Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge X - Body of Work

The Tenth Painting Challenge is over and I don't know about anyone else but I'm all brushed out for the time being. I need to clean up my Operations Room and find a home for the massive amount of stuff I painted! I've only had this hobby room for a few months and it's already FULL! I'm not complaining though, it has been a fantastic challenge and I've been more productive than at any time before. So time for my 'Body of Work' picture.

So what's in that mess-o-models? Quite a bit for me, I'm used to a smaller collection of work by the end of the Challenge. So here's a brief picture review of everything I managed to get done.

I think it must be obvious from these pictures that my work hasn't been dominated by 6mm this year. I had a quick look at my own personal 'Spreadsheet of doom' (yes I have my own!) and it turns out that 880 points from my 1400 total came from other scales. And worse still (according to RayR) nearly half my points were earned from work on a particular ice-bound Fantasy game. At this rate, I'm likely to have my membership of the Rejects revoked! Certainly, my reputation as 'the 6mm historical guy' is in doubt.

As already mentioned, I always keep a tally of my planned projects during the Challenge, tracking my progress as the week's tick past. I'm rather chuffed to say that I've outperformed myself at every stage of the competition. I've achieved a new 'personal best' and by every measure that I count, this has been my best Challenge ever. 

I'm already looking forward to the next Challenge and have started giving some thought as to what I want to paint. Alexanders army to face off against my Indians is a strong contender, but who knows. I look forward to seeing some of my fellow Challengers in the recently announced Quarantine Challenge and many more in December for Challenge XI.

Frost Witch and Ice Worm at the Snow Lords Peak

The air crackles with magical energy and distant flashes of lightning foreshadow the wrath of an imminent storm as it approaches the Snow Lords Peak. Arcane words can barely be heard above the building winds. The Thunder booms and rumbles across the landscape and for a moment it sounds as if there is an unseen avalanche about to sweep the mountainside. The moment passes and more flashes can be seen, closer now. A figure approaches, skimming above the fresh snow and radiating an ethereal glow. The woman appears to be whispering but her words build and echo across the landscape until they drown out the next rumble of Thunder. Then the earth bursts open sending rocks and snow cascading down the slope. A monstrous Ice Worm rears up from the ground and gives out an ear-shattering shriek. The beast has answered its summons and is ready to serve its bitter mistress.

The Snow Lord issued me a challenge to find and paint a figure that was bigger than my normal fare. I put on my climbing gear and started up the Lead Mountain. By the time I reached the snowline I was worried I wouldn't find anything, having climbed across a scree slope of unpainted 6mm figures on the way up. And then I saw her! I found a figure in my lead mountain that I have absolutely no recognition of buying! It must have been another "ooo-shiney!" moment at some past show but I genuinely don't remember.

The Frost Witch figure is from Crocodile Games and is laughably described as Heroic 28mm which means next to nothing really. The witch is 40mm foot to eye and 44mm overall, without taking into account the cape which brings the height of the whole model to well over 50mm tall. Just for good measure, I mounted it on a 'rock' outcrop that stands a further 50mm tall, so overall this figure is pretty big compared to my normal work. But I had this nagging feeling I could do better... I tightened my crampons and proceeded higher up the Lead Mountain...

Towards the top of the mountain, I found a weird mixture not only of lead but plastic figures from over 30 years of gaming. And then I saw the perfect accompaniment to my witch, a giant Purple Worm. This is an old plastic figure that was originally bought pre-painted but had seen better days. It's an old Wizards of the Coast DnD figure that I used in RPG's probably 10 or fifteen years ago.  It was looking a bit worse for wear having been bashed around in various boxes over the years so I decided it was worth giving it a brand new coat of paint. The Snow Lord wanted bigger than 6mm, well this beastie comes in at a cool 120mm tall. A bit bigger than my normal fare!

To paint this I made a few repairs filled in some mould lines with liquid plastic and then gave the whole thing a thorough new base coat of grey before starting the new paint job. Instead of repainting it as a Purple Worm I have changed the colour scheme so it is now a huge Ice Worm.

Right, points...huh? No clue. The witch is 40mm so I guess 7 points for her but I have no idea what arcane mathemagical calculations need to be made to score the Worm. At 120mm it's not exactly standard-sized! I'll leave that decision in the hands of the Snow Lord. Whatever it is, combined with the usual points for the challenge location, will give my tally one final boost before everything comes to an end. I'm happy with whatever points I get as this has already been my most productive Challenge to date and I'm just happy to have taken part.

Og make FIRE!

A few weeks ago I received a very nice parcel in the post. All parcels are actually nice but this particular one was very nice because I didn't buy it, it was sent to me as a present. Inside were five perfectly cast Neanderthals sent to me by Alex from Russia. He was a member of my Tuesday crew when I was a minion in last years Challenge and I think this was a reward for the odd bonus point I might have put in his direction back then! 😉

These are 28mm, cast in white metal and other than a little bit of filing to be done on the base completely free of any caste lines or flash. The sculpture is fairly basic but actually, they painted up really well. I'm not really sure where I'm going to use them, but I did promise Alex I'd try and get them painted by the end of the Challenge, so here they are.

Actually come to think of it I could probably use these some pulp role-playing games that I have. Have an excellent little RPG we called Hollow Earth Expedition which is a proper 'land of the lost' type setting, and these guys would fit in their perfectly. 

Pointwise these are relatively simple. 5x28mm figures and the fire which I suppose should be a couple of points. If my math is correct these should take me to my target! Wo-hoo! Now I really, really, really need to get on with my Snow Lords Challenge!!!

Tombstones and mausoleum for frostgrave

I didn't think I'll have time to I didn't think I'll have time to paint these but I'm glad I did. most of this stuff is resin terrain that I bought from debris of War although there are a few other items that I managed to buy online, some of which was pre-painted so I gave them a new base coat and started again. I've gone with the simple paint scheme that I've been using on all my Frostgrave terrain; various shades of grey with some homemade winter tufts.

The two dungeon covers are also from debris of War and after painting the iron work metal I applied some special rust wash that I bought ages ago.

All these items are what I would class as scatter terrain and can be used with some of the buildings that have already painted or stand-alone items in them in the case of the tombstones and so on.

No idea how they should be scored as far as points are concerned. the whole lot would probably make up about 1 terrain Square but I'm not sure if it's worth 20 points so I'll take whatever today's minion deems worthy for this lot. 

Normandy Farmhouse

Another day another unplanned entry. Actually, that's not strictly true this building was on my original challenge painting plan but I decided not to do it because I had plenty of other things to paint. However, with the upcoming Normandy demo game I'm going to be running this weekend, I couldn't resist. This building is from Peter Pig and was part of a set of 3 buildings that I bought at Salute last year.

As far as possible I have tried to copy the painting style of the Landmark buildings (from Timecast) I bought last year. Hopefully, this will mean all my buildings all have a similar feel about them and won't look incongruous when used next to each other. The building is cast in some sort of resin and was quite easy to base coat and paint. I block painted the majority of the model then gave the whole thing a wash with army painter soft tone and then dry brushed.

The pictures include one of my tiger tanks and a 15mm infantry figure just to show scale. I have a second farmhouse and a barn from the same manufacturer but these were definitely not be done during this challenge (I'm definitely running out of time now!).

It's dimensions are 4"x5"x3" so the whole thing comes out at a little over a quarter of a terrain cube, so about five points worth in the Painting Challenge. I'm happy with that and it's one more incremental step towards my target... Now I really really must get on with my snow lord's challenge!!

Ray's Donnybrook Game

Poor old Ray. Forced to run a game of Donnybrook by the Snowlord! Possibly the funniest act of mischief from the whole Painting Challenge. So a handful of the Rejects gathered for a mid-week evening game in the shed-o-war. I'll keep this batrep brief, mainly because Ray will be posting something more detailed on his blog and on the Challenge Blog, and also because I am knackered and still have a ton to do in the next few weeks!

The Order of Battle

The Order of Battle with casualties at the end of the game. 

The Action

Setup - I have a lot of infantry on the table and one unit of Cavalry. My plan is to clear the road with musketry then charge my Cavalry down it to reach the objective point, 6" from the far table edge. 

Postie had most of his troops hidden, all apart from one unit guarding the road. 

This unit proved to be very resilient!

My Infantry fire down the road, with little effect. 

What a fine figure of a Wargamer! 

Stuarts Infantry fire back and cut a swath through my guys! 

I return fire again, but can't seem to hit the broadside of a barn! 

Meanwhile, my mixed infantry units advance on both flanks. These guys come under fire from Stuarts Dragoons that appear out of hiding in the woods. 

My Cavalry waits patiently. I'm not attempting a crossing of the river until the road is a lot clearer. I'm also trying to work out where Stuart's troops are located as most appear to be hidden. 

Another one of my mixed infantry units on the left flank approach the ford, only to be shot to ribbons by Royal troops in the woods and buildings. 

I've been whittling away at the troops in the village and decide to commence my charge. But it may be too late. 

Damn. The game has reached its allotted end (12 turns) and my charge with the horse has come too late. 

That was fun, even if I did lose. My own fault for holding back with the Cavalry for so long. I was worried they would just get shot out of the saddle but by the time I was confident I had cleared the village of as many Royal troops as I could it was too late. It also didn't help that my so-called crack shot (the Poacher) couldn't hit the side of a barn the whole game!

Treasure!

More Forstgrave goodies, but this time not quite terrain and not figures, but Treasure Tokens. I bought these from Debris-of-War recently. They are resin and half of them came pre-cast with the base included. The others were free-standing treasure items and I found some nice resin bases in my bits box to mount them on. 

They are scaled for 28mm and are perfect for games of frostgrave or in roleplaying games.

As for points...no idea. They are 28mm in scale but half the size of a full figure so maybe 2 points a pop? I'll leave that conundrum up to the unlucky minion of the day!

Normandy Utility Poles

So these were not on my original plan for the painting challenge, and it's all Ray's fault! Ray suggested our group, Posties Rejects, run a demo game at a very small show called Skirmish based in Sidcup. We routinely go to this show and we are always saying we should run a demo game there and so when Ray suggested it I blithely said, yeh I'll throw something together...not realising I had just three weeks to do it in! In the end, we have decided to run a Normandy/Bocage game of What a Tanker, primarily because I have all the terrain ready. All except these utility poles; hence their unexpected appearance on the Painting Challenge.

Now I can't remember where I bought these. I got them last year, but try as I might I can't remember where I got them, which is a shame because they are nicely cast in white metal and pretty good quality. They are suitable for 15mm of course and will fit in nicely with the rest of my Normandy terrain. 

Hall of Heros

It probably hasn't gone unnoticed that I have been building a lot of terrain this Challenge for a Frostgrave tabletop. Most of the buildings are resin pieces that I have mounted on card, or simple foam buildings I constructed with a range of techniques. I have enough now to cover a reasonably-sized table but I wanted one more large building to top off the set. I didn't really have a clear plan of what I wanted, just a vague idea I didn't want it to be square like all the others. It also needed to be generic enough to serve as a range of possible building types. I've named it The Hall of Heroes but with the addition of some movable terrain items, it could be made to look like a wizards laboratory; a chapel or a mausoleum.

I started off simply by making a big bag of stone blocks, enough to give the building some height. This was a laborious task as I had to make sure they were as close as possible to being consistently sized, so some precision knife work and a lot of patience were required. These blocks then needed to be rolled (to round off the edges) and pressed with stones to give the otherwise perfectly flat surfaces some dimpled stone-like character. This step alone took a whole evening and resulted in a lot of foam dust - be warned, a mask is essential unless you want to breathe this nasty stuff in!

I used a large dinner plate as the template for the circular base, with the additional vestry/corridor added on one side. Then I scored the floor tiles, cracks etc using a pencil and a range of plastic sculpting tools. With the floor, layout sorted I started to build, again without any clear design in mind, and just let the muse take me as I built upwards! I tended to lay a course of bricks, pin them in place and then add another layer the following day when the first lot had died. All very time-consuming but it meant I was able to keep the walls relatively verticle and solid. 

Initially, I was considering buying window frames from a dolls house specialist but I couldn't find what I wanted. They were either the wrong shape or just looked too perfect, so in the end, I tried making some myself. It took a few attempts to get a consistent result using the foam, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I'm glad I went with this option as I think windows that were too perfect would not fit with the rest of the building, which purposefully looks like the ravages of time and ice have bowed the walls, worn the stonework and of course collapsed the roof.

I found a couple of small items in my bits box to add to the scratch-built model. First off I added a shrine showing what is presumably a grieving wizard slumped over a great tome. It's suitably melancholic and fitted the 'theme' I had in mind. This model was part of a set bought from Debris of War. The dead tree that had burst through the floor and up the wall is part of a set from Games Workshop that I bought years ago. And the shields on the walls are from Colonel Bill's dark ages set.

As for size here's where it gets mathemagical... The main circular part of the building is 11 inches across with an average height of 5 inches. By the alchemy of Pi that gives an internal volume of this cylinder as 475 cubic inches. The little antechamber or vestry is 2 inches wide, 4.5 inches tall and 9 inches long (as an arc average) giving that a volume of 81 cubic inches giving a total for the whole building of 556 cubic inches. Divide that by 216 (a 6x6x6 cube) gives 2.57, call it 2.5 terrain cubes, which should earn me a tidy 50 points. Phew, all that maths has made my head hurt. That should conclude my Frostgrave Terrain for now, although I do have some other resin items I may work on if I find the time. 

A coven of Frostgrave witches!

I'm back from my very windswept and stormy holiday in Sussex and at last have something new to enter into the Challenge. While I was away I spent a fair bit of time assembling some multi-part plastic figures for Frostgrave. I got most of these for Christmas so they weren't assembled and primed before the Challenged started like most of my other entries. Rather than lose a whole week of work I took a box of tools and my figures away with me and worked on them as an when time allowed. I got a lot done, especially as we were'storm bound' for the first day of the holiday (crazy brits, holidaying in winter!). Now than I'm home I'm hoping to get a lot of these painted and first off the workbench are these female Wizards.

As previously mentioned I'm going to be playing a lot of Frostgrave soon, in a vain attempt to keep my daughter (aka The Young Padawan) playing games with me. She's agreed to continue playing ancients with me if I played some fantasy games with her. A fair bargain I think, and it's given me a chance to return to my roots and paint something a little more colourful. These models by Northstar are excellent and fill a gap in my collection with some female wizards. 

I kept the paint job on these fairly simple but I think they work well. 

Ah, and here's some proof I was working while on holiday... I've already posted this picture on Facebook and it garnered some envious comments from wargamers who declared my wife a saint (which she is of course) for letting me get away with this on a family holiday.