From SebastianR: A quick jaunt through [History] (27 points)

What is history?

What gets taught as history and what counts as current events?

The Harrier V/STOL entered it's concept phase in the 60's and entered official service in '69. It's most iconic deployment was during the Falklands war. The last production line was closed in 2003 and although it's a darling of the USMC it's list of former operators now outnumbers it's list of current operators. Britain, the country of it's inception, has replaced them with the American F35. The air environment has changed so significantly that this once technological marvel can no longer deliver the capability expected of it from the vast majority of it's operators.

So, is the Harrier history? It's most famous engagements were fought before my parents met. It's production lines closed before I left high school. My frame of reference for this aircraft, beyond wargaming, is documentary specials, dripping with nostalgia for Plucky British Ingenuity (TM).

I'm really pleased with this paint job. It think it's come out really nicely, although I still can't seem to nail the gloss/pinwash technique.

Ok, that's enough worrying the older members of the challenge as to what planes they thought were current gen really aren't ;)

Here's an Agincourt archer if you're not convinced of my case for the Harrier.

E's flippin' off tha' Frenchies n' all

The salute 2015 freebie as well, my first salute if I remember properly.

Now that's some proper history that is.

7 points for the figures, 20 for the challenge.

I agree, I really like that Harrier! You've really aced that one with the colours and the camo, well done. The longbowman is excellent as well - back in the day (perhaps before you were born?) the Perry twins sculpted an archer in a similar pose for Wargames Foundry's medieval range, it's one of my favourites. You did a great job on this one - 27 points for you!

Dallas

From SebastianR: Much like everything else on my paint desk, this is [Overdue] (44.5 points)

Inside me there are four wolves.

The first wolf really wants to paint three tone camouflage on 6mm British infantry.

The second wolf is way too lazy to do so.

The third wolf rationalises it as a massive waste of effort.

The fourth wolf feels guilty about not painting three tone camo.

Honestly I dont know why I feared painting 6mm infantry so much. These might be one of the most lopsided effort to procrastination projects I've ever done.

Once I was told to just basecoat, wash highlight, black the guns they were a breeze. I think I had to master the secret art of not giving a shit as well though. Something about the minimal attention to detail still irks me.

Also, the basing isn't great? But I'm yet to see someone pull off basing modern infantry in a pleasing way so I'm going to give myself a pass this time.

I'm pretty sure I undercoated these minis before or at the start of covid and giving them uncomfortable glances ever since.

They are the final pieces of a Team Yankee in 6mm project, and represent a French VAB borne platoon and the dismounts from a British "Spartan Support Troop"

Here they are with their transports.

24.5 points for the infantry and 20 for the challenge.

Good post Sebastian, I don't blame you for not painting 3-tone camo on 6mm vehicles. You'd literally need a single-hair brush for that. "Hundred-zero" maybe? Basing 6mm infantry is hard though - my normal basing good would make the models look like they're walking through a boulder field. I think you're on the right track by just using flock of some kind.

Dallas

From SebastianR: Rolling up to the [Front Desk] (22 points)

This might seem like a laggardly first entry, especially when you consider that it consists of only a single mini, and a 8mm one at that, but I have been painting consistently since the 20th. Ok the 21st or so. The thing is, like previous years, I have done a lot of the challenges out of order for one reason or another.

I really did start this challenge with the attitude that I would focus purely on getting the backlog done, but as time wore on I realised that more and more things I needed to paint fit the criteria of various library locations, if only I could buy myself time, and a few space fillers.

But you don't care about my process. Here's a Legions Imperialis Predator.

And y'know, s'fine.

Not only was this a newly acquired miniature from the newly delivered Legions Imperialis it was my first time working with contrasts, and yeah, that also works fine. I think there's some trick to them that I haven't mastered yet.

Unlike Martjin [I think you mean GregB?] I don't have a lengthy and amusing rant about the system, the models, or Games Workshop's business practices, but I do suspect that the only thing preventing buyers remorse is the fact that I got the beginner box at a knock down price with some store credit at my FLGS. It has inspired my to play Epic in general for what it's worth.

The reason that only one vehicle is appearing in this post is that this was supposed to be a test paint, so worried was I of scale fade and the newly acquired paints. In the end I put contrasts on four vehicles, three predators and a freebie model of the month from GW.

From left to right, Ork Flesh, Absolution Green (army painter), Absolution Green/Black Templar, Absolution Green over "light" grey. (N.B. The colours aren't coming through particularly true).

The final entry actually looks like Dark Angels green, the colour I was trying to avoid as it just looks black at game distances. Honestly, I think I've hit a relatively good compromise between out the bottle convenience and colour even if it is maybe a bit light.

2 points for the vehicle and 20 for the location. Simples.

Not gonna lie, the model-painting-points to bonus-points ratio has (I'm pretty sure) set a new Challenge record. HOWEVER, I do like this model, and congrats for getting ANYTHING from Games Workshop at a discount. LI is certainly very cool and I'm looking forward to more of it from you!

Can I ask a favour though? In your posts next week could you please type in the number and scale of models that you painted for the entry? It really helps when I'm inputting the scores. Thanks!

Twenty-two points to open your ledger sir!

Dallas

From KyleC - Star War Legions Empire Models (219pts)

Been a crazy week here at the house with my partner off to India and Jr having to study for his next round of mocks for his GCSES.. if you know.. you know.. and know how stressful that can be.. 

So not a ton of models done and a bit of hobby burnout happening alongside it.. 

A couple fairly easy models done like the Dark Troopers and the Death Troopers. All models by Skullforge and then printed at home here. 

Reason for these to get some paint Vs more Legion is simply due to a campaign happening locally and I needed something new to play with. 

The Dark Troopers being of Moff Gideon's mainstay troopers in the Mandalorian. I tried a dark metal effect on them. Metal base and then a lot of black contrast washes. Before getting a heavy spray of gloss to finish them off. A theme for today's post for sure! 

Now you would think the death troopers being black stormtroopers would be simple. But I did try a few things with them first. Like a dark purple shadow. And doing some grey highlights.. before smashing them with gloss and realizing a lot of it isn't noticeable anymore. 

The stormtroopers again were a bit difficult but I do like the end result. Starting with a black base followed by an overspray of white. Then GW contrast Apothecary white for the shadows to give it a nice tint. Then pure white used in the edges and top most sections of the armor.. all the blacks is just GW Black Templar. And of course a few layers of gloss to finish them off. 

Bikers done same as the stormtroopers. 

Bases are really simple overall. Resin printed bases with AK mud added for texture. Brown is GW contrast Gore. And the grey is again GW Contrast Black Templar thinned down. And then everything drybrushed with a cream.

Then to finish it all off a smattering of leaders and characters. From left to right we have; Moff Gideon, Greef Karga, The Client, Empire Captain, Young Thrawn, and Bossk. 

This should help me with characters for a bit and make for some different lists than just Darth running around. 

I still have a fair bit of stormtroopers.to paint up. Mostly variants and weapons but I will leave them till I have a game or two first. And see what I need to do to adjust my list. 

But for now this is a good start.

27 40mm Infantry @ 7 PTS each 

2 40mm cav @ 15 PTS each

Makes for 219 PTS for this gathering

Let's see if I can figure out the colour scheme for my Space Wolves next and get a few of them started... While I wait for bits for The Old World to arrive.. yay for hobby ADHD! 

Ummm... this was "not a ton of models done" for a week?!? OK, seems like good production to me though. The Legion characters especially are very nicely done but you need LOTS of troopers and you've come through with some very well painted ones here Kyle. Two hundred nineteen points added to your tally.

Dallas

From PaulSS - Some ACW scenery - 40pts

A couple of years ago I noticed that chum Richard was selling a Renedra ramshackle barn that had been sat in his pile of shame for a a few years so I purchased it from him, and as is the way with these things it just sat in my own pile of shame.

Over the break for the Holidays, enthused by the unit of Confederate infantry I was painting I decided it was time to break the barn out of the pile and get it sorted.

It was a very quick build and was soon ready for a spray of primer, followed by a coat of Contrast Wyldwood on the walls and Black Templar on the roof, I also added a liberal splash of Militaruim Green for mouldy patches. Once dry I added some brown shades to the walls and grey shades to the roof. 

The kit comes with some nice extras like an abandoned wagon wheel, a pair of ladders and a pair of pitchforks. I also added a base and some plant growth up the barn using Woodland Scenic bushes. 

All in all it's about a 6" cube for scoring.

Suitably enthused for adding to the ACW terrain I ordered some fences from my local gaming store, which luckily for me is the gaming Megastore Noble Knight Games.

They had in stock one pack of the Renedra Cross & Rail Fencing which although are a pain to build they do take a relatively simple paint job well. A spray of dark brown primer then a couple of highlights.

I also picked up their last three packs of the Renedra Worm Fencing. These are OK but have some horrendous mould lines and don't fit together that well. As I was building them I decided that they would benefit from adding some uprights in the angles and also making some of the ends taper off. 

In the end, for the six pieces I did three "middle" sections, two sections that taper off at the left end and two sections that taper off at the right end.

The fence sections are all about 12" long each.

My claim for this submission is two 6" terrain cubes at 20pts each.

Shame pile transfer is a thing, and kudos to you Paul for getting these small projects done. I always find that this is a great way to spend a quiet afternoon and the satisfaction felt is often out of proportion to the effort. The barn looks awesome and along with the fencing will really bring the flavour to your ACW battlefields. Funny you mention Noble Knight as I had the opportunity to visit there (twice!) last fall on my drive to and from Chicago. An interesting store but I have to say I was slightly disappointed with the "shopping experience" - there isn't much to browse through, for all of the old stuff you have to go on the computer, write down your picks, give it to the sales person and wait while it is fetched from the warehouse. Just like Consumers Distributing used to be here in Canada. They do have some awesome OOP stuff (just ask GregB about that) but you don't get much more buzz out of being there in person than you do from mailorder. Having said that, saving the cost of shipping is always welcome!

Good stuff here and you get 40 points for two cubes.

Dallas  

From SylvainR: Tray 3 - French 1939-1940 - Tanks (60 points)

 This last tray for my early French WW2 army is full of "early" tanks.

First, there is a company of Renault FT-17. The French army still had over 2,000 of them in 1940, although many were stripped of their guns to arm the next generation of tanks, like the Renault R-35 that I will present in a few minutes. Furthermore, many allies, including Poland, had FT-17 in their inventory when Germany invaded. For this particular company, I opted for a generic coding, allowing platoons to be organized in groups of 3, 4 or 5, just to have some flexibility with early allies armies.

In books about tanks in French, authors like to describe the Renault FT-17 as a the first "modern tank" based on the fact that, contrarily to the British first tanks, it has its engine in the rear and most importantly, IT HAD A TURRET. Cough * big deal * cough. In my humble opinion, the French engineers might have been a little too confident in their "excellent" one-man turret as they used it with only minor modifications on all their pre-war designs. In the meantime, German created three-man turrets, giving to the commander of the tank a role a lot more useful than loading and aiming the main gun.

 

 

The camouflage is inspired by the surviving Renault FT-17 surviving at the Musée des Blindés in Saumur. In the picture above, the track marks are clearly visible. In retrospect, I should have put some dirt on the tracks, they seem a little too clean.

In the picture above, I put a needle beside the tank just to give an idea of the size of a Renault FT-17 at 1/300.

 

Next is a company of 10 Renault R-35 "the next generation", with the camouflage similar to the one sported by the FT-17. In fact, each manufacturer that produced tanks in French would created its own camouflage pattern based on colors prescribed by the French army. All these variations in historical camouflage patterns make painting early French tanks very fun.

 

A close up on 4 Renault R-35. There is lots of similarities in their design with the FT-17. In fact, they were designed only 18 years apart.

Another picture to give an idea of the size of a tank at 1/300 scale. Because I used too much wash on my staff cars two weeks ago, I might have been a little too shy on the wash this time. Oh well, at this scale it's not something people will notice right away. It looks like the tank is hovering. I should have pressed this little fellow a tad deeper into its track marks. Oh well...

With this last batch of French elements, I can now declare that my early French Early WW2 army is completed. 4 armies done out of 28. Yeah!  At the core of each army, there is an infantry battalion, with all the support needed. At this rate it will take me at least 8 years to re-base the armies I inherited. I guess it will keep me away from bars and casinos... Also you know what kind of submissions to expect from me in the next eight Challenges.

Here is a family picture with all the trays I have so far for my early French Army. Lots of trucks in there, which makes me very happy. Once everything is consolidated, I should have about 7 trays all together.

Points claimed:

30 vehicles at 2 points each = 60 points

Total = 60 points

This will also count towards the "Really Little Guys" duel.

Thanks for reading!

Great stuff here Sylvain! Tiny tanks are tiny - that's a fact, and brilliantly illustrated by your pics with other small stuff for scale. Completing an army in any scale is an achievement to celebrate, and your early-war French look superb. I really like the groundwork on these bases and the camo painting is great too. Sixty points added to your tally!

Dallas

From ChrisW 5th Foreign Legion Grav ambulance 15mm (New aquisitions) 28 points

 

Hello all

Well this years challenge looks like it will be much more of a challenge than I thought it would be.  I almost did not sign up this year as I had really hit a painting block, I just could not pick up a paint brush. Oh I have plenty of stuff to paint (of course) and I kept ordering more stuff to paint (of course) and I really want to paint it all, but I just could not do it, I had lost my mojo! However it was for that reason that I ultimately did sign up, counting on the challenge to inspire and propel me back into painting. Well it has not entirely worked, so far. Here I am a little more than a week away from the challenge cut deadline and I have nothing done. To add to the lack of mojo I recently had a change in medicine (not for anything too serious) that has made me drowsy and lacking in drive. The end result, up until now, is zero production. But, that Challenge entry deadline at least has motivated me enough to complete one vehicle.

So, the item I present today is a 15mm Brigade models ambulance from their Pac fed contingent. It is somewhat ironic and not entirely planned that the first thing that I painted would be an ambulance given what I said above. This was a test paint to see if I liked the paint scheme and it took a few tries to get it to something that I liked. It is 1 of around 24 vehicles that I plan to paint for this particular army. Most of these vehicles arrive on the first day of this years challenge, with the remainder arriving last week, so clearly they fit into the new acquisitions category. I will also have around 100 infantry (GZG FSE) to paint up but they will not arrive until February. 

I guess it is appropriate, given the theme for this years challenge, that my inspiration for this first entry and one of my bigger projects, is a book, the one pictured above (a rather entertaining yarn!) I have ordered a lot of aliens from Alternative armies to represent the native aliens in the book, plus more aliens for when I tackle the second book.  I also have a lot of tracked AFVs for the native aliens. 

Anyways here is my first attempt this year.

The base is a work in progress, I am not yet certain how big a base I want. My thoughts are that I want a base so that any damage markers can be placed on the base and thus easily move with the vehicle.

I have not used decals in many years, for some reason I always thought of them as tricky temperamental things to apply. Well I was right, they are a pain, at least these ones were. Admittedly they were rather old decal perhaps that is why they were so unwilling to separate from their backing. At any rate with only some minor tearing I was able to affix them.

Anyways that is it for today.

•   8 points for 1 x 15mm vehicle 
• 20 points for new acquisitions

Total 28 points

Thank you

Chris, thanks for the post. I'm sorry to hear of your challenges with health and painting energy, but I'm really glad the latter seems to be returning. You've done a great job with the grav ambulance and this whole "Fifth Foreign Legion" thing intrigues me! I'm looking into that series now, and my interest is only piqued the more because of the resemblance of your model to the stuff in Hammer's Slammers, another classic SF series (albeit your stuff is grav, not blower-operated, but what the heck). The decals look great and need cause no fear, just make sure to gloss varnish the areas where they'll be applied and use copious quantities of Micro-Sol (or more exotic liquids like my favourite Japanese concoction, "Mr. Mark Softer" :-)

That's 28 points to open your ledger!

Dallas  

From PaulSS - WWII German limbers and AA guns - 54pts

 

I'd already hit my painting goals for the week, but decided to pull out the stops and add some more bits to the 12 WWII collection that I started in Challenge XIII and recently added more US supports to.

Even in the later stages of the war, much of the German army was relying on horse drawn transports, so I decided that my German units for O Group would be relying on horse-drawn limbers for their supports rather than motor vehicles. I added four to my most recent order from Pendraken.

The horses were painted with Citadel Contrast paints, I think they work well for horse flesh at this scale, while the limbers themselves and the crews were done in Vallejo Model Colour with an Army Painter wash.

I also painted a pair of 2cm FlaK38 for close air defence of the forces. I wish that Pendraken did some additional crew packs, all these guns look rather sparse with only two crewmen.

I really should have squirrelled this year, I've painted so many different things. 

So, for my total, it's four vehicles, two guns, 16 horses and 8 crew, which at 12mm is 54 points.

Great stuff here Paul, I agree that horse transport for the Germans is significantly under-represented on the wargames table. Not everybody was able to get a motorized tow from a truck or halftrack! The models look great as always and 2cm flak guns always come in handy. Looking forward to more and some reports on "O" Group!

Dallas