From GavinB: A Strange Assortment of Figures (15 points)

Recently I have been playing the outstanding VR (virtual reality) survival game: Into the Radius (ITR) on the PSVR2. In ITR you are an explorer of the Pechorsk Radius exclusion zone, you have to manage your equipment, clean your guns and scavenge for food to survive. Additionally, there are many different hostile creatures in the Pechorsk Radius, so you want to try and stay quiet and conserve your ammo. Into the Radius is inspired by the book Roadside Picnic, and the actual stalkers that venture into the Chernobyl exclusion zone. ITR is so immersive and realistic, you have to manually load each bullet into the magazine and into the gun, etc. that you could easily lose hours into playing it. With how passionate I have become about this game, I thought is was only right to make a miniature for it. So I used the promotional art for the game as a reference for the figure to see what the main character looked like for a 3rd person view 

The Miniature was made from an old apocalyptic figure I had lying around then I made the backpack and necessary adjustments with green stuff.

I painted him up using a lot of muted colours to match the feel of the world, and slapped him on a base I feel like I did a pretty good job for a 6:30 am paint job!

Next on the agenda to paint was a fellow from the Dark Souls Franchise, the Boreal Outrider Knight. With all of the plate amour on him I felt that this was the perfect opportunity to practice my NMM. Additionally he carries an ice sword so I had to do some lighting effects as well, and I was really happy with the result. His base was then made out of blank playing cards that were cut into tiles with a marble texture painted on, then smeared with dirt and mud. Measuring him up he is a little over 54mm.

I'm still facing an unfortunate loss of painting mojo, so sorry about the random selection of miniatures for this post. I'm mustering up the courage to hop back into my Wars of the Roses project.

Happy Painting!

POINTS:
1 28mm figure: 5

1 54mm figure 10

POINTS TOTAL:
15

Your post-apocalyptic survivor looks great Gavin, I love the greenstuff work on him and the paintjob makes him look suitably prepared for anything that come his way in the Radius. I'm not familiar with Dark Souls but your model looks very cool, the last pic shows the work on his icy sword and the OSL very well, good work! And I am hopeful your mojo makes a reappearance as I'm looking forward to seeing your WOTR project!

Fifteen added to your tally!

Dallas

From DavidB - Kill Team, Modern US Army, WW1French (145 points)

Don't judge me! 

A very messy desk with lots of things piled up...It must be close to midseason of the Challenge! ;)

I think I could finish an army in a week, but I just can't help myself. Every time I change the wet pallet, it is a challenge just to keep the same colors I have been using. I now have it loaded with the John Blanche paints just to force myself to focus on the next batch. So, while I was clearing the Deathguard from the table...a few more units snared my attention before the pallet change.

  I prevail- Breaking Down

I had to see the VA shrink this week just to check a box and talking to psychologists has never been on my list of things I want to do on any day. I still text my old doc (actually, she is young) about once a few months as she wants to be sure I am still doing well. My only anger issues spring from editorial news and online "social" media. The new trigger is when I fall and dealing with getting older and not being as able bodied as I once was. I cannot kick in doors anymore and running and ruck marches are rapidly fading to my past. Heck, climbing stairs and ladders is rough now. I have to accept a reality of age and injury where it is no longer my job to perform missions and hunt bad guys and even if it was, I am not mission capable. My anxiety is still crowds as I cannot stop assessing for threats but also being unable to do things I wish to do. 

The Wounded Warrior Project (woundedwarriorproject.org) is my charity for this season and they do quite a bit for assisting Vets in getting homes and vehicles to outdoor activities and mental health. Camp Winlow here in Michigan is another place that they help. Winlow is funded by the VA, Michigan, and private donations. It is a Boy Scout camp in pristine North Michigan woods and has the same shoddy Wi-Fi as the Upper Peninsula. The Veteran Village is a small collection of cabins with indoor plumbing and cozy rooms with fire pits. A veteran only needs to bring food and clothes and can enjoy catch and release fishing or being in a serene forest. It is my favorite place to just unwind and escape the internet and the world for a few days. Quiet and woods reminds me I am not quite done and have a few more years before I can have my own quiet, serene place.

Now on to the minis....

First up is the Deathguard that came with the space marine kill team and is the plague marine blind box set. They are newer than the Ultra marine set and each marine has a splendid scenic base that really tells a story with an accompanying nurgling.

a regular trooper throwing a grenade with a nurgling sitting atop a pile of grenades

even with the grenade pin in hand, there are others scattered on the base with grenades and maggots

The nurgling has another pin hanging on it's horn.

A gunner with fungal/coral growths and a leaky toxic gun. The Nurgling is enjoying the toxic goop leaking from the gun.

similar growths a sprouting on the ground.

This marine has a flail with a nurgling enjoying the free swing

The missing chain and ball is at the marine's feet

another trooper with a fetish for skulls

Yes, I did count them! 27 skulls on that shoulder!

more on his base.

The most disgusting one of the lot and he is spreading nurgle's gift

he has no nurgling except for a lot of flies and maggots as well as his own set of wings.

The champion with a rotten bone sword and plasma pistol

and a very fine, but tattered cape

My favorite of the bunch is the icon bearer. I used a head that reminds me of some old Chaos marine artwork from years past. he as a tube inserted into his mouth and vanishing to places I do not want to think about, not a rebreather but a cable connecting his mouth to his own rot.

there is nurgle worms and tentacles and at his foot is a nurgle medallion.

A nurgling removed the medallion and has stuck his own head in the icon to take its place.

Using a lot of the greens and browns, I have a small group of US infantry. A Ssgt with a m4 and 203 grenade launcher leads a sgt, a gunner with a 249 saw and three scouts. This is what a squad of scouts would look like...but bear in mind that scout infantry is light infantry, and we are known to cheat A LOT

I bought them at Adepticon from a loose box of minis and traded a ten for them. Together they make a heavy weapon squad of ten with three fireteams and three support weapons. I can also make them a squad of eight with two support weapons for standard infantry.

The sgts have holstered pistols and are posed to direct traffic.

two grunts with m4 and one with a saw, the fellow to the right is popping smoke.

The squad leader is upfront with his m4 and underslung 203. the Staff Sgt makes sure the sgts leading the fire teams are doing well and can use the 203 to direct traffic or remove impediments to traffic.

They are going to be used in Spectre operations, pulp, and zombie gaming.

Speaking of Pulp....WW1 French Infantry

These are Wargames Atlantic WW1 French. I was thinking of Forbidden Psalm when I got them but ended up building them for pulp/interwar games.

I added an officer in his snazzy cap and a machine gunner. I have a few Germans and Russians and other sorts of monsters and mad scientists. My adventure heroes only have a few Harlem Hellfighters to back them up, so 12 French Infantry will help even things up for my small band of heroes.

 7 Deathguard for 35 points

10 US infantry for 50 points

12 French for 60 points

29 troops for 145 points

squirrels --40k White scars, Mongolian Orcs, WW2 American infantry, WW2 German Infantry, WW2 allied Vicks, WW2 German Vicks, Iron Snakes, Wood Elf warband, Stormtroopers, Deathguard, Modern US infantry, WW1 French

skulls- 47 new skulls for a total of 91

stompy robots of death- 8

Excellent production this week David! First of all, good shout for the Wounded Warriors Project. I can imagine that Camp Winlow is a lovely place and good for the spirit. Peace and quiet can be restorative, that's for sure.

I think the Plague Marines have fogged up your camera lens a bit with their... emanations but from what I can see they look great. Those new GW models have a ton of detail and Easter eggs for painters and you've done a nice job. The modern US infantry are very nice and you've assembled a useful squad there. I also really like the late-war French, I think you've really nailed their Horizon-Blue greatcoats. 

One hundred forty-five points added to your total!

Dallas

Blue Monday

Northern Pikes - Wait for Me

It's Monday again and time for your weekly dose of old man music from Winnipeg, Manitoba. I was going to post something from an American band today but my feelings are a little too raw from Canada's overtime loss in the gold medal hockey game this morning. So we will enjoy (not New Order, but rather) some Cancon from Saskatoon's own Northern Pikes.

The band formed in 1984 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan by Jay Semko, Merl Bryck, Bryan Potvin, and Glen Hollingshead. They released two independent EPs before Hollingshead left the group in 1986, being replaced by Don Schmid on drums. Their first record for the Virgin label was 1987's "Big Blue Sky" which spawned the indy hits "Teenland" and "Things I Do for Money". The video I've linked above is from their followup "Secrets of the Alibi" (1988) and I think it's among the best of the band's catalog.

While Merl Bryck (crush object of some of my female friends back then) left the band in 2006, he was replaced in the lineup by ex-Grapes of Wrath guitarist Kevin Kane, and the Pikes still tour. I saw them in 2021 at a multi-band show with the Jim Cuddy Band (he of Blue Rodeo) and 54-40. They were great, but it wasn't the first time for me. Check this out:

That must have been obtained on their 1991 tour, probably at the Keystone Centre in Brandon, Manitoba (don't be too hard on me, it was 35 years ago and I was 19 years old!). That's the centrefold of their "Snow in June" CD, released in 1990.  

Anyway on to the painting. This Monday we have:

• Plague Marines, modern US infantry and Great War French from DavidB!
• Post-apoc and Dark Souls from GavinB!
• Austrian Napoleonics from NormS!

Although this post won't appear until early Monday morning, I'm writing it on Sunday afternoon and the sad from the game this morning persists. However a bunch of the locals are getting together on the ODR to "skate away the sadness" and I'm looking forward to that.

Have a good week all.

Dallas

KentG for my Samurai wars project (40 pts)

This week has been an extremely busy week 

So just the one building,  I think this is the biggest one yet, the last 

One is smaller and hopefully the last bits of it will arrive Monday 

Size is 260 long 200 wide 160 high

Thanks Byron for your work with the Terrian , not an easy task

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Hello again Kent for sharing some great looking terrain!  This one is massive at pretty much 2 of the old 6" cubes and full of detail!  I really don't know how you work through all of the detail on these filament prints as it would drive me nuts, but they certainly look great all painted up, and once again all the little extra basing pieces really make it come alive.

I am going to go with 40 points for this one due to the size and complexity to paint all those details on it.  

- Byron
 

From AndrewG: A Head in the Sand and other Desert Terrain (35 points)

 

Our group is planning to run a Pulp era skirmish game set somewhere in Egypt, so I’ve been beetling away at getting some scenery done for the board. I have to say this has been one of the more fun building projects for me lately, as it’s a rich setting with plenty of inspiration in both history and film readily at hand.

Before I bought my own 3D printer I used to shop for pieces on Etsy, and as I’m sure many know the quality on there is sometimes a hit or a miss. When I purchased this half sunken Pharaoh’s head and ruined pillars set for an Ancients battle, I was initially a bit annoyed. It was clearly a rushed print, with striations visible throughout from a job that either didn’t bother using a smaller nozzle or didn’t iron any of the surfaces (both of which add time to the print job). I ended up not using them and put them away.

When I pulled these out of storage for this project, I realized the poor layering could actually work in my favour for a 20^th Century era game – a bit of careful weathering and dry brushing made the pieces look like they’ve suffered a few millennia of getting pelted by sandstorms and baked by the sun. Done and done.

The three rocky formations were simple plastic 3D prints that were then slathered with Vallejo Desert Sand (26.217) diorama FX. I found, however, that this basing material has more of an egg yolk yellow colour about it rather than a more traditional beige look, thus I gave these pieces several overbrushes, washes, and dry brushes to dull it out a bit. Also, of all the Vallejo FX materials this one has to be the messiest to work with, so I’m open to any suggestions for alternates.

A trip to the local dollar store provided ample materials for making all the terrain pieces. The palm trees are cake decoration toppers, while the shrubbery comes from a mix of cut up cheap aquarium plants and a piece of fake golf turf. I printed out a variety of puddle bases in different sizes, then went about making the scatter terrain using Vallejo desert sand, tufts, and small rocks from the driveway. I also made one larger piece as I wanted something that figures could move through.

Overall, an inexpensive but effective project that gives me plenty of terrain options. And while I'm happy with how everything turned out, I may go back and dry brush some of the Vallejo desert basing as it still seems too yellow toned for my liking. 

Thus in this batch (no figures – included just for scale comparison)

1x large Pharaoh’s Head

1x ruins

3x rock formations

8x vegetation pieces

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Some very nice pieces here Andrew, and your description of the issues with the 3d printed head fit my issues with even well printed filament prints, I hate those lines!  However the price difference between filament printing terrain and resin printing terrain is still big enough that my cheap nature wins out most times.  You are also 100% correct in that the lines actually help you in this case as it does look like its wear lines from wind and sand in the great desert.

As for points, I think both the head and the ruins would probably take a few hours each of painting so 10 points each, the hills are super easy to paint up and so are the tree bases as its just the groundwork that looks painted (not the actual trees, although the palm tree trunks maybe drybrushed) so as with past tree bases and hills, just a few points per as there is not much painting to be done on them, however the hills and some bases are bigger so I am going to go with 15 points.  This gives you a grand total of 35 points and a whole pile of great looking terrain.  

As for your comment on the colour being to yellow, I dont think so on most of them, other than the last picture of the tree bases and the first one of the head in the sand.  Maybe its just those pictures? or those pieces?  I know how photos sometimes colour phase things a bit.  If they look like those pictures in real life, I agree with you and would lighten them up, if they look like the hills and ruins, I think those are a perfect desert colour.  Completely up to you though, and very hard to comment for certain without seeing them in real life.

 - Byron