From Iannick: A Fashionably Late First Entry (65 Points)

It is with barely two days left to the deadline that I finally submit my first entry to this year's challenge! I made the cut!

Obviously, it has to be a Curtgeld, since I do not intend to leave this island so early! With the choice of figure completely up to me, I went looking into my rather large unpainted stash, and picked something I knew I would enjoy painting. A few years back (Challenge 7 I think. How time flies) some of you may remember I went on a Halfling painting spree. It so happens I still have quite a few of the unpainted little fellows, what with me pledging for the whole range during the Kickstarter!

I'm a big fan of playing Halflings in D&D and Warhammer, probably because my favourite RPG character of all time, "Cedwick Bloomberry", was a halfling Fieldwarden. Never was a character so lucky, it was uncanny, and he became the stuff of legends amongst my RPG group. People always underestimated the little fellow, always...

Anyways, the Stonehaven Halflings are just a lovely range, and every figure is full of personality. I picked the "Mage apprentice" as my Curtgeld, in part because I have two of them (packaging mistake), but also because it's one of my favourite of the range. I believe the figures work especially well for RPGs, and this one should be of use to a DM looking to represent a first level halfling mage character, or NPC. Hopefully it can find a place in the collection of such a player (hint, hint).

I usually go with browns and earthy tones for halflings, but since this guy is a young mage, I gave him a blue wardrobe, it seemed fitting. I had as much fun painting him as I did 3 years ago, the little guys just paint themselves it seems. 

Next up we have Alice Duskbane, Paladin of Cormyr. The last few years I've been involved in a sort of personal RPG renaissance, after a decade long hiatus, and introduced three of my close friends to the hobby, and we've been playing twice-monthly ever since. Truthfully, I never thought they would all love it as much as they do! So I've been painting their characters, and this is the paladin of Marie-Claude in our D&D 5e forgotten realms campaign. 

The figure is from Dark Sword, probably my favourite fantasy figures manufacturer, and was picked by MC, and then painted by me, based on her character's description. It was a somewhat difficult figure to paint, first because painting pristine white is never that fun, but also because the figure is very slender and "petite". I also rarely paint redheads if I can avoid it, it never looks quite right. I'm quite happy with her nonetheless, and so is MC, which is the most important.

This lovely gal is also my ticket to Mudry's Mesa, as I will finally start my exploration of Challenge Island on Sarah's balloon. Sadly, I will have to make my maiden voyage sober, since I'm all out of bubbles (an ironic twist of fate considering it is one of my favourite drinks). But considering my RPG group is made-up of all women, I have plenty of unpainted female figures, and I do intend on using that mode of transportation more than once! Plus any excuse to drink bubbles...

So...

Curtgeld and 28mm figure : 30 pts

First trip on Sarah's balloon and 28mm figure : 35 pts

So 65 pts to erase the shameful "0" next to my name!

See you soon on the Mesa.

***

Bienvenue a noveau, Iannick! It's great to have you back among the Challenge and to share not only your fine brushwork, but your energy and passion for the hobby.  I do recall the earlier halfling painting spree, and I know many other Challengers and visitors will too. Your aspiring mage is just the ticket to honour that tradition, a fine Curtgeld for a lucky participant. 

The Paladin is really something, excellent work.  I have a feeling many fantasy and D&D fans will be looking Dark Sword miniatures if they haven't already...

That's 65 points for you, sir, and we look forward to more!

GregB