From EvanH - Veni, Vidi, Velites! (45 points)

Hi Challengers, back again, a week late and several figs short, but time is short and the weather is horrible - we got ourselves a heatwave here in Sydney, and undercoating is an act of the purest futility.

Thankfully, I had already undercoated these bad boys, nine 28mm Roman Velites from Agema. These are some of the best plastic figs I have ever laid eyes on; the detail is excellent, and the anatomy is spot on. Agema are definitely on my list for future acquisitions (space permitting!).

I've been fairly, well... restrained in my figure output so far, and a unit is a bit of a departure from my usual single-character submissions. It's a bit daunting when you try to ramp up the painting rate a notch. I had to keep telling myself, "paint the unit, not the man," though with figs this good, you want to do a proper job and lavish a bit of time on them.

Right, lads, off to annoy some elephants!

I've based them on Warbases 60 x 60 mm MDF bases, built up with white pumice to conceal the figures' moulded bases and give them a bit of texture. I've based the figures as light javelinmen for Simon Miller's excellent Ancients rule set, To the Strongest!, and the base sizes mean that I can use two bases per unit on a 15cm grid and three for a 20cm grid. 

I've opted for a vaguely North African basing scheme, as I've got some Carthaginians stashed away and I want to give myself some motivation to produce a Battle of Zama force. The bases were painted with a raw sienna acrylic from a craft shop, and highlighted up with progressively lighter blends of the base coat with Vallejo Desert Yellow.

The tufts and rocks are Diorama Elements from Tajima1 Tufts, in this case, the desert pack. They work every bit as well as the rest of the tufts in Tajima's range, and stick readily to textured surfaces.

So, nine figures at five points each makes a grand total of 45 points for this submission. And what's next on the painting table? A bit more focus would be nice...

Stay tuned!

You've been keeping these ones under wraps haven't you Mr Hughes? Here's me thinking you were working on something pulp and then out these pop! 

Very well put together in every way I must say from the brushwork to the basing. I suspect you will regret letting me see these because I am now going to hound you mercilessly to see more. 

That's 45 points for your total and well done mate. Cheers, Millsy.

From StephenS - Milites Christi Mounted Warlord (15 points)

G'day!

It's been absolutely ages since  my last 'regular' challenge post, all the usual reasons, back at work, baby on the way, football training starting up etcetera, etcetera. Which basically all boils down to, I've been a wee bit lazy... =)

Only something small as I hop back into the saddle, but something that I've been itching to paint for a while now!

A warlord for the new Saga war-band that I've been 'just getting started' for nearly a year now. These guys will, I'm sure, inspire me to great things. As soon as I've gone back and finished off a few other projects that is...

The miniatures are 28 mm figures, both from Gripping Beast. 

The local gaming group is trying out Lion Rampant next week, so there is extra encouragement to get a vaguely medieval force up and running. The monk is supposed to highlight the pious nature of my warlord, but he doesn't look like he is enjoying scampering to keep up while carrying a massive wooden cross.

I would love some feedback on the basing, hopefully it captures the feel of the First Crusade. I didn't want it to look too sandy, but hopefully it will not look out of place on the desert map my nemesis, AlanD has ready and waiting, and waiting...

Hopefully that is a very significant 15 points, and the pick-me-up I needed to start hitting the brushes more regularly. Next up, possibly, will be further progress on my 'Muskets and Tomahawks' war-band. Maybe...

Cheers,
Steve

It's great to see you back on the tools Steve, even with a small submission points-wise. 

The Crescent & the Cross SAGA supplement is not one I've seen much of and I'm keen to dig deeper if this is any indication of what's on offer. A wonderful scene and very well painted indeed. 15 richly deserved points for your total! Cheers, Millsy

From JohnSh - 28mm Empire Halberdiers (40 points)

These old Warhammer Empire Halberdiers are one of those miniatures that never really caught my attention. I don't know if it was that they were one piece, so stiff or all the same, they just didn't ring my bell. However I recently purchased a pre-loved Empire army and among the many units were 30 odd of this mini unpainted and one painted with Test #1 written on the base.

I wonder why he never finished the unit?

The colour scheme jumped out at me and I thought that it would be a fun exercise to try and replicate the paint job. It was in quite a different style to what I normally do being base/block painted with was only on the face and with grey "line highlights" on the black.

My eight with the original Test figure in front

I knew that I would never get all 30 odd done for the challenge so I grabbed eight, sat down with my enormous pile of paints and started working out what had been used where. I don't have many Citadel paints, which I guess is what was used on the test figure but Army Painter, Humbrol and Vallejo were all used on my version. I even had to buy a flesh tone as I always use a tan colour for flesh but this one was much pinker.

My eight. Only 24 more to go.

I found the act of copying someone else's paint scheme and style to be an interesting challenge. Mine turned out a little brighter but I'm happy with the result. I often dither around trying out different schemes myself so it was kind of cool to be directed by an unseen hand.

This is 8 x 28mm figures so 40 points. I can't claim the Test figure :)

This is some serious Oldhammer goodness John! I've always felt the plastic halberdiers were on the wooden side too but for all that they have a real toy soldier charm about them. 

I'm quite impressed with your paint matching skills, especially given you were using paints from three different stables and none of them were Citadel. I really like the colour combination and would love to see all 30 painted up the same. I wonder if there were other test schemes that got lost along the way? 

This little lot earns you a solid 40 points John. Keep 'em coming mate! Cheers, Millsy

From Barks - Imperial Assault Hoth figures (79 points)

Here are the rest of my figures for the latest Star Wars: Imperial Assault release.

Echo Base Troopers. I like the effect on their goggles.

This was my first ever attempt at snow basing, and I've been scouring the internet for tips for several months prior. Here's my final recipe:

• Builder's plaster to build up the groundwork
• Paint pale blue-grey, then drybrush white
• Paint the figure, then varnish
• Concoction of Woodland Scenics' 'Realistic Water' and 'Soft-flake snow' and Secret Weapon 'Ground glass'

Princess Leia. I like her attitude, and the contrasting pale tones of her clothes.

I enjoyed the monochrome Snowtroopers, they look sinister.

The Repulsor tank. I struggle painting vehicles. I repeatedly found myself washing it down and highlighting it up but just couldn't get happy with it.

Wampas! Not the most difficult paintjob, drybrushing over a blue-grey.

Barks kicks of this week's Antipodean contingent with another round of gorgeous Star Wars Imperial Assault miniatures. I must admit the more I see of these the more I'm coming around to them. It's Snow White and the Seven Stormtroopers folks! 

One of the hardest things to paint is large areas of white. Often any shading or definition looks forced or overdone but this is quite the opposite. Leia's outfit in particular is most convincing and certainly does justice to a wonderfully posed sculpt. Topped of with a good dusting of a thoroughly researched snow effect and she's enough to make anyone's brother go weak at the knees [ahem!]. 

I'm scoring the Wampas as 40mm minis so all up this wintery effort adds 79 points to the total Barks. Cheers, Millsy. 

PS. Am I the only one who thinks the Wampas look like they're snowboarding? "Whoa duuuuude, you like totally shredded that tauntaun!" OK, I'll get my coat...