From StephenS: Ms Marvel [Lady Sarah's Cart] (42 points)

G'day All,

To traverse the vast ocean of knowledge that is the Challenge Library, I am hitching a ride on Lady Sarah's Library Cart. My offering is a multi-volume edition of Ms Marvel from the Marvel comics and a TV show. Possibly a movie too?

I am not familiar with the character at all, my love for the Marvel cinematic universe fizzling out when her show was released, and while Loki and She-Hulk drew me back in, I haven't found time to watch the Ms Marvel series. Ms Marvel didn't appear in any comics I read as a teenager either. Apparently, her power is to go from normal sized to very big and stretchy, because that is what her models depict.

Two 40 mm plastic figures from Atomic Mass Games for their Marvel: Crisis Protocol tabletop game. I have scored one at 7 points and one at 15 points, as I seem to remember larger figures get scored as mounted cavalry, but I am older, and my memory might be failing me on this... point! The location bonus included, for a possible 42 points.

Cheers,

Stephen

From Millsy: I'm afraid I don't know any more about Ms Marvel than you do Stephen! That doesn't matter when it comes to the quality of your brushwork though. There's some really neat, crisp edge highlighting here that suits the subject matter perfectly and I love the depth you've achieved on the hair too. Maybe someone more familiar with the subject matter than we are will appreciate other aspects. Points-wise that sounds like a good way to go. Thanks for saving me having to think too hard about it!

From KentG: 28mm Confederate and Union command (140 points)

Well I decided to dig through my ACW box of goodies and see 

how many command figures I had left in there. 

This was a box that I had got in a trade so really didn't know what I had

As per usual I had so much fun painting these up.

These chaps are a mix of Perry and foundry miniatures.

Well not a lot of Chat this time hopefully the figures do the talking

                points

                14 x 28mm cavalry @ 140points

From Millsy: I'm pretty sure I have entire armies that comprise less minis than your ACW command figures mate and they're not as well painted either. Let me say one last time how impressed I am at the volume of quality work you can produce. I know you spend whole days painting but that only makes me wonder where you find the stamina! 140 more points to your tally. Will anyone catch you? I'm betting not... 

 

From TomL: Edna & HPL (55 points)

Taking one last ride on the Library cart, we present Edna, High priestess of Bastet (retired) and her clowder.

 

 

Edna the Cat Lady is from Reaper miniatures and comes with a clowder of 7 cats. One of mine decided to hide - probably with the two HF female wizards who went walk about week 3.

She brings us to final room of our trip through the AHCP Library - the Rare & Antique section.  What can be more rare than a book that shouldn't exist? Of course we refer to the Book of the Dead, the Necronomicon, a book of unspeakable horror that good old Howard Phillips Lovecraft just couldn't stop dreaming of...

Dancing to appease the eldritch horrors being entreated, several consecrated dancers pour forth their life essence as they whirl madly in front of ever-changing glistening amorphous pipers. Listening to the crazed HPL is a summoned Night-gaunt, ready to carry his mad request of conquest and revenge to the ancient ones. Will the heroes arrive in time to stop him? 

  

My offerings have been accepted!

Edna, & HPL (Bears Head Miniatures) were painted using Foundry & Two Thin Coats acrylics. The night-gaunt (RAFM) was painted using a mix of Vallejo metallic color shifting paints.

So ends an incredibly fun painting journey through the inspiring Library.  Points are 55 (library cart, Rare books and 3 28mm figures).  Many thanks to Millsy for his dedicated minioning and comments. Now to see if I can finish what remains partially painted on the desk before the end.

From Millsy: What a great way to round out your Challenge for the year Tom (unless you find time for something else)! I've really enjoyed all your female minis but I think Edna may be the best of the lot. She looks like she means business with that walking stick and I really like your palette, especially the yellow skirt and pink/green hatbox(?). I have that night gaunt mini in my collection, painted in a similar vein but I much prefer the effect you've achieved on the underside of the wings to my efforts. Thanks for your comments mate, I've thoroughly enjoyed you work! 

From RichardM - Latest offerings in 6mm Italian Napoleonics - 174 points

More 6mm Italian Napoleonics from Adler Miniatures this week.  

But before I get into the miniatures, a quick word of thanks to Millsy for checking and posting our work, and correcting my mistakes.

Firstly a family photo of the week’s production - Guard foot and cavalry and Light Infantry.

First up are 6 battalions of Light Infantry.  I did the 1st and 2nd Regiments, each of three battalions.  I selected these two regiments simply because I liked the colours of the facings - mid blue and yellow. 

While I probably would have put flags (colours) on them anyway, I checked with Rawkins and it seems all were issued with colours.  I think I should have had a white cross on the patch on top of the bearskins - but …. :)

Then we have the four battalions of Guard Infantry.  Nobody can tell the story better than Rawkins so I quote from his Army of Italy "The Reggimento di Fanteria di Linea was the senior foot regiment of the Royal Guard and consisted of two battalions, the Battaglione di Granatiere and the Battaglione di Cacciatore"  These are two battalions in green coats below.

Then we have the two battalions of  the Veliti Della Guardia Reale (Velites of the Royal Guard).  These are in white coats.   As I have gone back to Rawkins to get the correct names for these four Guard battalions, I have noticed he says they have 5 companies.  Perhaps one day I will add the missing companies. 

And finally, there is the Reggimento Dragoni Di Linea Della Guardia Reale (the Dragoon Regiment of the Royal Guard)

I am almost finished a regiment of Italian Line infantry which will come through in my next post 

For the Italians I still have two battalions of Guard Conscripts, one squadron of the Corpo Delle Guardie D’Onore Reale, artillery and brigade / division officers.  But as I am going away in a few days I won't have time to prep, undercoast and paint them.  So I am off to do a quick trawl through the drawers for any prepped miniatures that I can get done once the Line Regiment is finished.

Points:

Light Infantry - 6 battalions of 36 figures at 0.5 points per figures = 108 points

Guard Infantry - 4 battalions of 24 figures at 0.5 points per figure = 48 points

Guard Dragoons - 18 mounted figures - 18 points

Total = 174 points

From Millsy: This is a great way to finish off your Challenge for this year Richard. Your 6mm stuff has been great fun to minion and I thank you for the comments. You don't see many Italians painted for Napoleonics for some reason which is a real pity as they look amazing when painted as well as yours. The red/white/green is really eye catching and pops on the table. 174 points added to your tally mate!

From GeoffreyT: The silver bayonet, Canada (35 points)

Hello challengers,

I do very much enjoy The silver bayonet game and the sculpts from Northstar are great, adding some brilliant variety to Napoleonic wargaming which is often typified by endless ranks of similar figures.

This week I am painting some of the miniatures from the Canada range, and have finished six so far.  I copied the box art as I have no idea what Canadians wore in 1812.  The dude in the middle's jacket looks like a 19th century hi vis equivalent.

Also this week I complete another of the Banhus Miniatures shell creations.  This one is like a crab man and might be Useful in Ghost Archipelago.

Seven 28mm foot = 35 points for the tally this week.

Kind regards

Geoff.

From Millsy: Thus far I have resisted the Canada expansion but you're making that a harder ask with these fine fellows Geoff. I'm particularly impressed by the Indian Tracker (I think that's what he is?) with the striped jacket. The preacher/priest is also pretty cool and looks ready to knock some sense into whatever comes his way. Never argue with a ginger armed with a big stick! 

From StephenS: Imperial Death Troopers [Sci-Fi] (50 points)

G'day,

I normally struggle to get one post done a week, so three in a day is a novelty for me. My butterfly approach to painting is paying late dividends.

For the sci-fi location, I offer up a unit of Imperial Death Troopers from Star Wars: Legion by Atomic Mass Games. Not much to say about these guys, except they really like the colour black.

They were painted with a single coat of GW's Black Templar contrast, but they looked too grey,  so I went over it with a wash of 50:50 contrast and medium, which gave a much smoother coverage but less definition. I then gave a quick dry brush of dark grey and some metal and green, just to add some interest.

6 x 32mm plastic figures and a location bonus is 50 points.

Let's see if I can find the last handful of points to hit my target in the next few days.

Cheers,

Stephen 

From Millsy: Got 'em any blacker? These look great Stephen, even if their all black onsies are a bit hard to read on screen. I had similar issues with the overwhelming blackness painting Vader. I've got these dudes on my shopping list and I hope they turn out as well as yours. Nice work!

From Kerry T - Norman's home is his castle (300 points)

 Morning afternoon and evening all

First a big thank you to you Millsy for all your hard work in looking after us as our Friday minnion. Millsy's idea and coordination of a regular Tuesday chat for the Friday crew has also been a huge bonus and made this my third challenge even more pleasurable than the previous two. Thank you Millsy

I hope to produce one more post before next week's deadline which will be my final entry of Italian wars cavalry but this one is all about buildings.

I 've shown some of Norman's troops earlier in the challenge, well this is Norman's house!

Ever since starting to collect and paint the Baron's war figures from Footsore I've hankered after a castle. Last year I put one together from a mixture of Tabletop Workshop, Renedra and Ziterdes components and am pleased with it but since then I've taken the plunge and bought a 3D printer. 

I've always loved the range put out by Printable Scenery https://www.printablescenery.com/product-category/historic/middle-ages/. 

They produce a superb range of high quality STL files for a number of periods including Medieval Europe. I felt I also needed more 28mm buildings but the cost of postage to NZ for these is prohibitive. This seemed a no brainer option particularly when I was able to buy both their "King" range and "Country" as late kickstarters for only $US60 each. Each range contains a large number of buildings or castle components with each available as a ruined option as well.

I've quietly been printing components off since late October!

I'd always intended to submit a castle entry and made a start on painting these about 3 weeks ago when I had a week off and finished them off last week

Black spray undercoat and test pot paints from a DIY store 

Printed on a Elegoo Neptune 3PRO filament printer

Dry brushing starts

The garage is the only place to do this

I then dry brushed with a mixture of greys and brown using large brushes

Baron's war figures attack the main gate

One type of corner tower

The Royal gate and towers

The stone fort and stables

The back gate

view from the back

What I love about these various wall, tower and building sections is that they can be configured in multiple ways.

The various wall and tower components

The stone manor

The Square Keep

The King's gate

An idea of the round or Royal component variations

The second level allows for 90 degree or 180 degree angles

I'm not sure I like this roof variant

The stables

I'm the King of the castle - the Norman Stone Fort

It breaks down for storage

The Kings Quarters

Stone fort ruin variants, not yet properly painted so no points for this have been claimed

So many variants!

The Stone Fort ruin is the only ruin variant I've printed off but will likely print off a few broken walls in the long run. I think I might be printing forever especially as I can resize the houses in the Country range in 15mm as well. I'm looking forward to painting the cottage and farm buildings in the range next

As to the points value the following pictures should give an idea

Just about 8 inches high makes this 3 x 2.5 cubes = 7.5

Another 4 cubes and 2 cubes

Never mind the cubes, I think these STL files have to be the beat value wargaming purchase ever even though I've got through quite a bit of filament

I hope my maths are correct this time but my estimate is 13.5 cubes @ 20 points = 270 points

I now have to decide whether to sell off my other castle!

From Millsy: Oh. My. Word! This thing is absolutely spectacular Kerry and I am insanely jealous (apart from your storage requirements). Any game played on a table graced by this gorgeous structure would be an absolute pleasure to participate in. You've absolutely nailed the stonework and I think the blue/grey on the roof is a great choice. This is quite the effort to finish on mate if it does prove to be your last sub it's a cracking way to finish! I've rounded you up to 15 cubes, 13.5 just doesn't seem enough.

And thanks for your kind words. The paint and chat has been great fun and a wonderful way to get more stuff painted!