From GeoffT: Fraud, The Dreamer (50 points)

Hello Challengers,

For the Fraud theme, I selected ‘The Dreamer’ starter box from Malifaux 1e.  The dreamer is not what he appears, seems like a cute little boy, but can summon hideous monsters from his dreams.  He isn’t really a human boy, he is one of the Neverborn, Malifaux native inhabitants.

The big purple monster is ‘Lord Chompy Bits’, and is really big, so worth 10 points I reckon.

Points,

4 x 28mm foot = 20 points

1 x 54mm foot = 10 points

Fraud circle of hell bonus = 20 points

A squirrel score for Malifaux Neverborn.

Kind Regards

Geoff.

From Millsy:

Malifaux is one of those games I hear a lot about but have never owned or played. Maybe I should correct that omission. The miniatures are gorgeous and stand out in a market with so many offerings. You've done a wonderful job on these Geoff, especially the giant purple beastie.

Another 50 points added to your total!

Cheers,
Millsy

From Curt: Five Denizens from Mork Borg (33 points)

Hi There,

Kawe from Westfalia Miniatures has been a Challenge supporter from pretty much the beginning, in fact he was a participant himself, creating some terrific work for visitors to enjoy. As many know, Westfalia began focusing exclusively on Napoleonics, then moved on to pulp subjects, and now concentrates primarily on dark fantasy and sci-fi.

I always try to jump in to support each of Westfalia's Kickstarters and these five figures are from one of their earlier releases. They're lovely boutique minis sculpted by Boris Woloszyn and themed around the wonderfully strange and creepy world of Mork Borg. For a few years I've been GMing some out-of-town friends using Mork Borg and the Roll20 app. We've been having a lot of fun with it as the system is very rules-lite, encouraging on-your-toes creativity, which often makes for some very funny (and bloody) game sessions.

Anyway, here are five denizens from the grim world of Mork Borg:

The Gutterborn Scum

The Heretical Priest

'Skelly Jo'

Wrat

Wretched Royalty

As to points, four of these five are over 40mm so I'll claim 7 points for each of those, giving me a total of 33 points.

I'll use the 'Wretched Royalty' to move from Gluttony to The Ninth Circle: 'Treachery'.

I'll also claim a Squirrel Point for this crew of degenerates.

Aaaand 5 skulls for Barks.

Thanks for dropping by!

- Curt

From Millsy:

Yikes! These are weird and creepy enough to keep John Blanche awake at night!

They're all spectacular mate but if I had to pick a favourite it would be the Wretched Royalty. I love the saturated blue/greens paired with the muted palette on the rest of the miniature and the face is just packed with character too.

33 Challenge points for your total! Keep em coming...

Cheers,
Millsy

From KentG: 28mm Napoleonic Russians, Hun cavalry and two tavern maids (375pts)

Next up we have a wee mix of figures first of which of is Two regiments of Pavlova Guard, 24 figures per Regiment. The figures are from Wargames Foundry and I think some of their best Napoleonic range these two complete the 20th regiment and last which I started Five years ago.

Really love  the way they look all shiny, must have been a great target.
Spent a lot more time on these guys than I was expecting but wanted to get them looking their best.

Did a couple of command stands to go with the regiments

Then for a wee change a bar maid for my limbo entry  I put the first layer of skin on her just over a year ago and the Gypsy dancer for my lust entry as she dances for the men. 

Lastly Hun cavalry archers from Gripping beast

So to this weeks figure count

 49 x 28mm Pavlov Guard infantry 245 pts

2 x 28mm ladies 30 pts (Dante’s journey)

2 x 28mm Russian command cav 20 pts

8 x 28mm Hun cavalry 80 pts

Total 375 points

From Millsy:

Another chunky haul of points Kent!

The Pavlov's are an absolute cracker and something I've been waiting for a while now to see. There are few more iconic infantry units of the Napoleonic wars and despite being a nailed on Francophile I actually think they're cooler than French Old Guard. Heresy I know, but you just can't ignore the hats!

The ladies are also beautifully painted, as are the Huns. Brilliant work all round and very well deserved 385 points to boost your tally even further.

Cheers,
Millsy

From Barks: Tommy Atkins's weird WW1 day (Limbo)(64 points)

I've been a little slow getting off the starting blocks for this Challenge, but I'm happy to be back.

My initial Limbo entry is this Martian scout tripod from Alien Dungeon, which I picked up from the good people at the War Library. I sprayed the whole thing silver and washed it black, and then hit a creative wall. Should I make it rusty and decrepit? What colour should the eye be? Should I make the details more defined? So it languished, until the Challenge inserted new life.

I decided to leave it un-rusty, and go for a red gem effect on the eye. I blended a deep red to black and orange, and then gave it a gloss coat. I'm not entirely happy, but it is done. The photos are with a previously painted PSC 15mm plastic soldier for scale. What else will poor Tommy Atkins encounter today?

I painted the tripod because I had been inspired by The Last War, a Forbidden Psalm/ Weird WW1 ruleset. My 15mm WW1 project had also been in a bit of limbo as well, and Last War has helped it approach completion. The tripod will be my 'Thing from the fog'. To add to my meagre Squirrel score, I've painted a few more gribblies.

First, I had a bag of transparent zombies from a board game. These made great ghosts, and also mud ghouls when liberally coated in mud effect.

Ghosts

Mud ghouls

I 3D printed some other figures at 50% size.

Trench maggots (Goonmaster)

Hounds of Annwn (Knucklebones)

Gas bugs (Goonmaster)

Trench rats (Duncan Shadow)

Some of these were barely painted (mud ghouls and ghosts) and others are small (15mm giant rats). So how about:

• 1 x 25mm vehicle: 20 points
• 24 x assorted 15mm gribblies: 24 points
• Limbo bonus: 20 points
• Squirrel (Last War) +1
• Can opener duel +8

From Millsy:

Great to have you join us again this year Barks! This is a great way to kick of your Challenge and I think you did the right thing sticking with the shiny finish on the walker. I've always thought part of the otherworldliness of tripods is they were made of unknown materials and wouldn't rust. I've scored it as a 28mm vehicle given the scale.

Nice work mate, a healthy 64 points to kick of your Challenge.

Cheers,

Millsy

From GeoffT: Dante’s Arcade Games (0 points)

Hello challengers,

Whilst in purgatory I decided to paint these terrain pieces, themed for the inferno, purgatory and paradiso.

The purgatory arcade game is incredibly bland, and each level takes a very long time to load, giving you plenty of time to think.

Since terrain does not get points but is allowed to be posted, I felt it would be good if someone would do ‘a completely pointless post’. The score is on the screen of the inferno game. 

Kind Regards

Geoff.

From Millsy:

These are absolutely awesome mate! I love the painted effects on the cabinets and the end game messages on screen are brilliant. Any scatter terrain is good stuff but these are a cut above. Well done!

Cheers,
Millsy

From StephenS: Limbust! (Limbo and Lust) (50 points)

G'day All!

Submitting two weeks in a row, and hitting two circles of Hell, it might be time to check if we need to crack out the ice-skates down there.

My submission for the first circle of Hell is Darth Vader, in all his 32 mm plastic glory from Atomic Mass Games. This has sat in limbo on my painting desk since its release in 2018, as I find painting black a challenge and didn't want to stuff up such a signature character. I have done my best to differentiate between the materials of his suit by varying the shades and highlights for the black.

My second model is the character Rincewind, a failed wannabe wizard, from the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. It is a 28 mm figure from Micro Art Studio in Poland. When I was a wee lad of 12, I remember walking into a local book shop with some birthday money to buy a specific book, and walking out instead with a copy of The Colour of Magic, after being mesmerised by the cover. 30 odd years later and I still love the world and writing of Mr Pratchett. Rincewind has always been my favourite character, and I have been itching to get my hands on a mini to paint up. It is great to have my lust for all things Discworld slightly sated by adding this figure to the display cabinet. I almost kept this miniature for the Inconstant Circle, but couldn't hold out. I think the miniature captures his belief that certain doom is only around the corner quite well.

Wizard spelt with two Z's. That's how you know he is the real thing...

The book that started the obsession...

2 x figures for 10 points and a 40 point bonus for the two locations, hopefully netting 50 points all up.

Cheers,

Steve

From Millsy:

I have the same Darth Vader in my collection but I think you've done a better job on the blacks Steve. I also opted for a gloss finish on the helmet but your pained highlights look more realistic which is weird but that's painting minis for you!

Rincewind is such an iconic character and you've packed him with every bit of it. The basing in particular is really cool and gives the mini a real sense of place.

Nice work! 50 more points.

Cheers,
Millsy

From RichardM: Sassanid dismounted Savarin Knights 28mm (200 points)

I have been painting a Sassanid army for Impetus as one of my projects through 2024.  Not long after starting to play Impetus, I saw a Sassanid army and since that time have wanted to paint one.  Over the intervening years I collected figures from Aventine, A&A Miniatures and Gripping Beast.  I also grabbed hold of any (and all) that I could find on bring and buy stands and online.  The results of the purchases mean I have now painted just over the 500 points worth for a reasonable Impetus force - and have as many again still sitting in the box.  There are a few more units that I want to complete now and I will leave the rest to paint until later when I have an opposing force that is of sufficient size to face close to 1,000 points.

These figures are claiming the ‘Limbo’ theme in Dante’s challenge as painting had started.  However, as the Impetus list does not have any provision for dismounted knights, I focused on completing other units that were on the list.  Having seen these figures on another blog, I decided I needed to get and paint three bases worth regardless of what the list allows.

These figures are all Aventine in 28mm and the banner and shield transfers are from LBMS.  

The points calculation:

36 figures @ 5 points each = 180 points

Dante’s Limbo theme = 20 points

TOTAL: 200 points

Unconnected to the Painting Challenge - but here is a quick photo to show their relatives that they will be joining 

From Millsy:

Wow, what an amazing image the whole army presents when arrayed en masse! It's an impressive sight and even more so when you know how well individual units are painted based on this submission.

Such vibrant colours, beautiful shields and the composition of the bases giving them a feeling of a moment captured in time. And speaking of bases, very similar to my own style for my Arabs and really setting the minis off well.

200 glorious points. Cracking work mate!

Cheers,
Millsy