From StuartL - The Dead Have Risen From Their Graves - 222 points

Ok, this title makes a bit more sense than the last one. 

Years ago I played a fair bit of Warhammer Fantasy Battles and had quite a sizeable Undead army. However, I never got around to painting it and eventually passed it on to a friend who was keen on starting an Undead force. As things transpire, he never got around to painting it either and earlier this year gave it back to me as he needed the storage space. A bit of rebasing onto round bases and some cleaning up of older figures before the AHPC event, and I had my first non-chamber entry. There are a lot of zombies and ghouls in the box, but I have focused on the skeletons here.

These minis come in a wide variety of vintages. The above are all really old GW metal figures. The shields are from the newer plastic sets, as is the flail on the central figure as his original arm had broken.

These are all old plastics from when GW first released their skeleton army box, around 1990ish.

And some slightly newer (and chunkier) skeletons. These were all push fit minis and are quite static.

The bulk of the force is from the current range of plastics. They are all in a nice advancing pose, but they are fairly fragile. I have spent as much time regluing arms on as I have painting them I think.

This isn't a GW mini, it's from the D&D minis game from about 10 years ago. It's some kind of humanoid horse skeleton and is about twice the size of the other minis.

And here we have the force as a whole. 43 standard skeletons and 1 oversized equine thing. That should net me 215 points for the regular figures plus 7 for the D&D mini for a total of 222 points. 

Now, while that would certainly qualify me for a Squirrel point, I think that skeletons are perhaps the most generic of all fantasy minis. Since I plan on doing fantasy figures for at least two other games that these skeletons could technically fall into, I am going to pass on the Squirrel point for these. (Oooh, the overconfidence).

Between the skeletons' own noggins, the extra skullz hanging from the standards and the skull emblems on the shields, I count 69 Skullz between them.

So for my ongoing duels totals:

GW Points - 215

Skullz - 81

Squirrels - 0

PaulS: Return to the Clone Wars (75 points)

 Given that I started the challenge with some clone wars era droids, it made sense to follow up with some Clones led by General Kenobi. Rather than coming on sprues, these came in bags and behave more like a resin-plastic hybrid. They went together well, but there was a fair bit of clean-up to do and despite being a very simple colour scheme are surprisingly fiddly to paint :/

I decided to go for a selection of 501st infantry that have been supported by some 'shinies' (fresh recruits set to replace losses)

Iain W Landsknecht command (30 points )

 "Well here it is merry Christmas, everybody's having fun,look to the future, it's only just begun!" As the strains of Slade circa 1973 fade into the background, I present a mounted Landsknecht commander, which I offer up as a prize for Peter Douglas and his renaissance armies ,as he plays Pike and shot I know he needs a lot of command figures!

He's a venerable Essex figure and indeed was the first figure I picked up when I restarted my Italian wars after a 30 year interlude, he has lain in his box while others have been purchased and painted but finally he has been painted and stands ready to make his way to Canada in due course. 

My main focus for this challenge was going to be Napoleonic, I have 100s of figures primed and ready to go, so with laser precision I have lasted a day and started 48 gendarmes for the Italian wars! I'm not convinced I'll finish them , let alone the Napoleonics! There's nothing like focus and it appears I have none!

He's a  bit of a lump but paints up nicely,  the final shot is of him in his temporary home and also shows his size in comparison to the Foundry command and pike behind,  right back to the gendarmes and no doubt Noel is trembling in fear at the 10 points towards our cavalry duel, or maybe not ! 10 points for a  mounted 28mm figure and 20 points for the curtgeld gives me 30 points.  

I hope you like him Peter! 

Best Iain 

PaulS: Refreshment stop at the Larder (27 points)

 Before we venture deeper into the caverns in search of the Snowlord's altar we decided to stop and restock our food supplies in the larder. It seems we have stumbled upon the cook from the local Goliath gang in the Necromundan underhive. This ex-imperial army Ogryn has somehow ended up as the chef for the gang. He can't cook, but they aren't all that fussed as anything is better than corpse starch..

I wouldn't ask what is cooking in the pot though... it seems to be moving. I'm not sure I'm hungry any more...

These have been remodelled from a fantasy ogre cook that was released by Titan Forge earlier this year on their Patreon. I replaced one of the legs with a repurposed bionic leg from Thingiverse and added a bionic eye to him. the stewpot came from another one of their sets that had a zombie cook. There were bones and things floating around in the pot, so I replaced those with some tentacles from Thingiverse to give it more of an underhive feel.

Given that he's ogre sized and has the cook pot, I'm going to count him as 7 points (plus 20 for being in the dungeon). If that's not right Curt, please update

From IanS: Canadian Sedentary Militia, Indian Light Infantry and Indian Auxiliary Infantry (80 Points)

 Indian Light Infantry (x8 15mm Figures)

 

 

Indian Auxiliary Infantry (x12 15mm Figures)

Canadian Sedentary Militia (x20 15mm Figures)

From PaulSS: [The Golem’s Haunt] French Hussars command (26 Points)(46pts)

 

I'm going to take a bit of tenuous thinking for my second entry in the Chambers of Challenge.

The Golem’s Haunt: “..IT WALKS…!!” Paint something re-animated, stitched-together, bolted-together, re-created from steel, clay, earth, etc.

Ok, stick with me, on this. 

Napoleon returned from Elba on the 1st March 1815 and in the time between that event and the Battle of Waterloo on the 18th of June that year he had no only put Louis XVIII to flight but France had reconstituted the Imperial army, from a small force of 56,000 that had existed under Louis XVIII to the 198,000 men that were available for the campaign in June.

If that's not a huge feat of re-animation in historical terms I wonder to think what is.

This command base of figures is also stitched-together.

Each of the figures is made up of components from at least two of the Perry plastic sets, both the Hussars and Chasseurs a Cheval 

For points, two 28mm cavalrymen, plus a flag for 21 points plus the location bonus of 20 points for a total of 41 points.

SebastianR: The Golem's Haunt (45pts)

I wonder how many others are going to be producing zombies for the Golems Haunt room?

At least these zombified landschneckt are a twist on the usual standard pattern zombie.

Why are they always human zombies in fantasy games? I remember being quite impressed that the GW plastic skeletons had skulls of beastmen; that was pretty neat. I suppose the value to return on producing different sorts of undead humanoids just isn't worth it.

Reasonably pleased with how these turned out, although the sculpts of their extremities - particularly their hands - are a bit ropey, in stark contrast to the attention given to their faces.

One of these days I will learn how to paint decent human flesh, and after that, zombie flesh; for now I just went with the grey-blue scheme on their product page.

Again, I think flock will really pull them together, but that will have to wait.

They will be pulling front line duty in upcoming games of Mordheim.

So that's 25pts for the figs and 20 for the challenge for a total of 45.

Productivity boys, productivity.

From BruceR: 'Don't Look Up' (Hall of Traps)

First challenge so why not hit the lead pile and venture into the chambers of challenge?  

This is a resin doorway, manufacture lost over time, a GW spider and a GW plastic bitz figure.  

Any good adventurer knows to clear the room "and" ceiling.  The intrepid footslogger forgot rule number two and will likely pay with some venom.

The weather has turned in the Dakotas so with social distancing and 7 degrees without wind chill, painting will be to the front.

My estimate is 20 pts for the trap, 5 for the 28mm adventurer and 5 for the base and spider?  Total 30.

From DaveD - the social media wallah minion...

Hi All,

You need a Sennett hat don't ya know...

Over the last few years we tried out expanding the contact among the various challengers by using and Facebook and noiw Zoom for live video chats. The group is closed and moderated. They do give you the chance to spy in on what you opponents may be up to and do some more smack talk.  Any references to dubious minioning are of course totally acceptable  especially about  Ray.

Click through link https://www.facebook.com/groups/179279788936540/

 Over the years there has been a group of us participatingIn the video chats and these have continued across this year. It’s a good way of helping each other be productive . Most video chats have started around 8pm UK time - or around about Paul O'G's  breakfast time.  I am planning to try and stagger hosting some to suit the wider global audience. The direct link to the video hangout is published on the Facebook pages. just click through. if you want to know more about these directly rather than FB contact me via e-mail direct or via your minion  and I will look to do some e mail updates . 

We are currently using Zoom - and if your not familier with that this year - you've had a great pandemic!

So feel free join in the fun while twirling those brushes.

From GeorgeS: 1:32 Cowboy trapped in duel (35 Points)

      Hi everyone! I'm happy to be here for the first time. This is my first miniature in this challenge and it could be nothing else but my favourite 1:32 scale! I will also paint some 28mm in the future.

     This is an unbranded cowboy figure that copies the classic Airfix pose but bigger (about 60mm) and with simpler lines. The thing that makes me want to paint it is his face. Great details and expression. The rest of the figure is nothing great but the painting makes it pop-up! The scull is scratch build by plasteline (!) and the base is a plain iron plate. This figure was primed and ready to paint for some months and watching me every day from the shelf.  When I see the 1st chamber's theme it comes to my mind at once.

  

      So , I believe I can score 10 points as a 1:32 figure , and 20 points if that gets me on the first chamber in the challenge as he is trapped by his opponents guns and looks like giving up ..

  I have reduce the size of the images to 800X600 but this still gives 180dpi (!) I don't know how to reach 72 dpi .( unless the picture will be very small )

      That's all for now. Good luck to all the challengers to their goals and the Chambers of  Challenge!

Meeerry Christmas to everyone and a Happy, Healthy and Creative New Year!!

 

Keep Up The Brushes!!

From LeeH - (Hall of Traps ) Ghoul lying in wait

My gaming origins are very much in D&D and the old Red Box version of the rules. I was introduced to the game by a good friend of mine at school and over 35 years later I'm still playing with him and others from those early days of gaming. So when I saw the bonus rounds would be the Chambers of Challenge, and then looked at my pile of unpainted figures from that period, I knew it was a match made in heaven. 

Some of the categories will be a challenge to fill, but I reckon I can get some really old figures painted and on the games table this winter. Although it has to be said most of my roleplaying takes place online now, so the need for figures is much reduced. So instead of painting models for D&D, or just for display as in previous years, this time my bonus entries will be painted for use playing Frostgrave. 

And so I light my lamp, ready my sword and descend the stairs into the notorious dungeon known as the Chambers of Challenge. The first room I encounter is the Hall of Traps and here I find a Ghoul has taken up residence. Hiding behind a column the Ghoul lays in wait for the unwary or inexperienced hero. Many an adventuring career has been cut short in this room... but not today. 

This is figure is 25mm tall and was made by Grenadier sometime in the 1980s. The date cast into the bottom of the solid base was partially filed away so all I can say is it was sometime in the '80s which makes this ghoul quite an old boy. I've also painted the column he is hiding behind and mounted it on a custom base so it snugs up next to him (so I could say he was lying in wait) but that's such a basic paint job I don't expect any points for that. 

(Scoring: 1x25mm figure and 20 bonus points for the room = 25 points)

From KyleC - Aquifer defender approaches - 75 pts

We approach the shoreline of the last room here on the first floor of the Dungeon.. But why is the ground rumbling....

A horrible Kraken awaits us with its tentacles springing forth from the ground as we approach the causeway to level 2!

Everywhere we look another springs up to block our path!

Or at least that is how I remember it when we ran the adventure in Shadows of Brimstone where they come from.

11 tentacles to lash out at unsuspecting individuals as they transverse the Dungeon floors.

An easier bunch but a good amount of fun with the airbrush once more. Been a while since I have used them. 55 pts for the painting and 20 for the challenge. Netting 75 pts and a route to the second floor. To which much printing must be done, and many female figures will be appearing.

Great to be back to painting and this challenge is as always a ton of fun to bring out older projects, and try new things! 

From KyleC - USMC squad encountered - 45pts

Entering the Chamber of Darkness we encounter an unlikely of foes... 5 USMC models in black and white..

I actually had no plans to paint WW2 this time around but these showed up free with my latest issue of Wargames Illustrated and challenge to paint in black and white made for a good chance with these models.

Again more tests. And something that I really should investigate further on as it was a fun little project to do. 

Started with overspray ING of white over black, and then a heavy dose of grey contrast paint applied. 

With then Ivory added for the effect to come alive. There are spots I could improve but another aspect of this challenge to me is to balance quality and speed. 

So this was another set of 25pts with 20 for the challenge. Netting me 45 pts here.

And off to the shoreline of the aquifer... 

From KyleC - Deeper into the Dungeon we go - 41 pts

Deeper we go into the Dungeon we go.. Now into Golem's Haunt..

Triple threat appears before us here.. With three larger stone golems trying to block our path through the Dungeon. 

Models are from the Shadow of Brimstone boardgames that I picked up second hand earlier this year. And yet just getting to it and wanting to paint up a bit of it to make the game more fun. 

Again a good test of using contrast paints here. With some decent results in the end here!

Another set of simple 28mm scaled models for 15pts and 20 for the challenge. Netting 35 pts here.

And deeper into the darkness we descend..