From TeemuL: Parade in Paradise [The Ambitious] [The Lovers] [The Just Rulers] (100 points)

So I have been stuck in Paradise for some time now after clearing the First Circle: The Inconstant. Since that I have been painting everything else, searched for female miniatures and browsed dictionaries to figure out what all those fancy words mean and how I can twist them to fit my minis.

I was planning to use my Ambition entry for Wise, but lacking the females and time I had to make some changes. But I guess Gandalf is considered wise, but also ambitious: "A figure that is as keen as mustard, an overachiever".

I'll kill the Balrog, resurrect myself, replace the head of my order, be a kingmaker, ride couple of days and nights, make vaque promises and keep them and so on.

Does that sound an overachiever? It does to me. And this mini is Gandalf the White version by Games Workshop, a nice metal model, which I tried to paint white. Yes, lots of whites and shades of white, but I think it is ok.

Assuming my reasoning is valid I can move to the third circle and present The Lovers. Yes, Lannisters in paradise... Not the most usual love story, brother and sister loving each other and their common son. Jaime and Cersei Lannister with Tommen. There were some lust, some other strong feelings, too, but definitely some love. And at least Jaime and Cersei both loved Tommen, so that is my backup plan for Lovers.

These are from CMON box Lannister Heroes 3 and are plastic as the previous ones. Not that many details, but that makes them fast to paint. I'm happy with Jaime, but I guess Cersei would have liked more royal outfit, I don't know. I gave Jaime the white cloak of King's guard, I believe he was part of that even after losing his hand.

I'm not familiar with the game A Song of Ice and Fire where these belong, but these look quite strange heroes for a wargame. Queen (regent?) in a dress with his young son and a knight on his knees with a bandaged hand. Not may be the types you expect to see in the first line, but Seven Kingdoms is an interesting place.

Next stop is The Just Rulers. I'll present King Aragorn before he was wise and just king. Yes, I was planning to use Gandalf as Wise, but my female transportation options were scarce. Aragorn was very clever even before he was crowned king. Here he is from the "Two Towers era", where he was told "When last I looked, Théoden, not Aragorn, was king of Rohan." and kept his mouth wisely shut and later became king of Gondor.

He reigned long and died peacefully, made clever pacts and bowed to hobbits. In general considered as a good guy, I think I could have used him as the Ambitious one, too... But yes, he was just ruler, lived a long life and learnt a lot from elfs and men and even something from dwarfs and hobbits and ents. I think I could have used him as the Wise one, too? Tells something about the works of Tolkien, that his characters are definitely not one dimensional.

I've been talking about the female minis here and there and you might realize, that one must use a female or angel mini to jump over circles and I have just come from 3rd to 6th circle and I can't use Cersei for transport so I need to present something else.

Let me present you Bertha the Bear, the famous female bear!

This is a metal bear from Warbases, I ordered her at the same time I ordered the bases for Napoleonics. I know there has been some strong rulings in the past regarding female bears, but I believe they are all sorted out now?

But if I'm mistaken and Bertha is not counted, I have another classic from Challenge Wednesdays, Dorothy Dromedar!

She is from Warbases, too. She has quite a strong mould line on her back, looks good from one angle, but terrible from other. Both Bertha and Dorothy are mainly painted using Contrast paints with some details added and especially the underbellies and legs drybrushed.

Sarah the Shootist is the last and third female of this post and she makes it sure that I can pass.

She is a plastic from Great Escape Games Gunfighters II box and painted mostly with traditional acrylics. Green and brown sounded like practical colours, violet scarf gives a hinf of her feminity. Little bit dusted clothes to match my other Old West minis.

With these I have gone through 4 circles in Paradise and can either pick The Warriors of Faith or The Contemplatives next. I need to browse through the dictionary again...

I'd say this is 8 (6 humans and 2 animals of different sizes) 28mm minis in total for 40 points and then three locations for total of 100 points! I have more to come before the Challenge ends!

Wow Teemu, you've pulled out all the stops with this entry! I really like your interpretation of The Ambitious, The Lovers, and The Just Ruler - each one a terrific example of those themes. Bertha the Bear made me laugh aloud (and I'm sure Ray will do the same) and Sarah the Shootist looks truly formidable, ready to draw her long-barrelled Colt if the need arrises. Brilliant work, sir!

- Curt

RhysH - Gandalf and Balin from Games Workshop (10 points)

This is Rhys' second entry. In addition to Dunlendings, he received Thorin's Company for Christmas. This set includes all of the dwarfs, Gandalf and Bilbo.

The first two off the mark are Balin and Gandalf, based on ease of painting more than anything else. In addition to painting, Rhys also took the pictures this time. The Challenge is really expanding his skills in a lot of ways.

He went for a cave rubble base.

We worked on his flesh tones with these two. Balin is his first attempt to put into practice what we talked about.

He did the edge design free hand and tried for a dirty and distressed look to the jacket.

Gandalf is one of Rhys' favorites and a model he didn't have yet. With this acquisition Rhys has the entire Fellowship.

Gandalf's flesh had been washed into black obscurity so Rhys brought it back up after our lesson.

Dirty hands but you can still see that he made the top lighter than the bottom.

We also talked about edge highlighting and you can see some of that on Gandalf's had.

Rhys also remembered the advice from last year and painted his base edges.

This entry is only two models, for 10 points, but it shows Rhys putting in practice on the new techniques that we've been discussing, as well as bringing back classics from this group last year.

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

Hello Rhys

I really enjoy seeing the results you have achieved ... you really embody what the Challenge is all about! And your Dad, Aaron is an excellent mentor.

 I know Curt gets a bit frustrated with me ... I listen to his advice and tips and then generally do my own thing!

10 points for you and I'm super excited to see your next entry

- Sarah

From AndrewB: First Entry! Runners, WWI, and a Wizard! Overdue, Historical, Fantasy (287pts)

Hello again everyone!   Excited to be back for another great year of the AHPC!   

I’ve got lots of projects to get work finished on, but I really enjoy the challenges, and the Library has tons of rooms, so time to jump on in!  I started with Fantasy! I’ve had this old suspiciously Gandalf looking figure for quite some time, and he certainly shouted out to me, so I did a quick hybrid speedpaint/traditional job to get him onto the gaming table soon!   I’m still working on making this technique so what I want, but it’s pretty solid for good Tabletop standards that I’m usually happy with   

If anyone has any idea who manufactured this figure, let me know!  I’m sure it’s out of production now, but I really like it. 

Next, for the big chunk of 15mm I’ve plowed through in the past couple days! For the History room, I grabbed some 1910-early WWI folks based for FoW, as a part of a fun project you all will get to see as the weeks tick by!   These are from Peter Pig, admittedly my first from the storied company, and I’m quite delighted by them!  There’s some Highlanders in their khaki kilts, some RN shore party (which I made the completely wrong blue, but it’s a ‘what if’ campaign anyways), and a couple bases of trench raiders   Flanking the two command stands and sharpshooters, I have three heavy machine guns, and a block of eleven bases of infantry!

I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get through these guys, but I pleasantly surprised myself!   

Highlanders and RN

Tench raiders(in an unadapted test scheme), MGs, and the HQ troops

Block of infantry!  And an MG

Lastly, a group photo!   Please excuse the improvised Photo Booth, space limitations prevent me from building a proper place to take large photos.

My final count for the 15s is 101!   Painted those on the bases to return to my roots painting FoW at 18, what a mistake!  Putting figures on sticks is the way to go, and I’ll be doing that the rest of the 15s I paint in the coming months! Everything’s based with the excellent products from Geek Gaming, who are some of my favorites for hobby supplies.   

Lastly for this post, a quick session on Christmas Eve is gonna complete the Overdue room!   I’ve had these four runner models for a few years now, not sure what I wanted to do with them, but recently played in a game put on by Thomas Foss of Skull and Crown, which was more of a race than a war game.  Boom, racers for a generic setting, where players will be running for something, yet to be determined.  

The different pants will be how the players (hopefully some younger/newer gamers) will keep track of their fig. 

Running along for now!   More next week!

Gandalf as a 28mm is five points, with the fantasy room bringing his subtotal to 25pts.  The 101 15mm minis plus the historical room will bring their subtotal to 222pts!  The fun runners are 28mm, with the overdue room totaling them to 40pts.   Hot dang, we’re on our way with 287 and a strong start!  Will upload my progress picture with the library on my next post!  

_________________________________

First, welcome back to the Challenge, Andrew! 

You're opening gambit is a nice blitz through the first Section.You can never have enough Gandalfs I say, and this chunky model of unknown provenance is a wonder example of the breed. I particularly like his lustrous beard - it reminds me of Ralph Bakshi's rendition of the Grey Wizard. I also look forward to watching your 15mm WWI project unfold - the test stands look the business. Well done!

- Curt