From DennisC 28mm Roman armoured Cavalry and War Elephant (158pts)

Hey everyone, I got two more units done for my Romans, a converted Roman Elephant (Warlord) and 12x Armoured Cavalry (Gripping Beast)   For the elephant I am claiming 20points for vehicle, plus 3x crewman at 5 points each for 35 total.   The 12 cav are 12x10pts.

the elephant is marvellous, as are the cavalry. Plus you get 2.5 points for the casualty. Minus 28mm inf  are 5pts not ten

From Curt: Turnip28 Artillery (90 Points)

Hi Folks!

So, now that I have the officers, rank-and-file and skirmishers done, let's move on to some stuff that makes a big bang on the table. Yes indeed, it's the artillery! In Turnip28 artillery are as prone to blow up their crews as they are to harm the enemy. But with grave risks comes great rewards, right? 

Stump Guns are the garden variety artillery in Turnip28 (heh, see what I did there). Think of them being similar to the artillery used in the late medieval period, but even more capricious and undependable. 

For a bit of fun and colour, I played around giving a verdigris patina to the guns using a variation I found on a YouTube tutorial (so handy for ideas). 

Next are two Rocket launchers. Again, quite dangerous contraptions, but they have the siren's sweet promise of wreaking havoc amongst your foes. If your dice are lucky. Maybe. Otherwise, well, at least the crew will get to see some sights as they enter the atmosphere.

Finally we have The Grand Bombard. This beast can be rather rude to the enemy, and in a pinch, its crew can even 'invite' Snob officers to serve as makeshift ammunition. So when the gunner says, 'We'll shoot you to the head of the column, Guv'nor', he's really not fibbing.

All of these whacky pieces of ordinance need to be crewed, so we have a half-dozen fanatical gunners, along with a brace of ammunition carts for them to gather around during their smoke break.

The rocket batteries, Grand Bombard and crew are from Knucklebones Miniatures, whereas the Stump Guns are from StoneAxe Miniatures and the carts from Mammoth Factory.

Points? Hmm. The five artillery pieces are worth 50 points, while the 6 gunners another 30. For the two ammunition carts, let's say 5 for the pair? So, if this is amenable to our esteemed Minion Martin, that would give a total of 85.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you all have a great week ahead.

- Curt

Spectacular, as always brilliant work. Love dodgy artillery. 5 points each for the carts I think

from Paul O'G: Crab Bisque (50 points)

Yes - more Turnip madness! Introducing Lenny Krabbitz and Miss Shelly Snippins, a pair of Scuttling crab monsters for the "Feast of Charybdis" cult in Turnip28

Scuttlers are a unique burrowers that can manoeuvre in the subterranean filth and emerge unexpectedly to grab your turnips from behind. Bit of a nasty shock that. The howdah riders assist by helpfully pushing would be victims toward the claws and mandibles to ensure their Scuttler gets a good meal. Its a win-win for (nearly) everybody.

Lenny proudly cultivates his eyebrow tufts

I 3d printed these and in my typical fashion then obsessed with intricate details for an excessively long time. More importantly though, they were FUN to make!

Poor Lenny sports metal patches on his carapace where he came off 2nd in previous battles

Points: I propose each crab be counted as a vehicle due to their size plus the 2 crew makes for a total of 50 turnipy points, taking me to the 3/4 mark of my AHPC objective. With projected work travel, that keeps me on track...just!

Crustacean conga line!

Wow, these are spectacular, although I have even less idea now wat turnip 28 is about

From BartekR: That is not dead...and nuke 'em from orbit (Sci-fi) (80 points)

Submissions for the "Studio Challenge", found among the papers of BartekR of Canberra, Australia...

Black and White Studio: WizKids Star-Spawn of Cthulhu

"The Thing cannot be described--there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order" - H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

 

I'm a sucker for the Cthulhu Mythos, have been since I discovered them as a 12 year old: the literature, the art, boardgames, RPGs. If the topmost bookshelf above where I sit at the computer failed, I would be crushed by the combined weight of Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green RPG books, or even just the lone Centipede Press A Lovecraft Retrospective artbook tome. I should add - I do draw the line at Cthulhu plush toys and the like however. Cthulhu etc should not be cute. Ever.

Similarly, I'm fascinated by how Cthulhu Mythos uber-gribblies are represented in miniature. For my money, Cthulhu: Death May Die does it best, very much on the back of Adrian Smith's art.

This WizKids "Pathfinder Battles Deep Cuts" mini is a symptom of that interest - quality isn't great, and its in a softish plastic, but bought at a con because...well...its Cthulhu. After at least half a decade of it bouncing around my study it seemed the right subject for my first attempt at greyscale/b&w painting: Cthulhu or its Star-Spawn ilk rising from the waters under the Gibbous Moon. Clearly the Stars were Right. (I was also thinking of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's B&W film of Call of Cthulhu as part of my thinking).
 

 

Then came the troubled dreams of how to get the right grey tones, nightmares of eldritch rites involving black washes...SAN-loss followed.

Sweet dreams

I joke but this was plagued by a few instances of things going well (eg, good undercoating of black and white sprays for dark and light tones, or managing to pull off green glowing eyes) before I'd do something that screwed the overall effect. Mostly not knowing when to stop - overdoing washes - or ending up with a monotonal grey that didn't work at viewing distance. Thus, on the third attempt I called it quits - end result a slightly abstract, maybe comic book like effect...suitable for a B&W movie.

 

 

Black, white and grey paints (mostly Citadel) aside, I also used grey filters by Ammo and Vallejo transparent water effect (hence the shine). I have found the latter, even when dry, attracts cat fur quite well.

The lightbox helps with the dramatic effect

 

A pure aside, but there are some great images of Cthulhu rising from the water (Sam Lamont's cover to the Call of Cthulhu 7th ed Keeper Rulebook being one) but recommend checking out Darren Tan's 'Operation Starfish' graphic which appeared in the Osprey Adventures (Delta Green-esque) The Cthulhu Wars, written by Kennon Bauman and Ken Hite (of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff podcast, and plethora of RPGs including Trail of Cthulhu and The Fall of Delta Green).

 

Size comparison photo - chap at the front has the right idea

 

Interlude

Oscar and I haven't worked come to an accommodation as to how i can paint with him on my lap - hence his determined look

Sci-Fi: Gale Force Nine xenomorph Queen and Warriors 

 

 

The GF9 Aliens minis were a bit of an impulse buy (because I never make many of those!!!). Originally released for the Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps? boardgame, I picked up the standalone minis boxes for potential use in sessions of Free League's Alien RPG.  

These were another try and try again subject. As far as I can tell from trawling images, the xenomorph is generally black, with a metallic tinge (and some very silver teeth) - also in keeping with H.R. Giger's art style. So...silver undercoat and black washes it was. Which produced a very accurate looking alien. Problem was, it left them too dark and plain.

GF9 box art has some glorious looking minis - dark with soft blended blue (respectful of Ridley Scott's Alien palette). Alas, given I am still over reliant on drybrushing rather than blending, there was no way I was going to achieve that in the time I'd allocated. And, to be honest, it looked too bright. I know, "too dark...too light" - I sound like Goldilocks! But these are ambush from the shadows predators, not genestealers or tyranids. It was enough to prompt me to add a blue wash, and some blue highlighting before toning it down with a thinned black wash (maybe it was Contrast or Speedpaint, further diluted with thinner). End result, better (maybe not 'just right'). Bases are Gunmetal, blash wash, rust wash (comes out a bit too gold or copper in the photos) and Ammo's 'starship filth' filter. 

Running this way and that...

And a lot darker outside the light box

Realised reading over this draft how effectively the light box is at washing out colours - for good or bad (maybe will stop using the max light setting!)

Points

Star Spawn (54mm?) 10 points

B&W Studio bonus 20 points

Alien Queen (54mm?) 10 points

Xeno warrior gang (28mm x 4) 20 points

Sci-fi Studio bonus 20 points

Total: 80 points

In next week's episode: ???

Kissy kiss

THe aliens are great and so is the octopus thingy - don't really get Cthulhu, kinda passed me by. Top work

ReillyOG: US Armour (42.5 Points)

 

Here we have some US armour armor (have to spell it the silly American way!) -no you don't and never do it again, to support my D-Day paratroopers as part of my Bolt Action project. With the morning jump troops done and dusted, its time to start doing the afternoon as the support wave of US army and tanks catch up with the vets to help crack through any stubborn defenders still left standing.

Here we have an M3A1 Stuart,  a quicker zippier tank sent up through the lines to support the airborne earlier on while the rest of the platoon were stuck clearing hedgerows. Positively COVERED in MGs with 3 hull mounted, a co-ax, and a pintle, the "BATTLE WAGON" is ready to hose down the krauts as they push into Normandy proper, and later Holland. This is my first plastic tank kit being the Warlord plastic Stuart kit and man difference in heft is certainly felt when moving it around (I much prefer the resin kits when it comes to tanks).

The "BATTLE WAGON" having met up with the forward
deployed airborne, providing the wonders of mobile cover and resupplies.

"THE GOVERNOR" shows up to finish the job with its hefty firepower

Next we have "THE GOVERNOR",  an M4 Sherman ready to finally get back into the action after busting open hedgerows all day with its ad-hoc Culin cutter. Armed with the 75MM mainline gun and a 2 30. Cal MGs it's presence will definitely be felt on the table. The Culin cutter was 3d printed by myself, and the rest is the classic resin warlord Sherman kit.

In total we have 2 tanks for 20 points each, and 5 points for the tank commander sticking out the top of the Stuart for a total of 45 points. 

An M3A1 Stuart and an M4 Sherman
photographed together in May 1944, Italy.

Happy Painting all!

Brilliant work on the tanks, you only get 2.5 for the 1/5 a tank commander. Well done and never correctr you spelling to the wrong version again

From DallasE: Return to the Western Desert! (World Cinema, 70 points)

Back to the Western Desert indeed! In preparation for an El Alamein game I hosted on Thursday, I built and painted this 1/48 Tamiya Matilda (yes I know Matildas weren't really a big deal in '42) and some really nice Perry Miniatures Germans. On with the show! 

The model was pretty straightforward to assemble, as are most Tamiya 1/48 kits. But nowadays rather than having a metal lower hull, the newer Tamiya kits are all plastic - albeit with some solid metal tubes to insert inside the hull to add some nice weight to the model.

I painted the model in a weathered Caunter camo pattern. And if you've ever read anything about Caunter camo, you know it's controversial! Some say blue, some say grey, some green... who knows. But I think this ended up looking OK. The base tan is AK Deck Tan, the blue is Thunderhawk Blue, and the slate grey is Vallejo German Uniform. 

For Christmas I got a box of AK Interactive paints and washes - "Rust and Staining" edition. Pretty good stuff and has come in handy, I used the Dark and Light Rust on the exhaust mufflers.

There was a bottle of German Camo Black-Brown in that box as well and I love that stuff, especially for sponge chipping. I used to mix craft black paint and GW Rhinox Hide but I love the pre-mixed GCBB for this work.

I used some of the kit decals on the kit but not all of the ones that were provided for "Defiance". This was because there was already stowage and junk stuck on the turret where the decals were supposed to go. Anyway it's a nice model and I think it turned out OK. 

The other models for this week are from Perry Miniatures - the German Zug/Platoon Command pack. Really nice models just as you'd expect from the twins. They're painted just like the other Perry Germans I've done thus far. If you're interested you can have a look at some here.
 

You get an MG-34 gunner and assistant...

An officer in some rather casual clothing and a runner...

And an anti-tank rifleman enjoying a drink with an NCO. I made the sign for our recent game, it's from a 1/35 Italeri kit. I used a 0.1mm technical pen for the lettering and skull and crossbones. I love stuff like this as it adds so much to the gaming battlefield.

For this one I'm gonna head over to the World Cinema for 20 bonus points, add that to 20 for the Matilda and 30 for five 28mm infantry, and you get 70 total.

Tally ho and Heia Safari!

Love the Matilda, really great job on that. Impressed with the wafer biscuits named after the good Lady Sarah, hope they are nice or she will be insulted that her name is being applied to shoddy mechandise