From SimonG: 28mm Roman Legionaries Throwing Pila (Local History, 60 points)

For my next submission I am pleased to offer my first stand of classic Imperial Roman Legionaries -- in this case all in the act of throwing their pila as they approach on the hapless barbarians (or in my case more likely a horde of rebelling jews!).

These are very nice multi-part plastic figures from Victrix with shield transfers from LBMS. Perhaps the only criticism would be that they all seem to have the same face! Clearly consistency in appearance was a big deal for this legion.

The figures have been based on a 120x60 2mm base for Impetus -- these nice big chunky bases really give you room to set up a nice mini diorama. I especially like the fellow that is leaning forward having released his pilum.

I do tend to find that strict uniforms such as these really take a lot of time, to which adding the challenge of doing faces in recessed galea -- still it was a lot of fun and the finished effect paid off well! And I do love a nice manicure (surprisingly hard to photograph hands and feet and bring out the nail details!)

Always keep your nails clean!

For those of you that want to get this look at home I offer the following link 😅💅 !

With last weeks submission we took a lift on Sarah's library cart to the local history section -- which is quite apropos as this group of legionaries have just been posted to Judea after a long cold winter shivering off the Isle of Thanet at Rutupiae (Richborough Roman Fort). I can just about see the fort from the roof of our house here in Sandwich and so I think qualifies well as local history!

Points wise I have eight 28mm figures plus the location bonus for a total of 60 this week. Next week we should encounter the enemies of these Romans for the first time in this challenge!

More excellent painting on these Imperial legionaries, Simon! As their faces look rather alike, I suppose this is a Roman band of brothers? Primus, Secundus, Tertius, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus and Decius with their dad? Gotta love those imaginative Roman first names.  Anyway, they look very good together. Speaking about imaginative, the ancient historian in me flinches just a tiny little bit at the Local History connection, as I think we know very little about the actual garrison of Rutupiae (still a very impressive fortress, I have been there and loved it), but hey, who am I to argue with fingernails like these? So, 60 points for you.

Martijn

From SebastianR: Neither big not clever (24 points)

So I have made some... spicy varnishing choices in order to keep the challenge ball rolling. I now have a comprehensive theory of frosting. It's just moisture. And sometimes a can going bad, but mostly moisture.

In order to get these warhound titans done I risked two gloss varnishes, and just about got away with it, despite it being ~10deg and damp. I wont be doing that again.

I shouldn't have to explain why these Legions Imperials titans fit the bill for Oversized Books. Are they the biggest models I've ever painted? No. (Although they might be some of the biggest I've painted since before uni). Are they the biggest 1:1 scale models I've painted? Also no. They're not even the biggest 1:1 scale models I've painted this challenge, with the Type 1934 being as wide in beam as the Warhound is tall (warhammer lore inconsistencies notwithstanding).

But they are the walking embodiment of the silliness of the 40k (or 30k as the case may be) setting. Proof that not only do sci-fi writers have no sense of scale, but that they think the square-cube law is for other, lesser, forms of nerds.

And I'm completely in love with them. As I assembled them, I was overcome with a real sense of adoration, to the extent that I've swiped myself a half price Adeptus Titanicus box set to augment my force of wildly impractical warmachines.

The colour scheme and livery is an attempt at the Fureans... er... legion (?), although sans flame templates I settled for the ubiquitous hazard stripe markings, and both yellows I used are probably too yellow; I must add more orange for subsequent engines. But I do love my big stompy JCBs.

I'm still learning lessons about masking and airbrush use.

They'll be matt varnished and flocked at a later date once the humidity has come down and I can avoid frosting them for a third time...

So that's 2 6mm vehicles... *raises eyebrow at Dallas* 2 six millimeter vehicles... *cough*...

2*6mm vehicles AT18 Warhound Titans x 12 points each for 4 24 whole points

Challenge location at 20 points

for 24 points

Sebastian, Sebastian, Sebastian... good try on the oversized books but it's gonna be a "no" from me. The spirit of the section is to submit a large model, and while these represent huge vehicles, there's no getting around the fact that they are... small models. I think that scoring them at two points is a bit miserly though. Delving back into the Challenge archives I've seen a score of 12 points awarded for an Adeptus Titanicus Warhound Titan, so I'm gonna go with that. Coincidentally it tallies with the points total you'd claimed anyway. I like the colour scheme for the Legio Fureans titans here. Good work!

Dallas

From SebastianR: Rolling up to the [Front Desk] (22 points)

This might seem like a laggardly first entry, especially when you consider that it consists of only a single mini, and a 8mm one at that, but I have been painting consistently since the 20th. Ok the 21st or so. The thing is, like previous years, I have done a lot of the challenges out of order for one reason or another.

I really did start this challenge with the attitude that I would focus purely on getting the backlog done, but as time wore on I realised that more and more things I needed to paint fit the criteria of various library locations, if only I could buy myself time, and a few space fillers.

But you don't care about my process. Here's a Legions Imperialis Predator.

And y'know, s'fine.

Not only was this a newly acquired miniature from the newly delivered Legions Imperialis it was my first time working with contrasts, and yeah, that also works fine. I think there's some trick to them that I haven't mastered yet.

Unlike Martjin [I think you mean GregB?] I don't have a lengthy and amusing rant about the system, the models, or Games Workshop's business practices, but I do suspect that the only thing preventing buyers remorse is the fact that I got the beginner box at a knock down price with some store credit at my FLGS. It has inspired my to play Epic in general for what it's worth.

The reason that only one vehicle is appearing in this post is that this was supposed to be a test paint, so worried was I of scale fade and the newly acquired paints. In the end I put contrasts on four vehicles, three predators and a freebie model of the month from GW.

From left to right, Ork Flesh, Absolution Green (army painter), Absolution Green/Black Templar, Absolution Green over "light" grey. (N.B. The colours aren't coming through particularly true).

The final entry actually looks like Dark Angels green, the colour I was trying to avoid as it just looks black at game distances. Honestly, I think I've hit a relatively good compromise between out the bottle convenience and colour even if it is maybe a bit light.

2 points for the vehicle and 20 for the location. Simples.

Not gonna lie, the model-painting-points to bonus-points ratio has (I'm pretty sure) set a new Challenge record. HOWEVER, I do like this model, and congrats for getting ANYTHING from Games Workshop at a discount. LI is certainly very cool and I'm looking forward to more of it from you!

Can I ask a favour though? In your posts next week could you please type in the number and scale of models that you painted for the entry? It really helps when I'm inputting the scores. Thanks!

Twenty-two points to open your ledger sir!

Dallas