You’ve seen the first two waves so let’s go check out the final wave of our first month of the 7th 40k 2nd Edition Challenge!
| Number of models painted: | 8 | Number of points : | 309 |
| Hours spent painting: | 20 | Crisis level (1-5): | 3 |
Tactical Combat Squad, 5 models, Chainsword and Meltagun, 160 pts
Company Standard, 1, Power fist, 65 pts
Veteran marine, 1, Bionic arm and chainsword, 40 pts
Veteran marine, 1, Bolter and aux grenade launcher, 44 pts
My first slice of the painting challenge was a simple one, a straightforward Tactical combat squad and a Company Standard. Stupidly I’d agreed to join a narrative old world slow-grow at the same time so the first weeks were spent painting beastmen.
Once i got some red down on my Tacticals i hit my first issue, what red had I used previously? I never write anything down (when I do I lose it) so a few test models were required to compare to my older models.
Tacs done it was onto the Company Standard and I decided to give him an appropriate Veteran gold helmet, my first attempt at Non Metallic Metal. To give myself a better chance I recruited two bonus veteran marines to support him and act as guinea pigs for the attempt. I have to say it went really well and I’m thrilled with the result on all three of them.
Previously I’ve used pop cans to make my banners so did that again. Hand painting all the shapes and features of my 3rd Company banner was daunting but I found it really fun, just slapping paint down and knowing it would never be perfect. It came out great and I’m really happy with it. The sergeant’s banner got the same treatment but that went a bit wrong. The banner was cut too small and the painted design too squished, then the tab snapped off, so I’ll have to redo this banner at some point.
Wachtmeister: Wow, Richard has really set a high standard with this entry. I love the yellow veteran helmets and the company standard looks ace! I had to take a closer look to realize it was handpainted! Incredible work!
| Number of models painted: | 15 | Number of points : | 236 |
| Hours spent painting: | 30-40 | Crisis level (1-5): | 4 |
Goff Boyz Mob – 2 Nobz (2 Powerfists, ‘eavy armour), 6 Skarboyz (2 power axes), 7 Boyz – 236 points
To kick things off with the challenge I went after my biggest unit first, the Goff Mob. Goff Mobz can have 2 Nobz so a pair armed with Powerfists should give them some punch when they make it to close combat. I’ve always been a fan of the Skarboyz models and Trollet’s are no exception, so I stuffed the six different sculpts in with an assortment of weapons. I added enough boyz to round it out to make up points. I left this unit till mid month to start which left me a bit stressed at the end and meant I couldn’t get any extras in like I was hoping. I raided Waaagh! the Orks for some colour scheme ideas, especially for their backplates. Being Goffs I wanted to keep them relatively simple, so only the Nobz got any freehand. The Trollet Skarboyz don’t stand out from the Boyz nearly as much as the GW ones do. This is partly why the Skarboyz have bioniks and assorted weapons, compared to the Goff boyz axes. I found I still mixed a few up so all the Skarboyz have black sleeves/ptetruges where the boyz have red.
Wachtmeister: These guys really look the part of 2nd Edition Goff Boyz with their red weapons and armor and black and white checks! I particullarly like how bright the skin looks against these darker elements!
| Number of models painted: | 7 | Number of points : | 271 |
| Hours spent painting: | 11 | Crisis level (1-5): | 5 |
Chaos Space Marine Squad, 7, Chainsword/Hvy.Bolter/Lascannon/Missile, 271 pts
Come hear the moon is calling, the witching hour draws near.
Come hear the bell is tolling, mortals run in fear.
Prepare the altar now and hear the virgin cry.
Hold fast the sacrifice for now it’s the time to die.
All hell breaks loose. Hell’s breaking loose!
- Witching Hour, Venom (1981)
Over the past 2 months I assembled a “40k Army Challenge Mark07” music playlist, specifically to accompany painting. I fine-tuned that playlist, listening to it repeating nonstop for weeks: at work, walking the dog, while sleeping. All that while I was visualizing painting this army. I wanted them to look like the Rogue Trader renegades of my childhood. I was dreading painting these miniatures that had been languishing in boxes for 30+ years, and I waited until the last minute to start on them. In the end they were a joy to paint, came together quickly, and they turned out just as I’d hoped. I give all the credit to “Cronos.”
Wachtmeister: These guys scream the glory days of Rogue Trader and transport me to a more metal time! I can’t wait to see these guys in person, and I’d really like to get a wider look at the terrain they are standing on!
| Number of models painted: | 5 | Number of points : | 201 points |
| Hours spent painting: | 30 | Crisis level (1-5): | 2 |
Army entry: Squad Arcturus, 5 Veteran Assault Marines, Power Sword & Bolt Pistol; 2x Plasma Pistol & Chainsword; Power Axe & Bolt Pistol; Flamer
Veteran Assault Squad Arcturus are members of the Blood Angels 1st company and equally at home in Terminator or Power armor depending on the needs of their situation. As much as I love the aesthetic of jump packs, assault marines armed with exotic weapons and ready for close combat in confined areas are another favorite lore idea of mine. They could also be transported across the battlefield in a Rhino or Land Raider even though experienced 2nd edition gamers know how hazardous to their troops that can be in-game. Painting the first half of the squad this month was a lot of fun, hazard stripes on chainswords and brightly colored weapons are all part of my RT-era/2nd edition head canon even if my interpretations stray somewhat from exact copies of the period schemes. As an extra highlight this month, Wachtmeister and I got to kick off the latest season in style by playing a thrilling game of 2nd edition on the first day of the month with great looking armies we painted in a previous challenge. You can read about it at his great blog, Wachtmeister’s Patrol Being able to have fantastic opponents and a selection of fully painted armies to pick from whenever I have time to play a game is certainly the greatest change that the challenge has brought to my hobby and gaming life over the last six years.
Thanks to Dr The Viking, Wachtmeister, and Pygmyhippo for making the challenge a reality for the 7th time and good luck to all the talented participants.
Wachtmeister: Flattery will get Jon everywhere and a well timed shout out to this very blog is always appreciated! I like the various bits Jon has put on these guys, from older pattern backpacks, to the extra detailed shoulder pads, to the Jon McMaster style power weapons!
| Number of models painted: | 30 | Number of points : | 420 |
| Hours spent painting: | 60 | Crisis level (1-5): | 3 |
BOOM!! This brings to an end one of the most productive hobby months I think I’ve ever had. Yes that is three full squads of Catachans! Not just the one that I’d pledged for this first month originally.
A few things contributed to this: After signing up for the challenge, I got quite nervous about having to finalise a camo scheme, flesh painting method, and the basing method for this army in the first month, along with painting a whole squad. I started doing different tests for all of these things in late January, so I could hit the ground running. The tests went well, and the first squad was finished early in February with plenty of time to spare. Between having more free time than expected, and anxiety about still having 2 Infantry squads to paint the following month, I decided to keep pumping them out and see how far I’d get. By the end of the month I realised I could possibly finish all 3 squads, so did an extra push to get the last one done.
I’m super happy with the way the models came out, and the pressure of pledging to paint quite a lot of models for the challenge has really been taken off – the core of the army is done. I can maybe think about adding some fun random Imperial characters in later months, which is something I wanted but hesitated to include initially. The Orgryns are up next I think, cheers!
Wachtmeister: Wow! My jaw literally dropped when I opened this image for the first time! Somehow the first figure I saw was the Necromunda Orlock hiding out in the bottom right corner and then my eyes got even wider when I saw this was three full squads! Incredible work and despite the quantity of models the quality is still very high! I wonder if next month we’ll see three squads of Ogryns!
| Number of models painted: | 5 | Number of points : | 214 |
| Hours spent painting: | 35 (very rough guess) | Crisis level (1-5): | 3 |
Assault Combat Squad – 5 models – Jump Packs, Power Sword X4, Plasma Pistol, Power Fist – 214 points
I’m pleased to present my first month’s pledge: an Ultramarines Assault Combat Squad that took far longer to complete than I’d anticipated! A few early missteps meant I had to repaint much of the armor when it was nearly finished but, I’m glad I did. I’m submitting this just a couple of hours before the deadline, so I definitely cut it close this month.
This squad was painted to closely match the 1995 studio photos from the codex. My goal is to finish the entire army in the classic studio style of 2nd edition, creating a force that feels like a recognizable blast from the past. I hope I’ve done justice to those iconic 2nd edition paint schemes (maybe even improving on them slightly). This month was a bit of a slog due to my mistakes, but I enjoyed it greatly and look forward to starting next month’s submission.
Wachtmeister: I know in challenges past I’ve said this a lot, but wow, these minis look like the just jumped off the page of the 2nd Edition Codex. But I’m going to go one up on that and say they look even better as they are sharper, brighter, and cleaner than those wonderful models from back in the day. Even the bases are a perfect throwback! I have a feeling I’ll be ooh-ing and ahh-ing over these figures for quite some time!
| Number of models painted: | 1 (almost 2 with Trukk) | Number of points : | 65 (+40) |
| Hours spent painting: | Crisis level (1-5): | 3 |
Wartrack, 1, Twin heavy bolters, Ablative armour
Trukk, 1, 1 Heavy Bolter
Managed to get my entry done, and most of a Trukk that i had airbrushed at the same time for the base colours, though couldn’t quite finish in time. I had an extremely busy Feb with a large work project so my painting time was fairly limited. I just picked up the brush whenever I had a spare few minutes so it took quite a long time to just get through the base colours. Having said that I got there in the end and I’m pretty happy with the result! My first completed vehicle and my first completed Ork unit ever. I really love the Evil Sunz Scarlet colour, it really pops with the black and steel. I did however struggle with getting into some tight spots around the driver as this was a second hand model that was already assembled. I had to fix up a lot of accidents trying to get into the awkward bits.
I literally came down to the last day of the month to get this finished so didn’t get to putting on any decals, but hey it’s a painting competiition right? not a decal applying competition…I might do this at a later day when I have time, but for now I’m calling it done. Looking forward to painting up my biker squads now. On to next months squad!
Wachtmeister: K-Dog’s scarlet really does pop and is full on Second Edition! Gutting through and finishing on the last day of the challenge, and having to go back and add more details later on is a Second Edition Challenge tradition for many of us, so welcome to the show K-Dog!
| Number of models painted: | 1 | Number of points : | 110 |
| Hours spent painting: | 2 | Crisis level (1-5): | 4 |
Black Codex Assassin, 1, Combi-Bolter, 110 points
Although I only painted one model this month, I gave myself a Crisis Level a 4. It wasn’t the single assassin that caused me problems, in fact he was a joy to paint, it was the fact that I’m focusing all cylinders on Warmaster for the tournament I’ll be going to at Adepticon.
Next month will be similar because once I get back from the convention I’ll only have one day to get the next assassin painted! After that it should be smooth sailing, and I may have some surprises as bonus models waiting in the wings for our hobby Race to Terra!
Speaking of the hobby board I managed to play a game with fellow 40k 2nd Edition stalwart Jon on February 1st. We got lucky our game was snowed out the week before because then it wouldn’t have counted! You can read the battle report here on this blog if you are interested! I didn’t play during Rogue Trader but I figure a Rouge Trader assassin painted in black hits the paint something in a Rogue Trader color scheme, I even stayed away from red on purpose! I do have plans on making rules for him to bring him in line with the other 2nd Edition assassins. I’m leaning towards House Vanus, I already have some ideas on how to reflect his information gathering and disinformation spreading in the game!
| Number of models painted: | 6 | Number of points : | 214 |
| Hours spent painting: | 25 | Crisis level (1-5): | 3 |
Chaos Space Marine Squad: 5x Chaos Marine, 3x Bolt Pistol, 3x Chainsword, Flamer, Mk 1 Plasma Gun, Aspiring Champion(Power Armour, Mark of Slaanesh, Combat Drug. 214 pts.
So, for the first single of the upcoming Death Leopards’s LP “These go to 2×6” the band chose the track “Less is not more. MORE is more!” performed by Squad Pyromania. Working out armylists and units for Chaos is a total mess (wel,.. Or Chaos I guess – which is on point) and I hate fiddling with it. So I am going to make unit cards for each unit (as for my Blood Skulls) and never field them in a different way. The unit is the unit.
Paintingwise I am pretty rusty and this took a lot of effort to get through. I KNOW that getting a little bit in every day is tha waaaay… but I always end up doing other things and getting in a real hurry towards the end. Even though they don’t really look as good as I had hope, I managed somehow to spend 25 hours painting them still! This shit just takes a long time I guess?! I haven’t really cracked the leopard pattern nor the purple lightning, but I guess once the challenge is DONE and over, I’ll have a good idea.
Also if I knock over a pot of CITADEL wash again this challenge, I QUIT!
Wachtmeister: Sorry Doctor there is no quitting now, we riiiiiddddeeeee or diiiieeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The vibrant power armor really lends itself to more is more and those leopard prints are to die for! Great job Harkkon!
Mulligan
I’m going to have to use my free life this month
I got close but left to much to late.
Don’t panic tho I’ll be back next month, I think this is only the 2nd time iv had to use my free go .
Wachtmeister: Shepherd had to use his mulligan but with his track record I know he’ll be back stronger than ever!
Month 1 Mulligan! To be fair I already knew this was highly likely going to be the outcome for the first month for me at the outset of this challenge. But I didn’t want it to prevent me from entering altogether. So it’s onwards and upwards. Will I manage to catch up with everyone else and the end of month 2, Who knows!
Wachtmeister: I’d love to see some Sisters of Battle so I’m hoping Tiny Fighting Men is able to join us next month!
Sanction Redactus
Damien Macomber
When I didn’t get an entry from Damien I reached out to him. Unfortunately he missed his invite email and so didn’t think he was in. Although he was pumping out an entire challenges worth of models a month back in Mark VI he has decided to work on other projects instead of playing catch up. Good luck on your other projects Damien!
Next week Dr. The Viking will be posting everyone’s favorite part about these challenges, the stats! Let’s tune in next month to see how Month Two is going!
-Wachtmeister
The Wachtmeister's Patrol 