OK, here we go...

August - 3 SDE Treasure Chests


September - 4 SDE Treasure Chests, 5 Boo Booty

Cool stuff, Dysartes. Are they all of the chests from the SDE core set? I'm wondering if I should crack open the box to do the Chests and Mimics/Boo Booties as part of my scatter terrain kick.

All the chests I've done are the combination of SDE 1.0 core & SDE: Forgotten King, along with the one on a base which came with a metal version of the Dwarf Fighter figure.

I think this month I'm going to pause on the board game stuff, and work on some of the stuff I got from the Dark Dwarves Kickstarter from Macrocosm Miniatures as a mental palette cleanser.

Here are some orcs, ready for Kings of War or Frostgrave:


More here.

Time for a loooooooong overdue contribution of my own!



My Tempestus Scions Kill Team for a small tourney this Saturday, made up of five ghouls and a Taurox, ready to (hopefully) win at least one of the three games planned for that day.

I had plans to get more models done this week, but I got recalled from my vacation, so I won't really have the time again until November at the earliest.

I managed to crank out another Blaine, this time from Dungeon Saga:


More here.

Awesome stuff here guys. Here's another contribution from me from way back in September. I'm not sure if I'll have anything for October due to my injury, but I'll try and have something done. My hand is mostly ok now, I just need to get the downstairs lights sorted out.



Many, many more pics here

I'll try and get the monthly showcase threads updated, but it might be the end of the year before I'm on top of them again as work is getting both intense as hell as we heard towards the end of the year, and aspects of my workplace are going to a very bad place. I'm not involved (thank feth!), but the atmosphere is getting nasty and there's likely to be unpleasant fallout - between the two it just means that I'll be much more tired and drained less happy-go-lucky and able to spend the time to update the showcases. I'm only a month behind at the moment...

Love those Minotaurs, Azazel. Where'd you get those heads from? Some of them look Ultramarines Legion-y.

Half of my pledge is done. Here's the previous Haqqislam starter set, all finished up.



Now on to the Red Veil starter.

Currently I'm staying away during the week for work so the full pledge might not be completed this month I should still get the Grail Knights finished and I'll be one knight of the other two units......I might still do it however.

My progress is zero as I enter what seems like the third week of a bad flu. Barely done more than try in vain to sleep and make life for my wife horrible I am sure. Maybe I will get a test model done before the end of the month?

I don't think I'm going to meet my goal of getting the Haqqislam half of Red Veil done this month. I'm going out of the country next week, so that pretty much leaves me with just this week. I'll attempt it, but I don't think it's going to happen.

October pledge complete!

I also painted the last of the EC models I have on hand. First up, the BAC terminators and hero:



Then the BAC Chaplain, which I feel is an underrated model



The BAC Contemptor, hiding with his friends:



Standard Bearer and Consul with Thunder hammer:



Praetor and Master of Signals:



Praetor with Jump Pack:



And then, while not completely new, I reconfigured one tactical squad to be a veteran squad with melta gun and missile launcher:





Some glamour shots of the full EC army, for this interested:

That's a lot of purple, Polonius - what've you found to be the best colours to use to shade purple with, out of interest?

 Dysartes wrote:
That's a lot of purple, Polonius - what've you found to be the best colours to use to shade purple with, out of interest?

It's all layered up with Reaper Master Series Purple. Some of the earlier squads were washed with black at some point, but the modern recipe is basically a layer of 2/1 RMS Nightshade Purple/Imperial Purple, then a highlight with reversed ratio, than a final highlight of pure Imperial Purple. A more detailed description is here:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/60/675393.page#8682070

I've also played around with using RMS Clear Purple (essentially a glaze), and while I like it, I'm not sure it's needed.

I've been working on orcs for a Frostgrave warband:


More here.

Some WIP shots from this morning, before I do anything to them today:





Further detail in my plog

Well, I've finally gotten those XV25 Stealth suits finished. Here's a pic for this month's OP:

I hope you like them! More pics can be found in my P&M blog. I should have some Kroot to put in for this month in a few days also.

Nifty. I like the spot colors on the sergeant (or whatever the Tau equivalent rank is).

A very light month for me, I am lacking the will to paint and also had a holiday, so managed a paltry two figures. These are Guild Of Harmony (Twisted) figures, painted as a gift for my wife's birthday.



After two months of fannying about on single figures I really need to get down to some numbers, so hopefully November I will get a unit of dwarfs finished. Another steampunk figure would be nice too.

Hey all. I've got to face the fact that my RL doesn't lend itself to "a tale of painters". Oh how I wish it would. I want to formally say that i am going to pull out of the challenge rather than whimper away in the background. I'll keep reading the thread and if there are more in the future and life more amenable I will try again another time.

I found the thread superb and I want to thank Azazelx for the work put into to running it. I know he has had very big life issues that he has managed to hobby through and I feel pathetic for not being able to live up to his example.

Best of luck to all.

TP

It's a hobby mate not a chore. Do it when and how you feel like you don't owe us anything.

I've got my Grail Knights finished.

Unfortunately I don't think I'm going to get all four knight regiments finished by the end of the month but three out of four should be done. The problem is I've been staying away from home for most of the month which has reduced painting time.

Here is the start of a halfling warband for Frostgrave:


More here.

Nice job love the sculpts whose are they?

 Llamahead wrote:
Nice job love the sculpts whose are they?

They are from Effin Cool Minis. I backed their Kickstarter earlier in the year. They are nice models, very evocative of late 80's-early 90's Citadel halflings.

Well, I've finished this guy off so far:


Dark Dwarf Mage, by Macrocosm Miniatures

Now to see if I can finish off his compatriots tomorrow...

I had hoped to have more done this month, but I focused more on getting models built and primed while the weather holds. Still, I got some stuff done for my imperial guard:

Three earthshaker carriages:



The crew for the same:



This is a departure from my old (meaning since 2002) paint scheme for the praetorians. I switched from khaki trousers to dark blue, and I've switched to Reaper master series for the reds and yellows. This requires multiple layers, but also is a much richer shade. the other big change is the switch to white kit, which looks sharp! I made some of my choices 14 years ago because I wanted my stuff to look different, but over time, I've realized that there's a very rewarding, natural color scheme to these models.

Next up are a Master of Ordinance, an Astropath, and a Medic:



For WIP pics and the like, feel free to click on my project blog.

Awesome stuff as this thread has progressed. I haven't been around much but it's been great to see people still getting such awesome stuff done. I've just done another hour or so on updating the showcase threads, though I'm still not up to date.

 TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:
Hey all. I've got to face the fact that my RL doesn't lend itself to "a tale of painters". Oh how I wish it would. I want to formally say that i am going to pull out of the challenge rather than whimper away in the background. I'll keep reading the thread and if there are more in the future and life more amenable I will try again another time.
I found the thread superb and I want to thank Azazelx for the work put into to running it. I know he has had very big life issues that he has managed to hobby through and I feel pathetic for not being able to live up to his example.
Best of luck to all.
TP

All good mate. I have to say that doing two in a row of these has kinda sapped my mojo (along with a real gak of a year). Feel free to post anything you manage to get done through the rest of the year.

I'm not sure exactly what I'll do about running another one of these - on one hand, three in a row might be a bit of an overkill. On the other hand, I get my extended summer break over January and the first half of the year is typically easier on getting stuff done than the second half of the year.

 Azazelx wrote:
Awesome stuff as this thread has progressed. I haven't been around much but it's been great to see people still getting such awesome stuff done. I've just done another hour or so on updating the showcase threads, though I'm still not up to date.

 TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:
Hey all. I've got to face the fact that my RL doesn't lend itself to "a tale of painters". Oh how I wish it would. I want to formally say that i am going to pull out of the challenge rather than whimper away in the background. I'll keep reading the thread and if there are more in the future and life more amenable I will try again another time.
I found the thread superb and I want to thank Azazelx for the work put into to running it. I know he has had very big life issues that he has managed to hobby through and I feel pathetic for not being able to live up to his example.
Best of luck to all.
TP

All good mate. I have to say that doing two in a row of these has kinda sapped my mojo (along with a real gak of a year). Feel free to post anything you manage to get done through the rest of the year.

I'm not sure exactly what I'll do about running another one of these - on one hand, three in a row might be a bit of an overkill. On the other hand, I get my extended summer break over January and the first half of the year is typically easier on getting stuff done than the second half of the year.

Cheers Az.

Regarding running more I would say that I don't like hearing that organising has sapped your hobby mojo. There a couple of options in my head - alternate hosting the "tale of" so it's not always you doing the admin or make it an annual event picking the best 6 months of the year for you. Everyone will have a busy period in a year after all. The second option may help people to plan 6 builds to put aside along a theme for that year's "tale".

If it helps, Azazel, I'd be willing to run one for Q1 next year - I did about two and a half years of this sort of thing on the PP forum, so I know what sort of dedication it takes.

Like many have said, it's a hobby not a chore or a job (well at least not for most of us). So do whatever makes you happy. So feel free to run another if you are up to it, or let it rest for a while and we can all fondly remember the effort that you have put in for 12 months of enjoyment.

I have had a shocking month for illness, but hope to post up the very small amount I got done in the final few days (although it will be a few days late, sorry).

 TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:

Regarding running more I would say that I don't like hearing that organising has sapped your hobby mojo. There a couple of options in my head - alternate hosting the "tale of" so it's not always you doing the admin or make it an annual event picking the best 6 months of the year for you. Everyone will have a busy period in a year after all. The second option may help people to plan 6 builds to put aside along a theme for that year's "tale".

The running of it hasn't sapped the painting mojo so much as updating the OP, etc takes a lot of time that I haven't been able to give it due to fatigue from RL and work - and as a result I feel like a lazy gak for shirking my responsibilities in the thread. The other part of it is that right now I've been painting/finishing off a bunch of random figures and getting them out of the way/off the desk rather than concentrating hard on units, because a year of mostly concentrating on units has gotten a little dull and just knocking out random interesting figures has become much more rewarding - even if too many of them are leftover fantasy ones when I really want to paint some Daemons or new figures like Deathwatch or Bloodthingies or Stormcast. I've just finished a third set of zombies, and feth me, I couldn't face another unit of them anytime soon. (as opposed to after the first unit, when I felt awesome about them).

I think either doing it for less of the year or sharing the admin around could work well. I guess the other thing is looking at the pros and cons of constantly having these things running - aside from specific timing of whichever months, having them be a regular thing (potentially) helps more people participate, but if it's always a thing, every month of the year (especially for over a year) then it no longer becomes something "special" for the regular participants.

 Dysartes wrote:
If it helps, Azazel, I'd be willing to run one for Q1 next year - I did about two and a half years of this sort of thing on the PP forum, so I know what sort of dedication it takes.

We have a WINNAR! PM me when you have a chance and perhaps we can work out how you'd like to run it. Handing over the reins for awhile actually sounds awesome to me right now.


Thanks Archer. I think just being a participant for the next one rather than coordinating it will work for me. I already feel more enthusiastic.

Oh, and I've realised that this bloke can be my "second unit" for October - He'll be a Berserker Lord in my KoW Dwarf army (once I get some dwarfs painted).

@Azazelx: Thanks for running this thing, it really has inspired me to keep getting my Tau stuff painted. One unit a month may seem like a snail's pace to some people, but it sure as hell beats nothing, and this challenge is what helps keep me on task. So, your hard work is not in vain, and I'm sure I'm far from the only one who would say the same thing!

I've actually gotten a second batch of Tau models painted! Here are 4 Kroot:

Okay, technically it's not a complete unit, as they can't be taken in a group smaller than 10, but it's sure better than none, right?

I know I am a couple of days late, but I am pretty happy with what I managed to get done in October as it was a horrible month for ill health in my household. So any progress was a blessing. But I have bounced back with a new enthusiasm and here is my results for October. Please note that the Van Saars and Goliaths were already painted (just needing a little repair work here and there) but the 5 hired guns hidden in there and the sector imperialis bases are all new work. Oh and these guys will be taking the role of cultists in my Alpha Legion army......



This month will hopefully be a Chaos Space Marine squad in Alpha Legion colours or perhaps I will get really inspired and Vulkan may make an appearance.....maybe.

Having entirely failed to paint any models since the challenge started, I actually put brush to model last night!

Started on a batch of 3 Nazgul on foot, felt good, so hopefully my painting mojo is back at last

I'm annoyed that I wasn't able to meet my full pledge for October. If I'd had last week, I would have been able to meet it. At least I was able toachieve my minimum goal of completing a boxed set or at least five figures.

This month, I'll again attempt Red Veil. If I buckle down, I should be able to do the entire box. We'll see though.

Also, I know you're pretty taxed Azazelx, and you don't wantmore work, but I noticed that you put my Domitar from September under BrookM instead of me.

Well failed this month for next month I'll aim to complete the two knight units and expand the Pole-Arm block to a regiment.

I knew there was something I'd forgotten to do:


More pics and notes in my blog.

My pledge for this month includes the following, all of which are currently built and primed:

Two five man assault squads on foot
Seven tactical terminators
Terminator chaplain, librarian, and captain
Librarian

I doubt I'll get the decals on, because I'll be on the road, but they should get painted.

My stretch:



Three FW heavy mortars with bases/emplacements for my praetorian IG.

Here are the last of my models for October:


More here.

First of my models for November. The finished Knight regiment.

2 banners and no musicians as I have no currently unpainted Brettonian Knight Errant Musicians and I had the standar bearers eventually they will receive a banner but not until I've decided what I'll be doing for all the banners in the army. They include the previously seen troop.

Sorry for my utter lack of contributions to this thread thus far.

But painting mojo is back, and the first fruits are these 3 Nazgul:

I've been darting all over the place lately, and I completed a few amusing side projects, so I figured I'd share some stuff.

Khorne Chaos Warrior:


Tzeetnch Chaos Warrior:



Nurgle Chaos Warrior


Undivided Chaos Warrior:


Reaper Dust Devil (that's a type of air elemental, right?)


Halloween Sophie:


Pin up Sophie:


Some REaper Bones Scenery:

Finally got something both finished and photographed. This was an October finish(ish). Have some more too but need to edit the pics. For now here's a big fella!!

Really nice conversion there, Januine - and an excellent paintjob.

No Slaaneshi warrior, Polonious? I'm choosing to believe the Undivided guy is a closet Malalite.

The Dust Devil sculpt does look like a four-armed Djinn of some form, but I can't find anything under that specific name in Pathfinder or D&D - though that could just be Reaper trying to be distinctive for one of their games. What is Halloween perched a-top of? Can't tell through the static grass.

That conversion is a sight to behold, Januine. Very nice work on him. Now I almost wish I'd done the same.

 Dysartes wrote:
Really nice conversion there, Januine - and an excellent paintjob.

No Slaaneshi warrior, Polonious? I'm choosing to believe the Undivided guy is a closet Malalite.

The Dust Devil sculpt does look like a four-armed Djinn of some form, but I can't find anything under that specific name in Pathfinder or D&D - though that could just be Reaper trying to be distinctive for one of their games. What is Halloween perched a-top of? Can't tell through the static grass.

I had painted one as a slanessi years ago, so I didn't need another purple one!

Halloween sophie is perched on a grave, and the idea was that she's just filling in the hole in front of the tombstone. I went with the thicker ground cover to give the model more color balance and make it more clearly Haloweeny, and less "sexy demon."

More models for Frostgrave, this time from Oathsworn:


More here.

I haven't been posting much as I have been extremely busy with real world stuff since the start of October but I may actually be able to sleep in my own bed for the next month or two so here is the stuff that I have managed to fit in recently. My phone's camera has a bit of a scratch on the lens hence the poor quality pictures, well worse than usual anyway

A platoon of Heer Panzergrenadiers that I have been slowly working on since April. In truth they are a bit of a rush job but at least they are painted now


I was a Captain level backer for the Dropfleet Commander kickstarter so I have just about finished my UCM fleet, I still need to do a bit of detailing and washing but I'm 90% there.

Well I guess I might as well finally post something in this thread. I can only apologise for not contributing anything since the first month. I do have a very good reason for being absent for so long but I've explained that in my new P&M Blog thread so I'm not going to bother repeating it here. I have managed to complete a set of minis this week that will work very as a submission for this month. A cell consisting of 2 4 man fire teams, a medic and an Ace (think leader/heroic character) for Black Ops by Osprey Publishing.



If you want to see more photos there are a few in my P&M Blog.

Here are all ten adventurers from the Heroines in Sensible Shoes kickstarter:



More here.

I take it, given the lack of Owlbear, that that is the group from HISS 1, Josh?

 Dysartes wrote:
I take it, given the lack of Owlbear, that that is the group from HISS 1, Josh?

You are correct, sir. I think I'll tackle the owlbear over winter vacation. After a few more heroines, I plan to crank out my Gnolls from the Nickstarter.

Man, you guys are seriously putting me to shame this month. I've barely gotten anything done. So far, I've managed a whole two figures from Red Veil. Hopefully I can at least churn out three more tonight. With luck, I'll at least get the Haqqislam portion painted.

As I finally got my thumb out and done some photos we have a few things I finished this past month

More Heroines in Sensible Shoes:


More here.

Januine - Stunning stuff!

Josh - Love those models, proper sensible old-school adventurers

I have had the paints out again and finished 4 Berserkers (except varnish/basing):

Those berzerkers are great. To this day, I regret not getting into GW's LOTR minis.

Nobody panic all is well. I have just had a productive month and managed to get my October pledge done earlier than normal (good health helps a lot). So for November I present:

My two Alpha Legion Chaos Space Marine Squads:



and Vulkan, Primarch of the Salamanders (although he has been on the go for a while I finished him this month.


More photos as always over on my plog.

Thanks for reading.

Ooh, I like the scale pattern on the shoulder pads - very nice

Vulkan looks awesome.

Lots of fantastic models showing up as the year winds down. Here are some good-enough models to bring the overall grading down:



These are Frostgrave Gnolls. More here.

There not bad at all Josh.
Finally got the Knights done.

I've also got the Pole-Arms up to a regiment.

This completes this months pledge.

Okay, these are not Tau, but I'll still put them in to show that I did paint something in November. My Blood Ravens Centurion Devastator Squad:

More pics of these guys can be found in my P&M blog.

I'm actually gonna try to knock out a few marker drones for the Tau over the next couple of days. Drones shouldn't be too difficult, right?

Llamahead: Those are some solid looking units. Do you have an army shot to share?

ZergSmasher: Very nice work on the Centurions.

I have five more gnolls to share:


More here.

Not yet I'm planning to do a showcase for the end of the season however.

I got these all completed just in time, as I'm going on a trip tomorrow. Here's the completed Red Veil set.

Haqqislam half



Yu Jing half



click either for a zoomable pic.

I'm going to keep next month's goal simple: Paint as much Infinity as I can. I will have to complete at a minimum 5 figures though. Shouldn't be too hard.

Here's everything I have finished in November:


More here.

Following a total of ZERO models done in July, August, September and October I have had a productive November:

Here are some metal gnolls from Northstar:



More here.

Great Gnolls really like that tracker. Such an interesting pose. This months pledge is an Archer regiment and an Arquebusier troop.

For this month I will be painting the minis from Gorechosen

First completed LOTR mini for December is this Uruk Hai shaman, and the trees count too as they are destined to be used in the Journey Book scenarios

I've managed to complete the first mini from Gorechosen:





There's a huge amount of work involved in painting these minis I think I'll be lucky to finish all 4 of them this month.

The first set of models from this month's Painting Area Cleanup-- some mantic ogre berzerkers:



More here.

I like that skin tone

 Slinky wrote:
I like that skin tone

Thanks. It was originally a lucky accident that I've managed to replicate across all the ogres I've done in the last few years.

Azazelx, are you still looking at wanting someone to run in your stead next year, or have you changed your mind on that one?

Sorry, forgot to post my November update, silly me. Gunnar Gunnarson and the dragon belchers, based for Dragon Rampant, Fantastic Saga, etc.

They're really nice, Huginn - all Avatars of War stuff?

I finished the last three ogre berzerkers:



More here.

Cool stuff.
Heres my Archer Regiment

 Dysartes wrote:
They're really nice, Huginn - all Avatars of War stuff?

Cheers, have a beer on my tab. These are all GW figures, metal leader, the rest are plastic irondrakes.

Now for two classic metal figures. Dwarf longbeards among you will know what's coming next.

So for this month I hope to get more done (especially with a week of time off over christmas) but to finish the year with a bang here is the latest Primarch I have finished. Angron.

Best to end this rather personal mediocre half of the year with something at least:



An Imperial Noble to go with my incoming Knight. Painted from start to finish over the course of several nights, using the lessons learned from GW's Duncan as best I can with these silly excuses for hands.

Great work guys, and thank you to all of you for keeping this thing going in my mostly-absence over the past few months. 2016 has been a hell year at work, and not exactly awesome with health and family, either. I know a lot of others have had serious trials and tribulations as well this year, so it's really heartening to be able to look at this thread and see so many people doing what they can and keeping on keeping on.

I'm still in the "recovery" phase myself, and so I've spent some time this morning trying to update the last several months. There's still a bit to go, but that's mostly chasing down things like the correct links to the right post on Archer's bog for his models and the like. Having said that, I'm sure I would have screwed some things up whether that's missing people's posts, putting things into the wrong month, or accidentally putting people's work under another person's name. If you spot anything like that, please do post and let me know (with links, dammit!)

Dysartes offered to coordinate Jan-June's 2017's Tale of Many Gamers since I'm not likely going to be able to keep up with the updating (as you might have noticed). If you're still keen to do so, please consider me the first sign-up!

Having said all that, it's time for my October post.
I'll do my best to catch up on my own models and photography in the next few days.

Another regiment of Mantic Zombies!

I'm still uncluttering my painting area. Today, I finished off these guys:


More here.

*puts co-ordinator's hat on*

I was just waiting to hear back from you before kicking things off, Azazelx - expect the thread to go live today.

And done, ready for sign-ups...

Awesome stuff mate - and very much appreciated!

Here's some more stuff from my own October as I work my way through my painted models of the past few months and photograph them.



A Warlord for Saga, along with his Hearthguard and an extra model. I'm thinking I'll add some extra details to that red and white shield. It's really bothering me now.
More pics here.

So here's the final unit for the challenge, an Arquebusier troop.

Here's the army at the end of the challenge.

I'm very happy with the results of the 6 month challenge and thank you for having me. Thanks AzazelX for setting it up and Dysartes for starting the next round.

Managed one more December item tonight.



My two Havoc Squads for the Alpha Legion.

About a day late in posting this, but here's my results for December.

Main goal


Bonuses


With that, I think I'm done trying to do the challenges for now. It was getting too hard to keep my pledges. I'll be skipping the 2017 challenge so I can paint at my own pace.