KenR - 3 x 28mm Crusader Tanks (65 points)

It's been a slow start for me this challenge, a heavy post Xmas work load taking it's toll on the more important hobby time. If only painting could pay the bills !

I knew I would have very little time this week so I needed to get an easy fix to keep my personal challenge of 3 tanks a week going, what could be easier than three plain Crusaders.

The first Crusader Tanks arrived in the Desert in May 1941 in the height of the Caunter Scheme and I have two Warlord Crusaders painted up like that. These Blitzkrieg Miniatures are a lot smaller (1/56 vs 28mm) so I wanted something different for them.

The first batch of Crusaders were only enough to equip one regiment and the next batch arrived further on in the year in time for Battleaxe. There are very few (I can only find one) pictures of these tanks in Caunter, my thinking is that batch one were painted up but the later delivery were not. It was close to the official end of the use of the scheme and there was a degree of urgency with the arrival of the Afrika Korps.

Contemporary pictures show these late 1941 tanks in plain stone colour which is how these have been painted them, the dark wave like camo being introduced in early 42.

Painting wise I have experimented with doing the washes first before building up dry brush layers and I think it has provided a bit more definition on the detail of the models.

I've gone for a 65 point total, 3 x 28mm vehicles for 60 plus a couple of half figures for the crew giving a nice round 65.

Another busy week next week so I hope to rattle off the last three Italian tanks see you soon.

***
Great looking tanks here Ken, and the photography / background is top notch as well.  I really appreciate the extra effort people put in when staging images like this, it makes the models look more alive.

Your weathering and stippling on these really bring them to life, excellent work and I can not wait to see more vehicles from you.

- ByronM

From PhilH: Landfall at Sander’s Dunes (100 points)

Land Ahoy! 

About bloody time, we’re all out of protein shakes. 

...

Wait, I thought this was supposed to be an undiscovered island? What are all these people hanging around on this beach for? Looks more like Aya Napa. 
...
Ok, Let’s hit the beach. How’s about a game of football?



My debut entry was originally to be some more Rojos from my main Spanish Civil War project. And I have painted some of those, who will follow in another post. But I also took what was supposed to be a short detour to paint up a Human team from Games Workshop’s Blood Bowl 2016 set, and they fit this location too. 

These are also a first dabble in using GW’s contrast paints. In fact, that’s why they are red: I was browsing the new paint racks shortly after they came out, and a friend stepped into the store and clocked what I was looking at. He very generously picked up half a dozen for me for my birthday. Blood Angels red was one of those (mixed with some Snakebite 

Leather here) 

Positional players: Blitzers, Catchers and Throwers

I thought Contrast might be an interesting tool for me to paint faster. It’s a totally different method to my usual, and I’m not sure I have quite got my head around it yet. How did I find them? Mmmm, they certainly do a job of getting colour on fast. I chose to add one or two highlights on most of the colours, and traditionally paint a few bits. So they took a week or so, but that’s a lot faster then my usual ways (looking at the Skaven team from last Challenge, still unfinished...) 

I’m a messy painter, relying on layering to tidy up my errant brushstrokes. That doesn’t work so well for contrast, where one thick coat is the mantra. But to me they’re an interesting tool, particularly for side projects where I’d rather get paint on quick. 

Six linemen

The Wraithbone primer is a cracker though: goes on super-smooth and a really nice off-white base. 

The new GW teams come with two of each sculpt, but you may notice that as with my Skaven last year I’ve converted half of these a little, twisting or swapping arms, mostly. 

So that’s 12x 32mm models at 60 points, plus perhaps 10 in total for the four markers. Then the 30 bonus for Sander’s Dunes. That’s a nice round 100 points.

***

Welcome to the island Phil, what a way to make landfall, these are gorgeous!  The red looks great on these and the overall paint job is exceptionally clean looking, especially from someone who describes them self as a messy painter!

I am with you on the messy side as well though, I tend to go back and forth and clean up slips during layering and as such left the contrast paints alone.  I may actually have to try them.

Overall the team looks stunning and I bet you can not wait to get them on the field to play a few games, and what perfect timing with the divisional round of the playoffs for the NFL happening this weekend and the Superbowl in 2 weeks.  Sit down play a game with new figs AND watch the playoffs, perfect!

- ByronM

From AlexS: Various strange creatures (114 pts)

Hello everybody! My name is Alex and I try to make my every message on the event thematic. For example, pirates in one message, terrane in one and so on. It seems to me that it will be more interesting to other participants. But I have miniatures, which are few and do not fit into any subject. I painted them from day one and thought to combine, but it didn’t work out. Therefore, today there are various strange creatures that my island traveler is looking at.

The Chinese calendar is very popular in Russia. Therefore, before the new year, many figures of mice and rats appeared on sale (they say, is the year of the rat now?). I bought a set of such figures. My children painted two mice, I painted one and made an element of terrane from it (or a marker?). Perhaps this is a statue of the great rat god in Lustria? It is small in size, so I think it’s 5 points.

I continue to sneak into the children's bedroom at night and steal toys from them, as I have been doing since almost the first event. Yes, this is strange, but it seems to me that my Animal Planet project is beautiful. I actively use the resulting models as markers or even as opponents of heroes (spider! Look, there is a huge spider!) These are eight models that will give me 40 points.

What could be better than old models? A bat from GW and a necromancer from Fundry! 10 points.

I ordered these models in a Chinese store. They are probably from some kind of board game. But I will use them as children of Dagon in my wild west world. 10 points.

I have had these models for a long time. At one time, the Russian company Zvezda tried to produce models for the 40k analogue. They did not succeed, but I will use them again in my world of the wild west as a soldier of the powerful Tesla corporation. And in any fantastic setting they will find their application. 15 points for cyborgs and 5 points for drones - a total of 20 points.

This pig robot was also a children's toy, but I tried and made a golem or an automatic machine out of it for a fantastic setting (and, of course, for my crazy world of the wild west). 5 points.

And finally - creatures from other dimensions, alien monsters or whatever - a set of creatures that come in handy anytime, anywhere. There is a large creature that walks, there are tentacles from the ground, there are brain-suckers, telepaths and small creatures. An ideal set of opponents for any squad of adventurers. Large creature - 5 points, average creature (6 pieces) at 3 points and 4 small creatures - 1 point. Total 24 points.

On this for today, thank you watched my strange set of different creatures.


***
 What a random and eclectic set of figures here Alex, but that is not a bad thing at all! 

I love the randomness here and how you make them all work together by keeping the colour palette the same across them.

While they are all nice, my favourite by FAR is the pig robot.  The choice to do his body essentially monochromatic and then his head in that crimson red is brilliant and it makes him look amazing.  Awesome work Alex.

- ByronM

From DavidB - Ad-mech (140points)

Boy is time cruising by. I have one more day before I have to report for more duties. I did manage to squeeze out a few more enties between family time. I also had to adjust my painting plans....alright..true...I've never had one of those spreadsheet type plans for hobby time as I really just see what sorts of mischief I can find in the random heaps of miniatures piled upon my desk. I did, however, remove some which would take a lot of effort and planning...well detail and research.

These fellows did take a moment as I wanted them to be Ad-mech forces from the Forgeworld Gryphonne. That forgeworld was overrun by a tyranid swarm and the survivors including the garrisoned Knights and Titians were last seen fighting on Cadia before Abbaddon destroyed the world.

As I have a Cadian force, Gryphonne seemed a good fit for the Cadian 7th that have lately been skirmishing with Blood Angel Elite and huge Chaos forces. The tanks of the 7th keep getting brewed up, so Ad-mech forces for repair and aid seemed a good fit. The only official look was a plate of a ranger in white robe with red in the interior wearing blue grey trousers with orange trim. Not too much else, so I was free to make things up as I went along. I used snakebite leather Contrast paint on most of the armor as it has a dull copper look. I used lots of grey Contrast paints for the rest of the metal bits too. I think it works pretty well as I wanted the many lights/optics and exotic weaponry to be focal points. I'm still getting used to the weapons, so every bit helps in drawing my eye to them.

"010001011101101000"- binary for HUZZAH!

The rangers have impressive range abilities and were made from the start collecting box. They are best used as a backstop gunline since their rifles have a healthy range on par with the Tau.

Since I was free on colors, I did borrow from BB-88 on the infiltrators. the shock prods are good at taking down marines. They are very fast and disrupt enemy communications and sensors.

although I did use contrast paints, I also used traditional highlighting on the fabric and metal bits to accent them. The Sicarians are my favourite models of this force with their spider like legs and arms. The kits let you build eally dynamic poses too.

The Sicarian Ruststalkers are armed with phase swords and look really sinister. I tried to keep them dark so the lights and optics really pop as well as the phase swords. Cordclaws like the leaders right hand are the better weapon for them, but with my affinity for lightsabers and they dynamic poses that ca be made... I went for style over capabilities. The next five I build will have Cordclaws to rip into Blood Angel elites better though!

These are my favourite unit for the admech so far. They are just as fast and vicious as they look.

A tech priest and a servitor from the Blackstone Expansion. The tech priest is actually a surveyor and the servitor is a hireling available for any in the blackstone game. I'll still use them as such, but the techpriest can still repair tanks while he looks for lost tec and a new home for the Gryphonne Forgeworld.

A Manipulus and Dominus Priests. The Manipulus comes from  a kill team set and is a good support for the Sicarian squads. Although the Sicarians are very fast, the manipulus is a good mobile fire support for them and if close enough, he really helps in hand to hand with tough opponents like Blood Angel Sanguinary guard and Death Company. In fact the Sicarian Ruststalkers and Infiltrators need his support to have enough left to engage new targets.

The Dominus came with the start collecting box and is the force commander. As Tech Priests, they are perfectly capable of restoring tanks when not shooting or assaulting too. I used a crimson red on the battery packs to show allegiance to Mars. Corporal Razor, my regular Blood Angel opponent does do a victory dance when he takes them out as they are both capable of wrecking his marines with ease and each have many nasty Ad-mech tricks!

The Dune Crawler came with the start collecting box. a good value for the contents. I gave this one the big gun thinking big damage, but the other loadouts are better. I'll pick up another collecting box and build a different companion and some vanguard infantry.

I also shown allegiance to Mars with the dune crawler. I used that quirky zenthial shading trick with the primer and the apothecary white Contrast paint really popped the detail on it. I haven't used an airbrush on tanks yet, but the contrast paints really sped up the time spent spent on this beastie.

When destroyed in battle I leave the spider legs behind( maybe a robotic monster in another scenario/game) it also lets me point that big barrel at it's next target.

Not quite as large as Byron's force but it is still growing. In  few years They will be able to head out to battle without the Cadian 7th Cavalry.

24 28mm troops for 120 points

a tank for another 20

***
Hey David, awesome looking Ad-Mech force!  While I prefer the deep rusty reds for mine, you make the white look very good here, especially on the cloaks.  I have not gotten into the 40k version of the Mechanicum yet, but those models look like a blast to paint, although they do look a little fragile, how are they?

As a fellow Mechanicum player though, and as a computer security specialist that has to read binary and hex most days, I do have a problem with your Huzzah translation.....

01001000 01010101 01011010 01011010 01000001 01001000 00100001  = HUZZAH!
010001011101101000 = EÚ 

I am going to have to assume your translator got shot while trying to say huzzah?

Aside from your translation bot malfunctioning though, this is an awesome looking force, and one I hope to see expanded on over the course of the challenge.

- ByronM

From ScottM: Flight to Snow Lord's Peak (5 Points)

Now that I've completed five spots on the island, we find our heroine boarding Sarah's Balloon for a ride to the Snow Lord's Peak and the ascent to it's frosty summit.

Not the best attire for exploring a snow covered mountain, but you might as well look at least classy. This figure is from Sash & Saber's French and Indian War line. Now what does the Snow Lord have in store?

So that should be: 1 x 28mm foot fig = a simple 5 points.

***
I really like all of the non-combatant type figures that everyone has been painting up this challenge, it is not something I have ever done a lot of and I might just have to remedy that soon.

While I agree that this may not be mountain attire, you have certainly done well with here. I really like the contrast of the deep red and the white apron(?), it makes for a great looking figure.

Great work on your second balloon trip Scott.

- ByronM

Friendly Reminder - Post Formatting (Again)

Memo To Passengers

Good evening all. As per last week, just a quick reminder about formatting your posts (yes, there have been posts submitted today which have needed my corrective attentions).


Post Titles

Please include your name as it appears in the Challenge Roster, eg "TamsinP".


Pictures

Please can you make sure all your pictures are:

• Ideally 800-1000 pixels in one direction (and no larger in the other direction)
• Set to "Large";
• Centred; and
• Separated from text before and after by a blank line

Failure to observe the above may result in the Minions remarking it as "Draft".

Thanks for your help,

TamsinP
Senior Flight Attendant

Mudry's Messa - From Mike W. 28mm Imperial Guard Walker and crew (60 Points)

I've wandered over to Murdy's Messa

I'm loving this Grand Tour of the Challenge Island, it's really getting me to drag out old lead and plastic from the mountain to create new entries.

One of Greg's inspirational Titans

This is a case in point, moving to Mudry's Mesa the challenge is to use an inspiration from last year's challenge to create an entry for this year.

When I saw GregB's Titans <here> I thought wow! How Cool!

These Titans were something I'd liked the idea of years ago when they came out bit never got around to doing anything about.

The nearest I got to doing my own Titans, back in the day, was to do some Imperial Guard Walkers, modelled straight out of the box, and painted to conform from my view on the Cadian forces that I had raised for 40K games.

Some of the 'spare' parts used.

Later I found some cheap generic Sci-Fi figures that included two out of scale 'Titan' like models - these where handed over to my sons, 20+ years ago to play with they were battered beyond recognition. Luckily, when it came to throw away the battered toys, I put a few spare parts in my spares box where they have languished for many, many years.

On seeing Greg's entry last year I dug out these parts but decided that I did not have enough other 'spares' to build a Titan of my own.

This year round I thought - why not do a new 'Locally built' Imperial Walker rather than a Titan scale model. With that change in perspective I was able to pull in other Imperial Guard arts form the 'Spares Box'

So the basic generic figure this was built on stands about 65mm tall, it was missing it's right arm, back and head.

Finished scratch built Imperial Walker

To this base figure I have been able to add an armoured cockpit from an Imperial Walker model, to replace the head, this is perched upon a box like body, made from an old Warhammer 40K Supply box kit and the lower body and back is a re-visited Oil Drum from the same kit. Final model is around 90mm tall, and nearly as wide!

Rear view, showing reconstructed
back of the model

Left side view, not sure what this weapon or
equipment represents, possibly high powered
search lights?!

To this was added weaponry from spares that I have for an Imperial Guard Heavy Weapons section, the pre-existing left Arm Weaponry was removed at the shoulder and fixed to make a new right Arm, whilst an Auto Cannon was deployed under the left shoulder, with a rocket launcher inserted into the left shoulder its-self - for some extra punch.

Top down view, showing base details

Additional power packs, ammunition boxes, cable and chains were added to taste before painting the whole model charcoal grey. I highlighted the figure with a couple of progressively lighter shades of grey and added wear and tear to the model on the form of silver lines along joints and edges.

The shoulder pad was painted a muted yellow - to tie in with the colourings I use on my Cadian troops, decals from an old Imperial tank were added to taste before washing in Army Painter Dark tone.

The base was created in my usual manner with sand, static grass and tufts plus - as it is bigger than usual - some other bits and pieces I found in the spares box to give a view of some wire defences and a hint of destruction beyond.

A quick note on the crewman. He is one of the toy figures that came in the toy Sci-Fi set mentioned above, he is wearing some sort of body hugging number that suggested he might be inserted into the cramped cockpit of such an Imperial Monster. Painted grey and with similar muted yellow webbing and washed to give definition and shading.

Another view - showing the waist line articulation on the model
still works plus a view on the Auto-cannon and rocket launcher
in the right shoulder housing.

I found his friend in the box at the same time and painted him up as well, whilst i was at it! I have included one of my previously painted Cadian Guardsmen for reference and hopefully it 'explains' why the colours are not usual Cadian colours - I'm just akward that way!

Crewman, his friend and old Cadian Model,
to show colour scheme I was tying into...

I remember for the first ten users or so playing Warhammer 40K I had a Space Marine Chapter called the 'Imperial Tigers', they had lime green armour with a blue and black tiger stripe - a nightmare to paint and on reflection, pretty horrible to look at!

So there it is, not worth very many points in the challenge but a huge amount of fun building this beast and adding to my Cadian forces, shame is I haven't used them for years now, maybe I should dust them off


POINTS
1 x 28mm Vehicle = 20 Points
2 x 28mm Crewmen = 10 Points
Mudry's Mesa Bonus = 30 Points
TOTAL 20+10+30 = 60 Points


Your second splendid entry of the day! Nice going Mike!

TamsinP