From RaulM: Merchant Shipping (12 Points)

I've decided to keep the them of merchant shipping going, so this time I have a small merchantman. This model is sold by Warlord Games as a fireship, which is such a niche use-case that I'd rather have it as the merchantman which I can use more often. In addition I painted up a little longboat to use for landing scenarios. 

The model itself is nothing particularly crazy. Technically, with the foremast being taller this would be a ketch rather than a brig. 

The reason I decided to paint her as a merchant is that her deck is modeled with a ton of crates and barrels, which as a fire ship would have been loaded with flammables and explosives. Instead I've given them a more peaceful purpose. 

The longboat is a simple little conversion I did, where I took the largest boat from the 3rd rate frame, sculpted some tiny crew, and given them some oars. Some small, fine work, but not overwhelming. 

I've painted all of the passengers as marines, which gives it a really nice bright pop of color on the table. 

 I've counted the merchantman as 10 points, and 2 points for the little longboat, for a total of 12. 

I've really enjoyed your Age of Sail work Raul, and this week's post is no exception.  That's fine looking Merchant brig suitable for many uses.  Also love the long boat. 

From RaulM: Black Seas Indiamen (15 points)

I've painted a ton of military ships for Black Seas, but what's the point if there are no fat, juicy prizes to chase or a grateful convoy to dutifully escort? Warlord thankfully has provided some Indiamen to make this a reality in your games of Black Seas. 

I purposely strayed away from yellow and black to help distinguish this ship form its escorts. The photography doesn't quite get the coloring great, but the hull is a very deep brown. I also avoided using any of the other types of national colors as I wanted this ship to be generic and usable by anyone for any scenario. 

The model also came with 4 different inserts to give some variety between Indiamen, and I chose the open deck full of cargo. It was a little difficult for me to get that to look ok in this scale, but I did my best. 

For scoring I put this at 15 points to go inline with the frigates I painted last year. It is a little larger and chunkier than those 5th rates, but I didn't have to rig any ensigns or pennants which made my life a little easier so it comes out in the wash. 

What a wonderful fat prize for any raider Raul.  Of course there are equally examples of Indiamen fighting a raider off due to their crew size and armament.  Wonderful work.

From RaulM: Black Seas HMS Indefatigable (25 points)

Hello and welcome to my first post of the challenge! It's a little later than I had hoped, but I've had a lot going on behind the scenes. You're not here for excuses though, you're here for some painted minis. I'm continuing last year's adventure with Black Seas, Warlord Games's foray into Age of Sail miniatures. The scale is 1/700 (although sticklers would point out that it's on a sliding scale and not all of them are true 1/700 and so on and so on...). The first miniature I have this year is the HMS Indefatigable, a rather famous ship in Napoleonic naval circles.

This is a resin, metal, and plastic model. The metal stern and figurehead are technically meant for one of the plastic 5th rate frigates in the Royal Navy starter box, but the Indefatigable is not a standard 5th rate, but instead a razee, which is a larger ship, like a 3rd or 2nd rate, who's upper gun deck has been cut away. So instead I used the small 4th rate razee model, which is made of resin. I also took the masts from a plastic 3rd rate as I thought the 5th rate masts were a touch too small. 

I used my standard Royal Navy colors here, which is an amber yellow with black. The figurehead was a fun little challenge, and is practically a miniature on a miniature. My photography isn't great, but that's a Greek warrior with sword and shield. 

And for those of you that can't really picture what 1/700 scale means, here's the ship next to a Blood & Plunder 28 mm pirate on a 20 mm base. 

As for points, I've scored this at 20 points based on previous challenges, particularly my USS Constitution from last year. 

Welcome back Raul and what an absolutely smashing first post!  A famous ship indeed, now you just need the Droits de L'Hommes for her to fight in a gale.   Just lovely work on the painting and rigging.  Speaking of rigging, I fully support the idea of using the bigger masts, as Captain fellow specifically kept her original masts on conversion from a 3rd rate.  I'm adding in a few points for the flag and the fine work.

From DallasE: Victoria Lamb 40K Commissar and GW Ork Kommando (10 points)

Two quick models for this week as I didn't realize the "Empire" theme posts won't go up until next week. These are a female commissar from Victoria Lamb and a converted Warhammer 40K Ork Kommando.

Standoff!

This is a vary nice resin figure from Victoria Lamb, it was an Adepticon special from some years ago and I really wanted to paint one for my old Squat army. I was surprised when I opened the blister to find that the model is actually 3D printed, not cast resin - there were a couple supports that weren't entirely removed that gave it away. Still a very nice model, I painted it using the site's painted model as a reference.

The Ork Kommando is a metal model from GW. He was originally wielding a power axe in his right hand but that broke off (as they do) and since I already had this same model in the Kommando unit, I substituted a much sturdier chainsword as the close combat weapon.

I just love the gear on the Kommandos. I painted his pants in the army's uniform camo pattern and added the red star insignia.

Check out the Swiss army knife on his belt. The Perry Twins really did a great job sculpting these Kommandos, they're among my favourite GW Orks.
 

That's two 28mm infantry models - 10 points.

Really nice work on these two figures.  Love the lipstick on the Commissar and that oaky Swiss army knife.Ten points duly noted.

From DaveV - 28mm Sedition Wars - Dr. Susan Ridley (a.k.a. Ellen Ripley) - 15 pts

 

For my first post of Challenge XVI, I finished a couple of figures for my ongoing Sedition Wars project. The subjects are a hero, Dr. Susan Ridley, and a version of her infected by the Strain nano-virus. They were originally Kickstarter exclusives for the now long out-of-print board game, Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster, from Cool Mini or Not and Studio McVey. 

Dr. Susan Ridley is clearly based upon the characters Ellen Ripley and her adoptive daughter Newt, from the movie ALIENS. However, the original Ridley figure itself (on the left, below) was an inferior sculpt, shorter and skinnier than the other human figures in the main Sedition Wars boxed set. I sourced online a 28mm 3D print to represent Ripley and Newt from Modest Minis Studio (on the right, below). The Strain exo-form of Ridley (centre) was more than fine. It's actually quite disturbing, with the child absorbed into the mothers' body, and her skull-like face sticking out of the latter's chest.

Cleaning up the resin/plastic Strain Exo-form had its problems, which I encountered when first starting this project back in 2014. You cannot file "restic", and you cannot scrape it easily; you have to cut off mould lines with a fresh, sharp X-acto knife. The 3D print was pristine. After prep,  I affixed both figs to scenic bases provided in the game. 

After priming with trusty GW Chaos Black, I used GW Corax White for quick zenithal highlights. 

For the human version of “Rilpey/Newt”, after thin glazes of GW Reiksland Flesh, I sketched in the flesh tones using the Vallejo Face Painting set of acrylics, using the colours for tanned flesh for Ripley and light flesh for Newt. I then laid in various Winsor & Newton and Schminke tube oil paints to emphasize highlights and shadows, and to smooth out transitions. Further painting was performed with mostly GW shades, with some highlights and shadows in oils.

Below, faces after acrylics, before oils. 

For the Strain version, the decayed skin, exposed organs, tubular bits, claws, fangs, and protuberances were painted with various greens, brown, purples, reds, and pinks from the Army Painter Zombicide Warpaints sets (Scaly Flesh, Zombie Flesh, Toxic Boils, Crusted Sore, then all glazed with Zombie Shade). I punched up highlights and shadows with various artists' oils. Afterward, some splashes of GW Blood for the Blood God were added after I sealed the figure in Testor's Dullcote clear matte. 

Below, more pictures of Ridley and her Strain exo-form:

Below, the completed pair of figures compared with some other Sedition Wars figures I had already painted. 

Scoring: Two 28mm figures = 10 points

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Donations:

For this year’s donation, we supported a local Winnipeg fundraiser. Clayton T. Stewart, a Winnipeg stand-up comedian and sci-fi fan (he made a Star Wars fan film some years ago), recently passed away in a house fire on Dec. 29, 2025. His family is in need.

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ClaytonTStewart

GoFundMe:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/k7udqj-support-family-after-tragic-house-fire?attribution_id=sl%3Abbed7579-4463-4732-a730-356340a843e8&lang=en_CA&ts=1767123779&utm_campaign=pd_ss_icons&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawPFT8lleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF2aEpWbzBGU0oxSENZYTdmc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHqIUWwWVSVDl2zLa9sbL4iDhbggoV1HlIeoIbpvY06wcE-kiBdYC_nP6-CSR_aem_u0l0YdHmtkpCXf99tl8itQ

I don't know much about Sedition Wars Dave, but that's a fine pair of survivors plus one.  I am going to give you points for 3 figures given that the Ridley/Newt combo features a two for one deal.  I will check out the GoFund me page.

TomL Pulp Robots and Epic ACW (210 points)

My final post of free fire.  While waiting for various stages of the ACW units basing to dry, I painted these Pulp Robot minions from Bombshell Miniatures.

These comically menacing robots remind me of the Buzz Lightyear villain.  Painted with Vallejo Metallics Aluminum, Tamiya Clear paints with a few washes.  The final infantry regiment for my ACW challenge is the 7th NJ.

 

I went back and added the unit name from the Warlord flag sheet to the bottom of all of the flag stands as it's practically impossible to tell the unit flags apart at this scale. 

These were not quite as clean a sculpt as the infantry plus painting horses takes me forever but at least I finished one of my two cavalry units.  Painted with a mix of contrast and normal acrylic paints as before.

Final points: 210

2 28mm figures * 5: 10
60 epic figures * 2 :  120
20 epic cavalry * 4 :  80
 

As I said before, thanks to everyone for all the hard work and effort to support the challenge and to all the participants for the excellent entries.  My morning coffee will be quite boring going forward.

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Congratulations on completing your Challenge Tom - you've certainly pumped out a lot of your ACW troops and I'm looking forward to seeing them all arrayed in your wrap-up post!

- Paul

From TomL: The Ninth Sphere [The Angels] (45 points)

 Guiding me to our last sphere of Paradise is the final figure from Pulp Figures Femme Fatales set:

When I first looked at the lead mountain for an Angelic character I thought of these:

But these are really more monstrous than angelic so looking at the mountain again I decided to go with a simple innocent child - Lillie Poots:

Once they were on the table being photographed I thought of a Pulp Alley Horror scenario...

The Weeping Angels are from Crooked Dice miniatures.  Lillie Poots was originally sold by Pulp Alley from Statuesque Miniatures.  All 28mm figures were painted with Foundry acrylics and some old GW washes. 

Points total: 45
Ninth Sphere: 20
5 28mm figures * 5: 25

The challenge definitely supercharges my yearly painting while giving me an excuse to postpone work on home maintenance projects until later.  It was really, really fun to look at everyone's projects, the interesting tables and incredible range of available figures being painted.  I will have one last ACW only post as soon as I finish basing the units & take a few pictures.

Thanks to my minion Paul, all the other minions, Miles, Peter, Barks and of course Curt and Sarah for all the hard work and effort to support the challenge, it was truly appreciated.

TeemuL: Your Pulp Alley Horror scenario looks nice, very interesting! Those Weeping Angels seem to be "regular cast" in AHPC, I think I have seen them once or twice before from different participants. Nice to see you finish your Femme Fatale set, too. Yellow and Green suit Lillie Poots very nicely. Good job finishing the Theme Rounds, Tom, looking forward to see your ACW post in the near future.

TomL, Faith, Hope & Love and Big Stompy Robots, 58 Points

For my penultimate post of the challenge, I present another Pulp Figures miniature from the Femme Fatales set:

I am heading toward the Eighth Sphere to visit one who understands the Fixed Stars of Faith, Hope and Love - the Grail Knight.  

This dedicated follower faithfully guards the shrine that embodies the love and hope of his faith through death and beyond. And no, you can't take the cup outside for a selfie.

This is also a Pulp Figures set with a Knight Templar, resin shrine and metal cup.  I attempted to create a marbled effect with gold underneath a black crackle compound but it is so subtle it’s almost invisible in a photo. Ah well.

Rounding out this post I have another set of Battletech mechs for a friend:

This is the “legendary warriors” set.  The first three are huge mechs in game terms as well as physically (they are 45-50mm).  These were also painted in a dark purple & black scheme so I lightened the background and used my new phone for the pictures as opposed to my 15yr old camera. The bases are painted with Secrete Weapons Concrete.

Total points: 58
1 15mm vehicles * 8 = 8
6 28mm figures * 5 = 30
Faith, Hope and Love = 20

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Hi Tom

Ooh, I have always loved the Pulp Figures Femme Fatlaes set and you have done this tough gun moll right! I do like her green suit and jaunty white tie, I think she'll be the toughest dame on your game table :)

Faith, Hope, and Love is another super figure, very useful for lots of different settings ... fantasy, gothic/horror, pulp...

And Big Stompy Robots are always great fun, especially when purple!

58 points will be added to your scoreboard (by my minion of the spreadsheet, Curt)

- Sarah