From BillA - Frostgrave Bestiary (20 points)

This armored skeleton (Reaper Bones "Arrius, Skeletal Champion") represents a couple of firsts for me - he's the first figure I've painted exclusively with Reaper paints (I'm in the process of replacing all my craft store paints with Reaper brand because I've finally come to my senses and realized how much higher the quality is for what I'm trying to do) and the first "Bones" figure I've had come out really good and with a look that I'm happy with.

Plus, I'd argue he's the single best-looking figure I've ever painted.  I've never gotten results this good before.

It makes me much more inclined to buy more "Bones" figures in the future, especially when it comes to big guys like a Frost Giant and Ice Trolls for Frostgrave.  I've also got my eye on buying a couple of Reaper's "Barrow Wardens" to back this handsome fellow up on the frozen battlefields to come.  Heck, I may buy enough to build a warband I can use in Dragon Rampant in addition to serving as wandering monsters in Frostgrave!

I'm always particularly pleased when I do the verdigris-crusted copper effect, and I use it extensively on undead - I feel like it makes them seem particularly old.

Following up on this, I scavenged three "Giant Frogs" from my collection of prepainted D&D miniatures to repurpose as Frostgrave "Ice Toads."  I'm not sure what the issue was, but the smell of the Krylon primer really clung to these guys for *days*.  Didn't get great coverage either, whether from the nature of the plastic or some sort of sealant on them from their factory of origin.  So I painted a few more layers of white over them, washed with Reaper "Tropical Blue," drybrushed again with white to emphasize the warty detail, and then picked out the eyes and mouth in Tropical Blue.

I don't know if I'd try to repaint some of these prepainted D&D miniatures again, but I think these guys are effective enough for my purposes.

You're right Bill, that armoured skeleton is the bomb. Wonderful job. I really like how you did his verdigris plate mail.

I also agree with you about the good quality of the Reaper brand - very opaque and smooth. That being said, I still keep a lot of craft paint on my desk. I use it primarily for my terrain and basework as the cost per square cm is pretty low. (That's my prairie peasant frugality coming out.) :)

Again, great work!

MartinC - Zombie Horde ( 210 points)

Having finished the Zulus I was sick of brown. I needed a different palette to use and grey was appealing so I present a zombie horde painted in grey (mainly).

These are the Studio Miniatures plastic Zombie horde and were painted very quickly using thinned down greys, black and whites. The figures were then dipped in watered down indian ink and left to dry. Ties, hats and big hair were then painted in different colours and blood added to hands, mouths and clothes. The bases are painted plain black , I think it works well for the horde.

Overall there are 42 figures in the horde and I'm now off to paint something slowly.

Yup, that is a big bomb of zombies to be sure! Wicked. With this mob Martin, you will handily move into the lead in the points race. Well done.

From ScottB - first Entry - breaking my duck... SdKfz 250/9 - 15mm FoW (12 Points)

Just a quick post to say I am alive and well and contributing as best as I am able...

I 'break my duck' with a couple of 15mm Flames of War German half tracked recce vehicles, the SdKfz 250/9...

A recce vehicle mounting a 2cm main gun, backed up by Co-ax MG, on a small half-tracked chassis...

I 'picked these up' about middle of last year when my son bought these 2nd hand from the bring and buy stall as a prezzy for me, at the Panzerschrek tournie in Palmy North here in NZ... he's a good lad :)

Quick and easy to paint I figured I would lash some paint on them to get some points rolling in the challenge... a meager start but at least I am still breathing...

Funnily enough it wasn't until I had undercoated and base coated the vehicles that I noticed one had lost part of its front mud guard. This was quickly painted up as battle damage as I couldn't be bothered to try and correct it then!

More ambitious things in the pipeline, so watch this space... I've got a Mumak on the go, and am half way through assembling Smaug... fingers crossed I get them done in time...

Nicely done Scott and welcome back for this year's journey. As usual your muted camo looks fabulous. I've always had a soft spot for WWII German recce vehicles - they always looked so much more modern and nasty than most of the clunkers the Allies used. 

12 points for you as we await your Mumak (the Tiger of LotR).

From MilesR - Mathemagical Statistical-Like Analysis

For some reason that none of us will likely ever understand, Mr. Campbell has requested that I perform some periodic statistical analysis of the Challenge. Perhaps he wants to educate the rest of you on the beauty and glory of the statical method.  Maybe he wants to delve into the deeper meanings of the form of art we've all chosen to pursue. Maybe he's just bored and wants the rest of us to be the same way.  Who knows?  All I know is that I'm here to inflict, oops ummm, rather "inform" you masses of the current status of the Challenge,

As you all know this is the largest challenge to date with 88 registered participants who have initially set a target of 68,950 points.  That's just a bit higher the the 64,905 points the group achieved over last year's 72 participants.  We should note that this years challenge only has 12 weeks of competition time vs last years 15 so we should expect a tiny drop off in points totals.

So now that we are two weeks into this event where do we stand?

Of the 88 participants, 41 have made 98 submissions with a cumulative points total of 6,392 points.  That works out to an average of 65 points per submission.  The results of the Nostalgia bonus round are excluded for these totals.

A simple extrapolation of the first two weeks over the the remaining ten (adjusted also for the forthcoming bonus rounds) indicates that this intrepid group of 41 individuals should clock in around 45,000 - 50,000  points.  We should see roughly half that productivity form the 47 participants who have yet to submit a entry but who are surely stockpiling painted figures in ambush.

My best guess for a total point total for this year Challenge is 75,000.  Since I control the spreadsheet that calculates all the point totals this year, I have an extremely high level of confidence....  Oh hell, well just have to wait and see if the 75K projection is correct.

One other key item that will be tracked is who is vying for this year's "Greatest Improvement in Miniature Productivity" award.  Yes the GIMP award to bestowed upon the painter who has improved his of her game the most over the previous years challenge.  This award is world renowned and held in the same esteem as a Nobel prize or an NFL MVP trophy.  For those of you who are Brits or in the Commonwealth, winning the award is almost a guarantee of a future knighthood.  At least I think it is - since we kicked you out of the colonies keeping up with the formalities of this royalty stuff isn't high on my priority list.

To recognize the importance of the awards, I think we should all take a movement to recognize the current holder, Mr Millsy (soon to be Sir Millsy, I'm sure) with the traditional chant.  Now repeat after me:

Millsy's a GIMP!, Millsy's a GIMP!, Millsy's a GIMP!

I'll be checking back in with another update in a few weeks.

From Curt: Millsy, buddy, I'm so, so sorry...

The 'Nostalgia' Theme Round is Live & Curt's 'Zarg the Terrible'

Zarg the Terrible

Well, that took a bit longer than I expected, my apologies. Nonetheless, better late than never and with that our first Theme Round 'Nostalgia' is now up on the Bonus Theme page. I invite you all to get yourself a drink, something to nibble on and head over to enjoy the gallery. As with all our Theme Rounds the entries are very fun to read and more than of a few will make you pause for a bit. Yes, they are that good.

After you've looked at all the entries please take the time to vote for your favourites. You can vote for as many as you like so don't feel like you have to be stingy.

I know this year's themes have thrown a few of you for a loop, but I wanted to challenge you to step back, think and imagine different approaches to the themes. This week's theme of Nostalgia' was put forward as I knew it would provide a series of personal vignettes and reminiscences that we often don't get to see in each others' various blogs. As such, you will find several stories that are quite touching in this round.

As to myself, I ran into an old girlfriend this past summer. Her name is Lois-Anna. Actually Lois-Anna is not just an 'old girlfriend', she was my first girlfriend, my first girlfriend at the very tender age of 16. 

We made arrangements to meet for coffee, and a few weeks later had a nice time together, reminiscing about old friends and good times gone by. Just as we were about to part she gave me an envelope that contained a few Polaroids from when we were together.  In amongst the photos was one of me wearing a cheesy pair of Foster Grants, posing behind a mushroom-topped stump with a trio of little lead miniatures atop it. They were in fact the first miniatures I had ever painted. I was speechless. I had completely forgotten that this photo had ever been taken and it made me laugh aloud.

'Zarg' in the red circle. I'll pass on the sunglasses but gosh, I wish I still had that hair... ;)

I'll give you a little context to this photo. I was raised in  a very, very small town in northern Saskatchewan, where the nearest hobby store was around 120 miles away. My best friend Gary and I mail ordered our 1st edition Players Handbooks, DM's Guide, Monster Manual and several lead miniatures direct from TSR in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  When they arrived it was like Christmas in summer. I was so excited to paint the figures that I used enamel car paint from my dad's shop and my mom's toothpicks and push-pins to apply it to the figures. Yup. Pretty primitive I know, but sometimes you just can't beat raw enthusiasm.  

After I got the photo from Louise I spent an afternoon searching through my lead shed and managed to find my character figure - the very same as in the photo. Yes, 'Zarg the Terrible' emerged in all his glory. (It's funny, even back then I was a complete cynic as I came up with his name as a tongue-in-cheek reference to my ability as a player.)  Anyway, poor Zarg had not weathered the intervening 33 years very well, so I didn't even bother to photograph him as I found him.  Rather I just brushed away the paint (yes, the 'benefits' of high lead content and absolutely no primer) and began afresh. So, here he is, 'Zarg the Terrible' in all his splendor, painted by a middle-aged version of that boy from 1982. 

Sarah wanted a picture as a 'before and after'

From Curt - 28mm Landsknechte Handbuchse Light Gun & Crew (25 Points)

'Rodrigo, get that blasted thing out of my face... Niles! Wait! No, not yet you fool!!'

What we have here is an early light gun, or more appropriately a heavy rifled musket, sometimes called a 'Handbuchse'. These tripod mounted guns were usually used in sieges, presumably to pick off defenders and make a general nuisance of themselves. I saw one of these weapons on display in Les Invalides in Paris and marveled at what must have been the bravery of its crew. From looking at the thing the gunners must have been in as much danger from their gun flying apart as to those they were supposedly shooting at. 

These 28mm figures are from both Warlord Games and the now defunct Pro Gloria Miniatures (Warlord bought the range a few years ago). 

I borrowed a Master Gunner from Warlord's Pike & Shotte range and re-purposed him for this vignette as I liked his pose. 

I imagine him as a Spaniard mercenary gunner in Imperial pay who has dropped by to help his German friends sight their 'silly Teutonic popgun'.

The two Landsknecht and the handbuchse are pretty much stock from the kit, except for a  bit of careful bending and re-positioning for the vignette.

As I just received a bunch of terrain material from Tajima I so thought I'd indulge myself with an autumnal setting for these boys. I sort of like it and am thinking I might maintain it as the theme for my Renaissance collection - we'll see. 

 
Hmm, what does this add up to? Three figures and a idiot crew served weapon equals 25 points.

Now, back to getting the Theme Round sorted...

From MilesR - 28mm WWII Soviets (245 points)

 My next submission for the challenge is the start of a WW2 Soviet army.  Completed so far are 40 infantry figures from the Warlord plastic Box set and 3 tanks from Trenchworx (2 T-34's and one BT-7)

To be honest the Warlord figures are so-so and I'd have a hard time recommending them as assembly was more difficult than it should be and there was a lot of flashing to clean up.  These troops are painted using 1942 uniform colors and equipment.

The Trenchworx tanks are simply superb models and I highly recommend them.  I do need to find some crew figures for them and add some stowage to the tanks and will do so shortly.

Next up for the Soviets will be some support weapons and maybe some other vehicle options. I also have a box of the Warlord "Siberian Veterans" to add into the mix also.

The tally for this submission comes to 245 points  (40 infantry figures and 3 tanks).

Wow, somebody has been busy! That is an amazing amount of work Miles. I agree with your assessment of the Trenchworx vehicles. The WWI Kickstarter set that I received exhibited excellent quality.  With this entry you've passed Kyle in most points to-date. I get a sense that we may witness a Battle Royale over the next few months. A Hobby Geek Cage-Match! Awesome.

From PeterD - A Condottiero (22 points)

When my Italian Wars figures have fought on the table for the first time, they were missing command stands.  So I thought I would fix this deficit and have finished Piero da Montefeltro.  I have based this figure on the historical Frederico da Montefeltro, who was the very model of a modern major general in the 15th century. 

This believe it or not is his good side.

You may not know the name, but I bet you know his face as he possessed one of the most well know noses in art history.   The beak was not a natural event but resulted from a jousting accident, which cost him an eye and left him permanently disfigured.  Frederick then had the bridge of his nose surgically removed to improve his field of vision both on the battle field and to spot potential assassins.  (Yeah, hack off half my nose so that I can see the bastards trying to kill me).

Frederico predates the Italian Wars and I couldn't bring myself to intentional disfigure a Perry figure, so I opted for a fictional scion of the Montefeltri (according to Michael Mallet the official plural of Montefeltro).  The normal bastard son option doesn't appear to hold as Frederico was supposedly exceedingly faithful to his Sforza bride (obviously he liked his women fiesty), so I am assuming Piero is a nephew, cousin or similar.

The figure comes from the Perry Miniatures Italian Mounted Command stand.  I have added a stradiot standard bearer, on the assumption that Piero spent time in Venetian pay, from the Perry Stradiot command pack.  The flag is home printed based on a Montefeltro banner,  and the Stradiot's shield is hand painted based on historical examples (dated back to Thracian times).    The figures were a joy to paint and I am quite happy with the results.

Ah, that is an excellent subject for a command stand. I particularly like that he has a Stradiot standard bearer (a 'tourist' from the Balkans, no doubt) to reinforce his mercenary background.  I look forward to trying to make him change sides in our future Pike & Shotte games (though that might be a challenge knowing his history of fidelity)!

From ChrisH - Warmachine Khador (75 Points)

There is a nice little story about these miniatures. Around 18 months ago I went in a demonstration game at a convention called Winter Con in Canberra Australia.  I had a turn at a game called Warmachine and I thought “Wow I like the mechanics, the miniatures are nice and the chaps running the demo seem to know what they are doing. Alas I don’t really need another game.” Well a couple of weeks later I get an email saying that I had won the boxed set of Warmachine. 

Oh no this sounds like a slippery slope and sure enough.

What you see before you are my latest absolutely not needed purchases of Warmachine Khador miniatures, a solo known as a Manhunter (actually a Christmas present from my mother in law, bless her), a command set for the Winter Guard, two Rocketeer attachments and a full unit of 10 troopers of Winter Guard split into units of 5 for photographic ease.

Manhunter

Command

Rocketeers

Winter Guard

I think this nets me 5 points X 15 thus 75 points. 

Oh, and no, I have not played a game of it yet but plan on making 35 points for two of the forces that came in the boxed game and getting a couple of games in with these. I am only 3 points short for the Khador force but around 12 points short for the Menoth force. For those not familiar with the game please look it up it looks like fun.

First, welcome aboard Chris! It's great to have a new victim, er, participant for the Challenge!

You've done beautiful work on these figures. I really like their uniforms with the red against the dark blue-grey - very sharp. I'm not familiar with the game but I know it's quite popular around these parts, especially with those who wanted to move away from 40K but still wanted to stay within a Sci-Fi setting.

These are worth 75 points for your debut on the Challenge roster. Again, welcome to the fun Chris!

From MilesR - War of 1812 British Landing Party and Native Americans (195 points)

8 More Napoleonic British Naval figures in 28mm scale.  These figures are from Brigade games and are form a British Landing Party.

I did remove the metal base from the figures to make them look better on the "ship-deck" base and I think they came out nicely.  There were a few surgical mishaps and 4 of the fellow are sporting feet made of Greenstuff.

These figures will be used for shop-based Marines and for landing parties in specific scenarios.  I need to order up some more crew for the scenario I'm planning at Historicon.

Next up are 29 Native American infantry figures and one mounted.  These figures are also in 28mm scale and come from the Perry American War of Independence line.  Native American allies played important roles in both the AWI and War of 1812.  One of the figures (second row, second from the left) is meant to represent the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh who was a key British ally and was able to unite multiple tribes to support the British cause.  His death at the Battle of the Thames in Ontario was a huge blow.

I really enjoyed painting these figures up as there is a good deal of creative license.  The skin tone is a 50/50 mix of vallejo medium flesh and Vallejo rust and I think it came out really well.

The Perry figures are a joy to paint - yes I'm a bit of a Perry fan-boy.

A close up of some of the war paint.  These were so much fun to paint up I suspect you'll see another batch before this challenge is done!

Lets see, the tally is 37 infantry figures snd one mounted, which works out to 195 points for this entry.

Great work Miles!  These look brilliant, especially those Native American warriors.

As a suggestion, please provide us some closer shots of your work, or perhaps crop you photos down a bit so the more optically challenged amongst us can enjoy them better. :)

Can you give us a hint on what your Historicon scenario is, or is it meant to be a surprise for the convention attendees?

The Reidy Machine advances relentlessly with another 195 points in the bag. Amazing stuff Miles - Keep up the Steam!

AlanD - More Tiny Scotsmen (50 Points)

It is a little known fact that 'Fifty Shades of Grey' was originally set in Scotland during the English Civil Wars.

After a break painting gladiators, my next entry continues the 6mm ECW project with another 5 units of Covenanter cavalry. Following Ian's advice, I gave these a little wash. I used the Vallejo sepia wash (because I happened to have some), but diluted it further so that it didn't darken the figures too much.

Fifty shades of grey, fifty tiny Scotsmen on horses, and fifty points please! 

Nice work Dux! I think the sepia wash did a nice job in accentuating some of the details on these little gems.  Do you have a lot of Jocks left to do with this army?

...and 50 points for you! Well done.

From ClintB - Dwarven Rejects on Tour (20 Points)

Rae and Posti

"Kurt's has got this Challenge thing going on!" Garbles Rae the Master ! It is partially the beard that make him hard to understand, but mostly the Grog. His diction is also shocking and the screeching monkey voice of Posti who Rae happens to be carrying is not making it any easier to hear. Rae would say that that he does all the heavy lifting and that Posti just goes along for the ride. I will let you decide if that is right .
"I Know Kurt is challenged what are you on about?" Frank spueaks out as he tries to hide closer to the bar, the ale and the pork scratching's. Yum Yum!. Which all agree is the best place to be. But Frank and Rae have a special relationship even when they are on different islands let alone on different boats. The other crew had commented on it before but only in Private and not to their faces for fear of reprisals. Personally I don't know what "Omo-erotic " Means and I am sure I don't want it explained. Big Twee used the term, not me!
Rae continues. "I said Kurt is running a challenge again this year!"


FranK

"That's up in the FROZEN North!" Seaman Millsie half chokes on his frothy southern brew he likes ales that are all head and no body.  "Running you say?" The Southern accent is thick and slurry as we all know  those on the southern most Island do nothing but drink weak beverages and whinge about the true nations sporting prowess. "I aint running no where!" Seaman Millie carries on.
"Of course you aint running! You Southerners are only good at the sit down sports!" Rae was quick of the mark with the comeback. "Fook off!" The Monkey spat back always happy to swear at Rae even if he had not been the target of any jibe!

Big Twee the Short arse!

"You Fook off you piece of Shite!" Rae squeezes the monkey as he answers him. "You may have a tricorn on but your eyes are still brown because you are full of Shite!" The Monkey Posti chatters on and on and to be honest while amusing I do fade out of hearing focus.
 "Yeah King Kurt lives in the frozen north. Even more North of Frostgrave! And Frostgrave is cold enough!" Four eyed Klint is slumpt in the corner drowsy with beer, his eyebrow twitches and a little bit of drool escapes his mouth but he knows far batter than to speak. But Big Twee, the shortest of the dwarfs Loudly slurs "I aint going eiver! I will go to Frost grave, but not the frozen frozen North!" The short arse then changes the subject to gold and we all listen. He is the "Rich Reject after all and knows all about gold treasure and that sort of thing. "Yeah shipmates there is treasure in Frostgrave so that is where we should go. Maybe stop In on King Kurt afterwards and see if he has any provisions we can eat."  Like all rejects matters of the stomach were always of interest to all of us except the monkey.


Four eyed Klint

"Right that's settled then we all go to Frostgrave's Cold Harbour and then on to the Frozen North to see King Kurt. Maybe we can get some treasure from him as well!" Rae takes charge even if only leading through mutual agreement as we all swig more and belch, eat pork scratchings and fart (we all look at Posti when that happens but we are all secretly blaming someone else!). "The 'Neptune's Harlot' "Our ship although the monkey calls it a shed but we all call him a shit so it's fair! "The Harlot's stocked and ready to sail and we my hearties, are looking for treasure or points at the very least!"

The names have been changed to protect the innocent!  (Innocent, who am I kidding!)

All the figures are 28mm Black Scorpion Miniatures and cast in resin some of the details are a little soft but would have been crisp in metal. Somewhere tucked away I have 4 more but at this juncture in time I can't find them so let me know if you want to appear in part 2 should I find them. I hope no offence has been taken by anyone as it was not at all intended and if it has please feel free to take any revenge on Rae! Not Klint, Klint is not guilty at all its is all Rae's fault! Remember Big boys done it and run away. Yes Blame Rae, 'cos he is to blame, honest! Would I lie to you?

This is wonderfully cracked Clint! I for one would like to see a Part 2 if you find the other castings. All of them are great but I think my favourite is FranK. He has a certain maniacal glint that I can appreciate.  Hmm, I wonder what sort of reprobate this King Kurt of the Frozen North must be? I guess we'll find out in a future chapter, eh?