to date!


I got absolutely stuffed with a work project which commenced (unexpectedly) on the 28 December and have hardly been home since.  It happens, it happens, dear friends - no violins, please.  


Here's some more Laarden themed nonsense I wrote about French hussars in 1688 Flanders.  Hopefully more to come in less work-filled days in February.  Keep those brushes busy until my return, mes braves!!



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First, welcome back to the Challenge, Sidney - we've missed you buddy. 

I dunno Sid, you say you proffer us poor brushwork, but these hussars look superb to me. I particularly like the chestnut, the riders' stylish headgear and their cloaks (animal skin?) jauntily draped over their shoulders - even the hornist is the very picture of the ostentatious hussar!


These two horsemen will give you 20 points as your debut to the roster. Well done, Mr. Roundwood! Now, get your work tucked away and then come back to us with your brush swinging in earnest. :)



From RafaelA: US Army in Vietnam (75 Points)

...and from sunny Spain...

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Few hours before the deadline I'm submitting my first miniatures painted ever with my first entry, this Challenge was a huge push to at last start to paint.


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I absolutely LOVE getting these entries: First time in the Challenge with his first ever painted miniatures. So, so awesome. 

First, welcome to the Challenge Rafael! It's wonderful to have you along with us this year.

Great work on these troopers! You have a good grasp of the fundamentals, Rafael.  You've done a great job of blocking-in all the important colours and I really like your African American flesh tones. One thing I would perhaps suggest for your next step would be to pick up some wash shade, something like Games Workshop's 'Agrax Earthshade' or Army Painter's 'Strong Tone' wash. If you coat your figures with either of these products you will add some more depth to your figures. Then, if you wish, you can highlight the raised areas in the first colour you chose in order to pop up the contrast. It takes a bit of trial and error but the technique comes pretty quickly. 

I look forward to seeing your upcoming work over the next few months.

Again, welcome to the Challenge!

Curt 

From AndrewL: 1/600 British Coastal Craft (73 Points)

Editor's Note: I'm going to shepherd-in the last of the brush stragglers and then will post the results of the 'Sport' Theme Round later today.


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Greetings from sunny South Africa! I have a submission ready for review but it is a bit different so I don’t know how the scores will work:

1 x 1/600 HMS Campbelltown destroyer (modified Airfix kit)

12 x 1/600 Motor Launches (from Heroics & Ros)

5 x 1/600 MTB’s (from Heroics & Ros)

1 x 1/600 MGB (from Heroics & Ros)

1 x 1/600 E-Boat (from Heroics & Ros)



Cheers!

Andrew

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Great work Andrew and welcome to the Challenge! 

We've seen a lot of the 1/300 offerings from Warlord's 'Cruel Seas' this season and so it's nice to be treated to some smaller scale offerings. These are excellent. I particularly like the Campbelltown in its disruptive camo pattern, ready to be detonated in the dry-dock at St. Nazaire. 

I'm pegging this collection of boats at 73 points for your entry to the roster. Well done Andrew!


From HerrRobert: Brothers in Arms - Road to Hill 30 (35 points)

For my next entry, I present some additions to my Bolt Action/Chain of Command US Parachute Infantry Platoon.
My platoon began by picking up a box of paratroopers that were on sale at my LGS back last challenge. As I have discovered, the contents of the box is somewhat random, and so you don't always get the 10 guys pictured. Which is fine, actually, since it means they all won't look the same.

 

I've based my platoon on that from the game series Brothers in Arms, mostly Road to Hill 30 and Earned in Blood. Both are excellent WWII first player shooters, which place you in the position of the squad leader. Unlike a lot of other FPS, however, this one puts as much importance on your ability to handle the fire and maneuver elements of your squad as just charge in and shoot.


The uniforms are also very close to the Warlord US Paratrooper models I had:


So it seemed a good fit. They're deceptively complex to paint, with all the gear, shading and the like. However, these guys ate up the end of my Challenge last year, and so March 20 hit with them only partly finished. Naturally, one understrength squad won't cut it, so I had to expand. While I was hoping to get them out for my LGS' Normandy game, they ended up sitting around mostly unfinished until December (shame, shame, shame) when I needed them for a Foy game. So 1st Squad, the mortar squad, and the bazooka team took the field. The rest were primed. The painting bug hit me before the challenge started, so I finished the M1919A4 for 2nd Squad before Dec 20.

Having played a few pickup games with loaner units, I discovered I very much do not like running big squads. Not only does it penalize you in order dice, but it also makes fire and movement harder. Big squads are also a lot harder to hide in cover. So my intended order of battle is to split squads into the "fire" and "assault" elements. Fortunately, Bolt Action allows up to 6 parachute infantry squads in a platoon OB, so I can easily split my three squads.


This entry fleshes out the "Assault team" for 2nd Squad, along with some odds and sods. You can see two guys throwing grenades, two running with Garand rifles, one with a M1 carbine, and one with a Thompson. You can also see an element of Platoon HQ in the back.


This group shot gives you some idea of the detail on the figures. They've got helmets with webbing and camoflage strips, web gear, gloves or hands, pockets, patches, boots and knives. The M1942 uniform was deceptively fragile, and often wore out at the elbow, knee and pockets. So all of those were field reinforced using olive drab fabric.


For the bulk of the uniform, I used Vallejo Khaki highlighted with Middlestone. Patches and Pockets were Dark American Green, highlighted with Reflective Green. Helmets and entrenching tools were painted Brown Violet, then highlighted Russian Uniform. Webbing was painted Green Gray. Gloves were Yellow Ochre. Everything then got a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone to dirty it up.




Faces took a bit more work. The Warlord figures have wonderfully expressive faces, and allow you to paint some incredible facial expressions on them. I started using a mystery Reaper fleshtone (it's an unlabeled sample), then hit it with Game Color Flesh Wash. Eyes were white and black. I then touched it up with the Reaper fleshtone, which makes the white dots of the eyes into more natural ovals, and highlighted with Vallejo Flat Flesh. Lips were done with JoAnn Craft Essentials Bright Magenta, which is actually not that bright, but also avoids them looking like they're wearing lipstick.


The guy with the carbine will help flesh out the assault team for 1st Squad, since Warlord gave me primarily shooting poses in the first squad pack. 


This is the only Thompson figure in the bunch. A squad had roughly 2 Thompsons available, not counting those used by NCOs. I suppose, being picky, I should have based the Thompson figures on something other than circles, so that players know they're "special" figures. I did that with my BARs (from Artisan, which do not match well with these), and I may do that going forward. I have with my NCOs, using octagons. Shamelessly stolen from the Snowlord, of course.


This is the only good photo of the NCO. Warlord doesn't make a lot of NCO figures, so you end up having to adapt the ones you get. That's not much of a problem if you're not modeling the assistant squad leaders, but it is if you are (as I intend to do). I may end up having to use figures that look NCOish, and put them on different bases. He came in the Command pack, and I was torn between using him for a squad NCO, or a platoon sergeant. However, seeing as he's close to the platoon sergeant pictured in Brothers in Arms, I'm going to go with that.



So that's 7 paratroopers in 28mm, for 35 points and a notch in the Squirrel! duel.

Hope to have more to come!

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Hey cool, I loved 'Brothers in Arms'! As you say it's a great game which was less of a twitch-fest as compared to the usual FPS fare we see today. 


These paratroopers look brilliant Rob. The uniforms really pop and the basework is excellent as well. How many more are you planning for this force, five more of these smaller squads? I look forward to seeing your progress.

Another 35 points to add to your tally. Well done Rob!

Curt



From JeremyM: Ultramarines Kill Team (47 Points)

Hi All,


Just made the cut by the skin o' my teeth this year. Some illness and family craziness derailed the best of intentions. But anyway here we go.

So Curt and I and a few other buddies in our group have become hooked on Warhammer 40k Kill Team. I've never really been into GW's stuff, but when the skirmish game hit and our friend Stacy brought it out for a game I was hooked. The first team I created was some Astra Militarium. They've been fun, but are pretty wimpy for the narrative games we've been playing...so I decided to try some heavier troops.


I picked up a few on ebay and one of the 40k starter sets and ended up with 9 Ultramarines, plenty for a kill team. I actually waffled a lot on what chapter to paint, but since the set came with decals for these guys, and I have lots of blue paint and box photos to examine I thought let's keep it simple.



My team (or roster at least as I'm pretty sure I'm over 100 points) includes a leader with a power sword; a veteran with a cool flag; a comms guy with auspex; and a 'heavy' with some nifty big fun I can't recall.


The set I got (I think its called strike first) also included three reivers for close combat. They are supposed to be pretty nasty so hoping to try these guys out soon. I rather liked the skull mask helmet they have.







I also had two generic marines left from the set. The bases were all cork board with a few bits I had to try and resemble an urban battlefield. The photos weren't great but I also tried out some realistic water in spots to see how that product worked. Seems okay, but I wonder if a bunch of gloss varnish would accomplish the same effect.







Anyway thanks for reading and happy painting everyone!


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First, welcome back to the Challenge Jeremy!

I love the look of the new Primaris Marines and you've done an excellent job on these Sons of Ultramar, my friend. Did you use an airbrush as the blue looks very smooth - a great choice for Guilliman's spotless Glory Boys. I also like the clean and crisp brushwork on the banner - it provides a nice juxtaposition to the great rubble groundwork you did for the bases. 

I look forward to seeing these guys out for our next Kill Team mission - I'm sure they will be suitably punctilious and nasty. 

47 points for you, sir, including a couple more for the excellent banner. Great work Jeremy!

Curt

From MilesR: Gunfighters Ball (165 Points)

The next project in the works are some miniatures from a new game system called Gunfighters Ball, published by Knuckleduster miniatures.  I got into this via kickstarter and don't regret it a bit (a rare statement for most kickstarters).  It's a skirmish level Western gunfighter game with a real emphasis on character and a bit of tongue in cheek.  I've manage to paint up 24 figures from 4 different factions along with a Hotel from Sarissa Precision.



The first faction is the "Outlaw" faction and and has your standard set of Western Ne'er do wells.




Next ia a faction that was one of the stretch goals from the kickstarter - the "Legends of the West" which are figures inspired by Western movie and TV heroes.  Who doesn't want a Rooster Cogburn, Matt Dillon, or Will Money in their collection?  The character names are changed in the materials to be slightly different for IP reasons.  I literally can not wait for a game where as the middle right figure leaves the board I can shout out "Shane, Shane come back!"  For those of you who don't get that reference you failed your childhoods.


A Pinkerton faction.  Not sure why one of the Pinkerton's is throwing a Bomb but it will be fun to play out.  I do hope I don't get sued for painting up Pinkerton's like the video game Red Dead Redemption just did.


Lastly, my absolute favorite of the bunch - the Mexican banditos - these will be my go-to faction to play.
A bit wider shot of the hotel.

The figures are heroic scale 28mm - really closer to 30mm but are superb.  They were all sculpted on a computer and then the mold masters were 3D printed.  The metal casting is flawless.


There are a few more to paint up and even some characters from a certain movie about Western Real Estate investing....

Lets see 24, 28mm figures is 120 points and the building clocks in at 480 cubic inches or 2.22 of our sacred 6inch cubes.  Lets round that down to 2 and go with 40 points for the building.

I think that brings me to 160 points






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Well, golly gee, this is one rootin' tootin' entry, Miles. I've not heard of this Kickstarter, but these figures look brilliant and that hotel is tremendous. I think, from first glance, that my favourites have to be the Mexican banditos. I can just hear them speaking behind a clenched cigarillo, 'No, Naranga. We're not paying for no steenking waaaall.' How does the game play? It certainly sounds characterful. 

Let's put this at 165 points as that wonderful balcony and sign has to be worth another 5 in the bank. Speaking of Bank, when do we get to see Sarissa's Western version of that on your tabletop, Miles?

Curt