Its Open Season for AHPC16!

The Wait is Over! 

Thats right! The 16th Season of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has kicked off! 

Around the world, 95 sets of sweaty palms are now desperately grasping brushes to crack on toward their targets. It was particularly cool to have a "paint & chat" session as we crossed the start line

Infamous characters from Canada, US, NZ and Australia

Best wishes to all Challengers and I look forward to seeing the results of your labours!

EDIT for those Anonymous posters:

Constructive comments, even critical ones, are welcome. Trolls are not. 

You are welcome to be a harridan, termagant, curmudgeon or misanthrope elsewhere with all your friends.

This hits so hard...

More Black Templars!

I few months ago I confessed to starting some new units for my Black Templars army (which is still back in Australia) just to get the brushes moving again.

https://tasmancave.blogspot.com/2025/10/back-on-brushes-crusader-squad.html

I've now finished a second (melee equipped) crusader squad, who are ready for action.

I stayed with the fresher, brighter look for this look, and yellow weapon casings help a lot with that. Its been fun to experiment with the "magma" style effects on the power weapons too.

These 20 wrathful lads are led by the cool new Execrator (read Chaplain) figure.  I spent a bit of time on him, keeping his colours muted to help make the sword pop, and then doing some different OSL effects where the sword glow reflects off his armour. Learned lots.

Pretty cool model - tempted to get another and make him with different weapons

Just for fun, I entered him into local Honolulu painting competition "Iron Brush". No prizes but did make the top 10, which was nice. It was fun to really focus on quality output and new techniques.

Thats it for now, but expect more Templar love during the upcoming painting challenge

Until next time, Suffer not the Witch, Mutant or Heretic to live!

Review: LUNAR Astronauts

I pre-ordered this from Black Site Studios earlier this year. Its their first foray into plastic for their game LUNAR, with the previous models all being resin. I've been saving these for AHPC and as I'm now prepping them, I thought a review might be useful.

The box comes with two identical sprues. Each sprue has an Astronaut half and a Cosmonaut half (which keeps it clear whose bits are whose) and each with 5 models. So all up the box makes 10 Soviet and 10 American moon walkers in 32mm scale. 

Each model is comprised of a waist&legs bit, a torso with PLSS (personal life support system backpack) cast as a single piece for cosmonauts and separately for astronauts, a helmet or exposed head (makes for a quick game I guess!) and then a series of arms.

Sprue detail - Cosmonauts on the left side, NAAS on the right (BSS picture)

Arms are generally a pick what you like affair, but some are matched (eg labelled 11A and 11B) where they are naturally paired for two handed weapons. Shoulder attachment points are flush so its easy to attach a 3d printed alternative if desired. There are different equipment options for each side but notably weapons are in short supply so don't expect to build them all as rifle toting assault troops with just this box. 

Note that I haven't assembled any models yet, so can't comment on how well they all fit together or if Green stuff is needed for residual gap filling. 

GW style bases are included but I'm considering using clear, transparent bases to blend in better with the lunar (or Martian!) play mat. Also, no decals which is a missed opportunity. But overall a nice boxed set and the plastic will be easier to work with if I want to do conversions.

Thinking I’ll make up one full sprue for now (5 per side) and keep the other intact for when I understand what other weapon combos I might want for our games.

Here are some models that Blogger Mike has posted at his blog - I like the gritty effects he has achieved including gold plated helmet faceshields. You can find his blog and his LUNAR paint recipes here: 

https://medium.com/@wargamermike/lunar-black-site-studios-58c03c92a1de

Mike's great NASA Moon Walkers

This boxed set is available from Black Site Studios here:

https://blacksitestudio.com/products/lunar-multipart-plastic-astronauts

EDIT: BSS have been out of stock of decals for a long time. I've now found an alternative source here:

https://districtminiatures.com/collections/black-site-studios-lunar-32mm

Counting the Trojan pile

Did a bit of a count up of the big box of Bronze Age figs I inherited from a friend who sadly passed away last year and hadn't gotten to this particular project. It was a little melancholy with his hand written labels amongst them, but I know he'll be glad they went to a good home. 

Most are Redoubt figures with a few from Eureka thrown in, and I'll need to split them between "Greeks" and "Trojans" and all their respective Allies. I plan to replace the soft lead spears with wire or something better - I hate that wobbly, bent look.

Line troops

Spearmen - 92 assorted

Swordsmen 54 assorted

Missile troops

Archers (helmets) - 18

Archers (no helmets) - 6

Naked Slingers - 12

Javelins - 18

Lukka - 8

Dendra - 19+1 damaged

Myrmidons - 8

Major Heroes

Achilles

Hector

Sarpedon

Agamemnon

Odysseus

9 light Chariots (2 horses)

Now to see if I can entice Slowpainter John to join me in this endeavour!