'Fellowship' from Barks: Nine Adventurers

Nine legendary adventurers; men, halflings, an elf... it must be Blackstone Fortress. I've painted three of this Fellowship up for other Theme rounds here and here. Here's all my Nine Walkers:

And here's the remaining six for your review today:

The Rogue Trader

Janus Draik is a Rogue Trader. I've always seen them as a bit grubbier and more Han Solo-ish than GW's latest aristocratic incarnations, but hey. I thought he looked like a Napoleonic Russian general, and painted him up thus inspired. His pistol is an Eldar prize.

The Navigator

GW has gone 110% with a distinctive helm for Espern Locarno. The diamond-shaped third eye navigator icon is present front and back on this miniature. He's the support wizard for your group.

The Priest

Taddeus the Purifier, AKA The Tad, AKA Battle Pope. He's got a prominent belly, and I  like his gun-servo skull. As befits a member of the Ecclesiarchy, he's festooned in skullz (10).

The Zealot

His off-sider is Pious Vorne, whose therapy sessions start with firing up her flamethrowing chainsaw. She hits hard, but cannot sustain much damage herself. I'm really happy with how her flames, cloth, and armour came out.

The Robot

The most amusing character is UR-025. He's a 10 000 year old 'Man of Iron', an artificial intelligence looking to link with the AI of the Blackstone Fortress. AIs are anathema to the Imperium, so UR is pretending to be a dumb robot! I painted the sculpt in an industrial yellow, which I think I've now got the hang of. He's got lots of nice detailed hatches and access ports.

The Elf Ranger

I've always liked the aesthetic of the Biel Tan Eldar craftworld with their green and white scheme. Amallyn Shadowguide is a Biel Tan ranger, but I'm not a huge fan of her pose, unfortunately. I'm least happy with the pink knife, but her other gems came out fine. I wasn't going to paint the thorns on her cameleoline cloak, but I'm glad I did.

I've rather enjoyed painting these varied and colourful figures. BSF has allowed GW to dig into its history a bit, and is an excuse for weirder and more wonderful miniatures. The game really is a dungeon crawl in space, with archetypal elf rangers, clerics, wizards, thieves etc. It was a goal of mine to get this set done over the Challenge, which I'm glad to say I have done. It has, however, taken me longer than planned- which I really should have anticipated.

Skull-o-meter™: 12

5x28mm and 1x 40mm: 32 points

'Water Feature' from Barks: WWI Hex Battlefield

I've been pottering away on making a versatile modular hex-based WW1 battlefield, mostly for use with Commands and Colors: Great War. The Hext Kickstarter saw me get a 3D printer, with all the joys and troubles that brings.

15mm figures in no mans land

Each hex is ~3" across and 1" deep, allowing proper trenches and deeper craters, as well as a muddy streamlet.

Crater recessed into the surface

Muddy streamlet

I used Aqua Magic for the water, over Vallejo MC 70879 Green Brown.

It is a work a long way from completion, but the water round gives me a chance to share my vision.

Overhead view of work so far

Trial wood- I like it, but will go for taller trees. More in background.

Trial trench- matchstick posts and greenstuff sandbags. Needs duckboards. Labour intensive...

Future bunker and ruined village.

I've done 32 hexes so far. 24 of them fill a Standard Challenge Cube, so 25 points?

'Mercenary' from Barks: I am Kroot!

Dahyak Grekh is a Kroot mercenary who has found his way to the Blackstone Fortress. Kroot are half-bird half-lizard half-man hunter culture aliens, who were almost their own thing until they were bundled into Codex T'au in the late 90s. I'm pretty happy with the earthy tones and contrast on this figure. Being a Kroot, he's 40mm from toe to crown so I'm angling for a cheeky 7 points here.

'Sport' from Barks: Orc Cheer Skwad

Gimme a O! Gimme an R! Gimme a K... or is it a C?

Are there female orcs? Can you put lipstick on an orc? Do orcs have hair? Can they even spell?

So many important questions Professor Tolkien left unanswered. Luckily, Shadowforge (via Eureka) have attempted an answer with the Cheer Skwad for my embryonic Orc Blood Bowl team, the Green Streaks.

These lovely lasses need names- I was thinking Doris, Mabel, and Bernadette- other ideas welcomed!

'Reconnaissance' from Barks: Rein and Raus

One of my goals for this Challenge is to get through my shiny new Blackstone Fortress set. It is a a bit of a struggle as all the figures are hyperdetailed.

Here's two of the characters, the deserter ratling sniper twins Rein and Raus. I painted them like classic 'Eavy Metal/ 95th Rifles, which was fun. Fittingly, they're festooned with food including an apple, loaf of bread, sausages, and a small fridge!

'Monstrous' from Barks: Necromunda Beast's Lair

The best monsters are the ones you never see all of...

It was inevitable that I would be sucked in by the new Necromunda. I flailed weakly against its nostalgic embrace before accepting my fate and succumbing.

One of the little pieces of scatter scenery you get is The Beast's Lair, which attacks gangers who are close to it. I spent too much time on this! After adding some plasticard, I started to paint it blue, because colour theory with the rust, then thought it would be cool as a pallid albino thing, then it looked too white, so I added a bit more flesh tones, then it didn't work until I added some more pinks.

I’ve fired up the Skull-o-meter™️ but it must be faulty- this 40K piece is reading 0!

I enjoyed the rust- the trick is burnt umber wash with bright orange stippling.

'Childhood' from Barks: Little Lady Warmonger

This delightful sculpt is from Bad Squiddo: 'Jarl Letty, Little Lady Warmonger'. It captures a haughty disdain completely at odds with this young lady's size. I'm very happy with how the face and horse came out.

"Don't make me get off my horse..."

The pack includes a dismounted version, for when she has to come and teach you a lesson in manners.

"Right. Can yer mother sew?"

I'm wondering what her horse is called- I'm thinking Cupcake.

'Music/Musician' from Barks: All that Jazz

Marie Lambeau- jazz singer by night, monster hunter also by night. Gifted with a superb singing voice, she also learnt about spells and monsters from her grand-mère in the bayou.

She’s the fourth character for my Mansions of Madness entry the other week. She’s a simple, well executed sculpt with a lovely singing face.

'BFG' from Barks: Exitus Longrifle

The Exitus Longrifle is the signature weapon of the Vindicare sniper assassin. It can take Shield Breaker, Hellfire, and Turbo-penetrator rounds. It is a BFG.

Vindicare Assassin with Exitus Longrifle

I picked up a 'cheap' second hand copy of Assassinorum: Execution Force last year. The figures had been assembled and the assassins sprayed black, so I had to deflash and paint this figure whilst already assembled! Bit of a pain getting around the back. The synskin was painted in shades of blue and washed black, and came out better than I had anticipated. I wasn't going to do the facemask white, but it really adds a focal point to the model.

At my regular blog, if I paint a 40K figure I fire up the Skullometer to count how many skulls are on the figure. This one reaches 10.

1x 28mm figure

'Flight' from Barks: An Unkindness of Ravens

Dark wings, dark words.

They look great en masse.

These ravens are from Zombicide: A Murder of Crowz, but I thought they'd be great for Game of Thrones, or flocks of crebain for Lord of the Rings, or fatigue markers for SAGA etc. Dark grey undercoat, blue-grey drybrush, black wash, and black details. I based them to match Challenge VII's revenants, but I got the PVA to bicarb ratio off so the snow is a little thin and translucent.

I've had my eyes on these ravens for a little while- the Bonus Round was just what I needed to persuade me to get them.

15x 28mm figures

'Characters/Scene from' Barks: 'Mystery Investigators'

I am really looking forwards to what challengers put out for this round! My entry was an excuse to put in a order for Hasslefree figures I had been eyeing off for a while. I had a lot of fun with the bright and more unusual colours.

These investigators are perfect for Ganesha Games' Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters. I'd love to see them in Mansions of Madness: "Help me pull off Great Cthulhu's head- why, it's that old Mr Lovecraft!"

I am jonesing to find a VW Kombi...

'West' from Barks: Western Front Tanks

There are so many things iconic to the Western Front- one is the distinctive lozenge shape of the Mark IV tank. These are the 15mm versions by PSC, and they are lovely. Single piece, preassembled, with precisely sculpted lines and rivets.

The Mamas and the Papas

The Female version carries twin Lewis guns in each sponson.

The Male version has a 6pdr and a Lewis gun, and a deeper sponson (and a deeper voice).

But wait, there's more! Here's another tank which I have difficulty working out which is the front and which is the back, the Whippet (the front has the stripes).

Whippet good

And yet more! There were only twenty A7Vs produced,  the native German tank (see my Armour entry here), so the Germans supplemented with looted Mark IVs, AKA Beutepanzers ('booty panzer').

Shake that beute

I used Vallejo Decal Fix and Decal Medium over gloss to get the crosses to settle over the rivets, then a generous coating of Army Painter Antishine. Then I hid it all behind mud.

That makes eleven 15mm tanks! I struggle with painting vehicles, so I am very happy with this output.

With the A7Vs

The mud is Vallejo Dark Earth paste, drybrushed with US Tan Earth.

If I was really keen, I'd like to add some stowage to the British tanks to break up the uniformity a bit, as well as some nicknames (which would also help identify the Male and Female e.g. Alf Bert Cedric Doris Ethel Flora).

I really hope that PSC comes out with those wonderful French AFVs. These early tanks, with their asymmetry and lack of turrets, are really characterful.