The idea of a themed round sort of evolved out of our group chat for this month, namely that of music/pop culture references in 40k. So please bear with all the musical references in the text as the participants try to interpret and incorporate the theme into their monthly entries. It was completely voluntary, of course, so not all entries suffer from this.

Well, this month felt easier but it’s been a few days that’s been put into painting. It may look like three models but it’s actually 5, with those Minderz carrying the weirdy boy around (he’s probably eaten too much shroom). This was great fun and I’m entering the weirdboy in the OldenDemon contest on Instagram. The Mega Nobz (ed. you did write ‘Megan Bobz’… but I am assuming that was some one else ;-P. Awesome looking entry!) were even more fun to paint though. Wonderful models! I think I’ll do the rest of the unit for next month 🙂

This month’s submission is my Deathwing Captain, Bili-Idol, (ed. he even got the hair! It’ll always be a white – or at least slightly bone coloured – wedding in the Deathwing) and the first of the Terminator squad. As a bonus I’ve included a squad of Grey Knights Terminators. I’ve loved painting the Deathwing. The bone colour of their armour is very quick and easy to do and it’s been a nice change of pace from the dark greens and blacks of previous months. The one thing I may add in the future is a banner pole for the sergeant. I didn’t bother initially as the cut out for the pole had been filled in by the previous owner and it seemed  like too much effort to dig it out but as I’m really starting to enjoy painting banners I may drill a hole and add one soon… The Grey Knights were painted as a bonus after listening to too much Evertale, especially their song “Chapter 666 (We Are the Hammer)”, which I highly recommend to any fans of epic, cheesy metal. Next month’s submission will be more Deathwing…

So for this month, I decided to work on some scouts as a main unit. I hoped to get all the classic variants for this band but unfortunately failed so had to paint some doubles . Also forced myself to work on another war walker( I really hate supergluing them and even more painting completely assembled models…), which leaves still 2 walkerbs I have in my box of unpainted Eldar. Much nicer was the classic Vampire Class Spirit Warrior, which I really wanted to have in this army, just to find out they didn’t exist anymore in 2nd edition rules ( everything was so much better in Rogue Trader..). The warlock was another nice model I had and finally I found deep in a bits box all the missing parts to complete 1 Jetbike(!). Not really useful as a single model, but fun to paint, so ..can it be another warlock ? Not sure, still looks cool. (ed. it all looks cool to me my dude! Well done!)

“The shuttle descended slowly towards the compound. Colonel Qadir looked up in astonishment as it banked around and came into view. This was no ordinary shuttle. The jet black shuttle, with gold trimmings and edges gleemed in the sunlight. A massive aquila spread it’s wings across the front of the shuttle and both sides were covered in a large painting, picturing a massive battle between the Imperium and their old enemy, the orks. Centered in the piece stood a figure none could mistake, holding aloft his giant red powerclaw. Qadir turned his head towards Kharasten as it dawned on him ‘how on the emperors brown Tallarn did you manage…’, as the commisar cut him short with a wave of his hand and with a grin on his face said ‘that is not your concern dear friend, let’s consider us being even for the first time in many years’…Qadir looked at his long time friend, but before he could speak the compound began to shake as the shuttle reached it’s destination. They both looked up to the already open hangar door, as it came to rest on the ground. With a stern look in his face and a sense of rightousness about him, Commisar Yarrick walked across the compound eyeing up the men who quite suddenly snapped to attention as they realized who the newcomer was. ‘Colonel Qadir, a pleasure to finally meet you, your friend Rhazoulinski has praised you and your regiment on more than one occasion, so we will look forward to seeing you’re prove yourself’…’the pleasure and honor is all mine Commisar’ Qadir answered him and reached his left hand up in a salute. Yarrick almost smiled for a second before returning the salute. ‘well enough with the pleasantries, let’s get the show on the road shall we’. He looked back towards the shuttle and gestured towards one of the crew members. ‘I brought along a few friends. Now, they have seen more battles than anybody I know still alive, they have been through more than most will ever dream of, hell I had to get one of them out of the cluthces of the local arbites on a retched hot desert planet called Australianum, which was nothing like this fine tempered place’… he glanced about, sweat on his forehead and a wink in the eye ‘but, they are amongst the best…ahem…”men” I’ve have ever worked with. Only problem…they are quite loud.’ And with that last sentence, a booming thunder of noise bellowed out from the shuttle. Qadir looked around seeing his men reacting to the weird noise, but Yarrick calmy put his hand up. 
Suddenly five massive figures walked into the sunlight. Standing easily twice the height of a normal guardsman, with arms as thick as palmtrees, the five ogryns stepped out of the shuttle. Carrying heavy ripper guns on their shoulders, two of the ogryns also carried what appeared to be a large voxcaster of some sort, from which this booming sound was emmanating. Pointing to each of themas he went, Yarrick introduced the five ogryns. ‘leader of the group, or so he thinks, the guys just calls him ‘brain’, he recently had surgery after a nasty headwound, so we know he has the one. Next one is N’gus, ripper gun expert, though not officially leader they more often than not follow him when on the battle field. And next to him you see Steev, not much to say about him. newest member of the group and really trying hard to be as good as N’gus with the ripper. Rumour has it they are related, but I really dread to think about ogryns that way. Anyway, third member is Ril Phudd, like I said earlier he had some trouble with the law recently, but he was found not guilty. Quite handy with demo charges, or ‘death sticks’ as he calls them. And last and most certainly least, is Kliff. They call him the surprise specialist, as no one really seems to notice that he’s there. Oh and again, sorry about the noise which they for some reason call music, you’ll get used to in time and just might end up liking it. ‘With that commisar Yarrick threw a quick salute and followed the five shouting ogryns down into the compound. As Qadir glanced after them he shook his head in disbelief ‘When you said you would bring a surprise, this was not really what I was expecting’ he said with a slight chuckle on his breath, ‘well my friend this wasn’t it, the surprise is coming right there’ Rhazoulinski said with an even wider grin, as he pointed towards the sky…”

These past months, I’ve been going pretty low on points, but as promised I made up for it with this entry. I’ve been really nervous about painting Yarrick, as it has been decades (yep that’s plural) since I last painted him. I never got anywhere near the inspiration (from the 2nd edition codex), but I’m happy with what I managed to do. The keen eye might notice he’s missing a backpack and banner. I had that one on the painting table, but in the end I decided not to do it, as I didn’t have a proper source for his banner. This will however be done, when/if I get my hands on it. The ogryn squad has been a delight to paint. The only theme I was going for, was to do them in totally different colors for fatigues and clothes. Thought a lot about how to do the guns, but happily decided to go red, as I’m pretty much using every chance I have to do just that. And like all the characters in my army, these obviously had to be named. And as I already had taken care of the infamous ‘leopard print challenge’, I saw it fit to do the names with a music-theme (ed. lol you did that well! Splendid looking print and ogryns!), and as such finishing the music-round challenge…only thing I regret, is that I didn’t think of the music part until I was all but done with the paintjob, so not much to see on the minis sadly in regards of the musical inspiration. I might be adding some details at some point in the future, to add to the theme, but for now I call them done and ready for battle. 

This will be final submission to the challenge as I wrap up my 1000 point Ork army. I had an absolute blast painting these old beauties and since finishing the army I had the pleasure to play a couple of small games with my Bad Moons and they were a joy to field on the table. (ed. Wow that is looking good, but my man, you have the patience of an ADHD hamster haha! Congrats on finishing 3 months early! I can’t wait to see the bonus army.) I think I made the right choice in starting with Orks as they really suit my way to play games; filled with humor and speaking in gruff cockney accents when commanding Da Boyz. I hope to come back with a Goff and Evil Sunz mobs to boost my collection and enjoyment when painting and playing. Thanks to the main man organizing this challenge and I hope to play all the participants face-to-face one day in the future with our newly painted armies. Take care all. 

*Cue the calliope music* Hi boys and girls and welcome to the circus… I mean the grim darkness of the far future! Is that right?!? *checks notes* I don’t see anything grim and dark this month at all, only the eye-wateringly bright colours of the keepers of the Black Library themselves, the Harlequins! This month I had initially set out to paint ten harlequins – double the amount that is in my initial 1000 point list. In the end though I managed to finish seven, but also completed the bonus secret musical theme for this month’s leg of the challenge and also include the Great Harlequin himself Dee Snider of Twisted Sister! (ed. ahhaha! This is so well executed Martin! You rock!) Pay special attention to the replicated makeup, beauty spot, the incredible mane and of course the Twisted Sister logo painted onto his lapel (PLEASE pay special attention – for the love of Asur, my hands and eyes are ruined)! With Dee and the rest of the jokers we have a grand total of 368 points (109 for the Great Harlequin and 259 for the squad and all with WYSIWYG wargear). But enough of all this dry talk – there’s balloon animals to make out of the followers of Chaos and cream pies full of monofilament wire to slap in the face of the lesser races of the universe! All under the watchful eye of the leaders of this great troupe. What could he be thinking to himself though under his mask?!? I suspect it might be something along the lines of wanting to “rock”? Until next time dear readers!

Happy Month 3 Everyone! This month has been a bit busy, outside of Hobby time (weird, I know), but still managed to get in the models I needed plus the extras I was planning (just!). So, the initial part of the painted minis: Hamdal Skullsplitter, Mighty Champion of Chaos & Bolter, Sword, Bionic Leg, Scanner (66pts) 2 Veteran Chaos Marines & Missile Launchers, Swords (142pts) Hamdal leads the unit of Veteran Chaos Marines as he has done for the past millennia. He lost his leg a long time ago so now covers it under his armour as a fun surprise for his enemies. Always carries a scanner with him as he lost said leg to a sneaky Ork Kommando’s poweraxe and doesn’t plan on losing the other one! All three models are second edition ones, apart from the missile launcher for the second miniature which is an old plastic RT Chaos Missile Launcher (which I’ve been referring to as the Deathstrawberry now). On top of this, I also painted up some models for my bonus 1k, as mentioned in the last post: 3 Chaos Terminators & 3 Combi-weapons, 2 Chainfists and a Powerfist (199pts) I’ve been enjoying applying the traditional 2^nd edition use of bright red on weapons as it seems to set these guys off nicely – it doesn’t go on the bolter casings but does make it onto my Chain weapons. As a bonus this round, we also had to do a music model – my initial idea didn’t pan out as I was missing the correct parts, but I DID remember that I had a Bloodletter model (very much not 2^nd edition) which I could easily paint as a Beastman Champion (as he’s a beefy bugger) who carries a Skulled Horn! And hence, Gnaskrak Darkhoof was created. Gnashrak Darkhoof, Beastman Champion & Bolt Pistol (25pts) Of course, painting up a Champion means I need to paint up a squad for him to lead at some point… this is what happens when you do random things – you need to do MORE to use them properly!!! MALALBEPRAISED!! (ed. Nice entry Maddix!!! But lately whenever I read this last line, I think of count Dracula in Hotel Transylvania: ‘blahblah blahblah’.)

Not much to say about this month.  Solid amount of painting mostly from 2 sick days. The wartrack is an Aussie figure by the defunct inquisition miniatures. (ed. I think that line of figures looks super cool! You did them justice!)  The bloodaxe boys were an attempt at trying out oil washes.  The warbuggy is a bonus, not one of the three from my list. I think I should finish my initial list next month.  1 warbuggy, 5 boys and a single painboy.

Hello. This entry for the Daemon world list is two half units. First half is 5 beastmen with this months bonus music round in the shape of a horn blower. These beastmen have been on my table for a long time and getting them to a point I’m happy with.  The second unit is 5 man Bloodletters. Found this month fairly hard for time but still enjoyed getting these done. Love seeing everyone’s progress and the amount of different armies on show. (ed. Bloody cool ½units you got there George!)

Managed to find slightly more time to work on my entry this month – so a new record for me, 6 models completed!!! Admittedly four of them were started last month, but a record is a record!!! So, four Fire Dragons clock in at a respectable 112 points, the Striking Scorpion at 26 points and the Striking Scorpion Exarch at 50 – making a grand total of 188 points for this month. The Striking Scorpion Exarch was fun – picked up from eBay it came with some wonderfully thick paint all over it, so I popped it in some Wilko paint stripper and attacked it with a toothbrush after a couple of days. At this point the chainsword arm promptly fell off – a previous owner had brutally cut its arm off at the elbow! To add insult to injury when I got the paint off the arm it transpired that they hadn’t replaced it with the correct one!!! Luckily I had a sword in my bits box that fitted, and although not a chainsword it still gives the model the right pose, even if on closer inspection they have a very short right arm… At least using a power sword gave me a good excuse to try a new-fangled power weapon effect. (ed. My dude, this has to be the best Eldar sword I have seen!) However, I should maybe have asked someone other than my daughter what colour I should go for, but actually I think it’s turned out rather well in the end! On to next month – although I will be taking a bit of a break for the next week as I’ve acquired WD 169 so I will be assembling the card bunker from that first! Once I get back to the Eldar I have two more Striking Scorpions to finish the squad off. Once they’re done I need to decide whether to make a start on the Swooping Hawks or go for a character!

Captain Hawk stood a safe distance from the spiker cacti where some jokesters hung a welcome sign for new arrivals to the outpost as he awaited the promised armored reinforcements. He read the sign for the hundredth time and smirked. 

“Do you know where you are? You’re in the jungle, baby. You’re gonna DIEEEEE!!!”

Suddenly he heard the rumble of tank treads and smelled the acrid odor of promethium as the Hellhound rolled up. Suddenly the turret hatch popped open and a gruff, soot covered, soldier popped out. “Captain? My name is Jonas. Sergeant Jonas. Where do you need us?”  Sergeant Jonas took a long drag off his Lho-stick as he was given his instructions. As the Hellhound pulled away Captain Hawk

 read the scroll on the side with the beasts name and saw it was called “weezer.” Captain Hawk shook his head. He didn’t know if the name was a reference to the Lho-sticks, the sound of the promethium just before ignition or the sound of the beasts victims gasping for air, he just knew Hellhound crews always have a twisted sense of humor. 

A few of the members of the challenge decided we should have a music themed round. I decided I was going to have the classic Guns and Roses lyrics posted somewhere on a terrain piece. I wasn’t thrilled with that as an option but wasn’t thinking of anything else until I was halfway through painting my Hellhound. I recently bought Weezer on vinyl and as I picked it up I thought of all the fond memories I had as a teenager listening to Weezer (ed. I hope no one destroyed your sweater!?) and playing my nerdy games and reading my nerdy books. Suddenly the idea of using the blue from the album as unit markings hit! I used the PaintRack app and scanned the album cover. It recommended Vallejo Andrea Blue as the closest match, a color I had just had in my hand! With that I finished my tank as an homage to one of my favorite bands and completed a vehicle I wanted back in the day but never got! (ed. I love it man!)