From Curt: Additional Tomb King Units (130 Points)

Hello Folks!

Here are a few more units for my 10mm Tomb Kings army. Similar to my previous group, these are based-up for 'Monsters & Magic' a fantasy variant of 'To The Strongest'.

All of these are venerable GW metal castings which are a real joy. Sure, 3d prints are great, the variation is welcome, but my lizard brain can't help but enjoy the substantial heft of a nice-sized base of metal castings. This all being said, I did include some 3d printed statuary to add a little set-dressing to the bases. 

A couple units of skeleton archers

A regiment of undead cavalry

A unit of bolt throwers

A flock of Undead Carrion Flyers

...and a handful of Tomb King leaders to keep the whole horde-of-bones shambling in the right direction.

Combined with my first submission, this should provide me with a decent enough core to play with. Here's a group shot of what I've managed to get done this Challenge. I'm pretty pleased with the progress so far.

The force as it stands now.

I have a few more Tomb King units primed and waiting in the wings, but I feel the desire to work on another race in this setting. Hopefully I'll have more on that later.

______________________________________

For points we have 52 for the archers, 48 for the cavalry, 16 for the bone throwers, say 8 for the flying Carrion and 6 for the command, for a grand total of 130 points.

As to the skull count, I am a bit embarrassed as this almost feels like cheating. ...Almost. :) 

The bony noggin count is 52 for the archers, 48 for the cavalry, 13 for the artillery and another 41 for the command stands (helped greatly by the one fella astride a hill of them). This puts my skull count at 154 for this submission. Drat! That's just shy of Millsy's 161. Well done, Mr. Mills, I bow to your skullmagnifiance. :)

Thanks for dropping in for a look!

- Curt

From Millsy: MOAR SKULLZ!!! (15 points)

G'day All,

I have a couple of things on the go right now (all unfinished) because I have been severely distracted this week thanks to Barks pointing out I've not been keeping proper track of my Skullz. For this I can only profusely apologise and hope that the following makes up for my lackadaisical attitude in some fashion...

Nagash. Collector of Skullz extraordinaire!

Back in 1994 Games Workshop released a huge necromancer model entitled Nagash. Sculpted by Gary Morely in weighty pewter, this has been more or less universally hated by the Warhammer community, often listed amongst the worst models for the game of all time. For me though, the original Nagash is absolutely packed with character and is a perfect example of everything that has been lost to the sands of time since the introduction of digital sculpting. He's got presence and you can't but help be drawn to his evil gaze.

The new pinheaded Nagash 2.0 model is about as scary as a two week old Labrador puppy, sleep drunk on warm milk and belly rubs. This is partly due to the fact he is weirdly launching himself skywards on what is presumably some sort of magical energy, a kind of rip off of various 40K Necron HQ models. It's not just that though, he's utterly soulless (and not in a good way) and looks more like an severely underfed super hero than a necromancer. Worst of all he's got like a dozen Skullz on him, if that. You had just one job sculptor...

One of these things is a terrifying creature, capable of wreaking havoc upon
the lives of countless unsuspecting victims. The other is Nagash 2.0

Not so the original Nagash who has Skullz up his wazoo and then some! It would be quicker for me to point of where there aren't any Skullz. So I have...

Putting this guy together from his six components was relatively straightforward but I did have to use a fair chunk of green stuff to plug some unseemly gaps, partly because I chose to twist his staff 90 degrees to display it face on, which then necessitated repositioning and pinning the arm holding it. Twisting his staff was a rather tense ten seconds but the age of the metal means it's pretty pliable and there was no dramas in the end thankfully.

Shame about the mold line on the Necronomnomnomicon
but I couldn't do any more to smooth it out without damaging the detail.

Pity the poor fool who has to help cinch that waist!

Bone sword you say? It's not a Skull but it's still boney

And now the bit you've really been waiting for... the Tally of Skullz!

• Head: 0 Skullz (bone structure Mrs Millsy would kill for but there's skin on top so that doesn't count)
• Pointy Hat: 43 Skullz. Nice!
• Skully McSkullface the Skull Staff of Skullz: 96 Skullz!!!
• Sword: 1 Skullz. I know, right? Wasted opportunity that...
• Dagger: 2 Skullz.
• Belt and Dangly Whatsits: 9 Skullz.
• Necronomnomnomicon: 1 Skullz on the cover (but how many are inscribed within?!?!?).
• Armour and Clothing: 3 Skullz.
• Base: 6 Skullz. What restraint on my part!

Total: 161 Skullz! On one miniature!

To be honest I've probably underestimated the total Skullz but I decided that anything that wasn't at least two eye sockets and some teeth didn't count.

Nagash is 54mm tall to the eye (well his eyes, there's technically 43 more sets of eyes on his hat) so I've scored him as 10 points but I'll leave the final judgement to Curt. Look into his eyes Curt, look deeply...

Hope you enjoyed him. Moar Skullz!

Cheers,
Millsy

_________________________________

161 skullz on one miniature? Judges, I want a recount. ;)

This is rather fabulous Millsy. I TOTALLY agree with you about the new and 'improved' Nagash model, and laughed aloud at your photo equivalency of it's spirit. :) Yes, the new one is completely naff, while this venerable model has loads of spirit and spite in equal measure (seriously, I really don't get the hate for it). I also quite like your bone effect on his staff, sword and mitre, and his 'fleshtone' is suitably icky.  Awesome work, Mr. Mills!

I've been bewitched by your sorcery, Millsy, and have awarded you another five points for the skull-haul. I have an entry coming in later with a few boney noggins in it, so we'll see if I can match you in today's skullcount (tm). 

- Curt

From Barks: Men from Mars (55 points)

Human progress has stagnated in the year 40 000. The Tech Priests of Mars build and maintain complex machines but don't really understand them. Engineering has become a religious cult, and machines will only operate if the sacred oils and lubricants are applied, and the switches and levers are thrown in the sequence laid out in the prayer books. The Martians hate the weakness of their fleshly bodies, and augment and replace body parts with machines.

These Rangers were fiddly to paint. I quite like their steampunkish aesthetic.

7x 28mm figures: 35 points

Location Bonus (Mars): 20 points

Skull-o-meter™: 7 (total 8)

Slowpainter's ABC: M is for Mechanicus

___________________________________

Beautiful brushwork, Barks. I have to say that I would have preferred if GW had gone with a more 'Blanchian', instectoid vision for the Cult of Mars, but I can see that may have had a somewhat limited market appeal. That all being said, these models are excellent, with their arcane armaments and mysterious augmetics. I also like the time you took on freehanding the white trim detail on their stormcoats - a little thing, but it really adds to the unit as a whole. Well done!

- Curt

From KerryT - "There be dragons...." or P is for Parliament (250 points and Squirrel 6)

 There be Dragons down by the river...

Nobody was quite sure how it all happened that day in the village of Overbythere.  The village alderman was certainly red faced when the true story emerged. The villagers had just grabbed what they could and ran for their lives - they were after all and uneducated and superstitious, who could blame them.

It all started when little Johnny Bumpkin came tearing over the bridge, running full pelt and so out of breath screaming for all he was worth "Quick there be Dragons, there be dragons coming down the road by the river"

There are of course a number of possible explanations, he was uneducated after all, his speech impediment didn't help and neither did the fact that the first person to hear his cry of alarm, his deaf old Nan who kept shouting out loud the bad news for all to hear. So the whole village just ran, and ran and ran....

Dragons? Can you blame them? Why Dragons, they be dangerous and are mystical and all....

Hold on to those damn horses called Colonel James Wardlowe to the men of his regiment of Dragoons.

He was expecting to be collect provisions here having agreed this beforehand, but why was the village  deserted?....... hopefully the villagers had not been chased off by those damned Royalist infantry and his stores plundered? Surely not

Dig those heel in, whoa..

These are of course Dragoons and not Dragons but hell its a different way to start a post other than with my usual  "Good Morning, Afternoon & Evening all"

These are my P is for Parliament entry and this is the first unit in my Parliamentarian Army - Colonel James Wardlowe's Dragoons, ECW figures by Bicorne Miniatures

Unfortunately I left it a bit late to order the guidons and am also 3 mounted dragoons short, but then again that will give me an excuse to buy more!

Bicorne Miniatures really are nice to paint with good raised detail and I like the variation of poses provided in the dismounted dragoon offerings

There is one dead figure from First Corps in this unit

A bit closer, they'd look better with a guidon 

 

Here's the customary horse's arse

This now gives me my 6th Squirrel and means I'm now half way through my 12 Ps.

By my calculations that's 20 foot figures at 5 points, 14 Mounted @ 10 points and 1 spare horse totalling 245 points though I expect to be severely admonished and fined 240 of those points for an awful pun or play on words! 

_____________________________________

Perhaps an awful play on words, Kerry, but the eye-candy more than makes up for it. They really do look superb, especially when featured amongst your lovely terrain. I particularly like the horse-holder stands with the skittish horses - wonderful little vignettes, those (for which I've added a few more points). More please. :)

- Curt

From GregB - French Zouaves in 28mm for 1870 (122 points)

French Zouaves for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Figures from Wargames Foundry.

Every edition of the Painting Challenge brings forward some kind of unique, cool sub-themes. In this edition, I have loved all of the Zouaves. There have been Papal Zouaves. There have been Beetroot Zouaves (!) How do you top Beetroot Zouaves? Well, I can't...but I can offer my own contribution to the Zouave vibe - here is a unit of French Zouaves for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. These are 28mm metal figures from Wargames Foundry. 

The figures out front are used to denote skirmishers/mixed order on the table.

I just love the Franco-Prussian War setting. The uniforms are just glorious! And among the glorious uniforms, the Zouaves stand supreme! I had been "saving" these figures for years, telling myself that I needed to paint up a suitable amount of "regular" troops and cavalry before "rewarding" my brushes with the chance to paint Zouaves. With those Prussian Dragoons out of the way, I figured the time had come!

You can see some of the nice detail on the packs of the troops in the main formation.

These are based for games of "Black Powder" - 20 figures in the bulk of the unit, and the four individually based figures are used to denote skirmishers, or the unit fighting in a mixed formation. The flag is courtesy of Maverick - the first flags I have found on the market for the French in this period.

The Zouaves bring their deadly Chassepot rifles to bear...

These sculpts (by the Perry brothers) are very nice, although old. But the way Foundry packs these figures is a touch infuriating - the poses are at once consistent and yet many details too varied. For example, some have packs, others don't. Some have turbans, others don't. Some are wearing the "caban", and others are not, and all of this variance is found in a single eight-figure package. So if you are looking for a certain consistency among the figures you might use to make a unit, you can only use a few of them. This is...very annoying. I'm still irritated that they don't all have turbans...but then to do that I would have needed to buy another five packs of the Zouaves...enough is enough!

These sculpts are older, but wow, they are a treat to paint.

Another odd oversight in this old Wargames Foundry range is the lack of a standard bearer in the command pack - this was addressed by using a standard bearer from an ACW Zouave command blister, and a spare French Imperial Eagle standard.

The full unit, ready for the table.

These were a great treat to paint - I love Zouaves! And the best part is that you don't need to go fishing around looking for battles where they participated. The Zouave regiments were stuck in from the outset, and fought very hard for the French Empire (and the subsequent Republic!) against the Prussian forces.

For scoring purposes we have 24 different 28mm figures here, which should be good for 120 points! Thanks for reading - hope to have something more next week!  

________________________

Magnificent work, mon ami! Gosh, I love me a fez almost as much as a czapka. Why don't we wear these today! They are fabulous - just add a set of earflaps for the Canadian winters and we're a go. :)  I'm stoked to see you return to this project as it reminds me of our visit to Les Invalides in 2010, where we spent a wonderful afternoon, slack-jawed, admiring the many exhibits, including those of the FPW. While there may be a little inconsistency in the headgear and accoutrements, these are still glorious figures to behold. I love the punchy reds and blues that you've used for this unit, and I appreciate the extra work you put in for the standard bearer (reflected in a couple extra points). I think that for the next unit that you do, we need an accompanying shot of the army as it stands. 

- Curt

From Barks: Robo-guard-dogs of the forbidden junkyard (Altair IV)(55 points)

 Here are some Robodoggies from Imitation of Life.

RoboBarks from RealBarks

They needed something to guard, so I set myself to making lengths of chain fencing. My first idea was to use spare 20x100mm bases from Renedra. I also thought I could refashion the sprues as the posts. Here's my first frustrating attempt:

1mm rod to pin the joins

Then! I recalled I own a 3D printer. I bodged some simple shapes together on TinkerCAD, an elementary browser-based 3D program.

I'm a 3D sculptor now!

Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V

A couple of hours later I had all the fence posts I would need. Much easier than making them from sprue... The top arms were a bit long so I cut them to size. I made some corner bases from plasticard. I cut some aluminium mesh, and secured it with twists of wire. This was fiddly. Then I PVA'd some grit, and sprayed the whole thing grey. I slapped on some browns and orange, and finished the basework. Voilà!

Ready for spray

Eight 2x10cm lengths

I made one with a hole

Four corners

16x16"

Exactly approximately half a terrain cube

I think I should make a gate. Maybe some signs which could be swapped out depending on the game I am playing.

4x 28mm figures: 20 points

0.5x terrain cube: 10 points

Location bonus (Altair IV): 20 points

Slowpainter's ABC: G is for Guard dog

__________________________________

'Voila' indeed! Lovely work Barks! While the robo-dogs are very nice (especially as one wouldn't have to stock poo-bags for these mutts), I have to say that I'm quite taken with your 3d efforts in making a chain-link pen for them. Wow, colour me impressed - cracking work! I'm going to give another 5 bonus points for the 'Gee whiz, Willikers, that's pretty swell' factor. :)

- Curt