Chaos Centaurs, the Laboratory, Mark Backhouse, (52 points)

 For the laboratory I had a nice conversion I wanted to make. I’d always liked Chaos Centaurs, although proper 80’s Citadel ones go for an arm and a leg. Instead these were made from old Westwind horses that had sat in a box for about 15 years collecting dust. I chose them as they were expendable but also a bit on the small side. They were combined with the fearsome looking Foundry Viking figures that I had doubles of. A bit of drilling and pinning later and the line between the two were blended with some green stuff to pass as a hairy area. 

To make them look properly chaotic I decided to give them some exotic patterns on his skin. These tiger stripes were great fun and makes the centaur look suitably wild and ferocious! The pattern on his beard helps to tie it all in together.

The zebra stripes came out a treat too!

This chap has a really fearsome looking club!

Annoyingly I painted these up for my Realms of Chaos project and then realised you couldn’t actually roll them on the warbands table! Not that it’ll stop me using them. I’ll probably just swap them for another choice costing roughly the same number of points. 

Such crazy experiments tick the laboratory box for 20 points. Centaurs aren’t quite cavalry - so I’m claiming 8 points for each conversion totalling 32 more points. 

So a grand total of 52 points.

Cheers

Mark Backhouse

From JonathanO: Viking longships - Adventurer's Landing (24 points)

 I found two more 1/1200 ships from Navwar to use for this location.

There is only a slight breeze as these two ships glide gently ashore with their sails still up.  Who knows what adventures await the Viking warriors as they land?  Have the local inhabitants fled to safety, or do they have a surprise waiting for the travellers?

The base is 80mm x 60mm. 

For points I think 2 each plus the 20 location bonus = 24 points.

Sir Manfred, Knight’s Solar, Mark Backhouse (25 points)

 Into the third floor of the dungeon at last! For the knight’s solar I decided on yet another classic miniature. This time it’s a Foundry 28mm knight from the Baron’s War range. Originally it was a Citadel figure from the Feudal range.

I decided for my Realms of Chaos warbands I would create a crusading force of Imperial troops as a non-Chaotic warband. The rather outrageous purple robes look rather Papal, but are in actual fact based on the old 3rd edition artwork from Warhammer Armies. The shield is a later edition but had the same motif and I think gave the figure a nice fantastical feel.

Sir Manfred will captain a small group of men-at-arms and archers that will come from the same range. I might add a few old Essex knights as well for good measure. Whether they’ll stand any chance against the Chaos Warriors, wild beasts and monsters I’m not sure, but they will add a bit of colour to the proceedings.

So a single 28mm figure and Knight’s Solar completed. That’s 25 more points to the tally.

Cheers

Mark Backhouse

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 MartinC Big Badda Boom (95pts)

 Morning all. So as we approach the final mad week I thought I'd announce the week with a 18 gun salute. The attraction of renaissance Italian wars is the juxtaposition of heavily armoured cavalry, tough hand to hand infantry and pretty rubbish gunpowder ], which when it hits makes the 1st two pretty pointless. All Italian wars forces need an artillery train to breakup those pesky armoured Swiss pike blocks

This is 18 artillery pieces and a wagon

11 guns. I was short of crews so each piece has 2 crew and a guard

4 organ guns and a wagon. The fire rate for artillery is too high in KoW so I will add an extra roll once each gun has fired to see if it has reloaded. 

3 French guns. These are different to the other field pieces, 1 had 3 randoms. The French were big adopters of artillery (a reason they won the 100 years war) so I gave them their own train. The rest will be either hired or I will give each army a piece each.

Scores

18 guns plus 3 crew each = 90pits

Wagon plus 2 horses = 5

total =95

Off to prep for the last week of painting

from RayR - Donnybrook - Plymouth Colony Militia 1675, 100pts

  

Back to Donnybrook, now there's a surprise!!! But this time we've crossed the pond to the early English Colonies in America.

I've used these Empress Miniatures English Civil War figures to represent the early colonists

in the America's. I bought these a few years ago at SELWG in Crystal Palace as I wanted some Militia types for King Philips War  and other fights around that time. This is the first time I've painted Empress Miniatures before and I've gotta say they are crackin' figures in both proportion and to paint up.

The unit is made up of various Infantry and dismounted Cavalry packs to try and make them look more individual.

The flag is a homemade one I drew on Paint, I've no clue what kind of flag the Militia would have used if at all? So I used the flag of St George. And of course they don't have to just be the Plymouth Militia, they could be any unit of the war. And of course they could be from the ECW, IF I ever want to do Donnybrook ECW???

There are 20 figures in the unit.

Which gives me 100 points to add to my total.

From TomM: Altar of the Snowlord: The Dread Pageant (40 pts)

 Not an edition can go by me without finishing at least something for the Prince of Excess, Slaanesh, and this year it is the entry for my finale of the challenge.

After reaching the Altar of the Snowlord, I have been set with the task of completing a warband for Warhammer Underworlds, the newest edition warband The Dread Pageant.

Dedicated to the Chaos god of pleasure, the band comes with 4 members, and from what I read so far are actually quite a difficult band to master, so challenge excepted on that front once Covid permits us to attend smaller tournaments again.  And then I'll be taking these guys out for a tournament for sure one day.

As black latex is sooooooo last year in the fetish world, I went for white instead.  This also makes the whole band look more bright and less depressed as black would have been.  The clothing and weapons are done with vibrant pastels as well for more contrast.

For the metals, I took the good old Citadel Amethyst Purple and Enchanted Green metalic paints, giving a magical touch to the items as if some strong spell is cast over them.

So that is it, my final challenge room of the year completed, with a (ahum) hefty week to spare.  With 4 models, this means 20 points for the warband, and an additional 20 for the room, ticking the total with an extra 40 points.

GrahameH. Austrian Armoured Cavalry and Cold War British 15mm

 

Having finished the army I was intending to paint for this year challenge, I decided to try and finish another army. So I have completed  Cold War British (well apart from 2 Milan teams I have just in the bottom of the box 🤬), but thought I’d give myself a treat and paint some Austrian cuirassiers from the late 17th century before I started. 

Both units are 15mm Essex figures and Barry Hilton kindly supplied the flags, even though they are not on his website. Each unit is 18 strong and I even tried a head swap on one the musician. I do love this period. (36 mounted figures 144 pts)

Having been suitably spoilt I then charged (Pun) straight into my Cold War British again, all 15mm.

Two British helicopters. The first a Gazelle and a Lynx, both are from Battlefront. I have since sorted out the transfers that appear a bit silvery in the photos. (16pts)

I

Next the tanks. 8 Chieftain (Battlefront) and 8 Challengers (Skytrex) (112pts)  or rather the other way around Challengers and then Chieftains

 

Four Warriors (Skytrex) (32pts)

Next my AA unit. A Saxon (Skytrex) 2 Mobile Rapiers (Butler 3D prints) and 2 M548 (Butlers) 40pts

Next one tonne land rovers and trailer (24pts)

An Abbot Battery a Ferret OP (QRF),  2 Abbots (Battlefront) a Ammo Carriers 32pts

Refuel unit (two 4 ton lorries, one ton Land Rover) 24pts

Royal Engineer Unit (40pts)

Field Artillery Battery. This is made up of two guns, 2 prime movers and an FO group.These are from various manufacturers, the guns and crew are from Army Bits, they are probably for a later army but painted up for the mid 1980s. (56pts)

Again probably for a slightly later period, but I had them so I’ve painted then are two MLRS from Battlefront (16pts)

A Battlefront FV 432 with Cymbeline Addon Radar kit (Army Bits) (8pts)

Two Battlefront CVR (T) FV 120 Spartans with Milan. These were just two kits I had left over (16pts)

Finally all the stuff I purchased and don’t need, but dare say I will find a use for them one day (9 vehicles 72pts)

And having got a big bored painting green and black, two Essex Bavarian mounted officers for my 1870 army (8pts)

That’s it for this post, now the total. Although I have only managed to get two or three posts done this year, I have got the final points total wrong so here hoping I have remembered how to count. 

Total 608 pts

For Miles: The Altar of the SnowLord

Altar of the SnowLord (brought to you by the kids of Kinsmen Park South)

 

Okay Miles, back in 2009, when you started blogging, you mentioned that one of the periods you cut your teeth with was 6mm ACW. So, like all of us, I know you have miniatures remaining from that project - let's see what you can show us, 12 years on.  

Miles' Prize: EdwardG's Custer