From DavidB - 'Myth'....just a little late (120 Points)

I finally completed the Oliphant, and you can see he is giving me the stink-eye for the delay. I took a different turn with him and painted him and his amigos in another paint scheme different than the movie. I used GW scaly green(lord knows if it is around anymore or what name it has now) It's a very pretty dark jade and I only got it to give some of my 40k Inquisitors a flashy punch (they ain't painted either) I used a blue ink wash and swooping hawk turquoise for shade and highlight. unfortunately you can't see it in the photos very well, but it did highlight the green very well. You also won't be able to see the six different greys used on his hide! I'm really miffed that didn't come out...my blending isn't that good, it's almost nonexistent! ;)

I've a whole bunch of Harad ready to go in the traditional colors  (block yet not finished) they have an officer and a standard. The Oliphant is such a large and fearsome beast that it counts as a standard and hero in an army (or so I've been told). I figured he and his entourage would be like a tribe showing off their beastie, like a hotrod! ;)

He isn't fearful of much with a howdah packed with archers and spearmen guarding his flanks. Unless someone throws a LED bouncy ball and summons the wild pack of lab mixed breeds anyway!

I have been practicing with gold NMM with the Harad. It's still progressing. I gave them the grey robe to match the Oliphant, jade green sashes and turbans, then brown and off white pants and inner robes. It was a bit of a chore finding where each layer of clothing started and ended as the detail does get soft on the sides. some of the archers reaching for arrows have slabs for hands with no fingers.. must be part of a Harad ritual in following the dark lord. Maybe they are archers because they can't hold a spear with a slab hand!?

They do have a lot of movement though and I think they will do fine till Legolas appears!

The boss mini is pretty neat, but he is missing fingers too. Still he looks almost as imposing as his charge does.

I did finally find the missing support...this morning in fact! It is the left one in the front and is still wet from glue and paint.

I gave him a worn spot on the left side of his head as he did take a tumble. It wasn't five layers of grey but four of flesh tones to give him a nice pinkish tone.

I also applied the layers around his body where the straps and ropes would rub. I imagine the weight would leave wear and tear on him. He is now done and repaired and it is the fastest turnaround on a damaged model ever in this house (I usually like to sulk and rage for a few months.. or years)

I'd say more, but I'm off to apply block colors on the most antihero army of them all!

I'm working the next three days, but I am off Wed and Thurs and hope to submit before the clock winds down. I'll catch up on what everyone else is up to during work breaks.

Back to the brushes I go!

- One wicked Oliphant (I really hate painting tanks)

- twenty-two Harad

From Curt:

Wow, what a cracking job you've done David, and it's made even more so after the Lab altercation.

The shading of the Oliphant's hide and tusks looks absolutely terrific and I really like the texture/shading of the straps and howdah as well. (And he DOES look like he's giving the world the 'stink eye'!).

Great stuff in getting him repaired and completed. It's an incredibly impressive model. Congrats David!

From JamesR - Burgundian Billmen, Chasseurs a Cheval, and a Ringwraith (185 Points)

Hello,

I managed to finish up a pack of guys and finally break my goal.  I don't think I have time to make a new goal of 1250.

First are eleven of those plastic Perry medieval miniatures, that everyone has been painting up.  They saw their first action in a game of Lion Rampant last weekend.

Here they are running away, just like they did in their first battle.  When playing Lion Rampant don't let your troops get caught in rough ground, by ferocious troops.

 

Here's a couple guys beating on tambourines.

Here are eleven Perry metal Chasseur a Cheval.  I loved painting them and my only complaint is the swords are metal and will likely be mangled by the end of their first battle. I constantly bent the stupid things while painting them.

Here they are running away from my sword bending fingers.  I base most of my cavalry on a mix of single and multiple bases.  It allow some ease of movement, with the ability to use the minis in a skirmish game.

Here's one the GW LotR Ringwraith minis.  I wish I had a few hundred of these guys, they paint so fast I could double my score in a week.  It's a extremely versatile miniature that can be used in all manner of games.

Here he is as a French Officer leading a cavalry charge into some disorganized billmen.

 

"Chargez!  Ecrasez-lez!"

Till next time.

Love and kisses,
Baconfat


From Curt:

As Napoleon famously said, nothing beats a Ringwraith in leading a cavalry charge.

I pity the billmen, I'd be running away too. :)

Great work James!

From TamsinP - Crusty Heavy Battleship (17 Points)

I've been rather run-down this week thanks to a cold, so I haven't got much finished right now and this is the only one that's ready for posting. I do have some more bits which should be completed tomorrow, along with some more over the rest of the week. All together they should see me reach my 2500 point revised target!

But enough of the waffle, on with the post.

For my 22nd entry, I present another spaceship. Just over a week ago Clint gave me a heads-up about what spaceships he was painting so that I could, if I wished, paint a couple more for our side-bet. So last weekend I primed and basecoated a small fleet using my new airbrushes (I'd just bought a pair of double-action Iwata jobbies) and my new compressor.

Errmm, yes, I did go on a bit of a spending spree.

A couple of nights ago I made a start on painting the largest ship of the fleet, the heavy battleship. And then Clint emailed me again to say that things were going on and he isn't likely to finish and submit his fleet. So, it would appear that I have won our side-bet, although I'd suggest Curt holds off on bestowing me with some suitably intergalactically megalomaniacal title, just in case Clint was bluffing!

The ship is a Vk'ca'tk'Knn class heavy battleship (UNSC codename "Crowbar") from GZG's "Crusty" fleet.

No, not these Crusties:

These Crusties from GZG:

From Spacejacker's "Tiny Solitary Soldiers" blog

As inspired by these chappies:

OK, a couple more pics of the ship:

I've got no idea how many points this will be - I've sent Curt some size comparison pics so he can try to work it out.


From Curt:

That's a very cool looking ship Tamsin (a freakin' huge). I really like the high-contrast orange, white and grey surface panels. I somehow reminds me of many corporate advertising colours. Hmm, perhaps the Crusties are a race of mobile phone salesmen!

'Accept our long distance and data plan or suffer the consequences...'

We'll wait to see if Clint fires a broadside in the next few days...

Great job Tamsin!

From Kawe - Clockwork Monkeys (!) (25 Points)

These clockwork chimps are from Westfalia's 2nd successful Kickstarter campaign. There's still a fair few molds missing but I couldn't keep myself from painting this set up.

From Curt:

I know you've been incredibly busy with work Kawe so I'm delighted that you could join us for our run-in to the finish line.

These are marvelous! My head was down when this Kickstarter was launched so I missed out (drat!) but rest assured, you'll be receiving an order from me as these little fellas are so incredibly characterful (and cute!). Really, who can deny a brass monkey with a fez - Brilliant!

Question: Will these be available at Salute this year? 

Great work.

From PhilH: 'er Madge (5 points)

The final week, time to up the tempo...

Tradition dictates that each Challenge, I make an offering at the Altar of Sarah, by finding a suitable female miniature to compete for the 'Sarah's Choice' award. Happily, Pulp adventuring has provided a rich seam to mine and this year I had this quite exquisite miniature from Hasslefree, "Madge".

With time slipping away, the time came to promote her to the top of the painting queue. I was actually away in Wales this last week, but took a little hobby box along. The weather was rather wet, which meant plenty of painting time, though the corner I found was a little dark in the evenings. You'll note I even had room for both tartan and flowery-headscarf-effect paints. Phew!

'Madge' and her rather scarily large fowling piece will joint the eclectic Pulp collection and wait for a suitable scenario to feature in.


From Curt:

Ah, I was wondering if you were going to put in a figure for Sarah's consideration - very good, she'll be delighted when she sees this I'm sure. As you say Phil, this is such a wonderful figure and you've done a fantastic job with her. I love the plaid skirt but the best item is her cheery head-scarf - a wonderful touch! I also quite like the subtle groundwork you've done for the base. 

Lovely work Phil!

SteH - Sprint for the finish, in jeeps and M20's (47 Points)

That's right, I'm frantically trying to paint up enough stuff to actually hit my target and I'm really running out of time.



Here we have a tank destroyer security section for Flames of War - a jeep and two M20 utility's. The M20's were easy to paint but the jeep not so much. However I really like the battlefront US jeep model and it was a joy to paint. I've done these as the 2nd armoured division as they were the first armoured units to hook up with the 101st on D-day.

And so on to the second part of this submission, 3x recon jeeps. These guys are supposed to be a jeep recon patrol from the 327th glider infantry regiment of the 101st and as I've already started I really enjoy painting jeeps. 

As I did with my airborne infantry I've painted the 101st screaming eagle badge on them however to differentiate them from their higher paid comrades I've tried to paint the stars and stripes on them, it kind of works.




Anyway there you go, a few more points to bump me up to my target a bit, let's see if I can make a few more tomorrow!


From Curt:

Great job Ste! The M20 are very nice but your jeeps really steal the show - fabulous work on the shoulder patches!

With this entry (I think you may have short changed yourself in you initial points assessment) AND your wonderful Smeagol you're now in the clear for hitting your point's target - Congratulations!

Well done Mr. H!

From TeemuL - Dark Eldar Warriors with Splinter Cannons (20 Points)

Something different this time. I was again in the position, that I had no primed models. It was cold, windy and rainy outside, so no possibilities for outdoor spraying. My basecoat paint was out, too.

Luckily I remembered these old models I bought years ago, they were already painted black, so it was easy and quick to finish the painting. Wise and young me had discovered this quite easy, fast and good looking paint scheme for my Dark Eldar army.

All these four warriors carry a powerful splinter cannon. It has higher rate of fire than regular rifle, it is more powerful and you can shoot with it while you advance. Or at least that was how it was in the 3rd/4th edition, when I used to play WH40K.

Of course today, once I had finished these models, it was calm, dry and sunny outdoors, giving a different challenge for taking pictures - there was too much light. That's why there are several pictures, I hope they don't reveal the detaillessness too much.

The recipe is quite simple, black undercoat and then quite wet drybrush of bright green. Similar highlight with grey to the guns. Then bright metal to all the blades and details on the gun. Dark Blue Ink wash over bright metal to give a futuristic and alien look to some details of the guns.

These four 28mm GW models give me 20 points, with the points coming from the antihero bonus round, I should be at striking distance of my points target. So at least one post more is coming!

From Curt:

Wow, I haven't seen these Dark Eldar figures for quite some time. Nice job Teemu! I really like the contrast of the electric blue 'energy source' of the splinter cannons set against their dark green armour. Very effective.

Your are sooo close your points target but I think one more entry next week should seal the deal. 

Well done.

 

SteH - Professor Moriarty! (5 Points)

This guy was supposed to be my Curtgeld but I had a moment of selfishness after painting him up and choose to keep him instead! Am I bad?

This 28mm mini is from Black Pyramid Games and had always been intended to be used in my VSF gaming as the arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes - Professor Moriarty.

I tried to go for an elegantly attired gent and even went so far as to paint spats on to his feet. Oh and for anyone who has noticed I don't normally paint eyes but after having at ScottB's his models have been wearing me down and I may just have to start giving my minis the gift of sight!

So in the last stretch of the challenge I'm going all out to net myself an amazing........ 5pts.


From Curt:

Yes, you are a very bad man because I want this figure. :) Though to be honest, as great as he is, Moriarty is more of a straight-up villian than an antihero so perhaps it's best that he  stay in your collection in order to cause mayhem for your heroes.

But back to the figure: Beautiful work Ste. I really like your choice of contrasting colours for his clothes as they really make him look very natty. I especially like the buff coloured waistcoat and your addition of the white spats. Very posh indeed.

Is that a snake writhing behind him?

Again, great work Ste.