Ste's Challenge Smorgasboard!

I recently took part in the 6th Analogue hobbies Painting Challenge and in true challenge tradition I thought I'd post my entries on my own blog once they've featured on the main blog. So below is one of my two submissions. 

This is my first and possibly last entry in the challenge this year as it turns out I was completely unprepared for how busy I've been this summer (that's right all you northern hemisphere types, its summer here in NZ!). Here was I with lots of great aspirations to paint the heck out of my lead/plastic pile and join in the general insanity that is the challenge when lo and behold life decided to get stupidly busy. Work got mental, the in-laws came over from the UK for 3 months and an unrelated hobby took up a load of my time.

However I have still kept my painting eye in (so to speak) and have just not been able to find the time to blog about my acrylic/plastic/lead adventures (I know, shocking!)

So this model was planned to be my first entry (and also my Nostalgia theme round entry!).

A circa early 90's GW troll model that has lingered in my bist box for many years. This is nostalgic for me as I started out like many of you playing 3rd edition Warhammer and my Dwarves faced these comedic beauties many times.

So keeping in theme I also painted up a couple of GW Plaguebearers that I found in the same bits pile.

These are the old metal ones and until recently had no purpose other than to gather dust. Enter Frostgrave and suddenly the desire to play with silly fantasy models has been revived and I find a reason to paint some old models (thanks Joe McCullough!!!)

And finally another GW cast off, one of the early 2000's chaos warhounds, who sadly lost a hind leg in the aforementioned bits box however a little sculpting of fur and clawand hey presto my evil Frostgrave Summoner has a couple of demons and an ugly warhound to back him up!

Ok so I said finally however I mean't for the nostalgia theme round! My next entry was going to be for the L'amour round – three Orcs from Mantic's Dreadball.

“How the heck is that L'amour Ste” I hear you mumble in between trawling youtube for crazy cat videos. Well I'm slowly inducting my eldest biy (Noah age 6.5 years) into the wonderful world of wargaming and thought that Dreadball would be a good intro game. However Noah won't play the game unless the models are painted orange so I set to painting the weirdness that is Mantic's resin plastic hybrid thingy!

The things you do for LOVE (see what I did there?)

So on to my next planned entry (which seemed to take ages to pull together), Four of MoFo Mini's US Rangers Platoon HQ.

I loved painting these guys and they'll be deployed soon in support of these Radio Dishdash US Delta Team, possibly using Skirmish Sangin or Osprey Black Ops rules.

Whats better than than a good piece of hard terrain to take cover behind when the bullets start flying? How about a piece of armoured terrain that moves (my terrain bonus round entry).

This Humvee is a diecast repaint, sort of. I actually picked this up in one of NZ's chain discount stores and I'm surprised I haven't seen more of these online painted up for modern gaming. It came in the camo scheme however judicious application of various washes, highlights and drybrushes have brought it up to an acceptable standard.

And now my current project, a two section recce platoon of 15mm universal carriers by Battlefront.

 

I think I may be a sadist when it comes to Battlefront mini's as I loved painting these things in the same way I enjoy painting there jeeps. In Flames of War they have a low points value and very little impact but I love painting them so use them whenever I can. These boys are painted up in a basic desert scheme and will accompany my 4th Indian division at this years Panzerschreck where I expect to have my ass handed to me! However it is a team event so I can always blame buddy Ash!

So that was my challenge, I got nowhere near as much done as I'd like however I'll make sure that I tackle it properly next year. Now to play with my toys!

Finally, Opponents for Inspector Johnson!

The clanking noise coming from the workshop at the rear of the squalid tenement increased in volume to the point where the conversation could only be conducted in raised voices.

“I tell you that obtaining the remaining Shabti of Akhenaton should be our priority, before that idiot Inspector gets his hands on them” said the well-dressed gent leaning in the doorway whilst subconsciously fiddling with his pistol.

“No, I do not ag-ag-agree” stuttered his gas masked opponent sat in the tattered arm chair on the other side of the room. “We ne-eed to stop the Good Doctor in hi-hi-his ministrations. He ca-ca-can’t be allowed t-t-to heal that damn consulting detec-tec-tive”.

“Let me handle my cousin, my friends” said a new arrival coming from the hallway, Deer Stalker still perched on his balding pate, “I think we should be looking at your brothers new toys Lucius”.

They all rose at the implied command, Deer Stalker being the de facto leader of their little group (in the absence of the Professor). They all filed through the hallway, stepping over the bodies of the previous tenants and into the ‘workshop’ space, littered with all manner of esoteric tools and apparatus. In the centre of the room, fez perched jauntily on his head, green smoking jacket covered in oil stains stood Lucius’ brother Algernon looking rather triumphant.

“Behold my brethren, our new weapon in the fight against order and the corrupt empire of her most ignoble Majesty. I present to you my Iron Men!

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These chaps and their back story were my Bonus Round – Victorian submission for the Painting Challenge. I managed to write up a number of Battle Reports as a spoof Journal of the brave Inspector Johnson some time ago however moving to NZ has put that on the back burner for some time, so the challenge was good incentive to jump back in and restart things!

These are all Black Pyramid models from their Steam and Steel range, very nice clean models which were all relatively easy to paint. My only complaint was that in some areas they're a little light on detail and the chap holding the rather large aether pistol had a badly miscast hand! Otherwise they're quite characterful models.

I’m really quite proud of the Red and White scarf as I was going for the look of a Victorian anarchist/agitator and accidentally fell on the idea of making him a football fan and therefore a bit of a Hooligan! The satchel is a nod to his military past, I believe it was the 1890’s when khaki was introduced as a uniform colour for British forces but I may be wrong (feel free to correct my ignorance).

Anyway, there you have it. The Brotherhood of the Black Sun, occasional allies to Professor M and arch nemesisessess (nemisi?) of the brave and heroic Inspector Johnson!

The Hobby Butterfly or Attack of the Random Painting Loony!

My blogging output has taken a little bit of beating recently due primarily to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I have been hobbying, just not blogging, oh and it’s also been Xmas which means lots of family time. Anyway if you want to find how its going in the painting challenge just head on over to http://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.co.nz and have a look see. I’m currently languishing in 25^th place with 310pts although I am in good company with ScottB in 27^th however I’m expecting to see a marked increase in Scotts output now that the New Year hols are coming to an end!

On the gaming front I haven’t had many games recently, life appears to be getting in the way again. However I have managed to talk both Ashley and Scott into an intro to Bolt Action at my place tomorrow, probably the lure of not having to organise any of their own figures or terrain (which means they don’t have to pack away!), so I’ll aim to take pics and do some form of write up. Hopefully they’ll enjoy the simplicity and may decide to take the plunge and jump in, it’s a platoon level game so very minimal purchases required to actually play it!

Anyway here is a brief synopsis of my output of late, all of which were submissions to the comp!

Lord of the Rings – 8x Orcs
Some more of my budget second hand Orc’s, these are the ones that required repairs, mainly on weapons and such. Very simple paint scheme’s and my usual Vallejo sepia wash to give them a suitably grubby look. I think I’ve only got another 15 to go now!

 

Lord of the Rings – 6x Warg Riders
If I was more organised these would have made it into the Rider and Mount bonus round however I was too busy stuffing my face with the aforementioned cake decorating output. Much like the Orcs above these little devils were second hand and required a little repair prior to base coating and repainting. They’re painted in the same style as above although for some insane reason I used an old GW Black Ink on the Wargs which has given them a bit of shiny look (obviously they’ve recently been playing in a pond, like all happy doggies do!). I’ll see if it dies down once I get my dull coat spray. I have to say I’m not a big fan of these models, maybe it’s just that I haven’t found a colour scheme/style that I like

5x PSC 15mm M4A1 Shermans
They’ve been in the painting queue for some time and deserved a little attention. I really like Will’s stuff (apart from the weird German infantry, which he has now redone) and have quite a large stash of tanks in 15mm to get completed. And so here we have five M4A1, two with 75mm guns and three with the rather excellent 76mm gun. Now where did I put those good WW2 rules?

Naismith Sung Chinese 15mm

This is a weird one, I’ve had these sitting about for ages and suddenly got the urge to paint them just after Christmas day. So while my kids tried to destroy their wooden train track I set to painting them up with no other plan than to enjoy myself. What came out of it is a vague plan to collect an Empire of Tsuranuanni army, these figures being part of the Minwanabi force! I’m not sure whether I’ll actually do it however I did enjoy painting them and they’ve turned out pretty well so we’ll see. I’ve just got to figure out what to use for the Kingdom forces and the Cho-Ja? Anyone know any good 15mm Ant models?

Oh no, I entered the fifth analogue hobbies painting challenge!

Image courtesy of Curts Blog!

Well I did it, I decided to join in with one of the most challenging blog events of the year - the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This is a yearly event hosted by Curt on his aforementioned blog and runs for roughly 4 months, commencing in December, with the only requirement for entry being submission of a painted miniature to Curt in the annual theme (this year being anti-heroes, rogues and ruffians). For every model completed Curt awards points, in addition there are themed bonus rounds, all of which contribute to your total, the winner being the participant with the most points (the only prize being bragging rights! After all you've painted a whole host of minis, what else do you need).

So “what will you be painting” I hear you cry. Well I’ve got a massive pile of LoTR mini’s to paint, the main one being my Isengard force so expect to see Uruk Hai, Orcs, Warg riders, Dunlendings (although I’ll be using some wargames factory Vikings and some spares from my bits box!) and other assorted nasties. Alongside this I’ve prepped my models for the first Bismarck encounter so they should appear pretty quickly (I’ve no idea how Curt will score them!). Also I have a renewed interest in 15mm WW2 and piles of Plastic Soldier kits so that should provide some variety. Then once I’ve exhausted all that I can move on to my Perry 28mm DAK and 8^th Army! So plenty to do in a short period of time. I’ve already picked a target of 700pts however that may be a little ambitious considering I’ve never taken part before however I keep saying that I work best to a deadline so hopefully I should make this self-imposed milestone with a minimal of stress!

In terms of the entry fee I’ve already decided on a suitable rogue/anti-hero model, the arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes himself – Professor Moriarty! Maybe he’s more of a villain than a rogue/anti-hero however I think he’s kind of cool in a very villainous kind of way.

Anyway the point of the whole affair is to reduce your lead/plastic pile whilst engaging in good natured banter, the issuing of challenges and more importantly having fun. Many of the well-known names in hobby blogging are or have taken part at some point. If you're interested or would like to see the results if all this frenetic painting activity head on over to Curts blog:

http://analogue-hobbies.blogspot.co.nz/2014/11/remember-remember-fifth-annual-analogue.html?m=1

And to all my readers who are also taking part, good luck and I'll see you across the bragging table!

Competition Results!

Its been a while since I held my Blogiversary competition however I finally found time to do the draw and I’m happy to say that the winners, in order of their drawing from the err, scruffy pencil case are ……..(drum roll!)

Ubique Matt - GB Saxons

Francis Lee - Savage Orcs

Simon Quinton - Band of Brothers book

Brendon Watts - Space Marine

If you luck devils can “come on down”….sorry I mean send me your contact details via the contact me option on the Blog I shall send you your lovely prizes!

Caveat Victor - if you do not claim your prize in a timely fashion I shall be forced to hire the services of an undercover operative to track..... err sorry that's for my other Blog. If you don't give me your details within two weeks of this post I'll select another lovely winner and send them your lovely prize.

Laters

Ste