From JasperO: Stop presses & send in the cavalry! (95 points)

In case you wondered, yes, I have actually done a 'stop the presses' once. It wasn't for WSS and it wasn't Guy's fault. That's a good thing, it's also expensive, annoying and really only done at a last resort. However, since today is the last day and my last submission consists of a reconnaissance vehicle and Americans, it seemed appropriate to make it all a very last-minute thing.

My plan this Challenge was to get a good start on an American platoon for Chain of Command, with enough figures to make either a standard infantry platoon, or armored infantry. In total, that'd be somewhere north of 60 figures so I failed there... But I'm pretty happy with this start and I've got a lot of figures already on the way. Both the new Warlord Americans and the Empress figures are among the most enjoyable figures I've painted. Sure, the Warlord figures are a bit more chunky than the more realistically proportioned Hicks sculpts of the Empress miniatures, but on the 'empty battlefield' of World War 2, that'll be just fine. Besides, I need a pile of riflemen and the Empress figures do not come in enough variants to have no repeats (something I prefer in WW2 platoons). 15 Figures including one Bazooka team should give me 75 points.

My first (of what, three posts, embarrassing...) entry was for the Recce theme, so I thought I'd sound it out with one as well. This is the Warlord resin Puma. I prefer plastic vehicles now, but I had this model laying around, and it seems a Puma is a must in any army (also, I do like the 234 series). I'm not settled on the 'basing of vehicles' debate, but since resin vehicles with glued-on metal wheels are weak, I figured I'd better put it on a base as well. So that should give me another 20 points and though I didn't make my overall goal, I just might have done better than previous years. Racing ahead here! (also, cue the mockery from Angus and Mark on the WSS Podcast next week, which I may take with grace...)

TamsinP:

I wouldn't worry about not reaching your target Jasper - we all appreciate how busy things must be for you looking after all those magazines and a certain editor.

You've certainly made a solid start to your US platoon with these figures - they look great.

As for the Puma, well, who doesn't like cats that look so spiffing.

That's 95 points, which puts you 10 points ahead of Guy (but still liable to gentle mockery from Mark and Angus on the podcast).