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Time to pick one last winner of the 2017/18 rotation of the painting challenge! This month, the entrants were tasked with painting minis toting excessively large weapons, be they for dealing out death at close range or from afar.

As usual, please feel free to cast as many votes as you like, and for whatever reason an entry catches your eye, be that quality of the paintwork, inspiring conversion, great ambition or a strong interpretation of the theme. Please also feel free to leave some feedback for the entrants either here or over on their blogs/gallery pages if they have them, it's always appreciated!

After this, we'll update the League table one more time and I'll set up a retrospective thread with the final results, along with the chance to post all your entries from the last year in one place and marvel at all the excellent work the last 12 months of challenges has produced!


SirOllox: Black Templars Redemptor Dreadnought


Nevelon: Ultramarines Primaris Lieutenants


Nevelon Jr.: Salamanders Captain



u971: Artillery Carriage and Land Barge


TheDraconicLord: Giant


Guildenstern: Grots


Supershandy: Tau Ethereal


keezus: Mister Graves


Midget Gems: Ork Nob with WAAAAAGH! Banner


ZergSmasher: Chaos Space Marine Sorcerer



GulgGog Tuftoof: Freeboota With A Big Shoota


lipsdapips: Robute Guilliman


Power Elephant: Cinerators


Cryocat: Ogre


ZoBo: Mortarion


dukeofbeer: Giant


Porphyrius: Raven Guard Dreadnought


Elbows: Malavyn Saal, Chaos Space Marine Surgeon


vejut: Animal Adventurers


Modock: Dwarf Dragonslayer




womprat49: Redbrands


Manalishi: Imperial Guard Artillery


Tim121RVC: Ogre


Chris56: Steelheart’s Champions


ChaosDad: Deathwatch Veteran Squad


Kustomer D: Tau Ethereal


Moolet: Wierdnob Shaman


feltmonkey: Sylvaneth Treelord Ancient


Paradigm: Aulus Brutus, Blood Ravens Captain


Ninjapirate: Dark Elf Champion




Colour Of War: Plagueburst Crawler

My pic is not working, you can't see my finished entry.

Should be working now, I changed it to a direct gallery link.

As usual, I give my votes only to models that are not just great, but truly superb. Even so I had to vote for a lot of people this month.
Keezus: Simply a superb paintjob despite the fact that the models aren't as interesting as some other contestants.
ZoBo: The paintjob itself is not as great as some other people that I voted for, but the rust, colour composition and the wings are just amazing.
Modock: Superb model, superb paintjob, with the skin and face being especialy good as usual. Not a huge fan of the NMM silver though. Looks a bit too stony IMO.
Chris56: Simply amazing NMM, one of the best entries ever.
Feltmonkey: Some of the other entries have you beaten at pure painting skill, but the glowing stick thing looks great and the base is phenomenal.
Paradigm: I'm not a fan of the way you take pictures - they are too small and there is not enough light. Even so, the paintjob and character you put onto your models is visible no matter how you try to conceal it.
Colour Of War: Great weathering, but honestly the real reason I voted for you is because I'm weak to that model, it's just so incredibly cute.

Quite hard to choose this month but I went for

Modock - The detail on it is incredible and really stands out!
feltmonkey - I think you really captured the essence of that model with your scheme, the eyes though! Wow
Cryocat - When I first saw this I was blown away by the quality of it, great work
Power Elephant - How could I not, the paint job on it is great and the blending is fantastic!
Vejut - Really impressive fur and great basing too

Voted on everyone's images,well the ones that link to dakka gallery's anyway enjoy!

As usual I just voted for the ones that made me go "Oh, yeah!" when I clicked on the picture. This has little to do with skill, and more to do with choice of miniature and whether or not it does anything for me - I know, a terrible way to vote.

Keezus got one from me for the simply marvelous impact of that miniature. Superb as if directly from a comic book.

Zobo got one from me because I haven't seen many Mortarions I really liked and it was so different...have a vote.

Porphyrius got one simply because I love a crisp black/white miniature.

Modock and Moolet got votes for simply awesome paintwork.

Felt Monkey got one because it's a great job on one of the very few AoS era miniature lines that GW produces that I like.

Colour of War: Took a stupid lookin' model and made it acceptable, even cool with a quality paintjob.

 Elbows wrote:

Porphyrius got one simply because I love a crisp black/white miniature.

Thank you very much! "Crisp" is what I'm striving for.

righto...I've been slacking off and just voting on these for the past few months now...s'pose I should add some comments this time

man...what a killer field of entries! great work everyone!...I think I wound up voting for at least 15 after spending a great deal of time sitting here looking at all the pretty pictures ...and now of course, I can't remember exactly who/how many I voted for...and, no excuses, I'm simply too lazy to type out 30 comments , so...here's my top 10 (in the order they were in in the poll)...

keezus - lovely smooth blending all over, all the shadows and highlights are gorgeous...and the blood effect is a lovely little extra touch

Midget Gems - I love the freehand on the banner, it's rough and orky in style, but still quite nicely painted

lipsdapips - an all-round nicely done guilliman, achieved in a surprisingly short amount of time if I recall!

Power Elephant - it's quite a different painting style to what I'm used to seeing, and as a result, I don't immediately like it...but, the more I look at them, the more I start to see...there's a deceptive amount of depth there, I like it

Modock - lovely work as always!...also interesting to see what you do with a far less bright and colourful colour palette

Manalishi - 4 nice grungy tanks in a month, not a bad effort at all!

Chris56 - lovely blending work on all that armour and the weapons, nice freehand too!

Moolet - I love the glowing smoke effect, really gives him a sense of power

feltmonkey - that is one bloody gorgeous treelord!...love everything about it, I think this might be my favourite this month

Colour Of War - lovely chipping, and a nice amount of verdigris and rust - the rust is maybe a little too yellow for my taste, still nicely done though

Such a bumper crop of great entries this month. I really had to think long and hard to decide which five to vote for. Ultimately I narrowed it down to the following:
TheDraconicLord: This model really fits the theme and turned out really well. The thought and execution of the patchwork clothing is probably the best part!
Midget Gems: Another very appropriate entry, even if it's not a pop culture reference! Ork gear should always be big and/or loud, and that WAAAAGH! banner certainly is big!
lipsdapips: Bobby G turned out well. I can say from experience that that model is not for the faint of heart, and you absolutely nailed it!
Cryocat: Another very well-done model from you! Like your entry from last month, the skin turned out especially well!
Manalishi: You managed to paint not one, not two, not three, but FOUR vehicles to a very high standard. That in itself deserves a vote, but these things are some of the best Guard vehicles I've ever seen!

Everyone did well this month, I think. My own entry was kind of rushed and I didn't put in the kind of effort as everyone else, but that's because I've got way too much other stuff going on right now to spend too much time on one model. I wish I had the time to comment on everyone's entry, but unfortunately I'm going to have to pass on that this time. Special shout out to Paradigm for putting in the legwork once again! See you all in the 4th annual Space Marine challenge!

Holy terra, these are all amazing!

It is an honour and a privilege to even be in this group in company of such outstanding painters.

I had genuinely a hard time choosing whom to vote for, congratulations everyone, and on to the next challenge...

SirOllox: nice weathering, the look reminds me of the ABC robot from Judge Dredd.

Nevelon: I like the dynamic poses, but somehow the snow makes it even more dynamic. The flakes on the boots and lower legs create a sense of snow spurting.

Nevelon JR: how old are you again? You already have a good eye for a good colour scheme!

TheDraconicLord: great work on the skin! Though on the upper body he's pretty squaky clean for a giant, hahaha! The muddy feet are a funny but realistic detail.

Keezus: a flawless and superclean paintjob. The small amount of blood on the club provide a sinister tone to the decent strongman.

Midget Gems: the banner is the eyecatcher on your model. I like the lengthened horns, freehand and the glowing eyes.

Lipsdapips: I have a soft spot for flaming stuff, so I’m fond of your sword and the torches. Cool hawk headon the base, where’s that from?

Cryocat: excellent work on the skin, just like the Spartans from last PC.

Dukeofbeer: Funny stuff, the lunch he’s carrying around!

Chris56: Astonishing results, very inspiring NMM! The copper version is my favorite.

Moolet: the Shaman Weirdnob is one of the best models around IMO. This combined with the wonderful paintjob makes your entry a winner!

Feltmonkey: loving the autumn-ish colour palette used here. One could also imagine the Treelord is from a burnt forest, when you consider it has a ash-ey vibe going on. Hence the evil look on the model, he’s after the ones who set the forest on fire!

Paradigm: I like him. Nothing more to say about it, so consider that as a positive thing!

My ogre: had a "frosting" accident when I tried to seal it, apparently it was too cold. So, my entry needed an extra layer of seal. Luckily, no frosting after that. I regret having not taken any better pics of the base, I made an ice base using Agrellan Earth and a bright blue layer underneath it. Unfortunately it's invisible in the current pics. Oh well. I was also considering putting some blood on the hammer, Forgot it in the rush of the last painting sessions. I'm not sure about the highlighting, that may be too light on the pants and boots. Could a glaze have solved that (apart from picking a darker highlight next time)? Still, I enjoyed converting/painting this model. The second serious miniature paintjob I've ever done, it was quite a learning experience.
I agree with others about the fun of this contest, keep it going!

Usual deal, red = a vote. At least this time I never finished, so I can really do some armchair commentary.

Sir Ollox: yes please, that's some sexy weathering and great wet mud base.
Nevelon: Good stuff, great bases. Maybe black in the joints, unless you prefer the blue.
Nevelon Jr: I'm too young to be calling anyone jr, but it's great to see you encouraging your kid to paint, and quite well for a beginner.
U971: Good, but unless it's extraordinary, I'm never going to get very excited over 6mm. It is what it is.
The Draconic Lord: Really good skin, worth the vote alone. The rest of the model is also very good.
Guildenstern: They're alright, but they're grots. Not really fitting for the theme, imo.
Supershandy: It's good, but it could do with some washes and highlights.
Keezus: my second favourite of the lot, I love the shading on the cloth, the skin is great and the base is pretty cool too.
Midget Gems: My joint third favourite, it's got a great freehand, the second biggest stick, and really evokes what 40k Orks should be, at least for me.
Zergsmasher: A bit flat, I know you can do better, keep at it.
GulGog Tuftoof: Good skin, and really good stripy yellow.
lipsdapips: Exceptional sword, clean and crisp armour, and my favourite bit, the dead guy on the base looks really well painted too, even though it would be easy to kind of ignore him.
Power Elephant: You've clearly pushed yourself, and it looks really good. That said, it's just a little off. Definitely just an issue of practice, I'm sure in the future you'll be working wonders.
Cryocat: good skin and a big stick, but unfortunately not a stand out.
Zobo: One of the best Mortarion's I've ever seen. Joint third. The wings are really something else, it's like being smacked in the eyes when combined with the muted colours of Morty himself, and it comes off really well.
Dukeofbeer: Good painting, but I hate the sculpt.
Porphyrius: I'm a sucker for dreadnoughts and clean whites.
Elbows: Good stuff, and looking again I kind of want to take it back and vote for it.
vejut: Good painting, just not really stand out or really big stickish.
Modock: First time I haven't voted for you. It's good, but I hate the scibor sculpt. I'm not normally a fan of their work, but this one just looks really off to me, like it's very obviously sculpted, so I don't feel like I'm looking at a dwarf and dragon head, but an imperfect sculpt of them.
womprat49: It looks good, but the picture's kind of blurry.
Manalishi: I love the weathering, although the mud on the tracks could do with a drybrush to make it look less uniform.
Tim121RVC: A solid entry, I'd recooment painting the base white before adding the texture paint, so the cracks show through as white rather than black.
Chris56: My favourite, I'll be sad if you don't win. An absolute paragon of NMM, the blues are exceptional, the bases great and the freehand is something else. A true example of the hobby at its best. (I really like it, if you can't tell.)
ChaosDad: good stuff, solid paintwork and big sticks all round.
Kustomer D: Tau ethereals don't wear fire warrior armour or carry pulse carbines. The caste system is frowning. Not a bad paintjob though.
Moolet: The OSL on the shoulders and head ruins what would otherwise be a great model. Shame.
Felt Monkey: The last joint third favourite, I love the base, the silvery bark, the orange glow of the tendrils, and of course, it is the biggest stick.
Paradigm: Classic Paradim style, well positioned, well weathered, cold colours.
Ninjapirate: The coak is good, but his face looks like its melting due to the spillover on his right side.
Colour of War: Does the tag make a model well painted, or does being well painted earn the tag? Who knows, but it's earned the vote.

Right, I'm off to try and basecoat the green for my SMs.

Wow, they quality this month is exceptional across the board. I do honestly think this is the best month we have had in the challenge so far. (and the last of this current years which is awesome)

Well done everyone that finished, I'll be happy to get any votes when competing with all the entries this month. Thank you for the votes and comments Zobo, Zerg (I know not even a little pop culture ref.....well apart from the bottom line on the back of the banner.....), Tim 121RV, Creeed and Felt from the challenge thread. The Banner + Freehand was the part I focused most of the attention on this month so glad you liked it

Thought I would put the effort in and comment on everyone entry. I can't wait to do the final League table update.

SirOllox - I really like how dirty and weathered you have make the front on the model. Its very well done.

Nevelon - I like the weapons and the snow up the legs ties the model in nicely with the base.

Nevelon Jr - Thats a good big sword and neat paintwork, you are doing the Nev name proud

u971 - You always manage to get a lot of detail into such small models, the red on the cannons cab is a nice touch.

TheDraconicLord - I always feel sorry for anyone that has to paint a large giants arse. You have nice skin tone and the patchwork clothing is really effective.

Guildenstern - Good old grots, you have picked ones with good poses and the bases tie them all in together nicely.

Supershandy - Well done on the camo for the cloak, I know you tired very hard to get that right and I think you have.

keezus - gorgeous purple, all the colours tie in really well and are very well done, I think this may be your best entry to date.

Midget Gems - Banner is ok, hanging skulls look a little flat in the photos, should have gone for more weathering on the banner and model, it feels too clean.

ZergSmasher - I like the green mesh effect added to the side of the model, I hope your schedule gets less hectic soon.

GulgGog Tuftoof - Another interesting Ork from you, the stone wall adds well to the model and gives it a cool pose

lipsdapips - A lot of hard work and attention ot the details gone in to your entry, the sword is especially good.

Power Elephant - You can tell you have put a lot of effort into these models and I think it shows in the deep of colour for the purples, whites and golds. To me your best entry so far.

Cryocat - A bloody big stick and good skin tones. I've really liked your last few entries.

ZoBo - The orange wings are really striking, the model is brilliantly painted all round and the colours are very different to other Mortarions I've seen, I really like it. I can only image how long it takes to finish painting that model.

dukeofbeer - The sacks on the end of the club are fun, and the guy running away adds a nice sense of scale + humour. You have managed to get very neat colour lines on the clothing.

Porphyrius - A good contrast with the sharp blacks and the whites. A good clean paintjob.

Elbows - pulling that entry out in less than a day is pretty impressive, he's got good colours and weathering.

vejut - Your super fury animals always make me smile, I really like your greens and blues.

Modock - Pretty epic as normal, I always love the NMM you do on the weapons and you get real character into the faces.

womprat49 - Would love a bigger picture to see your work, the red robe looks like its got a very good colour to it.

Manalishi - Very impressed you managed to get 4 tanks done, all to a high painting standard with great weathering.

Tim121RVC - The blue/white on the hammer came out really well, I was a bit worried in one of your WIP pic that it would work.

Chris56 - Fabulous NMM and the icy blue of the weapons is prefect.

ChaosDad - I like that you put the effort in to make them all from different chapters, quite a scary sight to see those guys all running at you with hammers

Kustomer D - Nice work on basing and posing the model, he gives the theme of the entries very well.

Moolet - Great work and you tried out some OSL which has worked well. If you are interested, David Powell has quite a detailed page on OSL Link

feltmonkey - Really cool model, you can tell you have really paid attention to the different tones in the bark and key areas. hoe you didn't agonise over it too much

Paradigm - It feels like you went slightly lighter than normal on this model or the head has made it feel lighter. I think this is one of your best for a while

Ninjapirate - You have done a good job on the cloak which can be tricky since its quite a large area.

Colour Of War - Excellant job of weathering and highlighting, really brings the tank to life.

Midget Gems

Thank you, took a complete removal and a second attempt to get it to come out right but i’m grateful for the kind words, means a lot

I still have a long way to go in comparison to the other entries on this page though!

Far out, such a large group of great entries!

Thanks to all for your comments - they really help. (Especially CREEED! - thanks)
I have been kind of out of it for a while, so I thought I would try to comment on everyone's entries this time...

SirOllox – you have some truly great weathering on your dread;
Nevelon – very crisp and clean Ultras – you must have a massive army by now!
Nevelon Jr. - love the black helm and backpack on your Salamander – great entry, well done;
u971 – these are really cool models - it must be hard to paint such tiny details but they look fantastic;
TheDraconicLord – your paintjob is super-smooth and I love that brilliant mask;
Guildenstern - cool grots, I love those models because they are so characterful;
Supershandy - the camo on your ethereal looks really good – does it extend across your other Tau troops?
keezus – this and Modock’s dragonslayer are my favourite minis for the month, you have done such a great job on the stick alone! And don’t even get me started on the purple cloth texture/shading! Top job;
MidgetGems – your models are always character-driven with strong narrative and this month is no exception. Your skull freehand is a great design and well-executed;
Zergsmasher – those evil pink eyes are really haunting – I want to steal them for a model of my own sometime in the future;
Gulgog – the stripes on those trousers are really impressive – I seem to remember that your stripes have impressed me a number of times!
lipsdapips - nice clean work on a really detailed and complex model. That sword is especially sweet;
Power Elephant – you have produced some great blending gradients on a very difficult colour scheme on your cinerators – well done;
Cryocat - very smooth skin and one big stick!
Zobo - awesome colour choices on your Mortarion – the wings are brilliant;
dukeofbeer - great range of patterns on the clothing – I really like how you have kept to the same palette but used patterns to break up the pieces;
Porphyrius – this is a really clean raven guard – one of the cleanest black and white models I have seen;
Elbows - love the Death Guard armour – it looks like a genuine piece of weathered metal with the paint flaking off (how did you do it, btw? It looks seriously real);
vejut - very characterful set of models and I especially love the ferret with the 2-handed sword;
Modock - awesome paintjob as always, the contrast on your slayer’s trousers is especially impressive and the pink around the dragon’s lips lifts the scaly skin really effectively;
womprat49 – this is a very cool warband! I love the red cloak guy – very sinister;
Manalishi - so much to paint! I cannot believe you got through so much and with such impressive weathering – great job;
Tim121RVC – your hammer turned out really well – the use of a chunk of ice as the main component works brilliantly;
Chaosdad – this hammer-squad looks great, love the one-hand posed marine especially;
Kustomer D – this is a nice, subtle conversion! Smooth paintjob and the weathering is great on the drone;
Moolet – great, smooth painting. I know you were self-critical but I think your osl really makes the model. It is executed well, providing a great point of interest from afar and up close;
feltmonkey - love the subtle bark and cohesive colour scheme – this looks like a thoroughly professional paint job of the kind you might find on box-art from GW but in alternate colours – great job!
Paradigm – your minis always ooze character and atmosphere (and gore as well!);
Ninjapirate – I really love the great snarl on the face of your DE champion; and
Colour of War - top weathering, especially on the dozer blade. That blade is truly awesome.


See you all in Space Marine month!

Chris56

The colour scheme does, but not the camo, at least not yet, I plan to get some green stuff and make cloaks for my pathfinders. Thank you though, it’s the first time i’ve done camouflage

What a great month! Thanks to everyone who's voted for my Treelord and thanks to Power Elephant, Supershandy, Elbows, ZoBo, Tim 121RVC, Creeeed, Midget Gems, and Chris56 for the kind comments.

On to the comments! As usual, I voted when the thread went up, but it takes ages to write a comment for everyone and I haven't had time to do so until now. I can't remember exactly who I voted for, sorry.

SirOllox - That is one grubby Dreadnought. It needs a trip through a carwash. What's the 40K equivalent? A death-hoser? It makes me think of the Somme or something, which is very appropriate for 40K.

Nevelon - Another neat, clean addition to the every-growing Nevelon Ultramarine army. Nice job.

Nevelon Jr - Also a nice job! Good neat basecoating, and good use of a wash to introduce some shade and grubbiness. This approach works really well ojn the shoulder-eagle.

u971 - Nice work considering how tiny the models are, especially on touches like the red windows. I do wonder whether these tiny miniatures don't give you enough room to show off your painting skills though.

TheDraconicLord - Love it. The skin tone is great, and the way you've done the different patches of clothing is excellent. I love the little checked patch on his arse. It looks like he's borrowed someone's tablecloth to patch up his keks.

Guildenstern - Nice characterful grots. I like the guy carrying the shell. What's he going to do with that in a fight?

Supershandy - Nice work on the camo, and a nice colour scheme. Good work on the chest symbol, too.

keezus - Well out in front, and it's easy to see why. Really great painting, and really appropriate to the theme. The way you've done the face is fantastic.

Midget Gems - Fantastic freehand banner. You were a bit critical of it, but I reckon it's near perfect.

ZergSmasher - It's a shame you were pushed for time. There are some really nice touches on this mini, I'm a particular fan of the book he's carrying. You've obviously got the brush skill, hopefully next month you'll have the time to show it off.

GulgGog Tuftoof - Big gun, much dakka. I like the stripey trousers and the base.

lipsdapips - Impressive work painting Rooboots Goolymoon in a month. The sword is great, and I'm a big fan of the flaming torches. Fantastic job on them.

Power Elephant - I admire your commitment in sticking to difficult techniques like nmm. The colour scheme is great, there are some nice little touches, and I really like the one sword that fades to purple and yellow.

Cryocat - Really nice painting, particularly on the skin. And a REALLY big stick.

ZoBo - Really fantastic, spectacular work. The colours you've used are great, and the contrast between the cold blue armour and the warm orange of the wings in particular. The orange almost seems to glow. I do have one criticism - and bear in mind this is in the context of it being utterly fantastic and definitely one of my top three this month. I showed the pics in the thread to my wife, and although we were both blown away by your Morty, she wasn't familiar with the model and couldn't work out where his head was. You could perhaps create a bit of contrast around the head area to draw your eye. The wings are a massive focal point, but it's always good to create a focal point around the face as well. Even a bit brighter or more saturated highlights around the face could do it. As I say though, absolutely spectacular paintjob.

dukeofbeer - I love the character and humour of the piece. The freehand patchwork and checks on the clothes are great, and I love the little touch of the labels on the bottles.

Porphyrius - Nice clean work. Black and white is hard, as no doubt you've found, because you have nowhere to go with shading and highlighting. Leaving that to the minimum and concentrating on sharp blocking in of the areas and good details is a decent way round this.

Elbows - Really lovely work, I think this is my favorite of your models I've seen. It's a really cool mini, and suits your style well. The weathering is really nicely done, and I like the face a lot.

vejut - I always like your animal adventurers, and these are no exception. I think your painting has come on a lot in the last couple of months, and these might well be your best yet. Colourful, characterful, and neat, and the way you do the fur is very nice.

Modock - Great stuff as ever. Is this done in a slightly looser, more painterly style than your usual stuff? I really like the purple tones on the dragon head, and the pinkish bits around the mouth.

womprat49 - A really nice coherant squad. I like how you repeat the red throughout.

Manalishi - Impressive work to get four vehicles done in a month to this standard! The weathering is great, particularly the mud on the tracks.

Tim121RVC - Good skin tone, and good highlighting on the trousers and boots. You were wondering if you went too bright on them, and you certainly didn't. Good bright highlights are a really important part of mini painting.

Chris56 - My favorites this month. Just bloody brilliant, and I can't understand why they're not doing even better in the voting. The nmm is incredibly well done, and doing one in a burnished copper is just showing off! The bright blues are fantastic and add more interest to the minis. The little touches of freehand are great. An amazing job all round.

ChaosDad - Good neat stuff. I particularly like the face of the guy with the beard.

Kustomer D - Again, nice neat work. There's a nice anime feel to the mini that's very appropriate for the Tau.

Moolet - Great work, fun, clean, and characterful. The osl is great, but the general painting is really nice overall.

Paradigm - Really nice. I love the facial expression on him. The little bits of freehand are very good.

Ninjapirate - Nice and neat, and the cloak is really good, the way you've darkened the bottom of it where it would be weathered.

Colour Of War - It's obvious to say it, but great weathering. The really nice thing is how where you've use the spong weathering on the edges of the tank, you've gone back in with a bit of silver to make it look like the metal showing through. High quality stuff.

I don't really have much to add about my own model. For some reason my four-year-old son has really latched onto it. He occasionally takes an interest in my miniature painting, and has a few favorites - a little cat from Super Dungeon Explore, a Jabba the Hutt from Imperial Assault - and the Treelord is his latest favorite. He's given it a name - Treeman. Okay, it's not a particularly original name. He keeps asking me to get it out of the display cabinet for him, and he likes to sit and hold it. He's fascinated by the water, how it's not wet when he touches it. I always let him look at it and hold it, because I'd quite like to encourage an interest in this sort of thing. He's really, adorably, careful with it, but it still worries me a bit. It's so fragile! You don't want to know how many times I broke it when I was painting it.

 feltmonkey wrote:
I don't really have much to add about my own model. For some reason my four-year-old son has really latched onto it. He occasionally takes an interest in my miniature painting, and has a few favorites - a little cat from Super Dungeon Explore, a Jabba the Hutt from Imperial Assault - and the Treelord is his latest favorite. He's given it a name - Treeman. Okay, it's not a particularly original name. He keeps asking me to get it out of the display cabinet for him, and he likes to sit and hold it. He's fascinated by the water, how it's not wet when he touches it. I always let him look at it and hold it, because I'd quite like to encourage an interest in this sort of thing. He's really, adorably, careful with it, but it still worries me a bit. It's so fragile! You don't want to know how many times I broke it when I was painting it.

If that isn't a great advert for kids I don't know what is.

feltmonkey

No worries, thank you for the feedback on my model

My daughter did pretty much the same thing after I finished my model and said she wanted to paint things like that when she gets older!

Always nice to hear things like that

What a beautiful month in terms of entries. I can see people put their best for the last challenge of the season.

Big thanks to Power Elephant, Supershandy, Elbows, Zobo, Midget Gems, Chris56, feltmonkey and to everyone who voted for me.
Also thanks to those who gave feedback on my dwarf.

The dwarf slayer was a love/hate relationship. The sculpt is just a work of art but the execution is a lot to to be desired. I like the Scibor "rough" sculpting style but this one was too much
even for me. Both shoulders had a crack in them, one bicep was torn, skin shows sculping tool marks too much. On top of that when I was pining the hand I drilled through the arm.
so I had to resculpt the tricep plus the shoulders and bicep. Because the skin is so uneven the blends look mediocre. Even with perfect blends it wouldn't look right.
He could be the perfect mini with a better sculpting job.


Here are my votes and some criticism (don't take it to the heart if you don't agree) .

TheDraconicLord: Very clean and crisp paint job on the giant, maybe a bit too clean. I think a bit more shadows on the skin would go a long way, but good job nonetheless.

keezus: Excellent work on the mini. The shadows and the highlights are spot on and the blends are masterfully done. Nice touch with blood dripping from the stick.

Midget Gems: Free hand is some nasty business but you nailed it with that skull. Bravo!

Power Elephant: I see you really put a lot of effort and it shows. Good work all around. I think you should work on you blends which are a bit stark, if you improve that I'm sure your
painting will as well.

ZoBo: Nice gritty Mortarion you got there! Really good choice of colors for the wings, fits like a glove.

Manalishi: Not only that you deserve a vote for the sheer amount of work you did but also the quality of your paint job. Congrats.

Chris56: Amazing minis I love them. One of the top entries this month for me. I like how you did three shades of NMM, warm gold, cold gold and copper. My favourite is the copper one.
Wanna share the recipe. Is that lion freehand if so...outstanding! The only thing that don't do justice to these minis are the photos. Usually Your pics are good but these
are quite blurry.

Moolet: Smoooooth blends. I think the OSL is spot on and the rest is just perfect!

feltmonkey: I don't exactly remember all of your entries but this treeman is one of your best if not the best entry to date. It looks really impressive. The contrast between grey and redish
brown goes well together. Plenty of the details that adds to this amazing piece.

Paradigm: Your signature style strikes again! IHMO the face and the freehand are the best part.

Colour Of War: This was a nice surprise, I didn't expect this. Everything is spot on except maybe verdigris, it's a bit too pronounce, too heavy handed.


Bye and see you all very soon.

Thanks guys!

@CREEEEEEEEED - they're carrying sticks. Or what they think are sticks.
@feltmonkey - knowing my orks/grots - he's gonna whack someone over the head with it lmao

Thank you for the comments on the freehand Chris, Felt and Modocks, that's made me very happy.

 CREEEEEEEEED wrote:

 feltmonkey wrote:
I don't really have much to add about my own model. For some reason my four-year-old son has really latched onto it. He occasionally takes an interest in my miniature painting, and has a few favorites - a little cat from Super Dungeon Explore, a Jabba the Hutt from Imperial Assault - and the Treelord is his latest favorite. He's given it a name - Treeman. Okay, it's not a particularly original name. He keeps asking me to get it out of the display cabinet for him, and he likes to sit and hold it. He's fascinated by the water, how it's not wet when he touches it. I always let him look at it and hold it, because I'd quite like to encourage an interest in this sort of thing. He's really, adorably, careful with it, but it still worries me a bit. It's so fragile! You don't want to know how many times I broke it when I was painting it.

If that isn't a great advert for kids I don't know what is.

Thats a really nice story and one I hope to recreate as well, my eldest is still only 2 so doesn't really understand why she can't eat an ork arm. I'll introduce her slowly to it (much to my wife's despair) and see if she stays interested with painting/playing toys with her dad

And then next thing you know they will be entering these challenges and getting twice the votes you are...

 Nevelon wrote:
And then next thing you know they will be entering these challenges and getting twice the votes you are...

Yeesh...
Maybe they're just being supportive.
That or you've already been supposed by your progeny.

 CREEEEEEEEED wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
And then next thing you know they will be entering these challenges and getting twice the votes you are...

Yeesh...
Maybe they're just being supportive.
That or you've already been supposed by your progeny.

He's still got things to learn from me, so the day he strikes me down should be a bit far off.

Hopefully...

Thanks for the kind comments, felt and modock - it helps to take a bit of the sting out! Yes, the lions are freehand and I had hoped to do a bit better in the poll and catch up with MidgetGems but, ahh, no such luck...

Anyhow, the copper nmm formula was to use GW Tuskgor Fur, shaded down with Naggaroth Night and highlighted up by adding Reaper Creamy Ivory (a tiny bit whiter than GW Ushabti Bone). I glazed with Squig Orange in a couple of places and added pure white for a couple of reflection points, as well.

Well...I suppose I should decide what to do for Space Marine month!

Great, Chris.

Thanks for the recipe. Damn, I don't have a single GW paint anymore.