From Barks: AHPC XVI

Where did the time go? I knew this Challenge was going to be a struggle, but my aspirations still exceeded my grasp. I have plans for the upcoming year, inspired by Planetfall and Traitor's Toll, and the Challenge gave me opportunities to make a dent in the piles of potential. I was glad to see the return of terrain and scenery, but that is not points-efficient at all! I was particularly happy to get the Robin Hood figures done, and for them to gain recognition at the Theme round. I was also pleased to be able to host the Skull Duel again, which had a particularly exciting finish. I'm sitting pretty on 238 skullz.

Congratulations everybody, I really enjoy the camaraderie here. It is difficult to find time for painting in the attention economy, and I appreciate your support.

For my entry fee I made a donation to Effective Altruism.

Skully McSkullface and the Skull-o-meter™ will return!

From Barks: Tyranid terrain (60 points)

I felt bad seeing Challengers refusing to compromise quality over quantity. I, however, have just smashed these out, ignored mistakes, and may go back and add details later. These are tyranid-themed alien terrain pieces in my orange and bone theme.

There are fifteen gribbly bits here of varying size.

And ten skullz (total 238)

That's it from me!

--------------------

Hey Barks, even though you say that these are a a quantity over quality they still look pretty solid to me.  I also love the colour scheme as it really makes a lot of the details really pop.  These are a bit hard to score as they are fairly large but also fairly simple to paint (other than the bone effects which looks really good).  I am going to go with 60 points due to the number and size of the items here I figure it would take me about the same time as painting a unit of simple models. 

- Byron 

From Barks: Rusty Necromunda terrain and scenery 40 pts.

I painted a bunch more rusty scenery, with my Emperor for scale. Mostly it is brown stippled orange then washed with a orangey-brown. Mostly.

I made this table from bitz, and I'm really
happy with the aces and eights.

The Emperor and his Golden Throne.

Market stalls.

Enjoy some "Meat" or see a "Doctor".

Big centrepiece tower.

Simple platforms. I accentuated the ladders in yellow.

I'm going to see if I can get another post in before the end.

Skullz 36 (total 228)

From DaveD , jumping in for Byron. I saw this and thought I will take a look . We have been doing some Necromunda last year and it’s always nice to see some suitable tired terrain . I really like the market stalls area . No doubt there will trouble there soon. You may say it’s all relatively some browny orange and orange brown , but it’s effective . Love .it . And a title reminder for my mob to get another game in ! 

I’m gonna give ya 40 , because there is a lot of volume there to stipple and wash etc . 

Yes and crack on the finish line is still in sight 

Cheers

D

Barks - Rusty Terrain Entry (25 Points)

Some rusty skully scenery to dress my tabletop. I do like these arcane tech pieces; it is a struggle not to really go to town on them. I also painted up a fistful of crates and barrels- these were quick wash and drybrush jobs.

Did you know you can fit 125 skullz on this?

My marble statue technique is white; washed pale grey; thin sepia to cracks; then thinned grey veins.

Skullz: +147 (total 192)

-----------

What a great and weird tech terrain piece (and knowing GW 5x the price of what it should be!) and wow that should really help out your skull count.  I like the dirty rusty paint job, but wonder if maybe you should wash the skulls and mechanicus symbol to blend in more with the dirty nature of the rest of it?  Shame to wreck the clean painting, but I think it might be more cohesive all dirty.  Just my take though, which counts for nothing :-). I do really like the marble effect on the statue though.

As for points, the tech piece looks like it is pretty sizable piece with a lot of detail to work on, so I am going to score it at 15 points (about the same points as a normal sized building).  As for the crates while simple, there is enough detail on there the count them as a small building so I am going to go with 10 points. 

- Byron 

From Barks: More Underhive denizens (30 points)

My painting time has really stalled out this Challenge, but I forced myself to get some figures done. These are a variety of beings you may find in the Underhive.

The malstrain is a corrupted genestealer. I slightly trimmed back and toned down the excess spikes of the original sculpt, as I thought they were a bit much even for me. I've got more of these to paint but its a slow fiddly process. He's a big boy on a 40mm base. I've gone for a severe cataract eye. The pustules remind me of the original plastic 'stealers.

With an untrimmed figure

Next, I have some winged figures- two caryatids and a cherub. Caryatids are nearly mythical figures to underhivers, and are associated with good luck. The smaller metal figure is a very limited sculpt associated with Colony 87- read more here. He's on a 20mm base, and is definitely a 'he'.

This cherub had a goatee and hair
but I trimmed it back to be more Churchillian.

Somewhere in this medic servoskull is a skull!

I really like this underseer sculpt. It nails the bizarre bodies and mechadendrites of the tech-priests.

Postscript: I was bullied/peer-pressured into painting some patches onto flight suits and trying to get a mirrorshades effect onto Ferro's aviators. Are you happy now?

Six figures of varying sizes... 25 points?

+1 skull for the skull challenge (total 45)

From Millsy:

Any submission that makes use of the term "denizen" is a winner in my books! These are all superb mate but I am particularly impressed and at the same time a bit disturbed by the underseer. I have little idea what mechadendrites are but I suspect I'm better off that way.

Kudos for your efforts on the mirrrorshades and patches. I've awarded a bonus five points because I resist every temptation to revisit something so if you can be bothered it should pay off.

Cracking stuff Barks. 30 more underhive credits for you.

Cheers,

Millsy

From Barks: Fly the friendly skies (30 points)

Ferro & Spunkmeyer, the dropship crew of the Sulaco, and friends. I should paint the patches on their flight suits. I'm tempted to go and add reflections to Ferro's aviator glasses.

The xenomorphs get blue and black washes over gunmetal, then satin varnish.

30 points in the pipe, five by five.

From Millsy:

Poor Spunkmeyer, he never really had a chance. His last act was to look confused with a handful of snot. Not the most ignominious screen death ever but certainly a top 10 contender.

You've done a cracking job with these Barks. The flight suits are superb, just the right mix of shading and worn patches and Spunkmeyer's skin tone is really well executed too. The xenos have just the right black/metallic sheen too.

Lovely work mate. Not bad for a human!

Cheers,
Millsy

From Barks: Giant alien fungi (40 points)

These are from a Mantic Terrain Crate. You can mix and match different alien jungle bits to your heart's content, and there are gaps for 5mm magnets. I matched rather than mixed, and stuck them together with hot glue, then hid the gaps a little with some quick Milliputting, and mounted them on MDF circles. They're decently tall, between 5"-8". I painted them with Army Painter SpeedPaints; Maggot Skin & Sand Golem; Howling Sand and Dusk Red. I also did some smaller ferny bits. 28mm figure for size.

7 tall fungi, 3 small ferns

----------

These are some great looking alien terrain bits Barks.  While they are simple paint jobs, they are highly effective and look great!  Great colour choices as well, the yellow and purple help with that whole alien feel.  

I am going to count each of the large ones as about the same as a figure and then the 3 small together as the same.  So you are getting 40 points for the lot of them.  Great work.

- Byron

From Barks: Underhive denizens (65 points)

I have really misunderestimated how much painting time I have this Challenge, and am well off the pace. Anyway, here are some figures I've been keen to get some paint on.

The first batch are malstrain cultists- mutated genestealer cultists, what's not to like? They're all kitbashed and greenstuffed, which makes them nicely unique. The bodies are Stargrave Scavengers I & II, which are my favourite Stargrave kits. Speedpaints Noble Skin, Brownish Decay and Desolate Brown make up most of the khaki browns. By sitting the heads low with no neck you get this pleasing hunchback appearance. I've left two with empty hands so they can more easily pass as harmless civilians in my Guards of Traitors Toll reskin.

The next is a Delaque informant, also from the Scavenger box. I liked this hand pose that looks like he's using a wrist communicator. I carved off pockets and extra webbing straps to give more of a Matrix trenchcoat look.

These two are based on 30K Mechanicum Thralls, which is a fun kit. I was inspired by Kill Sample Process's cyberpunk malfunctioning murderous cleaning bots, and used some peasant bits for the arms. The cleaning rag is a ponytail. Servitors are shaved during the servitorisation process, but I thought the braided hair on the sweeper added to the body horror.

I have no mouth and I must clean

13x 28mm figures (65 points)

3x skullz (total 44)

Big Stompy Robots +2 (Three lies in one!)

From Millsy:

Wow, these are just wonderful mate! I'd not considered making 40K-esqe stuff from Stargrave kits but it really, really works! Your cultists aren't just cool, they have a real old skool vibe which is just brilliant. I've got some metal tech gangers and I'm now imagining how I might give them arms and weapons without selling a kidney, plus building some mates to support them. Brilliant!

Your skin tones, saturated blues and pinks/purples are the perfect counterpoint to the muted greys and metallics. They just feel right.

Wonderful stuff Barks. More please!

Cheers,
Millsy

From Barks: Rusty doodads (20 points)

I recently acquired these plastic terrain pieces which can be used as scatter or narrative game objectives in Necromunda/ 40K. They're over 40mm across, and almost 3" tall.*

I'm still refining my rust technique, which involves brown, a stippling of orange, a wash of craft paint, then a metallic drybrush. Then I enjoy getting lost in the weeds of painting the lights, dials, plaques, wires, etc. Not to mention the skullz.

Note these electric fence pieces from the 2004 Battle for Macragge.

This is a Necromundan Horologium,
which shows the time, season, cycle, workshift,
industrial output, level of malcontentedness, etc.

All up, 15 pieces and 40 skullz.

*Wargamers love mixing units!

___________

Great work Barks.  These pieces really capture a rusty old look and will fit in with the 40k universe very well, or really any sci-fi game.  While there are a lot of them, I imagine doing the rust and weathering is pretty quick in batches, and then painting up the little details taking most of the time, hence a few more points than I would have given without all that detail work.

I really like them, and it makes me think that I should get to the set of something very similar looking that has been sitting in my pile of shame for years as well.

- Byron