From Mike W - 25mm Medieval Guns and Crew (55 Points, +1 Squirrel Point)

This is another lucky find in my drawers, I remember buying these figures from eBay a few years back when I was doing a War of the Roses project, they looked just great online but when they arrived they were clearly 25mm figures and not 28mm as advertised.

The two Bombards in position 

They went straight into the drawer, only to be rescued last week with a view to painting them up!

There are two guns, each on wooden frames and three crewmen for each, plus an Artillery Train commander - who I have based separately.

Nearly forgot to take a snap of these figures prior to starting the painting work

Everything was given a white undercoat before painting up the gun frames and barrels separately. The brown wood frames were washed in Army Painter Strong Tone ink and the gunmetal barrels were washed in Dark Tone.

Close-up on the first gun and crew

Crewmen were painted in various, mostly muted tones and then washed with assorted Army Painter Inks to give some shading before I went back to highlight as needed.

Basing was achieved with fine sand and electrostatic grass.

And the second gun and crew!

Squirrel Points should now total 14!

(10) 28mm = Dr Who, Zombies, Cossacks, Undead Orcs, ECW Scots, Cheyenne Braves, Classic Orc Archers, Lizardmen, Dark Age Normans, Ottoman Artillery 

(2) 25mm = Medieval Artillery, WW2 Infantry, 

(1) 20mm = WW2 Sherman Tanks & RAM

(1) 12mm = ACW Infantry

POINTS

2 x 25mm Guns    = 20 Points

7 x 25mm Foot     = 35 Points

Another resurrection project, and this time not from the grave.  Some veteran medievals Mike, they have an old Minifig vibe to some of the faces.  They've painted up nicely and I like the basing and posing.  Other arms will likely keep a healthy distance from those bombards out of self preservation, so you can likely field them with a 28mm army without them looking totally out of whack with proper spacing.

AdamC: Royal Navy Visit Coruscant (120 Points)

Well its been a long time since I had a post possibly my longest time between posts in any challenge.  First my wife and then my daughter and I came down with covid killing my painting time (and painting ambition even when I had time).

I return with 4 Royal Navy three decker's 2nd rates in the Royal Navy terms.

The first three are Simon Mann's generic 92 gun ship of the line. It's a fine model I only needed to add some figure heads. 

HMS Queen with the blue ensign

HMS Prince George flying a Red Ensign

HMS Prince of Whales with the White Ensign.

The last ship is Henry Turner's 98 gun London the model isn't quite as sharp but with some leftover pieces from the Warlord 3rd rates it looks pretty good.  

Ok so how do Royal Navy ships count as "Imperial" well I have two strings to that bow. First the Royal Navy was obviously the keystone of the British Empire. People respected the British Empire because even if you managed a short term victory on land the Navy would come sailing over the horizon at some point and bring in more troops and firepower than you could handle. Second the Imperial Navy of Star Wars was clearly modeled after the Royal Navy. This is clear from the upper crust vaguely English accents and mannerisms of it's officer's. 

Okay points four 2nd Rates ships of the line should be 25 points each for 100 points plus another 20 for Corascant (if Peter agrees). This should add another squirrel point.  It's good to be back in the game. 

Take note Ray, Adam got pre-approval on the location.  He's pushing it  bait on Imperial, since Victoria didn't formally become Empress until 1858.  However, I'll totally buy the Royal Navy as the ultimate instrument of Imperial might.  My personal fave example is the fleet of ironclads that forced the Dardanelles in 1878 and stopped the Russian army in its tracks outside Constantinople.

Glad to heat that you are on the road to recovery from COVID, I concur on its ability to kill both painting time and painting willpower.

Fine work on the second rates, they are more than fit to hold their place in the battle line.  

From StuartL - Near Earth Orbit - Terra and Lune - 54 Points

Hello fellow challengers.

Just the one post from me this week as work has been keeping me pretty busy. On my previous trip round the challenge sector, I cleared the middle ring and so now I am making my way down into the Inner Ring. Hanging a sharp turn as I descend through the Great Abyssal, I'm tackling the Inner Ring counter-clockwise and starting with a brief trip home to Terra.

According to Warhammer 40K lore, after the Emperor was interred into the Golden Throne following the Horus Heresy, his bodyguards, The Legio Custodes, spent the next 10,000 years hanging around the Imperial Palace on Earth doing next to nothing. I can't imagine it would have been a particularly fulfilling job standing guard over an immovable subject at the centre of the most heavily fortified system in the galaxy. But the pay is probably pretty good and it's all indoor work with almost no overtime, so there are some positives to it. I think 10,000 years on the planet counts as 'Earthbound' for the challenge requirements.

The figure was painted up in brass and then drybrushed with a brighter gold and given a sepia wash before all the detail was painted in. As most of the armour detail is also gold, it was a quick model to finish. The figure is pretty bulky, standing a head taller than other 40K models.

With that quick stop off at Terra done, it's a visit to Lune next. The theme here is witchcraft and sorcery, so I had a look for something suitable in my various mini boxes. While I do have some witches and some sorcerers, I found something a little different in one of my Reaper Bones boxes. A goblin shaman. Fantasy stories are replete with druids, rangers and their various animal companions, but largely they dwell in the forests and roam the wilderness. But what happens when they are one of the dregs of society, eking a living in the middle of a big city and surviving on scraps. The figure I chose is dressed in rags and has a large spider crawling up it's back, so I got a feeling that it was some kind of vermin handler, so I dragged out some rat figures to go with it. So I present my Gutter Shaman.

The shaman herself is a Reaper mini, the big rat is from the old D&D miniatures wargame and the small rat is a resin figure I had picked up from somewhere. The cobblestones on the base were made from modelling putty rolled into small balls and squished down onto the wooden base.

So, for these two entries, I have:

1x 40mm Custodian - 7 points.

1x 20mm Goblin - 4 points.

1x 15mm Rat - 2 Points

1x 10mm Rat - 1 Point

2x Locations - 40 points.

For a grand total of 54 Points.

There is also 1 Skull for my ongoing side duel.

Skullz Total 105

- A request for the minion/admin team. 

Would it be possible to up my challenge target to 2000 please?  ✅ I have made it so!

I am sorry that there's is only one post this week Stuart, you  normally bring some nice work to the blog. However, I'll be happy with the lovelies that you've presented here.  

I'd take 10,000 years on light guard duty over most army jobs in the 40K universes and totally buy the earthbound theme.  I also like the scuzzy looking goblin sorcerer, I think that the Giant Rat might be better company.  Nice posing and basing on the figures, and nice to see the old figures get new life.

From Mike W - Return of the Living Dead (165 Points)

Like all good Zombie films, the undead keep returning! However, this time (I promise) it really is for the last time...

The latest addition to the horde, 33 new figures

These guys were sourced from a lot I saw on eBay, once I'd gotten into painting-up my horde as part of this challenge, I couldn't resist a bargain and they would go quite some way to balancing the male / female split within the horde, add a number of less characterful 'run of the mill' zombies and increase the overall fear factor when players see such a horde advancing towards them!

First five guys in this batch

As can be seen the figures came with a 'Rotten flesh' coloured undercoat and about one half of their number were pre-assembled, leaving only arms to be added to the rest. Most of the figures were intentionally built as these standard variants.

Another five guys

As per other batches of these figures I have given them a variety of base flesh tines and then added colours to 'dress' them. That said a fair few of these guys seem to have had their t-shirts ripped off in an inappropriate manner - leaving a lot of flesh on show!

I gave the guy second from left a handbag, that he'd picked-up somewhere

On a couple of the guys I added a few extra details, just because I could, see the notes under the photos for info on these.

More Zombie guys, second from left has had entrails from the Warlord Project Z set added for effect!

The downside of these figures was that they did not come with a cast-on base, so I had to fix these to MDF disks and then build-up  the bases using a suitable putty, before adding on pavement cracks and the odd grass tuft. I may add some additional debris to all the figure's bases at some point in the future - but not now

The guy on the left has had a backpack added to his right hand

just because I had one lying around.

Nearly done, final group of five

And the last three

I did promise a photo of the whole horde, all the batches massed together - so here it is, plus a short video that will hopefully capture the massed effect a little better.

All of the horde together!

POINTS

33 x 28mm Foot Figures = 165 Points

My god Mike, what portal to the dark side did you open to produce this never ending stream of  Zombies?!?  I don't for a minute buy that this is the last of them, you got another 5 weeks or so and that's plenty of time for more to shuffle in from the grave.

I am glad you've posted the mass shot, as I was being to work that you'd used the old trick of cycling the same unit past the review post multiple times a la a classic Carol Burnett show skit.

Monday Morning - Happy Valentines

Yes it is that day - did everyone remember a card for their sweetie?  How long is Ray banished to the shed this time?

I think that our heart shaped box of chocolates will have a variety to suit all tastes.  And other minions please note that my crew always labels their posts, no need for whips!

From Barks: Sci-fi ups and downs (40 points)

First, some 'Volucrix Reavers' from Descent, painted to match the boardgame's art. I think they would make good porigotas for Stargrave. They are mostly Contrast Ultramarines Blue over white.

Second, a post-apoc girl from Tagged Events. The arms didn't print properly so I greenstuffed on some some new ones from the bitz box. I like how she came out; I'm cautiously anticipating GW's Necromunda: Ash Wastes that was recently announced.

Third, a zoat. This is one of the least enjoyable models I have ever painted- and I've painted a lot. It's an over-engineered push-fit model, such that when you glue it there is no room for the glue and it doesn't fit together well. So there was a lot of dodgy greenstuffing going on. Next, I struggled to interpret its inscrutable alien technology. I had no image in my head of what I wanted it to look like; what bits would be which colours and where I would like to draw the eye. It's a bit of a hot rainbow mess, and some parts have ben repainted multiple times to try and save it. I could bring it up a notch with some fancy effects and a lot of edge highlighting, but it isn't worth it and barely reaches the standard I set myself. Does not spark joy.

It has some redeeming features:

• I like the skin
• I don't have any more of them to paint
• It gets me 8 points to my challenge
• It fills a good slot on Slowpainter's ABC

5x 28mm figures: 25 points

1x big guy: 8 points

Slowpainter's ABC: Z is for Zoat

If anyone's got any suggestions for a quick fix, colour theory, spot colours, consolation etc.- let me know.

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Great post Barks. Your Reavers kind of make me laugh as, when grouped in your photo, they have a wonderful K-Pop, boy-band, music-move look to them. 'Ladies and gentlemen! Please, give a big hand for 'Volucrix and the Reavers'!! :)

My favourite is the post apoc gal with the yellow autogun and great blu doo. I've heard about the new 'Ash Wastes', but have not researched it yet, being somewhat overcautious with GW's releases of late. I look forward to hearing what you think of it.

Funny, I had the opposite experience with the Zoat, as I quite liked the model and had a lot of fun painting it. That being said, I can understand your aggravation with puzzling out all the grafted tech amongst his flaps and folds. I remember I had to do a bit of Google-Fu to figure it all out before painting it. Since you asked, here are my efforts with the arcane critter (along with his pal, the Ambull) - funny, as a bit of foreshadowing, you commented on it saying you were planning to tackle yours in the near future. As a small consolation, I'm scoring the Zoat as a 40mm cavalry figure for 15 points as I remember him being a rather large lad. 

- Curt

From PeterD: Coruscant Good vs Evil Encounters (75 points)

Second post for me today and I will be hopping from Perelandra to Coruscant with my take on good and evil RPG encounters.

Wizkids Bhuer Hag on the left and Stag on the right.

On an earlier post, my stag got some positive comments.  I obviously liked the sculpt so much I bought two of them, so I went with a white stag on the second.  

I am not as thrilled by my results as with stag #1, but it'll do.  In my experience white animals are actually various shades of off-white which is the effect that I went for.

The White Stag has a place deep in Celtic Mythology and appears in any number of stories, including Arthurian legends, Harry Potter and Call the Midwife!  In my Beowulf RPG campaign he might be a Noble Beast that can provide assistance to my heroes if they prove worthy.

I won't be accepting any treats from this old dear!  She's got a lovely Disney villainness  vibe to her.

I'll share my best hag related story, which actually came from real life.  While visiting my dad, he and my step mum took me to Chichester Theatre with their octogenarian friends to see a production of MacBeth.  It turned out to star Patrick Stewart, who none of my elders had heard of!  It was in the round and we were in the front row at stage level six feet from the action.

A set of 5 Oathmark Revenants, not nearly as nicely done as Millsy's

My adventurers had an epic graveyard fight with a super-revenant plus two regular ones.   Two of the party were saved from death by followers (a nifty Beowulf second chance mechanism) and the other two were almost in the boat.  

I really like the ancient Celtic vibe to these sculpts, they fit into my Beowulf setting as tomb guardians and the like very nicely.

Finally a set of 4 Wizkids woodland critters that have been cluttering my work bench.  I don't like the  regular timber wolves nearly as much as the Winter Wolf I painted earlier, and was disappointed that they are in the same pose.

However, the fox has a good sculpting pose to him/her.  reminds me of my favourite book from childhood, Harlequin the Fox.

Challenge veterans might remember that there was a badger themed location a couple of years ago.

Points wise there are a total of 11 figures of various sizes (the hag and stag are quite large) but all in 28mm scale.  For simplicity I'd suggest averaging them all out to 5 points a head for 55 base points.  If the Snowboard approves, the Coruscant bonus brings this up to 75 points total.

I think that the hag, white stag and 5 revenants could all count towards the Fantasy Side Duel lost cause.

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Great work Peter! I really like all the critters, and that Old Hag is quite the gal, she just needs an apple and be married to George Conway to set the scene. I smiled at your parenthetical Patrick Stewart recollection as I saw him performing in 'The Taming of the Shrew' at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre when touring the UK with my parents - I didn't make the connection until years later when I saw him in 'Dune' and of course playing the iconic Captain Picard.

- Curt

From GregB - Raven Guard Contraption (25 points)

Invictor War Suit for my Raven Guard Space Marines. Plastic model from GW.

Back to my 40k Raven Guard project for this week. Here we have some sort of bonkers contraption known as an "Invictor War Suit". This is a multi-part plastic kit from GW, one of the newer releases for the newer Primaris Space Marine range of figures for their Warhammer 40,000 setting. It's a big walking thing with guns. 

Guns solve problems, right?

The grim darkness of the far future is in fact overrun with big walking things with guns. Some are big. Many are bigger. Some are quite huge. But they walk, and they have guns, and thus this "newer" design takes its place in an august lineup. But it is also a little different, at least for Space Marines...

A view of the carbon-neutral power system...

That is because the pilot of the machine is, well, a Space Marine. Makes sense. But this is still different. You see, usually, Space Marine machines of this sort, called "Dreadnoughts", are 'crewed' by a near-dead Marine, who is essentially entombed in the machine, allowing them to fight for the Emperor for, like, nearly eternity. Lucky them. You don't see the 'pilot', because his remaining bits are plugged into arcane machinery, hidden under slabs of armour. 

So. Many. Guns.

But this thing...well, it just has a roll-cage, and the pilot can hop in and hop back out. Like a kind of regular machine. I mean, still a whacky, far-future, gun-festooned machine...but a pilot that can hop out, check things over, compare notes with fellow pilots...that seems borderline heretical! This design brings to mind the sort of "war-jack" type walker units seen in other sci-fi settings. It also made me think of the "APU Defense Sentinels" from the otherwise un-watchable "Matrix: Revolutions" film.

This kit was certainly a challenge to put together...GW made some heroic assumptions about what bits you might glue, and others you might not, and how the whole thing would work. I had major issues sorting out the cockpit, and a lot of trouble with the legs. Enough trouble that I am confident this will be the only such machine that will be joining my 40k Raven Guard forces...give me a normal dreadnought over this thing any day...

Some unsolicited feedback for the design of this model...

But for all the issues, more guns is more guns, and when you are defending The Emperor, it seems you can never have quite enough guns. This thing delivers - and for added fun, it can punch recalcitrant unbelievers into dust for sport. 

The cage doesn't exactly close, like it says it will in the instructions...but close enough. All aboard for fun!

Points-wise, we have 20 points for the machine, and five points for the fellow driving the thing, making for 25 points. In terms of skullz, there are very few to report on this machine - only three, in fact. Thanks for reading, hope to have more to share next week.  

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I know the assembly was a struggle, but great work on this machine Greg. 

I really question GW's recent design decisions over these past few years. So many of their new models do nothing but erode the iconic designs (and background) of their established IP. I look at this model and wonder 'Why?' when the Space Marines have something very similar (but infinitely more characterful) in the wonderfully evocative quasi-corpse-piloted Dreadnought. The same goes with the constantly upscaled Knight designs which now begin to rival scout Titans, and the ancillary (and often ridiculous) Titan designs that don't really add anything new to the game, but instead horn-in on existing Engine classes. It all just seems a bit egregious and stoopid. But what am I saying, this is GW we're talking about here - it all makes perfect sense when you're just wanting to make a buck, IP be damned. Please, move along. :)

All this grousing aside this contraption looks suitably shooty, grindy and very stompy (even if it doesn't have airbags, cruise and nav). Well done dude!

 

- Curt