The Old World Army Challenge

Super spiffy banner by Clarence of Quindia Studios fame

Not being a "Facebook person" I sometimes miss stuff that other folks see. The Old World Army Challenge is a perfect example of one of those things. I'd have been gutted to miss out once I realised what was going on. Fortunately the organisers (some of whom are fellow AHPC participants) were kind enough to allow me on board regardless of my lack of social media skillz. Cool huh?

Like Curt's wonderful AHPC, the Old World Army Challenge is a non-competitive style event intended to motivate the participants and to provide a platform for sharing and praising one another's work. That's the very essence of Oldhammer for me, an engaging, positive group of like-minded people having a blast together. Couldn't say no to that...

So I'm going to use this as an opportunity to kick-start my stalled Empire army. I'm rather excited to be planning and painting something that doesn't involve anything to do with Peking to be honest!

Oh yeah, and while I'm doing this I'll also be doing the AHPC for the sixth time, assuming Curt still loves me now I'm seeing someone else on the side. :-)

Cheers,
Millsy

Heroic Fighters of the Known World, Part the Second

Back in July this year I posted about how I'd managed to get my sweaty little grippers on a complete set of Heroic Fighters of the Known World. I was most pleased about this (to say the least!) and waxed lyrical at some length...

Today I finished painting four of the set of eight miniatures. I wanted to get these done before the Challenge kicked off as they're not something I want to rush. Here's how they appeared in the Citadel box art of the time.

And here's how mine look now they're got a new coat of paint. I had intended to take individual pics but it started to rain and I was lucky to get these groups shots in. Left to right we have Lord Aquila, The Moon Duke, Manfred and Ulrik Ulrikson.

At the time I acquired them I had intended to paint them exactly as they appeared in the box art. For some reason I became increasingly dissatisfied with that decision and in the end went my own path in varying degrees, keeping some elements and adding my own spin on others. I'm quite comfortable with the final paint job and won't be second guessing myself so all good.

There's no way I'm going to finish the other four members of the team before the Challenge kicks off so I'll have to see whether I'm inclined to spend time on them during or afterward. More on that when it happens.

Cheers,
Millsy

Heroic Fighters of the Known World

It seems the older I get the more interested I am in miniatures and games that I missed out on when they were first released. Take the wonderful Heroic Fighters of the Known World for example, eight finely crafted brave warriors sculpted by Jes Goodwin and released by Citadel Miniatures in 1986.

In 1986 I was way more interested in Susanna Hoffs than anything else. In fact it'd be fair to say I was interested in absolutely nothing BUT Susanna Hoffs for a good proportion of that year.

That hasn't changed, however these days I've at least found other interests to occupy some of my time. So today a package arrived on my doorstep containing (you can see where this is going)... more lead!

Hazy Shade of Pewter

The full set in absolutely great nick and ready to absorb my attention when it should be focused elsewhere (not unlike a certain female American vocalist). Whoever owned these prior to them arriving at Chez Millsy has clearly tried to replicate the original paint jobs on as they appeared on the reverse of the packaging, gorgeously painted by Colin Dixon.

For once I'm going to do exactly the same and paint my set as faithfully to the original box art as I possibly can. It'll be an interesting diversion and a wee bit of history too.

Now if you'll excuse me I have a an old VHS tape of Bangles clips to watch. Again. Go on, shoo! Susanna and I need some alone time...

Cheers,
Millsy

Sandbags and workbenches

It's raining, it's pouring. Quite literally pouring. As I type this at 5:17pm we're just shy of 4" of rain since midnight. Yesterday was just as wet. What does this mean? Lot's of painting and overexposed photography, that's what!

Since Saturday morning I've knocked off another four Oldhammer Chaos Warriors...

I've also been working away on a second-hand 40K Landraider I picked up at CANCON. Some time ago it looked like this...

...and it now looks like this...

Admittedly it looks like I've turned it 180 and painted a couple of bits black. You'll just have to take my word for it that a LOT more has been done.

Cheers,
Millsy

Workbench update

Apart from the terrain building I've been indulging in of late I've also regained enough of my after-work mojo to get back on the brushes. This might in part be due to purchasing a metric sh1t-tonne of minis I shouldn't have but whatever gets you motivated right?

This week I've been back into the seemingly never ending Savage Orc project and made some inroads on the second batch of boar riders. They're coming along nicely and will soon be ready to embarrass themselves on the table top.

At the same time I've been indulging myself in a little Oldhammer goodness. I've been picking up 80s Chaos Warriors on and off for a while now but have held off painting them til post Challenge as they take a lot of effort given I'm painting them one at a time. I've let myself go a bit with the palette as you can see both as a bit of personal challenge to try new stuff but also in an attempt to get that real Realm of Chaos crazy vibe going.

These are a joy to paint. Every one has a personality all his (or her, or it's) own. Their names from the catalogues are pure gold too. This lot includes left-to-rigth: Chengis Crump, Arack, Krayos Dleth, Xarytus Deathflail, Sir Gilgal de Appliance (candidate for BEST. NAME. EVER!!!), I can't remember (not his name!) and Gladstone the Large . There's another eight still to go so I've still got plenty of scope for brown, purple, pink, orange and whatever else I can dream up. :-)

Cheers,
Millsy

I'm on holidays... in the 1980s

I've had an incredibly lazy week off work this week, doing pretty much whatever I liked. Having been to Melbourne just recently there wasn't much desire to go somewhere so I didn't. Instead I went somewhen.

For the past week I've been living the 80s dream. I've watched Lethal Weapon, Weird Science and Escape from New York on the idiot box and spent a lot of time buying, painting and faffing about with 80s vintage Marauder and Citadel miniatures.

Firstly, the Epic Squats project has been substantially moved forward which is great. I should have close to 4,000 points worth completed today. They get their first outing on the table tomorrow night against Eldar which I'm really looking forward to.

I've also finished a large 40K commission and ploughed the proceeds back into 10 of these...

Wonderful, characterful Kev Adams orcs

I'm still looking for 4, 7 and 8 and have duplicates of several other to swap if anyone is interested.

I also scored both of these Oldhammer must-haves last night...

All up it's been a cracking week off and it's not done with yet.

Cheers,
Millsy

4th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Wrap Up

Wow, what a ride! The 4th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is done and dusted for another year. It's actually a full three months long but looking back it always seems more like three minutes.

Curt is a living legend (at least of the blogosphere) and deserves truck loads of kudos for putting the event on. When Sarah finally decides she's had enough and throws you out there's always a bed for you at my place mate.

This year there was a total of 60 participants from all over the globe battling it out and producing some truly amazing entries in terms of quality, quantity and breadth. I finished a pretty creditable 9th on the points tally which is an improvement of 4 places on last year. It's not really about that for me though even though it is fun to be a bit competitive. What's more important is sharing the fun with all the other amazing participants and seeing all their wonder and inspiring work.

Some highlights of my challenge...
Final ranking: 9/60
Points total: 1948 (beating my initial target of 1250 and just short of my revised 2000 target)
Bonus rounds: Submitted for all seven and snuck home for a win on the final Last Stand round.
Achievements: Painted something like 250 x 28mm miniatures and a swag of other stuff. That included a complete Dystopian Wars Britannian fleet and also an entire 2,500pt Warhammer Fantasy Battle army (that one inside of a month!)

Not bad at all and I'm pretty chuffed with what I achieved. Here's a quick visual recap...

A fair chunk of Dystopian Wars

My favourite entry, Kemmler and Co

2,500 points of Undead in one month :-)

Watch out Cromwell, Rupert's coming for you!

I'll show you where the Iron Crosses grow!

They call him the Cereal Box Kid

And lastly my winning entry from the final bonus round, The Retreat from Moscow in 28mm. Cheers to everyone who voted for me. I was very flattered and a little surprised to take the podium given the quality of the opposition.

And that's it. When I list it out like it makes me wonder where I found the time. Just putting the list together took a good 20 minutes alone. Now it's time for a breather from the painting desk and maybe a little something medicinal to tide me over the depression from it being all over for another year.

Thanks for looking and please leave a comment or three!

Cheers,

Millsy