From ByronM: More Greeks and Mechanicum (140 points)

Hello everyone, I am once again back with more entries to two out of three of my big projects this winter, Greeks and 30k Mechanicum.  I had planned some 30k Death Guard for this week but fell behind a bit, but am madly trying to finish them off today, so I may yet get them in later tonight...

First up this week though are 4 more Castellax Battle-Automata, these ones armed with the much more basic mauler bolt cannon.

Even though the gun is more basic than the others that I have done, it is still an upgraded version of a heavy bolter that is capable of cutting space marines down without a save.  The model also is pretty damn cool with a huge belt feed going to the gun which looks awesome!  The issue with it is the belt feed looks like it holds about 3x more rounds than the ammo box does that is mounted to their backside.... sigh.  Regardless of that, I still love the look of feel of these giant robots of death!

This brings my Mechanicum force to 8 Castellax completed already, and at roughly 100 points each that's already almost 1/2 an army done!  Expect more to come soon.

Next up this week is another unit of 16 Greek hoplites.  Once again these are the very poor Warlord (Immortal) figures, but I have been forcing myself to work through the pile of these before going onto the better Victrix and Foundry figures that have been arriving from various orders, as I don't think I could force myself to come back to these things after working on better figures.

This batch I painted up in white and blue in various patterns and am picturing them as an Athenian unit.  I realize that most units would be more mixed with colours and styles historically, but am choosing to simplify at least a few units so that they look like units and are easy to keep straight on the battle field.  I know, not very historical, but I play more for the look and tactics than any real historical recreation reason, I don't have a burning need or desire to be 100% accurate.

 

I respect those that make sure it's all accurate, but despise those that berate people that take it to the level of "That shade of green was not used until 1941 and your figures represent men from 1939 and therefore I won't play with you", which there is a lot of around my area, and one of the reasons I never wanted to play historical for the longest time (Until I met and started playing with Curt, Greg, Dallas and a few others in the area).  As long as you don't do something like paint your Panzers pink, I could care less.

OK, rant mode over and back on topic...  While the unit may not be perfectly accurate, I think they look good as a unit and will make it simple for people to tell them apart from other units where every figure essentially has the same pose. Once again, these were done to a very basic wargame / tabletop level with only colours blocked in, a wash, and a highlight.  On the table they look pretty solid and I am happy with them, when I pick them up and look closely, I kinda cringe, but again I have too many units of them to get done to take much more time than this on them.

Back to work now, and hopefully I will talk to you all again late tonight with another last minute submission this week.  If not, I hope everyone has a great week and keep those brushes flying until next week, I am loving all the great submissions everyone is putting in!  They are keeping me hugely motivated this year trying to keep up with some of you other amazing artists.

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Fabulous Byron and once again thank you for reminding me that not everyone is having a beer when I am.  Cracking work Sir and I just love your work, the painting is brilliant and I love the full armour vibe that is going through your posts. 

From TeemuL: Metal Guard (35 points)

Here I jump into the world of Warhammer 40000. I used to play the game quite lot in the 3rd and 4th edition, but then friends moved, real jobs started, girls got into the everyday life and so on...

The 8th edition kind of simplifies the rules, but with the huge codexes and lots of special rules of units, I'm not sure anymore. Nevertheless after one demo game I decided to give it a try and started painting old metal figures I have had for ages. The purpose was join a local slow grow league, but long period of flu on all family members, work travels and other things said no. Third round of the league starts next week and I still don't have my army on the size of the first week. Well, after I realized I won't be able to get my paintings done in time, I have painted something else. Anyway, I'd like to finish (or at least continue, as the proper saying goes) my project, so here is a Cadian command group.

I'm not using them as Cadians, I will be using mixed group of Astra Militarum, including Cadian, Tallarn, Valhallan and Mordian (Sanders, they are coming), but painting them all in the similar colors to tie them together.

They are all old metal miniatures, with some small changes. The one guy on the lascannon base has a plastic backpack, which has a nice antenna, so he is now a vox caster, or how was it call. The sergeant/lieutenant guy had an accident, when I was stripping paint. He lost his original sword in the process, so I used the opportunity to give him a nasty looking chainsword.

The current rules say, that there must be a company or platoon commander for each command squad (earlier versions of rules used to have 5 men command squads with officer included), so here's one. To add more the mix, he is a Valhallan officer, I believe.

There is a story behind the mixing units and chosen colors, but I just haven't written it yet, so keeping it secret. :) I believe you can handle the tension. This last picture shows the commander and command squad together, you can see that the unified color scheme ties them nicely together.

4x28mm figures and 1x28 crew served weapon should give me 30 points, if I understood the crew served weapon part correctly.

Next there will be some Oldhammer for Age of Sigmar (and hopefully a Big Freaking Gun).

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Splendid work Teemu, a lovely group and we are all looking forward to the great reveal of the secret paint recipe.  I love that commander's hat, it lends a certain Cossack feel to the unit.  That's a pretty big lascannon too and must have been a contender for next week's bonus round, so I can't wait to see what you have found that is bigger!  I make it 5 x figures and a weapon so that's 35 points for this submission. 

From AlexS: An Estate Villa or усадьба (45 points)

Hello everybody! My name is Alex, I'm from Russia, and I'm a loser. After the solemn dropping of the paint bomb last week, I decided to paint 300+ miniatures, thereby closing the required number of points. Then tell everyone:

And before March 21, drink vodka, play a balalaika and ride a bear.  But instead I went for a walk with the children, ate, slept and talked about moving to a new apartment. So today is just a small addition.

Russia before the revolution and industrialization was an agrarian country. 90 percent of its inhabitants lived in villages.

Even the nobles had houses in the countryside, which were called "усадьба" (estate, villa), and lived in these houses part of the year. In front of you is a photograph of the most famous estate of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. For such buildings, there is an entrance with columns and a balcony.

I decided to do something like that with my own hands. I also added a kennel and a barn.

Then I painted these structures for a long time. I used both an airbrush, a brush, and a dry brush, but I'm still not very satisfied with the result of my work. But, I think, on the table, from a long distance it will look normal. Especially if you decorate everything with miniatures.

Thank you very much for your attention. I hope this post gave you interesting information about architecture in Russia and now you know that there were not only "izba"

2 piece 6"x 6"x 6" terrain - 40 points

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I always look forward to your posts Alex, they are always so creative and funny - not to mention informative.  I really like the усадьба with its grand balcony and it certainly looks the part when defended by the nobles.  Your imaginative use of materials and painting are really bringing this period of history alive for me, thank you.  Thank you also for the handy addition of the rule to help with the awarding of points.  I am more than happy with your assessment, but it doesn't seem enough to me so I am awarding a bonus 5 points for the scratch building over the three structures, giving you 45 points for this entry.

Side Duels Roster and Points Updated

Hi All,

The fourth points update for the Side Duels and Challenges has been posted.

There have been a couple of corrections based on emails forward by various bods. Many thanks guys, that is very helpful indeed and I applaud your honesty!

As always, please check the points and make sure they're correct.

Cheers,
Millsy The Duels Wallah

From Mike D: St Celestine (25 pts)

Like a lot of folks, I suppose, I buy and paint more GW models than I ever play. I was big WHFB player, but since the Old World folded I buy figures because they look great, and then when it comes time to put them into a feasible army, I just am not able to keep up with all the changes to the games. Case in point, this great St Celestine model that came out in "Triumvirate of the Imperium" set at the end of 7th ed. 40k. I bought the box because I loved the figure, but it sat on my shelf, and there wasn't any urgency on my part to get it painted and on the table. Originally, this was supposed to my entry to for "Flight" theme, but I missed the deadline.

In past year or so I've also started using an airbrush for priming and base coats. This model is one of my first attempts at doing something a bit more technical. I painted the armor and the Celestine's wings with the airbrush. Also, this is my first shot using the photo background Santa gave me this past Christmas.

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This is sensational stuff Mike, wow!  Like you I have form for buying things that catch my eye and I can certainly see why this one ended up in your collection.  You are really getting to grips with that airbrush too, the graduation of colour on St Celestine's wings works brilliantly.  I am sorry that this missed the bonus round, it would have made a cracking entry.

With regards to points, I simple can't mark St Celestine as a single figure, it is so complicated and spectacular that I will consider her as a vehicle in this case, giving you 25 points for the submission. Bravo Sir. 

From PeteF: Old School Minifigs 56eme Ligne (120 points)

I have a lot of painting old school 25mm Minifigs ahead of me. I started wargaming with Airfix soldiers and Minifigs in the 1970s - using Bruce Quarrie's Airfix rules (I'd love to get hold of an old copy - but $150 on Ebay!).

At the time - and up until the early 2000s my Dad collected and painted the Anglo Allied 100 days army - aiming for 1 figure per 25 actual men - the battalions are 20-30 strong. Mostly Minifigs with some Hinchcliffe/Foremost. This army was to have been adopted by my brother, but he passed away in 2016, so the army is coming to me. There are thousands of them - most still wrapped in boxes in the UK ready for transportation when people visit us here in the US.

The problem is balance - the army needs opposition, mainly in the form of French line infantry. Minifigs can be had from Calivers (and I give them a lot of credit for taking over the molds) but they keep the VAT AND charge a lot for shipping (much more than actual cost, especially if you take the VAT cheekiness into account) - so I am always on the lookout for cheap French Ligne. Calivers orders are a special treat.

I picked up most of these guys at Enfilade! 2017 (sidenote: if you are in the PNW over memorial day weekend Enfilade! is a lot of fun) where somebody had donated them to the NWHGMS - they ended up costing me 15 cents each (instead of $2.20 from the UK). This is the second of my Enfilade! battalions and I'm looking forward to hunting around at this year's bring and buy to see if I can find any more like this.

Out of habit I base these for Airfix even though there isn't much chance they'll ever fight those rules - 15mmx20mm for each infantry figure. 6 companies of 4 figures each. In Airfix rules each figure representes 33 men making for largish - fully manned - battalions of around 800 men. They work great for Black Powder and I'm looking at trying some other rulesets this year (ESR, Over the Hills and Shako) with our wargaming group.

Most of the 100 days army that are based are blu-tacked onto card - one of my projects it to get the whole lot onto wood with the PVA/crushed cat litter/flock/static grass/tufts/moss combo that I use.

The flags I do are from warflags.com and home inkjet printed on linen paper. I like the way they come out. 

French Blue - I never found a Vallejo colour that works for Ligne but thanks to someone's blog I discovered Lifecolor Matt French Blue - I like the way this turns out (mixing with Vallejo dark prussian blue for basecoat and magic blue for highlights).

It was a lot of fun to paint these - Minifigs mean reminiscing about taking over the dining room table for days on end and thinking about family. I don't mind the somewhat static look of the serried ranks compared with modern 28mm, or 1805 uniforms standing in for 1815 uniforms. Still trying to figure out the best way to paint piping and the little "N's".

Voltigeurs get the horn. Fusiliers get an "N".

Nassauers fighting for the French

The last time I wargamed with my brother I was the French and had to use Nassau troops for one of my Brigades. The 56th Ligne takes me 1 battalion closer to the goal of an all French French army. 

My brother contemplating his next move against the turncoat Nassauers

1st & 2nd companies with command group

24 x 25mm all infantry - Minifigs (standard bearer might be another manufacturer) mostly from 1980s - 120 points.

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What a fabulous start to the day Pete, wonderful work Sir.  I do marvel at the sheer spectacle of Napoleonic troops, but strangely have no desire to paint any myself, probably to do with my lack of patience and the fear of falling foul of the dreaded button counters.  These have a wonderful nostalgia  to them and I do hope that you are successful in completing your army.  A well deserved 120 points.

Hello Saturday!

Well good morning, can it really be Saturday again already?  I have decided to take a slightly different tack this morning as, on reflection, the haughty schoolmaster with his billowing academic gown and clouds of chalk dust just didn't really scream minion!  Making it all about me was in dreadfully poor taste and I will be atoning for my overreaching just as soon as I have performed this morning's duties.  My new mantra, 'Minions should be very rarely seen and only heard from when they have something to post' will be tattooed with a blunt spoon over my entire body.  On a more cheery note, as is permissible in the minion code, let's get on with the Saturday showcase!