Ned & Norri - The Giant & The Faerie

Hi All!

Today I have another set of figures from the talented folks over at Westfalia Miniatures. 

Here is a foraging giant ('Ned') and his faerie friend ('Norri'). I imagine Norri being very annoyed with Ned for messing with the poor cow, and so is giving him a bit of the cold shoulder. 

I loved this model from the first time I saw it online and had to get one (Listed as the 'Fey Giant' sculpted by Boris Woloszyn). I'm glad I did as it seems to have gone OOP on the Westfalia website, but perhaps I'm just not looking in the right spot. It's a bit of complex kit and so had been languishing in the Pile of Possibilities for a few years. I uncovered it again this summer and resolved to get it done during this Challenge.

Most of this was airbrush work, with some of the details brought out with a brush. I'm quite happy with how his skin tone turned out, as I wanted something akin to the greyish trolls in the LotR movies. I had a bit of fun experimenting with spot-shading using contrasting colours. Anyway, I'm happy to have them done up and in the cabinet.

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Thanks for dropping in!

- Curt

Five Denizens from Mork Borg

Hi There,

Kawe from Westfalia Miniatures has been a supporter of the Painting Challenge from pretty much the beginning, in fact he was a participant himself, creating some terrific work for visitors to enjoy. As many know, Westfalia began focusing exclusively on Napoleonics, then moved on to pulp subjects, and now concentrates primarily on dark fantasy and sci-fi.

I always try to jump in to support each of Westfalia's Kickstarters and these five figures are from one of their earlier releases. They're lovely boutique minis sculpted by Boris Woloszyn and themed around the wonderfully strange and creepy world of Mork Borg. For a few years I've been GMing some out-of-town friends using Mork Borg and the Roll20 app. We've been having a lot of fun with it as the system is very rules-lite, encouraging on-your-toes creativity, which often makes for some very funny (and bloody) game sessions.

Anyway, here are five denizens from the grim world of Mork Borg:

The Gutterborn Scum

'C'mon my pretties! There's work to be done...'

The Heretical Priest

This fella looks like he's been huffin' a bit too much from the 'mystical censer'.

'Skelly Jo'

'What? The horns are too much, eh?'

Wrat

'Come now, let's all sing the chorus together...'

Wretched Royalty

'The world may be descending into rack and ruin but I'm still on the top of the heap.'

Thanks for dropping by!

- Curt

al-Docherty and al-Millsy's Flying(!) Camel Artillery - for 'Docherty's Dock' and Entry #9 for AHPCX

Mu'tamid al-Millsy steps back and grimaces in expectation of the coming catastrophe.' I don't know brother, this seems to be a very bad idea...'

'I think it's brilliant.' Dawood al-Docherty reaches forward with his lit linstock. 'If the thrice-damned French can have flying horse artillery then why can't we have the same, but with camels?!'

'Yes, I understand, but I'm just concerned about the 'flying' part...'

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These figures were from a Westfalia Miniatures Kickstarter for Napoleonic Persians, way back when they were still doing Napoleonics (sniffs in pained remembrance). Wonderful Paul Hicks sculpts. They were an absolute pleasure to work on and I hope they get a smile from Dave and Millsy. Thanks Dave for the location challenge, it was great fun!

Entry #17 to the AHPC - Clockwork Monkeys

With the end of the Challenge coming onto the horizon, I thought it best to get some of the half-painted figures on my desk completed and in the cabinet before the checkered flag is waved.  

For this entry I'm returning to the Pulp genre for a bit of steampunk whimsy.

Here is a trio of 28mm clockwork monkeys from Westfalia Miniatures. 

I did a bunch of these last year for the Lead Painters League and had this group as remnants of the set. Figures like these provide a perfect example of those things in the hobby that you KNOW you have no real use for, but you absolutely HAVE to have them because they capture your imagination, make you nostalgic, are stoopidly funny, etc.

Really not much to say here, just a lot of brass, bronze and steel, with a fez on top! The wind-up key in their backs makes me smile.

Next up: More steampunk silliness

Entry #5 to the 9th Lead Painters' League - 'Attack of the Clockwork Monkeys'

For something a little off the beaten path I decided to do up this whacky group of clockwork monkeys for my 5th entry to the Lead Painters' League.

These 28mm figures are from Westfalia Miniatures' new steampunk range. I found the castings to be excellent, requiring almost no prep, essentially ready for paint straight out of the packaging.  A delight to work with.

Their fezzes crack me up. I dunno what it is, but there is nothing like a jaunty fez for adding that  je ne c'est quoi to a villain. 

Unfortunately these little fellas didn't really gain much favour with the LPL voters, but no matter, I still had a ball working on them. 

I have another four or five to get done and then they'll be ready to cause clockwork mayhem on the tabletop.

Thanks for stopping for a visit everyone!

Next Up: Bolshevik Infantry from the Russian Civil War

Announcing the 5th Theme Bonus Round: 'Casualty or Casualties' & Curt's Great War Belgian Refugees

For the 5th Fortnight Thematic Bonus Round I asked the participants to compose and paint a figure or set of figures illustrating a 'casualty' or group of casualties. Admittedly it's a grim theme, but I think it's one that bears exploring. In the gallery, which you can find here, you will see many creative entries that illustrate this sobering topic. 

For my own part I decided to return to my greyscale Great War project in order to attempt a perspective to the 'casualty' theme: the refugee. 

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the plight of the refugee has existed as long as war itself. The terror of impeding violence, the disruption of livelihood, the dissolution of security and the mortal risk to loved ones - these are all things that are clearly seen on the face of every refugee no matter their religion, colour, nationality or time in history.

The German destruction of the Belgian city of Louvain in August of 1914 is noted for contributing to the world's condemnation of the Central Powers' cause and pursuit of war. For five consecutive days the city was indiscriminately burnt and looted. Its famous library, housing one of the largest and most impressive collection of ancient manuscripts, was burnt and destroyed, as was Louvain's university. The church of St. Pierre was also badly damaged by fire. The citizenry of Louvain were subject to rape, robbery and beatings, but the most tragic was the mass shootings of hundreds of innocents regardless of age or gender. As Sir Edward Grey solemnly remarked upon the outbreak of  hostilities that summer, 'The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.'

So in these images I have tried to compose a plausible scene that would occur during those first few weeks of 1914. Seen here is a column of Belgian refugees fleeing the German advance while their hastily raised countrymen march to the front to attempt to stem the tide. 

The civilian figures are mostly new castings from Brigade Models' excellent range of Great War Belgians. The old couple with the wheelbarrow and dog are from Kawe's Westfalia Miniatures (meant for the Napoleonic period, but I find that they work quite well 100 years later). The cobblestones are hand painted, both on the figures' bases and the nylon roadway (being too cheap and lazy to get proper cobbled bases/roads). The others are older models from my collection, mostly Great War Miniatures, Brigade Models and the Minerva armoured car is (I believe) from 1st Corps. The buildings are from Kobblestone Miniatures.

...a matter of tone: same scene with a different camera with different settings...

So, please check out the gallery of all the Challengers' submissions, and remember to vote for your favourite entries. I'm using a paid service, Survey Monkey, for the voting poll so please visit the sidebar to the right and place your votes for your favourite entries. Remember, you can vote for as many as you wish! And please leave a comment with your kind words and praise - their work deserves it.

From StephanK: 28mm Napoleonic French Sleigh (25 points)

From Stefan:

As one of the final piece for our participation game at Tactica convention in Hamburg I assembled and painted a sledge. It shall represent a sledge which the Grande Armée seized during their retreat from Moscow in 1812. It’s drawn by a single horse and provides enough space for three or four soldiers or some goods. I decided to put a single French soldier in the sledge who is defending its load against some marauding Cossacks. Luckily he has a second loaded musket at his side…

The sledge model itself is a kit from small but excellent Westfalia Miniatures. Kawe and his fellows offer awesome and unique kits and figures for French, British, Russian and Saxon Napoleonic miniatures as well as some fine vehicle kits. The soldier on the coachman’s seat is a conversion from a Victrix plastic Old Guard grenadier. I removed the epaulettes and changed the had to have him represent a simple soldier from a line infantry regiment. The barrels are actually two halves of a Renedra plastic barrel and the blankets are made of soaked tissues. For painting I used Vallejo model colours as usual and prepared the base with corundum sand, some snow covered grass tufts by Mininatur and some cork bits as rocks. I tried to plough the centre of the base a bit to represent the snow well-trodden by the horse.

As special feature I left the load of the sledge unglued and mounted it on a thin base itself. For the future I’m planning to make some substitute loads: wounded French, seated officers or just goods.

Lovely work Stefan! I've been mulling over getting one of these from Kawe for quite some time and your excellent efforts here chivvies me along nicely. I really like the special insert you've created for the sleigh - I'll be shamelessly nicking that idea, thank you!

This wonderful vignette will give Stefan 25 points. Well done!

Napoleonic Cossack Cavalry and Sledge Gun (75 points)

Whoa, what a week. Am I ever pooped. I was really hoping to get this submission in by the end of last weekend but the 'Poll Bot Attack' hit the blog below the waterline and I was in damage control for much of Sunday and Monday. Then the workweek kicked off at a furious pace and I also needed to catch up on other folks' entries. Nonetheless, I now I have a bit of a breather before the Hero round so I'm thought I best sneak these in while I can.

Anyway, enough whining, right? Continuing with my 1812 Retreat diversion, I thought I'd get some more Cossacks done as I'd like to put on a small skirmish game with this stuff next month. So here are 4 mounted Cossacks, a light gun mounted on a snow sledge and a Cossack commander.

The cavalry are all Perry Miniatures, a mixture of Don and Ataman Cossacks. Later I plan to add some Moscow Opolchenie (militia) riders for a bit of variation to the mix (not to mention I love their whacky hats).

I've decided to give these Cossacks relatively uniform saddle blankets and lances to better tie them together as a unit. As per my usual MO I've mounted the officer on a hex base so players can better identify him on the tabletop. (Junior leaders will be on rectangular bases.) I ultimately want around 30 of these fellows (three 'troops' I 'spose) so this is going to be a bit of a slog as I'm complete crap at painting cavalry at any real speed. Nonetheless, when they get done they should look the business careening around the tabletop, creating mischief for the French.

Also included is a sledge-gun manned by a trio of Cossacks. This is a very nice little set from Kawe's Westfalia Miniatures. I kept it pretty grungy looking and dirtied up the muzzle with expended powder to give it that rough campaign look. I can easily envision many interesting scenarios with this as the focus.

I've also added a few pics which include the other three Cossacks that debuted with the French sledges. I thought I'd include them here, rolling out with their buddies, to give me some encouragement to get the next batch done.

This group of Cossacks will give me 75 points to add to my tally. 

With a bit of luck I might get one more submission in before the onslaught of the Hero round.

Announcing The First Fortnight Theme Bonus Round - 'Non-Combatants'

'It's not over until...'

Well, it took a bit of work but I think I have it all sorted and ready for prime time...

I'm delighted to announce that we have our first Fortnight Theme Bonus Round ready for viewing. Please follow this link or use the navigation bar above to navigate to the page.

From my last count we have nearly 40 entrants for this round and they are all wonderful. To kick off the fun, here is my submission, 'It isn't over until...'

I feature my entry to both open the Theme Round, but more importantly, to show off one of Kawe's figures, Maria Theresia of Austria which I've shamelessly defaced to depict a simple opera singer. So why is this figure important? Well, Kawe is going to ship each and every participant of the Challenge a copy of this limited edition casting as a special memento of the event. And this is on top of generously providing prize support for other elements of the Challenge.  An amazing gesture Kawe - I thank you.

So, please visit the Theme's gallery and look in wonder at all the entrants' wonderful work. Also, don't forget to vote for your favourites using the poll I've made up for this bonus round (you'll see it on the right-side panel). Vote for as many entrants as you like - there is no limitation. 

Enjoy and Have Fun!

Entry #8 to the Lead Painters' League: 'Rise Up, Sons of Scotland' - 79th Cameron Highlanders

Here are a few jocks for my 8th submission to the Lead Painters' League - four charging Highlanders from the 79th Regiment with a couple flanking 'shock troops' for added colour.

I decided to try my hand with the Cameron tartan but soon wished I hadn't. I've discovered, the hard way, why most sensible people stick to the Gordons or Black Watch as the 79th tartan is composed of a bewildering collection of nuanced colours and shades. Nonetheless here is my stab at it, to which I cringe as I'm committed to another 40-odd figures to complete the battalion (eek!).

The charging Highlanders are from the Perry range while the two rude lads are from Kawe's Westfalia Miniatures. All great figures, but I must say I preferred the Westfalia castings as they were incredibly crisp and required very little work in preparation for painting.

I particularly like the 'forward facing' lad. The sculptor has done a brilliant job with the expression on his face - you can almost hear a Sid James' patented 'dirty laugh' coming from him.

If you have the time, please check out this week's round over at the LPL to see what the painters have submitted and vote for your favourites.