MM43 Chaos Champion on War Griffon

When I first read the descriptive for the latest bonus round for the Analogue Challenge, "mounts and rider" I immediately decided there would be no way I would submit a boring horse and rider! I'm knee deep in Oldhammer at the moment, so obviously It would have to be a hero mounted on some kind of exotic monster! 

I settled quickly on my choice; the "MM43 Chaos Champion on War Griffon", a classic Marauder Miniatures multi-part kit released in 1990. I was, and still am, a big fan of Marauder Miniatures, and this piece is no exception. A nice Christmas gift to myself!

 

The original WD advert

I will admit it doesn't really fit in the rest of the Realm of Chaos range, it seems almost too clean and the Griffon looks more "Empire" with the tassels and all than Chaos. But at the same time difference is what makes Chaos, and the Champion definitely looks the part! Heavy nostalgia love factor for me in this one.

It took me some time to find one at a decent price, in fact I found it barely two months ago, and the one I got was still in its original blister. And yes, I did what some may consider heresy and opened it and painted it! I'm a collector, but dammit miniatures are meant to be painted and loved and played with! The assembling went better than anticipated (heavy wings are a serious pain to glue!) although those early pieces are always tricky.

You rarely see it painted, in fact I've only seen three painted examples, and that's including the one painted in 1990 for the White Dwarf advert (see above). I painted the Champion's armour a bright colour, in this case green (I think those who follow my blog have noticed my army's green theme by now!), which is something you would often see in the golden age of Warhammer. The Griffon I painted a bright palette, too, mostly of white, green and red. I'm really happy with the way the white fur came out, I think I nailed it.

Not very evil colours, maybe, but the early Warhammer Chaos colours were all over the place and that's something I loved. It's Chaos, not undead! I'm quite happy with the way he's come up, even though I find the photography don't do justice to the red wings at all. I glued the rider in a slightly different position than he was meant to be, so he seems more in attack mode (the original position looks a bit likes he's sitting comfortably on an Elran couch, I have to admit).

I just need to find a proper name for the Champion and his mount and he's ready for combat! Suggestions?

(And happy new year to all!)

"Kitty Bonny"; a gift to a friend, and my first entry in the challenge

Avast, me hearties!

The last few competition it took me a few weeks before submitting a first entry, so I decided to break the habit by submitting something straight outta the gate. It will put me on the board and motivate me to add to this early start.

2014 was a very difficult year for me; I spent most of the year unable to walk after undergoing three knee surgeries and at one point, after a series of complications, I seriously feared I might never get to walk normally again. Although I've mostly recovered now it's in those difficult times that you get to know your real friends, and I am lucky enough to count on a few amazing ones who supported me, visited me and cheered me up through these hard times. So I decided that, for Christmas, I would do something special and individually paint for each of them a unique figure as a show of gratitude. I rarely if ever paint for someone else and the plan is to paint something which represents them or something they love.

So my first figure of the competition is a gift to one of my best friend, Emilie, a great girl with a love of cats. In fact, she even has a cartoon cat as a tattoo on her arm. The figure is from Dark Sword Miniature's "Anthropomorphic Animals range", obviously a cat, and it's an awesome sculpt full of personality. The pink details and plumes are also a wink to Emilie's favourite colour.

I named the figure "Kitty Bonny" and I cannot wait for Xmas to give it to her.

That should give me 5 pts to start the competition with panache (I posted this in both my blogs, after all a pirate is historical, but a cat pirate is definitely fantasy!)

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, the fantasy side

It's that time of the year, when temperature drops, snow covers the ground and we get ready for another crazy painting challenge! So as usual I decided to join the fun, along with a whopping 71 other crazies! Yes, the challenge keeps getting bigger, and this year there are a few changes. First and foremost the Challenge now gets its own blog,  and all the participants get to participate in it by writing their own entries. We also get a day in which we can post our weekly updates. In my case Tuesdays. All this should help Curt manage this massive endeavor. 

So as usual I've set myself a goal slightly above what I've done in the past, this time 600 pts! . The scoring is as follow for the 28mm painters :

28mm foot figure = 5 pts
28mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 10 pts
28mm vehicle = 15 pts

I've been working hard on Oldhammer recently, so its only fitting I use the challenge to work on my  Chaos army, and hopefully almost complete the first phase. 

• 15 "chosen"/Khorne warriors : 75 pts
• 10 "chosen"/Nurgle warriors : 50 pts
• 1 Beast of Nurgle (a special model) : approx. 10 or 15 pts (Curt will decide how much he's worth)
• 15 Plaguebearers : 75 pts
• 10 Chaos Knights : 100 pts

 Fantasy total : 315 pts 

So all in all between my historical goal (280) and my fantasy goal (315) I'm short 5 pts but I have a few individual figures and surprises in mind to fill that gap. Of course, I reserve the right to change my plans without any notice! This is merely a tentative plan to help me focus.

Also, as Curt did last year, every two weeks there is a theme bonus round. These are worth 50 extra pts each but I do not count them in my point planning, although they will surely help me reach my goal if I can submit enough of them: 

• December 14: Cold
• December 28: Mount(s) & Rider(s)
• January 11: Victorian
• January 25: Myth
• February 8: Hot
• February 22: Comedic
• March 8: Anti-Hero

I have an entry (sometimes more than one) in mind for all the bonus round except the cold and the hot (which I may or may not participate in depending on my progress). But those entries I will keep secret for now and they will be revealed on the appropriate dates.

So the last two weeks I've done as much as I can on the prepping side, trying to be better prepared than year's past. I haven't prepped everything, but its a very good start. 

My prepping table as it appeared this morning 

For those interested, you can find the Historical side of my challenge here