From Scott R: Space Aussies playing as Astra Militarum in 10th Edition 40K 28mm Part II

 Hi all,

To start off, thanks Sylvain for putting up Part I and giving me points to get started.  I had a laptop failure which has put me behind.  New laptop and off we go.

I introduced the project for this years painting challenge in Part 1 this included a quick look at the infantry progress as well a quick look at the whole force.  Part II will look at the vehicles component that have been completed so far.

The Vehicles: Tanks

I have three tanks completed and ready for the table.  The vehicles are mostly Games Workshop, with one from Victoria Miniatures that came as part of the Kickstarter.

Victoria Miniatures Tank and APC based on the WW2 Matilda Hull to fit the Aussie Theme.  Both vehicles printed really easily and have excellent detail.  They scale well with the rest of the 28mm figures.  The only downside is the lack of weapon systems to make the tank viable as a stand in for 40K. the APC version however, has option and could be a Chimera or Hellhound.

The APC print fitted with weapons to use as a Hellhound.

The wheeled vehicles is another 3D print from 'The Makers Cult'.  I used this as a proxy for the Tuorox and Tuorox Prime, a Tracked APC with  and without a turret.  Personally, i dont like the look of the Tuorox from GW.  So went with this which reminds me of the old British Saladin we had in service in Australia.

The picture above is an example of the print options available from The Makers Cult.  I used the top two.

Some of the vehicle just after building the GW kits for the Leman Russ, Rogal Dorn, the two Tuorox can be seen with a GW Baneblade at the rear.

The remainder of the vehicles lined up getting undercoated black in prep for the colours.

The base green is down using a mix of AK Real Colours and Tamiya Acrylics.  This gave me the green modulation I wanted as they are supposed to be for a tropical forest/jungle terrain.

Side view, also the optional turrets and guns are here as well as the sentinel walker and the trench Mortar.  The Trench Mortar is another 3D print from Victoria Miniatures.  This is a beautiful model and fits in very well.

Second painting step complete.  Black camouflage lines to break up the shape now done on all the vehicles as well as the dirty brown tracks and exhaust base colours. The Mortar and walker (Foreground) had the metallic grey components painted here as well.

The hulls have been masked off in preparation for the unit/faction fast identifier markings.  For me I chose a blue and white marking.  Again a throwback to Aussies in WW2.  

The Blue and white were the markings of the Royal Australian Airforce, their roundels' and tail identifiers. So i wanted to continue that with this force.

Vehicles: Close Ups at the 99% completion Mark.

Decals and Markings:

The vehicles have been given markings that match my old regiment in Australia, the 1^st Armoured Regiment (1AR).  1AR was kitted out with the Leopard AS1.  The vehicles had standard markings, unit tactical signs, callsigns in white lettering, and a leopard head on the hull.  Although I placed these on the hull for better visibility.

Turret markings.

The decal sheet left was acquired from a company in Australia and suited the task well as it had all the markings and callsigns i needed.  the Decal Sheet right was from Company B a miniature online store out of the UK who do some odd sets.  This set is for the 6th Australian Division in North Africa.  

But it gave me the Divisional tac plate of the black square with Kangaroo and Boomerang.  Ok now onto the vehicles themselves

Rogal Dorn:

Front View

Rear View

Right Side with Callsin visible, 2C for the squadron Commander.  This allows me to recognise the vehicle as a command vehicle in the game.

Front with unit Tac sign yellow red square and the number 30 in white.

Leman Russ:

Similar markings however the callsign on this is 2D the second in commands' tank.  Again so the vehicle can be readily identified.

Tourox 

Slightly different marking on this.  as its an Infantry carrier i have given it an A Company callsign. 1 for A Company, 3 for the PLatoon and A for the Platoon Sgt.  13A.

Scout Sentinel:

Carries the Number 7 as this is the callsign for the Reconnaissance Troop in the Regiment.

So thats it for the vehicles so far.  Their are still a number of tanks to finish as well as one aircraft.  These will have different markings but same pattern camouflage.  

Part III:  The Infantry and Gun Teams:

This is the Infantry Command Team.  Its finished except for the basing which is next up on the bench to get the infantry of my to do table.  The Command comprises a radio Operator or Vox, Standard bearer, Medic, veteran with a specialist weapon.  The Commander i will save for the next part.  Cheers.

Points Summary:  While Sylvain was generous with giving me points for the painted infantry, to me they were not finished because the bases were not done.  I appreciate the points to get me rolling though.  The vehicle here are the same, they are 99% done but not looking for points yet.  I will submit my points summary once the project has completed.

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Sylvain: Your "Space Aussies" project is such a great concept. I love the uniform look of your army. I will let you go for now, but I'm very eager to award you points for all your good work. See you next time!

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From DallasE: 1/48 Saint-Chamond Tank from Trenchworx (20 points)

The push to the finish is on. Here's likely my second-last post of the Challenge: a 1/48 scale Saint-Chamond (early production) from Trenchworx.

I've had this model in its box for a year or two and it was time for it to be built and painted. It was pretty straightforward work with a paint scheme from the Internet. It was a little more difficult to determine the "correct" tactical markings for this vehicle - so I just picked some numerals that looked good and "French".

I like that the model has the FAMH (Compagnie des forges et acieries de la marine et d'Homecourt) logo "cast into" the rear armour. FAMH was the manufacturer of the tank and was based in the commune of Saint-Chamond in France.

The vehicle was heaviest-armed tank of the Great War but was a bit of a disaster... the overhangs front and rear were too long, the weight was biased well to the front, and its ability to traverse trenches and craters was negligible. BUT 75mm GUN!!1!!

This model is an early-production version - you can tell by the early 75mm gun and the observation turrets. Later production variants did away with these and substituted a low-profile square turret for the driver/commander.  

Decal is from, of all things, the GW 40K Adeptus Mechanicus decal sheet :-) Later in the war, the vehicle was marginally more successful as an assault gun. This one will see service with my late-war French, it's good to have it done. 

Points: 28mm vehicle = 20 points

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Cracking addition to your challenge Dallas, always nice to see something a bit different in WW1 armoured vehicles pop up. You've nailed that paint scheme with the bold colours and thick outlines, it looks fabulous (and themese well with your French infantry too). And with the historically inspired GW decal being reused on a historical model, the cycle is now complete :-)

- Paul

From TeemuL: T-70 team (42 points)

Weekend without much special activities and flu is almost gone, so good time to paint some minis. For the second post today, I present a team of T-70 Soviet tanks for Flames of War. Minis itself are from Plastic Soldier Company.

These are meant for Operation Bagration, that's why bright green bases and tanks are plain green, only some identification numbers in the turrets. So far I have understood, that there were no clear system for numbering tanks, I guess it causes some confusion to enemy, when even the own side doesn't know the meaning of all the numbers... In the background you can see some explosions, they came in the Opel Blitz truck set from Warlord Games, which I decided to do now.

I painted the exhaust systems orange to show rusted they are. Tracks are a mixture of browns and greys. And now I realize the mistake I made while quickly finishing these - I didn't apply any brown mud to the hulls... Well, maybe they were just unloaded from train and sent forward...

And the view usually seen by the controlling player. I guess better be quick, because these light tanks tend to blow up rather quickly when encountering German defenders. As you can see, I have based my tanks, this way I can glue a magnetic sheet to the bottom of the base and this helps with transfer and storage. Models itself are rather sturdy, so the bases are not necessary for protecting them, I think.

There are 5 of these 15mm tanks here, so 8 points a piece. Then two half minis on the turrets, giving 2 extra points for total of 42.

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Hi Teemu!

I like the simple green paint job, the orange and blue really 'pop'!

Can you ever have enough explosions? I think not :)

An other 42points to your tally

- Sarah

From SteveA: Grabbing 3 Challenge books and putting them on the book cart! (108 points)

Heya there,   for my post this week I want to take a bite out of my painting backlog shaped by the  very kinds of themed painting challenges that first drew my attention to the AHPC.  Also I want to over come some slack in my points progress as end of the this year's AHPC draws near.  Thus my model count here is few, but each parcel of panting  does ding its own challenge point check box..

I delved into my blues, greens and brown colors to paint up a Troll (akin to the Trolls of children's stories such as The Three Billy Goats Gruff ) to serve as wandering monster in future games of Frost Grave, and to enable me to  pull a  "Children's Book" for Library Challenge.

The female Wizards apprentice I painted up for my FrostGrave Warband - will spin the wheels  of Lady Sarah’s Library Cart  to carry me to a new section in the Library.

I jumped off  of Lady Sarah’s Library  Cart to meet the Maritime challenge with a Star-Spawn of Cthulhu mini that Wizkids Games put out for Pathfinder a few years back.  According to the pathfinderwiki.com, the smallest Star-Spawn stands nearly 30 feet in height, (cited from "Wake of the Watcher," a Pathfinder RPG adventure) Thus, I am assuming this elder thing bursting up from deep waters can be scored as a 54 mm mini and also ding me a check box for the Maritime Library challenge   ( or if not the Maritime Challenge, then I submit this old one mini for consideration under the Romance Novel challenge... after all who  among us does not  harbor a mad dark love within their spoiled hearts for the remorseless cosmic might of Cthulhu and his spawn)

The tank may at first seem a little out of place between an aegis of cosmic horror and a couple figures for frozen fantasy, but for me to meet the challenge for Local History, this Sherman Tank M4 model  (2002, ArmourFast, 1/72 plastic kit,  No 99001)  is very similar to the Sherman M4 Tank War Memorial  that still stands proudly in my old  childhood neighborhood.

I aim to be somewhat brief and concise with my posts, so rather than recount the Local Tank War Memorial's history, I will instead provide link to a site describing the real M4 Tank of my childhood memories.

The Sherman Tank Memorial: https://www.rclwinnipeg100.ca/2010/03/06/80/

Thus with a load of  3 Library Challenge books pulled from shelves and placed upon the Lady Sarah’s Library  Cart, I believe I have made some overdue progress to paint me up some challenge points.

 5 pts  x1 Troll Foot Figure 28mm

20 pts Challenge Library: Children's Books

 5 pts x1 Wizard Apprentice (Female) Foot Figure 28mm

20 pts Lady Sarah’s Book Cart

10 pts x1 Star Born Foot Figure 54mm

20 pts Challenge Library: Maritime

 8 pts x1 Sherman M4  Tank 1/72 Scale, (score as Vehicle 15mm) 

20 pts Challenge Library: Local History

Total = 108 points

TeemuL: No worries, Cthulhu is a well known maritime entity. In fact he could easily be pretty much anything he wants... Iä, Iä! (Yes, I have nice Finnish keyboard, where there actually is a key for "ä"). And like Cthulhu embraces everything in the end, you grab quite a lot of Library locations and thus points. I guess the troll is an old WHFB troll? And your local Sherman looks business, but in the end doesn't have a chance against Cthulhu. Or Wizard... May be a small change against a troll. :)

From ScottR 15mm Australian Vehicles for NAM by Battlefront. 168 Points

 Hi all and here is teh second last of my Australians for the NAM game by Battlefront.  You saw the infantry and in this painting session i managed to get teh vehicles done.  I had them started by basing tehm with a darkish green.  I wasnt very happy with this a sa base so I went back and did them with a black undercoat.

So with the re-undercoating done.  I needed to find a suitable colour.  I did a bit of investigating through teh RAAC Museum in OZ and found that in the 60 the Centurions and M113s which where new to Australia where done in an Olive Drab base.  I wanted one that was a little less brown than a normal Olive drab so i chose the AK Paints version.

I then did the first coat followed by teh first higlight or modulation.  First modulation was the Olive Drab with a bit of sand mixed in.

The second modulation was using AKs Faded Olive Drab.

After the modulaion was complete I then airbrushed the tracks, exhaust pipes and added stowage of jerry cans and baggage etc.  From here the vehicles were taken to the work bench for a bit of touch up and to paint the crew.  Once this was complete.  I sprayed a light mahogany brown around the track areas, sides, front and rear to look like the rtedish dust found in Vietnam from the dark red soil.  I did it fairly light just to add some tone.

Once this was done the vehicles were airbrushed with AKs satin varnish.  This was left to dry so the decals could be added.  The decals were taken from a couple of references.  These included the red and yellow 'Tac' (Tactical plates for the unit and the Green for the !st Australian Task Force or 1ATF.

The next set were a mix of the squadron and troop markings.  The squadron is the yellow circle on the side of the turret.  The troops is the yellow shiled with the red kangaroo.  There is another with a kangaroo holding an umbrella but couldnt find the mpeg to make the decal.

Great work on these pieces of heavy armour, Scott. The various shades on the armour as well as the decals you have applied (those must be pretty difficult to do at this scale), really add a lot of life to the models. 

As for scoring, I count 20 vehicles as well as a few commanders sticking out of various hatches, so I have assigned points for those.