From StuartL - An Eastern Fantasy - Fantasy & Limo - 196 Points

Hello all,

As of this week, I am visiting the last studio before I go for the Director's Chair Challenge. I already paid for my limousine ride last week, so I'm ready to jump straight into the action. 

While I do have more than a few fantasy models kicking around in my hobby room, I decided to go for something a little more exotic than Orcs or Dragons for the Fantasy Studio, and instead looked a little bit closer to my (adopted) home. 

Here we have an Oni and a rather large looking Kappa. The Oni is from Reaper's Bones range and the Kappa is from the game Kensei by Zenit Miniatures. Both of these figures are in the 40mm range.

The Oni is also toting around 4 skulls, perfect for adding a little extra to my side duel. 

Here we have a Komainu and three Tanuki, also from Zenit. The dog is fairly large, about the same size as a 28mm mini, but the Tanuki are a bit smaller, maybe 20mm? Overall, they should all be worth 1 Squirrel point.

And here we have a shot of all of the minis together. I already have a few Oni which I painted in one of the Quarantine Challenges, so this lot will be joining the previous minis in my Sengoku Fantasy collection.

Now, a post from me wouldn't be complete without a bunch of Squirrels, so buckle up for a quick batch of tree hugging rodents. 

First up, some old zombies from Games Workshop for Warhammer Fantasy Battles/Age of Sigmar. At the time they were released, they were probably pretty cool, but the figures do look dated now.

And some Skeletal Pirates from Reaper Bones. Death shouldn't let you get in the way of searching for treasure and sailing the high seas. Plus each is providing a skull for my side duel.

And some classic Blood Bowl orcs from the first edition of the game. They are mono-pose figures with very little real detail, but they still look the part.

I have an ongoing/stalled American War of Independence project stashed away at the back of my room somewhere, so in the interest of hunting down every last squirrel, I painted up these 5 British soldiers from the Perry Bros.

And finally, I need to pay my way to the Director's Chair, so here is a female model to pay for the ride in Lady Sarah's Limousine. I may need to get the seats cleaned afterwards though, she appears to be leaking.

And to round that mini up to a full Squirrel, here we have another 4 zombies to accompany her. These modern zombie figures are all from Reaper Bones.

And that is the last of the studio lots. Time to get cracking on my final challenge.

For the points:

26x 28mm minis @5 points = 130 Points

3x 20mm minis @4 points = 12 Points

2x 40mm minis @7 points = 14 Points

Fantasy Studio & Limo @20 points = 40 Points

Total = 196 Points

That should put me a hair's breadth away from my target.

My side duels.

Squirrels + 6 = 40

Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Dwarves, Fire Giants, WW2 Polish, Daemons, Viridians, Vasa, Junkers, Turnips, Necrons, Tau, Genestealers, WW2 Japanese, Teutonics, Lizardmen, Gnolls, Arabs, Space Marines, Kung Fu Chinese, Wolf's Dragoons, Merfolk, Fishmen, Fish, Mummies, Greek Myth, Peasants, Desert Terrain, Guild, WW2 Africans, WW2 French, WW2 Germans, WW2 Russians, DKoK, Sengoku Fantasy, Fantasy Zombies, Undead Pirates, Blood Bowl Orcs, AWI British, Modern Zombies

Skullz +9 = 233

Turnips - 115 Points

Another great, eclectic, post (combining tham makes them more fun). Love the pirates and the fact you have hit 40 squirrels (enough for a casserole).

From StuartL - Spider-Woman - Lady Sarah's Star Yacht - 35 Points

Hello again,

For my second post for the free fire period, I have painted up a Spider-Woman. No, this isn't a character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but one from Japanese Mythology. 

The Jorougumo (lit. Woman-spider) is a spider like creature from Japanese legends that can shapeshift into the form of a beautiful woman. There is a common breed of spider over here in Japan, (and I believe in parts of the US now) known as the Jorou-gumo (or Joro Spider), that is a large, brightly coloured spider that is perhaps the origin of the myth. While the spiders do look kind of creepy, they are harmless to humans and only prey on insects. The mythological version is not as benign and lures humans to its lair to devour them. 

The model is from Reaper Bones and was fairly quick to paint up. Assembly was made a bit easier due to the flexibility of the Bones material. Each of the legs has a peg on the foot that slots into the base. If this model were made of metal like Reaper's usual figures, it would have been a lot trickier to line things up.

I will be using this model to pay for my passage on Lady Sarah's Star Yacht (I hope Lady Sarah doesn't mind a few cobwebs in the cabin), which will take me back to Solaris. I have already finished off all my planet related entries, but I had some alternative models for a few of the planets that I decided that I would paint up anyway.

Following the theme of Japanese culture, what could be more appropriate for the themes of deception and illusion than a pair of Ninja?

These two stealthy assassins are from Zenit miniatures in Spain. I picked up a big box of used Zenit figures a few years ago and I have been very slowly assembling and painting them. The figures are very well cast, but tend to be very delicate, with small connection points between parts.

So, for 3x 28mm minis I should be able to add 15 points to my total. This is also my first trip aboard the yacht, so I can claim 20 bonus points there, for a grand total of 35 points.

I hope to be back later in the week with some more minis. See you then.

___________________________

Good grief, more spiders! 

Seriously, that is a very interesting figure, Stuart, and I like the way you've painted her with the white garments juxtaposed against the creepy spider legs. I did a Jorougumo a year or so ago from the Rising Sun wargame. Very cool mythology. The Ninja look excellent as well - I especially like how you've done their black garb. Great models those.

Well done Stuart!

- Curt

From StuartL - Defenders (and Offenders) of the Faith - 45 Points

As you may gather from the title of the post, this entry is focused on some religious types. As I pass to the Shrine in the Chambers of Challenge, I went looking for some clerics in my stash. In amongst the minis, I found some Japanese warrior monks and a few other minis and decided to paint them up for my entry.

The central figure is the head priest of the local temple, the figures flanking him are his Sohei acolytes. All of the minis are from Zenit Miniatures' Kensei Range. The robes were painted in GW Contrast paints and the rest of the figures done with regular paints.

And here we have a Ronin figure and a Ninja. As with the monks they are from Zenit. The Ninja was largely painted with GW Black Contrast, with some glossy black for the armour and red for the Oni-mask.

 And finally a group shot. I always find Samurai era minis challenging to paint due to the fiddly lace on their armour and these were no exception. That said, I think they do look cool when they are finished.

So, 5x 28mm minis adds 25 points to my score, along with an extra 20 for the Shrine chamber. These fellows should also net me 1 Squirrel for my side duel too.

My running Duels totals:
GW Points - 287
Skullz - 100
Squirrels - 6

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I do like me some Samurai and have been revisiting Osprey's Ronin rules again of late, so these quite tickle my fancy.

The Ninja with the Oni mask is particularly good, but you nailed it with the Ronin and his patterned robes. Plus nobody ever makes fun of a guy's flower patterned clothes when he carries a razor sharp blade, or two.

Cap'n Wednesday