From ScottM: Historical Drama - Ashigaru & Rocket Bikes (160 pts)

My last post for this year's challenge is a two-parter. First up is my last studio location.

Historical Drama - With thoughts of Akira Kurosawa rolling around in my head, for this location I went with a couple more bases for my ongoing Samurai armies project. These are two bases of Ashigaru with yari. These are 28mm metal figs from Kingsford Miniatures.

I had run out of the larger decals for my sashimono and had to use the smaller ones, so they look a little odd unfortunately.

Scoring: 16 - 28mm foot figs + location bonus = 100 points

And for my last set of figures I painted up a trio of rocket bikes. These 28mm resin figs are from Bombshell Miniatures.

Scoring: 3 - 28mm vehicles = 60 points

Scoring Total: 160 points

That ends this year's challenge for me. See you all next year!

Friday minion: Hey again Scott, great to see you back with one last post. Those Ashigaru look lovely indeed, the basing is really effective. and the Bombshell miniatures bikes are great pulpy silliness, great choice of colours. My favourite is the red one because it clearly goes fastest.

I believe this puts you over your 500 points target, congratulations! Great to have you with us this challenge, may your brushes ever move swiftly. 

From DavidB: not quite the last White Scars (93 Points)

 

 Hu- The Great Chinggis Khaan

Just a quick post for the day. I have a lunch date with my wife as with our busy schedules she wanted to spend time with with me for St Patrick's day for her IRISH-German heritage....I will be spending the weekend at the brushes, but wanted to make sure I was able to give Phil something to do for Friday. I just finished this lot and the white paint and snow effects are still very wet!

Like the Iron Snakes, the White Scars are "complete" as I have no more marine models in the house save for those painted or already dedicated to another project. I am sure that I will have some new models bought at Adepticon next week though. The White Scars need some more bikes, vehicles, and assault infantry. I also fully intend to check out 30k as the plastic scimitar jetbikes have convinced me that some Loyalist forces need to debunk Greg's dubious propaganda! :)

First up are a trio of Eliminators armed with las fusils. Las fusils are a las cannon turned sniper rifle for an AP-3 and 3 wounds a hit.....meaning I'm going to fluff every die roll to hit with them! Despite my horrible dice rolls, they turned out better than I imagined.

I decided on winter urban battleground  for the White Scars just because of these three as I was picturing them in urban camouflage crouching in snowy ruins.

The cloaks were painted in blue grey then shaded and highlighted. I used olive drab, gray, and black squares and highlighted and shaded those before dry brushing a pale grey over everything then shading with agrax earthshade. This toned down the blatant squares and rectangles and muted everything into a greenish gray brown fabric. 

With all the White Scars painted, Kor'Sarro Khan had to be painted to lead them while the Eliminators keep the enemy pinned down. He did have a crux terminus on his chest but it fell away someplace in the mountain of neglect. I found a revier medallion and glued that in place so the cords on his chest didn't seem to defy gravity anymore.

I deviated from the official paint scheme a touch, but I like my scheme better than the official one anyway.

A tactical rock with Chorgis art accompanies him and his cyber companion.

I gave the Khan a trio of Aggressors with flame weapons as a body guard. 

They seemed a good choice to add to the close combat carnage the khan can generate.

With all the hand to hand mayhem inbound, 10 intersessors equipped with chainswords and heavy boltpistols to capitalize on the khan getting stuck in.

The sgt has a plasma pistol and thunder hammer while I made another white scar with some white scar upgrade parts to act as a leader if I decide to split them into two five man squads. 

Probably my favorite primaris marine kit as they are loaded with knives and pouches. 

I also like the capability to add an aggressive grenade throwing marine as well as having one reloading on the fly. The reloading marine has a magazine in his support hand while the pistol is just ejecting a spent magazine. Both have their chainswords slung to their belts. and as all models can have holsters, the grenadier has a holstered pistol with pistol grip visible.

So the "last" of the White Scars for now until I get more.

Eliminators- 3 models for 15 points and 16 skulls

Kor'Sarro Khan for 5 points and 5 skulls

Aggressors- 3 models for 15 points and 13 skulls

Intersessors- 10 models for 50 points and 16 skulls

A total of 85 points and 50 skulls for a new skull tally of 650

I still have some more on the desk, but I have a date to head out for and may not get them up in time. A big thanks to Phil for herding the friday cats! 

Friday Minion: Hey David, great to see one last Friday entry even if it's a little one: you've been the most regular of the Friday crew, and great about dropping me a line to let me know you're working up a few dozen units for me to post up. Great to see the last of the White Scars finished up, awesome work on the Khan and his bodyguards and various other infantry. 

I'll score those chonky Aggressors and the Khan as 40mm figures, giving you 93 here. 

Its been great to have you with us. One more entry over the weekend perhaps? 

And have an awesome time at Adepticon and bring back plenty of White Scars for next Challenge!

From Curt: 10mm Empire Flagellants (186 Points)

First, a big thank you to Phil for letting me muck-in with his Friday crew and, more importantly, for being such a terrific Friday Minion. Phil's a busy chap, with lots of family commitments, so I really appreciate the time he gave us in helping out this year. Cheers Phil, you're a prince!

___________________________

This is will be my last 10mm Empire entry for the Challenge (I'm sure there are a few observers breathing a sigh of relief). :)

The ranks of the Empire's armies are not only composed of troops from the loyal and sometimes vainglorious Elector Counts, but are also made up of the desperate, the destitute and the fanatical. These poor souls gather in riotous mobs led by fervent warrior priests, worshiping bloodthirsty vengeful gods, and as a whole are simply referred to as Flagellants. Once gathered on the battlefield, they work themselves up into a murderous, doom-ridden rage, ever-eager to get to grips with the enemy.  In game terms, they are a 'tar-baby' unit, not very dangerous when measured man-to-man, BUT as a mob they are excellent in tying-up high-value enemy units being as they won't break, and typically will fight to the bitter end. 

As I wanted a big mob of Flagellants on a double-sized base (signifying 'Deep' units in TtS), I had to break from my use of venerable GW metals as I didn't have enough on hand.  Instead these figures are all 3D prints from the talented MiniRat. 

I really like the variation and character of these figures. From the guys advancing in stocks, to those brandishing torches and flails the diverse poses really reinforce the ad-hoc, crazed mob feel of this unit.

As I didn't want to get bogged down in painting figures for which 90% would not really be seen, I used a few tricks I've learned over the years to quickly bash them out. One is using an airbrush to establish the main tones, both along the upper and lower part of the strips of figures. 

As the lower part of their torsos are hardly visible due to being tightly packed together, I used a mid-tone brown and a contrast wash from the waist down, while keeping their upper torsos relatively bright and flesh toned. This way I could use a variety of inks and washes to get a quick mob effect. 

So essentially the front of the front rank and the backs of the rear rank gets detailed brushwork. The remainder of the figures have basic blocked-in colours on their upper features alone, while their lower parts are painted as in shadow. 

I'm relatively pleased with the results, and the unit provides me a proof of concept as I want to do my upcoming Goblin army using a similar approach, being that they are almost exclusively organized on these large bases. 

Here is a pic of the force as it stands as we wrap up. Again, I'm happy with what I managed to get done through the catalyst of the Challenge. I'm thinking I just need about 4-5 more units and I'll have a decent-sized playable force.

As to points, there are 30 strips of 6, plus a character and five individuals figures, a total of 186 points. This should be enough to just exceed my points target for this season. Whew! I'm happy to have made it.

Thanks for stopping in for a look and have a great weekend as we conclude the Challenge at midnight Sunday.

- Curt

Friday Minion: Aha wonderful, this mob is just the business, they look suitably crazed and immovable both in game, and in their faith in Sigmar. They are very characterful sculpts. I love this force you've built, as I was a big Empire player back in my GW days. 

Thanks for the tutorial too, nice technique to get a punchy bright finish with a lot of speed. Congrats on hitting your target, though I expect you'll have your traditional final post to close us out. 

From GrahameH: Lord of the Rings and even more Napoleonics (1410 Points)

The second and final post contains some Games Workshop Lord of the Rings (LOTR) figures and even more Napoleonic cavalry and artillery. Hopefully, there is a little more colour than the last entry, well apart from the Gondor troops.

LOTR - Gondor

The LOTR are again Gondor figures, although this time I have put some grass on the bases which I think I like better than just a lonely tuft, as show on the figures in a previous post. These figures were a cheap purchased, years ago, from Ebay. 

Numenor Warriors (12 Figures = 60pts)

Gondor Archers (31 figures = 155pts)

Gondor Swordsmen (2 Figures = 10pts) - Photo bombed by a couple of Gondor spearmen

Gondor Spearmen (13 Figures = 65pts)

Total for Gondor Figures = 290pts

MORE NAPOLEONICS "HURRAH"

Love Napoleonics, and some of you may have noticed I love painting Napoleonic Cavalry 

Spanish Cavalry (AB Figures - Unit of 24 Cavalry = 96pts)

This was the only Spanish Cavalry I had left to paint and I can't now remember which regiment I painted it as, and I can't find the Reference Book at the moment. Anyhow they are done. 

Russian Napoleonics (AB Figures)

Some of the Cavalry Units are not shown here in full, as I had already painted part of the unit before the challenge. However, all the Cavalry would usually be 30 figures strong. 

The Lithuania Uhlans (27 Figures = 108pts)

Pavlograd Hussars (27 figures = 108pts). Front rank with lances.

Irhoutz Hussars (30 Figures = 120pts)

These don't have the lances in the front rank, this is because they were Dragoons converted to Hussars in 1812 so I don't know if they received lances. Some Hussars Regts didn't get their lances until 1813. Really, I forgot to order hussars with lancers and only ordered normal hussars 😫

Mitau Dragoons (30 Figures = 120pts)

Kharkov Dragons (30 Figures = 120pts)

Mounted Guard Regt (30 Figures = 120pts)

Empress' Cuirassiers (18 Figures = 72pts) because you have got to have troops with pink facings in your army

Don Cossack (20 Figures - 80pts) One of the many small Cossack units in my army. Don Cossack were apparently known for their red lances.

Russian Limbers (4 Limbers (3 Foot and 1 Horse). Gun 4pts, Limber 4pts and crew and horses 18pts = 26pts per Limber.

Total 4 Limbers = 104 pts 

Russian Heavy Battery (6 Guns and 24 crew = 72pts)

Russian Batteries were large units and so are represents in General de Brigade with 4 Guns and two howitzers. Being a heavy battery these are modelled with  4 X 12pdrs and 2 Licorne. 

And that is it.

Total for this post 

Gondor 290pts

Spanish 96pts 

Russian 904pts

=1290pts 

I can now take down the table that I have had set up in the living room for painting for the last three months. Thank everyone running and taking part in this year challenge, especially Curt and my long suffering "Friday Minion" PhilH, who has had to re-total every entry I have submitted. REALLY SORRY PHIL 😳 

So Overall Result

Tennis elbow, a sore neck, a stiff back and a very small bit of the lead mountain painted, which I dare say will be replaced by new lead in the near future. My name is Grahame and I have a problem....

But best of all, loads of fun.

Again thank you to every one involved in this years challenge, can't wait for next year. Might have to buy some more Napoleonic Cavalry though.

Friday Minion: Congratulations on a spectacular challenge Graham, great to have you along for the ride. I do not know how you can bear to paint so many Napoleonic cavalry, it is extremely impressive.

You under counted your Russians and missed a unit, I make them 1024 points, plus the rest for this post totalling 1410! Meaning you've hit 5500 points, which is a massive score  (if a suspiciously round number). Not that it's about scores, folks. Now you can kick back and relax for the year knowing you've painted enough to last until next challenge. 

From GrahameH: 15mm Nubians and some Sci-Fi (853 Points)

 I have had some problems with my camera recently which meant I haven't posted for a bit, so I have divided this entry in two.

The camera is still not working that well, but hopefully you can still see what they are.

15mm Nubian Army

This is mainly a 15mm Essex Army, although the commands are Chariot Miniatures. The army consists of three "divisions" each of six units. 

Two divisions, at the back, are made up of two warbands (each of 30 figures) two smaller warbands (each of 24 figures), two bow skirmisher units (each of 9 figures) and one command unit (of three figures) Total 129 Figures (258 pts)

A Division (the second one is exactly the same)

A Large Warband (30 Figures)

Smaller Warband (24 Figures)

A Skirmisher Unit 

Sub General 

The Medjay Division

These are the warriors that have put mud in their hair giving their hair a brownish look. This division is made up slight different from the other two, consisting of three large warbands (30 figures each) an Guard unit (24 figures), two skirmisher bow units (9 figures each) and a General (4 figures). Total 136 Figures (272 Pts)

Large Warband 

Guard (not much difference apart from the red feathers)

A skirmish unit 

The General

Finally, some Huts 

5 huts = 5pts 

Sci-Fi

Just had these hanging around having painted the rest some time ago, so I decided just to paint them. 

I think the are GZG figures, and the army was started because I got some 4 free samples at a show. Yes I am that easily manipulated.

30 Figures (60pts)

Grand Total 

Nubian Army 

2 Divisions total of 258 Figures = 516pts 

1 Medjay Division of 136 Figures = 272pts 

5 Huts = 5pts 

Overall Nubia Total 793 pts 

Sci-Fi = 60pts 

This post = 853pts 

Friday Minion: Hi again Graham, welcome back for the last run-in! Whoa what a force of Nubians, these came out wonderfully. They have such a simple but striking scheme with their hide shields and colourful feathers on the command and guard units. Your style works perfectly for them in this scale. 

I know what you mean about GZG, I've definitely been tempted by 'just a few' at shows after getting some samples. The power of marketing eh?