AHPC XVI: From Mike W - 28mm Orcs & Night Goblins (105 Points)

 Real life has held up my planned painting schedule this week, resulting in a small group of 20 x Orcs & Night Goiblins, that will join my exixting collection. These are also the last of the batch of figures that I prepared at the start of this challenge to get completed this year - so another small success!

Completed group of 20 x Greenskins

The three Night Goblins

And the reverse view

The painting process was as per previous posts this year and thus they will hopefully seemlessly fit in with the rest of my collection!. 

I couldn't get ethe camera to focus on the figure and the banner at thesame time, so here is a close up of the banner. (with attached skull!)

And a better focus on the figure, albeit hidden behind the banner...

There are 6 x Orcs that carry shields and 4 x Orcs armed with bows. There are also 6 x Orcs with either two hand weapons or a hand weapon and spear. 

The six Orcs with shields and various weapons

And the reverse view

I have also painted an Orc Standard Bearer and painted the flag (albeit a Raggerty Orc Standard) by hand. Finally there are three Night Goblin Bowmen to complete the group.

Four Orcs with two hand weapons

And two with a spear and hand weapon,
with the business end of the spear very near the camera

A final alternative view

AHPC XVI: From Mike W - 28mm Greenskins (105 Points)

 So after a hiatus in my painting production last week, I'm gradually getting back into the swing, albeit that this post is a smaller contribution that I'm usually able to do.

This week I present a group of 21 Greenskins - 20 x Orcs plus one Night Goblin!

The completed batch of Greeskins

The reason for my hiccup in painting was that I succumbed to my wife's entirely reasonable request to redecorate my office / studio room! It's very hard to argue that I'm no good with a big paintbrush when I spend so much time painting with little ones! 😀

Some big 1:1 scale painted terrain! 

I was thinking I could claim a point or two basis this work being classed as terrain but no, that would bee too cheeky.

Back to the Orcs, the painting method was exactly the same as previously described an the 20 Orcs and single Night Goblin will be distributed to add numbers to existing regiments in my collection.

Another view of the Greenskins

Close-up of the Orcs

So 5 more Orcs Biguns to join the regiments I already have

Three shield armed Orcs, two with spears and one with
choppa to re-enforce existing regiments

First smaller group of the 12 x Orc Archers that are in this batch

The 3 x Skulls I'm claiming for in this post are clearly seen here!

Final shot of thee Orcs and the stray Night Goblin!

Hopefully lots more figures in the next couple weeks - until some re-carpeting needs to be done.....

AHPC XVI: From Mike W - 28mm Orcs & Night Goblins plus more Skaven (245 Points)

 This week I have started on my pile of Orcs & Goblins... There is of course the old adage, that you can never have enouigh Orcs! To which I subscribe whoe heartedly, however, be that so, they still need to be painted.

10 x Orcs, destined to be new recruits for various regiments in my collection

This group of about 50 figures, will hopefully get painted over the next couple weeks, they are part of an eBay bulk buy I acquired three or four months back. They have all been treated to an undecoating process - black spray paint followed by a 'zenathal' white spray paint coating form top downwards. As I am based in teh UK - I use Halfords' undercoat spay paints, which are available in large cans at a very reasonable cost.

A slightly different view

Five Big 'Uns with two hand weapons

This week's batches are a group of 10 x Orcs plus a batch of 21 x Night Goblins. I have described in previous year's my method for pinting Orcs and this has not changed, I'm comfortable with it and it will maintain consistancy with the rest of my collection

Two orcs, heading for a regiment armed with shield & hand weapon.
All my Orc regiments nad white & red shield designs, although
some have red & white designs!

As these figures were pre-owned and already built, they do not actually form a single Orc unit, this suits me fine as they will be conscripted into existing units in my collection to bulk them out.

The green skin was applid over the undercoat, I used Army Painter Orc Skin Speed paint, I used various other black and brown shades t block in their clothes, before using Lead Beltcher for all metal work - be it armour or weapons.

Close up on three of the Orcs, not skull on left hand figure's sword hilt.

Everthing getrs a watered down Dark Tone wash before I spend time picking out details - concentrating on mouth & lips as well as brass / gold work on weapons and jewellry. THen other hight light area is on any bone work! - skulls teath etc.

Then it is time to apply a highlight to the green skin, using GW Warboss Green before adding in nails & claws using GW Elysian Green. 

Bases are my standard Brown paint/glue gloop with fine sand and electrostatic grass added to taste!

Moving on from the Orcs I now bring you a group of 20 x Night Goblins, again whilst most of these are armed with bows, there are a few other odds and ends, these will all be drafted into existing regiments in my collection.

The completed 20 Night Goblins

My approach to painting these Night Goiblins is very similat ro the Orcs, with the same undercoating process being used for the whole of ths group of Orcs & Goblins. I painted all these little guys' robes with black speed paint before picking out all the skintones in GW Warboss Green.

Another view

I prefer my goblins to be  lighter shade of green to my Orcs and I have put together a new recipe for these guys, highlighting the skin with GW Elysian Green and doing claws and nails with a mix of GW Elysian Green. and Zandri Dust - in essence making the goblins a shade lighter all over than the Orcs.

I like th eresults which is good but now I'm feeling the need to go back and highlight all my other goblin figures in a similar way, this will be a big task....

And another...

Bows and spears were painted brown, armour, swords, spears and bow tips etc were done in GW Leadbeltcher Metal and then boots and laces and armbands were done in a leather colour or where it was material in a cream colour thaht was then washed with a light brown for shading purposes.

Close-up on five of the little guys

I blinged-up the figures by adding a lot of brass / gold earrings, lip rings and weapon furniture, additionally as with all greenskins the other feature point is the mouths so teath and lips were carefully added to give contrast to the green of their skin.

And another five!

Bases were my Warhammer standard fine sand and electro staic grass.

At some point I may add a standard to the guy with the spear but I'm happy with the look now

The final five

Next we have 17 x Skaven, painted to the same recipe as described in my previous posting. Not much to add to these in way of commentary but I'm still very undecided about the bases - I may just switch to may standard Warhammer bases as above but in the meantine I'm still experimenting and open to ideas!

17 x Skaven in three ranks

Whilst I'm using a mix of new and old models - I like the esthetic of teh newer figures - I particularly think that the some of teh older models look dated and so have tried to add rome robes to a number of tehse figures.

Another angle

I simply tore off small pieces of tissue paper, soake dthem in PVA glue and then draped them over the figures in an attempt to make raggety old cloth. I'm pretty happy wit hthe results and think this helps tie the older fgures in better.

Closeup of some of the Skaven

Some more...

A view of the home made robes on some of the older figures
when compared to a newer figure (left)

The last of this week's figures.

AHPC XV: From MikeW - 21 x 28mm Tomb King Guards, 3 x Savage Orcs & 9 x More Arthurian Foot

 By way of a change  I have just completed a unit of Tomb King , Tomb Guards - these little guys are in 28mm and are by Highland Minatures and printed by Mini Print Factory.

21 x Tomb King Guardsmen

These guys have been painted to follow the colour scheme I have used on the rest of my Tomb Kings Army

Figures are Highland Miniatures 3D Prints

The figures came in grey resin and are great value for money, the Highland Miniatures team really do some outstandingly good designs in my opinion and Mini Print Factory supplied these quickly and perfectly formed!

Three Guardsmen

Three more Guardsmen

All I had to do was glue figures to bases and then undercoating in a suitable 'Ivory' paint. (Shields got the same treatment but were glued to figures after paiting, before varnishing).

Weapons and armour painted with Hoplite Gold Speed Paint, then highlighted with Vallejo Brass and the weapon edges lined with a Metalic Silver Sharpie pen! 

More Guardsmen

GW Skeleton Horde is my 'go to' for skeletons, so this was applied and then when dry the figures were dry brushed with Ivory paint again to pull out highlights. See rest of my collection <here>

Shields and weapon staffs washed with a watered down mix of blue andblack ink to give definition and aging effect

Next I added Army Painter Speed Paint Hoplite Gold to all halberds, armour and helmets before applying GW blue to loin cloths, jewels an shoulder armour panels.

The command group

Sky Blue was used for halberd shafts & shields, in keeping with other figures in my army, whilst shield reverses were painted with GW Gore Grunta Fur.

All bandages were picked out in Vallejo Light Sand before highlighting the gold with Vallejo Brass.

I'm claiming Skullz Points for these guys as well - 21 x Skeletons plus a drummer and standard bear with an addition 3 skulls between them (See Photos!)

Next up are some more 28m Arthurian foot...

Nine Arthurian Foot figures

In this post I have 9 new foot figures to 'show & tell!', 4 x Artizan Metal figures, a Warlord Games Metal figure and 4 x Victrix plastic Medium (Unarmoured) infantry.

Four Victrix, unarmoured Medium Infantry. Again, shields and heads have been swapped to give unit variation

.

Another view, showing the interesting cloak provided with the Victrix figures

The Warlords Games figure came free when I pre-ordered their 'Once and Future King', Hail Caesar supplement - which spurred me on to do these Arthurian figures. This figure depicts Agravain, Arthur's nephew, he is holding his sword and helmet aloft in a dramatic pose.

Agravain, by Warlord Games. A lovely little figure. Described as tall, dark & handsome but a unargumentative so and so!

The four Victrix figures have been painted in my usual manner with light grey tunics and a red & white shield theme. They are designed to be representing Loose Order Medium Infantry and are thus on 22mm bases.

Artizan mage, painted up as Merlin

Artizan mage, painted up as Merlin

Artizan Standard Bearer, note the full face mask,

early Christian icons added by hand to the shield

The Artizan Minatures metal figures are a Noble, a musician and a Standard Bearer as well as a figure that I take to be representing Merlin.

Artizan Musician

Finally on this post, I have three Savage Orcs and a related terrain piece that were originally going to be my entry for Dante's Limbo, until I stumbled upon those long lost Elves.

Three Savage Orc Blood Bowl figures to be pressed into Warhammer Fantasy service!

These guys were the last three of  set of Savage Blood Bowl figures that I was working on earlier in the year - but somehow they got left behind unpainted. That's all resolved now! Two of the three figures are actually pretty big, suitable for Bosses, the third is to be used as a Shaman - just because he has a funny looking mask.

Shaman, from the rear, note skull on his belt

Same figure from the front, with Shaman mask and a ring of seven small bird skulls around his left knee.

Again there are Skullz points to be had on these guys - by my count 12 in total - see photos for details!

This guy has a fighting fist, incorporating a blade plus the had of a Reptilian foe on his left shoulder!

Another view, showing two skulls hanging form his loincloth.

The terrain piece is actually some kind of game marker for Blood Bowl that came wit the Savage Orc set, but it also will work well as a Tomb Kings piece and is a great big SKULLZ point!

The Skull Terrain piece, with two small skulls tucked in by the right hand tusk

The terrain skull, next to the Shaman to show scale.

That's it for now, coming soon are more Arthurians, Necrons and some Elves.... 

SKULLZ                                                               39 Skulls

SQUIRRELS           Arthurians & Tomb Kings      2 Squirrels                                       

POINTS

21 x 28mm Skeletons @ 5 Pts ea                        105 Points

3 x 28mm Savage Orcs @ 5Pts ea                        15 Points

1 x Skull Terrain Piece                                            1 Point

10 x 28mm Arthurians @ 5 Pts ea                        50 Points

TOTAL                                                                171  172 Points 

Wow, you have been quite productive! The Highlands Miniatures are great; although I have a lot of their STL's, I have not yet printed any of them and it's great to see them in the flesh. You have done a fine job on them! I always have a soft spot for Arthurian figures, and yours presented here look great too! Love the hand-painted details on the shields. And the orcs are... well, very orky I guess .  Good job!

Now it is just one of those days, and I have again to be strict: no terrain in this Challenge, except for Limbo. So I'll deduce your skull terrain piece point from the total, but then throw in 2 extra points for the shields. So 172 is the final count!

Martijn

Sunday, 29 December 2024

From Mike W: More 28mm Arthurians (65 Points)

Following on from my first post if this challenge is a group of 4 x Mounted and 5 x Infantry figures, all to be used to build up my new Arthurian collection.

Arthurian Heavy Cavalry man, armed with spear

And the other side's view! More to come for this unit!

The mounted figures represent 3 x Heavy Knights and 1 x Heavy Cavalryman whilst the foot figures are all Medium Infantry. 

So a word of explanation - the Heavy Knights (Cataphracts) are to be the mounted versions of the Close Order Heavy Infantry units as shown in my first post, in my head the rules for use will require commander to opt for mounted of foot deployment at beginning of each game.

Arthurian Knights, these guys will have individual shield patterns to reflect the uniqueness and privilege of their positions.

Anther view of the knights

Infantry can be Heavy, Medium or Light and the Heavy and Mediums can be classed as Close or Loose order, all Light Infantry are Loose Order. Anyway the two Archer figures are Light Infantry (unarmoured) whilst the remaining three infantry figures will be classed as Medium (Loose Order, Partially Armoured) Infantry.

Archers - with a Victrix head swap on the right

Another view of the Archers

The mounted figures are all Gripping Beast Cataphracts, the three Heavy Knights have all had head swaps from Gripping Beast or Victrix Late Roman sets plus a couple of shield swaps. The Heavy Cavalryman is pretty much straight form the box.

Three Medium infantrymen, the final unit will be 16 figures,
including Standard Bearer and possibly a musician

Close-up of the Medium Infantry

For the infantry one of the archers has had a Victrix head swap, otherwise both are straight from the box. The spearmen are also straight from the box, as is the Lesser Knight leader, except that he has had a Wargames Atlantic helmet crest added.

Painting wise, I followed the steps described in my first post, the infantry having a light grey tunic with blue trim for this unit and red / white shield iconography. The mounted figures were done along similar lines but with a lot of metalics on the horse armour!

POINTS

5 x 28mm Infantry   @ 5 Pts each        25 Points

4 x 28mm Cavalry @ 10 Pts each        40 Points

TOTAL                                                  65 Points

_________________________________________

Another great Arthurian post Mike. The noble cavalry would be the Tiger tanks of the period with their cataphract barding - wow. They along with the infantry and archers will give a cold welcome to the invading Saxons. Great work.

- Curt

Thursday, 26 December 2024

From Mike W - 28mm High Elves (30 Points)

A quickie post to kick off my quest on Dante's Devine Comedy.

These two GW High Elves were in my bits box for nearly 33 years - what kind of horrendous limbo could that be!

GW High Elf Spearman and Archer, from an early 1990s Boxed Set 

I saw them there the other day and I thought I'd liberate them and give them a new lease of life...

They were so much fun to paint that I'm  now seriously thinking about collecting a small High Elf Amy to go with them.

I liked doing these guys so much I'm looking for more to do - but even on eBay they are now quite expensive!

As ever these guys were undercoated white and then 'dressed' with paint! GW Leadbelcher for chainmail and spear points.

Light Yellow for spear shafts  a bright blue speed paint for robes on the archer and a lighter sky blue on the Spearman's robes, with an old gold trim on each and a dash of brass to add much needed bling!

And a final view, I went for red jewels to offset the silver and blue overall look.

I spent some time on the shields and adding a the red jewels to their bow / costumes.

All finished with a fine sand and electrostatic grass vase with a black edge.

POINTS

2 × 28mm Infantry Figures  @ 5 Pts each          10 Points

Dante's Divine Comedy - Limbo                        20 Points 

TOTAL                                                                30 Points

LInk to original APHC XV post <here>