From Barks: Lobelia fights the orcs (Fantasy)(105 points)

I've painted Lobelia Sackville-Baggins as my fee for Lady Sarah's limousine. Lobelia is a grumpy and disliked hobbit but redeems herself by standing up to Sharkey's rogues with her "umberella" in The Scouring of the Shire, aged about 100.

She gets me to the Fantasy set, where I present a dozen armoured orcs. I have many more to paint, but wanted to get this batch down.

13x 28mm figures (65 points)

Fantasy set (20 points)

Lady Sarah's Limousine (20 points)

That doesn't look like a very fair fight, Barks. There are only twelve of those poor orcs, and she has an umbrella. You should probably crack on with some more batches of orcs to even the fight up a little. 

Nice work.

From Barks: Dernhelm [Solaris] (50 points)

Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. 'But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn am I, Éomund's daughter.'

JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King (1955)

Deception and illusion at Solaris! Éowyn masquerades as the Rider Dernhelm, pulling the wool over the eyes of Théoden, Merry and the Witch King. This is a gorgeous plastic kit. You get a mounted Dernhelm and Merry- and Merry is detachable. He sits solidly without pinning or magnets and is easily removable. I enjoyed painting the cloaks, with a more grey tone for Merry's elven one.

"... maiden of the Rohirrim, child of kings,
slender but as a steel-blade, fair yet terrible."

sans Merry

You get a dismounted Dernhelm and Merry.

"Her eyes grey as the sea were hard and fell, and yet tears were on her cheek."

I also had a metal Éowyn - if I'm already painting two Éowyns, what is one more?

"... the helm of her secrecy had fallen from her, and her bright hair,
released from its bonds, gleamed with pale gold upon her shoulders."

1x 28mm mounted figure: 10 points

4x 28mm figures: 20 points

Location bonus [Solaris]: 20 points

Slowpainter's ABC: R for Rohan

___________________________________

One of my favorite passages from the books, captured brilliantly in film, and here in miniature! Lovely work Barks. I really like the colours and shading you've done on the mounted set (I had no idea that the Merry figure was removable - an amazing bit of sculpting, that). The dismounted set is excellent as well and I'm very much admiring how your basework matches your table surface. Nice.

That nasty Witch-King is in for a big surpriiise...

- Curt

From SidneyR: Hobbit Princeling for "The Hall of Heroes" (30 points)

 

On the last day of Challenge XI, I've just a couple of things to post.  I'm just about done on my submission for the Snowlord's Altar, but before that I wanted to post something for "The Hall of Heroes".

I'm sure like many of you, dear Challengers, I had intended "The Hall of Heroes" to be a more leisurely, larger submission.  But - tick, tick, tick - somewhere the hours have evaporated, and I've only time for posting a single hero.  But, when it comes to heroes, none are larger in fantasy literature than a hobbit!

I've painted a wonderful Copplestone Castings (now available from North Star Miniatures) one-piece casting of a halfling hero, which I am very sure is supposed to be Peregrin Took, in his famous role as a Guardian of the Citadel of Minas Tirith.

Painting Pippin reminded me that its so much easier to paint a one piece casting instead of a horse and a rider - especially when the rider is clothed in a mail hauberk and a black cloak!  One thing I did try was to highlight the black cloak using a mix of Vallejo Model Colour Dark Grey and Vallejo Model Colour Pink.  I know that does sound odd - and, no, I'm not really obsessed with the colour pink - but the slightly pink tone really made the highlight pop (I thought).

I really enjoyed painting the figure, not least because the pony was just a wonderful casting to paint.  I finished off the base (from Warbases) with some WSS Scenics tufts, brushed with PVA and some dry-brushed paint.

For the points, it's a 28mm figure giving 10 points for the figure (horse & rider) and 20 points for "The Hall of Heroes".  And with just one Chamber left, I wonder where my beach-lounging skeletons are for the "Graveyard Beach"? ....and is there still time for one last Chamber?

******* 

From KyleC - Knights Solar - 10mm Halflings - 117 pts

Hi ho silver.. Away!!! Or something to that effect..

So as the undead force almost wiped me out, we switched gears to a scale I haven't done in over 20 years... 10mm! Not since warmaster was first released and I helped our local club by painting some of the display stock (which was a big deal for me at the time!) have I painted something this tiny.

These are the new files by Warploque Miniatures in their digital range. And I thought why not give them a go.. And these knightly chaps fit the bill for the Chamber as well I reckon.. 

So we have 9 bases worth of Spearmen (with a messenger on goat with the captain).. Hailing from the southern regions of their lands, known for their Pils beer and yearly beer festivals in tents.

Never one to turn their back on a good meal and a strong ale, but always there in groups cause safety in numbers (especially for Simon.. He is a bit of a lightweight and probably could use a hand getting home). 

And then the Cavalry.. Or the ones that get to the beer first during festival times as their mounts needs to clear the fields for the tents.. 

But nothing strikes fear into the enemy much like a thunderous sound of hoofs and baying cresting a hill with tiny children holding toothpicks coming at you... Always a good fright with that there!

So was a nice different style of bits and bobs to do up this week. 

35 figures = 35pts

31 cavalry = 62 pts

Chamber bonus = 20 pts

All in = 117 pts.. Points match the models.. Both are small! 😂 😂 

From TeemuL: Halflings in Larder (45 points)

S.N. Owl-Ord takes the right turn on, the left side smells like sea and has a moist feeling, while the right side smells of food and has a warm feeling. He leaves the greyish bard behind and continues his walk towards the principal's office. He starts to hear noise. "Larder", he thinks, "Where have I come?" Nevertheless, he continues and to his amazement, he sees two of those smaller people again, but these are not paying any attention to him, they are just shouting and yelling towards the window and seems like they are going to throw their hot pot out of the window. There is another doorway, leading to the stairs, so Uggla quickly leaves this confusing place behind and goes downstairs.

This of course is the famous Halfling Hot Pot, which I bought some years ago, but without the head chef. Anyway, fully knowing, that my painting time is limited for this Challenge, I knew this would be a perfect piece for the Larder and bonus points. I decided to base the hot pot and chefs on a large round base, so I can position them in the way I want and have some scenery and make it strong enough.

 

This was a joy to paint, mainly using the regular paints from the Citadel range, some light and bright colors for the cheerful halflings. I added an old jungle tree trunk and some other stuff (the gun is now with "timbers", if you get the poor joke). Different kinds of basing materials to keep the big base interesting were added and as a final detail I sprinkled some orange sand here and there on top of the green areas to create and illusion of small flowers (take a look at the last picture, please).

 

I'm bit behind my schedule, since I was hoping to finish the Level 3 by the end of February and I have now just finished the first level. However, the level 2 is well in progress now and since I don't have anymore holidays or holiday activities I can spend more time painting. And I'd like to paint something non-Chambers stuff as well. I'm also sorry for not commenting much of the other posts, most of the time I have had a backlog of 40-60 posts and constantly reading posts released couple of days old. Now I have caught up quite nicely, so I expect to comment more.

 

Two 28mm miniatures, 10 points

Crew served weapon (very small, even compared to the crew), 10 points

Larder, 20 points

Halfling cooks in Larder, 5 bonus points

Total 45 points, 20 for GW Challenge, 0 skulls

Edit: Updated the points to make spreadsheet happy.

DrQ: Halflings in The Larder (35 points)

From the Hatchery I've headed back up the stairs to level one to finish off the floor by completing the Larder challenge.

For this area I made a dent on my Blood Bowl backlog by painting three halflings for my Old World Alliance team the Anvilguard Yellow Jackets. The combination of halflings' infamous appetites combined with their kitchenware kich aesthetic makes them a perfect fit for the larder.

The idea for this paint scheme for this team started a few years back when my (American) football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, played a game wearing throw-back uniforms from their first season. For most of the teams history the uniforms were some combination of green and silver, but in their 1933 debut they wore blue and yellow (the colours of the city & state, taken from the Sweedish flag that once flew over the colony). 

I came to find out with a little research that the more direct reason for the colours of that original Eagles team is that the newly-minted Philadelphia Eagles had inherited players and gear from earlier defunct team named the Frankfurt Yellow Jackets, which had gone into bankruptcy two years earlier. Taking that earlier name and colourways, I then interjected this team into the Age of Sigmar for the location of Anvilgard as the team's host city. 

I currently have the dwarfs from the Grand Alliance team primed and in various states of completion on my desk as a palette cleanser from so many orks, but we'll have to see if and when they get painted up.

As far as points, these three hungry hopefuls should be 15, with another 20 for the challenge bonus. 

From here I'll need to paint up something for Sarah the Sorceress for a teleport down to my next locale back down on level two...

-------

The Cap'n does love a bit of Blood bowl, though our Crew Team is now looking for a new catcher after ours tripped on a deck cleat during practice last week, went over the side and into the maw of a big sea beastie. Love the history of your team colours - 35 points for you!

Cap'n Wednesday 

From Barks: A light snack from the larder (35 points)

Just a little something to tide me over until lunchtime!

I really like this halfling- he's a printed figure from The Printing Goes Ever On.

This cart is also printed.

These market stalls are from Mantic, and are the most frustratingly bendy rubbish, I almost rage quit on them a few times. I'm no stranger to warped soft plastic, but these failed to respond to the hot water/ ice bath treatment, and I ended up melting the struts over a flame to try and get them straighter. Now the ejection marks offend me, and they hide the nice goods below. The tables, barrels, and wares are all Mantic as well, and they're fine. But fine bendy pieces? Avoid like the plague- do not recommend.

Meow

Oh, and the manx is a metal Reaper familiar- did you spot him?

1x 28mm halfling: 4 points

1x 28mm kitten: 1 point

Scenery: 5 points

Larder bonus: 20 points

Halfling Chef bonus: 5 points

Two entires in one day? Solid work that man!  Love the Halfling and the nod to the scene in Lord of the Rings where the Gaffer is showing off his prize gourd.  Liked the stalls too but will give them a wide berth noting your comments. Overall, a lovely entry for the theme - nice work Barks!

Cap'n Wednesday 

From ScottC: Friendly Hobbits (20 points)

On a more positive hobby side, here are a couple of leftover hobbits I had kicking around from various sets.

The two on logs are Merry and pippin from the Gw metal treebeard set, Sam is from the shelob set, and the crouching hobbit is merry from the grishnahk set.

 Hobbits are wonderful to paint up, lively and earthy in color palette. One day I hope to invest in a good chunk of the Midlam Miniatures Halfling range to make a full diorama of these cheery blokes. 

These are 28mm in scale on 25mm bases for a total of 20 points. 

From Iannick: A Fashionably Late First Entry (65 Points)

It is with barely two days left to the deadline that I finally submit my first entry to this year's challenge! I made the cut!

Obviously, it has to be a Curtgeld, since I do not intend to leave this island so early! With the choice of figure completely up to me, I went looking into my rather large unpainted stash, and picked something I knew I would enjoy painting. A few years back (Challenge 7 I think. How time flies) some of you may remember I went on a Halfling painting spree. It so happens I still have quite a few of the unpainted little fellows, what with me pledging for the whole range during the Kickstarter!

I'm a big fan of playing Halflings in D&D and Warhammer, probably because my favourite RPG character of all time, "Cedwick Bloomberry", was a halfling Fieldwarden. Never was a character so lucky, it was uncanny, and he became the stuff of legends amongst my RPG group. People always underestimated the little fellow, always...

Anyways, the Stonehaven Halflings are just a lovely range, and every figure is full of personality. I picked the "Mage apprentice" as my Curtgeld, in part because I have two of them (packaging mistake), but also because it's one of my favourite of the range. I believe the figures work especially well for RPGs, and this one should be of use to a DM looking to represent a first level halfling mage character, or NPC. Hopefully it can find a place in the collection of such a player (hint, hint).

I usually go with browns and earthy tones for halflings, but since this guy is a young mage, I gave him a blue wardrobe, it seemed fitting. I had as much fun painting him as I did 3 years ago, the little guys just paint themselves it seems. 

Next up we have Alice Duskbane, Paladin of Cormyr. The last few years I've been involved in a sort of personal RPG renaissance, after a decade long hiatus, and introduced three of my close friends to the hobby, and we've been playing twice-monthly ever since. Truthfully, I never thought they would all love it as much as they do! So I've been painting their characters, and this is the paladin of Marie-Claude in our D&D 5e forgotten realms campaign. 

The figure is from Dark Sword, probably my favourite fantasy figures manufacturer, and was picked by MC, and then painted by me, based on her character's description. It was a somewhat difficult figure to paint, first because painting pristine white is never that fun, but also because the figure is very slender and "petite". I also rarely paint redheads if I can avoid it, it never looks quite right. I'm quite happy with her nonetheless, and so is MC, which is the most important.

This lovely gal is also my ticket to Mudry's Mesa, as I will finally start my exploration of Challenge Island on Sarah's balloon. Sadly, I will have to make my maiden voyage sober, since I'm all out of bubbles (an ironic twist of fate considering it is one of my favourite drinks). But considering my RPG group is made-up of all women, I have plenty of unpainted female figures, and I do intend on using that mode of transportation more than once! Plus any excuse to drink bubbles...

So...

Curtgeld and 28mm figure : 30 pts

First trip on Sarah's balloon and 28mm figure : 35 pts

So 65 pts to erase the shameful "0" next to my name!

See you soon on the Mesa.

***

Bienvenue a noveau, Iannick! It's great to have you back among the Challenge and to share not only your fine brushwork, but your energy and passion for the hobby.  I do recall the earlier halfling painting spree, and I know many other Challengers and visitors will too. Your aspiring mage is just the ticket to honour that tradition, a fine Curtgeld for a lucky participant. 

The Paladin is really something, excellent work.  I have a feeling many fantasy and D&D fans will be looking Dark Sword miniatures if they haven't already...

That's 65 points for you, sir, and we look forward to more!

GregB

From PhillK: The Littlefolk Cometh (15 points)

Hello boys and girls,

I'd just like to say that I am very happy to once again be part of the Painting Challenge. The submissions so far have been tremendous in both quality and quantity and I hope to be able to contribute in some small way.

I thought I would finally submit something to this illustrious blog and, after starting about three different things, finally got something finished that I was happy with, and now will have some points on the board.

I present to you the first three gents for my Littlefolk army - eventually a confederation of Halflings, Gnomes, and Dwarves that I will be building over this Challenge and the next year, and probably forever. The force will be used largely for Dragon Rampant, but I intend it to reach a size and scale fit for Kings of War and other mass battle games, you know, eventually.

These miniatures are Shortlings from Slave2Gaming and are both absolutely wonderful sculpts and a joy to paint. I cannot recommend them enough to anyone looking to add some little lads to their table top arsenal.

That's all for now. Thank you for having a look at my first Shortlings and my first submission for Challenge VIII. I look forward to seeing all the wonderful things everyone here will produce over the next few months. Good luck to everyone.

Cheers,

Phill

3 x 28mm Shortlings from Slave2Gaming

Welcome back Phill, glad to have you with us!  What a lovely trio you've brought us today. I can all but see them fighting the Big Battle for the Shire against Sharky's gang. The colours are well chosen and the bases are very nicely done with them leaves added. Note to self: get some of those leaves for one's own bases. Might I ask what unit profile in Dragon Rampant you will give them? Light-, Heavy- or Hairy Foot? It will be great to see what other units you will add to this rather special army, can't wait!

From IannickM : A few more Halflings... (25 Points)

Why not, hey? In what is quite possibly my last Halflings of the challenge, I bring to you another batch of 5 of the little fellows, and it includes some of my favourites, as today we have a berserker, a Wizard, a Honey Mage, a General and a Psion.

From left to right : Psion, Berserker, Wizard, General Bilbo Bonaparte, Honey Mage

Yes, we have ourselves our very first Napoleonic Halfling, people! And not any Napoleonic soldier, but the man himself, Emperor of the Halflings, general extraordinaire Bilbo Bonaparte. Funny thing is, and I don't remember who it was,  but someone in a comment asked if there was any Napoleonic Halflings. I smiled at the time, knowing this guy was coming. 

The Berserker is one of my favourite sculpt of the range, and I gave her the fiery orange hair of her fanatic Dwarven cousins, Slayers of Trolls. I'm also very pleased with the wizard, as I'm really happy with my painting on him, especially his flaming hands, which I think I nailed. And one cannot not talk about the Honey Mage! It make so much sense that Halflings would've come up with a school of magic that gives them unlimited honey! I love the bees all over her, and the honey dipper wizard staff is a seriously nice touch.

I had a LOT of fun painting all these Halflings; so often the subjects of our painting is serious, with monsters and wars and such, that this was just a very refreshing little project. However I believe these will my last of the challenge as I'm also working on a side duel due for early March (it's coming Sander, no worries. It's gonna be awesome) and I would like to add a few pts to that 30K duel. I did managed to paint 25 of 'em little fellows, and since my goal was between 20 and 25 I can say "mission accomplie". I have quite enough to create a LeafGrave warband, and I even have the choice between three Wizards! So I gather it is time for a family portrait of the bunch. 

So that's 25 more points. Now if you'll excuse me, second midnight snack is ready...

(I'm in no way affiliated with them, but if you liked this range, go have a look at StoneHaven Miniatures for Elves, Gnomes and more)

ByronM: More halfling goodness and you have saved some of the best for last!  As usual your painting and colour choice is perfect for them.  I absolutely love the Napoleon one, and I am sure our Overlord Curt will as well.  Well you may have met your personal goal for the halflings with this post, I am sure I am not alone in hopeing that we will see more yet.