From PhilH: Commandos are Overdue to Endor (55 points)

Finishing up in the first room, a small submission at Overdue & Returns of these Star Wars Legion Rebel Commandos for this slow burn project. As I track my hobbying using Trello, I know I started these on 1 June 2023, got the base colours down and then moved house and didn’t pick them up again until the other week.

They’re doubly overdue as I should have knocked these out in short order, but some wider stuff has been hugely draining on hobby time and Challenge energy. I don’t hugely enjoy painting these Legion Rebels, so faffed about with them for halfheartedly. But it’s nice to get something off the painting desk.

The sniper team I finished shortly before the challenge, but they’re now reunited. I’ve also finished the first room of this mighty fine library, hurrah!

Five 35mm minis is 35 points plus the 20 location bonus for 55.

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Regardless of how late they may be, the brushwork on these fellows is exquisite. It's been quite some time since I have perused the rebel figures for "Star Wars Legion", and I am curious - are these figures from the game maker (i.e. Fantasy Flight Games, or whatever-the-f*ck they are called now), or are they 3d prints, or are they a mix of both?

They look fantastic - and much for fun to imagine getting up to fight-for-freedom mischief on Endor than the ridiculous Ewoks...but should they run into trouble facing an "entire Legion" of the Emperor's "best troops", I'm sure a few log traps and bows will help get them out of trouble...

Greg painting Phil!

GregB

From PhilH: Learning New Skills at New Acquisitions (55 points)

Hello, sorry for the radio silence from my paint desk and on people’s posts but it’s quite a disrupted time for my family and my hobby setup isn’t what I’d like for the foreseeable. Still, I’ll at last be joining in Challenge XIV. I’ve painting as much as my schedule allows, but been very lax on the finishing and photographing. I’ll have a few posts to follow this one once I’ve staved off The Cut. 

It seems appropriate to start my journey around the Analogueville Public Library at ‘Front Desk & New Acquisitions’. Start at the front door and for a jaunty hello from the staff and all that. My new hobby acquisition since the last challenge has been an Elegoo Saturn resin printer. I’ve been incorporating resin prints into my hobby for a few years now, but finally I can industrialise production and despair at the prospect of ever painting it all. 

As with all new skills there’s a learning curve, though once I’d looked at looked at a few setups and figured out what to do about the toxic gunk, I found resin printing quite straightforward. My entry here of five Wookie Warriors for Star Wars was once of my first print runs, and I’d not quite got my exposure settings dialled in, so the details are a touch soft and the cheapo resin quite brittle. The keen eyed might spot some damages from prep and painting, and two of the seven I printed were unsalvageable once I’d pinged their weapons off.

The fur was all drybrushed, just leaving the picking out of facial details, their webbing and weapons to match the rebel troopers I did last year. The files are from the sadly now-defunct Squamous Miniatures Patreon. I love the obscenely big support weapon and Vietnam-era marines look to the webbing and helmets, a nice twist on wookies. The designer now operates as David Sheff Models (DSM) and releases via Kickstarter, I thought his Patreon was the most interesting and best value Star Wars-inspired Patreon and miss it.

Five big wookies in 40mm scale is 35 points, plus the location bonus opens my tally at 55 points. 

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Wonderful to see you join us, Phil! Cutting it a little fine mate, but well worth it, and all in the spirit of these magnificent Wookie warriors who look more than ready to pull-off any daunting rescue mission. Very nice models (too bad they're not available anymore). As you say, they really take well to the 'Nam-like webbing, and your smooth brushwork really does them justice (really like the amber lenses and metallic glints from the hafts of their blades. Yes, 3d printing has a bit of a learning curve to it, but it looks like you have everything well in hand. You're now fully empowered to (like me) produce metric sh*t tonnes of stuff that you'll never manage to paint. :)  

Welcome back!!

- Curt

From PhilH: Last minute arrival at the Director’s Chair (27 Points)

“Okay, what do you have in your collection that you’ve been avoiding, or perhaps you’ve been meaning to get to it but it always seems to get pushed to the back of the hobby desk?  I want you to dig deep for an award winning performance.”

I was thankful for a broad brief from our esteemed Challenge ringmaster, when I suggested I might make a run at the Director’s Chair. And I looked at my heap of prepped models, and there were a couple that fit the bill perfectly. I had plans but with seven days flex, it would be tight, but I thought I could make it. 

I’ll just paint the base on my planned DC entry while I finish off this Yellow Brick Road, won’t take me a jiffy…

…wait, how is it Thursday already?…

…it’s one model, how am I still working on this at 2100 on challenge close?

Yeah between this and that the other it wasn’t a great week for painting. I had to rejig my last Studios on Friday as I’d made little progress on my Director’s Chair and it was never going to get done. Well anyway, it seems fitting to finish the Challenge with something else from A Galaxy Far, Far Away instead. Having done Luke earlier in the Challenge, now for everyone's favourite scoundrel. Yes, damn straight he shoots first. 

He wasn’t a Challenge bugbear when I started him, but he became it as the week goes on. First, spot the deliberate mistake. Then the gloves took a wee while, don’t filmmakers think of the painters 45 years down the line? But he’s pretty nicely painted if I do say so myself.

This is a 3D Print 'Smug Smuggler' from one of the major stl producers, Skullforge Studios. They captured Han's likeness faaaaar better than Fantasy Flight Games, whose sculpt is a travesty. 

To finish up, 7 points and if accepted for the nomination, the final location bonus of 20 to close out my challenge. 770 points! I think that’s an all time high score for me, I traditionally squeak over my points target in…*checks watch*…about an hours time. 

Which just leaves me to say, huge thanks to Curt for running the show once again, thanks to Miles for applying some maths to give us the veneer of credibility, to Sidney for the lovely Studio map, to my minion Martin and my fellow minions for keeping everyone on track and the points mathematically aligned. And thanks to everyone for your wonderful entries, gracious comments on each other’s posts and kindly banter. 

Take care all, until AHPC XIV!

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Wow, what a fabulous bit of brushwork there, Phil. I consider myself a big Star Wars fan, but have never picked up on Han wearing racing gloves. Now, that is something that makes your figure quite unique.  Also, congratulations on achieving a personal high score and all achieved hours before the finish. Well done my friend, and thanks again for all your fine work serving as our Friday Minion. Bravo!

- Curt

From DavidB: not quite the last White Scars (93 Points)

 

 Hu- The Great Chinggis Khaan

Just a quick post for the day. I have a lunch date with my wife as with our busy schedules she wanted to spend time with with me for St Patrick's day for her IRISH-German heritage....I will be spending the weekend at the brushes, but wanted to make sure I was able to give Phil something to do for Friday. I just finished this lot and the white paint and snow effects are still very wet!

Like the Iron Snakes, the White Scars are "complete" as I have no more marine models in the house save for those painted or already dedicated to another project. I am sure that I will have some new models bought at Adepticon next week though. The White Scars need some more bikes, vehicles, and assault infantry. I also fully intend to check out 30k as the plastic scimitar jetbikes have convinced me that some Loyalist forces need to debunk Greg's dubious propaganda! :)

First up are a trio of Eliminators armed with las fusils. Las fusils are a las cannon turned sniper rifle for an AP-3 and 3 wounds a hit.....meaning I'm going to fluff every die roll to hit with them! Despite my horrible dice rolls, they turned out better than I imagined.

I decided on winter urban battleground  for the White Scars just because of these three as I was picturing them in urban camouflage crouching in snowy ruins.

The cloaks were painted in blue grey then shaded and highlighted. I used olive drab, gray, and black squares and highlighted and shaded those before dry brushing a pale grey over everything then shading with agrax earthshade. This toned down the blatant squares and rectangles and muted everything into a greenish gray brown fabric. 

With all the White Scars painted, Kor'Sarro Khan had to be painted to lead them while the Eliminators keep the enemy pinned down. He did have a crux terminus on his chest but it fell away someplace in the mountain of neglect. I found a revier medallion and glued that in place so the cords on his chest didn't seem to defy gravity anymore.

I deviated from the official paint scheme a touch, but I like my scheme better than the official one anyway.

A tactical rock with Chorgis art accompanies him and his cyber companion.

I gave the Khan a trio of Aggressors with flame weapons as a body guard. 

They seemed a good choice to add to the close combat carnage the khan can generate.

With all the hand to hand mayhem inbound, 10 intersessors equipped with chainswords and heavy boltpistols to capitalize on the khan getting stuck in.

The sgt has a plasma pistol and thunder hammer while I made another white scar with some white scar upgrade parts to act as a leader if I decide to split them into two five man squads. 

Probably my favorite primaris marine kit as they are loaded with knives and pouches. 

I also like the capability to add an aggressive grenade throwing marine as well as having one reloading on the fly. The reloading marine has a magazine in his support hand while the pistol is just ejecting a spent magazine. Both have their chainswords slung to their belts. and as all models can have holsters, the grenadier has a holstered pistol with pistol grip visible.

So the "last" of the White Scars for now until I get more.

Eliminators- 3 models for 15 points and 16 skulls

Kor'Sarro Khan for 5 points and 5 skulls

Aggressors- 3 models for 15 points and 13 skulls

Intersessors- 10 models for 50 points and 16 skulls

A total of 85 points and 50 skulls for a new skull tally of 650

I still have some more on the desk, but I have a date to head out for and may not get them up in time. A big thanks to Phil for herding the friday cats! 

Friday Minion: Hey David, great to see one last Friday entry even if it's a little one: you've been the most regular of the Friday crew, and great about dropping me a line to let me know you're working up a few dozen units for me to post up. Great to see the last of the White Scars finished up, awesome work on the Khan and his bodyguards and various other infantry. 

I'll score those chonky Aggressors and the Khan as 40mm figures, giving you 93 here. 

Its been great to have you with us. One more entry over the weekend perhaps? 

And have an awesome time at Adepticon and bring back plenty of White Scars for next Challenge!

From PhilH: When the Last Tetsubo is Hefted at Fantasy (49 Points)

 With apologies to Sidney for the title.

Flitting like a butterfly from the new project at World Cinema, back to an old project at the Fantasy studio. 

One of many skirmish games I’ve dabbled in, Bushido by GCT Studios is a fantasy samurai game that’s been around for a while, I was painting these about 2018-19 time. Alas it’s one of those games full of nuance that you need to play week by week really, and I haven’t had chance for that so haven’t painted any for ages. 

But aha, I gather one of our hobby luminaries and fellow challengers is developing a quite intriguing samurai skirmish game, ‘When the last sword is drawn’, which tempted me to dig out these ashigaru sentries. 

They join the rest of my Minimoto clan: ashigaru, an armoured samurai and a shugenja witch with a summoned kami elemental. Their schtick is they like in mountain strongholds and mostly wield massive tetsubo, and heavy armour.

But that’s not all! A local gamer was offloading some early Bushido minis to anyone that would collect them, so took a handful of the ‘Savage wave’ faction of oni and bakemono. I couldn’t resist painting one up straight away, and had a blast doing so. 

Of course I was delighted when Sidney’s post last month incorporated fantasy elements into his ruleset. 

 

A giant demon wielding a vast mallet isn’t something one would like to stumble into after a few saki.

Scoring, the ashigaru are 35mm scale, so 5 points a piece? 7? I leave it to the minion to decide on the oni, but he’s pretty big. 10? 15? Then 20 for the studio. 

Here I am entering the blue security zone, en route to the Director’s chair. 

These are beautifully painted and I love the demon chap. Well done

From ArthurS: In a Galaxy Far Far Away... (53 points)

 Hallo Everybody!

Last week I had to pass on showing you any painted miniatures because I was busy painting up today's batch. Most of these are Star Wars Legion miniatures I have gotten for my Birthday from mum and dad and some fantasy figures thrown in for good measure.

Let's start with the Star Wars figures okay? This pesky evil Probe Droid is threatening the medical droid! Since the droid is searching for targets, I tried to highlight his base a bit lighter to show the sensor beams scanning the ground.

Luckily Master Yoda and his good friend General Kenobi were at hand to save the droid!

Meanwhile Grogu is enjoying a leisurely walk beside the pond and eating a little snack in the form of a red frog.

Besides the Star Wars figures I also painted some fantasy stuff. First up is a wood elf I got from my dad, he was walking through the forest and stumbled along 3 young griffins. 

The Griffins I gave a base resemblimg clouds as if they were flying or playing hide and seek in the clouds.

Counting out points is always tricky; the Star Wars Legion figures usually go for 7 points each, but I will let Phil decide whether Grogu and the probe droid are worth that much. The Elf and Griffins are regular 5 point 28mm figures So in my cheeky calculations I deduct a whopping 55 points. But l bow down to the Minions decision. 

Cheers Arthur

Friday Minion: Glad to see you back with more Legion goodies for us Arthur, with the noble General Kenobi and Grand Master Yoda. Nice idea on the seeker droid's base, too. I've scored them at 7 points - Grogu might be small, but he is totally adorable which in my book earns the two bonus points - except for the Seeker droid, which I've scored at 5, being both small and uncute. Friday minion is all about arbitrary scoring decisions, and don't you forget it folks. 

That Elf adventurer looks like a venerable sculpt (is it the Heroquest elf?) but where are the three little griffons from?

From PhilH: Typecast at the Casting Couch (27 Points)

With a breakthrough role in a wildly and unexpectedly popular new sci-fi movie, it’s easy to bask in the fame and fan adoration that comes with success. But while George has grand plans for a trilogy, it’s best to line up some other roles to keep one’s star power on the up.  

Hollywood Director, shouting: "I don't want Luke bloody Skywalker in my film! NEXT!

Yup, end up in the wrong role in the right kind of movie, get typecast and your career is messed up from the start. And to make things worse, your co-lead picks up plum roles as Indiana Jones and Blade Runner’s Deckard? Things can be tough in Hollywood. 

Of course all’s well that ends well in this story, with Mark Hamill going on to a highly successful voice acting career, mostly famously as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series.

Here’s Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars: Legion core set, in his Cloud City gear and defensive lightsaber pose. I wasn’t much of a fan of this model originally, but it grew on me as I worked on him.

As usual I added subtle OSL from his saber and as he’s our titular hero, I even did his eyes (quite pleased with how they came out tbh)

Not much more to say, but have some more photos to complete the 360. I’ve a Han Solo to paint that may feature (though it’s a 3D print as the official Legion Han Solo model suuuuucks).

7 points for my tally for Luke, plus 20 for the Typecasting Couch location. That’s it for me this week.

Next!

Aren't glad you aren't famous, you're not are you? Another great figure