From ByronM: Vikings and Samurais Oh My! (55 Points)

This week I have two very different sets of figures, painted at two different levels.

First up is a set of vikings that I decided to paint up as a start for SAGA after seeing all the cool stuff being done for it on this challenge.  I picked these up probably 2 years ago to use as some figures for Frostgrave and then never got around to them. 

They are from the Wargames Factory line and are really poor quality.  The detail is all extremely soft, the cut lines are in bad places and don't line up very well.  I got them cheap and split a box with a friend, I think they were $30 for 32 figures which was awesome, but you get what you pay for.  While passable once painted, I found it pretty hard to spend much time on them since the quality was so poor. 

I think I put about 20 minutes, maybe 30 per figure.  So they are done to a super basic and super rough tabletop quality, and even though I painted them, they may be replaced with other figures later.  I have some Gripping Beast Vikings and Anglo-Saxons on the way that I have seen previously and are much higher quality.  The one good thing about these figures is they gave me a chance to try out some Little Big Men shield transfers, which worked amazingly well and I therefore have already gotten some more!  

Secondly this week is a set of Ten Thunder archers from Malifaux that was one of my options for last weeks East theme.  I had planned on using these up until about a week before the deadline, and then changed to my gladiator.  These figures are amazing sculpts with great detail.  They are super finicky to assemble as they are a lot of parts, but go together super clean and you can't even see where they join when done.  

These started off as going to get a higher level paint job as they were for a theme round, where I aim to paint to at least high level tabletop and preferably show type levels.  However since they got dropped from the theme round, I took a bunch of shortcuts on them, and while still nice (I really like the bright yellow with brown shading that I got done) they are only my normal tabletop level jobs. 

Despite that, I do really like how they came out.  The effect of the super bright yellow against the darker straps and arm guard really work.  I also really love how the figures are sculpted with the faces barely visible behind screens that hang from the helm.  

I did the bases to match the rest of my Ten Thunders Malifaux force, using resin bases that look like an oriental garden.  I then added in some small leaves in fall colours to help tie in the bright costume to such a neutral base.

Well, that is 11 28mm figures complete for 55 points.  As I said though, done at different painting levels, I just couldn't justify more time on those Vikings.  I did the bare minimum to get them table worthy, but could make myself spend more time on them.  The Malifaux guys, I would have spent more time to make them better but decided to put it into my Arena Rex gladiator instead.  As they are they fit well with my existing Malifaux force so are painted well enough to be happy with.

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Great entry Byron. You and your 'tabletop quality'...

I feel your pain with the WF models. I've always found that their models come up wanting. Their detail and undercuts are rather soft and ill defined, and for multipart models their poses still end up being rather similar. But as you say you get what you pay for.

The WF models above are sharply contrasted against the Malifaux examples you treat us with. Wow. Those are tremendously nice and you paintjob really is top shelf. I love the yellow that you've used for them and the wood of the longbows is fabulous. The added leaves are a very nice touch as well.  They look like they should be on the set for 'Big Trouble in Little China'. :)