From ChrisW: Potpourri (242 points)

 

Chaos Warlord Titans            [4 Epic titans @8 points each for a total of 32 points]

So, another blast from the past, more from the old Epic Space Marine/Adeptus Titanicus days of the 1990s. These are four of the classic models with some extra metal parts added on.

I managed to pick up a complete copy of this a few years ago at the bring and buy at Cangames in Ottawa and it has languished on my shelf ever since. 

This year the old Epic bug has bit me and I am keen to get some of the mountain of Epic stuff done. I have done up two Khorne, one Slaneesh and one Nurgle Titan. As I type this I am reminded that I had thought about doing one up as Tzeentch, oh well, I do still have a few more unpainted titans waiting in the wings. 

I am not skilled enough to produce the fancy titans that others do, the intricate patterns and fine details so I went with washes and shades to try and create an interesting look to these. They were fun to paint and do look more interesting in person. The weapons are just loosely in place (except for the special chaos weapons/heads & tails) as I do actually plan to play some games and I will have to see what weapon systems I like. (it has been many decades since I last played this game)

Shield Maidens                                           [6x 28mm figures 30 points]

Some Foundry miniatures that have sat around 90% done until now when I finally finished them off. My plans are to use them and some other Viking miniatures for the game Pillage. 

Hill Martian two handed weapon troops [24x 28mm figures 120 points]

There are Bob Charette miniatures, part of his Parroom Station line, now sold by Ral Partha Legacy. They are slight figures but with good depth of detail. The two handed swordsmen are fanatic anti Earther troops, while the pole arm troops are regular troops. 

Plague Apothecaries                              [5x 28mm 25 points]

These are Foundry/Warmonger miniatures that will be used for Devilry Afoot, a game that I really have not yet read. I am inspired by the time period that it is set in and I have plenty of figures that can be used, but I believe the factions that I am building are too large. Oh well they are fun to paint. I really went into this group with no set idea of what I would be doing. I drew some inspiration from a google search. I started with the red orange 'skirt' then finding I liked that colour I decided to add it to their shoulders. It was an AP speed paint and I was even able to find a suitable AP highlight paint too!

The rest went rather quickly, a mix of speed paints and traditional paints. 

Witches Fair & Foul                                          [6x 28mm figures 30 points]

More Foundry/Warmonger figures and one Crucible Crush figure, all of them also slated for Devilry Afoot, someone to torment the Puritans. The Warmonger figures are kind of odd figures with harsh angles to them and strange detailed clothes though the cauldron is kind of neat. The big green witch looks kind of more Goblin like (maybe it is) and will eventually deploy both in Devilry Afoot games and Fantastic Battles.

Crocodiles two Foundry waterline crocs [2x 1/2 28mm figures total of 5 points]

So, not much to say about these fellows, they are rather long, but very flat. I did use a couple of greens and a dark wash

Points this time

•   32  points for 4x Chaos Warlord Titans (8 points each)
•   30  points for 6x 28mm Shield Maidens
• 120  points for 24x 28mm Hill Martian troops
•   25  points for 5x 28mm Plague Apothecaries
•   30  points for 6x 28mm Witches fair and foul
•     5  points for 2 1/2 28mm crocs.

242 Points Total

Squirrels

5 more squirrels for a total of 28

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 (terrain post)
24. Epic Chaos Warlord Titans
25. Pillage Viking shield maidens
26. VSF Martian Hill Martians
27. Plague Apothecaries
28. Witches fair and foul

Big stompy robots of death 

+4

Lady Sarah

12 28mm figures The Shield Maidens & Witches Fair & Foul

 

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Sylvain: This is indeed a potpourri, what a diversity of figurines, but all painted with equal talent. For many of my "younger" years, Epic/Adeptus Titanicus was my favorite game, so it's great to see that line getting some love again. I also like your shield maidens, your plague doctors, etc. All your groups have character and are colorful both literally and figuratively. It has been an honor to be your minion; "à la prochaine". 

From AndrewB - Rabbits and Martians! Science fiction! (425 points)

Hello!   This week we’ve got some fun projects that I pushed hard to complete big pieces of this week, and I’m really excited to show them to you!  

First, some stellar rabbits from Thomas Foss over at Skull and Crown!  I’ve placed several orders for these, and they’re so simple to paint, yet incredibly characterful, so I keep finding myself drawn to acquiring and painting more and more of them!  This week, I have a group of rabbits, with some dogs as well, and two incredibly unfortunate monks who seem to have fallen afoul of the furry beasts! 

Interestingly enough, Thomas bases all of his figures on illustrations from the margins of illuminated manuscripts, which were transcribed by monks, so maybe there was some internal frustration going on in whatever monastery produced the source material!  

I particularly enjoy the rabbit priest with a censer, and my mounted commander, ready to lead his forces into battle upon his hound.  I have no idea if these gents will be taking over Peter cottontail’s place, or fighting to defend Watership Down with some new technology!  Maybe they’ll just beat up monks, who knows?   In any case, they’re some of my favorite minis, and I’ll work on getting they and the rest of the collection together for a group picture amongst the DIY terrain I made a few weeks ago, which should be pretty fun!  

Next up- coming soon to March to Victory, a fantastic convention in Kansas City next month(more on that later), this project fell perfectly into the Sci Fi section!  Fresh from the mind of Frank Chadwick, a small horde of Martians for the Space 1889 setting, as originally published by GDW, with miniatures still available from RAFM.  Quite possibly my favorite strain of Victorian Sci-Fi, the setting’s support died out fairly quickly, and it’s mostly fan-driven nowadays, so what better entry for the sci-fi room!  These are a split between the more civilized, advanced Canal Martians, and the more primitive, but flying Kraag Martians!  

 

These Canal Martians are the more civilized of Martian inhabitants, clinging to the former glory of the red planet.  There’s a good mix of firearms, and they tend to perform rather like humans.  The gashant-mounted leader and bards to find leader with his polearm and sword on the far right are two of my favorites! 

 

These ‘Kraag’ Martians are the more primitive cousins of the Canal Martians, and have lost the ability to produce firearms, but can curiously take to the skies in flight, so they shouldn’t have any problem presenting real troubles to the humans they’re fighting.  

Lastly, a group photo of the week’s progress!  That was a push!

As for points, we have 30 28mm Rabbits and company, as well as a single mounted figure, for 160pts!  The 47 Martians and single mounted figure brings me to 245, plus the 20 for the Science Fiction section, for a whopping total of 425!  You’ll have to forgive me if this next week is a bit light on the figures, this week was a real push. 

With 12 sections completed, I’ve emailed Curt, and we’re working on getting my Rare and Antique section hammered out, so I can get started!

***

An unusual assortment indeed. I had no idea Thomas Foss was doing these sorts of figures, although I am sure all Challengers can relate to the sentiment of enjoying a particular figure or sculptor so much that one keeps acquiring more of it...certainly my basement would not be the absolute mess it is without that feeling! It would be interesting to actually get a look at these rabbit miniatures...perhaps you can take some close ups next time?

Between the rabbits and tide of VSF Martians, that is 425 points. Best of luck with your Rare and Antique Challenge.

GregB

From AndrewB: High Martian Adventure and a Casting Couch [High Adventure][Casting Couch] (158pts)

This is a rather larger installment, but here we go!  First off, in the idea of the High Adventure room, we’re venturing all the way to Mars with Victorian adventurers!  Starting off, we have 13 of RAFM’s colonial martians, who have joined with British forces against their planetary brethren.  There aren’t many sculpts, but I like them, and they paint up fairly well, even by a goof like me.  

Next, we have a stationary gun(RAFM), and a couple delightful vehicles that would make any Victorian scientist squeal with delight, both from Ironclad miniatures! I’m always torn as to how to paint vehicles from this setting, but with these looking like one-off experimental vehicles, we left them looking like raw materials.  

I’m not delighted with the base of the gun, but it will hopefully be mounted on a sky galley before long, using magnets like most of my other weapons of the setting, so the large cast-iron looking mount seemed appropriate for use as an emplaced gun or ship-mounted weapon.  

Last, and certainly least-  I was at a loss for a fun miniature calling out to me from a casting setting, but I ran across a very ‘casting couch’ looking small set of scatter terrain.  As the room is described as ‘discrete’, I figured we may as well look directly into the belly of that particular beast.  Here is my admittedly ruined version of the casting couch!

Not my favorite work, but it may earn the points through creativity and realism.  

Points total for this post-

13 28mm figures- 65pts

2 28mm vehicles- 40pts

1 28mm gun- 10pts

2 studios- 40pts

Crummy casting couch terrain- 3pts?  

Looking at a tentative total of 158 for this post!  Oh boy!  More coming soon!  I’ll get my map of the studio updated and posted with my next installment!

From TeemuL: Aaaand the third post from AndrewB for today! Victorians in Mars is a setting I'm not that familiar with, but I have seen posts here and there in this Challenge blog. Sounds interesting, but I'm resisting... Casting Couch is spot on for Casting Couch, if you ask me and the terrain points you suggest, seem about right. Very tricky to score these, but sounds right. Looking forward to see your map next week. ;)

From RobH: Space 1889 - Martian Gashants (85 Points)

This is not the post I expected to be opening my campaign with. However on Wednesday, an unexpected package arrived on my doorstep. One that was not expected until December 30th. I brought it into the kitchen and put it on the table for my room-mate to open. I assumed it was the kitty treats that she ordered on my amazon account. The  treats  arrived an hour later.

1.65 Kilos of Martian goodness.

Instead it was 35 Martian Gashants that I had won on eBay earlier in the month.  Another 1.65 kilos for the mountain of shame. I followed this item since early September before making my move. The figures came primed, with 25MM x 50MM metal bases. I had to reglue most of them, as they came unstuck in shipping.

I wanted to try some ideas I had for the painting them up and I set to work on a third of their number. The sad fact is these are riderless mounts. I must continue to haunt eBay and other auctions sites seeking the troops needed to mount up my Martian Cavalry. This is how I end up with storage boxes, from which I know I will be able to pull unpainted miniatures.

The hidden mountain of shame.

There appear to be two types of Gashants. The domesticated variety equipped with European tack. I painted up three of them and kept it to a simple uniform look. I have another 24 of these figures to paint.

Then there is the second, wild variety, which appear to be used by the various Martian tribes. I had 8 of these figures and painted them all. I experimented with 4 different skin colours, as well as two different beak colours (red or yellow). One of each for the four different skin colours used. For lack of a better term the wild gashants seem to display some sort of comb. Again I used a different colour to go with each of the skin colour variations.

Mars is covered in red soil. I used Vallejo Earth Texture - Desert Sand mix with 1/4 amount of Liquitex Cadmium Red. The overall effect was pink sand. I applied an Army Painter Slaughter Red wash over the sand to darken the colour. Finally to quote from another Martian Chronicle, the ubiquitous red weed was applied to all the bases. 

Since a 25mm mounted figure is 10 points, and a foot figure is 5 points, I figure a mount must be worth 5 points in itself. 

Points 13 Gashants x 5 points = 65 Points

Sci-Fi Studio = 20 Points

Total 85 Points

______________________________

I'm loving the Barsoom theme here, Rob! These 'heavy metal' Gashants look terrific in their variety of hues, and I really like the vibrant Martian groundwork you've gone with. This herd makes me want to do a few more of my TinMan miniatures that I have sitting in the wings. Must. Keep. My. Resolve...

A great entry for the 'Sci-Fi Studios' theme. Well done!

- Curt