From RayR - Cybertron - Clone Wars, General Grievous 54mm (30 Points)

 

Second time lucky?

For my entry in the Cyberton Bonus round, I have painted up the part Kaleesh part Cyborg General  Grievous, from Star Wars fame.

Grievous, born as Qymaen jai Sheelal, was a Kaleesh male Warlord who served within the military forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems as a commanding officer during the Clone Wars in the final years of the Galactic Republic. 

 

The man who became known as Grievous, had sustained severe injuries in a coordinated incident that required extensive reparations to his destroyed body, which resulted in his willing submission to cybernetic enhancements and reconstructions, as well as secret alterations to his brain, that rendered him more mechanical than organic as he received greater abilities as a result.

The General was part of a job lot of Hasbro figures I bought last year, he probably should be a little lighter in colour, but he's had a hard day today and is in need of an oil rub down, hence he looks a little grubby...

1 x 54mm figure @ 10 pts

20 pts for Cybertron Bonus round

So all in all 30 points?

 

****

 

Nice work Ray - when I saw the title, I was expecting to encounter the "General Grievous" from the "Star Wars: Legion" game. This 54mm version is an interesting rendition. Other than being an "obvious bad guy" from the Star Wars prequel, I really did not know much about this fellow, so nice of you to include a little more about his background. I imagined he came as a special order "very bad guy" droid - didn't know he had been a human before...

And yes, I'll tolerate him for Cyberton.

That's 30 points for you! 

GregB

From EdwardG - A mix of 15mm, and a trip to Arda (67 points)

Hello all, 

I hope everyone is remaining well. Sadly in the past month I have not had the time I had hoped to paint and to be commenting! Fingers crossed that improves in February...but I am not hopeful. 

Due to my ad-hoc painting time, I have only been able to output an ad-hoc group of painted miniatures. The first group I concentrated on were some additional elements for my Arab army. It is not many figures, but they were required to make up the numbers to allow me to field my old DBM army as a FOG-AG force. 

The first element is a Generals base. It is made up using left over figures I had in the lead pile. I believe the figures were originally from Essex, but I am exactly sure. I have had them for a very long time! I like to think that I will use this General in the centre of the FOG-AG army, he is happily ignoring a messenger from the left wing who is in need of something...perhaps two and four pence...

 

In addition to the General, I added a base of spears and a baggage element. The spearmen are the remainder of a long ago Legio Heroica order. In DBM I had only ever needed 7 bases of these chaps but FOG-AG has round numbers of most things, so the 8th base is now painted! In addition while scouring out the lead pile for these figures, I came across the last odds and ends of the unpainted Arabs. These were two camels and a lonely spearman. Tbh, I was not sure what to do with them, I normally dislike painting camels as I know I cannot get the colouring right. But, I thought what the heck, I can always use an additional baggage element. Perhaps these are the drummers directing the army, or acting as a relay station for orders from one end to the other. Along with their close protection to give them time to get away should an enemy light horse appear flying in from a flank. And the final photo shows all of the baggage together. I grabbed the excuse of the new element to re-base the my previous baggage elements onto a matching bases.

For a change, as I was going a little sand blind, I decided to paint up a couple more elements for my Serbian army. These are to reinforce the Bosnian Hillmen who act as Rough/Bad Going clearance troops. They are very useful, reasonably cheap, and can be taken in enough numbers to make them a threat the opponent should take note of. Having two more elements is always helpful! The figures are Essex again, and are another set of lead pile lurkers who have been shirking their battlefield responsibilities for far too long! I began thinking I would paint them with contrast paints, the first chap in blue was the test piece. But I was not very happy with the outcome. I think these figures are not not detailed enough to get the best out of the contrast paint style. I switched to my 'normal' style using acrylics and doing two layers. I find three layers is just overkill at this scale.

As a final mini for this rambling, meandering post, is my offering for the planet Arda. Having seen the minis painted by Curt the Great, over the summer. The wife and I decided to give moonstone a try. We managed to persuade a couple of friends to join us on the trip, and we ordered some minis. Now sadly our order, but funnily not our friends, managed to be caught in the Brexit Britain-Europe Postage Bermuda Triangle. For some reason the package never arrived. I hope those minis have managed to find a happy home. In the end we did manage to get some minis on the second attempt, but the whole project was very delayed. Since then, we have managed to build the minis, and even get some base coat colours on some. But I have finally managed to paint the first one to completion! I present Boris, The Bunny Summoner (minus bunnies so far)! He is certainly very fantastic, and possibly even a little Tolkeinesque (although more towards CS Lewis).

Finally on to scoring. This is certainly a random bunch and I have calculated the following. Dear Minion, I hope I have done my mathematics correctly!

• Arab Generals - 15mm Mounted x 3 = 12pts
• Arab Spearmen - 15mm Foot x (4+1) = 10pts
• Arab Camels - 15mm Mounted x 2 = 8pts
• Bosnian Hillmen - 15mm Foot x 6 = 12pts
• Boris! - 28mm Foot x 1 = 5pts
• Visit to Arda = 20pts

Total =  67pts

All the best and hope to see you all sooner next time around!

Best,
Ed

***

Hello Ed, thanks for this varied and wandering submission. I know many Challengers will relate to your situation in terms of finding time for hobbies - it is an issue where we all wish we had more time. I certainly do. If only my clients would pay me to paint figures! Anyway, credit to you for getting some brush momentum going, and putting a dent into your lead pile and some points on the board!

Miles' spreadsheet tells me your scoring adds up, so 67 points for you! Unfortunately, Miles' spreadsheet cannot help me with all of the acronyms involved with DBA/DBM/FOG etc...but I'll need to have SOMETHING to search online, right?

GregB

From BruceR - Lady Sarah's Star Yacht - 28mm IKore figure (25 points)

My submission is for travel on the good Lardy Sarah's Star Yacht for transport from Glorantha to Arda.

Going the through lead treasures I've found a number of female figures that were collected and never painted.  The challenge has provided motivation to paint some of these iconic female figures.

As well as travel on the Star Yacht some friends are interested in Stargrave so why not assemble a force using a few "space/futuristic" figures.

Here is "Rameriz" This adventuress is ready for anything sporting what has to be a blaster, a slung carbine, and machete.  A fedora and biceps that won't quit.  I really was drawn to the braid running from front to back.  

When I went to base her, I was stumped and began to dig, I'm sure there are some goodie bag bases from Adepticon, GenCon, WarCon.....  One found.  Well not enough if I'm going to create a crew.  So rather than order and wait, to Youtube and some great diy base productions.  

My price of flight, Rameriz.  Ready for the bush or some slimy space hulk. 

Flight/jump from Glorantha to Arda.

28mm foot             = 5 pts

Star Yacht travel    = 20 pts

Total                       = 25 pts

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Great work Bruce - I'm sure Rameriez will provide some sure security for the fellow travellers on Lady Sarah's Star Yacht. Another 25 points for you.

 

GregB

From RayR - Donnybrook - Polish Winged Hussars (185 points)

  

When you think of renaissance Polish, there's only one real troop type to talk about.

The Winged Hussars!!!

These fine body of men are from Redoubt Enterprises, now sold by Grubby Tanks.

I pondered for quite some time what make of figures to buy for my Hussars, Old Glory, The Assault Group, Essex, Foundry or Warlord?

 

Price was a consideration, while not the cheapest, I chose Redoubt as the Warfare Miniatures Ottomans, I painted up during the last Challenge were a reasonable match in size.

And the rear of the year award goes to......

Flags, everyone likes a flag don't they?

These and the lance pennants are from Battleflag, they're printed on good quality paper, just wish the red was more.....red, but they still look pretty cool, I think?

The wings were a bugger, I painted them before sticking them on the back of the man, mainly to give me room to paint the leopard skins, then stuck my little fat sausage fingers to 3 of the wings while trying to glue them in place.....sigh!!!!

So lots of swearing, repainting and gluing later, they were finished.

Now on to the Donnybrook part of the post.

"What's Donnybrook?" I hear you say.

Now in Donnybrook land, Elite units, of which the Hussars must be placed in, are very small units. Mounted only get 3 figures!!! Which I'm totally ignoring as I did with the Ottomans. I've doubled the unit size to 6, otherwise its not worth painting the buggers up, is it?

So here I have 3 units of 6 figures each.

18 x 25mm Cavalry@10pts each

Making a grand total of 180 pts

***

Winged Hussars! As you say Ray, this is a sort of "period-defining" wargaming unit. People see these figures and they immediately get the period and the setting. Every time I see these, I want to paint some myself - thankfully this urge is halted five seconds after trying to understand Ottomans - but still - every time! These look great Ray, well done. I'll throw in some bonus points for hassle with banners, and for tempting me to try another period! Great job. 

GregB

From Bruce R - AWI 9 mounted Perry Miniatures and 8 Front Rank foot (130 points)

For my last update of the week here are some troops for the American War of Independence, the Revolutionary War, or as some of my relatives wish us on the 4th of July "ungrateful colonists"! 

Some local gamers and I are usually cranking out WWII figures for a spring weekend of Bolt Action.  The host decided to change it up and switched to AWI and I'm all about it.  Last year I did get some Hessians finished during the Challenge and in early winter my goal was to have a Sharp Practice size force for the ungrateful colonists as well.  The host (we call it GarageCon as it is in his garage) wants three tables.  Looks like I need more units.  

So here is the start.  We placed a large order with Perry Miniatures last year and shared the shipping as that is a drawback for us here in the colonies.  I had finished all the Perry foot previously and had not done the mounted troops from the order.  We have played a couple of games and these mounted Queens Own were calling my name so here they are.  

These chaps have obviously been foraging in the countryside as they have full sacks on the back of the horses.  I've used the airbrush with a base of dark brown over the black undercoat.  From there I add a layer of lighter brown and paint the riders and equipment.  I than used a wash of Agrax Earthshade.  I than highlight to include another lighter shade on the horse.  I'm not a fan of painting horses yet think these turned out okay.  The commander has been given powdered hair as having seen some "Turn" Washingtons Spies, I always have to have a Simco leading my British.  He is too colorful. 

The cavalry done on to some ungrateful colonists.  I selected New Jersey simply because I like the uniforms.  I also noted information indicating even within companies their uniforms were slightly different.  This allows me to paint the next section with a slight change to pants, shirts, and hats.

My ungrateful colonists painted last year for Sharp Practice (50+) were Pennsylvania troops and brown as the base color, so blue and red was desirable.  These are Front Rank figures now owned by Gripping Beast.  I really like the large sculpts, both for painting and on the table.  

My next group of Ungrateful Colonists.

New Jersey Blues:

So a wrap for this Wednesday colonist.

9 mounted 28mm = 90 pts

8 foot 28mm         =40 pts

Total                      =130 pts

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Great work Bruce! I also struggle painting horses (but I do SO love having cavalry on the table) - I think you have great results all around here, well done!

GregB

   

From PaulSS: American Civil War horse holders - (40 points)

When I started the challenge I had planned to grow my American Civil War collection, but in conjunction with growing the Napoleonic collection too. Well, that has not happened and I have really been getting into slapping paint on the ACW collection, including purchasing and painting new units, well that's not going to help reduce the lead pile!

This entry sees a pair of Perry Miniatures horse holders to support the dismounted cavalry that I painted four years ago, tardy!

The Union horses and holder are painted in a more uniform scheme than the Confederate ones, but both are lovely sets, although being metal figures from the Perry's do take quite a bit of cleaning up. 

Looking what's on the paint table, you can expect much more American Civil War in the near future, another order has gone into North Star, and the Napoleonics look like they will be waiting a while.

Two 28mm cavalry figures with four horses should add 40 points to the board for me.

American Civil War Duel Totalizer: 81 foot, 2 mounted, 4 horses (504pts)

Napoleonic Duel Totalizer: 8 foot, 2 mounted (100pts)

***

Great work Paul. Horse holders...seems like a sort of unglamorous role for the toy soldiers on our table top, yet also an important thing to represent, especially for the ACW setting. I just love the look of your horses, and will in fact steal a couple of their colour patterns for some horses I am working on right now! Lovely, smooth brushwork as always. 

GregB

From BruceR - Planet Arda; 25mm foot; Custom Cast; Ranger; (25 points)

My offering is a trip in the way back machine.  The days before websites and data phones.  Not super excited to date myself, yet here goes.  Growing up in the northern midwest of the US in a small town we didn't have much contact with the gaming world.  Either through comic books or games I obtained information of these little men and ladies for offer.  Yet how to order them.  I can remember you had to send a self-addressed stamped envelope to companies to obtain a catalogue.   

Well, I can't even remember the company (must have been Heritage) other than it did come weeks later with black and white photos of "some" of the figures for offer.  Well having devoured LOTR's and the Hobbit, these were what I sought.  I can't even remember what I ordered other than I spent months of my paper route income on these fine figures.  Painting never did come of it as girls, sports, and education seemed to take over.

Recently cleaning my hobby dungeon, I discovered a sandwich bag of figures.  Obviously, lead and this prize was in the bottom mixed in with a number of reaper miniatures.  

I present a Custom Cast figure for the planet of Arda. Tolkienesque

Research at www.miniatures-workshop.com lists the figure as a "Rangers of Ithil The Elite Light Infantry of the Forces of Order".  The stamp on the base is Custom Cast 1975 (gulp).  He is true 25mm as in the old days.  He probably fought a few "Chainmail" battles unpainted.  Now he can take his place in the cabinet.  

Thus, endeth the history lesson for today.

25mm foot     = 5 pts

Planet Arda    =20pts

Total               =25 pts

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Hi Bruce - wow, this is quite the find! Well done! Even with modern communications at my disposal, I remain totally ignorant of the prior ranges of LOTR figures, so dominated is my mind by the big motion pictures and subsequent figures releases from GW. Very cool submission for Arda!

GregB

From GeorgeS - Ork Boy goes to Vulcan and some...54mm Prussians for the Death Star (125 points)

Hello adventurers !

Two entries again this week and let's start with my first Ork Boy!

As in last year's event, I'm taking the opportunity with this challenge to paint things that sat in my pile of shame or spare boxes for years. Also it is a good change to paint new things and experiment in new subjects and techniques.

 

 

So here it is my first 28mm Warhammer 40k Ork "Boy" figure (last year I painted my first Ork Gretchin ).

 

The painting scheme is out of my mind and not some official race or tribe colours...just wanted very much to add that chequered motif that I see on them , mostly painted on armours or metallic parts.  As this figure comes to me as scrap from eBay I should go on with what I have :) 

 

 

      So this is my explorer for Vulcan! 25 points and keep going...

 

Next entry and the journey goes to Death Star. A questionable design. Hah! Yes it is so....

I have bought these figures from Armies in Plastic - they were supposed to be 1:32 Prussian Infantry from 1870. Unfortunately there was no picture of the actual poses but I trusted the brand....hoho! Surprise! They appear to be classic German Infantry from the WW1... 

 

Disappointing. Though I should continue with the project, so...I painted them as Prussian Infantry, painted the helmets with the Eagle though the mold have them wearing the Helmet cover from WW1, remove the Grenade guy and converted the officer's Luger pistol with a sabre sword and scabbard..

 

Tadaaa! We have a " Questionable" set of Prussian Infantry from the Franco Prussian Wars...

 

 

Let me know how convinced you feel with that set. If you feel some how convinced.....

 

So 80+20 points for that set and we are ready for the inner circle next week!

 

 

 That's all for now!

...till next time...

Keep Up The Brushes!!

 

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Hi George - thanks for another wonderful submission. Your painting skill is top shelf, and on full display here. The Ork Boy looks great! Your approach of just painting whatever you felt looked right is the right one, especially for Orks...even the "formal" guides of the GW books often just point out how random the Orks can be. The figure looks great. 

As to your hybrid Franco-Prussian War...well that is quite interesting! I will leave it to the much smarter folks in The Challenge who know about WW1 to comment on the uniforms, although those back packs sure look WW1 to me. Nonetheless, the 1870-style paint up looks lovely, well done. 

Now, let's see...Prussians for the Death Star? A bit of a stretch, but seeing those backpacks, I'll allow it, I guess - those figures are definitely of questionable design...

GregB