From KeithS: More 25mm Fantasy (192 points)

As the challenge enters approaches its final month, I find myself thinking, "holy smokes - I need to get moving!"  Thus, I've started to paint all sorts of things in the little free time I seem to ever have.  This lot is a perfect example of that.  The first big batch is 24 various figures, all 25mm, in a variety of styles and from a bunch of different manufacturers.  Some came from eBay, some from grab bags at cons, and so on.  All of these guys got dungeon basing.

The first five are Heritage Kriegspielers Fantasy figures and are, oddly enough, knock-off Lord of the Rings figures from days gone by.  These guys are "Men of Ruin" (AKA Men of Rhun), though I think they look like over-sized gnomes or something.  They are cool, in any case, with their big conical helms.  Lots of personality.

Although all have similar axes, several of them have bows in cases.  I'm not sure why, but I really like these guys.  I painted them in standard attire though I'm not sure what they'll get used for.

These two guys are, I believe, from Minifigs.  They are not terribly exciting-looking Russians or Cossacks.  The detail is lacking in them, but whatever.  I tried doing an onion dome shield for the one guy..it turned out OK (at best).

These two are elves from Ral Partha.  Not sure how they got in the mix, but they are good quality sculpts, with interesting detail.  I always was a Ral Partha fan and that is reinforced every time I paint their stuff.

A larger group of men-at-arms.  They are fairly standard guardsmen types.  I'm not sure of the manufacturer(s).  The middle-ish guy with huge shield - he ended up with one probably too big for him.  I think it might be for 28mm guys!

From the back.  For some reason, the yellow-brown and blue color scheme really appeals to me.  As for the guy on the right, no pants and no shoes seems a bit of an odd fashion choice, but hey, who am I to judge.

There were three knights in the mix.  Each got a shield to paint...I like the left-most and hate the right-most.  However, I was too lazy to redo it.

From a different angle.  Why the middle guy has both a sword and a spear is beyond me.

These two guys really caught my attention.  They reminded me of something you might expect from a Conan story.  I'd love to find more of them and try some variations.

A mixed bag here.  The dwarf in the middle had two very open hands and didn't seem to be meant to be holding anything.  That seemed odd so I gave him an extra axe and shield I had lying about.  The wizard is Ral Partha, I believe, and the archer on the right screams Minifigs.

Another angle.  For the shield on the right guy, I tried to more or less match the previous knight - maybe he's a page or his huntsman.

The next batch is a group of seven dwarves mounted on bears.  This is my dwarf heavy cavalry for use with Chainmail.  They're from Ral Partha and I absolutely love them!

There are two style of riders, one in plate with an axe and one in chain with a polearm.  All were supposed to get shields, but they did not quite fit right on the platemail guys so I ended up painting them but not gluing them on.

The bears are also heavily armored and I love their scowls.

They are well-detailed figures and I will probably buy another batch one of these days.  They will definitely see some action in a future game!

That's all for this week.  38 figures for 190 points.  That puts me right on track for my goal of 1500, even with some work travel looming.  Considering how busy real life has been, I'm quite pleased.  However, maybe next year I can shoot for 2000.  We shall see.

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Wow Keith!  What a post, you really have got cracking on the lead pile this week.  Amazing miniatures with bags of character, but those bears have to be my favourites - wonderful stuff!  I am going to add a couple of bonus points for the hand painted shield designs taking your tally for this week to 192 points.