“Having a Rally Round” (Paint What You Got Challenge):

OK so I still ache (thanks for asking 🤕), so as I still can’t sit comfortably for more than a short period I thought I’d so something that wasn’t too taxing painting wise, and also something that qualified for Dave’s challenge. Now I think I’ve probably mentioned on this blog before that I’ve loved the board game “Robo Rally” ever since I played a few games of it waaaay back in my club days, and had been after a copy of it for the many, many years since, that is until last year when I came across a second hand copy on the “bring and buy” table at the Phalanx wargames show for £25.00. Bargain! It turned out all the years I’d been banging on about how good this game was to my wife and kids was justified as they all loved it too, honestly if you want a good fun game to play with either gamers or family I can’t recommend this highly enough.

Now as is my want, (and my kids will attest to this!), that even though they are described on the box as “8 pre-painted plastic robots”, a very rough dry-brushing with some silver paint is a bit of a stretch to “painted” in my mind (see left), so I had to get the little robot figures out and paint them properly at some point, and as they were thus on my list of things I wanted to get done this year, and qualified as “stuff I’ve got”, and as they were all different and pretty easy to paint in short “stints” they seemed perfect for my purposes.

So without having to mess about assembling or basing them it was just a case of spraying them all black and then dry-brushing them in chainmail (this was actually pretty much as they were out of the box (see above), but I hope I did a slightly better job of it). Then it was onto painting them up in differing colours to make them easier to identify on the board and give them a little personality.

Now I’m not going to go into a long winded description of how I painted each robot, I will however give a general overview of the colours I used, so “Twitch” I decided would be the most “bling” of the lot so I went with shinning gold over bronze for most of his body work, and added the odd panel in copper. “Zoom Bot” on the other hand I thought I’d go with Ruby red with pink burgundy highlights then add some flashes of coffee and cream, on the raised sections to form “go faster” stripes.

“Twonky” I think is supposed to look a little like an old monitor, so I thought beige was the way to go (I’m old enough to remember when computers and the like were this colour!), so after saddle and Eurasian flesh were used on the edges of his casing, I used more Eurasian flesh highlighted with cream on the panels themselves. “Hammer Bot” was simply royal purple with plum highlights on his casing, and the central stripe was lilac with lavender highlights.

“Trundle Bot” was next, and I wanted an industrial look to him so went with citrus orange on his body with lemon yellow highlights, I then added some chevrons in black highlighted with dark grey. “Hulk X90” looks like a toy tank so it was pretty obvious that he had to be green, deep bronze green to be exact, more of the same mixed with some stone green provided the highlights, then I went in with some more saddle again highlighted with Eurasian flesh to do the camouflage stripes.

“Spin Bot”, probably my least favourite figure Spin Bot was firstly painted in metallic blue that I then highlighted/dry-brushed in steel blue, then after I’d considered that he looked too plain I added the ring at the base of his “dome” and the surrounds to his eyes in ruby red with bright red highlights. Lastly we have “Squash Bot”, probably the simplest paintjob of the lot yet one of my favourites, I just painted his bodywork and feet in orange then highlight this in more of the same lightened with a touch of cream. After all of these were dry I lightly re-dry-brushed them in chainmail again to give them a slightly worn look, then added their “eyes” in either porcelain blue, orange or matt lime.

I then gave them all a coat of “Quickshade” light tone to protect their paint as much as for shading them, I then added the highlights to their “eye’lights” in either light green light blue of orange mixed with a little white respectively, their bases I did in mid grey and a final “blow over” with some matt varnish finished them off, strange to think that of all the figures I paint this year, these will probably see the most time in actual “game usage” 😁.

Till next time, Cheers Roger.

“Enforced Absence” (Paint What You Got Challenge):

So..it all started about two weeks ago, I was in the garage when I sneezed! Bang a sharp pain in my left hand side and then I was alright. That is till next morning when my side was absolutely killing me! (God it’s crap getting old!), I put up with this for a couple of days thinking it would improve.. but it didn’t and I ended up at the walk-in medical centre where I was told I’d bruised the joints between my ribs and my breastbone, now usually they treat this with Ibuprofen but due to my medical condition I shouldn’t have that so I came home with co-codamol instead, these eased it a little but at night I couldn’t get comfortable and was therefore a complete “zombie” during the day. Next I discovered a few “lumps” and “spots” appearing on that side too, so rang the doctors and after a video consultation discovered that I now also have “Shingles!”(hooray!). But why this long introduction about my medical woes I hear you ask? Well it’s basically my excuse for being absent for the last couple of weeks, and why it’s taken me so long to get these figures painted, but painted they are and they also qualify for Dave’s “Paint what  you got challenge” too so…

I figured I needed to get some more of the “Enforcers” I have for our Dead Zone games painted and Dave’s challenge seemed the perfect excuse to get some done, so digging through the box I discovered one that had already been assembled by my son and I added three more to this, one of which I armed with a flamethrower type weapon. So once all of them were “together” I built up their bases with a few layers of modelling sand and “kitty litter” rocks and gave them a spray coat of matt black.

So getting underway with the painting I started as usual by dry-brushing the weapons with chainmail, and while it was out I also painted the knees on their armour in this as well. Then in a change to last time I set about some of the larger areas of their armour (and some of the smaller bits too) along with parts on their weapons with some dark green. Next I added the camo so taking stone green added the first layer of “splodges” in a combination of zigzag lines and tiny stylized tree branches, I then repeated this process with some coffee, then as some of the “splodges” were a bit too..splodgey I went back in with the dark green and tidied them up a bit here and there. I then went round and sharpened up the edges with some black (as I’d gone over the lines a little), and once this was dry I highlighted the rest of the bodysuits in dark grey.

That really just left the finishing touches to add, first off I painted the small triangular area on their chest plates along with some bits on the “flame thrower” in pink burgundy and highlighted these with some bright red. A couple of the figures had satchels or holsters so these I added in dark grey highlighted with some mid-grey, and added the eye’s and the odd dot/light here and there with some orange, with highlights of more orange mixed with a little white. Then I did a couple of areas with a dry-brush of chainmail to vary up the armour a little.

As usual they were then given a brush coat of “Quickshade” (strong tone) and once dry had their bases painted to match the rest of my Dead Zone figures, so chocolate brown with subsequent dry-brushes of khaki and coffee. A final spray coat of matt varnish was all that was need then and I called them done. Well that was a trial, I’ve had to paint these in little bite sized stints as I can’t sit in one position for long, but anyway their done now one more group like this and all my enforcers will be done, but they will have to wait till later in the year I think. I do hope to get something else in before the end of the month, but we’ll see if that happens or not, but first I need to catch up with my blog reading, though apologies as it might take me a few days to catch up…

Till then, Cheers Roger.

“As Farrah’s I can see, they’re a Safe Bett!” (Advent Challenge)

So a new year is upon us and as you can see above I’m going to be doing my “Advent Challenge” again, and also the “pun’s” are not getting any better (in fact this has to be one of my worst to date! 🙄). Now the figures in the challenge are a little different this year, as rather than get another calendar from “Mighty Lancer Games” this time I gave my wife a list of figures I’d like and let her buy some of them and give me one each day up to the 24^th ,fortunately I had completely forgotten what I put on the list by December, so they were nearly all a surprise, there were also a couple of “unknown’s” that she had added off her own bat (You can’t trust anyone these days!!). Now not all the figures this year are from “Reaper Miniatures”, but I promise you (Mark) there will be no cheating and only figures given to me during December as part of my calendar will be painted for this challenge.

But anyway who have I got as my first pairing of 2023? Well as I’m sure a lot of you are aware by now I do have a bit of a soft spot for a nice female figure (in both senses of the word! 😉), and though I will be doing a couple of ladies for “Fem’bruary” I didn’t think this pairs attire was quite suitable to represent “the empowerment of the female form”, (also I just really wanted to paint them up ASAP), so for my first submissions of 2023 I give you…

4. Betty, Space Heroine 50150 (Reaper Miniatures)
5. Farrah, Sci/Fi Heroine 50238 (Reaper Miniatures)

As you can see this year I have both the official names, and product codes (yay me!). Both of these miniatures are metal and came with (spit spit!) “slotta” style bases, that were immediately thrown out, and were then based up on two pence pieces, I did consider basing “Betty’s” devoted (and frankly, who wouldn’t be!) alien pet on a separate base but in the end decided to “build up” a little “ramp” at the front of her base with cat litter and filler and mount him there. Anyway once they were mounted up they were all given a coat of white primer and I could begin painting them…

I’ll start with Farrah and I began by painting all the bits that were going to end up black…black, then her weapons and googles were dry-brushed with chainmail, the other areas would predominantly be black leather so these bits I highlighted with dark grey. Now her jumpsuit I wanted to paint differently to the obvious “black” or “Red”, so after a bit of thought (and some aspirin, as I’m not used to it! 🤯) I was inspired by the “Carla” figure I sculpted last year and went with lime green. Now this needed a slightly darker ”under coat”, so I first mixed a little of the lime green together with a bit of deep bronze green and painted all of her costume with this first before highlighting it with just the matt lime. The details and stripes on her jumpsuit along with the edges of her kneepads were then added in dark grey with mid grey highlights. I tackled her flesh next, European flesh was applied first then after her eyes were added in white and black I highlighted with a mix of more European flesh lightened with some pale flesh, lastly here I added her lips with a little pink burgundy. That just left her hair, and I’m a bit of a sucker for a redhead, so out came the chestnut and after this went on I highlighted with orange, I then remembered to add the front grip on her assault rifle with a little chocolate brown, with leather brown forming the highlights here.

Betty next, and does your memory ever let you down? (I think it must be an age thing 👴🏼) but when I was considering what colours to use on “Betty” I went through all the usual suspects, like pinks and purples then what I thought was inspiration struck… what about “Judy Jetson” from the old “Jetson’s” cartoon, it would be different to go with white hair and an orange costume, as I hadn’t seen one painted that way on the net*. However though convinced of my cognitive prowess a quick “google’ing” of Judy revealed her “cozzie” was in fact PINK!!, however I had now got it set in my mind that she was going to have orange clothing, so that’s where I went. Okay, so I started by applying said orange to her various items of clothing, then highlighting these areas with more orange lightened with a smidge of white, her boots, hair and clothing trim came next, the old “holy trinity” of coffee cream and white forming the layers here, with the exception of her hair on which I decided to forgo the white. The other areas of trim along with her “ray gun” I did in bronze highlighted with some shinning gold. Her flesh came next, and there was a bit more on show than I now believe was intended by the sculptor, as I think the central panel of her top should actually be material rather than precariously restrained flesh! However this is how Matt had done his version and if you promise to not tell my wife, that’s how I prefer it 😉), anyway these bits were painted in the same manner and colours as “Farrah” above. Also in the same manner as Farrah and indeed “Fido” below were the tiny lights visible on their guns and goggles, with vert green with dayglow green highlights being used here.

And so we’ll finish with “fido” (that’s what I’m calling him anyway), so I started him with a coat of royal purple, then ran a thick line across the top of his head and down his back in Eurasian flesh, these were now my undercoats. Next I put a blob of royal purple, lilac, coffee and more of the Eurasian flesh on a “pringles” lid then set about mixing and blending these across the figure. Next I added some dots of deep turquoise and cyan about his fore head. I added his eyes in cream, then when the pupils went in with black I also re-painted his mouth with this adding a little dark red at the top and bottom here for his gums. Then I dry-brushed in his teeth with coffee, tidying up the gaps with a little black afterwards, this then let me see where I needed to highlight the teeth with cream, and one with the bronze/shinning gold . Lastly his gun was painted black, highlighted with chainmail and the stock (not visible in the photo) was painted chocolate brown highlighted with leather brown.

All three were them coated in Quickshade light tone, and once dry Farrah had her base finished in my usual manner. However I decided that Betty should have a more “alien” look to her basing so after the chocolate brown went on I followed this with highlights of terracotta, then I stuck on some “red” sand and finally dry-brushed the lot with some coffee. A spray coat of matt varnish was then put over all three and they were done. This has been a great way to start this year’s challenge (and this year to be honest), two really lovely figures that have been a pleasure to paint, two more “ladies” form my entry for next month too, but I’ll have to wait till I get to them, next up something for Dave’s “Paint the stuff you’ve already got challenge”.

So till then Cheers Roger.

*(this included the excellent one “Matt” had painted last year as the leader of his “Muppets” crew of adventurers!)

“Blax the Kleric’s top ten of 2022”

Sadly, for those hobbyists anticipating another posting featuring some of Dick Garrison’s well-painted miniatures, this particular article will doubtless be something of a disappointment due to it maintaining the annual tradition of Roger penning a piece on my wargaming website “Fantorical”, and me once again taking the reins of “Rantings From under The Wargames Table”. The past twelve month have certainly caused Roger to produce an eclectic range of painting subjects, most notably due to his monthly Advent Challenge, so it’s taken some considerable willpower to tie this ‘Best In Show’ down to just ten figures…

 

(10) “Reaper Miniatures” – Middle Eastern Style Werewolf (June 17^th): I just love how well Roger has captured the Arabian feel of this Werewolf, with his choice of chocolate Brown, Plum, Copper and Gold. The creature looks like he has just stepped out from the pages of “One Thousand and One Nights”, and would doubtless have given the Forty Thieves a good thrashing if they’d attacked him. I also like the highlights on the monster’s pants and all the “bling” which has been painstakingly picked out.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2022/06/17/weird-hands-is-it-a-werewolf-thing-advent-challenge/

 

(9) “Reaper Miniatures” – Space Henchman (July 16^th): Coming completely out of the blue for Roger’s Sci-Fi Month Advent Challenge, this pink-hued gargoyle attracted my admiration for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the skin pigmentation is excellent, and along with the featureless face, strongly reminds me of the super-villain Parasite by “DC Comics”. Whilst secondly, Roger has done a super job of picking out the minion’s “Hawaiian shirt”.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2022/07/16/sci-fi-month-advent-challenge/

 

(8) “Wargames Terrain Workshop” – Mongrol (April 23^rd): Sculpted by green-stuff artisan Dave Stone as a gift, this towering A.B.C. Warrior looks awesome. Roger has really gone to town trying to match his paint scheme with the colours depicted within the pages of “2000 A.D.”, even adding a “chin chain” and “forehead badge” to the miniature when he spotted them inside the comic books. A top present from Dave, which Roger has definitely done justice to.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2022/04/23/the-gawk/

 

(7) “Reaper Miniatures” – Skeleton Pirate with Knives (August 15^th): If there’s one thing I try to avoid at all costs it is striped trousers. Yet Roger continues to show he’s able to handle a technique I find extremely difficult, with consummate ease. Indeed, not only does he apply some deft lines to this undead pirate’s ripped trousers, but he also applies his well-practiced technique to the skeleton’s headscarf too.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2022/08/15/three-fins-one-donein-advent-challenge/

 

(6) “Reaper Miniatures” – Giant Weasel (March 13^th): Whilst I’m personally a big fan of large furry animals to paint – as they’re ordinarily pretty straightforward to paint. I tend to stick to using just one colour for their fur. Roger on the other hand went from dark brown to white on this badger-faced weasel, and absolutely nailed the transition between the strongly contrastingly colours. I also just adore the look on this creature’s face. It’s so cute yet speaks of the beast scoffing you up in one should you drop your guard.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2022/03/13/in-the-night-garden-advent-challenge/

 

(5) “Oakbound Miniatures” – Judge Chico (Nov 27^th): Having completely failed to paint this very figure myself some years ago, I was absolutely delighted to see Roger provide it with such an astonishingly good paint-job after I sent it to him. This model looks every bit the Mega-City One Judge the sculpt deserves, and I love the green he achieved for the gloves and boots mixing Shamrock, Olive Green and Stone Green together to create the clothing’s different tones.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2022/11/27/being-judge-mental-movember/

 

(4) Self-sculpted – Jason Voorhees (May 21^st): Dripping in both death and decay, Roger has done an excellent job in painting so iconic Horror flick character. However, what is truly awe-inspiring about this Chibi figure is that Roger sculpted it himself using Green-Stuff. Such first-class talent with the modelling clay makes this model a winner in its own right. But then coupled with the aforementioned paint scheme really helps bring it to the fore in my mind. Plus, I happened to paint a Jason figure myself this year – so know what a pain to pigment that hockey face mask can be.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2022/05/21/voorhees-a-jolly-good-fellow-monster-mayhem/

 

(3) “Reaper Miniatures” – Human Paladin Evil (January 5^th): There’s little I dislike more than intricate trim over an entire model. Yet with “Krass”, Roger has caught every little bit of the Chaos Knight’s complicated armour with a winning combination of Copper and Bronze. Alongside the mighty warrior’s turquoise, this contrast works extremely well, and is definitely a palette I plan to replicate should I ever muster up enough patience to pigment my Nurgle Chaos Space Marines.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2022/01/15/a-pair-of-baduns-advent-challenge-paint-what-you-got-challenge/

 

(2) Self-sculpted – Captain Kremmen (June 24^th): I still remember enjoying the old Kenny Everett cartoon series Captain Kremmen, and so became completely entranced by Roger’s postings in which he catalogued how he managed to craft the sci-fi hero out of Green-Stuff. In addition, he has definitely captured all the colourful confidence of the Star Corps officer with his brush, and one can almost hear the late great comedian’s voice issuing from the figure.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2022/06/24/kremmen-of-the-star-corps-forgotten-heroes/

 

(1) Wargames Foundry – Hammerstein (March 20^th): Perhaps I’ve been slightly swayed in making this my preferred piece of the year by it being one of my favourite comic book characters of all time. But Roger did such a first-rate job in capturing the exact colour scheme of the A.B.C. Warriors’ leader with his combination of Chocolate Brown and Orange, that it wasn’t a difficult decision. He’s also gone to some extreme lengths to get the robot’s A.B.C. badge as accurate as possible, even adding some Red and Lemon Yellow to the insignia’s bar/stars underneath. Terrific stuff.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2022/03/20/spread-the-word/

 

Obviously, 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

As usual I’ll just stick my oar in here at the end to say a big thank you to Simon for taking time out of his “Analogue Painting Challenge” preparations (The best of luck mate and sooner you than me!) to do this, I always love seeing what he’s picked , and I even agree with….some of them 😉. And I’ll finish by reiterating Simon’s wishes for a very good year to you lot out there. Here’s to a prosperous and well painted new year!

Now please head over to Simon’s blog and read my “Top Ten” of his output for the year.

Cheers Roger.