From PeterB: 28mm Zulu war (500 points)

When I first signed up to the challenge I had a great plan. My painting tray has been since the beginning of lockdown, been covered with a large pile of plastics. Built and undercoated, but not painted. Staring at me for the entire of lockdown. Constantly mocking me for not painting them. I refused to pack them away as then they would never be painted. I love painting fantasy and sci fi and I really want to paint historical, but I end up getting intimidated by the need to be accurate. (I know, I don't actually have to be accurate, people like Daniel Mersey have encouraged us now that we just need to do our own thing.) So when the challenge started I decided they would definitely get painted, they would be done. Then I got carried away with the challenge planets and had a whale of a time painting all the fantasy and sci fi. It was Tom G who asked in the Facebook who asked if anyone else had gone off course from their original painting plan. My reply?

"My project has been tossed aside like Superted before Spotty came and rescued him and took him to a magic cloud."

Well, challenge planets completed, I had no more excuse, I had to paint them. So, for the historical grognards (I'm looking at you Ray) I tried my best to do them justice. Then, you know what, I really enjoyed painting them.

Fire at will!

"You mean your only plan is to stand behind a few feet of mealie bags and wait for the attack?"

Thousands of em!

"Can you move your leg?" "If you want me to dance..."

I have worked out by making half size units as per the rules, two boxes from Perry miniatures and a couple of free sprues of Zulus and Brits from the cover of Wargames Illustrated (see if you can spot the odd ones out) you can play a game of The men who would be Kings. I love the blue book rule sets from Osprey and the fact that you can set up a game with pretty much just two boxes of plastic really appeals.

The Zulu's were easier to paint, but the Brits I actually used 15 different paint colours (although the photo's don't show seem to show this) but once I got on a roll painting them in batches of about 12 at a time I really enjoyed it.

So points wise:

• 48 Zulu's in 28mm scale, 48 x 5 = 240
• 51 Brits in 28mm scale (There are 52 pictured but I actually painted one as a tester before the challenge) 51 x 5 = 255
• Millsy: Anything this epic needs rounding up to 500 for cool factor along

Total points = 500

From Millsy:

I love a good points bomb and this one is a corker! Congrats Peter on smashing through your Challenge prep backlog and in some style too. For me this is exactly what modern plastics are all about, the ability to bring hordes of miniatures to the table at a bearable cost but without sacrificing the quality of the end result.

The entire submission is mind blowing but the thing that stands out for me is the balance between variety of shield designs and poses amongst the Zulus. There's a huge temptation when diving into something like this to get a bit lazy and just "get it done" but that's certainly not the case here.

A mahoosive 500 points for your totle. Cracking effort!

It's Saturday Gary. Let's dance!

The roundheads cancelled Christmas (boo!) but at least the Empire were smart enough to leave Saturdays alone. If they had mucked with the natural law of the universe the rebellion they got would have seemed like a tea party by comparison!

If Saturday alone isn't enough to get you up and about, then maybe the merry band of Saturday Challengers will do it instead. This week we have..

• Damned dirty apes
• Carts and witches, both of which float
• Dakka dakka and the DAK
• Gendarmes of the shiny variety
• The Zulu War (or a fair proportion at least)
• Spaniards swashbucklers
• And more...

Time to get it on!

PS. I have a new keyboard. The old one died. I miss it. This new one is the best I could manage at short notice. It is utter sh1t. Apologies in advance for typographical weirdness!

Cheers,

Millsy

From TeemuL: Planet of the Apes [Terra] (45 points)

Going to the always mysterious and surprising Terra, home of the most miniatures in the known universe. Well, we find ourselves again at the wrong end of the shooty things, that Starpriest most likely altered timeline somehow, not a nice surprise...

As soon as I heard of the Challenge Quadrant, I knew there was one planet, which I would have spot on entry. Then I was confused, because I couldn't find the planet on the map. Luckily I realized, that it was there on with it's alternative name, Terra. Yes, the Planet of the Apes, the great source of poor sequels and remakes. Crooked Dice has created a few not-Planet-of-Apes apes, these are Simian Minions, but I think they work quite ok. :)

I had a few of these before, but I bought these mounted versions later with one of the regulars, which was on discount. Rather simple but effective paintjob, Contrast paints.

They are glossy after a gloss varnish, I wanted to varnish these and other stuff today, since the weather was ok. So I was in hurry, varnished them before taking photos - or waiting for the glue to dry.

I will claim the planet points of Terra from this entry, since these apes from the Planet of the Apes are clearly earthbound. I hope everyone knows the story, but I won't make any further spoilers here. So this is two mounted and one metal miniature in 28mm for total of 25 points and 20 points for Terra.

I'm not certain about the Squirrel, but since they are a faction of their own and score nicely 25 points, I think I can do it? I have scored general Pulp Squirrel already, but if these Simian Minions of 7TV qualify, this will be another Squirrel. Let's see what the Squirrelmaster says.

From Millsy:

These are really fun and a bit different from the usual sci-fi stuff. I'm a big fan of the 7TV system and the fact they are making it possible to game so widely in the TV settings we had grown up on and continue to love.

I'm sure one the varnish and glue dries they will look more like the damn dirty apes they are. And I'm not going to comment on which of this year's minions are the most simian :-P

45 points added to your total mate!

From MartijnN: Houses on Vogsphere (57 points)

After our second visit to Coruscant we move on to Vogsphere. Now I really struggled to find a figure to match its theme of bureaucracy until I remembered this 40mm 3D printed figure from Iain Lovecraft's The Frost. She is labelled as a Sigilist, but besides the fact that I cannot really grasp what that is supposed to mean, anyone wielding an impressively oversized quill pen and a large book must be a bureaucrat. So here she is:

I must say that I quite like painting larger figures once more and I am happy how she came out. I mostly used Contrast paints again.

Next there are some 3d printed terrain items. Now some of these were printed on my FLM printer some time ago. I printed quite a large number of terrain items in one go, mostly scaled down to 10mm scale. However, as soon as I started painting them I discovered that my printer was not really properly dialed in. In hindsight, I should have tried different settings, as layer lines are really visible and not all prints have come out well. In many cases, the shapes and details are not sufficiently defined, which means that paints will flow everywhere. However, it seemed a shame to toss them all in the bin, and from a proper distance, like say, three feet, they still look sort of OK. The town houses are from the Leichheim Kickstarter and in 10mm scale, while the desert house is from Evan Carother's Empire of Scorching Sands and is printed in 28mm scale. The well is also 3d printed, but I can't remember where I got the model from.

Leichheim Blacksmith

This is actually a resin print

Leichheim Scholar's House

Leichheim Watchtower

All in all, I guess that the terrain items will more or less fill 1.5  6" cubes, so I propose 30 points for them. The sigilist is 40mm so 7 points, and the Vogsphere planet bonus adds another 20 points. 

So 57 points to take me to the brink of  my target! And another squirrel!

Very nice buildings, Martijn. As you asked, a sigilist is a wizard whose magical power uses symbols.

Tamsin

From JohnE - 28mm French Veteran Hunter and Hobgoblin - [Corsucant] - (30 Points)

Trying to continue my voyage around the Middle Ring with a good vs. evil submission. This French Veteran Hunter and Hobgoblin are from the North Star The Silver Bayonet range, a game I am looking very forward to playing.

Points Summary: 

2 x 28mm foot @ 5 points = 10 points

Corsucant (Middle Ring) bonus = 20 points

Total = 30 points

 

***

 

You continue to whisk your way around the Quadrant. I must say I am a touch intrigued at a game where these two figures would somehow appear together...reading up about "Silver Bayonet" should give me something to do during my next Zoom call...fine brushwork as always John. 

 

Again, just a little reminder to folks to please include the planet you are "visiting" in the label section of the posting. Cheers.

GregB

From JohnE - 28mm Reaper Strumpet - [Perelandra] - (25 Points)

For my first stop in the Middle Ring, I thought this Reaper Strumpet fits the bill for temptation. Lots of work with InstantColors on this one, especially the hair. A joy to paint.

Points Summary: 

1 x 28mm foot @ 5 points = 5 points

Perelandra (Middle Ring) bonus = 20 points

Total = 25 points

***

Thanks John - remind me/us, what are the "Instant Colours" again? Can't argue with the results, whatever they are - this strumpet is fabulous (ly well-painted). Great job. 

 A reminder to folks to please include the planet you are visiting on the labels - thanks!

GregB

From JohnE - 28mm Pulp Figures Carson (Indiana) Smith (Jones) - [Glorantha] - (25 Points)

Here's a 28mm Pulp Miniatures Carson Smith (not Indiana Jones). Hoping this covers one of the themes for Glorantha, allowing me to travel to the middle ring of the Quadrant.

Points Summary:

1 x 28mm foot @ 5 points = 5 points

Glorantha (Outer Ring) bonus = 20 points

Total = 25 points

 

***

Great brushwork John - this works just fine for Glorantha, and as a bonus, I'm sure no lawyer would, in any way, consider this figure to be anything or anyone resembling any character seen in any movie at any time. 

GregB

From MikeF - World Eater Terminators and Imperial Assassins - Klendathu - Great Abyssal - Terra - Lune - Xanth - Mars (145 points)

I missed the last couple Fridays due to my work schedule, but I was able to paint up a few things. I'll also try to shamelessly mine various planets for some much needed points.

First up is a squad of World Eater Terminators in Cataphractii armor for Horus Heresy. These have shoulder pads from Pop Goes the Monkey and they fit on as one piece. They work really well on the GW kit and they make similar pads for any marine chapter you can think of. 

These guys will be invading Klendathu, for an invasion gone bad. In the fluff, Terminators are written as unstoppable killing machines who drop into the midst of the enemy either by transport or teleporting. They then manage to kill everything with few to no losses. For most editions of Warhammer 40k, Terminator squads routinely failed to live up to their reputation, often dying without making their points back. Keeping in line with this theme, these Terminators will boldly teleport onto Klendathu at which point they will realize they were the victims of a deceitful marketing campaign by GW and die horribly!

The World Eaters badge is integrated into the shoulder pads.

Next I'm taking the Great Abyssal to Terra, home of the Vindicare Assassin Temple. Imperial Assassins come in several forms and do different things on the battlefield. All their temples are on Terra, Throne world of the Imperium in 40K. This one is obviously a sniper and was probably the most useful in the game. I've had this model for close to 25 years and this was probably it's second or third paint job. That's some heavy lifting!

Lune will be represented by the Culexus Assassin. These specialize in hunting and eliminating psykers and other practitioners of witchcraft. I've had this model about as long as the Vindicare, but never managed to paint him. He was just far too specialized to be of use in a game.

Xanth requires a unique talent. The Callidus Assassin certainly has one. They can shapeshift thanks to an assortment of crazy drugs, allowing them to slip into the enemy HQ, issue some ill conceived orders and then eliminate the HQ with their sword which phases in and out of reality. This model was a recent purchase from Ebay and was missing the end of her pony tail which I had to replace with greenstuff.

Finally comes Mars, the God of War. The final Imperial Assassin is the Eversor. There's nothing subtle about this guy and he likely won't survive the mission. He's for when you absolutely have to kill an entire bunker full of people. He's loaded with combat drugs and armed with his bolter/needle gun combo, his Neuro Gauntlet and power sword. Once he finally is killed, the chemicals in his blood become unstable and react explosively, killing anyone who managed to survive up to that point. He was also a recent Ebay purchase and I only had to replace the barrel of the needle gun.

Team Photo - "Gooooo EMPEROR!"

For points that should be 9x 28mm models for 45 points + 100 points for 5 planets = 145

Thanks for reading!

***

Your Friday Minion is a bit tied up today, and has asked some of us to pitch in while he is away. I thought I would step in between work demands this morning to start with this submission, not only because Mike is a friend, but because his shameless strip-mining of bonus points would fit right in with the scrapers who otherwise appear on Wednesdays...

Very nice work here Mike, as always. Yes, the Terminators are quite useless in the game (although, I must say, the problem is not so pronounced in 30k in my experience) but they just look so darn cool and ominous. These fellows really look the part, and I really like the embossed Legion emblem on their heavy-duty shoulder plating. 

The collection of classic assassin figures is great, and that is some very nice work with the greenstuff. These old models are classics - it is a shame the newer versions of these figures come with such absurd/overwrought/unworkable scenery-diorama-style bases. But who needs those, when you have the classics available - and ones that have been waiting for years and years for some paint. 

145 points for you...for nine figures...not quite Wednesday-level squeezing, but you are on your way...

GregB