From QuinnM: Tree Lord and some Malifaux (35 points)

This week I didn't quite finish as many models as I wanted to, but I was able to get some Malifaux completed. These are some versatile terracotta soldiers for Malifaux. These guys are some quick washes and dry brushes just to have something more than one guy for this week

And then the model that I spent most of the week touching up and refining. We have a tree-lord from Age of Sigmar. I've seen a number of these guys painted up online as cherry blossom trees (Sakura trees) and they all look amazing. And I ultimately decided to do the same for my Army. 

I am still waiting on some pink flock to fully finish him. But ultimately the OSL and nmm are things I don't have a lot of practice with and I'm going to try and do a lot of it across the entire Army. We have a larger batch that's not quite finished for next week. 

only for size ref

Points this week for me are a little tricky as this guy is big. So I'm going to leave points to you 

3x 28mm foot soldier @ 5 points = 15 points

1x 28mm vehicle @ 20 points = 20 points

Total = 35 points

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Sylvain: Quinn, this is a great "fusion" of cultural references, and very colorful too. Because of its hybrid aura, your treeman feels otherworldly. As for your terracotta warriors, they have a great earthy texture. Bravo!

Scoring is not easy, since you obviously spent a gazillion more hours on one figurine than the 3 others. I will score your large figurine as a 28mm vehicle.

From ScottR December Painting (470 Points)

Well its taken awhile to get thinks started this year.  However, I managed to get my Wild West painting sorted out to run a game from Wargames Foundry called 'Rules with No Name'.  I had painted up some western figures during my year studying in the UK.  I then attended a game at Historicon last year and really enjoyed it.  So for the start of the challenge I figured I would add all the painting work i have been doing for the game.

So here is the Town for the first game.  Most of the buildings here were painted for the game.  The mexican style buildings on the left side have not been finished yet.  

This was the table layout for the second game after the cactus plants and outcrops had been printed and painted.

First off, i managed to pick up a few MDF buildings at Historicon and they sat around until I had the time to get them done.  I spent half a day just building them and working out what they needed to be, Undertaker, Bank etc.  I base coated them in a few different browns and then went on to do the different colour frontages.  After that was some minor detail work like windows, doors and posters.  Here are some photos of the MDF buildings.

The centre building.  The Barber shop even had some NPCs done up to add some character.  This included a barber and a customer in the barber chair.

The barber, customer, chair, wagon, barrels and standing horses are all 3D prints.  The two figures are metals with one from Colonel Bills and the other is from Wargames Foundry I think.

Part of the game is to have factions consisting of three, four or five members.

These are the lawmen, 3D prints.

Comanches', 3D prints.

Comancheros, 3D prints.

Oh and While I dont have a Saloon yet, I do have some of the staff with these Can Can Girls and the Piano and Piano player, also 3D prints.

I needed some specific terrain to give the table the proper look.  The next step was to find some suitable terrain pieces to add to the game table.   I found some individual Cactus's and clusters which printed and painted up nicely.  A wagon, some horses, water troughs and barrels.  I need to find some more items and add some extras later but for now. here is what's been done.

Final casting, getting ready for the undercoat.

  

So here is the game in progress with one of the new buildings and the cactus adding a bit of character to the table.

Ok so now for the second part of the article.  Yes I could have done a completely new article but hey.  

Next up.  A few of us are old 40K players and decided after 10 years to jump back into 10th edition.  For me I started with a Sisters of Battle Force, a few marines on the side and for a second force the Eldar which are now called Aeldari.  I managed to finish off some small units to fit out my 1000 point starting force.

So like all, there is always the preparation.  With Games Workshops new plastic miniatures, I like the build these days.  They are easier to clean and the figures go together really well.  There is a little bit of gap filling to be done but this is fairly easy to do.

Then of course base coating or undercoating and then the real fun begins with the painting.

First up was a unit of Dire Avengers.  This were done with a two layer coat of citadel contrast paint to give it the dark but rich blue that they are best known for.

The next unit off the bench was a unit of wraithguard.  these were fairly easy to do as they have far less attachments and they consist of mainly wraithbone armour and weapon system.

The last unit out and by far one of my favourites was a unit of Howling banshees.  The red hair on these is awesome.  I tried to keep the brightness with a small amount of shade at the base only.

I have included the 3 veteran blade guard marines I did as test figures.  The armour colour was taken from a mix of Imperial Fists and Salamanders.  I have kept the Salamander iconography and written a small amount of lore to support the establishment of a sub chapter of the Salamanders called the Basilisks.

So thats it for this one.  Up next will be some more 40K.  With the Eldaeri done for now, well a few more but not a priority.  No, next up will be some Thousand Sons.  Rubic Marines, Scarab Terminators, Ahriman, chaos spawn and an infernal master.

As to points:

5 Buildings that are 5" x 11" so say 30 points each = 150 points
1 building 4" x 3" 10 points
Scatter cactus terrain 8 pieces 20 points.
2 walkways 6" long by 2"wide each so 12 x 4 maybe 10 points
Carriage vehicle 15 or 20 points
Cactus large pieces x 3 each is about 5-6" round say 15 each for 45 points
24 western 28mm figures 5 each for 120 points
20 40K figures 5 each for 100 points

Total points 470 points roughly, maybe....

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In the flurry of under-the-wire posts last week I regrettably forgot to upload this one from Scott - my most sincere apologies sir!

You may have been holding back but the wait was well worth it. Wow, what a tremendous amount of wonderful work. Your Western town along with its various protagonists and antagonists are excellent, though I must say my favourites have to be your large cactus bases - those outcrops are magnificent. 

With the outriders of Eldar and Space Marines on offer I very much look forward to seeing your upcoming 40K submissions. 

Well done, Scott!

- Curt

From SidneyR: The Book Golem (25 points)

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For everyone, there's always that book. The one you saw as a child, which was possibly "a bit old for you", or was in that awkward place on the bookshelf which was difficult for your hands to reach. Maybe you didn't read all of the book - maybe you only read a few pages.  But however much you read, your imagination was never the same again. The book opened new worlds, introduced you to characters from myth and legend, heroes and villains, and led you to cities of golden spires or ruins which were salted with ashes and dust. 

Something magical was happening while you read that book. And nothing would ever be quite the same again.

If that ever happened to you, maybe you had received a visit from a book golem.  These magical spirits inhabit old books and young imaginations, waiting to seep from the pages into the mind of an impressionable reader.  They can assume any form, both female and male, and can be benign or.... mischievous.  

And being magical, they are spectral in nature and dazzlingly coloured - often in pink, or purple.  Something to catch a young reader's eye.

Number Appearing: One per favourite book

Armour class: Varies, according to book description

Intelligence:  Exponentially increased with the number of pages read

Number of Attacks: Varies, but can be as many as one per book chapter (additional attacks for any Horus Heresy book chapter)

Predominant colour:  Magical, changeable and frequently pink

*****

So here's my submission for "The Golem's Haunt".  I was going to try and sculpt my own green-stuff Golem, but I've had two Games Workshop 'daemonettes', from the 1990s, hanging around the lead mountain box for the best part of a couple of decades.  These are very politically incorrect - the sculpts being explicable only by being magical in nature.  One found its way to the classical statute in my "Hall of Traps" entry (minus its demonic horns), and here's the other one.  

The Book Golem is resting besides a pile of books from Midlam Miniatures, the pages of which are illustrated by some arcane knowledge.  One of the daemons depicted seems to bear more than a passing resemblance to the Level Three magical spirit in the Chambers of Challenge XI map....

Like so many of you, fellow Challengers, I've loved books all my life.  In addition to enjoying the hobby of painting miniature figures and wargaming (or rolepaying) with them, one thing all hobbyists seem to share is a love of reading.  And, as I've mentioned, there's always one book which sparks things off...

The first photo in this post is my book golem on a page from a classical dictionary, which my Mum rescued from a rubbish bin when she worked in a library.  Broken spined, with tattered and foxed pages, it sat on a bookshelf of my childhood home.  It looked out of place.  But to a young, impressionable, eager reader (me!) it was something unbelievably different.  I used to turn the pages, trying to understand the entries, sometimes picking out the classical names and legends.  

Something magical happened when I read the pages of that book.  And I'm sure you have your own books, fellow Challengers, from which your own book golems drifted into your impressionable minds!

Happy New Year, Challengers!

So, for the points, I'd suggest just 3 for the Book Golem (minus 2 for being small - its about 20mm) and a couple for the Midlam Miniatures books - so 5 points in total, and 20 for completing "The Golem's Haunt".