From LeeH: Ogg make FIRE! (27 Points)

A few weeks ago I received a very nice parcel in the post. All parcels are actually nice but this particular one was very nice because I didn't buy it, it was sent to me as a present. Inside were five perfectly cast Neanderthals sent to me by Alex from Russia. He was a member of my Tuesday crew when I was a minion in last years Challenge and I think this was a reward for the odd bonus point I might have put in his direction back then! 😉

These are 28mm, cast in white metal and other than a little bit of filing to be done on the base completely free of any caste lines or flash. The sculpture is fairly basic but actually, they painted up really well. I'm not really sure where I'm going to use them, but I did promise Alex I'd try and get them painted by the end of the Challenge, so here they are.

Actually come to think of it I could probably use these some pulp role-playing games that I have. Have an excellent little RPG we called Hollow Earth Expedition which is a proper 'land of the lost' type setting, and these guys would fit in their perfectly.

Pointwise these are relatively simple. 5x28mm figures and the fire which I suppose should be a couple of points. If my math is correct these should take me to my target! Wo-hoo! Now I really, really, really need to get on with my Snow Lords Challenge!!!

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Great work Lee.  Alex is indeed a fine fellow of the hobby - I have my own set of these figures, waiting for the attention of my brushes.  It's great to see some of the products from Russia's leading producer of prehistoric metal figures painted up for the Challenge :) 

Two points for the fire seems about right to me - so 27 points it is! Well done Lee - and a big thank you to Alex! 

GregB

From PaulSS: More Rebel Troopers (34 Points)

I picked up the Rebel Troopers upgrade expansion pack last week and have been adding these to the forces.

It's a great pack containing four more alien Rebel troopers that can be built as standard rebels or heavy/special weapon upgrades.

I did the Ithlorian and the Gran as standard troopers with A-280 blaster rifles.

The Ishi Tib mutant (with dark red rather than green skin) is a Rebel Captain while the Theelin is armed with a DLT-20A long-ranged blaster rifle.

To me, Vaporators really do evoke the Star Wars universe and I was chuffed to find that the Priority Supplies Battlefield Expansion contained four of them.

These were painted in the same scheme as the barricades that I've already don and seem to blend in nicely.

Victoria has been cracking on with her Imperials, and although they will not cont to my own Painting Challenge total I did want to share a few pictures of her work here.

She is overyly critical of them, but, I think that for somebody who does not paint miniatures she has done a great job. I did the basic assembly for her and did the bases so they match mine, apart from that all the work is Victoria's I gave advice when asked, we have been married long enough for me to know not to give it if not asked ;)

So far she has, Darth Vader:

Three units of Stormtroopers:

A pair of Z-74 Speeder bikes.

We played our first game today, I've put up a report on Scrivsland.

So for my total, the four 40mm infantry and a couple of Vaporators should add 34 points to my score.

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Nice work Paul, great to see people enjoying the "Legion" figure range. 

GregB

From SamuliS: Snow Lord's Peak Challenge

Time for my ascend to Snowlord's Peak or due to the subject probably more aptly my ascend up the Mountain of Madness.

The task I chose from the trio offered was to paint up a monster for my pulp investigators to fight. I didn't want to go with Cthulhu himself nor did I want to pick some of the lesser monsters so in the end decided on the King in Yellow, or Hastur. By the standards of the Cthulhu Mythos he is a fairly nice god who is not bent on consuming the world as we know it, just wanting to plunge it into chaos and madness. And as Hastur has a strong following in Stockholm, the capital of our lovely neighbours, where he is worshipped by the cult called Carcosa Foundation I naturally had to paint some cultists to further his objectives and hinder any investigators that come their way.

Like the other Cthulhu minis I painted this was mainly painted with just Contrast paints over a multicolour basecoat. Brown was sprayed with airbrush to preshade some areas before the contrast paints and after the base colours I did some highlights on Hastur by layering and drybrushing. I didn't want to go too bright on the yellows and figured the dirty look suits the look pretty nicely.

Once again very nice sculpts and packing surprising amounts of detail for board game miniatures. These are a real joy to paint and work as really great appetizers between my different wargaming projects. The bigger monsters do have some annoying gaps to fill and would benefit from painting in subassemblies, but can't complain too much.

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Oooh, wonderful work Samuli! I'm sorry we didn't get your Peak post organised for earlier (miscommunication - let's blame Hastur), but I'm happy you just forged ahead and got it done. I really like the colour tones you've used for these figures - they look very, very creepy, especially the russet yellows. Brilliant stuff.

As to points, let's put Hastur and his cultists at 50 points. So, with the location bonus that tips you in for a tidy 80 for your overall score. Nice work!

For your prize I think that these nefarious cultists have a two-fisted hero in which to oppose them, so I present to you Bark's Intrepid Archaeologist!

Awesome work Samuli and thanks for taking the Snow Lord's Challenge!

From RayR: Reidy's Reef - The Sirens (40 Points)

Thelxiepeia, Peisinoe, and Ligeia are reported to be the names of the Sirens 

according to Suda.
They're quite a handful, literally!
And I was talking about pronouncing their names!!!

I did plan on painting up some boats I've had stashed for far too long, but then saw

 these luvvly ladies on the Col Bill's stand and thought well why not!!

"“Reidy’s Reef” is world renowned for its tranquil beauty and awe inspiring aqua-scapes. 

Dammit, it’s almost as impressive as it’s namesake. However, the seas can churn into

 an angry abyss for any hapless land lubbers or those prone to math errors. The only

 known way to traverse this sea is to paint up a miniature with a nautical theme, 

be it boat, fish, sailor/pirate or aquatic terrain. Bonus points will be awarded if this

 is a new project for you, or that the motive power of the model(s) is provided by sails."

I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with them and even if they're ever gonna be used?

I might give them to Postie, for his Pirate range, I'm sure they could cause havoc there.

They were a pretty simple paintjob, although the hardest part was the underwater body parts?

Some rocks are cast along wit the figure, I thought the base need filling out so I added a few more to make the base look a little more busy. Col Bill himself when I showed him a pic, said, that's how he wanted the model but the figure was just too big and couldn't be cast that way.

I'm quite pleased how the white waves turned out, its just several layers of grey to white paint.

The figures can be purchased from Col Bill's here.

As for the points, its 30 for the Challenge and I'll leave it up to the luvvly minion for the rest??

MilesR: Why these are a very lovely addition to the denizens of the reef and I'm sure they only lure "bad" sailors to their grisly fate.  I think they'll fit into one of your "Donnybrook" games.  It's not like those are historical.  I kid, I kid - I really like the Donnybrook rules and highly recommend them.  Also, thanks for remarking that I'm luvvly, I have been trying to loose weight and gussy myself up and I really appreciate that you noticed.....  

From KenR: 28mm Odd Couple Tanks (45 Points)

There was a couple of random  tanks hanging around in the to do pile for the challenge, a lonely Warlord Games Crusader and a lonely Blitzkrieg Matilda.

They have been painted up in the Caunter Scheme with a slightly darker and slightly greener mid colour than my previous entries but this is to match two tanks of each type that already exist in the collection.

The Matilda has a Warlord Games Commander, the other part of the turret hatch is somewhere on the cellar floor where it fell off when I was undercoating it, whoops. The name "Otter" is part of my Wind in the Willows theme for Matildas, this one joins Toad, Mole, Ratty, Badger and Hedgehog to finish a collection of 6 Infantry Tanks.

The Crusader, from Warlord is considerably bigger (I think 28mm rather than 1/56 scale) than the Blitzkrieg Miniatures version that I did earlier in the challenge so the different colour scheme helps the separation.

I've taken the photos for these on my Samsung S9 phone which has produced a bit of a fish eye lens effect which I'm not a fan off, strange but my old Galaxy Tab with a much "worse" camera.

So I'm claiming 45 points, 2 x 20 for the tanks and two halves of a 28mm figure for 5. I'm going to be a long way short of my target this year with Flakegate taking the wind out of my sails.

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Great work once again Ken...I'll have to let your comment about 28mm and 1/56 scale slide (I'm sure Nick will be along to sort us out there) but I'm sure many Challengers will join me in saluting your valiant efforts in the face of Flakegate. I've really enjoyed the steadily growing armoured reserves, it has been a lot of fun to watch your efforts. 

These two beasts look lovely - your fine execution of the tricky Caunter scheme in particular is notable, as always. That will be 45 points for you!

GregB

From TamsinP: Morks (Calling Orsons?) - Docherty's Dock (102 points)

In the universe of Strontium Dog, there is a need to get around on the various colony worlds. Morks were found on one planet and have successfully adapted to many other colony worlds which frequently have large Mork farms or ranches to breed them. As well as being useful as mounts and beasts of burden, they are also a good source of meat (albeit rather tough) and leather.

On such worlds, these hardy beasts are favoured as mounts by outlaws and bounty hunters, as well as by ordinary colonists.


Bubo and the Bad Boys

Bubo and the Bad Boys are Howlers (you may remember Darkus and friends from my post last year), an alien race that frequently prey on colonists.

After one raid by this gang, Johnny and Wulf were contracted to track them down, catching them in the middle of a raid on a train bound from Jobsville.

During the fight, Bubo jammed the train's throttle open, causing it to derail while going over a bridge. Johnny was trapped inside, but Wulf saved him and took him to the nearest settlement for medical attention.

With Johnny being taken care of, Wulf set off on his own to exact vengeance on Bubo's gang.

Johnny Alpha and Wulf Sternhammer

But what if you need to cover long distances fast? Morks are no good for that, which is where hoverbikes come in:

For this trip, Johnny and Wulf have been joined by The Gronk, their alien friend who has medical expertise (but multiple poor, weak heartsies).

And that completes my Strontium Dog collection - I have now painted every miniature in the range (twice for the Stix).

I did check with Dave and he was quite happy for the Morks to be classed as camel equivalents. However, just in case someone objects, here is a camel for you:

And finally a pic with all eight miniatures:

The Strontium Dog figures are from Warlord Games, the 15mm camel is (I think) from Donnington.

These were in fact the last of my planned figures for this year's Challenge. With another 5 and a bit days to go (as I write this on Sunday) I guess I might have to start on another project. The question is which one?

For Scoring:
7 x 28mm mounted* @ 10 = 70 points
1 x 15mm camel @ 2 = 2 points
Docherty's Dock = 30 points

Total = 102 points

* It would be rude to try to claim these as being 40mm figures - they were from Wave 1 where the figures were generally smaller than those of the later waves.

***
Nice work Tamsin, as always.  During the Painting Challenge we always get the chance to see figures for settings and periods I had never heard of and would not consider myself. "Strontium Dog" is not quite my thing, but wow these posts with the figures from the range have been a lot of fun to read and to enjoy - neat, creative back stories and, of course, great painting.  Well done!

As for scoring, if you say 102 points, well, then that's 102 points for you. 

GregB

From SimonM: "Wizkids" Abominable Snowman (12 Points)

This 64mm tall plastic model of an Abominable Snowman is produced by “Wizkids” and is promotional miniature number WK-005. Based upon the "folkloric ape-like creature taller than an average human, that is said to inhabit the Himalayan mountains" this exclusive figure was actually produced for the New Jersey-based company's 2015 Holiday Monthly Organised Play Kit, and was accompanied by both its character card and an instruction sheet for participating retailers that wanted to sponsor the event in their store.

Generally regarded by the scientific community "as a legend, given the lack of evidence of its existence", the model was initially primed using a couple of coats of "Vallejo" White, and later treated to a splash of Pale Grey. To be honest, although I'm a big fan of this "Vallejo" transparent acrylic wash, the Pale Grey does tend to noticeably bubble whilst drying, and can resultantly leave something of a disagreeable dusty look to a miniature.

In an effort to avoid this, I therefore carefully applied the "Vallejo" Pale Grey in slow downward strokes, so as to minimise any of the aforementioned bubbling. The Yeti was then enthusiastically dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo White, and had its face, fingers and toes layered with "Citadel" Abaddon Black.

These areas were later treated to a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, before delicately dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey. Finally, I dotted the shaggy beast's incredibly tiny eyes with a couple of dots of "Vallejo" Heavy Red, and applied some White to its teeth. These gnashers were subsequently stained with a little "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

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Not sure about the "scientific community", but we see these things here in Winnipeg all the time. 

As for points, I'll say he's one-and-a-half of a 40mm foot model, but that creates a decimal result, and we all know decimals steal food from children.  So let's make that 12 points. 

Greg B