From Guy Bowers: They lie in wait, within the darkness... (Hall of traps - 86 points)

"Foolish, greedy mortals! Who dares disturb the sleepers in the chambers of challenges? For there emerging from the darkness are the crypt guardians waiting in ambush. Their long wait is over and now they will take their wrath out upon the living!!"

These are the Oathmark Skeletons. While a tad shorter than other manufacturers, I like their Celtic theme.

The models were undercoated white and treated with Citadel Skeleton Horde. Some were given additional highlights of VMC 918 Ivory, although next time, I'll add some less bright highlights. 

Additional Contrast and standard paints were added. I like Citadel Flesh Tearer's Red contrast, so that had to be the colour for the tunics and shields. I wanted an earthy base for the models and was tempted to add some earth to the skeletons themselves, but then thought this might be a bit too much...

These were quite fun to do and did not take long per model. While I can see myself spending some time doing a character model, for rank and file these will be fine. Quantity has a quality of its own.

So that's thirteen skeletons in the hall of traps, that makes 65 points plus the 20 point bonus (with luck). And just before the one-month deadline... I do have more painted but more on these next time!

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Welcome to the fray Guy, and a great opening salvo it is! I do like the look of the Oathmark skellies and you've done those sculpts proud with bold reds to contrast the ivory. Overall, very reminiscent of the "Teeth of the Hydra" from Jason and the Argonauts - 85 points it is!  Plus 1 for square bases, because square bases are where its at :-)

Cap'n Wednesday

From LeeH - Airborne Jeeps (42 points)

Last week I posted pictures of my Airborne Platoon for use with Chain of Command and this week I have a few jeeps to add to the mix. These would be delivered to the landing zone in specially adapted gliders which could be broken in two to release the heavy load inside. I have been looking forward to painting these, and while some of the detailing on the cast figures wasn't as good as on the infantry I did last week, I'm still happy with them. 

I've modelled three vehicles, one with a Bren Team, one with a small rifle team and the last one empty, to used when one of the other vehicles has delivered its passengers. I enjoyed these so much I may buy a few more!

These models are from Skytrex and came with a nice selection of crew to put in them. On their website, it shows the passengers sat with their legs inside the vehicles, but I've seen several pictures with troops sat the other way around, legs over the sides, presumably ready to leap off at a moments notice. I was in a real quandary about how to assemble these but in the end, I found enough period photo's showing them as Skytrex had them, so I went with "arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times". 

(Scoring: 3x15mm Vehicles & 9x15mm Infantry = 42 Points)

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Lovely job Lee! A couple of jeeps fitted with LMGs will really add some mobility and flanking options to your elite infantry force.  They were also used to tow glider deployed AT guns and light Howitzers, just in case you were wondering what else to add to your army! :-)

Cap'n Wednesday

From: Gary Amos: Cost of Entry thingy - small Confederate command base (20 Points)

Bit of a rush job because real life continues to interfere. Nevertheless, I submit  below the 'Cost of Entry' figure. obviously, not a single figure, but either guy looked a bit lonely as a singleton, so I did both. Anyway, if you're putting together a  couple of dozen figures for a battalion/regiment, these'll be more use. They're firmly fixed, but should pop off the base without too much sweat, so rebasing won't kill anyone. They're both Perry 28mm.

As I understand it, that'll be 20 points please. (Hope I've done this right . . . .)

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A lovely little entry offering there Gary, I'm sure the recipient will enjoy them

Actually thats 10 points for the two figs, 20 for the Curtgeld bonus and I'll throw in a bonus point for the flag too - 31 points for you!

Cap'n Wednesday

From NoelW: Enter the Larder: (139 points)

 “At last! At last!” Titchy squeaks like an excited chew-toy. “We enter the Sanctum Sanctorum!”

“Keep it down, Titchy, They’ll hear.”

 “Over all those fireworks they’re letting off? I don’t think so. No, Gnawbone. Heel!”

Getrude gestured at the barricade across the only door: a pile of boxes, bags, torn scrolls and chests. With their weapons leaning against them, a dozen men in blue coats are firing their weapons into the room beyond.

“Yes, Clerihew,” Getrude mouthed. “Two syllables. Pour foot? Tip something out? Tip toe!”

Clerihew raised his thumb approvingly, and began to creep across the room.

“If we’re quiet, we can cross the room and leave without them noticing us. If only there was another way out.”

“Tiptoe? Leave? We’re in the heart of the Chambers of Challenge, the very epicentre of all that matters in the world. The Larder! Here we will find the target of our quest, the Greatest Treasure the World…”

“...is getting particularly fed up with,” growled Elfbow, “Yes, we’ve heard it all before. But what good will it do if we're surrounded by men with sharp knives and those wretched gun things?”

“It’s just a Larder,” mutters Merlissa, looking around.

“And what do larders contain but food,” continued Titchy. “And what is more magical than food? Nothing! The Treasure must be here. That great pig could be Henwen, the fortune telling pig of Penwigion.”

“Or it may simply be bacon in waiting. And I suppose that constipated goose in the pantryman’s arms is preparing to launch an infinite stream of golden eggs?”

“It might be.”

“Or it might just be developing a taste for sage and onion. And now you’re going to tell me those bananas are the Forbidden Fruit from the Garden of Eden, or the Golden Delicious of the Hesperides?”

“Might be.” Titchy scowled. “Well at the very least - let me get one of those scrolls. You can see from here they’re all recipes.”

“They're recipes for disaster, that’s what they are.”

“Could still be tasty...”

There’s a sudden flurry of gunfire, as grey shadows mass on the far side of the barricade. Merlissa takes her chance, grabs the pantryman.

“Tell us how to get out of here,” she snarls.

“Follow the dogs,” he hisses. Or it might have been the goose. "They’re lead you out of here.”

"Woof!" Scruff agrees.

Three dogs on their hind legs are carrying trays cross the room, ignored by the men with guns. They pantryman lifts a sack from the floor revealing a trapdoor hidden beneath it. Opening it, the dogs descend, quickly followed by Merlissa, Elfbow and Clerihew, with Getrude dragging Titchy behind her and the rest of the party clambering down a dark staircase, gunfire getting quieter behind them.

***

That completes the first level of the Chambers.

For the Larder I searched out a few oddments of food I could find hidden in various places in the far too extensive unpainted collection. The pantryman is a goose seller from, I think, early Citadel figures. The pig is Reaper Bones and the three dogs as waiters are Mithril figures, Beorn’s servants. 

The pile of chests is a particularly good Terrain Crate model, as is the trapdoor. The bananas are Wargames Foundry.

The defenders of the barricade are a unit of Continentals from the Revolutionary War (or AWI) made by the Perrys. I’ve painted them with the Pennsylvania 4^th in mind, as the same uniform can be used for several other units, too. However, I’m not entirely sure about the blue I’ve used. Most of the sources I’ve seen favour a dark blue, rather than the mid blue I’ve chosen. I may decide  to give them a further dark blue wash. 

The two flags are from Flags for the Lads.

Scoring:

23 x 28mm figures: 115 points
Flags: 2 pts
Terrain bits: 2 pts??
Larder: 20 pts

Total: 139 points

And 2 more Squirrel points.

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Well that is quite a characterful submission and I love the narrative. Sadly my Beagles are more up for scoffing anything they can find as fast as possible, vice serving their beloved master...  Your Continentals from the American Mutiny Revolution are lovely and I really like the mid blue jacket colour - a bit faded to show their experienced service supporting the new Republic, and the extra brightness will look great on the table I'd wager. Good stuff Noel!

Cap'n Wednesday

From Matt K - Entry Fee and More Necromunda (80 pts)

For this year's entry fee I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. For the Entry fee and for the Hall of Traps -

The figure is a Reaper bones figure that I've always wanted to paint. The Mimic. It was a super quick paint job but the sculpt has a decent amount of character to it. I have a ton of bones stuff I've grabbed over the years but this is actually the first on I've put paint to. I have a second one for my own collection so I figured I'd pass this on to one lucky winner. 

I kept the base generic stone grey in case the new owner wants to make it match their dungeon better. 

As you may remember last year, I spent a fair chunk of the challenge working on stuff for Necromunda. I havent painted a single Necromunda figure since last challenge surprisingly and even more strangely, I've only played the one game so far but boy do I love painting the figures. 

Here is a starting gang for Van Saar. Like an idiot I went to order the new figures for this gang along side the book and accidentally ordered a second box of gangers. 

I pulled the actual list from a Goonhammer article but added the shield just because the clear plastic is neat. In keeping with my new goal of finishing two things before buying one, I'm holding out on buying the new stuff until I get another box finished but I'm already about halfway through building the Orlock Gang. 

All told, 1 x 28mm figure 5pts, Hall of Traps 20pts, Entry Fee Bonus 20pts, 7 x 28mm figures 35pts for a total of 80 pts

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Very nice Matt -the Mimic figure is full of character, as is anything from GW's Necromunda range.

80 points for your treasure chest!

Cap'n Wednesday

KenR - 28mm Italian Allied Cavalry Part 1 (120 points)

 

Well with a third of the Challenge done, I'm right where I was hoping to be with the 28mm Allied Legion Project, Velites (minus the 8 deserters !), Hastati and one of the two Cavalry units done and dusted.

Bit of a change with this unit, not only is it the first none Victrix unit, its the first Cavalry unit and also the first metal figure unit. So these figures are from a company called Aventine, a company I have admired from afar for a long time but never had a reason to buy any, until now.

Detail on the figures is super, they really paint up lovely. Shield transfers from LBMS again and a familiar 🤔 emblem on the banner ! UP THE CHICKENS 🐔 

Figures are on 60 x 60 bases with 3 Cavalry to a base, same base size as the infantry just to make life easier and at 10 points a piece that will net me 120 points.

Just to finish off is the, now traditional, project in motion picture. Next up Principes Part 1 or possibly the entry figure which has made it onto the paint table.

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I'm loving watching this army grow Ken, as I'm sure many others are too - very inspiring!  Love these figures where the colours bring them to life without being over the top. And the "Part 1" in the submission title didn't go unnoticed either :-)

Cap'n Wednesday

From MartinC American Civil War US Marines at Adventurers Landing (142pts)

 So my previous detour was to have a US marine landing party. These are a little different as they are ACW US Marines. I made a decision with my ACW collection last year, not to buy more standard troops. So I bought some weird ones and the US Marines fall into that category. At the start of the war 1/3 of the marines joined the rebel side. The Marines fought at the 1st Bull Run and then mainly guarded naval bases

They are Crusader Miniatures and were a great unit to paint with white trousers and belts 

I based them in swampy ground, there were no ACW amphibious landings

And a nice sized 24 figure unit

So 24 x 28mm figs - 120, 2 flags = 2, Chambers of Challenge bonus = 20pts = 142pts

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While I'm no Marine, the Cap'n knows a thing or two about coming ashore and making a ruckus! Reckon your boys here will do that for you in spades.  Nice to see the Marines get some attention as they are often lost amongst the greater scale of the conflict. A very nice entry indeed Martin!

Cap'n Wednesday 

From MartinC Sarah's Sorceress (25pts)

 So a quick change of route around the Chambers of Challenge, the reason will be obvious in the next post. Therefore I need to teleport from The Armoury to Adventurer's Landing. So it's time to add to Lady Sarah's legion of ladies

This figure is from Hasslefree and I love the pose. I appear to own most of the hasslefree catalogue

She looks very much like she is either undercover or walking away from the scene of a crime

So 5 points for the figure and 20 points for the air miles - 25pts

Next post to follow shortly

You have us all awaiting the next post with baited breath Martin!

Cap'n Wednesday

From JasperO - USS Essex enters The Aquifer (45) points

I've been working on a variety of topics since the Challenge began, but we're almost a month in now and I thought I'd better finish something! So here's USS Essex, fresh from hunting whalers, hiding from HMS Surprise in The Aquifer.

It's the Warlord Black Seas model built pretty much straight from the box. I've built about a dozen of the ships from this range now and I'm really enjoy them. Replacing the provided bobbin of thread with some modeller's rigging thread (which has some lycra in it) makes that fiddly part of the build so much easier. 

Here's USS Essex with her larger companion USS Constitution which I finished just before the Challenge started. Together they should make quite the pair on the table in their striking colours (and hopefully making their enemies strike theirs... Sorry, I'll leave now...)

I'm not entirely sure about points. It's 20 points for the Chamber, and 1/700 fully rigged up frigates seem to get about 25, so a total of 45?

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Oooohhh... This is nice indeed Jasper, with sure lines and steady sails! Classic ships which helped found the beginnings of the modern US Navy. Lovely job!

Frigates are indeed usually at the 18-20 points mark, and I'll go to 25 for the additional rigging, ratlines and flags.  May she find a Willing Foe and Sea-room! 

Cap'n Wednesday

From PeterD Gallery of Ancestors - The Scrap Iron Flotilla (35 points)

I had an abundance of choices for this chamber.  My dad served in the RN in Korea on shore bombardment, my material grandfather fought with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in WW1 and my paternal great grandfather fought in the Tirah Campaign on India's NorthWest Frontier.  However, I went with this set of five elderly Australian destroyers for my WW2 project as they are professional ancestors of our esteemed Minion du jour as Paul is a High Mucky-Muck Brass Monkey in the RAN.

These ships were WW1 vintage destroyers, 4 V&W class plus a Scott class leader that were transferred to the RAN in the 1930s.  They served in the Med from 1940-1 and were christened the "Scrap Iron Flotilla" by Goebbels and derided as such in Lord Haw Haw's broadcasts.  However they served with great distinction mostly on the Tobruk Ferry Service shipping supplies to the Aussie garrison of that beleaguered port city.  The survivors were transferred east for repairs as their engines wore, coming back into service just in time for the Japanese onslaught.  They actually don't fit the timeline of my WW2 focus, but I just like the story of these old ships.  Of the five HMAS Waterhen was sunk in 1941 on the Tobruk run, Vampire by Japanese carrier planes in 1942 (along with the carrier HMS Hermes) and Voyager was lost in the Timor campaign in 1942.  

These are all 1/2400 scale CinC sculpts with modifications.  These ships were designed to fight a second Jutland agains the Kaiser's High Seas Fleet and ended up fighting an entirely different war.  The 4" gun in position (that's the mount at the very back fo the ship Greg) was replaced with extra depth charge throwers.  Similarly the aft (rearmost Greg) set of torpedo tubes was replaced with  a 3" AA gun.   My Xacto skills were up to removing the gun and tubes and I bodged together mostly reasonable facsimiles of the AA gun in its band box from GHQ leftover bits.  

As with earlier ships camp patterns are based on Mal Wright's excellent book and are mostly historical for the actual ships in 1941.

The ship's names were not originally Australian but have become part of RAN lore and  have been rescued.  There is a modern HMAS Stuart, a shore establishment HMAS Waterhen and the second HMAS Vampire is a museum ship in Sydney.

HMAS Stuart was a slightly bigger ship, but no 1/2400 Scott class leader exists so I used another V class.  She should be 20' longer with an extra 4" gun amidships.  I thought about bodging one together from two hulls but decided I'd like to maintain some use of my left hand.  The twenty extra feet is 1/10" at 1/2400. 

The history of these ships can be found in short form on Wikipedia and in long form here.  A musical tribute to the Scrap iron Flotilla can be found played by the RAN band below.

Points wise that 10 for the 5 1/2400 scale hulls plus 20 for the Chamber plus what ever brownie points I get from toadying up to the Captain!  

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This entry is a real treat Peter, thank you. The Scrap Iron Flotilla  has a special place within the RAN and there is an annual dinner in their honour. I understand a book of their history may be in the making too.  Several were also involved in the Battle of Crete by the way,  along with two of our N class Destroyers and the Cruiser HMAS PERTH (later sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy at Sunda Strait along with USS HOUSTON)

Take your points with a few bonus for successful toadying as well as the madness of refitting ships in this scale!

DrQ: Halflings in The Larder (35 points)

From the Hatchery I've headed back up the stairs to level one to finish off the floor by completing the Larder challenge.

For this area I made a dent on my Blood Bowl backlog by painting three halflings for my Old World Alliance team the Anvilguard Yellow Jackets. The combination of halflings' infamous appetites combined with their kitchenware kich aesthetic makes them a perfect fit for the larder.

The idea for this paint scheme for this team started a few years back when my (American) football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, played a game wearing throw-back uniforms from their first season. For most of the teams history the uniforms were some combination of green and silver, but in their 1933 debut they wore blue and yellow (the colours of the city & state, taken from the Sweedish flag that once flew over the colony). 

I came to find out with a little research that the more direct reason for the colours of that original Eagles team is that the newly-minted Philadelphia Eagles had inherited players and gear from earlier defunct team named the Frankfurt Yellow Jackets, which had gone into bankruptcy two years earlier. Taking that earlier name and colourways, I then interjected this team into the Age of Sigmar for the location of Anvilgard as the team's host city. 

I currently have the dwarfs from the Grand Alliance team primed and in various states of completion on my desk as a palette cleanser from so many orks, but we'll have to see if and when they get painted up.

As far as points, these three hungry hopefuls should be 15, with another 20 for the challenge bonus. 

From here I'll need to paint up something for Sarah the Sorceress for a teleport down to my next locale back down on level two...

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The Cap'n does love a bit of Blood bowl, though our Crew Team is now looking for a new catcher after ours tripped on a deck cleat during practice last week, went over the side and into the maw of a big sea beastie. Love the history of your team colours - 35 points for you!

Cap'n Wednesday 

From Mike W - Late 17th Century dismounted Polish Dragoons (41 Points)

Second post of the day is a group of dismounted Polish Dragoons that have just been completed. These eight figures were added to the painting pile to bulk out a similar group of 12 figures that I had completed over the summer. You can find a link to our club website <HERE> to see further details of this earlier group...

Unpainted figures ready to be painted

The aim was to add enough figures to the existing unit to expand it out to 3 full squadrons each of 6 figures, plus a couple extra to allow additional flexibility for the fielding of a second regiment - hence an additional standard bearer and officer figure in the new group. Painting was designed to allow the new group to be integrated into the existing figure group.

Finished group of Polish Dragoons

Figures were old Essex models acquired via eBay and they appealed to me as they give a good motley mixture of poses and dress types that agrees with my view of how these early dragoons operated.

Another view of the new group of figures

Figures were undercoated in white before having blue jackets added to red trousers and hats. the hats were varied , I even added one figure with out a hat by replacing this with a plastic Gripping Beast Dark Ages Archer's head.

Mixture of dress styles to promote the diversity of dress
likely to have been found in such units at the time

I also kept the fire lock muskets on this group to add another layer of variety to add to the over all group.

The flag is based on an image of an old Polish Cossack flag that I found on the internet.

A simple blue flag with White cross was selected as an alternative regimental banner.

I washed the painted figures with watered down Dark tone Army Painter ink and varnished with Newton & Windsor's Matt varnish.

The two groups of figures deployed together for the first time

Bases were completed with fine sand cover and electrostatic grass.

POINTS

8 x 28mm figues @ 5 Pts each     = 40 Points

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I too like this motley band and their individual appearance, they look great together with their comrades - take 41 points with a bonus for the flag

Cap'n Wednesday