From DaveS - Very Big and Very Small (37 Points)

Back to my fourth (I think) challenge, and my latest start so far.  Combine the situation in healthcare in the UK at the moment with my having worked basically every day over christmas, and it has been a delayed start to my painting adventures.

Despite this, and despite me having some very definite plans for my "big" projects for the year, I have nevertheless decided to start with something from the studio.

When it was first released, I was introduced to the game "Moonstone" by Goblin King Games, by a friend who subsequently went on to write a lot of their fiction.  This was pre-pandemic, and I bought a couple of packs of Fairies and a Troll for the game. The fairies I started experimenting with, trying out using inks over zenithal as a painting effect, applying it using my then new airbrush.  I was never that excited by the effect, and the models got put on a shelf and forgotten about.

When I looked at the painting challenge this year, and realised that there was an "Under construction" studio, I realised that I would have to go digging.  A bit of hunting around turned up the models, and I built the troll, and re-undercoated the Fairies.

Therefore, I present you Boulder the Troll

He was painted using mostly contrast paints over a zenithal drybrushed basecoat (So-called "slap chop" method), and then some of the details like the rocks were painted in traditional fashion.  I am quite pleased with the results,given that he didn't take too much effort.

Teetoe is the first of the repainted fairys.  Again, she was mostly done with contrast paint over a drybrushed undercoat, although in her case the skin was given a purple glaze and a highlight to change the tone slightly.  The wings are modelled (loosely) on real butterlies.

One of the things that painting her taught me is that the contrast paints are going to be really useful, due to their slight transparency when trying to paint things like tattoos, and patterns on skin where you want a little of the skin tone to show through (this was discovered painting the black veins on the wings.)

My my count, this is 5 points for a 28mm fairy, 10 points for a 28mm monster, and then 20 points for the under construction Studio, for a total of 35 points.

__________________________________________________

Hey Dave, I saw your post in the queue and thought I'd pop it up so you wouldn't have to wait until next Wednesday. 

Great work on these two Moonstone characters! (Our group are big fans of Moonstone as it always seems to give a fun, close-fought and fast game.) 'Boulder' is terrific, especially his paler face in contrast to his darker body (nice horns too!). I also quite like the purple glaze effect on 'Teetoe's' skin - very apropos for a fairy I think. 

I'm scoring 'Teetoe' as a 40mm figure and 'Boulder' as a 54mm as I know he's a big lad.

Well done and welcome back to the Challenge, Dave!

- Curt

From AndrewB: High Martian Adventure and a Casting Couch [High Adventure][Casting Couch] (158pts)

This is a rather larger installment, but here we go!  First off, in the idea of the High Adventure room, we’re venturing all the way to Mars with Victorian adventurers!  Starting off, we have 13 of RAFM’s colonial martians, who have joined with British forces against their planetary brethren.  There aren’t many sculpts, but I like them, and they paint up fairly well, even by a goof like me.  

Next, we have a stationary gun(RAFM), and a couple delightful vehicles that would make any Victorian scientist squeal with delight, both from Ironclad miniatures! I’m always torn as to how to paint vehicles from this setting, but with these looking like one-off experimental vehicles, we left them looking like raw materials.  

I’m not delighted with the base of the gun, but it will hopefully be mounted on a sky galley before long, using magnets like most of my other weapons of the setting, so the large cast-iron looking mount seemed appropriate for use as an emplaced gun or ship-mounted weapon.  

Last, and certainly least-  I was at a loss for a fun miniature calling out to me from a casting setting, but I ran across a very ‘casting couch’ looking small set of scatter terrain.  As the room is described as ‘discrete’, I figured we may as well look directly into the belly of that particular beast.  Here is my admittedly ruined version of the casting couch!

Not my favorite work, but it may earn the points through creativity and realism.  

Points total for this post-

13 28mm figures- 65pts

2 28mm vehicles- 40pts

1 28mm gun- 10pts

2 studios- 40pts

Crummy casting couch terrain- 3pts?  

Looking at a tentative total of 158 for this post!  Oh boy!  More coming soon!  I’ll get my map of the studio updated and posted with my next installment!

From TeemuL: Aaaand the third post from AndrewB for today! Victorians in Mars is a setting I'm not that familiar with, but I have seen posts here and there in this Challenge blog. Sounds interesting, but I'm resisting... Casting Couch is spot on for Casting Couch, if you ask me and the terrain points you suggest, seem about right. Very tricky to score these, but sounds right. Looking forward to see your map next week. ;)

From AndrewB: World Cinema with Sharpe! [World Cinema] (95pts)

Today with World Cinema, we hop across the pond for some quite Sharpe-ish peninsular Napoleonic(maybe more appropriately Wellingtonian?) chaps!  Most are from a Kickstarter for a small game ‘Forager’ from a few years ago, and are quite characterful!

These gentlemen strike me as a fantastic combination of Sharpe’s South Essex, and the troops shown in the epic Waterloo.  The feel of them is great!

These Spanish guerrillas also scream the gun sort of characters who would be comfortable with Commandante Theresa and others running around Spain with Sharpe, causing headaches for Boney and his henchmen.  Last but not least, we’ve got three angry clergymen, all armed and ready to defend their monastery or local church against the frogs! 

These gentlemen were delightful to paint, despite my traditional hatred for Napoleonic uniforms.  

Points for this installment should be 15 28mm figures totaling  75pts, as well as an additional 20pts for the challenge room!  95 total points, chipping away at that goal! 

More coming soon!

From TeemuL: You continue you tour around Studios with great speed, Andrew! One cinematic tip, you might want to try to put the minis in one line and take a photo directly from the front. In that way all the minis should have good focus and be visible, you should get some sharp Sharpe photos. ;) Those last three clergymen should feel themselves familiar with any Sharpe setting, well done.

From Codsticker: Lord of The Rings- Variags of Khand (50pts)

In my continuing quest to tackle that Lonely Mountain of unpainted lead and plastic I call my LotR Collection, I have decided to go after a range that does not get much love from either GW or Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game players: Khand. 

It's a very small part of my collection consisting of two of the 10 man infantry boxes (one of which is the subject of this entry), 12 cavalry and 4 chariots (including a King). The infantry box contains 6 warriors with axes, 3 with bows and this fella who is a captain of some sort:

I must admit that when I read the books as a kid I did not envision the Variags of Khand to look so far eastern. In fact GW has combined the Wainriders (which I thought were more like Easterlings) with the axe wielding Variags which I imagined to be more like hairy barbarians. 

Having said that, I quite like the mish mash of medieval east Asian "aesthetic"; take 3 parts Joseon Korea, 1 part Samurai, 1 part early medieval Chinese and 1 part 13thC Mongolia and mix thoroughly. Unfortunately, not GW's best sculpts; parts are a bit messy, some of the faces are just a smidge misshapen. On one figure you can have one hand perfectly realised and the other a total afterthought.

If I recall correctly, 28mm figures are worth 5 points for a total of 50 pts for this entry.

For me, this challenge will be almost a repeat of the last challenge, focusing on LoTR figures, Dark Ages and ECW but with a small excursion into some 15mm stuff and, possibly, some 40k.

From TeemuL: It is always nice to see more Lotr goodness. Yes, Khand is not that popular I guess and I agree they look a bit more eastern than I thought they would. GW standard on Lotr minis is quite flexible, there are some masterpieces (even in plastic one pieces) and then there are some blobs, which are very difficult to paint, when you don't have any idea what the details are supposed to be. Anyway, once properly painted (like here) they look good on the table. Your memory serves you right, 50 points it is and welcome on board!

From MikeW: More 40K Orks and 28mm Renaissance Foot (120 Points, +1 Squirrel, +8 Skullz, +50 C&F Points)

A belated Happy New Year to everyone!

This post sees another batch of 14 x 40K Orks & Grechin completed plus a batch of 28mm Landsknecht Hand Gunners. I had hoped to have a batch of 28mm Renaissance Horse completed as well but unfortunately time to do that has eluded me 3D printed. All the more for my next post!

Another batch of 40K Greenskins off the production line!

The Ork & Grechin batch consists of 10 x Orks and 4 x Grechin. If I start with the Grechin, 3 of these little guys are plastics from eBay, the Standard Bearer is metal and a former Gorka Morka figure - if I remember correctly.

Four Grechin, with the mighty 'Red Star Banner of the Rebellion', 
2 x Skullz on these little chaps

The plastic guys were painted much the same way as previously described, I have added a wicked looking bayonet to one of their weapons - a knife captured from the Imperial Guard spares box!

Rear view of the Grechin rebels

The Standard Bearer carries what appears to be an AK47 derivative - who knew that they would still be going strong in the 40K time line. The tattered flag is made of paper and suitably 'distressed' with the big 'Red Star' of the Gobbo Rebellion clearly visible. Otherwise painting technique is the same as his plastic brethren. Between them these four Grechin also carry two skulls and hence I have added an appropriate number of bonus Skullz Points.

Four standard Boyz, with hand blaster and 'Choppa'.
Look carefully and the Guy second from left has a skull on his Choppa.

Left to Right: One of the Boyz with a big gun for more Dakka! a Mechanik
and a converted Fantasy Black Orc

Four of the Orks are represent the fairly standard Ork Boyz, that make up the core of the army, armed with axe or sword Choppas plus hand blaster. A fifth Ork is a conversion of an old plastic Black Orc figure originally released back in the 1990s (I think) which I have converted to a 40K Ork with the addition of a hand blaster and a captured Space Marine 'Chainsaw Bayonet'. As this guy is a little different to the rest I have given him snazzy striped trousers. Another of the Ork Boyz is armed with a heavier blaster, he will act as support to the above group, between them these guys we have 2 more Skulls about their persons.

Close up of the converted Black Orc. I simply added a hand blaster in his right hand.
Note a tiny skull on his left hip - they all count!

Business end of the Big Blasta, note skull on his head

Close-up of the Mechanik

Next is another Gorka Morka metal figure, this time representing a Mechanik, hence the monkey wrench in his left hand and welding gear on his back, he will be able to help fix equipment that is damaged on the table top.

The Standard Bearer, he carries a total of five skulls about his person.

The final figures in this batch are a couple of Big Boyz, an Ork Nob Standard Bearer and an Ork Nob with a Rocket Pack.

Another view of the Standard Bearer

The Standard Bearer is an older metal figure sourced from eBAY, with a plastic skull added to replace the original missing Or symbols, as this hints at a wilder more savage background, I have used browns to paint the clothing of this character, then added the usual red plate armour over that. Arguably he should be on a bigger base but that is what he arrived on my doorstep with - so that is what he keeps!

Stormboy form the front

The Ork StormBoy with the Rocket Pack is a much more modern plastic figure, he arrived with no base, so I have glued him to a UK 2 pence coin, to give weight and added stability.

Stormboy from the left side

And finally from the right hand side

Ork Nob with power axe and hand blasta.

From another angle

Lastly there is my first batch of Landsknecht Handgunners, these are Warlord Games plastic figures which are really quick to put together and undercoat in off white / ivory. I based them on the equivalent of a 2 Pence piece so that they can be considered 'Open Order' troops. For close order troops (Pikemen) I shall use the equivalent of a 1p piece, I've got a batch of these on the go now as well.

A group of 10 plastic Warlord Games Landsknecht Handgunners

With the rear rank moved forwards

So Landsknechts are not so scary to paint as they are to spell! After the undercoat had dried, I dry brushed these guys with white paint and again left to dry. Most have leather tunics which have been painted a suitable brown colour, watering down the paint so that they colour flows really easily into the details.

Close-up of fur of my favourite figures from the batch

It was then fairly straight forward to paint in a base colour for shirts and trousers / leggings in either grey or a muted green shade, then add stripes of colour to the arms and legs, using the folds in the clothing as a guide.

A final closer view of the hand-gunners

Straps and other leather work was added in a suitable contrasting shade of brown before their guns were painted with a suitable wood colour and good old dependable 'Oily Steel'. Flesh and hair was added to taste, trying to keep a higher than usual proportion of blond hair - well they are meant to be Germans after all...

Hats and feathers were coloured somewhat at random before sepia wash was used to shade the flesh and brown areas and then a watered down dark tine wash was used to shade all other areas on the figures. A less watered down version being used on the handguns.

Bases again finished with fine sand and electrostatic grass.

POINTS

14 x Orks & Grechin @ 5 Pts ea                                  70 Points

10 x 28mm Landsknecht Handgunners @ 5 Pts ea    50 Points

TOTAL                                                                         120 Points

Side Duels

+1 Squirrel Point

+8 Skullz Points

+50 points towards the  Codpiece & Feathers Side Duel

From TeemuL: Lovely greenskins and landsknechts! Those old Fantasy Battle Black Orcs keep on giving, I have used them as Fantasy Battle Black Orcs and Blood Bowl Black Orcs, they seem to be an easy job to convert to WH40K setting, too.

AndrewB- Spreading the Corniness to Sandal-Wearers! [Lady Sarah's Limousine] [Historical Drama] (70pts)

Hello!  My first installment this week(while more Star Wars silliness is going on my 3D printer) comes in a continued small project around Biblical/mythical Eastern Mediterranean fun!  I’ve been prepping miniatures for a series of skirmish games based on a silly version of Jason and the Argonauts(more on them later).  One of the villians of the 1963 film was a King Aeetes, who I’ve attempted to recreate here, along with some generic civilian figures as well, perhaps to represent previously unnamed Argonauts?  

Two of them look similar enough to perhaps be the twins Castor and Pollux, but the others will not be heroes named in the mythic text.  Maybe they’ll be Jason’s old Greek fraternity brothers Chad and Tyler.  Such remains to be seen, but will probably be entertaining.  I really couldn’t resist such goobers when the main character’s named Jason.  

The kind woman pictured here isn’t Jason’s wife(aptly named Madea, for those fans of the American films of the early 2000s), but maybe Courtney or Brandi?   We’ll have to figure that out.  Maybe Lady Sarah can decide, given she’s helping me transport myself to the Historical Drama section to cash in on the rest of these fools!   Speaking of which, more pictures!

No Aeetes in that one, just the nice folks who don’t try to raise armies of skeletons and whatnot.  

Points wise for this post, I’ve got six 28mm figures and the Historical Drama room, for 50pts by my reckoning   We’re gonna get through the challenge in our first two months this year, it’s going to be great!  More coming before Thursday!

From TeemuL: Good looking perhaps-argonauts! For the future, could you add a picture of your Studio map to the post, so it is easier to follow your path? I guess you are moving from Under Construction to Historical Drama with Limousine. I have added 20 points to your tally, since you 20 points for the Limousine, too. In addition I added "Sarah's Choice" tag.

From ByronM - Black & White AND Under Construction (80 Points)

For my second entry of the day I am covering off my last two mandatory green pass studio spaces, although I plan to do more.  

First up, I am visiting the Black & White studio where I really had no idea what to do, and was just going to paint up a random Great War figure in B&W, but then I saw a post on the blog and changed my mind. I am therefore stealing JohnathanO's wonderful idea of painting up some Weeping Angels.  

I found a STL file for them online, and printed out a pair of them to paint, but one had the wing kind of separate a bit, and while ok for a statue, I printed off a second pair of the so that they were perfectly correct.  I then broke out the airbrush and did a quick black base coat and then a zenithal white highlight.  I then blasted it with a stone grey colour, washed them and then applied some quick stone grey highlights.  Super fast and super easy, and I think they turned out awesome!  So thank JohnathanO for the great idea, as I now have some great little pieces I can use as Angels or simply terrain bits.

Next up I am visiting the Under Construction space with a return to a long sidelined project.  Years ago now Games Workshop released a bunch of new Ork Vehicles including a F1 race car, a jet car and a few others.  I immediately wanted to paint them up just for fun, then heard about a game that Curt plays called Charioteer and thought I would base them all up, find some Imperial vehicles to fit with them and start playing them as chariots just for fun, I mean after all Orks can't shoot the broadside of a barn anyway, so close in combat is their thing anyway. 

Anyway, I promised I was going to get some old stuff done this challenge and this resurrects that project with one of the Imperial vehicles I picked up for it, an Adeptus Mechanicus roadster.

I painted this one to match my existing Adeptus Mechanicus force in deep crimsons and brass colours, and then based it to match the Ork vehicles that I had started before.

 

 

Overall I am really happy with how it came out and can not wait to get the other vehicles done now so that we can start racing.  Oh, and I might have laser cut a board for them to all fit into so that they look cooler when racing, so hopefully I can show that off sometime later in the challenge.

 

As for points, the statues are all 28mm figures so 5 points each = 20 plus the 20 points for the theme space.  And then the vehicle is a 28mm car so 20 points for it, plus another 20 for the second theme space of the day, for a total of 80 points!

From TeemuL: It is good to see that this Challenge has already inspired some of us! Those grey statues/angels look great and are very usable in various settings, I guess. I do remember one of your race car red ork vehicles, it was just brilliant - must have been some 5 Challenges ago or something. This new one will make a great competitor for that (and Curt's "chariots", too). I like the skull head lights and the road it is riding. There's a fair amount of skuls, but you are not joining the Skull Duel madness, aren't you?