From AdamC: Japanese Cruisers and American Destroyers (33 Points)

 Starting off with the "correct" Mogami Class Cruisers two and a half of them.

The Mogami class was the last of Japans prewar Heavy cruisers. Originally built with Fifteen 6.1-Inch guns(leading to the USN designing the Brooklyn class) they were upgraded to have ten 8-Inch guns (as was the IJN's plan all along. 

They had reasonable armor and were fast 37 knots combatants.

As with all Japanese Cruisers they carried a heavy torpedo armament: 12 mounted in 4 triple tube launchers. 

As previously explained I got two Mogami carriers so I converted one into a sinking ship maker to add some color to the table. A good wargamer doesn't let anything go to waist.

Four Porter Class Destroyers I named theses for the four that were built in the Four Rivers Shipyard where my grandfather worked during the Second World War. 

The Porter Class was the US response to the Japanese Fubuki class. They had a similar armament Six 5 inch guns on three turrets and a heavy torpedo(8 in two launches)armament.

The US intended to use them as squadron leaders but by World War II they simply served as destroyers along with the rest.

Four Mahan Class Destroyers(1934) the class of destroyers that followed the Porter Class. Smaller by 500 tons but only one gun lighter in armament. 

They also carried 12 torpedoes and twice as many depth charges as the Porters. With all that you're probably thinking I am about to comment on them being too much power in too little ship but actually they managed not to do that.  In part this was due to new lighter engineering plant  allow the tonnage to be used in other ways.

 They were stable and capable designs... or would have if technology has stayed still. These ships suffered as nothing could be added (Radar, improved AA guns etc) unless something else was taken away. So war progressed they shed a five inch mount, torpedo tubes etc. 

Four Sims Class Destroyers were a later design (1937) slightly larger than but initially with an armament identical to the Mahan class.  

The extra weight and size went to engines with a top speed 38.5 knots 

By 1941 they had shed a five inch mount for a pair of 40mm guns and added K guns for additional ASW capabilities. The USN would learn (eventually, See the Fletcher class) that it's a good idea to leave space (and weight) for future developments.  

So we have 12 US destroyers, 2 Japanese cruisers and a sinking Japanese cruiser. That should come out to 30 points. 

 

 

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Sylvain: I'm very biased about your tiny ships because I adore small scales. You did a fine paint job on these and I like your transparent bases. Your cruisers, even sinking, are worth 3 points each for a total of 33 points. I'm sure your games will be fun and furious. Fabuleux!

 

From BillA: The Ever-Glorious Workers' and Peasants' Red Army! (70 points)

Inspired by MarkG and DaveD's exemplary efforts this Challenge, I've begun work on my own set of Copplestone figures for the Back of Beyond. I've admired these figures for a long time, and in 2024 I started buying quite a number of them with an eye towards...something, gamewise, with the Back of Beyond? I've quite enjoyed reading histories about the region and its conflicts in the Interwar years, but whether or not I can translate that into something on the table (the various local wargamers who'll touch historicals at all, unfortunately, believe historical wargaming begins and ends with WWII). I did two packs of White infantry and an artillery piece over the course of 2025, and primed a couple packs' worth of Bolsheviks, Chinese and some Cossack cavalry ahead of the AHPC this year. So to start off, here's a dozen Bolsheviks:

This is one pack of Bolshevik infantry, and I decided to try some different things paint-wise with these, since I'd treated myself to Mark Hargreaves' painting guide last year, and used more washes than I usually do - predominantly Army Painter Soft Tone. Tunics I did all the same, but there's a total of four different colors used for trousers (two browns, two greens), and the rolled greatcoats are done in two different shades of dark gray, one warmer and one cooler. 

Accompanying them are a Commissar and one of Mark Copplestone's wonderfully characterful Bolshevik Heroines, sporting a Mauser C96 broomhandle. The Commissar was given a black leather jacket in my usual way - Reaper's "Coal Black" highlighted with "Midnight Blue," which was also used on all the boots. He's also got a heck of a lot of character to him, with that exaggerated yell he's got going on. I might have gone a little bright on his teeth! 

Finally, I've got a set of objective tokens to go with my Maya, and they're a grisly set indeed - three piles of severed heads, produced by Acheson Creations as single-piece resin castings. These were painted pretty quickly and intended to look like putrefaction had set in - a base coat of Reaper's "Ghoul Skin," washed with GW Druchii Violet, and then drybrushed heavily with another layer of "Ghoul Skin" followed by "Moldy Skin." They're on a raised integral base that's been glued to a 40mm Renedra round base, and are probably pretty close to 28mm tall overall. 

That's 12 28mm figures, for 60 points, plus whatever my illustrious minion considers the head-piles to be worth. And I'll claim a Squirrel point for "Back of Beyond," bringing me up to 5 (Maya, Modern Horror, Modern Africa, Dinosaurs, and now BoB).

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Sylvain: Very colorful figurines indeed, both in palette and in character. I find your collecting choices very interesting because I'm a big fan of Corto Maltese, a graphic novel character created by Hugo Pratt, who had adventures in the back of beyond, among other places. As for your heaps of heads, how about 10 points for the three of them for a total of 70 points? Fabuleux!