From DallasE: Victoria Lamb 40K Commissar and GW Ork Kommando (10 points)

Two quick models for this week as I didn't realize the "Empire" theme posts won't go up until next week. These are a female commissar from Victoria Lamb and a converted Warhammer 40K Ork Kommando.

Standoff!

This is a vary nice resin figure from Victoria Lamb, it was an Adepticon special from some years ago and I really wanted to paint one for my old Squat army. I was surprised when I opened the blister to find that the model is actually 3D printed, not cast resin - there were a couple supports that weren't entirely removed that gave it away. Still a very nice model, I painted it using the site's painted model as a reference.

The Ork Kommando is a metal model from GW. He was originally wielding a power axe in his right hand but that broke off (as they do) and since I already had this same model in the Kommando unit, I substituted a much sturdier chainsword as the close combat weapon.

I just love the gear on the Kommandos. I painted his pants in the army's uniform camo pattern and added the red star insignia.

Check out the Swiss army knife on his belt. The Perry Twins really did a great job sculpting these Kommandos, they're among my favourite GW Orks.
 

That's two 28mm infantry models - 10 points.

Really nice work on these two figures.  Love the lipstick on the Commissar and that oaky Swiss army knife.Ten points duly noted.

From MartinC Napoleonic Bavarian Line Infantry (117pts)

I have been slowly, for me, building a 28mm Bavarian army to fight my Napoleonic Russian army. The army is mainly build from Victrix plastic figures, their set is brilliant with 54 figures in a pack including 2 mounted commanders. I topped these up with 2nd hand metals from Perry and Wargames Foundry and some new Perry infantry, cavalry and artillery. Overall the force is actually bigger than the force that invaded Russia, but gives me 4 brigades, which is a nice size for valour and fortitude rules, our current go to set of rules.

1st battalion of 4th line Regiment. These are a mainly victrix with a few wargames foundry

I've enjoyed painting these, lots of coloured washes, but they do take ages. 5 more infantry battalions to do, 2 cavalry and the artillery and brigade commanders

Scores on the doors

21 x28mm infantry = 105pts

1 x 28mm mtd = 10pts

Total = 115pts

I always love the Nappys Martin, and these are some great Bavarians that you've brought us today.  I found the early Victrix kits fussy, but I love their late Roman sets.   Maybe I'll have to check out their Bavarians.  I am adding a couple point for the flag.

From SylvainR: Tray 01 - 6mm Late WW2 Canadian AT guns and some other minis (100 points)

Happy New year everyone. I'm a little late to the painting party. Family matters kept me busy during the Holidays but I should be able to catch up. 

Yes, I am still plowing through my (never ending) 6mm WW2 project. Let's start with a few "completion" projects, which means miniatures I "needed" to add to collections I previously worked on.

First, some artillery for the Italian army in the desert. The 75/27 are from Heroics&Ros while the 100/17 are from GHQ. All crew members are from Heroics&Ros.

A battery of Italian 75/27.

A battery of Italian 100/17.

Some additional units for the British in the desert: armored cars and AA tanks.

I love the look of the British Rolls-Royce armored car. It evokes the very early stage of the war.

Here is a close-up. Models from GHQ.

Two Crusader AA tanks, armed with 40mm Bofors AA guns. Take that Luftwaffe! Models are from CinC.

Now a big leap towards the end of the war, with 6-pounder anti-tank guns for the Canadian army. Those with yellow coding are for the weapon company, while those with white coding are for regimental/divisional support. All the models, guns and crew, are from Heroics&Ros.

A close-up on the 6-pounder AT guns.

For big cat hunting in the bocage of Normandy, the serious Allied commander demands 17-pounder anti-tank guns. Here are two platoons of this excellent weapon. Guns and crew are from Heroics&Ros, trailers from GHQ.

Points claimed: 

104x 6mm foot figurines at 1/2 point each = 52 points

30x 6mm guns at 1 point each = 30 points (not counting the trailers)

7x 6mm vehicles at 2 point each = 14 points

Total = 96 points

Thanks for reading! 

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Wow that's a ton of micro-wonderfulness mon ami.  Lovely basing on both the Western Desert and NW Europe units.  I agree that the Rolls A/C screams early desert war and that's fine paint job on that little mini.  I am rounding your score up for the trailers and the excellent basing.

From SylvainR: Pack of Gnolls for D&D (100 points)

One of my projects, for this Challenge, is to finish painting my D&D collection. My daughter said she wants to keep those miniatures when I die... so I suppose I have an incentive for painting them :-)

Last year, I painted lots of big figurines: giants, large demons, etc. This year, I have to focus on "hord" monsters and the first in line are the gnolls. 

Gnolls are described as hyena-like creatures. These vinyl models from Reaper look more like giant rats, but they will do

There are only three poses for the "minions" of the pack. I did not bother varying the color of their clothes and shields, instead looking for some kind of uniform "pack color". 

I put some more color variety into the gnoll-shaman and the gnoll-leader. The shaman is supposed to be wearing binocles, but the casting is not quite clear.

Rear view of the critters. Ouf, this bunch is out of the way. Down the road, there is a big batch of goblins waiting for my brushes...

Points claimed:

20 x 28mm foot figurines at 5 points each = 100 points

Total = 100 points

Thanks for reading!

***

Nice work on these Reaper Gnolls Sylvain.  Those Bones figures can be hit or miss, but these ones came out nicely.  Don't be too quick to finish off these D&D minis, you might give Sophie (further) incentive to bump you off....

100 point it is!

 

 

 

 

From MartinC Day of the Dead Bloodbowl team (85 pts)

 My bloodbowl mania continues. Los Lunchadores have won 2 games. DaveD bought me the next team for the roster as a Christmas present, a Mexican Shambling Dead team. These are obviously an unofficial team and I love them

The linemen, skeletons. As they are Mexicans I went for a classic day of the dead paint scheme

2 Wight blitzers. 

All the best teams need cheerleaders and these guys have a full mariachi band. Told you it was funny

Scores on the doors 

16x28mm = 80pts

You never know what is going come from your fertile imagination Martin.  I just love these, especially the band.  Great figures and very nicely painted too, I really like the clean lines on those Skulls, the red shirt on the singer and the guy with the bottle of what I presume is tequila.  I will be disappointed if Barks does not name these skulls of the week.  I've added a minion's 5 points for sheer wackiness.

From DaveV - 28mm Sedition Wars - Dr. Susan Ridley (a.k.a. Ellen Ripley) - 15 pts

 

For my first post of Challenge XVI, I finished a couple of figures for my ongoing Sedition Wars project. The subjects are a hero, Dr. Susan Ridley, and a version of her infected by the Strain nano-virus. They were originally Kickstarter exclusives for the now long out-of-print board game, Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster, from Cool Mini or Not and Studio McVey. 

Dr. Susan Ridley is clearly based upon the characters Ellen Ripley and her adoptive daughter Newt, from the movie ALIENS. However, the original Ridley figure itself (on the left, below) was an inferior sculpt, shorter and skinnier than the other human figures in the main Sedition Wars boxed set. I sourced online a 28mm 3D print to represent Ripley and Newt from Modest Minis Studio (on the right, below). The Strain exo-form of Ridley (centre) was more than fine. It's actually quite disturbing, with the child absorbed into the mothers' body, and her skull-like face sticking out of the latter's chest.

Cleaning up the resin/plastic Strain Exo-form had its problems, which I encountered when first starting this project back in 2014. You cannot file "restic", and you cannot scrape it easily; you have to cut off mould lines with a fresh, sharp X-acto knife. The 3D print was pristine. After prep,  I affixed both figs to scenic bases provided in the game. 

After priming with trusty GW Chaos Black, I used GW Corax White for quick zenithal highlights. 

For the human version of “Rilpey/Newt”, after thin glazes of GW Reiksland Flesh, I sketched in the flesh tones using the Vallejo Face Painting set of acrylics, using the colours for tanned flesh for Ripley and light flesh for Newt. I then laid in various Winsor & Newton and Schminke tube oil paints to emphasize highlights and shadows, and to smooth out transitions. Further painting was performed with mostly GW shades, with some highlights and shadows in oils.

Below, faces after acrylics, before oils. 

For the Strain version, the decayed skin, exposed organs, tubular bits, claws, fangs, and protuberances were painted with various greens, brown, purples, reds, and pinks from the Army Painter Zombicide Warpaints sets (Scaly Flesh, Zombie Flesh, Toxic Boils, Crusted Sore, then all glazed with Zombie Shade). I punched up highlights and shadows with various artists' oils. Afterward, some splashes of GW Blood for the Blood God were added after I sealed the figure in Testor's Dullcote clear matte. 

Below, more pictures of Ridley and her Strain exo-form:

Below, the completed pair of figures compared with some other Sedition Wars figures I had already painted. 

Scoring: Two 28mm figures = 10 points

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Donations:

For this year’s donation, we supported a local Winnipeg fundraiser. Clayton T. Stewart, a Winnipeg stand-up comedian and sci-fi fan (he made a Star Wars fan film some years ago), recently passed away in a house fire on Dec. 29, 2025. His family is in need.

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ClaytonTStewart

GoFundMe:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/k7udqj-support-family-after-tragic-house-fire?attribution_id=sl%3Abbed7579-4463-4732-a730-356340a843e8&lang=en_CA&ts=1767123779&utm_campaign=pd_ss_icons&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawPFT8lleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF2aEpWbzBGU0oxSENZYTdmc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHqIUWwWVSVDl2zLa9sbL4iDhbggoV1HlIeoIbpvY06wcE-kiBdYC_nP6-CSR_aem_u0l0YdHmtkpCXf99tl8itQ

I don't know much about Sedition Wars Dave, but that's a fine pair of survivors plus one.  I am going to give you points for 3 figures given that the Ridley/Newt combo features a two for one deal.  I will check out the GoFund me page.

Open Mic Night at Tuesday's Coffee House

Welcome to the Tuesday Terrors Open Mic Night.  We hope to bring a wide variety acts to our stage for your entertainment.  As always, we take all comers so there is sure to be a wide range of talents, eras and genres to choose from.  Hopefully, something for everybody's taste.  If not, we can drop some cognac in your Cappuccino.

Our line up tonight includes

• DaveV brings some experimental post-pandemic music.
• MartinC will then cheer us all up with his Gothic/Mariachi cross-over band.
• Sylvain brings a Gnollish opera to the stage.  This might be a good time to take your comfort break.
• Martin then squeeze into his Lederhosen for some Bavarian beer hall songs.
• Sylvain returns for some 1940s jazz standards.
• Dallas brings us some Death metal operatic standoff between a soprano and a basso.
• We'll see who else comes to the mic as the day unfolds. 

I'm PeterD and I'll be your MC tonight.  My role is to introduce the acts and then step out of the way before the rotten fruit starts flying.  In reality, I am one of Curt's regular gaming group and I've been in the Challenge too times to remember.  I've also acted as minion in several previous Challenges.  

This year I am changing my minion style up a bit and going for this Open Mike night theme.  The impetus came from a renewed interest in guitar playing and the need to but a new guitar in the Fall of 2025.  There are probably more "sneaking new guitars past your wife" memes than there are "sneaking new wargames figures into the house memes".  But in this case, my 50 year old classical  developed some serious cracks and a new one was the only solution.  

Along with my bad puns, you'll need to put up with a weekly dose of my terrible taste in music. For the first week I am going with a guy who's played at a lot of impromptu open mikes over the years.   Draw a Venn diagram with circles for "British", "Socialist", "Punk" and "Folk Singer" and at the intersection you'll find Billy Bragg.  He also seems like he be a lot of fun to chat to over a pot of tea or a pint of ale.  I found this clip of him playing one of his better known songs at a bike shop  in 2013.  Typically, Billy updated the disillusioned with Thatcher lyrics to disillusioned with 2013 politics but happy to be playing in a bike shop lyrics.  In retrospect, the problems of 2013 don't sound so bad in 2026.