From PaulSS: Detachment of Chosen Men from the 95th (38pts)

I'm married to a wonderful wife who as well as sometimes painting her own figures (example), and wiping the floor with me at Star Wars: Legion also knows the perfect gift and last month bought me the British Rifles Veterans Command - Chosen Men and the British Rifles Veterans - Chosen Men packs from Brigade Games.

The first fellow is a Rifle officer made up from the ranks carrying a terribly Sharpe sword.

Richard Sharpe

The second figure is an Irish sergeant armed with both a Baker Rifle and a seven barreled Nock gun. 

Sergeant Patrick Harper

There are five Chosen Men in the pack, and they are all kind of familiar, not sure where I've seen them before :)

Rifleman Cooper and another

The Rifle Green is done from a basecoat of Rustoleum Forest Green spray primer that is given an AP Strong Tone then highlighted with VMC Black Green then washed with AP Green Tone. I quite like this finish on them.

Riflemen Harris and Perkins

I'm basing my skirmishers in pairs, as there are only five in the pack, the "not Daniel Hagman" Cheshire Poacher is joined by a English Bulldog from Warbases to make up the numbers. 

Rifleman Hagman and Baker the dog

Seven 28mm figures will add 35 points to my total.

28mm Napoleonics Duel Totalizer: 14 mounted, 73 foot, 3 guns

"O'er the hills and o'er the Main,

In Flanders, Portugal and Spain..."

You forgot to claim points for Baker, so I've added a pupper bonus of of 3 points.

Tamsin

For StuartL: The Altar of the SnowLord

Altar of the SnowLord (brought to you by the kids of Kinsmen Park South)

 

Stuart steps into the frost-rimed room containing The Altar of The SnowLord. He  gasps in wonder as the altar, floating above him, seems alight with mysterious, arcane energy. 

The Altar speaks, filling the chamber with its great booming voice.

'Welcome adventurer!  My congratulations on fulfilling the myriad tasks on the path to his chamber. Complete this last challenge in order to claim your prize.' 

______________________________________________________

Okay Stuart, last year you were working on a WWII Far Eastern Theatre project. Let's see  you complete another unit for that collection. Once done, you will have met the challenge and will receive your prize.

Stuart's Prize: Hogfather Christmas by Barks

From SebastianR : Undead dogs - Graveyard Beach (35pts)

No nautical theme I'm afraid, but these dogs are undead, or at least, I really hope they are, for their sake.

A pretty simple paint job, and I am relatively happy with the outcome, but I think next time I start with a lighter base colour for the flayed areas.

 

 

For the record, they are undead dogs from the Kensei undead Kickstarter I received some time ago. They will be filling out some slots in my growing Mordheim gang. In fact, there's only one figure missing, and he's already painted; he just requires a repaint.

Regardless, eyes on the prize, we have broken into the 3rd level.

That's 15pts for the figures and 20 for the challenge.

From SebastianR : Aint no party like a raiding party - Adventurers Landing (82pts)

In part 2 of Sebastian tries frustrating, experimental basing techniques, we have these British Commandoes for Flames of War.

In this installment, I cracked open my new pot of Galeria Medium Grain Gel, a basing material I was told I could colour to my tastes in order to provide a custom base colour and save time.

 

Now this is true, but in order to ensure that it worked - and to proof of concept a lighter-than-my-usual earth tone to represent a middle-ground between inland France and the beaches - I decided to run off some test bases.

Now kids, it's important when you run experiments to take notes, and not rely on your memory alone. Then, when you've waited 24h for you basing material to dry, and drybrushed it up, you're not left trying to figure out what the base colour was on the one you like the look of...

In the end I gave up and plumped for English Uniform; pretty sure it's not the one I originally liked, but it will do. The aim is to - once varnishing season comes - plump down some grass tufts to simulate the scrubby bluff along the Normandy beaches. So I might have seen a scheme I liked on the FoW Facebook page, sue me.

Honestly, this was an odd blister pack. It's contents did not seem to match those listed (although battlefront lists the units you can build, rather than individual figures), it seemed light on Brens and contained a bonus sniper and bagpiper. So... bonus?

That's 20 for the challenge and 62 for the figures.

Oh, and they are definitely getting their feet wet.

 

From SebastianR : American Police - The Guardroom (72pts)

So. These are American police. Most in riot gear. For my latter day American Civil War project.

No further comment.

These figures represent part 1 of a 2 part diversion into experimental basing techniques, frustration and a massive dip in p r o d u c t i v i t y at great mild expense for an effect that I don't think is any better than what I would otherwise have achieved with my traditional techniques.

 

I decided to order in some sticky tarmac effect sheets to simulate the roads they'd be fighting over, however, the sheets that arrived were much lighter than advertised, leading to the need to wash them, and somehow come up with a way to hide the brushstrokes as part of the wear of the road.

And then of course I had to saw through the models at the feet which was it's own chore, a process which took way, way too long and was far too messy.

 

To be fair though, I always knew my output was going to fall off a cliff when I went back to work, but these guys took so long, that I managed to leapfrog both these and the next item in the queue to complete queued item number three before completing these.

20pts for the challenge and 52pts for 26 15mm foot figures

PaulS: The Laboratory (25 points)

 Things have been a bit slow this week, but we're closing in on the Alter of the Snowlord!

The next chamber in the dungeon is full of bubbling... things. I cannot tell what they are for they are of strange hue and temperament. Within the chamber is a figure in a long white coat, with a mechanical backpack and disturbing complexion who seems to know things about the makeup of the body that one should not...

The Genestealer Biophagus is going to be the medic for my Necromunda Genestealer cult. I wasn't a massive fan of the original staff, so a little bit of cutting and he has somehow come into the possession of a slightly battered imperial guard medpack

Update No2 - Napoleonic and Donnybrook Duals

The Napoleonic Duel

The Magnificent Seven

Ian W

Matthew W

Noel

Paul SS

RayR

Pete F

Sander

Most Magnificent (at the moment) in top spot is.... see pic above

1. Pete F 850 points

2. Paul SS 644 points 

3. Noel 326 points

4. Ray 96 points

5. Sander 70 points

6. Ian W 0 points

6. Matthew W 0 points

Paul SS loses his No1 place as PeteF climbs above him with 5 new Napoleonic posts!! Even though I've put points on the rosta, Noel smashes past me into 3rd place. Sander is still on 70 pts, while IanW and MattW have yet to score.

Can you all please remember to label your posts with your name and also could you add the label Napoleonic Duel, it just makes my life easier.

The Donnybrook Duel

1 . Ray 90 points

2 . Curt 75 points

Well I think we all knew I might take the lead on this one???

From GregB - Byzantine Cavalry Officers (20 Points)

Byzantine cavalry command figures - 28mm from Gripping Beast

Hi everyone! Not much progress to share, but more painted figures is more painted figures, and here are two more painted figures. These are Byzantine cavalry officers - one carrying a standard, the other brandishing a short sword. They are 28mm metal castings from Gripping Beast's Thematic Byzantine figure range. The shields decals and the banner are from LBMS. 

Shield decals and banner from LBMS.

These two figures could slot in with any unit, but I intend them to act as a command element for my Byzantine Kavallroi in my last submission. The addition of these two models brings that unit to a healthy size of 12 riders - nice and beefy for Warhammer Ancient Battles. And of course they can skirmish on their own for games like Lion Rampant. 

I quite like the pose of the fellow with the sword...some poor soul is about to "get it"...

As ever, the LBMS stuff is infuriating to fiddle with and as ever, it is absolutely irreplaceable - these came out not too badly. The pattern on the shields is not a match to other riders in the Kavallroi unit, but then these two are "characters" and so I wanted them to be able to stand out on their own a bit. 

The Kavallroi unit on my shelf, ready to defend the glory of The Empire!

For points, these two mounted 28mm riders should account for 20 points, although judging by the points being claimed in the naval side duel, I am thinking I should claim the banner is a "sail" :)

One important tip when embarking on a project to paint Byzantines: never run out of spears, shields or LBMS transfers...and don't just assume that box over on your shelf, you know, the one "you are sure is full of that stuff", actually holds any of that stuff...

Anyway, while I wait for new supplies to arrive, I shall turn my brushes to some of the other projects which have been lurking around my painting desk. 

That's all for now. Cheers and stay sane!

From JamesM: 15mm Polish Stuart light tanks (24 points)

Hi folks,

Following hot on the heels of the Ram OP tank, a trio of Stuart VI (M5A1) tanks from the HQ Squadron of 10 Pulk Strzelcow Konnych (10th Polish Mounted Rifles), 1st Polish Armoured Division. 

The Regimental HQ Squadron had eleven of these vehicles which would be allocated out to Squadrons or tasks as required. As such, all of my armoured squadrons have a troop of Stuarts in support, even though they are not technically part of the Squadron I am collecting.

Period pictures of this unit in Normandy appears to show that the unit had these later versions of the Stuarts, in keeping with most of the other British and Canadian armoured divisions. I've gone pretty light on stowage for these - adding just the single spare bogey to the front hull, as per the initial images of these tanks in Normandy. I have added the usual aerials and crew figures will follow at some point. 

Each tank has a turret mounted .30 cal MG. In keeping with my other recce units, each tank will have one crewman in the turret, with the command vehicle having two. The command tank also has two aerials, just to help it stand out further. 

The models are 15mm scale Plastic Soldier Company kits. I've based these on MDF with magnetised bottoms in order to sit nicely in my storage boxes, and the basing style matches the rest of my collection. Decals include the divisional badges, unit AoS of 45, War Department registration numbers, bridging weights and allied recognition stars. Weathering via some Tamiya Weathering Master dust effects, which are pretty subtle. 

These three 15mm tanks, at 8 points each, are worth 24 points. 

From SimonG: Two Critters for the Hatchery (24 points)

Continuing my exploration of the Chambers of Challenge I brave the Hatchery -- yet instead of fierce and gruesome monsters I encounter these two little cuties - Draco the Dragon and Leeroy the Griffin!

Once again these are LMS Black Rose Wars 38mm figures. In this case part of an add on that allows you to add a familiar to your magic user main character. As a result these are basically 15mm figures but excellent sculpts and I believe in this case cast in resin instead of the usual PVC.

This was a good exercise in working on different textures -- fur, feathers, scales and beaks! It was also nice to have some larger and different eyes to work on.

So another 24 points -- two 15mm figures at 2 points each and 20 for the chamber -- on to the Armoury where I'm spoilt for choice as to what to work on 😕

From NoelW: Life’s a Beach: Adventurers’ Landing (266 points)

“I think all that guff about the Chambers being invaded by strange uniformed creatures from a hitherto unknown island are just scare stories,” says Titchy. “So we run away and forget about our noble quest for the GTTWHNS.”⁽¹⁾

“We have seen lots of men shooting lots of guns at lots of dungeon denizens, Titchy.”

“Illusion. Hocus Pokery. Magicianly tricks just to fool us. Fake news. But they can’t disguise reality for long. Here it is. This deserted beach.”

They look around the bay: idyllic dunes of silver sand, the glorious blue waves flecked with white foam, the graceful squawk and splash of seagulls.

“Can you see any sign of invasion?”

“Well, actually…” begins Elfbow. “What about that?”

He points out to the horizon.

“A sail! A sail!”

“Actually, I think more than one. And they seem to be heading directly for us.”

“Might not be an invasion. Might just be a pleasure cruise.”

“And it might be a flock of ugly ducklings pretending to be swans,” suggests Elfbow. “But I suspect not.”

“Well, look at the lovely clouds the ships are making. Surely that’s a celebratory greeting, saying something like ‘look how soft, friendly and cuddly we are’.”

“Or,” says Getrude, as the first of the cannon balls plummets into the sand at their feet, and the distant echoes of cannonfire arrive shortly behind them, “they may be saying something like ‘stand on that beach much longer, and see how quickly we can turn you into flotsam.’”

“Or jetsam.”

“Ay any rate, some sort of sam.”

“I believe,”says Elfbow, “we elves have an apposite word for situations like this.”

“What’s that, Elbow?”

“Scarper!”

***

(1) Greatest Treasure The World Has Never Seen

My invasion fleet is not quite as large as I was planning, but it’s still a decent mass of ship and sail. It consists of 11 ships. 7 are more of the Simon Mann 3d prints I bought second hand, and the other four are Warlord’s Black Seas ships. 

The consist of:

1 x 2^nd rate Barfleur class

1 x 2^nd rate Temeraire class

1 x 3^rd rate Intrepid

2 x 5^th class (frigate) Southampton class

2 x 5^th class (frigate) Arethusa class

2 x Bomb ketch

1 x schooner

1 x cutter

The last two of these (the smallest of the vessels) I’ve not rigged, though they do have flags. I’ve made all of the flags and pennants detachable, so that the ships could, in principle, be used for navies other than the British. (I also made all the ratlines myself, as the 3D prints lack them, and I'm not too keen on the Warlord acetate jobs, even though I've used them on some of my other ships to save time.) Of all the ships in this fleet, I particularly like the bomb ketch, one of which I've painted in black and white, potentially suitable for Danish or US use against the English:

Following the precedents set by Adam on the relative size of vessels plus bonuses for rigging, sails and flags, I think plausible points are:

2 x 2^nd rate @ 33 = 66
1 x 3^rd rate @ 31 = 31
4 x 5^th rate @ 25 = 100
Cutter = 9
Schooner = 10
2 x Bomb ketch (somewhere between brig and frigate in size): 12 + 3 bonus? = 30

Adventurer’s landing: 20

Making a grand total of 266 points.