From JimI: Armoured Sergeants (85 points)

Continuing with the Fireforge miniatures, I’ve put together a couple of groups of armoured sergeants with a variety of hand weapons. These, like the bowmen, are really lovely models with some excellent poses. There are six different bodies on the sprue with dozens of different head and arm combinations.  I'm fairly confident that in this group no two are quite the same.

Once put together and arranged with a bit of thought it is possible to get an enormous amount of quite energetic movement from the models. I like my troops to look rather jumbled. Painting them is a pleasure. The surfaces are large smooth and very well detailed.  For this project I wanted the men to look as though they belonged on the battlefield rather than the parade ground.

With this in mind and along with the dull colouring and leathery tones I wanted the shields to look worn and battered. The shields are big and very prominent and so I think I was more concerned with getting those right more than anything else. In fact, some cover the model almost entirely. I'll post a "how to" for the shields later.

There are sixteen models here for 80pts.

Almost done with the cavalry so they'll be up next.

All the best for now and I hope you all keep those brushes busy!

Jim

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Jim, these are simply spectacular!  Not just the modelling, but the colouring, the basing, the shields and the photography.  Everything adds up to a fantastic package of miniature painting excellence, from start to finish.  

The contrast in the pain tones is not only smooth, but I love how the figures fit with each other and compliment the units they are members of.  Thank you also for supplying the close-up photos.  I am sure I can't be the only Challenger looking on enviously, looking forward to getting back to the brushes and trying to replicate a little of the Ibbotson magic.

80 points for the figures, but also an extra 5 for the modelling, basing, arrangement and photography.  Great work, Sir!

From SamuliS: Blood Bowl support (20 points)

Slow week recuperating from the previous weekends gaming tournament so not much that happened on the painting table. I figured a couple of more random sculpts would be a nice change of pace and I could spend a bit more time per mini as there's not a whole unit to paint up.

These are some Blood Bowl persona from Willy Miniatures. The Sportscasters Jim and Bob and a Bloodweiser babe to make sure nobody goes thirsty during the match. For anyone whose played Blood Bowl Jim & Bob will be familiar as the commentators that lined up the rulebooks as well as the guys who commentate every game on the PC versions.

The sculpts are quite nice with especially Bob, the Ogre commentator, being a really nicely detailed fella with crisp casting. The others are a bit lacking on the facial area and aren't that characterful. I tried to put a bit more effort into painting them with multiple layers using the newish Warcolours paints and trying to fade all the layers into each other. I also decided to try and paint a strong stubble on Bob to emphasize his rugged Ogre look. I really like how the Warcolours paints work for highlighting and blending, but still they require so many layers to get consistent coverage that I can hardly see myself using them for anything else than single minis or really small groups. Maybe with a basecoat of a better covering paint brand and highlights with Warcolours it would be feasible.

All in all I'm really happy how they turned out, especially the Ogre. The Vampire and Bloodweiser babe are maybe a bit lacking on the skin areas. A better recipe for a greyish vampire skin would really be needed, as well as some idea on how to paint female skin. I'm never really 100% happy with how the females I've painted turn out. Maybe a bit too dark once again. Still I don't think I'm going to paint another female mini during the challenge so I think this shall be my entry to Sarah's Choice.

Two 28mm minis and one ogre who stands a bit over 50mm tall so 20 points in all for this week. I really need to pick up pace to be able to achieve my 1000 point goal. A few Napoleonic units coming up as they're quite fast to do so I'm hoping that they'll help!

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Those are great Samuli !!

These are terrific and lovely figures and - in my totally unbiased Monday Minion role (albeit posting this on Tuesday...) - I think you really got the painting combinations perfect on the skin tone for your Vampire and Bloodweiser babe.  And, anyway, Vampire skin is notoriously tricky - they don't use moisturiser, you know...

I love the stubble and the brilliant leather coat for Bob, with another great leather coat on your Vampire.  Leather is such a tricky colour to get right, but you've really succeeded and it looks fantastic.  Great basing as well, on all three of these game-critical attendees!

A very worthy total of 20 points, then, to augment your remarkable and unforgettable Point-Blasting (literally....'point', singular) from last week ;)  

I think we're all celebrating now that the Order of the Single Point has been awarded and you're back on track!

From SeanS - Gorilla my dreams (14 points)

Hi All,

This was a rush job to try and get something actually published this month. I seem to be having issues with unmixed, perhaps not totally dry matte varnish. So please forgive any shine, I'm just running out of time to fix it.

This is Girron from Bombshell Miniatures, however he doesn't appear to be on their website anymore. He is an all resin affair and was a fairly clean casting. The arms are all separate, so I had to add green stuff to the gaps. My sculpting to blend them into the fur was hit and miss.

I tried my greenstuff world mesh roller to make his base. I still need a lot more practice, but I'll accept it.

My conception was a nod to the cartoon character Grape Ape. My original conception had been a white ape, but there are a ton of those. I built him up from Black in five steps to a light grey, but the Purple and then Black ink washes muddled the colors a lot. The flesh I did in my Vampiric Flesh triad from Reaper, but again the washes altered the final color. Although the triad does have a purple tint to it.

I'm really hoping to coordinate my Bretonnian Retainers this month so I can share them here as well as on the Old World Army Challenge.

I provisionally scored him for 10 points, same as a 54mm figure. He is 28mm scale but 55mm tall.

Thanks for looking.

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Congratulations, Sean - I think that's successfully given me nightmares for the rest of this week, or maybe much longer.  Wow, what a terrifying miniature.  You've really done wonders with his fur, the extra greenstuff work looking really wonderful around his arms.  And kudos to you, Sir, for using the greenstuff roll so successfully - that's a really good looking base you've created.

The painting is brilliant - and I can certainly see why you've gone for brown-purple-black themes in this monstrous simian.

I love it, and in fact I love it so much I'll adjudicate you with the 10 points for a 54mm figure, and another 4 for the modelling, greenstuff work and the fine base. Tremendous, if nightmare-inducing, work, Sean!

From KyleC - Bloodbound Skullcrushers (60 points)

So was a busy work week, so didn't get a chance to post up anything recently. And these 3 monster riders were quite a challenge to paint up (and seems also to photograph properly!!!).

The final unit from the Bloodbound Starter box set. Lots of blue and brass here... and lots of blending that might be able to see still?

I did do a small switch-a-rooney here with the spears, and gave them all bloodletter swords for them. Make them unique ( and I will do this for all the riders, 10+ in all, for the army I plan to play ) and stand out. Though painting up the swords then I had to make them more interesting. Thankfully I had some Tamiya Clear Blue on hand, and some darker blue ink. Gives it a semi ice feel to it.

I still need to put snow to the bases of the whole army, but want to get a few more trials out of the way on methods before I commit them to the whole force.

Also I am still experimenting on the skulls. On the shield you see one style, on the base another, and on the helm some pure black ones. Need to find the appropriate color scheme for them.. but am leaning more towards the one on the shield atm.. and yes with the OSL Orange eyes on them.

So yeah.. three 28mm Monster mounted riders for my army. No idea about points for them but will leave that to good old Sidney here :D But am just happy to have the starter box finished, and a good core group for the army now. But will switch gears to something else in the meantime to give myself a rest from the blues!

Oh and a quick group shot of them all together!

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Ooooooo, Kyle, these are magnificent.  They compliment your other Bloodbounds and fit perfectly with the theme, colour and style.  The colour is wonderfully dramatic, and that is just going to POP like crazy on any table top - especially an ice-bound, frost-crackled steppe or snow-desert.  Really super work on the inking, and the metallics, and they really knit and draw the force together.

And they really do look the part, slavering and growling their way across the path of devastation to their quarry.  Ugh.....wonderfully unpleasant troops!

But what is not unpleasant is that I think you've more than earned the right to treat these guys as 54mm figures.  Treating each as a cavalry figure, that would get you 60 points in total - which I think is along the line of the Bloodhounds.  Awesome work, Sir!

From BenitoM: French Tête de Colonne (10 points)

A very small submission this week but still within the Napoleonic theme I chose for the Challenge this year and fulfilling my objective of painting something every week. This time is not Austrian but French forces, an officer and 2nde Porte-Aigle which are expected to join a "tête de colonne" of one of my battalions with a drummer, a porte-aigle and and a 3eme porte-aigle.

The second porte-aigle usually came form the Grenadier company (or the Carabinier in the Light Infantry Regiments) of the battalion and carried a red fanion and two pistols as main armament. They have the duty to defend the aigle (carried by the Premier Porte-Aigle) and eventually replace him if falling in combat.

The models are a couple of superbly sculpted 28mm Perry metal. Note the officer with a bandage around his left eye, probably wounded by enemy musketry or may be by the sword while defending from a cavalry charge.

A small addition of 10 points to my overall challenge scoring, almost reaching now the 600 mark.

You may wonder the reason for such a poor output: I had a major game this Sunday taking almost all day. As some of you may know, I've been playing with another 3 friend to Commands and Colors Napoleonics since early 2017 and we decided to try one of the "Grande Battles" this weekend.

These are quite large games (doubling the size of a standard scenario) and it took me some time to read the instructions and to prepare the counters (I spent a good part of the Saturday afternoon and evening "playing" with stickers).

We played Austerlitz on Sunday and took us from 10AM to 5PM including a good two hours enjoying lunch with my friends.

I played the French side and was a highly contested game: winner was the side gaining 22 flags (victory points) and the final score was 22 to the French vs 21 to the Austrian-Russian army.

Of course, time invested in the game is time lost for painting, which in this case I think was more than justified.

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Wonderful work, Benito!  You've brought these two, marvellous sculpts to life - the painting is really fine, and they'll grace any tabletop battlefield.  I live the way you've picked out the Officer's details, and detailed his lace.  And the groundwork colouring is, again, perfect (and has been, as you know, 'stolen' by me!!)

They're lovely, and more than worthy of their 10 points. 

And it is great to see you and your friends tackling one of the truly iconic battles of European History.  And it looks to have been a brilliantly close-run thing - 22 playing 21 points.  I'd love to know of the changes of fortune and fate in the field with that score - almost as much as I would enjoy seeing the wonders of a Madrid wargaming lunch with friends ;)

Great work again, Sir!

From EvanH: The Salvage Crew (30 points)

That time of the week again! Here are the latest figs from the workbench, six more Scibor Dwarves. I've given these blue-collar guys an appropriate colour scheme to tie them together as a unit; a salvage crew if you will.

Here's the foreman, Thorgrim Thorgeirsson. I don't know if the lion skin counts as 'personal protective equipment'.

His right-hand dwarf, Durk Drengisson.

Refreshments Officer, Bothvar the Brewer. Despite his foul temper, he is a valued member of the team.

Snorri, Workplace Health and Safety Officer. It's his job to ensure that the worksite is clean, tidy, and free of such hazards as trolls, ogres, ettins or orcs. So far, he's managed to locate and neutralise 100% of all workplace hazards, at least those which have heads.

Laughing Hrolf and Thekk, the Engineers; as befits their profession, they are Dwarves of few words.

"I AM smiling."

"Tsk... it's gonna cost..."

Six 28mm figures equal a princely 30 points for this week. Got another bonus round next week, they come around so quickly!

What's next? Stay tuned...

Ev

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Ev, what a brilliant selection of dwarven light-heartedness and good humour.  If only every workplace had a "Workplace Health and Safety Officer" of the caliber of Snorri - all those petty regulations would be adhered to without the constant griping of the modern office.

Laughing Hrolf and Thekk are, I fancy, well on their way to being a warm up act for a dwarven stand-up comedian.  I have no doubt they would... eventually.... have at least some in the audience smiling by the time of the main act.  They're a tough act, some of these dwarven venues...

What can I say, but....wonderful and brilliant painting, and a write up which brings these guys to life on the screen.  I love the blue you've chosen, and the way that knits the Crew together (team clothing, no doubt purchased at a significant discount).  The metalllic touches are also really great, another unifying thread in a great submisison.

A terrific entry, and a worthy 30 points to your total! 

From Paul OG: Africa Korps Recon and Light Panzers (72 points)

Last week Alan unveiled the start of his 8th Army project for Battlegroup Tobruk with some fantastic Crusader II tanks - some of his best work ever in 15mm IMHO (and I've seen most of it at some point). Work travel has stymied my own efforts of late but this week I present the start of my corresponding DAK project.

Appropriately leading this modelling push are the Recon and Light elements of the Army. While my full army is a mix of manufacturers, these are all Battlefront models and I've enjoyed personalising each of them. Unfortunately, I also painted them like I would 28mm vehicles with a silly number of washes and layers. Accordingly, they took way too long to finish but I like the resultant veteran, desert worn look.

Leading this week's submission is a quartet of iconic Sd Kfz 222s, and I have done some alternate turrets for them as well to enable all the force options.

For heavier Recon tasks is this pair of 8 rads:

My Light Panzer element is a reinforced platoon of four Pz IIs and a Pz I (so cute!):

Forgot to do the Platoon Commander figure! One for next week's batch 

And finally, a cracking little PzJg I which adds some modest AT firepower to this screening force. Not a monster killer but it will keep Alan's Daimler Dingos and Universal Carriers pause for thought.

Next submission will see some heavier armour in some Pz III platoons but for now that's twelve 15mm vehicles (and a couple of extra turrets) for 72 points. That takes me almost to my target of 500 points, which I will now stretch to 600 please Mssr Minion and Spreadsheet Swarmi!

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Paul, these are simply wonderful, and a real treat following hard on the tracks of Alan's excellent Crusaders last week.  There's so much to love about the way you've created these formations.  Recon and light tanks are a real favourite of mine on the tabletop, and in old photos, and I can tell the great skill and care you've taken in building and weathering these guys.

The Sd Kfz 222s look absolutely fantastic, right down to the weathered DAK insignia and aerial recognition flags - essential in the desert.  The 8-rads look perfect with their stowage and additional equipment.  And, perhaps pride of place, goes to the PzJg I - clearly not a monstrous tank-killer, but a wonderful characterful addition to any desert force.  Again the weathering and detailing is great, with the insignia being a stand-out.

Really great work on these, Paul.  Top marks scoring 72 well deserved points to add to your growing total.

Tuesday Minion Newsflash!

Dear Challengers

Due to a technical mishap we will be putting our usual postings on a hold to let the Monday crew put up their posts. Yesterday something went wrong and so some posts were not published, these will now take precedence and we do hope you all understand and bear with us.

Cheers and thanks to you all,

Monday and Tuesday Minions

From IainW: More WW2 soviets (160 points)

Here are some more WW2 soviets, just not at the last minute for a change!

First up is a junior officer,cunningly posed in what I assume is his inspiration. 

Followed by a commissar and the first flag for this army, I'll be adding a female commissar with a red flag as a tank rider, reminding me of the 1950s soviet film the commissar which is like a black and white spaghetti western, if you can imagine Clint Eastwood as a female, communist , pregnant commissar, but I digress, next up some infantry 

The first four are warlord games, in the next four the first chap is black tree design and the rest warlord games and the last four are PSC. 

Flamethrower team, warlord games. 

Spotter 

2"mortar team 

Ant tank gun team (PSC bodies and warlord heads )

Black tree design maxim team with PSC maxim 

76.2mm gun /howitzer 

SU76 

T34/85, I was given this tank by Lee a fellow blogger (a figure painting therapy project ) who wouldn't even let me pay postage luckily he's also doing an english civil war project and needed a copy of George Gush WRG rules so I was able to give him my copy as I can't see me playing it again! Unless I've mentioned it , the models are mostly warlord games. Here they are all together .

I think that this adds up to 135 points? There are more reds on the way, I hope to finish up the rest of the soviets in the next couple of weeks and then crack on with some more renaissance figures. 

All the best Iain 

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Fantastic work, Iain - and many apologies for being delayed posting these a day late owing to some work and travel related issues yesterday.  These are a great addition to your burgeoning Soviet army, and both the quantity and quality are showing no signs of abating!  

I love the rugged winter weathering on the vehicles, coupled with the wonderful Soviet standard, and the flecks of freezing Russian snow drifting onto the troops' bases.  Really great work.

I make your points a little higher - with 30 for the tanks (15 points each) and 130 for the infantry and tank crews, this will increase your total by a wonderful, Stalinist 160 points, Comrade!