From ThomasG: Ironjawz with Fancy Masks - 30pts

Finally the string of birthdays and school holidays is at an end! I can finally get back to some hobby time for me, and I've started with a set of models I received for my birthday. These guys are Orruk Weirdbrute Wrekkaz, and continue in the theme of very large models, even within the range. I've stuck to my army theme of dark reddish skin tones and beaten metal surfaces, however these guys got an orange detail on the trousers, for no other reason than I had a few new orange paints to test out.

     

     The three figures are all armed with wrecking ball/morning star style weapons, looking truly vicious, I was inspired to give them that extra detail, and added a blood effect to the heads of each weapon, as well as the hands and some of the chains. 

     I added a spot colour of blue/grey to add some contrast to all the warm tones across the models, and feel it definitely helped. It is hard as these models have very few materials to work with, and sticking to a limited palette can make them seem lifeless. But the punch of cold blue, and a muted brown base with added slime appears to go a long way. 

     Although it was hard to add much in the way of texture, I tried some simple rust effects to the weapon chains so they were still seperate from the armour panels. The blood effect (seen more clearly below) is something I usually avoid, mostly as it can feel a bit tacky, but being a bit more chaotic with the application gave that savage look I wanted. 

   Yuk!

     And here we are, at the end of a brief run through these guys. Brutal, savage and bringing my growing army up to 6 models. There's 15 more infantry to come, and then one ginormous character and boar to add to his force and it will be done for now. 

     I had a chat with Martijn as to how to score these guys as they're almost twice the size of a 28mm figure, and we agreed to treat them as the equivalent of a cavalry sized figure, to which he very kindly allowed me to score them at 10pts each. 

Points:

3 x "Oversized 28mm" = 30pts

Total = 30pts

     Hopefully I'll be able to get more work done soon as the fundamental painting of these guys is incredibly easy, but in that lies the trouble of not wanting to fight the grind. But, hey, that's why this is a challenge! 

Tom

Wow, Tom, what fantastic figures and what absolutely fabulous brushwork! You have really brought these Ironjawz to life with your painting, and the use of colours, shades and highlights and the attention to detail is astounding. I think your experiment with the orange went very well, and the flesh and the metals are very convincing. An excellent job on these brutes and 30 well-deserved points for you!

From ThomasG: Green Orks and a Pretty Pink Princess (30 points)

Welcome back one and all to the tales of Tom and all things orruks, orks and uruks! Although not intending to turn my entries this year in to a gallery of the brutish denizens of the fantasy world, I can't tell you just how much fun I'm having with them; and to kick things off this week, I've returned to GREEN for my orks, and as you can see below, some more green and a dash of pink to tantalise the senses.

As the companion to Zoggrok Anvilsmasha (last weeks smashing success) this here squig (short for squiggly beast) is my moment of artistic freedom, having made it here with muted and earthy skin tones, now we can see my madness in full colourful panoply.

 

As a rule, all of my squigs end up pink, mostly as that is the most contrasting colour to green according to my colour wheel, but also because my 3 daughters think it is hilarious. My son however, he's not so sold on the matter, so instead tells me they look like bubblegum bubbles, which only serves to spur me on! 

 

The squig was initially a tricky model to decide l decipher as the large areas of skin, juxtaposed with the scales made of a harder substance, were not easy to texture right. But with a few different applications of painting styles the results speak for themselves! Pow, pretty and pink... well one of the two anyway. 

Next we come to some, as we younger sort like to say, "OG" Orks! These boyz are green, mean and like to eat beans... I guess, I'm not sure it just sounded better than lean, which they certainly are not. These 5 boyz are part of a larger squad of 20 which are taking me far too long to paint up, especially as these guys get me to the half way point in the unit that I bought this time last year! 

They are painted up to be part of the Bad Moon Klan of orks from Warhammer 40k, which is denoted by the yellow detailing, and are joining an army of pure hobby love. Back in 1999 I bought my first models in Harlow, Essex at a shop called Marquee Models, and they were then called "Space Orks". Not a lot has changed in their design since then, which only makes me love revisiting this army all the sweeter. 

Individually they have their differences, and they are by no means competition pieces, but I have such a love for these little fellas, I can't help but put in a dash more effort than I do for other troops. Please enjoy their close-ups, and think up some particularly orky names as you go through. 

There is an additional theme I have for the army; all of the braces are bright red to represent my love for 2-tone ska and they each wear a blue fancy as orks believe blue brings good luck. The bases have a bright green covered in a cracking medium to give the feeling their raw orkish WAAAGH! energy is breaking up out of the ground. 

And here we are, at the end of all things green this week. This coming Thursday (25th) is my 37th birthday, and have been lucky enough to be able to pick my presents this year, as such I've got 13 more orruks to join my growing force, represented by my first two posts, and 1 ginormous boar-like creature the size of a tank! I can't wait to share those with you all. 

     

Now, George Daws, what are the scores! 

6x28mm = 30pts

Total = 30pts

Thank you all for reading, and I'll catch you next time. 

Tom.

Waaagh! As a Tolkien purist, I am not necessarily fond of green skins, but I suppose they can be forgiven on space thingies and besides your greenskins look fabulous! That bubble gum squig is quite adorable too, though I fathom that petting it might not be the brightest idea. I look forward to the boarish one! Very well done, Tom, 30 points it is.

From ThomasG: Zoggrok Anvilsmasha [Fantasy](25 points)

Time to ring in the bells on my second leader to this fledgling army for the fantasy game, Age of Sigmar, this one being a hero character, usually going by the name of Zoggrok Anvilsmasha. He uses the collective power of the Orruks around him to imbue magic strength to the weapons of his "ardboyz".

Again, I chose to use the Uruk Hai as influence for both the skin and main armour panels, however as this chap is a magical blacksmith, I once more dipped in to the world of Asterix the Gaul for inspiration.

In Asterix, his village has a blacksmith by the name of Fulliautomatix. He has bright red trousers and a brown leather apron, so naturally they helped bring a bit of colour to this dark palette. 

I found myself really pushing my use of textures on the apron to give the impression of worn leather, and although I feel I could do more, at this point in the learning process I feel proud of what I achieved. This model is particularly large and really sets an imposing presence on the tabletop, soon to be joined by many more. 

A short but sweet week from me this time, as I have spent most of my week preparing and attending my final assessment to become a qualified archery coach, which I'm very proud to say I passed with flying colours! Next week I will have a special squiggly beast and hopefully some green skinned orks from the far future for you all. 

Points

1x28mm = 5pts (+5)

Fantasy Library Entry = 20pts

Total = 25pts 30

Thank you for reading and please hit me up with any comments or critiques on this fine fellow; life is one great big opportunity to learn, and I'm all ears. 

Tom.

Tom, this figure is excellent! I do have a very weak spot for Asterix, so the reference to Fulliautomatix sits very well with me indeed, but even aside from that nod, you have done an absolutely splendid job on him. That apron looks utterly fantastic and your pride is more than justified.

Now you say this a large figure, although you do not say how large, but I somehow feel that 5 points for this magnificent piece would be unnecessarily thrifty. I will score it at 10 points; either consider it equivalent to a 28mm cavalry figure or as 5 well-deserved bonus points. 30 points total.

To make us even happier, next time a  map would be awesome!

From TomG - Studio Scifi is ROCKING! & Lady Sarah's Limousine Request (54pts)

ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO! 

We who are about to rock, salute you, and welcome you to the rockingest Goff Rocker this side of the Studio Plot, bringing down the roof in the newest Space Opera: Squigs, Dakka and Orks onna Roll! 

Fulfilling the studio challenge for Sci-fi, I offer you the most entertaining model I've had the chance to paint in a very long time, and one that has fully ignited my love for painting again. Eschewing the standard black leather on black leather that is advertised on the box art, I wanted something a little more characterful. 

Having my wall of paints staring at me, I decided that nothing screamed metal more than a studded denim jacket, and having not painted fabric nicely in a while, it offered some fun opportunities for texture work. Next was a decision to go with red leather trousers, although having gone a bit too bright with the highlights, I decided to make them orange squig leather trousers instead. Allowing me to tie the amp-squig in to the rest of the model. 

I was then presented with a real treat; a single gloved hand! No other musician came to mind other than the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, but a pure white glove was never going to work on an ork, so I went for a very grimy off white/yellow. As I chose to paint this with the hand and guitar detached I had to be careful to match highlight directions, but this was relatively easy, as you can see, due to the final position of the hand being very flat. 

When it came to the guitar I knew I needed to add a real punch of colour, and nothing would have worked better than red, and as we all know; "RED ONES STRUM FASTER!" But not any red, it needed to be a vibrant cherry red, mostly to help bring warmth back to the palette of the model nearer the top. The bonus effect was that the orange to red tones get more intense as you move up the figure, assisting with the journey I want the audiences eye to take, moving up the figure. 

But as we focus back to the amp squig and the base, there's a story to both of these elements as well. Growing up I always wanted an amp by the company "Orange Amps", however I got in to wargames instead of live music, so the money needed for a nice amp bought me many models instead. But this was my time to honour that previous desire, and luckily worked perfectly with the colour plan for the figure. 

As for the base, in my head all I could imagine was this epic song that called on the power of the WAAAGH! to raise the roof. So to reflect this, I wanted a cracked earth effect with the green waaagh magic seeping out, which was achieved by slapping a good layer or two of green down, followed by Agrellan Earth from Games Workshop to give that cracking effect. Finished with a drybrush of sand yellow from Vallejo, it really brought the whole effect together. 

I can't tell you just how much nostalgia this model brought up for me, from my earliest days in the hobby, buying my first box of Ork Stikk Bombers from Marquee Models in Harlow, Essex, through my time working for Games Workshop in Southampton, where I was tutored by a great painter to let a model tell its own story just by selecting the right colours, all the way through to the joy I had taking my son to buy his first models last week. I've always loved painting orks, and they never fail to remind me why I find solo mini painting so relaxing and inspiring. I've kept notes on most of the paints used, so if you have any questions please do ask, I'd love to share with anyone interested. 

Now on to the second model of the week! 

With my painting mojo well and truly up, I wanted to tackle my need for a ride in the illustrious limousine, and offer this Michonne from Walking Dead, for Lady Sarah's perusal. 

Having painted the infamous "Fish Tank" of zombie heads two challenges ago, I had this resin figure sat in a draw collecting dust. But I knew that I wanted to give it a breath of life, which I appreciate is a bit ironic knowing the setting she's from. Although I could have drawn inspiration from the TV series, I wanted to give my own spin on her clothing colours, as I imagined her from the comics. 

I knew I'd be sticking to earthy tones, however they needed to be distinct from her flesh tone, which ended up being the triad for "African Skin" from Wargames Foundry, and I feel it gave a lovely rich and warm tone to the flesh areas. I then tackled the cloak/cape with a military green in mind, almost imagining the oilskin material but a bit dried out, mostly to desaturate the colours. Again this was a deliberate choice so as to keep the warmth close to her skin, and differentiate the intimate from the necessary items.

This decision to go with saturated, warm tones gave rise to the spot colour being red, and where better than in the triangle pattern for spot colours. The red boots were painted with two separate reds, a shiny one for the toe caps, and a duller one for the rest of the fabric, although I don't think it really shows up after basing sadly. A bandana in a matching red helped finish the model off, and I was happy. The brown trousers, black shirt and katana were kept dull and simple in tonal variety so as not to distract the viewer from the key areas. 

Dear Lady Sarah, 

Please accept this warrior woman from a zombie apocalypse, to strengthen your forces and share many a fascinating, and possibly gruesome, story or two. I have marked on the map below my desired journey to the Casting Couch, where I have a fun twist ready to share, next week.

Yours,

Tom

Welcome weary traveller, you have made it far in this post, through highs and lows, so why not take a seat as I regale you of my points and how they came to be...

28mm Model x2 = 10pts

Studio Entry x1 = 20pts

Lady Sarah Entry x1 = 20pts

Total = 50pts

Thank you all for reading this post, I worry my colour theory might have bored you, but I do hope that my enthusiasm shines through, because I've had a blast painting these two. Now it'sover to the big green guy to sing us out...

ORKS IS BEST, CRUMP DA REST, ITS FIGHTIN TIME! 

ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO, 

ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO THRU DA COSMO!

WAAAAAAAAGH!

Tom.

From TeemuL: That Orc Rocker is terrific and I did read and enjoy colour theories and stories behind the colour choices. I guess the Orc is bit tall compared to 28mm minis so I gave you a few points extra, it is just so stunning mini with great paint job. There are some skulls, too, for those interested in that kind of things. It is kind of funny, that your Limo ride is such a grim and dark and your orc from grim and dark future is not, quite clever (if unintended) contrast. Waiting for the Casting Couch entry.

From TomG - Festive Tiger Challenge Tiger II - 25 pts

 Oi oi!

Some of you may have seen on Twitter, that a few of us had set a challenge to build and paint a Tiger II, between the 21st and 31st December, and I picked this delightful Rubicon Models Konigstiger without zimmerit, for my entry. However little did I know just what a challenge it would be! 

First off, you may be able to notice some parts missing, namely the front light, bow machinegun and a number of turret tracks, well I can assure you that at one point all of these parts were attached, but due to some uncooperative glue and a catastrophic drop during priming, all of these parts went to the Great Parts Monster on the floor!

But, undeterred I channeled my festive spirit and ploughed on, only to be hit by set back number 2; painting late at night causes mistakes! Having airbrushed the camo patterns on, with some issues due to being picky, I realised I had varnished the model without painting the tools, applied the decals or even set a filter/wash in the recesses. What more could go wrong? 

Nothing, at this point I was left dejected and filled with the despair that follows those who habitually refuse to learn from their mistakes...

But wait, what's this?

In the distance a light, the sound of sleigh bells, a jolly fat man cometh! 

Ding dong merrily on high, it was Tiger Claus (see what I did there) and he had brought me just enough festive cheer to complete this challenge! With brush in hand I forged on, first we applied the decals, then we smashed out the tools finished with some all over weathering, including a stab at adding mud and grass to the tracks and hull.

Challenge complete, tears shed, but now the mightiest of mighty cats was ready to join the throng; no longer will the other 1/56 WW2 tanks in my German force feel scared at night, for the King has arrived. I struggled to enjoy the process of completing this model, but only due to my own mistakes, however once it was finished, I can safely say I was proud to take these photos and share them with you all. 

Tank you for reading this post, and I hope you enjoy the fruits of my festive labour. 

Points - 

28mm Vehicle - 20pts

Tom

______________________________

Wow, that's a beast, to be sure. I must say, you recovered marvellously from your hobby mishap, Tom, as this big cat really looks excellent. A big Hooray for Christmas Cheer, I say! I particularly admire its camo and weathering. One would never think that it had suffered from a tragic spill. In fact you could truly call this a 'recovery tank'. Well done!

I'm going to add a few more points for your sterling efforts in getting this beast back on its paws.

- Curt

From TomG: Hellboy in Honour of Mike Mignola, Black & White Studio Challenge - 25 points

"Don't mess with me, lady. I've been drinking with skeletons!"

Hey all, I've decided to jump deep down the rabbit hole of the studio challenge this year, and felt there was no better place to start, than with this gorgeous miniature of "Big Red"... but in the style of the Mike Mignola graphic novels. 

Resplendent in black and white, imitating the bold monotone of the art form, Hellboy is presented to you today with only 3 colours used. Initially primed with AK Interactive Black Primer, from a can, I then used Vallejo Model Colour Light Grey to sketch out where I wanted the white areas to be. 

These areas were then covered, almost entirely, with Cuttlefish Colours White Knight, but it could have been any white paint, this was the just the closest to hand. Now, although I've only got a few of these paints from back a kickstarter, they flow really nicely and have great pigmentation.

Overall, the mini was a joy to paint, and after owning this model for over a decade, it really was time to give him his dues. All in all it took just over an hour to paint him up, and quite frankly, it was a great way to break the ice on my frozen hobby of late, as I've severely lacked motivation to do any miniature hobbying lately.

However, with my palette suitably cleansed, I present you with Hellboy.

Points = 25

28mm Infantry - 5 points

Challenge Entry - 20 points

Have a great challenge everyone, and I'll see you all soon. 

Yours,

Tom G

____________________________________

Great work on the greyscale, Tom, and I'm delighted that Hellboy (a decade in the waiting) helped break the duck for your hobby drought. I also like the background you used for him - very apropos. 

Welcome back to the Challenge!

- Curt

From TomG - 300 Shades of Grey - 15mm Warlord Games ACW (600pts)

Grey, grey and more grey, that has been the order of the week, and although I've struggled to get more painting done, I knew that if I just kept plugging on I would get there in the end. Well 300 more tiny men later, and I'm now a third of the way through the Confederate contingent of a game I would love to run one day. 

Each regiment this time also had banners attached, and I picked the Texan banners purely on the basis that I had three regiments and there were three flags on the sheet of banners. However the keen eyed amongst you will notice I made a small mistake on the final banner, and I humbly beg your forgiveness. 

Each regiment, like the last update, have been painted using Games Workshop Contrast paints with the only exception being the bedrolls. I've used these to nominally denote different groups for when I do get to play with them, but it is just as much to break up the sea of muted tones.

The hardest part of painting all of these, was basing them, simply because the gap between each strip of men was so narrow it was difficult to get glue and flock to settle. However, with some addition of a long thin brush and a relaxed mentality of covering up shoes, I was pleased to see the bases come together. 

So now we come to the end of all things, and with only a week and a bit left until the end of the challenge I doubt any more of these little chaps will make it out in time, but I can't thank you all enough for the support and care you've shown me. I feel empowered to finish this project, hopefully before the next challenge comes around! 

This year has started badly for me, with great suffering and family strife, but the challenge has given me something to hold on to, and to focus on; and for that I will be eternally grateful. 

But here I end this post with a lovely great big chunk points:

300 x 15mm @ 2pts each = 600pts

Stay safe, be well and hold those you love close. 

Tom. 

From DaveD

Oh my thats a big Friday points KABOOM. I do actually really like the close order jam packed ranks of these - you've done a fine job bringing them to life . Good to hear the challenge has helped you through things too .

From TomG - Soviets in the Mud (65 Points)

"I'M BACK!"

In the words of an NFL quarterback last year, I bring you my return to this wonderful challenge! Since my last post I got one year older, now a whopping 35 years old, celebrated my second daughter's 4th birthday, and now planning the thirds 2nd birthday on the 18th. So a very busy time in Godson Manor, but not busy enough to stop me painting my first Soviets, all in preparation to play the Chain of Command campaign, Operation Citadel. 

Starting with my Ra-Ra-Rasputin Cheerleader, ready to call in a barrage of epic proportions! Now I know the bases should really be on different terrain, but I wanted to have Soviets that could fit plans for future games, so I challenged myself to doing thick mud bases. Initial thoughts included dead grass, but I didn't like it, so she's the only one. 

I loved painting this figure, she was not only easy to work with, but the miniature had such a great pose it allowed for subtle colour placement, alongside the bold red of the flags. If you give the image a zoom in, I even had a go at painting eyes, and it went well in my opinion. 

We next finish off the female presence of the set, we have a radio operator, and the ever important medic. Again both were a joy to paint, and with the addition of blue as a spot colour, really welcomed some character development pre-campaign. Warlord Games really delivered with these sculpts, dynamic and cinematic, but we'll grounded. As you can see just simple mud effects were used for these, and all following bases, just gives that atmosphere of a blasted mud season battlefield. 

Now for the chaps...

This Forward Observer brought up some interesting challenges when it came to painting; not only did I have to look up what the fur hats looked like (not that I ended up being that authentic) but I got the chance to do the glass in his binoculars. 

Next is flame-boy, another fun model to paint up, and due to a casting issue, he had a mess of a left eye, but that let me paint it up as a bruised and scarred area. Sadly I couldn't get a good photo of it, but I enjoyed painting it. I was fascinated to look up the Soviet flamethrower and to find it had a wooden stock, which felt dangerously low budget to me.

So here we have my least favourite model of the bunch, and also the last of the metal figures. The pose is great, but the casting around the face had made it very difficult to paint much detail in, but that's a first world problem for you! However as an officer he'll fit nicely in with the rest of the men. 

Below we have the 4 squad Serzhánt built from the box set by Warlord Games. Each one will only be designated by the smg however having two in helmets and two in caps helps me keep a record of them in game. 

They were, as always, easy to build and simple to paint. For all of my Soviets I wanted to give them a uniform more suited to the summer colours, as it satisfied my need for my buying new paint last month. Fortunately I enjoyed the process, and have used the "paintRack" app to keep a record of my choices and stages. If anyone is interested just let me know, I'm more than happy to share. 

Now on to some terrain, which I think is the only scatter terrain I've painted since leaving Games Workshop 12 years ago! Although I'm not certain where I bought them, I get the feeling they were bought from the Too Fat Lardies stand at Salute 2016/2017, so I had to get some dust off them first. 

The three pieces will work nicely as either road blocks, objectives or just debris, but I'm pleased with them. I did think about adding labels or product placement on the boxes but couldn't make my mind up in time, so just didn't bother. If you have any good ideas on what I could put on them let me! Maybe some Vat 69 for any of you Band of Brothers fans out there! As they would take up a 6 inch footing on a gaming table, but at only an inch in height, I've scored it at 10 points for the low height.

Well here we are at the end of all things, models and words brought together in a chaotic ride through the last few weeks of my painting, and it is time for the points. 

28mm infantry x10 = 50 points

Shadow 6 inch cube x1 = 10 points 

Total = 60 points

Thank you for reading, let me know your thoughts below, and in the spirit of the same quarterback mentioned at the start I'll now go sit down and be relieved of responsibilities hahaha!

Tom

Dave is having some tech issues, so has asked me to cover for him this afternoon. 

Those Soviets are rather characterful, especially the ladies. Lovely stuff, Tom! I'm not sure those supply dump pieces quite add up to a 6" x 6" x 6" cube, but I think it would be fair to score each of them as equivalent to a 28mm foot figure. Which is actually more points!

Tamsin