From StephenS: Jack Tars (50 Points)

G'day all! I'm excited to be back for my fourth round of this awesome painting challenge. A big shout out to Curt for all the effort that goes into running a global event like this!

Here is my first entry for Challenge IX - a Royal Navy section in 28 mm from Warlord Games.

I originally purchased these for an Operation: Sea Lion campaign; however, the ship has sailed on that particular project... These lads will instead join a list I'm building for Bolt Action and will add a splash of colour among the usual Early War British browns.

They were nice and quick to paint up, being basically just blue and khaki. I'm not sure what their fascination with Molotov cocktails is, as I presume they would have access to actual grenades? Also,  the British sailors have a reputation for not wasting alcohol! However, it gave me a chance to try a new flame technique. It's still a work in progress.

A quick and cheerful paint job to get my first points on the board. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you have a very Happy New Year!

Cheers,

Steve

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Well Hellooo sailor, welcome back to the Challenge! 

What a cracking first salvo - these swabbies look terrific, Stephen. I like your nice, bright and clean brushwork on these fellow - they really pop visually. I also think your flame effect came off quite nicely, especially on the chap who's about to toss his bottle of Bacardi. 

These ten tars will give you 50 points to get on the chart. Well done and Happy New Year to you and yours!

From PaulS: Industrial Terrain (20 Points)

One of my big themes this challenge is to build up a set of terrain for use in Necromunda. As you'd expect from Necromunda, everything needs to be grim and grimy, so lots of rust and dirt will be needed across everything. My pot of rust, that you saw used on the Blighthauled, is starting to run low... so I've been having a play with some of the AK Interactive liquids to see how they compare.

The first batch of items are barricades from the Necromunda box. The darker ones are all using the Modelmates rust. The large barricade on the far right is using the AK liquids and the front two on the left are using a combination of both. My personal preference is the Modelmates stuff as it gives a much grimier effect with an awful lot less effort. 1 pots vs 3. Turns out that Modelmates went under a few years back. thankfully it seems they were reselling a cinematic effects rust medium so I can actually buy it in much larger quantities for cheaper!

Next we have all the doors from the core box with some lighting effects thrown in for good effect. A lot of these have graffiti on them, mostly my cult logo, as seen in red on the small door. These clearly all belong in 'Stealer territory.

Necromunda tables need lots and lots of cover, as well as multiple levels, so what could be better than a massive stack of crates? these came from the DUST game and were one of the few things I held onto when I sold everything off. 15 of these should provide a bit of an interruption to shooting, which works well for my close combat Aberrants.

Lastly we have the active player token. Rusty and grimy from the slums

Here's a group shot with the Strawbear as a scale reference. This lot would take up about 1 cube, so should be about 20 points

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Oh curses, the reaving Strawbear returns once again! Oh, the fear, the horror, the, um, ...sneezy straw!

Awesome work on these terrain bits, Paul. That Modelmates rust is ace. I'm going to have to get some of that to try out. I also really like the inclusion of your Genestealer clan tags, nice one that. Our group is just about to move from Kill Team to Necromunda so these will be great inspiration for when I have to bang out some terrain.

20 points for you, Paul!

From DaveD: Cruel Seas part 2 - S Boats (21 Points)

A little more work done on the first elements of the German forces that are needed for a game on Sunday. I might get some more cargo ships done tomorrow - depending on visitors.

 So I have a S38 and a S100 completed. Again I added crew figures to these 4 to one (with the 3 weapons - one a scary quad 20mm!) and 3 to the other (with two weapons). A  few of you asked what I was using for crew - for these it is some re-purposed 1/300th Heroics and Ros modern Soviet Infantry I had in the spares pile  I used guys walking firing with their weapons cut off to lean into weapons as if firing. For the officer I had guys stood pointing - one of which I raised his arm - so these were placed on the bridge. the detail on the figures is pretty soft - they could just about be any nationality - so with a dark paint job, a bit of flesh added and a colour highlight for a life preserver I think  they raise the whole look.

Flags were used from the starter set - these had a hole drilled in the hull behind the wheelhouse and a pin attached for the flagstaff , the flag is then glued on with PVA then shaped.

these are good bit long than the British Vospers - and better armed ! 

bit of table salt used for creating the scenic shot!

2 x 1/300th vessels 

7 crew and two flags!

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Beautiful work, Dave! I like the clean lines of your E-Boats and the salt wakes really set them off nicely. Bravo.

It's funny, as I was just rummaging through my micro-armour spares to see if I could come up with the same type of mods for crewmen. Sociopaths in simpatico, it seems! ;o) Yours here look terrific and I'm sure we'll be seeing others doing much the same after seeing them.

From my math, this brace of E-boats and attendant crew will put you at 21 points. Lovely work Mr. Docherty.

From DavidB: Merry (belated) Christmas! (38 Points)

It is a grand thing to be back at the table for this AHPC IX! Don't mind the picture above, I had the Crimson Fists above and more on my desk till very recent. All the finished models are now back in the Sabol case. I had an October order from shapeway for Marine shoulder insignia which rejuvenated my desire to complete the iconic Crimson Fists. I began them in 2009-2010 and came back from Afghanistan with full intention of completing them. Unfortunately, the decals had peeled or fallen off most of the troops. Thanks to shapeway and modern computer science, I was able to fix all the above models and in my excitement, I repainted them in my new style. They were a nightshade blue dry brushed with hawk turquoise, but now they sport a multilayer blue with edge highlights blended with a dark blue wash. I looked for inspiration for another technique, but my google foo only found aqua metallic fists, and pages by our own GregB from the painting challenge and my own!....Greg, we apparently are the only fans of dark blue marines with a heavy scout presence.

The shapeway icons glued easily over the shoulder pads(even ones painted or with remnant decals)

I would include the 11 marines painted since last Friday, but I honestly don't know which assault marines with those striking yellow and black chainswords were the ones that were unpainted till now. The blue formula I use with every P3 blue paint works equally well over white or black undercoats. 

I'll just focus on the Lamenter Marine standing next to the other copy of Veteran exclusive and my used to be favourite all time marine model.

That is a hand painted insignia, and the wrinkled decal of the old favourite Chaplin just wrecks that paint job.

The lamenter was primed black and has a head swap from a deathwatch sprue. I used Iyanden darksun yellow as a base and used P3 cygnar yellow and rucksack tan to lighten it up. a watered down wash of Agrax earthshade shaded the crevices and a final highlight of cygnar yellow mixed with white finished the yellow armor.

lamenters use black and white checker board for heraldry and I included that on a knee pad. the other pad was painted red.

He is a one man army with the bolt gun, bolt pistol and thunder hammer. He will be an ally for an Inquisitor in Inquisi-mundia. I have no plans to paint a yellow army and also 60 odd icons!

The Iron Snakes benefited from shapeway icons also. They are from the basic(BASIC) box of $40 which gave me a small booklet of 8th edition 40k. These fellows are the new true scale marines which seem to be replacing the old Astartes forces. The marines not including Primaris marines seem to be getting weaker in the new rules. Terminators just don't have the same staying power and the rest just struggle.

I was going to paint them as Crimson Fists, but I like my Company of blue bloods filled with scouts. I thought maybe Raven guard or Doom Eagles, but I already have deathwatch for black marines. White scars were an option, but Id rather have an army of bikers for white scars.

Dan Abnett wrote about the Iron snakes and they are a mix of Inuit and Greek for background. Plain unpainted armor except for the white shoulder pads trimmed red with blue used for the chapter insignia and squad designators.

That appealed to me, so all future Primaris marines will be Iron Snakes for me

I used every grey available from the P3 line and used a wash of Nuln oil to tie them together. This was an important step as I used the cold greys to paint the darker shaded areas and used the warm greys to color the places that would be hit by light.

The Reviers are the new assault marines and have skull masks

I used green for the optics and helmet lenses

So here are my first seven models for the challenge. There will be a few more groups like this as I have always liked skirmish games and GW has really nailed it with Kill-team. The Primaris marines are my first official kill team squad. I could always use the 40k models iI have painted already, but what fun is that?! my wife would think I'm absolutely sick if I don't have a wish list for new models as well as piles of plastic and metal lying about.

I have just finished drooling over the AD-Mech forces I just got for Christmas. The codex, the starter box and a box of Sicarian Rust stalkers. They won't feature this year, but I'll have plenty of time to figure out a kill team and colors for another time!

I have to see if this fellow is wanting back inside now. His coat only holds two gallons of December rain, he might be ready to get dried off now! ;)

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Welcome back to the fold David! It's great to see that your passion for 40K has not diminished a bit since last spring, awesome.

Terrific work here, sir. These guys look as hard as nails and I especially like that Imperial Fist dude with the warhammer. That is an awesome figure and paintjob. I like the Shapeways 3D modificationss you've done as well - they really make the models a bit more bespoke.

We've been enjoying Kill Team with our group as well, with me running a Grey Knight contingent which has miraculously not lost a model in around eight games. We play in 4 player teams which allows me to use other players' forces as ablative armour. ;P (Which of course can only mean that my boyz will be wiped out to a man in the next match.)

I look forward to seeing what else you come up with for this edition of the Challenge, David. 

Finally, I love the last pic of your hound! It could just be me, but I think he looks ready to come in...

38 point for you, sir, with a few extra added for the mods and hand-panted livery. Awesome!

From AlanD: More 15mm Urban Ruins (40 Points)

More MDF buildings that I have ruined... 

These are another two terrain tiles for Battlegroup Fall of the Reich games  in 15mm, using buildings from Terrain4Games. The figures and vehicles are just there for atmosphere.

I'll leave points up to Curt. Each base is 11 X 8 inches.

And now to bed!

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Wow, these ruin tiles are fabulous Alan. Question for you: Are these 'whole' buildings that you have broken up, or are they from a ruined set they offer? I ask as I notice that they offer ruined buildings, but I don't think yours are the same (btw, a great resource to check out and a nice option to the well-known large manufacturers). Again, I like the extended curb edges and the heaps of rubble that you've added. These are going to look quite impressive when they are all arrayed en mass.

As to points, let's call them the equivalent of two scoring cubes as, naturally, there a measure of open space between the spires of ruins. So that makes it 40 points.

Great work Dux!

From Curt: Female Samurai and Japanese Buildings (75 Points)

Several months ago I saw these female samurai (Onna-Bugeisha) from Warlord Games and immediately knew I had to pick up a set. Funny enough, there's a bit of synchronicity involved as well as I've had a Samurai-themed game rattling around in my head for a quite some time now and these figures fit the bill perfectly. 

I think these are some of the nicest castings that Warlord has produced. They are beautifully crafted, have realistic proportions and are elegantly posed - you almost think they are from a larger-scaled range. Just exquisite.

I have to admit I was a little intimidated when I first set off to paint these figures as I wanted to avoid just knocking them all out in solid colours, instead wanting to try a few patterns that would (very) loosely convey some of the amazing textiles these women would have worn. But, as many of you know, patterns can be tricky, and after a few tests runs on a piece of card, I found that the simple triumphed over the complex (thankfully for me, this is a mantra followed by Lady Sarah in her choice of men). To my eye at least, these fairly straight-forward patterns seem to do the trick in not overpowering or 'muddying' the figures' inherent great lines.

The central figure, about to draw her bow, is my favourite of the set.

The flowers on the bases are perhaps a little excessive, but they were such pretty figures that I thought they deserved the extra bit of ornamentation.

I also managed to get some buildings done for this period as well. These are all from Sarissa Precision. Nice kits and very easy to assemble and paint. Here we have a temple shrine, a modest village house and two rice storage sheds.

I have a few more items for this project to get done but we'll see where the brushes take me.

As to points, the female samurai will give me 35 and the terrain fills about two scoring cubes for another 40, so 75 in total. Groovy!

So that should be another pip for the Squirrel Challenge and (with a bit of cheek) should also score for the Renaissance Challenge as well. Too bad I can't run in the 'Sarah's Choice' as I think she'd quite like these gals. 

From Greg B: Iron Hands Space Marines (70 Points)

A new Legion for my collection - meet the "Iron Hands" from the 10th Legion...

For my second submission, it is time to return to a setting which I am quite passionate about, yet somehow was not present in any of my entries during the 8th Edition of the Painting Challenge - Games Workshop's "Horus Heresy", known informally among those who follow it as "Warhammer 30k".  This submission includes the beginnings of a new force of Loyalist Space Marines from the 10th Legion, known as the "Iron Hands".  There is a 10-man veteran tactical squad, a senior commander ("Iron Father" - oh the names...) and a "Contemptor-Mortis" Dreadnought.  Here is some background on these models. 

The Iron Hands and the "Shattered Legions"

When The Emperor unleashed his Space Marine legions upon the galaxy during his "Great Crusade", the Legions all started off with a number before they had a name - these Marines were from the 10th Legion.  In the Horus Heresy story, the writers strive to give each of the Space Marine Legions some sort of relatively unique character or approach to war to set them apart from their, um, let's call them "colleagues".  For the 10th Legion, which became the Iron Hands, their defining characteristic is an affinity for technology and weapon manufacturing that was unusual by the standards of the other Space Marine formations.  Perhaps not the most exciting back story... 

But what makes the Iron Hands kind of interesting is the part they play in the Horus Heresy story.  I mean, it's not an awesome one for them - they are nearly wiped out at the Drop Site Massacre on Isstvan V, led into trap and betrayed.  Their stupid Primarch, Ferrus Manus (think Paul Bunyan with power armour),  is killed (one the few to actually be definitively killed), beheaded by Fulgrim (Primarch of the 3rd Legion) his former ally and friend. Manus' 10th Legion is almost completely slaughtered all around him.  Ouch. 

Veteran Tactical Sergeant with a plasma pistol, a thunder hammer and a bit of an attitude problem...

But "almost" isn't "100%".  Some of the Iron Hands troops escaped - either because they had not yet deployed to the Isstvan drop, were detached elsewhere in Imperial space on other operations, were part of a garrison on the Iron Hands home world - or they had a combination of insane toughness, bonkers motivation and some luck to escape the massacre at the drop site itself and live to fight another day. These remnants (as with the remnants of the other betrayed Legions at that event on Isstvan V, the Raven Guard and Salamanders) would become known as the "Shattered Legions".  This is where the fun comes in from a playing and game plot perspective...

While they retained their nominal loyalty to The Emperor, the Space Marine forces in the Shattered Legions - forces which could still muster several hundred or even several thousand Marines - were mostly driven by desire for revenge.  The Iron Hands in particular lost their marbles a bit after their Primarch was killed. Bitter, focused and very well-armed and equipped (because they do, after all, have quite a capacity for maintaining equipment) Iron Hands detachments waged a bitter campaign of revenge against Horus Lupercal and the rebel legions who betrayed them.  Sure, these efforts assisted the Loyalist cause, but that was just a fringe benefit, almost a coincidence - the surviving Iron Hands were out to kill every single Marine that betrayed them and their Primarch, and any who aided and abetted them.  In truth, many of them cared little for The Emperor - after all, where was he when they needed him the most? 

Sounds like a fun bunch! I like the idea of gaming with some "Shattered Legion" forces - and I did paint a few Raven Guard back in Painting Challenge VII.  So...here we go...but one thing I decided to change up front for the Iron Hands was the colours.  I already have Marines in very dark/almost black armour, and wanted these fellows to look a little different - so in place of the common black/silver seen in the GW books and among other painters, I have used a dark blue/grey for their armour, with metal and silver accents...it's an experiment, but I'm pleased with the look so far...we'll see how this plays out... 

Veteran Tactical Squad

Heavy Bolter on the right, regular trooper on the left - you can see the embossed shoulder pauldrons. 

This is a 10-man squad of Legion Marines in Mark III powered armour.  They are sporting bolt guns and chain swords, supported by one Marine with a melta-gun and another Marine with a heavy bolt gun.  There are some bits from Forge World on these fellows - decals, embossed shoulder pauldrons with the Iron Hands symbol, and components to create a communications trooper. 

Another view of a regular veteran Legion Marine from the Iron Hands...

I figured if anyone was likely to survive the Drop Site Massacre, there would be some "veterans", right?

View of the Vox-casting equipment on the comms-trooper.

I love the plastic Mark III figures - they are fantastic kits from GW.  I could paint these things by the dozen every day...which is a big part of my near-addictive fascination with this setting!

Senior Commander - "Iron Father"

Hi "Dad".....

The Iron Hands are of course hard-hitting Space Marine warriors, but are reputed to have a particular affinity for technology more reminiscent of the Mechanicum faction.  A lot of the Iron Hands troops sport bionic enhancements and replacements for limbs - some required due to wounds in action of course, but many actually sought these out on a voluntary basis! This is particularly common among the senior officers of the Legion, who take to machine modification as part of their improved command abilities.  

This is a senior officer, a Praetor, but known as an "Iron Father".  He is wearing Cataphractii Terminator plate armour.  The big wrench stuck out of his back is a "servo arm" (usually seen on so-called "Tech Marines" to repair vehicles and heavy equipment).  He has a big axe to, um, "repair" various things (I'm thinking mostly attitudes). His side arm is a Volkite Charger. 

A view showing the "servo-arm" equipment on the back of the armour...you can also see the pistons on the legs...

Both of his legs are bionic replacements - you can see pistons where the knees and shins used to be under the leg greaves. 

I think he is meant to be menacing, but the effect is somewhat geriatric...this fellow will surely ruin your day, but only if you stand around and let him...still, he has a unique look and it suits the Iron Hands well.  

Contemptor-Mortis Dreadnought  

"Someone called for a BBQ?" - twin multi-meltas will slag almost anything on the table...

Dreadnought armour is a common support option for Space Marine Legions.  Somewhere in there is the remains of a Marine who was grievously wounded, but did not die...so his comrades popped him into this armoured vessel, where he can keep fighting! Hooray for the Imperium! 

Somewhere inside this is a nearly-dead Marine...

This is a Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought armour unit - known as a "Mortis" variant because it has mounted two of the same heavy weapon.  These weapons are multi-meltas - relatively short range weapons useful for slagging heavily armoured opponents/structures.  It is a plastic kit from GW, and it has been modified by its previous owner, who assembled it but did not paint it, opting to sell it to me instead :-)

In all there are 11 different 28mm-sized infantry models here, good for 55 points.  The Dreadnought might be a "vehicle", but that seems like a stretch.  I think maybe we counted them as an artillery piece before? So that would be another 10 points, for a total of 65 - useful for another bit of progress toward my total, and an opening entry in my GW side duel! 

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Greg, that's a terrific and very cogent synopsis of the Iron Hands history within the context of the Horus Heresy. You should write for GW! But wait, that would entail being lobotomised into some kind of servitor that sits somewhere below a coffee grinder in their corporate hierarchy. It's much better to be a bitter yet enthusiastic fanboi parping away on the AHPC (and besides, it probably pays the same). 

These dudes are excellent. I like that you've taken a different path than the typical black base with silver highlights that we usually see for these guys.  The blue-grey is a great choice as it allows more colour depth to the armour. Speaking of which, I, like you, love the Mark III armour - it looks so gothicy brutal (perhaps 'brutally gothic' would have been better there. Whatever.) yet still undeniably sci-fi. I also like the blue lenses/visors on the marines - spooky.

The eleven dudes will give you 55 points but I need to dig-up what we awarded for dreadnoughts in the past. Scoring him as a 'gun' seems a little lean to me - let's try for 15 points (less than a vehicle but more than a gun). I'll come back later if I need to make an adjustment.

Geez, looking at this cool stuff makes me want to paint up some GW kit now... I'm hopeless.