From Curt - Some Villains for 'Devilry Afoot' (42 Points)

Continuing on with my 'Devilry Afoot' dalliance, here are a few Villains and Monsters for our brave heroes to face and overcome (or get made into wet bits scattered about the moors).

First up we have the Count along with three of his brides. These are from Crooked Dice, through their MyMiniFactory store. Lovely models and a joy to paint.

One thing you gotta say about Dracula, the dude's always been solid with the ladies. Look here, three wives! Wow, right?! All at the same time and not at each other's throats... Well, yeah, anyway. Now, I figure you either have to be French, Mormon, or the Prince of the Undead to pull that one off.

The slightly yellow-greenish cast of his skin is on purpose to drive home that he's not entirely human.

Nothing says lady-killa like a purple velvet jacket and red-lined cape.

Devilry Afoot has a profile for 'Bogeymen' with a relatively open interpretation describing them. So, I decided to go with two variations, one a good ole scarecrow (from Reconquer Designs) and the other a creepy AF harlequin/jester (from Bestarium Miniatures). 

The scarecrow was fairly straightforward, but I took a little bit more time with the harlequin as I wanted a more desaturated look to him. He was great fun to work on.

All of these models are quite 'heroic', tipping in at 40mm and higher, so I'll claim 7 for each making it 42. This will also give me another Squirrel Point (tm)! Sadly there are no skulls for Barks... Maybe next submission.

Thanks for dropping in!

- Curt

From Millsy:

Crikey, this is some proper nightmare fuel and no mistake.

That jester has a horrible Slenderman vibe and is a perfect example of why clowns scare people. His scarecrow friend is equally unnerving. They look like they were a blast to paint too and I particularly like your colour choices on the jester.

Despite how much I like those two, the vampire and his three ladies of the night are my favourite from this crop. They perfectly capture the feel of the vampire ladies from the Reeves/Oldman movie version - at once both terrifying and Phwoar! Bananarama with teeth. If I had to guess I'd go with him being a French Vampire. You can't pull off that hairstyle as either of the other two I don't think. His right hand looks like it should be holding a Gitane and I can see him delivering a dismissive shrug when threatened with a crucifix.

Cracking work all round mate. Love em!

Cheers,
Millsy

From BillA: Heroes of Horror & RATS! (38 points)

 This week, I've completed a few more horror-themed goodies; in a few weeks' time I'm going to be running a demo table of Planetsmasher Games' solo/co-op game "Perilous Tales" at my alma mater's annual gaming convention; 2026 marks 20 years since my first year attending, and while it's mostly a roleplaying and board game kind of convention, there's always a couple tables of miniatures demonstrations and last year they brought back Warhammer 40K tournaments for the first time in over a decade. This is my first year since 2006 for me to be trying to demo a wargame, so fingers crossed.

Perilous Tales produces games that feel like a good B-horror movie; a small group of heroes attempt to fulfill a set of randomly-determined objectives as a timer counts down and threats - including monstrous villains, sinister minions and environmental hazards - close in. Objectives can range from "defeat the master villain" to "get three figures to safety off the opposite edge of the table." 

I'd previously run a demo table at a one-day wargaming show back in September and it went well enough, but I decided I'd paint a few new heroes and villains for the upcoming convention. My first entry in this year's painting challenge were the master villain and henchmen I'm bringing; here, now, are the rest of my heroes and the last villainous minions I'd need.

As soon as I saw these "FBI Agents" from Crooked Dice, I knew I had to have them; X-Files scared the tar out of me as a sensitive kid in the 90s, but I've since become a fan of the "Monster of the Week" episodes (the overarching mythology episodes, not so much). Having Mulder and Scully on the table as heroes players could use was a must.

These are another two from Crooked Dice, though maybe less familiar; the armed cheerleader is a dead ringer for Kelli Maroney's character in the 1984 cult classic NIGHT OF THE COMET, while the teenage metalhead is just as clearly intended to be the character Eddie Munson from Netflix's "Stranger Things" series. I even freehanded the partial skull and crossbones on the bandanna he's wearing around his head. 

Finally, I needed multiple rat swarms to represent the lowest grade of minion serving the master demon; these are 3D resin prints from GreenStuffWorld that I found on a spinner rack in one of my local game stores. I like the little extras on these; the king rat directing his fellows, the wedge of cheese, the stack of newspapers. It gives each base personality. Each one is glued to a 25mm Renedra round base. 

So that's four 28mm humans at 5 pts apiece for 20... I'm not sure if the rat swarms should be scored as 28mm miniatures? Maybe count each one as half, as seems to be the case for prone figures? I leave it in my minion's capable hands whether this post as a whole qualifies for 50 points, 35 points, or some other total.

No new squirrel points, but two badass monster-killing women means I'm tagging Sarah's Choice.

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Sylvain: I love it when I can recognize a miniature based on a real-life character, and with your brush you did an excellent job at helping the viewer "read" the references in those figurines. I really like your skulking Scully. Now about this points business... I will count them for 3 points each, because of the cheese and stuff. Bravo!

From TomL: The Ninth Sphere [The Angels] (45 points)

 Guiding me to our last sphere of Paradise is the final figure from Pulp Figures Femme Fatales set:

When I first looked at the lead mountain for an Angelic character I thought of these:

But these are really more monstrous than angelic so looking at the mountain again I decided to go with a simple innocent child - Lillie Poots:

Once they were on the table being photographed I thought of a Pulp Alley Horror scenario...

The Weeping Angels are from Crooked Dice miniatures.  Lillie Poots was originally sold by Pulp Alley from Statuesque Miniatures.  All 28mm figures were painted with Foundry acrylics and some old GW washes. 

Points total: 45
Ninth Sphere: 20
5 28mm figures * 5: 25

The challenge definitely supercharges my yearly painting while giving me an excuse to postpone work on home maintenance projects until later.  It was really, really fun to look at everyone's projects, the interesting tables and incredible range of available figures being painted.  I will have one last ACW only post as soon as I finish basing the units & take a few pictures.

Thanks to my minion Paul, all the other minions, Miles, Peter, Barks and of course Curt and Sarah for all the hard work and effort to support the challenge, it was truly appreciated.

TeemuL: Your Pulp Alley Horror scenario looks nice, very interesting! Those Weeping Angels seem to be "regular cast" in AHPC, I think I have seen them once or twice before from different participants. Nice to see you finish your Femme Fatale set, too. Yellow and Green suit Lillie Poots very nicely. Good job finishing the Theme Rounds, Tom, looking forward to see your ACW post in the near future.

TomL, Traveling to Paradise (55 points)

It is time to enter Paradise at the First Sphere: The Inconstant. Leading us here is another Pulp Figures miniature from his Femme Fatales set.

 

Looking at my pile of potential I realized I had one group of figures who gave it their all, working for the betterment of others in spite of their past history but just couldn’t win in the end.

Blakes 7 was a show I came to years late and first watched on YouTube - boy would 1978 me have loved this show!  These figures are with Beast in the Broch miniatures (formerly associated with Crooked Dice).  All models were painted using TTC, Foundry and GW acrylics & washes.  Gan’s figure has the stripes sculpted in which was rather helpful.

Points for this post are: 55
Inconstant - 20 points.
7 * 28mm figures = 35 points.   Not counting the computer (sorry Peter Tuddenham).
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Blake's 7 was a show just before me time also, but alas I have never delved back to enjoy it. I guess with Dr Who, the original Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and Star Wars I was sufficiently entertained!

- 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

From TomL, Wrath & ACW CSA troops (185 points)

To start is my first complete CSA regiment of the AHPC - the 44th Alabama.

I like this look better than the previous stands I painted pre-AHPC so some repainting will be in order for those.  From what I have read many CSA regiments didn’t carry the state flags in battle but I have flags & two flag bearers so..mine will have a state flag. Might just be me, but adding flags at this scale is almost as painful as painting horses.

Continuing our path through the Abyss we move from Greed to the 5th circle of the Abyss - Wrath.  There we find some Pulp Figures Coweled Cultists (#2) up to no good.

These scorned angry women hunger for vengeance.  EMaking a deal too terrible to contemplate they have summoned demons from beyond as the embodiment of their Wrath.

Though for one of them this will prove to be her final favour...

The demons are from Crooked dice. All the 28mm figures were painted using TTC & Foundry acrylics and a few GW washes. The universe conspired to keep the large demon from completion with figure issues and my airbrush dying while applying the base coats.  Hopefully I will get back to him later in the challenge but no points for him today. 

Points:
CSA unit - 60 15mm troops for 120 points.
Wrath - 20 points
9 28mm - 45 points

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Nice Rebs Tom but I LOVE the cultists - our second submission of such committed team players this Tuesday! And how nice that the horned goat men have come to frolic with them in the fields. Dont see how that could go wrong at all...  185 points tallied!

-Paul

From JonathanO: Evil Mastermind and Secret Agent (10 points)

Thanks to Curt for the reminder to get a first post in before the deadline!

Here are a couple of figures from Crooked Dice for the 7TV game.

2 x 28mm figures = 10 points

A close escape!

***

"Do you expect me to talk?"

"No, Mr. Bond - I expect you to paint!"

That is a close cut indeed Jonathon, but you have escaped all the same - 10 points for you today, good to see you on the scoreboard and on the right side of the dreaded cull...

GregB