'Fellowship' from StefanK: The Unicorn Club

For this theme round I've held back a couple of miniatures I painted at the very beginning of the painting challenge. Those figures are from CoolMiniorNot's board game SMOG - The Rise of Moloch and are representing a couple of members of the honourable Unicorn Club.

The Unicorn Club is a secret society of ladies and gentlemen gathering their powers to tackle down the forces of evil (vulgo the Nemesis) and hamper the return of Moloch a demonic world destroying creature of unspeakable cruelty.

Some of the gentlemen are inspired by Imperial literature like brave Peachey Carnehan from The Man who would be King (above, left hand side).

Others are inspired by pure fantasy like Mr Fox (above, right hand side).

Anyway the game comes with an incredible lot of wonderful figures. Unfortunately I didn't dare to go all in on Kickstarter so I'm missing the expansion The Wheel and the figures from it. Darn, it's not released for common buyers yet!

The figures are made from the usual semi-flexible board game plastic but nevertheless cast crisp and clear with a wonderful amount of detail. Unfortunately some of the faces appear rather flat so some of the figures proved difficult to paint in that behalf.

As said the club consists of men and women. Thus I was eager to paint a couple of honourable damsels as well to contribute something to Sarah's Choice finally.

After all it was really great fun to paint these figures, They are well-detailed and full of character. Fortunately the Kickstarter campaign provided enough figures to live on for many painting sessions.

As usual for CMON games SMOG is played on board tiles rather then real wargaming terrain. Thus I was on the horns of the dilemma of how to base the miniatures. They had those mandatry cast on discs below their feet but I wanted to have them more flexible and not arranged for a certain type of underground. Thus I cut and grinded away as much from those bases as possible and replaced them with clear acrylic disks. It was a dirty and labour-intensive job but I'm very happy with the result nevertheless.

So that's it for the last bonus round and Sarah's choice then. Next week I present my ACW troops which saw action in Hamburg and maybe I'll finish the Curtgeld orc I digged out of my lead pile. Anyway the challenge is heading to it's home straight and I'm really curious about seeing what you other fellows have left in their quivers.

Cheers
Stefan

'Water Feature' from StefanK: Type VIIc U-Boat for Cruel Seas

The last weeks have been quiet but I wasn't passive. I've been preparing Union troops for our Tactica game but nevertheless I made provision for the water theme round. I highly recommend to play the following tune while reading the article:

It's the main theme of the famous German movie 'Das Boot' (The Boat) showing type VII submarine U-96 on one of its combat patrols ('Feindfahrt' in German).

But now with no more ado here's my entry. A type VIIc submarine for Cruel Seas:

As you see it's a Type VIIc submarine for Cruel Seas. The Type VII was the most common German submarine in World War II. It's based on the WW I Type II submarine and was build in many different versions. The VIIc was the workhorse of the submarine fleet and 568 units were commissioned.

The model is based on a 1/350 model kit by Revell which is a wonderfully detailed piece of craftsmanship. The level of detail is simply sublime and it was a true pleasure to assemble it although it was much more work than our usual wargaming kits. Actually it's a full hull model so I needed to cut it down to waterline. Unfortunately it didn't go as smooth as necessary so I based it on thin plastic sheet and applied some waves with greenstuff.

Afterwards I painted the boat with Vallejo paints as well as thinner based washes by AK. To give it a similar look as my former Kriegsmarine E-Boats I mounted one of the flags that came with Cruel Seas. A bit fiddly but after all it worked.

By scale the u-boat is slightly smaller then the 1/300 kits by Warlord Games but nevertheless it fits in very well. Actually it's recommended by Warlord to use 1/350 kits for larger ships.

After all I'm really happy with the result and I hope you like it as well. Anyway during the next weeks I'll present my ACW troops but that's it for now.

'Reconnaissance' from StefanK: AT-ST for Star Wars: Legion

It was about a year ago when Star Wars - Legion caught my attention. First I was annoyd because Fantasy Flight Games chose another scale than their Imperial Assault game has. But afterall I wasn't able to resist the seduction of airspeeders and full-scale Imperial walkers. So I acquired the starter box as well as an AT-ST. Although I assembled it a while ago it sat on my to-do-shelf for a pretty long time. Now with the first bonus round of the AHPC themed 'Reconnaissance' what could be more obvious than a vehicle bearing 'scout' in his name?

This interpretation of the well-known All-Terrain-Scout-Transport is a huge beast. Therefor some 32mm stormtroopers for size comparison. It has a hight of over 20 centimeters with slightly bent legs. It has more or less the same size as the good old 1/48 kit by Bandai.

For painting I used my airbrush gun to apply a medium grey base colour and light grey highlights. Afterwards I applied a selection of washes: Nuln Oil by Citadel and several of the thinner based washes by AK. As a finish I added some rusty brown and charcoal black pigments at several places. E.g. the feet (dust) and the shoulder gun (grime).

For the basing I wasn't able to decide which theatre of war I'd use the walker for. Star Wars has so many interesting places which reach from the icy planet Hoth to woody planets like Endor or desert worlds like Tatoine. So how to base a model properly to suit all these different requirements? For me it became crystal clear when I checked some aftermarket articles and stumbled over some clear acrylic bases offered by Sarissa. So I ordered enough for a small Imperial invasion force and some appropriate heavy armour.

Well that's it for now. I'm lucky to have contributed something to this first bonus round between the bunch of ACW and Cruel Seas stuff I'm working on. Hope you like my humble contibution.

Cheers

Stefan

'Risk Taker' from StefanK - 'Han Solo'

When the painting challenge started I had a look at the bonus rounds and all of a sudden an idea for the 'Risk Taker' theme stroke my mind. Who could be a better choice than daredevil who is bold enough to kick a hunk of junk hard enough to make the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs? Or the one who was stupid and daunting enough to pick a quarrel with a giant space slug supervillain? 

As you see I chose Fantasy Flight Games' incarnation of this well-known scoundrel. It's a nice plastic miniature the company is making for their Star Wars skirmish game 'Imperial Assault'. The details are worked out crisp and clear and the casting quality is pretty good. Maybe not as good as we are used from top-notch miniature companies like Perry Miniatures, Warlord Games or maybe Games Workshop but nevertheless much better than one would expect from board game pieces. Probably the material limits the quality in a certain way. It's slightly softer than those historical hard plastic miniatures, bendable and thus more suitable for board games who might not necessarily be careful tabletop gamers as well. Altogether a nice piece and much better than those old soft plastic figures from earlier days. 

As usual I painted this chap with Vallejo colours and used Wargames Foundry for the skin tones. I kept the base pretty simple as with all my Imperial Assault figures: Just a dark grey base colour and three shades of drybrushing.

'Nautical' from StefanK - '... jolly tars are our men...'

As one of my ridiculously small projects this winter I tackled some British seamen for the Napoleonic era. Six of them were my lousy output for January and some others had to follow until late February when Tactica wargaming show was scheduled. As you see it's late February now and I'm lucky to present more tars now:

Unit from both batches

Altogether there were eight more navymen that I finished during the last weeks. Actually once again lousily few figures but somehow my life hasn't hobby convenient lately. Anyway the following chaps are once again from Brigade Games's excellent range. The sculpts were from Paul Hicks and as usual they are full of character and detail. Although it seems his virtuosity with face increased since he made those figures they are absolutely brilliant and top notch among all other 28mm figures tackling this topic.

In detail those are the men I painted:

Rather a mixed bag of weapons as you would expect from a quickly assembled boarding or landing party. Once again I tried to break uniformity slightly with varying the colours of the trousers. I painted to of the dark blue and used different shades of beige for the other ones.

Anyway there were two very characterful figures I wanted to bring out:

The seasoned one armed veteran and the chap who is wearing a headscarf caught my eye since I started to clean the castings. Thus they acquired striped trousers. No piece of art but I hope you like the touch.

Altogether there are 14 finished sailors now 12 of which will hit the board on Tactica wargaming show. And obviously I'm lucky to have implemented my entry for the naval bonus round.

'Nostalgia' from StefanK - Dark Angels Space Marine Brother Nostalgico

Curt's call for a nostalgia figures was enough for me to dig into my old box with bits and pieces from earlier days. Inside I found a sprue of Space Marines by Games Workhshop. Since these were the figures I started wargaming with I found it appropriate for this theme round. Actually I started with one or two generations older Space Marines but no unpainted figures from the early nineties survived on my lead pile.

Anyway here we go for brother Nostalgico:

It's as far as I remember a piece of the third or fourth generation of plastic Space Marines. During this period of Warhammer 40K there were nice sprues with chapter specific parts. Thus brother Nostalgico is wearing a bone white gown as most veterans of the Dark Angels Space Marines do.

The paintjob was pretty straight. Meanwhile I don't have any Games Workshop colours anymore and employed Vallejo Model Colors instead. The green is based on Luftwaffe Camo Green and I applied it with my new airbrush gun. I even tried to do the highlighting with it but it didn't work on all parts of the figures. Finally I applied some blackish wash to underline the fine indentations.

The gown is based on a dark yellow tone and I highlighted it with a couple of beige and whitish layers. As you see on the back view larger folds are still not my cup of tea.

Although I gladly changed into historical wargaming a couple of years ago it was nice to go back to the roots for a couple of hours. Excellent idea, Curt !

'Antihero' from StefanK - 'King Richard III'

 
Richard Plantagenet the Duke of Gloucester was the younger brother of King Edward IV. When Edward died in 1483 his marriage with Queen Elizabeth (Woodville) was declared invalid and his sons turned illegitimate as heirs. So Richard took the throne and reigned until his death during the battle of Bosworth in 1485.

This is only the very climax of the awesomely interesting life of the last Plantagenet king of England. He witnessed the Wars of the Roses, fought against the Lancastrians and saw the victory of the house of York. But in the very end Richard III. stayed in people’s mind as an usurper of the throne, a murderer and a sinister intriguer. Although some of those aspects might appear probable our picture of Richard III. is highly influenced by the play by William Shakespeare in which he describes the later years of this interesting monarch. Soaked by Tudor propaganda he shows Richard as a power-obsessed, ruthless villain who meets his fair end by the sword of Henry Tudor who will be King Henry VII. Rather soon. Anyway for me it’s one of Shakespeare’s best plays and I love the character he gives Richard. To my a perfect antihero which made him my favourite choice for this bonus round.

The figure:
It’s made by Alan and Michael Perry as a special miniature on occasion of the discovery of Richard’s remains in Leicester in 2012. Since they were found under a car park the twin converted the figure in a way that he rides right out of the street. A very nice three piece vignette which I had been waiting to paint for a long time.

The colours:
As usual I employed Vallejo Model Colors to paint Richard.

The base:
The vignette is mounted on a 60mm circular base from ever excellent Warbases. Because I wanted to underline the figure itself and its border I painted the base black and coated it with high closs varnish. Additionally I made two banderoles that I attached on the left and on the right. One of them describes Richard’s dates of birth and death while the other one quotes Shakespeare’s well-known play: “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!” (Act 5, Scene 4).

Well… That’s it for my bonus entries then. It was once again real fun to join your challenge and to tackle all the bonus rounds. During the next two weeks I’ll do my very best  to finish the entry fee miniature and maybe I’ll finish a couple of knights as well. Unfortunately there’ll be no chance to reach my 750 points target but I hope you liked my humble entries anyway.

All the  best
Stefan

'Comedic' from StefanK - 'A Joke Gone Cold'

Since I started with the 1812 retreat topic I was pondering about Napoleonic snowmen. After I considered several possibilities for the comedic bonus round I decided to try my luck with building a funny scene or at least a scene with a twinkle in the eye. Somehow the scene didn’t turn out as funny as I wanted it but I hope you accept it for the comedic bonus round as well:

Centerpiece of the scene is a 50mm round base with two snowmen, a road sign to Paris and two frames for dice. It’s hopefully obvious who the smaller snowman is meant to represent. Anyway the frames are to place dice in as turn counters. Usually a game of White Death our custom 1812 ruleset lasts six turns but sometime a scenario might exceed that so I prepared two frames to be able to count to 12 if necessary. In front of the two snowman the creator seemed to have relieved himself with doubtful success.

The snowmen are about 28mm high (well… one of them less) and I made them out of greenstuff, glue and headgear from the Perry miniatures French infantry. The large base is by Warbases while the two single snowmen are mounted on 21mm coins. As usual I painted the figures with Vallejo Model Colors and finished them with corundum sand as snow and some static grass tufts.

'Hot' from StefanK - 'March on Kandahar'

With this bunch of figures I'm starting my Victorian Middle-East project. Although the focus is the 2nd Anglo-Afghan war I'll include some forces for a later Sudan campaign as well.

These figures are from the excellent Sudan range by Perry Miniatures. I chose a couple of British with Indian Service Dress which was worn in Afghanistan as well as in the Sudan.

As usual I used Vallejo Model Colors to paint these chaps. Many thanks to Mark Hargreaves for his priceless hints about the khaki uniforms.This time the bases are really simple with some sand, some colour and a tuft of static grass here and there.

'Myth' from StefanK - 'Thor, The Mighty God of Thunder'

Thor, The Mighty God of Thunder

For this bonus theme I went into Nordic mythology and chose Odin’s mighty son to be my entry. He is one of the best known Nordic deities and has thunder and lightning at his disposal. I tried to catch a bit of his ferocity in this miniature.

The figure:

It’s a 40mm figure which was made by Wargames Foundry ages ago. Actually I wanted to have it for a Of Gods and Mortals warband but finally I mounted it on a large 60mm circular base which is probably too large to use it for playing. Anyway the figure is very well sculpted and excellently cast. There were a lot of fabulous details on it but on the other hand enough space to create freehands. I used my humble skills to try that on the coat.

The colours:

As usual I employed Vallejo Model Coulors to paint Thor. For the choice of colours I drew my inspiration from pictures from old Marvel comics about the superheroe Thor. I thought it might be a nice idea to connect the mythical figure with the modern superheroe. Anyway this time I didn’t use Armypainter Quickshade or something like that but built up every colour from three or more stages. For the coat I used five mixtures of different red tones to blend the folds smoothly. For the embroidery on the coat I used different shades of metal and non-metal colours to create an idea of ornament. Unfortunately I reached the limits of my skills there…

The base:

When I saw the figure with its blowing hair the idea of Thor standing on top of a mountain unleashing a mighty lightning storm came to my mind. Therefor I cut off the metal base just below his feet and mounted him on a pile of several pieces of slate. To accommodate all this stuff I chose a 60mm circular MDF base from the outstanding range of Wargames Miniatures. After painting all the basing stuff I used a mixture of white paint and PVA glue to add corundum sand on the snowy spots. In addition I added some snowy static grass to complete the scene.

I dearly hope that you like my humble work because honestly it’s probably one of my best results so far.