From ChrisW: Send in the Ladies (85 points)

 

A rushed post this week as I type this just before I fly away to somewhere warm. Perhaps my rushing around could explain the blurry pictures, but, really it is my skill and a really old camera (they made digital cameras back then)

Anyways what I lack in clarity I shall make up in volume of pictures, hopefully some aspect of the picture will offset the blur.

These are Dragonbait miniatures who have a few VSF figures. The ladies are mounted on mono wheeled metal unicorns, kind of weird. but kind of cool. I have painted up 5 of the cavalry figures that I own, the others were not assembled and primed (somehow missed them)  Some contrast for the skirts, helmets and red coat but more conventional for the rest of the uniform and for highlights. 

I rather like the AP speed paint metal that I used on the unicorn rumps, it really creates a contrast between the raised bits and the rest of it. I still used a wash on the Unicorns as I wanted them to look like they had seen action and not just the parade ground. I have created a banner for the cavalry  (courtesy of AI) but could not get it mounted in  time. You may note that the riders have not been glued down as I may adjust the handle bars later on.

I also have done up a rocket launcher with a four person crew and a supply mule. (this time a mechanical mono wheel mule) 

These are on the large size of 28mm, but do blend in well enough with my other VSF stuff. I also have a unit of ten riflewomen that were almost done in time for this week, but alas not.

Points this time

• 50  points for 5x 28mm mounted troops
• 30  points for 28mm gun & 4 crew 
•   5  points for 28mm mechanical mule

85 Points Total

Squirrels

1 or (2) more squirrels for a total of 20 (21 for separate terrain post)

1. Gladiators
2. Epic Orcs
3. Epic Imperial
4. Warlord Chinese
5. Red Russians RCW Back of Beyond
6. Alien Invaders
7. Pulp US Marines
8. Urban Cultists
9. Egyptian cultists
10. VSF Japanese armoured vehicles
11. Tripods
12. Bugs!
13. Evil minion deep sea divers
14. Puritans
15. Explorers of Egypt
16. Jungle explorers
17. Heroic deep sea divers
18. Muslim troops for the British
19. Free stater Armoured cars
20. Guardians of Antiquities
21. Minerva's Flying Circus
22. British cavalry and rocket launcher
23. (BoB terrain? if it has been posted and was worth enough points)

Lady Sarah

The entire post

 

 

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SylvainR: Very cool ladies. It looks like they are dressed in Union Jacks. Regarding the miniatures, I thought "wacky" and "wow" were two incompatible concepts, but I've got proven wrong with your post. If you ever use them in a game, maybe you could post a few non-blur pictures. Extraordinaire!

From AlanD - Queen Zenobia and a Project Finished (80 points)

Hello everyone - it is great to be back in the Challenge this year! 

My first entry for the year is Queen Zenobia and some Palmyran light infantry, all from A&A Miniatures. Last year, I was fortunate enough to receive the Challengers' Choice for some of the early figures for my Palmyran army, and these are now the last. 2024 was not a massively productive hobby year for me, but whenever I had a chance I chipped away at the Palmyrans (so many archers...argh!), and I'm chuffed to finish the year with the army done, hopefully to see battle in a game of To the Strongest! soon. 

Here are Zenobia and friends, for 80 points.

...and here's the whole army complete. 

I'm not sure what to paint next...

____________________________________

Welcome back Dux! It's wonderful to see you return with your storied Palmyran project from last year's Challenge. Zenobia and her standard bearer look suitably magnificent mounted on their camels. Also, your last unit of archers are terrific as well, especially that chap in the blue jerkin with the white embroidery. Lovely stuff.

You can bask in the sense of completion while you ponder on your next project. I look forward to it.

- Curt

From ChrisW: Transports and Statues [160 points]

So, this may well be my penultimate post of this years challenge, I think I may still have some fuel in the tank to finish off a few small tasks (and complete the directors chair challenge) Really found the end game of this years challenge far tougher than last years challenge. I think a large part of that was due to my vacation which really disrupted my focus. 

At any rate I dug out some old vehicles this week, half of which are done and are in this post. I also painted up two statues that I bought while on vacation, making them some of the quickest turn around miniatures in my collection!

 Two statues (ready to be animated!)

These are by Reaper and stand 60mm tall without the plinth. They were primed black, then layered up with many different shades of grey/off white. I think they will be useful in Pulp games and of course pair up nicely with my Greek stuff. 

Charles is here for scale only

The vehicles [3 flat bead trucks/1 car for Pulp adventures]

Rogue archeologist  'rescuing' statues for a museum

The blue truck is a toy, maybe slightly over size. It is a 'traction' toy but with its wheels glued to save my figures from being run over by crazy players. The other three vehicles are by Blue Moon miniatures and are a combination of resin bodies with metal add-ons such as lights flat bed, wheels.

Back of beyond vehicles [2 transports, 1 AC]

The two trucks are toy trucks that I got cheap from a flea market. With these done I now have 4 painted with one last one to complete. Typically I use them for my British forces serving abroad. The armoured car is destined for China, I think it is the 1st Corp model.

Points total this time

• 20 points for two large (60mm) statues
• 140 points for 7 x 28mm vehicles
  

Total this time around 160 points

Squirrels this time around [+2]

1. Flat bed trucks Pulp Ally
2. BoB vehicles
   

 New squirrel total 61

 Previous squirrels

1. Back of Beyond
   
2. Mad figures (Top hat toffs and companions)
3. Greek skeletons
4. Sisters of Sigmar
5. Ancient Germanic women
6. ECW cuirassiers
   
7. Monsters large
8. Post apocalypse
9. Tekumel Palanquin
10. Empire Pike
11. Jazz Band
    
12. French Cuirassiers on Mars
13. Court of Dr Koo
14. Movie makers
15. Gothic/movie Vampires 
16. Gladiators
17. Women rocket corp
18. Supers
    
19. Forest scenery
20. Robin Hood
21. Gorillas 
22. Dr and his pets
    
23. Nuns
24. The flying squad 
25. Mechanical spiders from Mars 
26. The Gorgons
    
27. Cthulhu creatures
28. Mad gardeners and their plants
29. Pulp mummies
30. Pulp Egyptian skeletons
31. Jason and the Argonauts
32. Asylum residents 
33. Dwarf Roman style troops
34. Hatchet/axe wielding maniacs
35. Free range lunatics 
36. Gunslingers
37. Hill Martians
38. Martian artillery
39. Lizard infantry
40. Tekumel monsters
41. Failed experiments
42. Dr Frankenstein and monsters
43. Cold hearted mad scientists 
44. Mexican civilians
    
45. US cavalry
46. Cowboys
47. Town folk
48. Lawmen
49. Hired guns 
50. Royal Martian marines
51. 18th century naval
52. Fritz & his Igor mates (lab helpers)
53. Abbott & Costello meet the Mummy
54. Men of Faith
55. Torture chamber
56. Deep ones
57. Hybrids
58. Scuba divers 
59. Wild west hooded thugs

Great looking vehicles, they are all fairly ubiquitous designs, so you should be able to get a load of use out of them. Well done getting the statues finished on such a short time scale, I think most gamers struggle to get things done in the same year they purchase them, let alone the same month.

-StuartL

ChrisW Gladiators, Supers & Rockettes [445 points]

So, this weeks post came up a little short of what I was aiming for, but I guess it just means more stuff for next week.😁 

A rambling note about how I get things done (and all to often do not get things done), my 'style' is chaotic, unfocused and always teetering on the brink of failure. Plans that I might have at the start of the week often change part way in, or even near by end of the week. For example, this week I only decided to work on the supers on Thursday which shunted other projects aside. The other aspect of my approach, not entirely premeditated, is that I tend to work on all projects, even those not scheduled for the current week, all at once. I rarely finish any project before the last possible moment before posting day. The Rockettes in this post is that rare exception, actually started and finished them in the first two days of this past week. 

It does keep me from being bored by any one project, but it does mean that my gaming room is cluttered with 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 finished projects. Teetering stacks of boxes and other detritus spill over from the gaming table and the prep tables. One must be nimble to navigate around my room! 

So, this week the dreaded deadline caught up with me. I have a number of projects that are almost done, and would just need a bit more time to finish but frankly I just do not feel like staying up into the wee hours of the night, again. 

Anyways on to this weeks post. This starts with a limo ride.

Limousine ride

Now that I have access to a blue pass it is time to visit the Sword and Sandals studio. However, first I will need to hitch a limousine ride. For this ride, I submit the following figure. 

Sword and sandal studio, those about to die [33 foot, 3 mounted 28mm figures]

Most of these figures are by Foundry with a few Black Tree Design figures thrown in. They were kind of fun to paint and educational. This time around I did a bit of research and discovered aspects of their attire that I did not know about. There are three mounted gladiators, 31 foot gladiators and two lions.

Now you might have noticed that some of the figures have no shields. Perhaps someone in the group can help me. I need someone who is friendly with the hobby gremlins that steal and hide small items. I had the shields with the miniatures, on my desk when I started painting these figures, but those damn gremlins snuck in and stole them!!! So, for now, the Black tree figures and the mounted gladiators are shieldless. No doubt the shields will be released back into my care as the challenge progresses. 

Limousine ride

On to another studio, this time the Superhero studio. For the ride to this studio, I submit the following figure. 

Superhero studio [16 x 28mm and 4 x 54mm)

Last minute idea to paint up some superheroes/villains. As such I was only able to tackle 16 figures, but thankfully that really cuts into the unpainted supers pile! There is a possible end to at least one genre.

 

The villains

Two skull headed villains

Scale shot, they are really large figures

These are almost all Old Glory figures, with 2 Pulp Figures thrown in and I am not certain who made the 'Black Widow' figure. Four of them are oversized 54mm figures while the rest are 28mm. For the most part I used contrast/speed/Xpress paints to establish a  shadow/midtone then finished off with normal paints. Some weird figures in this grouping, some very nice sculpts and some not so good.

 Independent feature looking for studio backing.

American heroes in the sky! The Rockettes! (WARCs) [10 x 28mm]

The rocket women are Eureka figures, while the other two are not. They are set up as a Pulp Alley league. 1 leader, 1 sidekick, 1 Ally and a gang (the 5 regular troopers). The bazooka team gets used when the league spends gear points for them. They all have fly, even those that are not wearing a rocket pack. I used Speed paints for the pants & leather. The shirts are contrast plague bearer flesh, while the flesh is Vallejo Xpress (as a base) then touched up with Scale75 assorted flesh paints.

Women's Army Rocket Corp (WARC)

Sidekick (Gauge), Leader (Angel), Ally(Rosie)

Weapon team

The gang

Points for this weeks entry

• 40 points for two limo rides
• 40 points for two studio
• 30 points for 3 x 28mm mounted
  
• 295 points for 59 x 28mm foot
• 40 points for the tall supers
  

Total 445 points

Skull duel [+2]

Squirrels this time around [+3]

1. Gladiators
2. Women rocket corp
3. Superheroes

New total of 18 for the challenge

 Previous squirrels

1. Back of Beyond
   
2. Mad figures (Top hat toffs and companions)
3. Greek skeletons
4. Sisters of Sigmar
5. Ancient Germanic women
6. ECW cuirassiers
   
7. Monsters large
8. Post apocalypse
9. Tekumel Palanquin
10. Empire Pike
11. Jazz Band
    
12. French Cuirassiers on Mars
13. Court of Dr Koo
14. Movie makers
15. Gothic/movie Vampires

 

Another spectacular batch of minis Chris, I don't know where you find the time to paint so many models. I am in a similar predicament with my hobby room and its state of (dis)organisation. It is just so difficult to stick to any one project long enough to finish it off. There is always something else to paint or a shiny new toy to buy.

All of your figures look great, but I love the bright costumed adventurers and villains in the Supers batch. They remind me of the numerous comics and publishers that sprang up in the 80's/90's with a whole host of new characters.