From JamieM - Braaaaaains (200 points)

Zombies for me this week. A veritable horde.

These are by Mantic and are intended for use with the Firefight ruleset, which is a 28mm sci fi ruleset that I really like but which struggles to get traction against the 800 pound gorilla that is 40k. Still, if I build them, players will come (to paraphrase Field of Dreams).

There are only five different poses, so they get a little samey and I went for some lab workers, some military and some civvies.

In the Firefight universe, zombies are caused by the Plague, which turns some people into zombies and others into ‘roided berserker creatures of varying types (leapers, busrsters, etc) and this is my attempt to get the cheap troops done so I can field an army.

The largest unit size is 30 so I did ten in the orange jumpsuits so I can easily separate them on the tabletop.

Fairly soft details on these so I stuck with contrast and limited highlighting and detail on the skin/blood effects.

Like a lot of rank and file, it’s good to get them done and whilst individually they’re no great shakes, quantity has a quality all of its own as someone once said.

 Nice and simple for scoring - 40 x 5 points for 28mm infantry for 200 points.

***

Great work Jamie! I've never seen such a fine representation of the Parliamentary Labour Party in 28mm before! They are all set to represent their constituents in Westminster, ready to enact Sir Keir Starmer's bold vision of...oh...wait...sorry about that, I should have read more closely. I saw "zombies" and just went from there...

Well done - it is always tricky to wade through a large pile of figures like this - particularly ones which are "samey", but I think you have achieved a proper balance of variety and painting efficiency. And I do expect these fellows are to be targets at the end of the day, correct? So they have the proper intimidation effect en masse here!

That's 200 points for you!

GregB

From PaulO'G: Necromunda Tower (40 points)

I'm working on a few different projects but to be honest not many of them are progressing as envisioned, and thus aren't ready as planned. But this is the chillaxed Sunday crew and we don't groove things like deadlines or stress in our hobby.  Anyway, I did get this small entry completed, a tower for our Necromunda table.

This tower (from a Mantic Games set) has been kicking around our hobby room unpainted for 4 or 5 years. So there we were playing a Christmas game when I finally said 'sod it, pass it over and I'll just get it done'. And here it is; not super exciting but it was fun to experiment with chipping medium and oil washes to give it a worn and dingy look while not making it grey!

Overall its about the volume of a 6inch cube for 20 points, and given its long term hiatus as a not quite started project I would like to also claim the "Under Construction" Bonus for a total of 40 points please. 

Thanks and enjoy your Sunday!

Lovely tower, very reminiscent of Troika pottery (look it up you philistines). Necromunda is becoming cool again here in UK

From TomG - Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - Guardroom - 34 points

Hello everyone! 

Once more we plough on through the Chambers of Challenge, and today that takes us to the Guardroom, where we find two trigger happy chappies, but what are they guarding? 

All of the elements used for this vignette are from Mantic Games, with the weapon rack from their Dungeon Saga game, the two guards are "Basilean" crossbow men and the chest are from their Vanguard skirmish game.

I struggled to get this mini to a point where I was happy with the colours, so I asked my wife for advice and she pointed out that I had no spot colour that would stand out. So she recommended red, and was totally right, as it brought the whole scene to life. 

And here we see the great booty that is being guarded, although with the amount of gold that has fallen out, I wonder if it's not the guards themselves that need... guarding. 

Points - 

2x 28mm Infantry = 10pts

Challenge Entry = 20pts

Total = 30pts

From TomG - An Epic Climax and Something's Hatching!!! — (145 points)

All good things must come to an end, and for me that is completing my first set of Warlord Games scale ACW Confederates. 

They've been a joy to paint, and I am looking forward to when the product is fully released. Although I appreciate the controversy they have caused, I fortunately had nothing between 28mm and 6mm for ACW, and so was able to go all in and preorder a fair amount.

Each stand is 20 figures produced in rows of 10 figures sculpted together, I presume, to offer a closed ranks feel. By the end of painting them I had really sped up the process without sacrificing much in the way of detail.

And with that, the family photo is complete. 100 men all ranked up ready to defend the South, or at least the South end of the gaming table.

Next up I continue my adventures in to the Chambers of Challenge, this time delving down to level 2, starting with the Hatchery.

This little number is from Mantic Games as part of their Vanguard game, namely a scenario objective called, The Dragons Egg. It's a fun scenario where, once you have captured the egg you have to contend with, not only your opponent, but also an angry mummy dragon trying to burn you to death!

I added a 28mm model to show the size of the egg, which was a nice little painting project, that neatly fitted between finishing the ACW guys and moving on to my next planned project for AHPC-XI. 

Points were scored as follows - 

60 x "15mm" infantry = 120pts

1 x 28mm infantry sized challenge entry = 25pts

Total = 145pts

My, my, my! My first victim of AHPC XI...*evil grin*

You've done a great job on those 13.5mm strips. I must confess to being a little bit confused by Warlord's thinking behind the 100-figure regiments given that their stated intention is to allow people to play out epic ACW battles - it seems to me that you could barely get a division a side on a standard 6x4 table, although the long, thin lines of infantry does look better than 24 x28mm figures.

I do like that "egg" as well. Cracking stuff and 145 points it is.

Tamsin

From TomG - Going Quackers Entering the Chambers & "Not" Curtgeld Ahoy - 50 points

Hello again, today I bring you my first entry in to the Chambers of Challenge via the Hall of Traps, and my entry cost mini, although this is a long post I hope you enjoy it. 

To start with is this Trapper, laying in wait for a dastardly, yet daffy, prey. The vignette is made up of a French Indian Wars plastic Warlord Games mini, from yet another freebie sprue, a tree stump and a duck from the recent Mantic Terrain Crate 2 Kickstarter.

I had great fun creating this, my first ever completed vignette, all for the sole purpose of exploring the ideas of laying in wait, trapping and being trapped. I wasn't sure what colours to use as it is a period of history I've never read in to, but the frame where the trapper came from was chock filled with interesting details. My thoughts went to the fur traders and the Jason Mamoa tv series, where all manner of visceral violence is laid out for our entertainment. Somewhere in there I'm sure I saw buff coloured clothing, so here we are.

From the top down you can just about see our dear friends aim is slightly off, but I'm sure any duck hunt players had a glitchy game once in a while. The added hatchet was initially going to have the musket rested on it, but the effect seemed daft, so it just became a visual interest point.

Painting the duck offered a surprisingly high level of calming and cathartic relaxation, simply letting go of what uniform and texture to work with, and instead just working from memory of all the ducks my kids and I have fed over the years. And of course we have our trapper who I named Trigger, for no better reason than I was watching the classic English sitcom "Only Fools and Horses" at the time of painting. 

Next we have the infamous Curtgeld mini for this year's entry fee. This chap has been sat in a collection of special edition minis i wanted to paint but had no reason to, and so what better reason to get at him than as a potential prize to one of you. I hope you like him as I loved painting him up. 

All in all I have very little idea how to score the vignette,  so I'll stick to the points I know I've earned:

Trapper Vignette (28mm mini plus bonus challenge points) - 25 points

Curtgeld (28mm mini plus bonus challenge points) - 25 points

Total - 50 points

That's all folks, I hope you like what you see and I'll catch you next time.

TomG

From DaveS - Chill Out - 30 points

Having managed to clear the Union infantry off the desk (some of them into the drawer, rather than the painted pile I confess), I was able to play with the airbrush again.  I had the Mantic Ice Elemental for Kings of War Vanguard knocking around and thought it would be a perfect testbed to try some new (to me), techniques, and hopefully renew my interest in the game.

The whole effect was based around the fact that I looked at the ACW Union blue trousers I had painted, and though "Those would make a pretty good ice effect".  The whole thing was airbrushed Vallejo Deep Sky blue, and then a venithal shade from below of a darker blue was applied, before using the light sky blue for a venithal higlight.  It was then drybrushed with Etherium Blue from GW, and the job was a good one.

The last photo is the best shot of the base I have.  Its a simple affair, with the snow paste made from a mix of army painter snow texture, PVA and white paint, dabbed on, and then a further layer of the texture sprinkled over. The tuft is, well, an army painter tuft.  I'm also a little proud of the rock in the corner, which is a piece of slate that was made by smashing a pound shop find of a slate placemat with a hammer.  Economy in action.

I have no idea what this is supposed to be worth.  That's a 40mm base its on, to give some idea of size.  It's probably closest in height to a 54mm figure, but of considerably greater volume.  I'm going to leave it to the judges.

From DaveD - well its certainly chilly! I have gone with 30 points for the size and volume

Brettm: Mariachi Band and 3D prints (30 Points)

Finally first entry is in. Lots happening end of last year so was a slow start for me. For my first entry I give you the mariachi band! I painted this up as a Christmas gift however did not make it in time for Christmas..wah wah. 

The base is 3d printed. I got the file from printable scenery. The edges were open so I used greenstuff to fill them in then painted the edges black.

 I added gold around their hats and on gold lines up the sides of their pants. Trying to give them more of that colorful mariachi feel. 

I added the barrels to kinda decorate the base a bit more. They are from mantics first Terrain crate kickstarter. Couldn't tell you which one as thats sat in the closet since I got them till this piece.

Second up is my first 3d model resin print I have painted. I got the file off thingiverse and while his hands are HUGE I thought it was a decent model to try out the resin printer.

 Not that happy with his shirt. Thought about going back and repainting it so didn't look so rough. But I have many more points to go!! 

I though the model turned out pretty well. Have a couple other models that came off the printer I may have to paint up now as well. Total of 5-28mm models at 5pts each brings it to 25 points. Not sure what the base I put them on would add if any. I'm sure the wonderful minions will have an idea.

From MilesR: Yeah, about that wonderful minion thing, you got stuck with me so your'e screwed.  Now that the formalities are out of the way, I LOVE the Mariacchi band and now feel a burning desire for chips and salsa - at least I'm blaming you when my wife catches me eating things that are not on my diet.  The resin printed model is very nice.  I shudder to think how advanced these things will be on 5-10 years and suspect most of us will be buying files rather than figures to build out out armies.

For pointage, you've got 5 28mm figures plus I'll throw in 5 points for the stage and barrels. 

But there is a problem - I don't know who you are as you didn't put your name in the post and the blogger ID doesn't match any of the participants.  People, if you want credit for your work you need to put your name on it.  Based on the terms of the Minion collective bargaining agreement I allowed to assert salvage rights on any un-named submission if no participant claims the entry and provides a valid ID and pays the hefty sum in arbitrary fines.

From Pete F: Cook's Crevasse Speed Paint Earth Elemental (50 points)

This is a greater earth elemental for Kings of War by Mantic Games. My first KoW army is Forces of Nature - a mixture of naiad and lizard infantry supported by elementals, shambling trees and centaurs. I chose my army by buying the cheapest thing I could get on EBay. This was part of a roughly painted and heavily damaged job lot that had to be stripped, reassembled, cleaned and reprimed.

The main body of the earth elemental was painted using contrast basilicum grey, lightly dry-brushed. The crystals were painted black and then with a  colour shift called "Crystal Cavern" made by Turbo Dork. These colour shift paints showed up at my local store a couple of months ago - they are great for creating fantasy or sci-fi metallic sheens. This is the first time I've used one and I'm very happy with the result.  I've used the contrast paints as a base for the massed ranks of infantry - they can produce great results for wargame standard speed painting and I plan to use them a lot for my Kow Nightstalkers army. With contrasts and colour shifts it should be possible to get a big army table ready quite quickly.

If you like fantasy miniatures I'd recommend checking out Mantic's recent releases - they have really upped their game - this is one of their older models - good but not great. Decently functional. The newer stuff has more pizzazz.

The base got some aquarium rocks, various bits of flock, tufts and a pond made from Woodland Scenics realistic water.

In the game the earth elemental is high defense (armour) and has a lot of "crushing strength". It is a "titan" (even bigger than the creatures classified as monsters) so it sits on a 75mm square base. They work well in concert with other units and in addition to moving under their own steam druids can move them using their druidy magic. These kind of tricks are an important element of Kings of War - a game that richly rewards flank attacks if you can figure out how to get them.

This is my 5th area explored on Challenge Island (30 points for Cook's Crevasse) - I'm not sure if that qualifies me for Snowlord's Peak as I am not (yet) adjacent to it. The elemental is 100mm high from foot to top of crystal and he's kind of crouching - I'll leave it to the Minion of the Day (or the Snowlord) to score him (or her, it's hard to tell with elementals).

"Get off my lawn"

From MilesR:  That certainly is an impressive elemental and the basing is nicely done.  I also found the mini tutorial on contrast paints interesting.  I scored this as a 28mm vehicle.

From DaveS: More Nightstalkers (40 Points)

So, I've been busy, and have managed to finish some more of the Night Stalkers force that i was working on.  First up I've completed another 3 of the Scarecrows, to give me 5 (and likely more than I'll ever need for Vanguard)

These are the cheap, disposable foot troops, and I have painted them the same as the previous ones, albeit without the Orange Pumpkin heads.

Next we have 5 Spectres, the bog standard missile troop of the force.  Another 5 of them, in a VERY  simple paint job, that I think looks good next to the Scarecrows (and mimics the official scheme seemingly)

Overall, that's another 8 28mm figures, which I think should be good for another 40 points to the total.  Now to try and find something nautical.

_______________________________

Good to see that you're cracking on with your Kings of War 'Nightstalker' project, Dave. Those scarecrows are suitably scary, wielding their garden implements and sporting creepy hats. The Specres are rather unsettling as well, with the odd lolling tongue to give them some contrast. Great stuff.

-Curt