Friday 24 February 2017

From RobH - Lord of the Rings (25 points)

I've been collecting the GW LOTR figures for a while. I've never purchased them at GW pricing but I will give credit where credit is due. They produce a fine product. For the challenge I have completed Gwaihir the Windlord and two poses of Saruman the White.


Gwaihir the Windlord





and Mr. Christopher Lee. I really think the sculpture, not my interpretation captures his likeness.




Nicely done. I can almost hear Saruman mumbling some dark incantation. These fine miniatures will be worth 10 for the two version of the White Wizard, and 15 or the Eagle which, I assume, should be considered a vehicle for adventurers. Well done! (Sylvain)
 

From EricM - The First of the Last (220 points)

Happy Friday!    My installment this week is the last cohort of the bullheaded legion and the first cohort of the last legion.  As we move into the last leg of the challenge my goal is to finish this last legion and some Numidian Auxiliaries

I saved the first cohort of the Bullheaded legion for last.  Its 24 figures strong compared to the others that are 16 (soon to be 18).

 






The last legion I plan for paint for a while has changed a bit.  I had planned to go with black shield and dark yellow lightening bolts.  The test shields came out ok and I was ready to go, but then I came across the stars and bronze idea on the internet.  New and shiny always wins!




I was able to paint 42 figures this week. As usual all are Wargames Foundry.

Nothing says "Ancient" like a cohort of Roman legionnaires. The colors are spot on and there is a great unity radiating from your groups. These 42 figures will rake in 210 points and I will add 10 points for the shields. Veni vedi vici. (Sylvain)


From JamesonP - Live from the Battlefield, Part 2 (40 points)

This week has me posting live from the battlefield again. This time, however, the game results were not as good. Instead of routing the British, I ended up losing several units.

The photographic results, on the other hand, were better.

First off, four more Conquest Miniatures French — this time all with shoulder arms.





Next up are four Indians from Wargames Factory. As opposed to the Dark Ages warriors I painted earlier in the challenge, these figures are much less "wooden". There're a lot of fiddly bits, but the results are some really dynamic poses.









I'm traveling with family next week, so I'm not sure if I'll post. If I do, it'll more than likely be some more Dwarves.

I too sometimes travel with Dwarves, a.k.a. kids. But your figurines looks very lively. I notice that your bases are quite thick, which is an interesting choice. I like how your ground work matches the scenery. This ensemble will be worth 40 points. Put the kids to bed early and get to those brushes! (Sylvain)





From Steve B - Arena Rex, BMG (15 points)

After the last few minis.  I slowed down a bit slow I could work on this guy. The Arena Rex game puts out some amazing minis. So I thought I should put some extra effort in to them. He is big more like 40k terminator size.



I did manage to get a few more Joker gang members done, more as a change of pace from the gladiator.


So 3 more minis towards my goal.

Only 3 figures this week, but so colourful and so powerful. I would not mess with any of these guys if I were to meet them on the street. The metal on the gladiator is very well rendered and the make-up on the face of the villains really adds to the spookiness. Excellent job!




From KeithS - Another Mish-mash (90 points)

This was a pretty low production week for me, despite having four days off last weekend.  Alas, I spent a lot of that time gaming, socializing, and otherwise not painting.  And, what time I did have available I used to significantly reorganize and reorder all my figures.  It had to be done.  The stuff I did paint was generally easy stuff, probably pretty low point value, though it did help clean up things  a bit for me.  All are scaled for 25mm.


First up is Woodsy Owl, also known as an Owlbear from Grenadier.  He looks pretty excited to be here, especially with those jazz hands of his.

From the back.  He looks like he is dancing, which might be a theme for me this week (it does not help that, a few minutes before getting online to post this my wife had the "classic soul" channel going on Pandora).

Next up are five Cockatrices.  They all were painted per the description written by Gary Gygax in the old Monster Manual.  For those following along, these go with the Sightless Sisters project I first painted in December, and there will be more for that project fairly soon.  On the far right is a simple winged serpent thing from Reaper.  I originally thought it was a cockatrice but, realizing my error, just painted it anyway.

Up close and personal.  These angry chickens are quite colorful.

I had a number of large, lumpy figures I decided to quickly finish to make room for other stuff in my queue - low hanging fruit, really.  They are from Grenadier (I think), a water elemental and two air elementals.  The water guy reminds me a lot of Samuel L. Jackson, and if I ever use it, I will have plenty of colorful dialog to use!

From the back.  Really quite simple with some grey washes on the air guys.

Next up were these three random guys, another Owlbear, a werewolf, and an Otyugh.  Again, all simple figures and not very challenging, but three less figures taking up space in the unpainted limbo of my work area.  The two on the right were part of a recent, sizable acquisition from my roommate from college, who found them at his parents and sent them to me.

From the back.  Once again, they seem to be dancing, or maybe just a cool fist-bump between Owlbear and Wolfman.

Just finished earlier today is an eagle and a dog.  I had to use the dog unpainted (gasp!) the other day in a game when there was a sudden and unexpected interest in trained war dogs for my AD&D game.  Well, painted now for next time, though two of the party's dogs bought the farm last weekend.

Last up is this small pony cart from Asgard/Viking Forge.  It was pretty simple, especially compared to the wagon I did last week.  In fact, that was why I did it - seemed like it might be useful.

From another angle and loaded - the cargo is removable.


That's all for this week.  In my reorganization I found a lot of misplaced figures, including more Minotaurs from the same line I painted last week, and yet more adventurers <sigh>.  However, I am going to continue to knock out monsters for a bit and then turn to 28mm Scots for Saga, as I just received some shield decals form the UK today.

What an interesting variety. D&D always strikes a deep cord on my nostalgia harp. Looks like you will have strange and fun adventures awaiting you in the next few weeks. Weird monsters will show up one after another. These 16 figures (80) and the cart (10) will earn you 90 points. Well done!  


From MartinN - SCW La Legión (150 points)


This years challenge has started quite slowly for me but at long last I'm finally able to squeeze in an adequately sized submission. Curt, ChrisS, PhilH and myself are running a Spanish Civil War side challenge and if I'm not completely mistaken this entry should put me in the lead... for the moment at least. As per our agreement it's a legally playable force for Bolt Action.

1st Command element
Truth be told I was rather hesitant to add yet another project to my already rather impressive collection of unfinished armies. But once I caved in and finally ordered the first figures there was no chance of stopping that train anymore. As soon as the order from Miniaturicum arrived I had to put brush to them. I almost couldn't even wait for the undercoat to fully dry, so eager I was. Small wonder with such lovely sculpted miniatures from Mr. Hicks.

2nd Command element - Standard bearer was submitted already

Support weapon - Light mortar
I went for a rather limited colour palette on these, but as I'm aiming more for the earlier period of the conflict and the Legion being considered an elite unit, I figured they'd probably be a little more uniform than other units in this conflict.

1st Squad

2nd Squad
According to Wikipedia there were five FT-17 tanks in service with the nationalist army at the outbreak of the war. I always had a soft spot for that rolling French tin box, so I couldn't resist the temptation to paint one up. The relevant Osprey states Spanish tanks of the period were dark grey but I preferred to give it a olive-green finish. In order to raise morale I painted the nationalist red-yellow-red colours around the turret and added the well known ¡Arriba Espana! slogan. Quite an eye catcher I think.

'Heavy armour' - Renault FT-17 tank
So all told this submission features 27 eligible infantry miniatures (the standard bearer was already submitted) a light mortar and a tank. As I'm never quite sure as to how small support weapons like the mortar are counted I leave the points totaling up to our esteemed Friday minion.

Aye Aye Aye. Creo que es impresionante! Everything about your production is worth mentioning: the facial expressions, the unshaved looks, the work on the base, the rust effect on the French tank. But I am just talking and you are waiting for your points. 27 nationalists at 5 points each is 135, plus 15 for the tank will give you a grand total of 150 points. Olé!




From GrahameH - Charge of the Cossacks and Spartacus (410 points)


GrahameH - Friday 


More 15mm WW2 Soviet Cossacks

Not posted anything for a few weeks as I have been finishing off my Cossacks. I have added the support weapons and transport for these, enough for two battalions for the Rapid Fire rules. The main problem I encountered is that no one makes crew for any of this, resulting in loads of head swaps.

All the Soviets together

4 Limbers All Battlefront - Only one head swap as ran out of heads

4 Carts by Battlefront - Heads Peter Pig

4 Wagons by Battlefront - Heads Peter Pig

2 AA Wagons - Wagons are Essex, Horses Battlefront, Crew and heads Peter Pig


 
2 MG Carts (can't remember the name and too lazy to look up now) Battlefront - drivers heads Peter Pig


" Light Mortars - Battlefront - heads PP

4 X Medium Mortars (you have probably guessed by now) Figures Battlefront - heads PP

2 AT Guns Battlefront with 4 PP head swaps



2 Infantry Support Guns Battlefront and 4PP Heads

4 AT Rifle Teams - Figs Battlefront - 4 Heads PP

2 X 203mm Howitzers and 5 Crew each - Battlefront (Not Cossacks but needed a change)

3 Trucks (2 Zvezdas rear and QRF Radio truck in the foreground)

2 X Battlefronts SU122

3 X Zvezda T 60 Tanks
An d a small party to celebrate finishing the cossacks (Peter Pig)
Spartacus 15mm Forged in Battle Figures

Bought these a while ago just to paint rather than buy an army. Having now painted these I need to buy the rest of the army. I'm sure you know how it is.

24 Figures - armed slaves

24 Gladiators

Same unit - got to buy some more of these
Had some left over so based them on pennies and will use the in the arena

And finally the great man himself -------Kirk Douglas
That's it til next week. Wonder what I'll do next??????? Nothing like having a plan.

 BOOOM! The first point bomb of Friday. What beautiful units you have created, all ready to play. The Cossacks are deliciously anachronistic during WW2, but how fun will it be for you to gallop through woods with your Tachankas and surprise the enemy from the rear. One of the obviously odd things with Battlefront is to have units such as 203mm monster guns on the board. Oh well, at least you get to show them off  to your opponent. My favourite is the vignette showing the men dancing the Hopak. Everything about your project suggest work and fun. Oh, and the Spartacus units are just as amazing. Now you gave me quite a homework calculating your points. I considered the horse drawn carriages as vehicles at 6 points each, but the Tachankas were worth 16 points each because of the extra horses and crew, and the 203mm guns were scored as vehicles as well, because of their size. So 296 points for the Cossacks and 110 points for Spartacus and his fans. I threw in a few more points to round up the tally at 410 points. Great work! (Sylvain)