From RaulM: Black Seas USS Constitution (50 Points) (Lust)

She was lusted after by Paul in my last post, and so I have delivered in the first ring of the Abyss. I've painted Old Ironsides, or USS Constitution, a resin and metal model from Warlord Games Black Seas. 

This ship is the reason I got into Black Seas, as upon my visit I was enthralled and needed to get into some kind of naval wargame where I could use this model. I believe it's one of the earlier Black Seas resin models to be made, as some of the details are quite chunky when compared to the latest releases. All the same though, I like the look of this model. 

I kept the metal masts this time around, as they were thick enough to withstand some touching. With all of the rigging and sails in place they're quite solid. The kit came with a stern davit, but it covered all of the beautiful stern detailing, and I couldn't bring myself to the do that to the model. Instead, I stole the quarter-davit boats from the USS United States model, and I think it nails that iconic look of the Humphrey's frigates without obscuring any critical details. 

I do think the bow railing is a tad chunky, but I think that was a limitation of the casting, as otherwise all of this detail would have been too difficult to cast. I think the Black Seas ships are a "heroic" scale for naval miniatures, as details like figureheads and stern galleries are larger than they should be just so that you can actually read what's going on. And I'm totally ok with that and actually prefer it. 

Based on ratings I've done for previous ships, I'll score this at 20 points, as it's larger than a standard frigate, almost about the same size as a 3rd rate. I've claimed the Lust bonus for this one as Paul wanted to see this model before the challenge was up, and I also have really wanted to point this one. That gives me 40 points total for the post. 

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A fabulous beauty she is too Raul, well worth waiting for! As ever, your work on the rigging, sails, pennants and flags is top notch and worth some bonus points too. 

Thanks indeed for prioritising "Old Ironsides" - thats made my week!

- Paul

From PeterD Gliding to Gluttony (30 points)

Once again photos show my painting flaws and need for touch ups.

Exiting Treachery, I am using this Bad Squiddo Krystyna Skarbek figure  to take me back out to Gluttony.  Skarbek was a Polish SOE operative who at one point kidnapped a Gestapo Chief.  Again read her bio.  She skied in and out of occupied Poland several times and that's how she's been sculpted.  The Bad Squiddo site has her in a very nice nordic sweater with I couldn't possibly match, but I added a yoke and trim to get some of the effect.  She's stylishly attired for Telemarking at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, interrupted by some serious espionage.

Last fall my wife asked if I'd be interested in seeing a touring musical about Women in WW2 that was playing live at Darke Hall, a local theatre.  I said sure and it turned out to be based on the lives of the female SOE operatives in the Bad Squiddo range.  It's called the Invisibles, Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare and is worth seeing if it comes to your town.  it was quite funny watching the play and going, wait a second I've painted her!  

This may be a reach, but I am going to try claiming a Spanish American War collier for my Gluttony post.  I am hoping that have a Minion who is a ranking Flag Officer will help my case, as I'm sure he'll understand the logistics involved.  (Laying it own a bit thick?) 

These are two 1/2400 scale ships from Tumbling Dice from their Age of Battleships range.  There is the collier USS Nanshan, still in merchant livery and the cruiser USS Newark in peacetime white and buff (so much nicer than wartime grey).   My pitch here is that late Victorian era warships had a tremendous appetite for coal, particularly if their machinery was in poor nick.  

The Spanish Armada had a bad time getting coal for its far off squadrons.  Cervera's squadron arrived in the Caribbean in desperate need after a Trans-Atlantic voyage.  They were refused coaling rights in Martinique and had to go to Curacao to top up.   Later at the Battle of Santiago, the Cristobal Colon would have gotten away if she hadn't run out of good coal and had to resort to inferior stuff.  Camara's squadron was sent east to recapture Manilla but had similar troubles getting coal in Egypt.

On the US side, coal logistics took careful management.  Dewey's squadron had the Nanshan attached to prevent such troubles and he needed to dispatch a gunboat to escort her before attacking at Cavite.  For the Cuban blockade, they set a temporary coaling port when captured Guantanmo and used a whole fleet of hired colliers to keep the fleet on station.

Points wise I am hoping for

• 5 pints for Krystyna
• 4 points for the two 1/2400 ships
• 20 points for Gluttony

For a total of 29 points.

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Well a Spanish Collier was certainly a treasure worth a fat prize money haul (an eighth of which was payable to the Admiral I will remind you, no matter how far away he was!). Thanks for that, I'll bump this up to 30 points so you can pay the man his dues!

And I agree: NEWARK looks lovely in White and Buff - suits her lovely lines and far more reminiscent of the times!

- Paul

From PeterD Showing a Little Prosthetic Leg and Albemarle Sound for Treachery (55) points

It's not been a great challenge for me this year.  I got a decent start over the Christmas Break but was a bust ( a nasty head cold and then a trip to San Diego)  and this is my first post in four weeks. 

Circles of hell wise I've been stuck in limbo for a while, so I'm going to use the Bad Squiddo figure of the WW2 SOE agent Virginia Hall to skip over to Treachery.  Hall had a prosthetic leg name Cuthbert, which did not stop her from parachuting into occupied France.  The Gestapo considered her most dangerous of all Allied spies.  Her wikipedia bio is well worth reading.

She was a thirty-five-year-old journalist from Baltimore, conspicuous by reddish hair, a strong American accent, an artificial foot, and an imperturbable temper; she took risks often but intelligently.

M. R. D. Foot

I have painted a number of Bad Squiddo's Women of WW2 figures, and I really can't say enough good things about them.  They look and dress like the real women of the age, they are well sculpted, well cast and lovely to paint.  And they have great character.  Virgina's kind of bent over so getting a face shot was difficult.  I love the details on Cuthbert and the SMG casually thrown over the stylish coat.  My pictures always show up the worst of my painting, and I obviously have to touch up her hair.

Now for the Treachery I have two ACW ironclads.  I figure with any Civil War there's plenty of treachery around by definition.   Plus it's an American subject, and as a Canadian I find anything American very treacherous right now.  

These are 3d prints in 1/600 based on files by Long Face Games.  I had my Uni library print these off, so that I could surprise my normal 3D printer (the Snowlord) and they cam out decently.  Unfortunately the paddle wheelers that I tried to get the library to print were a mess and I'll need to get Curt's help and expertise on those.

First up is the CSS Albemarle, literally cobbled together in a corn field next to the Roanoke River.  Unlike most Confederate ironclads, she did a fair bit of fighting and was pretty darned successful in clearing Union Blockaders out of Albemarle Sound and recapturing Plymouth North Carolina in 1864.   She was eventually done in by a picket boat with a spar torpedo, an infernal device which as SylvainR has remarked is the most SpaceOrk naval weapon ever.

A spar torpedo in action.

On the Northern side I have the Passaic class monitor USS Nahant.  Most of the Passaic class served on the South Atlantic Blockade, especially the siege of Charleston.   Several of the class were still afloat to serve in harbour defence roles (i.e reassuring the public) during the Spanish American War.   She never fought the Albemarle, but she and a sister ship captured the ironclad CSS Atlanta.   

These Long Face prints were quite nice, but Civil War ironclads are basically ugly lumps of metal to begin with.  I plan to add labels with names and flags, but don't have them yet because I was an idiot and left my MacBooks power cord at the office this weekend.

Points wise we have

• 5 for Virginia Hall and Cuthbert
• 20 points (?) for the two ironclads.  a quick search found that 1/600 ships typically are worth 10-15 points depending on size.  I think these are on the smaller end of that range.
• 20 points for Treachery.

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Sorry to hear of your woes Peter - I hope that some repated application of fine San Diego ales helped fix your medical issues! :-) If not then I hope 55 points for this submission will, as its always great to see some naval ships in the challenge, and the spar torpedo is one of my favourite maritime "whites of the eyes" weapons!

-Paul

- Paul

TomL, More CSA & a visit to Heresy - 160 points

Continuing on our tour of Dante's great work, we move next to the 6th level of the Abyss - Heresy.  Who better to break with the accepted, shatter conventions, point out heresy whilst mocking their subject in an amusing manner than Monty Python? I submit the Spanish inquisition with a mace!  Bet you didn't expect that...

Of course I had to paint the comfy chair:

Back to my historical project with another CSA Regiment - 7th LA:

As before CSA troops were base painted with GW contrast paints and details finished with various acrylic paints. The Victoria Lamb figures were painted using Two Thin Coats acrylics.  The final orange highlight was a bit chalky so I washed it with some GW Orange Ink from last century (hidden in the back the paint storage). Amazing how long those inks have lasted in a different bottle. The comfy chair is a free 3D print download a friend was kind enough to print for me.

Points total: 160 points.
Heresy - 20 points
4 28mm figures @ 5 = 20 points
60 15mm figures @ 2 = 120 points

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When I agree to Minion this year I didnt expect the Spanish Inquisition! Didnt really see the rest of your submission as I was laughing and dodging the comfy pillows. Well played indeed Tom!!!

- Paul

From SteveA: Trench Crusade Hell Knights (21 points)

Fresh from the Trenches of the Crusade and the Court Of the Seven Headed Serpent I bring you HELL KNIGHTS!

I had a painting plan.... I had mapped out what minis to paint every week to progress thru the AHPC Devine Comedy themes and I had a hand full of minis in stuck on dowels being painted for that plan.... but then after a few recent inspiring chats with ByronM and our friend Mike, and after  the STLs from the minis from the Trench Crusade Kickstarter became available (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1405364378/trench-crusade),  well dang nabbit I went and done shot myself with the Squirrel Gun point blank to my paint brushes!   These minis presented here are less than a week off ByronM's  3d printer and fell into me grubby mitts just last Thursday, all while I have my modest pile of unpainted grey lead and plastic that have been 'round 30 years  still awaiting a loving lick o' paint...

I don't think I am using Speed Paints and the slap-chop technique to their intended efficient use, as I started with the foolish assumption that I could bang out these with a quick layer or two of slap-chopped speed paint action, then return to my original paint plan for this week... but after the first layers of Army Painter Speed Paint (Enchanted Steel, Slaughter Red, Bony Matter, Hoplite Gold)  my old 'Eavy Metal inspired painting habits kicked in as hard as an alcoholic falling off the wagon into a beer-fest where beer cures cancer and multiple layers of dry brushing, regular paint detailing and speed paints used as washes ensued for a few many more hours than I can in good conscious call a 'quick paint' ( and yes... I also confess to 2nd degree aggravated use of  GM's Agrax Earth shade and Nuln oil) .  I chased a moderately rusted look, and desaturated colors aimed to reflect these Hell Knights do not return to base for an armor polish and a shower, but they ain't falling apart from ill repair  any time soon.

Rust and weathering, many are the techniques and tools and products to make a mini look abused or ancient, and it seems many are the rusty lessons I must learn to well serve many of the minis in my queue.  Happily I found that a dry brush of Vallejo 'Orange Fire' game colour dry brush over a metallic based pre-treated with a layer or two of speed paint browns provides me a satisfying rusty orange that I can confidently use to succeed the role of my ancient pot of old 90's Citadel Orange Ink in my rusty endeavours. 

Trench Crusade, another game for more minis and a deepening of the back log of grey to slay, a happy problem to have!

Total 21 Points

x3 40mm Foot Figure, Trench Crusade Hell Knights (3x7pts) 

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Trench Crusade is certainly building up quite the following isnt it! Is is rather neat looking, but IS a bit lacking in Turnips and rooty goodness, which cold quite add to the appeal, just saying...

Your Hell Knights look good Steve, and I quite like the effect the layer of Orange provides too

- Paul

From MikeF - Tokens, corporate baddies and old friends - 42 points

Further progress on Exploit Zero has been made. As hacking features in the game, the agents need something to hack. Due to years of building space marine rhinos, I have a ridiculous number of control panels that work great as data centres for the hackers to dig into. I also wanted to include some loot objectives and thought I had some future looking treasure chests. When I started painting them however, I realized they were actually generators. Oh well, guess you need some way of charging all those bionic parts.

Certain scenarios require you to capture a VIP and get them off the board. I figured the capture of a corporate CEO or government official would be very thematic. They also deploy with bodyguards that the agents have to neutralize before they get control of the VIP. I put them on clear bases as they are not targetable like other models and are really just a macguffin. Models are from Anvil Industry, Hasslefree Miniatures and 3d print.

Last up are some old friends who met in old Detroit. Crooked-Dice made an ED209 and Robocop miniature which I had to include for the game. Not sure how to integrate them into the game, but enemy agents are available for the different levels of security response.

For points I scored each token as 1 point for 10. There are 5 28mm figures for 25 and I scored Ed 209 as a 40mm figure for 7 points. Total is 42 points.

Now I just need to paint some agents to actually play the game!

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Who doesn't LOVE an ED209 (and all the squealing animals noises it made in the original Robocop - fabulous!). Those computer screens are really well done too! 42 points well earned

- Paul

ByronM - Trench Crusade - Azebs and Alchemist [25 points]

This weeks submission is a little small as I have mainly been working on a big project that should hopefully be ready for next week.  I still wanted to get something up this week, so here are 5 more models for my Iron Sultanate warband for Trench Crusade.

These are 4 of the basic troopers for the faction called Azebs.  They are the basic troop and are not really good at anything other than filling out some bodies into the force.  They are also once of the only models that are breaking my limited palette of colours that I am trying to use.  Most of the force will be done in bronze and red, but these being in robes I wanted to do them in some traditional desert colours.  So they are in my attempt to create a linen colour/texture and tans and browns.  I did still tie in some of the red to help tie them in with the rest of the force though.

Next up is one of the elites of the force, an Alchemist.  I stuck with my very limited colours of bronze and red for her, but added in some very rough OSL for the blue flame coming off of her alchemical bomb.  I didn't want to spend too much time on this model as I am waiting to find a more accurate model for my warband as I have outfitted mine in game with a machine gun to make use of her alchemical ammunition that lights things on fire when hit.

Overall this is 5 28mm models for 25 points.

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This project is really looking good Byron! I find OSL challenging at the best of times but your subtle effects there work nicely to contrast around the warmer colours. Good stuff!

- Paul

From DallasE: Keep on Truckin' (Fraud)(235 points)

So this week's submission is trucks. Lots of trucks. These were in a bag behind my stairs for a year or two but the current winter Russians project added some impetus to get them painted.

I undercoated them black, then sprayed them with a great paint - Krylon camouflage green. It's a light olive-y green but comes down nicely when washed with Agrax Earthshade. I love this colour for Russian vehicles, especially Cold War and modern stuff. But I thought it would be a suitable colour for "generic" WW2 truckin'. I washed the models with Agrax Earthshade AND Nuln Oil before sponging on the Corax White winter camo.

The trucks are perfect transport for the Soviet infantry, especially these ones based on 20mm squares. Six of 'em fit perfectly in the bed of the trucks.

While I was painting the trucks I snuck in another Maxim gun and crew for the winter Soviets.

Nice metal models, from Warlord Games of course.

While I was painting the winter trucks I thought I would also do the rest of the ones I had left to do. The great thing about these trucks is that they're so generic looking they could really pass for use in most WW2 forces, as long as you squint a bit. So I painted these up in camo green washed with AE and NO so they can be used in a Soviet WW2 force, as well as for Americans or Brits in a pinch. I painted a bunch a couple years ago in a desert tan for NW Africa usage on either side.

This is where we get to the Circle theme: Fraud. The models look pretty good in the pictures right? Like they were built from a kit? Or maybe cast in resin? But flip 'em over and you see the real deal. These are basically dollar-store toys, flimsy plastic junk. But when you paint them I think they look OK. And they're trucks, after all... they are never going to be the focus of anyone's wargames table. So I figure saving a bit on these makes sense.

They do look decent though I think!

Here's one of them with the Bad Squiddo Soviet traffic controllers.

Points:

10x 28mm vehicles        200

3x 28mm infantry            15

Fraud Circle bonus          20

Total                               235 points
 

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Fabulous lorry borne troopers Dallas! Your winter effects are fabulous - frosty but not overburdened by ice and snow. Dollar store or no, its very effective indeed! They might be soft skinned vehicles but anyone is going to be challenged to shoot 10 of them off the table before they can unload. Great job!

- Paul