From JamieM - Aliens, Elementals and Weird Monsters (158 points)

Something of a selection box today, starting with some more Grey aliens (even though some of them aren’t grey) to go alongside the starting war and I painted a few weeks ago.

These are once again from the Watchers faction for the Wild West Exodus game. Not sure I’ll get around to playing them in that game, but my plan to use them as invaders against some post apocalyptic humans is intact, probably using the Xenos Rampant rules. No idea why there is a human in the box, but in the box she was and so she got painted.

The same paint scheme as my last ones.

Next up are some tree elementals/dryads for Kings of War for the, perhaps unsurprisingly, Forces of Nature army. They’ll go alongside the water and fire elementals I painted last week as an army mainly made up of big fellas who go “Smash” instead of pesky small infantry is really rather appealing.

There’s also a Tree Herder with them, who is the big Ent looking fella at the back. He will most definitely go Smash.

Nice and simple painting with dry brushing doing most of the heavy lifting and I thought I’d add some basing flock and underbrush to their tops to give them some foliage.

Last up are a couple of big monsters and a little fella. In order to finish my Conquest Spires army, I needed to finish a standard bearer and two monsters, delightfully known as “Abominations”

They’re too big for my Photo Booth so I had to improvise! The little fella is 40mm, which shows how huge these lads are…..

Contrast paint doing some heavy lifting as there’s plenty of surface detail and it was great for the flesh.

As you can see, they’re a little bit disturbing… horrible to build though as the leg joints were all ball and socket, which sounds great in theory, but trying to hold four ball and socket joints together simultaneously was an absolute nightmare.

So, for scores then:

Aliens are 2 x 40mm and 5 x 28mm for 39 points.

Wood dryads are 6 x 40mm and 1 x 28mm vehicle for 62 points.

Conquest miniatures are 1 x 40mm infantry and 2 x 40mm vehicles for 57 points

Which I make 158 points in total.

***

Well now Jamie, 158 points WITHOUT resorting to any sort of Naval Nonsense (TM) - that's more like it!

This is a tremendous assortment you have gathered here. Remember, even if all of the aliens are not grey in look, they are probably grey in motive, so "grey alien" is the perfect term to apply to all of them. The Ents look smashing - as well as able to smash. And as for the "Abomninations" well...they sure seem to do what it says on the tin! And I expect all those ball socket joints were quite the nightmare to assemble...

158 points well-earned! We look forward to your further progress on multiple fronts!

GregB

From DaveS - Across the Line (77pts)

 I've managed to paint up another couple of units of hands for WWX.  The first of these are my Constructed Henchmen.  Variations on a theme of "resurrectable but ultimately rubbish meat shields", these ones have longer range guns to make them marginally more useful.

Painted at the same time as these, were the Phonic Blaster armed minions.  An upgrade option when they are bought with Thomas Edison, these may be slightly more useful.  They come in a rather interesting pack, in that you get 3 of a single sprue which would provide 3 identical minions. You then also get 2 additional sets of resin arms, a resin leg, and 2 resin heads, which combine with the plastic parts to give 3 different models.  So, clearly, I painted 2 sets of them (one from the Posse box, and one bought separately, because it provided 2 of the phonic blasters for the K9's in my last post.)

So, that's 11x40mm models, for 77 points, which should take me over the finish line for my target of 1000 points.  Given that I didn't think that I would get anywhere close after the first few weeks, I'm pretty pleased with myself.

DaveS - Carefully Constructed (48pts)

 More work on the Enlightened for Wild West Exodus.  First, we have Kyle The Black, one of the leaders for the faction.  His theme Posse is built around fielding lots of smaller constructs as a meat shield, and when he has them nearby he is very hard to kill.

I've tried to get his gloves and apron to look like the orange, slightly rotted rubber that used to make up the tubing or bunsen burners at school.  Not sure how close I came, but I like the look anyway.

Nothing says Mad renegade carrying out experiments on people like an extra set of buzzsaw arms.

Following this, we have Unger, one of the larger creations.  A gatling gun, a bad attitude, and a commitment to the confederacy.

Finally, 4 Gun dogs, equipped with "Phonic Blaster".  2 of these came in the Thomas Edison box set, and the other two were given away free on the front of a magazine a few years ago.  (And were, unsurprisingly, in the easiest to reach box of shame, which also happened to be the last one that I searched through!!!!)

Almost all of the factions can use gun dogs, but only the Enlightened get the phonic blasters.  Therefore, I have attached them with magnets, so that I can replace them when I branch out into other factions with access to them (Sadly neither the Order or the Watchers who I have been working on can take them)

So that is 2x54mm models at 10pts each, and 4 Gundogs at 7pts each (I think, the bases are 40mm in width and quite deep, but the models are quick to paint).

That brings me to within touching distance of my 1000pt target (and possibly the first year that I achieve it)

What a gruesome bunch of constructs. Nice work, Dave.

Tamsin

From DaveS - Prisoners With Jobs (90pts)

 I'm getting bored with saying it, but yet more Wild West Exodus today.  The Enlightened have been described as the undead horde faction, except that they are constructs not undead, and horde is a relative term in a skirmish game.  Nevertheless, I have been working on some of the more, shall we say, questionable units in the game.

First, we have the Constructed Menials.  These are basically cannon fodder, but with an annoying habit of coming back when the unit is destroyed.  The game itself has a rather nice rule that limits just HOW annoying this can be for an opponent, but it's nice to paint models that the enemy is going to have to kill multiple times.  It increases the usefulness of them.

At the other end of the scale of constructs in units (as opposed to the huge lumbering beasties) I've also painted 2 Brutes.  These were part of the original starter set I got several years ago, and have sat undercoated and unloved since I got them, since I was "scared" of the quality of the figures.  Since they were already undercoated, I cracked on with them while I was waiting for other things to dry, and found that despite the detail, they almost painted themselves.

So that's one brute with a Gatling Gun, and one with a Flamethrower.

All told, that should be 10x40mm figures, and 2 larger 54mm ones, for a total of 90 points.

From DaveS - It's An Abomination (77pts)

 So, continuing the Wild West Exodus painting (I've really found these models have inspired me to up my work rate, they truly are things of beauty)

First, we have Rabecca Capelle, sister of Missy, who I posted last time.  Another Outlaw/Lawmen model, another "Soiled Dove" and another beautiful model to paint.

Moving on from one of the newest models I own, to some of the oldest WWX ones.  A few years ago, I bought a few bits for the game, and then never did anything with them, as I only ever got a single demo game in before my local group shelved it somewhat.  I managed to dig them out from the black hole of shame, and decided to give them a quick paint job.

So here we have 5 Abomination Widowers, and 5 Abomination Seekers.  Beautiful models when assembled, but honestly, each one of those monowheels comes in about 7 parts.....

One thing that this run of painting has proved again is just how much of a Magpie I am when it comes to painting.  There are 8 factions in WWX, and since the beginning of January I have collected and painted models for 6 of them.  The only ones that I have left alone are the Warrior Nation, and the Union, and that is probably just a temporary thing, if I am honest.

So this is 11 40mm models for 77 points.  I've just built 15 of the less fancy Constructs for the "Enlightened" faction to go with these, along with their de-facto leader, Kyle the Black, so expect to see them soon.

From DaveS - A Mixed Bag - (41pts)

 Yet more wild west exodus models this time, from a mix of factions.

First of all, we have Papa Trinity.  One of the shapeshifting "Ceruleans", he has taken the form of a priest.

This was one of those models that had been sat, intimidating me since I started painting my Watchers again.  Actually, once I put brush to model, it flowed, and I really enjoyed turning him out.

Continuing the theme of shapeshifters, we have the other Cerulean Vixen, caught mid-shift.

Finally, we have the Cerulean Nightmare, a beast touched by the Hex (This is A BAD THING) and trapped constantly changing forms.

So that should be 2x40mm models, and 1x54mm

After reinforcing the Watchers, it was only fair to give their natural enemies, the Order of the Allshard some love.  This came in the form of Makara, their legendary leader.  As you will see from the size comparison shot (with a model not yet finished) she is HUGE

I don't know what to score her as, but I've called her a 54mm model, although I wonder whether cavalry would be more appropriate.

One of the consequences of the way that the WWX models are packaged, is that sometimes, you want a model that is only available in a posse for another faction.  This was the case with Papa Trinity.  He comes in the "Only God Forgives" posse, which includes, as it's boss, the local Cat House Proprietor.  She interacts with the "Soiled Dove" keyword on models.  So, nothing would do but to pick up all of the "Soiled Doves" which meant buying another 5 posse boxes.  Yes, I have a problem.

So here is the first Soiled Dove, Missy Capelle.  Her sister Rabecca is the model in the scale shot above.

So, that should be 3x40mm and 2x54mm models, for 41pts (or more depending on whether a minion wants to change the score for Makara)

From DaveS - Servants of the Allshard (60pts)

 While I was waiting for the FLGS to restock its Wild West Exodus supply, to continue my Watchers, I decided to start on a second faction for them.  Looking through the models they did have available, and I came across the Order of the Allshard, a group of religious warriors, and, by pure coincidence, one of the factions that are actively opposed to the watchers.  These consist of warriors considered worthy encased in suits of incredibly powerful armour. (But not a Sigmar in sight)  The other half of the faction are more mortal warriors, but since painting them would involve going upstairs to get different coloured paint, they can wait for a little while.

The group shot shows all of the models that I have completed so far.  The four from the Posse box (the leader is coming soon), along with two additional models.

These four are from the "Divine Intervention" Box

And these are the additional "Zain and Oron" models.  Of note, one of them even has one of the Watcher Greys dead on the base, to tie the two forces together.

Finally, I based the two portals that came with the other Posse Set, since I had the stuff out. These will probably get used for several forces,since the Watchers can manipulate portals as well.

So I think that this is 6x10pts (For models about 54mm high, these really are giants).  There was no painting of the portals, just the bases, so I haven't scored those.