From DaveD - Mutt for ‘Nam (25 points)

I’m off the starting blocks . There is likely to be a whole bunch of ‘Nam stuff again this year . 

Gringo40s have been producing a load of new items and I plan to work through the acquired lead mountain. It’s a nice solid bit of metal casting that was easy to put together .

The Mutt of course is the equivalent of the WW2 Jeep .

I also added a windscreen made from a clear yoghurt pot .

I have tweaked it a little as I had a spare  50 cal (as you do). There will be some considerably heavier metal along shortly . 

20 for 28mm vehicle.the driver crew is pretty much a full guy so suggest 5 . So 25 on the board , plus 25 to the “Never ending Cold War” challenge.

Huzzah!

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Lovely to have you back, Dave! This Mutt looks the business and I especially like the additions of the windscreen, .50 cal and whip aerials. Well done! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your stuff going 'in country'.

- Curt

From AlanD: Festive Root Vegetables for Turnip28 (35 Points)

 I don't feel good about any of this.

I've been amused and bemused this year by the weird little niche in our Zeitgeist that is Turnip28. If you aren't familiar with this nonsense, it's a setting, and game, designed by the British artist Max Fitzgerald about a post-apocalyptic Napoleonic/Medieval world where root vegetables are essentially taking over. More succinctly, as Max Fitzgerald has explained, 'it's about turnips'. Such is the insidious creep of The Root that even Curt has come under its influence.

Paul O'G has spent much of the last 6 months wearing me down by sending me daily turnip photos. I've actually been incredibly focused in my hobby time this year, painting a 28mm Soviet force for Battle Group to match the Romanians I worked on in AHPC XII. But finally, I have succumbed. The charm of this nonsense is the opportunity to kitbash ludicrous figures from the sorts of bits we all have lying around, mashing together anything so long as the technology doesn't extend much further than 1805. Some of the great figures Paul has come up with actually make me laugh out loud. I've had a lot of fun so far making some figures of my own, while listening to suitably thematic music, with songs like 'Swede Child of Mine', '24 Hour Parsnip People' and 'Counting the Beet'.

One of the factions in Turnip28 rejoices in the name 'The Lopers of Maudlin Marsh', who are able to field a unit of Lopers - permanently drunk stilt walkers who stagger about the battlefield. That's what I've modelled here, using bit of Victrix Highlanders, Perry WotR, GW Sylvaneth, Warlord ECW, some 3D printed bits, tufts, Sculpey, a metal barrel, bottles that were once Soviet Molotov cocktails, some Frostgrave bits, copper wire, Greenstuff and bamboo skewers. Oh, and a shield from Fireforge. It amuses me that men on stilts would be heavily armoured from the waist up, but wear kilts, and that most of them wear helmets that prevent them from seeing what's below them.

Anyway, enough of this madness. If we count the little swampling parsnip musician that I made from Sculpey, I think these guys should get me on the board in AHPC XIII, and in the Turnip Side Duel, with 35 points. 

I'll finish with a photo of the current state of my worktable. Shameful, I know!

I wish you all a very happy festive season, and a wonderful painting challenge.

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Oooh, these are simply fabulous, Alan. I looove the Turnip28 setting, and these models of yours fit the mood perfectly. I love the Loper faction (cult?), but have been too shy (ie lazy) to make up figures for it. But now there they are, and I now need some! I love the wonderful effects you've achieved by your kitbashing, especially the bottles and various accoutrements. I also appreciate your thematic root vegetable backdrop - genius.

I'm going to give a couple of points each for all the mad modifications. Wonderful work, Alan, and welcome back to the Challenge!

- Curt

From ByronM: Horus Heresy Iron Warriors in 15mm - Sci-Fi (50 points)

Day 2 of the event and my second post.  I started these guys yesterday but had to finish the basing and clear coat off this morning before work.  Not that there is a lot to finish on them (let alone do at all) since they are pretty basic paint jobs.

A group of us in Winnipeg are doing Horus Heresy in 15mm, you will likely see Scott C and Steve A post some this Challenge, and a lot of armies were already selected and I have a TON of stuff to paint already this year.  I still wanted to get involved and play a few games though, so I started looking at what armies were out there and came across the Iron Warriors.  

 

 

Their paint scheme is silver, with black guns and black and yellow hazard stripes or chevrons on their shoulders and vehicles.  Sign me up!!!  I primed these silver after finding army painter silver primer, and then brush primed the bases black.  Once the challenge started all I had to do was paint the guns, shoulderpads, add some bronze accents and wash them with Agrax Earthshade (I put that sh*t on everything!), and they were done!  I should be able to get a whole army done in no time with these!

The Rhino was a little more problematic due to the yellow being hard to get coverage in a large area smoothly and evenly.  Trust me I tried, 4 or 5 times!!  In the end I said screw it, sanded it off, broke out the tape and masked around the areas I wanted yellow.  I then re-primed those areas white, then airbrushed yellow.  Perfect and simple, and nice and clean.

 

 

I then proceeded to ruin it with my unsteady hands trying to paint straight lines for the hazard lines.  Oh well its good enough!

For anyone interested these are the 6mm epic STL files from thingiverse and Cults3d and then scaled up about 260% to look correct against other 15mm figures.  While a little chunky looking, I think they look pretty good for Iron Warriors who are supposed to be staunch siege fighters.  

More on this project to come over the course of the challenge, as well as the rest of my 15mm Eldar from last year that got shelved over the summer.

Points:

11x Infantry @ 2 points = 22 points

1x Vehicle @ 8 points

Sci-Fi map space @ 20 points

Total of 50 points

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Two days in with an entry for each. One more and you'll have a hat-trick, Byron!

You had talked about you doing Iron Warriors for this project, knowing full well that you could knock them out in no time, and you were right - and they look absolutely terrific. Now that I see them in all their 15mm glory, I think I need to do a squad or two of Loyalists. You know, for balance and future visits... :)

- Curt

From ScottC: LOTR Hobbits (85 points)

 Hi all,

Happy to be back and ready to rock for this year's hobby challenge. I've had a busy year with many different projects from LOTR to Horus Heresy.

I had originally planned for a winter shire project and while I still hope to accomplish it, I was happy pre planning my studio walkthrough containing many projects that have been gathering dust.

To kick off my hobby progress I present my 3d printed hobbits to represent Baldo Tulpenny and a band of Battlin' Brandybucks!

After painting about 200 15mm horus heresy figures in gold and purple I was very happy to personalize some little hobbits. 

A total of 17 x 28mm figures = 85 pts

I am about 65% done my Under Construction project. Looking forward to getting those completed! 

Happy hobbying.

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Hey Scott, welcome back to the Challenge! Wonderful work on this mob of halflings. Being such mild-mannered folk, I wonder what has caused them so be so riled up. Something threatening the larder? Trampled their radishes? Interrupted Second Breakfast? No matter, they certainly look marvellously perturbed a well-represented under your brush, Scott. Well done!

- Curt

MikeW: Warhammer 40K Ork WarBoss x 2, Sci-Fi (30 Points)

So here it is AHPC XIII, I always struggle to get figures painted in the lead up to Xmas and the Xmas / New Year period its-self, there are just too many other things going on at the same time!

This year one of my mini-projects is to raise a Warhammer 40K Ork Army, I have been toying wit this for ages, collecting the figures and dusting off the few I had in the Garage and loft. Now I did have an Ork Army until about 20 years ago, mostly metal ones and a few of the new fangled plastics as they began to be released. These were sublimated by the Gorka Morka range that was released by Games Workshop around that time.

Two completed Ork Warbosses

This venerable army was sold (as was an Ultramarines army) as I refocused on other more historical periods at the time. However the 40K Orks were fun to paint and to play.

This time around most of the figures are plastics, with a few metals, all found on eBay in various 'job lots' that I have gradually collected. I like getting these types of figures from eBay as they are relatively cheap, often come pre undercoated and offer a few modelling challenges to fix and repair other people's work in building them. I have restrained from starting to paint these figures as I wanted the who army to have the same look and feel and I have been planning the paint scheme and the basic composition of the Army.

Now I have never followed the GW Codexes slavishly, I prefer to use them as a base for my own campaign worlds, as such and because I'm, also a fan of the concept of the 'Red Gobbo' - a rebellious Goblin that leads a revolt against his Ork overlords. I have taken this a step further and the premise of this army is that the sneaky, sly Goblins are in charge of the brute force Orks.

The symbol of the Red Gobbo gangs is the 'Red Star' so I wanted to get that worked into look and feel of the army as well. So these guys will be predominantly red, because everyone knows that Red Orks go faster! Something to do with the science of Red Shift - I believe! and they will be a mish mash of Red Sunz and Red Gobbo Iconography.

The business end of this guy,
Steel claws and missile enhanced heavy blaster

That's the idea, now the execution... 

Most of this army will be on foot, so I'm going to paint them in batches of 10-12 figures, with one or more of these batches on the go at once, I'm pretty sure I can get most of these guys done in between other work that I'm doing.

And his 'softer' side, showing steel jaws and the edging
I tried to get on the armour plates

Because most Warhammer figures you get from eBay are undercoated Black, I have gone with this, but then applied a grey, then white primer form rattle cans to give some quick highlighting to the models.

So next step is to block in the skin tine - Army Painter Goblin Green, then do all the metal work - Vallejo Oily Steel. Clothing is then added in what will be a generally limited palette of dark blue, dark brown and burgundy red with a few getting other colours for variety.

All leatherwork is painted grey and when dry I use a watered down artist's Paynes Grey ink which in my opinion gives a nice seemingly black finish, with shading coming through from the grey undercoat.

The business end of the other guy, with circular saw

Next step is to upgrade the armour to being Red - the concept being that this plate armour has been stripped from vehicles, spacecraft or similar or simply painted red. The aim is to make the armour 'pop' but also to have the oily steel showing at the edges and where damage and wear & tear has occurred.

Guns will be predominantly oily steel but taking a 'steam punk' ethic, delicate or important bits will be brass with other bits red. I will try and keep this approach consistent across all figures in the army.

As a challenge to myself, I have tried to give these guys eyes, lips and nails, to add extra detail to these mouldings.

I went back and fix all the painting mistakes that I have made!

Back view, with trophies of War on Display,
my additions to an eBAY figure that had a big hole in its back!

Next my favourite bit, I add the washes - Army Painter Green on all flesh areas, Strong Brown on all Red areas and Dark wash on weapons and everything else. Once dried I go back and highlight skin and armour as required.

Figures were then given a coat of Matt Varnish and when dried I add on the black & white chequered pattern, I paint a white stripe and when dry use a black permeant marker (v fine nib) to add in the black squares.

Another view, of the completed figure

Bases were then completed with fine sand and an electrostatic grass. All in all I'm pretty pleased with the outcome and I'm already working om the rest of the batch for my first Squirrel point!

The rest of the batch awaiting completion when
I can grab time in the next few days

Now for this submission I picked out two guys from my first Ork Batch, just to get points on the scoreboard, I'll complete the other 10 in days to come, below is my calculation on points

POINTS

2 x 28mm Orks  @ 5pts each        10 Points

Sci-Fi Studio Bonus                       20 Points

TOTAL                                            30 Points

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This is great stuff, Mike! I really enjoyed reading your history with the figures and the methodology you're using for your work.  These projects seem to follow a common refrain, where many of us have sold, sometimes regrettably, armies from our salad days to which we are now painstakingly rebuilding, with figures from far and wide. 

Your figure modifications on these two Warbosses are inspired and the brushwork on-point (I think I need to pick up some of that Oily Steel). Well done! I look forward to seeing this force slowly come into being over the next few months. Waagh!

- Curt

From DavidB: Ray's Favourite Thing - Christmas Nutcracker (25 Points)

Behold the chaotic wonder of the man-cave....er boy-cave!

As you may notice, I was successful in cleaning it before the challenge ball dropped. Obviously!

I almost finished the white scar marines left over from last year, but they got swarmed by choice bits from the mountain of neglect.

I did get a lot of stuff primed, but distractions of forgotten shiny bits left little rhyme and reason to the batches prepped.

I will attempt to get this sorted and stowed before Christmas, as I really need to clear counters, tables and shelves to contain anything I get completed...and I will need space for photography.

I can also use some room to walk too!

I have just today finished my work week till Sunday. I work 12 hour shifts and was planning to dive into a squad of sci-fi infantry. My wife surprised me with a DIY nutcracker and a challenge of her own.

I have a sizable contingent of nutcrackers of many sizes, colors, styles, and even providence. This is my first one I had to paint myself. 

After five hours of brushwork, this is the result. The style of his uniform is in the colors of General "mad" Anthony Wayne's American Legion. We visited the battlefield of Fallen Timbers in Toledo, Ohio this past Fall. My wife was almost as disappointed as I that there were no soldiers or kits in Toledo that could serve as a souvenir of the trip.

The hat is wrong of course as the had campaign hats with black plumes. The Legion did not have the epaulettes either. Dark blue coats with red cuffs, turn-backs, and collars. The legion also had dark blue trousers and black boots with dark gray gaiters.

I added some painter flair to spruce him up and did a lot of wet on wet blending. 

My wife added a further challenge of limiting my choices. I was given one simple dollar brush and her collection of craft paints. The nutcracker is a soft wood and it really drank up the cheaper pigment paint...kinda glad I wasn't allowed to use my more expensive paints!

I wasn't too certain on my success of her challenge until I got to place him by his fellows. He does fit in well with this small group. Since I couldn't use detail brushes and the craft paint is chalky, I went impressionist painter with him and used purple to shade his blues and oranges and yellows to tint the reds. The red paint was really more pink than red, so it really needed the help to get there.

I rather like the effect although I was unsure how it was going to turn out till the end.

On my neglected blog-spot I shared a post on my nutcracker collection... RayR finds them creepy so be sure to direct him to this post! ;)

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Haha! I love the chaos that is your man-cave, David! I also quite enjoy that your anticipated opening gambit were sidelined with a home-assigned challenge. Bravo! You took it up with aplomb! I must say, your General Wayne looks quite spiffing, and your artistic flourishes with his uniform have been tastefully executed. I know he will take a place of honour amongst your family's collection. It is obvious that in the Bromley household no nut shall go uncracked! :)

Let's score him as two 54mm foot figures with a few bonus points for the holiday season.

Well done David! Now, let's crack-on, eh? 

*ahem*

- Curt

From BruceR: 28mm Foundry Pirates from the - World Cinema (45 pts)

I didn't have to be at work until lunch so a little coffee and to the paint bench.  

I have a few pirates (17) for a project and decided to paint just 5 instead of my usual 8-10.  I was able to finish them in just over 2 hours.  So perfect, and off to work.  A friend was trying contrasts and I followed along with some samples.  I'm in the camp of another tool in the drawer.  For putting out miniatures quickly and for the table not the cabinet, contrast has its place.  With the "slappy/chappy"??? method (white dry brush to old timers like me) they can be a bit grainy yet turn out okay in my book.  I do highlight flesh and white. 

The miniatures are Wargames Foundry, which I think are brilliant.  So much that I finished 14 prior to the Challenge as I could not hold back.  The first were more characterful and the remainder I have left are more crew like.  All are great.  The mission is to put on a Sharp Practice 2 game at Adepticon in March.  

So, here is my first submission in the Challenge Studios XIII - World Cinema.  As my pirates hale from the Carribean they are a direct contrast to my current subzero location of upper USA.  As I type it is m-m-m-minus 20 degrees (without wind chill), I'm sure much warmer in the islands, mon!

Enjoy the journey...............

Arrr the points:

5 28mm @ 5pts =   25

World Cinema =     20

Total                =      45

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Yep, I hear you. It's a bit brisk up here too. A good night for some 'augmented' eggnog and a warm dog at your feet.

Lovely brushwork Bruce! I love these Foundry sculpts as well - super characterful, and you've done them proud. I really like the punchy colours with the blocked-in style, and your basework is really on-point as well.  As you say, Contrast Paints, and their ilk, can be terrific for banging out rank and file models, but they can also create awesome effects with glazes, blending and judicious highlighting. Another great tool for the painter's toolbox. Well done!

- Curt

From StuartL: Under Construction (120 Points)

Hello all,

It is good to be back in the Challenge, and this year I am hitting the ground running. As this is my first year as a minion, I want to get as much done as possible before I have to start spending my brush time checking posts. For me, the challenge starts at 3pm and luckily I had the afternoon off, so I was able to jump straight in with the painting and get to work. I had also made sure that dinner was ready to go (just a quick zap in the microwave), so when my better half got home I didn't need to take an extended break from the workbench. 

I opted for the Under Construction part of the studios as all of the minis I painted up today seem to fit the bill quite nicely.

First up, ten Anglo-Saxons from Gripping Beast miniatures.

I bought a huge pile of GB plastics way back in 2017 as part of a group project to recreate the battles of 1066, starting with The Battle of Fulford. We managed to get that battle played, but due to the easily distracted nature of wargamers that was it. Members of the project then moved to other countries, or downsized their collections, leaving me the only person in my local club still interested. So I have been slowly plugging away at a vast stash of figures and the above are part of that ongoing war of attrition.

Which leads me to these five Vikings, also from Gripping Beast. Originally I was only going to paint up the Saxon force for 1066 (plus maybe a few dozen Normans), but the player doing the bulk of the Vikings sailed off for distant shores, rather fitting I suppose. So, nothing else for me to do but collect them too. 

Since most dark age/early medieval figures tend to look somewhat similar, I try to make my two forces easy to tell apart. The Saxons tend to be in very simple colours, with a cross or quartered pattern on their shields. For the Vikings, I go for brighter clothing and a half patterned shield. This should make gameplay a bit less confusing when models get swallowed up in a melee. Eventually I will have enough minis for the Battle of Stamford Bridge, and these five will help me reach that goal.

My final set of minis for this post are five Northstar/Oathmark Dwarves. In the last challenge I painted up what I thought was all of the minis for my Dwarf army. (HERE) However, as it transpired, I had actually missed a bunch. When AHPC 12 was announced, I considered joining the Squirrel duel and so set 5 minis to one side for that. When I came to paint up the bulk of my army, I forgot to include the Squirrel group. These guys have been sat waiting to join their brethren all year.

 

So, with those out of the way, my Dwarf army is finally complete. Until I buy more minis that is.

So, that should be 10 Anglo-Saxons, 5 Vikings and 5 dwarves for a total of 20x 28mm minis. That plus the location bonus should bring me to 120 points as my opening score. 

These 3 entries are all Squirrel points as well, giving me a nice hat-trick on my first post. Yay.

My Side Duels:

Squirrels - 3

Anglo-Saxons

Vikings

Dwarves

Skullz - 0

Turnips - 0

So, now to wait for a minion to come along and confirm things.

Wow, you call that an entry? Those shields look a bit rushed, and the rims on the dwarves' shields don't match the ones you did last year. You didn't even bother to paint the eyes. Go back and try again.

-Stuart

Wait, why am I being so mean?

You are your own worst critic. Be thankful you are getting any points at all.

Um.... I don't think I can actually minion myself.

Why not, Curt does it?

Yeah, but he's the Snow Lord and is all-powerful and all-knowing. Maybe I should wait for him or one of the more experienced minions to come along.

Oh, I see how it is. Fine, we'll wait for someone else then!

Fine!

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Stuart, buddy, you're talking to yourself. You need to stop drinking your paint water and take a bit of a break. Take if from the 'all-powerful, all-knowing Snow Lord' (who is both a bit manic, and has a great affinity for paint water). :)

Seriously, great work Stuart! As we're not even a full day into the Challenge I think this counts as our first Paint Bomb. Well done! Your Anglo Saxons and Vikings look right proper for a Dark Age dust-up, but I have to say my favourites here are your doughty Dwarves, especially their spiffing shields. Well done! 

- Curt

From MartinC: 02 Hundred Hours German Sentries Black and White (70 points)

And I'm off on another painting frenzy. Shoulder better, fingers covered in paint. 02hundred is a new game to be played under night conditions. We are playing on 28th and so I need to paint the figures today and tomorrow before I go away for Christmas. As it is entirely night time scenarios I was always going to paint them in grey scale. The figures are from Wargames Foundry's very small but excellent WW2 range

They have come out a little darker than I wanted. The only colour are cap badges and the torch

and the dog's tongue

Love the dog

Officers look good

Now I have to paint the commandos

Scores on the doors

10x28mm infantry = 50 points

Black and white bonus = 20points

total = 70pts

that will do for now. 

Have a good Christmas one and all

Martin

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That is a great take on greyscale, Martin, and, like you, I particularly like the dog. I agree, the Foundry WWII range (Perry sculpts) really is terrific, more than holding its own against newer ranges. I saw '02 Hundred Hours' when were in Arnhem this autumn, and I'm kicking myself for not picking it up as it looks like good fun. Maybe I'll snag the digital version to see what it's like. I look forward to seeing your upcoming commandos, but until then have a great Christmas Martin!