Saturday 24 January 2015

From TamsinP - 'Boys in Blue' 6mm ACW (120 Points)

But not Prohibition era coppers this time. Instead I present you with some Orkish Russian Space Marines of the Spanish American Civil Wars of the Roses against the invaders from Mars.

Nah, let's be serious for a minute. Or at least try.

6mm ACW Union Infantry - Eight Bases



These are the first 6mm figures I've painted for about 3 years. I'd forgotten what it was like painting such teeny tiny shininess. It wasn't that bad.

I actually had four of these bases so, so close to being finished for last Saturday but didn't quite make it in time. So, you're getting them this week along with another four bases I painted up alongside the NSL power armour.

The two batches were painted and based slightly differently, but not so differently that you'd notice particularly. When I last [painted some 6mm ACW I was using Revell Aqua Colour paints, but have since switched to Vallejo, so I needed to find the most appropriate colours to use.

The First Batch:





I actually used three different lots of static grass (summer, meadow and moorland grass) on these to give some variety as with 6mm good basing helps with the overall look of the units.


The Second Batch:





This will teach me to look at the bases before taking photos. It looks as though I must have splodged a bit of the paint I was dry-brushing with onto the skirmishers. That will need to be touched up at some point.

The figures are all from Baccus, as are the flags. I did go over the edges with a gold pen to disguise the white of the paper.


So, eight bases of 28 figures in 6mm at 0.5 points each should be 112 points to add to my tally.

Hmm, can I very quickly paint up a 28mm foot figure to take my weekly total over 200 points?


From Curt:

Ah, these look wonderful Tamsin! Painting these little blighters one definitely has to be clean and neat but I think one of the essential things in doing micro-scale is to nail-down the basework as it can often make or break the whole aesthetic. With that being said I think you've really done a great job on how you've approached the basing of these figures Tamsin. The mix of foliage and tallus helps to accent the figures but does not overwhelm them. Great job! 

I'm awarding you another 8 points for the eight sets of flags in this entry, so with this you've more than achieved your 200-point week. Well done Tamsin.

Also, with this entry you've managed to regain your lead from Alan and Ian, but with only a 41 point spread. I have a suspicion that we will be treated to a running battle between you three over the next few weeks!

Now, I with both you and Alan having submitted sub-15mm entries I need to get a wiggle on so I'm not completely shamed in our duel!

From TamsinP - 15mm Neu Swabian League Strom Gepanzerte Sturmtruppen (84 Points)

A bit more 15mm SciFi goodness for you. This time a bunch of 15mm NSL power armour troops from GZG.

At the club, there are only a couple of us playing 15mm SciFi and we have settled on Gruntz for our ruleset. We've also opted for group basing for the ordinary squads of infantry, for ease of play. It also means you can use 3 or 4 figures on a base to represent a squad of 6-8 troops. Troops in basic infantry squads normally have the same weapon, but each squad can also have 2 support weapons attached. I'm using 20mm hexes for squad attachments (none on this group).

It's a bit different with power armour troops, as their armour allows every trooper to carry a support weapon, but you have to pay for each figure with them rather than once for the whole squad.

You can also have specialists with heavy support weapons (or engineers, medics, artillery observers etc). I'm mounting these on 30mm hexes or 40mm for crew served weapons and small vehicles such as grav bikes.

Leaders are mounted on 40mm octagonal bases.

But that's enough background blather, on with the post.


This entry consists of 42 figures and will either represent a company (one base = 1 squad) or a reinforced platoon (at 2 bases = 1 squad). There are a commander, 5 specialists (3 missile launcher troops and 2 sub-commanders/observers) plus 6 plasma gun squads and 6 SAW squads.


Commander and Sub-Commanders:



To help with identifying bases for record keeping, I've added markings on the left shoulder (company, platoon, squad) and rank markings on the right shoulder.

As you can see, they have various arm positions - the arms come on sprues and are very fiddly (and easily lost when they ping out of your forceps!). This is really good for creating some variety in the unit as there are only 2 body variants.

On their backs they have jump packs which are also provided on sprues. The commanders have the version with sensor and comms modules on top.

Missile specialists:



Just in case they encounter any enemy armour or bunkers, it's useful to have these missile launcher troops. These guys have jump packs with sensor modules only.


Which leaves the basic grunts of the company. Each squad will have 4 troopers armed with adapted assault rifles and 2 with squad attachment support weapons - either a heavy plasma rifle or a SAW. Their jump packs have shoulder mounted rocket/grenade launder modules for a bit of extra firepower.

Plasma Squads:




SAW Squads:



I will probably get a couple more packs of the support weapons to base up as specialists and maybe as all-SAW/plasma squads.

I do have about a company's worth of their non-power armoured comrades to paint up at some point. I am tempted to try painting them all up for next Saturday...

So, 42 figures should give me 84 points. I won't be greedy and ask Curt to take into consideration that they are much bigger than standard 15s.


From Curt:

Very cool figures Tamsin. I have an ancient copy of 'Gruntz' in my rules library and should give it a perusal as I have a lot of these types of figures kicking their heels doing nothing.

I quite like the fellows with the white ('please, shoot me') coms modules on their jump packs. They are probably issued with preemptory wound badges. ;)

Good work!

From TeemuL - The Last Arrer Boyz (25 Points)

These guys won't need much introductions, some good old greenskins with bows. They would have been quite boring alone, because you all have seen them week after week, so I decided to add some scenery. No more white background, enter green background with cardboard buildings! Yes, the buildings are quite elfish, but these greenskins have most likely conquered them. I believe the buildings are genuine GW products from the same era as the figures. I don't really know, I bought them few years ago and they were old then.

First two more goblins, again with unique hoods. Left one looks little bit like a stereotypical cartoon native American, the right one is simpler with a black trim.



 Then three big uns, still in perfect harmony, no individuality here.



Group shot of all the five between buildings. As you might have guessed, these are the last ones I have. I do have some close combat orcs and goblins still unpainted, I hope to give them some attention during this challenge. They are not next in line, I need to paint something else first.


And then last one is a bonus picture, all the orc and goblin arrers I have painted during this challenge (and 5 old ones in the back row, which I painted years ago). Starts to look like an army, eh?



From Curt:

Haha, from the title of the post it sounds like the title of a great Sergio Leone film!

Excellent work Teemu. This little side project of yours has taken a lot of us back to our first years in the hobby - right down to the bright red bows, patterned hats and sawdust basework. Wonderful stuff!

Well done.


Bonus Points Awards for 'Victorian' Theme Round


Hello folks!


Below is the new roster after tallying the points from the 'Victorian' bonus round. I've been playing with different ways to display the rankings. I like the look of this one but tabulating and logging it hurts my noggin. Anyway, my thanks to all the participants who submitted entires - it was a great round.

Also congratulations to Paul for meeting his Challenge points target - well done!

Finally, just as a reminder Saturday (today) is the deadline for submissions for the 'Myth' theme round, so remember to get your submission in to me as tomorrow is the posting.


Challenger
Points Target
Previous Points
Theme Bonus
New Total
1.               
Millsy
2000
2042
100
2142
2.               
DaveD
2250
2000
65
2065
3.               
MilesR
2000
1357
170
1527
4.               
MarkO
1000
2500
1431
55
1486
5.               
MartinC
1000
2000
1398

1398
6.               
AlanD
1500
976
67
1073
7.               
IanW
1000
2000
1046

1046
8.               
AdamC
1000
800
196
996
9.               
TamsinP
1500
910

910
10.            
AaronH
650
1500
908

908
11.            
GregB
300
1500
829
55
884
12.            
JohnM
1000
716
105
821
13.            
GillesW
1000
724

724
14.            
BrendonW
1000
645
70
715
15.            
ClintB
1250
710

710
16.            
ByronM
1000
606
57
663
17.            
SanderS
500
1000
564
60
624
18.            
Curt (3rd)
750
515
80
595
19.            
MartinN
400
750
484
55
539
20.            
PaulS
500
484
55
539
21.            
JamesR
750
454

454
22.            
RichardM
700
425

425
23.            
MikeP
500
359
65
424
24.            
SamuliS
1000
415

415
25.            
JamieM
500
344
60
404
26.            
SteH
750
330
70
400
27.            
BrianB (2nd)
500
261
130
391
28.            
BurkhardS
1000
335
55
390
29.            
JaccoK
500
314
75
389
30.            
SeanS
1000
313
55
368
31.            
ScottB
600
298
55
353
32.            
SimonM
500
268
80
348
33.            
MichaelA (1st)
1000
170
170
340
34.            
DavidB
750
334

334
35.            
JuanM
500
262
55
317
36.            
RichardC
500
237
70
307
37.            
KevinH
300
239
55
294
38.            
MichaelF
501
292

292
39.            
DavidL
750
289

289
40.            
RobP
500
208
60
268
41.            
RoyW
750
187
80
267
42.            
TeemuL
500
267

267
43.            
StefanK
750
205
60
265
44.            
RayR
300
197
55
252
45.            
StefanoS
300
236

236
46.            
MarkG
750
235

235
47.            
PeterT
500
222

222
48.            
PhilH
500
215

215
49.            
PeterD
1000
173

173
50.            
AnneO
500
165

165
51.            
VincentC
500
160

160
52.            
PeterB
1000
140

140
53.            
SebG
500
80
55
135
54.            
TobiP
500
132

132
55.            
IannickM
600
75
55
130
56.            
EdwinK
1000
105

105
57.            
BenG
400
93

93
58.            
RossM
500
54

54
59.            
ChristopherS
500
54

54
60.            
KevinS
500
42

42
61.            
RobH
200
35

35
62.            
Evan&GrantH
200



63.            
FranL
600



64.            
JeremyM
300



65.            
Kawe
200



66.            
MarkE
500



67.            
ScottS
1000



68.            
SidneyR
750



69.            
StacyS
300



70.            
SteveM
800



71.            
SylvainR
300