Duelling Paintbrushes 3: (almost) Complete!

Well, here we are with four days left in DP3, and it's been ages since I posted any progress. So what has been happening? Well, in my terms, not a lot. I've really slowed down due to social commitments and having to build  a costume for muck-up day (at my school, the staff dress up as well as the yr.12 students).
So I've finished another five minotaurs (which is two more than I needed even for the expanded 1500 point version), the Doom Bull, and the last eight Gor (five of whom only arrived in the mail last friday...) Said Gor are not yet based so I cannot claim to have completed the challenge yet.
I still need to paint two chariots to have the completed 1500 point force needed for the World Series.
So what next? Well, more chariots, a minotaur BSB, Ghorgon and some unit fillers and themed terrain.

The complete(ish) might of the 1000 point DP3 version of the Vulgar Goatmen. (for best results, this name should be sung in a mournful baritone to the tune of the Volga Boatmen song)

The might Doom Bull, converted from a Reaper minotaur. The right arm had to be repositioned to allow for ranking up, which is also why he's standing on a rock.

The free-hand shield ridden Gors in their metallic glory. Not one is from later than 1997, and many are from 1989 or earlier.

The two-hand weapon wielding plasigor.

Converted Reaper BSB.

Completely free from conversions, this is a Reven mage of some sort from Reaper. I believe she is a bull orc.

The three minotaurs for the 1000 points.

Now here we see everything (with the characters in units)

A mighty mass of minotaurs, including the wonderully named figure 'Ox Roar: Chaos Champion of Ultimate Slaughter'.

Incidentally, he's also the only guy the Doom Bull comfortably ranks up with...

Further photographic representations of the massed minotaurs.

Foe's-eye view of the Metalgor with shaman.

Close up on the plastigor command. I wanted a more mutated look for my gor, hence the old saurus head...

Duelling Paintbrushes 3: Minotaurs and Characters

We're half way through DP3 now, and I'm a touch behind the somewhat terrifying (but worryingly achievable) schedule I calculated, mostly due to having to other commitments I didn't figure in. So instead of finishing off the whole 1500 points yesterday, I've gotten things to the point where I have eight more Gor and a Doom Bull to paint to finish the 1000 points of the challenge (the extra 500 points is just two more Gor, some chariots, and a command group for the Minotaurs)

Minotaurs. These took a while, but it was mostly just them sitting on the bench waiting for me to get back to them. Since The Lot, as it is affectionately known, came with seven minotaurs with single hand weapons, I used Ogre hands to give them the correct number of weapons.

And here we see the BSB and Bray Shaman. Both are Reaper figures. The BSB has had his axe shaft lengthened to become a standard pole, and a freehanded banner added. The Bray Shaman is a Reven mage of some sort. She's not really very beastly, being more orc shaped, but I like the old school Beastmen idea of them just being all manner of mutants, not all angry goat men. Besides, Tzeentch likes to mutate things, so she can totally be a Bray Shaman.

I'm still waiting on some Gor to arrive from the UK to finish my unit with shields, so I guess you'll be seeing the Doom Bull before the PFH ishoo on Gor and free-hand shields.

Gippsland Gamers - at last a home for Gippy Geekery!

Yes! Amidst the madness of Duelling Paintbrushes 3, school and the Coal Creek Literary Festival, I've found time to start a games club! Check out the club's site for details!

Duelling Paintbrushes 3: METAL!

The first batch of MetalGor is completed. All eight of them. I've got 20 at present, with another five in the mail from the UK, so the unit will not be completely completed until those arrive and get painted. Since the unit will be 24 strong, three batches of eight figures each seemed like the way to go.

These are all 'classic' figures, copyright dates being either 1989 or 1993. They are much more diverse than modern beastmen - although they're mostly goat headed there's a lot of variation in faces and bodies, and even equipment. Some are wearing armour, and some even have a hoof on one foot, and a lion's paw on the other! Luckily, the replacement Vallejo Skin ink arrived today as well, so I can do the metalics and complete the bases now.

These guys are from the era of Warhammer which was influenced by Heavy Metal, and made from metal, and GW even had a record label which recorded... metal. I keep expecting them to start throwing the horns up at any moment.

Since I encountered the Oldhammer movement, I've been getting more interested in retro-style free hand shields. So I had to have some on these retro guys.

The guy in the middle is a '93 vintage version. He's much more 'standardized' than the 1989 versions around him.

The champion is also a '93 edition. Need to go back and add some contrast to his various medallions so they stand out from his chain mail.

Duelling Paintbrushes 3: The First Unit

Well, here we are at 21:00 on the third day of the challenge, and the first unit of Gor is complete (apart from bases - run out of paint...) Yesterday I only had seven fully painted, and seven nearly done. In fact, yesterday morning I only had 14 built.
Now I've got the full 24 man unit painted, including a free-hand banner. Tomorrow I'm giving myself a treat and starting on the second unit of gor, all of which are '93 or earlier metals. I've got twenty of them, and I've just ordered some more from eBay to finish the unit. In the meantime, I've made some... heavily mutated beastmen to fill things out a bit. But more on them later.

24 rather large and angry (and bright blue!) beastmen, all painted up.

With their freehanded banner (the flash has not done it justice - I'll get a better lit photo.

The last ten beastmen have all had more interesting heads fitted.

Well, tomorrow I'll be working on old school metal Gor. Who knows, there may even be an ishoo of PFH in the offing...

DP3: First Blood.

No, not literal first blood. The metaphorical kind which is caused by finishing the first seven miniatures in the challenge. In this case, the first seven Plastigor. Being on holiday helps, but for the next few nights I'm going to be out, which will slow things down a bit.

Blue Gor? Well, I've got Khorne, and I've got Nurgle. So now I'm doing Tzeentch, even if GW decided to remove the Chaos gods from the Beastmen book. And yes, I know these are not completely complete. As discussed last year, I like to do all my bases at once at the end of the unit. Plus I'm just about out of one of the important colours for basing.

Annual Terrain Compometition 2013: WINNERS!

The curtain opens on an empty stage. An expectant hush falls over the Hippodrome (you expected this to take place somewhere else?). A lone, grey figure appears...

Yes! Elana Abicare has won the inaugural under 5s category, with a little help from Dad...

Instead of calling this 'Juniors' I've created a new category. Mostly because I'm not sure what Elana will do with a $30 TFH voucher. I do know what she'll do with a Schleich baby hippo.

And no, on to the seniors!

"Dear Hippoz,

here be-s my submisshiun! It be-s ruins of dwarf outpost took over by human mage, and built over.

I will eventually look for expandin-it in the future, but for nao I hope it helps with your contest (went on a real rush, the paint is still wet. duh!).

As you can shee, I learned A LOT from Khador Townhouses issue ... and still picked some ideas somewhere for the foamcore stone blocks.

Yet, attempted to add something on my own: you'll see a simple trick for building doors and windows with (even more) ease. And the Chimmey! The chimmey copper tubes are spare parts from an air conditioner implant. A cool tribute to UK that's been (I'm from southern europe).

Pew. Hope that's enough. See ya next year!

Jules"

Congratulations Evan - you've won a magnificent, newly redesigned certiwotist of winneration. Oh, and a $50 TFH custom terrain voucher, the building of which will be featured in an up coming ishoo.

Well done also to the ever cunning Pete Spiller (last year's winner) for his clever use of a 3D printer. He's won a magnificent certiwotsit and a $30 TFH voucher.

And remember, it could be you next year!

Duelling Paintbrushes 3: It Begins.

 

It's october first, which means Duelling Paintburshes 3 has started! Usually, that'd mean I'd be painting away like a mad man, but because things didn't arrive in the post until yesterday, I've only just gotten the time to spray the undercoat.
So instead of painting, I'm in here blogging about not painting.
And certain other things.
First off, here's a photo of what I have to paint for the challenge. Well, most of it. There's actually a bit more. More Gor to be specific - they're in the mail.

There are a few changes from the list I published previously. Because of the models I managed to get, one of the Gor units has hand weapons and shields, instead of two hand weapons. This costs the same. Also, the minotaurs in the photo have only got single hand weapons. They'll be converted somehow to two hand weapons. And I've just realised that in my enthusiasm to get everything undercoated, they've been undercoated...

The other thing is Duel Counter. My idea here is to create a gadget on the side bar where I can keep count of the figures so far painted and unpainted. And you can check my progress at a glance. Because I am that egotistical. It'll just be a customised HTML gadget, nothing fancy.

In other news, the Annual Terrain Compometition has closed for entries. I'll be getting the winners up soon.