Category Archives: Fembruary Challenge

Mythic Battles: Pantheon – introducing the Amazons

13 Wednesday Jan 2021

Posted by in Dragon Rampant, Fembruary Challenge

≈ 81 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

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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

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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 ;-)