From DallasE: Iron Within, Iron Without! (1980s/Retro, 70 points)

Submitting these lads for the 1980s/Retro Studio. Although these models are relatively new (they're the plastic Space Marines in MKIII "Iron Armour"), they're throwbacks in a couple of ways. I have some of the original metal versions of these dudes in various of my Space Marine armies - those models came out something like 30 years ago. And additionally, the models are "retro" in the sense that GW released them for gaming in the Horus Heresy, a time period 10,000 years before the current 40k timeline. Well, I'm convinced anyway... 

In any case, here they are - 10 Space Marines in MKIII armour, members of the IV Legion, the infamous Iron Warriors. Pictured above is the sergeant with plasma pistol and power fist, a classic combination.

The nine other Marines are all armed with Phobos-pattern boltguns.

The poseability of the plastic models is excellent, I love each of these poses.

The models were painted in the style of my other Iron Warriors models - basecoat in Leadbelcher, trim in Brass Scorpion, armour and trim washed with Nuln Oil (the armour done twice) and the trim washed with Reikland Fleshshade. The yellow pauldron stripes were basecoated Zandri Dust and gone over with Averland Sunset, washed with Agrax Earthshade and sponge chipped with Vallejo German Camo Black-Brown.

The bases were painted with Rhinox Hide, worked up with Mournfang Brown and Steel Legion Drab. The boots and greaves of the Marine were lightly drybrushed with Steel Legion Drab as well.
 

Rear views just to prove I painted the whole model ;-)

This squad will reinforce the significant bunch of Iron Warriors already in the cabinet. I really do like the colour scheme of this Legion as it's very workmanlike and easy to paint. The yellow hazard striping is a nice pop of colour on the models too.

10x 28mm infantry = 50 points
Studio Bonus = 20 points
Total = 70 points

Thanks for looking!

Absolutely love these figures, great work

From StuartL - A Smattering of Side Duels - Lady Sarah's Limousine - 182 Points

It seems that I have some catching up to do in my various side duels, so hopefully this post will help me catch up after taking an involuntary week off.

First of all, I have some additions for the Turnip28 side duel.

These two models are 'Toadies', the somewhat talentless junior officers in my growing Turnip28 army.  To signify their lofty rank, the duo are sporting the largest headgear they could find. There will be no mistaking them for the rank and file. The two figures are converted from Perrys WotR minis with a few extra growths added. The toady in red has a head from a British Napoleonic Hussar and arms from some Victrix British Infantry. The other model is all from the Perrys WotR kit. To make the growths, I driller a couple of holes in his back and inserted two short bits of wire. I then covered the wire with Vallejo Plastic Putty, adding a small amount to the shoulder of the other toady too.

Every good commander knows that artillery is the king of the battlefield and that is true in Turnip28 too. (I guess). So, I converted what is known as a Stump Gun.

The gun and most of it's carriage comes from a ship's cannon by Firelock games. The wheels and the ammo box were some spares I had in my bits box from some previous project or other. Finally, the crewman is more Victrix parts with some wire and putty growths on his back.

For scoring for the Turnip Side Duel, I have 25 Turnip Points. 

I have previously scored a Squirrel point for Turnip28, so these models don't add anything to that duel.

I am also entered into the Skullz Duel, so time to add some noggins to my tally. 

These terrain pieces are all from Reaper's Bones line. The two columns above stand about 7cm tall and feature small panels at the base packed with skulls and then a ring of skulls up near the top.

There are about 19 skulls on average in each of the inset panels. All of the terrain pieces here were painted in black and then given lighter and lighter drybrushes of grey. I added some brown wash to add some variety. In the case of one of the pillars below, I added some rose bushes to brighten it up a bit.

Of these pieces, the small, square piece in the centre has a skull on each of its 4 sides, while the central pillar has 2 skulls on each of its 3 sides.

So, in total this should add 178 skullz to my tally. Not bad for a days work. Points wise, these are nowhere near being even a small percentage of a challenge terrain cube, so I leave it up to my minion to score them. For scale purposes, the statue holding the shield is the same size as a 28mm figure, plus the plinth.

And that should bring me on to the Squirrel Duel. 

First, a squad of 5 WW2 Japanese infantry from Warlord Games. These will be added to my Bolt Action army for the battles of Imphal and Kohima.

Next we have a brood of 5 Genestealers for Warhammer 40,000. There are rumours that Tyranids will be getting new models in the starter box of the next edition of 40K, so I wanted to get some of my older Nid models done.

Some battle-worn Tau, also for Warhammer 40,000. I quite like the Tau minis, but find their usual bright colours to not really fit the grimdark aesthetic very well. So, I have opted for simple colours and lots of weathering on the armour.

And finally 5 Teutonic crossbowmen for Saga. These models are all from Fireforge Games. They are quite simple figures to build and paint. I still have loads more to do before I have enough for a game though.

So there we have 4 more Squirrels for my scoresheet.

And finally, I need to pay up for another trip in Lady Sarah's Limousine. I intend to head over to the Casting Couch for next week's entry, so I have another model from VOID, this time one of the lovely ladies from the VASA range.

Just noticed that line of paint on her shoulder. I'll have to paint over that.

And that brings me to the end of the post, so it is time to tally up the scores.

24x 28mm minis @5 points = 120 Points

1x 28mm artillery piece @10 points = 10 Points

6 decorative columns = ???? (Help me, oh great and all knowing Minion)

1x Limo ride @20 points = 20 Points

TOTAL = 150 Points + ????

My side duels:

Squirrels - 15

Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Dwarves, Fire Giants, WW2 Polish, Daemons, Viridians, Vasa, Junkers, Turnips, Necrons, Tau, Genestealers, WW2 Japanese, Teutonics

Skullz - 186

Turnips - 85 Points

See you all next week.

That is an extremely eclectic output and the genestealers are fantastic. Still don't understand the turnip thingy but more great scratch building. the columns will score as 28mm figures

DennisC 28mm Roman Velites, Slingers and Light Horse for Hail Caesar (150pts)

This week I worked on finishing off my second units of Lights.   I already had one unit each of Velites, Slingers and Light Cavalry with Javelin painted up for Art de la Guerre, but gearing up for the release of Hail Caesar 2, I wanted to get second units up.   The infantry I used GW Contrast, hence the white basecoats. 

I used Vallejo Prussian Blue for the shields though, and hand painted the laurels.   to differentiate from my first units, these laurels will be green not yellow.

Likewise, green laurels on the second unit of light cavalry

14x 28mm Inf plus 6x 28mm horse puts me at... <calculator noises>  130points

I made a trade with Scott Roach: I would get his painted Praetorians x20 in exchange for some metals.   I need units of 24 for Hail Caesar, so I had to 'paint 4 more' and also redo the shields (they were blue) and rebase them all.

Painting 4x Praetorians was nothing.   Rebasing everything was.. a bit of a chore.  These accursed WLG Praetorian shield decals.. it took me roughly ten hours to do just the 24 shields!   The most time-consuming 20 points :)

This puts me past my 750pt goal, so pushing forward, where next to conquer?

Hate transfers, love hand painted shields, some bonus points there for you. Great work

From : RichardH . Getting off the Starting Blocks (165 points)

 

It's taken me a while to get off the blocks on this comp, not for painting issues, but also for painting issues. I had so much going on that I simply didn't have time to stop and write entries. Now things have settled into a less manic (it's still just as manic) nature I can get in with everyone and make regular posts.

This first post has everything I managed to complete from the start date up until the end of the year (technically it was 00:07 when I brushed the last black rim, but I am claiming it all for that year!). As such it is a fairly eclectic mix of things from various games and styles.

First up are the miniatures from the board game Direwild, I've had this game over a year now and somehow kept avoiding getting them painted up, which considering the numbers makes little sense (It is hardly on the scale of a CMON game). But over the holiday period we wanted to get a lot of gaming done and so this seemed an ideal easy way to start both this challenge and shift some grey.

Apologies on the distortion of these, I managed to forget to scale them maintaining aspects and so we end up with lots of folks living in the belt.

The points for these I worked out as :

Direwild minis = 15 x 28mm @ 5pt = 75

Next up from another board game are the miniatures from Endangered Orphans, this was a backed Kickstarter I had been waiting on for far too long due to the covid delays and so was really keen to get playing. The big Tim Burton vibes on all the artwork also meant these plastic folks were definitely not sitting around and waiting.

The points for these I came to is:

Orphans minis = 3 x 28mm @ 5pt = 15

Orphans Bigs = 2 x 40mm @ 7pt = 14

Total = 29pt

Lastly I had finally managed to find some folks to play Stargrave with (after having owned all the books for well over a year and had roughed out several different ideas for crews). My current crew are still getting some finishing touches, but I wanted to bring something iconic to the first game as the random beasties. When someone says sci-fi and beasties there really is only one thing that any respectable nerd should think of (it is not a mogwai). 

So I fired up the printer and churned out a full batch of nightmares to torment our crews (they performed superbly while we did less so).

The points for these are :

Alien small minis (facehuggers and chestbursters while on 25mm bases are tiny so it felt wrong to try and claim them as anything larger than this) = 6 x 10mm @ 1pt = 6

Alien minis = 5 x 28mm @ 5pt = 25

Alien queen = 1 x 54mm @ 10pt = 10

Total = 41pt

One of the face huggers has been used to instead qualify for the 80s bonus location, I considered doing another for the sci-fi but have others in mind later for this.

This should put my total as:

Painted models = 145

Bonus = 20

Total = 165

THe Direworld figures are marvellous, if a little in cinemscope. I always love a good alien