Salutations fellow grognards!
Here we are at the end of the road. After six months I managed to successfully finish the challenge. I have painted only 22 miniatures, but the amount of work needed has been flabbergasting. It is true that I have complicated myself far beyond what one would usually expect from these models, but they still are quite more detailed than I expected them to be. I can’t say I enjoyed painting them, but I do enjoy the results.
This last slice comes in the form of two destroyers. These are the biggest models of the Necron range, basically a Necron warrior riding a gravbike with the heaviest weapon of the army, even if it is not particularly powerful. I kept the painting scheme for the riders identical to that of their footslogging comrades whilst the destroyers themselves, while sharing the colour scheme, have far more bronze metallics in order to subtly add chromatic variation to the miniatures. I soon discarded the idea of using the original flying stands in favour of actual bases, which I crafted in the same fashion as the rest of the army. This not only brings cohesion to the whole force (and are more aesthetically pleasing in my opinion), but makes the base to actually being able to support the model on top without breaking if you look too much at it.
Thus, the final slice amounts to two Necron destroyers for 150 points. This rounds up the 1000 points army with:
– 1 Lord = 84 points.
– 5 Scarabs = 150 points.
– 14 Warriors = 616 points.
– 2 Destroyers = 150 points.
As you can see, there are no bonus models. I had some ideas to add to the base challenge (such as immortals, 3d printed alternative warriors or even flayed ones) but real life got in the way. Anyhow, I succeeded in the challenge and I am looking forward to its next season!
Have a nice year!
Wachtmeister: I have enjoyed watching Viden’s army grow and make subtle changes throughout the challenge as he repainted certain aspects to better stand out and fit the army. I can’t think of any time I’ve made changes to figures once I’ve declared them done so I’m very impressed Viden took the time to do so! You don’t often see Necrons outside of the usual silver metallic, certainly not in 2nd Edition, but Viden did it and they look awesome. I really enjoyed his basing as it added further interest to what could be very one-dimensional figures. I agree the Destroyers look way better based consistently with the rest of the army!
Wachtmeister-
Finally done! First and foremost, thank you for running this and encouraging me to join! I’ve had all of these Eldar sitting around in various states of “done” for a long time… finally starting to make a dent in the pile of shame!
It’s been really fun to look through my old paint jobs and see how much my painting has grown since high school… but even more over the 6 months of the challenge! One of the swooping hawks I’m submitting as a bonus mini this month was started back at the very beginning of the challenge, and wow! My paintings is already cleaner than it was 6 months ago!
This month’s minis are a squad of 4 Swooping Hawks coming in at 112 points. I have more waiting for paint, but could only locate 8 wings, so, 4 it is!
My overall stats are as follows:
7 dire avengers
4 swooping hawks
1 farseer
1 exarch
3 dark reapers
1 falcon grav tank
1 Eldar dreadnought
1 war walker
19 total miniatures and 1,365 points!
Combined with the rest of my army, I have plenty of choices to make in a 2000pt game!
Thanks again, Wachmeister!!!
Wachtmeister: I’m glad Deacon decided to join the challenge as he is part of my regular gaming group! A few years ago I tried buying his Eldar collection off him, I’m glad I didn’t because he did an excellent job painting them and I’ve already had the opportunity to battle against him and with him! I look forward to seeing what he adds to the army in the future!
Thanks for letting me a part of this challenge. June was crazy and so I find myself short.
I painted all I pledged but wanted to add some more but alas time cropped up and raised its head.
Really enjoyed the challenge and tomorrow I field the completed army in a game against Georg. So, we shall see if the raiders will be successful or the future requires some more reinforcements.
“The future can be seen but only in the vague glimpses of light. We attempt to bring the visions together and make sense so we can best chart our way to survival. But fate is a fickle being. And as always we will survive”.
- Farseer Yaleith.
Wachtmeister: CaptDunnwa may have had a busy June and thus didn’t complete any bonus entries this month but I would not say he came up short. His army looks terrific and his paint scheme screams 2nd Edition even if he used models from a variety of ranges and periods. I particularly love the Exodites with the shuriken catapults mounted on the sides!
The final month. I was keen to finish everything I promised at the beginning of the challenge. I’ve had a few logistical challenges when moving house, and some distractions along the way… the Psyker and the Rattlings.
Was nice to finish off the Delaque models and the heavy conversions. Pleased with the end results. They are much better than the first squad I finished. I also finished a “Commissar” which is a Delaque ganger. In addition, there was the Van Saar command HQ models.
The Leman Russ, a model I’ve had since 3rd ed. started as the exterminator kit. I changed out the guns and kept the tank commander, sandbags etc. It’s the 3rd tank of the same squadron as see in the 2nd edition. Codex, from the Necromunda 12th.
My monthly totals:
Jan 200
Feb 202
Mar 185
Apr 80
May 50
Jun 533
Total 1250
This month’s break down:
Leman Russ 205
Imperial Guard Squad (168), 100, Shot gun 1, Flamer 7, Las cannon 30, Missile launcher 30
Command HQ 100 (107), Melta 6, Plasma pistol 4, 2x chainsaw 4, Bolt gun 3
Commissar 40 (43), Bolt gun 3
533 TOTAL
16 models
Wachtmeister: Vectis did an absolute wonderful job bringing the Necromunda 12th to life but his creative use of figures from, well, Necromunda. I was thinking of doing something similar for a Chaos force but somehow the figures I wanted to use have gone up and missing! But enough about me, back to Vectis. I love his armor and feel they deserve a spot in a White Dwarf, they are absolute perfection to me. His banners look so good I need to go back and add some to my tanks!
Phew, job done, and it’s been emotional! After completing a fair chunk of these last month but using my mulligan, I expected June to bring a straightforward conclusion to the challenge. But without Wachtmeister’s generous extension quite a few of this month’s models would have remained unfinished, with me yet again taking it to the wire timewise.
I was keen to finish the second combat squads of both Devastators and Assault marines but opted to start with a bonus entry first. Torn between a unit of artillery (and Servitors) or a Bike Squadron, I went for the big guns hoping that I could paint them to a decent standard more quickly. These were lovely models to paint, and I thoroughly enjoyed working on them, I could never afford Thudd guns and Tarantulas back in the day, so this was the first time ever building them. The Servitors were completed in about 3 days only and provided another much-needed break from yellow paint. Contrast and “slap chop” was used on them, and this is my favourite method of painting style overall, but I just can’t get it to work well on normal Space Marine power armour yet. It looks like these Servitor models remained in Grandma Wendy’s line up until quite recently and I can see why, they have great character in my opinion and scream 40K 2nd Edition to me rather than Rogue Trader. My army will eventually include a Rapier too and another Servitor, in green attire. Unfortunately, due to some stubborn old paint, I couldn’t get them stripped, built and painted in time, but on checking the 2nd Edition rulebook, it looks like I’d need another Techmarine first to include a fourth gun anyway.
Highlighting the Devastators and Assault marines seemed to take forever and these became a complete war of attrition. I struggled a lot, and I actually think I’m getting worse at painting standard marines! Thankfully that’s it for the army, two Tactical Squads, one Devastator Squad, one Assault Squad, that will do. One day I might try to tidy them up some more, but they look good enough for now from a couple of feet away. Maybe they’ll also be a Veteran Squad added at some point using some of the old metal Marine Armour Variant miniatures but there’s lots of more important models in the way first.
The intention remains to add some more units to this force, mainly vehicles: 5 bikes, a Land Raider, a Land Speeder, a Rhino for the Devastators, a Predator, a Dreadnought and maybe a Whirlwind. Taking group photos at the end was fun, it’s starting to look like a proper army now, but I plan on taking a few months off next or I could instead make a start on some other paint projects as those urges remain, and itches remain yet to be scratched.
And so, the challenge comes to an end. I am still very thankful for the opportunity to take part and it’s a been a blast. There’s been some tough days when I wanted to snap my brushes in half or launch models across the room but the feeling of seeing all the miniatures lined up at the end of the challenge was amazing and has made everything seem worthwhile! It’s been much tougher than expected and hasn’t all gone to plan but I’ve achieved more in six months than the previous eighteen and painted more points of Marines than expected at the start of the challenge, so it is mission accomplished as far as I’m concerned. Thank you again to Wachtmeister for all his hard work and to all the other contestants for their encouragement and kind words. It feels like we’ve achieved an awful lot between us, and this is one of the things that makes the hobby so engaging. Hopefully lots of the miniatures featured here will get to see some real tabletop action soon. I’m certainly expecting this Fist army to go hunting for some filthy Xenos bad guys soon!
June days painting: 26 (an increase over previous month but includes 5 days at the start of July – cheers Wachmeister 🙂
June Miniatures finished: 16
1x Space Marine, Devastator, Combat Squad: Consisting of 5 Marines equipped with bolters, bolt pistols, frag grenades and power armour. Value = 150 Points
1x Space Marine, Assault, Combat Squad: Consisting of 5 Marines equipped with jump packs, bolt pistols, chainswords and Frag/Krak grenades. Also includes 1 Marine with plasma pistol. Value = 165 Points
3x Support Weapons: Consisting of Tarantula (2x Multi Meltas), Mole Mortar, Thudd Gun, each with Servitor crew. Value = 152 Points
Total Value for June = 467 Points
Challenge cumulative points total = 1451
Challenge cumulative models count = 33
Wachtmeister: I know people are probably getting tired of me talking about how much I like TJ’s army but I really can’t help it. Once again my jaw literally dropped when I opened his army picture. Everyone knows how difficult yellow is to paint and yet his entire army looks super crisp and really pops off the screen. TJ really used the bonus days this year to his advantage by painting almost 50% more this month than the previous 5 combined! I hope he gets this army on the field and gets some of those bigger support options painted!
It only took me a little over five months and as many tries, but I finally succeeded… in painting single digit minis…huzzah!
Though I’ve already painted above and beyond the numbers pledged, I couldn’t get myself to finish the challenge without completing the last project, that has been sitting on the desk since before the challenge even started.
An Imperial Guard army without armor, isn’t a proper Guard army. And so this challenge, as the others before it, will expand the armored company in my regiment. And though the number of armor completed this month, doesn’t do justice to the number of Guardsmen completed, it’s certainly a start.
This month’s slice will add a trio of the Emperors most trusted armor, the Leman Russ Battle Tank to the core of the armored company along with a single Chimera, which will serve as transport for the company’s Colonel and his retinue of guardsmen.
The many tanks in my Tallarn 42nd. Regiment has always been painted in a striped camo of green and brown (what was Camo Green and Bubonic Brown in the old days). And so I though it only made sense to continue this pattern. However I exchanged the green for another darker tone of brown, Steel Legion Drab, which is also the base color in the theme used on the Mordians.
Though the four tanks are all what I would call tabletop ready, there’s still plenty to do in regard to details on each tank. I’m still struggling a bit on how to finish these, as well as every other tank in the company. I’ve obiviously got plans, ideas and even dreams of what I want to do, but for now this is a project for the future, that I hope to show some progress on in a coming challenge.
And what else to lead my Mordians into battle, than the Commisar Tank Commander, painted in the colors of the company he will lead.
We’ve reached the end of another challenge, the third completed for me. As always it has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs these past 6 months, but still I wouldn’t have been without the experience, just as well as I wouldn’t say no to join, should another challenge arise at some point in the future.
Slice 6 – Bonus Models
Chimera Troop Transport – 140 pts.
3 x Leman Russ Battle Tank – 615 pts.
Challenge Numbers
Total minis painted – 204
Total points painted – 3932
And so this challenge has seen me complete more minis than I imagined I would ever do… even outside of this challenge madness the wonderful Dr. The Viking has brought upon us all. At least it’s safe to say, that I will never paint as many minis or points in any challenge again.. and that’s a promise.
For the Emperor and the Screaming Camels
Wachtmeister: Remember that time Mørk suggested he and I paint the same Guard Regiment to see each other’s take and then I painted a quarter of what he did? Seems like only this year. Oh wait. That was just this year. I’m pretty sure the numbers Mørk painted will never be beat in a challenge, and we have seen some big numbers this year! Like every one else I’m impressed by his dedication, but not only that he painted such a large amount of figures they look good too! I wonder how much armor he would end up painting if some sucker ran another challenge in the future….
The end of the Mark VI 40k Army Challenge is here! For this final slice I present 10 Goff Boys, led by a nob bearing chainsword and powerfist. There are few things more satisfying than a mob of troops piling on in a multiple-combat, giving the last trooper with a powerfist all those bonus close-combat points.
While I didn’t get around to painting all of my ambitious initial group of models, what I have finished is quite the pleasing force to behold: 4 big mobs and a special character. Thanks to the past 3 painting challenges, I’m able to field a WYSIWYG horde of orks in excess of 7000 points. I can now retire from painting Space Orks with a clear conscience. Thank you Wachtmeister for all your work running this painting challenge!
Final Month: 10 Goffs with nob, 132 points.
Total models completed for the Mark VI challenge: 69 models, 1653 points.
You can follow my hobby progress on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pygmyhippo/
And you can find many more photos of my miniatures and hobbies on my blog at https://giantpygmy.com
Wachtmeister: I’d like to once again thank PygmyHippo for his help with the various graphics for this challenge, we wouldn’t look half as professional if it wasn’t for his efforts with the logos, and the occasional tech support in the blog. His army is quite stunning to behold, almost stunning enough to feel bad dropping artillery pie plates on it as it advances across the field. Almost, but not quite. I can not wait to get another chance to play against his beautiful army, it is even more stunning in person!
It’s crazy to think that we are now at the end of another 2nd edition army challenge. Though I only ever get my submissions submitted in the nick of time, now that I have been through six army challenges I have so many more painted miniatures than I’ve ever had at any other time in my 35 year gaming career.
If you checked out the blog post of the recent mega battle between challenge members that the good Wachtmeister reported on, one of the best parts of that game was how amazing all of the forces involve looked. It sounds trite but it really does take the game to another level when all the miniatures look so great on the table top.
This month I only had one model to tackle which is good because we ended up being out of town a lot for summer vacations. I painted Ulrik the Slayer who will be leading my small Space Wolves force for now. For Ulrik I stuck pretty close to his look in the Codex, whereas my previous several months of Space Wolves units were slightly varied from their usual paint schemes.
It only looks good from a distance, but I’m really happy with the blending of the blue gray that I achieved on my units for this army. I remember reading the new background and lore of the space wolves back in 1992 in White Dwarf magazine right before the launch of second edition. I always loved looking at all the models as the idea of what we now know Space Wolves was formed, but I never imagined I’d have an army of these guys for myself. It is incredibly satisfying to have this army started and on its way, I have at least another thousand points of Space Wolves to paint to round out this force if someone organizes another challenge next year.
Since I just gave the Wachtmeister an involuntary shudder as he read that last sentence , I would like to thank him for taking on this challenge (with a huge 40 entrants) again as the coordinator and also show my appreciation for having an incredible place to play fantastic games of second edition. He has a great looking game room and an even nicer gaming table. The top notch environment makes it so much fun to get the models out and play the game. I have said it in previous challenges, but beyond the great looking minis that I have for my collection, my biggest gain out of the challenges has been meeting other gamers in my area who have the same love for the 2nd edition that I do. Add in all the great friends I’ve made in the chat that goes along with the challenge and this ongoing project over the years has made my gaming life so much richer.
A hearty salute to all the other challenge participants. From month to month everything they paint is so amazing, It’s flattering just to have my army in the mix with so many great looking ones. Cheers to all those who painted huge armies or bonus materials. It is impressive how much work they can accomplish each month.
Thank you to the great Dr the Viking for starting this madness five years ago and even though it gives the Wachtmeister night terrors, here’s hoping for at least four more second edition challenges (so I can finish all the models I’ve currently bought for different armies and start buying more). Thanks to anyone who paid attention to our silliness over the last six months – have fun and always roll the most sustained fire dice the rules allow!
Ulrik The Slayer – Wolf Priest 175 points
Jaurskald’s Hunters – Grey Hunters Pack, Sergeant and 9 Marines, Meltagun, Power Fist x2, Chainsword x2, Power Sword 363 points
Draugrheart’s Teeth – Long Fangs Pack, Sergeant and 4 Marines, Power Axe, Hvy Bolter x2, Missile Launcher x2 282 points
Trusted of Jhorghain – Wolf Guard Pack, 5 Wolf Guard, Power Fist x2, Power Sword, Power Axe, Chainsword 200 points
Army Total 1,030 points
Wachtmeister: I think one of Jon’s favorite things about the challenges is making me shudder at the idea of further challenges, but it’s worth it to have made such a great friend to play 2nd Edition, and other games too! His army looks terrific and proves the Space Wolves curse is well and truly dead! His Ulrik the Slayer looks awesome standing in stark relief to the purple tufts of the alien world along with the rest of the army. I look forward to dropping some artillery on these Sons of Russ when we get in our annual end of challenge game! Speaking of which I think we still owe each other an end of the 4th challenge game too….
Hi Wachtmeister,
This month I have 10 Chaos Marines to add to the Black Legion force, Armed with:
4x plasma gun = 32
3x power fists (lightning claws) = 30
1x Power sword = 6
for a total of 323 points.
Once again I underestimated how much impact university would have on my time over the last 6 months, this was a very difficult semester. Being behind where I wanted to be each month really added up, the result was having to get 10 marines finished in this month plus make and paint a pretty large base for my greater daemon. They did all come together to a place where I’m mostly happy with them. I’ll likely go back over everything and get it all unified and up to a standard I’m more happy with but overall I’m happy with my effort, 32 models over the 6 months is not bad, especially with one of them being a major conversion.
The Plague bearers remained my favourite to paint overall, they just come together so nicely but I’ve really dialed in on a black that I like for the marines so I think it will be a good one going forward for doing more Black Legion marines. I might add some Plague marines later on…
I found out during this month that a lot of my Chaos marine parts have gone walk about. So I sadly had to pillage a box of raptors for arms and shoulders to make up the numbers, but these old metal bodies really do look cool with the warp talon power claws. I’ll likely end up using these guys as chosen given their very heavy mix of special weapons.
A very fun challenge and I’m glad I took part even if it was a bit stressful to get stuff finished at times. Thanks for all your effort running it. I hope I did justice to the models with my group shot.
Cheers Psykka
Wachtmeister: Psykka definitely did justice to his army in the group shot, they all look terrific ready to bring death to the false emperor! I really like how the 3rd Edition bits add some extra character to the 2nd Edition models, sometimes unexpected problems make the project all the better for it! I enjoyed watching his painting style evolve through the challenge. I know I’ve mentioned how much I like his Plaguebearers, but his Black Legion marines have only improved throughout the challenge. Finished beats perfect, and we can always go back, but sometimes it is just better off to be proud of what we accomplished and move on. Psykka has a lot to be proud of with this army for sure!
Legion of the Damned (1,186 points)
Librarian 240 (285), conversion field 10, force sword 10, hood of hellfire 25
Legionnaire Tactical Squad 390 (468), krak grenades 30, sergeant with chainsword and bolt pistol 4, flamer 9, missile launcher 35
Legion of the Damned Dreadnought 115 (230), autolauncher 5, multi-melta 95, power fist w/ built-in storm bolter 15
Legion Bike Squadron 180 (203), power sword 7, meltagun 8, plasmagun 8
Hooray!,
I have finished a 2nd Legion of the Damned army! For my final month I finished a bike squadron. A sergeant, a plasma gunner, and melta gunner. Totally up to 203 points. These guys sucked. Plastic and metal hybrid kits are no fun to work with. Tons of pinning and puttying huge gaps. I do love how they turned out in the end. Lots of great flat surfaces to paint flames and skulls. Even created my own raised shoulder pad on the sergeant by shaving down a plastic skull, fitting it to the standard shoulder pad, and using a little epoxy to make it look like it belongs.
I had a lot of fun over all with the challenge. I did end up changing a few things from my original list. A regular tactical squad sergeant instead of Sergeant Centurious and a dreadnought instead of an attack bike. These were already planned to be in the final full army though.
I’ve already been thinking about what I might do next year, if invited to participate. I still have a Sergeant Centurious, an attack bike and a devastator squad to finish for the full army to be completely finished. So, hopefully I can continue the motivation and finish all those in my own sweet time. Thanks, to Wachtmeister and everyone else that participated.
If anyone would like to meet up for a game sometime or you’re interested in commissioning some art from me, you can hit me up of Instagram at josh.landis.art
-FE Warrior out!
Wachtmeister: Despite the few changes to his initial plan I can’t fault FE Warrior for his incredible work on the Legion of the Damned, especially considering how awesome the Dreadnought looks! I was looking forward to Sergeant Centurious, I’m hoping I get to see him in the future. I love how FE Warrior continued to put little personal touches on his models, such as the raised shoulder pad on his bike Sergeant. I don’t have his skill at freehand or conversion or else I might try expanding my single squad of Legion of the Damned I painted back in the fist (or was it second) 40k Challenge! I’d suggest following his Instagram for some great artwork, and if you need something commissioned he did a wonderful piece for me so I recommend him highly!
I just have the complete photo. I have come completed my 1000 points.
Wachtmeister: DJ’s army is real intimidating pile of lead! Technically he only submitted finished miniatures in four of the months but with the massive amount of prep work he put out in the first month and the fact I don’t want the Night Lords showing up at my doorstep I’m counting this as a completed challenge!
I’m going to save my overall comments on the challenge itself for a future blog so I’m just going to talk about this months entry, another unit of Mordian Iron Guard. If you look closely you’ll notice this unit is what came in the squad box and is thus the most popular assortment of figures. I know this is the most models I have ever pledged but as I only painted one bonus model, albeit a Leman Russ, I’m not sure if it was my most productive from a figure standpoint. Still, I’m thrilled to be done even if I didn’t even start my real bonus pledge of a Praetorian Army to match the Mordians! I did manage to give myself a heart attack as I was putting together my pictures as I looked on the table and saw an unpainted commissar model. As it was the same model I pledged I thought I was going to fail the challenge until I looked at the power fist and remembered I did in fact paint this model last month, this was just my second copy of the same sculpt which has been out of the box since one of the many other challenges! Phew, disaster averted!
Models for June – 10
Imperial Guard Squad with Sergeant with laspistol and chainsword (2), Lascannon team (30), and Grenade Launcher (10) – 142 points
Sanction Redactus
Hi!
Well, I almost made it to the end of the challenge… but life had other plans. Raising two small humans, recently started summer vacations and pretending I have free time is not the ideal recipe for hobby success. Thus, the final batch of miniatures didn’t quite make it across the finish line, although these termis are close to be finished. Still, I painted more than I have in ages, and that’s a win. Next year? I’m coming for you. With extra motivation for finishing my Blood Angels dream army, and maybe a babysitter.
Thanks for running this challenge, and I hope we can meet next year again!
Cheers!
Wachtmeister: In an absolute heartbreaker at the last-minute Jaime was unable to finish his last few models despite getting so close. I really hope he gets the time to finish the last few bits of these Terminators as his army was looking really nice and almost crossed the finish line! Jaime told me he’ll share his finished miniatures when they get done and I’m looking forward to seeing them in the hopefully not to distant future!
Now let us pay our respects to those who fell to the dreaded Sanction Redactus in the order in which they fell.
With that the 40k 2nd Edition Challenge, Mark VI has come to an official conclusion, check back soon for a recap on my thoughts and the final stats!
-Wachtmeister
The Wachtmeister's Patrol 