From BrianC: Alternative Armies, Rumbleslam, Rum n Bones, and Zombicide (107pts)

 First, A BIG thanks to Minion Sylvain! Awesome host! I'm not that great of a miniature painter and that's ok. I paint minis to play the games. Another great year of being amazed with all the talented miniature painters in this challenge! Wow! This is my 2nd "season" of participating in the challenge and I LOVE it! 

Ok, here we go with what I have painted which is a bit of this and bit of that. In which is the normal for me. Ha! 

Alternative Armies 15mm Scorpion Scourge(10)

Alternative Armies 15mm Hover Support Wagon.

Alternative Armies 15mm Sphera Attack Orb

Next, is my last Old Glory 28mm "Redneck" Miniature to complete my group of four. Fun miniatures to paint and I look forward to getting them in some weird tabletop miniature games!

Here are some more Cool Mini or Not, Rum and Bones Pirates(8). I added base colors and used the Army Painter Speedpaints on top. That made the colors "pop" a little, I guess? I like them either way. Ha! 

I finished two more Rumbleslam miniatures and only have one more left to complete the team of five! Here we have the Grappler(orange shorts) and the Brawler(40mm).

Going Zombicide now! I have finished 2 Zombicide Invader miniatures. Magnus(35mm) and the Peacekeeper Bot(40mm).

Well, that wraps it up! I may have some entries for the "Free Fire."

Thank you again!

POINTS:

15mm x 10 = 20pts.

15mm vehicles x 2 = 16pts.

28mm x 10 = 50pts.

40mm x 3 = 21pts.

TOTAL = 107pts.

Sylvain: I'm glad you enjoyed the Challenge. You seem to opt for "fun" subject to paint, like cartoonish pirate characters or pro-wrestlers or a robot with 5 backpacks. And you do a great job at making them colorful. It's actually fun to watch your post :-). I hope you'll be with us again next year!

From MartijnN: More ASOIAF and more Arabs (140 points)

 We're in the middle of the Challenge Doldrums, and somehow I seem to have been stuck there for some time. However, I have not been completely idle and I finally managed to finish some units. 

First up are some more Gripping Beast metal Arabs for Saga. These are four hearthguard heavy cavalry. I'm not too fond of painting horses, so it was perhaps not a brilliant idea to choose a warband that consists mostly of horsemen, but I think these came out okay. I tried to use some varied (speedpaint) colours, and went easy on the Agrax Earthshade for a change. 

They are nice figures, with quite some detail on them, and painted up nicely. Only 13 more horses to go!

Next, I have been working further on the A Song Of Ice And Fire Starter set. I painted a unit of Stark outriders. They have a fairly Anglo-Saxon feel, and I tried to achieve some uniformity while keeping them as varied as possible.

I am actually pleasantly surprised by the quality of the figures. They are made from a sturdy hard plastic and have a considerable level of detail. The poses and the proportions look very natural to me, and arrayed on their movement trays they look fairly impressive.

Finally, I painted another Stark infantry unit, the Umber Berserkers. They look pretty cool with their two axes and the fur coats draped across their shoulders. They were fun to paint, and took less time than I feared.

Now, let's just hope I'll actually like the game... If not, I can always play Saga with them ;-)

Anyway, there we have it.

8 x 28mm cavalry @ 10 = 80

12x 28mm infantry @ 5 = 60

For a total of 140 points. One month to go, I might yet make it to my total!

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

Hello Martijn!

Glad you are finding your way out of the mid-challenge doldrums ... February has been a tough month for a lot of folks!

I do like your Arabs .. I like that all four cavalry figures have a bit of yellow - really ties them together as a unit. I have never painted a horse but I do think yours are nicely done with good colour variation.

The Stark Clan look awesomely fierce and ready to do battle. Interesting sidenote, I read an interview with the costume designer for Game of Thrones and she said that when trying to figure out out to dress the Starks, they decided to dye/distress/age Ikea fur rugs to use for cloaks!

140 points to you and Im cheering you on to meet your total goal! 

Cheers

- Sarah

Sarah 

From MartijnN: Württembergers, Saracens and Lannisters (140 points)

I have been far less productive than I would have liked this Challenge. However, I have not been completely idle. I finally had the opportunity to finish some models and, equally importantly, take some photographs.

First up are some Saracen infantry. These are from a Saga Warband set from Gripping Beast. They are metal, and the only infantry unit in the warband. I have had these for ages, and finally prepped them for this Challenge.

They came out okay, although they will not win any prizes. I used Quickshade Darktone on them, and as a result they are a bit... well, dark. But they will do. I will probably give them another coat of varnish when the weather improves, because the matt varnish I used (AK ultra matt) is very matt indeed (duh), and for these troops I am not too fond of that. Most of the shields are LBM transfers, but I didn't have enough of those so I painted some by hand. I am sure you won't be able to tell the difference. The rest of the warband are all cavalry, I will try to finish some of those before the end of the Challenge.

Next, the final company of my Württemberg infantry regiment for Sharp Practice. I have put off painting these for a long time, and I am glad they are done. Actually, they are rather a joy to paint. I mostly used contrast paints, like on their comrades done earlier. They are Piano Wargames miniatures that I 3d printed myself, and they are lovely sculpts. I think I have overcured them though, for they are rather brittle. And of course, when I took one of the NCOs off off the painting handle when it was completely finished, I broke off the bayonet...  It went flying through the room and for the life of me I could not find it. By now, it will have vanished into the vacuum cleaner I presume. I may try to replace it with another bayonet, but that is a very fiddly process. At least it broke off rather cleanly, so with a little imagination he is now simply carrying his musket without the bayonet. But a frustrating experience it was!

Finally, I have a regiment of Lannister Guardsmen from the A Song of Ice and Fire starter set. These are rather nice figures. I kept the uniforms "traditional", with lots of red and gold. I spent a little more time on these, using coloured washes and some drybrushing and minor highlighting over mostly contrast paints again, and I am fairly happy with these. 

I have prepared more ASOIAF figures, most of the remainder of the starter set, so I hope to get some of those done as well. We'll see how it goes.

So there we are. Scoring is simple:

28x 28mm foot @5 = 140 points

And 3 squirrels, if I remember to fill out the form!

_____________________________________________

Martijn you may have been taking your time but you've done a fabulous job on all three of these sets. Your Saracens look the business (and who doesn't love good old metal minis) - I especially appreciate your freehand work on the shields. I'm often lazy and resort to decals so I applaud your great job! The Wurttembergers are very fine as well and I'm sure a welcome addition to your Sharpe Practice force. The fellow who is sans bayonette is simply a little slow in getting his extracted from his rusted scabbard, nothing to note here, carry on! :) Finally, those nasty Lannisters look wonderfully ostentatious in their red and gold livery. The extra time you put into them really has paid off I think. Very well done my friend!

- Curt & Huck

From BrianC: Romans, Survivors, and school boy fantasy (100 points)

 Hello. Life has been happening over here. I don't have much, but it's something! We have some Romans(there will be more), Zombicide survivors(there will be more), and a Reaper Miniature. I will use one of the female survivors as  'Sarah the Succubus' to skip to 2nd Circle(Lust) No nudity, sorry wifey will not allow that. Ha! Here we go!

We have some Romans ready for action!

My Sarah The Succubus substitute: Zombicide Survivor, Maddie

A schoolboy fantasy Reaper Metal Miniature(2nd Circle)

 

Zombicide Survivor, Parker. She's a bad mamma jamma!

Lastly, we have Zombicide Survivor, Joe. He's about to light up our world!

Well, I use only Army Painter Speedpaints for most of my miniatures.

Let's do the very brief scoring...

12 Romans x 28mm = 60pts

1 Sarah The Succubus x 28mm = 5pts

1 Reaper Miniature x 28mm = 5pts

Access to 2nd circle = 20pts

2 Zombicide Survivors x 28mm = 10pts

Total =100 points

Sylvain: Romans are a staple of many collectors of miniatures and yours are neat and colorful. I also like your zombie survivors, very colorful too, and characterful. The jeans on them look very realistic. Nice job!