From RayR - Skaro - Strange Doctors - Studying the skies and fauna of Haiti (45 points)

  

One of my favourite posts from last years Challenge was by Paul Scrivens-Smith, he posted some Napoleonic Scientists from Brigade Games in the US. 

Yes he is using a 3 inch brush to write his notes before anyone says anything?

Paul was living in the states at the time and offered to purchase the figures for me as he was heading back to blighty shortly. Paul got me these fine looking fellows as well as some other bits and bobs from Brigade Games.

Like Paul's figures, the table and other equipment all come from the WizzKids Range

In 1798 Napoleon headed for Egypt taking with him 160 scientists, engineers and artists to study the wonders of Egypt. My figures will head the other way over to Haiti, to study the stars and local fauna.

They are all of course Doctors of Astronomy, Biology and Naturalism.

All very Strange indeed!

So they fit in perfect with planet Skaro/Strange Doctors theme. Now I've completed 4 planets on the outer ring I'd like to head for Cybertron.

4 x 25mm figures @5pts = 20pts

Table and equipment 5pts

Skaro Bonus 20pts

So 45 pts in total!

 

                                          

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Thanks for this Ray. The figures here are really neat, and well-painted, but I particularly enjoy Challenge posts that feature connections between different participants in the Challenge. It's a big globe, but this hobby can help make it a smaller world. I hope Paul will be chuffed to see these painted up, and be part of your cool Haitian Revolution project. Well done. 

GregB

From Curt: Moonstone Cultists - Gwendoline, Kavanagh, Brother Daniel and Loubard (52 Points)

Hi All!

Similar to some of you, I'm in the midst of several things all at once, madly trying to keep some focus, all the while enjoying all the excellent Challenge entries. Notwithstanding fits of squirrelness, I've managed to get these Moonstone figures to a point where I could submit them as a group. I've completed a couple Moonstone characters already, but I wanted to get an actual group of them done up to enjoy in upcoming games, and to count for a proper Squirrel Point.

First up is Gwendoline, a Faerie priestess, allied to the Cultist faction. Hey, everyone loves a cultists, right? Well, I have four for you today, so lots of eldritch creepiness to go around.

Funny, I already have a decent sized troupe of faeries in my collection, but not one of them can heal. This is the problem with picking figures for their 'looks cool factor', without considering their actual capabilities on the tabletop. So, Gwendoline,  with her Rejuvenate spell, is a very welcome addition to the cultist faction. This will allow the little winged rascals to take some hits with some hope of getting healed. She also has a few other tricks up her sleeve, such as Scry and Ethereal Allure, which can subtly assist her allies as well.

I had a lot of fun working on her flowered hair and wings. 

She's a lovely, tremendously detailed figure, with a few tiny parts that had to be glued just-so. While working on her, muttering curses under my breath, I couldn't help but think that the relative complexity of some of these models may limit Moonstone as purely a boutique 'advanced hobbyist' game. I couldn't imagine being new to the hobby and having to work with some of these models, both in their assembly and painting. Certainly they are exquisite, but they're often very intricate and quite demanding. 

Next we have Loubard, a giant cultist with a big, freakin' censer for him to swing, wallop and entangle his opponents. 

This guy can be an absolute beast in combat, especially if he's paired up with spellcasters, like the Witches, who can jack-up his abilities and potentially trigger multiple attacks. Fun!

I love his expansive belly and oh-so delicate pinkies.

Then we have relatively diminutive Brother Daniel, a rather demented, but optimistic cultist cleric. 

Dux, doesn't he look a bit like Paul?

He's a great support character, who's special abilities provide healing and additional movement for friendly models.

Daniel's figure is wonderfully whacky. I especially like his unabashed skipping, all the while holding his 'The End is Nigh!' placard. Such a wonderful weirdo.

Finally, we have Kavanagh, the rather nefarious Jongler cultist.

Again, another very characterful model. Rather a creepy little bugger, but I like him.

Kavanagh is a great disruption character, especially with his Juggling Fate and Butterfingers abilities.

I had an interesting painting challenge with him, trying to mimic creepy-clown-makeup TM, with just a trace of his underlying skin tone peeking through the white makeup in a few spots. I decided to work from the base layer up, with a fully painted face that I varnished. I then held my breath as I mostly covered it with successive layers of thinned grey paint using light blotting, which removed in spots with spirits. This required a leap of faith from me as I was concerned I'd botch the job, but the effect came off alright, I think.

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As to points, Kavanagh is a 28mm figure, Gwendoline and Brother Daniel are both 40mm, and the hulking-but-delicate bruiser, Loubard, is 54mm - making that a total of 29 base points. This will be enough to give me a Squirrel Point. Eaaxcellent. 

I'll also use Gwendoline as my ticket on Sarah's Star Yacht to take me to my next stop, the Imperial planet Corsucant. That will give me another 20 bonus points. So, 49 points total.

Another letter to add to the Alphabet Soup Challenge - 'C' is for 'Cultists'. Nine down.

Aaand, these four Moonstone models will give me enough to check off a fifth entry on my Challenge Project List. Almost half way there!

1. French Indochina
2. 10mm Fantasy
3. Moonstone
4. Malta
5. Italian Wars
6. Sisters of Battle
7. 28mm Napoleonics
8. Spanish Civil War
9. 28mm Modern
10. 20mm WWII
11. Retreat from Moscow
12. Dungeon Crawl

Thanks for dropping in for a look folks! Have a great day!

- Curt

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Brilliant brushwork as ever dude - these are the fantastic sculpts of Canadian public health experts Moonstone cultists, brilliantly capturing the unique look and feel - and projecting that neat setting - for a game that has so nicely caught your interest! 

The work on that clown face sounds tricky as hell, certainly beyond my skills, but I hope you are pleased with the results, it looks fabulous. Well done all around! Assembling that "Gwendoline" models looks like it was a massive pain in the #ss as well - some of those flowers? Wow! I can imagine you created some inventive new incantations while muttering to yourself. I am awarding a couple extra points for that clown face, and the general trickniness of these figures, combined with fine execution!

On to further "squirrelness"!

GregB

From GeorgeS - French Algerian Zouaves 1:32 Franco-Prussian War (93 points)

      Hello everyone!  No progress on the map this week. I like to stay some more days on Arda to prepare my journey's next stop " Vulcan"  . My trooper for that expedition is almost trained but not ready to present yet..

      So just for some points, I present today some 1:32 Armies In Plastic figures. I'm not 100% satisfied with the sculpts but this is known about AIP figures. Though the sculpt af AIP figures is a bit coarse and not fully realistic, it is very nice for Toy Soldiers and it is the only brand that covers so many eras and topics.

     

       These are French Algerian Zouaves from the Franco-Prussian war 1870.  Painted in a High "Toy Soldier" standard. The bases are not decorated 'cause they are going to be part of a Diorama base , so they will be covered in place. I've just painted them black in order to decently present them here. 

   

 That's all for now. Next week my spaceship will move again to a trip to Vulcan.

so, till next time...

Keep Up The Brushes!! 

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You know what is great abouve Zouaves? EVERYTHING, THAT'S WHAT. Reviewing this is soothing to the hobby soul after two hours of removing 20cm of snow from my walkway and driveway. Zouaves - especially the real French ones - always look so cool on the table, no matter the scale. The brushwork here is fabulous to boot. Well done George.  I'm awarding bonus points because I love the Franco-Prussian War period, and I can do that sort of thing as a minion.

GregB

From PaulSS: 36th Pennsylvania Volunteers (92 points)

More ACW for the collection, this time the 36th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment, made up of Crusader Miniatures picked up from North Star.

It's a fairly small range that is often overlooked, but it's giving some nice variety to my forces that were previously all Perry Miniatures.

They are a little thinner than the Perry figures but do mix well on the table, but, I'd not have them in the same units.

The standards are from the Flags of War range and I've managed not to fog them this time. 

When there is a trim, like on this pair I do like to cut a few notches out of it and leave the edge a little less tidy. The fringe is then repainted in bronze, then gold with some thin black lines added so it looks like a fringe rippling rather than a solid block.

 

I saved a couple of bare footed figures from the Fighting 69th I added last time, this is probably a better shot of one of them. Don't fancy walking over that patch of rocks before him though!

Eighteen 28mm foot figures with two standards should add 92 points to the board for me.

American Civil War Duel Totalizer: 87 foot (504pts)

Napoleonic Duel Totalizer: 8 foot, 2 mounted (100pts)

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More incredible ACW output Paul, very nice. It is a credit to your painting style that, absent you pointing out the different 28mm ranges you make use of, it would otherwise all strike me as coming from the same range of sculpts - very, very nice work - again, the smooth blends, but still strong highlights. Great stuff. 

GregB

From BruceR - Lady Sarah's Star Yacht, Silver Bayonet Occultist, (25 points)

I managed to finish off my current Silver Bayonet pile.  I'm sure something new will pop up to take up space on the painting table.

I'm using the Occultist from North Star Miniatures to commission travel on Lady Sarah's Star Yacht to travel from Caprica to Glorantha.  

I painted the French Silver Bayonet miniatures as a group and it is quite different to paint individual character miniatures, when you are used to painting units.  I carved out the Occultist for the space travel and will post the other members of the French force.  This Occultist is a great figure and will do double duty for TSB and SP2.  

Occultist

1 25mm foot = 5 pts

Lardy Sarah's Star Yacht =20 pts

Total = 25 pts

Thanks all.  Stay well.  BruceR

 

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Very nice Bruce, I've no doubt Sarah will be pleased to coordinate travel on her yacht courtesy of this fine work. Neat to see some of these North Star figures getting some attention in the Challenge.

 

"Occultist" - maybe I should write that into a tax form this year to see what happens? 

 

GregB

From PaulSS: 14th Virginia Infantry Regiment - (123 points)

Another regiment of infantry musters for the Confederates with the 14th Virginia Infantry Regiment advancing to the fore.

All the figures are from the Perry Miniatures American Civil War Confederate Infantry 1861-65 set, the troops this time assembled in right shoulder shift. 

The pair of standards are from Flags of War, I'll likely go back and redo the pair of units I did earlier in the challenge now that I have a stash.

Some close ups of the individual bases.

I also finished off the last few Confederate infantry figures I had, creating a command stand that will be the foundation of a Mississippi regiment at a later date.  

Twenty four 28mm foot figures with three standards should add 123 points to the board for me.

American Civil War Duel Totalizer: 69 foot (412pts)

Napoleonic Duel Totalizer: 8 foot, 2 mounted (100pts)

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Impressive painting as always Paul - smooth blending, clean lines, and an incredible rate of production. I am also impressed by the appearance density you achieve with three 28mm figures on the base. What size of base do you use for this project? Might be an idea I need to steal for my Franco-Prussian War figures...

GregB