From PeterB - Chaos Warhammer - 70 points

We had a mini warhammer tournament at the weekend at our club. Once we agreed on some rules to make it not a dragon stomping affair I realised I needed just a few extra core troops to make up the points. So a delve in the bits box and I found these chaos warriors that I am sure used to be part of a Battle Masters set.

An evenings painting and they were ready for battle.

I also need a giant Chaos Spawn but I'm not going to claim any points for this as the front half was already painted. I had a Reaper Bones model that didn't look intimidating enough for the base size it required.

So, a plastic sprue skeleton and some green stuff gave this worm a tail poking out. The pincers are the end of peasants pitchfork.

Our next full day game session is probably going to be a big Siege scenario, as I was delving I also found various pieces of metal that actually made up this:

I was just missing one wheel, but the replacement I found I think makes it look more cobbled together. The end ram piece was missing but I think the skull I found is a good replacement.

So points, like I said I'm not claiming the worm.

Chaos warriors at 28mm

10 x 5 equals 50 points.

Siege wagon at 28mm

20 points?

Total 70 points.

____________________________________

I had instant nostalgia at the mention of 'Battle Masters' - so awesome and they look terrific all ranked-up ready to rumble. I also really admire your Chaos Spawn, especially the scary tail barbs. Your intro photo for the siege engine was corrupted (replace if you have the time), but the front-on shot is suitably impressive with that bronze horned skull. Barks will be most pleased.

Fabulous work Peter! 70 points it is.

- Curt

From PeterB: Blood Angel Terminators - The Angels (40 points)

Well, it was tight, but I managed to get to every location. Last week we left the Fixed Stars of Faith, Hope and Love. So, there is just one stop left, The Angels.

My first ever attempt at painting was a Space Marine that came free with the first issue of White Dwarf I ever bought. I only had my Dad's Humbrol gloss paints to do it and I am a little bit glad that I no longer have that model. I do have the magazine though, not the original copy, but a recent ebay bargain replacement.

Keen FW historians will know that this issue has the photo in it that I shared on the blog back in January as inspiration for my recent Blood Angel project.

I am still painting more of the vintage models I have for these Angels, so to finish off I have four Blood Angel Terminators. Three of which are armed with my favourite of all close combat weapons in the Warhammer universe, the lightning claws. (Snickety snick!)

There should be a fifth one for the squad but as I only have four painting handles I normally paint things in fours. I have not had time to finish number 5 as these were finished just five minutes ago. (Including still drying transfers.)

So, finishing off with a score.

Location 20 points

4 x 28mm infantry, 20 points

Total 40 points.

Oh PS, skull count. Those lovely lightning claws have loads of skulls on them.

Sergeant has 9 skulls.

Each other chap has 11 skulls.

Total skull count 42.

Congratulations on completing your Dante journey, Peter! These Blood Angels don't look very angelic to me with their menacing claws, but there you go. They are very well done though! Thanks for showing us all your fabulous work, and perhaps we will see the final Space Marine (or something else) in the final days of the Challenge? In the meantime, 40 more points for you.

Martijn

(PS: don't forget to report your skulls to the Duels Wallah!)

From PeterB : Faith Hope and Love (125 points)

Well, the plan to visit every stop in the Abyss and Paradise is nearly at an end. Last stop was the Contemplatives, so now we have the Fixed stars of Faith, Hope and Love. I was really struggling with this category, it being quite vague. I asked my 10 year old son what he thought and he immediately mentioned Hope. "Surely, you need to paint some revolutionaries or citizen fighters, they fight because of Hope." Well, the kid wasn't wrong there. 

Coincidently, a unit I didn't have for my new Empire army was some free company militia. 

Well, I do now.

A box of plastic frostgrave pirate crew are perfect for this. A few arm and head swaps and I am super happy. I used every different shade of brown I had painting them, then each chap has found some blue cloth to tie on so that in the frenzy of battle they know who not to clobber over the head with a billhook or club. (Although in our club games it's easy to identify the enemy, it's normally a slavering servant of Chaos or a raging greenskin.)

The unit has the ability to use thrown weapons, so to represent this I have given a couple some missile weapons. The models are also diverse enough I could probably use them for a Mordheim gang.

Additionally I have been saving this next model in case I needed to skip a stage of the challenge. As this has not been necessary I am just going to claim the five points now for this raging barbarian from Bad Squiddo Games.

The Points.

One location = 20 points

20 x 28mm @ 5 points = 100 points

Another single 28mm model = 5 points

Total = 125 points

Children and drunkards speak the truth, as we say, so I can't argue with that. Where there is hope, there is life, although when these brutes come storming in it might be a short one. The blue accents tie them together nicely, and the variety of browns has a very pleasing effect. Your barbarian lady is my favourite though, the metals look very good. Well done, Peter, another 125 points for you!

Martijn

From PeterB - Worms!!! (and ogres) (365 points)

Bit of an unusual one today. 

Last year Mantic games did a kickstarter for Worms the boardgame. For those that do not immediately recognise thus, it is from a video game franchise where players use teams of worms to fire rockets and other weapons at each other in a side on view of a landscape. A bit like those games we played on BBC micros back in the 80s for learning about angles and trajectories. (I think we were being trained up as child Mortar teams in case World War three ever happened.)

The Collectors edition promised more worm models than the retail version, so I bit the bullet and signed up. The only issue was these worms all came in grey plastic.

Well, I definitely couldn't have that, these little dudes were begging to have some paint slapped on them.

The game takes place on a set of hex shaped cardboard pieces that are laid out in a  random pattern and yes, sections do dissappear if they take too  much damage and any worms at that location fall in the sea.

The much loved mines, exploding barrels and weapons drops are included as well as banana bombs and exploding sheep.

The models themselves bear no resemblance to what they are armed with in the game, cards are drawn to select weapons.

Each team have a set of coloured surrounds that the worms clip into to identify their own pieces. This does mean any paint on the base edge is likely to be scraped off, so I have not made any attention to the edges.

I love the various characters, there is a lot of variety. There are some repeats, but not a huge amount. A couple of the classic weapons number in up to six.

This special edition has enough for six players which means lots of carnage on a club night.

I have given them a good coating of Army Pai ter light brown Super Shader which gives them some durability like a varnish coat. It does give them a shine, but I think it works with the cartoon style.

In total we have 65 worms and 1 super sheep. The worms are around 28mm from eyebrows to end of their tail, so I am claiming five points each.

66 x 5 = 330 points

Additionally I have done a little more for my Old World army

The Ogres box set had some sprues left that I hadn't used. There is now an option to take an allied unit of Empire Ogres in the Empire army and arm them with a mix of weapons. I have already used them in a game against Orcs and Goblins and although their multiple wounds make them tough. They cannot hit a barn door with those black powder weapons. I don't think I hit a single thing all game.

They are intimidating enough though, so I might use them again.

They are 40mm tall so

5 x 7 = 35 points.

Grand total for the week 365 points.

Well, those worms might like to throw explosives around, but you definitely dropped a points bomb here too, Peter! What a wonderful wacky whopping worms horde. You have achieved a very fitting cartoony effect with them, and I am sure playing the game will be much enhanced by these lovingly painted pieces. Th Ogres are quite impressive too, and as long as your opponent doesn't realise their lack of proficiency with their weapons you should be fine I think. Not that they need those anyway... 

365 points it is!

Martijn

From PeterB:- More journeying through Paradise (Warriors of faith, The Just Rulers, Contemplatives) (80 points)

Last week on my travels I was left at The Wise with Gandalf. So next stop, Warriors of Faith. This Western Priest may be returned from the dead, but he is still fighting the good fight.

It's not my favourite paint job, the photo doesn't really help, but it will work well in my old west town for some zombie hunting.

Next stop, The Just Rulers. Well, you may have noticed last week the Fellowship was not quite complete. So of course we needed Gimli and the one true king, Aragorn.

"A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day." - Aragorn, Lord of the Rings - Return of the King

I've tried to keep close to the pallette of colours from the movies. It helps with the likeness. I really like these more realistic scale models from GW.

Finally, for the Contemplatives, or thinking, I have a model of Krang, the evil villain from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Krang cannot compete with the Turtles in a physical way, so he uses his smarts and even builds himself a giant robot body to get around in.

To the points. 4 x 28mm models at 5 points each = 20.

Three locations for 60 points.

Total 80 points.!

More Lord of the Rings, excellent! I particularly like your Aragorn, although your Gimli looks very good too (and another great backdrop!). The priest is slightly disturbing, but I'll take your word that he is fighting the good fight... Krang is a nice find, and a corresponding nice paint job too. Another highly effective post nets you 80 points.

Martijn

From PeterB: Leaving the Abyss (Treachery, The Inconstant, The Ambitious, The Lovers, the Wise)(135 points)

Another week, another fast paced dash through the challenge map. Last time I left off at Fraud with a Mimic disguised as a treasure chest. So next stop Treachery.

In the world of Warhammer, there are no more treacherous than the Skaven race. Ratmen scurrying about in tunnels under the world, the sneakiest of them being Clan Eshin, the Assassins.

Not a hugely complicated paint job, especially due to most of the model being black cloak. You can barely see it in the photo, but there is actually some green in the cloak to avoid just being a grey drybrush on black that tends to look more like leather than black cotton. 

So, we leave the Abyss having visited all stops and head over to Paradise. First stop Inconstant, or falling short.

“Fool of a Took!” Gandalf growls at Pippin. “This is a serious journey, not a hobbit walking-party. Throw yourself in next time, and then you will be no further nuisance. Now be quiet!” And poor Pippin is given the first watch, “as a reward”. - Lord of the Rings. Fellowship of the Ring

The hobbits in the Lord of the Rings are mostly quite heroic, there is one of my favourite moments in the first book though, when they are in the Mines of Moria when Pippin throws a rock into a well, possibly being responsible for awaking the Balrog. (In the movie he accidently knocks a dwarf skeleton down the well.) From this point on Pippin grows as a character, leaving behind his mischievous reputation as a member of the Took family.

Here I have painted Merry and Pippin, Pippin is on the right. (Like Ant and Dec they tend to stand in alphabetical order) The models are from the GW range, the original metal sculpts. Last years challenge I started with Legolas and Boromir. This challenge I am hopefully finishing the fellowship.

Next stop, Ambitious. So, over to the 40K universe and to arguably the most ambitious of races, the humble Ork.

This particular Ork is particularly talented at building weapons and has been so ambitious his gun seems to be bigger than he is. The Shokk Attack gun is a very traditional weapon, dating right back to Rogue Trader days (not this model though). The technology relies on vacuuming up unsuspecting snotlings, then teleporting them in the distance at a location the weapon is pointing at. With any luck the snotling is teleported inside the armour of an unsuspecting Space Marine and thus calamity ensues.

I presume the bit at the front rotates when it fires and it makes lots of noise

The gun has been built using natural talent and natural instinct. The Ork doesn't really know how it works, he just knows it does and enjoys using it. (Until it malfunctions and blows up)

Next stop, the Lovers. So back to the Fellowship. The greatest friendship and some might say the deepest platonic love in the book is between Frodo and his gardener Sam. I don't think the film quite makes it as clear that their relationship starts out as a Master and Employee dynamic (albeit with friendship as well). They bond together in their adventure like an officer and his batman during the first world war. The following quote could be describing the trenches of the war.

Sam struggled with his own weariness, and he took Frodo’s hand; and there he sat silent till deep night fell. Then at last, to keep himself awake, he crawled from the hiding-place and looked out. The land seemed full of creaking and cracking and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or of foot. - Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King

Last stop this week, The Wise. Well, no prizes for guessing what I chose to paint for this category. Staying with the Fellowship, we can only choose Gandalf the Grey. Again, the metal model from the first wave from GW, Gandalf seems to have lost his hat, possibly he is about to confront the mighty Balrog. (Luckily I painted the Balrog last challenge.)

 

And there we shall leave it for this week. To total up:

5 locations = 100 points

7 x 28mm models = 35 points

Total = 135 points.

As a devoted Tolkien fan I heartily approve of this entry, Peter! An excellent choice for these themes. The hobbits are well done, with their gaudy clothes. Great photos of Pippin and Merry in Moria, and of Frodo and Sam with Mount Doom in the background! I must say that I really appreciate your Gandalf, the cloak and his beard came out very nicely. The ratling is also good, it may be a simple colour scheme but it is very effective. And the ork is quite hilarious, I could never dream up such a weapon! You have achieved a very good result with the almost fluorescent parts of the gun, and the metal is very lifelike. I'm not sure if carrying such a device is brave or simply stupid, but I would not really want to be an the receiving end of it. Nor would I care to be pulling the trigger, now I come to think of it, actually. This powerful stride to the end of the Abyss nets you 135 points.

Martijn

From PeterB - Old World Empire additions (140 points)

This week I am not claiming any location bonus. I have just been concentrating on some additions for my Old Work Empire army. Our local club is playing a lot of Old World, so it won't be long before these models are failing miserably in combat.

Firstly the Hellblaster Volley gun and crew. 

Next up, a model with some vintage, a Unicorn knight on foot.

I love this old model, it was in a mixed bag of items I got from somewhere and has been sat in my bits box for a while. It makes a great addition to the army as a Champion or Captain, Sadly I could not find a shield in my bits box with a unicorn head, but I shall keep looking. For now, the lion will have to do.

Some more Warlord games Landsknecht, this time with handguns and crossbows make up two units of line troops.

And finally, the Landsknecht box has enough parts for thirty models, so a couple of the spares with some parts from my bits box make up an Engineer and a standard bearer for my Longswords from a couple of weeks ago.

So that is 26 x 28mm models for 130 points and 10 points for the gun.

Total 140 points.

The Old World seems to be very popular since its release. Looking at these figure one can easily understand why, they have a very old style fantasy feel about them. The models themselves are very nice, and you have done a fine job with them, Peter! I like your lion unicorn knight, and the Hellblaster Gun is aways a favourite. Nice! 140 points it is.

Martijn