'Fellowship' from TeemuL: Three Trolls

It would have been quite easy to pick up the Fellowship of the Ring for this theme round, but I already two or three of them. I had several other options as well, but in the end I decided to stay in Middle-Earth and paint a group of models I bought some time ago, but haven't painted yet.

Here they are, Tom, Bert and Bill around their camp fire.

I started from Zandri Dust basecoat in order to get them a nice, stony feeling. Aghrax Earthshade added to the feeling. I pondered about earthly colors for clothes, but decided to get some colors, but quite pale and dirty to fit the theme. The campfire came with the set, I tried to make the trees a bit burned as well as the roast. Object Source Lightning was in my mind, but I was happy with this, so I didn't want to mess it up.

The big question of course is, are the they still trolls or is sun already shining...?

Scoring is tricky, they are 28mm monsters, that's sure, but they are tall. The one standing straight is 65mm from top of the base to the eye level... So larger than regular 54mm infantry. And then there is the campfire... About 40 points for the whole lot?

'Water Feature' from TeemuL: Water Elementals

Water Feature was quite easy to select, I had these three Water Elementals from Dungeons & Dragons Legend of Drizzt game by Wizards of the Coast. They used to be translucent blue plastic, but I basecoated them white, then several different tones of blue before final white high lights.

On these pictures they have gloss varnish all over them, so they look quite wet, which nice of course.

My three year old son asked why I painted the blue things white, and I had to explain him, that I need to paint them white before I can paint them blue. I'm not sure if he will ever become a hobbyist...

These 3 28mm models should give me 15 points in addition to bonus points and complete one Squirrel more for me.

'Mercenary' from TeemuL: Fyreslayers

In the Mortal Realms of the Age of Sigmar, the Fyreslayers are a mercenary race. They are trying to gather huge amounts of ur-gold, which they believe are shards of their god, Grimnir. So they fight to retrieve as much as possible of it, they also accept it as payment for their service and are usual hired axes in the universe.

I originally started my Fyreslayers army for our Path to Glory campaign and now I'm adding a bit more to it. These are basic battleline fighters, armed with two axes. I also added all the horns from the previous sets to these - mainly because it is possible (by rules as well) and to irritate some players, who don't like that at all. Gamewise it is not a big deal, they give a bonus as long as one of them is alive and since you can quite freely remove casualties, it is not a game changer. And as AoS is a skirmish game, they are not the drummers to keep the regiment in pace, they are blowing horns to tell they are coming to kill you. So more the merrier.

I thought that painting half naked dwards (duardin) would be quick and easy, but no. They have awfully lot of details (which I didn't pick up all) and the axes and helmets are very detailed, takes lots of time to paint them all properly. Speaking of axes and helmets, I painted them look like cold metal with a blue hint to contrast them with warm red, orange and skin. Looks quite nice. The bases are made of old tapestry, which looks like a cobblestone street when painted. Mandatory skulls and tufts added of course.

That's 10 28mm dwarf warriors from Games Workshop, 50 points in addition of bonus points and a new squirrel.

'Sport' from TeemuL: Star Player Duo

Grak and Crumbleberry, an ogre and a halfling, star player duo on the Blood Bowl arenas.

This set is available only at the Warhammer World, which I have never visited, but luckily a friend of mine brought us some souvenirs (which we paid). So that's how I got this set, it is resin set, and this duo can be hired by any Blood Bowl team.

Big One is number 13, a hint for opponents. The Little One is probably number 1/4...

Now they have finally gotten their blue-with-blue-stripes uniforms of my imperial Dwarf team, Reikland Reavers. Yes, there is a human team with the same name, but the collapse of NAF caused quite a lot confusion and now there are two teams with the same name. Humans had the name first and Dwarfs changing their mind... Really?

So they have this blue-with-blue-stripes now, rather simple in a way, but quite tricky in the end to have enough contrast and differentiate each area. On some miniatures this works better, on some it is harder. In the end there is a group shot of the whole team with this duo, so you can see how they blend in.

You see, stripes? Different shades of blue?

I did say that the uniforms were brand new, freshly knitted and studded, but they stay fresh and crisp only so long. The overall appearance is a bit messy, but hopefully more in a good than bad way. They are not power armors, they are sports wear, so I hope they look more well used than badly painted...

'Reconnaissance' from TeemuL: Lost Patrol

From Wikipedia: "In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration outside an area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about natural features and other activities in the area."

That was a perfect excuse to paint the 5 Space Marine Scouts from the Lost Patrol boxed game by Games Workshop. Helps nicely with Squirreling as well...

I went for a bright, orangish (is that a word) feel of the early 1990s and I think Army Painter Pure Red with some orange highlights fills that job quite well. The trousers are Ushabti Bone with Reikland Fleshshade drybrushed with same bone color. Exactly same as kroot skulls on the ground, but they have a sharp white drybrush as well. And keeping honest to the 1990s feel (and jungle of Lost Patrol) I painted the bases green with Goblin Green and glued some green sawdust on top of them.

Models look good, I really liked them and I´m mostly satisfied with the painting as well, but the 20 year old decals on a bit too small and curved area were a disappointment. Better than my freehand I guess, but they don´t stick very well, I may need to remove them and try newer decals. I paid special attention to have each of the scouts to have different weapons, there is a shotgun, bolter, heavy bolter and combinations of close combat weapons. The hairs have different colors as well and sergeant has black shoulder pads. My Codex Angels of Death wasn´t very specific of scout paint themes, but I believe they do the job. Being scouts, they need to improvise anyway.

I still need to paint the Genestealers (which will be a while) and then I can give a try to this game. I read it is very difficult for the scouts.

Five Blood Angel Space Marine Scouts from the Lost Patrol boxed game gives me 25 points in addition of the bonus points.

'Monstrous' from TeemuL: Gulavhar, Terror of Arnor

It was quite difficult to pick just one monster to paint for this round, but quite fast I decided to paint this brilliant Gulavhar model, Lord of the Rings, Games Workshop. It is a resin model, Citadel Finecast, and I must say that it was a very fine cast, no problems what so ever. I bought this couple of years ago on discount, when a local store was getting rid of LotR miniatures, but I haven't managed to paint it before now.

It was very easy to assemble, less than ten parts and no problems with the joins. I thought about how to paint him, but decided to try my drybrush skills after discovering that the huge wings had nice texture. So on black basecoat I drybrushed different greys, some light skin and bone, a bit of white and some red and orange to the tongue.

I thought about painting the stone grey as well, but decided to make it brown sandstone to pop him up from the base. Grey stone would have make the whole model too monochromatic, I think.

The basing is my normal Lord of the Rings base, although I don't think I will be using him much on the games, the cabinet will be a common place for him.

A bit different painting style I normally do, but I like the finished look. Drybrushing really works on the models like this. The body is bit lighter, more to the bone color, where the wings are bit darker, drybrushed mostly with greys. Some pure white on the face, fangs and claws.

Points wise it is difficult. The base is 65mm round base. His eyes are about 65mm from the top of the base. From the bottom to the top he is 15cm tall.

'Childhood' from TeemuL: Lunar Trooper

This is probably the toughest bonus round this year, it was really difficult to pick something to paint. I almost started a 1:72 scale model, but then I realized I couldn't assemble it (nor paint!) that in the given time. Finally I decided that my childhood entry would be similar model, which was the very first I bought and among the very firsts that I ever painted.

So let me present you a Lunar Trooper from Ral Partha. He is from Lunar Empire, Genertela continent, world of Glorantha from the games RuneQuest/HeroWars/HeroQuest.

Small model and quick to paint. I did put some extra attention to the cloak and gave a very soft blue wash on armored parts to pick up the sculpted details. I left him on the original base, because it is very unlikely he will see any gaming action.

The new in the middle, two very old on the flanks

Simple model, simple story to childhood (or to teenage) and simple 5 points.

'Music/Musician' from TeemuL: Dwarf Miner Musician & Co

Not very creative nor spectacular paint job, but I just need the 50 bonus points to competing in the SD1. The fellow on the right is a horn blower, musician. I added the rest of command group here as well. I really would have liked to give more attention to this command group, but as my week is cut short, no painting after Thursday evening, I did the best I could. I believe they look ok on the table or on the shelf, but while painting and holding them on my hand, they don't look like what I wanted.

Classic metal Dwarf Miner command group from the 6th Ed (or so) Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

I painted the other warriors 2016/2017, some of the during the previous Challenge. Here they are all together, in their red-blue-yellow glory.

3 times 5 is 15 points.

'BFG' from TeemuL: Ultramarine Plasma Cannon

After painting that Astra Militarum lascannon for last week's entry, there has been understandably some questions in the air about my BFG submission. That lascannon would have been a great entry, but I just couldn't wait for a whole week to post it. So I did something else. While this plasmacannon might not be as big as a lascannon, it is still hugely impressive.

I decided to go a bit oldschool with this miniature, choosing to paint it with Ultramarine colors they used use in 80s and 90s, so yellow trims instead of gold and red guns instead of black. I used the Goblin Green base with green sawdust as well. I didn't use any washes either, which were not that common in the past. The miniature is relative new, though, it was only yesterday (15 years ago or so), when I bought this one. Just before the assembly I opened the blister pack, where it had been all those years.

So it is a relatively new miniature with relatively old painting techniques. But then again, I made something new, instead of drybrushing, I tried some layering on the gun, but it didn't work very well, and some edge highlighting on the power armor, which wasn't that bad. Only drybrushes are on the plasma coils on the gun (and the "OSL glow" on the gun next to it. The chapter and squad markings are painted freehand.

It is a bit mixed miniature in many ways then and should score me 5 more points.

'Flight' from Teemu: Aetherwings

My entry for flight round is three Aetherwings to bolster up my Stormcast Eternals force. I missed some mold lines, so I'm not very happy about them. The painting is quite simple as well, but better than nothing.

'Character/Scene from' TeemuL: A Time to Relax

I had some bigger plans for this bonus round, but as plans change and time goes by... The Challenge is not over yet, so it is not A Time to Relax for painters yet, but may be a small breath before the final madness?

So why don't you just lay down and relax a bit, just like the good old Frodo here?

Like last Bonus Round, I present another Lord of the Rings miniature, which has very little use on the game table. Like Isildur, Frodo is on the ground as well. I believe this is somewhere when Frodo and Sam were travelling towards Mordor with Gollum, Cooking the rabbit scene, perhaps?

He is holding a book, which I painted red...

The eyes look a bit odd from some direction, but at least they are not plates. It might be my painting, but the face doesn't look like Frodo much...

Looks almost like an alien from this angle...

Much better here!

This is just a comparison to a Frodo I painted for the AHPC V two years ago. I was supposed to take picture of these two next to each other, but of course I forgot... Anyway, I used this model as my color reference.