Wednesday, 20 January 2016

5, 4, 3, 2... Downunderbirds are GO!



Alright Downunderbirds, it's Thursday once again (at least for us anyway) so it's time to come out of your shells and show us what you've got! We've already seen some amazing work this week so now it's our turn to dazzle the masses. Who is up for the challenge?

PS. I'm a tad busy this week with work so I'll be processing subs from about 8:00pm our time, under the milky way tonight...


Cheers,
Millsy

From EricMc- More WWI French (145 Points)

I am back at it with more horizon blue.   This week I painted  2-10 figure units of regular French Infantry.  I think the best aspect of the Old Glory figures is the specialty figures they make.  Included in this weeks entry are several trench fighters. I was also able to complete 2 Hotchkiss machine guns and 2 staff officers. . 

I think my favorite is the bald bearded trooper brandishing a pick axe. He truly is a Poilu. (hes hiding behind the staff officer.


Last but not lease I completed a German straggler.  This is an Old Glory medical officer


 

Weekly totals 29-28mm figures  145 points

Last week there were a few questions about my Horizon Blue recipe.  I start with a base of Army Painter Electric Blue followed by a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone. Once dry I hit the highlights with a mix of Electric Blue and Vallejo Sky Blue (the sky blue was camera shy)



Eric.. excellent stuff once more. Thanks for the paint tips. This is some force you have built - a full group shot later will be impressive! I am with you on the bald headed Poilu - he is a classic. Well done

EDIT -the running points total for today has now been updateds 9pm GMT - cheers D

From Curt - Three Denizens of Edgar Rice Burrows' Barsoom (35 Points)


I thought I'd best get together an entry for the Pulp duel before I get left too far behind. 


First, I want to tip my hat to Sander for my inspiration to this small project. During last year's Challenge he submitted a wonderful entry that got my mind whirling and my pocketbook prised open to order these great figures.

In 1912 Edgar Rice Burrows published 'A Princess of Mars', the first in what would be 11 novels making up the John Carter of Mars series. Burrows is seen as one of the founding fathers of science fiction and his writing, while a bit anachronistic, still entertains today as  as it did over a century ago.


These figures were a close contender for my 'Nostalgia' entry as I've had a real soft spot for the series since I was a teen. I have fond memories of going through the turnstile of novels in our town's pharmacy (which was the only place to buy novels and magazines) and taking furtive glances at the salacious covers of the John Carter paperbacks, trying not to be seen by the store's staff. To me, the art of John Carter is inseparable from the writing itself and I can't help but think of all the wonderful overwrought covers from artists such as Frank Frazetta, Frank Schoonover and Joe Jusko as I reminisce about the novels.



So here we have three denizens of Mars, or 'Barsoom', as Burrows called the Red Planet in his novels.

These 28mm figures are from Tin Man Miniatures. They are really wonderful castings, with very nice poses and, for the most part, requiring almost no cleanup.


This tall, green, four-armed fella is called a Thark. They are a warrior race which show up frequently in the John Carter novels.  He's armed with a pair of cutlasses and has a holstered pistol as well.


I decided to eschew metallic paints for this project as I thought the NMM approach would provide for a more interesting cartoony, cell-shaded effect to the figures.


The above figure is a female Barsoom assassin. I spent some time mulling over what colour to go with and finally decided with a simple deep red as it's often heavily used in the series' cover art


I did a blocky highlighting style to make her robes and boots quite pronounced.


The 'Wild Ride' vignette is a fairly complex white metal model with around 20 parts. It required a fair bit of pinning and filling to complete, and while I'm still not completely happy with it, I still really like the sense of movement it gives. 


I decided to go with a blue skin tone on the beast as I like the sharp contrast against the red-toned groundwork and, well, it's a freaky looking alien so it seemed to fit.

In regards to the bases, I was at a bit of a loss as at first as I wanted groundwork that was distinctly alien, but yet not too overpowering. In the end I decided to use bits of bark built-up with glue to create a stratified rock effect, which did a decent job of blending with the original bases, and then went with a pale orange/red base tone and highlighted from there. 


As to the vegetation, Burrows describes much of Mars being covered with loamy, yellow-red plants so I thought I'd use some old 'autumn' foam flock which I've always thought looked a bit too weird for Earth anyway, but it's finally found it's home on Barsoom.


Scoring? Well, the Thark is over 50mm and should safely fall into the 54mm category. If possible, I ask that the 'Wild Ride' vignette be scored as two mounted figures as I believe the size and complexity warrant it. The assassin is a standard 28mm figure.

Thanks for taking the time to visit!

Aaah - that's about time you got your finger out for this duel... and what a way to do it...very interesting figures I must say. The basing also really sets them off and sets the theme - well done Mr Snowball

From KyleC - American Reinforcements - Jeeps! (75pts)

Kyle is back for a second bite of the cherry today - more vehicle to add! cant you just hear the dakkka, dakka..
 

Jeeps.. specifically Jeeps with MMG/HMG configuration.. the bane of many  slower armies in Bolt Action.. so this was a nice addition to my forces ( and one that I think I could use exactly one more jeep to round out the collection there! ).


Although I spent most of the weekend painting the tanks, I then got violently ill.. and could not do much but weep quietly on the couch while watching netflix.. something that many of my opponents at the local club probably do after a game with my Japanese forces :)


But seeing that these guys should be easy to finish up, I took a run at them last night inbetween sneezes and coughing fits.. and probably the solvents and airbrush dust clouds didn't help any, but that gap between Martin and myself is growing too far ( and further if I didn't do this one! ) so I needed to focus!!


I did try some more of the techniques from the TankArt book,  but with some of my other materials instead of straight from theirs. So adapting it more to my style and what I have in hand. The dust/dirt/sand/mud/whatever section came out better on the wheels this time. Something that I might go back over my vehicles with to give them that dusty/dirty look.. but in the meantime.. back to infantry and to the next challenge.. which may or may not involve a vehicle as well :D


I can just see these whizzing around causing mayhem. It looks like you managed to do a really good job between coughs and sneezes... that's dedication for you..well done.

From AaronH - 24 28mm Fireforge Men-at-Arms. 120 points.

This entry is 24 Men-at-Arms from Fireforge games. These are made from the Foot Sergeants box set.

Twelve swordsmen and twelve crossbows.
These were done for Lion Rampant, hence the twelve man units. This is a fun game that the boys like to play from time to time. I have eight more of each of these types to bring them up to twenty for Kings of War.


The first unit is twelve sword and shield men. I threw in a few other weapons just for variety. These are very nice models, versatile and pretty. They are easy to paint but, I think, are very handsome. All of the shields are hand painted. At some point, after much practice, they will get some sort of symbol on the shield, but for now, simple designs are enough.


The armor and gambesons take a wash very well. The tabards are not fun to paint and don't really take a wash at all. they are ripe for some free hand, but I haven't decided on what to paint.

 

The next unit is twelve crossbows. Again, the models are very versatile. These are the same box set as the spearmen I painted for last year's challenge. This gives me three units for Lion Rampant. Once I add some bows, a couple of mounted units and some bidowers I'll be done.


I highly recommend this set to anyone looking for early medieval units.

Aaron , just wonderful. I really like the colours you have chosen, subtle yet effective. I actually think the simple shield design is really effective as they are. Top job

From MartinC - The Good, The Bad and The Weird (200 Points)

Bit of a quieter week this week, been playing Lion Rampant which is fantastic and probably the successor to Warhammer.
A much more eclectic selection this week. First up is a unit a Carthaginian light infantry with simple hand painted shields. The figs are Wargames Factory plastics and I'm not a fan. he musician is a spare from the Romans and is Crusader - much better figures



Next up is the HMG for my Tsuba German Sailors, another lovely sculpt.


Next are some British Sailors to fight the Zulus. 10 should be enough I think to deal with those Zulu hordes. These are lovely Copplestone Castings.



The Sennet hats are supposed to be much more yellow but they looked very camp - like an outing of Japanese Schoolgirls.
Finally the eponymous selection. The Good, The Bad and The Weird is a mental Korean action movie set in 1940's Manchuria. I strongly recommend it.




The figures are from Tsuba and a joy
Overall that is 36 figures (21 with hand painted shields) and a manned gun. I leave this to you tender mercy Dave.

Oh I've also painted my very cool Curtgeld but more of that later.

Martin continues to knock em out.. with another fine mixed entry . Particularly taken with the HMG - a serious bit of kit. And the sailors in Stennet hats - might just have to blag a few of those myself. I will round this on eup to 200 for the sheilds -

From KyleC - Tanks, tanks, and more tanks... (215)


So it seems I have been sleeping as of late and am getting run over by others in points here... let's bring out some big guns then eh? :)


First up was a trio of German Panzers for a mate at the club. After playing a tank battle against my Shermans recently painted, he said that it must be because they were painted. So I offered to paint up his if he wanted before we have a rematch next week. He agreed to this, and supplied a simple paint scheme to do them up with. Loaning me a sample tank from his collection to copy... though mine came out a bit darker than his due to the black oil wash.




I then started into my Japanese Tanks... like the Type 92s above. A pair that I bought from US last year. They are poorly 3D printed though as you can see the lines separating the levels easily. More so with the wash over them. But they are great in games, so we dont mind that. The HMGs on the front hulls have broken as the resin they are printed in is very brittle.





Then we have a Ke-nu light tanks Another mobile firing platform with the common turret of AT gun in the front and MMG on the back.



The mainstay of the Japanese army is the Chi-has.. having 3 is great in Tank wars.. again very formidable, with its light anti tank gun, and dual MMGs ( again one facing the rear on the turret ). I use the one with the figure to represent the squad leader if needed.





Dual Ho-Ros here.. love these as although they are open topped ( easy to take out ) they are mobile Heavy Howitzers.. great as anti infantry guns, and being mobile means they are even more deadly!





The Shin-hoto chi ha tank.. the only tank in their army that is also a command tank. Gives us the command feature and increased leadership on the board! Or the free upgrade if playing tank battles! And the medium anti tank gun is nothing to sneeze at either ;)





Our biggest tanks and it is still only considered a medium... the Ho Ni Type 3.. quite powerful but slow and only the main gun on it...





Last one is the Chi Nu tank.. again a medium with a decent output of power.. and a hull mounted MMG.

All tanks were given some extra stowage, and I was experimenting with the ModelMates liquid pigments on them. Though it looks like they are more rusty than running through sandy terrain...







Although the rest were done over a few days, this last tank took me all of Sunday to complete as I was trying something different. I have a few of the TankArt books, and number 2 features Allied armor. In particular the Pershing Tank.. which I just so happened to receive last week after warlords xmas sale ( but needed to be cast it seems ).

So I wanted to try out some of their techniques on it.. including weathering and damage with different techniques. One of which was thinner dry brushing.. whereby the stronger painted on the base ( enamels ) stay whereas the highlights ( acrylics ) get pulled off to show the base color as a scratch. I still have a lot to learn on using pigments it seems as this looks more like it has been whitewashed for winter than been rolling through dirt or concrete areas. Still a lot of fun all the same here. And something that I hope to retry again in the future! Maybe even as a showcase piece.. but will see on that..

All told though this is quite a few models painted up over the last week for me all ready now for more tank battles in bolt action.



15 tanks ( plus the one on loan as a scheme to copy ) means 225 points I do believe? But from the above you can see the size difference some of the tanks are in comparison to others.. More to come now...


Now thats a tank entry! And wonderfully done - i can understand why the Pershing took so long - I think you really nailed it! 225 Points well earned - looking forward to seeing some more Kyle - soon...