From Barks: Post-apocalyptic homages (Romance)(Statue of a famous person)(61 points)

In this library, the Statue of a Famous Person is of Buddy Holly.

Sort of.

Buddy

This is an homage to Buddy, the guitar-wielding ronin of Six-String Samurai. In the post-apocalyptic far future of 1997, Elvis has died and Buddy must travel to Lost Vegas to become the new king of rock 'n' roll. On his journey, he is accompanied by The Kid.

Buddy and The Kid

The Kid

Trailer:

Who says you can't have a meet-cute after the apocalypse? Turbo Kid is the story of Turbo Kid and the aggressively upbeat and quirky Apple. This film comes from the made-up imagi-nation of 'Canada'. Preposterous.

Apple and Turbo Kid

Turbo Kid

Apple

Trailer:

I also painted some skullz, to get my foot in the door for the Skull Duel. These are from a Mantic Terrain Crate. Each has twenty-seven skullz.

Skullz!

4x 28mm 3D prints from Imitation of Life (20 points)

Terrain 3x (2" x 1" x 0.5") (1 point)

Statue of a Famous Person (20 points)

Romance (20 points)

Skull Duel (Skull-o-meter™: 81 skullz)

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Okay, I love this entry.

That Buddy Holly mini is pure awesomesauce, especially the work on the six string (ie katana scabard), the hair and the flesh tones. That being said, I also really admire the super vibrant colours of the Turbo Kid and Apple (especially her trippy hair). 

I had to watch both movie trailers and I'm know what I'm watching tomorrow. Side-by-side I think Turbo Kid will take it, but I'm Canadian, so I'm biased. 

The takeaway from all this is that Barks watches some very weird sh*t. 

- Curt

PS: The skull 'terrain' is criminal - you should be ashamed. (Printing some now...)

From Barks: Yuletide Cultists (15 points)

Hello all, season's greetings! Here are three terrifying cultists. They're 3D prints from Imitation of Life. I'm trying out Army Painter Speedpaints 2.0 for this Challenge, and they're doing a lot of the heavy lifting. I haven't got to grips with a consistent le slapchop technique for better shading and highlights; these are just on white. I'm trying Jon Hodgson's background art book.

Her candy cane axe snapped. Midsommar vibes.

Absolution Green is a really nice paint.

3x 28mm (15 points)

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What a wonderful trio of Christmas lunatics, Barks. I particularly like the fellow with the garland and candles on his head - that takes good balance, baby. May have to pick up some Absolution Green...

Welcome back and prepare to count skulls!

- Curt

From Barks: The bitter end (27 points)

Here's the last odds and sods as I gaze at my distant points target. First, some movement trays from Knights of Dice. These hold either three or five 25mm round bases. The mdf remains are interesting negative spaces, maybe I should save these for swamp terrain?

Next, a wasteland robot. It's the non-seasonal version of the Xmas-o-tron I submitted way way back at the start of AHPC XIII. It's a free stl from Imitation of Life.

Some battlefield stakes, with Middle-earthlings for scale. 3D prints from Asgard Rising. I struggled with warping, even after softening with heat, over-bending and dumping in ice-cold water.

Next, a lone squig.

Penultimately, a sausage dog from Eureka. I have a weird relationship with dachshunds: they're annoyingly yappy but such a humorous shape! The Skirt Swisher & I get points for how many sausages we spot on a given day.* So, I couldn't pass up the opportunity for this little chap. I'd like it to become a pet for a Rogue Trader or Inquisitor, snapping angrily at the heels of eldritch horrors etc. If it's a boy, Fritz. A girl, Heidi.

Finally, I was unable to avoid the Call of the Turnip. I failed to get a proper unit up of Lord Barkington's Brownjackets, the tuber-worshipping tirailleurs. Instead, here are their mascots, the vicious spudlings. Again, 3D prints from IoL.

• Bases: 5"x3"x3" thus 4 points
• Stakes: 10x 4"x1"x1" thus 4 points
• Robot: 1x28mm figures: 5 points
• Sausage/ potatoes/ squig: I'm counting them as 15mm so 7x2 points: 14 points
• Turnip28 Side Duel: 10 points

Thanks, everyone! See you at the wrap-up.

*Current record: 5. It was a pentasausage day.

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Haha! A scattershot wrap-up, Barks! All of these are excellent (though the bases are a bit of a stretch), but I especially like the wasteland robot and the vicious spudlings (checking out that designer after sign-off...).

It's always a pleasure, Barks. Thank you for overseeing the Skull Duel and I hope we can count on your noggin for the next edition of the Challenge. Cheers mate!

- Curt 

From Barks: Seraphim and Cherubim (and skullz, oh my) (40 points)

Finally, I've painted some skullz! Here are some more Sisters of Battle to accompany my little force from last year. These are Seraphim, jump pack assault troops. They're intricately fiddly to paint, but do look rather nifty.

I'm undecided on the flight stands. They look cool, but I don't feel they have a strong attachment to the model. They leave the rest of the base a bit bare, so I added some greebles from Imitation of Life. There is a big washer beneath each base to add heft and drop the centre of gravity.

The Seraphim Superior's purity seal is a wax rose!

I took the opportunity to paint some cherubim, which are vat-grown bio-constructs designed to look like babies. No truth to the rumour they are lobotomised infants, no. These cherubim are carrying ammunition canisters and a censer. At some point I may add more details to their scrolls.

Definitely Churchillian

8x 28mm models (40 points)

Importantly, these should push me beyond 10 000 total Challenge points!

Even more importanter, the Skull-o-meter™detects 29 skullz.

Nothing like a handful of 40K minis to generate a mass of skullz. These figures all look great, I like the rather subdued palette with the occasional splash of colour, it really suits the models. The Cherubim are one of those grimdark parts of the setting that crop up in a lot of artwork, so seeing them on the table always adds that little bit of extra flavour to a game.

From Barks: Xmas-a-tron (5 points)

I like to start each Challenge with a seasonal miniature. Here is a free 3D sculpt from Imitation of Life. I used Contrast over a metallic undercoat- it came out darker than expected, and is far from my best work. The LED lighting is unforgiving. But I do like experimenting with new techniques, and it was quick- about an hour all up. I haven't done any snow so it can fit in with my post-apocalyptic wasteland scenery.

1x 28mm figure: 5 points

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Haha, good one Barks. Thus begins the host of whacky holiday season figures we'll see over the next few days. I wonder if he's taking or defending the Christmas presents? Perhaps the gun is one, and is really a TV remote. Anyway, I do like his fur-trimmed winter boots, scarf and antlers(?!). 

Welcome back to the Challenge Barks.

From Barks: Robo-guard-dogs of the forbidden junkyard (Altair IV)(55 points)

 Here are some Robodoggies from Imitation of Life.

RoboBarks from RealBarks

They needed something to guard, so I set myself to making lengths of chain fencing. My first idea was to use spare 20x100mm bases from Renedra. I also thought I could refashion the sprues as the posts. Here's my first frustrating attempt:

1mm rod to pin the joins

Then! I recalled I own a 3D printer. I bodged some simple shapes together on TinkerCAD, an elementary browser-based 3D program.

I'm a 3D sculptor now!

Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V

A couple of hours later I had all the fence posts I would need. Much easier than making them from sprue... The top arms were a bit long so I cut them to size. I made some corner bases from plasticard. I cut some aluminium mesh, and secured it with twists of wire. This was fiddly. Then I PVA'd some grit, and sprayed the whole thing grey. I slapped on some browns and orange, and finished the basework. Voilà!

Ready for spray

Eight 2x10cm lengths

I made one with a hole

Four corners

16x16"

Exactly approximately half a terrain cube

I think I should make a gate. Maybe some signs which could be swapped out depending on the game I am playing.

4x 28mm figures: 20 points

0.5x terrain cube: 10 points

Location bonus (Altair IV): 20 points

Slowpainter's ABC: G is for Guard dog

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'Voila' indeed! Lovely work Barks! While the robo-dogs are very nice (especially as one wouldn't have to stock poo-bags for these mutts), I have to say that I'm quite taken with your 3d efforts in making a chain-link pen for them. Wow, colour me impressed - cracking work! I'm going to give another 5 bonus points for the 'Gee whiz, Willikers, that's pretty swell' factor. :)

- Curt

From Barks: Snowflake the Black-Heart Paindeer (10 points)

I won't be getting stuck into the Challenge until next year, but did want to get some festive points on the scoreboard. I'll put up more of an 'about me' post later as well. Maybe this entry says plenty about me anyway?

This is Snowflake from Imitation of Life, a growing 3D sculpt range I really like. He's on a 40mm base and is 8cm to the tip of his antlers. I'm getting more confident in the use of Contrast as a time saver.

80mm tall monster: 10 points?

Slowpainter's ABC Challenge: C for Christmassy

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Pretty trippy, Barks. I really like him. I can't decide if it's the ornaments hanging off his antlers, or the red rockstar pants. Delightfully weird and cool mini.

- Curt