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This month the topic was: SURPRISE! - Stealthy troops, cavalry reserves, guerrilla fighters, etc. These models don’t work in a straight forward manor. The come from odd angles, from the shadows, other dimensions. Like the Spanish Inquisition, nobody expects them. Your entry should be something that exemplifies the element of surprise.

As always, you're free to hand out as many votes as you like, and for any entry you feel deserves recognition, based on anything from technical proficiency or model choice, a neat conversion or a cool take on the theme, or anything else! You're also very welcome to leave some feedback here for the entrants, and many of the images click through to the Dakka gallery if you'd like to give out a vote or two there as well.

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Daia T'Nara - Lord Bentley Spore-Mine and Associates


inmygravenimage - The Raft of Damned


blockade23 - Bombard


Ezki - Traitor Guard Sergeant


Geifer - Alice After Hours


Captain Brown - Cawdors


youwashock - Sunstalker Dancer


Nevelon – Striking Scorpions


Mr Nobody – Boss Snikrot


Pariah Press - Genestealer Magus of Khorne


theCrowe - Goat-Beards


KidCthulhu - Siren Touched Cultist (Order of the Blind Siren)


Dr.Botnik - Dread Zeppelin


halfling84 - Crew for the Colossus crane:


Jadenim - Stormboyz


JoshInJapan - Ninjas!


Midget Gems - A Warboss Surprise (the cake is a lie)


Vejut - Teeth and Boomer


Turaxa - Iron Hands Deathwatch Space Marine


XvArcanevX - ManBearPig


Zambro – Striking Scorpions


Pursuit Of Happiness – Plauge Marine


Syro_ - Raven Guard Terminators


ZergSmasher – Genestealers


bantha_beast – Eversor


Maharg - Beastman


CancelledApocalypse - Raven Guard Veterans


As always, if you notice I’ve missed something, let me know. Poll will run for 5 days

As its the last challenge of the year I think everyone should get a comment since I've not done that in a little while

Daia T'Nara - The gentleman spore mine is a top idea, nice highlighting on the scales.
inmygravenimage - Cool idea of a shark Raft, skin is very well done as is the mouldy wood
blockade23 - A nicely presented canon and crew with good basing
Ezki - oh that's rather good, I like the cold light from the moon and the warm OSL and background embers at the bottom. Will make a very nice display piece.
Geifer - great amount of detail on a small model
Captain Brown - cool looking gang, always liked those models
youwashock - very good effort on giving the skins different tones and shading
Nevelon - They look rather well camo'ed in together as a group
Mr Nobody - Very eerie glow to the model which is fun and suit the character.
Pariah Press - good detail on your painting and I kept trying to work out what's in the background
theCrowe - fun models and look good as a unit
KidCthulhu - fits into the group nicely as a lead unit, similar but different.
Dr.Botnik - Love the idea, I've done something very similar in the past
halfling84 - nicely painted and highlighted models well done
Jadenim - always like these models, leatherwork looks really good.
JoshInJapan - very smooth and love the sword
Midget Gems - I had fun with this one and I like the result
Vejut - nice use of bold colours on the mdoels and contrasting them on the base
Turaxa - well done you got an entry in and a like the action pose you have given it.
XvArcanevX - A rather impressive beasty there, I like the purple mixed in with the Gray.
Zambro - The bold yellow really makes these guys stand out stand the green
Pursuit Of Happiness - The chunky chap looks suitable rotten, well done
Syro_ - good effort getting a whole squad of termies done, hard to see everything with the pics
ZergSmasher - very pale and scary guys, I like how you have kept the colours to a min
bantha_beast - Very well painted entry, I like this model a lot
Maharg - The skin and fur with the pale and pink shadows is a cool effect for a beastman.
CancelledApocalypse - good edge highlighting and the lighning up the claws is great detail.

Good luck everyone

 Midget Gems wrote:

JoshInJapan - very smooth and love the sword

I'm glad you like it. The blade must have at least 20 layers of paint, as I just couldn't get it to look right. I'm still not entirely satisfied, of course...

Daia T'Nara: The bowler hat is a nifty little detail, but I am even more impressed by the "ammo" in the biovore. You really added depth to what is just a smooth surface.

inmygravenimage: Were you working with a photo or something? The shark really looks like a dead shark.

blockade23: Your repeated use of colors across the crew's clothing ties the whole thing together really well. Also, your use of various flocks and ballast adds a lot of interest to the bases.

Ezki: In your P&M Blog, you have talked about not really understanding light, but you have really sold the effect in this model. The sparks on the backdrop are a really nifty, really effective detail, as well.

Geifer: I love how colorful you made this model, and the labels bottles are great-- I may or may not have drunk my share of wine coolers in high school, and your work took me back to my misspent youth.

Captain Brown: Another cool set of Necromunda models. I have never played the game, but seeing your collection makes me wish I had.

youwashock: Your skin tones make me jealous-- I really need to step up my game. The NMM on the knives is really well done.

Nevelon: I like your approach to these models, using classic green and yellow, but toned down to camo instead of blinding 2ed colors. Are they on 25mm bases? You really packed a lot of foliage on them, and yet didn't obscure the model.

Mr Nobody: I love the glowing green-- I can never seem to achieve that effect. Keeping the rest of the model in dark greys increased the impact of the OSL greatly.

Pariah Press: The Khornate red-and-brass complements the cool purple skin quite nicely.

theCrowe: Dwarves riding goats? What a cool idea. I especially like your work on the shields.

KidCthulhu: The pale blue skin stands out nicely against the black robes, which are in turn nicely, subtly highlighted. I struggle with painting black cloth, myself.

Dr.Botnik: What nifty idea. The ropes are a little rough, but the big ray gun is a really great kitbash.

halfling84: Yellow and orange uniforms? Safety first, even in space! Also, the plumber's crack is subtle detail.

Jadenim: I like the bright oranges, yellows and whites, especially against the dull earthtones. These guys really don't mind being spotted on the way to the fight!

me: Citadel models of this vintage can be pretty hit more miss once you take off the nostalgia goggles. These guys are closer to hit than miss, I think. I had fun working on their clothes-- lots of deep folds for shading and highlighting. The sword was a real bear to paint, but at least it's finished.

Midget Gems: You never fail to delight with your whimsical takes on Orks. The cupcake looks real!

Vejut: Ghosts of Gaia are my favorite Bad Squiddo minis, so it's nice to see them in the wild. The darker skin tone is neat-- what was your recipe?

Turaxa : I love the classic red Bolter casing. The black armor could do with some stronger highlights, though.

XvArcanevX: The dark blues and purples set this model squarely in the nighttime. I admire your ability go give strong enough highlights that the model doesn't get lost against the gravestones without making it actually bright.

Zambro: Classic green and yellow! The two little stripes on the chainswords is a neat little detail.

Pursuit Of Happiness: I have been using NMM for a couple of years because I can't seem to shade and highlight TMM effectively, so I really admire hobbyists who can. Good job!

Syro_ : Are these more of your self-molded models? If so, they are really clean. The blacks could probably stand to be darker, though.

ZergSmasher: I love your use of cool colors on these guys. They contrast quite nicely against the brown bases.

bantha_beast: A classic take on a classic model. The vials of mysterious fluids are especially well done.

Maharg: Lovely Slaangor colors on this model. The brown of the severed head stands out nicely against the pink skin.

CancelledApocalypse: I really like your whites on these models-- you put a lot of depth in what might otherwise be really flat.

Great work all around, everyone!

 Midget Gems wrote:
Geifer - great amount of detail on a small model

 JoshInJapan wrote:
Geifer: I love how colorful you made this model, and the labels bottles are great-- I may or may not have drunk my share of wine coolers in high school, and your work took me back to my misspent youth.

Thanks, guys.

Thankyou Midget Gems and JoshinJapan, love getting comments and feedback.

You are right Josh, I was really going for a nighttime setting with this miniature and, of course, I had a ton of fun building the ‘set’ (Gravestone and old iron cemetery railings etc). Managed it using some of that wonderful craft foam, really useful stuff.

I will try and be selfless and productive and spend an hour writing feedback for everyone tomorrow. It’s important to keep engaged and add to this little corner of the internet where we gather in peace.

In fact, I won’t ‘try’ to do it. I will do it. In the meantime, thanks again for the feedback!

We’ve got a tie for third at 18 votes each,

Stepping out of the shadows is Boss Snikrot from Mr Nobody







And still lurking in the dark is XvArcanevX’s Vargskyr.














But who needs to stay in the dark when you can burn down the Imperium by the light of the moon? as does Ezki’s Traitor Guard Sergeant with silver and 19 votes.



And for all the participants of this year’s competition we have a special surprise for you in the break room as our way of saying thanks. Catered by Midget Gems (and 22 votes); A Warboss Surprise (the cake is a lie)



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As always, amazing work from everyone. Another tight month with a ton of great minis from everyone. That’s the wrap on another year. I would love it if you’d take the time to look back on what you’ve done this year in the retropective thread. It’s also the spot to talk about ideas for next year, which has already begun.

Comments for the month:

Daia T’Nara - Really nice shades of grey achieved and I love the top hat! Great touch.

InMyGravenImage - There’s some lovely work here on the wood areas and the fatally wounded shark. Great attention to detail on the sharks skin too. Wonderful.

Bombard - Nice colors and very earthy bases really give these a grounded feel.

Ezki - I get a real ‘steampunk’ vibe here. Definitely points for atmosphere.

Geifer - Nice use of color and a quite pleasant and fun mini to look at. Nice job.

Captain Brown - Crisp and clean, love the vibrant red hoods.

YouWasShock - Really like this. The greens have some really interesting tones and the work on the skin is really lovely. Very crisp and overall one of my favorites this month.

Nevelon - Really excellent unit to look at and imagine in action. Cohesive and fun.

Mr Nobody - Love the vibrant ‘Splinter Cell’ riff here. Nicely done. Badass character incoming!

Pariah Press - Nice use of color and good work on the trim

the Crowe - Love the medieval vibes here. Lovely subtle tones.

Kid Cthulhu - That green really stands out against the black robes. Good choice there.

Dr Botnik - Clearly alot of work has gone into this creation! It’s fascinating to look at, with all the various ropes and attachments. Impressive!

Halfling84 - Really like the colors here and the details have been picked out very clearly. Nice job.

Jadenim - Nice and clean work here with a fun pair of characters. Particularly like the leather areas!

JoshinJapan - Who doesn’t love ninjas! Great work here with subtle hues and the bamboo blow pipe looks wonderful! Love ‘em!

Midget Gems - Great idea well executed. Very fun piece and the cake is super convincing. Brilliant!

Vejut - You’ve picked out the details nicely here and the colors are really interesting choices. The work on the bases is also nicely done. Good stuff.

Turaxa - This has a very uniform and solid color but, if I might be so forward to as to offer a suggestion, it might benefit from some subtle lighter highlights to give a little more depth to the armor. Still, a clean depiction.

Zambro - Pleasing and uniform, good clean work with well picked out details and good highlights. Nice!

Pursuit of Happiness - I really like this Plague Marine and I think you’ve done an excellent job with the various metallics as well as the contrasting organic areas. Excellent stuff.

Syro - These have a somewhat ‘winter’ theme. Is that what you were going for? Menacing eyes!

Zergsmasher - Clean and crisp

Bantha_beast - Good use of color and the details are easy to read and crisp. Really like the glowing eyes too! Nice…

Maharg - Love the pink tones in the skin and the rich and deep burgundy of the leather areas. Very striking!

Cancelled Apocalypse- Beautifully painted with superb attention to detail. The highlights and shading is excellent and the time spent on the small details like lenses etc really has paid off. Wonderful bases too. Brilliant!

Think that’s everyone, thanks for the comments again and thanks to Nev for his stewardship as usual.

Thanks to XvArcanevX, Midget Gems and JoshInJapan for taking the time to comment, unfortunately I won't have time to do likewise this month. My favourites were the four winners, plus Daia's top-hatted spore mine and Maharg's pink beastman. Congrats to all, though, loads of stellar work!

Congrats to the winners! And also to everyone who entered. Let's all keep pushing ourselves to improve in the 2025 round!

@XvArcanevX: Thanks for commenting! I'm glad to hear that you liked the bamboo. It took a couple of tries to get right.

 Midget Gems wrote:
Daia T'Nara - The gentleman spore mine is a top idea, nice highlighting on the scales.

 JoshInJapan wrote:
Daia T'Nara: The bowler hat is a nifty little detail, but I am even more impressed by the "ammo" in the biovore. You really added depth to what is just a smooth surface.

 XvArcanevX wrote:
Daia T’Nara - Really nice shades of grey achieved and I love the top hat! Great touch.

Thanks folks I really don't feel like I can take much credit for the paint, especially the carapace - I never even touched it with a detail brush, it's all drybrushing, three pretty quick-and-dirty passes of dark-medium-pale blue-grey. There's no way I'd have the patience to hand-paint big broods of gaunts, and I use the same rush techniques on the main colours of the one-off big bugs as well, to keep them all looking uniform. I did hand-paint the Biovore's ammo (which you'll be charmed to know I refer to as its 'scrotal magazine'), but again it's a pretty quick job, same as I do on tongues and other 'soft bits'. The sculpt does have those bulges built into it, but they don't have sharp divides between them and the official paint job uses a very soft gradient - I just did my usual dark brown to bronzed flesh in one jump, with a little additional highlight of paler flesh on top of each bulge, and it kind of fakes looking like a convincing job at a glance. In both cases, honestly I just think it's that Tyranid sculpts are ideal for fast turnaround, even careless drybrushing and rushed hand-painting looks good on them.

Except the hat of course, I'll own that.

Thanks for taking the time to leave comments, Midget Gems, JoshInJapan, and XvArcanevX.

Congratulations to the winners and great job everybody!

Midget Gems wrote:ZergSmasher - very pale and scary guys, I like how you have kept the colours to a min

The colors were minimal because that's what I've seen in most examples of Genestealers. Like, even the ones on the GW website are mostly pale all over, although the new ones have more carapace armor than these ancient models do.

JoshInJapan wrote:ZergSmasher: I love your use of cool colors on these guys. They contrast quite nicely against the brown bases.

That's why I went with brown for the bases, as I needed something that contrasted well with light gray, turquoise, and pink (not much pink on these models, but in the rest of my hive fleet there's more).

XvArcanevX wrote:Zergsmasher - Clean and crisp

Short and sweet, I like it.

Thank you all for taking the time to leave feedback on these models. They really didn't deserve it, I'm not too happy with them myself. I'm not sure what else I could have done, especially with mostly Contrast/Speedpaints.

Ezki - A beautiful example of OSL painting, but the background of the diorama really elevates this entry. The little sparks floating through the air tells us that it is a fire lighting the front without having to actually have a fire on the diorama. I also like the little bit of blue highlighting for the moonlight. If one OSL source is good than two are great.

Nevelon - I love to see striking scorpions in a camo green. And they all set on such pretty bases too.

Midget Gems - This one was too cute not to vote for. And quite cute and entertaining model, considering the simplicity of the sculpt. Just two squig in a cut up toy.

Bantha-Beast - It's good to know that the eversor has always looked cool. I like the nicely highlighted black and the bright green eyes.

Maharg - I like how you were able to implement the magenta while keeping the pale skin from becoming to pink. It would have been quite for a slaaneshi beastman to come out looking like a giant piglet.

Thanks for the comments guys

Certainly a surprise to be that I got the most votes on this challenge

and with that the year is done, a full 12 months of enteries later the final league table has been updated (my, that was close at the top)
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/732117.page#9481149

Thanks for the comments , and thanks Nev and Midget for the logistics! Quite pleased to make it into the top 10

Fifth place for the year? That's the best I've done to date.

Congratulations to the winners and as always good job everyone getting something painted!

 XvArcanevX wrote:
Geifer - Nice use of color and a quite pleasant and fun mini to look at. Nice job.

Thank you.

Congratulations for all the winners, including JoshInJapan for the highest place so far

I’m a bit shocked. 1st place! Haha. How did that happen?

Well, I’m really really pleased with that. Thankyou for everybody who’s liked my miniatures enough to keep voting and thankyou for every other person who paints and enters into the monthly comp.

It is such a fun and rewarding way to keep on painting and participate in that with others. Well done you all!

 XvArcanevX wrote:
I’m a bit shocked. 1st place! Haha. How did that happen?

Well, I’m really really pleased with that. Thankyou for everybody who’s liked my miniatures enough to keep voting and thankyou for every other person who paints and enters into the monthly comp.

It is such a fun and rewarding way to keep on painting and participate in that with others. Well done you all!

You pipped me on the final day of voting, I think xD Rueing missing my December entry and the late entry last month. D'oh!

Well done, anyway, well deserved! Your entries were all consistently excellent. 2nd is still by far the best I've ever done over a year, so I'm happy.

 CancelledApocalypse wrote:

 XvArcanevX wrote:
I’m a bit shocked. 1st place! Haha. How did that happen?

Well, I’m really really pleased with that. Thankyou for everybody who’s liked my miniatures enough to keep voting and thankyou for every other person who paints and enters into the monthly comp.

It is such a fun and rewarding way to keep on painting and participate in that with others. Well done you all!

You pipped me on the final day of voting, I think xD Rueing missing my December entry and the late entry last month. D'oh!

Well done, anyway, well deserved! Your entries were all consistently excellent. 2nd is still by far the best I've ever done over a year, so I'm happy.

Good points! I will swap with you… haha

 XvArcanevX wrote:

 CancelledApocalypse wrote:

 XvArcanevX wrote:
I’m a bit shocked. 1st place! Haha. How did that happen?

Well, I’m really really pleased with that. Thankyou for everybody who’s liked my miniatures enough to keep voting and thankyou for every other person who paints and enters into the monthly comp.

It is such a fun and rewarding way to keep on painting and participate in that with others. Well done you all!

You pipped me on the final day of voting, I think xD Rueing missing my December entry and the late entry last month. D'oh!

Well done, anyway, well deserved! Your entries were all consistently excellent. 2nd is still by far the best I've ever done over a year, so I'm happy.

Good points! I will swap with you… haha

Haha, maybe next year

Actually, not sure if I'm going to be entering as much this year. My goal for last year was to enter every single month and I didn't quite manage that. Another year of rushing at the end of every month probably won't be good for me. I'm well on the way with this month's challenge, but after that we'll see how it goes, I guess.

Massive respect to everyone who does manage to get something in on time every month


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Having said all that, I just noticed what my yearly score was. Nice.

halfling84 wrote:Congratulations for all the winners, including JoshInJapan for the highest place so far

Much like bodybuilding and language learning, consistency seems to be the key. That said, I would like to be on the podium at least once this cycle...

XvArcanevX wrote:I’m a bit shocked. 1st place! Haha. How did that happen?

Well, I’m really really pleased with that. Thankyou for everybody who’s liked my miniatures enough to keep voting and thankyou for every other person who paints and enters into the monthly comp.

It is such a fun and rewarding way to keep on painting and participate in that with others. Well done you all!

I'm not surprised. You managed to sell the nighttime setting, and I'm still not entirely sure how you did it. There is a lot to learn from your Manbear pig.

CancelledApocalypse wrote:
Actually, not sure if I'm going to be entering as much this year. My goal for last year was to enter every single month and I didn't quite manage that. Another year of rushing at the end of every month probably won't be good for me. I'm well on the way with this month's challenge, but after that we'll see how it goes, I guess.

I'll miss seeing your models every month, but quality of quantity, right?

Congratulations to the winners and everyone who finished something.

Thanks to those who added some feedback.

Thank you Nevelon for running this each month without fail.

Thank you Midget Gems for building and updating the tables.

Cheers,

CB

Hahaha - thanks for all the comments and Feedback!

I didn`t even realise that the thread would have any comments - I thought it was just for voting - the noob I am arround here.
So my congratulation to the winners and thanks for the competition - gave me the drive to pull threw. It`s way easier to get motivated if there is a deadline for me =)

Very late to the party, so sorry for digging the thread back up!

Thank you for the comments and congratulations everyone for finishing the year with a bang!

Mr Nobody wrote:Ezki - A beautiful example of OSL painting, but the background of the diorama really elevates this entry. The little sparks floating through the air tells us that it is a fire lighting the front without having to actually have a fire on the diorama. I also like the little bit of blue highlighting for the moonlight. If one OSL source is good than two are great.

Thank you! I'm glad that the effect reads as fire

JoshInJapan wrote:
Ezki: In your P&M Blog, you have talked about not really understanding light, but you have really sold the effect in this model. The sparks on the backdrop are a really nifty, really effective detail, as well.

Thank you JoshInJapan!
That's something I've mentioned before for sure, but I guess I'm starting to grasp the basics. However I still think it's a really hard topic. Especially with reflective surfaces!
Glad the effect is believable! And the sparks were definitely fun to do!

See you all in the next one!