This wave I am presenting our entries in a random order to mix things up. These are still the first nine entries so grab a beverage and sit back and enjoy the 1990’s flashback to the leopard print era!

Number of models painted:	3	Number of points : 446
Hours spent painting:	20ish	Crisis level (1-5): 2

Commander CC Ether, power sword, plasma gun, displacer field. 128 pts.

Codicer Farowt, terminator armour, storm bolter, force sword. 141pts

Brother Rydgren (hero) and Biff the Basher on attack bike. Crozius, rosarius, boltguns. 177pts

Two bucket list models completed, firstly the commander, I had him back in the day doused in glistening green. I’m all out of glistening green so instead I used the same green for the rest of the army but thinned down to a wash consistency and painted over a leadbeltcher base, I tried out a few combos of metallics and greens and this is the one that turned out best.

I hadn’t realised until priming that the previous owner had filed off the angel in the breast Aquila and in doing so filed off a load of other details.

After getting some solid advice from others in the group I sculpted my own,the pauldron wings were also sculpted. It’s turned out good enough for me and it’s given me confidence to pursue a side of the hobby that I’d thought out of my reach, plus hobby bingo objectives unlocked!

Leopard print lining on the cloak for leopard print month!

Next is the chaplain on bike, this is a bonus model that I picked up shortly after the challenge started.

I had the medic one back in the day whizzing around trying to fix fallen comrades. This time the fixing will be more emotional/psychological, reminding them that they do not die in vain but in the name of the emperor! 

Then the librarian, classic old terminator, instead of full blue I’ve just done the shoulder pad.

The plan is to give them banners by the end of the challenge, ran out of steam this month.

Another excellent month, next month is either predator or terminators.

Good luck to all!

Wachtmeister: Justin has done an excellent job on these classic figures. I really like the green he is going with as it is dark enough to harken back to the Rogue Trader days when the Dark Angels were in black, but still green enough to register as Dark Angels. The Captain is terrific, I love the cloak and the checks on the knee pad. Speaking of checks, those on the Chaplins bikes would drive most people insane!

Number of models painted:	5	Number of points :	200
Hours spent painting:	8	Crisis level (1-5):	5

 Noise Marines with Sonic Blasters 200 pts.

Month 3 of this challenge is the “Red Leopard Circus,” so leopard print it is! I put myself in a bind by waiting too long to start on these metal maniacs. They weren’t any more difficult to paint than any other figures, but I’d envisioned painting a few extras this month. I didn’t use my time as well as I’d hoped. Nevertheless, the leopard print looks really good, and I’m happy with the color scheme (matching mohawks and guitars). The Noise Marine models are technically pre-2nd edition, but you can already see the scale creep beginning to enter 40k when these figs are placed next to Rogue Trader Chaos Marines. In this instance I can forgive that since these are such cool figures. I do wish there were a variety of poses for these RT Noise Marines. The real question is what do we call these guys when they aren’t on tour with Bovimeth? They undoubtedly have a chaotic boy-band side project to practice their crossover acid-doom/prog-metal. “Eight Direction”? “BTS” (Blue Torturers of Slaanesh)? “The Spice Boys”?

You can find more photos of my models at my blog, http://www.giantpygmy.com and on Instagram @PygmyHippo.

Wachtmeister: Between leopard print, lots of other details, and the base color being really close to the cursed Space Wolves no wonder PygmyHippo had such a rough month with these guys! As always his final product was worth the effort, these musical maniacs are amazing!

Number of models painted:	5	Number of points :	256
Hours spent painting:	6	Crisis level (1-5):	2

4 Chaos Marines & 2 Bolters and 2 Flamers
Kallik The Seer, Chaos Sorcerer Champion with Force Sword, Psychic Hood and Leopard Print banner.

Month three comes to pass, and now I’m properly in the swing of it. I did upgrade the Sorcerer to a Champion as I realised that he’s wearing a Psychic Hood in additional to his magical pink Force Sword (borrowed it from a Slaaneshi friend of his). His banner (and loin cloth) do allow me to tick the Leopard Print element of my force (which is mandatory), and it hasn’t turned out badly either. One thing I need to learn to do better is thin my paints further – when I paint (with the right light) I can see where I’ve missed, but I never see the “texture” that is brought out my my camera. Oddly, when I have had skilled photographers take pictures of my armies, they ALWAYS look great, and this texture thing is never an issue!

Next month’s entry should have some of the Hobby Bingo ticked off as I plan to paint Huron himself AND my Special Character. It’s also only two models, which should be a breeze. I mean, if Denis can paint one model in a month, surely I can paint two?

Wachtmeister: I think it’s terrific that Maddix is trying to measure up to whoever this “Denis” guy is, but he should be proud of his own work! That leopard print banner should allow his Red Corsairs a free Leadership buff, who would want to fail with that amazing banner blowing in the breeze?

Number of models painted:	5	Number of points :	147
Hours spent painting:	≈10	Crisis level (1-5):	4

The crisis level remained high this month, not because of failing creative enthusiasm but a chaos space marine stray project stole most of this months hobby time.

During the last week I managed to finish the Dire Avenger squad, painting 2 warriors per evening during the last weekend before finishing with the Exarch. I am quite happy with the result, especially with high contrast highlights on the exarchs armour. I am also proud of myself having the fortitude to resist the lure of chaos project and finish these aspect warriors before deadline.

Wachtmeister: Relentless Barrage has really nailed the bright look of the Eldar. I’m constantly impressed by how crisp his brushwork is. I feel I should trademark “It looks like it came out of the 2nd Edition Codex” with the amount of times I say it, but it really is true! I hope I get to see his work in person one day!

Number of models painted:	3	Number of points :	260
Hours spent painting:	14	Crisis level (1-5):	4

 Ravenwing Bike Squadron, 2 Ravenwing Space Marines riding Space Marine bikes, 2 x powerfist, 130 points. Ravenwing Attack Bike, powerfist, multimelta, 130 points.

This month I have been particularly time-poor, though I can’t really complain. I spent a fair chunk of time holidaying in paradise with my family and another chunk supervising at a school camp. The result was that I only had one week to construct and paint my last two Ravenwing bikers and attack bike. Thankfully, I spent a significant amount of time thinking about how I was going to do everything, so I hit the ground running as soon as I got home. Three of the riders are equipped with powerfists, which is a throwback to the first Ravenwing bike I ever painted back in the 90’s. I had big dreams back in those days of fielding a whole squadron doing hit-and-run attacks with powerfists, which is a dangerous pastime against most enemies to be honest! The fists themselves are pretty heavily converted Tartarus pattern terminator weapons, which caused me no end of grief during the construction phase. My crisis levels were pretty low, despite the time factor, right up until the decals stage. I had four Ravenwing symbols disintegrate in a row as I was trying to finish the Attack Bike. I am not sure what I am going to do about my last two Ravenwing models; I can see myself deep diving into the garage for rare decals in the near future. With time running short, I didn’t manage any bonus models, though I did get a whole lot of spiders delivered in my mailbox…

Wachtmeister: One of the first models I ever tried painting was a chaplain for my Ravenwing. Clearly it was terrible and I’ve dreaded trying to paint Ravenwing again. M4cr0ductch’s Ravenwing are terrific and are really motivating me to give mine a try once again!

Number of models painted:	13	Number of points :	689
Hours spent painting:	20	Crisis level (1-5):	3

Carnifex 199 (why is this not 200, are we in a retail discount store?)
Hive Tyrant, Barbed Strangler, Lash Whip, Bonesword 210

Zoanthrope 120

10 x gargoyles 160

I’ve come off two months of coasting.  While not actually stressed I did need to put in more effort this month.  All the bonus figures I’ve entered besides the carnifex that was the actual slice are brand new.

First things first.  I painted the carnifex that is my official slice for the month.  Done.  Not bad.

Having completed no hobby bingo goals last month I decided that I needed to do a couple.  having picked up a second hive tyrant I decided to dab it with some leapard print.

I also tried to figure out where I could do OSL.  What’s bright in a tyranid army?  Only thing I could think of was bioplasm.  A search for lightning on thingyverse later I had printed out a pretty decent effect that used to go with a pikachu figure to glue to my already painted carnifex – then I started slopping paint all over it and hoped not to ruin it.

Finally I picked up 10 relatively recent gargoyle figures.  I haven’t been happy with my 2nd edition gargoyle prints and bit the bullet.  I think they are very nice figures and they were a lot of fun to paint.  Meantime, with new filament my 3d printer is doing far better and the original gargoyles may well still turn up in this challenge.

I still have a lot more bonuses lined up and hope to complete a lot of the hobby bingos before I finish. 

Wachtmeister: I have to say I really like how the bioplasma on the Carnifex came out, it is easily one of the most creative uses of OSL I could think of. Leopard print on the Hive Tyrant is super metal, it looks like it has a 1990’s suit jacket on and I love it!

Number of models painted:	12	Number of points :	504
Hours spent painting:	12	Crisis level (1-5):	1

Carnifex, 1, N/A, 199 points 

Biovores, 2, N/A, 40 points 

Sporemines, 8, N/A, 80 points 

The Veiled Synapse, 1, N/A, 185 points

This month it’s the first of the themed months of the challenge, and I was looking at my collection to find something suitable to paint for the Red Leopard Circus round. While not 2nd edition, I liked the idea of using the more modern metal ’tadpole’ Zoanthrope in my force (by which I mean I’ve had it for years having got it in a job lot painted by what appeared to be an excited 5 year old and if it didnt make it into this army its unlikley to get painted ever!) and with the extra inceitive of creating a special character for the hobby bingo, it quickly became The Veiled Synapse to allow me to catch two birds with one stone! As for the rest of the month, I’ve been spending time working on the Carnifex and trying to get the black/red transition shown in the Eavy Metal painting guide for the claws to work for me, which they have somewhat, and also painted up a backdrop for this Tyrand army – as my usual backdrop is replaced with the polluted atmosphere of a Tyranid Invasiion…or at least that was my inspiration when starting the project. Also, just have to say I had a blast making the special character using the form, lots of fun (but might need some play-testing before I’m sure about the points value I felt it warranted!

Wachtmeister: The Tyranids are really going all out with the leopard print this month and I’m all in for it! I think Alex is also really nailing the red to black fade that the Carnifex claws were known for so this has been a very successful month for him!

Number of models painted:	7	Number of points :	314
Hours spent painting:	22	Crisis level (1-5):	2

Commissar Yarrick – 170 points
Command Squad – Lieutenant w. Boltgun, Comm-Link, 3 Flamers – 144pts
Captain w. Power fist and Boltgun – (points will be declared another month when I add the extra Guardsmen to go with him…)

You might have been hearing online that Commissar Yarrick has returned to Armageddon, so here he is!! This month I decided to focus on my HQ units. I really didn’t realise what an epic classic sculpt Yarrick was until I took him out of my lead pile. I decided to go with a very 2nd Ed. / retro paint scheme, including the yellow tip on the Power Claw which disappears in later versions of him. Overall I like my old / middlehammer projects to be a blend of old and new, sometimes a modern take on old models or vice versa, but for this one I was feeling fully nostalgic. The banner from WD #152 tops it all off. The Captain with the raised Power Fist is another classic, whose resemblance to Arnie stomping around the jungle in Predator GW would no doubt say is purely coincidental… Since it’s the third month, we were encouraged to use leopard print somewhere in our entries – I managed this on the Lieutenant in the command squad, with the green camouflage of a jungle Leopard on his trousers! He’s accompanied by 3 flamers, including an Necormunda Orlock Heavy (Orlocks fit the Catachan theme almost perfectly), and the fantastic Catachan Comm-link model. Onto next month then!

Wachtmeister: While Mark says he was pure old school on his version of Yarrick I think it is more subtle than that. The bright claw harkens back to the 1990’s but the darker scheme overall really bring this into the modern era. His paint scheme and the use of Necromunda figures really shows the versatility of these older lines!

Number of models painted:	3	Number of points :	455
Hours spent painting:	25	Crisis level (1-5):	1

 Imperial Griffon x 2, Imperial Basilisk

Here comes the big guns! A reinforcement to my army I’ve been waiting for, for a very long time. Last challenge I painted the first Griffon for my army, but had to use 3d printed parts as the original are very scarce and expensive (at least in Denmark). But by some crazy luck I’ve since been able to add these two Griffons (with metal parts, and one including the crew). 

Anyway I love me some big guns, and the Basilisk was one of my absolute favorite weapons back in 3rd edition, where indirect fire was a thing (I’ve got a very fond memory of annihilating my Ork opponent’s HQ in a truck, worth 6000+ points). And even though the earthshaker isn’t  the same in 2nd edition, I’m pretty sure that Dr. The Viking isn’t thrilled with the thought of facing three Basilisks or Griffons for that matter.

So far I’ve managed to push my slices out without any real issues, which were part of the plan. And I’m happy to report that this leaves plenty of time for side projects and bonus models. The Basilisk is the first bonus model of this challenge, but I expect several more to come over the final half of the challenge (at least I’ve got several lined up on the desk). I know I’m in danger of jinxing myself here, but for once I honestly believe I’m going to power through another challenge without any issues. 

For the Emperor, Tallarn and the Screaming Camels.

Mørk

Wachtmeister: Jon hates when I bring three Imperial Guard mortars, I can only imagine his reaction if I were to bring this trio of artillery to the table! Terrific work Mørk, I’m sure the Blood Skulls will be digging their trenches a little bit deeper in the next battle!

I hope you enjoyed these entries as much as I did. Make sure you check out the C0wabunga Journal next week for Wave 2 of the challenge!

-Wachtmeister

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