From Barks: More Descent (20 points)

A few more Descent figures. I don't like the sculpts or the pseudobiology behind these dragon-men, but at least they're painted now. I'm following the art and trying just SpeedPaints for these, and could really do with an extra highlight. They're over a plain white undercoat (which hasn't quite cured right...) and I think something with a touch of shading or zenithal would be better. The thing I do enjoy is to try out new shades- the green is Forest Sprite, which has a nice yellowish tint for orc skin or other vegetation.

Hybrid Sentinels

Hero: Reynhart the Worthy

4x28mm figures (20 points)

+6 skullz

From Millsy: I can see why you didn't enjoy these Barks, they do have an odd set of proportions about them and the posing is a bit robotic. They almost looks like flats to me. Even so you've done a great job with them and the red/green combo is really eye catching. Nice work!

From Kerry T - Napoleon Crossing the Alps (30 points)

Morning, afternoon and evening all

One of the nicest things I think you can do on holiday is to visit museums and galleries and over the years I've been fortunate enough to do this. I've really enjoyed some of the paintings I've seen

Its always interesting to look at famous paintings but whenever we get an opportunity to visit a major gallery or museum I'm always keen to head off and look at the military art on show.

One of the first times I came close to seeing an example was on a trip To Vienna where we visited the Belvedere Museum.

Napoleon Crossing the Alps by David

The painting commemorates Napoleon's epic journey leading the army across the Alps in 1800. I read that though Napoleon chose the scene, he refused to attend any sittings. Apparently David was instructed to show him "calm, mounted on a  fiery steed" and consequently ended up asking his son to sit on the top of a ladder in order to capture the pose but was apparently able to borrow the uniform that Napoleon had worn at Marengo.

Typical wargaming tourist that I am I came back with a notebook, postcard and a print that I thought would look great in my games room. 

The notebook

Framing postcards is a cheap way to get Military art in your games room

Somewhere though between Vienna, the UK and NZ I lost the print I'd bought!

Fortunately the story does have a happy ending in that on of my birthdays my son had bought me a replacement, and it now hangs in the hallway outside my study and painting room

Its a little different from the one I saw in the Belvedere though...

It seems that David actually painted five versions (story here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps )

The link above advises that the version at the top of this post showing Napoleon in the red cloak is the 1803 version and was delivered to Milan but confiscated by the Austrians in 1816 being finally installed at the Belvedere in 1834. 

My hallway picture just above is apparently the 1801 version.

Guess what my son sent me for Christmas this year - As advertised on wargames foundry site https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/search?q=Napoleon

Thus I give you Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David err Kerry Wynn Thomas 😉🎨

Please therefore accept this entry as my "Art or artistic" contribution to the library section

In Summary

28mm Mounted figure 10 points

Art bonus @ 20 points

Grand total 30 points - hopefully I've not managed to repeat the dreadful and embarrassing mathematical error I did last week when claiming my points!

From Millsy: I've always been a huge fan of this series of paintings for so many reasons. All the various things that happened to the individual versions is a story unto itself. Your own execution in 3D is a wonderful exploration of the subject Kerry and I particularly like the composition with the larger base and lack of groundcover forcing your eye upwards onto the subject. Choosing the golden cloaked iteration is a nice change as most are painted red I would think. Points are spot on you are forgiven by the score gods mate.

From TomL: Stompy Robots at the Gift shop for 70 points

Leading us to the AHPC Library Gift Shop is The Maharani from Bob Murch’s Daughters of the Empire pack.

Several friends of mine made massive investments in the recent KS Battlemech campaigns.  There was a bit of moaning about having so many mechs to paint when the waves of boxes started arriving. I suggested they bring me some units and I would help paint them.  For my gift shop submission I present the polarizing, loved or hated - Urban mechs.

For one friend we have a random scheme using his current unit palette and for the other we have a unit in my approximation of a blue digital urban cammo.  First was painted using contrast paints and washes.  The unit was painted using Vallejo paints and stippling.  Not quite as crisp as a true digital cammoflage pattern but overall I like it.  Both finished with a vallejo deck tan drybrush for weathering.

70 Points.  
I am assuming these smaller mech's are treated as 28mm so correct if needed.  

5 BattleTech Mechs @ 5 points for 25
Gift Shop for 20
1 28mm figure @ 5 points for 5
Library Cart for 20

These would count for the stompy mech's duel.

From Millsy: Lovely work on The Maharani Tom, especially the colour choices for the turban and tunic. Two lighter colours don't always work well together but you've really nailed it this time! Those walkers really take me back to the glory days of stomping about hex maps, heat sinks aglow and rocket pods blazing. 28mm seems about right so we'll score them that way. Another 70 points for your tally mate!

From KentG: 40mm Napoleonic French & British cavalry (points 75)

 Had a new commission arrive on Friday, undercoated Saturday, 

painted it Sunday. I had so much fun painting these, 

and I used my time isolating from my wife who had covid. 

what better place to hide than my painting room

The figures are 40mm Perry Miniatures 

I was expecting 40mm to be exceptionally detailed and well made

and if they had been in 28mm the detail would have been amazing

but I had to use quite a bit of green stuff to fix where the horse and heads 

didn't fit properly.

Even with that I loved painting the figures and this 

Hussar was one of my favorites in the end

This chap was the one British Cavalry figure and the first time for me

 painting British Cav really like the way he came out

I struggled a bit with the blue of his uniform as I was missing a color 

I need to get the color right

French infantry officer, the sword on this guy was so thin and 

was scary to work with, I informed the customer that all the swords

were very thin and had been badly bent in transit to me.

This photo above is just such an iconic pose and I really like it

This hussars was another of my favorite figures

maybe it's because I enjoy painting the colorful uniform

Another Hussar, i suppose you just can't get enough of them can you

I forgot to add matt varnish to the rider before the photo

each figure will have two coats of gloss varnish two coats of matt

then a final coat of hand painted ultra matt varnish to finish

                    Points

    

                   5 x 40mm Cavalry 15pts each = 75pts

                                                              Total 75pts

From Millsy: These are just beautiful Kent and really showcase your ability at a larger scale. I suspect you enjoyed these a lot more than the 18mm stuff you've been doing of late. It's a shame you had to do some prep work in order to get them up to scratch although I suppose the larger minis merit that to get results of this quality. Cracking work mate!

From GeoffreyT: Bangarang bot and some old lead (True Crime, Cooking, 70 points)

Hello Challengers,

I have been struggling a bit with some old true scale 25mm figures, they are very fine models, but harder to paint than bigger ones.  So for some relief, here is a much bigger one.

This is scratch build for 'Bill Making Stuff's game 'Bangarang in the Gutterlands' a game designed for scratch built bead bots, as invented by Bill on YouTube.  It is about 54 mm sized.  It reminds me of a Warmahordes Warjack, so seems kind of superfluous as I already have plenty of models from that range that would suit the game.  This is an "upper", you can watch the channel for more lore.  I had a go painting in the style Bill does.  This was my first attempt at use EVA foam sheet for scratch-building, and I must agree it is very good.

Next I have a wee 25mm model for True Crime library section, an old Julie Guthrie “Thief" from Grenadier.  It is very finely detailed and is way beyond my painting skill to work on these days.  But it does jag me some bonus points, even if I cant paint it well.  As said, I struggled with this, but when the painting gets hard, just use a wash and leave the highlighting out I say.

Finally for this week is 3 more very old miniatures, these are bar denizens from Soldiers and Swords miniatures.  Again in a true 25mm scale and too small for me to work on well.  they are very nice models tho, apart from some nasty mould lines and flash.  These will be useful for all games where adventerers start in a tavern.  This should also net me bonus points for Cookery, as ale is really a food, as proven by anyone who has just beer for dinner.

I have now completed all but the final library challenge, for which the Snowlord has set me a task.

For this week I have

4 x 25mm infantry = 20 points

1 x 54mm infantry = 10 points

2 x library shelves = 40 points

Grand Total = 70 points.

Kind Regards

Geoff

From Millsy: There's some lovely old skool lead here Geoff, especially that Grenadier thief which I also have in my collection. Yours is a much nicer paint job though, mine was done 30+ years ago with enamels and gloss varnish! I particularly like the hand painted bases on all the 25s which really make them stand out from most stuff. Bangarang in the Gutterlands looks interesting and I will have to look into it!

From SteveA: Grabbing 3 Challenge books and putting them on the book cart! (108 points)

Heya there,   for my post this week I want to take a bite out of my painting backlog shaped by the  very kinds of themed painting challenges that first drew my attention to the AHPC.  Also I want to over come some slack in my points progress as end of the this year's AHPC draws near.  Thus my model count here is few, but each parcel of panting  does ding its own challenge point check box..

I delved into my blues, greens and brown colors to paint up a Troll (akin to the Trolls of children's stories such as The Three Billy Goats Gruff ) to serve as wandering monster in future games of Frost Grave, and to enable me to  pull a  "Children's Book" for Library Challenge.

The female Wizards apprentice I painted up for my FrostGrave Warband - will spin the wheels  of Lady Sarah’s Library Cart  to carry me to a new section in the Library.

I jumped off  of Lady Sarah’s Library  Cart to meet the Maritime challenge with a Star-Spawn of Cthulhu mini that Wizkids Games put out for Pathfinder a few years back.  According to the pathfinderwiki.com, the smallest Star-Spawn stands nearly 30 feet in height, (cited from "Wake of the Watcher," a Pathfinder RPG adventure) Thus, I am assuming this elder thing bursting up from deep waters can be scored as a 54 mm mini and also ding me a check box for the Maritime Library challenge   ( or if not the Maritime Challenge, then I submit this old one mini for consideration under the Romance Novel challenge... after all who  among us does not  harbor a mad dark love within their spoiled hearts for the remorseless cosmic might of Cthulhu and his spawn)

The tank may at first seem a little out of place between an aegis of cosmic horror and a couple figures for frozen fantasy, but for me to meet the challenge for Local History, this Sherman Tank M4 model  (2002, ArmourFast, 1/72 plastic kit,  No 99001)  is very similar to the Sherman M4 Tank War Memorial  that still stands proudly in my old  childhood neighborhood.

I aim to be somewhat brief and concise with my posts, so rather than recount the Local Tank War Memorial's history, I will instead provide link to a site describing the real M4 Tank of my childhood memories.

The Sherman Tank Memorial: https://www.rclwinnipeg100.ca/2010/03/06/80/

Thus with a load of  3 Library Challenge books pulled from shelves and placed upon the Lady Sarah’s Library  Cart, I believe I have made some overdue progress to paint me up some challenge points.

 5 pts  x1 Troll Foot Figure 28mm

20 pts Challenge Library: Children's Books

 5 pts x1 Wizard Apprentice (Female) Foot Figure 28mm

20 pts Lady Sarah’s Book Cart

10 pts x1 Star Born Foot Figure 54mm

20 pts Challenge Library: Maritime

 8 pts x1 Sherman M4  Tank 1/72 Scale, (score as Vehicle 15mm) 

20 pts Challenge Library: Local History

Total = 108 points

TeemuL: No worries, Cthulhu is a well known maritime entity. In fact he could easily be pretty much anything he wants... Iä, Iä! (Yes, I have nice Finnish keyboard, where there actually is a key for "ä"). And like Cthulhu embraces everything in the end, you grab quite a lot of Library locations and thus points. I guess the troll is an old WHFB troll? And your local Sherman looks business, but in the end doesn't have a chance against Cthulhu. Or Wizard... May be a small change against a troll. :)

From RayR: Hakuna Matata [Children's Book] (30 points)

 

Children’s Books: Something sweet for the kiddies, or perhaps something darker, maybe a little 

Edward Gorey?

Back in the late 90's my daughter Abi was obsessed with The Lion King, she was 3 at the time,  everyday after I picked her up from nursery school, I'd ask her what video she'd like to watch while I'd make her lunch, everyday for what seemed like years she would pick Disney's The Lion King.

This is the film that I've watched the most, honestly I don't know how many times I've seen it, but its got to run into the 300+ mark, easily!

Still to this day, I can resight the script and of course sing all the songs!

Abi wasn't just interested in the Disney film, she had plates, mugs, soft toys, bed covers, bags and everything imaginable, including this book.

Which of course I read and re-read several hundred times! The book came as part of a collection, every month, we'd get 2 different Disney books delivered to our house. The Lion King is the only book we have left from back then. I'll be giving this to Abi soon after I post this, she's 30 this year and I know she's gonna love it!

The figures are all from North Star's African animal's range and are all 25mm.

Link

Obviously they're not all the same size so I'd guess they're worth 10 point as a total?

Simba, Pumba & Timon

So 10 points for the figures

and 20 points for bonus round, making a total of 30 points.

TeemuL: All right, let's sing a song! You can start, Ray! What a fantastic entry for Children's book. I guess I have not seen Lion King, but I have heard a lot of it and I guess your view ratio nicely averages mine. The minis look like made for the movie, very nice brushwork and I like the basing, too. 10 points (28mm cavalry) seems appropriate point amount.