Category Archives: Fembruary Challenge

Mythic Battles: Pantheon – introducing the Amazons

13 Wednesday Jan 2021

Posted by in Dragon Rampant, Fembruary Challenge

≈ 32 Comments

Greetings Terrans, quick post today – hot on the heels of his excellent skirmish force from Mythic Battles: Pantheon, my youngest has just finished up a quartet of Amazons. They were fiddly little buggers, so I helped with some of the trickier areas, but most of the work & all of the design choices are his. Check it out:

My son really wants these to be an elite option in combat and at range, so in Dragon Rampant we’ll be fielding them as Elite Foot with the addition of a fantasy rule called ‘Wizardling’. This gives them a reduced access to some spells, one of which is a suitably shooty spell, this we can simulate their deadliness with bow, sword and spear. Here they are with their fellow mortals:

These ladies form a nice segue into another topic – that of my now-annual ‘Fembruary Challenge’!  It’s a simple affair, just paint & post one or more female miniatures from your piles-of-shame, in the name of fair representation within the hobby. Just link back to this post, or ping me directly & I’ll grab a pic and include your entry in the final round-up in early March (usually by International Women’s Day, 8th of March)

Given that this is intended as an encouragement to think about inclusion in the hobby then it makes sense if your entries are kick-ass ladies, and not the product of some socially awkward mini-sculptor’s sexy fantasies… Anything dodgy & I’ll omit it from the round-up, otherwise, have at it! I usually pick my favourite of the bunch – no prizes I’m afraid, but a boatload of kudos to you as an official Fembruary Winner!!! 😊

Laters potaters

2020 Fembruary round-up

03 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by in Fembruary Challenge

≈ 46 Comments

Tags

,

Greetings Terrans, I can’t quite believe it, but it’s March already, and it is time to wrap up this third installation of Fembruary!! This post will be showcasing all the excellent entries for this year, as well as my own humble efforts. We’ve grown again this year, with 18 Bloggers taking part including myself – that’s up from 13 last year, so thank you all for spreading the word & getting involved! Also as usual, I’ll pick out my favourite of the bunch – no prizes I’m afraid, just the fleeting glory of the win 😊

Right, in no particular order, let’s get to it!

First up is TIM – aka The Imperfect Modeller, with a quartet of kick-ass minis from Hasslefree. TIM has a great eye for miniatures, and each of these is proper little character & beautifully painted:

 

Next we have Wudugast with a couple of ladies added to his Warcry Warbands. It is no secret that I love Wudu’s painting style, and I think that his treatment of metal and flesh in these two minis is just superb:

 

Next up we have Bjorn the Stormborn with a cracking pair of AoS minis for us – a Knight Incantor, and the Briar Queen. I love the moodiness of the paint job on both, and kudos for the spell-casting effects on the Incantor:

 

Beaming in from the Starship Vorenus, we have a wonderful Chaos Sorcerer (Sorceress) for Mikeland’s AOS 28 spin on the classic 1989 game HeroQuest. The Sorceress is beautifully done, and I heartily recommend taking time to take a look at the whole HQ28 project:

 

Davekay at Scent of a Gamer has put forward a beautifully painted Sanctioned Psyker from the Blackstone Fortress: Escalation expansion. This has to be one of the best Psyker minis that GW make, and this paint job certainly does it justice:

 

Next we have some classic minis from Warburton – a female proto-Avenger (one of my favourite Eldar minis of all time), and a beautifully converted Inquisition/SoB preacher. Both are lovely, but I’m particularly drawn to the conversion… Warbs based it on a 1998 GD winner, and I might have to borrow the idea myself!

 

Mikko at DawnoftheLead has painted another beautifully rendered dweller of his very own pirate town Port George, (yes, he really does have his own pirate town!). This time it’s ‘the Governor’s Daughter’ from Black Scorpion. She’s a wonderful little sculpt, and Mikko has done her justice with a lovely paint scheme:

 

Marvin at Suburbanmilitarism has gone distinctly imperial with his entry this year with a superb diorama of Empress Catherine the 1st. The painting is lovely, and the miniature selection & placement is beautifully done – there is fantastic atmosphere to this piece, so go check it out!

 

John Robin has painted up a tough cyber-punk street assassin for us – I love the contrast between the bright pink hair & antique looking flintlock! John doesn’t have a blog, but frequents the Oldhammer forum, where he posted this pic:

 

Next up, it’s another tour de force from the Imperial Rebel Ork. As with the previous two years, IRO has gone big with a post-apocalyptic diorama in homage to his daughters… This time, he imagines them a little older, and a helluvalot more experienced! I can’t really do this piece justice with a single pic, so I strongly recommend taking a wander over to his site for a better look:

 

BigBossRedSkullz has brought the Nestorian Infestation to Fembruary, with the truly disturbing Mosuo dan Bribrix, Genestealer Matriarch of House Akan. I really admire Big Boss’ skill when it comes to bringing proper horror to his work – some of the most disturbing minis I have ever seen are from his talented hand/claw/appendage. His Matriarch is no exception, and is well worth a closer look… if you dare!

 

The Argentbadger has submitted a trio of deadly-looking and very nicely painted Satyxis Gunslingers to the challenge. These ladies are for the Cryx faction in the game ‘Warmachine’, and it sounds like ArgentB has had some success playing them – they certainly look like they can dish out the hurt!

 

Thomas at HighTimesontheEasternFringe has gone with a piece for the boardgame ‘Mansions of Madness’ – such pieces famously tend to have softer definition & less detail than a ‘proper’ miniature, which makes the quality of the paint job that much more impressive!

 

Subedai has put forward a whole squad of classic DE Witch Elves over on TheLostAndTheDamned – part of his drive to complete a 3rd ed WHFB Dark Elf army. Dark Elves are one of my all-time favourite armies from back in the day, so seeing these being done so beautifully is a real joy:

 

SoldiersofTin has prepared and painted a superb ‘half patrol’ of 42mm scale Girl Scouts. This was a tricky project, as these figures had to be converted from Boy Scouts. SoT used tissue paper and PVA glue to create skirts, scarves and hair, as well as using it to give the girls a fuller figure. I’ve never heard of tissue paper & PVA being used in this way before, but it certainly does the trick! This unit is finished with a paint job that is intended to look like it has been done by early 1900’s toy manufacturer ‘William Britain’, so SoT deliberately used flat tones with no shade or highlight. Now that’s dedication!

 

Ericritters at Candore Et Labore managed to squeak in on Leap Day with a beautifully painted Malifaux character called ‘Miss Step’ – talk about a deadly looking cyborg! I’m a big fan of the Steam Punk / horror vibe of Malifaux, and this mini sums up the game perfectly for me. I love the ridiculous contrast between the mechanical bits and the negligée!

 

We have three pieces to enjoy from Joe M of Joesavestheday – an AoS Pallador Knight, a Kill Team Sanistasia Minst, and a 40k DE Haemonculus. Joe has done a cracking job on these three, with the Pallador being particularly gorgeous! I wouldn’t even know where to start with a mini like that, so I’m full of admiration.

 

Finally, I managed to wrap up four Melusai for my own slowly growing Warcry DoK force. I built two of them as Blood Stalkers (shooty), and two as Blood Sisters (hitty), and I painted them up to match my Daughters of Khaine from last year.

 

Wow, so that’s it for the 2020 Fembruary Challenge. Congratulations and a huge thank you to everyone who took part – best Fembruary ever I reckon! It almost seems obscene to try and choose a winner from this lot – it’s a tough call, and there are so many strong contenders this year!

Notable mentions for Bjorn’s Briar Queen, and I love the whole concept and execution of Mikeland’s HQ28 Sorceress, but for me, the winner this year is BigBossRedSkullz with his representation of Mosuo dan Bribrix, the Matriarch of House Akan. This mini combines so many things that appeal to me – a fantastic conversion & paint job of course, but the real clincher for me is the sense of narrative and story to her… She has a real sense of presence, and I find it all to easy to imagine such a creature in some twisted corner of the universe. Well done BB – take a bow mate.

 

So that’s all for now folks, catch you all soon.

Leadballoony’s 3rd Fembruary Challenge!!

03 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Daughters of Khaine, Fembruary Challenge

≈ 75 Comments

Tags

Greetings Terrans, I can’t believe it, but February has rolled around again – must be time for another Fembruary challenge!! Long-time followers of this blog will know the drill by now, but for any Johny-come-lately’s, the deal is ‘Paint at least one Female miniature’ – it’s that simple! I’m not bothered what genre, game, manufacturer, painting style or material you go with. It can be a squad, a single mini, a diorama, or whatever takes your fancy… I’m just looking for awesome portrayals of the feminine in miniature form, as part of an ongoing conversation about how women are presented within our hobby.

Once you’re done, you just need to blog about it & link back to this post. I would also be grateful if you could use your own blogs to push the challenge even further – the more, the merrier after all! I’ll do a round-up in early March, (usually in time for International Women’s Day), where I will also choose my favourite from the submissions. There are no prizes, just kudos & high fives from your peers. To give you an idea of what I mean, here’s a link to the submissions from 2018 and 2019.

For my part, I’ll be revisiting my Daughters of Khaine & adding to the warband of Seros the Red:

See you on the other side ;-)

 

2019 Fembruary round-up, International Women’s day & Women’s History Month

08 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by in Fembruary Challenge

≈ 49 Comments

Tags

Greetings all & welcome to the 2019 Fembruary round up. Also, it’s International Women’s Day, and in the UK it is also Women’s History Month, so it’s an auspicious time to showcase the ever-growing range of excellent female miniatures in our hobby. As with last year, this post will mostly be presenting the work of other excellent hobbyists, showcasing their contributions to my Fembruary challenge. Again, like last year, I am going choose my personal favourite Fembruary entry, and award it the virtual high-fives and hobby kudos that I think it deserves.

Before we get into that, I feel that I need to address a contradiction between this year and last… In 2018 I got on a bit of a rant about the portrayals of femininity in the hobby, pointing out that GW’s (then) latest releases for the Daughters of Khaine can’t dress themselves fully, and holding that up as an example of the lack of plausible representations of females in the hobby… It is with some sense of irony that my own entry for this year is Daughters of Khaine! Oh, the hypocrisy… But don’t judge me too harshly dear reader – my feelings about gender representation in our hobby remain unchanged. DoK was chosen for me for the AoS Warband challenge, and while I probably wouldn’t choose them for myself, I saw this as an opportunity to try and represent them a little differently & avoid the sexualised look that seems to be the norm for these killers. Instead I went for a real high fantasy/mythological vibe which, I hope, absolves me from being a hypocritical twit.

Right… let’s look at some pics shall we?! Massive thanks to everyone who took part & contributed. I counted 13 bloggers (including myself) who got on board, with (I think) 49 completed minis submitted! Please don’t be offended if I missed anything – it’s quite a challenge to curate a post like this! If I did miss anything, just pop a comment & link in the comments and I’ll rectify the situation.  All the pictures here are totally stolen, but are credited & linked, so in no particular order:

 

Luke @ Imperial Rebel Ork completed another incredible diorama for us this year – this time a post-apocalyptic tribute to his own daughters, (who sound like awesome kids btw!) Check this out:

 

Marvin @ Suburban Militarism came in with two entries for us – a fantastic unit of WRENS on parade, and a pair of tough-as-leather snipers:

 

Mark @ Heresy of us gave us this creepy Shepherdess – all the more impressive because he designed and 3D printed the figure! I love the way Mark paints, and his vision of grim-dark futures is superb. I urge you to check out his blog & store:

 

The Argent Badger @ The Bovine Overlord submitted a lethally poised Druze shock-team for his ever growing Infinity force, plus a formidable unit of DoK Blood Stalkers! I love the toxic green he uses on the snake bodies:

 

Thomas @ High Times on the Eastern Fringe got onboard again with another Drukhari – this time, it’s Excrucia Wysp – a beautifully realised, (and particularly dangerous looking), Reaver of the Blood Viziers:

 

The Imperfect Modeller joined in the fun this year, and presented half a dozen superb fantasy minis from Hasslefree. I love a bit of sword’n’sorcery, and I love how TIM paints, so no wonder I like these ladies so much:

 

We also had a first-time entry from Pete @ spprojectblog. Pete has treated us to some excellent painting of the second wave of the Ghosts of Gaia range from Bad Squiddo. I am very fond of this range, and thoroughly enjoyed painting up the first wave last year, so it’s great to see well painted examples of the second wave:

 

Another first-time contributor is Alexis @ cascadiangrimdark. Alexis has tackled the superb spaceport crew from Statuesque Miniatures, and this includes two no-nonsense women. I love what Alexis has done here – the skin tone, the orange overalls – this is right up my street:

 

Again, another first timer is Joe @ joesavestheday. Joe painted this lovely Reaper mini for his wife – it represents her RPG character. The mini is beautiful, but Joe really pushed the boat out on the basing… Incredible work:

 

Man of Tin got onboard again this year with more Land Army gals from Bad Squiddo – this time, it’s the ‘Land Army at work’ minis, beautifully presented to match his submission from last year:

 

Wudugast @ convertordie also joined us again this year, with seven ‘Ladykillers’ – five new members for his superb Escher gang, a beautiful version of the Rogue Trader Death Cult Assassin, (Knosso Prond), and a gritty Sniper from Victoria Miniatures (a gift from IRO no less!):

 

Azazel @ Azazel’s bitz box gave us this awesome old-school Morathi – a lovely palette and Az’s usual crisp painting really gives this classic mini a wonderfully ‘Maleficent’ presence:

 

And finally, my own humble effort is this definitely-not-sexy quartet of daemonic Daughters of Khaine:

 

So there we have it – the Fembruary class of 2019! I hope you enjoyed the round-up, and I’m sure you agree that this is a superb bunch of really strong & interesting characters. Now, I did say that I would pick out my favourite of the bunch… As with last year, this is a tough job… Partly, this is because the quality is so high, but also the diverse range of genres covered makes it difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison. However, someone’s got to be top, and this year, for me, it’s Wudugast.

It’s no secret that I really admire Wudu’s painting style, but he also continuously impresses me with the skill he shows in his deft conversions, his ability to unify his squads & gangs (both evidenced in his Escher), his ability to switch to a more gritty, painterly style when it suits (as shown by the Sniper), and the superb colour choices that he makes for character minis (as for Knosso Prond). Superb mate – high-fives and kudos to you.

Anyhow, that’s all folks! A huge thank you and congratulations again to everyone who contributed – it would be a pretty shite affair without all your hard work! Also thank you to everyone stopping by for a look – I hope you enjoyed it & maybe will consider taking part next year :-)

The Handmaidens of Seros

27 Wednesday Feb 2019

Posted by in AoS, Daughters of Khaine, Fembruary Challenge

≈ 36 Comments

Tags

,

Greetings Terrans, and sorry it has been a while since I posted! We’ve had our half term break here in the south of England, so I had a nice week off with the kids, visiting family & having guests in return. My hobby time has been a bit fragmented as a result, but I have been chipping away at a few bits and pieces. My Power Armoured Orks are almost built, and I have some cool terrain on the go as well, but most importantly for today, I have finished my Daughters of Khaine AoS warband quota for February… By extension, this means that I have hit my goal for Fembruary as well:

B50096EC-9B54-4011-B528-647EF5A4FC90

 

These three ladies are pretty much the stock Witch Aelves & Slaughter Queen from the Cauldron of Blood set – the only slight modification is using the heads from the Melusai Blood Sisters to give them a more sinister silhouette & tie them in a bit more with Seros herself. I’ll play them all as Witch Aelves in the first instance, though the Slaughter Queen might get a weapon swap & a promotion later in the project. I’ve followed the colour scheme that I established with Seros – the red skin is intended to give them a more demonic look, and I hope also serves to de-sexualise them a bit, (still something that bothers me with the DoK range).

Here’s the accompanying fluff:

Following her exile from Hagg Nar, Seros kept herself to the shadows – a broken thing, she slowly nursed her change-ravaged body back to health, just as she fed her hatred and anger. Little did she realise that others within Khainite society had been inspired by her defiance of Morathi, and that small groups were quietly seeking her out. The auspicious form of her cursed body and her high reputation as a former Priestess led some to believe that Seros was a prophetess, and that she was destined for greatness. The first such followers to find her were three warrior sisters, who tracked her to a deep mine on the borders of the realm of metal. They called to Seros, declaring their loyalty, and begging to be allowed the honour of serving her. Seros allowed them to approach through the darkness, but their torch-revealed beauty caused her such anguish that she lashed out at the sisters, her crown of snakes striking each in turn. Thus poisoned, the sisters lay in agonised paralysis as their flesh darkened to a crimson hue, and their faces contorted into rictus-like masks. Seros retreated deeper into the shadows, intuitively understanding that if the sisters survived their ordeal, then they had been judged worthy to join her by a higher power than Seros herself. Quietly, she watched from the darkness, as one by one, the sisters slid into deep, dreamless coma.

Many days later, the three sisters awoke, and were soon recovered enough to resume calling out for Seros, beseeching her to allow them to serve her. Their venom-induced transformation had left them with skin the colour of blood and hideously transformed faces, but this seemed to have only strengthen their devotion. Finally convinced of their worthiness and no longer taunted by their Aelven beauty, Seros allowed the sisters to join her. Known as the Handmaidens of Seros, they became her first acolytes, and wearing snake-crowned masks in her honour, they continue to fight at her side. Meanwhile, Seros continues to subject new members of her warband to her venomous ‘kiss’ in order to determine their worthiness and loyalty… The survivors of this ritual are left similarly marked by the experience, and follow the Handmaiden’s example by donning hideous masks to honour their prophetess.

85679E06-E7F8-4214-A290-2FAAB3534015

 

So that’s it for now – I hope you like the handmaidens, and that you enjoyed the read! I’ll be doing a Fembruary round-up in the next few days, and will be continuing to work on various projects in the background as well… Jobs for March include continuing to add to this warband (another 25 renown), finish building my Wolf Time Power Armoured Orks and start getting some paint on them! I am also committed to finishing up some of Mark’s Heresyofus Mag Bellum terrain pieces that I have on the go – more news to follow!

Seros the Red, Thrice Cursed of Khaine

09 Saturday Feb 2019

Posted by in AoS, Daughters of Khaine, Fembruary Challenge

≈ 28 Comments

Tags

, ,

Greetings Terrans, how goes it? I have something a little different for you this week – no Orks for a change! However, I do have my first piece completed for Fembruary, who also happens to be the leader for my Daughters of Khaine warband that I’m building. One of the big draws of the DoK for me is the possibility of bringing a bit of Greek mythology into the AoS world… Medusae and Harpies – what’s not to like?? I’m sure I’m not the only one here who loved Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts as a kid ;-)

Anyway, here she is – Seros the Red, Thrice Cursed of Khaine:

She’s made from the tail of a Melusai, the torso from the Cauldron of Blood Hag Queen, and the head from the Bloodwrack Medusae. She was a fun little conversion, and rather nice to paint up! I’ve gone with a simple colour scheme, but I think it works nicely on such a weird and varied model. The base was fun too – I’ve tried to do something that might make sense in the AoS Realm of Metal… basically, she’s high-fantasy with a dash of Greek mythology. Here is some accompanying fluff:

Seros was ordained to be a Priestess of Khaine, a so-called Hag Queen, sworn to serve Morathi in The Helleheart, the first temple of Hagg Nar. As a Priestess of Hagg Nar, Seros was destined for a position of power and authority within Khainite society, yet in her heart, she knew she did not belong… Far from being nought but a cruel and bloodthirsty murderer, Seros held feelings of kindness and compassion for the weak and broken souls of the Leathanam within her heart, especially for a young Aelf male called Kaulgar. These feelings were reciprocated, and their despair at their forced separation was a terrible thing – even though both understood the necessity. Over time, Seros grew into power and majesty as a Priestess of Khaine, yet her feelings for Kaulgar remained, and she occasionally managed to abscond from her temple duties to illicitly meet him.

Of course, Morathi was aware of this situation, for she misses little that goes on in the hearts of those within her domain… however, she was prepared to overlook this frailty – after all, Seros was a High Priestess with great potential, and Morathi is nothing if not pragmatic. However, Seros was to commit one unforgivable sacrilege – she shared secrets of the inner temple of Helleheart with her lover, and this could not be ignored.

Seros was summoned to Morathi, who cursed her three times. The first curse was enacting the ritual of Slith-onoir, the rites used to create Bloodrack Medusae. Morathi’s second curse ensured that Seros retained her will and her personality, allowing her to appreciate the full physical horror of her transformation into a Medusa. The third curse was laid not on Seros, but on Kaulgar, who had been captured and brought before Morathi as Seros lay recovering from the terrible changes wrought upon her. Seros watched helplessly as Morathi burned the Doomfire runes into Kaulgar’s living flesh, and she screamed as she saw his love for her die within his eyes as the runes did their work. Kaulgar was left gaunt and ruined, with nought but the spite and pain that defines Warlock existence left in his heart

Her punishment complete, Seros was banished from Hagg Nar, and doomed to wander the Mortal Realms as a hideous monster, filled with the pain of love lost, and the enduring horror of her transformation. We join Seros as she ventures into Chamon, and the tale of her punishment begins to draw a small but dedicated band of followers from Khainite society. Here in the Realm of Metal, she seeks to grow her powerbase, and to try and find a way to break the curses laid upon her.

 

That’s all for now dudes, I hope you like Seros – there will be a few more Fembruary handmaidens joining her over the month, and I’m aiming to get ‘Mad’ D’onne Ulanti painted as well. I also intend to crack on with more Ork sculpting in the background as well, so plenty to look forward to! Have a good one dudes, catch you on the flip-side :-)