From StuartL - On the wings of Ravens.

Hello all.
Two posts in the same week, this is a better result for me than I've managed so far in this challenge. Today I have another 3D printed mini to show off. A friend of mine printed this up for me after I found the file online. It's a Dark Angels, Ravenwing attack bike for the Horus Heresy/Warhammer 30,000.

Currently neither Games Workshop, nor Forge World offer a suitable 30K miniature of their own, but the rules for it have been around for years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the hobby community took it upon themselves to design their own model and release the designs for free. As far as kits go, it looks great, but there are some parts that don't fit together perfectly (the gunner and the handles of the weapon for example). Still, it does the job very nicely

I've been playing about recently with adding extra weathering to my minis, paint chips along with dust and grime. In my imagination, battlefields of the grim dark future are probably pretty dirty places. I'm still getting the hang of the weathering powders, so I may have gone a  bit overboard with them. A lot of it will probably rub off over time though, so I am not too worried.

This marks the first mini for a Dark Angels Legion army (my 5th Heresy era force, though I haven't really finished any of them yet). I have a squad of infantry on the way, which I hope to get finished off over the weekend.

From StuartL - New-crons

Hello again. Long time, no see.

My painting pace continues to be glacially slow, though I am making little bits of progress here and there. I have managed to finish up two Necron models for Warhammer 40,000. They are both from the Indomitus boxed set that was released to promote the new edition of Warhammer 40K. Not that I will ever go near that set of rules (I am happy sticking with a mix of 5th edition and home-brew to be honest), I just really, really wanted the new Necrons as they are absolutely gorgeous in my opinion.

This first chap is a Skorpekh Lord and is a massive hunk of mini. Standing twice the height of most other models in the game, this three legged, three armed, death-dealing monstrosity is the best of the new models for me. I'd like to get another one, but GW are unlikely to ever release a more modular figure with variant weapons and poses, which is a shame as there is a lot you could potentially do with it. 

To accompany him is a Plasmancer, one of the Necron's mysterious caste of Crypteks, mad scientists with otherworldly weapons designed to wreak maximum carnage. The designers have done a good job of making this model look like it's hovering just above the ground. Whereas the Skorpekh has a leg to spare, the Plasmancer has none at all.

I have had these guys primed and ready since before the winter challenge, so it is good to get them out of the 'to do' pile and into the 'done' pile. Sadly (or happily depending on how you look at it), the former still outweighs the latter. 

And that's it from me for now. I have another batch of minis that are in need of a spot of weathering and then will be finished off. Fingers crossed I can get them done and dusted sometime soon.

Christopher Sliter: Mexican Regular Infantry

 

A return back to my Texas War Of Independence project I briefly started last year I think. I'll be building this for Sharp Practice 2 which I think is the perfect ruleset for this period which is small engagements fighting in a semi skirmish manner.

Since Mexicans are likely to be the more numerous of the two forces I thought I would start fresh with them so I could figure out a plan of action and just get the ball rolling.

For the uniform I went with the winter colors of blue top and white pants instead of the all white summer uniform for the regulars although in the future I may use the summer to denote militia or something different from the regulars.

I painted the cross belts in a slightly brighter shade of white to the pants so they don't blend in. Other then a couple Russian officers this is the only thing I've come close to painting in a Napoleonic type of uniform and it does add a bit more work and the pom pom was a challenge getting the Mexican colors in there. 

The figures are from Boot Hill and they really do have a ton of cartoony character that just makes you smile while you paint them and I have to say they are a real joy to paint!

 

The paints I used were mostly foundry a dash of Vallejo and P3 thrown in the mix. I kept the colors nice and bright to further play up the style of sculpts and the basing I also went for a brighter semi desert ground. The figures are multi based from I believe warbases.

Troops need some leaders so painted up an officer and his sergeant to keep the men focused and moving. I also created some sabots for them so they would stand taller next to the unit and of course helps pick them out as leaders. It also allows me to take them off the sabots and place them in the unit if I don't want to move them separately.

Lots of pictures in this one, but I wanted to show the unit in both line and grouped together in a compact formation. I will be returning to the Texan War, but before that I'll be in the dark woods of Northern America and Canada for more gun smoke adventures.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company. Boot Hill Miniatures

From SanderS: First Jab in and Curtgeld! (10points)

 Hoi,

 

Yup it happened, I have received that first jab everyone is talking about. It came sooner then expected and the second one is planned already. This means that I now have to drop out of this Challenge and I thought it fitting to paint up a figure I would be able to sent to the Far North as a tribute to our great leader: his Curtship himself. 

That means it needs to be a yello-purple coloured Landsknecht figure and I had a good look around. While I have found several sets of figures that would suit the bill, I think for now this figure will suffice. Last Challenge wasn't complete without my partner in Landsknecht-crime the esteemed Lord Michael of Awdry Towers, so I decided that I would paint him one of the self same figures as well. Now the figure might be a bit cheeky, saucy or even racy and so I texted a photo of one of them to Michael to ask him whether Curt would take offense at being given a lady dressed like this... his opinion was that Curt could probably appreciate the sentiment. "Good" I said "because guess who's getting one too?" Well gentelemen I hope you like them because they will soon be travelling the waves towards Awdry Towers and the Blue Ice Caves in Canada.

They are figures from the Beltfed range from Colonel Bill and they are reasonably well sculpted.The bases I made myself with grey-stuff and texture rollers from Greenstuff world, inspired by Sidney of course.

I would like to thank all of you for all your support and comments and Curt for letting us post them here on his blog. I will be hanging around till this Challenge ends or the next Big one starts again ;-)

Cheers everyone and stay safe!

From TeemuL: Reanimates, over and out (40 points)

Yes, I got my first jab yesterday and in the evening I glued the tufts on these bases, when the basing was dried. These are Reanimate Archers from the FFG's Runewars Miniature Game. Local store had the starter box on 65% discount, so the game including 48 miniatures cost only 42 euroes. I couldn't skip the offer and I bought one box to share with a friend. That is very cost and space effective way to purchase games, you can use this if you have issues with other parts in your family. It might not be a bulletproof, if you tell that after buying the initial box you bought a second one to split and some extension boxes as well... Anyway, we quickly assembled to the first box and played two learning games and decided, that it is nice fun for the afternoons, quite a boardgamelike miniature game in the end, very much X-Wing.

The miniatures are soft boardgame plastic and require super glue to be assembled, but on the other hand there were no mould lines (I could see) and assembling was rather easy. There were several poses as well, for example this unit of 8 archers has 4 different poses. A bit of bending and gluing into different angle hides the duplicates quite well. By the rule book, the miniatures are not glued to the trays, but removed as casualties. Anyway, we are playing this game in relaxed mode and decided that we can glue them and use counters, dice etc. The bases looks much better this way. I just need to hide the rings better on the next batch.

I wanted some quick and simple paint schemes, so I decide to use Contrast paints. They worked very well on these skeletons. Each area has just one coat of Contrast over Wraithbone spray, no highlights, no shades, inks, drybrushes or anything. Only the arrow tips are painted in metallic. The bases are Agrellan Earth with some Army Painter tufts. As you can, see they look quite great for such a speed paint job. I'm looking forward to paint more of these and play more with these.

This is my final post for this Challenge, the XII will start (hopefully) in about six months, so not too much time to change all the plans. This post is 40 in total for 8 28mm miniatures. See you in the next Challenge, stay safe, have fun and act responsible!

Frrom MartijnN: I'm out (5 points)

Well, I have been vaccinated. As a matter of fact almost two weeks ago, and I have been struggling to get some painting done. As a typical Belgian autumn has suddenly turned into a typical Belgian tropical summer my painting mojo has slipped below the horizon, however, so the planned out-with-a-bang post has turned into a rather disappointing sizzle.

Still, I have this rather interesting figure for you, advertised as a Fly Trap. I'm not sure yet whether is a plant or an animal, it has a bit of both. It is once again from the Scourge of Valtan Forest Kickstarter. I painted it using Citadel Contrast and Scale75 Instant Colours. 

So there we are. As it is technically a 28mm figure I will award myself 5 points for it, which brings my total of the Vaccination Challenge to 276 points. Not as much as I would have liked, but still mildly satisfying.

Obviously, I will keep following the Vaccination Challenge. Thanks to all who looked at my posts and commented on them; much appreciated! I hope that numbers in the Vaccination Challenge may dwindle swiftly as we all get our vaccines. I look forward to seeing you all again at the end of the year in the "proper" Challenge! As much fun as the Vaccination Challenge has been, I would rather that it be a one-time experience. Take care!

From StuartL - Unleashing the 3D Printed Demons

Hello again.

I'm steadily (and very slowly) pushing on with my to do pile. There is still no chance of me getting the vaccine anytime soon as the roll-out here in Japan is incredibly slow.

In the meantime I have painted up my first 3D printed minis. A friend of mine recently bought one of these modern marvels and printed up some figures for me. I have to say that I am impressed by the quality of the minis.

I'm trying to put together a collection of Samurai-era Fantasy models to use for Saga: Age of Magic and saw these Oni figures online. My friend was kind enough to print them out for me. They are from a designer called Artisan Guild and they are very nice indeed. The two headed chap above is on a 50mm base, as is the black fellow below. The red boys and girls are all on 40mm bases, so you can get an idea of scale.

These figures have all been printed on a resin printer, so I was dubious at first as I really, really don't like working with resin. Thankfully my friend had done most of the clean-up work after the printing and I just had a few odd supports to trim off. The detail is really good and the figures went together perfectly on the first try. Unlike traditional resin casting, there were no bubbles and no warping to be seen. A couple of the models have very faint lines where the printer didn't quite line things up perfectly, but they are barely noticeable once painted.

The figures are all very characterful and are great for skirmish type games. I would still prefer plastic for more rank and file, mass-battle games, but I'm sold on the benefits of 3D printing. Sadly due to the number of chemicals and the smell they produce I don't think my wife will ever let me get a 3D printer myself, which is probably for the best. Having the ability to produce armies of minis from home will eventually lead to me having to buy an extension (or two) for my house.

I'll keep plugging away at the lead mountain. Finger crossed there will be more to come from my painting table soon. 

From TeemuL: Sheriff's office, heavy weapons and an aeroplane (90 points)

Here's my second last post. I'll get my first dose on Wednesday and I have some unfinished minis on the table. I'll finish them and post tomorrow, I hope.

But in the meanwhile I have been cleaning my table of half-finished projects. Here's a Sheriff's office from Warbases. I started this during the main Challenge and I was hoping to finish it for one of my Wild West entries, but time run out and it went to the backburner. It is ready now, not super pretty, but functional. I didn't really think about the colors when I painted, I was kind of "in the character" of the wild west house builders... It was easy to assemble and the roof can be removed, so the interior can be seen. Excellent for jail break scenarios.

This one is a Nieuport 17 biplane for WW1. I started this scale model during the Challenge 10, continued during the Quarantee Challenge, worked a little after that, did something during Challenge 11 and it is now ready. I'm not sure if it actually fits in the puritan view of the Challenge, but it is kind of toy and I painted it, so why not. :) Now, any 1/32 scale WW1 dogfight rules anywhere? Empty sheds? Anything? This is from Academy Hobby Model Kits bought six years ago from an Event. Do you remember those? I'm not superhappy with the decals, the big ones are a bit too big and I'm quite sure I could have painted some of the freehand anyway. On the other hand, they were much easier to put in place than the GW decals for example, very easy to use. The paintingi is from the insctuctions, although I didn't have the exact paints and not all the necessary hues, but it looks pretty in the photos. In the real life it is not that pretty, but it will do. Oh, and this was the first time I glued strings to represent various cables and stuff. Tricky business that, not perfect, but looks better than without.

And finally three heavy weapon squads for my Astra Militarum (Imperial Guard) Imperial Reenactment 7th. More bullets and laser bolts for the various theathers of war, painted mostly with Contrast paints again. I usually keep my 40K bases quite clean, but these were so empty, that I glued some tufts on them. There are two heavy bolters and one lascannon team, not a perfect mix for a heavy weapon squad, but in the Guard you need to fight with what you have.

The house is about 6x6x3, so 10 points. Biplane is roughly a 28mm vehicle, so 20 points. 3 crew served weapon teams, each with a gun and 2 crew, so 20 points a piece, 60 in total. 90 points total for this post.

Yes, one more post from me coming up, I don't know if there are others still participating or not, but I'll keep my eye on this blog for a while anyway.