From BrianC: Romans, Survivors, and school boy fantasy (100 points)

 Hello. Life has been happening over here. I don't have much, but it's something! We have some Romans(there will be more), Zombicide survivors(there will be more), and a Reaper Miniature. I will use one of the female survivors as  'Sarah the Succubus' to skip to 2nd Circle(Lust) No nudity, sorry wifey will not allow that. Ha! Here we go!

We have some Romans ready for action!

My Sarah The Succubus substitute: Zombicide Survivor, Maddie

A schoolboy fantasy Reaper Metal Miniature(2nd Circle)

 

Zombicide Survivor, Parker. She's a bad mamma jamma!

Lastly, we have Zombicide Survivor, Joe. He's about to light up our world!

Well, I use only Army Painter Speedpaints for most of my miniatures.

Let's do the very brief scoring...

12 Romans x 28mm = 60pts

1 Sarah The Succubus x 28mm = 5pts

1 Reaper Miniature x 28mm = 5pts

Access to 2nd circle = 20pts

2 Zombicide Survivors x 28mm = 10pts

Total =100 points

Sylvain: Romans are a staple of many collectors of miniatures and yours are neat and colorful. I also like your zombie survivors, very colorful too, and characterful. The jeans on them look very realistic. Nice job!

From QuinnM: Heresy and Stormcast Eternals - 40k/AOS (110 points)

 From QuinnM: Heresy and Stormcast Eternals - 40k/AOS (110 points)

Once more onto the breach and this week I have heresy and storm cast eternals

        
So for heresy I immediately had an idea when I saw it for the painting challenge. It has taken me until now to do it. Paint a primaris space Marine... Laugh here.... For some people that would be enough for the heresy, but I decided to go a step further. I ended up carving out the face and swapping in a female Stormcast eternal face I had lying around. And painting it the colors of a trans flag because we all know a female space Marine is truly heresy. I must give a thanks to one of my friends for letting me do this to their model. This is probably not what they expected when I asked if I could paint a couple of models for them. But they don't paint any of their models anyways so it'll be fine.
 
 

Up next we have my submission for violence or my lack thereof as this was the one that I was struggling the most with in hell for ideas and this was one of the last remaining models I needed to paint up for a tournament list that I will be attending  the day this goes live. I decided to use it to skip through violence. This is an Ivaneth Deepkin that is part of the Black Talons. This model was hard for me to start painting which is why I put it off so long. And is the Ivaneth Deepkin have a very particular look to them and I've been keeping for my Stormcast Army a very much following traditional paint schemes as they are what got me into painting. So I wished for it to follow the traditional Ivaneth paint schemes with colourful metallic armour. I tried some things and eventually got something I was happy with: a mix of 3-1 polished silver and Royal robes speed paints. With some careful brush work to get the raised parts in a Gold. Also, the pastel colors on the robes were hard to get right and I mixed paints together several times to get the exact colors I wanted.

Overall, I'm very happy with final results.

These two prosecutors I painted up almost 2 weeks ago now but saved to post them for this post as I knew there would be a bunch of Stormcasts in it. I applied some of these suggestions that I got from my dad and the comments on darkening in between the metallic feathers a little bit as well as using more layers and more glazes to get the wing flames Just that little cleaner of a gradient.

Up next to have the remaining storm cast that I am not the most proud of as I did have to paint them relatively quickly, but they are certainly tabletop ready. We have three Vanguard Raptors with long shot crossbows some of the best units in the Stormcast roster. As well as five Vigilars that were already done but painted in a different style as I was doing some experimentation many months ago and weren't happy with them so they got re-primed over and fully repainted a week before my tournament as they are being a run in a unit of 10 I painted them up to match some of my earliest paint jobs, but applying some of these skills I learned they painted up a lot faster and are even cleaner than some of my older models.   

10x 28mm footman @5 each = 50 points
 2x 28mm mounted @10 each = 20 points
 Heresy = 20 points
 Violence Sarah = 20 points

Sylvain: This week, you gave us a nice selection of shiny armors. The metallic colors are vibrant and rich. I also like how you put lost of work into your bases. Each base enhances your paint jobs as it shows you take care of every little details. Excellent showcasing of your talent this week! And good luck for your gaming tournament!

From AaronH: 12 Riders of Rohan (120 points)

 My entry for this week continues my work on Rohan. This entry is 12 riders for last week's heroes to command.

They look pretty impressive all ranked up together.

First up are three with spears. They are much more expensive than non-spear dudes, and rarely get the kills, but they look so cool I always take some.

The horses were mostly done with speed paints. This is a much more acceptable process for me.

I did the capes for the rank and file in a darker, less glorious green to reflect them having access to less expensive cloth than the heroes and Guards.

Next up is the archers. The axe dude is in there to make it three guys.

All of the Riders count as having bows, and have them modeled on them.

The archer models have their shields hanging on their harness. A nice touch.

Six hand weapon and shield. This is the basic un-upgraded profile.

These model are mostly twenty year old purchases. Rhys has been at them and there are lots of broken weapons held together with super glue and hope.

The bases are Luke's APS base ready, which I love. It's a mixture of soil, grout, flock and stones and doesn't require anything done to it once it's glued on. I did add tufts though.

This is a significant jump in playability for my army. I need a few more riders and some Warriors of Rohan (foot dudes) and I'll be able to play. I'm not sure if I'm going to roll directly into more riders or take a break and hit something else. That's a tomorrow me problem.

12 x 28mm mounted models = 120 points

 

Sylvain: These models do not look static at all, they give the impression that they are furiously charging the enemy. All together, the color of the horses, the soft green of the capes and the texture of the bases immediately evoke the color palette of the trilogy of the Ring. This is the kind of paint job that makes me think: "I want to play that game". Excellent work!

 

 

From FrederickC: Soviet Casualties and Two Circles of Hell [Lust] [Gluttony] (72 points)

This week's submission will be a bit lean due to real life seriously impacting on my painting time. The only day that did not have some other event was Thursday. Hopefully things will finally open up in the coming weeks.

First up is a group of eight 28mm Soviet casualties in Summer uniforms by May '40 Miniatures that I picked up at Historicon last July. Having done a set of German casualties as pin markers last year for AHPC XIV, I thought I would expand my collection with additional markers for some of my other Bolt Action armies. Alas, I could only find the Soviet casualties among all the dealers there. 

The bases were cut from old dining gift cards, and a small box was made to accommodate a die at one end. I then built up the base with Spackle and pushed a figure into it while still wet. Once the Spackle was dry, the figures were then removed and the base covered with sand and painted with craft paints. The figures were primed black with a rattle can and then painted using Vallejo acrylics and Citadel washes before being glued back onto the bases. As a final touch, I added some grass flocking and a few tufts of vegetation. 

All eight pin markers

A close up of two of the poses

A close up of the other two poses

Now I'll tackle the next two Circles of Hell starting with Lust. I didn't have anything in my existing inventory to fit the bill, but was able to find an inexpensive stl file on MyMiniFactory of a Succubus with Chain Whip, that was also described as a Lust Demon. That seems appropriate for this circle.

A friend printed the figure for 28mm scale, although it actually stands 32mm tall. The detail is very fine, and the wings and chain whip are quite fragile. I can't see this lasting very long on the tabletop before something gets broken. It was primed black with an airbrush, and then painted (very carefully) with Vallejo acrylics. I kept the palette simple with shades of red and black/dark grey. Here's the final result.

The Circle of the Lustful by William Blake

The next Circle of Hell is Gluttony. Again I didn't have anything in my stash of 'great unpainted', but was able to find another stl on MyMiniFactory of a fat lord on his throne stuffing his guts. This is a 40mm figure that comes in three pieces - the base, the throne, and the fat lord, which definitely made it easier to paint on the detail. The pieces were primed black with an airbrush and then painted with Vallejo acrylics with a few Citadel washes. Once completed, the separate parts were glued together. Here is our fat town lord with a drumstick on one hand and a goblet in the other, while a broken wine bottle lies at his feet.

 

Cerberus guarding the Third Circle of Hell - Gluttony by William Blake

 

The points being claimed are as follows:

8 x 28mm prone figures @ 2,5 points each = 20 points

 

1 x 28mm foot figure @ 5 points =  5 points

1 x 40mm figure @ 7 points = 7 points

 

2 x Circles of Hell - Lust & Gluttony = 40 points 

Thanks for stopping by.

Sylvain: Although it was a "slow" week for you, 72 points is still very impressive. The Soviet casualties will come in handy as the Soviets, obviously, usually have lots of casualties. I like your two "sins", especially the fat lardy. The brown tones you used for him perfectly do the job. Now I will make sure to get into my underground shelter before next Saturday as I know you will send a big point bomb my way... Well done!

 

 

 

LES COPAINS DU SAMEDI AU CAFÉ CANADIEN-FRANÇAIS

 
Félix Leclerc

Last week, we realized how much change the humble radio brought to society. We also remember from a few weeks ago that there was the French Canadian educated class was systematically denigrating the culture and language of the lower class.

After the war, in their homes, French Canadian citizens would be exposed to songs from the United States, of course, but also from France. For the French Canadian elite, songs and literature from France were “real culture” so it became a matter of fact that, in order to be recognized in Québec, an artist had to prove their worth in France. There is a saying: "nul n'est prophète en son pays" ("no one is a prophet in his own country") that is particularly true in this case. It revealed that French Canadians had, for a long time, a form of inferiority complex when comparing their own culture to those of the rest of the world, especially to the culture of France.

Félix Leclerc (1914-1988) was discovered by a French talent scout who was touring Québec in 1950. Félix was then sent to France on a tour that was very successful and he became one of the first “international” French Canadian artists. Most importantly, when he came back to Québec, at the end of his tour, Félix Leclerc was now regarded by his fellow citizens as one of the greatest French Canadian singer. In the following years, many other French Canadian singers would follow his example and go to France, but would not always meet with the same success.

Félix Leclerc’s most famous song, “Le Petit Bonheur” (The Little Happiness) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnROpowEcZA), tells the story of a hobo who finds a small abandoned personification of happiness, takes care of it, and lives a happy life despite all the harsh stuff happening around him. His songs are about life in general, not necessarily about French Canadian identity. When performing in front of a French audience, Félix presents himself first as an artist. Note that Félix’s accent sounds more French than French Canadian and very similar to contemporary French singers like Georges Brassens.

Next week: looking for a national poet.