From Barks: More Underhive denizens (30 points)

My painting time has really stalled out this Challenge, but I forced myself to get some figures done. These are a variety of beings you may find in the Underhive.

The malstrain is a corrupted genestealer. I slightly trimmed back and toned down the excess spikes of the original sculpt, as I thought they were a bit much even for me. I've got more of these to paint but its a slow fiddly process. He's a big boy on a 40mm base. I've gone for a severe cataract eye. The pustules remind me of the original plastic 'stealers.

With an untrimmed figure

Next, I have some winged figures- two caryatids and a cherub. Caryatids are nearly mythical figures to underhivers, and are associated with good luck. The smaller metal figure is a very limited sculpt associated with Colony 87- read more here. He's on a 20mm base, and is definitely a 'he'.

This cherub had a goatee and hair
but I trimmed it back to be more Churchillian.

Somewhere in this medic servoskull is a skull!

I really like this underseer sculpt. It nails the bizarre bodies and mechadendrites of the tech-priests.

Postscript: I was bullied/peer-pressured into painting some patches onto flight suits and trying to get a mirrorshades effect onto Ferro's aviators. Are you happy now?

Six figures of varying sizes... 25 points?

+1 skull for the skull challenge (total 45)

From Millsy:

Any submission that makes use of the term "denizen" is a winner in my books! These are all superb mate but I am particularly impressed and at the same time a bit disturbed by the underseer. I have little idea what mechadendrites are but I suspect I'm better off that way.

Kudos for your efforts on the mirrrorshades and patches. I've awarded a bonus five points because I resist every temptation to revisit something so if you can be bothered it should pay off.

Cracking stuff Barks. 30 more underhive credits for you.

Cheers,

Millsy

From Barks: Underhive denizens (65 points)

I have really misunderestimated how much painting time I have this Challenge, and am well off the pace. Anyway, here are some figures I've been keen to get some paint on.

The first batch are malstrain cultists- mutated genestealer cultists, what's not to like? They're all kitbashed and greenstuffed, which makes them nicely unique. The bodies are Stargrave Scavengers I & II, which are my favourite Stargrave kits. Speedpaints Noble Skin, Brownish Decay and Desolate Brown make up most of the khaki browns. By sitting the heads low with no neck you get this pleasing hunchback appearance. I've left two with empty hands so they can more easily pass as harmless civilians in my Guards of Traitors Toll reskin.

The next is a Delaque informant, also from the Scavenger box. I liked this hand pose that looks like he's using a wrist communicator. I carved off pockets and extra webbing straps to give more of a Matrix trenchcoat look.

These two are based on 30K Mechanicum Thralls, which is a fun kit. I was inspired by Kill Sample Process's cyberpunk malfunctioning murderous cleaning bots, and used some peasant bits for the arms. The cleaning rag is a ponytail. Servitors are shaved during the servitorisation process, but I thought the braided hair on the sweeper added to the body horror.

I have no mouth and I must clean

13x 28mm figures (65 points)

3x skullz (total 44)

Big Stompy Robots +2 (Three lies in one!)

From Millsy:

Wow, these are just wonderful mate! I'd not considered making 40K-esqe stuff from Stargrave kits but it really, really works! Your cultists aren't just cool, they have a real old skool vibe which is just brilliant. I've got some metal tech gangers and I'm now imagining how I might give them arms and weapons without selling a kidney, plus building some mates to support them. Brilliant!

Your skin tones, saturated blues and pinks/purples are the perfect counterpoint to the muted greys and metallics. They just feel right.

Wonderful stuff Barks. More please!

Cheers,
Millsy

From Barks: Rusty doodads (20 points)

I recently acquired these plastic terrain pieces which can be used as scatter or narrative game objectives in Necromunda/ 40K. They're over 40mm across, and almost 3" tall.*

I'm still refining my rust technique, which involves brown, a stippling of orange, a wash of craft paint, then a metallic drybrush. Then I enjoy getting lost in the weeds of painting the lights, dials, plaques, wires, etc. Not to mention the skullz.

Note these electric fence pieces from the 2004 Battle for Macragge.

This is a Necromundan Horologium,
which shows the time, season, cycle, workshift,
industrial output, level of malcontentedness, etc.

All up, 15 pieces and 40 skullz.

*Wargamers love mixing units!

___________

Great work Barks.  These pieces really capture a rusty old look and will fit in with the 40k universe very well, or really any sci-fi game.  While there are a lot of them, I imagine doing the rust and weathering is pretty quick in batches, and then painting up the little details taking most of the time, hence a few more points than I would have given without all that detail work.

I really like them, and it makes me think that I should get to the set of something very similar looking that has been sitting in my pile of shame for years as well.

- Byron

From DallasE: Mechanicum Archmagos Prime (Belisarius Cawl) (10 points)

I guess it's nearly 10 years ago now that Games Workshop brought out plastic kits for the Adeptus Mechanicus faction of Warhammer 40K. I was pretty stoked about that, just because of the cool looks of the models and the creepy vibe they exude. So I have (over the last 10 years) painted up a small force of Adeptus Mechanicus models.

As with many of my hobby projects, GregB is to blame for this one. He very kindly sent me a box of Mechanicum Secularis Tech-Thralls Covenant models for Christmas and that's started me down the road of collecting Mechanicum models for the Horus Heresy. I was about to order a third-party resin Archmagos from Tista Minis when I remembered I had bought GW's Belisarius Cawl some years ago, and he (it?) was sitting on sprues in a box. So I busted it out and assembled it for painting. 

As you might be able to tell, it's a pretty intricate model with a lot of parts, and took a couple evenings to assemble. I built it in three assemblies - the legs, the torso, and the right arm. I'm glad I did as I reckon it would've been pretty much impossible to paint had I not left it apart for painting.

As for the paint scheme, you can see I've departed from the traditional Mars scheme and gone in another direction. I really like the charcoal grey and off-white colourway of Forge World Agrippinaa so that's the colours this model got (well the charcoal anyway). It's black with highlights of Vallejo Dark Rubber and Mechanicus Standard Grey, washed with Nuln Oil. The metal parts are Leadbelcher and Nuln Oil, and the brass is mostly Brass Scorpion, washed with Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade.

It's a pretty cool and scary looking model, and as I said it had LOTS of parts to assemble.

It's a pretty large model as well. I'm going to count it as a 54mm infantry model for 10 points.

One 54mm infantry model:  10 points

Total: 10 points

Skulls: 7

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He certainly is a large lad, and is quite the Heroic addition to any AdMech force. To me this series of GW releases really started to transform their 40k range to the new standard 'super detailed' style that can be quite intimidating to tackle. 

Notwithstanding, you've done a cracking job with him Dallas - 10points well earned!

- Paul

From ByronM - Black & White AND Under Construction (80 Points)

For my second entry of the day I am covering off my last two mandatory green pass studio spaces, although I plan to do more.  

First up, I am visiting the Black & White studio where I really had no idea what to do, and was just going to paint up a random Great War figure in B&W, but then I saw a post on the blog and changed my mind. I am therefore stealing JohnathanO's wonderful idea of painting up some Weeping Angels.  

I found a STL file for them online, and printed out a pair of them to paint, but one had the wing kind of separate a bit, and while ok for a statue, I printed off a second pair of the so that they were perfectly correct.  I then broke out the airbrush and did a quick black base coat and then a zenithal white highlight.  I then blasted it with a stone grey colour, washed them and then applied some quick stone grey highlights.  Super fast and super easy, and I think they turned out awesome!  So thank JohnathanO for the great idea, as I now have some great little pieces I can use as Angels or simply terrain bits.

Next up I am visiting the Under Construction space with a return to a long sidelined project.  Years ago now Games Workshop released a bunch of new Ork Vehicles including a F1 race car, a jet car and a few others.  I immediately wanted to paint them up just for fun, then heard about a game that Curt plays called Charioteer and thought I would base them all up, find some Imperial vehicles to fit with them and start playing them as chariots just for fun, I mean after all Orks can't shoot the broadside of a barn anyway, so close in combat is their thing anyway. 

Anyway, I promised I was going to get some old stuff done this challenge and this resurrects that project with one of the Imperial vehicles I picked up for it, an Adeptus Mechanicus roadster.

I painted this one to match my existing Adeptus Mechanicus force in deep crimsons and brass colours, and then based it to match the Ork vehicles that I had started before.

 

 

Overall I am really happy with how it came out and can not wait to get the other vehicles done now so that we can start racing.  Oh, and I might have laser cut a board for them to all fit into so that they look cooler when racing, so hopefully I can show that off sometime later in the challenge.

 

As for points, the statues are all 28mm figures so 5 points each = 20 plus the 20 points for the theme space.  And then the vehicle is a 28mm car so 20 points for it, plus another 20 for the second theme space of the day, for a total of 80 points!

From TeemuL: It is good to see that this Challenge has already inspired some of us! Those grey statues/angels look great and are very usable in various settings, I guess. I do remember one of your race car red ork vehicles, it was just brilliant - must have been some 5 Challenges ago or something. This new one will make a great competitor for that (and Curt's "chariots", too). I like the skull head lights and the road it is riding. There's a fair amount of skuls, but you are not joining the Skull Duel madness, aren't you?

From StuartL - Jumping To Lightspeed - Xanth to Krypton - 142 Points

Hello all.

For my second post today, I present the last five planets in the Challenge XII sector before my final approach to the Challenge XII Star.

Unlike previous years where I blitzed through the Challenge areas to reach the centre as quickly as possible, this year I have tried to take my time completing each section. However with just four weeks left on the clock and no idea what herculean task my minion might set me, I figured that I should get cracking and finish off the outstanding planets. I still need to submit an entry for Lady Sarah's Star Yacht too. 

So, without further ado, the next port of call after Lune is Xanth, where I have looked at the Unique Talent part of the conditions. Most of the models I have for most of the games I play are generally focussed around killing the enemy with bullets, blades or bombs, so finding something unique was not so easy. Luckily for me, I play a game called Malifaux, a Weird Wild West skirmish game, and a lot of the minis for that game have some downright bonkers abilities. In my collection for the game, I have a faction of Performers. Essentially can-can dancers, singers and the like who use their stage shows and props as cover for a smuggling operation. Within than faction, there are a set of models called Ice Dancers. However, unlike more traditional figure skaters, these dancers are able to form ice themselves and then use it to move around the tabletop. The models come two to a box, but are generally considered to not be all that great, one usually being more than enough should you wish to use them.

 I imagine that skating through a desert on a pillar of ice should count as a fairly unique talent.

From Xanth I head off to Mars (surely that should have been after Lune??), and a meeting with a mysterious neighbour. For this mini, I head back to the Warhammer 40,000 universe where Mars is synonymous with the machine worshipping Adeptus Mechanicus. In the setting, the Ad-Mech have very strict doctrines and beliefs about what technology they can use and what is tech-heresy. However, there are also rumours that an ancient, evil, alien star-god is trapped deep within the planet and that it is tied in with the mysterious Necron race of sentient robots. So what would happen if one of these Mechanicus priests were to stumble upon some crypt of hidden alien tech while exploring the depths of Mars? Why he'd immediately report it to his superiors and they'd destro.... 

...Oops.

One of the problems with the Ad-Mech box sets is that you can quickly end up with duplicate Tech-Priest models that you don't really need if you aren't careful. Having a couple of these guys spare, I decided to convert one up as a Heretek using a bunch of spare Necron parts I had lying around. The head, shield, upper torso and right arms all got added to create this monstrous fusion of Martian and Alien technology gone awry. 

I usually paint my Necrons with green power cores, so to show that this guy was different, I went for an orange colour scheme along with paler colours for his robes instead of the standard Mechanicum Red.

Speaking of Necrons, Altair IV is my next stop with the theme of Old Robots. 

This lanky fellow is a Canoptek Reanimator, a giant machine that strides across the battlefield reanimating fallen Necron Warriors as it goes. The model is mounted on a 60mm base to give you some idea of it's scale.

The model came in the Indomitus set that was launched at the start of 40K 9th edition. I have no intention of ever playing 9th, but the Necron models in that set were all fantastic. This one was quite fiddly to paint with all the hanging wires and pipes, but I'm happy with the end result.

Onwards we go to Gethen were things are Icy and Cold. My next model fits both of those, (but I think I can't claim the Androgyny part). As I mentioned above the Malifaux Ice Dancers come two to a box, but you only really need one. Luckily?? they can work in 2 different factions in the game, the Performers and the Cult of December, both of which I collect. 

The Cult are a bunch of cannibals who live high up in the snowy peaks of Malifaux's mountains. So, it seemed like a good idea to paint up the second dancer to match that faction.

And finally, we come to the last planet before the big finale. Krypton. Way back in the 90's I got into comics, particularly the various X-Men series. At that time, one of the more well known artists was a guy called Rob Liefeld. He is generally considered to be a source of division among comic book fans. He was involved in creating the very popular characters of Deadpool and Cable and his comics generally sold very well. However, his art style was unpopular among a lot of readers (he has no idea how perspective and anatomy really work) and he tended to draw a lot of pouches and equipment on all of his characters. So in homage to the comics I started out reading, I found a model with strange anatomy from my Reaper Bones stash and some glue....

Rather than my usual method of Paint>Wash>Highlight, I went for a different approach. The model was base coated black then given two coats of each colour, leaving some of the original black showing through to give it a more 'comic book' feel. The original model had no pouches on it, these all come from various 40K kits.

So, that's the final five planets done. Points wise, I have 3x 28m minis, 1x 40mm mini and a 28mm vehicle for a total of 42 points, along with 5 planets for a 100 point bonus and a grand total of 142 points.

The necron walker has 3 skulls on it's base to add to my Skull Duel tally. 

Skullz Total: 108

Before I finish, I would like to add the Ice Dancers to the Sarah's Choice category. I usually have a hard time choosing colour schemes for individual figures, so for these two, I based their colours on two popular characters from a Disney movie with a very similar theme to the models. While their clothing doesn't exactly match up, I think I captured the colours.

Next stop, the heart of the challenge sector!

Congrats Stuart on being the first of the Monday crew to the centre of the system.  I'm not sure if there are other challengers who have hit every planet in this years' challenge.  Most of us are opting for the faster (sic?) 4 planets and on the the next ring method.    I'll be in touch to discuss your FINAL CHALLENGE!!!  

I like the ice dancers lasses, nice blue palatte that you've used.  I would wouldn't know the difference between the Ad-Mech stuff and a Necron if one nipped me on the backside with a claw, but those are fine looking buckets of bolts your've assembled.  I also really like the effects that you've achieved on the Big Red guy, is he named Clifford perhaps?

From Barks: Men from Mars (55 points)

Human progress has stagnated in the year 40 000. The Tech Priests of Mars build and maintain complex machines but don't really understand them. Engineering has become a religious cult, and machines will only operate if the sacred oils and lubricants are applied, and the switches and levers are thrown in the sequence laid out in the prayer books. The Martians hate the weakness of their fleshly bodies, and augment and replace body parts with machines.

These Rangers were fiddly to paint. I quite like their steampunkish aesthetic.

7x 28mm figures: 35 points

Location Bonus (Mars): 20 points

Skull-o-meter™: 7 (total 8)

Slowpainter's ABC: M is for Mechanicus

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Beautiful brushwork, Barks. I have to say that I would have preferred if GW had gone with a more 'Blanchian', instectoid vision for the Cult of Mars, but I can see that may have had a somewhat limited market appeal. That all being said, these models are excellent, with their arcane armaments and mysterious augmetics. I also like the time you took on freehanding the white trim detail on their stormcoats - a little thing, but it really adds to the unit as a whole. Well done!

- Curt