From BrianC: A couple of dogs, Romans, I-Kore Minis(VOID), a HUGE Rumbleslam mini and a druid (160pts)

Hello! I was able to turn in one more entry before the deadline! WooHoo! Okay, I'll be quick!

Here are some Warlord Games Imperial Romans(20) 

Here are some really old minis from I-Kore (VOID). I was trying to go for a Cyberpunk agent/police look. Oh well, either way, they will be used for some kind of Sci-Fi miniature game. Ha!

I finished the last member of the Rumbleslam Human wrestling team! This dude is a 54mm miniature!

This challenge motivated me to finish this team:

Okay, next is a couple of Bolton's dogs from Game of Thrones.

Lastly, a Warlord Games Celtic Druid. I would like to enter this mini in Dante's Paradise Fourth Sphere: The Wise. They were looked upon as a wise man or sage in their tribe. They toss the bones and look to the stars and teach lessons from experience.

Thank you so much for this challenge! I can't wait to return for the third time! 

Take Care all and awesome job with your painted minis! 

POINTS:

28mm x 26 = 130pts.

54mm x 1 = 10pts.

1 Circle(Wise) = 20pts.

TOTAL = 160pts.

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Maybe under the wire, but still excellent work Brian. That's a terrific unit of Early Imperial Romans (like stormtroopers and Napoleonic French, you can never have too many). Those VOID figures take me waaay back so it's great to see them getting some due attention. Can't go wrong with some doggos. But my favourite has to be the Celtic Druid figure. I really like his beard and staff (great groundwork too).

Well done Brian and I hope to see you out for the next edition of the Challenge.

- Curt

 

From PeteF ASOIAF Lannister Halberds (65 points)

Our local wargaming convention Enfilade! has an awesome Bring & Buy.  This year someone brought their A Song Of Ice And Fire (ASOIAF) Miniatures Game Kickstarter that they finally decided wasn't for them.  I've been eyeing up this game for a long time.  I generally prefer miniatures on the sprue rather than limited poses but I do love me some Game of Thrones and rank & flank soo - I bought the lot and now it's time to start chipping away at this new addition to the Pile of Potential.

The core set is Stark vs Lannister and I'll be mainly concentrating on getting my Lannisters painted - first unit on the table are these Halberdiers.  There are 12 footsoldiers - 3 basic poses and a banner bearer - plus an Assault Veteran.  In the game you can spice up your units by adding various leader types by spending some additional points.

The miniatures for this game are a collaboration between Dark Sword - who have the ASOIAF license and have produced a beautiful and expensive line of metals - and CMON.

I've played the game once and it has some interesting mechanics - there's figure removal (and sometimes replacement as a unit heals) and as the number of ranks diminishes it's fighting stats change.  There are also some non combatant slots that can have a great deal of influence on the battlefield.

To prevent the figures getting jostled in the movement tray and for ease of transport I've magnetized them and glued a metal base underneath the plastic movement tray.  

Behold Magnets! (and loose flock)

The non combatants include many of the main characters in  Game of Thrones - who incidentally reflect the vices and virtues of the Divine Comedy - so I'm planning to use them to complete many circles and spheres on route to this Challenge's target.

One of the things I don't like about ASOIAF Miniatures is that they typically come 13 to a box - plays havoc with my triskaidekaphobia. 

13 x 5 = 65 points.

I'm scoring these as 28mm minis - they are 35mm foot to eye (heroic 32mm?)

Wishing Challenges a Happy New Year and all the best for 2025 - see you next year!

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Lovely work on these Lannisters Pete! The red and gold livery is very sharp and besides, who doesn't like a good pike? The fact that you have finished these puts you miles ahead of that tw@t GRR Martin who seems incapable of completing the core storyline. I look forward to see your efforts with the opposing Stark faction.

- Curt

Ready From TeemuL: Lannister Heroes (44 points) [Limbo]

Bit of slow start this time, I was supposed to have plenty of time during the weekend and Christmas week, but I caught a flu and focusing on minis was out of question. Happily these The Song of Ice and Fire minis have been on my desk since October and needed very little work to complete them. Anyway, they qualify for Limbo and now they are done.

These three are from Lannister Heroes 3 set, which I got from a sale. I don't have the game, but they were cheap and I decided to give them a chance. They are one piece plastic minis and rather large. Robert Strong on the left is 60mm to the feathers and the other two are almost 40mm. So they won't mix with my other minis (mostly 28mm), but may be they find some use. I have other half of the box still to do.

The paint job is not extraordinary, I'm not happy with the faces for example and highlights are bit rough, but they are ok if you look from far enough. Robert and Kevan were quite dull, full armour and red cloak, Qyburn was more interesting. There are heavy washes and heavy highlights, as I mentioned earlier. Some sand and tufts on the base.

Robert Strong

Kevan Lannister

Qyburn

After taking the initial shots, I realized I missed the blacks from they eyes, so back to the painting table. Here the horrible close ups, but the eyes are decent - it kinda helps that the models are quite large!

Regarding the scoring these qualify for Limbo (20 points) and I ask for 7 points for Kevan and Qyburn (40mm minis) and 10 for Robert Strong (54mm). Total should be 49 points, if Curt agrees.

What's next? I have been rather busy and my painting motivation has been low and I haven't prepared any females (or deamons), so I guess I need to paint something for Lust. Outside the themes, expect to see some fantasy or another, may be historical or scifi.

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Welcome back to the Challenge Teemu! I'm sorry to hear that you've not been feeling well but it seems you've managed to move from one Limbo to another that is a bit more fun. I virtually know nothing about the The Song of Ice and Fire miniature game though it seems they've produced a lot of product for it.  That aside, you've done very nice work on these Lannisters. I like the armour, your highligting and especially your efforts on their faces. Kudos to you for the eyes - I almost never do as it seems to be a practice of diminishing return on time invested. 

Your scales are right but your math is off, so 44 points it is - well done!

- Curt

From Curt: GRR Martin and a Patiently Waiting Fan - Some Torture for 'The Pit of the Pendulum'

I was thinking hard on what to do for 'The Pit of the Pendulum'. This one Adam had developed, and I was stumped at first, but then the 'torture' aspect resonated with me and I had an idea. 

I remembered I had a series of models from Dark Sword Miniatures depicting characters from George RR Martin's 'Game of Thrones' books. My enthusiasm for the figures had soured over the years, matching my growing irritation in waiting for him to finish the series until I finally ignored both.  That is when the idea struck: The torture of a fan waiting for him to finish his work. Perfect.

I used to be a big fan of Martin's series until he transitioned from a writer to essentially a celebrity grifter. I don't want to get into the long story of GRR Martin's inability to deliver the goods, but I'll provide a brief synopsis to explain my entry.

I, along with many other readers, waited for years after Martin's third book ('Storm of Swords') for him to complete the series. Updates on his progress turned into excuses, excuses to obfuscation, and obfuscation to, well, pure fiction, I guess. 

To put this in perspective, his first book was published in 1996, with the following two being published over four years. Pretty good pace, right? But then it took him 11 years to write the next two books (really, it's 1 and a half books). It's now been another 10 years and his suckers for punishment fans are still waiting for the next book in the series. Yep, 25 years for 5 books. Martin says there will be at least two more to complete the series. Riiiight. Suuure there will. I hope his afterlife provides for a typewriter...

As a counterpoint, JRR Tolkien completed 'The Lord of the Rings' over a 13 year span (1937 to 1949) while also working full-time as a university lecturer (and throw in a world war). Proper work ethic there.

Anyway, as everyone knows, HBO bought the rights to Martin's work and just plowed along to complete the series. They ended up filling-in the yawning gaps (over 3 seasons) which Martin had yet to complete, knowing full well that they couldn't count on him to give them the goods. After this, he has the temerity to say that the series ending was not 'faithful' to his vision. Wow, and what vision would that be precisely?! Gee, let's see. Oh, a blank page! So you have no vision Mr. Martin - shocking. What an egotistical, tone-deaf git. 

So every time I hear about GRR Martin's pathetic excuses for his delays in completing 'Game of Thrones' I just roll my eyes and wonder what new torture he's putting his fans through.

Dark Sword Miniatures did a special vanity vignette depicting Martin as (get this) a Maester writing on some scrolls. *eyeroll*

The irony was just too great, so this is why I've left the sheets of parchment on the table completely blank. It seems fitting.

Oh, and I also did up a cobblestone base with a new roller from Greenstuff World. Fun!

Modeling clay and rolling pin - it's like being in preschool...

...and these ones to still try out...

The gibbet is from Reaper and is a very nice little model (though I almost snapped my crayons getting the rope rigged through the guides and tying it off). My only real criticism is that the bars on the cage are a little too beefy, making it very difficult to see the figure inside. 

The 'fan' is a little ropey, but I like the overall pose. I popped the whole thing on a 60mm base and added some groundwork to blend it in (there's even three skulls tucked away in there Barks!).

I'm going to claim 15 for the gibbet, 10 for Maester Martin (the tw@t), the 20 point Chamber bonus and my 5th Squirrel Point. Phew!

Next up: 'The Golem's Haunt'

Thanks for dropping in!

- Curt

From Barks: A Snow boy and his Wolf (11 points)

The boy is from Elladan, and the wolf is from Reaper- my first Bones figure. They will complement last years revenants nicely.

It is a challenge painting and photographing shades of black!

The wolf's eyes are a bit odd, but the rest of this large beast is great. He's on a 40mm Renedra base. The mould lines aren't apparent in real life!

I'm not entirely happy with the boy's face, it just doesn't ring true for me. But then, what would I know?

From Ray

I think you've made a terrific job on both these figures John. Black is a bugger to get looking right and it never photographs very well either?
Love the Wolf, he looks a handful, I really had to search for the mould lines on the wolf, so I think you've got away with that. Love the basing too, the snow effect is really cool!

I've added an extra point for the wolf as he's pretty cool and a little larger than 28mm.
So 11 points altogether!

From PeteF: We Stand Together - or "Oh Yes, I said some words" (6 points)

Project 4 is Game of Thrones conversions. This week I finished a treacherous Frey bannerman.

Frey soldier - usually late for battle

His head is from the Frostgrave soldiers sprue - where one of the heads has the Frey signature rubbish looking cap thingy - and his body is from Gripping Beast's Dark Ages Warriors. The shield also came from Frostgrave Soldiers. Since he is a Frey he has no neck, and possibly no spine. If you are not familiar with the show - the Freys are lilly-livered bad guys who get the upper hand through deceit. Their castle is The Twins with a keep each side of a big river, joined by a bridge.

The shield was handpainted - I'm wondering if these would look better if I printed them onto transfer paper (something I'm thinking of using for Project 8 - Samurai).

For guidance I got hold of Painting War: Dark Ages - I love the Painting War magazines/books for their ideas on colours (you can never have too many pots of paint, although now it's so difficult to find the right one I've accidentally bought some duplicates) and techniques. I tried layering/glazing for the tunic using the monk's habit recipe from the book. I have a way to go before getting Alberto Mateos level results!

Opponents say this is the most common view of a Frey - although not this close 

Only one figure this week - partly due to the musician project and partly due to burnout from last week's highlanders.

1 x 28mm foot. 5 points. Gripping Beast and North Star.

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Well done Pete, at least you managed to get something painted and posted, I failed again this week.  Lovely conversion and just look at that freehand painting on the shield.  5 points for the miniature and another 1 point for the skill! 

PeteF The North Remembers - Stark Bannerman (6 points)

I'm a big fan of Game of Thrones and have wanted to do some conversions for a while - I have some Dothraki that I started, gathering dust on the shelf of shame, which I'll get to after the Challenge.

I was assembling some Saxon Fyrd for my SAGA army and saw that one of the bodies had a diamond quilted jerkin (or is it a surcoat? Jacket? leathery tunic?) like the ones the Stark footsoldiers have on the show. I got his head from a Perry foot knight sprue. The helmet was the closest thing I could find to a Stark lid.

My other SAGA shields are decals - I decided to hand paint this one - Winter is Coming! I might be getting a magnifying glass for my birthday to help with this sort of thing.

I enjoy the occasional game of SAGA and think it would be fun to have Game of Thrones factions - one day I'd like to make up unique battle boards (and dice?) for them but in the meantime you could just use the existing battle boards. Anglo Danes for the Starks. 

Aiming to post something every week - even if it's only for 5 points. 

Wargames Factory Saxon Fyrd foot soldier with Perry Foot Knights head.

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The joy of the Painting Challenge is that it keeps us all motivated and, well painting, and if that means one at a time then so be it.  Who is going going to quibble at a post of one miniature when it is done so well?  Fabulous job Pete, the freehand on the shield is sublime and a lovely conversion to boot so I am awarding 6 points to your tally for this.