From BruceR; Melvin the Magician and Mad Mick the giant, 10mm x1, 25mm x1, 6 pts)

Continuing my 10mm journey.  As my wee first submission indicated I'm traveling down the 10mm road.  We returned from Holidays in the Black Hills of South Dakota Saturday, and we are heading to Minnesota Lake Country for 4 days over the New Years Holiday.  This retirement life is tough (on the painting time).  I decided to paint the found GW wizard from early days Warmaster and while digging through trays of opportunity I found this Heresy Miniature of Mad Mick McMadd.  I thought he would make a great Giant for Warmaster and busted him out of his blister.  

I decided to brown base coat Mad Mick and Melvin.  I don't really prep for the challenge, I simply turn on the airbrush and base coat troops as I want them (having a large hobby dungeon is a plus).  The weather here in the Dakotas (Minus 4 F when I got up today) is not for priming.  Before priming I did pin his hands and head.  They have tabs, but I find a pin is usually the only way to keep the mini together.  

Lots of flesh and so decided some stripped pants were in order to jazz him up a bit.  I put down the base coasts and wash with army painter strong tone.  Melvin was given a quick slap chop of off white and initial colors were speed paints 2 from Army Painter.  After this I highlighted both Mick and Melvin to try some pop at this wee level.  

Melvin was also given a stack of books from the GW kit and a portal, which had demonic visage on the back, but I elected to simply set it on the ground.   I'm amazed at all the little bits Melvin has on  his body. Wands with skulls, Staff with skull, pouches, sword, dagger, and a wizardly Hat.  

Melvin is tapping the winds of magic, might be hitting some Warp with the green coming  off the sigil.

Mad  Mick was given a couple of tats from old GW Epic Space Marine decals.  I have way too much old stuff... One on the stomach.

One on the back.

Melvin and Mad Mick.  Either Mick is guarding Melvin or about to lay axe to hat.  

Points:

1 10mm foot    = 1 pt

1 25mm foot    = 5 pt

Total for 2025   = 6 pts

It's a marathon not a sprint.  

Happy New Year all.  I should have a month of painting upon my return before my next wandering takes place.  

Keep those brushes wet.

Bruce

___________________________________

Melvin and Mad Mick look the business, Bruce. I love all of Melvin's multicoloured paraphernalia - he seems a very high maintenance chap. One of those guys that has complicated coffee orders at Starbucks. Mad Mick is a very scotch neat in the keg kind of fella. His tats, striped trousers and pipe ready in the rope belt are the bomb. Well done!

- Curt

 

From AdamW: Sticks and stones may break my bones (Ambitious) (44 points)

The joy of working nightshifts this week means I can slip in one final last minute post.

This is a unit I painted earlier in the challenge, whilst I was painting the Boers I think, but had to wait to post due to the linear nature of Dante's challenges.

So for my entry for 'The Ambitious' sphere I present a 15mm unit of peasants armed only with 'sticks and stones'. They are keen as mustard and probably overly ambitious if they take one anyone armed properly.  Luckily sticks and stones may breaks some bones, so they may succeed.

They are Peter pigs figures painted with Army painter speedpaints.

Points claim.

12 x 15mm foot @ 2pts = 24pts

Ambitious bonus @20pts = 20pts

Total 44pts

That's quite a funny take on The Ambitious, I love it! I'm not sure they will be getting anywhere soon, but it's the thought that counts. Nice models, and a good paint job. Well done Adam, another 44 points for you!

Martijn

From TomG - Studio Scifi is ROCKING! & Lady Sarah's Limousine Request (54pts)

ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO! 

We who are about to rock, salute you, and welcome you to the rockingest Goff Rocker this side of the Studio Plot, bringing down the roof in the newest Space Opera: Squigs, Dakka and Orks onna Roll! 

Fulfilling the studio challenge for Sci-fi, I offer you the most entertaining model I've had the chance to paint in a very long time, and one that has fully ignited my love for painting again. Eschewing the standard black leather on black leather that is advertised on the box art, I wanted something a little more characterful. 

Having my wall of paints staring at me, I decided that nothing screamed metal more than a studded denim jacket, and having not painted fabric nicely in a while, it offered some fun opportunities for texture work. Next was a decision to go with red leather trousers, although having gone a bit too bright with the highlights, I decided to make them orange squig leather trousers instead. Allowing me to tie the amp-squig in to the rest of the model. 

I was then presented with a real treat; a single gloved hand! No other musician came to mind other than the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, but a pure white glove was never going to work on an ork, so I went for a very grimy off white/yellow. As I chose to paint this with the hand and guitar detached I had to be careful to match highlight directions, but this was relatively easy, as you can see, due to the final position of the hand being very flat. 

When it came to the guitar I knew I needed to add a real punch of colour, and nothing would have worked better than red, and as we all know; "RED ONES STRUM FASTER!" But not any red, it needed to be a vibrant cherry red, mostly to help bring warmth back to the palette of the model nearer the top. The bonus effect was that the orange to red tones get more intense as you move up the figure, assisting with the journey I want the audiences eye to take, moving up the figure. 

But as we focus back to the amp squig and the base, there's a story to both of these elements as well. Growing up I always wanted an amp by the company "Orange Amps", however I got in to wargames instead of live music, so the money needed for a nice amp bought me many models instead. But this was my time to honour that previous desire, and luckily worked perfectly with the colour plan for the figure. 

As for the base, in my head all I could imagine was this epic song that called on the power of the WAAAGH! to raise the roof. So to reflect this, I wanted a cracked earth effect with the green waaagh magic seeping out, which was achieved by slapping a good layer or two of green down, followed by Agrellan Earth from Games Workshop to give that cracking effect. Finished with a drybrush of sand yellow from Vallejo, it really brought the whole effect together. 

I can't tell you just how much nostalgia this model brought up for me, from my earliest days in the hobby, buying my first box of Ork Stikk Bombers from Marquee Models in Harlow, Essex, through my time working for Games Workshop in Southampton, where I was tutored by a great painter to let a model tell its own story just by selecting the right colours, all the way through to the joy I had taking my son to buy his first models last week. I've always loved painting orks, and they never fail to remind me why I find solo mini painting so relaxing and inspiring. I've kept notes on most of the paints used, so if you have any questions please do ask, I'd love to share with anyone interested. 

Now on to the second model of the week! 

With my painting mojo well and truly up, I wanted to tackle my need for a ride in the illustrious limousine, and offer this Michonne from Walking Dead, for Lady Sarah's perusal. 

Having painted the infamous "Fish Tank" of zombie heads two challenges ago, I had this resin figure sat in a draw collecting dust. But I knew that I wanted to give it a breath of life, which I appreciate is a bit ironic knowing the setting she's from. Although I could have drawn inspiration from the TV series, I wanted to give my own spin on her clothing colours, as I imagined her from the comics. 

I knew I'd be sticking to earthy tones, however they needed to be distinct from her flesh tone, which ended up being the triad for "African Skin" from Wargames Foundry, and I feel it gave a lovely rich and warm tone to the flesh areas. I then tackled the cloak/cape with a military green in mind, almost imagining the oilskin material but a bit dried out, mostly to desaturate the colours. Again this was a deliberate choice so as to keep the warmth close to her skin, and differentiate the intimate from the necessary items.

This decision to go with saturated, warm tones gave rise to the spot colour being red, and where better than in the triangle pattern for spot colours. The red boots were painted with two separate reds, a shiny one for the toe caps, and a duller one for the rest of the fabric, although I don't think it really shows up after basing sadly. A bandana in a matching red helped finish the model off, and I was happy. The brown trousers, black shirt and katana were kept dull and simple in tonal variety so as not to distract the viewer from the key areas. 

Dear Lady Sarah, 

Please accept this warrior woman from a zombie apocalypse, to strengthen your forces and share many a fascinating, and possibly gruesome, story or two. I have marked on the map below my desired journey to the Casting Couch, where I have a fun twist ready to share, next week.

Yours,

Tom

Welcome weary traveller, you have made it far in this post, through highs and lows, so why not take a seat as I regale you of my points and how they came to be...

28mm Model x2 = 10pts

Studio Entry x1 = 20pts

Lady Sarah Entry x1 = 20pts

Total = 50pts

Thank you all for reading this post, I worry my colour theory might have bored you, but I do hope that my enthusiasm shines through, because I've had a blast painting these two. Now it'sover to the big green guy to sing us out...

ORKS IS BEST, CRUMP DA REST, ITS FIGHTIN TIME! 

ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO, 

ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO THRU DA COSMO!

WAAAAAAAAGH!

Tom.

From TeemuL: That Orc Rocker is terrific and I did read and enjoy colour theories and stories behind the colour choices. I guess the Orc is bit tall compared to 28mm minis so I gave you a few points extra, it is just so stunning mini with great paint job. There are some skulls, too, for those interested in that kind of things. It is kind of funny, that your Limo ride is such a grim and dark and your orc from grim and dark future is not, quite clever (if unintended) contrast. Waiting for the Casting Couch entry.

From KyleC - Dwarves (170 points)

 I had hoped to get this on last week, but work got the better of me.. so here it is this week instead.. 

I have finished the last unit for my Chaos Dwarf army here as seen below:

A simple 20 man unit to finish off the basic troops there.

Then also tackled the Cereberus Cannon to go with the last posts crew.. 

Really enjoyed that. Just used a 100x50mm movement tray for its base to make it work out in the end!

And then tackled a 'few' character/hero models for the force to play with. 

Big boy on his Cereberus Mount! A happy pup ready to tear the faces off of his enemies.. or go running after an undead giants leg if time permits.. 

Played with the torso of this model here. A bull centaur to lead the others, and also a on foot great weapon hero to kick things off when required!

Big man on foot here. Never know when you need to take the fight to the enemy while slogging it with the boys.. 

Proper little Sorceror and his Familiar. Ready to cast Turn to Stone or Fireball I am sure.. 

Last chap was found in our print pile.. no idea where or when I printed it or why even.. but a bagpipe with flames just seems about right for this army.. so gave him a lick of paint here. 

I also attempted some OSL work on a skeleton. I 'may' have overdone the green on it.. and need to rework the glow aspect.. but it was a nice little trial all the same! 

And just a completed army shot.. even got all the movement trays based up like the models bases to give them some cohesion and really finish the army off. A very comfortable starting army for Oathmark now completed here. Now to find the energy to tackle the Kobold side of things for them to face off against.. or finish the Undead.. or complete that Human one.. thankfully no Elves ( they are too fragile for my liking ;) ).

But yeah.. no idea if the points here correct.. but I put it as below.. correct as needed:

26 28mm figures = 130 pts

1 28mm calvary figure = 10 pts

1 28mm mounted monster figure = 20 pts? I dunno here.. hes big :D 

1 28mm Artillery cannon = 10 pts

So 170 pts perhaps? 

In any case.. happy to have another army finished here.. lets see what I can get done in the next 3 weeks left for the contest! 

***

Wow Kyle, quite the assortment you have here. Some excellent brushwork, and it is always nice to see some fantasy stuff. I have not tried "Oathmark" myself, but I hear good things about it, and it is great to see others filling the gap so shamefully abandoned by GW when they nuked Fantasy Battle (and now busy themselves wanking at Warhammer Fantasy fans about how they are re-drawing maps of the Old World, but I digress). 

Love the army photo, and I am impressed at the results you achieve with the GW Contrast Paint, another example of how all of the tools make a difference in the skilled hands of Challenge participants!

I have no quibble with your scoring, and appreciate the fact that you did not claim the mounter monster as "transformative of battlefield morale" or some similar nonsense - 170 points for you! 

GregB 

BrendonW presents four Romans (20 Points)

Warlord 28mm Plastic Romans are my first submission to this most illustrious of Painting Challenges this time round.

Three Auxiliary and one Veteran Legionnaire. I have been building and painting an Early Imperial Roman army for a long time but I am in no hurry to complete it. I have around ten more Legionnaires remaining that will get completed during this challenge. Until now though, a box of Auxiliary on foot had not been touched and to get back in the painting saddle I got these completed.

All figures used the Army Painter strong shade from a can but applied with a brush for better control instead of dipped. The shields on the 3 Auxiliary I actually completed before the challenge a long while back so perhaps a deduction for that. All shields have decals but the Oval ones are clear except the graphics. Means you can decide the background colour which is good.

Cheers and enjoy your painting.

From Curt:Wonderful figures Brendon! I'm puzzling through a few Romans myself and I really should take some pointers from your fine efforts here. The 'Strong Tone' worked very nicely with these fellows and I can tell you used a bit of restraint in its application as their flesh doesn't look jaundiced like some Army Painter forces. Also, I find with Romans it often comes down to their shields, and yours certainly don't disappoint. Hand-painted shields are great, but with these detailed, symmetrical designs it really is nice to know that there are some great transfers to help you out.  You've done a great job.