From GeoffT: Four Spheres of Paradise (115 points)

 Hello Challengers,

This week I have a small number of miniatures claiming a large number of points, courtesy of them representing four of the Sphere of Paradise.

Some of these have been waiting painted until I got the miniature for the preceding spheres complete.

First we have ‘warriors of faith’, these are fantasy minis that are based of Christian knights.  Knights being the arm of faith used to kill infidels. I painted them in a French type of scheme. Think these minis are from Harlequin.

Next up we have ‘the just rulers’.  In my youth, the TV show ‘the bill’ portrayed the English Bobby as a paradigm of honest justice.  This bobby could be Hollis himself.  Miniature by Reaper.

Meanwhilst on the foreign language channel, Ronins demonstrated being ‘Contemplatives’, silently and mysteriously arriving in town, thinking about stuff using no words, then killing the bad people with swords, then wandering off.  This Ronin is by exmanus studios.

Next, we represent the fixed stars of Faith, Hope and Love.  In this case, I am representing Hope, which is symbolised by Unicorns, according to random wikis that cover symbology.  This is an old Grenadier miniatures model from the 90’s

So there we have four themes for Dante’s comedy = 80 points

Two mounted 28mm miniatures = 20 points

Three 28mm foot = 15 points.

No squirrels.

Kind Regards

Geoff.

From Millsy:

You've shared some wonderfully eclectic posts over the Challenge Geoff and this is no different. This is another great cornucopia of minis, painted in a range of different styles and colours.

The knights are particularly good, especially the spiral decoration on the lances which I can attest from personal experience is really hard to execute. Cracking work mate!

115 awesome points!

Cheers,
Millsy

RobH - A Hodgepodge of Figures (75 Points)

 Today I offer a varied collection of figures. A real hodgepodge as I put it.

1) Party of Adventurers

This is a group of travelling Clerics with a Magic User accompanied by a mule train of supplies and trade goods. The mules came from my mountain of lead, while the adventurers were part of a gift of figures given to me this pass summer when I visited Nova Scotia.

2) Villagers exercising their right to vote. These three figures were part of the package of figures I was gifted on my travels. With torch and pitchfork they seem intent on removing a local bigwig.

3) Two of the 1066 peasant Women and Children figures I received as part of Bob Murch's 1066 Saxon Kickstarter in conjunction with Crucible Crush Miniatures.  I will apply the Woman and Child as Lady Sarah's Limo to take me onto my next studio location.

4) The final figure is Gollum, as offered by Harlequin Miniatures when they held the licence to produce LOTR figures.

Points Scored

11 x 25 mm Figures @ 5 Points = 55 Points

1 x Lady Sarah's Limousine Service = 20 Points

Total 75 Points

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It may be a hodgepodge of figures, but they make for a great review, Rob. I quite like the clerics with their faithful pack pony, and it's great to see some of Bob Murch's new 1066 figures getting the proper painterly treatment. I didn't know that Harlequin Miniatures had the LotR licence, so seeing their version of Gollum is a real treat. Good work!

- Curt

From GeoffreyT: A shimmy of Elvis Impersonators and some Dr Who Swampies (Retro) (70 points)

Hello Challengers,

We leave behind Glen the Space Octopus in the Sci-Fi studio, and head south to the Retro studio.  However, the glitter of Rhinestones and Sequins has followed us, as much as we tried to evade it.

These eight 28mm miniature Elvis Impersonators are from Slave2Gaming, a tiny Australian miniature manufacturer with a small but interesting range.  These particular pieces are sculpted by Mike Broadbent who also sculpts for Eureka Miniatures.  They are cast in white metal with slotta bases.

I have no idea what the correct collective noun for Elvis Impersonators is.  I am sure there is one, if anyone knows feel free to enlighten me.

Elvis impersonators are the epitome of retro, people who revel in the jumpsuits of the past.

Elvis had them in many colours, the most iconic being white.  The white was preferred as it made him easier to view when on stage.

Most of the effort in this work went into painting the bases.  I wanted to double-down on the retro vibe, so did the Elvii (is that the right plural?) dancing up a storm on a brightly lit disco floor.

I toned down the amount of contrast I used on the clothes and skin, in hope that they may photograph up better.  I prefer big contrast as it really pops out on the gaming tables of a dimly lit beer hall, but this doesn't always translate well to a good photo.

It is a little known fact that not everything that is retro is brightly coloured.

Below we have two muted coloured Dr Who "monsters" from Harlequin Miniatures.  These guys are called Swampies.

Swampies appeared in the 1978 serial "The Power of Kroll", which is widely regarded by experts as being a bit lame.  

The Swampies were actors painted with a green waterproof paint.   A waterproof colour was needed as it was filmed in a swamp.  I read that the colour arrived in time for the filming, but the solvent to remove it did not, and the green was later removed from the actors with great difficulty.

So there we have two types of retro pieces.  This is also the fourth green studio I have completed (Under Construction, Black and White, Sci-Fi and Retro).  This opens up access to the coveted blue zone.

Points tally:

10 x 28mm miniatures (5 points each) = 50 points

1 x bonus for Retro Studio = 20 points

Net = 70 points.

GT

______________________

Haha! Those are some fabulous dancin' Elvi, Geoff. I really like how you've painted all their various costumes and the lit dance floor is truly inspired. The Doctor Who Swampies are, well, rather swamptastic, and I quite enjoyed the historical footnote on their tenacious body paint. It reminds me of the green-skinned Orion girl in the original Star Trek pilot in which the post production film guys repeatedly tried to colour correct back to pink human fletsh, not understanding she was supposed to be green. :)

Great work Geoff!

- Curt

From GeoffreyT: Star Trekking and High Fantasy (45 points)

Hello again.

In a quite uncharacteristic manner, I am making a post devoid of bonus points.

A friend of mine gave me 6 of these Star Trek marines to help replace my failed Stargrave warband with.  Hopefully they will be more successful.

There was only two variants, so I varied the outfit, hair and skin colours to mix it up a bit, all the whilst keeping them in Star Trek theme.  These minis were formerly from Harlequin miniatures, but are not manufactured by their successor Black Tree, probably due to licensing issues, as they have the Star Trek logo on them.

I am very pleased to have gotten these 6 miniatures, I really like them.

The next three pieces are from Iron Wind Metals, they are contemporary casts of old Ral Partha models.  I was planned on using them for the Good v Evil theme, but ended up using Imperial theme on the said planet instead.

This is what was planned.  Goodly Centaurs v Evil manticore.

Here we have the ferocious Manticore.  The face is characterful, humanoid and monstrous at the same time.  Could do with being painted better tho.

The wings I am pleased with,  I copied the colour scheme from the Iron Wind metals website.

The goodly centaurs of the forest come in both armoured and archer form.

The female centaur has modestly covered her breasts, yet leaves her rear end exposed.

This then creates all sorts of quandaries as to why?

Does the centaur lady feel less modest about her animal parts?  Is it hard to get pants that fit her horses arse?  Or simply are her arms too short to put pants onto her rear legs ?

I discussed this matter with a friend, who then produced this fine work of philosophical art, making the centaur pants question no clearer.

***

So we have 9 x 28mm miniatures for 45 points,

a squirrel for Star Trek marines,

and an unresolved quandary,

Until next week

Geoff

Dual-wielding in Star Trek? Why have I not seen more of this! They should be great for Stargrave. Your colour schemes hide the lack of sculpting variety. Good work on your monsters as well. The pants quandary is one of life's great questions. Centaurs in general have a lot of anatomical issues, as far as I am concerned.

Barks

From GeoffreyT: Low Budget Doctor Who monsters (Babylon 5) (45 points)

Scooting back into the outer ring from Coruscant, we glide into Babylon 5 for low budget fun.

I have been looking forward to reaching this destination, because it is fun.

When it comes to low budget fun, the BBC took it to a new level with Doctor Who.  As a youth, the low budget costumes for the baddies were quite plausible, due to lavish application of imagination.  In retrospect now, they look rather funny.

Here I have four of the harlequin miniatures licensed releases from the 80's as well as one of the earlier citadel models.  All in 28mm of course. 

Hilariously, both these ranges sculpted the monsters true to the costumes as shown in the TV shows.  There appears to have been no attempt to make them look plausible in the mode the costume designer would have imagined them, they are just plain straight up true to the costume as made.

In chronological order, we start with a Monoid from 1966 (harlequin range).  This poor monoid has lost his psychic communicator so can only wave his hands.  From the era of Patrick Troughton, the second doctor.  Monoids were slaves to the human race who were abandoning earth in an Ark because it is going to crash into the sun.

"Im thinking really loudly at you"

I probably should have painted him in greyscale, as these series were B+W only.  They were quite dark outfits, but no clarity as to if they were green or brown or green-brown.

Next we have a Citadel miniature, representing the fabulously menacing Roger Delgado as the master.  he played this role from 1971 to 1973 in the Jon Pertwee third doctor era.  As such a terrific actor, he was very scary as the Master in my childhood days.  Worthy of hiding from behind the couch.

In TV lore, the Doctor and the Master were old friends who had walked different paths.   In a real life parallel, Jon Pertwee and Roger Delgado were close friends, with Jon encouraging Roger to join the show.  When Roger Delgado passed away in 1973, it was a catalyst for Jon Pertwee to retire from the role.

Back suit and black hair makes for bland viewing in 28mm

Roger and Jon together again. (Jon already claimed in week 1)

"My Tardis is better than your clapped out piece of junk", "Whoah Master, take it easy on the old girl"

For the next three baddies, we move forward to 1978.  All three of these are from Harlequin range.  Season 16 in 1978 features a season long theme, linking together the usual four part stories into a continuous story line now known as "The Key of Time".  This was the time of fourth doctor, Tom Baker.

In the first four part serial "The Ribos Affair". The Doctor encounters a shady used planet salesman named Garron.  he is trying to sell a Russian themed icy world.  It also features one of the most unconvincing monsters of all time, a reptile called the Shrivenzale.  On TV it was in a dark corridor and you didn't get a good look at the whole beast (fortunately), mainly its roaring mouth.

Above and below, we have Garron and the Shrivenzale.  I love how the Shrivenzale's rear legs look like a guy in a costume crouching.

Finally for this post, again from 1978, we have the Cailleach.  An ancient space criminal disguised herself as a Celtic goddess "the Cailleach" and was living in Cornwall.  Apparently it is a safe haven for ancient space criminals.

"Worship me, you foolish humans"

In her 'natural form' she is a lady painted silver. But here she is covered in feathers and a bronze mask.

Somewhere I am sure I had 'Vervoid advancing', but disappointingly I cannot find it.  I don't have any gaming use for these guys, but they are very collectable in my eyes.  It was also fun researching the more obscure monsters that I had only a vague recollection of, and laughing at the old footage.

***

In total, I have 5 x 28mm miniatures for 25 points

The Babylon 5 bonus for +20

A squirrel for 28mm Doctor Who baddies.

Kind Regards

Geoff.

Is 'low budget Dr Who monsters' an oxymoron? This is a perfect fit for Babylon 5. Your Master is a great representation of the actor, and the monsters... well, they're screen accurate! I hope they bring a lot of melodrama to your table!

Barks