From NickJ - Bloodbound & Tzeentch

Once Upon a GW Weekend...

It all got a bit Inception like as I set myself a challenge within The Challenge (capital letters for the Analogue!). Last weekend a group of us went North to Lenton: home of Games Workshop. The weekend involved alcohol. I'm pretty sure it involved gaming and many, many laughs but mostly I remember the alcohol...

Anyway, I set myself a challenge to ensure I had painted 1 unit from each of my Pentagram Factions prior to the trip. All well and good except for the minor issue that I lost 10 painting days thanks to work sending me to the U.S.

So did I finish them all in time? You've already seen the first 3 factions - Skaven, Daemons and Beastmen so now let me introduce you to the 4th Faction: Khorne Bloodbound.

This is a unit of Blood Warriors (I make no comment on the fact the Bloodbound unit includes the word Blood in their title)

I ended up having to speed paint these. On the Monday before the trip North they had no paint on them save the undercoat. They were done bar the basing in time for the trip! The basing was completed after arriving back home.

I'm pretty pleased with them given the fact I hate speed painting and am incredibly OCD about details.

Bloodbound are normally depicted in Red & Brass/Gold. I opted to dry brush Red and then the armour trim is actually a Lead colour metallic paint washed with Yellow shade.

The weapons are painted in a similar style to the flame swords my Daemons were sporting but this time purely to give a contrast rather than as an actual flame based weapon.

Now I can hear you asking about the 5th faction. Did I achieve my goal?

Well let me show you:

This is a Magister. He represents the final faction of the Pentagram - The Disciples of Tzeentch (the first T is silent. Ish)

Now this chap had absolutely no paint save the undercoat on the Thursday morning. Yes 24 hours before the trip North he was somewhat Paint Deficient.

Also I lacked blue paints. So yes I had to go out and buy paints in order to get him completed in time for the weekend! This chap is a Sorceror (as most of the followers of Tzeentch are) and again considering he was speed painted across a single day including shopping trip and finishing at 10pm I'm very happy with the results.

So there we are. Mini-Challenge complete. Another 6 28mm figures completed for the army bringing the total to 46 and adding 30 points to my Challenge total. Still a long way to go mind and now work have decided I need to be in the U.S. again for 2 weeks. It's going to be a real challenge to hit my 500 point target but I'll keep plugging away and who knows I might hit that target in time for next year's challenge!!

MilesR - Ha you go to the states and I go to the UK on business.  If only British Airways would let us paint on the flights...  Anyway, these are superb figures - your use of orange hues is really very impressive

From TamsinP: 28mm Pulp Seamen (76 points)

A bit of a change of pace, scale and era this week. I was working on a points bomb, but things were going slowly due to a cold and it wouldn't be ready in time for submission this week. So, over the weekend I switched to painting up something different that I could complete. And here you are - fifteen 28mm pulp seamen.

These are the crew of the Lady Sarah, a small Canadian tramp freighter. Having spent many years trading from port to port around the coasts of Africa, across the Indian Ocean and through the South China Seas barely staying afloat and above the breadline the ship's captain, Campbell Curtis spotted the lucrative potential offered by Prohibition. And so the ship returned to Canada, steamed inland and is now running cargo across the great lake between ports in Canada and Salutesville. There are those who suggest that the ship's sudden prosperity may be down to the transport of certain illicit consumables to the thirsty residents of Salutesville, but I couldn't possibly comment...

The crew:

Just in case anyone wants a closer look at the tats:

The chappie with his hands in his pockets looks like an extra from the yard scene in "Escape from Alcatraz".

 I tried to get in close to this chappie's face but this was the best I could manage.

The officers:

Captain Campbell Curtis, First Officer Tamsin Piper and First Mate Inge Johansen

I'm not happy with the bases - the Milliput I used was going off and it was very hard to smooth and carve (perhaps not helped by me leaving it so long before doing that). I might go over them with some PVA and sand at some point to smooth them out.

They are all 28mm from Pulp Figures. Fifteen of them at 5 points each should give me a handy 75 points.


MilesR: What an inspired entry Tamsin - these figures are superb and I'm throwing in an extra point for the tats on the sailors - very well done!

From RodF The Creakin' of Bones (39 Spooky Points)

Work on my 10mm Undead army continues.  This weekend I wrapped up the Leader stand, the Magic User stand, and some Skeletal crossbows.

Here's the shot of all 3.

(wow, that picture comes out small...)

First up is the leader.  I wanted a few more figures than what comes in the package so I tossed in a couple of ghouls and some vampires.  Seems like such a large base for just 4 skeletons.

I did something very similar with the Magic user unit.  I didn't want to just have 4 skeletons and the big monolith-thingy.  So I tossed in some spirit figures to show these necromancers mean business!

And last is the unit of skeletal crossbows.  I tossed in a vampire to be the necromancer in charge.  You never know when one of the skellies will just fall apart and need some quick repairs.  I added 4 skeletal bowmen for quick fire support and act as bodyguards for Count Medic-blah.

This leaves me with my artillery stand and 3 stands of skeletal warriors and I'll finally be ready to play some Warband.

That comes out to 37 10mm troops and one monolith thingy (maybe count as cavalry?).

These are all from Pendraken Miniatures.

MilesR: very cool - I'd very much like to see a shot of the whole army when you're done.  39 points have been added to your tally, Sir.

AdamC- High Class civilians, the Royal Flautist and Ruffians (61 points)

 This is a set of Brigade Game figures given to me as Christmas gift.  A very nice set for background color on the table.

 The Great lady herself in her finery with purse and fan in hand ready to go shopping or perhaps under take a secret mission for some hidden agent

 The bows gave me a little something to work with in terms of contrast using two different shades of violet.

 I'm pleased with the fan and I think the Persian rug print out came out well for the bases.

 Her servantes.  Clearly these guys are in a livery, I did orange waist coats green breaches and coats with Yellow facings.  I used Dark Gray as a "Lace" color on the facings and cuffs.

 Rear view or the same men not much to add.

 We have one more waling to or from work or perhaps follow her ladyship when she goes out

 You can get a realy nice look at his cuffs on this shot.  These are great sculpts my only wish is that the company made some dynamic version where they fellows had grabbed weapons to defend the house.

 So this figure has already made an appearance as the opening post of the challenge by the Snow Lord himself. Here is my interpretation.  The miniatures is from Eureka

 I wanted to give the impression of the player (Friedrich the Great) was on a marble tiled floor and I am fairly pleased with the results.

Close up on the floor and the two dogs.

 Two more Brigade Games figures from the Town Militia set.  The follow on the left is a great background character a town crier.  The one on the right is very much armed and ready and should be a nice addition to a pirate crew or group of clubmen

 These three Ner'do'wells are from Crusader minatures they call them the "wild rovers"

 In the center we have a favorite of mine a short rotund fellow.  He's not quite a dwarf in his proportions but he's close.  I feel he isn't really the sort who drinks and knows things but I think he does know how to hit things.  He's also a case in point that the wrong sort of people wear open vests.

 One could make the same argument about his form fitting pants.  He's a great looking figure and I think he will be a favorite.

 This is the figure I picked up the pack up for.  This young bravo will be a perfect fit for Inigo Balboa from the Alatriste Novels.

 I have a full En Guard Warband based on the characters from that novel but I didn't have a good figure for young Inigo.

 That lack has been remedied with this bare foot pistol wielding fellow.

 Another good pirate/ruffian Figure with a pistol and cutlass.

I tried to do some brighter colors here as most of my guys tend to have muted colors and you need the occasional fellow with some flash a purple vest and red head scarf seemed to provide some nice color.

So we have eleven full sized 25mm Figures so that should be 55 Points.  I don't recall how Curt scored his little pups and music stand so I will defer to the judge.

MilesR: Adam - these are really well done - I really like the basing - especially the rugs - +1 points for that.  As for Friedrich and his dogs - I'll award you the same 10 points the Snow Lord himself got - that's very heady company you keep.  I believe this brings you to a very hefty 61 points