From ByronM - Greek Slingers and some old Warhammer Terrain ( 62 points)

I just managed to finish these few things up to squeak them in today rather than waiting another week to post them.

First up are two terrain pieces that I have wanted to do for a long time, yet for one reason or another never seemed to hit the painting table.  To give you an idea how long, I bought these at the GW Baltimore Games Day 2004 back when I was an Outrider (a long since dead program where GW actually promoted the hobby and had people teaching painting, teaching games, running sponsored events and tournaments, and helping at Games Days)!

Anyway I bought these two Forgeworld pieces back then for use as Fantasy terrain as I thought they were very cool looking and would fit with almost anything.  I then promptly put them in one of my many "to get to boxes / closets" and forgot about them.  With the Greek project underway, I kept thinking about some terrain options and these popped into my mind, so I dug them out.

First up is the well, which has several elements that the Greeks wouldn't have (like a metal water tray) but I think it fits well enough anyway.  I wanted to keep the stone work a sandy colour to fit with much of what we think of as Greek stone work, but also wanted a contrast colour for the tile and rim of the well, so did them in various greys.

To add further contrast I did the wood roof with various browns to add some variation rather than being monochromatic.  Lastly I based it to match my Greeks and added some moss and foliage around the well and on the roof.  Oh and the roof section can slide in and out to make sure it doesnt get broken and make packing easier.

The second piece of terrain is a bloomery.  I did the same stone colours as the well for this one, but without any accent pieces to help show the utilitarian nature of it.  It was simply a work piece, nothing fancy.

The wood edging got a bit of extra colour mixed in to show some wood grain, and the billows got painted pale.  It then got the same base treatment as all my other Greeks.

I decided not to attach the lever that would pump the billows and am not sure what I am going to do with it yet.  I may go back and attach it, or may just paint it and lay it on the base.  My issue is that it is a long thin piece of resin that sticks up and away from any protection.  Since I have to pack terrain away and don't have room to leave everything out all the time I am almost 100% assured of it breaking off at some point if I attach it.

I love both of these pieces, and in typical Forgeworld fashion they are long since discontinued....  Which is a shame as I think lots of people would buy them if they could.

Last up, is a small unit of Greek slingers from Victrix.  I much prefer these models over the Warlord ones as they have a lot more character and form to them.  However, as usual I have a complaint.  The box is advertised as Greek Peltasts, Javenin men, and Slingers, but you can only make 8 slingers out of the 56 figures in the box!  The box actually tells you that on the back, but the website does not, so you don't find that out until you get the box in!  Worse, there are only 2 poses so they are repetitive.  Really disappointing as I wanted more slingers, but am not willing to shell out for additional boxes at 8 a piece.

It's not all bad though, as the box has 56 men for about $70 Canadian once it gets here, and they are all really nice (and the Peltasts and Javenin guys have multi pose models).  At about $1.50 a figure that's an amazing deal compared to GW pricing gouging.

I decided to base my missile troops for this project on 40mm x 40mm bases instead of the deeper 40mm x 60mm that I am doing the Hoplites on.  I am also putting only 2 per base to help show the spread out nature of the troops, which is likely still too close together for the slingers but 1 per base didn't look like enough men per unit, so it's a trade off.

 

They are done fairly plainly as there is not many detail pieces on the figures.  The figures have detail, just nothing specific to pick out.  Its all robes and flesh.  I may decide to add some trim or pattern to them, but not really sure, after all these were the men fighting with slings because they could not afford a shield, and if they couldn't do that would they really spend it on fancier clothing?

_________________________________

There was I thinking that I could enjoy a couple of beers safe in the knowledge that Byron had already posted, but no!  Cracking stuff  Sir!  The terrain is clearly worth 20 points all day long, but I am adding a couple of extra for the detailing so 62 in total to your tally.

From KeithS: Irish Hounds (80 points)

Slipping in this one at the last minute...

Continuing with the Irish, somehow I ended up with two sets of Irish war dogs -- it seemed easier to paint them all than sell a set on eBay.  These are the usual 28mm style from Gripping Beast.  Unfortunately, only two poses for the pups, plus a handler for each set.  I did a little internet research on Irish Hounds -- I thought they came in a variety of colors, but apparently they are all pretty much grey.  However, I did a pair in a dark brownish-red just for a little variety (I was thinking of the hound in the movie Thirteenth Warrior).

The family portrait:

A couple of the springers and their handler.

 And some dog butt.

 These guts probably heard some food hit the bottom of their food bowl (that's the only thing that gets my own dog moving fast).

That's it for this quick edition of Life in Dark Age Ireland.  Nothing too exciting, but a worthy addition to my Irish war band for a future game of Saga.  I'm tracking 16 28mm figs for 80 points.  Next in the queue are the Irish elites to finish that sub-project, so that I can start to tear into some other things I'm itching to paint.  As a federal employee, depending on how the whole budget thing goes, I might have a lot of painting time in the very near future!

________________________________

And there was I thinking this was going to be a quiet weekend!  Well done Keith, another 80 points to the tally.

Flight - or the bonus round that never was: From Richard C (30 points)

The subject for the first bonus round didn’t appeal at first. My interests pretty much end with the 19^th century (I did consider a member of Napoleon’s Balloon Corps, but even I draw the line at too many Napoleonics!!!). I did make model aircraft in the dim and distant past – Saab Drakens F14 Tomcats were particular favourites. 

I then thought wings – you need wings for flight. Why not something winged, Greek and mythological? No, I’ll leave that to a later submission.

Instead, I plumped for something with wings that was a little more martial. Back in the 1970s, I added a Polish Winged Hussar from Minifigs to my ever-growing lead pile. Ever since then, I have always had a soft spot for these colourful chaps - indeed, my good friend and Minion Michael A painted an old school Winged Hussar by Hinchliffe a couple of years ago.

An order to Warlord games saw the three figured landing on the mat, quickly followed by pennants courtesy of Battle Flags. Reference material came in the form of the Osprey Warrior series book on the Hussars (a last minute Christmas present from the long-suffering Briony). The pennants are from the fine folk at Battle Flags.

I was originally going to base them as fighting in summer, but I then re-watched Alexander Nevski, and thought that a charge through the snow might look good. I therefore went for part of a charge at the Battle of Pitschen (Byczyna) which took place on January 24^th 1588.

Sadly, real life got in the way, and I missed the posting deadline. So these must constitute not only a normal post but also my first post

– although looking at the entries for that bonus round, my interpretation may have got me in, but the superb standard of the entrants would have put mine to shame.

3 x 28mm cavalry figures from Warlord.

___________________________________

Welcome aboard the good ship Challenge VIII mon brave!  Sorry that these missed the the 'flight' round, but happy to see you on the scoresheet with a solid 30 points, bravo Sir! 

From TeemuL: Great Old One and Old Beastmen (65 points)

Nurgle seems to be strong this year, there has been lots of Nurgle posts on this Challenge on various Warhammer battlefields. As I mentioned earlier, I'm joining in a Age of Sigmar Firestorm campaign with my mixed Chaos army. I painted some Beastmen before the challenge and the puppet master (Tzeentch Sorcerer) at the start of the challenge. Now I present some additional forces. Behold for the Great (Old) Unclean One, the metal sculpt that you can use to kill people for real. It's not my intention, do not worry.

I started stripping paint from this one before the new Nurgle models were announced during the Christmas period. This is of course much smaller than the new plastic sculpt, probably the size of new Nurgle Beast. I have plans in the future to give him a bigger base and something to make him stand taller to better match the new model. But that will have to wait for the inspiration and time.

I aimed for a pretty simple and basic green paint job, with hints of yellow and blue. I could have (or should have) used much more time on this nice sculpt, but then it would probably never be ready nor the way I would imagine it to be.

I used the classic Goblin Green and green sawdust on the base with couple of Middenheim tufts to give him an old school look.

Then some really quick paintjobs, this is basically my personal lowest possible tabletop (not far from the highest, though:)). Then old beastmen from the Battle Masters game. It was a co-operation of GW and MB, if I remember correctly, similar to HeroQuest and Space Crusade. I have never actually played the game, but years ago I bought a box of miniatures and there were quite a lot from that game as well.

The paint scheme is quite simple and in the end everything was covered in flesh wash. Only the horns and hairy parts got a light drybrush from Ushbati Bone. Being all identical, I made some freehand arrows to their shields, very crude and not worth of extra points. Some green sawdust, tuft and goblin green was enough for the base. They have 32mm bases, I plan to use them in my Chaos army as Gors.

Great Unclean One fits nicely to the monster theme of this Challenge (although Curt is not the biggest Nurgle fan here), but I have no idea about the point value. 54mm figure, 10 points? 28mm vehicle, 15 points? 28mm monster, xx points? The beastmen are 28mm, and kind of monsters as well, so they score for 50 points.

Here are all them

__________________________________

Wonderful Teemu and who doesn't like a big scary monster, especially with this year's theme?  He certainly is a big fella and so I am going to score him as a vehicle giving you a total of 65 points to your tally.

Side Duels Roster and Points Updated

Hi All,

The fifth points update for the Side Duels and Challenges has been posted. We've had some movement in both the Renaissance (SD3) and Fantasy (SD6) Duels but not much else.

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

Cheers,
Millsy The Duels Wallah

From GrahameH: WWII German and Ancient Numidians (820)

As soon as the challenge started real life got in the way and this is my first entry. My painting has slowed considerably compared to last year, but have managed to completed some painting.

First. Two captured Sherman tanks (Battlefront 15mm) for my 21st Panzer Div 1944 for Rapid Fire.

 

Second.

A battalion of infantry, again for the 21st Panzer Div (Battlefront 15mm - HMGs Forged in Battle) (Total 31 Figures and 2 HMG)

 

 Next 15mm German Cavalry Regiment 1940 - Rapid Fire

(52 Mounted Figures - Peter Pig)

Dismount (Battlefront and Peter Pig Horse Holders)

(15mm 38 Foot - 2 Guns with 3 crew each - 18 Horses and 6 Horse Holders)

Finally 

15mm Numidians (Essex)

A hut, 36 mounted figures -102 Infantry - 2 Elephants and 5 Crew each)

 

4 Warbands

1. Warband

Skirmishers

Hopefully the next posting will be the transport for Infantry 21st Panzer and German Cavalry Regt.

______________________________________________

Welcome to Challenge Grahame and what an entry!  Staggeringly good work Sir and I can't thank you enough for the handy breakdown of units to help with my awarding of points!  I have to confess that I know little of working with 15mm miniatures, but when I look and my beloved 28mm and try to imagine working on something half the size my admiration for your post increased ten fold.  Tremendous start to your campaign and I am happy to award you an impressive 820 points!

From ByronM - 30k Death Guard Jetbikes and More Greeks (170 points)

For this week's submission I have the two units, some more Death Guard and Greeks (Spartans). 

First up is the unit of 30k jet bikes that I was trying to complete last week, at the last minute for submission.  They ended up taking longer than I thought with last minute details like all the control buttons and screens, the seats, and getting the bases just right.

This unit is made up of 6 scimitar pattern jet bikes from the Horus Heresy era.  I fell in love with these when they were released a few years ago, but the price kept me from buying them until recently.  I didn't want to do a small squad of 3 since they would get wiped out too quickly like that, and I wanted them to have some staying power, so I did 6 of them.

Similar to all my other 30k Death Guard units, they have been painted to show heavy damage as they fight against the traitor Horus on Istavan IV at the outbreak of the war.

The bikes are supposed to be mounted on the normal GW 50mm clear round flying stands and come with those along with 30mm tall mounting posts.  I thought both of these looked like crap with them, and the normal pill shaped bike bases are way to short at 50mm long for these behemoths.  So, I custom laser cut some 32mm wide (the new standard marine base size) x 100mm deep bases.

I picture these bikes hovering along barely skimming the ground, rather than flying around like the Eldar jet bikes do.  Therefore, I put some short brass rod into the bases to mount the bikes on at various heights, but all low to the ground.  While 1 or 2 are a little too low when view up close from the side, I like the effect overall and think they look much better this way than the official "up in the sky" look.

Next up, I continued along on my Greek project, really trying to make sure I complete enough over the challenge to host a valid game with them for the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts and not have to wait until next years challenge to finish them up.

This is another unit of 16 of the Warlord (Immortal) 28mm Greeks, once again done up as Spartans.  I am pretty sure I will paint the remainder of the armoured Warlord figures as Spartans to keep the look consistent for them.  I will keep the Victrix ones that I have for Athenian and Thebian units as they are already supposed to look slightly different.

This unit is once again done up on 40mm wide x 60mm deep bases to help protect the spears and allow bases to meet in combat rather than trying to line units and breaking spears off while trying to intermingle them.

While I really don't care for the figures, the lack of detail and the uniformality of them certainly make the units fast to paint, and they don't look bad once they are ranked up.  Four units down, only a LOT more to go.

16 x 28mm greeks = 80 points
6 x bikes = 90 points
Total = 170 points

___________________________________________

Another fabulous post Byron, but the stars of the show, for me, are the jet bikes - they are so cool!  I love the basing solution and when I went back to have another look at them found myself making all sorts of silly sound effects as I imagined them buzzing around the battlefield.  Tremendous painting, basing and detailing and so I will be awarding points for full vehicles giving you a healthy 170 points to your tally.  Bravo Sir! 

PeteF The North Remembers - Stark Bannerman (6 points)

I'm a big fan of Game of Thrones and have wanted to do some conversions for a while - I have some Dothraki that I started, gathering dust on the shelf of shame, which I'll get to after the Challenge.

I was assembling some Saxon Fyrd for my SAGA army and saw that one of the bodies had a diamond quilted jerkin (or is it a surcoat? Jacket? leathery tunic?) like the ones the Stark footsoldiers have on the show. I got his head from a Perry foot knight sprue. The helmet was the closest thing I could find to a Stark lid.

My other SAGA shields are decals - I decided to hand paint this one - Winter is Coming! I might be getting a magnifying glass for my birthday to help with this sort of thing.

I enjoy the occasional game of SAGA and think it would be fun to have Game of Thrones factions - one day I'd like to make up unique battle boards (and dice?) for them but in the meantime you could just use the existing battle boards. Anglo Danes for the Starks. 

Aiming to post something every week - even if it's only for 5 points. 

Wargames Factory Saxon Fyrd foot soldier with Perry Foot Knights head.

_____________________________________

The joy of the Painting Challenge is that it keeps us all motivated and, well painting, and if that means one at a time then so be it.  Who is going going to quibble at a post of one miniature when it is done so well?  Fabulous job Pete, the freehand on the shield is sublime and a lovely conversion to boot so I am awarding 6 points to your tally for this.

From KeithS: Irish Spearmen (80 points)

Ho hum, more spearmen!  Today's batch is my first group of 16 Irish.  They are all from Gripping Beast.  They're a rough crew, to be sure!  How are they different from the Welsh I recently did?  Well, they have even fewer shoes and fewer shirts.

A few up close from behind, including one of the more natural lads sans shirt.

I rather like the poses...very much action oriented!

And some more.  I think that the tassels are supposed to be fur tufts for decoration...anyone out there know?

Yes, yes - I cheated and used shield decals!  However, in my defense, I bought them ages ago and it really would've been a waste not to.  And, they are specifically for the Irish and not just generic Dark Ages stuff.  I promise to hand paint a hundred shields as penance!

That's it.  I have another largish batch of Irish to do as I can find he time (work is a real nuisance, making me travel to such wonderful winter destinations as Omaha and Albuquerque!).

That's sixteen lads at 5 points a head, so an easy 80 points.

______________________________________

Cracking post Keith and I love how we now are distinguishing between the Welsh and Irish by a lack of shoes and shirts.  You really can't knock the sculpts and poses and you have done another excellent job.  As for the shields, I think the decals look great and I know how hard they are to get right - fiddly little things - so well done again.  Another 80 points to your tally and best of luck next week.