The rest of the 100

Here are the rest of the 100 for the 100 miniatures challenge.

The unpainted miniatures don't count, they just happened to be in the photo. I might do a bit of touchup on some of these still (the skeletons in the sarcophagi could pop a bit more), and at some point I'll add some finishing touches on their bases. I tend to do that in large groups though. So what's all here:

• 11 Wights (with complete command)
• 5 Black Knights (with complete command)
• 1 Wight King on Steed
• 4 Skeletons in Sarcophagi
• 2 Ruined Mauseleums
• 3 Skaven from Zikkit's Tunnelpack (an underworld's warband)
• 5 Zondara's Gravebreakers (1 Witch/Necromancer, 1 Ghoul, 3 Zombies)
• 7 The Exiled Dead (1 Necromancer, 6 Zombies)
• 1 Barrow Entrance (that's what I'm calling it)

Not Pictured (just realized they aren't in the previous post, and I didn't get them out for this post ... oops).

• 10 Dire Wolves
• 1 Necromancer

Total: 50 miniatures ... which added to last post gives exactly 100 miniatures!

A 100 Miniature Challenge

 

GamesWorkshop put forward a Million Miniature Challenge, and I told the local store I'd do 100. I've been bad at updating this blog, but thought I'd at least somewhat document my attempt here. So here is the first "set", I have until May 9th to finish the remainder (the challenge was issued December 29th 2025 ... so this is the first 2 months worth).

• 4 Underworlds Vampires
• 4 Underworld Headsmen Wraith Dudes
• 4 Underworld Wraith Dudes with Spears
• 5 Underworld Wights
• 5 Various Vampires
• 3 Varghiests
• 3 Giant Bats
• 10 Wraiths
• 10 Wights
• 1 Wight King
• 1 Gryphhound (not pictured ... I think)

Total of 50 painted so far.

March 2023 Totals

March is finished and so are a few more miniatures. I've gone back to painting ratmen. It's more Warmaster Skaven this month. I have another 60+ stands of rats to paint. Finished most of these off about mid-month, then launched into painting a huge block of them. Hopefully I'll have them all done by next month. Contrast paints are the real stars with these. I'll take some pictures and will describe my process soon.

March Totals:

• 9 Warmaster Skaven Clanrat stands (3 units worth)

March Totals: 9

2023 Totals to Date: 47

February 2023 Totals

Made it through the shortest month of the year! Finished off all of the BattleTech Mechs I've managed to pick up through various starter sets. That means I painted almost a mini a day! 

I have to admit, I have very little idea what most of these Mechs are called (I can spot the Mad Cat, the Atlas, the Catapult, and the Archer ... everything else kinda blurs together). So I might figure out some way to label them. I'm thinking right now I'll put a strip of white paint under their base and take a sharpie and write the names there. I'm still going to count them as complete for this month though.

I'm still deciding what to paint next. I'll probably end up finishing the Warmaster Skaven army. There's always a part of me that wants to continue the current project after I reach the finishing point (this part is pointing out that 3 lances make a company ... and it'd be easy to increase both of my lances to full companies). I also picked up some Necromunda Zone Mortalis terrain over the years and after seeing the Zone Mortalis Scenery Tips, there's part of me that wants to get it all assembled using magnets.

Now onto totals:

• 8 BattleTech Mechs painted in Lyran Commonwealth colors (2 lances worth)
• 10 BattleTech Mechs painted in Wolf Clan colors (kinda) (2 stars worth)
• 2 Clan Elemental stands
• 2 BattleTech Mechs painted in my "Mercenary" colors (taking me to 2 lances worth)

Feb Totals: 22

2023 Totals to date: 38

January 2023 Totals

 It's the first month of 2023. Finished everything I need to play Warhammer Quest Lost Relics with painted miniatures and started chunking through the Battlemechs I picked up in various starter sets. I'm fighting the desire to pick up a few of the "Lance" boxes (of 4-5 mechs) you can find at Barne's and Noble.

I really need to go back and finish off some old projects I started (a few Star Wars Legion sets I picked up, and the Skaven Warmaster army). I'll probably do that after I finish all the BattleTech stuff I picked up.

In sad news, my dog got a hold of Padme Amidala and she was unrecoverable. The wind blew her off the table she was sitting on (shortly after I assembled her) and the puppy sees everything on the floor as acceptable chew toys. Oddly enough, she won't touch anything on a table (even food). So I got complacent about putting stuff away.

Now onto totals:

• 9 Stormcast Eternals (4 Xandar's Truthseekers, 4 Crypthunter Stormcast, 1 Wizard type Stormcast)
• 6 Battletech Mechs

Jan Totals: 15 miniatures

Year to Date: 15 miniatures

WIP Battlemechs

The next set of Battlemechs. Wolf Clan is Tan and Grey (as far as I can tell). So these are Wolf Clan.

I still need to wash the metallics and do detailing (like canopies), but the big colors are all blocked out.

 

Battletech Mechs

Six Battletech Mechs. I looked for Battletech paint schemes for various factions, and as far as I can tell, there IS set colors, but no consistency in how you paint them. So I just picked two colors I thought would look good together and blocked them out in various different ways. I think they came out pretty well.

I also hunted down a water transfer sheet from the Dwarf Blood Bowl team and added a few numbers here and there on them.

 

Various Stormcast Eternals

 

More Stormcast Eternals. Some of these were painted for a game called Crypthunters and the others were painted for Lost Relics. Both are games you can get from Barnes and Noble. I have another set of all of these (except the guy with the staff) from Underworlds warbands. I probably won't paint those. The guys with crossbows were fun to paint, but the others were less so. I now have a small box that's just filled with various Stormcast Eternals. 

2022 Year End Totals

Sigh ... nothing got completed this month. I'm just about to finish a bunch of Stormcast Eternals. I'm painting Xandire's Truth Seekers, a Storm of Celestus (aka Suresight and Valiant), and a Lord Arcanum (I think that's what he's called). The newer ones (Xandire) are a bit of a pain compared to the older ones (Celestus). The details is a bit smaller and less pronounced, I really notice it when I switch between the two sets. It takes away from the one thing Stormcast have going for them, they were easy to paint.

2022 Year End Totals: 103 Miniatures!

That's not a great year, but not unrespectable either.

Mario Kart Trophy (WIP)

I never got any pictures of the finished trophies (before they were awarded), but I did find some work in progress (WIP) shots I took of the Gold trophy. This doesn't include any highlighting (just the blocking of colors). I ended up doing a wide edge highlighting of light gold/silver/bronze around the edge of the star, which made it look like it was "glowing" slightly. Once I hit these with gloss overcoat they also looked much shinier.

September, October & November Totals

 I hit a bit of a painting slump. I only painted 8 miniatures in the past 3 months. I also painted 3 trophies for an office Mario Kart tournament (which I'm also going to count toward my totals). The "real" miniatures were all the ships from Mantic's Armada starter set.

• 4 Armada Basilean Ships (2 Elohi, 1 Gun Panther, 1 Gun Brig)
• 4 Armada Orc Ships (2 Hammer Fists, 1 Blood Runner, 1 Bomb Boat
• 3 Mario Kart Trophies (Gold, Silver & Bronze)

 Sept, Oct, Nov Totals: 11 miniatures

Year to date: 103 miniatures

Mantic Armada Ships

 I got "stuck" on these ships. I like them, but I found it difficult to find time to get them painted. They are the contents of Mantic's Armada starter set. It took me a few months to get them painted (other, non-miniature related, things have been going on in my life that caused me to take a bit of a break). I thought it'd take a long weekend. They are surprisingly large (about 2-3 times the size of a man o war ship) with a lot of detail. Without a doubt the most annoying bit was the blue and white sails on the Basilean fleet. I think I spent about 2 months on getting those sails painted. By the end I was wishing I'd just painted them white like all of the ones online are.

The formula's used:

Basilean Sails: Contrast Snakebite masts and spars, Contrast Guilliman Flesh ropes (highlighted with Ushabti Bone). Contrast Talhasar Blue, Caledor Sky Blue, Lothern Blue for the blue stripes. Contrast White, Pallid Whychflesh for the white. Nuln oil painted between the stripes to separate them (after washed, but before highlights put on).

Basilean Ships: Light wood, Contrast Guilliman Flesh. Dark wood Contrast Snakebite Leather. Accents I did two ways. One was Contrast White followed by a drybrush of Pallid Whychflesh, the other was Contrast Guillaman Flesh followed by a drybrush of Pallid Whychflesh. The second came out better (the first looked good from a few inches away, but "washed" out when viewed from 2-3 feet away ... the second seemed more vibrant at both viewing distances). Fire was my standard fire technique. Metals were Runefang Steel with a wash of Nuln oil, highlighted back up with Runefang. Dress was Contrast Talahar Blue.

Orc Sails: Iadyen Yellow with a drybrush of Git Yellow. Spars and Masts Snakebite Leather. Ropes (& Horns) Contrast Skeleton Horde. Horns highlighted with Ushabti Bone and Screaming Skull. The axes are a light bronze, wash of Agrax earthshade, followed by a highlight of light bronze.

Orc Ships: Light wood is Contrast Skeleton Horde. Dark wood is Contrast Snakebite leather, followed by a drybrushing of Zandri Dust. Metallics are Ironbreaker followed by a wash of Agrax and highlighted with more Ironbreaker. Any horns were done like the sails, Contrast Skeleton Horde followed by highlights of Ushabti and Screaming Skull.

Water Bases: Followed a youtube guide for these (labeled something like "Easy Mantic Armada Water Bases"). Toilet paper soaked in white glue around the ship and spackle to fill in the gaps. I think if I put the toilet paper in two passes I could almost skip the spackle. One to get the "shape" of the ship, and the second to make some waves. Tricks that worked well. 1. Apply near a sink with wet fingers (else it sticks to your fingers better than the base and you can't make realistic wave effects without it all falling apart). 2. Apply in a ribbon around the edge of the base and use a tool to push it toward the hull of the ship carefully. Ideally you'll be a 1/2 mm away from the ship (you won't notice it once you glue the ship down, but you'll get a much better/flatter attachment if you don't have any toilet paper pressed against the ship ... I think part of the problem is that when you pull the ship up to let the TP dry, the suction pulls the TP in a bit, making it not fit after it dries). 3. Spackle is a bit of a pain to put on, but it will paint better than it looks. 4. It all dries rock hard, so even though it seems flimsy when you're putting it on ... it won't be. For painting, Caledor Sky Blue, Dark Blue Wash (Naggaroth Night?), Caledor drybrush, Biel Tan Green wash, Caledor drybrush, Lothern drybrush, White Scar drybrush.

July & August Totals

I finished off the Star Wars Legion starter set. Then launched into the resin Skaven Warmaster miniatures I picked up last March.

I need to get some pictures up. I usually give the formula's of how I painted the miniatures at the same time as posting picture, and I'm starting to forget how I painted some of these things.

• 14 Clone Troopers (2 commanders, 2 long blaster rifles, 2 heavy blaster & 8 "regular" clones
• 1 Barc Speeder (with sidecar)
• 2 Warmaster Skaven Doomwheels
• 1 Warmaster Skaven Abomination (counts as Doomwheel)
• 1 Warmaster Skaven Screaming Bell
• 1 Warmaster Skaven Plague Furnace
• 1 Warmaster Skaven Lightning Cannon

July & August Totals: 21 miniatures

Year to Date: 92 miniatures

May & June Totals

It's not been a very productive end of Spring & beginning of Summer. Still managed to get some stuff done. The numbers seem low, but I did a whole slew of assembly. The realist in my realizes that I'm probably assembling stuff I'll never get around to painting though. hmmm...

I'm still working through the starter set of the clone wars edition of Star Wars Legion. I finished all of the droids and have started the clones.

• 1 General Grievous
• 8 Star Wars Barricades
• 4 Droidekas (2 standing and 2 rolling)
• 1 Obi-wan Kenobi

May & June Totals: 14 miniatures

Year to Date: 71 miniatures

April 2022 Totals

Started work on the Star Wars Legion set that the boy got for xmas. He's supposed to be working on the clone half, but so far there hasn't been much traction on that. I think he's waiting for me to start on it for him...

My droids are down to 5 left (General Grevious and 4 Droidekas), although I might have picked up a super battle droid pack to add some punch to my side of the box (the boy got Arc troopers to keep it balanced).

I'll take pictures of all of the Droids together at some point.

• 18 B1 Battle Droids (2 commanders, 2 Heavy Weapons, 2 "Medium" Weapon, 12 Standard Droids)

April Totals: 18

Year to Date: 57

March 2022 Totals

 Almost half way through April and I'm only now getting around to posting the March totals. I finished off the Forest Spirits for the 10mm Warmaster Army. I then launched into a bunch of leftover stuff I've been meaning to do. I built/based & primed all the miniatures for Star Wars Legion box set (clones vs. robots). I finished all of the flags for all of my Man O'War fleets. But I didn't paint any more miniatures. Been in a bit of a slump.

• 9 Warmaster Dryad Stands
• 6 Warmaster Treekin Stands
• 1 Warmaster Treeman
• 1 Warmaster Treeman Ancient
• 1 Warmaster Dryad Hero

March Totals: 18

Year to date: 41

Warmaster: Complete Wood Elf Army

This is what I've been working on the past few months. A 2,500 pt Warmaster Wood Elf Army (or thereabouts). It can be divided into two 1,250 pt armies (one forest spirit/Sylvaneth and one elf/Asrai) fairly easily, so I can use it for games with my kids, where I need to supply both sides. It includes a small Wood Elf village.

I don't really want to go into how most of this was painted here ... a lot of different things were tried and there are better guides out there. Most of the heavy lifting on this project was done with Contrast paints. Aggros Dunes followed by spots of Aggrax Earthshade works surprisingly well.

I tried something a bit different, by adding some scenery, with the pictures. Now onto the pictures:

 

February 2022 Totals

 It's the shortest month of the year. I got close to getting 1 mini/stand a day this month, but in the end, I couldn't quite finish all of the Warmaster Wood Elf Tree Spirits in time (18 stands worth). So they'll need to count for next month. Now onto totals:

• 8 Wood Elf Warmaster Characters (4 mounted, 4 on foot)

February Totals: 8

Year to Date: 23

January 2022 Totals

 I don't think I'll match last years productivity, but I'm off to a good start.

I'm still working on the Wood Elf Warmaster Army, getting closer and closer to finish it. This is the first time I've painted a unit that is horsemen (not counting centaurs). It went better than I expected. I'm down to just character models and tree spirits. There's a part of me that wants to pick up another 500 pts or so, that would allow me to field a 3000 pt army.

The boy got a Star Wars Legion starter box, Clone War edition. I assembled all of the miniatures, and will probably move it to the front of the painting queue. He wants to play it, so I want to play it. :-)

Totals:

• 3 Warmaster Warhawk Riders
• 6 Warmaster Wild/Stag Riders
• 6 Warmaster Glade Riders

January Totals: 15

2022 Totals: 15

2021 Year End Totals

No pictures this month either. I'm still working through Warmaster miniatures. I hope to have the Wood Elfs complete relatively soon.

I managed to pass the goal of over 365 miniatures (1 per day for a year).  It was mainly due to doing 10mm terrain. It painted fast and had lots of pieces. But I'll take it as a win!

At the start of covid I decided to try to assemble all of the miniatures I own (and I made a huge impact on that front), but now I have a bunch of unpainted miniatures that need storage. I might slow down a bit, I need to spend some time organizing. We'll see what 2022 will bring! Hopefully I can finish off some projects.

Totals:

• 8 Stands of Wardancers

December Totals: 8

2021 Totals: 380