FRIDAY Tribute to DavidB: Home of Uncle Owen & Aunt Beru

For those who may have missed it, this was my entry for our 'Home' theme this year, but more importantly it is also my gift to David for his fabulous efforts as our Thursday Minion. I wanted to have a clean sweep of tributes this week so it's getting some extra press.

As many of you know David is an enthusiastic supporter of the Painting Challenge. He always has something complimentary and supportive to say for each of the hundreds of entries that roll-in each year. He really is a boon to the whole event. Thanks David.

David and I are both huge fans of Star Wars, and as such I thought a quiet scene from Tatooine might spark for him the nostalgia for the early days of the Skywalker saga. 

As I mentioned in my original post, these started as 3D computer designs which I re-scaled, edited and mashed before printing them off.

I hope you like this little vignette David - it was a lot of fun to work on. Thanks again for your all your good-natured help during the Challenge. I hope we see both you and your brood for next year's edition.

Yup, pretty much my expression the FIRST time I seen this piece. I'd use an actual photo of myself, but Potawatomi don't really have the proper complexion for blushing!  ;)

Although I do like calling myself Darth Brom and I am pretty keen on all things Vader and stormtrooper, Luke is my favorite character as he has never stopped trying. He also initially sought adventure far from his small universe on an isolated moisture farm in the desert. He discovered a huge universe bigger than his imaginings with vast shades of grey dividing black and white. I do think(considering the last movie and his place of hermitage)he thinks of home. The distance of time with the passing of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru has diminshed the faces, but the happy thoughts and childhood dreams have seeped into the farm and the long sold speeder both of  which will always be home and where the heart resides.

Thank you very much, Curt! This little bit of Home will have pride of place in my Star Wars case! 

 

Gendarmes and a drummer Iain W Ready! (40pts)

Final Thursday post and I have 3 mounted figures and 1 infantryman all in 28mm, however what these chaps do is finish off units , I had 3 units of Foundry Gendarmes all short 1 figure, extension building on my house means spending is at least temporarily curtailed. I remembered I had some late 15th century horsemen of unknown make purchased from Ebay, horses were a problem, the Perry plastic horses I was going to use were just too dynamic next to the Foundry horses. So what I have ended up doing is a "cut and shunt" Warlord ECW horses which I like , heads cut off and replaced with Perry armoured heads from their plastic kit and barding likewise, a bit of hacking and gluing and job done!

They are not too dynamic and I think fit in well enough with the Foundry Gendarmes ( who's colour schemes I mostly pinched from James Roach/Olicanalad's brilliant Italian wars armies) I've added an overpainted flag for each unit as well.

I've also painted a drummer, a perry plastic figure from their fantastic continental mercenaries box. With a metal Swiss head.

I needed him to complete a unit.

They are a really lovely plastic set!
 In addition to getting me to paint figures , the challenge has encouraged me to get the figures out of storage that I have been painting for the last 3 years and wrapping and almost forgetting about them, I've started basing my 144 Spanish , my Landsknechts and my artillery, all painted and lying in cardboard boxes waiting for the challenge to release them. So thank you very much Curt!
Working on my Curtgeld which will be my last entry . This post also means I have reached my target.
All the best
Iain W




Iain, this is a very nice send off and with accompanied army pictures too! The splendid job of conversions is only made better by the brushwork following. Those gendarms are really grand and with three regiments, I think someone is about to hear" the delicate sound of thunder" !
The masses of pike are pretty slick too!
When I first started this challenge a few years ago I had a massive case filled with an army often used, but never painted. I finished most of it that first season. Curt told me that THAT is what this is all about....and jokes, deadlines, camaraderie, and the sheer spectacle of miniatures on parade.
It is an impressive amount of Italian War stuff you have kicked out this season. The pictures above speak well for the effort. The fact that they were in storage for so long just makes the achievment all the sweeter! And we still have a few days to go....a Curtgeld and a regiment or two? ;)

From Michael P: At the Court of the Elven Queen (25 pts)

My final Thursday entry includes these four 28mm female elves from the fantasy range of the UK's Heresy Miniatures.   I entered two other Heresy figures earlier in the Challenge, and continue to be impressed by this company.  Their sculpts are delicate, graceful, and are great fun to paint.


These four elven ladies will be leader and character figures for my LOTR collection as well as for my elven army in Dragon Rampant, which has a decidedly matriarchal theme.  I am hoping that the lovely Sarah will smile kindly on one of these and, like a Galadriel of the prairies, grant a sign of her favour.

The mysterious elven queen, doing a passable imitation of Lady Galadriel complete with palantir.  Or maybe she's at the bowling alley, who knows?

Shamaness / druidess / hippy chick.  Definitely my favourite figure of the lot.  She will be useful as a magic user in Dragon Rampant.  Fun fact: her cape is painted using Vallejo Luftwaffe Uniform, which makes a very satisfying elven cloak, I think.

Captain of archers and mistress of rangers:

Captain of swords and leader of the chaotic, scantily dressed unit I call "Galadriel's Grrrls":







The girls like to take heads.  I don't think their new boss will mind, somehow.


Finally there is this barbarian warrior with the big ... axe on the left.   I was ordering some Reaper figures recently and couldn't resist adding this Reaper Bones figure to the cart, as I thought that Kevin the Barbarian could use a ladyfriend.   Don't they look happy? They look like they have stepped out of the pages of Cerebus the Aardvaark.  (They struck sparks on Tinder, and used that fire to burn a village).

I feel like I should personally apologize to Annie the Dice Bag Lady, champion of realistic female miniatures, for having painted blondie here and her chainmail monokini.

So that completes my entries for this year's AHPC, other than my curtgeld figure to be unveiled this weekend.   Thank you Curt and the minions for organizing and doing this.   I am pleased that I exceeded my modest goal for this year.  When I choose 500 points, it was at a rather dark time when my wife had undergone two emergency surgeries for cancer and I didn't think she would make it to spring.   The Challenge gave me something to focus on and was good for my mental health.  Kay is doing remarkably well now, things are under control, and the fact that I could exceed my goal is a reflection of how well things have gone.

Blessings all.

Mike the Mad Padre

Padre, these are some very nice models. I really like your pallet choice on the elfish ladies as well. The wizardess/shaman bears a striking resemblance to Daenerys Targaryen of the show Game of Thrones. I imagine that may aid her performance on the table as Daenerys is a briliant tactician both on the battlefield and in the political realm. She is my favorite of the bunch. I quite like the Heresy style and as my older girls have elvish forces, I may have to seek out some heresy models for them to add to their forces.

The barbarian girl is a little "cheeky"! I'm sure you will be forgien as she is painted very well. She does seem to be a fitting companion to Kevin too!

I have enjoyed very much being your minion for this outing and you were amoung the few  fellows on the list that I knew beforehand! I am very glad that you came along and even more glad to know your wife is doing better. You were missed in the last outting, so I was very pleased to see you in the list for this one. I have really liked your LotR entries and the proxy models that you have sourced as I've still a ways to go in completeing my own LotR forces and proxies may fill some bit of that list. I look forward to seeing what else you come up with, but I'm sure that Mrs Padre will soon have you busy with 1:1 gardening projects!



From Michael P: Riders of Rohan (80 points)

To show faithful Thursday minion Dave some final love, here are seven plastic Games Workshop Riders of Rohan, led by Eomer, as one of my final two Thursday entries.

When GW launched its LOTR line around 2006, my teenage son and I gamed with these models quite a bit, but they were very hastily painted and over half of them were still mostly in their white primer, and then gathered dust for almost a decade as my son lost interest. Since my LOTR gaming has picked up again, I decided to use this Challenge to give them a 100% new paint and basing job.

Horse archers.  Mmmmm..  In Dragon Rampant these are my favourite troops: Heavy Riders with Bows.  Very useful.

Forth, Eorlingas!  All of these are plastic except for Eomer.  The LOTR line of figures is mostly still for sale and you can find them if you dig around on the GW website.  However, all the personality figures like Eomer are now resin, and sometimes not that well cast, though the pricing hasn't come down, strangely enough.  While I would like some more mounted Rohirrim, I think I will source them elsewhere.  The Footsore Miniatures line of Goth cavalry would do nicely, I think.

These eight 28mm mounted figures should net me 80 points.

The only thing I like almost as much as Star Wars is LotR! These are exceedingly well done, Padre! I really like Eomer and it makes me glad(somewhat) that i can still get  him from GW as the Ebay prices do get quite hefty! It is a shame that GW didn't reduce the price a smidge, but I know I can raise the dosh for models I like... like Lurtz!  I quite like the basing on these fellows and and the spot colors on the shields and horse tack. Now you need to  ride some Urks down! ;)





From PeterD SYW Light Dragoons (40 points)

So this will be my last regular Thursday post, and possibly my final post for the Challenge.  After a clear out week last week (3 posts), real life has slowed me down big time.  Most notably a four day trip across Canada for a family funeral.  But I have finally finished my 15th Light Dragoons for my SYW Sharp Practice project. 

Figures are of course 28mm from the Perry AWI Range- the whole range is gold, go look at  them!

I came into the Challenge with two main goals - a 21 man Light Dragoon Unit and a 30-man Highlander Unit.  While the highlanders are only about 2/3rds done, these four lads make up the last of the 15th Light Dragoons

Oops I need to straighten out some sabres down the line.

This unit started out fast with 8 troopers plus officer, but slowed down over the challenge, being released in drips and drabs as I found other distractions.  However, this is it for the Light Dragoons. 

Just in case anyone suspects me of recycling the same figures week after week, I present to full regiment (for my purposes).  That's two squadrons of 8 troopers, each with an officer.  In addition there is a bugler and two pickets with pistols out.

This week that's 4 mounted 28mm figures for 40 points, bringing me to 699 points YTD.  I need another 101 points to hit my target.  There's an outside possibility of that happening but what's next on the workbench includes more lace wars stuff. I've really enjoyed returning the the Lace Wars but they these units require that you pack a lunch and make it a full day's outing, so I'm not holding my breath on hitting my 800 pt target


This is a splendid unit, Peter! They are really impressive when ranked up! I like the addition of the outriders for the utility in gaming too. It has been a treat minioning your collection of 7YW stuff. Most of my research is in the fighting around the Great Lakes which is mainly Marines, Rangers, and the Tribes. I know little of the European side save that some of the nations wore wigs and hats with metal inserts! ;)
Still you have amassed quite the collection for Sharp Practice and this force of dragoons is one of my favorites of the lot!
Keep your powder dry and perhaps you will get another volley off before challenge end....or at least a snap fire! ;)

Jez Todd - Goth Scouts -(25 points)

Hi All

Only a small cavalry base so just 20 points to add. This base will be used in the Basic Impetus 2 army options which for the Goths have a cavalry scout unit option. Just did these up quickly and they are two Wargames Foundry figures. Did an arm swap to create the pointing figure and a hand swap  for the other figure just to add variety.

That looks like it will be it for me ... possibly a few extra cavalry and our "Curtgeld" (Matt and I working as team) to post on the weekend.

Thanks to all as really enjoyed being part of the group - time to start playing more games now!

Cheers Jez

Nicely done, Jez! You are not far off in your calculations, but I'm the gleeful fellow that appreciates free hand shields and banners. Plus you performed conversions which my favorites are ones that I can't find ! ;)

Since I am going to be fired in the morning, I'll summon the last bit of minion powers granted by the Snowlord and pip this entry 5 points for shield work and appenadge swap...just don't tell Curt about the side points!

It has been great fun getting to preview your work, The best part of minioning IS the backstage pass for previewing the work. It is supposed to be work, but it seems more like guarding a candy shop!

I do hope you get a few more completed, and do enjoy your game time. Perhaps these freshly painted fellows will avoid the curse and perform exceedingly well...or at least last beyond turn 1! ;)

From AaronH - A variety of things to wrap up(198 points)

This is my last post. The boys are on Spring Break and we are off to sunny California, where it will not be quite as nice as it is here in Colorado, oddly.

This post is all over the place as it's made up of stuff that I've been tinkering with since the challenge started.

First up to bat is a unit of 24 28mm Celts from Warlord Games, Black Tree Designs and Wargames Factory (yuck).

This unit is on four 60mm x 60mm bases from Litko. I put the BTD guys up front and the Wargames Factory in the back and fill out the unit with Warlord. The Wargames Factory Celts are soooo bad. They are just soul crushing to paint. BTD on the other hand makes some really nice sculpts. I'm looking forward to checking out Victrix's new plastics as I'm sort of over the Warlord kits at this point.

The rear view. Lots of clunky, non-natural looking dudes visible here.

Next up is an ECW command stand. With this I have enough for a Bde so I can actually play. These guys are all Warlord Games.

These are both nice models, especially the general waiving his flash purple hat. The flag is out of the box set for the plastics. I had to add my own wire spear.

The next figure is a single EIR command model that I didn't have done in time for the last post. This one is an Aquilifer. I put him on a low profile base since I plan on having him on a larger command base and don't want it to stick out above the ground work.

This is another Warlord Games model. He's very nice, one of their better sculpts in the range I think.

The next three are more RPG models. The two swordsmen are from North Star miniatures and are part of the Frostgrave line. Very nice models. Clean, well sculpted casts but not too much detail.

The wizard is a bones model. He was supposed to be Solistarian, the elvish Wizard in our group. Sadly, Sully's player lives on the East coast and dials in to the games. He bought his own model for Sully and it ended up being GW's High Elf Arch Mage. Very much an over the top model. As I have the same model, already painted, this one will be going onto the bench.

Next up are three Star Wars Armada X-Wings from Fantasy Flight games.

These photos really didn't come out well. They are from yellow squadron. I'm not thrilled with the job I did on them, which is why they are not red squadron. I did learn some things about painting models this small which should make the rest go better. These are probably 3mm models.

Last, but certainly not least, are two GW Lord of the Rings Mordor trolls. These can also serve as ogres for D&D.

These are really great models. I'm building an army just around them, I like them so much.

These guys are all metal. You can see just how huge they are in the group shot at the top of the page. They dwarf the ECW commanders on horses.

Since I'm throwing this post together as we are packing (much to the pleasure of my wife as I'm sure you can imagine), I didn't have time for close ups. I came in below my score this year. D&D ended up taking a lot of my painting time.

As always, this was a great experience and something I feel quite privileged to be a part of. I'm also relieved it's over.


Well that is certainly an eclectic points bomb! I'm kinda gobsmacked on where to start!
The Celts are certainly colorful, and I do commiserate over the WGF stuff, you certainly do get what you pay for. They are an ok filler though and their lack of detail and awkward animation does add to the group...most especially when regulated to the back ranks. ;)
Congrats on getting a brigade of ECW, hopefully you'll get lucky in finding an opponent as it would be a shame for that punchy officer to command from a display shelf.  The Aquilifier is indeed a very fine model and his dynamic pose is matched well with your brush. The dungeon party is a very sweet morsel too, I quite like the fellow going Babe Ruth with the sword.
Your fighters for the Star Wars Armada game came out well too for the wee scale. I think they are a touch tiny for yellow to work well. Although wife-y approved, I haven't gone Armada yet as I'm still snatching x-wing and Imperial Assualt goodies before they vanish. Still I have seen the fighter squadrons and these are nicer than the stock ones.
And finally the Isengard Trolls. GW LotR are what pulled me back into fantasy. Ihave friends who swear by the Mitril miniature line, but I prefer the Perry sculpts. The line has great animation and a consistant scale and the detail blows the Mitril line away IMHO. These trolls are very well done and whether you use them to crush Gondor men-at-arms or as proxy Ogres in D&D, that is a wonderful paintjob you gave them.
Have fun on your vacation and it has been a pleasure to perform editorial duties for your posts.
I'm still wishing for a few more weeks of AHPC, but the season has to move on. At least Adepticon is next week! ;)