From TomG - The Cleansing of Millsy's Millpond - 35 points

"Night closed in to the sounds of the wind finding it's melodious path through the reeds and rushes, frogs croaked and crickets chirped. All of a sudden, silence draped itself over the Millpond, as if darkness weighed heavily on the water. With the faintest breath of sound, a hooded figure stepped out of the water, leaving no ripples in their wake. As one, every creature exploded in to a cacophony of calls and shrieks, and yet nothing moved. What ever had arisen from the pond was old... Very old and very evil."

"With an explosion of static and bright light, the screaming stopped, replaced with the faint hum and whir of powered armour. Surrounded by rising steam stood a behemoth of death, a destroyer, a Terminator. Clad in yellow he was old, but he had a task to complete, he was here to cleanse the Millpond of evil once and for all!"

Well here he is, a 1990 Terminator Captain, which appears to be the oldest model in my house, however he was originally given to me by my father-in-law to use in games of Space Hulk with him and my wife. 8 years ago my wife and I visited the in-laws, on a small holding in Wales, this was the first time we had spent extended time with them. 

After a few games of this and that, I was given two terminator figures for my wife and I to paint up and ready for more games of Space Hulk, however one thing led to another and we didn't get to play it for a long time. Now when I received this mini he had been primed yellow, so to honour that colour scheme I resurrected the theme. For those in to 40k you'll recognise it as an Imperial Fist, however I had no chapter icon transfer, so instead used a generic skull, and yet it was the first transfer I had applied in nearly 20 years! Owing to this model only being 3 years younger than me (yup I'm still only turning 33 this year haha), it was fun to enjoy hobby nearly as old as me, but I'm pretty sure he's weathered that time better than me. Happy 30th birthday Terminator Captain! 

This model was a joy to paint and allowed me to try a new technique for painting yellow, which failed, but by trying something new in 2020 ticked one of my hobby goals for the year. Turning back to tried and tested techniques, I finished him off with a new resin base and some slime effect, possibly even some of the wasted waters from the millpond itself! My favourite part of this painting session was the chest piece; another new technique tried, but luckily this one worked, leaving a vibrant finish for very little effort. My favourite kind of effort. 

So I am going to be more confident with working out my score this time... 

28mm mini +5

Challenge Entry +30

Challenge Bonus +0 

Total = 35

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.

MilesR: wow a figure all the way back from 1990 - the veritable stone ages of gaming.  I do think cleansing the millpond of heresy will be an Augean task, but this chap seems to be up to the challenge.  Even more impressive is the fact your math is correct - nicely done!