Number of models painted:	5	Number of points :	580
Hours spent painting:	15	Crisis level (1-5):	2

Hive Tyrant, 1, Venom Cannon, Lash Whip, Bonesword, 219 points 

Tyranid Warrior Brood, 3, 2 Barbed Stranglers, 1 Spinefist & Bonesword, 111 points

Haruspex, 1, NA, 250 points

The challenge is starting to heat up in terms of the hobby bingo that is going alongside the painting side of things! I was out in front in month 1 and with just a Hive Tyrant to paint (who got updated after going toe to toe with a Terminator Captain for four rounds of Close Combat), I could turn my attention to a few extra bingo goals. With that in mind, I played a game of 2nd edition with my challenge models within the Uluru Campaign, and made some objective markers (which can be seen in this months photo) plus game tokens for my Monstrous Creatures for when they lose connection to the Hive Mind (where they will rampage or nest) plus a marker for the Catalyst phsycic power, some Venom Sac and Warp Field markers to help keep track of all the extra things that the Tyranids have going on!. On top of that, I made some astroturf terrain that made an appearance in my Uluru game. I did also get to paint up some bonus models, in the form of the mighty Haruspex and a squad of Tyranid Warriors who are equipped with some freehand banners which represent Campaign Veteran Markings, as these warriors act as leaders on the field of battle, and will be interspersed into my other squads as the army is completed. These were also all converted to hold weapons not available to the OG warriors, but released later in 2nd edition. 

Number of models painted:	2	Number of points :	175
Hours spent painting:	20	Crisis level (1-5):	3

Chaos Lord with Terminator Armour, Lightning Claw and meltagun = 175.

One Chaos marine with a boltgun = 25 points. 

The fourth month came and went. For it I chose one single model: the Chaos Lord. The model itself is an Abbadon body supplemented with bits from my bits box and other models: the head, the Lighting claws and the head’s skull niche. On the other hand, the spikes were “volunteered” from a Chaos Terminator. This was complemented with a Chaos star token and greenstuff cables to connect the Lightning claw’s stump with the body.

Halfway through the month the Chaos Lord was joined by a regular Chaos Space Marine who was cut out of the challenge because he was over the one thousand point limit. The weird bandage at his left horn is there only to fix in place the horn, which was cut off from the body by the previous owner of the model. Just like the Chaos Lord, this was a metal body devoid of any other bits, so raiding the bits box was again a necessary good. Purposefully mixing bits from different editions, as well as Loyalist and Chaos ones helps to communicate the mismatched nature of the warband. Living off what they can scavenge.

The painting itself follows the same recipe as the rest of the army: Mixing white and black in a ragtag but cohesive fashion as Malal wishes, with red at the weapons and other details because 2nd edition. Last but not least, the loincloth is from a Shadow leopard, because there are leopards outside Terra!

Number of models painted:	5	Number of points :	250
Hours spent painting:	10	Crisis level (1-5):	2
Army entry: Shining Spears, 5 models, 250points 
Snippet (250 words): I went for a simple but what i find ended up being a visually effective paintjob on this months contribution. The white was achived with first a gray spray and then a white zenithal followed by shading with watered down grey and ending with highlights using the whitest white I have in my paint stash. I am very happy with the result! The shining spears are the rarest of the aspect warriors and you seldom see them fielded but I have a super durable (and expensive) loadout for 3rd Edition that I look forward to try out and this squad will surely see tabletime.

Number of models painted:	30	Number of points :	555
Hours spent painting:	20	Crisis level (1-5):	3

12 Hormogaunts (96pts)

16 Termagants (96pts)

1 Carnifex (199pts)

1 Hive Tyrant (164pts)

Hello there fellow gribblies! How’s the bioplasma going? Well, have you tried any Gaviscon? No you drink it, not heat it up and spit it on people, yeesh!

Well, this month has been a busy one for sure but for all the right reasons! With more time to fully focus on the challenge, I decided to knuckle down and get through more of the smaller models and use it as an opportunity to fill some hobby bingo squares as well.

With two massive Broods and the Hive Tyrant and Carnifex done, I now have a fully functioning army and managed to meet up with Moody and M4crodutch who are also part of the challenge and see how well a Tyranid Vs. Tyranid fight would go in the challenges “Uluru” setting. I tell you what, we had a blast and were cheering when a giant spider finally came out of a red butorg field to attack Moody’s Zoanthrope XD

Anyway, we have broken the back of the backlog for now and I am ruminating on what else we can fit in now. I’m still not out of models and am ready to let my imagination go wild.

Till next time!

Tain

Number of models painted:	1	Number of points :	165
Hours spent painting:	6	Crisis level (1-5):	1

Imperial Hellhound 

This is probably the easiest slice I have ever submitted. 1 slice, 1 tank. With nothing else in the pledge this month,I have of course been working on some bonus stuff, but so far I haven’t got anything finished, which will hopefully change during the last two months of the challenge.

Anyway, the Hellhound… not much to say about this particular tank. I love it, as I do most other tanks of the era. This particular example is a bit of a mix of eras. It came in a lot of random bitz and pieces. It had been assembled and was complete, so I didn’t think much of it, until I had to get it ready for the challenge. It was here that I learned that it had indeed been assembled, but it looked like it had been done so blindfolded, in a dark room by someone with a BBQ tong for hands, spraying glue from a firehose. 

I managed to salvage what parts I could, mainly the metal parts (of which one somehow disappeared) and the top of the chassis. Having to buy a new Chimera wasn’t exactly part of the original plan, but neither was searching the interwebs for a missing armour piece (which I actually did find). 

Another Hellhound done, bringing the total in the army up to four… which is obviously at least two short, so I guess I need to find some more. 

For the Emperor, Tallarn and the Screaming Camels.

Mørk

Number of models painted:	10	Number of points :	298
Hours spent painting:	62	Crisis level (1-5):	3
Army entry: Kommando Kaptin x 1, bolt pistol, power axe, melta stikkbombz and ‘eavy armour = 64 pointsBlood Axe Kommando mob x 5, bolt pistols, power axes, flak armour & melta stikkbombz = 130 pointsSnakebite Boarboyz x 4, bolt pistols, chainsword, power axes, flak armour, 1 cyboar = 104
Snippet (250 words):This month was trying to get the last of the main units finished for the army – the last four boarboyz and the Kommando mob and Kaptin. This was because I had a 2nd Ed 40K event on the 30th May that I wanted to run the Orks in – thankfully this did give me pretty much the whole month to get these done. The boarboyz were done pretty quickly, thankfully I’d got the boars done in month 1, so I managed to find the time to complete the banners on these four. Unfortunately I didn’t quite find the time to complete the banners on the earlier ones, but it wasn’t the end of the world. The Kommandos where the same as the Blood Axe mob from last month, so nothing new with them, but I also managed to get the banners done for the Snakebite mob on foot, so catching up a bit. The event was great fun, the Orks went 2-1 with lots of lovely chaos ensuing. Highlights were probably the Kommandos and Boarboyz each taking down a Space Wolf dreadnought in hand-to-hand in game 1 and the Flash Gitz mowing down a whole Grey Hunter combat squad in game 3 while Badrukk snuck in and lifted the objective (presumably a big chest of teef) from under the noses of the beekee gits! Loads of fun and my son even came away with 3rd overall, so a lovely day all round!

Number of models painted:	5	Number of points :	266pts
Hours spent painting:	15	Crisis level (1-5):	5
Army entry: Exarch –  Warp Spider Jump Generator, 2 Death Spinners, 2 Power Swords – 102pts Warp Spiders x4 – 164pts

My plan with these warp spiders (other than lose any friends who play 2nd edition), was to try to really push the highlights on the red. I’m not sure the photo really captures this, but I feel like I’ve made progress on this front – and really enjoyed the process! Additionally, I was able to get in a game with a few other local 2nd ed Painting Challenge people in my area on a beautiful Uluru themed table. Unfortunately, my Warp Spiders met with an untimely demise due to a poorly planned jump and my underestimating the charging ability of a Warboss on a Cyboar…

Number of models painted:	2	Number of points :	224pts
Hours spent painting:	6	Crisis level (1-5):	1
Army entry:Huron Blackheart – Tyrants Claw (152pts)Jyordi The Forged, Might Champion – Bolter, Scanner, Power Fist (72pts) 
Snippet (250 words):This month should have been very straight forward and give me plenty of time to actually do all the bonus stuff related to this.. instead, I’m just submitting the models this month with a Special Character sheet to follow for Jyordi The Forged. I just couldn’t help making him and giving him a visor! He is one of the Techmarines tasked with maintaining Huron’s bionics, so he follows him with his scanner. The painting of the two models was straight forward and enjoyable, but I’ve been busy (including playing a full day of 2nd Ed with challenge miniatures) so didn’t find time to actually do everything.. still, I’m pleased I painted these two, especially as Huron is pretty darn essential to taking this army! Again, I’ve tried to use just 2nd ed miniatures, but some 3rd ed ones have snuck in to be converted. I thought that the Techmarine would make a good basis for Huron and I sculpted his Hamadryda long before the new Red Corsairs came out – it has been described as “a creature of unknown type” and likes to perch on his shoulders.. so that’s what I did with some Greenstuff.

Hobby Bingo objectives completed and spaces advanced: 

Play a 40k game with challenge models (5)Hand-sculpted details with green stuff (5)Play a full 2nd edition game (10)
Play a game with fully painted units only (10)