Showing posts with label Death Star. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Death Star. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 March 2022

From Codsticker: King Charles l Command Stand (40pts)

 For my final entry in this years Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I return to the English Civil War and the Death Star (Hubris) with a command stand for King Charles I.


"What is that rabble over there?"
"Sire, that is your army"



The figures are from a variety of manufacturers: King Charles is from Warlord Games; the dismounted cavalry officer from Bicorne Miniatures; the cuirassier carrying the king's standard form Horcata; the sergeant with the pole axe from Avanpost; and the horses from Front Rank. The flag is from Wargames Designs.

The horses are perfectly burly for a cuirassier; the Horcata figure is designed to fit on the  Front Rank horses so comes with a saddle sculpted to the rider but I had to sculpt a saddle for the King Charles figure.
I am pretty sure double bridles were not used in the mid-17th century (I believe they were a later development- neither of Van Dyck's portraits of a mounted King Charles show a double bridle) however it's not the kind of thing most button counters would be aware of.

As for 'hubris'- the theme of the Death Star- was there ever a King that did not suffer from it? Wiktionary defines it as "Excessive pride, presumption or arrogance ". Charles believed in Divine Right,  he saw himself as the defender of royal rule. Continuously stymied by Parliament, he failed at every military endeavor he pursued- hardly the track record of someone whom God would chose to lead a nation (he even failed to secure his first choice for a bride!). In the end, his pride, intransigence and inability to see the wind changing would lead to the first English Civil War (or British Civil War if you prefer) and cost him his life.

I am claiming 2 mounted 28mm figures at 10 pts each, 2 foot 28mm figures at 5 pts each and the 20pt bonus for The Death Star for a total of 50pts.

I would like thank Curt, Sarah, the minions and all the participants as taking part in the AHPC is the highlight of my hobby year.

Lovely work, Rob. I love your clean yet earthy tones and the horses are top notch, as is the basing.

Barks

Wednesday, 16 March 2022

From TeemuL: Outer Ring [Istvaan V] [Solaris] [Arda] [Caprica] [Death Star] (125 points)

Note to minions: I know it is free fire time, but I really like to have this entry to be posted on Wednesday, you'll understand. Yes, Tamsin, I know you are very efficient, but please leave this one for Wednesday. :)

After a quick visit to Vogspehere, we'll climb back to the Outer Ring, walk through the already visited Klendathu and Glorantha and arrive to...

Istvaan V, something for betrayal, howabout a Ringwraith from Middle-Earth, one of them is even named as Betrayer by Games Workshop for their excellent game Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. Once a king of men, then corrupted by power and Dark Lord, he betrayed his people (willingly or unwillingly).

Babylon 5 and Vulcan are familiar ground, so we move on to...

Solaris, which calls for something "Deception, Illusion". Ringwraiths are corporeal creatures, quite invisible, but often wearing black cloaks to give them form. When wearing the One Ring, they can be seen as they perhaps used to be on earlier days as King of Men. That is of course an illusion, because in "reality" they are invisible. We can of course speculate which is illusion and which is reality, but that could be very deceptive...

Well, we move on and arrive to...

Arda, something Tolkeinesque is asked for an I present one of the Ringwraiths in Twilight mode. Ringwraiths are creature of Middle Earth, created by Tolkien, so I suppose they fit the Tolkeinesque requirement, or at least the Fantasy.

Lots of these Ringwraiths here on the Outer Ring, we quickly depart and jump to...


Caprica, where we are not ambushed by invisible corporeal creatures, but those creatures are doomed to serve their Dark Lord indefinitely (or at least until the One Ring (not related to Outer Ring) is destroyed. Doomed to serve and be slave, they can be banished, but their spirits will stay and they will continue their grim service.

We leave the doomed one and move on to...

Death Star, sound like a home of big guy in black or bunch of recruits in white, but actually it is just hubris. I'm not a native in English, so I had to do some research on that. From wikipedia,  Hubris: describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. 

To me, that fits most of the bad guys in literature and movies, but right now it screams Witch King of Angmar, overconfident and arrogant minion of the Sauron saying "You fool. No man can kill me. Die now." mere seconds before killed by a woman and a hobbit. Arrogant, overconfident, so hubris.

In the movies these are kind of a reversed black-and-white and I tried to do something similar, but more colourful. So I started from white, drybrushed with green, blues and black to get the strange and disturbing look, that something is not right. The colour transitions looked good, but from white to green the leap was too much. I should have started from off white, I guess, but it was too late. I decided to try to add some yellow ink to the white parts to create an effect of transition from white to yellow to green. It helped a lot, but I'm still not 100% satisfied. Of course they don't look "right", but they shouldn't look right, they are corporeal creatures, which you only see when under magical influence (the Ring), so may be they are right. I don't know. They are not exactly what I was aiming for, but at least they look different than my barrowwights (which is good, because these are not basically ghosts) and different to my Army of Dead (which is again good, because these are different kind of magic ghosts). They could be neater, I admit that, being nice metal sculpts, very powerful creatures in the game, they should look more finished, but that would mean to start all over again. I'll get a new set from the next MTO... :)

There are only 3 different sculpts, but I was able to make some variations, since parts of the crowns were separate pieces.

That is 5 metal miniatures by Games Workshop in 28mm scale, 5 points each so total of 25 points. Planet bonuses from Istvaan V, Solaris, Arda, Caprica and Death Star totals to 100 so 125 points. Add one squirrel for MESBG Army of Mordor. I could have done something else, but that would not have been very Wednesday-way to put it, right? This should see me crash my points target, too.



My personal Squirrel count: 16

  • 20mm Napoleonic
  • 28mm Sludge
  • 28mm Pulp
  • 28mm Warhammer 40000 Xenos
  • 28mm General (including Gloranthan) Fantasy
  • 1:300 Cruel Seas
  • 6mm Epic Imperial Fists
  • 28mm ADD Boardgame
  • 28mm Runewars Waiqar
  • 28mm Blood Bowl
  • 28mm Simians
  • 15mm Mid War Germans
  • 28mm Age of Sigmar Sylvaneths
  • 28mm Warhammer 40000 Imperium
  • 28mm Warhammer Fantasy Orcs & Goblins
  • 28mm Lord of the Rings Mordor


Really? Claiming five planets from five very similar figures? Really? That is stretching things somewhat - I think I can see why you wanted this held over for Wednesday, but as Greg has an emergency at his cabin you've got me minioning it after all!

It's definitely a stretch, but I think that you have justified the planets and might have got away with it apart from a slight hitch that you seem to have overlooked - to get from Istvaan V to Solaris would require a trip on Lady Sarah's Star Yacht and there's no female figure (or Yacht trip claim) in this post.

Tamsin

Edit to Update: I'd missed Curt's reply to a query on the Quadrant Map post saying that you can skip planets that you've already visited. Points for the other four planets have now been added.

Tuesday, 1 March 2022

From TashaH Journey to the Outer Ring (Skaro) (Death Star)(Star Yacht)(89 points)

 

Finding myself on Skaro, we seem to have encountered a very strange doggo indeed. Perhaps Oscar should use the button thingamajiggy to find his way here. Maybe he could make a new friend! 

 




 

Speaking of friends, it would appear our robot doggo has made friends with a very odd cobra. I think we should avoid both of these creatures and continue on our journey…

 





 

The doggo is extra grumpy because, when I was basing him, I may have dropped him and got resin sand all over his face. Oops. 

 

Zipping over to the Death Star…

Hubris is on the menu at the Death Star today. 

 


 

As can be seen in every superhero story, hubris always plays a role at some point in the plot. I think it is inevitable when you introduce otherworldly powers to seemingly normal individuals. There is something to being drunk with power, it always causes problems! 

This Cyclops is from the WizKids Heroclix line. 

 


 

I made some poor paint point choices with this figure and then spent a lot of time trying to fix them. I am looking forward to the day when I won’t be using as many craft paints. They definitely have their place, but the actual model paints are such a dream to use in comparison! 

 


 

I’d now like to call on Lady Sarah’s Star Yacht for a relaxing ride to Babylon 5, utilizing this lovely Elf Cleric figure from Wiz Kids. She was a delight to paint. 

 




 

That’s it for me.  Have an amazing day!

The points:

Robot Doggo 24 mm - 5 points

Iron Cobra 18 mm - 2 points

Cyclops 32mm - 5 points

Elf Cleric 42 mm - 7 points 

Planet Bonus - 40 points

Star Yacht - 20 points

Total - 79



"There's a distinct whiff of collusion here!"

How very dare you! There has been no collusion whatsoever between myself and Tasha. Just because it's only been a couple of hours since I dumped her out of the maelstrom onto Skaro...I mean it's perfectly evident that she had figures waiting and ready to be painted for all the planets on the outer ring that she hasn't previously visited and got them painted, photographed and the post submitted in double-quick time.

Really, some people need to take their tinfoil hats off!

I suspect that Oscar would beat a hasty retreat and press a random button to get away if he came across that mean-looking doggo! Nice work on all of these!

Tamsin


Edit: score adjusted - I'd forgotten that it was 30 points for the planet you get dumped out of the Malestrom onto!


Tuesday, 15 February 2022

From DavidB - visiting the Death Star and without lucasfilm (285 pts)


Well, I am still alive and ok if not burning the candle at both ends!

I was a bit busy with extracurricular activities, yet I did get released for my first Superbowl at home. I did not see the game but did do a nice spread of chili and munchies for family and friends and even got to imbibe in medicinal supplies with two of my age-appropriate daughters, neither wants to hear the word alcohol now! 

Death Star is either hubris or questionable design. I actually have both in this post. I will only claim the 20 points for the fellow below though. Hubris was thinking I could finish the mess on my table above, and a hero further down.


I introduce the wonky and wonderful gun made by the orks. The shock attack gun is one of many insane weapons of war crafted by the orks. The mechaniac manning the gun doesn't really understand how it works and probably can't be bothered to ponder it. The function begins by vacuuming up several small snotlings into the gun.


They are pulled through the hose which somehow transports them through a rip in between worlds/reality.


The whirly bits, thinga-ma-bobs, whatcha-ma-call-its, and do dads combine with the gears, gizmos, and wires chosen for color to fire them at targets. while going through the force field tunnel the snotlings are tormented by nightmarish daemons that cannot reach them through the force field. once they materialze at the targeted point, they are frenzied in absolute terror and soil, bite, claw as only pint sized psychopaths can. The gun either works really well or not at all which is fun too as it could explode.


Some ork Kommandoz from the Blood Axe clan have cleared the desk with the shokk attack gun.
Being orks they also have weapons of dubious design



As some of the latest orks from games workshop they are packed with detail. So much equipment, scars, rips, tears, and ork trinkets. I could easily spend another week teasing out more of the detail.


The boss is a great sculpt and I kinda think of him as an Orky Sgt Steiner.


A commo ork with exposed wires and a weaponized radio with flashing red light.



An ork sniper whose rifle is belt fed, i can imagine him bending the front sight post to accurately target his intended victim. The kit also had some classic bits reminiscent of the original kommandoz. HE is thus wearing an orange watch cap with the lurid purple camo like my original squad.


I painted them all in my standard bright green flesh, but used olive greens to pick out scars on them.



The burna boy had burn scars molded on his hands and arm, so the olive color was used over the melted flesh. I really like the checkerboard grin of the demolition ork


A grot looking like a SEAL with snorkel, fins, grapple hook gun and knife and a squig loaded with explosives for remote detonation.


10 helblasters for the white scars. for valentine's day my wife got me some miniatures and paint including the valhalan blizard used to decorate the bases of the white scars.


A very nice snow effect which really adds more character to the urban bases. These marines were all bought used while deployed and were painted with an impervious blue. they had red and gold splashed in various places. half were primed black and the other half were primed white and that blue was a pain to cover. I do not think I will try to rescue anymore miniatures for awhile. 


My wife also bought me two Reiver Lieutenants while I was deployed. one is a white scar and the other is now an iron snake. Both are more effective than the "elite" reivers which seem not very elite at all when other marines do the same job better, but I like the skull faceplates and will hope GW can actually make them worthwhile. I will keep on using them as they do great for the rule of cool!



The white scar reivers are equiped with bolt carbines and are intended to hunt enemy backstop units. two are equipped with pistols and knives for use in kill team.



Two Iron Snake reivers with one equipped with a bolt carbine. The bolt carbine reiver is for kill team.


The original 6 iron snakes I painted still have their bases trimmed in brown. Two of the cold greys and all three of the warm greys I used were unusable. It took awhile to get these three new reivers to match the three older ones.


I finally succeeded as you can see above.


These five (formerly BLUE) hellblasters are now sporting Iron Snake colors


Besides his robotic arm, the sgt has a horrible burn scar and robotic eye...Greg is correct...Wear your helmet! The burn scar was done with pale flesh and a very light flesh wash.



The front three are new additions to the intersessor squad and great care was made to match them up since the older P3 paint was rotten.



The seven layers of grey paint was eating up too much time, so I tried the contrast paints as a base over a zenithal highlight. I only needed two greys and a wash to finish the armor and they match well with others.


This veteran squad is equipped with the nasty assault bolt carbines


A Chapter Ancient with banner flanked by two lieutenants. They were all that horrid blue. Besides an occasional glint in a deep crevasse, the only remaint of that blue is the base coat of the banner.



Lieutenant knives is the only unpainted one from the big set of phobos armor I had on hand and was the test for alternate greys to get the look going forward for the Iron Snakes.



The much battered Captain in gravis armor. He was broken many times while deployed and was not in great shape to begin with. Through all the breakage that blue never chipped off. he has more than seven layers of grey and at least two other spray coats than that nasty blue. I stopped painting him after I got him close enough, but he may be replaced as a lot of detail is gone from a now thick coat of paint both covering the blue and trying to replicate the Iron Snake colors. He also suffered as I thought the Black Templar contrast paint would help, but the gloss from that paint is not good for a base coat and also hurt the detail.


Besides the mountain on the desk, he is the final bit of Hubris as I did not notice the damage I did to him while trying to "fix" him. 


So, three weeks' worth of minis
20 points for death star
65 points for 13 orks
90 points for 18 White Scars
110 for 22 Iron Snakes
a total of 285 points.

also for the skullz duel
standing tally so far
15 skullz for the Blood Angels
42 skulls for the White Scars
69 skulls on the Iron Snakes
5 for the space orks
11 for the fantasy orcs and gnolls
142 skullz painted so far.


It's good to have you back with us, David! That's a fine looking bunch of Space Marines to close out this Tuesday!

Tamsin