From DavidB: Dark Angels (65 Points)

Before I get to the eyecandy, Above is a Dark Angel from the venerable terminator box set. I liked the black armor and the crazy checks and painted my first Spacemarine force as black clad Dark Angels. Mostly I played the terminators in Space Hulk.

Enter the first novel I purchased from a hobbyshop. 

The primary story was how a group of Dark Angels had returned to their recruiting world which was a population of  AmerIndians. Needless to say I purged a lot of my black Dark Angels and went full bore Deathwing Armor. I even built a full squad of metal marine scouts complete in warpaint. discovering their world was overrun by a genestealer cult that had enslaved their tribes, The group went native. They painted their armor white and inscribed tribe and clan markings on their armor, sang their death-songs, and went to war. They won and divided the untainted among them and taught them the old ways.

By this time, GW had changed the Dark Angels to a dark green armor, so I built a couple squads up in the green livery to back the Deathwing troops. Codexes and new editions pulled the story of a small band of DA Terminators going native on a genestealer invasion. I gave and sold all of them away. My nephew got a lot of em.

GW only hints about the old story and Deathwing's origin now, but I picked up Dark Vengance that had a strike force of Dark Angels. The idea that my tribe could still be around 40,000 years in the future and part of a Anglo scifi knight force is a strong clarion call! ;)

Interrogator Chaplain Asmodai is leading the advance party.

He was primered green for some odd reason. I had to paint over all that green primer and the only green he sports is a single shoulder plate.

An assault cannon and a come at me pose, the plastic termies from the game are excellent sculpts and I went full tribal on them. The glyphs are Ojibwa for war, bear, deer, vengence, etcetera. 

I did paint their shoulder plates and a few other armor plates in the dark angel green. Just because they are Ojibwa, doesn't mean they have forsakken sworn allegiance.

These fellows are same pose-itis, but I altered the paint a touch. I goofed up the wolf pictograph on the right one and it kept getting worse as I attempted a fix! I think in the future I may try micro pens!

This is my favorite of the bunch, He is off to avenge the tribe!

Ravenwing bikers, I never used Ravenwing before so this will be different.

I gave the brother sgt. a darker complexion, He must be Cheyenne!

The bikers were my favorite to paint so far of the force. lots of detail on them and the black and white livery reminds me a lot of my first Dark Angel force....wish I had them still!

A plasma gunner completes the troop. The game is filled with plasma guns which is fine for me, I prefer plasma pistols, guns, and cannons. Stops most traitors fast!

I still have a few more Dark Angels and some other miniatures to clear the desk.

At least I'm getting back in stride. I have work in the early AM, but I will try to catch up with what I've missed. I've only been following via the email notices as I've been on the bounce lately to make up for missed time from sickness and accident.

So 6 infantry and 3 scifi cav. I'm only claiming the Deathwing and Ravenwing sgt as natives so Millsy can mark me for 5 as only the Deathwing boys are geared up in the right totems.

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Glorious stuff David! I remember reading Deathwing when it first came out and really liked the Terminator background story. The whole idea of these various Space Marine chapters going around the galaxy to get new recruits from low-tech feral worlds was very interesting and opened up the 40K narrative to something very cool. I suppose the Space Wolves would be something similar with their references to a quasi Nordic/Viking background. They really needed to do a chapter with a Samurai origin - that would make for some nice conversions as well. Anyway, I digress once again.

I really like the tribal Ojibwa markings you created for their Terminator armour, especially the Assault Cannon marine with the war feathers at his waist. I agree with you, the fellow with the chainfist is my favourite as well - he looks like he's going all-out, sending folks to the Dream Lands at 4/4 time. The bikes are excellent as well. I quite like the wing-shield motif as their wind fairings. I was thinking, to follow the Ojibwa theme, you could make some Dream Catchers to suspend between their twin-linked bolters. :)

Great work David! With your 60 points here you've vaulted the Saturday team well into the 800 point mark and provided a great start to our march to the Challenge's 76K final target.  Well done!

 

From JamieM - AoS and 30k Points Grenade (320 Points)

They say that every cloud has a silver lining.  The metaphorical cloud in this case is the fact I'm a hobby magpie, constantly grabbing the shiny things from my garage and starting them and not being quite so good at finishing them before the next shiny thing grabs my attention.  This can leave large amounts of half finished figures strewn all over the study, steadily encroaching out of the zone I'm allowed for "Daddy's little men".  The silver lining, to stretch this metaphor almost to breaking point, is that sometimes the moons align, the Scooby gang catch the baddy and the England rugby team come good to arguably be the best team in the world right now (one for our southern hemisphere challengers there) and I get a load of stuff finished at the same time.

First up, some Salamanders with flamers.  I really wanted a unit with the throwback 30k flamers which pay homage to the flamers released in the first ever space marine box in the early 80's, the one with the beakies in.  No real plan for these, but the Salamander legion do love them some flames so I'm sure they'll get some use.  They were a legion that resisted Horus' betrayal of the Emperor and were mostly massacred for their troubles by the traitor legions in an ambush on Istvaan (boo, hiss).

They'll go nicely with my other Salamanders and I tried to get some muzzle burn damage on the flamers.  Decals applied by my own fair hand on one shoulderpad and flames handpainted on the other shoulderpad to hopefully appease both sides of the decal schism (or perhaps to be considered a heretic by both sides!).

Next up, some more hot death in the form of some Thousand Sons Plasma dudes.

They would ideally be wearing oven gloves as plasma weapons are extremely temperamental can kill the wielder if your dice are bad enough.  So no bad dice out there to stay safe kids.  They originally had converted autocannons, but you know how sometimes you just get a model build wrong?  Took me 2 weeks to admit it to myself as I had a sulk about it, so off went the autcannons and on went the plasmas.  I'm so pleased I did that now.

To support these chaps are twenty members of an assault squad

I see these fellas as the glory boys, laughing at the tactical squads who trudge through the mud as these guys zoom overhead, making themselves a perfect target against the sky no doubt.  Sort of like how the RAF and army consider each other.  So lots of gold and fancy decals showing how much they like flying (birds head on the right shoulder pad, flying scarab on the top of the jump pack).

 I once again showed a cavalier disregard for the make of jump packs in existence during the heresy and used far cheaper 40k ones ( I could buy three units like this for the price of the proper FW one).  All the armour is the correct mark (IV and VI) as I do have some standards... the 30k world is probably as close as GW games get to historical gaming with regards people worrying about exact markings, colours, who fought with whom, etc, but I think we all have to find a level we're comfortable with these things.  The heads are the simply superb Forgeworld upgrade ones for the most part and using these covers a multitude of sins in my eyes!  So look at the pretty heads, not the jump packs...

Some nice chunky axes and swords in the unit and some marines with their helmets off, because it appears to be a tradition that someone in every marine unit won't wear the hermetically sealed life support and vital armour because he wants the enemy to see him snarling...... You can just imagine the conversation

"Sorry Amon, you're the last one here, so you have to leave your helmet behind today and grimace for the next 3 hours about the grim darkness of our present"

"But I did it last time!  Isn't it Azhek's turn?"

"Watch it or you'll be assigned a plasma gun like Hotep was after he complained"

And finally, 32 more gobbos to go with the ones I did a few weeks ago.

Same recipe as the last ones and I was regretting deciding upon two highlight layers on the skin by the time I got to the second one...

These lads will be trampling onto the gaming table shortly and then probably promptly running off again.  I'm hoping to have time to bring some crazed fanatics and netters to the challenge, but I shall have to see how the week goes as time has gotten away from me a little!

So 62 28mm figures in total to shoot me past my target, which I'm rather pleased about as for quite a while I was lagging behind the curve.
 

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Yabba Abaddon Doo! That was no normal points grenade Jamie, but a armour-piercing rocket propelled points grenade. 

Beautiful work all around, Jamie. Your's and Gregs's posts make me laugh as you both have such a irreverent joy of the GW hobby. It's quite refreshing from the fan nonsense you often come across on the internet.

Your Salamanders and Thousand Sons are just terrific, but I would love to see oven mitt conversions for both the flamers and plasma guns - that would be superb. The goblins continue to make me smile though I've never understood individual basing in Fantasy. Why not do group-basing, especially for these mobs? That way you could cheat and concentrate the fine detailing for the first rank while keeping the ones in the back at a more basic level. I often do this with my Napoleonics - only the photo-op boys in the front are pretty in all their facings, while Alf, the Two-Layer Alsatian, always follows in the rear looking rather drab. Anyway, I digress. These ALL look wonderful and more kudos to you for it.

320 points, with a few extra for all the spiffy decals, handpainted flames and that humorous hand-wringing about jump-packs over 10,000 years of history(!). I'm not sure, but I think this entry may put you in the lead in your 30K Challenge, and right up behind Greg in the overall standings as well. The race is truly on! Well done Jamie.

From MilesR: US War of 1812 Infantry (202 Points)

With Challenge VII entering its finals days, I thought it was high time to submit a proper Napoleonic "Big Battalion" style unit.  I present for your approval the US 14th Infantry regiment from the War of 1812.  The unit consists of 40 28mm metal figures from Brigade Games.  The 14th Infantry was raised in Maryland and fought along the Niagara border region.

The matte medium is still drying on the far left figure in this shot - I'm a little pressed for time as I have an event to meet my wife at - it's one of those obligations that threaten dire consequences if I'm late or have paint on my fingers.

Still, I might be able to get a few more figures done....

Brigade games has a really nice War of 1812 line as well as some Napoleonic Naval figures (I painted up a good bit of those last Challenge).

I think 40 figures gets me 200 points and I'll leave it the Snow Lord if the flags are worth anything.

That's it for today!

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Wonderful work Miles! I'm delighted that you managed to fire off a volley even with family obligations pressing your time - please give both our apologies and thanks to your lovely wife.

These yanks look very nice (and a impressively beefy battalion as well). I've looked at the Brigade range rather covetously, but have kept my small forays to French and British figures so far. Are these for an upcoming convention game, Miles, or reinforcements for your existing collection? 

These 40 [rather hapless] Americans will give you 202 points, with a few more added for their colours. Well done Mr. R! Now, we just need to find a Laura Secord for you to paint. :)

From SteveB: Dropzone Commander Resistance Infantry (49 Points)

Not much to display this week. Bit of a painting slump.

I painted up 2 units of infantry for my resistance force. 1 unit of 6 stands of resistance fighters, and 1 unit of 4 resistance veterans.

If my math is right total of 49 pts.

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Nice work Steve. I like your neutral basing with these fellows as it really helps to make these smaller figures stand out. Question: What is the difference between Dropfleet and Dropzone Commander? Are they variations on the same system?

I understand the painting slump Steve, especially coming out of the grey of February, but take heart, you've done excellent work this season and there's only a week to go. One last push!

From Paul O'G: FIW Redcoats (51 Points)

Present - Fire!!!

The FIW Campaign "Frontier Aflame" that Dux and I are prosecuting against one another is intensifying, and so is my need for reinforcements!  Here is the first detachment to arrive on the scene: a unit of British Regular Infantry - classic Redcoats.

Like last week's Light Infantry, these chaps have the light green facings of the 24th Regiment of Foot (mirroring my 15mm Zulu War army).  Unlike my Rangers and Indians where I piled terrain on their bases to reflect them being deep 'in the woods', I've left these guys with a minimum of detritus to reflect them being more in more open terrain as regular troops.

Remarkably, they survived the first battle this week with only two losses.  But only by the skin of their teeth as they made a tactical withdrawal under a hail of tomahawks with a screen of skirmishers protecting them.

My first time painting Redcoats - so much lace and detail...

To go with them, I made a pile of supplies to use as their deployment point, just as I use the portaged canoe as the deployment point marker for my stout Indian allies

Commanding them is the dapper Major George Brinkworth.  A former Gentleman ranker, under the Sharp Practice 2 random character generation process, it was revealed that he has the "Impressive Weapon!" skill - something that I remind Dux of with unfailingly humorous regularity!

Ooohhh thats a big one isn't it Dux! Much more Impressive than yours... 

Major Brinkworth is supported by a drummer who helps relay his orders in the heat of battle (this provides a control bonus in Sharp Practice 2).  I really went to town with the lacing on this fellow and it darn near drove me mad. He looks good though so it was worth the extra effort.

All figures are 28mm by Warlord Games. Pile of supplies from my bits box.

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Wonderful work Paul! Your 'Frontier Aflame' campaign with Dux sounds like an absolute blast and, hey, no shield-shaming while still having all the benefits of sporting an, erm, 'impressive weapon'! What's not to like, right?

All of your attention to detail has paid off with these lads, Paul, especially on the drummer and Maj. Brinkworth. Very clean brushwork. I also like the differentiation in the groundwork between your bush skirmishers and these close-order fellows from the Line.

This detachment of British regulars will give you 51 points, with a pip added for the fella maintaining the beat. Well done sir!

From Millsy: Warhammer Reiksguard Knights (101 Points)

It's taken the best part of two weeks but I've managed to finish a unit of 10 mounted Reiksguard Knights for my Warhammer Fantasy Empire army.

These are some of my favourite miniatures from the range and a serious contributor to why I started this army in the first place.

In the fluff you see the Reiksguard portrayed as the strong right arm of the Emperor. They're the go-to guys for any situation that can't be handled by anyone else. Even a small detachment can save the day against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Yet whenever you see them in official literature they are wearing shiny, flawless, pristine armour. To me this is at odds with their reputation for getting the job done at the pointy end. If you're in it up to your neck in in day after day you've neither the time nor the space to [ahem!] "polish your pauldrons". You barely have time to wipe away the ichor of Chaos before getting back to work!

So in keeping with my idea of a working man's unit of knights my guys are suitably dark and grimy. Theres's some decoration because after all these are scions of the Empire, but only just enough to make a point. The rest is cold, functional steel and leather.

There's unfortunately no musician in the range so I've opted to include a second champion in a surcoat to represent him instead. I quite like the look of it and don't feel the unit lacks anything as a consequence.

The keen-eyed observer will notice the lack of shields. I'm having something of a crisis of decision in this regard. I'm not overly taken with the idea of using the current range shields on them but don't have much else on hand at present so a little fleaBay Foo is likely in order.

So that's it for this week. 10 stalwart chaps on horseback for 100 points. Nothing like I used to knock out in terms of quantity but I'm happy with how the army is turning out.

Next up some archers and perhaps a hero or two.

Cheers,
Millsy

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...And our indispensable Duels Wallah, Millsy, trots onto the field...

Cor!  These are superb Millsy! I remember doing a unit of these years ago (in plastic) and loving all the gothic plate, plumes and lances. I like your more utilitarian approach to them as it makes the judicious use of colour pop that much more amongst the dour horse barding and plate harness. I've never really been sold by the shields on this unit as they seem almost a distraction to their clean lines, but I suppose you need them for the extra armour save in the game. I'm sure you're delighted having these heavy-hitters on your roster now.

This unit of Reiksguard will give you 101 points sir. Lovely work and I look forward to your upcoming archers and heroes.

From ByronM, SteveB, and MikeA - Curtgeld French Napoleonic Command Stand (33 points each)

Well, it was touch and go there fore a while, getting 3 gamers to get things done at one time is like herding cats, but with nary a moment to spare may I present to you three Winnipeg games Curtgeld submission.

When Curt stated he wanted a collaboration piece between gamers, I thought "Wonderful, a way to torture friends by making them paint French Napoleonics too!!"  As I have stated in the past, I LOVE French Napoleonics, well the look and playing them at least, I have a love/hate affair with painting them, I love when they are done but I hate painting them.  So, knowing Curt's love of them, and a chance to torture friends, I figured why not! 

Mike and Steve each did 2 figures, all of them Victrix plastics that I had around the house.  Steve's are the two in white pants, and Mikes are in khaki pants. This was both of their first attempts at doing Napoleonic era figures and uniforms and both have now expressed their concern that I am quite mad for having painted so many of these damn things.

To spread the torture around, I painted yet another damn horse this year, this time for Curt. This is a Perry metal figure I had kicking around.

Once all the figures were done, I collected them and got them ready to base.  I 3d printed out a little dice tray that holds three 7mm dice so that Curt can use it for moral, leadership, or whatever else he wants (depending on the rule system used).

I hope you like it Curt, I will hand it off to you next time we meet up. 

I believe it will score us 30 points each (10 points for 2 inf or 1 cav and then 20 points for the curtgeld bonus), but more importantly it will score some cash for the Regina Humane Society.

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Wow. What can I say? This is just tremendous guys - I absolutely love it. 

Byron, my hat's off to you for torturing convincing Steve and Mike to take on this project. I'm particularly impressed with them as this is their first foray into painting Napoleonic figures - no mean feat, as the period can be a bit intimidating to the uninitiated. Nonetheless, bravo to you all, these fantassins are brilliant and look ready to conquer Europe (well, except for the fellow in the front who's seems to be feeling a little poorly).

So, 30 points for the each of you, with a few more added for you working so well together.  Again, thank you very much Byron, Steve and Mike!