From JohnE - 28mm Sgt. Donny Donowitz and Lt. Aldo Raine - [Vlogsphere] - (30 Points)

Another stop in the Middle Ring with a black comedy themed pair - A Couple of Bastards from the Wargames Illustrated Giants in Miniature range. Not named as such, but it's clear who they are supposed to represent.

Points Summary: 

2 x 28mm foot @ 5 points = 10 points

Vlogsphere (Middle Ring) bonus = 20 points

Total = 30 points

Nice renditions of these two inglorious basterds, John! 

Tamsin

From PeterD: Pigs and Other Swine for Vlogsphere and Sarah's Star Yacht (65 points?)

First of three posts for me today.  I could have contracted the painting content into one or two posts, but the middle stop on my journey is Noel's Comet...

First up is a short hop from Coruscant to Vlogsphere.  One of the proposed themes for this planet is Bureaucracy and I present the Burgermeister Ruprecht Von Wichtiguerin, accompanied by his flunky nephew Ernst, the regrettable offspring of his unfortunate sister.  For his part Ernst knows that he should have done better than take the job from Uncle Ruprecht, but law and business are hard work.  Besides it's lazy work that keeps him in bier and Strudel and leaves him his evenings free to moon over the lovely Katja down at the Schnitzel Haus.

 Figures are 28mm from Wizkids and might actually find use in a Seven Years War tabletop.

Hear ye, hear ye to his excellency's decree.

There is quite nice detail on this figure, although the clothing looks way too late for the standard DnD campaign settings.  Ruprecht is looking exceedingly self important here.

My wash gave Ernst a pleasantly grubby face but I'll have to go back and revisit the lacework.

My next stop is Noel's comet, which requires a trip on Lady Sarah's Star Yacht.  I have a couple of Land Army Girls (or land women of a certain age) with piglets as long as Sarah doesn't mind the smell.  Figures are from the Bad Squiddo games Kickstarter that I backed a couple of years back.  Pig farming is not quite as glamorous a role as a lumber jill, but they are very nice figures.  I really cannot say enough about the Women of WW2 range, there was a lot of research, respect and love that went into these figures.

The drab and grubby clothing required fairly heavy handed shading which looks fine a a proper distance.  I did try to give Miss Piper (see below) a pair of shiny black Wellies. 

Miss Piper and her little swine Ray.  The sculpts have mangled to capture a certain pride of accomplishment in the faces.   

I have not named the other lady pig-wrangler on the grounds that the other women in the challenge live locally and therefore can easily track me down and hurt me.

Points wise the base is four 28mm foot figures for 20 points.  I am not sure how to score the pigs (are they animals or equipment?) and two of them would count as prone, but maybe 5 for the set of three.  Plus I am hoping for 20 points for Vlogsphere and the Star Yacht.

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Haha! A great post, Peter. I very much like Rupert and Ernst in their blue, red and gold livery, in fact I have the very same pair primed and ready to go on my painting table. As you've beaten me to the punch perhaps I'll do an alternate vision of them in an upcoming Challenge. 

Nonetheless, I think the stars of this entry are the pig farmers, especially Miss Piper and Ray the Pig (though I think you need to go back and give her ginger hair). I think it was very wise to keep the naming to people that are not on this continent. 

The pigs seem to be like crew served weapons, but I'll adjust as you suggest. :)

Good one Peter!

- Curt

From Pete F: We'll Call It A Draw and Battlemaster (65 points)

For some black (knight) comedy - here's the defeated guardian of the bridge.  Boys of a certain age and background can pretty much quote every line of Monty Python's Holy Grail and will recognize this scene. I can highly recommend this movie to everyone else - although if you don't want to explain to your ten year old what the sisters in Castle Anthrax suggest to Sir Galahad then keep fast forward handy.  A couple of well timed coughs also work.

I had a LOT of trouble with colour balance on this one

Studio Miniatures Medieval Mayhem line has some wonderful sculpts - at some point I'm going to get the full set -  it doesn't have a white rabbit so I'll need source that monster from somewhere else.

The Robot is from the Battle Tech basic set. It is a Battlemaster painted in my own scheme and my first Mech. I've only dabbled in Battletech - mainly because one of my wargaming pals is steeped in it and enjoys the crunchiness of the play as well as the lore. And giant robots* are cool.

Well behind the pace for my target points, so I'll try and pick up some bonuses in a shameless points grab. I was randomly deposited on Vlogsphere for this Black Comedy entry so I think there's an extra 30 points instead of the usual 20.  I looked at past entries to see where people landed on points for Battletech pieces. Most are in the 28mm or 40mm height range - although this beast is 54mm foot to top of head. Technically they are a 6mm vehicle. Past entries have landed on 5 points each whatever the size - I'll leave it to Monday's minion to judge.

1x28mm foot + 1x 54mm tall robot = 15 points

 + 30 for a warp maelstrom planet (Vlogsphere thy micturations are to me...) + 20 for Cybertron = 65 Total

Squirrel +0 (total 6)

Skulz +0 (total 1)

*Is a Mech a Robot? There are differing points of view. 

Monty Python, a knight in black and spurting blood - pretty much sums up black comedy to me!  Great job on this iconic movie reference.

There are those who can debate the Mech vs Robot question, much in the same way as there are those who debate the best Three Stooges line up.  I am not one of these, but can verify that you have got a great looking menacing mechanical humanoid machine.  I've managed to get my giant and troll upscaled with Curt, so I am going to award points based on it being a 54mm figure.

From SimonG: Vlogsphere ... Medieval Bureaucracy or the True Story of the Peasant's Revolt (45 points)

The scene – East Kent, the road to Maidstone 4pm Thursday 24th May 1381. 

Walter Tayler and his young French wife Genevieve are returning home after a busy day trading at the market in Canterbury when they are stopped by the Dominican Friar and parish tax collector, Father Cummins, with his bailiff Sir Boris Johnstone ...

Two weeks later first fatality in Kent of the Peasants revolt occurred as the people of Kent “made their chief one Watt Teghler of Maidstone” and instigated the Great Revolt of 1381!

* * * * * * * * 

Although the dates and events are historically correct we cannot be sure that Walt (about whom there is precious little known) was actually stopped by a tax man ... and as to what Boris had in mind, hmm parallels with recent events?

Anyway this little vignette demonstrates that taxation and bureaucracy have always been with us. It uses Wargames Foundry figures and I hope you enjoyed it

Five 28mm figures (four people plus the ass) should be good for 25 points plus the 20 point bonus for a stop off on Vlogsphere makes 45. Next stop Coruscant and some Imperial Romans!

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Haha! Well done Simon. A little bit of social/political commentary is good for the soul (and I find it interesting that it is the ass that suggests the 'exit'. :))

A wonderful vignette, finely painted and artfully based.  Question: What did you use for putting together the comic book panels?

- Curt

AdamC: Vlogsphere Pontoon Bridge and Turtle Fleet 40 Points

 A smallish entry this week from the American Civil War. 

The Vlogsphere theme is Bureaucracy that works nicely for the American Civil Pontoon Bridge.  The Battle of Fredericksburg featured these.  I have no ambitions of doing anything so large but I wanted to make one, I used some of Arofan's 3D printed boats and some coffee sticks.   

The Bureaucracy comes in because these where part of the Engineering train of the Army of the Potomac and wasn't in the direct chain of command. Burnside gave them orders but it took days for the orders to reach the troops and they arrived late. The result was Lee had was able to oppose the crossing resulting in a Union disaster.

 

Points wise its a very small terrain piece so maybe 1 point flat terrain is confusing so up my total if appropriate. I'll also get 20 points for Vlogsphere.

Here are two Union "city class" gun boats.  These where the first Iron clads commissioned by the Union.  They were nick named Pook's Turtles so called for one of the designers and there look. 

These ships took part in all the western river battles of the Civil War.  Bombarding forts, fighting Confederate ships and blockading Mississippi the river. Their most lopsided victory was the Battle of Memphis  where 4 of them helped defeat a fleet of 8 confederate gunboats and/or rams. 

These are two 15mm vehicle so anther 16 points Combining that with the points for the USS Tylor and the pontoon bridge that's 25 points of Union "aquatic transport" for another Squirrel points.  

17 points for the miniatures and another 20 points for the planet. 

Nice homemade pontoon bridge Adam, could have uses both on land and sea.  And loving these cumbersome looking Turtles.  Great work all around.  I've rounded you up to 40 points for the scratch build and so your score is less confusing.