From AdamW: 15mm Chinese rocket battery (The Inconstant) (66pts)

A quick last minute entry for this week.

 After a long time in hell I have finally reached paradise!  Some rapid painting and basing and I present my entry for the first Sphere, the Inconstant, something which may try its best but often falls a bit short.

For this I present a battery of Chinese rockets in 15mm.  Throughout history rockets always seem to be fairly erratic and inconstant in their accuracy, so they seemed a good subject.

In our rules we usually make them less accurate than other artillery, but more deadly if they hit.

The rockets and most of the figures are Museum miniatures, with three Lancashire games figures added for variety. 

Points claim

15 x 15mm crew @2pts = 30pts

4 x artillery pieces @4pts = 16pts

Inconstant bonus @20pts = 20pts

Total 66pts

A very fitting subject for The Inconstant, Adam! They are very nice models, and you did a great job on them. Now let's just hope they will not backfire too much... 66 more points to you.

Martijn

From AdamW: A load of old junk (15mm) ( 300 points)

 I was AWOL last week and didn't even log on to the blog. I also shelved all my planned painting for the challenge circles. Maybe it was real life that got in the way, or the excitement of finishing the circles of heaven ad finally reaching heaven :)

One of our wargaming group is planning on putting on a game involving Chinese pirates. In the past I have made about half a dozen Chinese junks, in all shapes and sizes. I had a few bits of models left over and  I thought that this was a good excuse to paint them up.

So a rummage in the loft yielded two battered and broken partly assembled kits and a novelty dragon boat, or as I like to think of it, a treasure ship. After some repairs and the addition of some wooden barrels etc I had them ready to paint.

For the crew I had a pile of 15mm boxer rebellion figures from Lancashire games.  These are nicely detailed and expressive sculpts, but are huge in comparison with any other 15mm or 18mm figures. They are almost 20mm and very chunky. I kept them with the intention of using them on ships one day.

I also had some more normally sized figures that I have made up into an oriental pirate/peasant unit. These were an ebay purchase so I have no idea of manufacturer.

I also had a nice pile of guns from Outpost Minatures (now defunct?) which I also added to the mix.

Much feverish gluing and painting later, we have a nice pile ready for the table.

So to the points. I propose the following. The crew and guns is simple enough, and for the ships I have based on the points awarded for my recent ww1 ships. Feel free to change them! 

Unit of pirates - 18 x 15mm foot@2pts = 36pts

Orange junk 

 One 10 inch model junk @ 40pts 

20 crew x 15mm foot@2pts = 40pts

5 artillery pieces @4pts = 20pts

Total 100pts

Brown junk

 One 10 inch model junk @ 40pts 

15 crew x 15mm foot@2pts = 30pts

6 artillery pieces @4pts = 24pts

Total 94pts

Dragon ship

One 9 inch model ship @ 30pts 40 points

11 crew x 15mm foot@2pts = 22pts

Total 52 pts

 Grand total  282 pts 292 300

AWOL? Well, back with a vengeance I say! More excellent work, and a nice, a little less usual subject to boot. I really love the ships, Adam, I think you did sterling work getting them renovated and painted up, they look smashing. The Boxers look very fine too, with their colourful tunics. All in all, a very nice contribution. Your mathematics are OK, but I see no reason to have one inch of boat making much of a difference, so let's score all three ships at 40 points, and as I like round numbers, and in recognition of your salvaging work, I'll round it up to 300 points. Well done!

Martijn

                         

From StuartL - Big China in Little Trouble - High Adventure - 65 Points

Hello again,

It is time for me to finish off the Green Zone of the studios with a trip to the High Adventure stage. I was um-ing and ah-ing about what to paint for this, but finally settled on some minis to represent that most important of elements to a good adventure, the bad guys. All of these models are from Northstar's A Fistful of Kung-Fu range. 

Any good protagonist must have an equally despicable antagonist to fight against. In this case we have a sorcerer versed in all of the darkest magics and a Jiangshi, or Chinese Hopping Vampire as his bodyguard.

Providing the real muscle for the sorcerer are three flying demons and a minor demon. Armed with deadly weapons (or just really sharp claws), these four will be a challenge for any hero to overcome.

Finally, every good bad guy needs some talentless mooks to throw at the hero to keep them on their toes. These three gangster/cultist types should provide just enough of a distraction so that the sorcerer can make good his escape, ready to come back in the sequel.

In total there are 9 figures here, all of them were fun to paint up. Having read the rules for A Fistful of Kung Fu after buying the models, I sadly decided that it wasn't for me. Instead my gaming friends and I have been using some rules we knocked together for modern-ish skirmish games, so now I will need to figure out something for these guys.

And that brings me to the end of the Green Zone.

Scoring

9x28mm minis = 45 Points

High Adventure = 20 Points

Total = 65 Points.

My side duels:

Squirrels +1 = 20

Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Dwarves, Fire Giants, WW2 Polish, Daemons, Viridians, Vasa, Junkers, Turnips, Necrons, Tau, Genestealers, WW2 Japanese, Teutonics, Lizardmen, Gnolls, Arabs, Space Marines, Kung Fu Chinese

Skullz = 200

Turnips = 85 Points

Fantastic, one of my favourite movies, and I now know where the limo was going to

Anthony O - 28mm Pulp Miniatures Chinese Gangsters (150 points)

I have been wanting to build a Chinese force for playing in Bolt Action for some time and I have finally made a start. This force is somewhat inspired by the IP man movie and the events themed around the Battle of Shanghai. Some of my research seemed to indicate that the Green Gang, a large criminal group in Shanghai, had a mutually beneficial agreement with the Nationalist government during the 20's and 30's. This agreement saw the Green Gang provide support to the Nationalists against the Communists and then the Japanese during the battle of Shanghai, to what extent I am not sure but it is enough for me to build a force around.

As far as a narrative for this army the history books say that the KMT Nationalists basically hired the Green Gang to break up Communist meetings and fight in the civil war. The Green Gang also provided financial support to the KMT from the profits of the heroin trade. This force will essentially include a lot of gang members who have been told to fight the Japanese and supplement the KMT Regular forces during the Battle of Shanghai. I imagine them ambushing Japanese patrols and disrupting supply lines through quick strikes during darkness.

I sourced the miniatures from the Pulp Figures range, unfortunately they have been withdrawn by Bob Murch to be refreshed and the only source now is Crucible Crush Productions. While they are pretty good some of them look a bit tired and I can see why Bob is redoing the range.
I will be going to Cobblestone Miniatures for the rest of the range as the have some great Nationalist soldiers and some other characters I can use to continue to build up this army.

All up there is 30 28mm troops coming to 150 points.

One of the joys of the AHPC for me is that I get to see things related to conflicts or figures ranges that I have absolutely no knowledge of and this absolutely ticks both boxes!  A criminal gang, supporting the Government, represented by a fantastic set of figures chock full of character.

I do like the Pulp Figures range as every character seems sculpted with a sense of fun and you've really brought these to life with the expressive skin tones I've come to expect and the clothes are bright enough to pop but not over the top.

I do like the basing too, looks like a right good mix of ingredients in there and it helps frame the figures.

150 points very much earned!

From Curt - Madame Ting-Ting, her Bodyguards and her Garford-Pulitov Armoured Car (40 points)

After the Russian Civil War, many White Russians tried to escape Bolshevik persecution by fleeing abroad. They went to all corners of the world, and many White soldiers, needing work or seeking adventure, traveled to China and fought amongst the ranks of the various warlords. Shanghai became a particularly popular emigre destination, and a vibrant Russian ghetto soon established itself, traces of which can still be seen today.

So from this background we see here my pulp adventuress, 'Madame Ting-Ting', along with her trio of Russian ex-pat bodyguards and their rather care-worn Garford-Putilov armoured car. 

The Madame was born Leia Natasha Petrovostalavitch (an extrapolation of a friend's 'Top Secret' RPG character name), the headstrong daughter of a Russian diplomat and Chinese courtesan. She is now simply known as 'Madame Ting-Ting' - that being the sound of her enemies' bullets bouncing off her armoured car. (My thanks to Sylvain's new puppy for inspiring me with the nickname!)

These models started life during the first week of the Challenge, but have languished for the past month so I thought I better get them cleared off the table before I ran out of time.

M. Ting-Ting and her bodyguards are all 28mm Copplestone figures. I had a lot of fun painting Ting-Ting, especially her red gloves and elegant cigarette holder. I chose the riflemen as I liked their ragged uniforms, thinking them fitting after their long retreat to central China. 

The Garford-Putilov is from Copplestone as well. It's a wonderful model, though rather small in scale (1:55). These vehicles were actually quite huge, with this one weighing in at around 11 tons. Like many armoured cars of this period they were extremely underpowered - this one boasting only a 20 HP engine! Top speed was a blistering 18kph. 

I love the turret with the barrel-encased 76mm gun and the wing MG sponsons. Completely mental.

For Ting-Ting's banner I wanted something 'Pulpy' and a bit silly, so I went with a motif that features a skull with crossed cigarette holders. Of course, since there are not many flags featuring this design, I had to make one myself. :)

It was a bit daunting at first, but I began to channel my long-dormant highschool drafting classes and managed to muddle through.

There you go, 'Madame Ting-Ting' and her 11 ton Tin Lizzie!

Thanks for visiting folks!

Finally! I don't know how long I've waited to adjudicate something from our gracious overlord. Now the day has arrived and he's only gone and treated me to a real corker as well.

I'm not sure quite where to start with how much I love this submission Curt. The infantry are all wonderful but the armoured car and the flag are both something else. I know from experience how hard these early ACs are to assemble and paint convincingly and this one has come together superbly, especially given all the extra stowage, etc. The banner is also quite something and has a most definite pulp feel about it.

All up that's 35 points worth of minis but it's got to be worth another 5 for the banner and the armoured car. Love your work mate! Cheers, Millsy.

From SteH - The Hobby Butterfly Strikes Back! (150 points)

The holiday period always seems to push something to the backburner and in my case it was blogging. Luckily my very understanding other half has hobbies of her own so I do get the opportunity to paint once the kids are in bed (whilst she explores the wonderful world of crochet, cross stitch, painting or cake decorating!). Anyway this entry is a bit of a cornucopia of submissions, I am definitely in the hobby butterfly camp and do not expect to change for the duration. And so here are my random submissions completed through the festive celebrations:

Lord of the Rings – 8x Orcs
Some more of my budget second hand Orc’s, these are the ones that required repairs, mainly on weapons and such. Very simple paint scheme’s and my usual Vallejo sepia wash to give them a suitably grubby look. I think I’ve only got another 15 to go now!







Lord of the Rings – 6x Warg Riders
If I was more organised these would have made it into the Rider and Mount bonus round however I was too busy stuffing my face with the aforementioned cake decorating output. Much like the Orcs above these little devils were second hand and required a little repair prior to base coating and repainting. They’re painted in the same style as above although for some insane reason I used an old GW Black Ink on the Wargs which has given them a bit of shiny look (obviously they’ve recently been playing in a pond, like all happy doggies do!). I’ll see if it dies down once I get my dull coat spray. I have to say I’m not a big fan of these models, maybe it’s just that I haven’t found a colour scheme/style that I like




5x PSC 15mm M4A1 Shermans
They’ve been in the painting queue for some time and deserved a little attention. I really like Will’s stuff (apart from the weird German infantry, which he has now redone) and have quite a large stash of tanks in 15mm to get completed. And so here we have five M4A1, two with 75mm guns and three with the rather excellent 76mm gun. Now where did I put those good WW2 rules?





Naismith Sung Chinese 15mm

This is a weird one, I’ve had these sitting about for ages and suddenly got the urge to paint them just after Christmas day. So while my kids tried to destroy their wooden train track I set to painting them up with no other plan than to enjoy myself. What came out of it is a vague plan to collect an Empire of Tsuranuanni army, these figures being part of the Minwanabi force! I’m not sure whether I’ll actually do it however I did enjoy painting them and they’ve turned out pretty well so we’ll see. I’ve just got to figure out what to use for the Kingdom forces and the Cho-Ja? Anyone know any good 15mm Ant models?

So after all that I reckon this little lot is worth 148pts (ish). Not quite the points bomb that others manage to achieve but a tidy little effort nonetheless. However I shall let the ultimate arbiter (Curt) decide the final tally!

From Curt:

Wow, that is a wonderful spread of genres, periods and scales Ste! All of these miniatures look great - Lord of the Rings goodness, wonderfully weather-beaten Shermans, but I think I have to say the Sung Chinese are my favourites. I always find their whacky artillery to be fascinating and I like the ad-hoc reinforcing around the canon (I think they may want to be further away when this thing goes off...). Wonderful stuff.

Great Job Ste!