Tag Archives: Fembruary

Leadballoony’s 3rd Fembruary Challenge!!

03 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Daughters of Khaine, Fembruary Challenge

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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 ;-)

 

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

08 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by in Fembruary Challenge

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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 :-)

Seros the Red, Thrice Cursed of Khaine

09 Saturday Feb 2019

Posted by in AoS, Daughters of Khaine, Fembruary Challenge

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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 :-)