From TomC: When the last humbug has been eaten* [Swords & Sandals] (30 points)

 

 Ahoy, hoy! Like Mr Burns, I too have a) not posted in a long time and, b) worse, not commented on anyone else's wonderful entries. I promise it's not because I'm terrible, my cat was very ill (she didn't eat my homework, she has a form of epilepsy!), and it's taken some time to get the right care for her. She's doing well enough now to get some brush time in though, which I desperately need to have any hope of hitting my challenge target!

 Today's studio destination is Swords & Sandals, with a roguish cast of two of the Warlord Games's Bandits and Brigands set from when they carried the Test of Honour skirmish game. They're a great assortment of period characters, intended as roaming thugs, and ideal villains to set against more honourable Onna-Bugeisha, Sohei monks or other staples of the genre.

 These metal Test of Honour miniatures are some of my favourites from Warlord's selection, I've been working on the box on and off for... some time now, so this was a good opportunity to finish off a couple extra! I have just one left, who was disqualified from this studio for bringing a musket. As befitting eclectic low-lives, they have an un-uniformed appearance which I wanted to emphasise with a loose colour scheme of greys, greens and off-whites. 

 Alright, so he looks like a peppermint humbug, but I'm at peace with it, the sculpt is cool enough (in my eyes!) to carry such a fashion faux-pas. I've painted a lot of the gang with black hair, so I made Humbug Hanzo a silver fox, whether he's a sly veteran or an Uncle Iroh is yet to be seen!

 Our other vagrant, by process of association either Masanari, Genji or Zuko (depending on your preferred reference...), has a slightly less saccharine sartorial style, with just a pop of purple and a jazzy (if perhaps historically inaccurate) sword for street credentials.

 

    

 Back when I started with this set I was using metallics, I've generally moved to NMM now because I never really mastered getting reflective metallics to look the way I wanted and... still haven't! A challenge for another time perhaps.

 Scoring here is simple enough, two 28mm miniatures at 5 points apiece, both equipped with swords and sandals for a 20 point studio bonus and a grand total of 30 points.

 Now I've got a week to get a Western in, so I suspect this will be my last Friday post, and so big thanks to Phriday minion Phil for enduring my 'jokes', eleventh hour posting and naval miniatures!

*With apologies to poor Sidney for further degeneration of his planned ruleset title... it's for a good cause?

Friday Minion: Welcome back Tom, glad to see you making a final bid for points. Sorry to hear about your poorly cat, glad to hear she's on the mend. Do we get a picture of the troublesome moggie? 

And what an entry - I love these Japanese ruffians and their boiled sweet themed fashion. Top work on the stripes and subdued basing. 

30 points for your tally, will you fit another entry in to creep over your points target?

From PhilH: Going Small at Swords & Sandals (56 Points)

 And now for something completely different...

Intrigued by the works of Mark Backhouse, Sidney Roundwood and our very own Snowlord in having a go at a teeny tiny scale project. So, with a copy of Too Fat Lardies/Reisswitz Press rules Strength and Honour in hand, I'm thought I'd use the Challenge and the Swords & Sandals room as a reason to have a dabble.

I've a few ideas, but am more at the stage of figuring out how I want to approach the project, what minis to use, and what scope I'm aiming for. Not helped that I'm juggling a whole bunch of projects this winter. But I am settled on it being a 3D printed project. 

So, rather than succumbing to my innate ability to procrastinate and I applied some JFDI - 'Just Flipping Do It'.

These are are hairy barbarian warbands, using files from Thingiverse designed by user T1ickL35 and kindly printed for me by fellow Lard America luminary and Challenger JohnE (thanks John!). The files are a bit rudimentary compared to the files with a price tag attached, but its good to handle and paint them before going to deep down the rabbit hole. 

The bases are 120mm x 60mm x 2.4mm thick to aid being picked up, designed by me in Tinkercad and printed on my FDM printer.

Trying to get into the 3mm style, I primed them black, then laid down some dark brown tones through the airbrush. These are vaguely meant to be Germanic warbands, so I was after brown and flesh tones and no colours.  For these formed units, a lot of people seem to use acrylic paint pens (what a thing!), but I don't have those to hand, so went with a toothbrush-flicking frenzy with various brown, beige and tan tones, trying achieve splodges of colour. My base was a bit dark for this, so it doesn't come out well: I should have taken the brown lighter. Lesson learned. Then I picked out the shields sculpted on the front in similar tones, and each of the 'heads' with flesh tone, aiming for a 'sea of faces'. 

I did the basing afterwards, because of the paint flicking. This was an error, I couldn't apply the paste anywhere near as neatly as I thought. I'm fairly content with how the basing came out. 

So my approach didn't really work as I'd hoped: I need to be bolder with colours, and I think the paint pens might be the way to go to achieve that. But some valuable lessons were learned along the way, I can always rework them as I get into the 3mm vibe. I'll pick this project up again when I complete my planned investment in a resin printer this summer.

I think 3mm large bases have been scored at 12 points each previously. If my esteemed minion agreed, that would be 36 plus 20 for the location bonus for 56, which should nudge me over my 500 point target with a week to spare, and 4 or 5 posts still to come 🙂

Excellent work, they look like a frenzied mass of hairy armpits, I assume that was the plan

From ScottC: Westerns & Swords and Sandals (240 points)

 

I painted up my Knuckleduster miniatures mounted Jesse James faction. I have a lot of their miniatures and they always seem to get better and better!

I also painted up 2 horses for my 4ground prepainted wagon and the driver.

Next up:

I painted my Crusader Gladiator miniatures that I have always dreamed of painting. Gladiator was my favorite movie growing up and holds a very high nostalgic factor for me. It was an absolutely blast to paint these guys up.

Total:

26x 28mm infantry (25 gladiators + driver) = 130 pts

7x 28mm cavalry (6 jesse james + 0.5 per horse) = 70 pts

 Bonus Challenge points x2 = 40 pts 

Total: 240 pts

Let's see if I can make it to the Directors Chair...!

What great sets of figures, Scott! 

Tamsin

From MartijnN: Homes under the Hammer (terrain & 28mm Vikings)(Swords & Sandals and Fantasy)(147 points)

Having been shown the error of my ways and being reminded that backtracking through Studios already visited is allowed we swiftly proceed to the Swords and Sandals studio. Here we find the set of the popular BBC series Homes under the Hammer, where people try to buy property at auction, renovating it and selling it at a profit. I always enjoy this long-running program, when the participants are successful and also when they are not (yes, I have a nasty streak sometimes). In keeping with the Swords and Sandals theme I present to you a slightly dilapidated property at the fringe of the romantic Arabian desert. It may be a bit of a fixer-upper, but it it's full of original details, it was previously owned by an old lady and has always been parked inside. It only needs some minor renovation to turn it into your next client's dream home!

All well and good, I hear you say, but now we have two problems: where are the swords and sandals, and where do we stay while the building works are going on? Fear not, we have you covered on both counts. Here are two luxurious Arabian tents, which will serve admirably to accommodate you and your team of reliable and fast builders while the renovation proceeds apace:

I really brought swords and sandals, but at Stuart's suggestion I left them in the tent.

Well, alright, just to protect you I will provide with you with an escort. Although they apparently prefer axes (which might come in handy should you ask them to assist in the renovation) some swords are clearly in evidence. They prefer their sturdy shoes over sandals, though.

These are all 3D printed 32mm "heroic scale" miniatures from Iain Lovecraft's Viking Legends Kickstarter. They are great sculpts and painted up really nicely. The range was designed in cooperation with two Swedish Viking museums, and so historically accurate, as far as possible, I hope. I kept the shield designs simple, but they are all hand painted.

Now to keep your Vikings happy we also provide you with this great opportunity for plunder and destruction in the shape of this chapel:

It actually is a 10mm Church model by Cromarty Forge (this one of course 3D printed), but it will serve quite happily as a 28mm chapel if asked nicely.

From The Swords and Sandals Studio we immediately proceed to the Fantasy Studio. In case you are not really the person to live on the fringes of the desert, we have a nice alternative dwelling for you:

This, too, is a model designed by Lovecraft, Hemlock Cottage from his Tale of Two Cities.Whether you are looking for a country residence in a small hamlet on the way to King's Landing or for a pied-a-terre in Bree, this dwelling will be admirably suitable.

It comes with its own little garden terrace with ornamental statue:

And should you require a lookout point to keep an eye on your neighbours, this might be your thing:

It's in need of a little repair, but once done up it will allow you to see anyone approaching your home from miles away!

Lastly, I have this 28mm ACW wooden church. You may have need of this, if by any chance you have failed to use your outpost properly...

Okay, that's it for me today. Now for points. I suggest 5 points for the ruined terrace with statue (the statue stands about 50mm tall). The Arab house is 3.5 x 3.5 x 2/4.5", the tents are a little over 3"x 3", so say 15 points together? The little outpost is 5x4x1.5", perhaps 5 points? The chapel is 6x6x4", and the church 8x5x7"to the top of the spire, while Hemlock Cottage is 4x4x5.5". Some 40 points together? So altogether I'd suggest 65 points for the terrain, if our esteemed minion agrees.

So to sum up:

8x 28mm foot = 40

Miscellaneous terrain = 65?

Swords and Sandals Studio bonus 20 points

Fantasy Studio Bonus 20 points

Grand total 145 points (plus two squirrels, one for the terrain and one for the vikings)

Next stop: Superheroes!

I hate scoring terrain, it is never in nice, neat little cubes. I ran the maths and your scoring seems about right. I'm also going to throw in a couple of bonus points for the hand painted shields. The Vikings look superb, and the buildings are great. I like the greenish tint you've used for the wood on the church.