From Grant H: 28mm Delta Green Operatives (20 Points) - ready

Hey everyone, I hope you all have had a good start to the new year! For my first post of the challenge I present four members of an elite kill team for Delta Green, here to battle the minions of Cthulhu. 

For folks who may be unfamiliar with Delta Green, it is a spin off of the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game. The key difference is that instead of focusing on the dilettantes, detectives, and hobos of the 20's and 30's, Delta Green tends to focus on the intense paranoia of the Cold War and modern era. Players take control of seasoned veterans in military and government agencies, in an effort to prevent humanity at large from discovering the horrible truth about the existence of the old gods. My RPG group and I have been playing Delta Green for two years now and I decided it was high time to finally paint up some minis to replace the scavenged D&D pawns we occasionally use for combat diagrams or maps. While I have no issue with elves and dwarves taking on the minions of Cthulhu, it feels much more genuine to have some actual agents in the field. 

Each of the agents I have prepared are from the SAS line of minis from Empress Miniatures. I decided to give each character a different coloured kit to represent how Delta Green operatives often need to "reallocate" (read as: beg, borrow, steal) the necessary resources to combat the old gods and their minions. The result is often that DG teams assemble a hodgepodge of gear from various eras and manufacturers, but these operatives are lucky to be fully outfitted in night-vision goggles, silenced assault weaponry, and combat vests.

 

While I doubt that 5.56 NATO rounds would do much to dissuade the inevitable return of the ancient ones, it is probably comforting for the poor shmucks who have to go track down the deep one cults bent on summoning something unsavory. If I recall correctly, 4 of 28mm figs should round out to 20 points for a kickstart to put me on the board! 

JeremyM, Imperial Guard

 Hi again everyone. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up this pace much longer...especially because my week of vacation is nearing an end. But despite it being a vacation it was very work like considering how much painting I've been doing. I think it helped my motivation that I finally got my wet pallet working properly. I purchased one from an art supply store a few years ago and just used the included pallet paper. But having watched a few YouTube videos recently, I realized I should have swapped that paper out for parchment paper. What a huge difference, my paints flow so much nicer. If you haven't tried one well worth the minor investment in my opinion.

Well on to today's post which was actually a week in the making. At the start of this Curt and I agreed to a side challenge, the first to paint 100 points of 40k figures. Well I decided to actually start my painting challenge this year with them, and well I just kept going and going. However, in fairness to Curt who has a few challenges on his plate I thought I should pay my Curtgeld and actually get on the challenge board first before dropping these. But without further ado here are 40, Imperial guardsmen.

I have a small imperial guard scion kill team I had painted a couple of years ago that are a blue and tan scheme. So I decided to try and do something compilatory with my stock gaurdsmen. I went with a grey-blue scheme for their armour. It actually took 3 different tries with my current paints and finally a trip to the local model shop to find the right shade I was looking for. Drumroll please the winning paint was...Vallejo Blue-Grey. I know huge shock, but it was a eureka moment after my earlier too blue or too grey attempts. I'm hoping to blend these guys in with the more blueish scions with urban camo paints on all the vehicles.

Now apparently blue-grey guardsmen as a paint scheme already exists they are known as the "Vresh Grenadiers" in 40k lore. So I decided to stick with that. Here is my attempt at a bit of free hand on the flags. Its legible but then again my hand writing is hardly impeccable. 

The figures are all mixes of Games Workshop and 3d prints (which I would highly recommend for a guard army...seriously you need a ton of these guys). The bases are all 3d prints meant to look like they belong in a ruined temple. I thought they were rather fitting for the 40k gothic esthetic. Here are a couple of commanders and a radio man, and the next pic is of a medic and two wounded troopers. The wounded trooper with the helmet was my first attempt at 3d editing, it turned out decent considering I barely know what I'm doing.

Here are the special weapons teams, some plasma gunners, flamers, and a melta gunner.

And here are a few selections from the bulk of the regular troopers all armed with las rifles. I tried to paint a few different skin tones on all of them to break things up a bit. I'm not 100% happy with some of the skin tones but it was a good attempt I'll look to improve on with future figures.

So that is 40, 28mm figures which according to this thing called math puts me at 200 points for this post. So read it and weep Curt...or read it and consider your goal of lighting a fire under my butt to get some figures done as being a tremendous success! Thanks again for the incentive looking forward to seeing some more of your great Sisters of Battle models later on.

 

AdamC: l'Orient

I know you have been waiting for this some big Black Seas Ships. 

This is a ship that had three names Dauphine Royale, Sans Culottes, but is most famous as l'Orient. 

This one is a monster ship-of-line with 118 guns one of the Ocean class. She is of course most famous for blowing up spectacularly at the Battle of Nile one of the most painted moments in maritime history.

I went with the "Traditional" French colors.  I also added some gold to her stern and figurehead. 

This ship was meant as an expression of national power as much as a weapon of war. 

Points I think 30 points is reasonable for a 1st rate of this sort. Her sails and rigging are pretty complex on most ships normally I would say 5 but in this case I'll ask for 8 and maybe another 2 for sails and flags so 40 in total. That said I will take whatever is given. 

From PeteF: Grayscale Necromancer (25 points)

 

"Looking at the cake is like looking at the future, until you've tasted it what do you really know? And then, of course, it's too late."

Painting in greyscale is hard! This is my attempt for the Chamber of Darkness - I'm calling him a necromancer as one one day I may do a SAGA Age of Magic undead warband. If you're of a certain vintage you may well recognize the model's likeness to a 1980s Arthurian wizard. Excalibur being one of my favourite films, I had to get this model when I did a Studio Miniatures order a while back.

"I have walked my way since the beginning of time. Sometimes I give, sometimes I take, it is mine to know which and when!"

I like the way the Painting Challenge challenges - this one taught me that I have a lot more to learn about light. And painting in greyscale. Hats off to people who make their greyscale figures look so good! I suspect I'll keep on working at this model - I especially want his headpiece to look more metallic.

One 28mm figure plus room bonus for 25 points.

"It is a lonely life, the way of the necromancer... oh, yes. Lacrimae Mundi — the tears of the world."

From DaveD - Normandy Farm - 20 points

 Next up from me is the first of some more 15mm terrain items for the WW2 collection. More Tiger Terrain buildings - a farmhouse , 2 outhouses , and then a scratch built high wall which is classic Normandy. These are wonderfully cast items and are a real joy to paint . 

I need to pick up some more bits of farmyard detritus at some point , but more than happy with it 

base is A4 MDF sized 

James and Martin of this parish should have fun winkling these beggars out of hard cover 

and with battle damage! - these battle damaged ones were completed last challenge and are a simple swap out job . 

k

From TomG - Thomas, Lord Camoys. The Armoury Challenge Chamber - 25 points

Hey everyone, I hope you're doing well and staying safe. 

A quick entry today, with my journey further in to the Chambers of Challenge taking me down in to the Armoury, where we are looking for all things armoured. As a Medievalist I couldn't turn down the chance to paint up a Knight, but it turned out I had very few options left in the draws of unpainted minis. 

This led me to our topic of today, a namesake of sorts with Thomas, Lord Camoys, 1st Baron of Camoys, Commander of the English rearguard (left flank) at Agincourt. The miniature is from a command set by Perry Miniatures in their (believe it or not) Agincourt range.

Born circa 1351, the great grandson of Hugh le Despenser, executed under the rebellious "authority" of Roger Mortimer, Thomas came from a strong lineage. He was knighted during an expedition to France by another Thomas, this one the Earl of Buckingham, in 1380.

Although Camoys' beginnings under Richard II were less fruitful, he benefited more so by the successor, Henry IV, even seeing his son knighted at Henry IV's coronation. In 1403, Camoys even had the privilege of escorting the new Queen, Joan of Navarre, to England. 

Prior to the embarkation for France by Henry V, Camoys was present at a meeting of the King's Council held for the purpose of planning the invasion, and was appointed to the commission which condemned to death the Earl of Cambridge, and the Baron Scrope of Masham, for their part in the Southampton Plot to depose Henry V. Serving the King throughout the campaign, Camoys was honoured, in recognition of his services at Agincourt, by being made a Knight of the Garter in April of 1416. 

He died in 1421 and his Barony was succeeded by his grandson, Hugh, who ended up having no children and so the title went in to abeyance from 1426 until 1839!

I thoroughly enjoyed painting this miniature who had sat, unloved, for a few years now, predominantly due to the heraldry on his surcoat. But with age came wisdom and practice, so the prospect of painting yellow with a freehand red trim, split with blacklining, was no longer daunting. I did stray a little from the norm by giving him a blue scabbard, in honour of his place in the Knights of the Garter, which obviously came after the point that this mini is based on, but who's going to complain! 

Points were scored as a 28mm model, plus the challenge bonus, giving me a total of 25pts.

from RayR - Chamber of Challenge - The Hall of Traps - Skulking Injun

 

I have officially entered the Chamber of the Challenge!!

For me this has got to be the most difficult set of Bonus rounds we've ever had in any Challenge.

It seems to be leaning over to the evil side of wargaming......Fantasy!!!

I'm starting down the stairway into the inner sanctum of the Chamber of the Challenge. The first room is The Hall of Traps: A figure or unit which is trapped, stuck in a trap, snared, or lying in wait. Watch your step, Challengers!

As you can probably tell I've gone for a figure lying in wait.

This was the first figure I thought of when reading through the rooms, the Native American Indian

is a Wargames Foundry figure from their Early American Indian range, Northern Tribes pack

This is why I rushed through my Rocky terrain entry, I thought my skulking Injun would look

better than stuck on a base.

This should earn me 5 points for the figure and 20 points for the bonus round. 

Making 25 points!!!

Dooku, Count of Serenno - Chamber 1 - DaveV

I decided to enter the Hall of Traps with this entry, Count Dooku. In almost every Star Wars film, at some point the protagonists come face to face with an enemy Force user, lying in wait for them with an ignited lightsaber. 

This ~40mm ("1/47 scale")  model from FFG is a very nice likeness of Sir Christopher Lee, who played the role in Episodes II and III. However, I chose to paint the figure not as Dooku appeared in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but as he appeared when he first left the Jedi Order. This is recounted in the radio play & novelization, Dooku: Jedi Lost, set over 40 years before the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Dooku left the Jedi Order to aid his sister when neither the Republic nor the Jedi would help her when her planet was attacked. So, I rendered him as a man in his middle ages instead of old age, armed with his then-signature blue bladed dueling saber.

Keeping the colours minimalist, I airbrushed zenithal highlights onto the figure's head, and airbrushed the lightsaber colours before attaching the right arm. Under painted his face in acrylics to set the contours of his face, then painted it in oils. 

His clothing, boots, and gloves got 3 different tones of black, and I finished with some highlights, shadows, and details in oils.

This figure, plus associated time portal shenanigans, will make for an interesting encounter for players in my nascent Star Wars Legion campaign setting.

27 points, if my math is correct. 

From Mike W: Late 17th Century Imperial Artillery (30 Points)

 This is my second post for the day! Albeit several hours between the two...

The approach I have taken to the challenge so far this year is to have several different items on the go at the same time, with a slower by possibly steadier output of finished items as we progress.

The business end of the Imperial Battery, the Artillerymen
are wearing a green leaves as a field sign in their hats

So for example I finished the Janissary post this morning, this evening I have finished this artillery base for the Imperialist armies at the Siege of Vienna and I still have 13 x 17th Century Scots Dragoons on the go as well as 6 x 17th Century Cossacks and a number of undead Egyptians all at various stages.

From the right hand side, good detail of gun's wheels
and backs of two of the crewmen

Downside is that it takes up more space and I keep forgetting to take photos of the 'raw' figures as I make a start on a new group but 'hey ho' lets see how it goes!

These little guys are Front Rank generic Artillerymen, I have painted them in all grey uniforms with red waistcoats pants and stockings. The idea is that they will form a generic 'Imperial' Artillery unit of the period. Whist the majority of Imperial units were Austrian, they could just of easily been from any one of a myriad of small German states that formed part of the 'Holy Roman Empire' that answered the call to defend Vienna from the Ottoman threat.

Rear view of the battery, the gun is on a wood plank floor to aid stability

The gun is actually a Trent Miniatures, Ottoman Field Gun, from their small but useful Ottoman range - I recommend this to anyone wanting to add variety to their Ottoman armies and best of all they do packs of head variants and weapons to help with conversions. (Check out the link or look on eBay)

So the premise of this small Artillery stand is that the Imperialists had pressed a captured Ottoman Gun into service against it's former owners...

Left hand view of the Gun crew at work, you can just see the lovely fluted detail on the gun's barrel

The gun carriage was painted brown and washed in dark brown ink, the barrel is an aged Bronze and the other metal work has been painted black but with  glints of iron showing through the chipped paint.

POINTS

4 x 28mm figures @ 5Pts per figure    20 Pts

1 x 28mm Field Gun @ 10Pts              10 Pts

TOTAL                                                   30 Points