“A Pair of Bad’un’s” (Advent Challenge & Paint what you got Challenge)

OK so I’ve been banging on about this “Advent Challenge” since before Christmas, so I guess I’d better start painting the blooming things up now, I’ve already sorted them out into two a month, with a few of them assigned to months where they are apt for a particular “challenge” (e.g. two female fig’s for “February”, two bearded figs for Mo’vember etc.…), the remaining ones I sorted randomly, though surprisingly they have often gone into complimentary pairs (as you’ll see as the months go by hopefully), an example of which I have for my first pairing…

No 5 Small Blood Imp

No14 Human Paladin Evil “Krass”

Taking “Matt’s” advice on “bones” figures I gave both of them and good scrub with a toothbrush (an old one not my current one!) and some washing up liquid, then both figures were based upon two pence pieces, in Krass’s case forgoing the separate “cobbled” base his feet should have slotted into, then “Tetrion” filler was built up around their feet, before they were both sprayed matt black.

Taking the “Imp” first I began by heavily dry-brushing him all over with dark red, then highlighted this with ruby red. Chocolate brown was then painted over his loin cloth, wing hooks, horns and staff shaft. The loin cloth was then highlighted with leather, and the horns, hooks and staff were dry-brushed with saddle and then again with Eurasian flesh, the horns and hooks getting yet another subsequent dry-brush with coffee. His eyes were next lemon yellow was used here with normal black dots finishing these off. The face atop his staff was undercoated next in copper, then highlights of bright gold were added over this. The eyes, horns and tongue on this were then re-painted black, before dry-brushing/highlights in chainmail were added here. The couple of teeth visible in his face were then added in yet more coffee, this time with cream highlights and finally I added more highlights to his body and wings in bright red and he was done.

“Krass” (it’s not just me is it, he does look like a “Chaos Knight” right?), was a little more complicated, but not much, inspired by the lovely classic GW “Chaos Knights” Matt over at “PM Painting” turns out on a regular basis, I decided that rather than just dry-brushing him in chainmail, I’d try adding a bit of colour to his armour, so leaving his sword and right gauntlet separate I painted all his armored bits in deep turquoise, but I felt I’d still like a more metallic look to him, so I don’t know if you remember a couple of years back I painted a metallic red dress on my “dame to die for”, by mixing metallic red and silver to form the highlights, so I thought I’d try mixing some stuff up again, this time I mixed some chainmail into some more of the deep turquoise, and as the result looked pretty good I heavily highlighted his amour with this, and I have to say I was pretty pleased with the result (I can see I’ll be doing more of this!). I still wanted some more “bling” on his armour though so taking the copper I added all the edges and “swirly” details in this, then highlighted this with bronze (I thought gold would be a bit too “blingy”), this too worked out pretty well, but as you can imagine left a fair bit of touching up. Now I was going to mix up more of the new “metallic deep turquoise” but I thought as I’d been “enthusiastic” with the highlights of this, I decided I’d try just using the original (non-metallic) Deep turquoise, for this and see how it looked…OK as it turned out, so I left it at that. I dry-brushed his sword blade in chainmail, his horns and fur cape trim were then added in chocolate brown, with saddle and Eurasian flesh highlights, and a final subsequent highlight of coffee added to just the horns. His cape was simply dark grey with mid grey highlights and the jewel atop his swords pommel was bright red with metallic red highlights, and I did do the odd dot of pale pink to try and simulate a reflection here (not sure how good this came out, it’s your fault I tried this Alex!).

Both figures were then given a coat of Quckshade (Strongtone), before being based in my usual way, a spray coat of matt varnish took away the shine and they were done. Well that’s the first two figures from my “Advent Challenge” done, I have to say I really enjoyed painting these, and can’t wait now till the next two. Oh and a quick note, the background in the photo’s is one of the broken ridge tiles that blew off during the high winds we had before Christmas (before you ask yes they have been replaced 😃), I thought it looked quite effective? (suit yourself 😛).

So till next time, stay safe and cheers Roger.

“Seven from Blake’s” (Paint what you got challenge)

And so we come to the end of another year of “Covid confusion”, I think we all need a little normality to cling to in these dark and uncertain days, the “hobby” as we who do, call it has been a life line I think for many of us over the last couple of years, and a pastime that we don’t have to “play outside” to perform and this has given us an advantage in the “keeping sane” stakes, especially as we have been able to communicate and encourage (along with being a bit of a mental crutch) with each other via our respective blogs and other “net” related forms of communication. So as we set sail upon the (hopefully) calmer waters of 2022, I’d like to welcome you all back aboard my little corner of the internet, please keep all chairs in the upright position, don’t use the facilities 🚽 while we’re sitting in the station, the safety exits are situated there 👈 and there 👉, and I hope you enjoy the ride. Delores will be around a little later to take your food orders. But I hear you say what have I got in store for the coming year? Don’t ask me! I don’t even know what I writing at this point!

Oh, I do have a NEW challenge for this year, in the “Advent Challenge!”, yes I spent most of the last month risking paper cuts and arduously opening little cardboard doors (and some of them were a bugger’ I’ll tell you!), and I now have twenty four new plastic (Bones) figures to paint, but I’m getting ahead of myself as we already have a challenge underway in Dave Stone’s “Paint what you’ve got challenge” (you can tell I didn’t come up with that name!). Basically this is an excuse to paint all that stuff you’ve bought and put to one side for far too long (and if you can do that in two month’s you aren’t a proper wargamer!!!), I say two months as this actually started in December but I’m just jumping in now, as it’s better late than never as they say, but enough pre-amble what have I actually painted, well I thought I’d start simple so I’ve dug out a few spaceships I bought from Dave (coincidentally) toward the back of last year based loosely on the seventies BBC science fiction show “Blakes 7”, now I do also have two “Liberator” style ships that also need paint, but I have started with the “evil” federation ships (I should really have done the lot, but I was feeling lazy), so it is what it is.

First job was to clean up the castings, not too arduous as they were pretty good to be honest, the fun really started when I set about drilling holes in them to attach the “flying stands”, the smaller “pursuit” ships were okay, if a little awkward due to their curved shape, but the bigger ships with their four “wing” design meant I had to drill out a space into the lower wing and with them being made from resin I did of course “chip” away more than I wanted too, so out came the “greenstuff” and repairs had to be made. Also being the “cack” handed oaf that I am I did also knock off a few of the “spiked” protuberances at the edge of the wings, luckily as these were all from the vertical wings, therefore I thought it easier and prudent to just remove the rest of these and just leave the ones on the horizontal wings in place. I based the flying stands on two layers of card, this is for two reasons, 1) It increases the footprint of the bases slightly making them more stable, and 2) I usually add ship names onto the “tab” at the front, I haven’t done that here simply because we’ve run out of ink for the printer!

Painting wise they were pretty straightforward, once they had been completely undercoated in matt black, the ships were painted ruby red, then heavily dry-brushed in terracotta. Next I dotted in some “running lights” in light (day-glow) green, and the odd bit I repainted black before dry-brushing these with chainmail. They were then given a coat of “Strong tone” Quickshade, and the engine ports at the rear of the ships were painted with a ring of pale blue and while this was still wet I added white to the centre here and wet-blended then together to simulate the engine exhausts. I then tidied up the bases where the Quickshade had run down the shafts, and they were finished off with a “blow over” of matt varnish. Simple, simple stuff to be honest, but at least we are up and running again. Next I think I’ll tackle the first two of my “Advent Challenge” figures.

So till next week, stay safe, happy New Year, and cheers Roger.

“Blax the Kleric’s top ten of 2021”

For those eager followers expecting another of Dick Garrison’s mouth-wateringly good weekly postings I fear you are in for something of a shock, as for the seventh time in eight years, Roger will be writing an entry on my wargaming website “Fantorical”, and I’ll once again be back at the helm of the good ship “Rantings From under The Wargames Table”. The past year has definitely seen Roger ‘churn’ out some of his greatest hits, in my humble opinion, so kindly strap yourselves down as I take you through a rocket stop tour of his Top Ten ‘best in show’ during the last twelve months…

(10) “Mantic Games” – Enforcers (March 18^th):

Whilst I am not a fan of these particular miniatures from “Dead Zone”, there can be no doubting just how impressive Roger’s camouflage is upon their armoured carapaces. These “splotches” of stone green and “combination of zigzag lines and tiny stylized tree branches” added in dark green work very well indeed, and definitely help elevate what I consider to be mediocre sculpts at best, into something truly eye-catchingly special – especially when applied to a killer robotic canine.

 

Enforced labour

(9) “Lucid Eye Productions” – Runcorn (June 19^th):

I am a huge supporter of “Lucid Eye Productions” and their “Toon Realms” range, so was absolutely delighted to see Roger tackle their wonderful sculpt of Runcorn the unicorn. The contrast between the animals pink mane and white hide is excellent, but what I especially like about this piece is Roger’s delicately dainty base-work, complete with tiny mushrooms and flowers, which really helps sell this beast as a magical being.

Runcorn the Unicorn

(8) “Wargames Terrain Workshop” – Sabretooth Tigers (May 14^th):

Crafted by the legendary Dave Stone, these two prehistoric big cats really do look scarily realistic thanks to Roger’s excellent ability to merge their famous reddish-orange striped fur with the animals’ cream-coloured underbelly. This ‘blending’ is particularly noticeable on the Tiger mid-way through a bone-rending leap, and really helps sell the notion that the deadly animal was caught in mid-action.

 

Moggy Mayhem

(7) “Mantic Games” – Forge Fathers (March 4^th):

I’m probably a but biased with this choice as I absolutely adore the aesthetic of “Mantic Games” Forge Fathers, and also happen to like dark green quite a bit too. Resultantly, when Roger merged these two aspects together, and added some bronze/copper into the mix, I was completely sold on the small-sized squad, and certainly arm to duplicate the colour scheme whenever I finally get around to painting my own space dwarves.

 

How’s your father

(6) “Copplestone Castings” – Babe With Gun (September 25^th):

As a massive fan of Kevin Copplestone’s figures, I always pay a particular interested in Roger’s work whenever he decides to paint such models on this blog. Dee’ Dee “Night Night” Knightly is by far my favourite of such postings during the past year, as her costume’s colour scheme reminds me of the spy-fi/time travelling worlds of Tara King and Dodo Chaplet all rolled into one.

 

Spy-hardy

(5) “Games Workshop” – Blood Bowl Referees (January 27^th):

Providing a veritable virtuoso performance in black and white stripes, this elf and dwarf combination completely blew me away when I first clapped eyes on the pair towards the beginning of the year. The couple’s striking official match attire wonderfully contrasts with the colourful characters green and light blue leggings, and clearly marks them out as something special upon the Astrogranite pitch.

Who the B*stard in the black

(4) Self-sculpted – Elvira (February 10th):

Clearly there’s a lot to enjoy when looking at Roger’s brushwork for this Chibi miniature of the Mistress of the Dark – the visible contrast between her pitch black hair and dress just being one such success. However, what is truly flabbergasting about this particular figure is that Roger sculpted it himself using Green-Stuff. Such an incredible knack with the tricky modelling clay is worthy of high praise alone, but when coupled with the aforementioned paint-job, this piece really does present itself as being exceptionally well done.

 

Unpleasant dreams

(3) “Lancashire Games” – Indian Braves (February 25^th):

I actually had to re-read Roger’s original posting for these native Americans on horseback, as his attention to detail on their mounts, leathers and feathers made me believe the figures were significantly larger than his claim that they were 10mm in scale. These really are gobsmackingly good, and whilst Roger would follow these diminutive, rifle-toting warriors up with some incredibly well pigmented settlers and wagons later on in the year, I feel these are far and away the very best of the bunch.

One little, two little, three little

(2) “Games Workshop” – Imperial Nobility Blood Bowl Team (January 22nd):

What a stunning visual this entire team of purple and gold proved to be when they were first revealed to the world at the very start of the year. Roger’s detailed description of the painful process he went through in order to get the players tabletop ready, such as two days alone being spent simply touching up his paint-jobs before varnishing, only added to my admiration for all the tiny details these gorgeous miniatures contained. Ordinarily, it’s a case of leaving the best until last. But on this occasion, I feel Roger gave us one of his very best straight from the start.

BB Queue

(1) Self-Sculpted – The Trollenberg Terror (May 23rd):

Whilst I’ve never actually seen Quentin Lawrence’s 1958 science fiction film, Roger’s use of Green Stuff to create the movie’s utterly repulsive and blood-chillingly terrifying, monster certainly made me want to. Coupled with a truly excellent paint-job, alongside a photograph which shows just how monstrous Roger’s creation actually is, this was easily my favourite piece of the year – and it’s just a shame that sadly “Wargames Supply Dump” is no longer around to get the brute cast for others to enjoy.

The tiny tentacled terror of trollenberg

Of course, there are many other models which Roger has either crafted, converted or painted to perfection over the past twelve months which have unluckily been bumped out of these choices. So I would heartily recommend that you go back and spend some time pouring over the postings I haven’t mentioned in this Top Ten as well. Happy New Year.

Simon.

So as usual all that remains is for me to say, a huge thank you to Simon, for taking the time out of his busy schedule (and it is busy at this time of year!), of course thank all you lot who read it, and all of the nonsense I’ve written myself during the last twelve months, and to wish you all the very best of new years, here looking forward to all the stuff you lot paint & post in 2022.

Oh and please check out my “Top Ten” review of Simon’s 2021 output over on his esteemed blog….

https://www.fantoricalwargaming.com/post/top-ten-miniatures-of-2021-a-rantings-from-under-the-wargames-table-viewpoint

Cheers Roger. 

“Let’s Have a Mo’vember Round Up”

When Simon (Moore) asked me if I fancied doing another round of Mo’vember last month, I happily agreed thinking it would really just be the two of us as has so often been the case in the past (though one year we did combine it with building “Frostgrave Warbands” and got a couple of other people join in), it’s a nice simple way to round off the years challenges and for me at least it also brings the years painting to an end too as I usually take December off from the hobby (baring the odd commitment or two 😉). So when I put it out on my blog what we doing (that’s painting any number of bearded figures in any scale in November by the way) and if anybody else wanted to join in they were welcome, I didn’t really think we’d get many (if any) takers. I was however honestly surprised by the number of people who jumped aboard our “Beardy bandwagon”, my own efforts only reached the second week of the month before my hobby time basically “dried up”, but I felt I should “round up” the efforts of the others who took part, so in no particular order, may I present a festival of facial hair!!…. (Please note all pictures are thumbnails).

Simon  https://www.fantoricalwargaming.com/ Spent the month painting some wonderful additions to his “Planet of the Apes” collection (we never said they had to be human after all!), the then followed these up with a very nice classic Blood Bowl Dwarf linesman.

 

Matt  https://pmpainting.blogspot.com/ Painted a great little Dwarf Hammerer along with this very nice wizard in an unusual (for a wizard anyway) red robe.

 

John  https://justneedsvarnish.wordpress.com put paint to this lovely rendition of Captain Jean Danjou, of the foreign legion, along with a Mexican republican officer and a couple of rather spiffy standard bearers too all in 20mm “Gods own” scale!

Dave  https://wargamesculptorsblog.blogspot.com/  went all “Star Wars” (not a huge surprise really 😉) and painted up “Bistan” a character from Rogue One, and a more generic human rebel pathfinder, top work as always.

 

Mark  https://markamorin.com/ added to his wonderful (and extremely extensive) Aztec war project by painting this smashing Cortes figure.

 

 

Dave  https://theimperfectmodeller.co.uk/ gave us these wonderful interpretations of Josey Wales and Rooster Cogburn.

 

 

Guru  Pig  https://phillipislandgamingsociety392176732.wordpress.com/ said he was taking part but then forgot to mention Mo’vember in any of his posts, however he did paint a couple of rather nice figures with beards, in, Commander Kubrik Chenkov of the Valhallan, and Captain Al’rahem of Tallarn, both members of GW’s Imperial guard.

Tarmor  https://tarmor21.wordpress.com/ set to work and produced  these very nicely painted Mantic dwarves.

 

Azazel https://azazelx.com/ gave us a Dwarf miner, by Reaper miniatures and a Necromancer from the Zombicide “Black Plague” board game, both painted to his usual high standards. He also painted up a couple of Commonwealth 8th Army tank commanders in 15mm  to add to his extensive Battlefront collection with facial hair too, so I’ll add these in too.

 

Always one to be different Luke  https://imperialrebelork.wordpress.com/ presented us with this wall plaque of a  horrifically disfigured zombie highwayman.

 

 

Alex  https://leadballoony.com/ has started working his way through the Games Workshop Warhammer Quest “Cursed City” boxset and these perfectly pigmented Ogres come from that.

Wudugast  https://convertordie.wordpress.com/ was another who went more traditional and turned out this beautiful Chaos Dwarf Gladiator, along with three cracking ginger Slayers and a couple of Ogre’s, one mounted on a “Mournfang” (I don’t know what that is, but I wouldn’t like to run into one!).

 

Well what a lot of fantastical facial fungus! It just remains for me to thank all the people who took the time to take part and make this year the biggest “Mo’vember” in living memory (well in the few years we’ve been doing it anyway 😁), and of course to you for reading and commenting/liking on all the various blogs. That’s me done for the December, I ‘m off now to slip into my cocktail dress as I do like to eat, drink and be Mary over the Christmas period 😉*. But please stop by at new year as Myself and Simon will be doing our traditional reviews of each others years output.

But for now (if a little early) I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, cheers Roger.

🎄🎄 🎅🤶🎄🎄

• (Please note that this is a joke, I don’t drink! 😁)