Thanks to Curt for the reminder to get a first post in before the deadline!
Here are a couple of figures from Crooked Dice for the 7TV game.
I had this post ready on Saturday, hoping to avoid being cut from the AHPC XIV roster. However, as my posting day is Tuesday I am too late. I have many figures in progress, but nothing posted yet.
These Minions are certainly not as friendly as the AHPC Minions. They are 28mm miniatures from Crooked Dice. They are intended for the 7TV game. They could also be used in many other games (Pulp Alley etc.), although they would probably arrive too late to influence the game!
This is my first post in any of the challenges and thanks for letting me into the winter event. This last year has been a drought for me in regard to painting and after a good start last January I rolled through 2022 with 10th Months of zero painting. I have played games but just not had the willpower to focus on the paint. So my first issues in the last two weeks were hand eye coordination, painting skill, eyesight quality and a fanatical dedication to the pope. I dropped my airbrush twice and the first time splashed the recently dicanted paint over the floor and my foot. My airbrush needle had also dried locked into the body of the brush and it serves me right for not having put any lube on the needle when I last used it. Throughout the airbrushing and painting I could see no detail, even with my strongest painting-specific strength glasses on and had to trust my skill. A visit to the opticians is required because my aging eyes are shriveling up!
Post-Apocalyptic models were my first choice and I have two quad bikes from Games Workshop in the Orlock Necromunda faction which are plastic kits and one jeep from Crooked dice games which was resin with metal details. I wanted to really weather these up as a way of avoiding having to do a good paint job and I am relatively happy with the result. I intend to use these models in both Necromunda and the post apocalyptic game from Crooked Dice games called 7TV.
Review wise the plastic quads from GW were much better than I expected, the level of fine detail on them is getting close to 1/35th military kits, with tiny hidden details like suspension and connecting areas that surprised me. For example they add bracket metal (plastic) plates for the spikes on the front and I am sure back in the day they would have just put basic spikes on the model, rather than showing any kind of detail of how the spikes would require a bracket. The character models on the quads were a little chunky though and I think their legs are actually elephantine in thickness which is a shame but it does match with the rest of their range. The resin vehicle from 7TV was a little rough cast in areas like the tires (which were easy to disguise) and the actual figure in the driving seat was pretty poor in terms of pose, sculpting and casting quality and I don't think I really salvaged it very well with my basic paint job on it. Otherwise the resin jeep kit was very nice in regard to looking like it had all the parts it required to drive, with a fan belt, air intake and interesting exhaust setup.
My technique was a base prime colour airbrushed on all larger surface areas like hull/body, followed by some targeted airbrushing on wheels with a black and the figure bodies. I weathered with a sponge chipping with a darker brown and then used a brush to add a lighter than base coat chip into a lot of the areas the sponge had touched with the darker brown rusty colour. I gave the two quad bike riders and gunners the same blue shirt "uniform", which was just to allow them to match the squad I am going to paint for the Orlock faction and will keep them all looking similar. However, in hindsight I think doing them all in different worn colours would look more post-apocalyptic, rather than just sticking to the GW colour scheme. It did save some time just going for one blue for all the shirts.
I used what is more recently called slap-chop or under shading style on the character models by airbrushing a lighter colour from above and then also dry brushing them white with the excellent new Ammo dio-dry-brush paints. Where there are lighter shades on the blue cloth and leather trousers, this is typically the under shade showing through because the final coats with made with a glaze style of thin painting with Liquitex acrylic glazing medium being added to colours applied to thin them and allow the undershade to show through.
Toward the end of the job I used some enamel streaking grime from AK Interactive to weather the hulls/body of the vehicles and that went on really easily with some enamel thinners (perfect over acrylic base coats). Then I also used some AK interactive weathering pencil on the wheels to make it look like sand had dried into the rubber. This did not work as well as I had hoped and in the future I am going to try some buff titanium oil paint which should look a little more subtle on the rubber tires.
Points wise I read that each vehicle was 20pts each, so 60pts total for the three. I think they took about 9 hours in total for the three models.
Finished models follow:
Excellent first post, welcome to the challenge. I love these, we've just started to get into Necromunder and I now want some vehicles. I recomend getting your eyes tested, it's the sports injury that we get. Although these are so good that you shouldn't worry
Can you do a points tally at the end of the post, it helps, and you have miscounted on these. You get 5pts for each of the crew as well.
MartinC
Sarah's Star Yacht:
I was enjoying life in my luxury suite aboard Sarah's Star Yacht, listening to music and slowly painting some of my miniatures.
"I wonder what is delaying the delivery of my in-suite dinner?" I thought.
Just then the door slid open and a young lady entered. She was not wearing the normal crew uniform, but a bright red outfit. She had a serious look on her face.
"It is time!" she said.
"Time for what? Where is my evening meal?"
"No time for that, you have to go to Skaro and submit your first report.
"But - Skaro? The planet of the Da....."
"Yes, that or face "The Cut"", she interrupted. Commander Campbell's orders"
Worried, I replied "I thought I could just slowly paint all my old school miniatures as I listen to my old records and submit everything in a last minute rush?" I looked at the old vinyl record I was about to play - specially selected for listening during Challenge XII cruise. It seemed like it might have to wait. "What does "The Cut", involve?" I asked nervously.
She smiled. "I'd be happy to show you". She drew a large sword from behind her back and expertly swooshed it around the room.
"Careful! I don't want to have to pay for damages"
"That will be the least of your worries"
"Okay, I'll go to Skaro and submit a report" I said, thinking that at least I had a slightly better chance of survival if I did. "This is not quite the luxury cruise I thought I was on"
"It is a Challenge, you should have read the fine print in your contract. I'll escort you via shuttle to Skaro." She took a disappointed look at her sword and returned it to the case behind her back. "Another member of my team will bring you back once you have submitted your report. Let's go!"
Skaro:
"Davros has survived through the millennia and appears to have regained control of at least some Daleks. I count 5 Daleks who are currently listening to his directions. You need to alert The Doctor before Davros and the Daleks create more havoc across the universe" I hit SEND on my tablet to transmit my report. I then sent a signal for the shuttle to take me back to Sarah's Star Yacht.
As I moved from my hiding place to head to the rendezvous point, I realised that I had been spotted.
"Stop him! The Doctor must not find out that I have returned!" yelled Davros.
"Exterminate! Exterminate!" responded the Daleks in unison.
Sarah's Star Yacht:
That was a close one, but I had avoided "The Cut" and Extermination.
I was escorted back to my suite by another member of "the team". "Next we are heading to Vulcan on the far side of the Outer Ring, so you will have plenty of time to be ready to submit your next report. We'll be making a logistics stop there"
"Sounds logical" I said with a smile.
No response.
"Wait... next report?"
"Yes, it is due on Tuesday". It was the first "team member" who had joined us. "Tamsin is counting on you to make a contribution to the Team Tuesday points total, and don't forget your Challenge target is 1000. You need to pick up the pace!"
"There seem to be a lot of rules, are you two here to make sure Challengers abide by them?" I asked.
"Yes, we ensure compliance with Challenge Cult Rules" said the second "team member".
"Challenge Community Guidelines", her team mate corrected her.
"I had better get back to the brushes then" I replied. "Any chance of dinner?".
They looked at each other, then turned to leave "See you on Tuesday" said the second team member as the door slid open.
"All this travelling through time and space and submitting reports is going to be harder than the cruise I was expecting" I thought. "Why are they being so hard on me? It is not like I ate any of the orange crayons or tried to claim bonus points for painting a female Dalek." I turned on the digital music system and looked for something new to listen to while I painted my miniatures.
"Oh! The latest episode of the Canadian Wargamer Podcast, Episode #23,352 is available - that will be perfect!"
*******
Phew! I am still in the Challenge - just! Still waiting for dinner though!
For points:
5 Daleks and Davros 28mm from Warlord = 30
2 Daughters of SHIVA 28mm from Crooked Dice = 10
Locations: Skaro and two trips on Sarah's Star Yacht = 60
Total: 100 points.
Next stop Vulcan
See you on Tuesday!
From DaveD
Ooh and under the wire alright and dodging the sharp blade of the Cutter , Tamsin will be pleased.
You are off and running at 100 points
In between painting Italian Allied Legion and waiting for bases to dry I have been chipping away at another building for my 28mm Sweeney Project. A essential piece of terrain for any Cops and Robbers setting is a bank, it appears in so many scenarios.
The kit is made from printed heavy card and is a real trial to put together, each piece needs cutting out with a craft knife and the edges painted, the door for example is 7 layers thick.
Points wise I think its around 20 using the cube calculation, the building is 11" long, 3" wide and 8" high. After working on this for 8 weeks this is definitely the hardest 20 points I've ever earned 😁
The building is for an O Gauge Railway and comes in whats called half relief, I definitely think gamers have a lot to learn from Railway modelling when it comes to terrain.
So I'm off to finish my Legion, you slaaaaags 😎
More 7TV as I discovered these undercoated and based figures in my boxes of holding whilst rummaging through looking for something else.
These Captain Scarlet inspired figures weren’t bought for any particular reason.... but the refreshed “Argonauts” cast from 7TV gave me an idea as I needed some robotic minions with rifles.
In a wardrobe decision worthy of the 60’s & 70’s shows that 7TV is based on, I decided to paint their skin and hair silver, as if they’ve had silver makeup applied to make them “robots” in a budgetary conscious way.
All in green for a consistent look and I added a sculpt of theirs that I liked (one of the females with a longer jacket) and she can perhaps be the unit leader.
Next up are two Talos (Taloi?). These are larger chaps and form part of the mechanical menace that the madman Ulysses Argo unleashes on the world.
I’m not over the moon about how the brass turned out, but I’ve already done it twice as I didn’t like my first effort either so I’ve decided to just move on.....
Just for context, I’ve included a picture of the full Argonaut “cast” that I have. The other figures were half finished at the end of a previous challenge and I hadn’t gotten around to finishing them until now.
These are some of the other nefarious droids Argonuses to wreak havoc.
And another family shot.
No points for the other figures, so just 6 x 28mm figures for 30 and 2 x 40mm figures for 14 to add up to 44 for the post.
This entry will bring the end to my journey through Level 1 of the Chambers and also to my Bradford City theme, which I have had great fun with over five posts including this one.
There is nothing like a greasy burger to line the stomach before a few pints on the way home from the match and your genial hosts Pat and Terry will serve you a fine burger containing at least 0.5% meat, a compot of caramelised onions & Wakefield salad all on a freshly defrosted bread cake. All followed up by a mug of Yarkshire Tea with 10 sugars.
The Burger Van is in 28mm and comes from Ainsty Castings who do a wide range of stuff that you didn't know you needed. Points wise there are 20 for the Chamber, 2 x 28mm figs at 5 points each plus 10 points for the van, I don't think its terrain, it could be a 28mm vehicle (?) so I went for the middle ground of a crew served weapon, which to be honest is what one of Pats over cooked eggs could be classed as !
I'll use this in my 28mm Sweeney Cops and Robbers games, it fits in quite nicely on the forecourt of Daleys Motors. Normal service will resume next week when Principes 2 hit the table. UP THE CHICKENS 🐔