From GeoffT: The Last Post (20 points)

Hello, 

I expect this will be my last post for challenge XVI.  It has been great, thank you Curt, Minions and all those who made comments.

This year is my biggest haul of points yet, despite there being less bonus points on offer.  I have been able to get some big batches of long awaited figures done.  Many of the figures I got second hand from late members collections, so nice to get some paint on them and use them for what they would have intended. 

Today is only four miniatures.  

Two plastic DnD board game figures.  A dragon man in resplendent fluted armour, I think he is a paladin, and an elf carrying a fire, a wizard.  Had a crack at point source lighting, but think I need to darken the offside more to make it look right.

 There are also two metal Nubian archers by warlord games, which will be “tribal archers” in my current ghost archipelago campaign.

Kind Regards

Geoff.

Very nice models here Geoff. Metal is best and your Nubians look good. The D&D figures are cool, the armour on the dragon man looks good and I like the flame effect on your elven wizard.

That's twenty to round out yout Challenge total. Well done!

Dallas

From GeoffT: Aliens, fantasy and pirates (76 points)

Hello challengers,

I have a mixture here this week.

The first image is two alien monstrosities for Stargrave.  We have an Ursoric, a giant bear like creature with scorpion tails protruding from its shoulders.  Next is an Arsendryder, an intelligent arsenic based life form, that appears like a camel without a hump, long front legs and short back legs and a rocky skin.  These monsters are made from cutting up cheap plastic toys to match the description in the rules supplement called bold endeavour.  They appear in one scenario with a less than 50% chance of turning up.  I expect they are there for people who like making things.  With the author’s propensity to describe camel, scorpion and hyena hybrids, those plastic toys are always on my shopping list.

These are hobgoblins but citadel miniatures, from the mid 1980s.  Rescued from a second hand collection.

Next are two more second hand minis.  On the left is a very old miniature of unknown origins, probably a necromancer as she has a thigh bone in one hand and a curved dagger in the other.  The one on the right is a complete adventurer from reaper bones.

More pirates, seven of them and a ships wheel.

This weeks minis together for scale.  As you can see the monsters are quite big. About 50mm tall each.

Total points, there are 11 x  28mm foot for 5 points each, two monsters around 54mm for 10 points each and a ships wheel mini, which was pretty minimal effort to paint, so maybe 1 point for an estimated total of 76 points.

From Millsy:

Nice to see someone else giving some classic lead a bit of love mate. There's a clear scale discrepancy between the necromancer and adventurer but your top paint job and matched basing, plus a little cunning thinker base work means it's not really that noticeable if you are not looking for it.

The pirates are once again a great mob and added to your efforts thus far mean you really do have a significant collection now. Nice work!

76 more gold doubloons for your total Geoff. Love em.

Cheers,

Millsy

From GeoffT: More pirates (85 points)

Hello Challengers,

Recently I picked up about 100 ‘pirate’ models, in varying states of disrepair.  Some unpainted, some undercoated, some part painted and some painted.  All of them were heavily chipped and not in any state to game with.  They were in a wide variety of brands, and were historical and fantasy models, with quite a few not really pirate models. It was a big and enticing rescue job.  It has been fun to sift thru, finding napoleonic officers, French revolutionary mob figures and even a ACW figure.  However, some of the figures now are scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as being able to rescue.  I’ve yet to identify the source of all the miniatures, but brands here include Redoubt Enterprises, Old Glory, Eureka and Reaper.

This batch of 17 figures is from that collection.

These four did not have guns, so I am using them for Ghost Archipelago, a skirmish game with pirates that don’t have guns.

This one looked a bit like it was from Peter Pan, so will using it for DnD NPC.

This fellow will be used as a civilian model for Sharp Practice. Could not quite work out if he had an eye patch or not.

The remainder here will be added to my collection for blood and plunder.  Four of these models here and three of those above are reputed to be Anne Bonney or Mary Reed.  Seemed to be quite a lot of female models in the collection, with a dozen or so more barbie doll shaped fantasy pirates I have yet to rescue.

In total, there are 17 x 28mm figures in this batch for 85 points. 

GT

From Millsy:

Aaarrgghhh! Another wonderful batch of salty sea dogs to brighten up a wet and miserable afternoon at Chez Minion Millsy.

And what a batch! Wonderful, vibrant, saturated colours everywhere and so much variety. The females are probably my favourite as we just need more female miniatures in our games full stop, especially when they are not just there for decoration.

Cracking brushwork all around Geoff. Love em mate.

Cheers,
Millsy

From GeoffT: WW2 British (140 points)

Hello Challengers,

These are WW2 British infantry in 28mm to supplement my existing collection for Chain of Command. The miniatures are a mixture of brands, War games foundry home guard, Crusader miniatures and Slave2gaming Bardia range.  They blend together pretty seamlessly.

There are 26 foot for 130 points, and a HMG for a bonus 10 points.

Kind Regards

Geoff T

From Millsy:

I'm not sure how you managed these alongside your other entry this week Geoff, especially given the high quality and consistency of your brushwork. You've painted them up beautifully and done such a consistent job overall you'd never know there's a mix of sculptors and manufacturers here.

Top work mate. Another 140 points for these stout Tommies! That should push you back above me and into the top 5 on the tally again. Boo!

Cheers,
Millsy

From GeoffT: More fantasy miniatures (68 points)

Hello Challengers,

Here are some more fantasy miniatures, and one historical one.

We have a French looking napoleonic officer, three ‘hue-eaters’ by grenadier miniatures and six harpies by reaper bones black.  The hue eaters and harpies are closer to 40mm than 28mm to the eyeball, so will round up in scale.  I got the harpies for ‘cathaka’ or buzzard men in ghost archipelago, but they really don’t look quite right for the role, so I had not painted them earlier.  However, they will be perfect as harpies for the impending game Warriors of Athena.  The hue eaters and harpies all had integral bases which I made bigger with milliput so they would be steadier in game.

Nine x 40mm figures at 7 points each and one 28mm figure for 5 points brings the total to 68 points.

Kind Regards

Geoff

From Millsy:

More lovely fantasy goodness from you Geoff!

I'm really impressed by the vibrance of your paintwork, in this instance the hue-eaters. It's giving me a great deal of pleasure getting to see plenty of old lead getting some love and such wonderful work it is too. Those harpies really look the business and would be right at home in any Old School Renaissance dungeon.

Cracking stuff mate. 68 beautiful points added to your tally.

Cheers,
Millsy

From GeoffT: Fantasy miniatures (67 points)

Hello Challengers,

This week I have a group of varied fantasy miniatures.  They are a mixed lot scavenged from bargain bins, nice miniatures left over from the 90s.  I collect and use these in miniature agnostic skirmish games such as Frostgrave and its variants.

We have three K’dillians by Harlequin miniatures.  These are Egyptian style crocodile men, close enough for snake men in “Ghost Archipelago” game.  There are four “Avalanche men” from Legends of the five rings game, not quite sure what they will be for yet, I did their skin like blue scales, but is supposed to be rocky.  A Gnoll by Reaper miniatures, a quite a big one, will be a great Gnoll chieftain for “Rangers of Shadow deep” which features Gnolls as the predominant bad guys.  Then we have five figures from Grenadier miniatures.  There is a hatchling dragon, a devil, a sea troll, a troglodyte, and finally a shape changer, who is a wizard/cleric on the front and a lizard man on the back.  I don’t know if the shape changers natural form is be the lizard thing, or if it is changing from a lizard to a wizard or something. Will be useful figures for sure, and I am glad to give these long forgotten beauties some life.

There are 13 figures, 12 of them are 25-28mm sized for 5 points each, the Gnoll is 40mm for seven points, making a total of 67 points.

Kind Regards

Geoff

From Millsy:

What a cracking collection of fantasy miniatures Geoff! A real mix of old school and newer models which all look equally good and which demonstrates how a top paint job can elevate a miniature and help it mix with others from different lines and even ages.

I really like your saturated colours on these especially the blues and greens. The red vs. green on the shape changer is an interesting way to represent the ability. Mostly you see before and after representations of shape changes, not captured mid change. So cool!

Lovely work all round and well done indeed mate.

Cheers,
Millsy

From GeoffT, Space Amazons (95 points)

 Hello Challengers,

These miniatures are new releases by eureka miniatures, not yet on the website.  I picked them up at CANCON.  They look a bit more space Aztec than space Amazon to me, but I think I can handle the historical inaccuracies.  I did them with excessive contrast, both in depth and colour as they are gaming pieces for use in gloomy drinking halls.  They will be used as generic bad guys in Stargrave.

They come in three types, space guns, space lances and space macuahuitls and pistols.  Quite handy for Stargrave as the pirates have a few different types that can be represented by these variants.

There are 18 x 28mm foot, for 90 points.

Kind Regards

Geoff

From DaveD - Geoff they are superb . I love the colour scheme .I agree on the Aztec look alright . They should make sure the light are on to show off these snazzy schemes - 95 points it is .

From GeoffT: A mixed bag (75 points)

Hello Challengers, 

Today I present a mixed bag of miniatures.

There are two Grunch Warriors, I don’t know what an Grunch is, but they look like Blemmaye with birds feet.  I have four Napoleonic undead, two skeletons and two vampires for “The Silver Bayonet” an Oriental Ogre,  four British Paratroopers and Harry Flashman himself.

In total there is 11 x 28mm infantry, one 54mm figure and a 28mm scale gun.  That is a total of 75 points.

Kind Regards,

Geoff.

From Millsy:

I love a good eclectic collection of miniatures and this is the perfect specimen! I'm intrigued by the Grunch which I've not come across before. A quick bit ot Google Foo has properly educated my on them and I agree they have a definite blemaye feel to them.

Very nice work all around Geoff. Rich reds, saturated blues and bright whites. What's not to like?

75 Challenge shekels for you mate.

Cheers,
Millsy

From GeoffT: Neanderthals (125 points)

Hello Challengers,

I got these beauties for playing ‘Tribal’ by mana press.  They have a supplement called primeval that pits varies early hominid species against each other.  These Neanderthals are from lucid eye I think.  They are 28mm and very nice minis.  There are 25 x 28mm foot for a total of 125 points.

Kind Regards

Geoff T

From Millsy:

These are terrific Geoff and very tempting. I believe these are available from North Star. I keep seeing them and have all sorts of plans go round in my head!

I love what you've done with the bold flesh tones and dry brushing on the furs. I'm sure they'll present a real threat to any mammoths or sabertooths that they come across.

125 bones added to your total mate.

Cheers,
Millsy

From GeoffT: Germans in triplicate (235 points)

 Hello Challengers,

In this post I have batch painted a big pile of Germans.  They are from three eras, there is some WWI trench raiders and special weapons, some WWII Germans on bikes, and some undead Germans, one vampire and three zombies.  The WWI figs are from great war miniatures, and very nice miniatures they are indeed.   The other stuff is second hand and I do not know the providence.  The bikes seemed a bargain until I discovered they had been assembled incorrectly, and also assembled with two part epoxy resin.  Therefore they took some effort in chipping away the glue and reassembling.  Unfortunately one sidecar was not repairable.

In total there are:

15 x 28 mm full figures on foot = 75 points

10 x full figures riding the bikes = 50 points

4 x half figures in side cars = 10 points

5 x 28mm vehicles = 100 points.

Total is 235 points.  Seems like a lot, hopefully have calculated to correct protocol.

Kind Regards

Geoff.

From Millsy:

These are excellent work Geoff. The uniform colour has so much depth and the skins tones, especially on the vampire, are spot on. Great War make some amazing sculpts and you've certainly done them justice.

The motorcycle and sidecar combos are my favourite and immediately made me think of Where Eagles Dare. Is there a reason you have five? Sounds like there were a bargain, at least in theory, but wondered if you had a specific scenario in mind.

Cheers,
Millsy

From GeoffT: Ahoy, me hearties ! (65 points)

 Hello Challengers,

Earlier this year I pickup up a second hand mountain of 100 pirate miniatures in 28mm scale.  They were in quite variable condition, some unpainted, some base coated or primed and heavily chipped. Some were clearly not pirates.  They were in a range of brands, from very nice modern miniatures and some outdated simple models.  I’ve been working through them to add to my existing small collection.

Above we have images of the latest batch of 13 and an image of the newly painted minis blending into the accumulated collection.  There is quite a bunch still to do.

Points, 13 x 28mm infantry = 65 points.

Kind Regards

Geoff T

From Millsy:

I love a good job lot of second hand minis and this one is a corker!

You've done a brilliant job with the brush to bring them to life and give them a second chance on the table. The striped trews, vibrant blues and reds and mix of skin tones really sells the theme of a collection of rough and tumble pirates.

Do you have rules for these? I've got Blood & Plunder and really enjoy them. Great for both land and sea actions and with some really entertaining and well thought out card mechanics.

65 gold doubloons for you sir!

Cheers,
Millsy