From GregB - More Epic 30k (85 points)

In the grim darkness of the far future, we've got any size of equipment you might need for your war...

Well the end of this edition of the Challenge is in sight.  The countdown clock has been posted. Time to look at the huge pile of stuff I hoped to paint and realize that only some of it will be finished before the zero-hour arrives next week.  That means I have to focus, something I'm terrible at, but there are some external drivers helping me along.  One is that our group is hosting an Epic 30k demonstration game at a local hobby event here on the weekend, so it is a good time to get some stuff done for use on the table.  A further motivator along that line of thinking is that JamieM is once again tossing last minute sandbags in our 30k painting duel!

So with that motivation, I decided to continue on the painting path from last week - more Epic 30k stuff!  This week my submission covers almost every size available to that "scale" of game, running the gamut from foot sloggers to another pair of towering Titans!

Alpha Legion tactical marines - while my 6mm freehand is not quite as sharp as Byron's, I managed to get some markings on to most of the shoulders and vehicles!

We'll start with the smallest ones first - this is a Space Marine tactical detachment from the Alpha Legion.  During this edition of the Challenge I started painting a new force of Alpha Legion troops for my 28mm-sized forces, and I have enjoyed the colours and the backstory of that particular Legion so much I thought it would be great to have them for Epic as well. 

Command troopers in the (blurry) front

Alpha Legion motor pool - a pair of Rhino APCs, each capable of carrying two stands of infantry

 

Two more APCs, along with a command variant in the left of the photo

 The tactical detachment is the basic building block for any Epic Space Marine force, so I thought it would be a good element to paint first.  There are 40 little marines here, as well as transport for them - four Rhino APCs.  There is also a command-variant Rhino to provide some command & control assistance and serve as a ride for the command figures which I hope to paint further down the road.

Moving up in the size department we have a group of four Knights.  The 30k/40k setting does not lack for large walking things with guns, and the Knights have their place on the spectrum of those vehicles.  As you can see, they loom over the infantry, but pale in size compared to the Titans, so they are on the smaller-end of the walking-terror-scale of the dark future.

Four Knights - walkers with a nice assortment of weapons to choose from

Knights are organized into semi-feudal households, with a backstory that is too lame to even try to explain.  The bottom line is that, as with the rest of the Imperium, the Knight households divided during the Horus Heresy, with some embracing hope and change with the Warmaster, and others sticking with the so-called "Emperor".

"Paladin" variant on the left, "Errant" variant on the right

I had no specific Knight household in mind, just wanted some different colours from my first bunch, so they could be opponents on the table

Even though they are "small" (you know, relatively), Knights still provide a big punch on the table, forming an extremely mobile and versatile force that hits pretty hard.  While GW has made these available as models in 28mm scale (and it is one of the nicest new kits GW has ever issued, just beautiful) the Epic setting provides the room, scope and proper context required for these things to really be fun on the table.  There is an astonishing variety of weapons assortments, and whatever you choose, these things will have a good time stalking around, terrorizing enemy tanks and infantry.  But they will have to watch out, because in the grim darkness of the far future, there is always something bigger...

And that would include the Titans!  I painted two more to add to the group from last week (see that post for explanations on the colours and Legions involved).  To maintain rough strategic parity in my Epic 30k collection, there is one for the rebel side and one for the loyalist side.

Reaver class Titan from Legio Mortis

Reaver class Titan from Legio Gryphonicus

These are Reaver class "medium" battle titans.  In addition to a slightly more artful carapace than the ones from last week, these ones are also sporting close combat weapons! Because in the grim darkness of the far future, it doesn't matter if you are 10 stories tall and armed with weapons which can level entire city blocks in one shot - you STILL might have to PUNCH something...the engineers of Mars have got you covered! Behold, the titan-sized power fist - it's silly, and I love it!

Large close combat fist for extra-smashing duties

Still sporting a big laser cannon and "apocalypse" launcher for more conventional fun

Equipping your titans with close combat weapon systems is something of a gamble in the Epic game.  The power fist comes at the expense of mounting one of the other, very useful and terrifying weapon systems.  This sucks early in the game when you wish you had one more volcano cannon shot to bombard the enemy.  A further consideration is that the fist is only useful if you are close enough to punch the other titan, so you have to basically charge forward and get to grips for it to be worthwhile...

A view of another close combat attachment

This Titan is also sporting a scary-as-hell plasma cannon...it can only fire every other turn, so the crew can spend that time moving the Titan closer to whatever needs to be punched while it powers up between shots

On the plus side, if you bring your titan into close combat with another one and succeed, the results tend to be immediate and rewarding, as a Titan that is unsuccessful in a "close combat" tends disappear in some manner of spectacular explosion - indeed, so spectacular the Titan which defeated it risks serious damage itself! Did I mention I love how warped all of this is...?

Titan maniple from Legio Mortisi now ready for action! The big guns for a better universe! Horus for hope!

I felt both sides should have one Titan sporting a close combat power fist.  There are several gamers in our group who display the proper level of aggression to make the most of them on the table!

Titan maniple from Legion Gryphonicus, ready to defend the so-called "Emperor" to the bitter end...deluded fools...

So, in total this includes two Titans, four Knights, five 6mm sized vehicles and 40 6mm sized infantry.  I will leave it to the minions to score the thing properly, and I bow to their infinite wisdom as to the worth of this in terms of points...hope to have more to share as the finish line arrives!

Alan and Paul: Unlike Paul, Alan has never played anything 'K', and has never really seen the appeal. However, even he, grizzled old Grognard that he is, has been enjoying seeing your Epic force coming together, and particularly the affection and good humour with which you describe the silliness which is one of the hallmarks of the Far Future. These guys just look great - beautifully colourful, but also a bit grimy from all that trudging around through lots of Orkz or Skullz or Bogz or whatever. I've scored the Knights as 28mm figures and the Titans as 28mm vehicles, and thrown in a few extra points for the loely detail.

From Sean M - The race is almost run (120 points)

No idleness before the Ides!

With Spring Break and a Mid-March freeze settling in, it's a good time to make the final push on the Challenge. Nothing bad ever comes of leaving some nine and six year old boys unsupervised while painting, amirite? More on that later...

The Challenge has certainly inspired me to put a dent in the old leadpile, and I think I can claim I did not buy a single new mini for the Challenge. And here is the culmination of my second oldest ongoing project.

The last of the Celts are done, a Warband of 24 dudes. These are the bourgeois cats who can afford armour! They will either be fielded as an uber unit at the centre of the line, or split amongst the other units to make three more homogeneous units. The bulk of the figures are Warlord Games, with a good seasoning of Old Glory and the last 4 from Wargames Factory. That was the payoff from this unit, as I expended most of the WF minis as slingers, this unit was mercifully free of them. My experiments with the Magic Wash have progressed, so that the overly muddy tones of the earlier minis have been evened out, although they still have the dirty peasant look Hollywood has primed us to expect.

The hardest part of these figures is still hand cutting out the shield transfers around the shield bosses, although the application process is getting to be old hat. However, shield choice at this point in the project has curtailed by the remaining unspoiled decals, which meant a certain amount had to be javelin/shield pieces. The Warlord (above) is using one of the ceremonial gold shields, like the one they found in the Thames. While it is acknowledged that the shield would be too fragile to take into battle, how, as a modeler, could I pass it up. This unit also got the largest carnyx of the lot.

I've been hacking on the Wargames Factory minis a bit since the dreaded slinger entry, but to be fair, they did what they were bought for, which was pad out the units and add an option that the other manufacturers did not offer - money cheap slingers. Each WF mini is less than a dollar, and their rub on decals are pretty easy to put on once you cut them in half.

So here's one last WF Celt, who had an epic journey of a sorts. I came home from the Kill Team league yesterday, prepared to flock up the warband then snap some pics. However, 24 Celts had become 23. It seems the youngest of the brood had been watching You Tube on daddy's computer, and had shoved all of the minis into a pile on the side of the desk, and one last WF Celt went walkies. He was later found safely ensconced in a mukluk, all warm and toasty, with his spear only a little bent.

So here I am, with about a week left to go, wondering what to try to top up my points with now that the CurtGeld is off to my partner in the tender care of Canada Post. I think I will bash onto my Grymkin proxy army made of odds and sods from the basement leadpile.

TTFN.

Alan and Paul: Great to hear that the missing spearman turned up, and wasn't sacrificed in a bog to guarantee success for the rest of the warband! This is a great looking bunch, and the mix of manufacturers will just add to the personality of the army as a whole. Five more days! What will you paint up next? 

Tuesday Minions coming in for final landing!

Its been another wild ride and your Team Tuesday minions are ready to bring you in for a final AHPC VII landing!

"Job's a good 'un!"

After waiting ages for the event to start (its the equivalent of waiting for Christmas, but you get to file and prime your presents early!) its hard to believe that AHPC VII almost over.

Its time to paint like the wind to grab those last few points.  Then kickback, enjoy a celebratory libation or seven and contemplate the detritus of your painting bench and how you are going to store all those newly painted figures.  Then brace yourself for being forcible reacquaintance with more mundane things like family, pets, and painting in that most dreaded of mandated scales- 1:1 :-(

Its been fun, its been real... its been Tuesday.  And Tuesday has been awesome fun to Minion.  We did the first week together with beers in hand and it was all good times from then on in.

Thanks to all of Team Tuesday and our visitors!

Paul & Alan

From Curt: Tribute to Minion Miles - Abdul Alhazred, Accountant to Azathoth, Narlathotep & Young (5 Points)

Following with tradition, I present my tribute figure to Miles for his herculean efforts in shepherding the Monday crew AND for creating/feeding the Challenge Spreadsheet.

Miles has often bragged claimed he uses nefarious mathemagical dark arts to do his work, delving into the horrific mysteries of accounting and maths. As such, I thought one Dark Practitioner deserves another and so I give you Abdul Alhazred, yes, the author of the dread Necronomicon, but also Head Accountant for the firm of Azathoth, Narlathotep & Young, a import/export conglomerate with offices in Cairo, London, Paris, New York and The Shadows Out of Time.

In order to keep the company's books balanced Abdul often utilizes various forms of blood magic, non-euclidean algorithms and ritual sacrifice, and if those don't work he holds down the red and white beads on his abacus for a reboot. 

From time to time Mr. Alhazred is visited by pesky external auditors who wish to examine his books for...irregularities. For these instances Abdul keeps a trusty 9mm Luger, and if they are especially persistent he introduces them to 'Pistachio', his un-neutered Hound of Tindalos (not seen here as he likes to nap in another dimension).

I'm not sure, but I believe this is an older Bob Murch figure. I quite like the sculpt - he has loads of character and, really, who can deny a little fat guy sporting a Luger and a fez. I had a bit of fun trying to work out a recipe for a decent Middle Eastern flesh-tone, and with a little trial and error I found that the Foundry 'Spearshaft' triad works quite nicely. Now duly noted in the painting journal!

I hope you like him Miles. Maybe you can find him a spot in your upcoming D&D/WWII convention game. Again, thanks so much for keeping the Monday Mob in-line and the spreadsheet gods appeased - it was a task for heroes.

Five Points! 

Hmm. Back to the brushes for me.

MilesR: Today it's my great pleasure to announce that the Snow Lord is now an official Mondayanier with all the privileges and obligations that convey with said august title. Curt your official Monday decoder ring is in-the-mail, please expect 6 weeks for delivery.

I am thrilled with the figure and will make sure it has a place of honor as one of the main villains in my upcoming Historicon Games. I'll be running two versions "DAK and Dragons" and then "SOCOM and Sorcery". Rest Assured that Mr. Alhazred will figure prominently in both games. Any figure painted by you is something to be treasured. I would trade my speed painting skills for just 20% of your quality painting skills.

When not on the gaming table, I will keep Mr Alhazred on the Bucentaure as a mascot - he does seem to be the adventurous type despite the portly exterior. Hmmm, that one hit pretty close to home!

AdamC- 18th Century Imagination troops and Officer (58 points)

First is another Draconian unit, the Haydenberg regiment.  This Regiment is named for a long time pillar of the reenacting community here in New England.  Jim Hayden was(sadly Jim Passed last fall) a member of the 2nd New Hampshire regiment.  Jim was also a  follower of my blog and facebook and I decided he would enjoy having a namesake regiment.

Flag's and uniforms are inspired by the 2nd New Hampshire.  The regiment wore blue faced white, I went with a lighter blue bu the pattern is similar.  The flag matches the colors and the interwoven rings emblem on the flag the union of the flag is my own invention.

Rear view of the regiment I think these guys will stand out on the table.  There are 16 miniatures in this regiment

Next up is the Regiment Dixon of the Grand Duchy of D'Argent.  The regiment repents something of an experiment.  The Duchy has a number of irregular units composed of the hearty mountain folk of its boarder regions.

Colonel Dixon a Scottish exile with a knack for the rough and trouble of la petite guerre has raise a regular regiment from among these independent and often undisciplined folk.

The hope is that the Scottish officer will be able to forge a unit that will be as capable in the battle line as it is at scouting and skirmishing.

I foolishly entered the Seven Years War side duel and have gotten my self rightly trounced!

The cost of that is a command stand.  I have there for created an observer form the Grand Duchy of D'Argent who will shortly be dispatched to the winner.

All Figures are 15mm The Haydenburg Regiment has 16 figures for 34 points with the hand painted flags.  Regiment Dixon has 10 Figures for another 20 Points and the officer is 4 Points. That should give me another 58 Points(for both the challenge proper and the side duel, got to keep it respectable)  as we plunge into the sprint for the finish.

MilesR: I'm really liking these imagination 15mm regiments - it's got the fun of painting historical's with our being burdened by specific uniform guides - whats not to love!

From RayR - Drums in the Ohio Valley (60 points)

 At last,,,,,,,,, I've got some figures completed! That dreaded thing called life has curtailed my painting endeavours of late, although I'm hoping for one last entry if I can just find the time to finish them off.

As you may well know I'm trying to paint up some Woodland Indians for my Donnybrook shenanigans. Being as I'm using these for the late 1600's, not the French Indian Wars of the 1750's, I wanted more warriors with handweapons. So I took a chance and bought these, not having seen them in the flesh before I didn't know how large they were compared to my other figures. They are on the larger side of 25mm. They do vary in height quite a bit, the smallest being around 32mm while the tallest a whopping 37mm! The figures are from the Drums in the Ohio Valley collection from Blue Moon, bought in the UK from Old Glory. I did buy another pack, they were delayed in the post and only arrived of Friday, (gotta be honest, I'd forgotten all about them!) They won't make the painting table this time round though, but never mind.

Anyway they may well be a little larger than the norm, but I really do like the action poses on these all bar one, who looks as though he's from another pack?
These bad boys should net me 60 points to add to my total!

MilesR: These are fantastic depiction of the First Nations - and 60 points is a nice haul.

MartinC: Things I've been avoiding and Things I forgot I had (145 points)

As we approach the end of the challenge I'm at the top of the points board, although Miles and Eric are breathing down my neck and if either drops a bomb then it's going to be very very close. Dave's rebuilding his man cave and is temporarily hors de combat.
My painting this year started very well but dipped in the middle as I searched for inspiration. With that in mind my next unit has been in the pile for a while but I needed to do them justice

10th Bengal lancers - Perry. OK sculpts. The chests are messy

Bengal Lancers Officer - I've painted him as a Natal Mtd Carabinier as uniform is the same and I needed one

Pack Camel. This was out of a scrap bag from DaveD and I added some large bottles and barrels

2 Greek light Cav - Northstar lucky bag

My next submission was supposed to be for the last bonus round but I forgot I had them

The Angel gang - bought during the Warlord end of range sale. Love the Angel  Gang, mainly cos I also have a Surly setting

Points wise that is 11 cav, 1 animal and 5 infantry = 140 points. This meagre total should make the last week tight

MilesR: Another varied submission from Martin and one with with he pads his considerable lead for first place this year.  I am afraid I need to override your point total - all that baggage on the cable makes it worth 10 not 5 points, so that brings this submission to a tidy 145 points. - Well Done!

From JohnSe: Fighters, Lancers and Layabouts (64 Points)

Like many of you, I jump from project to project and this week's entries represent miniatures from three of my current projects.

One of my goals for the Challenge was to get my Star Wars Armada ships finished off. I play Armada regularly, and we're gearing up to try a campaign this Spring. I couldn't field unpainted forces, so I've steadily been adding paint to these tiny ships as a break from 28mm figures.

These E-Wings were recently added to the pool of Rebel forces, while the brown Moldy Crow is an older release that I've finally managed to paint up. I enjoyed adding paint to the Armada scale X-Wings, Y-Wings and other squadrons seen in the films, but these E-Wings (designed for the comic books) lack the character and detail of the classic ships.

I don't tend to play Imperials, but for those rare occasions that I do I'll bring these bounty hunter vessels since they are sporting fresh paint jobs. Bossk's Hound's Tooth is a big garbage truck of a ship that get's deadlier as it receives damage, while Dengar's Punishing One has proven annoying when I've faced it in enemy fleets.

I've recently returned from a family vacation to Disney World, and a visit to "Pirates of the Caribbean" has fired my enthusiasm to complete my Spanish forces from the recent "Blood and Plunder" kickstarter. Hoping to get all of these figures done so I can get cracking on their ships and some terrain.

Finally, I completed just two figures from the Astropolis kickstarter. I have a dozen, primed and ready to go, but each is so unique and full of character that I wind up spending far more time on each individual which has slowed my progress. Unlike the weak sculpts and soft detail of the "Blood and Plunder" figures, these detailed Astropolis figs are a joy to paint. I can easily picture these two slack jawed wrench monkeys banging on the innards of some huge, decrepit space freighter.

I'm hoping to sneak in a few more figures before the deadline, but with the Cold Wars convention approaching, that may be too optimistic.

MilesR: A rather varied submission Jon but all very well painted.  64 points has been added to your tally

From ClintB: The Royal Navy Landing Party (28mm) (30 Points)

Faltering but continuing. Just Front and back pics of the Ironclad miniatures Royal Navy Victorian Science Fiction Landing party.

Not sure If they will be used for In her Majesties Name or Rogue stars (but in a VSF setting)

6 figures in all. All armed with pistols and except one all armed with cutlass (or Boarding knives) As mentioned all by Ironclad Miniatures and all in Tropical uniform and wearing boarding armour. (They are SCI FI models after all).

All the Best Clint


MilesR: 2 entries from Clint - we are lucky toady - very whimsical to say the least, but in a proper sort of British way, of course.

From ClintB: 15mm Russian Civil War Cavalry (80 Points)

Just finishing off! I have mostly stopped, or will stop when they pry the paintbrush from my cold dead hand.

But until they do!

Here are some 15mm Peter Pig Russian Civil War (White Russian) Cavalry. 20 in all, based for "Square Bashing"  (the WW1 rules by Peter Pig!. )

From LeeH - Desert Raiders! (72 points)

This week I have been trying to get the remainder of my North Africa vehicles painted to clear the final week for one last project on something a bit different. So today I have two Desert Raider units to enter; an LRDG Patrol and an SAS Jeep Squadron.

I have painted LRDG vehicles before but last time I went all colourful, using a camouflage pattern of pale blue and salmon pink. It sounds garish (and it is) but its also a pretty effective disruption pattern for dawn and dusk raids. This time I have gone a little more traditional and chosen a simple desert sand colour for the trucks. This was probably the most common colour scheme with only occasional patrols being painted differently, and maybe only then for particular missions.

From early 1942 standard vehicle of choice for the LRDG was the Chevrolet 30 cwt truck. These were commercial vehicles stripped down and converted for use deep behind enemy lines. The Chevy was a tough vehicle but was also a relatively easy one to repair and maintain in the field. It was only two wheel drive but its extra low ratio gears and 6 cylinder engine (which used less fuel) made it ideal for use by LRDG. Amazingly one original Chevy was found largely intact in the Egyptian desert in 1980 and is now displayed at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Each vehicle would typically carry a crew of two or three including a driver, gunner and commander. These models, while highly detailed in every other respect, only include a driver so I converted several infantry figures and mounted them in the rear of the trucks to represent other crew.

While I was rummaging through my model box I also found a couple of Morris 15cwt Trucks and decided I could add these to this LRDG patrol as supply vehicles. It would have been a crime to leave such gorgeously detailed models in the box so I had to add them to this patrol. The LRDG used all sorts of vehicles, especially in the early days when most of their equipment was 'borrowed' from other commonwealth units.

Following on from the LRDG Patrol I also finished a full squadron of SAS jeeps. The Special Air Service's first parachute drop behind enemy lines was an unmitigated disaster. Many of those that were not captured were picked up by the LRDG and David Stirling was so impressed with these hard bitten desert troops that he teamed up with Bagnolds LRDG for a series of joint operations. The LRDG became in effect a taxi service for the SAS, carrying small teams out to ops, dropping them off and then picking them up on the way home.

Later the SAS acquired their own vehicles and quickly settled on the jeep as its favoured transport. Bristling with machine guns and loaded with supplies small squadrons would penetrate deep into the desert far behind enemy lines to strike at airfields, supply dumps and transport columns.

These models are by GHQ and like all their stuff are exceptionally detailed for this scale. The only downside to such detailing is the absolutely minuscule machine guns that have to be glued into position. Superglue will do the job but only if used liberally and in conjunction with an accelerator to get an instant bond. Fine tipped tweezers and infinite patience are also useful!

I opted to paint these in a plain sand colour. Some black and white photo's hint at a camouflage scheme on some vehicles but it is very hard to discern and I don't think it was in common usage. Most of these vehicles are covered in stowage items anyway so very little of the jeep itself can be seen. The vehicles are modelled with a driver and I painted them in typical SAS desert headdress.

All in all a pretty productive week. Six Chevy's and two Morris Trucks, plus 12 LRDG crew should earn a modest but non the less welcome 22 points while twenty jeeps and crew nets another 50 points. A weekly total of 72 Points isn't much of a points bomb, but I'm pretty happy with it. As I said earlier these are the last desert/6mm entry to this challenge. I'm not quite completely done yet, but I think my final entry later this week will be a little different to anything I have presented before. Lets just say that if you like your miniatures purely 'historical' you may want to look away...

MilesR: What a grans way to conclude you 6mm Western Desert foray.  The pink trucks, tiny jeeps all make a grand special - nicely done!

From AlexS:Napoleonic wars. A little bit of Spain. 45 points

This event provides an opportunity to paint not only those miniatures that are not otherwise time or mood. For me it is - Napoleonic. Too long to work, too many details. But not now. Now I enjoy working. And the pleasure is increased by the fact that I paint miniatures of the work of the Perry brothers and have the opportunity to show them all.

So, in front of you - eight foot dragoons and their conductor the Spaniard. I took great pleasure in choosing different shades of green to show the worn form that was characteristic of the war in Spain.

9 inf - total 45 points

MilesR: These are fantastic - the worn colors look superb.  One really can't go wrong when Painting Perry miniatures and you've done the twins proud.

Monday Thumbs Up!

Monday gets yet another celebrity endorsement, further proving its dominance over the other days of the week.  I think we can all be inspired from the approval of our beloved 600 foot tall painting mascot.

What's on tap for this Majestic Monday?

Whats up?

- Tiny tiny LRDG and SAS jeeps

- Star War fighters

- First Nations Warriors

- Russian Civil War Calvary

- A VSF Landing Party

- Spanish Dragoons

- Lancers and an over burdened Camel

- and two or three more posts that are still marked "draft" as of this morning.  Yeah "draft" as in draft beer so you know they're going to be good.  There are even rumors on Facebook that DaveD has found a temporary painting refuge - anything is possible now.

It's a virtual kaleidoscope of colors, scales and subjects - something for everyone, even that noisome Antipodean Tuesday crew.

After the spectacle of this Monday, one wonders if the other days of the week will even bother to show up?

And with this post, I will turn in my "Monday Minion Badge" to Curt as he'll be taking us into the finish line starting the end of this week.  While my humor may be, ummm, "odd", I've enjoyed being a minion and want to thank the Monday crew for putting up with me.  It's been a pleasure reporting on your fantastic submissions - I stand in awe of all of your creativity.

As for the Challengers who are part of the other days of the week, I am sure I speak for all the Mondayiers, when a I say "Don't hate us because we are beautiful".  Bonus points and a honorary membership in the "Monday Fan Club" if you can name the ad campaign that phrase is lifted from - without Google, if you please.

Ok I need to go finish a few projects and start stretching for the mathematical logic extensions I'lll need for the wrap up statistical post.

:)