From Mike W - Egyptian Undead Adventures - Odds & Ends(57.5 Points, 2 x Squirrel)

Here is another selection of the various items I have been working on for the Egyptian Undead Adventures side show that I have continued to work on over the last few weeks, hopefully they are of interest.

More Arab Cultists, this time based upon Gripping Beast's Arab Infantry Set

Firstly more Arab Cultists, after the success of last week's batch I found three Gripping Beast chaps on the sprue and so pressed them into the Cult! The guy firing the Jezail is a Gripping Beast figure with a Perrys' Afghan Jezail and arms added, I had to cut and fill the right shoulder to make the changes fit well.

The guy on the right looks a bit like a Grimsby Trawlerman's Wife in a headscarf - but that 's still scary enough!

The guy with the sword has Perry Afghan arms added, plus some trailing head dress parts, whilst the guy carrying the Jezail has Peery Afghan arms again and a spare head form an hooded Oathmark Human, again with trailing head dress parts added. 

Alongside the Gripping Beast Recruits, I also found 3 x Wargames Atlantic Afghan figures to add to the recruit list. These figures are ever so slightly smaller that the gripping Beast figures but not so much that they look out of place. 

Three more (Wargames Atlantic) Arab Cultists

I have kept the same look and feel for these figures but opted to arm one with a modern German rifle and one with a Luger pistol, courtesy of the Warlord Games Afrika Korps set (see below). The other is stuck with just a sword

That's a total of sixteen Cultists

All were painted and based in exactly the same way as last week's figures, I've claimed 1 Squirrel Point for these 28mm Arab Cultists - as I forgot to label the previous post as such and want to keep within the Squirrel rules

Next a is a group of 6 x Afrika Korps soldiers who every knows are only in Egypt to find the Lost Ark of the Covenant, or such like! These are really test pieces as I'll build up a small force of figures that can be used in various scenarios as they come along.

Test Group of Afrika Korps, extreme left is a Perry figure, the rest are Warlord Games

As such I'd acquired a sprue of Afrika Korps figures from both Perry Miniatures and Warlord Games to compare and contrast - and hopefully allow for some kit bashing to make some unique one off figures.

Close-up of three figures, I like the action poses and the selection of heads that can be used.
Left hand and right hand guys both have cigarettes in their mouths!

Both sprues have a wide range of options but I was almost immediately drawn to the Warlord Games sprue in preference to the Perry's one. The figures were simply more dynamic in my opinion and they were noticeably larger that the Perry versions.

Prone Machine Gunner, counting half points!

What's more the Warlord Games figures are comparable in size to the Arab Cultists above, its a shame as the Perry figures are really nice but due to their smaller size not really useable for Kit Bashing!

That said I have painted up one Perry figure to show and photograph to allow all here to compare sizes etc.

All figures were undercoated white and then I used Citadel 'Tallarn Sand' for most of the uniforms, historically the Afrika Korps used a green uniform that faded quickly in the sun so I have made a nod to this by giving one of the figures a green jacket and making all soft caps green. For this I used Foundry 'Phlegm Green'.

Direct comparison of Warlord Games )right) and Perry Miniatures (Left) crouching figures.
By being smaller the Perry figures are more fiddley to build and accessories can't easily be swapped between sets.

Straps, Weapons and equipment were coloured according to historical schemes I found illustrated online, I did the helmets in Citadel 'Bubonic Brown'. I used an Army Painter 'Dark Tone' ink wash on the weapons, helmets, boots and equipment packs on their backs, whilst I washed the uniforms in Army Painter 'Light Brown'.

I then gave the figures a dry light brush of Tallern Sand to highlight the uniforms and help tone down the base green used. Matt varnish was applied to all figures and then based with fine sand and dried grass & stone tufts.

1 Squirrel Point claimed for 28mm Afrika Korps! total Squirrel points is now 15, subject to the judge's approval.

POINTS

6 x 28mm Arab Cultists       = 30 Points,  1 x Squirrel

5.5 x 28mm Afrika Korps    = 27.5 Points,  1 x Squirrel

TOTAL                                  = 57.5 Points plus 2 x Squirrels

You know Mike, you'd have a better chance of finishing projects if you didn't start 35 of hem at the same time!  Anyway this is a pleasant diversion and I'm enjoying how this all unfolds.  Are any of these figure actually Undead?  From what I can tell, both the cultists and the DAK seem to be this side of the grave.

From FrederickC: A Horde of Shambling Zombies (300 points)

 

Now that Mike W seems to have completed his massive horde of Zombies, I think it might be safe to start working on my own horde. I am starting with two boxes of plastic Wargames Factory Zombies that I picked up at a local hobby store at least a decade ago. They have languished in the 'big box of unpainted minis' until now. These seem to have gone out of production in the interim.

Each box contained five identical sprues with enough parts to build 30 figures. Every sprue provided one figure in a lab coat, four different pairs of legs, four upper torsos, and a variety of heads. All the left arms were part of the upper torso, but the right arms were separate. This allows for some mix and match, although some combinations work better than others. I will let the pictures tell the rest.

The figures were assembled and then glued onto 1 inch fender washers. I wanted to leave the bases quite plain to look like concrete, so I used some spackling paste to create a smooth transition from the molded base to the washer. Once everything was dry and sanded, the figures were primed grey from a rattle can. They were then painted using Vallejo acrylics, followed by a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. Here is the end result.

 

The Horde, out for an evening shamble

The points being claimed are as follows:

60 x 28mm figures @ 5 points each = 300 points

While I have more Zombies lined up in the queue, it is going to be down to the wire to see if I get them completed by March 20th. 

What?!  More flipping Zombies!  That's just what we need, and I'm all out terms to apply to the shambling semi-dead.

Anyway, that's an impressive horde Frederick. You've done well to get some variation into the somewhat repetitive figure selection.

From PeteF: Ice Elemental Horde (55 points)

Winter is Coming!

These are Ice Elementals from Mantic Games, based for Kings Of War - the, er, King of Rank and Flank massed fantasy battle games. Ice Elementals fight for the faction known as the Northern Alliance, a confederation of multiple races from the frozen North.

My Northern Alliance army is growing very slowly, this being its first finished unit. Quite a few more units are in the queue, but this is the only one that will be completed for Challenge XII. 

The Kings of War US Masters is coming to my neck of the woods (The Pacific Northwest) this year and I'm hoping to qualify for our team of 8 players - we don't have the best record in "Battle"(ie skill at playing the game) but we are (I hope) known for enjoying a friendly brew.

One of the drawbacks of Mantic's Northeren Alliance range is the lack of variation in the poses of some of the models - out of the box the Ice Elemental has only one pose - a friend 3D printed an ice elemental for me and I used its arms to do some minor conversions to break up the monotony. The paint job is a bit basic - I tried a few things and this blue with heavy drybrush looked OK to me.

The models are 50mm tall - I'm calling them 40mm for scoring. Going to try and finish the inner ring this week...

5x7 (40mm foot) = 35 points plus 20 point bonus for Gethen = 55 points  

+1 Squirrel (Total 7)

+0 Skulz (Total 1)

Nice work on these Ice Elementals, loving the icy blue tones.  Regina has been in the deep freeze this winter with tons of snow (I am running out of room to put it).  Therefore I will be more than happy if these things stay in your neck of the woods.

FrederickC's Challenge

Frederick stares into the orb of ice and tries not to think too hard about the origin of the greenish yellow glow.

The orb speaks.  "Frederick you have done well, but you must prove your self worthy by completing a final challenge."

Frederick stammers in reply "W-w-what must I do to appease the Snowlord and show that I am worthy?"

"Bring me a fine collection of Lord of the Rings Figures".  

From StuartL - Oldhammer Lizardmen - The Challenge Star - 115 Points

Hello all,

My minion set me the challenge of painting up a unit of Lizardmen for the Challenge Star, based on my post for Noel's Comet.

Before I get to the actual models, I would just like to say one small thing. Warhammer Fantasy Battles was a terrible game. 

Don't get me wrong, the lore, the minis and the concept were all fantastic, but the game itself was (IMHO) terrible. For what was supposed to be a mass battle game, you had skirmish style individual model removal coupled with incredibly complex and restrictive movement rules. So you got a game where a unit of 5 goblins could send a regiment of heavy cavalry charging off in the wrong direction and as the game went on, you wound up with units of 3-4 guys taking their flags for a walk. When GW decided to nuke the Old World setting, I didn't lament the death of WFB as a game, but rather the fact that the company got rid of all the good parts of the setting along with it.

For fantasy games there are now a lot of clones, homages and fan-made versions of WFB, not to mention AoS. Having read through numerous sets of rules looking for that one game that could replace and improve upon WFB and sadly I haven't found one that really fits. Kings of War comes close, but I like a lot of interaction in my games and KoW doesn't seem to have much. Oathmark has some great minis, but it's another skirmish game wearing a mass battle hat.

As I mentioned in the Noel's Comet post, I was able to mix and match rules that I liked from a variety of game systems to put together a game that I (and my friend) wanted to play. We managed a few games of it and came up with a couple of rules tweaks that we were happy with in between Corona lockdowns. 

With my challenge decided, I dug out my old Lizardman army and got to work. As this is the first unit for the newly repainted force, it seemed best to lead from the front. Commanding the army will be a Slann Mage-Priest, being borne into battle by his Temple Guard. Any old school WFB players who haven't already closed this post in disgust will probably be frothing at the mouth at the addition of the most vile heresy of a round base. The Slann's original sceptre sadly broke off long ago, so I replaced it with a plastic part from another kit. 

One of the things I am aiming for in my own ruleset is having characters be more integral to units. So, I need a unit for the Slann to be integral with.

In my collection I have a bunch of old Temple Guard. Sadly I didn't have a unit champion, and I had to convert a standard bearer from some leftover plastic parts, but these 11 models will form the Slann's Honour Guard. 

I purchased a bunch of 150mm x 100mm bases from Warbases when I started this project and I plan to use them as multibase movement trays. I used Vallejo basing material to texture the base, leaving slots for the models to be put into. I also added a couple of little lizards as decoration, (In the bottom left of the pictures above and below), but I think I need to brighten them up a bit as they are kind of lost among the flock.

All of the models are based individually so that I can use them for skirmish games (Saga: Age of Magic primarily), but for my own rule set the unit will always be deployed in full, representing a larger regiment in the same way as most historical big battle games. When the unit takes enough hits or fails a morale check, all of the models will be removed at once. No more finishing the game with units consisting of one or two stragglers. Warbases also supplied me with some dice frames so that I can track the hits on a unit using standard GW dice. If GW does reboot WFB and IF I want to try it, I can use the dice on the tray to indicate ranks and files.

So, before the Oldhammer lynch mob catches up with me, I'd better check the points here. 

There are 15 Lizardmen warriors including the litter bearers. There is also the Slann atop the litter and the litter itself. If the litter is counted as equivalent to a 28mm mini, then there are a total of 17 figures in this entry.

17x 28mm minis = 85 points.

Challenge Star = 30 points??? I am not 100% sure about this, hopefully my minion can check it.

Grand total 115 points.

There are also several skulls here as the Lizardmen are all wearing skull helms, plus three other skulls dotted about for a total of 18 skulls.

Skullz Total 128

And that means that I have covered all of the planets in the Challenge XII Quadrant and the star itself. I still haven't taken a trip on Lady Sarah's Star Yacht yet, plus there are still a couple of weeks to go in the challenge. Provided that I can stay one step ahead of the square base fanatics I should still be able to reach my target of 2000 points.

A fearsome unit of Lizardmen and I love that blue Slaan.  I also really like that you're home brewing your own rules to suit you views and needs.  Perhaps you'll share them when you've got them fermented properly.

I'll let others take up the Oldhammer banner, but I will say that it's a matter of taste.  Historically WHFB was basically warmed over old school ancients rules such as feature in Donald Featherstone books (if you're as old as I that's where you started this hobby).  WHFB was never my thing, but the old school toy soldier rules were.  I've manoeuvred 48 man battalions of Airfix Napoleonics, played with 54mms, guessed ranges in 1:1200 scale Fletcher Pratt naval games and fired spring loaded cannons at toy tanks.  It's all good fun, but it requires the right mind set and has its limitations. 

Anyway, great work on completing your final challenge and stopping at everyone planet in the system along the way.  I am surprised that you've not taken a star Yacht ride yet, but since you've haven't skipped over anything you haven't needed to.  

 

From Mike W - 28mm Mostly Anglo-Danes Again! (140 Points)

Well I have now reached the stage where I'm having to scramble to get figures together for my painting projects to do for this challenge. Almost all the pre built figures that I'd prepared are now done, so this batch plus some of last weeks are now being built and then painted as I go!

Latest batch of 28 figures

So these guys are all based upon the old Wargames Factory Saxon Thegns set but I have 'upgraded' these by adding arms, heads & shields from my spares box of alternative Victrix, Wargames Atlantic & Gripping Beast figure parts. Basically, in my opinion, the Wargames Factory (now Warlord Games) figures were the first generation of 28mm plastic figures available on the market that were designed and manufactured using computer technology rather than human sculpting. As such the figures are not the greatest from an anatomical point of view, whilst the current figures are much, much better.

The old box of Wargames Factory Figures, ready to be repurposed!

Luckily as they are all basically the same scale you can mix and match parts to give what I think is a better final figure. I particularly dislike the Wargames Factory arms and heads - hence the upgrades concentrating on these.

Close-up of a trio of the figures that had to stay with the Wargames Factory Arms,
as I'd run out of alternatives. Limbs are all quite straight & stiff and look a bit Zombie like to me!

This batch represents 26 Anglo-Dane warriors, one Archer and a Norman (just because I was experimenting with the spare parts!)

These seven all had the original arms as in the close-up above.
Shields are from Gripping Beast and heads a mix of Victrix, Gripping Beast and Wargames Atlantic.

The heads on Gripping Beast figures are designed with a neck on the figure torso being in place. On the Wargames Factory figures, the opposite is true, so I had to add a neck to each torso, before then affixing the head. luckily cutting the spare arms on sprues into thin slices, mimics a neck rather well at this scale.

Another view of the above figures, showing shield designs

For the remaining figures I was able to use spare arms from the Gripping Beast Arab Heavy Cavalry boxed set, these are moulded with armoured sleeves, I think they are designed to be scale armour for an Arab flavour but when added to the mail clad torsos and a paint job they look like a passable representation of chain ail as well.

Another group of seven completed figures

Third group of seven figures

In addition to creating a number of warriors I was also able to create three Earls to help lead the forces. These were denoted by wearing a cloak

Three Earls, left has a Victrix a Housecarl head, centre a Victrix Norman head and right a Gripping Beast Arab Heavy Cavalry head. Cloaks are from Wargames Atlantic or Gripping Beast Irish. I know that the figure on the right might not be truly historically accurate - with a scarf around his helmet but it is what it is!

Four 'specials' to go with with others. Left a fighting monk, left centre a guy who has taken an arrow to the shoulder
(there were a lot of them flying around at Hastings!), next an archer - just because I could.
Finally on the right another spare Norman, as his head was handy when building this figure.

So there  we are 28 more figures for the Hastings battle - when I get around to putting it on! All brought to life to fuel this challenge and it goes to show, never throw out  figures you don't instantly like - especially plastics as you can so easily convert / upgrade them to something better.

POINTS

28 x 28mm Foot Figures = 140 Points

A fine collection of Anglo Danes Mike, I've been enjoying this project.  From what I've seen the old Wargames Factory figures were basic but would do.  I like the upgrading that you've done with this lot.  To me one of the advantages of the plastics is that one can mix and match between boxes.

Final Regular Monday

 

Yes we are down to the last couple of weeks of this year's Challenge and the final week of scheduled posting days.  So this is the last set of regular posts by the Monday crew and it looks to be a corker coming.

Team Monday has been prolific with MikeW and FrederickC holding down two of the top 5 places on the Challenge points board.  I've had a lot of fun adjudicating their posts.  Hope you've enjoyed it too.

From BrettM: Walking Dead and 2 Witchers 90pts

 First trip on the lovely Sarah's Star Yacht 

Female figure from Mantics walking dead range

With this entry we are cruising over to Glorantha.

I finished up the last of the walking dead figures I had left.

Not too much on these paint jobs. Figures weren't that great so gave them more of a board game standard

The Zombies I painted the rim of the base Red just to tell the difference on them quickly

Next while landing at Glorantha we find a Hero that has quite a story. 

The Witcher

Painted two up as one is for a friend of mine. 

Tried to do a bit more with this paint job. Not enough highlights though imo. 

This adds up to 10 minis at 5pts each plus the bonus for Lady Sarah's Star Yacht and Glorantha for an additional 40 points. Final points on this one 90.  

_____________________________________

Great work Brett! I like that female doing the tactical advance with her scoped rifle. Good call on the red bases to differentiate the Zeds from the survivors - smart. Also, your two(!) Witchers are very fine. Your friend will be very pleased at getting one of those, I'm sure.