From Curt: Anne, Nancy and their Backup Singers (75 Points)

Hi Everyone!

Like many of us I've been making my way through the February doldrums. I lost a bit of steam for a few weeks, which recently included a bad bout of flu and a cold, but I did manage to push along with few more entries and here is one of them.

These gals are a some new recruits to my Sisters of Battle collection.

First up are two heavy weapon Sisters, one armed with a multi-melta and the other with a heavy flamer. These models are from Wargames Exclusive and were an absolute joy to paint. The designer really embraced the gothic aesthetic with their armour, especially with their chimneyed backpacks. These two ladies will be my submission for 'Heresy' as they are the physical embodiment of the Emperor's punishment, created to expunge the heretic in heat and flame (or at least thats whats written on their underwear).

When I first put them side-by-side for my photos it immediately struck me that they look like two epic rockers posing on stage in the midst of a guitar and bass riff, and what better rocker sisters than Anne and Nancy Willson. Maybe I'll go back and put a Heart symbol on their cloaks. :)

The other contingent is a small group of Sisters Repentia with their attendant Mistress of Repentance. The Repentia are older GW models and I love them (made even better as they were gifts from IainW). They are so beautifully sculpted, finger-pokingly crisp and having that wonderful heft of metal. These girls with their monstrous chainswords will be my submission for 'Wrath' for obvious reasons.

The Mistress was a bit of a disappointment, and I feel that someone at GW got the short straw in having to sculpt her. I've never been a fan of the quasi-S&M feel of some of the Sister models and this is one typical of that (though the Madonna bullet bustier kind of cracks me up).

These seven Sisters will give me a base of 35 points, plus another 40 combined for the 'Heresy' and 'Wrath' locations, providing a total of 75 points. I'm not sure if I'm going to reach my target but I'll definitely give it the Challenge try!

11 Skullz, 1 Squirrel Point and a couple for the 'Can Opener' duel as well.

Thanks for dropping by and have a great day!

Curt

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I've always liked a sororal posse of bloodthirsty maniacs; they add a certain je ne sais pas charm to the grimdark universe. To that end my favourites are, naturally, the Repentia with their massive man-choppers, channelling the ultimate "beware the woman scorned" vibe (though I'm sure they all enjoy a post-purge high-tea with scones and bookclub) 

Love the bold colours but also the debris sewn bases add great texture and interest to them. Nice work!

- Paul

Entering the Second Circle: Lust NSFW (25 points)

 Hoi,

Yes, well erm...now I usually try to stay away from unnecessarily unclad miniatures, but sometimes oopsies happen. In my search for suitable Mordheim figures I stumbled along Wargames Exclusive "The Mercenaries Collection". I would have loved to put up a link for you but it seems they're no longer selling the figures in this bundle. They were based on the Johan the Knife, Ulli and Marquand and a female Landsknecht figure. A 5th figure was included and at first glance this seemed to be a second female Landsknecht. Now I think women arehighly underrepresented in the fantasy lines of GW like figures so didn't mind getting two of them for use in my Mordheim Warbands. What I didnt notice, was that one of these ladies was the pin-up version...

Oh well, I have a good friend, Martijn, not our own "Minion Martijn"but a different one, who will like this figure a lot, he has a FLGS and the colours of his store's logo are red and white hence the colourscheme.  

The base is a 3D printed 25x 25 base and the texture is greenstuff with cobblestones rolled into it with a Green Stuff World texture roller. I am a little uncomfortable to post this figure but I am happy with the crispness of the painting and the colours. The resin WE uses for their figures is a joy to work with. 

Points are a no-brainer: 1x 28mm figure and bonus is 25 points

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Hey Sander

I totally understand your reluctance to post this NSFW figure, but she is more clothed than most of the 'pin up ' types available. And ... since it is the Second Circle Lust, she is appropriately dressed to display her ample attributes!

The colour scheme is great, I really like the saucy yellow feather

5points 28mm figure and 20 location points

See you next week!

Sarah

From ByronM: Mixed Bag of projects (77 Points)

For this weeks entry I have a wide variety of pieces that I was working on cleaning up for the last little while, I thought I would have more done, but work and real life got in the way yet again.... 

First up, another vehicle to use in my "chariot" game with Orks and Imperial vehicles from the 40k universe, as after all neither Orks nor Imperials shoot much better than a chariot mounted archer, so why not!

This is another of the Wargames Exclusive miniatures that I bought years ago when I started this project and then just got side tracked.  I think it looks a little bat mobile esq so I went with a metallic black base and then added the normal bronzes and reds that many imperial or inquisition vehicles have.  I think it came out looking ok, even though it is a bit dark.

Next up is my entry for the High Adventure Cinema space, and he is my Dwarf Caster for Frosthaven.  I am using him as the entry for this space as every time I look at him I hear either "Let my people go" or "Thou shall not pass"...  It can't be just me, this sculpt does have a Charleton Heston 10 commandments or a Gandolf vs Balrog look doesn't he?  Maybe I am just losing it....

He is a 3d printed model that I picked up on myminifactory and I have a few more from the same sculpter being worked on and nearing completion.

Next up is a board game piece from a new game that my group has fallen in love with, Aeon Tresspass: Odyssey.  The game mechanics are heavily inspired by Kingdom Death: Monster which is my all time favourite game, but also has a huge choose your own adventure type story element, all set in ancient Greece after the gods have been killed by the Primordials.  

 

 

You wake up not knowing who you are with a crew on the argonaut and have to "pilot" giant Titans to fight the Primordials and try to save the world.  The combat is a little ligher than KD, but the story element is about 10x what KD has, and it is amazing.

Anyway, this is the first of the giant primordials that you fight, the mighty Hekketon.  He is from a race called the centemains and is basically a huge ball or arms and fists that tries to beat the hell out of you.  It is a crazy hectic fight that is always entertaining.  I painted him in the same manner as the Weeping Angels I did a few weeks ago and then added some grey and blue on the main fists to give a magic enchanted look (hopefully). He is a pretty big model being mounted on a 50mm base!

 

Lastly, I have the characters for my 10mm Kings of War Salamander army all done.  

There are 3 mages, 2 minor ones and a major one being carried by some giant Lizards.  I did the Skinks (smaller ones) in bright colours in a similar way as what lizards were done in old school Fantasy Battle.

I also did two combat salamader battle captains, one of which is a smaller lizard ridding on the shoulders of a titan, and the other is a Clan Lord on foot.

Last of the characters is a Clan Lord riding a giant lizard into battle.  This one was a lot of fun to paint as I always wanted a carnisaur in WFB but never got around to getting one, so at least I did one here.

And now that I have a full playable standard 2000 point army, here it is in all it's tiny scaley glory.  There will be a few more units added at some point, but this is the core and completely playable as it stands.

As for points, it's a real mixed bag this week that doesnt add up to a whole lot, but it is what it is...

- Inquisitors Vehicle - 28mm vehicle - 20 points
- 28mm Dwarf - 5 points + 20 points for High Adventure
- Hekketon - 28mm Monster - 20 points
- Lizard Characters - 9x 10mm infantry + 1x 6mm monster - 12 points

For a grand total of 77 points.

From TeemuL: Hekketon surely is handy when fighting some argonauts and that dwarf-Gandalf looks business. I already praised your 10mm KoW army in Steve's post, but it surely looks nice all together. Mixed bag out of the way and now you can focus on something new, right?

From Curt: Work Servitors from the Grim Dark Future (50 Points)

 For 'The Golem's Haunt' I have six tireless (or is it forever tired?) work servitors for my 40K/Dark Heresy collection. 

MikeF scooped me on this theme (good one Mike!), but I thought I'd stick with it as I needed to complete these models as they've been balefully looking at me for the better part of a year.

These rather dolorous chaps are from Wargames Exclusive, an eastern European miniature company, whose products I've always really enjoyed. All their figures are made from resin, quite delicate and beautifully designed.

For those not savvy to GW lore, servitors are essentially cyborg slaves who's biological bits have been harvested from criminals, dissidents, and those poor souls thought to be undesirable. 

The reason for creating servitors rather than just building robots is that, in the distant past, the Imperium suffered a long, horrific war caused by rebellious machines benefitting from artificial intelligence (or 'Abominable Intelligence'). So now, they manufacture 'thinking' machines using repurposed cerebral cortexes and other bits grafted to machine parts. Yep, pretty horrific. In the grim dark future, Mankind has become a big supporter of 'social recycling'.

I really like that these figures are not combat orientated, but rather designed to set a domestic scene on some Imperial ship, or perhaps a compliant world. I especially like the fellow furiously polishing, perhaps the shoe of some dignitary, or maybe drying off a worthy's favourite pet; and the other servitor, pale in 'hand', cleaning a window, admiring his reflection: deus ex Machina indeed. 

These six fellas, along with the Chamber bonus, will give me 50 points AND my 6th Squirrel Point!

Next Up: Hmm. Not sure. Either a teleport, or a peek into the Chamber of Darkness...

- Curt

From Curt: 'The Scorned' - Sisters Repentia for Sander's Sand Dunes (65 Points)

I thought I'd wait a little bit before venturing to Sander's Sand Dunes as the initial onset of Challengers gave it a Saving Private Landing beach landing aspect to it. 

Sander asks us to paint up something red. Being that our local group has been quite keen on the fan-based 40K rules from Grim Dark Future (a breath of fresh air in comparison to GW's core set), I decided to do up a small unit of scarlet clad 'Sisters Repentia' for my slowly expanding Sisters of Battle collection. 

The story behind the Repentia is that they are essentially defrocked Sisters paying their penance by charging virtually naked into enemy lines with HUGE chainsaws. Yep, bonkers, but completely in-line with the 40K universe. 

One does wonder what horrible things they could have possibly done to have been assigned such a dire role? Cowardice? Blasphemy? Maybe they left their hair straighteners on overnight, or got caught borrowing their Sister Superior's special black nail polish? Who knows, but it definitely must have been baaaad. 

I've named my Repentia 'The Scorned' as a nod to the famous quote from Concreve's play The Mourning Bride, 'Hell hath no fury...'

In game-terms, these gals are very susceptible to getting shot to bits, but if they do manage to get into melee they are absolute BEASTS. Their 'Eviscerators' (yes, the name says it all) can really wreck someone's day, even giving serious pause to AFVs and Knights. They are one of those units that your opponent simply can't ignore, having to dedicate some valuable firepower to deal with them before they get too close with their uber hedge trimmers. Great fun. Ultimately I'll need at least another 5 to give the unit some staying power, but these ladies will give me a good start.

These are resin models from Wargames Exclusive. I've become a big fan of their offerings, with a good portion of my collection being made up of their models. Really beautiful castings with bags of character and loads of fine detail. So much so that one feels tempted to dive in and try to pick it all out with the brush. While compelling, I find doing all that extra brushwork often 'muddies' the figure by having too much going on. So I kept it simple and stuck to a fairly constrained colour palette. 

With the figures being resin they are a bit too light to my tastes (I'm still addicted to the heft of metal), so I added a washer to their bases and blended in the surrounding groundwork, with assorted debris and exposed ironwork. (Fun fact: repurposed supports from resin 3D printing make great steel reinforcing bits.) 

These are fairly big models around 35-40mm from head to toe, but of course, I bow to our beneficent minion for final scoring. 

Thanks for dropping in to take a look!

Curt

MilesR: Wow your painting always amazes me and it leaves me awestruck (and also jealous with rage but I'm learning to deal with those feelings better).  One of the whackiest things in the 40K universe is the weaponized chainsaw and these young ladies take it to the extreme.  Of course, who amongst us hasn't pretended a fallen tree is an Ork or plague marine when getting out the the ole trusty chainsaw.?  I'm scoring these figures as 40mm so that nets you 7 each plus the 30 for Sanders if 65 points

From Curt: Inquisitorial Kill Team for Sarah's Balloon (25 Points)

I thought I'd mix things up a bit for my next trip on Sarah's Balloon by submitting something which is, gasp, not related to 'Mansions of Madness'. 

This time out (up?) we have a 40K Inquisitorial kill team composed of a very self assured inquisitor and her retinue of rock-hard Battle Sisters.

For the past couple of years I've been running a winter 'Dark Heresy' role playing campaign for a few of the guys and, surprisingly enough, Sarah. 

This is Inquisitor Ingrid von Bek of the Ordo Hereticus. She's a badass witch-hunter who will have a prominent role in our upcoming DH campaign. I'll give no more away, but with Sarah's character being an unsanctioned psyker things could get quite interesting. ;)

This model shows her strutting her stuff in a fancy-schmancy suit of power armour, wielding a very rare Inferno Pistol (yes, the name says it all) and sporting really fabulous hair. 

I like the gothic details on these figures like the halo and whacky smokestacks on their power packs.

The other four in von Bek's retinue are Sisters of Battle. Two are armed with Storm Bolters, one with a Heavy Bolter and the last one is a young lass with the gift of the gab, a Dialogus, an adept who is particularly persuasive with encouraging allies and haranguing enemies. I see her as Ingrid's herald, press secretary and factotum.

The Dialogus is an an older, now OOP, GW metal (love eBay), but the rest are from Wargames Exclusive, one of my favourite not-40K figure manufacturers. They are tremendously detailed castings with boatloads of character. The only downside (for me) is that they are cast in resin which makes them feel overly fragile, though to their credit they've taken several tumbles without any damage.  Anyway, to give them a little added heft I've based them using metal washers.

I hope to have another group of Sisters ready later this challenge, but we'll see how the next couple of months unfold. I'm in the midst of several big entries (well, big for me) which are absorbing a lot of my hobby time. Fingers crossed that I can get everything I want done.

Next up: 'Docherty's Dock'!

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Wow, more amazing sisters to add to your collection.  I know this is an Inquisitorial team, but I view it more as an extension of your lovely sisters force, which is not a bad thing.

As usual your paint work and colour choices are top notch, as is your photography skills here.

While I know the Inquisitor is supposed to be the main attraction here, and is very nice in her snazy looking gold power armour, to me the Dialogus is the one I like best.  The scroll / text work you have done on her is superb and really makes that wacky old GW figure shine.  I can picture in my mind her strolling after the Inquisitor while ranting away on her loud speaker either extolling the good of the Emperor or condemming the evils of pretty much everything else in the universe as the rest of the Kill Team fullfills their name and exterminates all the heritics in the area. Simply brilliant.

Keep the great paint jobs coming!

- ByronM

From Curt: 40K Penitent Engine (20 points)

Hi Folks!

Just a brief entry from me today. This time out we have a Penitent Engine from the 40K universe.

Taking a dip into the GrimDark, penitent engines are mechanical constructs piloted by super-bad sinners serving penance for some particularly heinous crime (team-killing in Fortnight, refusing to signal when changing lanes, not picking up after their dogs, nasty things like that). Upon sentencing they are basically grafted into what equates to a dreadnought chassis and then injected with all manner of psychotropic drugs and pain inhibitors. After a quick buff and a shine they are then pointed at the enemy and released. Weee!! Death and Destruction ensues. Actually, death in combat is the only way getting out of this gig, but thankfully that usually comes along pretty quickly.  As you can imagine recidivism is pretty low in the Dark Imperium of Mankind....

This model is not an official Penitent Engine (Gasp! I know, Heresy in of itself.), but rather a nicely crafted proxy from the talented folks over at Wargames Exclusive. It's an all resin kit which went together like a breeze. It came with the option of a heavy stubber for the pintle weapon, but that seemed a little out of character especially when you can have a huge honkin' flame thrower instead.

As for points, it's a fairly big kit measuring in at about 80mm tall, so I think something in the 15-20 point range would probably be fitting, but I leave it to our sage minion to adjudicate.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Curt
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Other sins which will get you banged up in a Penitent Engine include;

• coughing loudly during the opening bars of Vaughan-Williams' 'The Lark Ascending' (and I'm looking at you, Sydney Symphony Orchestra matinee audience... some wounds never heal),
• using Comic Sans unironically,
• using Comic Sans at all, and
• square dancing in a round house.

Well, Curt, it's a formidable piece of kit, and you've done a terrific job with the painting and basing. It's more or less a naked Dreadnought, really... 

As it's around 80mm tall with a pilot (of sorts), let's call it a 28mm vehicle and go with 20 points. Hell, that's my going rate for Dreadnoughts (No Ken, not the battleships, sorry mate), so I'll score this the same way. 

Well done, Sir!

Ev

Assorted Miniatures for 'Dark Heresy' (48 Points)

Hi All,

Last week our gaming group started up our second campaign of 'Dark Heresy'.  For those not familiar, 'Dark Heresy' is a role-playing game set within the 40K universe.  The game was originally produced by Fantasy Flight Games which, sadly, lost the licence a few years ago. This is regrettable as the overall production quality of the rules and supplements was superb and the game had a loyal (if sometimes OCD) following. Being a shameless opportunist, I picked up most of the books at fire-sale prices and we've been enjoying the system undeterred.

Rather than the massed combat of 40K, 'Dark Heresy' instead sets its eye upon the gritty underbelly of the Imperium, with players taking on the role of 'throne agents of the Inquisition'. The overall look and feel of the game draws heavily upon Dan Abnett's excellent 'Eisenhorn' and 'Ravenor' series of novels. It's a setting where the main focus is upon the investigation, pursuit and foiling of the nefarious plans of Mankind's myriad enemies.  Think of it as a mashup of Call of Cthulhu, Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil' and Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner'. Operatic + dystopian + grim-dark = super fun times.

Anyway, the campaign we've recently started is based on one of the module series called 'The Apostasy Gambit'. Not being able to leave well enough alone, I've worked under the hood to fix some inconsistencies and suit to taste.  

In the opening chapter the players are tasked to bring down a debauched aristocrat who has delved into heretical artefacts, proscribed texts and has neglected to file form R451138 within his Imperial Tax Levy (in of itself a crime punishable by inquisitorial torture). 

Being an unrepentant nerd, I like using lots of play aids in my games to help make the imagined environment a little more real. Sketches, maps, manipulated photos of NPCs and drawings of the whacky settings, and of course lots of miniatures! For the debut chapter I wanted to have an 'open sandbox' and encourage the players to plan their own assault of the target mansion. As part of the preparation I gave them a 3D print of the mansion's grounds and three wee 6mm Valkyrie gunship models (of course, full to the gunnels with Inquisitorial Stormtroopers) to help the plotting and discussion of the mission. 

5 easy bonus points for the first person to guess where this mansion's design is from. :)

The players' opponents were a large and very well equipped personal security force serving the debauched aristo. For these I used the Elucidian Starstriders from the newish Rogue Trader boxed set. 

Red trousers and mustard coats chased in white. Whew, that is a bit loud! I had a lot of fun painting these in the garish family livery of their patron. 

The security detail was also reinforced by a heavy gun servitor. I used this excellent figure from Wargames Exclusive. Yes, he's quite the brute!

The player's will conclude their adventure by travelling to a long-abandoned cathedral which hides a HUGE secret to its origin.  In fact, the cathedral itself is just the tip of the mystery... quite literally. :)

The ancient Cathedral, overgrown by nature over the past thousand years...

Here's a couple visual hints. 

Yes, it's rather, um, 'Epic'.

Sorry to have geeked you out on this little indulgence, but it was great fun to work on. 

As to points. Let's see: 25 for the guards, 7 for the Gun Servitor, say 5 each for the two structures and 6 for the Valkyrie gunships. 

Thanks for dropping in folks! Next I'll be tabulating the voting results of the 'Mercenary' theme round. 

Stay tuned!

Curt