From DallasE - 1/56 Panzer I Ausf. Bs from Bolt Action/Warlord Games [Death Star][85 points]

Well, after playing Fredrick's excellent "Danzig Post Office" Bolt Action game a few weeks ago, early-WW2 fever has flared up again. Fortunately this coincided with a) a Warlord Games order pending from Frederick, and b) the "Tanksgiving" buy-two-get-one-free promotion. So I duly added three Pzkpfw I Ausf. B tanks to his order.

 

The models duly arrived and painted up very quickly indeed. They're 1/56 scale though - unlike most of the rest of my collection - so I boosted them a bit by putting them on bases. The models are pretty nice though - all resin except for the MG barrels and headlight, plus each one came with a metal commander half-figure.

I did them up in grey (Mechanicum Standard Grey/Dawnstone/Administratum Grey) with a Nuln Oil wash and light Celestra Grey drybrush on the panel edges. I did Corax White crosses as displayed in the Polish campaign, and small 3-digit tactical numbers using decals from the 15mm Team Yankee range (they fit).

Tracks were painted Steel Legion Drab, washed Nuln Oil, and drybrushed Leadbelcher. Some light weathering with Steel Legion Drab and the models were complete.

Here's the other two tanks in the Zug.

Here's one of the Panzer Is with an old Bandai 1/48 Pzkpfw II just to show scale. I think that the base really helps even them out.

 

I painted one of the spare commanders to go in the open hatch of the Panzer II. They're nice early-war tankers wearing the "schutzmutze" protective helmet and beret.

So that's 20 points x3 for the tanks, 5 points for two half-figure tank crew, and a 20-point bonus for the Death Star. The Death Star theme is of course "hubris, of questionable design" and I think this suits the Panzer Is to a tee. The hubris of course fits well with Hitler's invasion of Poland and his thought that Britain and France would look the other way (or if they didn't, he'd easily dispose of them as adversaries). The "questionable design" element works too - the Panzer I was lightly armoured and equipped with only two machine guns - pretty lame even for early WW2.

So with that I've entered Quadrant XII! More next week! 

_______________________________________

Welcome back to the Challenge, Dallas!

These early (earliest?) panzers look terrific. I appreciate you providing your paint recipe for them as I'd like to try to do some early war German stuff myself, and I very much like how these turned out.  I won't belabour the peanut gallery with my well known opinions on the 1/56 'standard' for 28mm figures. Suffice it to say that these models do a wonderful job in underlining the petiteness of the Pz I. :)

Great work on this Zug!

- Curt

From Dallas: Ready for the After-Party (Challenge wrap-up)

Assembled production

Well, here we are at the end of the Challenge. I'd set myself a modest goal of 500 points which I ended up more than doubling. Still, it wasn't *quite* enough to get me into the top 25 - my good friend Greg pipped me by a mere 6 points! In any event, here's the breakdown of my Challenge production:

• 28mm foot: 75
• 28mm mounted: 3
• 28mm large figures/monsters: 5
• 28mm artillery pieces: 1
• 28mm tanks: 1
• 28mm landing craft: 1
• 28mm furniture/terrain: 12
• 20mm foot: 2
• 20mm cars: 1
• 20mm tanks: 1
• 15mm tanks: 3
• 10mm Titans: 1

self-portrait

I just want to end this post by again thanking Mr. Curt and all of his Minions for running the Challenge for all of us, and also to Lady Sarah and the Minions' other halves for their forbearance and tolerance of the time Curt and the Minions spend on it. Thanks also to my fellow Challengers for the kind words you posted about my work.

See you at the bar...!

From Dallas: Hobgoblin Chieftain, King of the Dead, Death Worm (20 points)

Having completed the Chambers of Challenge and offered tribute at the Altar of the Snowlord, all that remains is to post the last few models completed before the end of the Challenge. First up is this Hobgoblin Chieftain on Dire Wolf, from Games Workshop's old Warhammer Fantasy Battles range.

The first army I ever painted for WHFB was a classic "big hat" Chaos Dwarf force, which still maintains pride of place in my cabinets. An important part of the army was a large contingent of Hobgoblin Wolf Riders, which engaged in some "creative reimagining" of battle reports we posted on our blog.

In sniffing around for something to paint at the last minute, I noticed that I had this model that had been waiting for paint for nigh-on 15 years or more. So I got at it!

Makes me want to get the Chaos Dwarfs out again for some old-school WHFB! Barks - take note - I counted 15 SKULLS on this model alone! Must be some kinda record...?

Next up is the King of the Dead to accompany my recently-painted Warriors of the Dead. The King is a metal model which arrived yesterday from an eBay transaction. It was new in the blister, having originally accompanied an issue of the Eaglemoss "LotR" collector's magazine.

As before - simplicity itself to paint. White spray and Biel-Tan Green wash. That's it!

Lastly, another postal arrival from yesterday - a very cool "Death Worm" from Otherworld Miniatures (currently on sale at their site for 4 quid!!)

This monster is a sorcerous construct and not, strictly speaking, undead - at least according to its entry in the Fiend Folio under "Necrophidius". Conscript Brian H. instantly recognized it when I showed it off on our Zoom call last night and directed me to the FF entry. Good knowledge Brian! 

It was obviously another super-easy model to paint and brings the total skull-count for this post to 16 SKULLS. WOW!

So barring a super-human effort to paint a Chaos Dwarf Sorceror on Lamasu, that's probably it for my Challenge entries this year. And as I've got a haircut, doctor's appointment, and icetime booked to play hockey today, it seems unlikely much more Challenge painting is in the cards. But it was fun! 

Stay safe everyone and we'll see you at the after-party!

From Dallas: Snowlord's Challenge Completed (50 points)

The Snowlord's Challenge is complete - I've finished painting my Legio Gryphonicus Reaver Titan for GW's Adeptus Titanicus game!

Here we see the Reaver equipped with Laser Blaster and Volcano Cannon arm weapons and a carapace-mounted Turbo Laser Destructor.

But wait - there's more! I painted all of the weapon options for the Reaver and magnetized them for easy swapping - here the God-machine is seen equipped with a Gatling Blaster, power fist, and carapace-mounted Apocalypse Missile Launcher. And a different head, to boot.

A close up look at the Reaver's heraldry on its shoulder pauldrons.

...and on the knee armour. Notice anything funny going on here?

A rear view. The Reaver was painted as follows: metal bits, Leadbelcher and Brass Scorpion; grey bits, Mechanicus Standard Grey with lighter grey dapple camo; yellow bits, Averland Sunset over XV-88 base. Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade washes, and sponge chipping with Rhinox Hide and craft black paint. Groundwork is Rhinox Hide - Mournfang Brown - Steel Legion Drab - Rakarth Flesh. 

Here's another weapon combo - Melta Cannon and Chainfist. It tickles!!

What a cracking model.

Here's the Reaver with its extra bits.

And broken down into its component parts, all magnetised of course. I'm going to claim 30 points for this model and all the extra components.

This one was fun to paint for sure, especially as it signifies completion of the Chambers of Challenge. It's satisfying to have three months of painting end off with a win of sorts, and a tally of over 1,000 points in the Challenge. While there may be some more painting to come, I'll be content if this is it for now. I'll just end with a heartfelt thanks to Mr Curt and Minions for all of your tireless efforts in making the Challenge fun for us!

Stay safe everyone!

That modular Reaver looks superb!

I've got absolutely no idea how this should be scored, so I'll go along with the 50 points total that you've suggested.

Tamsin

From Dallas: LotR Army of the Dead (100 points)

More procrastination on the Adeptus Titanicus Reaver Titan I've been tasked to paint by the Snowlord, but I'm sure he'll forgive a lapse into Middle-Earth for a bit.

I'd mentioned in my Reaper Hill Giant post that I stopped at a local shop for a pot of Biel-Tan Green wash - well, this is why. It was to paint the 20 Army of the Dead models included with the Battle of Pelennor Fields box set that just arrived at Conscript Towers.

I'm sure this was the easiest 100 points anybody ever got in the Challenge - I sprayed the models Krylon Satin White on the sprues, then assembled them and stuck them onto the bases. I then applied BTG to taste and painted over the bases with craft black paint. Since the rest of my LotR models are based with sand, these got the same treatment. Paint base edges black and apply static grass, matt varnish, and done.

I actually quite like these plastic models even though they're getting on 15(?) years old? (I did some Googling to see if I could find out when they were released - and looking in my copy of the War of the Ring game from 2008 I see that pics of these models were included, so they must be at least that old)

One mild irritant is the scale creep though - maybe the Warriors of the Dead are supposed to be large and imposing? Or perhaps just well-fed? But they are noticeably larger than the Numenorean warriors of the LotR game...

...and are larger than King Elessar himself, even.

But notwithstanding this, I quite like the models and they really couldn't be any easier to paint. So chalk up another 100 points for me then please and thank you :-)

Stay safe!

From Dallas: It's All Barks's Fault (15 points)

So here we have a Reaper Hill Giant. How is it Barks's fault?

A couple weeks ago, Mr. B posted an amazing Ringwraith on a Fellbeast, from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings range. Wow, I thought, what an amazing looking model! I also have a sizeable collection of LotR models, but no Fellbeast... and Barks's post made me think I really need one. So off I went to look at picking one up.

At the same time, Conscript Frederick of our gaming group has been painting LotR models like a madman, and this made me think that maybe higher-order escalation might be appropriate. Since a Fellbeast by itself is $75 from GW, but the Battle of Pelennor Fields box set (which includes a Fellbeast as well as over 80 other models and a new rulebook) is "only" $190, the choice is clear - especially as the box can be found online for about a 15% discount...

So off I scuttled to eBay and found a Canadian vendor selling the BoPF box, and ordered it. Since the box includes 20 plastic Army of the Dead models and I'd never painted anything from that faction, I hit up the Web again to look at paint recipes for those models. "Biel-Tan Green" wash seemed like a good option and I don't have any in my paint stash, so I stopped at the local shop to pick some up. One thing led to another and I ended up browsing the racks of Reaper Minis... and was stopped cold by this very cool Bobby Jackson sculpt of a Hill Giant. Lacking any really big giants in my fantasy collection, I couldn't resist this one, and picked it up along with the BTG wash.

The Hill Giant was an easy afternoon project. It's made of some strange resin, but it's actually grey in colour rather than regular Reaper Bones white, and seems a bit sturdier and less bendy, which is an excellent thing indeed. The funny business started when I primed him with flat black spray - the finish on the model ended up high-gloss. Another coat made no difference, and even a dusting with a different flat brown spray ended up very glossy. So before I put the brushes to him I sprayed him with Krylon Matt Finish and that dulled him down a bit.

The Hill Giant is obviously mostly flesh... so I worked this up from the dark brown spray using Mournfang Brown, Skrag Brown, Cadian Flesh, and finally Kislev Flesh. The tree trunk is Mournfang and Steel Legion Drab washed with watered-down GW Brown Ink. Normally I'd painted the fur in a brown tone but considering how much brown there was on the model already, I opted for a grey fur.

This model was great fun to paint (once I got past the priming) and he'll fit in well with the rest of my fantasy stuff. Bobby Jackson did a great job with the sculpt (his facial expression is awesome and reminds me a lot of the old Citadel style) and at $12.49 the price can't be beat.   

So that's 15 points for this VERY large 28mm Giant... obviously I've fallen out of the top 20 in the league table but hopefully that keeps me in the top 25 for a bit anyway. Now back to the Reaver Titan I've been tasked by the Snowlord to paint!

Stay safe all!

For Dallas: The Altar of the Snowlord

Altar of the SnowLord (brought to you by the kids of Kinsmen Park South)

  

Dallas, I see that Mike has put forward a wonderful Warhound titan as a prize for your Adeptus Titanicus War Griffon's maniple. So, let's keep to theme and see another God-Engine added to your collection. 

Once you get that bad boy built and painted you can claim your prize.

Dallas' Prize: Warhound Titan by MikeF

From Dallas: Mad Max in the Hall of Heroes (26 points)

The Hall of Heroes! The last Chamber in my journey through the terrifying Chambers of Challenge. And what better "hero" to appear in the Hall of Heroes than that greatest of the Main Force Patrol-men, the bronziest of the Bronze, "Mad" Max Rockatansky.  

Max, a 20mm casting from North Star, is pictured here with his Ford Falcon XB-based "V8 Interceptor" diecast car.

You even get a "driver" figure with the two-model pack from North Star. It did take quite a lot of work to fit this model into the cockpit of the Falcon XB. The car is pretty easy to take apart, you just need to Dremel out the rivets holding the body to the chassis. Comes right apart.

The roadway is actually a roll of tape from the toy section of Wal-Mart, made for kids to play with their Hot Wheels cars. I stuck the tape down to the sticky side of a stick-down vinyl tile and trimmed it up.

It was a bit of a challenge painting this basically monochrome model...

But that's Max for you. These figures were actually finished some time ago, but I was waiting for Max's base to arrive, which it did today. Like many Challenge participants I base some of my figures on pennies, and that was the plan for Max... but I wanted an Australian penny. Not so easy to come by as it happens! 

Australian currency was decimalised in 1966; before that it was a confusing British-style system of pounds, pence, shillings, florins (!), etc. At first I bought a 1959 penny on eBay - 1959 for the birth year of Mel Gibson. But when it arrived it was an enormous pre-decimal coin! That wouldn't do for a small 20mm model so I found a 1979 decimal penny commemorating the release of Mad Max in theatres. Done!

So that's 4 points for full-size 20mm figure; 2 points for a half-figure, and 20 points for the Hall of Heroes. Now - on to the Altar of the Snowlord! See you on the road, Bronze!

"Look. Any longer out on that road and I'm one of them, you know? A terminal crazy... only I got a bronze badge to say I'm one of the good guys."

Nice work on Max and the Falcon.

Tamsin