From BrettM: Werewolves & Special Sunglasses [New Acquisitions](40pts)

For the New Acquisitions Werewolves from Warlord.  

Most likely going to use these for a horror game or they will sit there and look pretty on the shelf.

Afraid the planet is being invaded by aliens? You just need some sunglasses to see who who's human and who's alien.

Great figure, he's here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and he's all out of bubble gum. If not familiar with the quote, Check out the movie "They Live"

4 minis completed to kick off the challenge for 20 points and another 20 for the New Acquisitions. Putting up 40 on the board for now.

Those Warlord Werewolves look terrific as well as terrifying, Brett! And nothing like a pair of sunglasses to pull off a really cool look. I only hope he'll find his bubble gum before accidents happen... Nothing bubbly about your math, you're off for s start with 40 points!

Martijn

From Pete F: We'll Call It A Draw and Battlemaster (65 points)

For some black (knight) comedy - here's the defeated guardian of the bridge.  Boys of a certain age and background can pretty much quote every line of Monty Python's Holy Grail and will recognize this scene. I can highly recommend this movie to everyone else - although if you don't want to explain to your ten year old what the sisters in Castle Anthrax suggest to Sir Galahad then keep fast forward handy.  A couple of well timed coughs also work.

I had a LOT of trouble with colour balance on this one

Studio Miniatures Medieval Mayhem line has some wonderful sculpts - at some point I'm going to get the full set -  it doesn't have a white rabbit so I'll need source that monster from somewhere else.

The Robot is from the Battle Tech basic set. It is a Battlemaster painted in my own scheme and my first Mech. I've only dabbled in Battletech - mainly because one of my wargaming pals is steeped in it and enjoys the crunchiness of the play as well as the lore. And giant robots* are cool.

Well behind the pace for my target points, so I'll try and pick up some bonuses in a shameless points grab. I was randomly deposited on Vlogsphere for this Black Comedy entry so I think there's an extra 30 points instead of the usual 20.  I looked at past entries to see where people landed on points for Battletech pieces. Most are in the 28mm or 40mm height range - although this beast is 54mm foot to top of head. Technically they are a 6mm vehicle. Past entries have landed on 5 points each whatever the size - I'll leave it to Monday's minion to judge.

1x28mm foot + 1x 54mm tall robot = 15 points

 + 30 for a warp maelstrom planet (Vlogsphere thy micturations are to me...) + 20 for Cybertron = 65 Total

Squirrel +0 (total 6)

Skulz +0 (total 1)

*Is a Mech a Robot? There are differing points of view. 

Monty Python, a knight in black and spurting blood - pretty much sums up black comedy to me!  Great job on this iconic movie reference.

There are those who can debate the Mech vs Robot question, much in the same way as there are those who debate the best Three Stooges line up.  I am not one of these, but can verify that you have got a great looking menacing mechanical humanoid machine.  I've managed to get my giant and troll upscaled with Curt, so I am going to award points based on it being a 54mm figure.

From PeteF: I'm Not A Witch! I'm Not A Witch! Solaris (25 points)

Only time for one mini this week - going to have to increase the output to reach my Challenge XII target.

The Holy Grail is one of my favourite films and Studio Miniatures' "Medieval Mayhem" range seems to have minis quite similar to its characters.  Connie Booth (married to John Cleese for 11 ish years) played the witch and will also be remembered by Brits of a certain age for playing Polly in Fawlty Towers (and co-writing it).

It turned out she was really a witch even though she said she wasn't (hence deception for the Solaris challenge) because she weighed the same as a duck. It's a long story - perhaps the following graphic will help.

Not sure what game I'll use her for - if I have the time and the budget I'd like to field a whole SAGA Age of Magic army using the Medieval Mayhem range - with the cavalry as knights followed by squires with coconut shells - no doubt transported from the tropics by swallows. If you've never seen the film this is probably getting a bit silly.

1 x 28mm infantry = 5 points plus 20 for Solaris = 25 points

0 Squirrel Points (3 total)

0 Skulz (0 total)

And now for something completely different.

I may have to steal than Venn diagram for my next first year stats class!  Nice work on this figure, it's a fair cop all around.

From PeteF: Grayscale Necromancer (25 points)

 

"Looking at the cake is like looking at the future, until you've tasted it what do you really know? And then, of course, it's too late."

Painting in greyscale is hard! This is my attempt for the Chamber of Darkness - I'm calling him a necromancer as one one day I may do a SAGA Age of Magic undead warband. If you're of a certain vintage you may well recognize the model's likeness to a 1980s Arthurian wizard. Excalibur being one of my favourite films, I had to get this model when I did a Studio Miniatures order a while back.

"I have walked my way since the beginning of time. Sometimes I give, sometimes I take, it is mine to know which and when!"

I like the way the Painting Challenge challenges - this one taught me that I have a lot more to learn about light. And painting in greyscale. Hats off to people who make their greyscale figures look so good! I suspect I'll keep on working at this model - I especially want his headpiece to look more metallic.

One 28mm figure plus room bonus for 25 points.

"It is a lonely life, the way of the necromancer... oh, yes. Lacrimae Mundi — the tears of the world."

From TamsinP: A Flashy Ending (5 points)

Well then, Lady, Gentlemen (and Ray) the time has come for my final post of this year's Challenge. I must say it has been a blast and I've had great fun, even during the stressful time of the "vanishing pictures bug". There have been so many gorgeous entries to keep us going and some amusing (and downright bizarre) tales being told.

But on with my entry. As you may recall from my previous post, I did make a very good start on this figure before I sidetracked myself into painting those bits of WW2 scatter terrain (which earned me almost twice the points that my much more fiddly to paint buildings had...). Today, in between minion duties, watching my usual Friday videos on YouTube and cooking up a big batch of chilli (enough for six large portions - one in the fridge for tomorrow and five in the freezer) I set back to work on it and got all the highlights and metal details done.

So here you go, a well known fictional Victorian British officer:

The figure is from Studio Miniatures, but doesn't seem to be available at the moment.


Scoring for this is simple - one 28mm foot figure = 5 points.




Before I go, it is customary for me to do my "Votes of Thanks", to:

My fellow Challengers for all your wonderful posts, and for your comments.

Sidney for creating the map of Challenge Island which has kept us all so busy.

My fellow Cabin Crew, ermmm, Minions for all your hard work getting posts up and for not messing up Miles' Spreadsheet Of Doom (TM) too badly!

To our Sponsors for the great prizes that some of us will be receiving.

To Lady Sarah, our heroic aviator, for being such a good sport, for putting up with us and (not to forget) all your kind and encouraging comments.

And finally, it goes without saying, to Curt, our very own Lord of the Snow, for organising this once again; for recruiting a great team of Minions to look after everyone; for organising the sponsors and for managing the Snowlord's Peak challenges and rewards.

Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!


Oh, and "Toodle-pip!

TamsinP
Senior Flight Attendant, signing out.

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Ahh, Tamsin, what a great final post. Flash looks tremendous, what with his handlebar moustache and dashing uniform. I'm sure there will be more than a few Challengers popping over to Studio Miniatures to see if he's come back in stock.

I am sorely indebted to you, Tamsin, for all your help this year. Work commitments (and now the health crisis) have kept me hopping this year and it was often you who jumped into the breach to keep this crazy ship on course. I thank you very much. I look forward to having you either as a member of our flight crew or hard-charging participant for Challenge XI.

Now, I need a little bit to get my final entry done to close the show.

-Curt

From PeteF: A Legion of Gribbley Horrors (265 points)

Kings of War encourages multibasing - whereby gamers can make dioramas out of their units rather than just ranking up their troops on small square bases. I decided to embrace multibasing for my Nightstalkers army and pay homage to various (mostly horror) films as part of the project.

One of the infantry options for Nightstalkers is Scarecrows. They can be in regiments of 20, hordes of 40 or legions of 60. If the troops "fill the base" it's OK not to have full model count and because of the terrain I made for this unit and the need to create a bit of space around the creepy girl, I only managed to squeeze in 49 scarecrows.

A legion is a bit of a daunting prospect to paint - I used contrast paints for the skin, tendrils and ragged clothes, colour shift Afterburner from Turbo Dork (a putrid gold colour) for the metal weapons and a fair amount of drybrushing to provide highlights and a hint of blood on the skin. Normal layers were used for the smaller details - like bits of string and teeth.  The bluish purple skin colour is similar to what I used for the Butchers and is a mix of Leviadon Blue and Shyish Purple.

The well is scratch build from various bits and Milliput. I put a couple of LEDs in it to light it from the inside and built the lid so that the light will show round the edges - like in the movie poster. Muwahahaha.

The girl is from Studio Miniatures' horror range. She gives me the creeps - which I suppose is the idea. My wife told me she hopes my toys don't come alive when the lights are off! If they do I'm relying on the Napoleonic and WW2 armies to club together to keep these gribblies at bay.

I watched the film almost 20 years ago and it is maybe the last horror movie I saw - although I no longer like the thrill of being terrified for entertainment,  I have enjoyed coming up with horror themed multibases for the Nightstalkers.

spare spectre 

I found one more spectre that I painted earlier in the Challenge so I'm entering him here too. I think I'll use him as a "mindless" levy figure for SAGA, Age of Magic. Was hoping to get this published on Friday 13th... but the pools of blood (Woodland Scenics realistic water) took too long to dry. 50 regular foot and one child for 253 points.

From DaveD - great lets start the day with a points bombe! nice idea for the LED to - a fine looking nasty legion - so lets call that 265.

From MichaelA: Sadako & Well (Ring) (15 Points)

I trust that you have all had a good Christmas and allow me to wish you a very happy New Year!  With the news that terrain would now garner points, I had hoped to snag a couple of easy wins with some plastic and resin scenery - I wonder how many Renedra barns we will see this winter?  I know I have one primed and ready to go!  That said as soon as I saw Curt's stunning, opening entry, I was so inspired that I had to try something a little different.

This then is my homage to the Ring, a 1998 Japanese, psychological, horror film directed by Hideo Nakata.  A wonderfully odd piece of celluloid that revolves around a cursed videotape that kills the viewer seven days after watching it.  Without wanting to give too much away a young girl, Sadako is killed and her body disposed of in a well; her grisly return forming part of the cursed tape.

The build started with a Fenris Games well, but thinking that I might want to use it in my 'Witchfinder' games, I added some little extras in the form of a rope and bucket, some mushrooms and even the remains of some luckless soul, perhaps Sadako herself?

I have subsequently 'filled' the well with some epoxy resin, which helps to convey a much needed feeling of depth to the piece.  As for Sadako, this was another of my Studio Miniatures horror characters and was relatively simple to paint on account of her damp, matted hair covering her face.  So hopefully my first points on the board and with a suitably monstrous theme to boot, let's see how many more times I get distracted before the challenge is over! 

Artist: Beyoncé

Title: Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)

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Ahh, it's great to see you back with us Michael. Welcome to the Challenge.

What a wonderfully evocative (and seriously creepy) vignette. I loved 'The Ring', even though it scared the bejezzus out of me. The film has a great aesthetic which I think you've done an admirable job conveying here. I particularly like the little details you've added like the mushrooms and the rope and pale next to the well. You need to come back with another shot of it with the addition of the epoxy resin water - I'd like to see the effect of that with the human remains just below the surface. 

An excellent opening to your Challenge this year. Now, get ready for your minion duties next week - I think you'll be busy. :)

AND with Michael's entry we now have half of the participants with points on the roster. Great work people!! Let's keep the steam up.

From MartinC: Marilyn Chainsaw (125 points Ready to rock)

I've finished the Perry Brits, not my best work, but the cold is still lingering and I appear to be out of practice at painting 28mm, too many 10mm.

I gave these blue puttees just for variety

The one I forgot to photograph

Group shot of all the "Sudan Type" Brits. Not all painted for the challenge but 5 units of 10 men.

As a change of pace I painted this Zombie survivor from Studio Miniatures. 

Marilyn Monroe with a chainsaw in the classic dress blowing up pose. Fantastic pose but the face is not quite right.

That gives me another 24 Brits and one film icon with a chainsaw - 125points

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Super stuff Martin! You are cracking on with the Pith-Headed blokes, well done (love the blue puttees - very flash)! BTW, what rules are you using for these guys? 

Yeah, I agree, the Marilyn pose is excellent, but the sculpting on the face is not there at all. Still, a very cool figure. The 'Sthill' logo is terrific. :)

125 points in the bag, Martin. Well done!