From ChrisW - Return to Innsmouth [215 points]

Well, holidays really took a toll on me, production wise, even if it was only 1 week. 

Originally I was opposed to going away, but as winter dragged on I sort of started to look forward to some heat and sun. Beyond winter and all the fun it brings, there was also the push, by me, to get as much stuff done as I could in this challenge. That insanity started to wear me down somewhat. On top of that I also started to get distracted thinking of other projects not related to the challenge. So a long way to say that once I actually landed in Florida I truly began to understand just how much I needed to get away!

Now that I am back I just have not been able to do all that much. I started off with some gangsters, worked on about 16 or so before putting them aside, no real drive to work on them. Thankfully my collection of Deep ones and hybrids had been pulled out and were ready to go. The nature of the Deep ones meant that I could use some contrast on them to speed the process along. It was an easy fix, something I could see quick results. So that got me going again, unfortunately that was Thursday, not much time for a Friday/Saturday deadline. But with them done I could get going on the hybrids and maybe, just maybe some more stuff...

Deep Ones [14 figures] 

These are a mix of companies, not really certain who is who. I did have fun with the bases trying for a swampy water base mixed with some swamp grass tufts. The 'water' is by AK, pre-mixed small tub. Now that these have been painted this way, with contrast I will have to go back and repaint the 16 or so other Deep ones that I painted years ago.

 

 Hybrids [18 figures]

Some Black Cat bases figures, maybe some other figures too. They have a nice decayed look to them! I tried to keep away from bright colours and dirtied them up some to represent the general shabbiness of the town folk.

Scuba divers [6 x 28mm figures] FINALLY!

Crooked Dice figures painted like the good guys from the James Bond film Thunderball. The orange suit is one of the more recent GW contrast paints and come out very very orange. I find that some of the newer contrast paints do not seem to have all that much of a contrast finish to them. These are not the best figures to show off contrast as they are rather smooth but still my comment stands for this colour and a few others. I should note that I found a 'normal' paint equivalent in the Army Painter range, Lava orange, which was used for touch ups.

 

Wild West hooded thugs [5 figures]

 I believe these are from Brigade Games. They are kind of small, and low in detail, but not bad to paint and add some different character to the table. Hopefully their eye holes are in the right place...

Points total this time

• 70 points for 14 x 28mm foot Deep Ones
• 90 points for 18 x 28mm foot Hybrids
• 30 points for 6 x 28mm foot Scuba divers
• 25 points for 5 x 28mm foot Wild West hooded thugs
  

Total of  215 points

That is it for my last official Saturday post. 

Thank you Stuart for your minioning!

Squirrels this time around [+4]

1. Deep ones
2. Hybrids
3. Scuba divers 
4. Wild west hooded thugs
   

 New squirrel total 59

 Previous squirrels

1. Back of Beyond
   
2. Mad figures (Top hat toffs and companions)
3. Greek skeletons
4. Sisters of Sigmar
5. Ancient Germanic women
6. ECW cuirassiers
   
7. Monsters large
8. Post apocalypse
9. Tekumel Palanquin
10. Empire Pike
11. Jazz Band
    
12. French Cuirassiers on Mars
13. Court of Dr Koo
14. Movie makers
15. Gothic/movie Vampires 
16. Gladiators
17. Women rocket corp
18. Supers
    
19. Forest scenery
20. Robin Hood
21. Gorillas 
22. Dr and his pets
    
23. Nuns
24. The flying squad 
25. Mechanical spiders from Mars 
26. The Gorgons
    
27. Cthulhu creatures
28. Mad gardeners and their plants
29. Pulp mummies
30. Pulp Egyptian skeletons
31. Jason and the Argonauts
32. Asylum residents 
33. Dwarf Roman style troops
34. Hatchet/axe wielding maniacs
35. Free range lunatics 
36. Gunslingers
37. Hill Martians
38. Martian artillery
39. Lizard infantry
40. Tekumel monsters
41. Failed experiments
42. Dr Frankenstein and monsters
43. Cold hearted mad scientists 
44. Mexican civilians
    
45. US cavalry
46. Cowboys
47. Town folk
48. Lawmen
49. Hired guns 
50. Royal Martian marines
51. 18th century naval
52. Fritz & his Igor mates (lab helpers)
53. Abbott & Costello meet the Mummy
54. Men of Faith
55. Torture chamber
    

 I hope that you enjoyed your holiday, you certainly hit the ground running on your return if this lot is anything to go by. 

Normally, bright orange isn't a colour that looks good on a mini, but for your scuba squad, it looks really good. Great work on all of these figures.

ChrisW 18th century naval Abbott & Costello & some loose ends [290 points]

So, no studio and no limo service this week, just some miniatures. 

The biggest group are the Galloping Major 18th century naval figures, 29 in total. In addition to those fine figures I finished off a bunch of stuff that were only a few colours away from being done. Every week I have a selection of figures that I did not finish either because I ran out of time, focus or motivation. 

This has worked out to be a good thing this week because as of Monday I was out of town for a week on vacation in Florida.(not back by the time this post was posted) So everything posted this week is from that unfinished category. Normally I take Saturday and sometimes Sunday off after my late night Friday posting, but this week I had to get back at it as I only had the weekend to finish off some stuff to post. I like to post every week, kind of like the old weekly work targets that I used to have.

This also means that I will be under the gun for the week that I get back as I will miss the Monday and will have fewer 'almost done' stuff to fill out my post.

18th Century Naval [29 figures]

 Interesting figures, lots of character and interesting poses. They are a little odd in that they have some very nice detail but then you find a figure with very large ham hands.

Fritz & his Igor mates [6 figures] (or good help is hard to find)

A selection of helpers from a number of ranges, some Pulp Figures, RAFM. These really need to be distributed to some of the mad scientists that I recently finished, but I sense Fritz may be going independent and starting a union.

 Abbott & Costello meet the Mummy [9 figures]

Not a copy more of an homage to the old movie. I was inspired by the 'Costello figure' as he looked kind of like Lou, so I then looked for Abbott, and some other likely figures. So a mix of Pulp figures, Artizan/Northstar, and Blue Moon. The actual movie had a femme fatale in blue and the figure from Pulp Alley fits the bill near enough. Otherwise the cast in my version has the kindly old archaeologist and his daughter with the local museum curator pretending to be a friend but is really another villain out to resurrect the mummy.

 Men of Faith [6 figures]

After painting some nuns I noticed that I had some priests, at least six. The usual suspects here for figure companies.

Djinn [3 figures]

Maybe RAFM figures, kind of basic, but quick and fun to paint. Not certain what I will use them for, some type of skirmish game, maybe 7TV.

Torture chamber [5 figures]

One complete Pulp Figures set with a Lobo (Tor Johnson) figure thrown in for good measure. (looks like a relative of the helpers) What more is there to say, everyone should have a pulpy torture crew in their stable.

Scuba spies [6 figures] 

Crooked Dice figures painted like the good guys from the James Bond film Thunderball. The orange suit is one of the more recent GW contrast paints and come out very very orange. I find that some of the newer contrast paints do not seem to have all that much of a contrast finish to them. These are not the best figures to show off contrast as they are rather smooth but still my comment stand for this colour and a few others.

 These have made it to a draft post a couple of times, but never finished. Maybe next time.

Apparently I need to pack some stuff for the trip, so that is all for this week, just shy of 300 points 😞

Points total this time

• 290 points for 58 x 28mm foot (including sarcophagus and risen mummy)
  

Total of  290 points

And I am out of here for a week in the sun (hopefully) at very least a week away from snow! (& painting)

Squirrels this time around [+5]

1. 18th century naval
2. Fritz & his Igor mates (lab helpers)
3. Abbott & Costello meet the Mummy
4. Men of Faith
5. Torture chamber

 New squirrel total 55

 Previous squirrels

1. Back of Beyond
   
2. Mad figures (Top hat toffs and companions)
3. Greek skeletons
4. Sisters of Sigmar
5. Ancient Germanic women
6. ECW cuirassiers
   
7. Monsters large
8. Post apocalypse
9. Tekumel Palanquin
10. Empire Pike
11. Jazz Band
    
12. French Cuirassiers on Mars
13. Court of Dr Koo
14. Movie makers
15. Gothic/movie Vampires 
16. Gladiators
17. Women rocket corp
18. Supers
    
19. Forest scenery
20. Robin Hood
21. Gorillas 
22. Dr and his pets
    
23. Nuns
24. The flying squad 
25. Mechanical spiders from Mars 
26. The Gorgons
    
27. Cthulhu creatures
28. Mad gardeners and their plants
29. Pulp mummies
30. Pulp Egyptian skeletons
31. Jason and the Argonauts
32. Asylum residents 
33. Dwarf Roman style troops
34. Hatchet/axe wielding maniacs
35. Free range lunatics 
36. Gunslingers
37. Hill Martians
38. Martian artillery
39. Lizard infantry
40. Tekumel monsters
41. Failed experiments
42. Dr Frankenstein and monsters
43. Cold hearted mad scientists 
44. Mexican civilians
    
45. US cavalry
46. Cowboys
47. Town folk
48. Lawmen
49. Hired guns 
50. Royal Martian marines
    

Another fine mix of minis, Chris. I particularly like the Abbott and Costello set, they look like they will be plenty of fun on the table. I hope that you enjoy your break in the sun and come back to the challenge fully recharged and ready to go for the final push. 

From PeterD: Pict Hunters (30 Points)

 I have a small unit of Pict Hunters with bows.

Figures came from. bag of (IIRC) Old Glory 28mm Welsh Archers that I acquired 15-20 years ago.  While packaged as Welsh I figure that they are hairy, badly dressed and generically Celtic enough to work as Picts.  Being Old Glory, posing and anatomy is um... interesting at times.  Also it wasn't until I had these guys primed and ready to paint that I realized that two were wearing the Late Antiquity version of Ray's Budgie Smugglers.

According to Ancient Wargamer cannon (book of WRG) Picts differed from other hairy barbarians by using longer spears and more bows (including Crossbows).  It's all pretty circumstantial based mainly on 1500 year old rock carvings, but it means that a Pict war band has a different feel than a Scot-Irish warband or Saxon raiders.

I tried free handing plaids on a couple of figures but gave it up as a bad job after the first two.  I've left a clear space at the back of the bases for unit tables but I'm still playing around with the fonts that I want to use for Picts.

In terraforming my bases I tried to make these look like rougher terrain than typical with lots of rocks and low bushes. In his comments on my Intro post, Martijn noted that I had primed these figures on their bases and asked if it was something I often did.  It was a short lived experiment and after a single session they were pried off, put onto pennies for painting and then returned to their bases when ready.

Points wise I make this 6 28mm figures for 30 points and no theme bonus.  But I can apply the points to the Carausius Emperor of Britain side Duel.

TeemuL: Hairy barbarians they are! The rough terrain looks good and it is nice to see some old figs getting paint on them. Your math is correct, 30 points it is.

ChrisW It's a wonderful life? [Under construction] [45 points]

 

George wishing everyone a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

A very slow start for me this year, illness and snow clearing seems to have worn me down a bit. Also my ability to get stuck in and get things done is just not there. It was all I could do just to get these few figures done really never felt the mojo.

The story line in my mind, and my elevator pitch, is; George questions the value of his existence as Mary harangues him over his latest get rich quick scheme, while his kids Zu Zu and George junior stand by mom and Aunt Lucy and a news boy lurk near by.

All Pulp Alley figures, all base coated with contrast paints, then painted 'properly' as I did not like the contrast results.

Now the under construction aspect of this post, it is aunt Lucy. She came as part of the figure pack that included 'Mary' and the kids, but I always had her earmarked for this group:

She always struck me as looking like Bob Hope when he dresses up as his Aunt to haunt either himself or Bing. So now she is finally painted and with the road gang!

So I figure the points as follows:

• 20    Under construction Studio 
• 25    4 x 28mm figures + 2 kid figures for another 5 points.

Total of 45 points

Have a great holiday season everyone!

______________________________

First, very nice colourization of the Challenge Studios map - well done!

I like your storyline, Chris, especially the Bob Hope sidebar (now I can never unsee it...).

Even though you may have not felt the painting mojo, and maybe it was the dry run with the Contrast paints, but these characters look terrific (the baby particularly creeps me out). Bob Murch does such characterful figures, eh? I hope your tour of duty with the shovel comes to an end soon, but I regret to say that we may be in for a long snowy stretch this year.

Nonetheless, Merry Christmas! I hope we get to see more from your talented brush in the New Year, Chris!

- Curt