MattW Belgian command 32 points

 Belgian commanders 

Two completed bases for my WW2 Belgian build. 

Commander, horses and Uhlan are FAA, the Chasseur Ardennais is Early War Miniatures 

The commander is FAA, radio operator is AB, the Chasseur, cavalryman and table are Early War Miniatures. 

20mm figures @ 4 points x 6 = 24 

20mm mounted x 1 = 8 

Total points 32

Cheers

Matt

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Hey Matt!

Wow, nicely done vignettes and impressive photography skills! I feel as though I'm looking at movie -stills. One can imagine the discussions between the commanders. I enjoy the slightly muted colour tones, and really nicely done details on the various packs/baggage on the horses.

Well done!

Another 32points for your scoreboard (I've drafted Curt to be my minion of spreadsheet updates)

- Sarah

From Millsy: Even More Star Wars Legion (141 points)

G'day All,

Having finished all my Kruleboyz I decided to see how much more Star Wars Legion stuff I could jam in between now and the end of the Challenge. This week I've been working on a number of fluffy factions for my Mos Millsy project, along with some of the Shadow Collective starter box.

Black Sun Enforcers

These are plastic miniatures from the Shadow Collective starter box and are one of the two major crime syndicates in the faction. They're quite large, with the smallest topping out around the 40mm mark. They took a lot of time to get right, mainly due to the gold trim everywhere which needed a burnt umber undercoat and then two coats of gold plus a 50/50 gold/silver highlight.

Blue Man Goons

Jawas!

A bunch more 3D prints to give me the first of several unaligned factions that I can use as spur-of-the-moment allies, enemies or just to sow chaos where it'll add to the fun. Quick to paint and a real "must have" from my POV for any collection based on Tatooine.

Desert Troopers

Another batch of 3D prints to add some extra muscle to my Empire forces. There are no official Desert Trooper miniatures (WHY NOT???) and although I painted and based my starter set Stormtroopers for Tatooine I've always felt there was a gap that needed filling. Quick to paint once again, in fact so quick it's tempting to add even more!

Odd Characters

Three more characters for scenarios, skirmish games, etc. Leia in disguise on her way to rescue Han from Jabba, good old Greedo who has possibly the most memorable cameo in all of Star Wars and a random female that came with the seven Jawas, apparently named "Sandi Gold". Think about it, and don't blame me when you work it out...

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Points-wise these are...

• Black Sun: 8 x 40mm infantry = 56 points
• Jawas: 7 x 25mm infantry + 1 x "vehicle" = 45 points
• Desert Troopers: 5 x 25mm infantry = 25 points
• Characters: 3 x 25mm infantry = 15 points

Total: 141 points

Next up... Tusken Raiders!

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Millsy

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Hello Millsy!

  Your Mos Millsy Project has definetly been a highlight of the Challenge. 

Time well spent on the Black Sun Enforcers .. the gold trim looks awesome, I may have to "borrow" your recipe (I do like the shiny-things!)

My favourite is Leia in disguise, but that just may be a girl-thing :)

Looking forward to your Tusken Raiders next

I'll have Curt add another 141pts to your scoreboard

- Sarah

From SylvainR: 28mm Tau Battlesuits for Grim Dark (50 points)

 

This is the end of the journey for our valiant Blue Cleric. After meeting with the forward reconnaissance of a Tau battle group, the Cleric meets with the heavy elements, namely Tau battlesuits.

I am always amused to see how GW, a very British company, very jealous of its intellectual property, shamelessly integrates elements of Japanese robot design in their own Tau miniature lines, pushing the limit of copyright infringement. The term "battlesuit" is obviously inspired by the expression "mobile suit" from the Series "Gundam". There are also many other similarities in design, like the thrusters in the back, the pilot located in the chest, the elf-ear-looking sensors on the heads, etc. Don't get me started.

After playing Grim Dark at JeremyM, some time ago, I realized that my little Tau army did not have any commander in battlesuit, or heavy support battlesuits for that matter. Shopping for some, I found on Kijiji a second hand lot for a good price. Alas, good price often means poor condition... There where 3 XV8 Crisis battlesuits in the lot, but I had to use one for spare parts. I don't mind, it's part of the game. I used on these figurines the same dark grey/purple pattern adorning the rest of my little Tau force.

 

I like the look of the XV88 Broadside battlesuits, bristling with weapons. I might have been a little too heavy on weathering though...

And the pièce-de-résistance, the commander in battlesuit armor, the reason why I acquired these figurines in the first place. In its flight pose, this model really evokes Gundam and all the other flying "mobile suits" from the famous Japanese anime series.

 

Points claimed:

5 x 54mm foot figurines at 10 points each = 50 points

Total = 50 points

This is my last post of the Challenge. Thanks for reading!

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Fabulous work on these Battlesuits, Sylvain, and some impressive additions to your Tau force. The purple and grey are a nice combination and I like the pose of the jumping commander (mind those fragile ankles on the descent!). I look forward to seeing them on the tabletop when we next play 'GrimDark Future'. A great parting shot for your Challenge this year - bravo!

- Curt

From MartijnN: 10mm ACW and the Four Circles of Hell (Wrath, Heresy, Fraud, Violence) (149 points)

Quite surprisingly, I have painted more or less only 28mm figures during this Challenge, apart from the one 6mm Blucher base of Napoleonic French last week. Obviously, that would not do, so here are some 10mm ACW. I have painted almost all my infantry, but I still have lots of artillery and cavalry lying around. So, I decided to paint up some dismounted skirmishing cavalry for both sides, and some horse holders. I really don’t know why I got those, for they are not necessary for Altar of Freedom, but they look cool anyway I think. I don’t think I will paint up all of them though 😉.

The skirmishing cavalrymen are Perrin figures, the horse holders Magister Militum (basically also Perrin, I think).

Then, this must be almost my last chance to grab some bonus points. I know it is preferable to do separate posts for each location, but in order to ease the workload of Curt and the Minions a bit during the mad dash to the finish I thought I’d better combine them this time.  Last week we were at Greed, so now it is time for Wrath. I present to you the unfortunate but very wrathful Gunnar Dingemansson.

 

He has been confined to a wheelchair ever since a sneaky orc shot him in the backside at the Battle of Grubenhavnor-in-the-Fields-on-the-Garf when he was a wee lad. His brother, who is something of a do-it-yourself guy, made this wheelchair for him. He is still working on a self-propelled version, but has not really got the hang of steam power yet, so in order to keep his remaining limbs intact, Gunnar has to make do with his arms to get up to speed for the time being. As you can see, he is quite capable of doing so, charging filled with wrath and at full speed at any orc that comes into sight. He is, unsurprisingly, a Lovecraft figure, 3d printed.

Next stage is Heresy. This is personified by Brother Johann. Johann was a boy tending his father’s sheep when one night he received a vision. It was revealed to him that the only True God was Baa, the chief sheep. It was his duty to go out in the world with his woolly  Disciples to spread the Word of Baa. Here you see hem reading from the Book of Baa to his flock. 

What is good enough for his sheep, is good enough for Johann. Thus, he dresses in shades of black and grey. 

Johann is again a 3d Lovecraft figure. I think the sheep are from Great Escape Games for Dead Man’s Hand.

Next, we arrive at Violence. According to the famous dictum of the British bard, Hell has no fury than a woman scorned. I do not know if this lady was scorned, but she is clearly prepared to dole out some violence and I would rather stay behind her.

 

She is also a 3d printed figure, this time by Join or Die. She is part of a ladies’ warband for Dead Man’s Hand, but the others will have to wait a while yet.

Finally, we arrive at Fraud with another 3d printed Lovecraft figure. In one of his projects, Iain Lovecraft did a bunch of figures “inspired” by Terry Pratchett characters. This his Cut-my-own-Throat Dibbler, accompanied by the only one who really appreciates his sausages:

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say of him:

Claude Maximillian Overton Transpire Dibbler — usually known by the epithet "Cut-Me-Own-Throat", CMOT Dibbler, or simply Dibbler, or even sometimes as just "Throat" — might be described as the Discworld's most enterprisingly successful unsuccessful entrepreneur, no-one has failed at success more times than Dibbler. A 'merchant venturer' of Ankh-Morpork, and the master of selling the 'sizzle' over the steak, Dibbler is most famous for selling meat by-products to unsuspecting passers-by, and also suspecting passers-by who have gotten sick from his sausages before, thus demonstrating that he is indeed a very good salesman.

So that’s that for now. I hope to finish some 6mm Napoleonics before the Challenge ends, but we will have to wait and see if I succeed in that. As to scoring, I am going to a be a little cheeky here and score the six horse holders as 10mm cavalry @3 points. However, if the Minion of the Moment decides that’s shaving it too closely and scores them as 12 foot figures @1, I think I can survive. I’ll score the sheep and the little dog as 10mm figures to, so 1 point each.

We have then:

24 10mm foot @1 = 24

6 10mm cavalry @3= 18

7 animals as 10mm foot @1=7

4 28mm foot @5= 20

4 Challenge locations @20= 80

For a total of 149 points.

Which sees me shooting past my target after all!

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Geez, you present to us to a tremendous potpourri of wonderful miniatures Martijn. The 10mm dismounted skirmishers, with their attendant mounts and minders, look excellent. I also really like Gunnar who makes it very clear that it takes all types to make a successful adventuring party (I look forward to the steam-powered version in a future Challenge). I've never been a Terry Pratchett fan, I but like the background story (and hopeful pup). I think my favourite is the sheep and the Prophet of the Book of Baa. Excellent work (and I love the 'Sound of Music' background you used). Well done sir, and congratulations on exceeding your Points Target!

- Curt

 

 

From TeemuL: Parade in Paradise [The Ambitious] [The Lovers] [The Just Rulers] (100 points)

So I have been stuck in Paradise for some time now after clearing the First Circle: The Inconstant. Since that I have been painting everything else, searched for female miniatures and browsed dictionaries to figure out what all those fancy words mean and how I can twist them to fit my minis.

I was planning to use my Ambition entry for Wise, but lacking the females and time I had to make some changes. But I guess Gandalf is considered wise, but also ambitious: "A figure that is as keen as mustard, an overachiever".

I'll kill the Balrog, resurrect myself, replace the head of my order, be a kingmaker, ride couple of days and nights, make vaque promises and keep them and so on.

Does that sound an overachiever? It does to me. And this mini is Gandalf the White version by Games Workshop, a nice metal model, which I tried to paint white. Yes, lots of whites and shades of white, but I think it is ok.

Assuming my reasoning is valid I can move to the third circle and present The Lovers. Yes, Lannisters in paradise... Not the most usual love story, brother and sister loving each other and their common son. Jaime and Cersei Lannister with Tommen. There were some lust, some other strong feelings, too, but definitely some love. And at least Jaime and Cersei both loved Tommen, so that is my backup plan for Lovers.

These are from CMON box Lannister Heroes 3 and are plastic as the previous ones. Not that many details, but that makes them fast to paint. I'm happy with Jaime, but I guess Cersei would have liked more royal outfit, I don't know. I gave Jaime the white cloak of King's guard, I believe he was part of that even after losing his hand.

I'm not familiar with the game A Song of Ice and Fire where these belong, but these look quite strange heroes for a wargame. Queen (regent?) in a dress with his young son and a knight on his knees with a bandaged hand. Not may be the types you expect to see in the first line, but Seven Kingdoms is an interesting place.

Next stop is The Just Rulers. I'll present King Aragorn before he was wise and just king. Yes, I was planning to use Gandalf as Wise, but my female transportation options were scarce. Aragorn was very clever even before he was crowned king. Here he is from the "Two Towers era", where he was told "When last I looked, Théoden, not Aragorn, was king of Rohan." and kept his mouth wisely shut and later became king of Gondor.

He reigned long and died peacefully, made clever pacts and bowed to hobbits. In general considered as a good guy, I think I could have used him as the Ambitious one, too... But yes, he was just ruler, lived a long life and learnt a lot from elfs and men and even something from dwarfs and hobbits and ents. I think I could have used him as the Wise one, too? Tells something about the works of Tolkien, that his characters are definitely not one dimensional.

I've been talking about the female minis here and there and you might realize, that one must use a female or angel mini to jump over circles and I have just come from 3rd to 6th circle and I can't use Cersei for transport so I need to present something else.

Let me present you Bertha the Bear, the famous female bear!

This is a metal bear from Warbases, I ordered her at the same time I ordered the bases for Napoleonics. I know there has been some strong rulings in the past regarding female bears, but I believe they are all sorted out now?

But if I'm mistaken and Bertha is not counted, I have another classic from Challenge Wednesdays, Dorothy Dromedar!

She is from Warbases, too. She has quite a strong mould line on her back, looks good from one angle, but terrible from other. Both Bertha and Dorothy are mainly painted using Contrast paints with some details added and especially the underbellies and legs drybrushed.

Sarah the Shootist is the last and third female of this post and she makes it sure that I can pass.

She is a plastic from Great Escape Games Gunfighters II box and painted mostly with traditional acrylics. Green and brown sounded like practical colours, violet scarf gives a hinf of her feminity. Little bit dusted clothes to match my other Old West minis.

With these I have gone through 4 circles in Paradise and can either pick The Warriors of Faith or The Contemplatives next. I need to browse through the dictionary again...

I'd say this is 8 (6 humans and 2 animals of different sizes) 28mm minis in total for 40 points and then three locations for total of 100 points! I have more to come before the Challenge ends!

Wow Teemu, you've pulled out all the stops with this entry! I really like your interpretation of The Ambitious, The Lovers, and The Just Ruler - each one a terrific example of those themes. Bertha the Bear made me laugh aloud (and I'm sure Ray will do the same) and Sarah the Shootist looks truly formidable, ready to draw her long-barrelled Colt if the need arrises. Brilliant work, sir!

- Curt