From TeemuL: Orclike creatures (70 points)

Couple of weeks ago I posted an entry about all things green. Today I'm not far off that subject, but this is more a study of orcs rather than of a green. And the "study" is created while typing, after I managed to create a topic which would gather all the models of this week. Orc is a tricky word, I believe, everyone knows what orcs are, but no-one really knows what orcs are or what they look. :) It is a specific but generic term with many different points of view, different lores and different authors/artists.

These are Uruk-Hai from Games Workshop Lord of the Rings range based on the movie trilogy by the same name. In the movies Uruk-Hai are creatures created by Saruman, in the books they come from Mordor, but Saruman just manages to enhance them to not be afraid of daylight.  Tolkien's orcs were originally corrupted elves, Jackson's version is mix of orcs and goblin.

I chose to paint 5 of these, just enough for another squirrel, but they were so quick to paint, that I primed another 5, which might get painted later in the Challenge. I have largish collection of painted Uruk-Hai, but only 3 with pikes before this. Definitely need for more, luckily I have lots to paint. These are 20 years old or so, gathered from here and there over the years. These "orclike creatures" are brown skinned and heavily armoured and have long pikes, which gives them unique fighting abilities in the game. Very quick to paint, like I told. brown skin and armour cover almost everything. The photos are quite bright, but there are two layers of black wash over the plate mail to give them darker and more industrial look. Brown bases to finish them off, green tufts to add some colour to all brown, black and metal.

The next one is a mean, green killing machine, so I'd say an orclike creature. For Toy Story bonus round I painted a Centurion tank for my Delmonteland project, but since Wars of Insurgency rules are not really about tanks, I thought the jungle troops would need another kind of vehicle. The answer came from the box of toy cars I bought Gaslands in mind, but this 4x4 Cherokee is claimed to be 1/64 scale, so the same as the Centurion, so it should be a perfect fit.

I painted the car green, then added lighter green highlights, painted the windows and tires black and bumpers brown. A little bit colour to the lights and then some muddying. The freehand palm tree and slogan on the roof were painted light grey and highlighted with white.

The trunk opens, so I painted the inside yellow, looks quite practical. Some thin lines to windows to mimic reflections. Not necessarily the best effect, but at least something to break the blackness.

In the photo below I have included two jungle warriors I painted before to better show the size and scale. Looks may be a bit big, but probably just big business... "Let's go Bananas" is something I invented tongue in the cheek, something eager mercenaries might think when going to fight in the jungle. Afterwards I learnt that there is a Canadian TV show for children with the same name, so salute to Canadians is included (unintentionally).

Another size comparison, this time with Warlord Games WW2 jeep. Again, looks a bit bigger, but clearly the design is not so Spartan, so not a problem for me. Someone might argue about the correct scale for 25/28 minis, but for me this is close enough - especially when this was supposed to be a cheap side project.

The following 3 photos show the Cherokee before my salvage job. I liked the red paint and "Mad Bull" text, may be I should have stick to that instead of "Let's go Bananas"?

It can clearly be seen that this toy car has seen lots of action and most likely love. I hope to field it for my games so it can enjoy the new life and love.

And the last photo shows the technical details, 4x4 Cherokee by Majorette, Made in France, 1/64 scale and No 256.

And then some actual orcs, at least the Games Workshop version of them. Games Workshop orcs in the Fantasy (or Grim Dark) setting are greenskinned. They are not evil as such, they just like a good fight and enjoy destruction. Back in the days orcs were considered brave warriors, nowadays they are cowards hiding inside armours, made of metal gone through pigs... This entry shows the more heroic orcs rather than those cowards. These are (or were) called Savage Orcs and as you can see, their equipment and weapons are from the lo-tech end of the technology tree.

Yes, good old metal orcs with goblin green bases and red weapon shafts! I guess I'm bit of a dwarf and savage orc inside me, dirstrusting pretty everything too new and modern...

I added some variety, each one has different coloured skin or fur and there are actually 5 different sculpts here, even though two pairs look quite the same - but not exact. Shields are quite modern, but they are rather rough, so they fit these savages better.

In general they were painted basecoat, highlights and gentle wash, but there are some variations here and there. The bone weapons of the boss guy have severel layers for example where as the red eyes have just the basecoat.

What might surprise you, there savage beasts (as some imperial scholar might call them) have zero skulls on them! Bone and stone weapons, feathers, severed head, all kinds of armbands, bracelets and nose rings, but not a single skull. Well, if you want skulls, you'll have them next week!

"28mm LotR Forces of Evil" squirrel, no robots or skulls, 25 points for 5 minis.

25mm vehicle for 20 points, no skulls or new squirrels.

"28mm Warhammer Fantasy Orcs" squirrel, no robots or skulls... 25 points for 5 minis.

Total 70 points, 2 squirrels.

With all these points I reach the halfway of my target with two weeks to go!

Oh boy Teemu, what a great mix of offerings you have for us today! I do like both the versions of that architypal enemy: the trusty Orc or Ork. Those Uruk Hai really look good, but I like the Savage Orcs better they are goofy and just ooze charakter! That Cherokee is the cream of the crop for me, what a nice rescue job, the banans theme does really work well indeed, so get those brushes started and try to paint some more we sure like to see more of these kinda posts!

Cheers Sander 

From TeemuL: Cocks of War (30 points)

About ten years ago I added two halflings to my project: Pair of Hobbits. In the comments section I pitied myself for not owning more. At some point during the last 10 years I have manage to acquire 6 more of these beauties and this week I managed to finish the paintjob. This year seems to be quite popular Dogs of War / Regiments of Renown year (as usual), so a perfect opportunity to add my offerings on the plate.

There are 4 different sculpts of these, two pairs with almost identical sculpts. I guess there were 4 so GW could sell 3 random minis in one blister and there would be difference. Monsters & Mercenaries Collector's Guide only shows 3 different sculpts, I guess they are so similar that they missed the fourth one... My entry has 6 halflings with only 3 different sculpts, one is there 4 times! I already had all of them before, so I guess I can live with the repetition.

I like to paint these non-uniformed minis, because they don't have uniform! Especially these halflings, because they can use all the crazy colours and still be serious representatives of their race. I used quite a lot of greens and browns, but also some brighter colours here and there. Looking at the photos I seem to chosen quite a lot of blue for these guys, too. The second from the left is painted like part of my British Peninsular Troops. Lots of different colours, but mainly base colour, wash, highlight and second highlight - choose two or four of them. :) Goblin Green bases as usual and self made tufts.

A sneaky or absent minded participant might try to claim squirrel point for these, but that is strictly forbidden in the rules: "If you would expect to see them on the same side of the table during a game, they are NOT a Squirrel Point." As I have earlier painted some Dwarf Slayers, which could easily be on the same side with these Halflings, I can't claim the squirrel. Of course in the world of fantasy (especially if the world was created to sell lots of minis and allow everyone fight everyone with anyone) this is a bit trickier than with historical armies, but since this entry is entirely about mercenaries, I would be a president of the USA if I'd claim a squirrel for these.

So just the plain 30 points for 6 halflings, which have been traditionally scored as full 28 minis for 5 points each. Below you can see the whole dozen, backrow painted in the previous decade...

P.S. My longish sickness has now ended, so I have less time to paint. Thank you all for your support and kind words! Unfortunately I have been bit slow to follow the blog and especially comment all the fabulous entries, I'll try to be more active in the future. I belive this is all from me this week, I need to finish the "Toy" bonus round, too, and I'm away from Friday to Sunday.

 

Great to hear you are restored to full healthpoints Teemu! Those venerable Halflings really are a gorgeous sight indeed, great work! 

Cheers Sander  

From TeemuL: All are one in Nagash and Nagash is all (10 points)

All are one in Nagash and Nagash is all. All I need for an army is Nagash. I don't need an army, I am one.

The first phrase is a classic line from Warhammer, other two are my own invetions or reinventions based on others. I bought this Nagash couple of years ago, it just looks great and is perfect mini for skull infested (no turnip infestion this year, hurray!) AHPC. I'm not really into Undead armies in any games, but Undead are the only army I have managed to buy for Warmaster and this mini is just great. So he will be my Warhammer Fantasy Battle Undead Army, and I won't need anything more.

I stripped the old paints and started from Brainmatter Beige (GW TM) basecoat. There are lots of skulls, so some colour choices were easy. I also wanted him to wear black, it creates a nice contrast to bone and is in average considered "cool." Dead cool, maybe? I added some purple for royal look, in the end Nagash is quite a narcist. Gold fits there, too, being royal, bright and looks good next to black. Those were the main colours. Skulls were first paited brown, then drybrushed with skin, followed be flesh shade wash and another drybrush of skin, before drybrushing with bone and finally some areas were drybrushed with white. Black robes were highlighted with purple and gold areas with silver. Base is naturally goblin green, Nagash is on a crusade in the Old World, not scheming in the desert.

Jewels were painted red and his book with flesh tones - his book might be covered in human skin? The sword is good old metal with a tint of blue, perhaps some magic? I was thinking about to paint it like a bone sword, but then I would had to have named it "Boner", because it is made of bone and it makes bones of people. But the image of Nagash walking around with a huge Boner in his hand, slashing and hacking here and there with his Boner, people running away in horror, all the moaning and groaning in the background, Nagash hissing "Do you want to have a taste of my Boner? My Boner is thirsty for your flesh! Let's finish this, Boner!" and I just couldn't do it.

Charming face

Nagash is far from a skeleton, you might say and you are correct! However, his skin seems to be very similar colour to the skulls and here I'm hoping to achieve a very old, dry, shrinken, almost bloodless wrinkled skin. I think it looks better than sickly green or pure white or healthy skin, but you may disagree - and be cursed by Nagash for eternity AND forever!

Nagash's book

A very nice mini to paint, it is basically just upscaled 28mm fantasy miniature instead of modern sculpts, which are large and filled with all kinds of details - pouches, trinkets, engravings, purity seals or skulls. In the nice and easy mini to paint, even though a large one and a center piece. But I believe I managed to paint him nicely within my skill limits and not trying something too much and failing.

Regarding scoring and skulls, I refer to a recent post made by a professional mathemagician and curated by respected archivist: https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2022/02/from-millsy-moar-skullz-10-points.html

Millsy regarded Nagash as a 54mm miniature for 10 points and Curt awarded him 5 bonus points. As a humble participant, I'll ask for those same 10 and see how friendly minion Sander handles the situation (I might note that Nagash is pretty much the same size as 40K dreadnoughts, which have been scored as vehicles for 20 points).

But no, I'm not trying to claim him as a big stompy robot, no! And he is not worthy of a squirrel, either, no!

So many skulls

But I'll claim couple of skulls, though. I refer again to Millsy's excellent post to make it easier for me and my minion. Millsy counted 155 skulls on the mini and then 6 more on the base. I believe I have the same number of the skulls on the mini. Following the example of a great man, I decided to add some skulls on the base, too. I grapped my plastic bag of human miniature skulls and there happened to be 7 skulls inside (true story). I decided to glue them all on the base and reuse the plastic bag for something else, so 7 skulls on the base and 162 in total from Nagash. I guess I had 9 before?

Okay Teemu, who am I to question the great Snowlord's judgement? I will award 10 points and comment you on your painting of this great old school WHF character.

Cheers Sander  

From TeemuL: 5 Slayers (25 points)

I try to keep up my tradition to keep up my Minion busy and post something every week. It got tricky, when this first Saturday was so soon after the Free Fire period. I had to make a compromise, though. There should be 11 slayers, but I had to choose and finish just five of them for today. The rest will come next week.

These are old metal slayers from 1990s or something, very much hair and beard, big axes and minimal amount of legs. Quite nice to paint, there are some details, but not too much. Being single peace casts, there are no hard to reach spots either.

The dwarf in the middle has a different orange on his hair and beard than others, a bit darker. I guess I use that for the rest, because it is more vibrant and easier to highlight than the other. They look bit pale. The bases are 20mm squares, some sand and Goblin Green - as it should be. These diagonal bases are bit tricky, really difficult to know which side is front - if any?

One trick I used with these was choose simple colours (dark skin, orange, red, brown and gold) which would all look good after a Reikland Flesshade wash. These are colours which look good after the wash, for example greens and blues can be used and you get uniform effect, but blue and green would look dirty. The colours I chose are brownish, so they look nice. Feel free to follow my (laziness generated) tip. After painting thousands of minis, one learns something. I haven't learnt how to paint good eyes, but this time luck was on my side and the eyes look quite nice. Of course the maniac look fits these minis well, being some other minis, the eyes would look horrible.

Thank you for this, next week more the same and then a theme entry for Sunday. 5 28mm minis for 25 points and 1 squirrel.

Squirrel total: 2; 28mm Napoleonic British, 28mm Fantasy Dwarfs

What a great bunch of Doom seeking Dwarfs Teemu!  I also like that you share some tricks for us to get the same levell of painting as you have shown here. Can't wait to see what you come up with next week!

Cheers Sander

From ReillyOG: Goblin Shaman and Howdah (75 points)

Whats scarier that a giant Man killing spider? A giant man killing spider with a Goblin howdah crew slinging spears and firing arrows at you while their Shaman boss throws magic spells! The Spider was painted before the challenge, but the howdah, shaman, goblin crew and all the basing was done for this submission.

The third and final of my Arachnarok trio, this time with the Archbishop in Da Church of Da 'Ate Legged Wuns. The crew and howdah are always a lot of fun to paint, even the third time round. Lots of little details like webbed up skulls and quivers webbed onto the howdah itself, and spiders crawling all over. 

The Shaman 'imself was a model I was incredibly excited to paint its the most on theme model I could dream of for a force like mine, and I enjoyed just going to down blending all the skin and giving him way too many highlights. 

"Dat wun was mine!"
"woz not"

Lastly, I thoroughly enjoyed my first foray into proper water feature effects with the base. I'm loving how it came out with all the ripples around the tufts and skulls in the shallow puddle.

The view seen by enemy troops!

Now when you think of Childrens' books, most think of whimsical adventures with magic and fun... but usually theres always some kind of creepy crawly they come into contact with in their adventures. This is that monster! See for examples: Aragog the Acromantula who dwelled in the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts Castle, Shelob the last daughter of the Demon Ungoliant from Lord of the Rings, and Charlotte the Barn Spider from Charlotte's Web (but here she found some goblins for friends instead of Wilbur the pig)

That goblin underneath the great beast is having second 
thoughts about volunteering to be a sacrifice

Overall thats 9 x 28mm figs (45 points), the very detailed howdah and shrine as terrain are approximately a quarter standard terrain cube (5 points), and Children's Book bonus takes it to a 70 point submission.

And there are 39 Skullz liberally scattered across this submission!

Happy Painting,
"Right Stuff" Reilly

From Millsy: It's been a while since we've seen a monster arachnid and it's been worth the wait! What an absolute beast of a thing is Reilly, resplendent in purple and bone and bristling with teeth and spikes.

The way you have feathered the purple at the joints is really nice technique and gives the limbs a lot more volume. The crew(?) are pretty cool too and really pop with their green skins contrasting against the purple. The base really finishes the model off for me and I love the way you've used all that space to create a mini diorama effect underneath when you could easily have ignored it - 5 extra gold for that.

[Edit Millsy] Apologies Reilly, my COVID addled brain missed that you'd already painted the spider itself so I have adjusted your score accordingly mate, but I have added 5 points for you just cause I'm an idiot!. An awesome effort mate and one of my favourite posts this Challenge!

From Reilly: Goblin Shaman (25 points)

Here we have yet another entry into the 'Old World Player sifts through his decade old stash of fantasy stuff' collection. A humble goblin shaman to join my many, many others. Here's hoping he doesn't explode with badly channelled winds of magic...

One of several Elder Spider-Shamans for the force

His Ritual dagger is quite handy when it comes to making 
sacrifices to the 8 legged old gods...

A classic GW sculpt and always a favourite of mine, this lil guy was a pleasure to paint and get back into the swing of painting wayyyy too many goblins. 

I'll claim the fantasy bonus to up the points to 25 total, and another 3 skullz

Happy Painting,
"Right Stuff" Reilly

From Millsy: The only right way to do gobbos is wayyy too many, right Reilly? You've done a stellar job on this wee chap, especially his clothing which really pops. The blending on his hat is superb! I've got the same mini in my collection and it's amazing how different they can look. 25 gobbo points for you!

From TeemuL: Gunslinger and Greenskins [Westerns][Fantasy] (90 points)

"Westerns have much in common to Superheroes, at lesat they used to. Character by John Wayne was the good guy and good guys had a happy end. That Italian genius then ruined the whole industry and now Westerns are a sub-area of comedy... So while we are here, we can think what we can learn from Westerns. Yes, there are good and bad guys (sometimes ugly, too, but they don't sell). Lots of outdoor scenes (unless playing poker) and wide shots. Men are men and women are there to be rescued. All these things are very close to Middle-Earth, not may be exactly (looking at you Galadriel), but very close. So there is lot of plot twists and themes we can use, I guess we only need a script..."

This mini is from YourModelBox, one of the exclusive minis they had. It is plastic and bigger than 28mm, but 40mm either. I painted him mainly in Contrast paints, the belts are old school paints as is the base. He has a scarf of some kind which hides his whole face, and while he is carrying something at the same time as shooting, I guess he is a bad guy. A robber of some sort, I'd say. Quite nice to paint, not too many details and an open pose.

I gave him a desert base, ideal for outdoors. It is one of GW's basing "paints" with a light drybrush and couple of tufts.

I'm rushing here a bit, we now move to the Fantasy Studio. There is a month left in the Challenge and I realized I will be away for almost two weeks, so if I want to handle the Red Chair Challenge by Snowlord, I better get there sooner than later. So yes, walking from Westerns through the already visited Swords & Sandals we get to the Fantasy. I know, some Lotr minis would have been an obvious choice, but instead I have these old Orcs ans Snotlings from Games Workshop.

Here are three bases of Snotlings, each having 5 of these vicious beasts. They are a mix of two plastic designs, randomized on the bases. The bases itself are a mix of two plastic bases and one mdf base, because I didn't have enough similar bases... And the skins have at least three different green shades on them, just under that green Biel-Tann Green wash, of course. Red cloths and clubs are of course mandatory. The eyes and teeth have some colour, too. The bases are covered with PVA glue and sand, then washed and painted green.

Snotlings are not to be trusted to be alone, so here are 3 Orcs to look after them. They are old plastic monopose orcs, but with rather modern shields. These three will boost my second unit of Orcs from 12 to 15, which is just one standard bearer short of 16, which will make a nice square.

And yes, these are an addition to an existing army, so I followed the original colour choices (originally from the box cover) with modern paints. These are not Contrasts however, regular acrylics, but from the 21st century. Bases are covered in same way as those of Snotlings.

And then the scores. 4 minis in 28mm scale for 20 points.

15 minis in 15mm scale for 30 points.

2 studio locations for 40 points.

In total a nice 90 points.

I should be now well over 2/3 of my target, but large amount of my points come from Studio location bonuses and like I said, I'm away for almost two weeks, so it will be a struggle to reach my target. At least I managed to reach The Director's Chair, let's see what he expects from me...

Minion Miles: Not 1 but 2 submissions from Teemu and who said today wasn't going to be a GREAT day!

From BruceR "The Chamber of Darkness" 25pts

 As the party flees the Russian militia Zombies (you can't fight zombies) the next chamber they enter is as dark as a moonless night.  As the party attempts to catch their breath they are assailed  by a horrendous gong sound.  Repeated and repeated.  "Gong" "Gong" "Gong" followed by a maniacal cackle, reminiscent of the fantastic faced earlier in their journey.   Again "Gong" "Gong" "Gong" causing the party members to wither on the floor attempting to cover their ears to block out the sound.  All at once the gonging stops and shuffling approaches the prone party members.  Out of the gloom comes a wee character with a huge gong.  The little fella simply grins and says "Gonging my way"... eeek

My first attempt at greyscale.  Still not sure.  Found the night goblin musician on the wall of shame, already base coated black so why not.  I have quite a large WHFB goblin army sitting in boxes as the world has crumbled.  Moved on and this fella was left behind.  I did give him the red eyes to simulate the photo daemon look.  So another games workshop night goblin 5 pts as he is a 28 mm scale model, bigger with the gong.  20 pts for the Chamber of Darkness.

Pardon the bad pun.

Cheers.

BruceR