John B: FRIDAY CREW: The Final Reel - the whole lot

Its been a great winters painting again.

I managed to exceed my target. I reached the heady heights of 529 gainst my target of 400 - both I think were more than last year although I painted more units/pieces in AHPC14.

I also yet again got distracted by the theme and again started modelling homebuilds........

NOTE TO SELF: if you want to paint more stop making models!

I got plenty of variety in this year

I suppose the big red space ship was the most satisfying - my red dwarf!

Then again I have made progress on my Schleswig Holstein Wars figures. Unfortunately a load of artillery missed the cut Martijn as my holiday break was a case of bad timing.

Last but not least I created two backgrounds for displays - as you do! Heres to AHPC16 and the challenge that keeps surprising me. Go Forth and Paint. Till next time.

From: MarkB Smårgos Torta of Miniatures today [Overdue and Returns](92 points)

 Hi all,

I hope you are doing well! 

I would like to introduce you to the Swedish Smårgos Torta. No this is not a recipe but it goes with this weeks post from me. Here is a picture of a Smårgos Torta for you all.

I have painted up some items that have been siting around my paint table and they have been in different states of completion. So this week I will be making an entry into the AHPC Library under the area called Overdue and Returns. Below is a picture of this weeks submission from me.

 

 

To start the detailed talks lets talk about the spaceship. Which I do not know how to score because it is a 1:50,000 Scale miniature from Brigade Models. This is part of the Neo-Soviet collection and is the Admiral Lazarev Class Battle Cruiser. It is 80 x18mm in size and was fun to paint up.  So I will need the help of the kind judges to give me some points for this entry. Thank you!

I plan to use this and other miniatures for a game based around the battle of Denmark Straights in space using the "Starfighters" Rules from Wiley Games.

Next up is another fun group of miniatures. We have a group of four 28mm Zombies from a box of plastic miniatures that I picked up after playing my first game of Zona Alfa. So these four Zombies will be used with my first entry in a game of Zona Alfa. 

So now back to the main event. 6mm miniatures, today I bring you two battalions of Austrian Infantry from Baccus for the 1809 campaign during the Napoleonic Wars. In total there are 64 miniatures in these two battalions. There is on battalion of German and Hungarian infantry. The German battalion is part of the 3rd Infantry Regiment and the Hungarians are part of the 50th Infantry Regiment. 

 

Also from Baccus and for the 1809 Campaign I give you a unit of the 3rd Uhlan Regiment. There are a total of 12 miniatures in this group. 

These are some much needed reinforcements for the main group of miniatures I painted this last summer.

 OK now for the fun part, the scoring.

64 x 6mm infantry @ 1/2 point =32 points

12 x 6mm cavalry @ 1 point = 12 points

4 x 28mm Zombies @ 5 points = 20 points

1 x 1:50,000 scale space ship @ 8 points = 8 Points

 Overdue and Returns bonus = 20 Points

Total for this week: 92 points

I hope you all have a great week. Skål!

Now, when I hear the word "torta" I can't help thinking of my native "taart", which really means cake. Well, overly healthy green stuff doesn't necessarily have to be part of this. To the contrary, even. However, your Smårgos Torta sure looks delicious! As, of course, do your other offerings for the day, Mark. I like the spaceship and the zombies, but pride of place must go to your little Austrians. I really like the crisp painting and the vibrant colours on your Uhlanen, I must say. Well done!

As for scoring, looking back into the depth of the Challenge Archives I find that Battlefleet Gothic spaceships have traditionally been scored as 15mm vehicles. That seems reasonable to me, so we will award it 8 points. That brings your total up to 92 points. Proost!, as we say in Holland, or Schol! for my Flemish neighbours!

Martijn

 

 

From ForestP: 1 Squadron (12 6mm? vehicles) of Imperial Armada of Marduk Spaceships from Hydra Miniatures [LV426] (44 points)

So, after that absolute unit of a terrain piece, The Alamo, I needed to take a little rest from painting. Quite honestly, my painting hand hurt something fierce after that much work, and since I have to write and type as a significant portion of my career, I wanted some time to heal. I seriously feel for those individuals who have to suffer through carpel tunnel syndrome on a daily basis. Now, however, that I am suitably rested it's time to get back in the saddle... or is it cockpit?

Having taken a Warp Maelstrom to Arrakis I found myself compelled to travel the Void Sea to the Alien world of LV426 next. What better way then to be escorted by a squadron of the finest Imperial Armada of Marduk Class 1 and Class 2 spaceships from Hydra Miniatures? I've had two squadrons of miniatures for Hydra Miniatures War Rocket Retro Sci-fi Space Combat wargame a little over a decade now. I half-way painted the Zenethian squadron all the way back in May, 2010 (proof), and I decided to finish them up prior to doing the Imperial ships. I'm obviously not counting these for the Challenge, but I figure you'd enjoy seeing how they look.

In case you are wondering I used Windsor & Newton Brilliant Green ink to do that translucent green.

Now, with that out of the way, onto the matter at hand. I decided that I really wanted to use some of the Turbo Dork Color Shift and Metallic paints that I bought last summer on these miniatures, so as per instructions from Turbo Dork I primed the ships in Krylon ColorMaxx Gloss Black (5505). 

The lore of the Imperial Armada of Marduk indicated that the paint scheme of most of their ships are liveried in the standard Imperial colors of red with gold and black accents. Well, I don't want to do that, so nyah. Evidently "His Imperial Majesty Marduk permits alternate color schemes for veteran commanders as long as they still include red, black, and gold." I considered that, but no, I want more flexibility. A-ha! "More latitude in color schemes is allowed for the vassal planets of the Imperium." Yes, that'll do quite nicely. I decided to make this squadron the 1979th Nightcallers of Kavinsky (listen to the unit's march here). May you enjoy them in all their synthwave/80's pastel glory. 

Working from a lighter-to-darker framework I started by painted each ship in Pearly Gates. The ColorShift and Metallic paints by Turbo Dork all require multiple coats to get the full effect. As you can see by image below, three coats of the Pearly Gates does give an amazing metallic look to the miniatures. Dare I say it, this paint is my favorite silver-chrome paint to date.

I love how this metallic paint looks!

The bulk of the ships were painted with Turbo Dork Bubblegum Crisis. As you can see from this little video the paint goes between bubblegum pink to a gold color. It's a little hard to see in the video, but trust me, it's there!

The color shift doesn't show up well in photos or video, but it looks great in person.

Moving forward I picked out details and accents using Bubblegum Crisis, Crystal Cavern, Purl Grey,  Sakura, and Shell Shocked, as well as Vallejo Deep Sky Blue (70.844), Deco Art Americana Pistachio Mint (DA253), Deco Art Americana Electric Pink (DA231), and Deco Art Americana Royal Fuchsia (DA151). Windows were picked out with Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue (703899) and given a highlight pop of Vallejo Deep Sky Blue (70.844). Weapon ports on the Class 2 ships (the bigger ones) were picked out in Craft Smart Neon Green (23669). Finally, exhaust ports on all ships were dry-brushed with Vallejo Flat Red (70.957) followed by Vallejo Deep Yellow (70.915). I finished off the miniatures by sealing with Hobby Lobby Clear Acrylic Coating Gloss Spray (706945).

The whole squadron

Now, who wouldn't be terrified of these? :-)

Close-up of the Class 1 fighters.

The three Class 2 ships.

Close-up of the Class 2. I love the retro futuristic look of these miniatures!

Anyhow, this is my entry for the week. I wasn't super happy with the Color Shift paints from Turbo Dork, but that may be because I'm just not comfortable with putting them on. Also, from what I've seen online they are better served being airbrushed rather than with a traditional brush. I really like Turbo Dork's Metallics though! In summation, my points are calculated as follows:

12 x 6mm vehicles @ 2 = 24 points

LV426 (Middle Ring) bonus = 20 points

Total = 44 points

Not as much as last time, but a decent showing nonetheless. I'm definitely not as good painting sci-fi as I am historical figures. I think I prefer painting with a guide as my imagination just runs too wild otherwise. Until next time!!!

From Millsy:

Certainly not as big or involved as The Alamo but a great post nonetheless Forest!

These ships have a groovy Flash Gordon feel to them and your vibrant colour scheme really takes them to the next level. I particularly like the go fast style of the Class 2 ships and you've really managed to pick out the detail for such a small scale. Nice choice for LV426 too.

Top work mate and here's hoping we see more of this stuff before the Challenge finishes up.

Cheers,

Millsy

From Barks: Grail Knights (62 points)

Good news, everyone: my COVID-19 swabs came back clear. I used my time in isolation to finish part of a project I started at the beginning of the Challenge: a Bretonnian Blood Bowl team. These are from Hungry Troll, and are a plasticky resin. They're more 35mm than 28mm, and have lovely details, particularly in the faces and heraldry. I really enjoyed doing my research!

Arthur, King of the Britons

Sir Lancelot the Brave

Sir Galahad the Pure

Sir Bedevere

Sir Robin The-Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot

They have some enemies:

The Black Knight

I magnetised his arms. I did the legs as well but they snapped, so the legs are now fixed in place. Would be a fun way to represent wounds.

"'Tis but a scratch."

Ogre

Enchanter

These handy markers are white metal.

I didn't get to start the peasants and porter who go with them, unfortunately. But I did knock off two spaceships from PSC's Red Alert, which were missing or broken and were sent out to me by Lois from PSC.

Confederate destroyers

So,

7x 35mm 35

1x 40mm ogre 7

3x ~15mm markers 6

2x destroyers 8 (based on last year's precedent)



Okay, so a mixed entry with stuff in a scale that doesn't fit one of the SOD (TM)'s categories. Tell you what, as the grail knights are between 28mm and 40mm, I'm going to score 3 of them as 40mm. that bumps you up to 62 points.

TamsinP
*hic!*

From Barks: Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! (480 points)

Following Pinkstone Fortress, I thought I wasn't going to reach my distant target of 1200 points. Last Monday, my Kickstarted copy of Red Alert arrived, and I knuckled down and got painting like a demon. Seems that quantity has a quality!

"Spaceship!"

Red Alert puts a space fleet combat spin on the Commands & Colours boardgame series mechanic*, with miniatures from Plastic Soldier Company. So many miniatures... so many flightstands...

There are two factions, Commonwealth and Confederate, or Red and Green respectively. The ships got a basecoat/ wash/ drybrush, with some spot details such as a splash of white or yellow, and the engines got a blue glow. If I had an airbrush this would have been much less painful, I think. Red is still a challenging colour for me, and looks a little flat.

54 Fighters

28 Destroyers

30 Cruisers

8 Transports. The transports can be taken by either side, so I did them in neutral white.

18 Battleships

 4 Flagships

 2 Carriers

 2 Dreadnoughts

Finally, there's an orbital station on a 50mm base.

The Fighters are on 1" bases. All other vessels are on 1x2" rectangular cavalry bases. I reckon 1 point per fighter, 4 points each for the destroyers and cruisers and transports, and 6 points per capital ship and orbital station. YMMV**

1 point x 54 = 54
4 points x 66 = 264
6 points x 27 = 162
Total: 480

Which should comfortably see me over the line! Almost 500 points in a week, who knew it was humanly possible!

And with that, I'm out of entries for AHPC IX***. It has been great fun and quite productive!

Barks

* not at all to be confused with Command & Conquer: Red Alert, which is an entirely different science fiction thing. Obviously.
** Your Minion May Vary
*** Probably?

Guest Minion JamieM - 
So.......Many......Spaceships....... Good gravy man, did you not need sleep?!?!?  I do like the look of these and painting them all in one go will totally help them look consistent on the board.

Given you're an officially sanctioned Minion and you've been issued with the "Curt's official scoresheet sizing size-o-meter of sizingness" I'm going to go with your scoring and assign points as you suggest.  Excellent work!