The Day the Old Man Music Died - Challenge XVI Wrap-Up from Dallas

So that's another Painting Challenge in the books. You can see the production from me in the photo above. I never get as much done as I want/hope to, but I did meet my (admittedly modest) target.


ALSO - I'm heading to the UK for Salute next month, and want to extend an invitation to other Challenge participants to meet up at (or after) the show on 11 April. If you're interested please send me an email at dgewen (at) hotmail.com. Thanks!

The main project I wanted to start in this Challenge is Little Bighorn. I got 10 Plains warriors (from Foundry) and almost a dozen dismounted US Seventh Cavalry (also mostly from Foundry) painted, but as with all painting plans, I quickly got distracted...

  

...by painting a Chaos Blood Bowl team...

...and more significantly, by starting a Khorne Berzerkers army for 40K! Here are some of the said Berzerkers.

And here are two big hunks of metal - a Chaos Lord on Juggernaut and a Dreadnought. I really enjoyed painting these.

Lastly for the force, I painted five Bloodletters to bring the unit up to Khorne's "magic number," eight.

Here's a downed Imperial pilot and grave marker from the late, lamented chaostemple.cz.

An Imperial Commissar from Victoria Miniatures with a converted Ork Kommando, and a Predator for my Sisters of Battle army.

A couple of rovers for the Lunar game.

A dug-in Panther tank for Bolt Action, from Warlord Games.

Here I am!

And lastly, it wouldn't be a Challenge post from me without some old man music...

Pukka Orchestra - Listen to the Radio

Lately I've been listening to a lot of Canadian New Wave from the 1980s and this is one of the best. The song was written by Tom Robinson and Peter Gabriel and recorded by Robinson... but I think this Pukka Orchestra version from 1984 is superior. The band was formed in Toronto in 1979, and the name came from founding member Tony Duggan-Smith's "extremely English" grandfather who had been the harbourmaster of Calcutta... when Tony told him he was playing music for a living, he was told "that's all very nice Tony, but don't bother with any mediocre bands, get yourself into a pukka orchestra." The band performed regularly in Toronto's Queen West club scene, released a couple albums, and won a CASBY award for "most promising group." Unfortunately they had some significant setbacks in the late '80s when their label (Solid Gold) went bankrupt and vocalist/guitarist Graeme Williamson fell ill in Scotland and had to have a kidney transplant! But this song is a great piece of music from the New Wave of the '80s.

So thanks to my Monday crew, the other Minions, and of course Mr Curt and Lady Sarah for all their work in the Challenge... see you at the afterparty!

Dallas

From DallasE: Chaostemple 40K Objective Markers (12 points)

Probably the last gasp here but last night I finished these objective markers - a downed pilot and an Imperial grave with some memento mori of its Imperial Guard commissar occupant.

These are a last gasp in another way too - the company that made these bits (chaostemple.cz) is out of business as of the end of February. I just got this last order in under the wire. RIP.

While the subject matter here (downed pilot sitting on a broken grave marker) is a bit of a bummer, you should have seen the original casting... the pilot was holding a revolver to his own head. Now THAT'S full grimdark, but a bit too dark for an eternal optimist like me. So I cut off the suicidal revolver hand and substituted a metal bolt pistol from the bits box (pinched from a Sisters of Battle Seraphim) and some greenstuff work. Much better.

 

The bits pack also came with a grave marker, sword, and cap so these got put together on a second base. 

The bits were all cast quite nicely, as was typical of Chaostemple. At 3 euros on a blowout sale they were good value too. I'll miss this firm as they were the source of a ton of bits for my 40K Sisters of Battle.

And as these are likely my last models for this Challenge... I'll also say thanks to my minion Peter D, to all the Challengers it was my good fortune to minion for in this year's Challenge, and to Mr Curt for putting it all together. And oh yeah, thanks to all who appreciated my Old Man Music, there might be one more song to come in my wrap-up post.

2x 28mm models = 10 points

Dallas

***

Great work on these two guys Dallas, and I fully endorse your modifications to the pilot. His circumstances are "grimdark" enough, having been shot down/dropped/bailed out already. Your modified presence of the revolver is much better. Plus, hey...bolt pistol! That is THE pistol to have in the science fiction settings we enjoy. 

So long to chaostemple.cz! Painting up the grave marker seems fitting in that bummer of a business context. 

I have awarded a couple of extra points to account for the modification of the pilot figure - excellent Challenge Dallas!

GregB

From DallasE: Khorne Bloodletters (25 points)

More on the Khornate 40K project... of course there has to be some daemons right?? Well, I'd painted three Bloodletters for an Idols of Torment game a few years ago and had four left in a Plano case. But Khorne's sacred number is 8, so I had to find another one... which I did, on eBay, a couple weeks ago. So the remaining five Bloodletters went under the brush this weekend.

This is the new one, he looks like a Champion of some kind which is good, he's the only example of this sculpt in the group.

The paint recipe for these guys is easy... the skin is Khorne Red, Mephiston Red, Evil Sunz Scarlet just blended upwards. Horns and claws are Cantor Blue highlighted with Thunderhawk?

Eyes and teeth are Wraithbone, I was reading in the old Slaves to Darkness book that Bloodletters have "milky eyes" so I redid the eyes on the first three as well. The weapons were fun to do, they were painted Corax White and washed twice (heavily) with Biel-Tan Green. I think they look pretty cool and of course red and green are complimentary colours so that works.

 

Can't not post a bare-cheeked rear view of these daemons! ;-)

Counting twenty-five points for five 28mm models here, that will bring me to my goal of 500 points, ta very much. Hopefully I'll be back with another entry later in the week.

Cheers,

Dallas

__________________________________________

You did terrific work on these iconic castings, Dallas. Even though the posing is a bit limited, these are still my favourite Bloodletter designs to-date. I like your blue-black horns and nails, and the Biel-Tan Green swords are the chef's kiss. What a great contrasting colour!

Congrats on meeting your 500 point target and I look forward to seeing a final entry later this week.

- Curt
 

From DallasE: Khornate Chaos Dreadnought (20 points)

 

Well I'm back with some more old-school 40K goodness. This time it's a metal Chaos Dreadnought done up in Khornate colours, for service with my Berzerkers.

Firstly a word on collecting these ancient out-of-production models. I might have mentioned this in my post on the Chaos Lord on Juggernaut, but generally speaking OOP Games Workshop stuff ain't cheap. Yes you might get lucky from time to time (like I did with the Jugger), but people on eBay generally are aware (or think they are aware) of the prices these models will bring and set their own BIN accordingly. Models sealed in original blister packs or boxes can be outrageously priced, but painted stuff can be had for not-unreasonable prices. This model was unpainted and loose and acquired on eBay for about $100 CAD.

 

"A hundo for a chunk of metal that cost $55 brand new? That's crazy!" you might exclaim. But I have a perfectly reasonable justification for this. The Bank of Canada has an "inflation calculator" that compares the cost of a basket of goods in any year to its cost in any other year, and that's a good enough proxy for me. It tells me that $55 in 1999 is equivalent to $99.18 today, and that's about what I paid for the model. The other thing to consider is "what would an equivalent model cost, brand new from GW?" The answer here is... about $75 for the Space Marine Venerable Dreadnought. So maybe that's a bad example.

 

But then again, maybe not... is the new Venerable Dreadnought "comparable" to this classic Dreadnought? The new Dread is a million plastic parts that you have to assemble (correctly), and has a fist on it that would put Hellboy to shame. This one is METAL and fewer than 10 parts. I'm also paying for the old-school cool because this model fits right into the 25-year-old aesthetic of my project. To me that's worth $25. I know, this is all just to make me feel better, but it works :-)

How cool is this, right? I know it's missing the trophy pole but I have a plastic one I might add later... anyway the red was done with Khorne Red, highlighted Mephiston Red, washed with Nuln Oil, then brought back up with KR and Mephiston. Brass bits were done in Brass Scorpion, highlighted Retributor Gold then washed with Agrax Earthshade. The rest is mainly Leadbelcher washed with NO. Groundwork was Dark Brown, Steel Legion Drab, Rakarth Flesh as a final drybrush.

I'm claiming 20 points here for a 28mm vehicle.

Cheers,

Dallas

No need to justify your labour of love here Dallas, although I teach class in financial mathematics so understand inflation adjusted prices.  It's a great bit of kit.  I love the steam punky look and the fact that it appears to have toes.  The Red and Gold livery suits it very well, and you basing is aces. 

Monday Again!

Daniel Lanois - The Maker

Like the post title says it's Monday again... has everyone recovered from putting the clocks forward? Yes? So let's get to the old man music then :-)

Daniel Lanois was born in 1951 in Hull, Quebec, Canada. Professionally, he's probably best known as a music producer and engineer, having produced albums by Peter Gabriel ("So"), Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and others, but he was best known to me for his collaborations with Brian Eno in producing U2's seminal albums "The Unforgettable Fire" and "The Joshua Tree." But in addition to producing and engineering, Lanois has had a productive solo music career too. His song "The Maker" was released in 1989 as a track on his LP "Acadie." I love this song and its rolling bass line and ambient sound. My other favourite from this album is "Jolie Louise", an upbeat but dark and tragic folksong. Have a listen to it as well.

Now to the painting! This week we have:

• Helblaster fury from SanderS
• Some Soviet freebies (and the start of a new project?) from NormS
• Bolt Action in the Pacific from SteveA
• Star Wars goodness from AaronH
• LATE ADDITION - Trench Crusaders from DavidB

Have a great week everyone.

Dallas

From DallasE: Khornate Chaos Lord on Juggernaut (20 points)

 

Another entry in the Insane New Project sweepstakes, here is a Khornate Chaos Lord on a Juggernaut to accompany the Berzerkers I painted last week.

Since our preferred edition of 40K is 5th, I'm trying to build my Khornate 40K army exclusively from models that were current for that edition, and that means everything but the Berzerkers will be metal.*  

This model was obtained through the mail from Tista Minis in Hamilton, Ontario and I feel like it was a bit of a bargain. I think I paid $35 CAD for it, painted (badly) of course, but it stripped down VERY nicely to bare metal in no time at all. Contrast that with a new (plastic) Chaos Lord on Juggernaut, available from GW for... $83 CAD. Of course the new one is likely twice the size of this one (it comes on a 90mm oval base, as opposed to the 60mm base this model sports), BUT it's also 66 parts, when the old metal model was... ten parts. AND IT'S METAL. A no-brainer.

I just love the character on these old metal models. I think I finally discovered the blue formula for the armour deco.

The Juggernaut has a very determined look on its face too. This is peak 1990s GW isn't it??

Sadly I think this giant model counts as 28mm cavalry for scoring purposes so I'll take ten points, please :-)

Dallas

*I do have a random box of newer plastic Bloodletters that came from... somewhere, that may get assembled and painted for this army. But there will be a unit of metal "Casey at the Bat" Bloodletters too. And of course the Rhinos and other vehicles will be plastic, probably Deimos-pattern Rhinos and a Predator, as MK1 Rhinos are now far too dear. But don't worry, they will all be plenty spiky :-)

Great work Dallas on this big angry dude on his big angry mount.  I am essentially GW ignorant so nothing of the back story, but I don't want to meet them!  I am going to count this as 20 points, equivalent to a vehicle.

Monday Funday

Spoons - Romantic Traffic

Monday again and time for some more OMM. This time it's something from the New Wave of the early 1980s and one of the best Canadian bands of that genre at the time - Burlington, Ontario's own Spoons.

Gordon Deppe and Sandy Horne dated when they were students at Aldershot School in Burlington and formed the band with a couple of friends. Their debut studio album "Stick Figure Neighbourhood" came out in 1981 and was engineered by none other than Daniel Lanois, who you may see in a future instalment of OMM. The next year saw the release of their breakout disc "Arias & Symphonies" which featured three Canadian top-40 hits.

The video I've linked above was released by the band in 1984 on the soundtrack for the film "Listen to the City." To me this is peak New Wave from the '80s with all of its keyboards and synthesizers and faux-British-accented vocals, plus some solid rock staples like the "doo doo doo" chorus and handclaps. Plus check out those hairstyles, absolutely epic. The TTC setting for the video is very nostalgic for me too as I rode it a lot when I lived in Toronto in the early '90s.

Now on to the painting...

• Norm brings out the big guns for his Napoleonic Austrians!
• Jez with "assorted" Landsknechts!
• Aaron presents a Star Wars Legion bada$$ and some tiny Ork APCs!

Have a good week all!

Dallas

From DallasE - Khorne Berzerkers! (55 points)

Well isn't this a surprise. A planned project is unceremoniously shouldered aside for an insane new project!

So it goes, as they say... I've had ten unpainted second-hand Khorne Berzerkers (the old style multi-part plastic models from 1999) in a Plano case for years (over 10?) and on a whim decided "wouldn't these be fun to paint?" and it was on...

Several eBay purchases later I've got a pile of unpainted metal old-school metal models (and more plastic Berzerkers) for the army, and these are the first painted Berzerkers.

Of course I had to do a bit of repair and conversion (I wanted each model to have a bolt pistol and either a chainsword or chain-axe) but I think they've turned out OK. The paint formula is as follows: basecoat Khorne Red, overbrush Mephiston Red, wash with Vallejo Red Wash, paint metal bits Leadbelcher, wash the whole model with Nuln Oil, paint the brass bits Brass Scorpion highlighted Retributor Gold, wash the brass bits with Agrax Earthshade, that's pretty much it.

Groundwork starts Dark Brown, then Steel Legion Drab, then Rakarth Flesh drybrush.

Of course Kharn sneaks in a photobomb... he doesn't count because someone else did the basic painting on him, I just touched him up and redid the groundwork.

There's more yet to come on this project of course... but for now it's eleven 28mm-ish models for 55 points.

Cheers,

Dallas
 

Finding old figures in the stash, scouring the web for more and putting planned projects aside.  Nope I've got no memory of doing that sort of thing at all!  Anyway I'm glad that you did go down that rabbit hole as these are fantastic.  Love the red, and looking forward to to more of these plus what you originally had planned!

Blue Monday

Northern Pikes - Wait for Me

It's Monday again and time for your weekly dose of old man music from Winnipeg, Manitoba. I was going to post something from an American band today but my feelings are a little too raw from Canada's overtime loss in the gold medal hockey game this morning. So we will enjoy (not New Order, but rather) some Cancon from Saskatoon's own Northern Pikes.

The band formed in 1984 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan by Jay Semko, Merl Bryck, Bryan Potvin, and Glen Hollingshead. They released two independent EPs before Hollingshead left the group in 1986, being replaced by Don Schmid on drums. Their first record for the Virgin label was 1987's "Big Blue Sky" which spawned the indy hits "Teenland" and "Things I Do for Money". The video I've linked above is from their followup "Secrets of the Alibi" (1988) and I think it's among the best of the band's catalog.

While Merl Bryck (crush object of some of my female friends back then) left the band in 2006, he was replaced in the lineup by ex-Grapes of Wrath guitarist Kevin Kane, and the Pikes still tour. I saw them in 2021 at a multi-band show with the Jim Cuddy Band (he of Blue Rodeo) and 54-40. They were great, but it wasn't the first time for me. Check this out:

That must have been obtained on their 1991 tour, probably at the Keystone Centre in Brandon, Manitoba (don't be too hard on me, it was 35 years ago and I was 19 years old!). That's the centrefold of their "Snow in June" CD, released in 1990.  

Anyway on to the painting. This Monday we have:

• Plague Marines, modern US infantry and Great War French from DavidB!
• Post-apoc and Dark Souls from GavinB!
• Austrian Napoleonics from NormS!

Although this post won't appear until early Monday morning, I'm writing it on Sunday afternoon and the sad from the game this morning persists. However a bunch of the locals are getting together on the ODR to "skate away the sadness" and I'm looking forward to that.

Have a good week all.

Dallas

From DallasE: US Seventh Cavalry Troopers (55 points)

Better late than never I guess, but here is the first sizeable tranche of my 2026 project, the Little Bighorn in 28mm. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the battle and as I've said before here, I have some stuff planned, so I have to get off my kiester and get painting.

This first bunch are mostly Foundry models, I have a lot of them to paint. The command group above are from an unknown manufacturer, I'm sure someone out there knows who. The guidon is of the type used by the Seventh at Little Bighorn and was handpainted by me on paper.

The last eight models in the post are Foundry's "Old Sweats" pack, sculpted by Mark Copplestone.

They're super-nice models as you'd expect from the Foundry. Paint formula is Kantor Blue highlighted with ancient Ultramarines Blue for the jackets. The pants have been troubling for me. The blue should be light blue but not TOO light... these ones were too light and I toned them down with a blue wash, but still not happy with them. Will do some more experimenting with the next group. Black hats, leather equipment and boots were highlighted Dark Rubber. The yellow is Averland Yellow with an Agrax Earthshade wash, then re-highlighted. Rifle stocks are Dark Brown highlighted New Wood.

Anyway here's one interesting thing about the models... when I was at the Little Bighorn battlefield in 2008 I filled a jar with dirt from Last Stand Hill (as you do) and a little bit was sprinkled into the groundwork on each of these models.

So this is eleven 28mm models x 5 points each = 55 points.

Cheers,

Dallas

Great work on the cavalry Dallas.  You’ve done those lovely Foundry sculpts justice, the blues really work.  Also love the Little Big Horn groundwork.

Monday Again!

The Clash - Gates of the West

OK all, it's Monday again and that means more old man music. This week it's one of my all-time favourites - "the only band that matters" - plus a couple bonus tracks from the two frontmen's post-Clash projects.

What can you say about the Clash? Formed in 1976 in London by Mick Jones and Joe Strummer (we won't mention the previous band Joe was associated with), the classic lineup also included bassist Paul Simonon (he taught himself to play the bass in three weeks!) and drumming genius Topper Headon. Their eponymous first album was released in 1977, followed by "Give 'Em Enough Rope" in 1978. But their magnum opus was certainly "London Calling" released in 1979 and named by Rolling Stone as the greatest album of the decade (the 1980s that is). Infused by ska and reggae as well as rockabilly and traditional rock 'n' roll, every song on this record is a banger. The song linked above, "Gates of the West", is from the band's 1979 EP "The Cost of Living", released just about seven months before London Calling.

London Calling was followed at the end of 1980 by a triple (!) album (sold for the price of a double album, Sandinista! Although I personally love half of the songs on Sandinista!, a lot of it is half-baked rubbish (the "dub" versions of other album tracks for example) and although the band had always been "political", the triple album was even moreso. The album was followed in 1981 by "Combat Rock" featuring the charting US single "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"  Unfortunately the answer was the latter, as after a half-hearted 1982 release (of which the less said the better) the band broke up for good. 

But the animating minds of the Clash, Strummer and Jones, carried on! Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite in 1984. After a time that incarnation broke up and in 1991 Jones formed its successor "Big Audio Dynamite II" releasing their debut album "The Globe", which spawned this hit:

Big Audio Dynamite - Rush

Joe Strummer wasn't idle either. He formed a group called the Mescaleros and they were also great!

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - Get Down Moses

(You might recognize that tune from its great cover by ska band the Interrupters). Sadly Joe Strummer died of a congenital heart defect in 2002. He is missed! 

So if you've made it down this far you're probably interested in the painting this week. First off an apology from me, SteveA's Space Marines were a late entry last week and I didn't get to them, so they're first up this week. Next are some very nice Austrian Napoleonic mounted officers from NormS. And that's it, an easy start to the week - a short week for many of us in North America as today is a provincial holiday in many provinces as well as Presidents' Day in the USA.

Have a better one!

Dallas

It's Monday Again! And That Means More Old Man Music!

Squeeze - Another Nail in My Heart

OK so it's Monday again and another dose of old man music for you. Today it's one of my all-time favourites - Squeeze. It's always surprising to me how many people have never heard of them given how many good songs the band have produced in their long career, but if I can introduce anyone new to their amazing music I'm happy to do so.

Squeeze was formed in the mid-'70s in Deptford, southeast London, by vocalists and guitarists Glenn Tillbrook and Chris Difford. The band was part of the British New Wave scene. The Tillbrook and Difford songwriting partnership produced a TON of great music - this is one of my favourite songs of theirs, a good friend put it on a mixtape for me in about 1986. But you'd recognize a lot of Squeeze songs - "Pulling Mussels (from a Shell)," "Cool for Cats," "Black Coffee in Bed," "Hourglass," "Annie Get Your Gun" (which was shortlisted for this post), "Tempted" (with vocals by sometime-keyboardist Paul Carrack), etc. Tillbrook and Difford have been compared to Lennon and McCartney and I wouldn't dispute that. Glenn has a remarkable singing voice too.

I saw Squeeze play live at the Salt Shed in Chicago in 2023 and it was one of the best rock shows I've ever seen. There are two schools of thought regarding live rock performances. The adherents of one school want to hear the songs like they sound on the album and on the radio. Those of the other school love "noodling" and alternate arrangements of the familiar hits. I have to say that I am of the first school (although the Police's live show made a good argument for the other) and the show that Squeeze put on suited me down to the ground. Glenn and Chris's voices were top-notch, the playing was outstanding, and every song sounded just like it did on the record. Amazing show!   

So now onto the painting... this week we've got some great stuff:

• Kingdom Death (but safe for work!) from ByronM
• A miscellany from DavidB
• Spiffy samurai from JezT
• Terrifying Tyranids from SanderS, and
• Vietnam NVA, USMC and civilians from HayesR

Enjoy the week!

Dallas

Thursday Sub-In for Minion GregB

Blue Rodeo - Head Over Heels

Minion Dallas here, subbing in for GregB as he's in sunny southern climes. I hope you will forgive me for using the space to talk about more old man music :-)

I don't often post live performances here (mostly because of quality of recording) but at the same time, it's kinda boring to just look at an album cover. So here's Blue Rodeo performing their song "Head Over Heels" in 1993. For me this is peak Blue Rodeo. I've seen them live a number of times and they've always put on a great show. The song I linked is one of my favourites of theirs, it was the sixth (!) single from their fifth studio album, "Five Days in July." To me it's a perfect representation of the band's alt-country-rock style and sensitive, poetic lyrics. 

The band was formed in 1984 in Toronto, Canada by high-school friends Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor. After spending some time in New York City, the original lineup was finalized with the addition of keyboard player Bobby Wiseman, bassist Bazil Donovan and drummer Cleave Anderson. Their first album, Outskirts, was released in 1987 and was a big part of my teenage years. I still remember listening to the album's monster hit single "Try" on the radio when closing up at Bonanza restaurant, my first job. 

Blue Rodeo is truly one of Canada's musical treasures. Cuddy and Keelor have been recognized for countless awards in their over-40-year career, including a star on Canada's Walk of Fame, induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Songwriters' Hall of Fame, eleven Juno awards, etc. They are legends, no doubt, and were my late wife Pam's favourite band for sure. I hope you enjoy their music too.

Now to the painting... this week I'm proud to present:

• Some Age of Sigmar commissions from Millsy!
• A miscellany from DaveD with some great painting and a scratchbuilt boat!
• Napoleonic Austrians from IainW!
• Some Epic Bohemian Pike & Shotte from Curt!
• Snowy (not the dog) fantasy units from JamieM!
• A few MCP heroes (and villains!) from RhysH!

Have a great Thursday everyone and I'll see you again on Monday!

Dallas

 

From DallasE: Chaos All-Stars Blood Bowl Team (55 points)

OK! So for the longest time (since like 2011 or so) I have only had one painted Blood Bowl team, and these Chaos All-Stars were sitting primed in a Plano case. But my recent New Year's Resolution (host more games!) and a Chaos Dwarfs Blood Bowl team I received as a Christmas gift prompted me to get off my azz and get these guys painted. Of course I also went out and bought the Blood Bowl Third Season box set :-|

These of course are the old metal Chaos All-Stars. I can't remember the copyright dates on the base tags but they do appear in my 2004-05 comprehensive Citadel Miniatures catalog, I think they are the 1994 version of the team. Here are the Chaos Warriors.

I had thought of using numbers from the decal sheets in the Third Season or Chaos Dwarfs team box, but a look in the decal folder revealed a couple sheets of Team Yankee Soviet decals and they sized out just about right.

There's eight beastmen on the team too, four sculpts with two examples each. Good variety.

These guys got similar decal treatment.

With the purple and yellow team colours I was going for a kind of Minnesota Vikings look.

But I haven't formally named the team yet.

Look at this! I even painted eyes on the Beastmen! The whites are Corax White and a fine-tipped technical pen I have works great for the pupils.

I'm looking forward to getting these guys out on the field this year. Might even pick up another Chaos Warrior (Lord Borak?) or maybe a beastman mutant or metal Minotaur or Troll, although those are getting to be $$$.

Anyway, that's 11 28mm models x5 points each = 55 points. 

Great work on these veterans who have spent far too long waiting to be painted (pot calling the kettle black there).  I love the Vikings purple colour combo, but these guys definitely need a name/logo/mascot.  Have they played their first game yet?

 55 points it is