From JonathanO - Roman Dromedarii

I was late arriving to begin my exploration of Challenge Island.  My starting point was to be a place now known as Docherty's Dock.  I had already received reports from other explorers of amazing encounters with beings from the past, the future and even from other worlds.  Here is a report of my first adventure.

Shortly after landing at the dock, I headed inland.  Part of my route took me through an area of  desert.  On the way I stopped for refreshments at a village.  There I was amazed to meet a group of Imperial Roman dromedary mounted infantry!

They were clearly expecting trouble as they wore armour and carried their shields.  The section was led by Legate Doccatus (dressed as a regular to hide his rank while traveling), assisted by Optio Millsi.  Doccatus claimed to be on a (not so secret) mission for the Emperor's spy master.  It must have been an important assignment for him to leave his legion.  Doccatus clearly had significant funds available as he had already arranged for the dock to be upgraded and then named after himself.  Doccatus said he would be investigating the "suspect record keeping and tax collecting" of a local official called Milus Mathematicus.  "I am going to Docc' him a few points", he laughed.  Millsi rolled his eyes.

Doccatus and Millsi

Optio Millsi, who was an efficient organiser and clearly critical to the mission, told me that he hoped to return to a legion and have his promotion to the rank of Centurion confirmed.  However, for now he was enjoying the warm weather in this region and certainly had no desire to be sent to a legion in the north of the Empire.  "There is another revolt in Britannia", he said.  "They have appointed their own emperor and plan to exit from the Roman Empire - they say they need to take control for themselves.  That trouble could go on for a long time".  I just nodded in agreement.

As we parted to continue our own journeys, Legate Doccatus whispered to me that Optio Millsi was so useful that "I am going to make sure he is assigned to my staff for a very long time".

My next stop on the Path of the Forgotten will be at Cooke's Crevasse.

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These are 15mm Early 2nd Century Imperial Roman Dromedarii from the Forged in Battle "War and Empire" range.  The buildings are from the resin Eastern Village set from the same range.

For points I suggest the following (all subject to the judgement of the Minion of the day):
8  x 15mm mounted figures at 4 points = 32
15mm buildings  (under half a cube)     =  8  (max?)
Visit to Docherty's Dock - Camels!     =  30
Bonus for including our two heroes     =   5

Total points                                          =  75

Well I am finally off the mark, but with some catching up to do.  Lots of figures are prepared and quite a few are already well underway as regards painting.

From MilesR: I love the minis and actually have painted up Roman and Sassanid armies from the same lines and have a Byzantine and Arab army to be painted (kickstarters are terrible things).  I also loved the backstory, will I did until it veered into false accusations and slander!  "suspect record keeping and tax collecting" of a local official called Milus Mathematicus", indeed.  You, sir, shall be hearing from my law firm - the venerable Dewy, Cheetum & Howe.  As for your pointage, well lets see here:

8 Mounted 15mm figures should be 32 but lets add an additional point, cause camels are big fo 5 pers or 40 points
Village pieces - lets round up to 10
Visit to Docherty's Dock is 30
Including of heroes 5

Base Total       85
Local Tax Assessment for slander -5
     (It seems Milus Mathematiucus has a tax for everything)

Net 80 points

From Pete F: Cook's Crevasse Speed Paint Earth Elemental (50 points)

This is a greater earth elemental for Kings of War by Mantic Games. My first KoW army is Forces of Nature - a mixture of naiad and lizard infantry supported by elementals, shambling trees and centaurs. I chose my army by buying the cheapest thing I could get on EBay. This was part of a roughly painted and heavily damaged job lot that had to be stripped, reassembled, cleaned and reprimed.

The main body of the earth elemental was painted using contrast basilicum grey, lightly dry-brushed. The crystals were painted black and then with a  colour shift called "Crystal Cavern" made by Turbo Dork. These colour shift paints showed up at my local store a couple of months ago - they are great for creating fantasy or sci-fi metallic sheens. This is the first time I've used one and I'm very happy with the result.  I've used the contrast paints as a base for the massed ranks of infantry - they can produce great results for wargame standard speed painting and I plan to use them a lot for my Kow Nightstalkers army. With contrasts and colour shifts it should be possible to get a big army table ready quite quickly.

If you like fantasy miniatures I'd recommend checking out Mantic's recent releases - they have really upped their game - this is one of their older models - good but not great. Decently functional. The newer stuff has more pizzazz.

The base got some aquarium rocks, various bits of flock, tufts and a pond made from Woodland Scenics realistic water.

In the game the earth elemental is high defense (armour) and has a lot of "crushing strength". It is a "titan" (even bigger than the creatures classified as monsters) so it sits on a 75mm square base. They work well in concert with other units and in addition to moving under their own steam druids can move them using their druidy magic. These kind of tricks are an important element of Kings of War - a game that richly rewards flank attacks if you can figure out how to get them.

This is my 5th area explored on Challenge Island (30 points for Cook's Crevasse) - I'm not sure if that qualifies me for Snowlord's Peak as I am not (yet) adjacent to it. The elemental is 100mm high from foot to top of crystal and he's kind of crouching - I'll leave it to the Minion of the Day (or the Snowlord) to score him (or her, it's hard to tell with elementals).

"Get off my lawn"

From MilesR:  That certainly is an impressive elemental and the basing is nicely done.  I also found the mini tutorial on contrast paints interesting.  I scored this as a 28mm vehicle.

From MilesR: Sunday, Sunday, Sunday - Submissions and a Mystery

This Sunday we've got a handful of submissions that are ready to go.  However what they may lack in quantity, they certainly make up for in quality.

We also have a mystery!

A submission without someone putting their name on it.  Of course the name may be hidden in the text but who reads all that?

Happy Sunday everyone.

From ScottM: Curtgeld the Ranter (30 Points)

My submission for this year's Curtgeld prize is the "Ranter" from Warlord Games Fire and Brimstone Rabblerousers pack. This figure is for  a specific person: JonathanO. This will be a perfect figure to go with his English Civil War armies.

Nice and simple figure, lots of character. Now if only my photos were better... I may have to invest in a better camera.

So that should be 1 x 28mm foot figure = 5 points + 25 Curtgeld

***
What a great figure, especially since you are going to give it away!  I love the bright cheery colours you used and the base looks spectacular as well.  I am positive Jonathan will love having it in his collection, because I know I would!

Awesome work!

- ByronM

From JamieM - Department X on Hawkins' Hill (70 points)

As I stagger up Hawkins Hill, I'm reassured by the presence of "Department X" - a team of crack goodie agents here to help save the world from the likes of S.H.I.V.A.

These have been sitting ready for painting since at AHPC 6 or 7, I'm too embarrassed to work out which.... They're by Crooked Dice for the 7TV game and so have that wonderful 70's spy-fi vibe to them.

The team comprises of Kitty Stryker (in the yellow jumpsuit) and 7 X-Commandoes.  I'll be using the female commando with the SMG as an officer.

Were I cleverer than I am, I'd have saved these two ladies to give me a ride on a balloon, but I decided the entry wouldn't be the same without them!  I'm a wargamer, logic when it comes to figures is entirely optional......

These two can form a pair using an experimental big gun, or I can use the kneeling chap as a technician.

These four are the muscle of the team, the chap with the pistol will likely be a sarge.

This is the side you want to see as a civilian as they stride into action, keeping the world safe for us of us..... Go Department X!

I make that 8 28m figures for 40 points and another 30 for Hawkins' Hill to come to a grand total of 70.

That's my fifth location on Challenge Island visited so my sight turns to the mist shrouded Snowlord's peak in the distance..... I should think a Balloon would be the perfect way to ascend in style.

****

Very nice looking figures here Jamie.  The clean, bright, high contrast style and colour choices really works with these.  The yellow jump suit and hats against the grey of the rest of the uniforms really makes the whole squad really pop!  They look ready to step right back into a comic book to battle the forces of evil.

- Byron

From BillA - Spaceport Security Detail (25 points)

2020 is honestly shaping up to be my year for wargaming, at least on the skirmish front.  My friend Tom and I have been enjoying the heck out of the Fistful of Lead family of games from Wiley Games; originally designed around western gunfights, it's evolved into a family of skirmish games in a variety of genres.  Lately, we've been playing a lot of "Galactic Heroes," the science fiction variant, and demoing it at our friendly local game store.  We've gotten a couple of other people hooked, and had some very interested bystanders, so we're definitely looking at expanding our demonstrations, so I've been trying to get a bunch of "lender" crews together for people who'd like to try the game out.

This crew comprises a portion of the bureaucracy and security of a busy spaceport.  Leading this crew is Customs Agent Gilda Citlax, an overworked amphibian produced by Crooked Dice Games as part of their recent "Colony 87" Kickstarter.  I wanted some really bright colors for her to contrast with the more muted tones of her crew, and Vallejo's "Hot Orange" really hit the right note as the base for her skin.

Supporting Agent Citlax is this Impound Officer, a "Krogglogg Hunter" produced by Lead Adventure Miniatures as part of their "Astropolis" line of dystopian science fiction figures.  He's there to shoot out the power couplings on spaceships that have unpaid parking tickets.

Rounding out the crew are a trio of Security Officers (an-add on from Crooked Dice's Colony 87 Kickstarter).  In game terms, these are "Regulars," low quality troops that form the basis of any crew.  I tried painting urban camouflage for the first time on these fellows and think it turned out really nicely.

"No...no...damn you, look where I'm pointing, not at my finger.  

All in all, that's five 28mm figures at 5 points apiece, so this crew is worth 25 point.

Cool looking figures, Bill, and this post makes 10 submissions that I've had the pleasure of minioning today.

Tamsin

From TamsinP: A Request To Passengers - Post Formatting

"Good evening gentlemen (and Ray). This is your Senior Flight Attendant here with a request for when you submit your entertainments.  Please can you ensure that you:

1) include your name (as per the points table) in the post title
2) include a summary of what has been submitted (how many foot, mounted etc, what scale) at the end of your post and also note any bonuses that you think you are due
3) fill out the "Labels" - name, scale, island location, period/game, manufacturer etc"

"Please can you also format your pictures so that they are "large" and centred with a blank line between photos and text. Please also remember that the maximum size in any direction (height or width) should be 1000 pixels."

"If you can remember to do these things, it would be a great help to your hard-pressed flight crew and will save us a lot of unnecessary faffing around."

"Thank you once again for choosing to fly Snowlord Airways."

KenR: 3 x 28mm Honey Tanks (63 pts)

I made it this week with my personal quota of Tanks, but it was a close run thing. Followers of Yarkshire Gamer will have seen another outbreak of the dreaded Blitzkrieg Paint Flake Disease. The batch of primed tanks which I thought was ok are not, casualty rate is now up to over 70%, I have purchased both rubbing alcohol and Plastic Primer in retaliation, watch this space.

So here we have 3 x 28mm M3 Stuart Tanks (known as Honeys by the British) from Blitzkrieg Miniatures with a tank commander from the Perrys Rolls Royce Armoured Car which I had hanging around.

Painted in the Caunter Camouflage Scheme with decals from a number of sources and a spot of weathering, standard stuff on my vehicles.

If you look closely at the photo above you can see some remnants of the flaking on the front armour, there are also patches of bubbling and some patches of over painting, a real chore to sort out. You may also notice a slight shimmer on the tank, this is a result of a rather thick coat of Matt Varnish which I pray will keep the paint in place.

Points wise, 3 x 20 for the tanks plus half points for the Commander for a total of 63 points.

The Commander figure is wearing the British Side Cap in the colours of who else but the Yorkshire Hussars !

Not much time left this week for me to get some more done on my Landsknechts as I'm back to work and the tanks tomorrow.


Those Stuarts are real Honeys (D'ya see what I did there? D'ya see? OK, it would have been better if you hadn't referred to them as "Honey" yourself, but a girl's got to try to have some fun) and you've done a great job with the caunter scheme. There's more of that commander sticking out than with Pete's Pz Iv (the post before this) so it does deserve 3 points for him.

Tamsin

From PeteF: Heer Comes The Boom - Panzer IV (22 points)

This is the second Blitzkreig vehicle for Operation Sealion - a German Grey Panzer IV.

This is part of Warlord Games Blitzkreig Germans box - the tank had a resin body and turret with various metal bits to stick on. The resin tracks were a little warped and needed some coaxing to fit into the assembly. I thought the tank commander had an eye problem until I figured out he was wearing a monocle. His folded arm pose makes him look like he's wearing a straight jacket - although I like his being shouty.

The resin was easy to drill for magnets so that the turret can freely rotate, and yet stay put, if the rules call for it pointing in the direction it fires.

I'm not sure I love the freehanded numbers - an airbrush and tiny stencil will be in my future if I end up doing more Bolt Action and/or Chain of Command - these ones might get painted over if the tank is transferred to a new theatre. I attempted a little bit of weathering and chipping - enough for the table top.

It feels good to be getting so close to completing everything that came in the box.  I think the top half of a 28mm figure might be worth 2 points so 22 points for the tank and commander? Now onto some island exploration - something rocky I think.

Cor, blimey, guv'nor, that's a gorgeous little tank! That's got to be worth, let's see, 22 points with the (just about showing) commander.

Tamsin

Adam's Challenge on Snow Lord's Peak

Adam wearily brushes off the dust from his hands and knees as he crests the summit. 'Cripes, what a haul! This is way harder than scaling packing material covered in gravel, Who knew?!'

The Snow Lord greets Adam and says, 'Let me guess, you're here with that hobby-nerd tour group?'

'Yup. Now give me the goods, you blue skinned weirdo.'

'Not so hasty,' the creature growls, 'I'll be wanting something in exchange'.

________________________________________________________

The Snow Lord looks into Adam's past and discovers he is a member of an AWI re-enactment group, the Regiment Saintonge ('...and he calls me a weirdo...'), and so asks Adam to submit an entry illustrating that unit.

Once this challenge is complete Adam can claim his prize:

TomG's 'The Naga'

'Wait!' Adam calls out, 'I want to paint a Land Rover instead.'

The Snow Lord scowls, 'Funny guy...'

_______________________________________________________

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with, Adam!

Kate Winthrop 'The Scientist' - For Sarah's Balloon to Piper's Peak (5 Points)

Continuing on my riff of heroines from 'Mansions of Madness' I present to you Kate Winthrop, 'The Scientist'.

In the game's background, Kate witnessed one of her fellow scientists being ripped apart by a strange being from anther dimension. From that horrific experience she was determined to create a device to combat these terrible creatures - thus the 'Flux Stabilizer' was born. In game terms, this allows her to disrupt the placement and movement of monsters on the board, which can come in very, very handy.

This being said, Kate's a bit of a hot-n-cold character. In monster-heavy scenarios her Flux Stabilizer can be an absolute game winner, but if the setting is more investigative then her special ability will not be as on-point and she may struggle a bit.  

A somewhat rough and quick paintjob, I found the figure for Kate to be a little soft in detail, so I tried to amp it up by layering in some high contrast on her lab coat and giving her a touch of vibrant blue as a counterpoint. 

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I believe Sarah has a frequent flyer program for her balloon service, but further clarification is needed. I hope to get enough flights logged to get Gold Passenger Status - that way I can hang out in the posh flight lounge, drink umbrella drinks while getting foot massages. Until then Kate will give me 5 points. 

Next destination for me: Piper's Peak!


Nothing beats a smart woman on a Friday afternoon and what a delightful figure to see you on your way to my island location. 

Tamsin

From TomG - Wild West Exodus Golden Army (40 points)

Welcome back everyone to another selection of random figures I've had lying around unpainted for too long, this time we have the Golden Army crew set, from the game Wild West Exodus, made up of 4 Conquistador style miniatures led by a Matriarch with a Holy Hand Grenade.

These guys ride mechanical horses, called Blackhoofs, in to battle, however I didn't actually want them to be black owing to the faction being called the Golden Army. Although initially a struggled to like these figures, the final family photo isn't all that bad, even if I do say so myself. 

I don't get to play this game much due to a real slump in interest locally, but I still love the theme to the figures, a sort of twisted wild west /steam punk feel, but still having enough variety to get character in to the armies. 

Well here we go, some individual photos of the four models making the force, I hope you like them. 

The quantity of metallic shades was a struggle to paint, but once I got my drybrush out, and I relaxed a bit, I sailed through them. The bases were kept very simple as they will be playing pieces first and foremost, and I wanted them to fit the wild west theme in my head and the gaming board. 

Take care, and I'll see you soon with another dive in to my array of unfinished starter sets haha! 

Scoring - 

4x mounted 32mm (counting them as 28mm) = 40pts


Those mechanical horses look fab and fun - great painting on them and their riders! 40 points coming your way!

Tamsin