From ChrisW: Library tour with no 15mm Sci-fi! (gasp) (320 points)

Coming at you!

First off thank you everyone who has been so kind as to comment on some of my stuff, it is very much appreciated. Also thank you to my minion for many nice comments and for doing the minion job so well. I have had challenges this time around in posting comments. I have no problem submitting posts, but the system does not recognize me when I try to posy, weird. I can only post comments when I use another device and I do not always have access to that device.

This week I plan to tackle a couple of sections, backtracking a bit. First up a visit to the cooking section.

 Cooking section, (some soup gone bad turned into a weapon!)

Here we have the old but charming GW halfling soup artillery. This has been sitting in a blister pack in my collection for a few decades. I recently decided to build a Halfling army for Fantastic Battles. At  one point I planned to paint some of them for this challenge but alas I became distracted. But I needed a cooking themed entry so out these came. They are based on a 60mm x 60mm base for use in the FB game and are now the first company that I have produced for my fledgling Halfling army. I figured that any good Halfling chef would have additional supplies and some liquid refreshment, so I added in some extra details onto the base.

Nautical section

Returning to the previous area I tackled some long put off boats. Up first were some gondolas that I needed for a game played last weekend. I have used my Venice set a few times but never got around to painting the gondolas that are so iconic to the setting. Part of the reason that I initially hesitated in painting them up was their size. They are kind of big looking  but I have come to accept them because they are after all intended for gaming. So yes they are wide but then they have to hold figures that are on bases and you need to have room for multiple opponents to fight it out, so they do work. 

Well, I got three of them built and painted for last weekend and worked on the last two this week. They are from Plascraft and now OOP, but I recently stumbled upon some paper plans which will be handy should I require any more.

Ah Venice

Scene from the game

I am currently hosting the Pulp Alley China station campaign and will need some sampans for an upcoming game. So, it was time to paint these up for that. They are grey board models by Sarissa. I did modify the shelter by covering the original part with crepe paper and white glue. It gave it a nice texture look to the coverings much better than the original look.

Then there is the motor boat that I do not need but that was in the same box as the sampans, so what the hey might as well paint it up too. It is the river launch by Ainsty. It is a straight forward model without any extras but is good for gaming purposes and will work well for bootleggers.

 

Literature

I managed to find a couple of  literature themed figures in my collection. So, I have some Blue Moon Sleepy Hollow figures (more on the painting table) a couple of versions of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson (I still have another version of each) and finally a figure I plan to use as Mr Hyde.

The legend of Sleepy Hollow 

Another of those thins that I want to get to, some time, is a Sleepy Hollow scenario. I have both Blue Moon sets plus a lot of the building that I would need to run a game so it is high time that I got to painting the figures. (Just turned 63 so time is ticking even quicker it seems)

A couple of Sherlocks and Watsons 

How many Sherlocks does one need? Less than what I have I suspect! So, plans to do some sleuthing around London have advanced somewhat so this is the start of a major push to get stuff ready to game. On the table are some other sleuths such as Lestrade, Edmund Reid and Fred Abberline and others set to be painted next week. 

Blue Moon miniatures

 

The country version

Westwind miniatures

Mr Hyde from League of Extraordinary Adventurers (my version)

Some Bobbies in search of crime (a policeman's life is not a happy one)

These are an assortment of figures, not really certain where all of them came from, but I would guess Eureka and West Wind. There are a couple of different helmets on display as well as different clothing styles. I believe they are the last of the Bobbies that I had to paint.(at least I hope so) I have plans to do some Victorian gaming in the not too distant future. 

So the totals

•   25 points for Hot Pot kettle weapon 3x 28mm Halfling crew
•   20 points for Cooking section 
• 160 points for 5x 28mm vehicles Venetian gondolas, 2x Sampans, 1x motor boat??
  
•   20 points for Nautical section
•   20 points for 4x 28mm foot Sherlocks & Watsons
•   15 points for mounted and foot Sleepy Hollow figures
•   40 points for 8x 28mm bobbies & Mr Hyde
  
•   20 points for Literature section
  

Total 320 points

 Squirrels this post +3

Squirrels to date [18]

1. Hammers Slammers
2. Ikwen alien infantry
3. Hanuman (Alien) vehicles 
4. New Swabian league armoured vehicles 
5. Rats
6. Scarabs 
7. Mercenary Sci-fi vehicle
8. NAC Sci-fi vehicles 
9. Foo dog statues
10. Terracotta warriors  
11. NSL Bikes
12. Generic sci fi vehicles
13. Civilian sci-fi vehicles 
14. Egyptian cultists  
15. Mud Men 
16. Ladies of the evening (and Jack)
17. Halfling artillery
18. Venetian Gondolas 
19. English Bobbies

Quite the points bomb here Chris, nothing new about that though except for the variety of subjects! Love the old-school halfling hot pot, so characterful and will fit great in any runty fantasy army. Boats are boats but I really like the Persian carpets in the gondolas and the motorboat should come in handy in any Pulp scenario that requires... motorboating. The Victorian models are great too, I really like the variety of Holmes and Watsons, and you did a really super job in Mr. Hyde as well. The bobbies are well done too and will be useful in any game that needs law enforcement.

Happy birthday to you with 320 points on your tally!

Dallas

From TomL: Biography & Cooking, 80 points

Bringing us to the next two sections in the final room via the library cart are two more May queen dancers. These were also painted using Foundry skin triads, ProAcrylic whites, Vallejo Ivory and several contrast paints for the wreaths.

 

 

 

That sickle looks rather sharp...

 

Now in the biography section, we present a deceased former ruler of a East Asian country. 

Leader Looking At Flowers

This is another Hasslefree miniature I picked up for no reason I can remember back in 2014. He was painted using Foundry acrylics.

The final general section of the library we will visit is the Cooking section. Leading us there is our final May Queen dancer:

And a shot of all the may queen dancers together...

Next we present the efforts of a tireless Goblin cook preparing some fresh seafood for the unworthy masses. He is eagerly using his new Necromancer Magic Cookbook, "The joy of cooking really fresh meat". Of course properly aged meat can still be used for an accent...

This rather large 32mm Goblin model was originally from Magnificent Egos but is now sold by Valiant Miniatures. A wonderfully dynamic model it needed a bit of putty work to assemble. This is a friends model I am painting for a Goblin oriented D&D campaign. At some point the left arm was lost and I had to improvise with a plastic human one. Bit of sanding, some glue painted on to soften the lines and he is good as new with a book! It was painted using Vallejo metals, Foundry & Two Thin Coats acrylics and Pro Acrylics Fluorescent paints. 

Points: 80

4 28mm figures @ 5 = 20
Library cart - 20
Biography - 20
Cooking - 20 

1 Skull (and crossbones).

From Millsy: Whilst your "similar to but legally distinguishable from" Asian leader made me laugh, the pick of this post is the goblin. What a wonderfully dynamic and characterful sculpt that is! He's beautifully painted too Tom and will be a real centrepiece for your D&D campaign.

From GeoffreyT: Bangarang bot and some old lead (True Crime, Cooking, 70 points)

Hello Challengers,

I have been struggling a bit with some old true scale 25mm figures, they are very fine models, but harder to paint than bigger ones.  So for some relief, here is a much bigger one.

This is scratch build for 'Bill Making Stuff's game 'Bangarang in the Gutterlands' a game designed for scratch built bead bots, as invented by Bill on YouTube.  It is about 54 mm sized.  It reminds me of a Warmahordes Warjack, so seems kind of superfluous as I already have plenty of models from that range that would suit the game.  This is an "upper", you can watch the channel for more lore.  I had a go painting in the style Bill does.  This was my first attempt at use EVA foam sheet for scratch-building, and I must agree it is very good.

Next I have a wee 25mm model for True Crime library section, an old Julie Guthrie “Thief" from Grenadier.  It is very finely detailed and is way beyond my painting skill to work on these days.  But it does jag me some bonus points, even if I cant paint it well.  As said, I struggled with this, but when the painting gets hard, just use a wash and leave the highlighting out I say.

Finally for this week is 3 more very old miniatures, these are bar denizens from Soldiers and Swords miniatures.  Again in a true 25mm scale and too small for me to work on well.  they are very nice models tho, apart from some nasty mould lines and flash.  These will be useful for all games where adventerers start in a tavern.  This should also net me bonus points for Cookery, as ale is really a food, as proven by anyone who has just beer for dinner.

I have now completed all but the final library challenge, for which the Snowlord has set me a task.

For this week I have

4 x 25mm infantry = 20 points

1 x 54mm infantry = 10 points

2 x library shelves = 40 points

Grand Total = 70 points.

Kind Regards

Geoff

From Millsy: There's some lovely old skool lead here Geoff, especially that Grenadier thief which I also have in my collection. Yours is a much nicer paint job though, mine was done 30+ years ago with enamels and gloss varnish! I particularly like the hand painted bases on all the 25s which really make them stand out from most stuff. Bangarang in the Gutterlands looks interesting and I will have to look into it!