From AnneO'L: 28mm Cowboys & Thief (17 points)

Anne submits her fist non-thematic entry with this brilliant cowboy vignette and an elf thief.

From Anne:

I began painting miniatures a little over a year and a half ago and for me, the greatest part of the Challenge is not the acquisition of points, rather it is to push myself as a painter by doing things I have never done before. 

These are 25mm figures from Knuckleduster and I had a grand time painting them.  They are smaller than the 28mm heroic figures I generally paint and have less detail. Therefor I had to adjust my technique somewhat to accommodate that. They required more contrast than I am used to using and they required the use of washes which is something I never use.  The main shortcoming on these figures is that I did not push the highlights high enough in several places. Hopefully, I will do a better job on the next batch of Knuckleduster figures I submit.

This is a 28mm heroic figure from Reaper Miniatures. It is a metal miniature and was sculpted by Bobby Jackson.  You may notice that the face is a different colour than the hands.  This is an elf thief and Bobby sculpted a highly stylized mask on the face. I chose to paint it in a dark greyscale to emphasize those pronounced features.  I painted the dagger a glowing green as I wanted to try doing Object Source Lighting. You can see this as the green glow that is transmitted from the dagger onto the side of the cloak. I was a bit heavy handed with the technique, which should be more subtle.  On the back of the cloak, I painted some freehand blue flames. While this looks fine on a table top, it is too sloppy for photography. I failed to highlight within the flames and I did not have enough distinction between layers. However, this was a first attempt and I learned something from it.

Wonderful stuff Anne! I always enjoy seeing your work as you have a very vibrant, high-contrast style. Your first attempt at source lighting is quite good, especially as it can be a tricky effect to pull off. As a suggestion, I find 'source lighting' usually works best when the figure is painted in muted 'shadow' tones in order to set up a better context for the chosen light source. I also really like the blue flames on the back of the thief's cloak. I find it reminiscent of  some of the psychedelic album covers of the 70s (as you can tell, I spent way too much time in my parents' basement listening to the hi-fi) - very cool.

These three figures will give Anne as base of 15 points but I'm adding a couple more for the vignette and paint effects. Great stuff Anne and I look forward to your coming entries!

From BenG: 20mm Napoleonic Bavarian Cavalry & French Artillery (90 points)

From Ben:

When I bought the Bavarians, I thought I'd bought enough for the four regiments in IV Corps, but it turned out I was a regiment short! By the time I realized my miscalculation, it was too late to order another set, so my compromise was to use left over French chasseurs with Wurrtemberg artillerymen's heads. The horses are the UGLY (with a capital UG) ones that come with the chasseurs. The officer was an early experiment (he's the only one with sash and plume) and therefore can't be counted towards my Challenge total. All the horses and the rest of the troopers I painted in the Challenge, though.

Next, from butt-ugly to beautiful! This is the first of 2 Italian 12-pounder batteries which will provide some muscle in the firepower department for IV Corps. The figures are from Zvezda and are just superbly sculpted and come up a treat.

To round off this entry are 2 more regimental guns. One has a Zvezda gunner, the other a HaT gunner. Both have replacement heads from the beautiful range by Franznap. The Zvezda gunner is by far the pick of the bunch, so far, IMHO!

Lovely, lovely stuff Ben. I agree, that Zvezda gunner is the belle of the ball to be sure. I remember looking at both the Zvezda and Franznap stuff and almost wavering in my commitment to Napoleonics in 28mm. Beautiful work and I really like the Franznap head swap.

The Bavarian cavalry and artillery will give Ben 90 points, which includes a few more for the head swaps on the cavalry and gunners. Well done!

From AaronH: 28mm Early Imperial Roman Auxiliaries (82 points)

Aaron continues to make inroads with his EIR project with this new unit of Imperial auxiliaries.

From Aaron:

Here’s another batch of EIR Romans.  These are sixteen more auxiliaries, the two missing command for the yellow cohort and the other fourteen models for the green cohort, also known as the Cohors V Gallorum.  

These are all Warlord models again, and the last of their auxiliary medium infantry that I’ll be doing.  The rest of my auxiliary troops will be alternative models, at least until the next legion needs some support. 

These guys painted up really quickly; I actually had them done before Christmas.  Being the third set I’ve done my hands were able to do the work while my brain wandered. 

I have one more unit, cavalry this time, and the command bases to finish and this army is done; at least as far as the models on hand.  I need some more legionaries, and cavalry, and more Numidian light horse, and some heavy artillery and… 

I guess no army is ever really done.

Great work Aaron! It's nice when you get so comfortable painting figures that your hands can go into autopilot and your mind can percolate on other stuff.  I often listen to audiobooks while I paint - I love the idea of being able to truly do two things at once. 

These sixteen Romans will give Aaron 82 points (with a couple extra as I know how fiddly those shield transfers can be). Well done!

From DallasE: 28mm 40K Tech Priest, Dwarves & M113 APCs (90 points)

Dallas, one of the Old Guard of my old gaming group: The Fawcett Ave Conscripts, sends in this great post featuring a 40K Tech Priest, a passel of Dwarves and a trio of M113 APCs.

From Dallas:

1. Rogue Trader era 28mm Adeptus Mechanicus Tech Priest. Useful as an objective or scenic weirdness in our occasional RT games. 

2. Hasslefree 28mm Dwarves (4). Picked these up at Salute '12 and with the recent Fantasy Madness have just painted them. A joy to paint, etc. They are great, ordering more.

3. First Corps 28mm M113 APCs (3). Got these for my birthday, to go with the MOPP-suited US Army troops I painted for your last competition (!). These are not very good models and required a lot of cleanup and greenstuff work to get looking remotely "OK". Strictly speaking they are Vietnam-era, but I sculpted gasmasks on the crew and I think they're close enough for government work ;-) The stowage is random resin stuff found on eBay as "Sherman stowage". It's from someplace in South Korea and is really good stuff, except that it reeks! The smell dissipated completely after soapy cleanup, but this stuff ponged something fierce.

Great work Dal! Even though the kits were a bugger to build you sure did a nice job on them - they look fabulous.  The stowage you added really gives them that lived-in look (even providing the pongy laundry smell-o-rama effect).

This eclectic submission will give Dallas 90 points (with a bit extra added for the sculpted gasmasks and stowage). Well done buddy!