From Guy B: In the nick of time... (Caprica) (185 points)

Crikey! Time flies... and we're almost at the cut-off point for entries... I'd best post something then!

Our local club has been painting up for a 1940s campaign and I am painting up the British Expeditionary Force. I painted two sections of 10 men prior to the challenge and have another few sections to go before I'm finished. So I had my BEF undercoated ready for the challenge and then...

... I became distracted. My fellow challenger Chris K has an idea to speed up the painting of his French and I thought it was such a clever idea that I had to try it too. His entry can be read about here. So I dug out some old Bolt Action French (pre Warlord!) I had sitting in a draw for over a decade. There were originally undercoated black. I added in some of the Atlantic plastics, which fit in pretty well. I gave them all a dry brushing of white and then tried a mix of standard paints and contrast. 

I took Chris K's formula for Khaki and added a little more Militarum Green. Mine was about an even mix of Militarum to Darkoath Flesh, or perhaps 5 to 3 in favour of the green, as I toyed with my batches.

The flesh is Speedpaint Crusader Flesh or Instantcolor Phoenix Feather. The leather is Speedpaint Hardened Leather (which comes out very red!). 

The backpack was German Camo Beige Brown (VMC 821) with a brown wash. The wood was English Uniform (VMC 921). Helmets were Olive Grey (VMC 888) with a careful green ink wash and a slight highlight.

So I got carried away in batch painting and we have 33 French which I make as 165 points and it has to be Caprica... a noble but doomed effort against the Cylon err.... German invasion. 

Hmm, I think I really need to paint some Brits now!!!!

Edit: 

Hmmm, it looks as though my closing comments disappeared. I'll have a go at remembering what I wrote - it's quite possible that Guy decided to edit the post at the same time I was "minioning" it and finished after me, so his version is the one which got posted!

In the nick of time indeed! I think we all understand how easy it is to get distracted by, errrm, distractions to the detriment of our intended projects.

These Frenchies look great for speed-painting.

Now that you've made it onto the roster, perhaps you could have a word with your boss...

Tamsin

From ChrisW - 15mm Martian Tripods (Klendathu, Sarah's Yacht, Coruscant) (512 points)

This weeks journey was a long time coming. The Martian cavalry has been worked on, on and off, since the start of this challenge. I had hoped to have them done for last week but ran out of time. I then ignored them for most of the last few days before I finally bit the bullet and got on with it. Even then it was a near run thing. You see, my big problem is finishing tasks. First off I am a major procrastinator, I always find reasons not to work on tasks. Tied in with that is my squirreliness that sees me jump from project to project. If I do not finish a task within a rather short window it will remain unfinished, shelved and ignored. 

Since the start of this challenge I have started, and thankfully completed and/or neared completion a number of projects. My posting are a reflection of this chaotic output. 

As to the amount of stuff that I have done so far it is quite a shock to me and I doubt that I can maintain this output throughout the challenge, though I am keen to see how far I can get. For all of last year, according to my records, I painted 246 items, and of that a scant 29 items during the winter months. They were a mix of figures, vehicles and scenery. So far thanks to the challenge, counting this weeks posting, I have painted 134 items!

First stop is Klendathu the home of failed invasions, in this case a Martian invasion. So I was able to paint up 3 scout tripods, an assault tripod, and the grand daddy of tripods, the dread Overseer! Now, a note on these models, they are kind of odd looking, at least to me. The forearms remind me of a T Rex, while the legs often look like they are practicing ballet moves!

 

On the other hand the big Overseer model looks beefy and mean, it stands like it is ready to kick butt. However the model is, how should I say this politely, crap not very good. It is full of mold lines that I did not entirely remove, parts do not fit well together, and detail is scant. In game terms it is a mighty vessel of destruction, and can hold it own against the American landship but the model at best is so so. 

I have had this for a few years and just never got around to building it. The biggest surprise to me was that even after all those years by some fluke I managed to not lose any parts! I felt foe certain that I would have misplaced the 6 fingers, but not only had I put them in a baggy for safe keeping, I actually put the bag with the rest of my AQMF figures. I have a real annoying tendency to open up boxes of models and then proceed to misplace, lose parts. No matter how often this happens, I never seem to learn.

 

Picking up men & bashing 'em against trees

This thing is 9 1/2 inches tall, and the legs are 9 1/2 inches apart. Technically 15/18mm game, but really big! Here it is picking on something it's own size.

From AQMF Martians we travel via Sarah's yacht and the Great Abyssal to my VSF Martians this time on the planet Corsucant  where two  mighty monarchies, whose high upreared and abutting fronts the perilous narrow (ether) ocean parts asunder!

 

Imagine if you will Queen Victoria on a royal progress visiting her colonial holdings on Mars, confronted by a princess of Mars and her amassed cavalry. Queen Victoria's secret service, along with the grenadier guards must stave off disaster and protect the queen.

 The horde of Martian cavalry arrayed against them.

 Oh and an armoured car just because...It is a Canadian armoured car from WWI that has somehow found service with the White Russian forces It should have 3 crew but there was a problem, so only the driver is present.

The points this week

• 300 points for 30 x 28mm Martian cavalry
• 50 points for 10 x 28mm Grenadier guards
• 25 points for 5 x 28mm Personalities Queen Victoria, Flashman, Agent Carter, Princess, attendant
  
• 32 points for 4 x 15/18mm Tripods
• 20 for 1 Really big tripod 
• 40 points for 2 Planets visited
• 20 points for Sarah's yacht (courtesy of Queen Victoria)
  
• 20 points for 1 x 28mm Armoured car
• 5 points for 1 x 28mm Armoured car crew
  

---------------------------------

512 points in total

So, that was my best output to date, I do not believe I will achieve that again during this challenge, but it might be possible if I turn my attention to the 150 some odd back of beyond cavalry. However I currently feel a pull in another direction(s)...

I feel I may have miscalculated how many points to aim for. To be fair when I reviewed my output last year throughout the winter months and roughly estimating the point value of said output, the total would have been between 425-500 points, so setting a target of 1000 points seemed reasonable. I also factored in my tendency to lose interest in a project, my natural procrastination, and the distraction caused by running RPGs on Roll20.  

All this to say that I am not going to sit back and 'celebrate' reaching my goal. Rather I will assume my actual target is 3000 points and see if I can achieve that!

"The chances of anything coming from Mars, are a million to one they said..."

Those tripods look great, Chris, and the cavalry look fab en masse. I was a bit confused about how you were claiming for Lady Sarah's Star Yacht until I realised that the post was very much in draft state -  the "missing" items that were causing my confusion have now been added.

I'm scoring the big tripod as a 28mm vehicle, so that gives you 512 points.

Tamsin

From MikeP: 28mm Ancient Germanic Warriors (Klendathu) (130 pts)

 In my second post of today, I offer some big brothers to Tamsin's splendid mob of 15mm ancient Germans that graced this page recently.  I'm happy to show you 22 bellicose chaps, Germanic warrior from Victrix.

These guys are the first tranche from a bag of 60 (!) figures that I was inspired to buy because the fellows in the local gaming group are quite taken by the Clash of Spears rules, though of course most everyone favoured Romans or Carthaginian armies.  Being a bit of a contrarian, I opted for wild shouty Germans who would quite happily fight anything anyone cared to put on the table.

These were the first Victrix figures I've ever purchased and I found them quite easy to assemble, with a pleasing variety of torsoes (6 per sprue, I think), many heads to choose from, and quite a few weapons and shield types.   

I primed them in Citadel Corax Gray spray paint, and then gave them a wash in Windsor and Newton brown ink before painting.   This had the happy result of giving me defined lines that I could work around when applying the flesh paint, and that gave me the muscle definition that seems to be a hallmark of the English style of painting that I associate with painters like Kevin Dallimore.   It looks exaggerated close up, but it looks better on the table (not that I'm associating myself with Mr. Dallimore, mind you!).

For how I paint, this is middle to higher-end wargames standard painting.  They won't win any prizes, but they look ok to me.    I used a lot of Citadel contrast paints and washes.

First up are some javelin chuckers, some of whom appear happy just wearing diapers.

Guys with sharp pointy sticks.

Clubby and stabby guys.

Chaps in Roman armour and helmets.  Could be battlefield trophies that they've appropriated, or they could be Germans in Roman service who have deserted.  Either explanation works for me, but you can imagine the teasing from their mates, "Hey, Rolph, what's wrong with a diaper?  Hey, guys, check out Mr Fancy Pants!"

After I brought these fellows home from my FLGS, I decided to invest in some shield transfers from Little Big Man Studios, conveniently retailed by Victrix and sized perfectly for these shields.   They add a lot to the overall look, I think.

These fellows will spoil a Roman's day, and there are more of them lurking in those woods for another post!

So, 22 28mm foot figures @ 5 ea = 110 points.   I'm going to use this entry to visit Klendathu, and if you wonder how these guys qualify for "Invasion Gone Bad",  just ask Emperor Augustus what happened to his legions ("Quintil Vare, legiones redde!") :

So 130 points in all.

Cheers,  and thanks for looking,  MikeP

Well, if Oscar had come across these giant Germans he'd probably have scarpered even quicker than he did from my smaller Germans!

Very nice work on this start to your warband, Mike!

Tamsin

From TashaH - Painting Firsts (Sarah's Star Yacht) (30 points)

 

Wow! It's been a week!

I have been working on getting my new painting room set up and it has significantly cut in to my actual painting time. Short term pain for long term gain! I was fortunate enough to travel to the city this week and acquire many more new paint colours. A new painting desk must be properly appointed! I can't wait to try them all. Perhaps I need to find a rainbow to paint. 

On to this week's submission.

A long time ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I painted my first figure. I was fortunate enough to participate in an advanced learning program in school as a child. We attended regular school two days a week and then took advanced programs three days a week. I remember my favourite was learning about Astronomy at the University. I also got to learn how to do things like make ceramics. This is where I made this beauty of a figure. She isn’t a miniature, but she is a sight to behold! Measuring in at about 6 inches, she has been a part of my life since I was 9 years old. 

 

This is the first miniature I painted. She is facilitating my trip aboard Lady Sarah’s Star Yacht today to the planet, Klendathu. She is a 3D print from Great Grimoire on My Mini Factory I love the Great Grimoire prints. 

I had help with this figure. A lot of help. I had in-person, one on one instruction with the Snowlord himself! Unfortunately (and ironically) our painting lesson was cut short due to a snow storm. 

 

 

 

 

You can see how nicely Curt had me set up. I was even gifted a paint journal. You will not see my paint journal. If you wish to see how a paint journal should be maintained, please refer to Lady Sarah's Guide to Awesome and Amazing Paint Journals. 

 

 

 

Can we talk about how amazing these boots are? 

The details on this print are outstanding.

After I left Curt’s instruction, structure and discipline fell to the wayside and my haphazard style emerged. I retained the fundamentals (mostly!) but my go to solution of 'just keep adding more layers until it looks decent' was developed with this figure! 

When I initially painted this figure, I had an incredibly limited paint selection. I obtained the colour of her cloak by blending 3 colours of contrast paints. The owl started out white, then was grey, and finally ended up brown. Poor guy has really tough body image issues now. I gave him a nice going over with my newly obtained Nuln Oil and for that he is quite happy.

 

The points:

54mm figure: 10 points

Planet bonus: 20 points

Total points: 30

Chocolate Cake Duel: 10 points

Next week will be buggy...

That is a lovely figure, Tasha, and great to see your first ever painted "mini". Your painting is coming along nicely!

Tamsin

From Mike P: 15mm SF Recon/SF Troopers (Solaris)(30 points)

 Hello fellow Challengers!

After a week's silence, I'm back with a modest SF-themed entry.   These 15mm figures are from Darkest Star Miniatures, from their line of Spec-Sec figures, described as "troops wearing high intensity armour, armed with suppressed heavy assault rifles".   I learned about Darkest Star when I asked Nordic Weasel fo 15mm SF figure recommendations, and was impressed with their product.   The only downside was that the metal sprue these guys were all cast on was ridiculously thick, resulting in some damage to one figure (foot amputations, sadly, though that hasn't slowed him down).

I've painted their armour and weapons and based them for a desert environment, and for a contrast to their opponents, nasty kitty troopers from Khurasan Miniatures, who I've painted rather garishly.   The idea was to fight the Larry Niven-inspired Man-Kzin Wars, using SF rules from Nordic Weasel Games (@WeasalNordic), so thanks to him and the Challenge for reviving this interest.

Since modern armies love their patches and unit identifiers, I added a unit badge to their shoulder plates (pauldrons?), which I guess makes them tiny cousins of all the Space Marines that have been stomping around the Challenge.  However, I see these guys as being sneaky beaky SOF recon types, first dropped into a Kzin-occupied planet to identify suitable landing sites, raid critical infrastructure, that sort of thing.  Here they are doing their recce thing.

Because these guys get paid not to be seen, I think they qualify for a visit to Solaris, planet of deception and illusion, my first Quadrant landfall.

That's a lot of blather for 10 points (5 15mm foot @ 2 ea) plus the 20 points for visiting Solaris for a total of 30.

Cheers,  MikeP

Those recon troopers look great, Mike, and they certainly qualify for Solaris. It may be a small entry, but I see there is another sermon in the queue from you!

Tamsin

From GaryA: First Submission - A mixed bag of 15mm figures and no mistake (166 Points}

 

 

Tamsin claims that this is easy, but I'm a bit rusty so, God help us, here we go!

OK, all the figures are 15/18mm size (not 'scale' so let's get that argument going). All the guns and artillery crew and a couple of the mounted are Peter Pig; the mounted are AB or Blue Moon on AB horses and the Austrian Grenadiers are Blue Moon. Being a thoroughly good egg, I've noted them below.

To be truthful, the Napoleonic figures are a paint queue shortening exercise and have nothing really to do with the main drive of my intended effort: Early's Division of the Army of Northern Virginia, at Gettysburg. The start of two armies designed for use with the Picket's Charge rules. Being consistent in my approach, you'll notice I'm really focused of this ANV formation and haven't deviated at all - honest😕

So, I'll start with the Napoleonics:

 

'German' and French Brigadiers c1809. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The figure on the lighter horse and his foot companion are from the old Battle Honours range and are intended for use with a Confederation of the Rhine contingent. The other, single, figure is from AB. (2 x 115mm mounted @ 4pts + 1 x 15mm foot @2pts = 10 pts)

Austrian Grenadier Bn 'Georgy' c1809

This was a composite battalion drawn from the grenadier companies of I/R17, Reuss-PLauen, I/R36 Kolowrat and I/R42 Graf Erbach. When forming armies for campaign, it was common practice (and had been for about 100 years) for the Austrians to strip the grenadier companies from each regiment and band them together in battalions, named after their commander, usually of 6 companies (two from each of three regiments) to use as a reserve. All Blue Moon figures.

(18 x 15mm foot @ 2pts = 36pts)

And now the part you've all been waiting for: Major General Jubal Anderson Early's Division (Lee's 'Bad Old Man') at Gettysburg - TA DA! Well, the first bits of it - not much really 😳

To start with, three batteries of the divisional artillery (Lt. Col. Hilary P. Jones):

Louisiana Guard Artillery (Capt.Charles A. Green)

Charlottesville (Virginia) Artillery (Capt. James McD. Carrington)

Courtney (Virginia) Artillery (Capt. William A. Tanner)

All the guns and artillerymen are by Peter Pig. The batteries don't all have the correct complement of guns yet as I've still got 2 batteries to do and I paint the guns in batches. However, the bases could represent just about any Confederate battery, so it's not a heart breaker and, although these are to represent Early's artillery at Gettysburg, they could just as well represent his artillery at Chancellorsville or indeed any formation you like, if you swap the guns around.

(24 x 15mm foot @ 2pts + 6 x 15mm guns @ 4pts = 72pts)

CSA Brigadier Stand and  an ADC

The single figure is from Peter Pig and, although I  really like this range, he looks a bit 'dumpy' compared to the other two who are Bllue Moon riders on AB horses. None of the figures are meant to represent anyone in particular, but I think the pointing brigadier was supposed to be Jackson. That being the case, I've painted his horse to look like Jackson's horse Little Sorrel.

(3 x 15mm mounted @4pts = 12 pts)

My excuse for the next batch is that they were primed and ready and it was a shame to pass up the chance of painting some more AB horses. Anyway, I wanted to see if I could do a decent 'Union Blue' in 15mm - which I can't, but is OK really. So, there follow a few bases of Federal brigadiers and the like.

US ADCs or whatever

The figure on the left is from Peter Pig and the one on the right is an old Battle Honours figure (who is identical to the newer AB figure!). 

(2 x 15mm mounted @4pts = 8 pts)

 

US Brigadier Stand

The figure pointing is a Blue Moon rider on an AB horse and the other figure who's pretending he's Napoleon is from AB. He's a nice figure and well posed as he's sold as General McClellan who was a decent enough organiser, planner and administrator (if he had enough staff), but, once in the field, he lacked confidence and continually imagined he was vastly outnumbered (which he wasn't) and that his opponents were up to some cunning plan (which was often true, I suppose). At one stage he was known in the press as 'The Little Napoleon'.

(2 x 15mm mounted @4pts = 8 pts)

Another US Brigadier Stand

Both Blue Moon figures on AB horses and, again, they don't represent anyone in particular. I can't remember if Blue Moon intended them to be anybody, but you can always look on the Old Glory UK site or ask Andy Copestake. 

(2 x 15mm mounted @4pts = 8 pts)

 

 

Brig. General Gamble (1st Bde., Buford's Cavalry Div. 1863) Stand

The figure with the binoculars is a Blue Moon rider on an AB horse and the other two are AB. The Gamble figure doesn't look much like him, but he seems to suit the less dressy look of the cavalry (except Custer!). He's actually sold as 'Uncle Bill' Sherman.

Buford's cavalry division (less one brigade) were the first Uunion troops at Gettysburg and was the unit Henry Heth's (pronounced 'Heath') division bumped into and got  bloody nose - course I  would say that!

(3 x 15mm mounted @ 4pts = 12 pts)

Scoring Summary:

'German' and French Brigadiers c1809                                         10

(2 x 15mm mounted @ 4pts + 1 x 15mm foot @2pts) 

Austrian Grenadier Bn 'Georgy' c1809                                          36

(18 x 15mm foot @ 2pts) 

Confederate Batteries                                                                 72

 (24 x 15mm foot @ 2pts + 6 x 15mm guns @ 4pts)

Confederate Brigadier Stand and ADC                                           12

(3 x 15mm mounted @ 4pts)

 US ADCs                                                                                     8

(2 x 15mm mounted)

US Brigadier Stands                                                                    16

(2 x 2 x 15mm mounted @ 4pts)

Brig. General Gamble Stand                                                         12

(3 x 15mm mounted @ 4pts)                                                     ____

                                                                                               166

Welcome back, Gary! That is a fair mix of figures and they all look spiffing! 166 points it is!

Tamsin