From PeterA: Curtgeld and An Unexpected Diversion (60 Points)

Happy New Year to all!

First up is my figure for the price of entry into this year's Challenge. Many years ago GW released a supplement all about a Chaos assault on the Imperial planet of Cadia led by Abbadon (fittingly, the name means 'The Destroyer' or ruin, which pretty much sums up the primary objective of his Black Crusades). As the target was Cadia, the Cadian Shock Troops were front and centre and at the time I had several squads worth of the metal figures released by GW. I still like the look of those figures; however, they don't grace the table these days, as I haven't played 40K for many years (preferring instead the mayhem of the Horus Heresy setting). With GW experiencing something of a resurgence with the release of the 8th edition of WH40K, I thought I would resurrect one of these old figures, give it a new paint job and it would be a link between WH40K old and new. So my Curtgeld figure is a Cadian NCO, equipped with a pistol and a sword (reminds me of Lt George in Blackadder who, when reminded to pick up his stick, remarks that he wouldn't want to face a German machine gun without it):

The second part of my entry today was not part of my original plan for the Challenge, but rather is a an unexpected diversion (squirrel) brought about by getting a copy of the LOTR 'War in Rohan' supplement that has recently been released. The majority of the book covers familiar ground, largely looking at the conflict between Rohan and Isengard. However, there is a short history section and a couple of scenarios covering the story of Helm Hammerhand, an older king of Rohan. During Helm's reign, Middle Earth experienced The Long Winter and Helm was driven out of Meduseld by the Dunlendings, taking refuge in the Suthberg (aka Helm's Deep). During this time, Helm would don a white cloak and head out into the snowy landscapes, taking the war to the Dunlendings. This conjured up images of  Helm fighting in effect a guerrilla war in the snow-covered wilderness of Rohan, which seemed perfect for the small-scale Battle Companies supplement for LOTR. My reasoning is that Helm would not go out alone (at least, not always; he does seem rock hard!) on this raids and would be accompanied by a small band of warriors. So was born the idea of Helm's Whiteshields, seasoned soldiers who had all lost family, hearth, home and friends to the Dunlendings and who now live only for revenge:

With these figures, I wanted them to wear white cloaks as a unifying feature. I wasn't completely satisfied with the stark nature of my first attempt (the axe-wielding figure second from left) and so tried a more subtle layered approach with the other 5, involving a base coat of GW Celestra Grey layered over with heavily thinned  GW Ulthuan Grey, before adding light highlights of Ulthuan Grey alone. Not sure if it quite worked as intended, but I do prefer their cloaks, so might go back and redo the first effort.

GW don't yet have a specific figure for Helm, so I have been scouring the Internet for a suitable proxy and think I have found one. Hopefully Helm will be joining his Whiteshields in the not-too-distant future! Anyway, this lot should net me 60 points (7x5 points for the figures plus the 25 point bonus for the entry figure), and I can get back to the plan (probably...)!

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Great work Peter - love that classic metal Cadian officer! The plastic Cadians were such a disappointment for me, but those old metals were excellent sculpts.  Like you, I am more fired up by 30k than 40k, but old metal 40k figures are always lovely to work on. 

I just love your story of the Whiteshields - very, very cool (and, I suppose, it was cold work fighting for their homeland during that winter...).  It's great to see that GW is continuing to give some attention to the Lord of The Rings figure line - probably only under legal threat or something, but still. Very neat. As for white, well, I think many of us struggle with an approach to painting white - I think both of your approaches are great - I'm a sort that prefers high contrast, but mixing it up looks even better. 

Your points calculation is deemed correct! 60 points for you, well done Peter. 

GregB