From GregB - Byzantine Varangian Guard - 62 Points

Varangian Guards prepare to take to the field in the name of the Emperor of Byzantium!

After a slew of Space Marines, we turn to a completely different ongoing project - my 28mm Byzantines. Here we have a unit of Varangian Guard, the elite mercenary guards of the Byzantine Emperors. These are 28mm metal figures from Gripping Beast, with flag and shield decals from LBMS.

Some fine swordsmen, present and correct!

Darrel H has already covered the Varangians earlier in the Challenge - and done a totally amazing, lights-out job on the paint work, holy cow - go check it out now if you missed it - but this particular unit is a fun one to have on hand in my collection, and I have been waiting for a couple years to paint some up, focused on other, more basic units to build and paint first.

I love the character of these sculpts. Don't the poses make you flinch, just a bit? Here comes a two-handed axe!!

And I did not even expect to be painting any Byzantines during this edition of the Challenge...but you know what they say about plans...anyway, I am planning a visit to Winnipeg in a couple of weeks, and as part of that, planning a game with the guys. Dallas and I were texting, mulling possible options for a game, and we settled on having my Byzantines finally take to the gaming table to battle his Normans. Great! And, he casually asked "if I had any Varangians painted"?

"Clear out for the wind up!"

So naturally I tore into my pile of shame, dug these figures out, and got cracking on them! In response, Dallas found some unpainted Normans in his pile, and before you know it, a mini-Challenge-within-a-Challenge was born...and here is my part of it! This unit is modest in size, but the Varangians hit hard, and this will do just fine for a game of Warhammer Ancient Battles. 

Banner bearer.

Tried to make the commander's outfit a touch fancier...

Gripping Beast metal figures are so strange...they look odd when they come out of the blister...strange proportions...but when you start painting them, I find they have so much character, and I just love them. While I could do without the separate weapons for the figures, I overall really, really loved painting these...except, of course, for the shields. 

Fighting now, drinking later!

The shields have LBMS transfers on them - no way I could hope to freehand designs like that - but wow, are they ever a massive, massive pain in the @ss to work with. I wish these were available as waterslide transfers...the peel-stick-water system these things use is fiddly as f*ck, and the results can be pretty uneven, and you will still need to paint the edges - and do so carefully. Even a liberal dose of Mircosol only does so much...anyway, I got there in the end, but I continue to wish for waterslide transfers for shields...

"Charge - and leave some room for the axes!"

Anyway, these 12 fellows in 28mm will be good for another 60 points. They are present and correct, and ready to swing swords and axes at some Normans! Can't wait to get these out on the table in a couple weeks time, while visiting my friends in Winnipeg!

Wait, those aren't Space Marines, what gives? Ah well, they look fantastic anyway, hopefully they will perform well against Dallas' Normans. I have thrown in a couple of bonus points for the effort you made with the shields, that sounds like a right pain in the posterior.

From Steve K - Pictish Warband Infantry -80 Points

 

Now then,

another slight deviation from the plan... So I grabbed the new edition of Hail Caesar, a system that I always quite liked, but havent played in ages. The new edition clears things up and is a very pretty book. Anyway, I decided to expand my Picts, which effectively doubles the size of the army.

I grabbed a bunch of Metal Gripping beat Picts as well as a GB plastic box set and set to work. I have to say, the plastics are nice, simple models but I find it a real pain sticking them together, not that they are difficult but because I just prefer metals...

Ive painted up 19 Picts this week (after spending a week losing the will to live sticking my fingers together). A mixture of metal and plastic.

They are not based yet as im going to wait until they are all painted so i can mix them together with the box load of Footsore minis that I have waiting in the queue.

The army so far, as you can see there are lots of empty bases that need filling!

Points

19 x 28mm foot @5pts per model = 95pts.

Have a good week everyone!

Steve

The Picts look superb, you've done an excellent job with the clothing, especially the plaid and striped patterns. 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but basing your minis is kind of a requirement of the challenge. I totally understand that you want to do all of the basing in one go, I've been in a similar boat myself.  Having consulted with the other minions, I'm afraid the dark arcana running the spreadsheet of doom mean I can only award you 4 points per model. If you do get these figures based by the end of the challenge, make a note of it in your post and the extra point per mini will be added to your score. To make it up to you, I will throw in a couple of bonus points for the fine brushwork and for persevering with the plastic minis.

From GregB - Sons of Horus Heavy Support Squad (25 points)

Anyone call for some heavy support?

When "tactical support" doesn't get the job done, the Space Marines call in the heavies - the Heavy Support Squad. We have one here, five fine fellows decked out in the lovely green livery and iconography of the XVI Legion Astartes, the Sons of Horus of course! These are (yet more) multi-part plastic figures from GW's "Horus Heresy" setting. 

Love the little targeting computer/iPad deal you get with the kit - nice touch for the officer.

I've no doubt Curt was reading my mind, as he already alluded to these figures coming along the painting queue, but these are not only quite useful at blasting battlefield problems to pieces - they are also lovely tributes to the very early RTB01 "beakie" Marines, as they are equipped with the infamous "shark fin" missile launchers. These newer figures are true to that old design, and I love how they look.

The launchers are not a comfortable fit on the shoulders...tricky to assemble, but worth it in the end!

If assembly of the tactical support guys was tricky, assembly for these guys was REAL tricky. Not only are the instructions bonzo and of little help (reminder - do NOT throw away old instructions from other boxes, as you'll need them), but the art of sitting the large weapon on the shoulder is...delicate. Anyway, it all worked out in the end, so it doesn't seem like a big deal now, but there are a surprising number of very, very small pieces that need to come together on these figures - so don't build these things near a carpet!

Shark fins, FTW!

Whatever the travails of assembly, the painted up just fine, and nicely round out my initial complement of Mark VI Space Marines, which was a goal I had for this edition of the Challenge - I wanted to paint enough Mark VI "beakies" to fill the transport bay of the Sokar Pattern Storm Bird I painted last year.  I now have two 20-man tactical squads, a tactical support squad, and this heavy support squad, as well as "The Axehole" to lead them - and the whole lot can fill up the troop bay on that super-heavy flyer. 

These five 28mm figures should be good for another 25 points. Sadly, no skullz on this lot, but again, that's 30k for you...not so heavy on the skull-ness.

There is, of course, always more to do when it comes to my passion for the 30k setting, but at this point, my brushes switched subjects...stay tuned for my final post of this Saturday to see where they went next!

Those missile launchers have such a classic look to them. The new Mk.VI's really do hit you in the nostalgia, don't they? Another great looking squad to expand your army. Well done.

From RayR - Almansa 1707 Spanish Cavalry, Croa's Brigade 26 pts

 For my second post this week I've kept it all Spanish, with Croa's Brigade.

Croa's Brigade consisted of three units, the blue coated 3 squadrons of the Ubeda y Baeza otherwise known as La Ramble

4 Squadrons of the red coated Reina Horse

and finally 3 squadrons of the white coated Amendariz Dragoons.

Croa's Brigade were in the 2nd Line of the Right Wing under Lt General D'Asfeld

Each cavalry base is worth 2.5 points, which there are 10 of, making 25 points, add to that the 1/2 point for Croa, making a total of 25.5 points.

Cracking looking squadrons, Ray. Every week you seem to be producing more and more units for this battle, there can't be many left, surely.

From Ray R - Almansa 1707 2mm Spanish Guard 31pts

 

More 2mm goodness from me today!!!

Most of the Spanish infantry that fought at Almansa were single battalions, but here in Valle's Brigade we have 2 regiments of 3 Battalions.

For any of you who may have missed it, I've posted an Idiots guide on my blog on, 

How I painted my 2mm figures.

Its really not rocket science but gives you an idea why I wear glasses!

The Spanish Guard

Reales Guardias Valonas or the Royal Waloon Guard

and the Reales Guardias Espanloas or the Royal Spanish Guard

As per normal they are painted up using Army Painters Speed Paints, this time its Magic Blue.

Valle's Brigade fought in the first line Centre Right under Lt General Labadie

Each Battalion will earn me 5 points in the challenge with a further 1/2 point for their Brigadier Valle.

Making a total of 30.5 points

This project continues to grow in quantity, if not in scale. Great work on these elite guard units Ray. As usual I have rounded your score up a little to account for the flags.

From MartijnN: Fighting Windmills (10mm ACW)(SuperHeroes)(103 points)

I am not really into superheroes. The Marvel universe and all associated superheroes does not, I fear, really appeal to me. What will not have helped is that my dad, the one time I brought home some comics borrowed from a friend, cast one look upon them and said "We don't read that trash in this house" and made me return them the following day...

In all honesty, I don't think I really suffered for it. Yes, I got the occasional glimpse of Superman, or the Hulk (Lou Ferrigno, of course), but it never really struck a cord. So coming up with a suitable hero for the Superheroes Studio was a bit of a struggle.

And then I thought, why not go for the anti-hero. So here he is, my dad would have approved of him, and his heroic struggle against windmills has gone down in languages across Europe: Don Quixote de la Mancha, accompanied by  his faithful servant, Sancho Panza. Surprisingly, I don't think many films have been made about him. This one, from Terry Gilliam, seems to be the most recent one.

And here is my hommage to the heroic hidalgo, on his knightly steed Rocinante, Sancho Panza at his side:

Once again, these are Iain Lovecraft figures, 3D printed.

Certainly no anti-heroes, although in some way, perhaps, fighting windmills nevertheless, are these 10mm Perrin ACW troops. This is the final Confederate brigade for my Champion Hill project; just a couple of Union brigades to go now. There is also an artillery battery and two generals. I will claim a squirrel for these.

For the Union, there are also two generals, Grant is to follow. And three artillery batteries.

Not much, after last week's rather rich harvest, but I'm glad I have kept up the momentum. Also, I passed my target last week, so the pressure (if there was ever any) is off. Here's my map:

Next stop? Don't know yet. I don't think I am quite ready for the Director's Chair yet, so I still have four studios to choose from. Hm....

As for points:

36 x 10mm foot @1 = 36

4 x 10mm artillery piece  @2 = 8

5x 10mm cavalry @3 (per the recent revision) = 15

2x 28mm mounted @ 10 = 20

SuperHeroes Studio bonus = 20

Grand total 99

Some very nice looking minis there, Martijn. The Don and his companions look amazing, and (while I am a big comic book fan), I think your justification of choosing a hero from classic literature rather than Marvel or DC is very appropriate. Well done. 

Also, according to the Spreadsheet of Doom, 10mm Artillery also got bumped up to 3 points from what I can see.

From Millsy: Russian Civil War Bolsheviks (241 points)

G'day All,

It's been a while since my last submission, mainly due to a dose of conjunctivitis which makes painting unpleasant at best. Thankfully things have improved and I've been able to get back on the tools.

This submission is a large chunk of one of the two opposing forces for my new Russian Civil War project. There's some cavalry, an armoured car and a few transports to go, but this covers all the command and core troops on foot for the Bolsheviks.

I'm using a home brew variant of Bolt Action so infantry squads are ten men as a rule and command, supports, etc. all follow the standard sizes under those rules. Miniatures are for the most part from the wonderful and quite extensive Copplestone Castings Back of Beyond range which a few extras from Empress Miniatures. I'd like to add some Brigade Games stuff but at their (frankly extortionate!) postage rates that seems unlikely.

Command

Officer, Standard Bearer and Kommissar. The flag is a freebie thanks to Wiki Commons.

Infantry Squads (4)

Three x standard rifle-armed Bolshevik infantry squads with Officer, Standard Bearer and LMG.

The fourth squad are rifle-armed Communist Volunteer infantry with Officer, Standard Bearer and Kommissar to keep the "volunteers" in line. The Kommissar bears a striking resemblance to my good mate and sometime Challenge participant EvanH. The flags are once again freebies thanks to Wiki Commons.

Support Squad

HMG and crew. Dakkaski-dakkaski!

This brings me to within around 250 points of my target, which should be easily achievable with 2.5 weeks to go. Next up hopefully the aforementioned cavalry, an armoured car and transports.

Cheers,
Millsy

Glad to hear that you are doing better Millsy. These models all look great, the flags are going to give you a bonus point to help you get just that little bit closer to your goal. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this army.

From GregB - Sons of Horus Tactical Support Squad (50 points)

Tactical Support Squad for the Sons of Horus, sporting the dreaded Volkite Caliver.

When you are undertaking a tough endeavour, it is nice to know you can count on support. Even Space Marines need support now and then. And when you are talking about the Sons of Horus, we don't mean moral support - because the moral superiority of the Warmaster is crystal clear. Nor do we mean spiritual support - the Word Bearers have that covered. No, we are talking "tactical support", available here in squad form. This is a tactical support squad of the XVI Legion Astartes, sporting Volkite Calivers, all are plastic multi-part figures from GW.

I just love the look of the "Volkite" weapons in the 30k setting.

For those (rare) occasions where the big 20-man tactical squads run into a battlefield issue that is reluctant to move out of the way, these tactical support squads are on hand to lend a boost. Rather than  the sturdy, basic bolt gun, these squads avail themselves to the dizzying array of special, scary weapons, helpful in the particular military situations which might arise 30,000 years into the future. 

Close up of some of the poses...the guns connect at the wrist, which sucks, and leads to some...interesting joins...

The Volkite Caliver is my favourite, because it looks whacky, and is meant to be a giant ray gun. In the great tradition of 30k weapon silliness, there are "Volkite" weapons for every category, from pistols all the way to versions which are equipped and mounted on the massive Titans. 

A view showing the rear packs, and trusty bolt pistols holstered at the hip.

While I continue to love these new plastic kits from GW, the assembly of these was a pain in the @ss, as the instructions are absolutely Kafka-esque, in that they require you to have a DIFFERENT set of instructions, from the basic tactical marine box set, to go with them. Moral of the story - don't throw out your instructions right away...

We're here to support you! You know, in a tactical way!

OK, for points, we have another 10 figures, in 28mm size, so that should be good for 50 more points. And we get another SKULL for the skull duel too :)

Cool looking volkite squad, Greg. Nothing like a bit of the ol' CHOOM-CHOOM death ray action to clear the enemy out of the way.

I'm not 1005 sure, but all of the parts on the Mk.VI sprue are numbered and if you put them together in order and choose the support weapons by number order too, I think they should all fit. Those wrist joints are still a bit of a pain though.

From DaveV: Sedition Wars - Strain Strategic Points (Retro - 50 points)

Like my Ogre project for last year's Challenge, this year I have become fascinated by another old board game, Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster.

My previous entry featured mostly characters from the human Vanguard Samaritans. I now turned my focus to the Strain. These "strategic points" come from a 70+ piece Terrain Pack that was another Kickstarter stretch goal. For this entry, I painted up the following:

• 2 x Necrocysts - each creates 1 Phase 1 Necroform (zombie) from 2 nano-virus clouds.
• 2 x Exocysts - each creates 1 Phase 2 Exoform (living monster) from 3 nano-virus clouds.
• 1 x Macrophage - evolves an adjacent Exoform to a tougher (Phase 3 or 4) beast for 3 nano 
• 1 x Gestation Vent - consumes a Phase 1 Necroform (eww!) to create 3 nano 
• 1 x Spore Engine - creates 4 clouds of nano-virus at the cost of 1 nano

The design of these plastic models is real nightmare fuel. Kudos to the designer. They are cast from a brittle, hard plastic, which takes sanding and filing better than the basic Vanguard and Strain. I cleaned up the models with sanding sticks and files, and affixed them to 25mm or 50mm square bases, to fit the 1" square grid lines of the game.

Below, the Strain strategic points on their painting handles. (Visible behind them are Vanguard strategic points, which include various computer consoles, sentry guns, auto-docs, and doors.)

After priming with trusty GW Chaos Black, I used rattle can GW Corax White downward at about a 60 degree angle for zenithal highlights. The skin, orifices, tubular bits, claws, teeth, and other protuberances  were painted with various greens, brown, purples, reds, and pinks from the Army Painter Zombicide Warpaints sets (Scaly Flesh, Zombie Flesh, Toxic Boils, Crusted Sore, glazed with Zombie Shade and Toxic Shader). The harder chitinous plates and spikes were built up with several glazes of Seraphim Sepia, and shaded with Agrax Earthshade and Army Painter Sepia.

The bases were painted with various Vallejo greys, glazed with Secret Weapon Stone and GW Coelia Greenshade washes, then finished off with weathering powders.

Afterward, all 6 models got a coat of Tamiya Semi-gloss (TS-79), and Matt (TS-80) spray can paint. I went back with some Citadel Blood for the Blood God and Green Stuff World Coagulated Blood, to add various blood effects. This was used y around the fleshy tubes, orifices, teeth, and seeping from the claws.

Below, L-R  a Necrocysct, 2 Exocysts, and another Necrocyst.

Below, L-R a Gestation Vent and a Macrophage.

Below, a Spore Engine.

With my recent Sgt. Ramirez purchase on eBay, I also received a 2' x 3' paper map that Studio McVey used when Beta testing the game way back in 2011. I took it to my regular art framer's, who dry mounted it like a poster. This gives me a striking map, much more robust than the then cardboard map boards provided in the basic game, which are prone to warping. This will be great for participation games at conventions, too.

 

With seven 28mm terrain models, these models for a long OOP (Out of  Production) game are also Retro, Total = (20 + 20) = 40 points.

Cool looking gribbly things, they certainly look creepy. I have scored them as 28mm minis as they won't garner you many points as terrain. Given how nice the minis are, it is a shame that the game just vanished once the kickstarter was over, your board looks very cool laid out mid-game.