From TamsinP - 15mm Korean Warrior Monks (107 Points)

Well, I did manage to get some painting done while I was away over Christmas. Not as much as I'd have liked, but more than I actually expected.

Before getting onto my entry, I thought I'd share a picture of my workbench.

As you can see, there is something there that will be a WIP over the next few months. It's such a shame that I won't be able to share it with you. Honestly, I'd love to, but what with distances...oh, heck, who am I kidding? It's all for me, me, ME!!

But enough of that. You want pics of painted figures, for some bizarre reason.

So, here you go - my fifth entry for this year's Challenge.

As mentioned in my previous submission, to use my Choson Korean army in FoG:R for the 1592-98 Samurai invasion period, I have to take some Warrior Monks and Righteous Army. The list allows for 12 bases of warrior monks who can be taken as Superior medium foot (Bow*/Impact Foot/Sword). I've actually done 16 bases, so four of them can be used to bulk out my Righteous Army when I get to them (I can take 40 bases total of those, and they can be better overall quality than some of the "regular" Korean troops. Except in melee.).

The figures are Old Glory 15s. I used the Korean Guerrilla packs, but snipped off the topknots and smoothed the heads. I tried to get the impression of dark hair shaved, but the dark-blue-grey under a flesh wash hasn't come out quite as well as I'd hoped it would.

I went for a mix of oranges and dark-reds for their clothing, with some blue-grey mixed in as those seem to be the main colours worn by Korean monks. I have seen some in black or white, usually with either orange or red.

I also did a command stand for the Warrior Monks.

As with the Righteous Army command stand, the flag was knocked up in Paint after finding something suitable on Google. The lilac colour for the horse tack was inspired by a certain 1970s series. However, I hope this horse doesn't turn into a dragon - there isn't enough room in my flat!

And a pic of the monks with their commander:

So, totalling up: 1 mounted and 51 foot should give me 106 points, possibly with an extra point for the flag if Curt is feeling generous.

From Curt:Wonderful work Tamsin. I don't know what it is but that burnt orange and brown you've chosen (excuse the lame pun) is perfect for these - they just cry out 'Korean' for some reason. 

I also like the shot of your hobby space. It looks very similar to my own, except mine, sadly, lacks the Talisker Storm single malt for cleaning my brushes.  :0)

From SimonM - "Heroclix" - Ultron and Jocasta (43 Points)

These 28mm models of Ultron, Jocasta and three Dreadnought robots are by “Wizkids” and come from their “Heroclix” range of plastic miniatures. All of the models were removed from their ‘clicky-bases’ and superglued to either 25mm or 40mm “Games Workshop” round bases.

Ultron is actually a ‘flying’ miniature from the Marvel Infinity Challenge expansion and is model number 134. The living automaton was first undercoated “Citadel” Abaddon Black and then treated to a layer of Boltgun Metal. I then applied a wash of Nuln Oil before dry-brushing the figure with more Boltgun Metal. Finally the super-villain’s adamantium robotic shell was dry-brushed with Mithril Silver to help bring out its detail. Ultron’s eyes and maw were simply picked out with “Vallejo” Heavy Red and washed with “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson.

The model of Jocasta is from the Marvel Armor Wars expansion and is miniature 87. I painted her using exactly the same method as I did for her creator, Ultron.

These Dreadnought robots are from the Marvel Critical Mass expansion and are model number 13. They are actually 55mm in height and were undercoated with “Vallejo” Gunmetal Blue in order to try and capture the metallic blue-coloured armour the non-sentient robotic combat instruments are comprised of. Each figure was then washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil before being dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Gunmetal Blue.

At this stage I did consider a further ‘highlight’ of “Citadel” Mithril Silver but found that the dry-brushing had actually turned the robots titanium steel alloy more silver than I had wanted anyway. I also considered picking out the leg and arm rivets with Boltgun Metal and Nuln Oil in order to replicate the colour-scheme used for the Dreadnought 2000 model designed by A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics). However many of the detailed rivets were in some very difficult positions to reach with a brush tip, so in the end I stuck with my original plan of simply replacing the ghastly “Wizkids” pre-paint with my “Vallejo” Gunmetal Blue one. Fortunately once the “Citadel” Gloss Varnish had dried the blue within the paint really shone through both the Nuln Oil Shade and the “Vallejo” Model Color highlights.

Finally I decided to base one of the partially destroyed robots from the “Heroclix” X-Men Danger Room Collector’s Pack as a 40mm objective marker. This model actually took the longest to paint of the lot as I wanted to give the model an appearance of being somewhat rusty. As a result once the “Citadel” Boltgun Metal and Nuln Oil wash had dried, I applied some watered-down “Vallejo” Bronze to all the cracks and crevices found on the model. 

Once dry I then washed these areas with “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade before dry-brushing the entire model with Boltgun Metal. Finally I picked out the robot’s cyclopean eye with “Vallejo” Heavy Red and washed with “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson. 

From Curt:

Very cool minis Simon! I really like the metallic blue Dreadnought robots. What rules do you use to play with these? You seem to have a very detailed game world that your are populating with these great models.

I'm scoring the Dreadnoughts as 54mm figures and giving a few extra for the great destroyed robot objective marker. Great work Simon! 

From SeanS - 28mm Orks 'The Mother Crushers' (55 points)

These 11 beauties have been sitting in my to do bucket since the 90's, when I primed them white.

I struggled with the color blocking and realize now why I prefer black primer.

The command group came out pretty nice, although the colors seem a little bright.

Da Boyz. I still hate assembly line painting. The color blocking gave me fits, but the highlighting was fun.

Please forgive the white glue showing, the varnish was also barely dry.

I'm down to the wire with this one. I forgot I'm two hours behind Curt here in California and I've been helping my Father in law setup his Christmas present, which involves computer type stuff.

Thanks for looking.

From Curt:It's a very Orky day today! Even though you had to struggle with working with a white primer you've done wonderful work on these Boyz Sean! (As a suggestion, prime in black and then do a light drybrush in light grey to provide a base to 'lift' any brighter colours.) That command group is especially imposing. I like their leathers and the overall Mongol horde look about them. Excellent.

From VincentC - "Find the halfling! Augh! Find the halfling!" (40 points)

Being poorly is the pits!

These Uruk Hai scouts were finished almost two weeks ago but a long weekend away in Lincolnshire sans internet and the mother of all man-flus has meant a delay in posting them, not only that but the next projects (including this week's bonus rounds entry) just haven't happened. Bummer!

Fortunately I think I'm coming out the other side and can resume normal hobbying activity.

"Do you know how the Orcs first came to be? They were Elves once, taken by the Dark Lord, tortured and mutilated. A ruined and terrible form of life. And now, perfected. My fighting Uruk-hai."—Saruman

In contrast to the rangers I painted previously (which got a surprisingly good reception) I found these guys a breeze and really enjoyed painting them, they were very quick to do as well taking only a few hours, I have to paint 18 in all to complete my objective so I'm very glad this was the case.

They're painted predominately in browns and reds using vallejo paints (for the most part). Games Workshop did a great job of sculpting these and I love the swordsmen charging forward especially.

From Curt:Nice work Vincent! I quite like the red skin tone of these. Have you started playing any of the scenarios from the book yet, or do you still have some models yet to complete?

From TeemuL - 28mm Classic Orc Arrers Boyz (20 Points)

Not really a point bomb, but multiple figures anyway. 4 classic Orc Arrer Boyz painted with classic theme. I don't have enough Blood Red to paint the bows and clothes in the original colors, but Evil Sunz Scarlet over Mephiston Red seems to quite okey. The skin is Goblin Green as well as the classic base. The feathers of the arrows are left Mephiston Red to give a little bit variety.

One thing that worries me, is that I probably used more time on each of these than for example the Frodo or the Gollum. Yeah, painting rank-and-file troops is fast...

Here is comparison between the brand new Orcs and about 20 years old Orc. Well, I do make the bases nowadays and I don't paint the skulls white, but otherwise it looks quite the same. Little bit neater, except the teeth.

I managed to finish these four this time, there's more to come!

4 28mm figures should give me whopping 20 points!

From Curt:

More classic GW Orks! Wonderful stuff. I love the yellow teeth and the red bows - very cool. What other units will we be seeing during the Challenge Teemu?

From TamsinP - 15mm Korean Righteous Army Command (11 Points)

After all those points bombs, here's a teeny tiny entry.

For my ever-expanding Choson Korean army, to use it as a certain date in FoG:R (1592-98 - the Samurai invasions of Korea) you have to take some warrior monks and some Righteous Army. The latter were a volunteer force composed of a mix of rural nobles and gentry, some monks and mostly peasants. And some regular troops from units which had fled or been destroyed. They mainly conducted guerrilla warfare against invading or occupying forces.

While I was prepping the figures for the warrior monks (which I might be taking away with me to paint over Christmas. Well, I will be taking them with me, whether or not I paint them is an entirely different matter. Oh, hang on - this post is going to be going up after Christmas isn't it? Well, you'll find out whether I did or didn't paint them if there's a post with them in today...) I noticed that I had the figures to do command stands for the warrior monks and the Righteous Army, so I prepped and primed those as well.

Just to get it out of the way and because there would only be space for all 16 bases of warrior monks and one command stand in the box I was taking away with me, I decided to paint this stand up quickly.

And then I remembered that I'd need suitable flags. A quick search of Google Images for inspiration, then some mucking about in MS Paint produced flags for the Righteous Army and the warrior monks.

A fairly basic paint job, so it will fit in with the rest of the army. Three foot figures and one mounted should give me 10 points, maybe 11 if Curt deems the flag worthy.

From Curt:Great work Tamsin and a worthy addition to your Choson army. I quite like the light blue horse harness and the flag really finishes off the stand.  Jolly good stuff!

From Sander - Warriors of Barsoom (20 Points)

For today's update I've decided on some of Bronze Age Miniatures excellent Sci Fi miniatures. They are heavily influenced on the adventures of John Carter of Mars. I have quite a lot of these and wanted to get started on them many times before, yet always got sidetracked by other projects. As in so many other cases, I am using the Challenge as an excuse to paint some up. The first batch are two Zodongan female fighters (in Red) and one male and one female Heliumite warrior (in blue).

Awaiting on my painting desk are some Green Warriors and a Great White ape, but I'll get cracking on the "Mount and Rider" bonus round first.

Cheers Sander

From Curt:I'm a big fan of John Carter of Mars and these look just fabulous. I look forward to seeing the Green Warriors and the Ape. Have you seen the stuff from Tin Man Miniatures? Beautiful sculpts and perhaps a nice compliment to these figures. Great work! 

From RossM - 28mm Chaos Warriors, 20mm WW2 German AVF & 15mm Sci Fi (54 Points)

Here are my first entries to this years Annual Painting Challenge. Shown first are two retro Citadel Chaos Warriors from the mid-eighties in 25/28mm.

These figures are part of a twelve man war band that will be painted over the next few months for use in Songs of Blade and Heroes or similar fantasy skirmish style games. The figures have character and individuality that you don't see in the more recent offerings from some suppliers.

The first figure was originally sold as a Chaos Warrior, it could however easily double up as a Skeleton Champion as well.

With the second figure the first inspiration was to re-create Elric of Melnibone, however when painting the figure, the lighter flesh did not sit right with the character and a more "tanned" flesh tone was used.

Still happy with the end result although the plan changed during the painting.

Next up is a selection of German Armoured Fighting Vehicles from WW2 in 1/76 scale or 20mm.

Firstly, there is a Sd Kfz 7 (8 Tonnes) Transporter. This a resin and metal kit from Britannia Miniatures now supplied by Grubby Tanks. Easily assembled and a relatively clean cast as well.

Next, again from Britannia Miniatures is a JagdTiger. A true behemoth of a model and when seen next to others from the same scale the size is apparent.

Next are two Sd Kfz 234/2 Pumas from Frontline Wargaming. These kits are not as clean as the Britannia kits although they do still paint up well albeit being somewhat basic in detailing and finishing.

These "cats" are definitely smaller than the previous but still pack a punch when needed and will most likely see more use on the gaming table.

The transfers shown on all the German armour are from Skytrex miniatures and are relatively easy to apply.

The last part of this entry comes from yet another different genre; this time being sci-fi in 15mm. The crew figures are from Ground Zero Games and the radar piece from Critical Mass Games. 

Hope that you like the mixed style of this entry as it will probably be a theme throughout my painting challenge this year. I'll leave the points to Curt to work out.

Cheers for now, Ross

From Curt:Wow, what a wonderfully eclectic mix of wonderfully painted figures! I really like seeing these old Citadel models getting some love.  I can see how the second figure would strike you as reminiscent of Elric of Melnibone as the pose has that unhinged, almost damned look about it. But as you say he's not quite there (too well-fed, the armour needs to be more ornate and then there's 'Stormbringer'...) The German vehicles are excellent, with my favourite being the Puma (such an awesome looking vehicle design). We're getting treated to a lot of 15mm sci-fi which is very cool. I like the red elements to this large beam weapon (or is a HBO satellite dish?). Great work Ross and welcome aboard for this year's run-in!