From PeteF: A Dragon's Egg for the Hatchery (21 points)

 In a bout of enthusiasm for Kings of War, I purchased a set of tokens and objectives (as well as some other stuff) when third edition was published in 2019. There was a handful of 1" circular tokens for use in scenarios (one of which was cracked) and six or seven plastic objective markers. Mantic's price of $40 left me feeling a little violated after an underwhelming unboxing. 

Nevertheless - the detail on the objective markers is quite nice and, one of them being an egg, the set at least provided something to paint for The Hatchery. One of the first minis I ever painted was a Citadel Miniatures Red Dragon so the lizard baby had to be red.

This is a terrain piece - about 1" across and a little over 1" tall - so worth 0.12 of a point? I'm rounding it up to 1 point plus the room bonus of 20.

I love the way you've painted this Pete-  it's totally got the vibe from Alien going!

BTW here is an article I found about how they made the eggs in the 1979 movie and made it look nasty by including sheep intestines and a cow stomach

https://ew.com/movies/2019/04/02/alien-eggs-behind-the-scenes-roger-christian/

Cap'n Wednesday

Naval Side Duel update

 

Noel is on the board with a couple of lovely ships of the line.

Peter has been cranking out the Word War II Destoyors and cruisers. 

Then we have my own modest late 18th century shipyard. Jasper and Miles we look forward to seeing your entries.

From EdwardG: Curtgeld entry and an extra convention figure (40 points)

 Hi all,

So I have been busy with my main projects of this Challenge (6mm Napoleonics and 28mm Arthurians). However, I have still some work to do on the basing and I awaiting delivery of some more varnish before I can finish and post them. 

Then, I realised I was quickly running out of time to get my Curtgeld entry in. So I grabbed a figure that has been sitting in the lead pile for a while that I have often thought it would be fun to paint. 

It is the Custer figure from Salute 2011 (I think). It was the figure that was given out in the bags with entry. I have only managed to make it to Salute a few times since 2011, but I hope to make it for the next on when ever it is! I wanted to paint the figure in a non-explicitly historical colour pallet. Mostly just enjoying the challenge of painting him. I realise the photos of the blue make it look very glossy, but it is not so shiny in real life. 

Curtgeld Custer

My second figure for this entry was inspired by my painting of this Salute figure. It is another convention figure, this time from the Tactica convention here in Hamburg, in 2019. He is a knight, with a small back story, but I must admit, I cannot remember it. I do know that the fur around his lance is supposedly fox fur, but I am sadly not great at painting it! 

 

Tactica Knight

Total points for this entry:

2 x 28mm Mounted = 20points

Curtgeld = 20points

Total = 40points

Hope everyone has a great week at the painting table. With luck I should have some 6mm Napoleonics ready by the weekend! :) 

Best,
Ed

Ahhh, blue. That incredibly awkward colour to photograph well. Nice jobs on GAC and the kernigget.

Tamsin

From AlexK - A Kill Team tester, a little late, Kill Team tester (5 Points)

 With a few challenges under my belt I have come to the conclusion that there are two types of people taking part. 

 Group 1 is well prepared, organised and fully stocked with not only models ready to paint, but also a plan on how this is to be achieved. These people I imagine are high flyers in real life, real "Go getters" and roundly mock those who dwell in Group 2. I am 100% in the second group, unorganised, ill-prepared, the type who wouldn't know a painting plan if it kicked them squarely in the pants! Far removed from the high achievers of Group 1, Group 2 members consider having an evening meal that isn't breakfast based an achievement. Group 2 members may well find themselves a third of the way through a challenge before registering any points due to an inability to decide what figures need painting, dear readers this is where we find ourselves today!!

But, at long last a figure has emerged from the painting desk. This lucky soldier was the "amuse bouche" for this years challenge. He is a test figure for a Games Workshop "Kill Team" that I hope to paint over the coming weeks. I am in a very fortunate position of having two nephews who have shown an interest in the hobby and like the responsible uncle I am, I whole heartedly jumped onboard with buying a lot of used GW "Crap" off of eBay and now the hobby area is festooned with jars of cellulose thinner, IPA and Dettol and models is varying degrees of undress.

As far as test models go I am quite happy with this fellow. Admittedly basing in sand was a mistake and the cheetah pattern helmet may not be carried through for the team and the skin may be a tad to dark, but at least I know what I am painting now. A small 5 point step to start, but a step none the less. This chap will also be my entry fee for the challenge, hopefully someone needs a slightly jazzed up boy in their Ork army.

That's all for now, 8.51P.M, time for some cornflakes I think.

And another late boarder for the flight - welcome aboard Alex! Nice test figure.

Tamsin

 

From MikeF - Level 3 of the Chambers of Challenge - The Knights Solar, The Laboratory, The Snow Lord's Treasury - 84 Points

 I managed to crank out a few more chambers over the weekend and rather than post them separately like last time, I'm combining them into a multi post.

After finishing the tomb, I'm descending into the 3rd level of the Chambers of Challenge. 

Knights Solar

First up is a dismounted knight form Reaper Miniatures. I painted him up for my Bretonnian Army and he'll be responsible for leading the peasant men-at-arms and hopefully turning them from a terrible unit into a mediocre unit. I upgraded the models sword to reflect being armed with a relic weapon. It was a nice model to paint, being metal and all one piece.

25 points

The Laboratory

This was the hardest room for me to figure out and I may have phoned it in a bit. I searched every miniature I own for some science theme. I eventually came across a werewolf model in a lab coat holding a clipboard. The model is from HorrorClix and is pre-painted. I had to roll my eyes at myself for painting a pre-painted model that I would have never painted otherwise, but figured it was the closest I would get to the spirit of the chamber. To add to the scene, I painted a dungeon terrain shelving unit from Mantic Games. The shelves have several bottles on it and when the werewolf model is placed next to it, it looks like the werewolf model is reaching for them. I figured that the scientist was mucking about in the field of Clinical Lycanthropy (which actually appears to be a real area of study) and accidentally turned himself into a werewolf. He's frantically trying to reach for the antidote on the shelf before he's overcome by his condition.

"Which ones the antidote!" - Last words of Dr. Wolfenstein

I figure the shelf would be around 5 points for a total of 30 points.

The Snow Lord's Treasury

The 3rd chamber is the Treasury. I had a few chests from Mantic Games which were originally empty. I rolled up a rod of green stuff and cut it into pieces to make coins. The chests were filled with PVA glue and the coins put on top. I like that Mantic left the chest lids separate to give you the option of having them open or closed.

I decided the treasure needed to be guarded, so I painted up a model from Reaper Miniatures. I think it's supposed to be some sort of ghoul. 

I'm not sure what his nutrition and workout plan is, but he's showing some crazy gains while guarding that treasure!

I figure 1 point for the chests for a total of 29 points.

 

Thanks for visiting,

MikeF

Well, that's a lot of chambers visited in one post. Cracking work Mike. 

Tamsin

From BenitoM: Achtung! Fallschirmjaeger! (30 points)

After a very productive painting weekend, I had the opportunity to return home earlier than usual and finish basing the models of my new entry in the Challenge.

 

Aligned with my approach to the Challenge this year, these are "leftovers" from a previous year project: German Fallschirmjaeger unit for Chain of Command. That unit was intended to fight the mid-late period (43-45). I decided to paint these minis in the early war attire (green jump smock) as part of a project that my club gaming group is looking to do when the lockdown concludes next summer:

 

 

The project is to play Advanced Squad Leader with minis on a table instead of on a board (!). One of the club members (a gifted and resourceful scenery builder) has already created a large batch of big hexagons replicating the ASL boards terrain features in 3D. 

 

I have been playing extensively ASL in VASSAL over a year now but find this project somewhat crazy. Nonetheless, I have no problem in contributing as the models will fit also nicely with my Chain of Command games.

The models are from the Warlord/Bolt Action 28mm plastic box. The sculpting is very good and the potential to personalize each model is almost infinite. The earlier produced Warlord plastic ranges (like the 2WW British infantry) are terrible, but this box is truly good, as was also the Red Berets that I painted for the Challenge two years ago.

 

A warning note to my fellow challengers: DO you research RIGHT before starting a project. Only after I had assembled and primed most of the minis, I discovered that early FJs did NOT wear the very characteristic German gas mask canister; these were added later when the FJs units were used in a plain infantry role. Also, the hen wire helmet cover to attach foliage was used much later in the war.

 

In any case, the models are done ready to jump into the next wargame table. Hopefully I won't bump into some uniform freak player in my future games. With this entry I add 30 points (6 x 28 mm models @5 points),  no bonus though.

Excellent German paras, Benito. Will these be for Crete or 1940?

Tamsin

From SimonG: A Harpy to Relocate to Level 2 via Sarah the Sorceress (27 points)

Having worked my way backwards through Level 1 I now wish to use a Sarah the Sorceress teleport to get me into the Hatchery on Level 2. My submission in return for this favour is a Black Rose Wars Harpy from the Inferno expansion.

My belief with this figure is that she's actually originally an angel guarding the garden of eden now fallen with Lucifer into the pit below and spending eternity guarding the wood of the self murderers in Circle VII, Ring II of Dante's Inferno.

Hopefully she doesn't fall foul of any NSFW censorship! As far as I can tell most of her clothing is feathers plus a brass breastplate -- at least that's the way I've interpreted it 😉 

This figure (a 38mm PVC sculpt ready assembled as part of the game) needed some fairly radical surgery before painting -- luckily there were some fairly obvious places to cut around the shoulder wing line. Originally I think it was a one piece with both wings and the shoulder girdle -- there were some pretty large gaps around this I needed to fill.

The real star of this piece are the wings, other areas are rather sketchy (especially the upper torso) -- but the wings came together well with a Turkey Vulture as my painting guide!

With entry to the Hatchery I've a couple of egg products to work up and then onto the Armoury where I'm spoiled for choice on what to paint! Anyway this submission nets me 27 points -- 7 for a 40mm figure and 20 for the relocation bonus.

That's a great mini - I'm sure Lady S will be happy to teleport her for you.
Tamsin

From Dallas: "Who's the U-Boat Commander?" in the Aquifer (35 points)

A bit of a backtrack here... back to the Aquifer on the first level of the Dungeon. However, I hate painting boats... so I had to be a bit more creative in fulfilling the theme.

Everyone remembers the classic 1983 film "Risky Business", in which suburban straight-arrow high-schooler Joel Goodsen (Tom Cruise) cuts loose to Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" and things go downhill from there... culminating in the classic scene of Joel's dad's Porsche 928 plunging into Lake Michigan. Watch the clip to the end... "who's the U-Boat commander?" indeed.

So there's the theme - aquatic Porsche 928. One of our group's favourite games pre-pandemic was Gaslands, and everybody has great fun converting Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars for combat. Should be easy to find a Hot Wheels or Matchbox 928, right? Wrong... although I had one as a kid, it's long gone, stores here can't sell toys in person, and I shudder to pay $20+ for one on eBay, not to mention the wait for it to arrive in the mail...

Enter "Mr. 3D Printer" Byron M to save the day! I found a 3D file online for free and sent it along to Byron, who shared it with his friend and fellow 3D printmaster Scott to tune up. And it did need a great deal of tuning up... in fact after Byron printed it up, he emailed me to say "you're going to have to buy a Hot Wheels car" as he didn't think it was salvageable. 

 

But as you can see, where there's a cheap financially responsible Scotsman, there's a way... it did take quite a bit of cleaning up, greenstuff wing mirrors, and some clever painting, but I think it's quite presentable.

The machineguns are from the excellent "Implements of Carnage" sprue from North Star.

I quite like how it turned out, especially as it completes a room that I struggled to find a project to suit. I'll take 30 points for this one - 10 for the car and 20 for the room bonus. It's a small car but did require quite a bit of work!

Big props and thanks to Byron and Scott for their work on the file, and to Byron for printing it for me. Cheers lads!

I do like the way that some people wiggle and squirm to make their submissions fit themes, and this is a classic example. Good going, Dallas!

You've actually underscored your car - it's a 20mm vehicle, so that gives you 35 points total.

Tamsin