From AndrewB - Orcs and Craters! On Mars? Children’s Book! (105 points)

Smaller week than normal this Wednesday, but after my haul seven short days ago, I’ll let it slide.  

First, to go along with my Martians I painted last week, fleshing out the terrain for a wonderful game coming up, I ran through a load of craters for some good scatter terrain on the Martian surface!  

I’m not 100%sure these won’t get some tufts or somesuch into the future, but for now they’re ready to rock, and performed sterling service in a full test and lay of the scenario yesterday!   Turns out, getting some textured grit on really takes away from the visual layer lines from where I 3D printed these bad boys!  I tossed in a ruler this time, and some are just over, and some are just under 6 inches   I couldn’t get them to all stand up on top of one another, but at somewhere around 3/4” tall, they stack right up to about filling a 6x6x6” cube!   More of these are probably in my future!  I make a large mat to play this game on as well, but I have no idea how I’d score that, so it’s a wash   

Next, as a bit of a breather, and straight out of 11-13year old AndrewB’s favorite book series, Lord of the Rings!  Some old GW orc models, as well as some I 3D printed from Medbury Miniatures on myminifactory!  Tolkien had a huge impact on my childhood with his writing and the later movies, and it’s cool to get a crack at these minis, which are a long-term (can check previous AHPCs).  

They’re wild figures, but so like them, and they get me one step closer to fielding a massive host of Orcs!  

In terms of points this week, I have 20 for the terrain, 12 28mm figures, including one mounted, for 65, and 20 for the Children’s Book section!   Total of 105, but I’ll come back next week swinging!  See you then!

 

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Hi Andrew - that does seem to be a LOT of craters, but when I look at those crazy cool photos of the Martian surface that NASA releases courtesy of their various rovers, it seems like a good idea to have plenty of them on hand if you want a Martian gaming table.

 

The Orcs look very nice too - although it would be great if you could take some close ups so we could see them. Interesting to see 3D prints for the Tolkien setting (don't let GW's lawyers know!) - from what I can make out, I see a lot of looks that remind me of the Orcs as presented in the Peter Jackson films, but also some unique or more classical aspects too. Are those the reasons that drew you to the 3D option? Or was it price? Availability? All of the above, or none? Just curious. 

 

Another 105 points for you!

 

GregB

From AndrewB: Gladiators and Scratchbuilds, Oh My! [Oversized Books, DIY, Lady Sarah's Cart] (180pts)

Ladies and gentlemen! Last week, we ended my post with True Crime!  This week, I’m hitting Oversized Books with some wildly giant 54mm gladiators from Irregular Miniatures!   These five I originally purchased just to see if they were something I’d enjoy painting, and could use for virtual games so players could more easily see who their figure was vs others (plus, I hear folks like gladiator movies).  They were quite fun to paint, had lots of room to try out some highlighting, which promptly disappeared under a wash(gonna have to change something next time).   In any case, I’ve ordered several more, which you may see before the end of the challenge!

The sculpts aren’t the most modern or absurdly detailed, but they lead to a good clean figure that I really enjoy. Oversized Books places me with two items from Section 6 complete, so that lovely lady gladiator’s gonna hop on Lady Sarah’s Book Cart and take me over to the lower rotunda, for a delightful crack at the DIY room!   

Oh boy, did I DIY my face off with these!   I have a bunch of the anthropomorphized rabbits made by Thomas Foss over at Skull and Crown Strategems, which are delightful to paint up, and supremely fun models to boot!  They needed a place to live, however, and simple holes in the ground for warrens wouldn’t do at all for such sophisticated and warlike creatures.  I decided to make them a few semi buried warrens, which you can see here!

As you can see, the rabbits enjoy the finer things, with little porches and back walks   Three of them likewise stack quite well into a 6x6x6 shipping box, so I’m in luck for both transport and scoring!  

Next up, the rabbits need some sort of communal buildings for governance and defense!   So I put these together!  

These guys are also entirely assembled from cut up cereal boxes, and should provide some semblance of security for the rabbit village from marauding humans, etc.  these were a bit more challenging than the warrens obviously, but were a fun break, and turned out better than anticipated!  I’m still debating what to put on the floors of the towers, maybe you all can provide some suggestions!  I believe I’ll probably add a few clumps of brush, and maybe some flowers, but at least the flowers will have to wait to see how the figures all turn out first   These are oddly shaped, but surely fill a box and maybe two thirds to a half of another, so we’ll go with that.  

As always, the basing materials come from Geek Gaming.  I can’t get enough of these things!

In terms of scoring, we have the five 54mm figures for 50pts (hot dang!), as well as three and a half cubes of terrain for 70pts!  We hit the Oversized Book section, as well as Lady Sarah’s Book Cart, and DIY, for another 60pts, for a total of 180pts this week!  Can’t slow down! 

Also, finally remembered to add my progress picture!  Gonna be a long slog to hit every section. 

 

 Hi Andrew, it's Assistant Junior Library Assistant Martijn stepping in here, as Greg has unfortunately been detained elsewhere. Some great gladiators you have brought us! They really look the part. I suppose "Oversized" is relative, but hey, I'll grant you your bonus. "For those things that are better when bigger", it seems like you intend to use them that way. However, your DIY project is awesome! Very creative and well executed. I must confess I had to look up the word "warren", so I did learn something today. You have not provided measurements, but I'll trust you on you word so 180 points it is.

From SimonG: A Final Flourish - The Temple Mount CE 70 in 28mm (1390 points)

For my final post of this challenge I'm delighted to serve up my big project for the past six months -- a recreation of a slice of the Temple Mount and Antonia Fortress at the time of the Jewish Revolt CE 66-74.

Something's Afoot!

Historic Context

There is still an ongoing archaeological debate as to what exactly the temple mount looked like. Given the ongoing religious and political sensitivity at the site it's not practical to go digging it up so there's still lots of room for alternative theories.  While most representations of the Antonia Fortress see it as some complex multi tower structure there is one theory that it was actually a Roman Military fort linked to the mount itself by two foot bridges -- these bridges are described in some detail by Josephus.

In part because modelling this layout seemed feasible I chose to build a slice of the corner of Antonia and the start of the two bridges as shown in the illustration above. In real life the bridges were about 600' long so at 2' each this either represents appx 20% of the bridge, or it's more of an approximation (lets say a 3-5x scale up). Incidentally I think one could use the exact same layout for a good mass combat game at 12-15mm scale which sounds like a possible future project!

Construction Approach

The base elements of the model are six Panel Systems Craftfoam 24"x24"x4" (600x600x100 for those in Europe!) slabs -- a great material that is easy to work with but does dent easily so treat it carefully. The architectural elements are a mix of Sarissa and Empires at War MDF kits but most have been customised.

Buildings and base before cladding

The specifics to get the required finish included

• Carving out the rough West side into the panels (across two that stack) and finishing with Geek Gaming Modelling Compound which is a base for scatters and also gives a good rock effect in itself;
• Building the two walkways from eight Sarissa aqueducts;
• Cladding all wall surfaces (including into the base panels themselves) with a thin layer of room temperature hardening modelling clay which was rolled for brick or random stone texture;
• Using the same approach for the walkways themselves and for the ground in the temple section;
  
• Making up a simple wall to edge the West side of the temple walkway area with lengths of MDF finished with clay cladding;
• Tiling the roofs of the Sarissa temple and workshops with card tiles;
• Carving a stair way into the base and adding scratch built stairs and a re-purposed Empires at War main door;
• Painting in a wide selection of Wilko matt sample pots with Citadel washes (the main walls are thinned Reikland Flesh Shade which gave a great pinky Petra like effect) and dry brushing;
• Finishing the interiors and floors of the Temple and Workshops with printed mosaics and printed painted walls;
• And a good selection of attractive flowers and greenery flocks on the temple section to contrast with the dry/business like fortress.

Two panels stacked and carved

Extra effort to add tiles

Papered temple walls and floor - suitably smoke blackened!

The parts in finished form

The Finished Product

The final piece is a 4' square with two levels of playing surface. This allows for multiple scenarios with either side as aggressor or defender. I'll add some ladders and other siege machinery to allow for scenarios in which the Romans are attacking from their ramp on the top side in the shot below. The scenario set out here has the Jewish revolutionaries attacking from the temple side across the bridges into the Antonia fortress with the Romans rushing to respond.

I still have some more scatter elements to add but in the main part it's pretty much finished (other than a statue and other pieces for the temple interior).

And the points?

I reckoned points using the standard cube method for all of the 3D elements and then half points for the flat finished surfaces such as the clad walls and rough stoney grass area -- I'm not claiming any points for the large sandy surface of the fortress or for the stone clad ground within the temple bridge area but as every the Minion's verdict is final!

All dimensions in the table below are good old Imperial Inches!

By my calculation I should be good for 284 points which will at last take me to my 1000 point target for the challenge.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

With this last entry I'll bid farewell for this time and want to extend my thanks to our esteemed minion Tamsin and all of the Tuesday crew plus of course as always to the Snow Lord himself and the gracious Lady Sarah!

What mystery awaits?

Next year perhaps I might get to the Temple itself (anyone know of a stock of Roman columns as I'll need loads and loads of those!)

I'm sorry to say this, but your points claim for these hills is woefully inadequate compared to MartinC's recent range of hills. You leave me with no option but to increase the claim based on a guesstimate of the actual volume - I reckon the volume of all the bits you claimed a discount on the surface area of (rather than volume) comes to about 57 cubes. Adding on the 12.5 cubes for the bits you correctly claimed, that gives you 1390 points for this submission.

Tamsin

AndrewB - Zulus! Dozens(barely) of them!

 As some of you may remember, I recently completed some AZW figures for a large game of Fistful of Lead focused around the Hospital at Rorke’s Drift.  Alongside the Brits, I was painting Zulus, although their painting took slightly longer due to the higher number of figures and addition of shields.  These figures are Old Glory, and they match the Perry figures for scale delightfully!  The bases are done in one fell swoop using the fast drying basing glue and Arid Grasslands base ready mix. I finished the shields up this week, and am happy to present you the finished results!

These unmarried Zulus are painted(mainly their shields distinguishing) as the iNdluyengwe impi, who traditionally were marked by a white mark on the bottom half of their shields.  For ease of recognition on the field during games of Fistful of Lead, I have gone with three distinct groups, with a mark on the low left, low right, or both.   Each group has a leader with a club, as well as the large gentleman on the left side to replace one of the grunt groups from his player’s force.  In any case, keep checking for more updates on progress on the hospital and I their parts of the engagement. 

I believe these 28 figures contribute an additional 140 posts to my total!  Now all I need to do is figure out what that darn snow lord needs from me.  

Happy Painting!

AndrewB- The Snow Lord’s Treasury

 For the treasure in the Snow Lord’s Treasury, I yet again found myself perplexed as to what to utilized for treasure or valued goods.   What I found, however, was a little project I’d primed many Januaries past, and a couple of the figures are certainly distributing some items more treasured than gold in the context!   These are a collection of Perry figures I ordered a few years ago to play a large Fistful of Lead game centered around the defense of the hospital located at Rorke’s Drift, January 22nd, 1879.  Surgeon Reynolds is posed with his case of medical supplies, and Chaplain Smith is distributing packages of  .577/450 ammunition for the defenders, undoubtedly extorting them to keep up the fire and not swear.  

These seven figures, with our treasure boys in the first row, include lots of VC recipients. The varied uniforms reflect the motley collection of some of the defenders aside from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, which makes the engagement rather more interesting.  

These next figures are more from the 24th Foot, left to defend the hospital and supply dump at the Drift.  The contrast between the troop’s jackets/shirts and their white equipment really looked godawful before the wash, but thank jeebus for super diluted black pigment.  

These figures are from I believe Perry’s Sudan line, but I’m using them to represent the ‘walking wounded’ recovering in the hospital who were pressed into service defending room-by-room. The uniforms probably aren’t perfect, but the plain uniform blouses seemed appropriate to me for their situation, and work to distinguish between the groups. 

Lastly, a pair of group photos with all 18 figures(counting the double base as two). The basing material is the Arid Grasslands base-ready mix from Geek Gaming, available in North America from Footsore North America.  God knows where the tufts came from, but they seem to approximate South Africa fairly well, but perhaps a bit verdant for the hot January season.  

The total for this post, 90pts for the miniatures and 20 for the chamber, is probably the largest sum I’ve gotten as of yet! 

Happy Painting!