From SimonG: "The Witch of the Westmorland" - Two 28mm Vignettes (75 points)

After a few week's absence from posting I am finally back with my centrepiece for this challenge, a pair of 28mm vignettes based on the song "The Witch of the Westmorland"(1). 

This song made a great impression on me the first time I heard it off Kate Rusby's 2016 album "Life in a Paper Boat". It is highly evocative of time (I'd say 500-600CE), and place -- Rheged, what is now Cumbria and the Lake District. 

Having spent several months selecting and sourcing miniatures I created two vignettes on live edge Yew plinths. I've included two short videos so you can get a sense of the full vignette in each case.

The male mounted and dismounted figures are Victrix late Roman unarmoured cavalry and Romano British infantry, with some kit bashing to match the heads and arms and add the bandaging. The female figures are both 3D prints from the designer M3DM, her Goddess of Virtue and her Druid Centaur. The hounds are from CheckPoint Miniatures and the hawk is from Reaper.

For a closer look at these pieces it makes sense to follow the song. 

"Pale was the wounded night that bore the Roman Shield" (2)

Don't look too closely as the leatherwork and boots on the two figures are different!

"Turn, turn your stallions head til his red mane flies in the wind"

Red is strictly speaking not a particularly realistic horse mane colour and usually is sun bleaching on a chestnut or sorrel, anyway I had fun trying to get this effect but it's hard to photograph as the bright light masks the shades!

"And he said, lie down my brindled hound and rest ye my good grey hawk"

Brindling isn't too hard to replicate, not sure if wolfhounds can be brindled however, usually applies to a shorter haired breed I think. As there are no grey hawks specifically native to the UK (as far as I am aware) I chose to make this one a peregrine falcon -- that's quite a bird to have at your beck and call!

"And it's down to the water's brim he'd borne the Roman shield"

Modelling water is where most of the effort in this job has been, and I've still got a lot to learn. I did like sourcing a bunch of neat photo etched reeds and some lovely paper water flowers. The main water is done using Aqua Magic which I discovered doesn't like to set when constrained as I had to do using a jerry rigged dam as shown in the picture above. I also hoped to get some good reflections off the water surface but didn't realise that this would need a darker shade underneath than the light stones I selected -- oh well, lessons learned.

"And wet rose she from the lake and fast and fleet went she.

One half the form of a maiden fair and a jet black mare's body"

Lucky to have found that M3DM sculpt -- it's exactly as the source for the song suggests -- tales of antlered women with bodies of deer, perhaps based on sightings of red deer in the lakes. There is an inordinate amount of fine detail on these figures including one braid which had snapped, I patched in a spare from the back up figure I purchased and it's at least something (it's her left side braid). I also only discovered in photographing the figure that's she's wearing more of a bra top than a vest -- at least my styling keeps her respectable!

"For I see by the briny blood that flows you're wounded in the field"

Basic green stuff bandage and some subtle blood work!

"She stood in a gown of velvet blue bound round with a silver chain"

One of the best sculpted female faces I've seen, albeit a rather static pose, but  being from the same designer the look of both faces is similar. For hair I tried for a Yffing (3) chestnut :-) There's some wonderful fine hair detail about the face that was a pleasure to paint.

* * * * * * * * * * * 

So hopefully by now you've had a chance to listen to the song and follow along with the models. I certainly had fun planning and executing this project and I hope the results do justice to the source material

For points I am claiming two mounted 28mm figures (20 points), two foot (10 points) and four creatures (20 points) plus a 20 point bonus for love in paradise -- the song does after all say that "she's kissed his pale lips once and twice and three times round again" -- I think that's a worshipful, healing sort of kiss as befits paradise! I also relied on the female centaur druid to fly us straight to the third sphere! So with that bonus, if permitted, i get my hard earned 70 points!

Hopefully you enjoy these pieces as much as I do. Now what shall I plan next?

(1) The song is by Archie Fisher from 1976, it's been covered by many others, there are quite a few variants on the words but I'm using Kate's version, and even that has differences in what folks claim to hear!

(2) One of the specific differences being that the original and most versions sing "Rowan Shield". I've got problems with this. Why make a shield of Rowan, it is very hard and lighter than oak but not as common and I've not found evidence of this as a shield material. Or why have a Rowan sigil on your shield? Kate's singing "Roman shield"(i.e. a shield in the style of or dating to Romano-British times) makes perfect sense to me and that is how I modelled it (although an infantry shield when mounted is a little impractical!)

(3) This is of course a reference to Nicola Griffith's Menewood, which I cannot recommend too highly, although an interest in the specific details of seventh century life and warfare is a pre-requisite!

TeemuL: I'm not sure what all this is, this entry is just staggering! May be it is the flu or the excellent entry, all the backstory, sourcing the minis, but I feel a bit light headed... I guess it is better, if you just read, watch and listen, my words are unnecessary. :) Take 5 bonus points for the dioramas!

From TeemuL: Librarian Witch [Sarah's Library Cart] (25 points)

It's good to be back, this is my tenth official Challenge, but I also participated in some of unofficial covid-Challenges. And to complete the painted picture of me, here's something I did during the last 9 months.

Challenge 13 parts 2, 3 and 4, each done in their own 3 month periods...

As you might guess, all this foolishness has left be a bit soft in my head, so I also volunteered to minion this year on Thursdays. And I also need some help with the library map, so the first thing I painted was this female witch, who will help me around the library.

This miniature is a Grenadier Witch 5601 from 1991 and what a characterful character she is.

Huge amulet around her neck, nice staff, bag full of mysterious components, red boots, some flashy makeup and a yellowish cat. So many details on such a small miniature, but she still manages to look simple - something GW nowadays doesn't manage.

I imagine this witch finds herself home at swamps and other similar places when not guiding visitors in the library, so I chose quite dark, natural and even dirty colours for her. Yes, that's basically browns and yellow under flesh wash and couple of gentle highlights.

In some ways I find her as a companion/mirror model of this Ral Partha necromancer from 1979, which I painted earlier this year. Maybe it is just the similar colours and my imagination, but these could be siblings for example.

And here is the most important Challenge Map and I hope the good witch guides me to the Overdues and Returns, because I have some unfinished business...

I ask 5 points for this 25mm miniature and 20 points for the location, you will get the cat free, because most of you are dog people anyway. :) Merry Christmas and I hope to be back before New Year's Eve.

________________________________________________

Welcome back Teemu and thanks again for agreeing to be our Thursday Minion for another tour of duty. Fabulous witch here. Geez, those old Grenadier models are so characterful - I think it's the cat rubbing against the back of her legs that clinches it. Excellent brushwork on them both.

- Curt

From StuartL - Sanguinary Correspondence - Lady Sarah's Limousine - 75 Points

Hello all,

Today I need to pay up for another Limousine ride across the studios. Last time around, I entered some models for the World Cinema section of the studio and now I want to scoot over to the Sci-Fi area.

I forgot to attach a map to my last post, better late than never I suppose.

So, as payment, I am putting forward this steampunk witch from Reaper Bones. She has a mechanical hand and a motorised broom. No reason why you shouldn't have all of the latest tech when you're out casting spells and hexing people.

The model was painted using a popular Contrast over Zenithal technique for the most part, but the purple, metallics and skin were done using standard paints. This figure will go into my collection of RPG figures in case I ever run a steampunk game.

To accompany this model, I have also been working on some Chaos Daemons for Warhammer. 

These figures are Bloodletters, minor daemons of Khorne the god of war and slaughter. I did a batch of these last year and these will join them in my slowly growing army. Daemons are the only army that can be used in Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000. Hopefully they will soon be able to be used in the current edition of Warhammer 30,000 which is where I want to use them. GW seem to be dragging their feet releasing new rules content for the Horus Heresy.

The unit comes with a choice of standards, one with a giant icon (that I painted in the last challenge) and this large banner here. The banner is totally blank, so I had to paint on a motif for the unit. I opted for a giant skull along with the eight pointed star of chaos, and of course liberal splashings of gore.

The unit was fairly quick and easy to paint being largely just drybrushing various shades of red and a couple of odd spot colours here and there. I may yet do more daemons in this challenge, we shall see. These do net me a point for the Squirrel duel and my first point for the Skullz duel.

For scoring:

11x 28mm minis @5 points = 55 Points

1 Limousine ride @20 points = 20 Points

Total = 75 Points

My side duels:

Squirrels - 6

Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Dwarves, Fire Giants, WW2 Polish, Daemons

Skullz - 1

Turnips - 0

Next up, a visit to the far future and some SF action.

_____________________________

A steampunk witch?! Who knew? No matter, she definitely looks the part with her steam-driven broom and clockwork hand. I know Sarah will be pleased with her.

Also, what a great mob of Bloodletters, Stuart. The doorknockers of Khorne, before the really nasty guys show up.  I like how their blue horns and tongues provide a great counterpoint to their red flesh. 'Nice' banner too! Yeeash...

- Curt

From TashaH: Wizards, Druids and Witches, Oh My! [Arda] (34 points)

Hello! My name is Natasha (TashaH) and I live in Saskatchewan, Canada.

I am incredibly new to this hobby. I played my first tabletop game (Eldritch Horror) in July of this year with Sarah and Curt and I was hooked. Since then, I've played Moonstone and a few ECW games from a campaign. I am looking forward to expanding my horizons and trying more scenarios in the future. 

I'm incredibly fortunate that the group I have been invited to game with is well established and puts on all the games. As such, you will see that my contributions to this year's Challenge have no rhyme or reason and are not tied to any game whatsoever.  At some point, I will settle in on a theme, or perhaps not! 

For my initial entry, of my first Challenge, I will be landing on the planet, Arda. I’m leaning toward the ‘fantasy’ admission requirement for this planet.

My first figures are prints from STL Miniatures at MyMiniFactory 

The majority of my paint is acrylics. I have a few Citadel Contrast paints and a couple pots of P3. I am hoping to add to my paint collection regularly!

I started with the Wizard's Bookcase in this grouping that I've put together. It is 80mm long, 50 mm tall and 10mm wide. Initially, I highlighted with two shades of grey and then utilized Snakebite Leather Contrast by Citadel. This proved to be an unfortunate decision. The wood did not look like wood at all. After many layers of many colours and washes ... this is the final result. All of the accessories in the bookcase were done willy nilly, with no real pattern or intent. I kept adding colours and layers until I was content with the result.

Next up was the Druid Table. I tried to remember the process I'd employed with the bookcase. My memory is unreliable at best (I really need to remember to write things down in the handy, dandy notebook I was given for such things). For the table, I used the Snakebite Leather Contrast midway through the process and it seemed to work much better for a rich wood look. Having only one brown Contrast makes a person get creative! Also, isn't that stool adorable? The table measures 30 mm across and 10mm to table top/27mm to very top. The stool measures a wee 10 mm across x 5mm high.

I really enjoyed pulling the details out of the book on the table. Note the mushrooms on the tabletop, they come into play next!

These are the Druid Mushrooms that are harvested on the Druid Table. The caps are painted using Contrast paint (such a delight to use). I used a metallic white for some of the highlighting to help boost the shimmer of the mushroom caps. I tried to mimic the same wood tones in the undergrowth as in the Table and Bookcase.  The mushrooms were great fun to paint and measure at 50mm x 35 mm.

Lastly we have a 40mm, Nana the Witch from Printed Obsession at My Mini Factory. This figure was a challenge for me. I almost gave up on her. After following some sage advice to walk away and come back another day, I was able to finish her. The number of layers of paint on this miniature is a bit embarrassing. 

Because I won't be using these for gaming, but rather as display pieces. they are freestanding and not based. 

Now for the points total. I'm really unsure about this, so chances are I'll mess it up! 

If I understand correctly, furniture counts the same as terrain. I anticipate if you packed in all the furniture like you were loading a U-Haul, it would fit a 2" square, so that would be 6.5 points. 7 points for Nana, and 20 points for the Arda (outer ring) landing bonus would give me a total of  33.5 points.

Thank you for letting me play!

(13.5 points towards the Chocolate Cake Duel with Sarah!)

__________________________

First, welcome to the Challenge, Natasha!

I quite like this entry, your opening gambit towards your target. This is especially the case as I helped source the models for you!  This is also the case with Sarah's upcoming entires as well. Yes, I am very much 'The Enabler' here. :)

While it is true that you currently have a limited collection of paints, I think you've done an absolutely wonderful job on these models. I particularly admire the wood grain on the furniture, the shiny (and mysterious) accoutrements on the tabletop, and the charming colours of the mushroom grove (the metallic hue of the spotted blue mushroom is particularly eye-catching). 

I'm going to round up your scoring to an even 14 points.

I know Sarah has her post waiting in the wings, so the battle for the chocolate cake should be a fierce one. :)

Terrific work Natasha!

- Curt

From ChrisF- Sarah the Sorceress 15mm witch (27 pts)

 "It's almost Spring! Time to sweep off the front stoop."

"Quite a few visitors this winter"

"So many bones!"

"This looks like a lot of work"

"Maybe next weekend"

This is the last of my 15mm witches from Blue Moon. Using it to make my way to the Lair of the Beast for a final mini.