From TomC: Rataclysm! [Gluttony] (40 points)

Hello again everyone, it may have been some time since my last entry but it has been great to see all the entries so far, particular thanks to my fellow Thursday crew members for keeping the day's momentum going! Today's submission is a slightly unusual creature, the Rataclysm from Steamforged Games's Animal Adventures Gullet Cove Kickstarter. I'd painted one of the wererats from the set previously, but the Rataclysm is a materially more substantial prospect for any adventurers!

As you can see, life in the sewers has not been so unkind to this giant, three-headed rat-creature! Having broken free of its bonds, no shortage of culinary delights have clearly been available as our chap is now quite portly! I therefore thought this might qualify as a little too much Holiday feasting and so have offered it up for Gluttony.

As is probably evident, I used Citadel's Contrast paint to get most of the beast done, the body is Goregrunta Fur, which seemed the most suitable of the various tones I had to hand (most of which I picked up with a view to Flames of War miniatures, none of which have yet to see any Contrast paint, of course!).

This is my second trial of Contrast, I also painted a Beholder a while back, but I'm pretty happy with the results for the time taken and have tried to broaden the application, blending a little in with Vallejo Medium Sea Grey and Cadian Fleshtone to get a fleshy tone on the tail. Originally, I tried to use Basilicanum Grey for the stomach, but this did not work, it's much too dark! It is instead another blend of the Goregrunta Fur to Medium Sea Grey, with a little Dead White added towards the very centre. The veins had a little Genestealer and Xereus Purple blended in and the Basilicanum Grey was instead used for shading, where it was much more successful (to my eyes!).

Various details were picked out in the traditional manner: the claws and teeth were Vallejo Flat Earth, Heavy Goldbrown and Ivory in varying ratios; the eyes were going to be red, but I pushed this up to yellow as I enjoyed the contrast, I used Two Thin Coats Yellow Flame over Vallejo Orange Fire in the end. I particularly like painting rusty metal, the various manacles go all the way from Dark Rust to Orange Fire and now look thoroughly corroded! I did also try adding scratches with Russian Tank Crew (and then with added white) but kept these quite limited, to the point where it might be a little difficult to know they're there!

In terms of points, our beastie is quite generously sized, being in the realms of a 28mm monster and about the size of a light tank. I think 15 points is a fair claim as 28mm vehicles can be much bigger, but will defer to my Minion's wisdom! The location bonus is 20 points, so in total I have submitted 35 points, which should get me over my target for the Challenge! This is probably for the best as we are currently moving house and my wife is also now expecting so this may well be my final post and, if so, I would like to thank Curt for organising the Challenge (as always!), Teemu for bearing through my antics, the wider Minion team (without whom the Challenge would struggle!) and my fellow Thursday crew for doing all the heavy lifting!

TeemuL: I hope your not asking Thursday crew to do the heavy lifting of your move? Congratulations for your new home and the coming family member, I hope everything goes well! If you can, I belive you can post a voluntary wrap-up post after the Challenge to show all your painted minis in one post. It is always nice to see how much participants have actually painted.

Then the miniature. Goregrunta Fur is a very nice, strong brown colour and as Contrast paints work very well on textured surfaces, it would have been difficult to pick some other paint for this monster. The browns (and other colours) look great! I saw the comparison photo you sent me and this is a big one. To make it simpler and spreadsheet friendly, I have scored this as a 28mm vehicle - some vehicles are smaller and some larger, so I guess this one fits the category. 40 points in total, well done!

From TomC: Lylyth, Herald of Everblight [Sarah the Succubus] (5 points)

Hello again one and all, I hope everyone is as well as can be and very pleased to see everyone's progress to date, some great entries so far (and we're still only in January!). My entry today is a relatively simple offering to guide me between the locales of Limbo and Gluttony (like my pre-breakfast state) and is Lylyth (Lylyth1 to be exact, there are several iterations!) who was one of Privateer Press's warlocks for the Legion of Everblight faction within their Hordes / Warmachine game systems. I say was since she dates back to MkI / 1st edition and Warmachine is now up to MkIV, which involved an Age of Sigmar-esque purge of almost all their range, including this incarnation of Lylyth. Previews suggest she will be back as a sort of mecha-dragon though, so how's that for character development?

As with much of the pile of potential, I picked Lylyth up quite some time ago, around 2016 when Privateer Press were changing the starter boxes over between editions. Of course, one thing lead to another, with neither being actually getting round to painting what I'd bought! What eventually kicked me into action were these splendidly silly ice bases that Customeeple makes for the Malifaux game, I was very pleased to have an excuse to buy more things and even more pleased to actually use them... If you look closely, there are things under the ice as well, Lylyth here has some pseudo-Cthulu tentacles, but others from the set have fish, monsters, dead bodies and the other typical detritus of fantasy waterways... 10/10, if a little unusual to paint!

On the topic of painting, David Soper has been walking through his work on a wonderful piece of his with an interesting colour palette on his blog, and I was feeling motivated to try something different, so I broadly cribbed his hard work with the purple and cold NMM gold being the primary colours. I modified things a little to make my life easier, the NMM goes from VGC Heavy Black Green rather than VMC Dark Sea Blue (to VMC US Olive Drab then S75 Tenere Yellow, to white). I did use the Dark Sea Blue for the iron bow, to Citadel Stegadon Scale Green then VMC Russian Tank Crew (which I am overly fond of), although this is entirely my own invention. 

I haven't tried painting purple before, this was just the Games Workshop triad of Naggaroth Night, Xereus Purple and Genestealer Purple, all of which had been lying around unused. To try and keep a consistent tone, I used the Genestealer Purple mixed with VMC Old Rose as the basis for the skin base, aiming for a slightly unnatural look appropriate for the disciple of an evil demonic dragon...

Humble scoring for today but I owe Teemu for fixing my labels last time (thank you!), so just 5 points today for our 32mm antagonist, which will teach me to spend time on single character models! Next time should hopefully see something a little larger!

TeemuL: It is good to see someone paying attention to the Theme round, that's what Thursdays are all about? I have never really investigated the Warmachines/Hordes line, they seem so specific minis, that they don't mix nicely with others and since I don't know anyone interested in playing with them, I have mostly ignored them. But your Lylyth looks very nice and could be used in other settings, too. Your gold an purple look spot on, very royal look! The base looks interesting, too, never seen one of those before. Good luck on your venture to the Gluttony!

From TomC: Back in Blue [Limbo] (220 points)

Hello everybody, belated Happy New Year, very glad to see a lot of great progress so far from fellow contestants, hopefully Santa has been good to you all over the year end! 

As always, thanks to Curt for organising the Challenge, to the Minion team for volunteering and to Tamsin for her helpful instructions (errors in following which being entirely my own fault!).

These will be a familiar sight by now for many challengers - Warlord Games’s Epic American Civil War infantry, certainly it seems I’m not the only one putting paint to these this year! These are from the free sprue attached to Wargames Illustrated a while ago, plenty enough to have kept me going!

I started these before AHPC XIII, for which my first entry was the commander and artillery piece, which also come on the frame. Seems fitting to open another Challenge with the rest! Having given these infantry a once-round of blue, I put them on hold for the duration of the challenge… and then the subsequent two years… still, not the worst offenders in my pile of potential!

I painted these the old-fashioned way and, for my sins, without any metallic paints, so I really didn’t do myself any favours in the planning phase! This was compounded by issues with the recommended paints, Night Blue (glossy, which I realise now I cannot bear!) and Andrea Blue (suspiciously thin), which led to me to redo the blues with various Citadel offerings.

Not content with the problems I’d caused for myself, I continued by being unable to find the paper banners which came with the magazine at the critical juncture. Doubtless, these will resurface at an inopportune moment, but for the meantime I did my best to freehand the stripes on Old Glory and cobble something together for the regimental banner. This was a combination of Games Workshop decals I took apart, reassembled and painted over. I appreciate that whilst this has some of the right elements (eagle, shield, NFL logo), it does perhaps look a little modern… at least there’s something on the flag!

I did some minor work on these before assembly, there are only a couple of variations of ‘strips’ provided by Warlord, so there is a risk of repeating stands quite quickly. I delayed this by cutting some of the strips in half to mix them up, if I recall correctly, there are a couple of points where this can be done with a minimum of grief, and I do think it helps break up the repeated sculpts. Probably not possible with the Epic Waterloo collection alas!

In terms of scoring, there are 100 wee lads in the unit, at 2 points a head being the going rate for Warlord’s ‘Epic scale’ infantry. The commander and gun above are just included for completeness, so 200 points for the submission, with an additional 20 for the ‘Limbo’ bonus category that these sadly neglected Federals hopefully merit! All in, should be 220 points?

As a final note, my laptop has failed and so I have resorted to the mobile for this post - apologies for any issues with it as a consequence!

TeemuL: Yes, Warlord's Epic scale indeed is 15mm or two points a head, so you got yourself a nice haul of points here. You have now accomplished your target of 250 points in just two entries and in less than a month. But don't worry, me, myself and the whole Tuesday crew encourages and expects you to continue painting until end of March.

The models themselves look nice, you have found a nice blue in the end. I hope you find your flags, too. Your cutting the strips and reorganising the troops a bit gives quite natural look on the force. I have to remember that when I make some experiments with that scale and the freebie sprues from WI magazine myself. :) Compiling a post using mobile phone is very painful, I feel you. I forgive you for not adding any labels and added couple of suitable by myself. Feel free to edit, if needed.

From TomC: Summary Judgement [Literature] [Fantasy] (50 points)

Fans of a certain vintage of British television might recall contestants on The Weakest Link whose hubris would cost their team dearly and so, with these lessons in mind, I have a narrow window left to 'bank' my recent efforts and will be sure to do so!

 First into action is an entry for the Literature section of the library, Commissar Severina Raine from Rachel Harrison's Black Library books, being a single 28mm miniature originally from Games Workshop. I did get this one from eBay and am still uncertain as to how directly this came from Nottingham, which I think is a reflection on Citadel's 'finecast'...

 I must confess that I haven't read any of the books, I just liked the miniature! I did read a sample and whilst she isn't highbrow, she is a traditional adherent to the Guard principles of shoot first raise morale later and very definitely snooty towards those with insufficient moral fibre! 

 The extract I read made no mention of her physical appearance, so she is broadly in line with the artwork available for her, although her hair is more whimsical, I just wanted something which wasn't black! 

 Painting was, for me, relatively speedy, I resorted to metallics in case I ever wish to expand my new Imperial Guard army of one. Otherwise, I tried to balance an all black miniature (there are four variations of black in there) and had a bit of fun with the pseudo full dress uniform (she's not wearing tracksuits, I promise...).

 Part 1 progress below for completeness:

 The other limb for today is a slightly less wholesome offering, this time from Steamforged Games Animal Adventures series, and is a were-rat for the Fantasy section.

 She comes as part of the Rat King of Gullet Cove set as one of four identical lesser villains to harass your party, in this instance primarily with the threat of tetanus...

 After an 8th edition Skaven army, our were-rat here is perhaps a little un-hip on her round base but definitely an opportunity to try something different out!

 She was the product of a single, rather feverish, painting session, having been undercoated earlier in the day. It's almost certainly the fastest I've completed a miniature (I don't count the Salute speed-painting competition...) and perhaps it shows, but it's one fewer grey miniature!

 The colours are almost entirely what happened to be on the palette after Severina was finished, which took me surprisingly far with some extras mostly for the 'special effects' (such as they are).

 I expect this is likely it from me, so our latest additions are both 28mm miniatures for 5 points apiece and fingers crossed for 20 points for Literature and 20 points for Fantasy for a total of 50 points for the entry in total.

I might be miles off my target total but I still got plenty painted and even... had fun! So, thank you so much to Curt for organising the Challenge, Greg for tolerating my accounting shenanigans, the wider minion team and Sarah for all their invaluable support and all the kind participants who have taken a moment to comment on any of my posts, you're all wonderful!

________________________________________

Good work on the lonely Skaven and Severina Raine, Tom. Good gravy, who comes up with these Black Library character names? I suppose the handle works equally well for a Commissar, or a porn star. Still, she definitely looks the business with the peaked cap, storm coat and humungous epaulettes. Cool mini and a great paintjob.

I'm delighted you had a fun Challenge and also managed to slay some grey, Tom. I hope you can roll out with us next year.

- Curt  

From TomC: Minimags [DIY] (42 points)

Hello again everyone, a bit of time off has given me an opportunity to claw my lamentable progress up a bit and even add some labels to my posts (sorry Greg!).

Today's entry is a pair of Sd.Kfz 250 halftracks from Battlefront's Flames of War range which I've been working on to serve as part of a pilot for the colour schemes I'd be looking to employ on the German half of the Hit the Beach starter I've had for... some time now.

I haven't painted any vehicles since I was a teenager, when I gleefully slathered a variety of Space Marine tanks in Humbrol enamels, so these were painted with the Colours of War guide from Battlefront at my elbow and an experimental mindset. With that said, any feedback is gratefully appreciated!

Chief experiments were the soft-edged camouflage, which I did with a brush and by glazing in the colours (Citadel Straken Green and Vallejo Chocolate Brown mixed in with the base Vallejo Dark Yellow). The photos I've found usually show a much busier camouflage pattern but this striped pattern is much closer to what I'd be looking to replicate on my other German armour, so on it went!

The other was the splinter pattern camouflage, mostly one of the passenger's smocks, but also on inappropriate items of stowage I'd added from the Plastic Soldier Company set, which also donated the constipated-looking passenger on the right. I'm less convinced by how this turned out, work to be done here... 

Other peculiarities were the shoulder-boards: the 250 was generally the preserve of reconnaissance units, but they changed which colour they used throughout the war, but with different divisions required to adopt the 'new' colours (or so it seems). I went with yellow, which seemed broad enough in usage.

 A fair question is why we're in DIY and kitbashing is the answer. Firstly, our man above is a combination of one of the Battlefront tank commanders and the legs of a Grenadier: I wanted a studious scout crewing my halftrack (rather than a shouty officer-type which comes with the crew set). The other is the halftrack crew, the Battlefront kit has neither driver nor assistant and I wasn't keen on the self-driving haunted halftrack, so I appropriated some Plastic Soldier Company passengers. They required a lot of modification to fit!

For scoring, two 15mm vehicles should be 16 points and then there are seven crew members, but two are sitting and four are very vestigial so I would suggest 6 points for the lot perhaps, equivalent to three standing 15mm infantry? With the DIY bonus, the tentative total is then 42 points, which puts me just over halfway to my Challenge target... lots to do then!

***

Others may have feedback and suggestions Tom, but I would say these look marvellous. Great work. It can be intimidating to tackle new subjects (or, "relatively new" - I mean, I'm sure your teenage years were not to long ago, were they? :). And German WW2 stuff is always extra tricky, as even basic research into their use of camouflage can easily cause brain spasms.

I think your approach here has done the trick! They look great, the crew look excellent too. Advice? I dunno, maybe a pin wash of a dark brown in some of the recesses of the vehicles in order to draw the contrast on the panels? But that's just fiddle-sticking - they would look damn fine on any table in my opinion!

 

The scoring all tracks for me - 42 points for you, well done!

 

GregB

From TomC: Victory At Sea USN [Maritime] (34 points)

 Ahoy fellow challengers, like the Loch Ness monster, I've been out of sight for a while, sorry I haven't been able to comment on all your wonderful work!

 I at least have a contribution to offer, this week is another brace of ships from Warlord Games's Victory At Sea starter set, USS Northampton and an accompanying Fletcher-class destroyer, both hopefully wet and offshore enough for the Maritime section.

 As a bit of context, the Northampton class, of which this was the lead, were all built in the '30s under the auspices of the Washington Naval Treaty, which restricted both their weight and armament (and which was also quietly disregarded by the Japanese navy). Northampton herself had a busy career, first with Enterprise for the Doolittle raid and Midway, with Wasp at Guadalcanal (where she was lucky not to be torpedoed), then Hornet at Santa Cruz, before being torpedoed by Japanese destroyers in her first surface contact at Tassafaronga. 

The photos I've seen of Northampton in 1942 show a simple single-colour scheme but there's a series of images of Northampton in 1941 in this unusual camouflage scheme with a fake bow-wave and countershaded forecastle. Couldn't resist! 

For completeness, there are some liberties I took with the scheme for my own amusement, the orange lifeboats in particular but also the edged smoke stacks (it's a lot of grey otherwise!). Tangentially, the teak deck is a bit of a guess, I couldn't find many images of such things and I have previously had mixed results from eyeballing colours...

The destroyers in Victory at Sea aren't named, but one can never have too many of them! I'm trying to keep them all distinguishable, luckily the Americans had plenty of different schemes to choose from, this being one of the simpler.

 This makes just over half the American vessels from the starter set, which definitely merits a group shot.

In terms of accounting, although the scale is off, the cruisers are c. a 15mm vehicle for 8 points, the destroyers less so at 6 points. Together with the Maritime bonus, that should make 34 points, otherwise known as very slow progress... onwards!

***

Sadly for you Tom, you are stuck with a minion who is, in general, quite ignorant of all things naval when it comes to historical gaming. I will happily charge into all sorts of new periods, but when it comes to ships from WW1 and WW2, I may remember the names and some high-level info about the battles, but am otherwise laughably ignorant...

All this to say while I love these pretty ships, I have nothing to offer as commentary...although so many seem to come to a bad end. Torpedo in her first surface engagement? That sucks...

Fine brushwork here, and great effect of the water vs. the ship. I have seen people struggle with the names of the ships cast right on to the bases, but you seem to make it work nicely! Well done, 34 points for you.

Polite reminder: please use the labels when composing the post! This helps ensure the data/meta data etc. for the Challenge meets the requirements of our Cthulu-like statistical gods...

GregB 

 

From TomC: Banzuiin Chōbei (25 points)

Hello again everyone, long time no post, the gap between posting is getting longer when I need it to be getting shorter! It can be done, January has been a busy month, some of it for good reasons (getting my wife's manuscript in front of publishers), some of it less so (UK self-assessment tax deadlines)...

 Today's entry is a 28mm Warlord Games sculpt, from when they carried the Test of Honour range, and is Banzuiin Chōbei, from their Chōbei's Rebels set. He's still available under their Warlords of Erehwon line but I did not acquire him that recently!

The man himself was a Japanese folk hero, using his prodigious sword skills to protect his local area from roaming hoodlums. A traditional drama suggests that he was only killed when his yakuza enemies, unable to defeat him combat, trapped him a bath house and set it on fire! 

He was a great change of pace from my last entry, despite all the laced armour panels (although fewer than there could be!), I really enjoy these Warlord sculpts and this was no exception. He also holds the curious distinction of being the first topless miniature I've painted... (Doombull Brown / Cadian Fleshtone if you would like my nipple recipe) I still have trouble with bright metallics, at least the sword looks sharp!

I took the opportunity to finish the basing on these characters while I was working on Banzuiin, which means that I've finally completed the Bandits and Brigands box Warlord put out... you can see the assembled gang below, I painted the first about six years ago now (first in from the left)!

 

Points wise, no improvement on my accounting ratio from last time (or Curt's Rosetta Stone!): one 28mm miniature for 5 points and a Famous Person location bonus for another 20 points for a not so grand 25 point total. 

***

Hi Tom! Well, if we are going to have these ratio-heavy 25-point single figures, at least they look amazing! Some fantastic brushwork here, even if there are "fewer" laced armour panels, given that "one" is too many for me and thus has always kept me away from ever exploring this sort of setting. 

And bravo on finishing off that box set...that sort of thing can take a bit of time for all manner of perfectly legitimate reasons...for example, say, you start five other boxes of things at the same time? Or life stuff happens? Whatever! It is done, and the whole group looks fantastic!

25 points for you - thanks for treating us to some incredible painting.

GregB