This month has been action packed already! We’ve seen Wave 1, and a campaign booklet come out… and now 2nd wave is a upon ye! Good times to be a part of the #40k2ndAC I’d say! We have some fascinating entries. From Pretorians to Orks over Chaos and Eldar! The whole palette. I am baffled at the painting quality this year. Even the Eldar look fantastic! Vectis has really taken things to the next level with an ALL-banner entry! I think it looks fantastic!

We have one final wave to go on next Friday (the 20th) and then the Bingo results + wortless stats will be in on the 27th.

Always your humble servant,

Dr. The Viking esq.

Number of models painted:	17	Number of points :	673
Hours spent painting:	21	Crisis level (1-5):	2

Army entry: 

Warp Spiders, 6 models, no additional wargear, 246 points

Maugan Ra, 1 model, The Maugetar, 179 points

Eldar Scout Squad, 10 models, 2 power swords and 2 Shuriken Pistol, 248 points

Month 1 is in the books, and I am excited to be moving forward. My goal for this month was to use the excitement of the challenge to motivate me to not only start the project, but also finish some models that have been in my backlog since 2nd edition.

Warp Spiders have always been my favorite aspect warriors for Eldar. So I knew they needed to get painted first as any game I play for 2nd edition will most likely include them jumping around the board. Maugan Ra and the ten Eldar Scouts I painted are models that I acquired back in 2nd edition and never bothered to paint.

I am hoping that by the end of month 2, I can field a painted 1,000 point army for a 2nd edition game. Since every Eldar army needs to be led by an Avatar or a Farseer, my month 2 painting challenge of completing Eldrad Ulthran is timed really well.

My biggest hurdle for this competition has already presented itself. I will be moving houses in June, so I cannot afford to take mulligans or missteps early in this challenge. I hope this added pressure will keep the progress moving forward in the coming months

Number of Models	Hours Spent Painting	Points	Crisis Level
21	40	240	5

Army entry: 

– imperial guard squad. 10 guardsmen with Mortar. 120pts

– imperial guard squad. 10 guardsmen with grand launcher and heavy bolter. 120pts. 

I may have been too cocky this month. I figured 2 units would be the logical starting point and quite achievable. I got all the base colours down week 1 and dared to dream of maybe getting 3 units done. Then I got the call that my carpets were arriving a month early and I had to drop everything to finish painting my house. I mean I could have painted it after the carpets went down, but then I’d have to be much tidier which is not my house renovation style. So, there goes week 2. Week 3 was gobbled up on holiday in Iceland which somehow  I totally forgot had been organised. So, while that was fantastic, it meant I returned with 7 days to get 20 guardsmen washed, highlighted and based. It came down to the final days to get them done. 

But we got there, albeit I Need to get some alternate wheels for my heavy bolter that are more aesthetically Praetorian so he’s just driving that thing around on the ground until then

FOR THE EMPORER!!!!!!

Number of models painted:	11	Number of points :	197
Hours spent painting:	38	Crisis level (1-5):	3

Army entry:

Snakebite Nob x 1, eavy armour, bolt pistol & power axe, 27 points

Snakebite Mob, Boyz x 5, boltguns, 65 points

Snakebite Mob, Boyz x 5, mounted on boars, bolt pistols, power axes x3, chainswords x 2, 105 points

Snippet (250 words):   Forget easing yourself in gradually – my recommendation is to go as hard as possible when the motivation is highest, at the start! So this is the largest slice in terms of models – particularly if you count the little piggies some of the ladz are riding.

Anyway, this month I’ve got the Snakebite boyz mob and their nob done along with five of the Boarboyz. I was a bit concerned in the middle of the month that I was going to run out of time, but in the end I’ve managed to finish off two evenings before the deadline. Hopefully I’ve also banked a bit of a headstart on a future month as I’ve painted all 10 of the boars I need to the whole challenge. Admittedly I’ve had to leave the banners for another time (in fact I suspect I may end up using the mulligan month to paint all the back banners for the army in one go, but we’ll see how we go in the other months).

Nothing earth-shattering when it comes to techniques, all either contrast paint or normal base coats with highlighting and a bit of drybrushing here and there, but very pleased with how they’ve all come out.

Next month is fewer models, but most of them are Freebooterz – so the scope for batch painting is going to be far lower, as they’ll all be very individual. I’m seeing lots of striped trousers and patterned trim being my nemesis!

Models painted	Points	Hours spent painting	Crisis level (1-5)
4	202 pts	6	5

Army entry:

Red Corsair Veterans, 4 models, Two Veterans with Bolters and one with Multi-melta led by an Aspiring Champion with Bolter, 202pts

Well, that was unusually stressful. RL being too busy has meant I’ve only JUST finished my four marines on the day of submission!! I thought I’d start with a smaller entry to get the project going, and also to paint them as actual Red Corsair Veterans. Other units will be a mix of Veterans and normal Marines from other Chapters who have discovered that following the Emperor is just a daft idea. I think I’m happy with yellow cased weapons, as they needed something.. well, something 2nd ed! I will point out, that as my army is going to led by Huron Blackheart that I can take the “modern” Space Marines equipment at normal cost, from the Space Marine Codex. Handy.

Number of models painted:	2	Number of points :	150
Hours spent painting:	30	Crisis level (1-5):	3

Army entry: Chaos

Sorcerer champion with power axe and bolt pistol = 105 points

Aspiring champion with power fist and mkI plasma pistol = 45 points

The first month of the challenge is already over. For it I painted the easiest slice of my pledge: a sorcerer and a champion. The miniatures themselves are the basic ones without any real conversion: if they look a bit different from the standard it is because I put them together with random bits from my bits boxes.

Those two models helped me in establishing the colour scheme for the rest of the warband, because while I knew it was going to be black & white in true Malal fashion, I wasn’t sure how I was going to combine them. It ended up being mostly black with white trims and minor pieces, including black & white skulls in several places because it is the symbol of Malal. I added some colour to the scheme with red weapons (obviously), blue Tau leather and Warp purple gems. For metallics I used lots of copper  with purple wash in order to achieve a more archaic and esoteric look, especially in the sorcerer. The bases are just my standard blueish rubble with rusted metal and skulls here and there.

This time the only advance in the Hobby Bingo is a colour scheme rooted in the very beginnings of Warhammer. The background is just a crappy AI image I got while trying an app, since I cannot find the white to blue classical background. I hope to have this sorted out for the next entry!

Number of models painted:	11	Number of points :	381
Hours spent painting:	~11hrs	Crisis level (1-5):	1

Army entry:
Exarch, 1, 2x power sword + mandiblaster, 64

Striking scorpions, 5, NA, 130

Bonus

Exarch, 1, fire pike, 75

Fire Dragons, 4, NA, 112

It’s been a very satisfying month of painting. Finishing the Scorpions as planned, and finally retiring the Fire Dragons, felt like a real milestone. The Scorpions’ colour scheme followed the late RT look from the rulebook, but after making all the yellow banners I decided to redo them in the early RT style instead.

Most will recognise the Exarch as the 3rd‑edition Dark Eldar model Drazhar. He was the first Scorpion Phoenix Lord, and I’d always wanted to paint him in classic Scorpion colours. To justify his presence in 2nd edition, I wrote a small piece of background.

Mantirach, the Severing Mantis

It is whispered of in the oldest warrior‑legends of the Eldar — an Exarch whose teachings were born in the same primordial era that shaped Ahra and Kharandras. His doctrine exalts absolute stillness followed by a single, perfect, annihilating strike, a philosophy many believe skirts dangerously close to the predatory instinct that consumed Ahra himself. Kharandras refuses to walk the battlefield beside him, for Mantirach teaches that the Path of the Warrior must be embraced without restraint, no matter the spiritual cost. Across the millennia, the two ancient hunters have crossed blades more than once, their rivalry as old and bitter as the first shrines of the Scorpion.

The Fire Dragons were a unit I’d picked up on a whim years ago. They were partly painted, missing tabs, and sitting on broken bases. The paint had been poorly stripped, but I decided to work with what was there. Their scheme follows the Codex cover, though I painted the guns black rather than gold.

Number of models painted:	6	Number of points :	188
Hours spent painting:	15	Crisis level (1-5):	2

Army entry:

Chaos Space Marines x 5: Power Fist, Plasma Gun (133 Points)

Chaos Space Marine Icon Bearer: Bolt Pistol, Leopard Print Jerkin (55 Points)

A nice and easy month one! After much deliberation I decided to go with an Iron Warrios scheme for this challenge, having never painted them before. I had a couple of techniques I had never done before that I wanted to try out. The first was to do red blending on the horns as seen in a lot of the pictures in the codex. Hazard stripes are basically required for Iron Warriors, so I also gave those a shot. Lastly, a fancy leopard skin coat for the icon bearer. I think all three came out fairly well for my first attempt. All in all, it was great to get paint on these guys as they were the first models I ever bought way back in I think summer ’97? Lastly, I was able to get a fun game in with my son against Blood Angels, which resulted in a chaos victory! (Even though my Warsmith got pasted by a Death Company Sarge) Iron Within, Iron Without!

Number of models painted:	6	Number of points :	462
Hours spent painting:	12	Crisis level (1-5):	2

Army entry:

Assault Combat Squad, 5 models, jump packs, 2 x power fist, bolt pistol, hand flamer, 2 x chainsword, 2 x plasma pistol, flamer, 225 points

Callidus Assassin, 1 model, C’Tan phase sword, neural shredder, polymorphine, poison blades, 237 points

This month I worked on some real eBay rescues. The assault squad was pretty banged up, but looked ok after a swim in Simple Green. Having painted a combat squad of these models a few years ago, I had a good idea of how to do them. The trickiest part was the flamer conversion, using parts from one of the old monopose marines. It took me a couple of hours to find arm bits that would fit the angle I needed, which bumped me up to Crisis Level 2! The plasma pistols were a blast to paint, though I accidently used the inverse colour scheme to my other plasma weapons. I had forgotten how I originally did it and was in such a flow-state, I didn’t want to get up to check. Ahhh, well, perhaps they are recharging. The Callidus Assassin hit me right in the nostalgicals. My old version of this model was stolen straight off a tabletop 30 years ago, while I was taking a break from the game to pick up pizza. It hurt even more to know that it was one of my mates who took it. Painting this one felt a lot like tying a loose end and was very cathartic. I managed to smash out the paint job in one hour, which is some kind of record for me. It must have been the Cowabunga music playlist spurring me on…

Number of models painted:	35	Number of points :	291
Hours spent painting:	28	Crisis level (1-5):	1

Army entry:
Termagants,8, fleshboarers, 48
Termagants,9, fleshboarers, 63

Termagants,9, Spike Rifles, 72

Termagants,9, Stranglewebs 108

Month one: I am really enjoying painting this tyranid army way more than I thought I would.

Having completed my entry and then having the bingo rules appear, I realised that I would have to adapt my submissions if I were ever going to achieve 30 figures in one month challenge – so this entry has parts from 3 different slices and includes all of my basic cannon fodder troops.  (also 3 extra stranglewebs not included in the original submission)

For this army I did not want to use colouring like that used by any of the local tyranid armies painted or being painted. I took some inspiration from the original rogue trader rule book tyranid (light brown). I wanted to have a consistent set of colours that I could use to keep the army looking like an army. Base colour light brown, bone and blades in red, armour in purple and weapons in green. Like all my painting I have used liberal amounts of contrast style paint (gsw dipping ink) for washes which I find brings the whole paint scheme together.

I have attached a variety of squigs to odd bases for additional character. These also use the same basic four colours to keep consistency.

My crisis level was low.  Not at all stressed to finish.  

For full transparency, my hours spent painting is a wild guess.  While I have spent a lot of hours on this, I have completed 75 figures this month and figuring exact timing is difficult.  

Number of models painted:	11	Number of points :	208
Hours spent painting:	48	Crisis level (1-5):	3

Army entry:

Warboss Zikhzod Noshgrub, 1 model, power fist & bolter, 78

Deathskulls Mob, 10 models, bolters & axes, 130

My plan with this challenge is to make sure everything that I paint is immediately playable in 2nd Edition. To this end I started with the two essential elements of an ork army: a Warboss and some troops.

First up is Zikhzod Noshgrub, mighty Deathskulls warboss and top hat enthusiast; currently in a space hulk orbiting Brakkar 04 readying his warband for battle. To accompany him, I painted 10 Deathskull boyz with bolters and axes, the first mob of many.

These models were an absolute joy to paint and I love how they came out. The boyz were all rescues from eBay or Facebook, collected over the last six or so years, stripped of paint and glue, and restored with 3D printed arms and weapons. I’ve been a fan of Kev Adams’ sculpts for a long time now, and these Orks did not disappoint. They’ve got lots of fun detail without being overcomplicated and are dripping with mischievous charm. I’m looking forward to painting more. 

The warboss is a more recent Kev Adams sculpt from Knightmare Miniatures and I’ve been wanting to paint him for some time now. As one might imagine, I spent a bit more time on him than on the troops and I think it was well spent. I’m particularly pleased with the banner – I’m not much of a freehand artist and it took me a few tries to get it right. Hopefully the banners for the rest of the characters will get progressively easier.