From SimonG: A Heroic Assassin for The Hall of Heroes in 38mm (27 points)

With plenty of choices of potential heroes for the CoC XI Hall of Heroes I picked out one that will be familiar to many if not all of those following this blog -- Ezio Auditore de Firenze from Assassin's Creed. Once again this is a LMS Black Rose Wars 38mm PVC sculpt from the Stator Box of Kickstarter extras in a cross over with Ubisoft.

Although I've never played the game (computer games are not my thing) there is plenty of reference material available -- although with strange gaps (such as what his scabbard looks like) -- no doubt I could watch the game or film and find this out but it seemed pretty plain so that's how I left it. 

The sculpt is very dynamic and some things such as the swish of the clothing and the face is handled very well whereas others, especially that pesky scabbard, leave much to be desired. Overall though the dynamic pose really works and suits the character to a tee.

You can get a sense of the size of this piece from the side by side with a Perry 28mm -- so a realistic 38mm, not so large as to be a "model" but small enough to challenge the brush. 

I'm also getting to grips with painting whites -- tricky stuff but a base coat in Apothecary White contrast then careful build up of layers is getting there for me. I'm also getting more comfortable with building up layers in lines which gives more control than my standard dry-brushing especially at these larger scales (and is less demanding of your brushes! I've killed loads of brushes dry-brushing and find dedicated dry-brush brushes are just too big and clumsy). Also still working on faces 😡!

Anyway a fun 8 hours of so on this one -- next up I'll reveal where the PigMen came from! For the time being that should be another 27 points (20 for the Chamber and 7 for a 40mm figure).

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Love the White Robes (always a hard colour to do) and the contrast wth the red. Nice job Simon!

Cap'n Wednesday

From Barks: 40k Assassins (10 Points)

After several years, I have shorn this albatross from my neck. I got these assassins second hand, assembled and basecoated. I very carefully removed the mouldlines and pointedly put off painting them. I did the Vindicare in 2018, and the Callidus earlier this challenge. I have now finished the Culexus and the Eversor.

The Culexus is a psychic assassin, using your dreams to murder you. He's got Psyk-Out grenades, and insane neck muscles from holding up his not-at-all-Gigeresque hat.

Culexus Assassin

The Eversor is a straight-up psychopathic murder machine pumped to the eyeballs with combat drugs. I'm not a huge fan of the funky scenic base, but it looks OK on display.

Eversor assassin

As a bonus, I dug up my 1997 Eversor, and I think my paintjob still holds up. I really like the old model. Skull-ception on the head!

And for those not down with 40K- these are the good guys.

2x 28mm figures 10 points.

Skull-o-meter™: 12

Cumulative Skullz: 49

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Haha, very nice Barks! The "good guys" indeed. So nice to see the vision of the future for "combat drugs" is so positive, in tune with the uplifting vision of The Emperor...

Great job, another 10 points for you. 

GregB

From Barks: Ginger Ninja (35 points)

I got some second-hand assassins a few years ago, assembled and undercoated. I painted the Vindicare for the AHPC VIII BFG theme round two years ago. I was daunted by the Callidus' synskin and held off, but have decided it is time to Just Get It Done.

My synskin technique involves various blue-grey shades up to white, then a wash with Army Painter Blue Tone, which gives it a satisfying black tone. I know, right?

I should add more rubble to the base, it is a little threadbare and visually unbalanced.

I dug up my still unfinished 1997 Callidus- it is satisfying to see how many nods the 2015 sculpt gives to the Jes Goodwin original- sadly for my side duel, there are less skullz on the new model!

1x 28mm- 5 points
Sarah's Balloon- first trip!- 30 points

Skull-o-meter™: 5
Cumulative Skullz: 18

Now to choose a dropzone...

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While it is very nice to see this new model, and you have done a bang up job on it, there is just something about that original model.  I know the original is very 2 dimensional, and it has some issues, BUT it is such an iconic part of 40k it's hard to look past it to anything new.

I agree with you on the base issues for the new one as well, it needs something more to add to the base (maybe more skulls?).  

Overall though, great work on the new one, even if I do prefer the old model better.

- ByronM

From JohnS - A is for Assassin at Millsy's Millpond 55pts

I really thought that this entry would be called "T is for Thief" as this figure came from a packet of three figures I bought back in 1986/87 to get one to use for my thief character in AD&D. It wasn't until I dug it out for Millsy's brilliant challenge idea that I realised that it was marked as an Assassin.

From TSR ( I think that these were actually made by Citadel as TSR licenced minis) I remember visiting my parents for Christmas in 1986 and travelling by train up to Newcastle, NSW to Colin at Frontline Hobbies to get them. I painted up the one miniature and then put the others into the "cigar box of maybe painting later" which has grown over the years to become the "Room of Shame". Time and money well spent.

Once I realised that he was an Assassin I was inspired paint him in muted colours so he is good at hiding in the shadows. The strange shield design reflects the generic "filthy dungeon floor" that I have painted the base. I envisage him tucked into a corner, mottled cloak wrapped around him, any bits of shield exposed are the same colour as the floor and walls so they don't stand out. The first and last thing you see are those piercing blue eyes.

I painted the short sword like a Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife, dulled blued steel with the silver gleam of razor sharp edges...great for cutting fruit.

I used those fandangly Citadel Contrast paints on the cloak, good for getting the mottled effect I was hoping for. I actually splashed a couple of other colours on first to give it a multi-coloured undercoat which worked quite well.

I find it quite amusing that a sneaky assassin would have jangly bits on his boots. I guess that they are Magical Boots of Stealth or similar so maybe those bits don't make any noise. It wasn't until I started painting that I even noticed that he has a small crossbow tucked behind his back.

Overall this has been a fond trip down memory lane painting this chap. It has been years sinced I played AD&D but I think this stabby fellow will get some work in Frostgrave which I have played a couple of times with Odin's Night Club and would like to play some more.

If I have worked this out correctly; 5 points for the figure, 30 points for meeting Millsy's Challenge, plus 10 bonus points for a pre-90 figure and 10 points for remembering the origin story. 55 in total.

A little back-up crossbow is always handy

From DaveD - a classic from Millsy's millpond alright!

From IannickM : Female Assasin (5 Points)

Yes, two posts today! It didn't feel right to mix Napoleonics with fantasy. So a single piece for this entry, a female assassin from Dark Swords miniatures. The figure is not attached to any planned games or project, really, it's a Christmas gift from the girlfriend. Now usually when she gives me figures as gift they go into the lead pile (as all my purchases go), and she gets to see them painted many moons later, so this year I decided to do something different and put it in my priority pile!

So there she is, I painted her as a single so I did spend more time on her than most other figures, and I'm really happy I did as I think she looks gorgeous! The figure itself is an awesome sculpt and has that nice Old School vibe the fantasy masters at Dark Sword still manage to produce. It's a very simple sculpt, no skulls or extra belts and stuff, but it is very effective.

Yes, I couldn't resist using some pink on the female warrior, cliché you might say, but I just love the colour and any excuse to use it is good with me! I tried to offset the bright colour with a darker mauve cloak, a very simple basing and some grey pants. I quite like the final results.

Now, of course, being who I am it might just be the start of a Frostgrave or Songs of Blades and Heroes warband! Somewhere the old masters at Dark Swords are smiling, knowing I need at least 10 more of their figures...

So that's a small but satisfying 5 pts. 

ByronM: I would agree with that, you should be satisfied with this small but high quality submission.  The figure would suit itself to many different games and settings, and is very feminine due to the pink colour.  Once again I like the stark highlights, it is a method that a lot of painters that I realy like (like Curt, Greg, Sydney) all use on thier models to produce very high quality tabletop miniatures.  Calling it tabletop, is not a put down in any way, as this style is done for that exact reason, to look good at table top level, and in fact looks BETTER on the tabletop than many of the super detailed methods that a lot of the elite painters use.  All to say, I really like the look and style.