From StephenS: Skeletor [Fantasy] (25 points)

G'day All,

It has been a little while since I have posted, and the deadline is starting to impose itself. I could blame life, work etc., which is true (though it has been lots of fun too), but I've also been a bit of a hobby butterfly, landing on many projects without staying long enough to finish any.

Something I have managed to knock off is Skeletor from CMON's Clash for Eternia game. Having finished off a few of the good guys and gals, it was time to do the baddies. I tossed up what category to shelve the miniature under in the library, as the show is a hybrid of sword and sorcery and technological sci-fi. However, since at the end of the day it is a blue man with a skull for a face who has magic powers and lives in a snake-shaped castle, I have gone with fantasy over sci-fi. Others may freely disagree of course.

One 28 mm plastic figure and a location bonus should be 25 points.

Cheers,

Stephen 

From Millsy: Great to see you back with some additions to your points tally Stephen. I think you've really nailed the costume colours on Skeletor, he's every bit the way I remember him from Saturday morning cartoons but I seem to recall his face wasn't green. Or am I imagining that? The basing is a great way to showcase him too. Great brushwork mate.

From StephenS: A well spent childhood [Children's Books] (40 points)

 G'day Everyone,

The best part of my job is that I have never really had to grow-up, but like a fair few of us here, I can look back on my eighties childhood with fondness. Especially with the passage of time, rose-tinted glasses and lots of beers.

Nothing sums up an eighties childhood like action figures with accompanying TV shows to sell them, and today I present the 'grown-up' version of two sets I used to play with as a kid.

First, we have Teela and Ram Man from the Masters of the Universe. These are 28 mm plastic sculpts from CMON's Clash for Eternia board game that was on Kickstarter. I painted He-Man last challenge, and they take paint pretty well for board game pieces. I remember having He-Man and Castle Grayskull as a kid, but can't recall if I had Teela or Ram Man. I enjoyed painting them up a lot more than I enjoyed watching the original 80's cartoons with my son recently. Not everything ages well...

Something that did age well though, is Star Wars! I was definitely more into Star Wars as a kid and never fell out of love, despite the varying quality of the sequels/prequels that have been produced since. These two minis are 32 mm plastic figures from Atomic Mass Games, and are part of the Star Wars:Legions game. They are General Veers and an Imperial officer.

All up, that is 20 points for the figures and 20 points for the location.

Cheers,

Steve

From Millsy: You're bringing back fond TV memories for me with the Masters of the Universe stuff Steve. Skeletor was a firm favourite and I'd always wanted to name a ginger tabby Battlecat but never got away it. You paintwork on Ram Man in particular is great stuff, with the depth and variation on his armour a big improvement over the mass produced toy version.

Veers is also a favourite and I have him in my collection too. The pose always strikes me as a bit weird but maybe that's in part because of his massive helmet? Regardless both he and his assistant have a proper no-fuss get things done feel about them. Rebels beware!

40 points for your tally my friend!

From PeterB - The Power of the Evil Horde! - 60 points

 And so we come full circle to a project I was working on at the beginning of the AHPC. During the challenge the next Wave of miniatures from Archon Studios was released for their Masters of the Universe - Battlegrounds game (That is a mouthful). So, I of course I ordered them, constructed and undercoated them during the challenge and got the set finished today.

This set is a new faction for the game, the Evil Horde. They may not be familiar to some, if at all to any of you. They are in fact the bad guys from the planet Etheria where Adora lived after being kidnapped by their leader Hordak. Adora of course being He-Mans twin sister known to most as She-Ra. (Fingers crossed Archon eventually release a model of She-Ra atop her winged unicorn Swiftwind)

Shadow Weaver and Hordak

A previous enquiry asked what the strange white bits on the front of the bases were of these models. They are a facing indicator as the rules take into account which way the model is facing at any one time. I therefore wanted to make them nice a clear in a clean white.

Horde Troopers

As per before, I have painted the models quite loyal to their original colour schemes, which as they were toys (and cheap filmation characters) are in a limited palette. I have shaded and highlighted a bit as otherwise they really do look dull.

Horde Wraiths

Catra and Grizzlor

The set also came with two pairs of matching trees for extra terrain pieces in the game. These were painted up with some simple layering of browns, highlighting up to a final tip of white to try and make them look like dead wood to match the aesthetic of the Evil Horde.

So, to the points,

That is 8 x 28mm characters - 5 x 8 = 40 pts

The trees take up the same space as 4 characters, but they aren't complicated to paint, so 10 points each? So another 40pts

Total = 80 points. (Maybe 60)

Minion Miles:  Those trees are pretty nice but they seem like terrain to me and I'm guessing they fill out a 6 inch cube so 20 points for them - sorry

From SanderS: Entering the AHPC Studios GmbH (40 points)

 Hoi,

Just exactly how many posts I am able to get done this Challenge is a question I can't yet answer since in a few weeks time I will have to start disabling the entire groundfloor of our home for a major home renovation including my man-cave. 

Anyway, concerning the Studios entries for this year, I have decided  to try and paint figures that are actually derived from movies or TV series. For the SCI-FI entry point I have chosen 4 figures from the Masters of the Universe She-Ra series. They are modelled after the early 80's cartoon, not the more recent and anime-ish version. 

This quartet shows the most famous characters from the series: She-ra, Glimmer, Catra and Hordak.

I simply loved painting these outrageous vibrant colours, they just pop don't they? 

 

Arthur and I had a bowl putting the tufts on the bases, I decided early on that wanted to do a purple ground surface depicted one of the more alien areas of Eternia and these tufts just put the dot on the i. 

4 figures in 28mm will get me 20 points and together with the 20 of the bonus, that will be another 40.

Cheers Sander 

I'm not sure if I ever watched the series when I was younger, but I was aware of it. Lovely work on these figures, Sander. Hopefully the building works won't prove to be too disruptive to your hobbying.

Tamsin

From PeterB. Masters of the Universe - 1980's (35 points)

 And we're off...

Blimey you have all been busy already. I'm still working here in rainy Britain so painting has been squeezed in between running those last minute Christmas errands. Luckily I'm working at home, so lunchtime can be a quick transfer from keyboard to painting tray. After starting my challenge last year with a giant Balrog I did have something else suitably intimidating to start the challenge with again. Alas as members of the Facebook group know I made a rookie mistake of not actually doing a paint audit before the challenge this year. I am severely lacking in a couple of key colours. Luckily the nice Amazon delivery man is coming Christmas eve to the rescue (fingers crossed.)

In the meantime, I shall start my journey in the 1980's and what can be more eighties than Masters of the Universe! Followers of my blog will know I have been painting up this collection as Archon have been releasing them (check out Archon Studios, they do some great plastics including some awesome dragons at reasonable prices) and these three are the last of my current bunch.

 

 

 

They are all painted with GW standard paints (I don't do new fangled contrasts much) and Coat D'arms. A lot of the shades are mixed on a wet pallete as the MOTU range have a very distinct colour scheme and I found if you don't get the shade right they can look really wrong. These characters are a part of our childhood and so really stick in the brain. I found painting them in bold colours without too much shading works too, these aren't natural looking characters. For this reason I also tried to avoid washes and instead just mixed some shades with water to make subtle shades, especially on the white where a small amount of basically grey paint water was applied.

The rules have a specific model facing rule so the bases all have little indicators to show which way the model is looking, hence the white, this is actually a lot trickier to paint than it looks, making sure it looks symmetrical.

I have tagged for Lady Sarah's Limousine just for later judging, but as far as navigation goes, I'm just going to traverse to Sci-fi anyway. All it remains for me to say is have a great challenge everyone and Happy Holidays.

Oh yes, I forgot points:

1980's studio 20 pts.

Three x 28mm models 15pts.

Total = 35 pts.

______________________________________

Oh, these are excellent, Peter. As you say Masters of the Universe fits perfectly into the 80s milieu, especially for those who were kids at the time. I like the bold, punchy colours, and you did a great job on the facing indicator as well. I hope your Amazon delivery arrives before Christmas so you can take advantage of the holiday break. 

Well done!

- Curt