From Mike W - 28mm Zombies (140 Points, Lady Sarah, Squirrel)

My first post of 2022 and apologies to all for this also being the first of a 'splurge' of posts as I catch-up on my painting efforts over the holiday period - real life family commitments got in the way of me completing and posting these by the Monday 3rd Jan Deadline!

The beginnings of a Zombie Horde

Here I present a group of 24 x 28mm Zombies, the first of a 'Horde' that I intend to build-up over the next couple months to enable me to put on a Survivors' game at some point later in the year! All of these figures are from the Zombicide game system, although waiting in the side-lines are also some 'Project Z' figures from Warlord Games and a few other non-specific manufacturers that I have found online via eBay, all of which seem to be very compatible size wise.

Zombie Walkers: A Postman, a business lady and a Skater Girl

My plans are for a regular table-top game but using elements of the Zombicide game system as rules and mechanics to keep the game simple, fast flowing and 'tongue in cheek'. In fact that is the reason I like the Zombicide figures so much - they are designed with a sense of humour that appeals to me...

Another Walker: A Housewife in curlers and two more Runners: a Pizza Delivery Boy and a Jogger
who has been impaled by several wooden stakes 

... just what were people up to when they were struck down by the Zombie pandemic!

Left A Zombie Runner, then centre and right two more Walkers,
right most being a former Butler

This first batch of figures contains a number of different types of Zombie - in game terms these can be Crawlers, Walkers, Runners, Fatties and Abominations - each type getting progressively more agile in movement terms and more dangerous in combat.

More Walkers: A Highway Patrol Cop, A guy who was playing in the Swimming Pool and a regular Walker 

As usual I undercoated each figure with white paint, then added flesh tones to each as appropriate. With these figures I have split the horde into Newly Dead, Dead and Long Dead - so the Newly Dead get normal flesh colour tones, Dead get a rotting green tone and the Long Dead get a grey tone.

Various Skin tones used according to how long these guys have been dead for!

Once dry, I wash the skin with Army Painter Military Green wash to provide shading and to add their grim pallor. Clothing is then painted as appropriate, this varies from figure to figure, there is a lot of detail in each figure and this makes the painting really fun to do.

Right and Centre, two Zombie Runners - American Footballer and a Matador.
Left a Walker who was a former Firefighter.

Once the figure is painted I start to add the gore. In my view 'Less is More', so where there are obvious wounds on the figure these are painted using a deep red colour and then highlighted as needed. The whole figure is then given a watered down dark wash to add grime and realism(?!)

Three more Walkers: Centre is a guy that I converted by adding a cloak and cutting off a sign that he,
was impaled upon. The impaled version will be in a future batch.

My Zombie horde will be used in an Urban setting so all bases are painted grey and I use a Black Sharpie pen and a coffee stirring stick as a ruler to draw in straight pavement slab cracks. (The stick is needed to get between the figures' legs!)

A Walker, a Runner and a Fatty. The Walker (left) has had a large knife stuck into his chest
and is a conversion of a sandwich-board figure,
centre is a former athlete - complete with gold medal and right is a Goth Fatty.

Everything is then varnished in Matt varnish to mute the colours. When dry I add more gore in the way of neat red ink to give a glossy, oozing feel to the fresh blood being spilt - all done with the best possible taste!

Ladies Night! A former Maid, a Girl Scout and a lady in green!

I roughly added a green wash along the black lines to simulate growing moss etc, then highlighted the pavement with light grey and add a couple of dry or green grass turfs to each base to indicate an overgrown, uncared for urban landscape. If I can find anything suitable I may add some other debris to the bases in the future.

I was going to show the base detail as I was creating it but that photo didn't seem to get captured,
maybe in another one, in a later batch!

As the Fatty figure in this group is a female Zombie (there are many other female Zombies here as well) - I am claiming a Lady Sarah Bonus to transport me to the next Planet....

My Lady Sarah Figure, A Zombie Fatty, so named for obvious reasons.
Fatties are Zombies that have bloated after death, often developing huge boils.
This little lady was a Goth in real life, the glossy effect of eth red ink can be clearly seen.

Oh, and lastly this takes my Squirrel total for this Challenge to a cumulative total of 3!

POINTS

24 x 28mm Foot Figures    = 120 Points

Lady Sarah Bonus              = 20 Points

TOTAL                               = 140 POINTS

Note to self "make sure that the edit screen is in Compose mode instead of HTML mode".  On first glance this post appeared to be in cryptic runes beyond my skill set without coffee.  Nice work on this shambling mass of dead flesh Mike.  Our groups has had good fun in the past blasting similar figures into smaller bits of dead flesh.  

I also appreciate the sense of humour in these sculpts, particularly enjoying the guy in the ring float.  I'll agree with your points total here and let this horde shamble off to other places....

From StuartL - Now You See Me - Solaris - 25 Points

Hello all,

In this post, I am continuing my journey around the outer ring of the challenge sector with a stop off at Solaris. The theme for the planet is Deception and Illusion, which I hope this offering will fit. 

The model is a Tau Stealth Suit for Warhammer 40,000. The Tau are a technologically advanced race that uses high tech weapons and gear to make up for the fact that they are physically very weak in a galaxy teeming with genetically modified super beings, literal demons and intergalactic predators. The stealth suit is a set of powered armour equipped with a jet pack, a rapid fire energy weapon and, as the name implies, a sort of cloaking device that allows the wearer to vanish into thin air.

Most Tau models you see online have bright, clean colours and look like they just walked out of a kids TV show or Japanese anime. I wanted to do something a little more in fitting the Warhammer GrimDarktm aesthetic and so went for a light grey/brown colour with some greys and reds as accents and a LOT of weathering. I also added some bright blue for the power packs on the gun and jet pack.

I don't have a Tau army, but I do have a small handful of models that I was gifted by a friend. At some stage, I hope to paint them up to form a small warband for games of Inquisitor/INQ28 or the like. So, as well as my entry for Solaris, this is also my test piece for that future Warband. At my current rate of grinding through my backlog, expect to see that in AHPC 20+. 

So, for my tally, I have 1x 28mm model at 5 points and an additional 20 points for Solaris. 

Great looking stealth suit Stuart.  All  I know about the Tau is that they are blue and have great tech, certainly the tech is apparent but not the blue.  I would say that you've deceived and confused me, but  there is no challenge in accomplishing that goal.   I really like the grim and grimy feel to this model and also the blue screen highlights.

 25 points it is!

Monday Minion Week Two

 

We've got another variety pack today.  MikeW will be chasing over several projects shooting squirrel and there look to be posts from Frederick, RichardP, ScottC and others too.

Have a good one. 

Squirrel Hunting Season - Side Duel Update #1

Welcome challengers to the first update for the Squirrel Side Duel.

For those of you not aware, the Squirrel Side Duel is a place where the more focus-challenged of AHPC painters compete to paint the most Squirrel Points. What is a Squirrel Point you ask? Simply put a Squirrel Point is achieved by painting 25 points of miniatures in any given period/genre/scale. However, you can only score for each period/genre/scale one time, to get the next point, you must paint a different set of miniatures.

So, for example, if you painted 25 points of 15mm British Napoleonic Infantry, you would get a Squirrel Point. If you later painted another 25 points of 15mm British Napoleonic Infantry, you wouldn't get any additional Squirrel Points. On the other hand, if you painted 25 points of 10mm British Napoleonic Infantry, you would get a point. 

As a change from previous Squirrel Side Duels, this year we are allowing entrants to count different armies in the same period/genre/scale as a separate Squirrel Point. Going back to the above example, painting 25 points of 15mm French Napoleonic Infantry, would get you a Squirrel Point. (In previous years it would not). As the Snow Lord's appointed Squirrelfinder General, I shall be arbitrating any final decisions about what does and does not constitute a Squirrel Point. 

After 3 weeks of the challenge and roughly 160 entries we have some would be Squirrel-wranglers putting scores up on the board. Before we get to those scores, there is a minor piece of administrative information that I feel must be pointed out to all of the competitors in this little side duel.

USE LABELS ON YOUR POSTS!!!

Out of 20 Squirrel Points, only 13 of them were labelled as such. If you are one of the offenders (and I know who you are), be warned. From this point on I will only be counting posts with the Squirrel label attached. I don't want to have to wade through a hundred entries to find your post that you didn't tag with the Squirrel label (and in one case someone didn't add their own name label which would also make things hard to find). 

So, without further ado, let's move on and look at the scores shall we.

These are in no particular order and are based on the names I picked out from the Side Duels discussion. I then had to search through dozens of pages to figure out who people actually are because their commenting name and posting name aren't the same. Based on their comments, I am not 100% sure if Benito and Jez were planning to join, but I have included them both just in case. If anyone feels that they should not be included, or that I have given them the wrong score, please leave a comment below. If anyone would like to join, you can do so, again comment below.

@TeemuL - I added a point for your ducks.

@AdamC - I added a point for your Spanish ship. 

So at the moment it looks like TeemuL is in the lead. Can any of our other duellists catch up? Find out in two weeks time.

P.s. I wasn't kidding, use labels or you won't be receiving any points. 

From Millsy: 28mm Erin Celtic Myth (Sarah) and Oathmark Undead (Arda) (145 points)

Hi All,

Me again! One final post to round out the weekend. This time it's another Erin Celtic Myth miniature and a unit of Games Workshop undead for use in Oathmark. I've jumped to Challenge Quadrant Arda for the undead given their fantasy theme.

This Alternative Armies Erin Celtic Myth miniature is CM3-05 Sidhe Clan Female Warrior, bearing a strange resemblance in the face to the female champion. Lazy sculpting, or just coincidence? I suspect the former given the cape is also pretty much a carbon copy.

Chasing her around are these ugly chaps, looking more like an outing of the Grinch family gone horribly wrong than anything else. I don't normally do blood and gore for some reason, probably as much because it can get out of hand. I think I struck the right balance here, keeping it mainly to the hands and face, plus a toothbrush splatter effect. There are loads of ways to paint gore to be found online. I went for my own home brew version, mixing gloss varnish and a deep red paint in two coats, the first tinted with Nuln Oil for a darker look like dried blood.

Exit, stage left!

Sorry for the awful photos! My huskies were "helping" [ahem]...

And that's me done until next Sunday. Keep up the great work people, I've already had my mind blown by the wonderful creations on display and we've only just begun!

Cheers,
Millsy

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Yep, you had me with the female warrior figure as I thought it was from your previous post! Still, if the sculptor is going to make a 'new' figure from an existing model he might as well do if from good source material.

I think those ghouls look quite excellent. They have just the right amount of blood and viscera to make it tasty. As a variant to your recipe, I typically use inks, starting with a brown, then dapple with a chestnut and finally bright red. The ink stays glossy and provides some translucent icky depth (in a good way).

Well done Millsy! I look forward to next Sunday's entries. :)

- Curt

IanS: Yet more 15mm Goodies (136 Points)

So third week and disaster, a paint mishap and all the Wurttembergers for this week have been ruined so they will have to be repainted. So pts this week is going to be a bit low.

Ancients:

Last unit of Ptolemaic Levy Phalanx, again figures from Outpost wargaming services.

Ancient British warband next, i need another tribe for this army.  Each Tribe consists of 5 warbands, 1 slinger, 1 javelin and a light cavalry unit.  The whole army will consist of 5 tribes and a hearth clan consisting of chariots.  I already have 4 of the tribes complete and half the hearth clan.

For a change some Seleucid foot these are from the Museum Miniatures Z range and the shield transfers are from vini veci.   

Napoleonic.

No Wurttembergers this week, but instead a Polish Cuirassier.  The figures are all from the Epic Waterloo range, this will be the first unit of the heavy cavalry division of the 4^th Cavalry Corps in 1812.  So there will be Westphalian and Saxon heavy cavalry to come in the next few weeks.

So, points I would like to claim:

Ptolemaic Phalanx - 16  x 15mm figures = 32

Ancient British Warband   – 12 x 15mm figures = 24

Seleucid Phalanx – 16 x 15mm figures = 32

Polish Cavalry – 12 x 15mm figures = 48

Total claimed – 136 points.

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Great work Ian. I particularly like those Ancient British (really, who can deny a good carnyx), and those Polish cuirassiers are very sharp as well. Funny think about the Poles though, is that they were never officially issued with a cuirass, as it was considered too expensive. These guys must have got hand me downs from their French overlords, or got creative with the papier mache. :)

Well done Ian, I look forward to the Saxons and Westphalians coming up soon!

- Curt

Fromg GregB - 40k Raven Guard Specialists (35 Points)

Reinforcements for my 40k Raven Guard.

My fourth entry to this edition of the Painting Challenge sees a project continue - more figures for my Raven Guard forces in GW's Warhammer 40,000 setting. All of these figures are multi-part plastic kits from GW. This submission contains what might be described as "Specialist Marines" - a group of particularly tough fighters known as "Bladeguard Veterans", as well as an "Apothecary" and a "Librarian".

Bladeguard Veterans

Bladeguard Veteran Space Marines, painted in Raven Guard colours.

These are hard-hitting, veteran Space Marines, equipped with fancy swords, scary pistols and big shields - all rocking a requisite number of skullz, of course. You would expect these chaps to be found in the thick of the fighting, alongside the crazy Bladeguard Ancient, whacking and blasting the enemies of the Emperor back into their component atoms.

Rear view, showing some of the flash and flare on the models - and the one fellow with his shield stowed on his power pack.

As always, I stick a "beakie" style helmet on the commander.

I quite enjoy the OTT look of these types of Space Marines - they are more like a kind of "Space Knight", a sort of look which previously had been found among specific named Chapters (such as the extremely cool Grey Knights, the somewhat interesting Black Templars or the extremely pointless Dark Angels). The newer range of Space Marine figures is bringing this sort of "Space Knight" look to any Chapter you like. The design of the helmets even bears a striking resemblance to the look of the helmets on the Grey Knight Terminator models.

"Check it out guys - there is a Starbucks over there. Anyone else up for a latte?"

Of course the large, skull-covered shields are focal points for these figures, but there is all sorts of "flare" on these guys. They are covered in fun little features on them, like little religious icons hanging from belts, and copious parchment seals affixed to all manner of their kit. It's all quite whacky, and I find it all to be very enjoyable. On the gaming table, this is a small unit, but they will accompany their commanding officer and standard bearers into battle, making for a tough core of any Space Marine gaming force.   

Librarian

"You have some overdue books, and The Emperor is not pleased..."

Who's afraid of a Librarian? You should be! Not only is this guy a Space Marine - eight feet tall, a genetically enhanced super warrior with massive power armour and a big, scary sword - he has SPOOOOKY POWERS. Yes, he can fry your brain using his powers - before removing your head with his trusty sword! You know the powers are SPOOOOKY, because even though he has the sword handy, he is simply pointing in your direction, meaning whatever he can do just by concentrating on your is WORSE than what he do with a big sword. RETURN THOSE BOOKS ON TIME SON!

Light blue = SPOOOKY POWERS. At least, that is my interpretation.

The wardrobe on this fellow is kinda funny...he is clearly clad in Space Marine power armour, but he is also wearing robes over that armour, and then a huge Matrix-parody-level trenchcoat over the robes! You should flee from this guy BASED ON FASHION ALONE.

I tried to reflect/acknowledge the SPOOOOOKY POWERS by imparting something of a light blue glow to his helmet, the blade of his sword, and to his hand...the result was mixed, but it was fun to experiment. 

Apothecary

Raven Guard Apothecary contemplates some extracted bits while standing over a fallen comrade.

Medical care among the Space Marines is something of a mixed bag. On the plus side, as a Space Marine you have 100% medical coverage, pretty useful in a job where you expected to face off in battle against terrifying threats which the regular Imperial Army cannot handle. Knowing you can count on the best health care would give you peace of mind, right? 

On the other hand, since they are subject to intense pschyo-conditioning (with emphasis on the "psycho" part), "peace of mind" is not a state most Space Marines would strive for, and in any case, and seeing your "front line health care worker" might erase any peace one might have - meet the Apothecary.

Lots of extra kit comes with this job...

The Apothecary is kitted out in all manner of specialized equipment - the practice of battlefield medicine in the grimdark future being still, well, grim. Drills, saws, injection kit - much of this stuff intended to help keep brother Marines in the battle, but there is another aspect to the job that this specific figure sculpt calls attention to - let's call it "recycling". 

The extracted bits in his palm will provide a replacement for the fallen comrade under his boot...

When a Marine succumbs to injuries in battle, the so-called "gene seed" needs to be recovered so a replacement Marine can be created. With this figure, we can see a fallen Marine on the base, and the Apothecary has recovered some manner of gooey bit. Using the various lenses, he is inspecting it closely, before getting ready to place inside a specimen jar (hanging from his hand). Looking on his chest, you can see a number of other similar jars hanging from his neck...your service to The Emperor thus never truly ends, as your "gooey bits" fight on in other Marines...

So, scoring-wise, we have five "Primaris" sized Marine models here, at 7 points a pop, it should be good for another 35 points. Still a ways to go before I reach my goal, but it is early in The Challenge, and besides, the weather looks primed to provide a nice chunk of painting time...

Northern Ontario in January. Not a problem as long as you have paint, figures and wine!

Thanks for reading - hope to have something again next week! Cheers.

_______________________________  

You continue to hit it out of the park with your Raven Guard, Greg! Love these guys. Those huge shields are so cool with all their high relief iconography. Your brushwork is brilliant with their armour and all their intricate detail. My favourite has to the the Apothecary - definitely the last guy you want to see hovering over you, but then again, I guess his whole job is meant to be the last guy looming over you...

And the Librarian... You know, really, f*ck 'Librarians', they're a bunch of naff gits.  Cripes, just look at how this guy is dressed! Instead GW should have had these guys as 'Archivists'. Now that's a profession that's inherently cool and spooky. Archivists inherently have arcane abilities which can curdle the blood. Jeez, they can literally erase you from history.  You know, just sayin'. 

Your weather looks much as ours did last week. Enjoy the minis and wine!

- Curt

From Kerry T (valleyboy) - P is for Pointy Sticks (270 points)

Afternoon, Evening and Morning all

That was a nice long Christmas break which meant more painting days than usual. This has resulted in the completion of my third and so far my biggest unit beginning with the letter P - this time under the guise of  P is for Pointy sticks

As I'm using the AHPC to make inroads into my lead-pile I chose Pointy Sticks because it is loose enough to allow me considerable latitude (or indecision if you like) in my choice of unit. My overall aim is to make progress on my new Barons War project, finish my ECW Royalist army, start their Parliamentary opponents, make some progress on my very slow burn Italian Wars project, maybe knock off a few Vikings and generally add a unit or two other longer standing and more complete armies.

In the end I decided to paint some cavalry because this allowed me to take a decent bite into my points target as well and these Footsore Miniature Norman Cavalry could double up at a pinch and be incorporated into my Crusader Army.

Duke William of Normandy

Footsore make 3 different packs of heavy cavalry

The Warlord and Banneman pack leads the way

The first thing you'll probably notice is the different basing, some being based singly and others in threes on a 60 x 60 mm base. Did I mention I was indecisive?

The reason for the differing basing is that they can add to my Crusader army but having some on single bases will allow me to build a Norman Army for Footsore's new "Conquest" supplement for the Barons war rules. I'm hoping to use some of my old Dux Britanniarum forces for this as well. When I bought the figures originally I had intended to base them in threes but this was before I knew about the Conquest rules

I don't think I'v ever painted 27 cavalrymen in a week before but I try and use a Speed Painting Method that gives reasonable results having cobbled together a technique that works for me.

 https://valleyboyinnz.wordpress.com/2018/12/02/speed-painting-horses/

The Dark Side! showing the larger bases and a few bendy spears

One thing I've also made myself do in recent  years is try to match my figure basing to my table base though I don't use ant tufts on the latter

It goes without saying that I've used LBSM shield transfers here, I don't mind painting the odd stripey shield but anything more complex or heraldic is beyond me. My previous attempts at heraldic beasts usually look like they've been finger painted by a 3 year old! 

I notice in the hot weather here that my Vallejo's not sticking too well and frequently rubbed off as I painted and quite a bit of touching up was needed to cover bare metal - I don't normally varnish figures but I think I'm going to have to do this now with this lot.

Now that the holiday's are over I doubt I'll manage another unit in the next week - this challenge is taking over and rather than start my next offering this afternoon I made myself go out in the garden and protect these from the birds just in case my wife feels like baking another pie!

I can't help but notice many of you are whizzing around, from planet to planet and I love all the "weird" stuff that you are painting to do this. I think I'm going to settle for the quiet life and just sit in the corner here in the bar on Sarah's yacht with a drink it my hand while chomping through your share of the peanuts!

Best wishes 

(Hopefully 270 points and another squirrel)

_____________________________________

Lovely work Kerry! 27 cavalry figures in a week? Now, that's very impressive, especially as these fellows certainly don't look like a rush job. I also like your basework and your terrain boards. I put on so many periods and themes that mats make the most sense, but I do love a nice, custom terrain board.  I'm also a big fan of the LBSM shield transfers - they look so darn smart when done right. Well done!

270 points it is. Enjoy your peanuts!   

- Curt