Hail to the King, baby

Alright you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This... is my BOOMSTICK! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?

When I was maybe 11, I saw late at night a horror movie called Evil dead. It terrified me. So of course I watched Evil Dead II not long after and was also terrified, again. The "humour" in the movie escaped me, and the fact the main hero, Ash, spends a good half of the movie alone, tormented by evil demonic forces really made a number on me. But the worst part was the movie's ending, in which our hero gets propelled back in medieval times, not the happy ending you want for your horror movie.

Lady, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the store.

And who the hell are you?

Name's Ash. [cocks rifle] 

Housewares.

Two years later, I saw a commercial for Army of Darkness, and I realized it was the sequel to Evil Dead! Finally I would knew what happened to Ash! As I was 13, and the movie was PG-13, I went to see it in the theater. I quickly realized that the sequel was much more lighthearted than the original, and while for a moment it disappointed me I rapidly fell for it's humour, and laughed for 90 minutes straight. 

You found me beautiful once...

Honey, you got reeeal ugly!

To this day, Army of Darkness is one of the movies I've seen the most often, and I can recite most of the movie lines by heart. And they're so many classic quotes in that movie! 

It's a trick. Get an axe.

Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.

I got this Hasslefree miniatures a while back, because obviously as a die hard fan of the serie I needed it, and obviously when I saw the last bonus round theme (TV or movie character) I knew what I had to do! At first I wanted to do a diorama, but after painting the figure the wargamer in me whispered to my ear "you'll want to play with him, are you sure a diorama is a good idea?" That combined with lack of time as I've been working really hard on that Pulp duel with Sander made me decide he would be enough. And who am I kidding? Of course, Ash is enough! 

I intend to use him in Pulp games, and also of course Zombicide! It's a great figure, and I'm really happy with my painting.

Sure, I could have stayed in the past. I could have even been king. But in my own way, I *am* king.

Hail to the king, baby.

Chicago Mobsters (West theme entry for the Analogue Challenge)

So I had to improvise a little (a lot) for the West entry, submitted for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I had what I thought was a very good concept for the Challenge (the Wicked Witch of the West), but unfortunately the world's posts and/or Canada customs conspired to ruin my plans! Indeed, the order I made specifically for this bonus theme round apparently got lost in the mail somewhere, and I was left with nothing! I actually waited until yesterday, hoping it might miraculously show up at the last minute but alas it was not meant to be. I woke up this morning a bit frustrated at the whole situation resigned that I would miss this bonus theme round. But then by mid-afternoon I shook myself up, and since I always join the bonus round (terrain excepted), I figured I had to come with something!

So I frantically went digging into my lead pile. Now, I remembered I had a lone Far West Cowboy figure left, but that didn't excite me, as it seemed an easy way out. I figure a few of the entries would be Far West (nothing wrong with that) and I wanted to do something different than a single Cowboy.

And then by pure luck I stumbled unto two Gangsters figures. They were the remnants of a pack of Copplestone Miniatures gangsters I bought many years ago to paint as a gift to Laurie (she's into everything 1930s, especially the cinema and Film Noir). And my brain started working a little and making associations...gangsters, mobsters, 1920s Chicago, Chicago the Midwest city, often referred as the Jewel of the Midwest...ha! Got it! I'm pretty sure no one does Midwest for this theme! 

It was a bit of a hectic day after that; they needed to be cleaned, primed, based and painted by midnight. 

And success!! 

So my entry is Dean O'Banion and Bugs Moran, the famous leaders of the North Side Gang, the Chicago Irish Mobsters and main rivals of Al Capone's Chicago outfit who fought in the 1920s and 1930s in what is now known as “The Bootleg Battle of the Marne.” 

Dean O'Banion and Bugs Moran

I went with classic Mobsters suits colours of Navy blue and "shiny" grey, and really i'm just happy I managed to not only finish them but making them look decent with very limited time. I won't win this challenge but I'm really proud I managed to sneak in this entry! They will be added to Laurie's Gangsters collection as I really have no gaming use for them.

60 extra points for the challenge (10 for the two figures, 50 for the Bonus round entry)

1st Duchy of Warsaw skirmishers

Au menu today we have five Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw skimishers, from Murawski Miniatures. The figures are from the Voltigeurs in Full dress, campaign dress set as well as the new "extra" scruffy Campaign dress figures. And boy are they scruffy! Roger has a real problem and just keeps producing more and more Poles! The sheer variety is one of my favourite thing about the range, and oh if all Napoleonic armies could get this level of completeness and love (other than the French and British, the boring and annoying favourites, of course).

The figures are fusiliers and voltigeurs skirmishers from the Duchy of Warsaw 1st infantry regiment, presumably in the middle of an exhausting campaign! I'll probably end up using them for skirmishes set in the 1809 campaign between the Poles and the Austrians (and maybe Brunswickers 'cause they look cool).

They are meant for a small Napoleonic skirmish project I'm just starting, the goal to play really small scale skirmishes and maybe eventually bigger ones like Sharpe's Practice. But mostly, it's an excuse to give extra love to my favourite Napoleonic ranges: it seems I always paint Naps in batches of 16 or 24, and I wanted to work on small batches and individuals for a change. I must say it was a very different experience from batch painting Napoleonic battalions!

The Murawski figures are as usual lovely (I'm biased), and I'm always surprised I don't see more Duchy of Warsaw in blogs and on the battlefield, as it is really a lovely army with their distinctive Czapka and colourful facings.

So, for this entry that's 5 28mm figures, 25 pts.

Rhino Miyamoto, Samurai of the Cinnamon Clan

Every year in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I find a way to paint one of Dark Sword's amazing Anthropomorphic Animals, usually in a Bonus Round challenge. It started with Sir Kermit the Frog Paladin many moons ago for the "Hero" bonus round, then a Frog Jester for the "Comedy" round, a Frog Prince and Princess for last year's "Amour" theme (which won the round) and Kitty Bonny, Cat pirate! As someone who's attached to traditions, I obviously couldn't let this year challenge go by without a nice Anthropomorphic Animal...So I made my choice pretty quickly for this bonus round, "East". It was especially easy as the figure I was thinking of using was a free figure sent by Dark Sword as part of an order (Yes, they usually give you a random figure, another reason to love the small outfit). The only difficult part was finding him in my lead pile, as it had been stored during last year's house move! 

So no frog this year, as we go into the house pet category, with the exotic and oh so vicious North American Guinea Pig! So I present to you Rhino Miyamoto, Samurai of the Cinnamon Clan. 

I must say the armour was a bit of pain to paint, but in the end it's well worth it. I'm especially happy the black came out well, even in photography.

The black armour was painted black and then delicately and lightly drybrushed with grey; I wanted to pick the details but still wanted it to look very black and not grey. The yellow is my traditionnal Ochre/yellow recipe, and the yellow details on the armour were picked up manually (that was the painful part). 

I had to google to find out what Guinea Pigs eyes looks like, and I think I've a good job replicating their big black shiny eyes. 

And there you have it, one more critter in the display cabinet! These guys are Laurie's favourites so they have a place of honour in the living room cabinet! 

And as for his name, well his last name is pretty obvious I'd think, but his first name is a wink to the most famous guinea pig of them, and a favourite of mine...

And that's 55 pts for the challenge (50 pts for the bonus round, and 5 for the 28mm figures).

This was entered as my submission in the East Bonus Theme Round . If you like him please go vote for me!! Rewards includes bragging rights, hobby goodies and extra points for the challenge. 

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, Part VII

Yes, the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is back for it's 7th year (I know, time flies). Better and bigger than ever, with 100 participants! While the Fantasy and Sci-Fi side of the Challenge will occupy the vast majority of my time, I do intend on working on a few things for this place.

So what's in store for this blog? Well two small projects, really.

1. Napoleonic skirmishes. I've got the skirmish bug recently, for both Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and I've been thinking of doing something similar for Naps. Really, it's an excuse to paint some of the many great skirmishing Napoleonic figures on the market. One of the things I like about skirmishes is the ability to spend more time on each figures, and it's something I especially never do with Naps. So I got myself Songs of Drums & Shakos, because I love the engine, and would like to create small 10-20 men forces. Eventually maybe I'll be able to use them in bigger skirmish games like Sharpe's Practice, although it is not my goal per se. What do we start with? Well some Poles from Murawski Miniatures, of course! Roger sent me this summer some of the new "Retreat from Moscow" skirmishers and they are really good looking. I'll use them for the 1809 Danube campaign to create a wonderfully ragged bunch. 
2. I'm having a side-duel (well two actually, you can read about the other one on my Marauders and Citadels blog) with Sander Van Straeten, who I met on a Facebook page. The duel is for "80s Military and Sci-Fi Pulp" and consists of a single entry, between 25 and 50 pts worth of infantry, along with one mandatory vehicle piece. Now, you may ask yourself "And what exactly is 80s Military Sci-Fi Pulp?". Well you'll find out! It's not the type of thing usually seen in this blog, but it should be a fun entry. Also, my very first 28mm vehicle. Wish me luck.
3. There's a 3...kinda. I reserve the right to work on anything else I feel like! It might be historical, it might be Pulp...heck it might be Zombies! If it's not strictly Sci-Fi or Fantasy, I'll post it here! 

Of course, the above doesn't include the bonus theme rounds, and my plan is to participate in all of them but one (I don't do terrain).

My goal for this Challenge is to hit 550pts, although I hope for more.

The Princess and the Frog

Last week's theme for the bonus round of the Analogue Hobby Challenge was "l'Amour". Probably not the most natural subject for us Wargamers! But I was in luck. Last year while ordering my Frog Jester from Dark Sword I stumbled unto a few figures which I got as a future gift to Laurie. And of course this bonus theme landed on St-Valentine's day. The miniature painting Gods were smiling upon me! 

So I painted a romantic scene of a frog prince courting a frog princess. Your classic love story, really. A frog cupid, sending his love arrows into the prince's heart, was added to the scene, to tie the whole thing with Valentine's day. 

The figures are from Dark Sword's Anthropomorphic Animals range, and painting a frog during the challenge has become an annual tradition for yours truly! You may remember two years ago I painted a frog knight "Sir Kermit", and last year I went with a frog jester. This year I went big with three frogs! 

Painting this range is always a lot of fun, as I can let my imagination run wild and just go with lots of colours. I'm also getting good at painting the critters and really happy with this lot. I'm especially proud as they were painted using a GW brush! In a moment of sheer clumsiness I ruined my precious Rosemary and Co. brushes by spilling army painter varnish on them, and so had to buy the only available brushes in Montreal. They are worse than I remember! 

So obviously this entry is also my Valentine's day gift to Laurie, my girlfriend and mon amour. The Dark Sword's frogs have always been a favourite of Laurie (yes for some weird reason she prefers them to Chaos Champions and Napoleonic soldiers) so I spent two weeks working on them in secret, when I was alone or when she was sleeping! 

Not only did she loved it, but this piece won 1st place in the Challenge bonus round. I'm quite happy as my best score before that was a 3rd place for my Jabberwock. And the competition was fierce with some awesome entries. 

And for those wondering, so far my entries in the Analogie Hobby Challenge have been Oldhammer and Sci-Fi, which you can see in my other blog. But I am working on two historical pieces...

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, Part VI

A few weeks back Curt sent me the now customary email "Hey, want to join the next Challenge?". Now, that's a ridiculous idea to even contemplate. Half my stuff is in boxes, including some paints and a lot of miniatures, I spend my evening dealing with notary and bank stuff, my week-ends will be spent working on my new house. I have absolutely no time to give to that crazy Challenge.

So I said yes.

When Curt sends me an invitation to the challenge...

I just can't...say no. The Challenge has become such a winter tradition, it would be like skipping on Christmas or something. I even went for the 500 pts target. Honestly, there's no way I'm reaching that, and there's a good chance I'll not even get close to that, but damn it, I'll give it my best shot! After all, this year's Challenge is about risk takers, right?

And this year, I'm going rogue! No planning, no list of what I want to do, no specific projet to start or finish. I'll just pick stuff that is available (i.e. not in boxes) and stuff I can paint with the material available to me (i.e. not in boxes). So expect the unexpected! Expect a weird bunch of unrelated stuff. I embrace...Chaos!!

Just paint baby! 

Bonus theme rounds entries - Hot and Comedy

This year, one of my goal for the Analogue painting challenge was to enter as many bonus themes as possible. Really, it was just a challenge to myself. It is surprisingly demanding, as you basically have a deadline every two weeks, but it is rewarding and it makes you paint weird stuff you would not otherwise have considered. My last two bonus round entries, "hot" and "comedic" are exactly like that.

HOT

 

When Curt announced the bonus theme rounds, I immediately thought that the "hot" round, considering the high number of men in this hobby, would probably have a substantial number of "hotbabes" entries. Yeah, I know, how very original...Obviously you'd supposed knowing that, I'd find something different to paint. Well...you'd be wrong! I indeed decided to go with a hot babe, and what is hotter than a pin-up? Well, how about an angel pin-up?

The figure, "Thief of Hearts Pin Up", is from Dark Sword Miniatures, whch is rapidly becoming one of my favourite manufacturer of fantasy miniatures. It is a very detailed and delicate sculpt, which made it a bit harder to paint and is very different from what I usually do. However it gave me an excuse to use pink, a colour I really enjoy painting. It also made the figure "hot" but in a cute kinda way. Pin-up style rather than Hustler style, if you get my drift. It was my first time painting women's panties!

COMEDY

Of all the bonus themes rounds I can remember, this one was the one I had the most difficulty coming up with a good idea. Comedic? Really, I had nothing in my big pile of lead which seemed to fit that bill. So, again, I turned to my favourite provider of weird and original miniatures, Dark Sword Miniatures. And again the small outfit delivered when after some search on their website I found a great little piece; a Frog Jester! Perfect!

So I went crazy on this little fellow, trying to cram as many colours as I could on him. Hey, a Jester is supposed to be tacky and colourful! It made for a nice little distraction.

So I used pink, 2 types of purple, turquoise, yellow, pale blue and red! And I'm quite happy with the look of this fellow. 

Obviously neither of these figure will find their way on my gaming table any time soon, but its those pieces I *never* would have painted if not for the Analogue hobby. And I do enjoy getting out of my comfort zone from time to time.

Austrian artillery

Today we go back to my first love, the Napoleonic Austrian army, more specifically the artillery arm, with a battery of 6pdr guns. These will come in handy when we play LaSalle, which requires big 4 gun batteries. Anyways one can never have too many Napoleonic guns. I did myself no favour in the competition though as it always takes me forever to paint Napoleonic artillery!

I said it before and I'll say it again; the Austrians just knew how to look good in the field. No exaggerated fluff, no looking like Christmas trees, just a simple and smart dress, and the artillery was no exception. The guns are Sash & Saber, which are by far my favourites and really the only one I use, and the figures are Perry Miniatures. I must say I cursed a lot while cleaning the Perry figs, and it reminded me why I avoid them these days (heresy, I know). The sculpts are great, but the castings were horrendous. Anyways, I'll admit painted and finished they do look pretty good! As usual with the Perrys, the animation makes the figures.

The guns were painted using Foundry Ochre triad and finished with AP, and I really like how they came out. After many experiments in the last few weeks, these were also the first unit to get my new way of painting whites for cloth, using Andrea white paint set. It's less pure white than what I used to do, but I think it's more subtle and more realistic.

If I can muster the courage, and if Curt keeps the madness going next year, I'd like to paint a caisson and some limbers for my guns during next year's challenge! But not this year, I can only manage painting artillery in small dosage!

These guys should have their baptism of fire pretty fast, as we have a game planned in just a few weeks.

I believe this quatuor of guns adds 100 pts to my total. Not bad.

Victorian bonus theme round, "Monsieur la Mort"

I almost didn't participate in the Victorian theme round. Yeah not my cup of tea. But then I realized one of the figure I intended to give for Xmas to a friend fitted the bill perfectly (you may remember I decided to paint a unique figure as a show of gratitude to my best friends who supported me, visited me and cheered me up through last year's hard times)! How lucky is that?! So I present to you "Monsieur la Mort", Death, if you prefer. For you see, in the Victorian era even Death would dress with flair! 

The figure is from Freebooters Miniatures, one of those unique sculpt full of personality. It is meant as a gift to Emmanuelle, one of my best friend who happens to be a big fan of horror movies and zombies/undead, as well as a hopeless romantic (notice the rose our Monsieur la Mort is offering).
 

So there it is, la Mort, "a la Victorienne!" 

I'm quite happy it managed to crack the top 5 of the Challenge Victorian round (yeah).

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, the historical side

Its that time of the year, when temperature drops, snow covers the ground and we get ready for another crazy painting challenge! So as usual I decided to join the fun, along with a whopping 71 other crazies! Yes, the challenge keeps getting bigger, and this year there are a few changes. First and foremost the Challenge now gets its own blog,  and all the participants get to participate in it by writing their own entries. We also get a date in which we can post our weekly updates. In my case Tuesdays. This should help Curt manage this massive endeavor. 

So as usual I've set myself a goal slightly above what I've done in the past, this time 600 pts! The scoring is as follow for the 28mm painters :

28mm foot figure = 5 pts
28mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 10 pts
28mm vehicle = 15 pts

I've been working hard on Oldhammer recently, but I do want to include some historical painting in the challenge. So here's the goal, on the historical side of my hobby :

• 4 gun Austrian battery, with 12 crews : 100 pts 
• 24 Canaanite Royal Guards : 120 pts 
• 12 Canaanite javelineers/skirmishers : 60 pts

Historical total : 280 pts.  

So all in all between my historical goal (280) and my fantasy goal (315) I'm short 5 pts but I have a few individual figures and surprises in mind to fill that gap. Of course, I reserve the right to change my plans without any notice! This is merely a tentative plan to help me focus.

Also, as Curt did last year, every two weeks there is a theme bonus round. These are worth 50 pts each but I do not count them in my point planning, although they will surely help me reach my goal if I can submit enough of them: 

• December 14: Cold
• December 28: Mount(s) & Rider(s)
• January 11: Victorian
• January 25: Myth
• February 8: Hot
• February 22: Comedic
• March 8: Anti-Hero

I have an entry in mind for all the bonus round except the cold and the hot (which I may or may not participate in depending on my progress). But I'll keep my ideas secret and they will be revealed on the appropriate dates.

So the last two weeks I've done as much as I can on the prepping side, trying to be better prepared than year's past. I haven't prepped everything, but its a very good start. 

My prepping table this morning

For those interested, you can find the Fantasy side of my challenge here

And finally, I'm proud to mention that Murawski Miniatures is sponsoring the challenge this year.  And boy are the prizes worth it!

Sir Kermit de la Grenouille (Bonus round entry)

Last week-end was the latest Fortnight Thematic Bonus Round, this time the theme being Hero, As with the vilain, I had a lot of fun with it.

Hero. When I saw the word I immediately thought of heroes from fantasy worlds, and especially the fantasy of my youth, the Disneys and such. I just wanted to do something really different from what I usually do, something bright and shiny...and good.

  
Dark Sword Miniatures were just the right place for that (btw I highly recommend them, great figures and amazing service). When I saw the figure, a Frog Champion in shining armour, I knew I had found just the perfect piece. It was heroic enough without being too "goody two shoes". Standing tall at 37mm, this figure is clearly on the "heroic scale" side of the "28mm" world. It is a really cool and awesome sculpt and it was immensely fun to paint. I call him "Sir Kermit de la Grenouille". I could just see him in a Pixar movie! 

Obviously being meant as a display piece only I gave him a big 40mm round base and had fun putting a big mushroom on it, which I think works well with the figure and gives him a sense of scale. The mushroom was done with milliput, with some wire covered miliput for the stem.

I must say I haven't painted a figure for display only in ages, and its not a figure I would've painted otherwise, so I have to thank the challenge for that, which is pretty cool. 

If you like him, please take a few minutes to vote for him over at Analogue Hobbies. And if you don't like him, you can still vote for other awesome entries!

Top 3!

I am quite pleased that my Jabberwock snatched the 3rd place in the Villains bonus round, out of around 50 entries. I believe this is my highest result in any painting challenge, and I'm especially proud of the fact I was up against fabulous competition. I did not expect to finish in the top 3, although I I was especially happy with my painting on the Jabberwock. 

Such a nice sculpt too, Tom Meier did a great job.

As for me, I had a soft spot for Nick's hilarious Goblin Pirates (love the blue and white trousers)

and of course the amazing Sidney's Mata Hari vignettes

And congrats to all participants!

The Jabberwock

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!  
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun  
The frumious Bandersnatch

I hesitated a lot when it was time to decide what figure I would enter in the villains bonus round of the Analogue painting Challenge. After all, with me painting an Oldhammer Chaos army the choices were plentiful! In the end I went with the Jabberwock for two reasons: it's a really cool figure and I figured there was no way someone else would submit one! 

The Jabberwock was always one of my favourite Chaos monster. I mean, just the name "Jabberwock" is awesome and for some strange reason fits perfectly with the beast's appearance. I remember seeing a picture of one in the Warhammer 3rd edition bestiary and thinking I needed one of those! Just...so...bizarre! 

The figure I used was released in the early 80s, 1982 I believe, by Ral Partha, and was sculpted by Tom Meier. While not a Citadel figure per se, it was sold in Europe by Citadel under license. I bought that figure, actually sold in the Citadel packaging, in the late eighties, in a now long defunct hobby shop "bargain bin". I undercoated it, lost interest and the poor fellow spent more than 20 years in the bottom of my lead box. The figure has aged remarkably well I find, and it is still today imho the best looking Jabberwock available on the market. Few sculpts of the Jabberwock have been made in 28mm; one by Ral Partha, one by Citadel and a recent one from Reaper.

The great thing with this creature is that you can truly let your imagination run wild as there is no "accepted" reference, and most pics are black & white. I went mostly with a striking green to match the colour scheme I intend to give to my chaos force.
He's one of many weird monsters I would like to paint and he will more than likely have a place of honour among my Chaos monsters, as I really like him.

 

 

 

This weird creation of chaos gives me 70 pts in the contest (extra points for the bonus round).