From MikeW: More Savage Orcs and Tau plus 28mm Alamo Cavalry. History & Overdue Bonus, Skulls, Squirrell (260 Points)

 Into the second week of January and my painting production line is moving into full swing, at last! This week I present more Warhammer Fantasy Savage Orcs alongside another group of Warhammer 40K Tau models. In addition I have been working on a long overdue set of historical Alamo 28mm mounted troops.

Let's begin with where I left off last post and finish the Savage Orc unit that I had started last week. Today I have an additional 14 figures, all completed in the same manner as last week's posted figures. Together they make up a 20 strong unit.

The group of 14 Savage Orcs, completed this week.

The colour scheme remains the same - vivid green skin - all that healthy outdoor living by these Savage Orcs - they are armed with a variety if crude weapons, blades made form bone or roughly crafted iron & steel.

A view of the second rank of figures.

As previously noted, I source most of my figures from eBay, these guys being no different. They came partially built and totally unpainted, which was nice. Just a matter of minor surgery to add weapons to hands, or hands to wrists or heads to necks etc!

And the final third rank,
The bone armor makes a good contrast to the green skin of the Orcs.

Armour is bone based with small shards of iron attached to give additional protection by those Orcs with enough mental agility to think of such refinements. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

All twenty Savage Orcs re-united. I need to find a suitable standard bearer
and musician for these guys and potentially also a unit boss.

Next, I'll cover the 28mm mounted figures that I have got completed this week. These are for my Alamo collection, these figures are from Boothill Miniatures, they have been sitting in my drawers for a couple years and it was high time to get them painted!

Eight Alamo related 28mm mounted figures, long waiting to get finished!

There are six Mounted Alamo Volunteers, these are Anglo-Mexicans who fought on the side of the Texas Republic. Figures were undercoated white and then I used speed paints to block in the horse flesh and a variety of browns, greys and blues etc on the little guy's chaps, clothes and weapons etc.

First three Alamo Volunteers, a lot of leather on show for these figures,
I used a red accessories theme to try and tie these guys together in to a unit.

The other three guys, you'll see all the horses have red tassles on their bridles,
I assume this is to keep the flies away. The men have red bandanas or ties around their necks as well.

I believe the two Mexican Irregular Lancers are also Boothill figures but I'm not 100% certain, these were painted in a similar manner to the above.

The two Mexican Irregular Lancers, again with red details (well I had the pot of paint out!)

I used a Flesh wash to add depth to the skin areas and a dark ink wash on the rest of the rest of the figures to add shading and keep them in line with the rest of the collection.

Next group was my continuing saga with the Tau, I have completed another three Stealth Warriors in much the same style and method as the first three that I submitted. 

Three more Stealth Warriors, I really like the size and feel of these Stealth Suits.
They seem easier than the regular troopers to paint.

Next there are a group of nine Tau troopers including a Gue'Vesa (Human) Squad Leader.

This week's batch of Tau

Additionally I found a fantastic Sci-Fi figure on eBay that I fell in love with as soon as I saw him, thinking that he'd make a great Tau Gue'Vesa - possibly even a alternative for a Tau Ethereal...

My 'Proxy' Ethereal.
I just liked the pose and the feel of this figure!
No idea who manufactured it....

Finally I painted a Tau Rocket Launcher, again in the same colour scheme as the rest of the army that I'm putting together.

Is it a figure or a terrain piece? I'll leave that to or minion!

So in completing this week's Tau figures, I realised my schoolboy error on the basing! I've not been using my usual brown gloop on these bases, instead I'm using an Orange 'Hobby' paint, all well and good for the desired look but I've forgotten to add in PVA glue - so there are issues with the sand and tufts remaining stuck to the base. 

The solution I have used here is to use a generous coating of mat varnish to soak into the basing materials, hopefully this will fix the issue. I have retro fitted this solution to my other completed Tau and all new figures will get the PVA added to the base when the orange paint is applied. The perils of experimenting with new solution!

Four new Tau Troopers, with a Gue'Vesa Sqad Leader on the left.

The rest of the squad

Points wise I think my submission this week is pretty straight forward, however, I'll have to call on my already 'long suffering' minion for a ruling on the points for the Tau Rocket Launcher. I have claimed 5 Points - as per all other 28mm figures - but this may be considered to be a piece of terrain. I'll go with whatever is decided!

Additionally I'm claiming the Historical Bonus for the Alamo Mounted Volunteers and the Overdue Bonus for the Mexican Irregular Lancers, I see others have had this allowed as we are limited to one posting per week so hopefully everyone will think that is fair.

Completed two new locations in the Challenge Library

What's coming next - hopefully in the next week or so there will be some Goblin Frog Riders, more Tau and some Warlords Epic ECW Scots Covenantors, as well as General Santa Anna, a mounted Polish Kettle drummer and who knows what else takes my fancy...

Highlands Miniatures Swamp Gobllin Frog Riders.

Highlands Miniatures Frog for the above Riders.

Undercoarted Warlord Epic ECW Infantry on the frame

POINTS

14 x Savage Orcs @ 5 Points ea                                        70 Points

10 x Tau @ 5 Points ea                                                       50 Points

1 x Tau Rocket Launcher @ 5 Points ea                               5 Points

3 x Tau Stealth Warriors @ 5 Points ea                             15 Points

6 x 28mm Alamo Mounted Volunteers @10 Points ea     60 Points

2 x 28mm Mexican Lancers @10 Points ea                      20 Points

Historical Bonus                                                                  20 Points

Overdue Bonus                                                                   20 Points

TOTAL                                                                                 260 Points

+2 Skulls

+1 Squirrel (Fantasy Orcs, 40K Tau, 28mm VBCW & 28mm Alamo)

 

 Sylvain: Good Lord, that's quite the point bomb we have here! The Tau units are superb, their color scheme really fits their fluff. The Orcs look mean and crisp, a job well done with the paint brush. And the Alamo's "Band of Brothers" will impose their presence on the battlefield not only with their huge weapons but also with their huge mustachios! That was a very productive week for you!