JohnSh - Vertically challenged? What?? Take this you lanky git! (30 Points)

My first entry this year are these six goblins of the Shergob Forest Scouts. These hooded scamps are famous for "Robbing the rich, and the poor, and pretty much everyone in between, and giving it to themselves". I believe this gives me 30 points to start the tally and they all meet my self imposed Vertically Challenged rule (and Side Duel).

As a scout unit for Dragon Rampant they are 2 points toward the 24 point warband requirement for the Rampant Side Duel.

Mostly from the Macrocosm KickStarter of a couple of years ago I love the subtle references to hooligan hoodies. And why wouldn't a goblin wear a duffel coat if he could steal one?

As a few of the Challengers are members of Odin's Night Games Club here in Sydney, Australia and we decided to have a Challenge Kick Off/Christmas Lunch Paint In at my place yesterday. A couple of team members couldn't make it because of the atrocious traffic (I live just off the main "holiday traffic" route out of Sydney) but present were myself, AlanD, PaulO'G (Duels Wallah Actual) and former Challenger AledC, who came along for support, advice and to be sledged by us for not having the time to participate this year (I mean, wanting to concentrate on your new career rather than painting toys, wake up to yourself man!).

Aled, PaulO'G, AlanD and myself JohnSh kick off the Challenge together.

Good luck to everyone this year, Merry Christmas and remember the lesson that The Duels Wallah re-learnt yesterday - "The drinking glass is NOT the brush washing glass"

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John, those are some brilliant looking Greenskins - very characterful and old school looking. I especially like the red eyes and snaggly teeth. Thats also a super pic of you guys all lashing away at your various projects. By the glimpse I get with these photos, I think I could spend several happy hours perusing your bookshelves. 

30 points to break your duck and to start your 'Vertically Challenged' gambit. Well done John!

Adamc- Curtgeld the Philosopher and the King (with JohnM) 25 points

 When I saw that the Curt Geld was intended to be a partnership effort I knew JohnM would be the right man to team up with.  We live close by and see each other often for  games.   When I found a number of Eureka miniatures for sale at one of my local stores it just made sense to pick them up.  The set depicting Voltaire and Fredrick the Great in conversation seemed like the perfect Curt Geld

 John has already presented Voltaire so here present the philosopher king Fredrick II.  The King's typical costume was the undress uniform of the 1st Battalion of the 15th Regiment of which he was "Chef."  The Sulfur yellow of the "small cloths" makes a nice contrast to the Prussian Blue and Red of the coat.

 Lace on both hat and coats was silver.  This figures wears gaiters and shoes, Fredrick would probably have worn riding boots.  Still the sculptor did a fine job on those you can count the buttons.

Fredrick was know as a shabby dresser, his clothing was often worn and covered with snuff.  This was probably part personal inclination (or lack of inclination if you prefer) and part calculated move to win the esteem of the common soldier by dressing in much the same fashion they did.  I chose to portray him "spruced up" for a meeting with is friend Voltaire

Finally we have the two together having some deep philosophical discussion on the meaning of life, what constitutes good government or maybe what sort of beer to order with lunch.

 My share of this is one 25mm miniatures for 5 points plus the extra 20 point for Curt Geld.  That would make 25 Points if I am correct in the calculations. John has already gotten his points for Voltaire.


MilesR: wow what a really nice figure - well done

From BenF: Back to the Peninsular (65 Points)

After a few weeks of holidays which have enabled me to get some productive painting time in, it was back to work for me this past week. I've taken on an additional role teaching a senior Ancient History class this year, and I'm also running a course on the American and French Revolutions for an elective history class. For the last week and a half, that is what's been taking up a lot of my hobby time - and what little I have had has usually fallen on scorching hot days with temps up around the 40 degree C mark!.

Regardless, I've managed to get this batch done. I'm finding that the challenge is fantastic at making sure that I do get my wind-down hobby time in, and also that I keep moving forward with my projects. With work going back I've adjusted my expectations, and will try to get something completed every fortnight rather than every week.

Just before work went back, I got in a few games of Sharp Practice 2, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Playing these games I realised that there were a few bits and pieces which I needed for my Peninsular War French and British, so I decided to crack on with these before getting too deeply involved in my AWI project. In addition to this lot, I'll be painting up a group of the new Perry Dragoons, a group of Brigade Portuguese Caçadores, and the amazingly characterful Brigade Sharpe, Harper, and chosen men set.

Over the last fortnight or so I've managed to get this lot painted up.

First up, a couple of civilians - a 'Physic' with his doctors bag, and a figure haranguing his audience who I plan on using in lieu of a holy man for my more secular French forces. Both of these are from Brigade Games' excellent Napoleon in Egypt range.

Next up, two deployment points for my British troops. The first has two squaddies letting the French know what they think of them. These are minor conversions, as the original figs had the Belgic shako. I removed these and replaced them with stovepipe shakos from the Perry plastic set.

This next one is rather grisly (sensitive readers look away now). I've had these figures for years, and can't remember who the manufacturer was. The plight of the wounded and the work of the surgeons and medical forces is an overlooked part of the Napoleonic era, but one that all troops would have been extremely aware of. I think that this little diorama is a bit of a reminder of the historical reality of combat in the period. The colour schemes are inspired by this fascinating mini documentary on battlefield triage during the Napoleonic period. I think there is a case to be made that the invention of general anaesthetic should be considered to be one of the great leaps forward for our species.
As the figures were originally meant to represent French surgeons, I added a pile of the wounded man's discarded shako, pack, musket, and water bottle, all from the Perry plastic British set. I also added in some bloodied bandages, made from tea bags.

Finally, here is a group of French voltigeur skirmishers and their officer from the 10e Regiment Légère, one of the specialist light infantry regiments. These are Front Rank figures, and while they do look a little better fed than the Perry offerings, I think that they look great and mix in fine. Besides, they are the one of the only figure manufacturers who make légère infantry in pre-1812 uniforms. The Light infantry uniform was distinctive, with the short tasseled boots, cut down lapels and a shorter tail to the tunic.

This lot should push me ever closer to my goal, not that that will slow my painting!

Next on the painting table are the 95th Rifles, which will be Sharpe, Harper, and a mix of Perry Rifles and Brigade chosen men.


Alan and Paul: Some fantastic figures here for a game system we are just starting to explore also.  Love their crisp, colourful appearance - though that surgeon base shows the more grizzly side of what a shock points and casualties actually mean... Love the fact that he is strapped down and has a leather bite in place too. Ouch!

13 x 28mm figures nets you 65 well earned points for this submission!

From EvanH - The Big Fella - 28mm Orc Chieftain (10 points)

I'm back from the Apple Isle and ready for more painty goodness!

I love Tasmania. The scenery is breathtaking, the weather is cool, the beer is great, the seafood is brilliant, the cheeses are amazing, and the stonefruit are the best I've ever had. I can state categorically that sheep's milk whey makes an excellent vodka, as well as forming the basis of a delightful vanilla liqueur, and quinces are an excellent and flavourful addition to cider. 

All that stuff about oysters being an aphrodisiac is rubbish though; I ate a dozen and only eight of them worked.

But I'm back in the hot and humid confines of Sydney now, and I went to the painting desk first thing upon my return to finish off another fig from Scibor's Monstrous Miniatures, an ostensibly 28mm Orc Chief, who, at 55mm in height, certainly lives up to the 'Monstrous' tag. As soon as I saw this model on the website, I had to get it. Scibor Teleszynski's work is excellent, and this is one of his best sculpts so far. Six hours later, here's the result.

You can't rush this!

I went for a cooler colour scheme than the canonical GW Goblin Green. It makes him look a bit more grim and forbidding, or at least I hope so!

The skin was basecoated with the discontinued Citadel Foundation colour Orkhide Shade (because it was good, of course, it had to be discontinued - thanks GW!), a dense dark green at the blue end of the spectrum, worked up through Vallejo Scurvy Green and with successive additions of Citadel Hawk Turquoise and Space Wolves Grey to the mix. 

I decided to work with a wet palette to help with the blending of colours, and when the weather is hot, it's the only way to go if you don't want your paint drying out before you've finished. Given the heatwaves we've had to deal with recently, this will probably become a fixture on the work bench for the duration of the Challenge!

The leather loincloth was worked up from Citadel Scorched Brown, through Vallejo Game Colour Beasty Brown and Citadel XV-88 (that's light golden brown for those of you playing at home) and on to a final drybrush with Citadel Bleached Bone. A wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade over the surface tied the layers together.

Hair and whiskers were basecoated black, highlighted with Vallejo Model Colour Black Grey and a light overbrush of a dark blue. Citadel Space Wolves Grey provided the final highlight for strands of hair and beard.

This is one of those sculpts that cries out for a patient approach, and repays it many times over. I am glad I took my time with this one; while this pace will never get me an army anytime soon, it's allowed me to finish one really imposing figure to a standard that I'm happy with.

I don't know what this will be scored as, 28mm or 54mm, but it's just one figure so it's not going to set the world on fire!

Maybe he needs some friends? I'll have to see what I can dig out from the hidden valleys on the northern slopes of Lead Mountain...

Stay tuned!

Ev

By Paul & Alan: Not sure your Tasmanian tourism advertising has many of our international viewers sold, but I've definitely enjoyed a few trips there over the years too.

You've done great justice to a fantastic sculpt.  I love your choice of colours and your blending technique is top notch!  Given his size, I've scored him as a Cavalry fig - 10 points!

The Tribe of Bromley: Bone Giant - Nina Bromley (15 Points)

My Giant is for my Tomb Kings Army. 

My dad bought all of us armies so we wouldn't have to paint his. He helped me assemble them, base them, and for my Tomb kings he bought some stain to dip them. We made a big mess and made my mom mad!

The bone giant is very special. When he was built I was doing the base when I was little and added too much glue, my dad had to scrape alot of sand off the stuff he added to the base. Dad helped me base and dip the whole army before he went to Afghanistan.

I painted him blue, green, and red because they blend well with each other and two, I wanted what I call "specials" to stick out from the other regular army. So far my regular army has generals, tomb kings, and my queen.

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Well Nina, make no mistake, THAT is a magnificent Bone Giant. Very well done! 

I really like the colours you've picked for this big chap along with the rest of your 'Specials'. It conveys, very well, the ancient Egyptian design of the beastie. I'm also quite impressed with the bone colour you've achieved. It looks like its just risen from the sand, bending very well with the rest of the basework (artfully scraped by your dad).

He's a big, bony fella, so lets score him at 15 points. Beautiful work Nina. Until now I was having a rather cloudy day, but you've brightened it up considerably. I hope you join us again soon with another entry.

Curt

From Millsy: Christmas Allsorts (73 points)

Hello All!

My first post to this year's Challenge is something of a pick-n-mix of various items I've been collecting recently to finish off several projects.

First up is a set of three universal carriers for Flames of War. I have a large Australian force that can do either 9th Division infantry or Divisional Cavalry so these will fit in nicely with either. You can never have enough tracked pie tins! 18 points of Aussie goodness.

Next up is a set of five Ratling Snipers for my Warhammer 40K Catachan Imperial Guard force. I've always liked the 95th Rifles vibe these guys have got and couldn't resist the green-jacket paint scheme. The detail on these was quite soft so they're not the best paint job but they'll do. 25 points for these guys.

Lastly we have a bunch of additions to my stupidly large (i.e. 9,000 point) Epic Armageddon Squat force, composed of some Gorgon transports and a Land Train, the iconic Squat war engine. All up worth a total of 26 points.

These are the first edition Gorgons and I really like the models. The one thing I am never 100% sure of is which is the front! I suspect it is the dozer blade end but I'm more than happy to be corrected.

The Land Train is one of the coolest Epic models ever produced in my humble opinion. There's just something so very "Epic" about it. The vast majority of my Squats are based on rounds and it works really well for the Land Train as it can snake it's way across the board.

So that's a small but welcome 69 points to kick me off. There should probably have been more but I've been distracted by a combination of this...

Anyone remember this? Kudos if you can...

And this...

Another Christmas search and rescue. Fingers crossed we get a good outcome!

Cheers,
Millsy

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Ahh, the irrepressible Millsy has emerged from his antipodean mancave to make his presence be known. Hooray!!  The game is on, like Donkey Kong!

Great looking Bren carriers Mr. Mills - the crew peeking over the top of these jam cans are great, I imagine they are holding on like mad, hoping for the best. 

Your Ratlings are awesome (I'm a big fan of the abhumans in 40K) and, you sly dog, I quite appreciate the rifleman uniforms (and done without a mullet or seven-barrelled gun in sight, god bless you).

The Epic Squats vehicles are, well, epic - that Land Train is the absolute bomb (and mortar, and missile, and...). Also, I looked on the Forge World site and it seems the Gorgon carrier has the door/blade thingy at the front. Maybe that bit at the back is an incline stabilizer, or an ejector for beard trimmings and empty beer kegs. You need to give us an army shot of this force nearing the end of the Challenge. 

Finally, I have absolutely no idea on the computer game (it looks like it should be played on an Amiga or TRS80), but I hope your S&R had a happy resolution and you can get back to the brushes soon.

BTW, I've added a few points for the partial crew figures in the Bren...

From BillA : Opening Moves (22 Points)

I thought I'd start off my Challenge this year with a few one-offs, some odds and ends that had been sitting for a while, waiting their turn in my lead pile.

First up, Reaper Miniatures' "Spirit" (#77098) from their Bones line.  Cast in translucent yellow-green material, I wanted to keep a little bit of the transparency while still applying paint.  I basecoated him in Reaper's Clear Green, followed by a heavy drybrush of Viper Green, then a subsequent drybrush of Pale Green.  After that, it was building up highlights with progressively whiter mixes of Pale Green and Pure White.

Second, the Bones version of Reaper's "Vanja, Fire Giant Queen" (#77100).  I've ogled this figure since it was first released in metal, but could never justify dropping that kind of coin on a single figure.  It dawned on me as I was basecoating this figure that she's wearing lingerie.  Thigh-high armored leggings, held up by a chain-link garter belt and an ironclad tube top.  She's not dressed for battle, she's dressed for the boudoir! Yowza! I tried to keep the metallics subdued with darker iron and bronze tones rather than silver and gold so as not to take attention away from her flaming hair.  Likewise I went with a blue gray for her skin tones to provide a cooler contrast.  She's a big beauty too; standing almost three inches tall from heels to crown.

Finally, "Cactus Joe, Gorilla Gunslinger" (#50318), a metal figure from Reaper's Chronoscope line.  This was a Christmas present from Gina last year, the last of the figures she'd bought me that I hadn't painted yet.  Because of Cactus Joe's bulk and stance, I based him on a 50mm base, despite not being particularly taller than the average 28mm figure, and added a Pegasus Hobbies' cactus to the base to give him some cover while shooting.  I've seen a number of people paint Cactus Joe's serape to match the one worn by Clint Eastwood in the Dollars trilogy, so I wanted to do something different; I went with a medium-dark blue, and gave it a simple wide band of "Stained Ivory," followed by a narrower band of "Blood Red," finally a thin band of "Pure Black" that didn't end up as thin as I wanted, but I foresaw only making things worse in attempting to fix it.

All in all, I think this is a solid start for me, and with a pair of 28mm figures and one that tops out at almost 70mm, I'm guessing this entry should garner me 20-something points. 

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It's great to see your first submission of this year, Bill! Lovely figures. I like the green of the ghost, and Vanja is undoubtedly formidable (armoured foundation garments, yikes!), but I'm particularly taken by 'Cactus Joe' and his natty poncho. Nevertheless, I think that cactus, while very fine indeed and casting cooling shade, would provide dubious cover, unless of course his opponents are shooting elastics. :)

Great to have you back Bill!