From GeoffreyT: A Menagerie (Fantasy)(78 points)

Hello Challengers,

In my youth I loved the CS Lewis books, the pictures with assembled hordes of fantasy creatures of all kinds were my favourite part.  Since then I have been a fan of varied fantasy monsters, and have a ridiculous amount of miniatures of this type.  The modern skirmish games also allow me to put these creatures on the table.

Here is a batch of monsters and adventurers I have assembled for this post.

Lets see what they are. First up we have the laughing man.  A creature from the Forbidden Psalm expansion "In the footsteps of the mad wizard".

The laughing man's laugh is contagious and lethal.  I sculpted him from polymer clay and am pleased with the pose and face.  The belly is a good size for a belly laugh.

Also from the aforementioned supplement we have "tapeworm terrors".   I don't know what they do in game yet, but I'm sure its unpleasant.  These guys are made from beads with spikes of green-stuff.

They are lurching out of the swamp water ready to do whatever they do ...

For dungeons and dragons we have some more home sculpts, classic level 1 adventurer tropes, a human wizard and half orc fighter.  

The wizard has a broom as a makeshift staff and oversized robe, inspired by Mickey Mouse in the sorcerer's apprentice movie.

Here are two home made D&D monstrous oozes; a black budding and yellow ochre.  

Simple scratch builds, being hot glue blobs on a piece of wire.  I copied this from You-tube channel Wyloch's Armoury.  Better not leave these in a hot car.

They are accompanied a home sculpted evil fighter in insectoid armour, made from Fimo polymer clay.  There is a floating skull from the bitz box that could be Acecerak the Demi-Lich from the infamous "Tomb of Horrors".  

How about some commercial sculpts now.   These two are a grim reaper and a ghost thing from Slave2gaming. 

I loved how the ghosty bits blended into the ground on these pieces, so did them black with a tad of brown blending from base and purple blending from the top.

And lastly, some venerable orc miniatures from long defunct company Heartbreaker

Green and gruesome as orcs are.

So what is this lot worth in points ?

There are thirteen 28mm scale miniatures in this lot.  The two oozes are prone as they don't have legs, and the skull is quite small.

10 x 28mm foot = 50 points

2 x prone 28mm figs = 5 points

1 x a skull = 0.5 point (its like a 6mm fig I suppose)

1 x fantasy studio bonus = 20 points

Grand total = 75.5

Boy I do like my fantasy figures, why not duck into the gift-shop and get one for a friend, I wonder what I will find? 

Geoff.

From TeemuL: I'm quite speechless when it comes to minioning these self-sculpted monsters and heroes. The skills and imagination needed there is something I'm not capable of, so I'm just enjoying. The commercial sculpts are excellent, too. I like the ghosts "emerging" from the ground, a very nice effect, like you said, and the classic green orcs with cobblestone bases are great. I'll round-up your point total a bit, 78 was a good year and it will be a good points amount.

From GeoffreyT: Nuns and Guns (Lady Sarah's Limousine)(55 points)

Hello Challengers,

Having exited the Super-heroes studio, I find myself at a dead end, so hail down the Limousine for a luxury ride.

In payment for my trip, I offer up three nun cheerleaders.

These ladies are 28mm scale metals by Shadowforge miniatures.  I picked them up at a secondhand bring-and-buy, but I believe you can still get them from Eureka miniatures.  

I gave them pom-poms in the colour of my favourite elven union blood bowl team.  Why the nun's are supporting the elves is anyones guess.

As we drive thru the APHC studios we spot some unrelated Warzone miniatures by defunct company Heartbreaker.

The big guy took the martial training advice "don't shoot the gun, be the gun" a little too literally and became the gun in a physical sense.

He has three little helpers with tubes in their head, because this is what you need when you have become a gun.  Well strictly you only need two according to the 25 year old rule set, but this gun-man is extra lucky help wise.

Points:

7 x 28mm miniatures = 35 points

1 x Limo bonus = 20 points

Total = 35 points.

... the Limousine has stopped, and I bundle out, in front of the Arthouse studio, what on earth will i find in there...

I'll tell you what I found in the next post.

Geoff.

From TeemuL: The Cheerleading Nuns are excellent and will provide you a nice ride to Arthouse studio, but the Warzone minis are fantastic! Black and White on the nuns is tricky to paint and photo, these strange creatures really show how nicely you can paint.

From GeoffreyT: Unholy Carronade (Mars)(67 points)

Joseph Stalin, the man of steel, was reputed to say "Artillery is the God of War".   So for Mars, I bring you the theme "God of War".

No Soviet artillery was immediately at hand, but I did have this piece, "the Unholy Carronade", from Heartbreaker miniatures Warzone Mutant Chronicles line.  Comes with three crew in various states of decay.

This gun looked kind of biological-pipes fusion, akin to the works of HR Geiger.  The gun looked kind of suspect, so I painted in flesh-tones to enhance the look.  

The 'Warzone Mutant Chronicles' game was prevalent between 1995 and 1997.  I was on a gaming hiatus at this time, but last year picked up a bunch of Warzone Dark Legion secondhand.  I didn't know much about them, so I researched into it and found I had a good pile, enough for a viable gaming force.  Then I got interested, bought the gun and couple of other ones for about 30 in total.   

Again, one of these characters had a gun looking like 'a biological appendage' so flesh-tones were liberally applied.  Some people would paint this weapon in different colours to make it look less rude.  I was not one of those people.

The fat one is quite big, 40mm to the eye.

With a whole bunch of others, I now have a complete force for a game which has been largely defunct for 25 years.  This however does not deter me.  I have diligently painted them, put them in their own box and away in a cupboard.  Now I can rest easy knowing the Dark legion is ready to spew forth if the unlikely need arises.

***

There are in this world, games being actively played.  I am playing Elf Union in the Blood Bowl 2020 edition.  I had some players out injured, so needed some journeymen to fill the gaps.  One got MVP and levelled up, so I hired her to the team.  This then required me to acquire a new miniature player.  With slow domestic and international shipping, I had to source locally, and got an old second hand mini in a shop and converter her in a classic blood bowl cheap ass style.  

WARNING:  THE FOLLOWING IMAGES MAY CAUSE DISTRESS TO SOME VIEWERS.

The mini was a Ral Partha Elf, so my sincere apologies to any Ral Partha collectors who might be offended by these images of classic metal figure with the weapons crudely hacked off.

This season I am writing any earned skills on their base to make it easier for me.  Oretty rough paintwork, but blood bowl minis take a beating.  Will need to varnish.

***

For this post we have:

One 28mm Artillery Piece = 10 points + 20 points bonus for Mars

5 x 28mm Warzone foot = 25 points

1 x 40mm foot = 7 points.

1 x mutilated elf = 5 points

A grand total of 67 points

A squirrel for Warzone Mutant Chronicles: Dark Legion

Kind Regards

Geoff

I closed my eyes so I don't know what unholy insult you have dared offer up. It was bad enough inspecting your variously-sized flesh cannons. They show great attention to detail, and I'm sure will upset your opponents.

Barks