Squirrel Duel - The Foregone Conclusion

Greetings fellow Squirrel finding fanatics,

    First of all, my apologies for not getting an update out in early March. Work was busy, life was hectic and putting one of these posts together takes a couple of hours and way more effort than people probably realize. 

    Anyway, I have gone through everything including the theme round entries and put together the final tally of Squirrel Points. Before we go on to the scores, a few quick notes. If you have more points than you expected, it was because I counted some entries that you overlooked. If you have less points than you expected, it is because your claims didn't meet the 25 points minimum to claim a Squirrel Point.

    Let's have a quick look at some of this month's entries, shall we?

A Roman gang by BrianC

Rashaar by CurtC

Some Austrians by KillianF

An undead catapult by TeemuL

Some Saxons by TimP

    This year's Squirrel Duel saw a huge range of minis in terms of periods, scales and genres. I would like to thank everyone who took part, and I would especially like to thank those of you who kept a list of your Squirrel Points in you challenge entries, it made my life a lot easier. In the duel information post I predicted that half of the entries wouldn't include the Squirrel label, and while it was less than half, it was still a fair number. I was pretty lenient and went through every challengers posts one by one, though I probably should have been a lot stricter.

    So, on to this year's winner. In the last Squirrel update, I asked if anyone could catch ChrisW.

...And the answer was.....

A resounding NO!

    ChrisW is this year's winner, with a splendid 36 Squirrel Points, Congratulations to KerryT and TeemuL for coming in joint 3rd place. Well done to all our Squirrel Side Duel challengers. You have proved once again that there is always space for another side project or extra set of minis somewhere in our collections.

    So, that is it for Challenge 16's Squirrel Duel. I hope to see you all again in Challenge 17.

    -The Squirrelfinder General

From StuartL - Finishing at the Start - 75 Points

Hi all,

Despite a lot of real life stuff going on, I was able to finish off some minis just in time. Both of the batches below represent new projects for me, hence the title of the post.

Many years ago, I got into Napoleonics with some friends at my local gaming group. I bought a few brigades of Waterloo era British, while those around me collected French, Russians, Austrians and Prussians, though mainly for the slightly earlier period. Unfortunately, all of my opponents moved away or changed hobbies completely. This left me with a bit of a problem. Having only one force meant that they would never see the table. So, I figured that I would have to start collecting a second army. While I was tempted to get a Waterloo era French force, I decided to go for the earlier uniforms. I got a couple of boxes of Perrys 1807-14 French for Christmas, but I haven't had time to start building them yet. I did want to do something for the challenge, so I had a friend print me some artillery.

    These are some French Foot Artillery from Battlecat Miniatures on MyMiniFactory. They were fairly easy to paint up and the details were nice and sharp. The gun limbers have very deep grain on the wood, which doesn't look so realistic up close, but at tabletop level it should be fine.

    I did have some trouble getting all of the minis onto the bases I had, especially the guy adjusting the wheel position. Some parts of the figure are sticking out over the edge of the base.

    
    These are really nice minis and I am thinking to have my friend print a few more for me. I have a couple of French generals printed as well, but sadly time was not on my side. 

    The second new force is more Space Marines. I have way too many Space Marine armies, (cough, 14 different armies including this one), I think I may have a problem. My armies come in two types, Horus Heresy armies and Badab War armies. These are both primarily Marine Vs. Marine conflicts, which explains why I have so many. I have dabbled with the new Primaris figures, but sold them on as they weren't really my thing.

    These five minis represent half of an assault squad for the Star Phantoms Chapter for the Badab War. Painting this much white was not as much fun as you might expect. 

    The Star Phantoms' background hints that they are an offshoot of the Dark Angels Legion, from the Dreadwing formation, which uses the same iconography. Their preferred tactical doctrines are 'Scorched Earth' and 'War Crimes'. They lean heavily into the 40K skull motif too.

     I have a bunch more models for this force lined up, so hopefully there will be more to come in the next challenge.

    Well, that is about all from me for this year. So, this final group should score me:

2x artillery pieces = 20 Points

6x French gun crews = 30 Points

5x Space Marines = 25 Points

    That should add 75 Points to my tally, taking me well past my target number, though not as high as previous years. 

    This lot get me two last Squirrels and the Star Phantoms have 32 Skulls between them.

  My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 271 (+32)
BSRoD - 17 (+0)
Squirrels - 20 (+2) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French, Daemons of Khorne, Modern Vehicles, Turnip28, Space Wolves, Free French, Arabs, Snake Folks, French Napoleonics, Star Phantoms.

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I know you've been very busy as of late so it's nice to see you back for a final volley, Stuart. 

The Star Phantoms are very nice in their stark white livery and close combat weaponry. That being said, the stars of this post (at least for me) are the French artillery. I've seen several examples of Battle Cat figures during this year's Challenge and they look very nice (I think the deep woodgrain is a nice feature as it helps with painting). You've done a great job on this small battery and I look forward to seeing more from this project next Challenge! 

Until then have a great rest of the year!

- Curt

From DavidB: Part 2 The Wolf Spiders (195 points)

 

38 Van-saar gangers being the last big purchase of GW models. I am blaming them on both Hive secondus (space hulk like necromundia game) and my interest in some new cheap Sci-Fi skirmish games. They easily make a platoon so besides Necro, they will be great in 5150, Stargrave, and a score of other Sci-Fi games I have. they can easily be a cyberpunk spec ops team too.

My first try a few challenges ago was to make them a turquoise with bright orange optics, but the jade paints looked greener and suddenly I had the classic Van-saar look and lost a lot of my painting mojo working on them. Those models have done okay in the necromundia games, but not my favorite as I am not happy with the look of them. This time I decided since I wanted the weapons and lights to be the focus, I would aim for more neutral tones on the figures and decided a pale blue grey and black body suits would make the optics more noticeable. I really liked the look and with the pale blue-grey I now have the Wolf Spiders ready to rumble.

They came out rather well.

Van-saar are not known for close combat, but a plasma pistol and energy shield is their style.

I do not know my starting roster yet, but this one will be in the starting crew.

hand flamer weapons are a great weapon to give to the new fighters and level them up to ganger quick.

I really like their helmets and only used a few bare heads for flavor, but all have masks and helms on their person.

I have not decided on the leader yet, all four have nice weapon loadouts, but may change to get the troops in the roster.

I am leaning to the camo cloak leader with power knife and las as his cloak was purposefully painted purple for the look at me. either he will be targeted as a boss or left alone where I can use him to snipe targets. I figure him to be a vain leader using the cloak in a more flamboyant color shift than camouflage

The mainstays of the roster will be lasguns, las carbines, and the van-saar version of a shotgun being the suppression laser.

a multi melta, plasma cannon, and rad cannon being either an anchor for my gang or an anchor in depleting points better spent on something else.

I made sure to make at least one model for every special weapon available. I want choices for support weapons and will need something to take down high toughness and high wound targets.

The red target optics really pop with the blue lenses.

there were only nine skulls with this big gang, and all were on the knife sheaths or energy shields. they are more tech and less grim dark until we get to the medic from the hive Secundus set with the big honking servo arm needle and chainsaw bone saw.  The medic is accompanied by communication tech

A weaponsmith and sniper

a proper camo cloak for the sniper.

Two more hive secudus tech hunters and will be used in a game with my friends at Adepticon. I haven't played that particular game yet, but since necromundia and space hulk are favorite games, I will have fun.

some up armored heavy weapon gunners one with a rad gun and the other with something that is part flame weapon and part mancatcher...

Everything from the past few days off....

An ammo priest for trench crusade that somehow was with the Cawdor gangers, so I finished him up before typing this post and he is the last model for this challenge.

I was "Lucky" in I had a VA doc appointment and had a day off work since it was when I should've been sleeping for work. I will be off to work tonight so my brushes are now down for this winter. I will have a tally of the big stompy robots of death soon as I have vacation beginning on Monday. 

38 van-saar gangers and one trench crusade ammo monk for 195 points

squirrels- White Scars, Fantasy orcs, WW2 US, WW2 Germans, Battletech, wood elves, stormtoopers, Iron Snakes, Deathguard, Modern US inf, WW1 French, Trench Pilgrims, New Antioch, Carnevale Doctors, Van-Saar gangers.

skulls- 111 skulls adding the few not so grim dark gangers

stompy robots of death- 17 machines

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Wow, 38 Van-Saar gangers? In Necromunda terms this is not a 'gang', but a freakin' 'horde'! Lovely work David, and I really like your new re-dux colour scheme. They definitely look more hi-tek compared to the usual Necromunda offerings - quite patrician. As you say, the larger force will allow you to use them in a variety of rules systems. Very nice and a great conclusion to your Challenge this year. Bravo!

- Curt

From TeemuL: The Last Ducks and Orcs (50 points)

My last post of the Challenge has elements of two of my favourite fantasy worlds, Glorantha and Middle-Earth. First Glorantha and heroic ducks. I recently painted first five of them here: Ducks from 2022. And now was the time to paint the rest and claim one more squirrel!

They being fantasy ducks and not real I was able to use varied colours - one of them is blue, another one is green, one yellow and light and dark grey pair to finish them off. I tried to again use a limited palette to tie them together, look unified, but not uniformed. So lots of greys, greens and browns, followed by wash and gentle drybrush. It is a miracle indeed how many colours you can shade with Reikland Fleshshade and drybrush with Caucasian Flesh and the end result is great! I give you hint, basically anything but blue and green on these ducks...

For those of you don't know, ducks from Glorantha are barbarians and live side by side with other barbarians following their Storm God called Orlanth. Ducks don't take criticism well, especially if it is targeted towards their height, size or skills with weapons. They are short tempered, I wonder if Donald Duck is related to them...

Times like these, Challenge coming to end, skull duel almost tied, every skull counting, it would be tempting to paint free hand skulls everywhere, for example on the shields of these ducks. But skull is not a symbol widely used in Glorantha, so one of them got a storm rune and other one got a luck rune. Whirling storm rune is also the mark of Orlanth. They are smallish minis, 20mm in height, but in 28mm scale and previously counted as 28mm so it would be 5 points per mini and total of 25 points and a "Glorantha Duck" squirrel.

<Enter some quack jokes here>

And lets move on. Here are five more Uruk-hais for my army. You might remember my earlier entry where I said these were surprisingly easy and fast to paint. So I primed five more and they were still easy and fast to paint. I need to remember that, because I have quite a lot of them waiting for paint.

The recipe is the same and since there are dozens of entries on the final hours, I'll save you from long rants. 5 minis for 25 points, no squirrels or skulls. 50 points total. Thank you and "See You In December!"

From Millsy:

One of my favourite aspects of Gloranthan lore is the quirkiness of it and the ducks are the epitome of that quirkiness. I would never have though to use such bright colours on them as you've done mate but it really works.

Lovely work Teemu and another 50 Lunars added to your tally.

PS. I tried to think of a duck joke that would quack you up but couldn't manage it.

Cheers,

Millsy

From DavidB: Part 1 - Mechs and Docs (118 points)

So, we are down to the wire as the last day of Winter approaches, however, a few more snowstorms approach even now. Above are the last unfinished minis of this season. I could not let them get aside without mentioning them as they are splendid sculpts full of character. They are Necromundia House Cawdor from Necromundia 2.0 and the classic Perry and Morley sculpts from the 90's. They have the base colors in place with some layering completed. I used the John Blanche paints on them and as I have noted before the Turnbull Turquoise is a great speed paint of a near bluish black. I only added edge highlights to the classic metal models as it is a very nice speed paint. I would be remiss if I did not note that adding some speed paint or ink to colors you lighten with white does punch up the pigment...

The newer Cawdor sculpts seem to be a mix of Cawdor with the old Scavy gang. The new House Cawdor are rags and bandages with cobbled makeshift weapons and lots of candles, nails, and mismatched boots which makes them a delight to build and paint...and why they are taking so long. The Old Redemtionist gang and Cawdor models are tiny healthier looking models. The new House Cawdor has the religious zealots included in the house gang rather than separate with the priest leading the gang. I only played this particular gang a few times 30 years ago and they were still in black primer with only their masks painted in a rainbow of hues. I gave them blackish robes and unified them in making all their masks red.

I will finish them after Adepticon as I need them for Necromundia and Inquisimundia.

some 3D printed mercs for battletech on some bases I printed.

A friend gave me them for an upcoming campaign and the Atlas is the only one I can readily identify and gave me a skull for this post.

                                       

An Inner sphere Fire Lance with some heavy hitters. A Zeus, Stalker, Longbow, and Trebuchet.

sporting a green and grey camouflage, they will be used to rain a barrage of fire.  I am winless in the battletech games so far as I am usually hamstrung by dice and inability to assess the potential of enemy lances! ;)

Now on to Carnevale. New Minis and rules are out, and I had to finish the Doctor faction. I still have the Vatican and Nobles to do, but some of the resin models are breaking as I brush them, so they will be completed later. TTC says the Nobles are Psychopaths and the Doctors are Sociopaths. The Doctors help the Venetian sick during the day then experiment and murder at night.

Hollow men...or hallow woman and man who have been drained of magic and are something new and dangerous.

I kept them plain for especially for painting the glowing red light.

Some nurses to aid the Doctors.

They also get experimented on.....

An orderly to fight while the head Doctor contemplates magic. he is the leader of the doctor sect and his mask and stance reminded me of a mindflayer so I went with purple on his robes.

Although fragile, I do love the sculpts and the Carnevale game. the D10 system and synergy between the models make for some excellent skirmish games.

These are the starter gang for the docs.

Some madmen serving as magic batteries

and some more object light source.

an assistant using magic as a gun and an orderly to keep physical attackers away from the "good" doctor.

The Doctor preparing a bit of a spell with magic vials on his belt and a plague mask...such a grand model.

This particular Doctor leads a different group and is more devoted to testing the limits and possibilties of magic.

since the doc is too busy with his discoveries, an apprentice doctor and potion maker do the heavy lifting.

I usually find terrain with a model to be annoying, but did have fun painting the magical effect of the doctor moving through a wall.

the madman had to go the long way around the wall.

I picked up this set only because I wanted to do the object light source on the lion and gorilla.

The staff for handling the animals have been augmented for the purpose.

taser goads and more OLS painting

the vetenairy doc is a nice sculpt, but not the star...

a bronze box and porcelain mask for his magical box.

Definitely something a mad scientist would do to the king of the jungle.

I very much enjoyed painting all the textures and OLS on this model.

This poor ape was also much fun to paint.

a flying monkey ready for a skirmish.

The Lion, Ape and one madman were the very last models I completed as I noticed I forgot to paint their tongues. The madman is the only human model I have now painted a tongue for.

9 battle mechs for 18 points

20 Doctors for Carnivale for 100 points

118 points for part one of the last

squirrels- White Scars, Fantasy Orcs, WW2 US, WW2 Germans, battletech, wood elves, stormtroopers, Iron Snakes, Deathguard, Modern US infantry, WW1 French, Trench Pilgrims, New Antioch, Carnevale Doctors.

skulls- plus one for 102

big stompy robots of death-17

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I can alway count on you, David, to entertain us with a last flurry of activity before we close for the season (and this is only 'Part 1'). All of these are all wonderful, but I especially like the old Perry and Morley Necromunda models from yesteryear. Well done David!

- Curt