From BenitoM - The Last Fallschirmjager Supports (60 Points)

Very slow production over the last two weeks, but at least I managed to finish the last support units of my Fallschirmjager unit for Chain of Command.

These comprised a sniper pair...

... an anti-tank team...

... an engineer with a flamethrower...

... and finally this lovely light recoilless gun model L40.

The real model:

I also painted one additional private and this other model in prone position with a pair of binoculars that I plan to use as a forward observer in my games.

Note that I did not make any basing work in the sniper. initially I was looking to to a base with heavy foliage, but then I thought about some of the urban combat games we have played, and decided to leave it bare.

After today's work, I bag a total of 50 additional points.All minis are Warlord except the last two, that belong to an Artizan blister.

Considering that there's only 1 week left and that I can only paint over the weekends, it's clear that I won't reach my target of 500 points. I aim now to reach at least 400 points before the Challenge winds down on Sunday; hopefully Friday and Saturday I'll have some spare time to finish 10 additional minis and credit the final 50 points I need.

Wow Benito, you are hitting these Fallshirmjaegers right out of the park. The camo and blending is just spectacular. I particularly admire that L40 and its crew (whenever I see these things fire I think the term 'recoilless' seems only to apply to the gun itself).

I hope you have the time to submit again before the Challenge closes but if not, it has been a pleasure having you with us Benito.

From TamsinP - 15mm Crusties Armoured Force (60 points)

For the first of my posts this weekend, and my 18th entry in the main part of the Challenge I have some 15mm SciFi figures for you. These are the "Crusties" from GZG and will form the light armoured contingent of my force - I have some heavy armour on order, but it is very unlikely to have arrived before the end of the Challenge. I do have some more Crusties on the painting table - you will be seeing them during the next few days.

Light Walkers

These were fun the build and paint. I've based my colour scheme loosely on that seen in District 9 for the "Prawn" weaponry - white (actually, Sky Grey) a medium grey (Basalt Grey), a dark grey (German Grey) and orange (Orange Red) plus black and Dark Vermillion.

The walker with the orange back will be the commander for this force. Each walker has a different weapons load-out.

I decided for the basing to go for a slightly alien blasted earth look. A base of Saddle Brown was washed black, dry-brushed with a 1:1 mix of Saddle Brown and Light Grey. Some stones were picked out with Green Grey, washed green and then the bases were finished with a patchy wash using a 2:1 mix of red and black. The "earth" was matt varnished, the stones were picked out with gloss varnish.

Armoured Infantry - Rifle Squads

These weren't as fun to paint - lots of fiddly little details to drive me nuts!

Armoured Infantry - Heavy Laser Specialists

Armoured Infantry - Heavy Plasma Specialists

There are four 15mm vehicles and eighteen foot figures here. That should give me 60 points.

These are awesome Tamsin and it's great to see your return to some sci-fi themed figures before the end of the Challenge. I really like your use of the bright orange juxtaposed against the dark grey of the armour - actaually, they look like they could be sponsored by a mobile phone company. 'The Nokian Heavy Infantry' or 'The Samsung Replicant Battalion' :) 

I'm also admiring your groundwork for these figures. It's elegantly minimalist while still looking suitably alien - brilliant and well done!

From GregB - US Mechanized Infantry for Team Yankee (118 points)

US Mechanized infantry in 15mm

Another "Team Yankee" offering in this submission - US mechanized infantry and M113 armoured personnel carriers.

Modern US infantry in 15mm from Peter Pig

It has been nearly two months now since Battlefront "released" their US mechanized infantry figures for their new "Team Yankee" range. Many companies can experience delays in getting their products shipped, but the supply chain Battlefront uses is so glacial that I often snap my crayons, give up waiting, and use an alternate product.  I used Eureka 15mm Soviets in place of the Battlefront motor rifles, and I have opted to use Peter Pig modern US troops instead of waiting any longer for the Battlefront "releases" to reach Canada via whatever snail-driven hot air balloon they use for shipping.

More US grunts

US Mech Company command stand - blue flowers to denote officer

The Peter Pig troops - actually listed as "US Marines" in their website - are a little more modern than the ones from "Team Yankee", more 1990s-2000s than 1980s.  The body armour is a little different, small differences in the harnesses etc.  The only really noticeable difference is the portable anti-tank weapons.  In "Team Yankee", this is the M-47 Dragon missile launcher, but these figures are carrying the AT-4 rocket launcher.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think the AT-4 is a little later than the M-47...but I have no idea what the differences actually are...also, the Peter Pig line does not have a casting carrying an M72 LAW rocket.

AT-4 teams stand in place of the Dragon AT teams

A view of the camo and webbing

Despite the differences, the Peter Pig castings stand in very well. Peter Pig makes, in my opinion, some of the best 15mm castings out there.  The sculpts are excellent, and the casting quality it top of the line.

The blue flowers denote platoon command base

Painting camouflage is the bane of any hobbyist, but the US Camouflage of the 1980s is particularly challenging.  I try to give an impression of the pattern more than copy it faithfully, particularly in a smaller scale. The results are not too bad.

Propaganda photos - US infantry confront Soviet dismounts near a rail line...

AT team has a surprise for that T-72...

To be mechanized, these fellows need a ride.  The M113s from Battlefront were nowhere to be found either, but it finally clicked that I could just order a box of Jordanian M113s from Battlefront's "Fate of A Nation" game and get the same models, so that's what I did.  Four M113s are enough to mount on platoon of troops - enough to at least get a game in.

M113s...ugliest APCs in existence

I think all of us have some models or figures in particular periods or settings that we dislike or dread painting, and for me, one of those is the M113.  I hate the look of this vehicle - it's just a lame box on some treads.  Whatever its merits in real life (and they might be considerable - I don't know personally, I'm a civilian) in the hobby perspective, these things are totally, totally lame.  The BMPs look waaaay cooler. 

Nice models of terrible vehicles

You will notice that none of these M113s have tread covers on...the crappy quality of the plastic struck again, with the tread covers snapping when I tried to clip them off the sprues, so I just avoided them entirely on these models.

Battlefront plastic strikes again...

 ***

And now a short diversion on something I noticed in the "Team Yankee" rule book.  One thing I do appreciate about Battlefront is their painting guides - they have a lot of them in their books, and I find them to be generally helpful.  They often combine art work from Osprey books with Vallejo paint recommendations. I was particularly pleased to see one for the US infantry camouflage in the "Team Yankee" rule book, and once I received the figures from Peter Pig and started painting, I opened up to the guide and noticed something odd...

I thought this was really, really dumb.  Like, really?  I don't know the stats, but I'm confident a large number of the front line troops in the US Army of the 1980s were African American.  So, there was no way to give us a painting guide for that? Just....this was really, really dumb. I could probably say a lot more, but really...I'll just get back to the post.

*** 

So there are a total of 47 infantry and four vehicles, all in 15mm size, in this submission, for a total of 118 points.  Should keep me within a possible striking distance of Byron in the "Modern Mayhem" side duel.

Completed US forces to date for "Team Yankee"

With this I will have concluded my little "modern tear" over the past couple of weeks.  I have enough 15mm stuff on hand now to play a few games and get a sense of the rules.  Even better, if I've done the math right (and that is always a bit of an "if"), this submission will take me past my points goal. WOOHOO! But as the end of this installment of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge comes in sight, I REALLY need to get back to some 30k stuff - I hope I will have more to share before things conclude. 

Brilliant work Greg!

You've obviously been completely stoked to get this project off the ground as both your production and quality is outstanding. Both the infantry and the vehicles are spectacular - I also think your impressionistic approach to modern camo works magnificently and provides many of us with an alternate approach to this daunting task.

I actually had the great pleasure to play a game with these figures the other night with both Greg and Byron and can attest to their beauty on the tabletop. Those Hinds are things of terrible beauty.

Finally, congratulations on hitting your points target Greg! Well done, young man! I suspect that everything from here on in is in pursuit of the duels - keep up the steam!

From MartinN - 28mm Late Roman Ballistae (50 points)

With the Challenge drawing to a close and me beeing away with work for the coming week, the last few days saw me frantically beavering away on a few unfinished items. So here's the first of three submissions for today. This one should see me safely reach my goal of 500 points.

With all that 15mm stuff I've done during the Challenge I was itching to get  at least one more base for my 28mm Late Roman army for Impetus done. Being severely hampered by a lack of time I was in the urgent need of something quick to paint. So this set of two Roman Ballistae by Wargames Foundry came in more than handy.

As I can't stand clones, at least when there are only a hand full of figures to a base, I had to do some minor conversions to three of the crew members. Two head swaps and a slight repositioning of an arm later I was happy with the over all look. To round things off I added a suitably commanding looking Centurion from Westwind Miniatures and a body guard from Foundry.

As of yet I was never able to field artillery in one of our games so I'm quite curious to see how these will fare on the table. No better than any other freshly painted miniatures I guess.

Due to a lack of time I wasn't able to get hold of a fitting decal for the shield and had to resort to my rather under developed free hand skills for this one. The pattern is only remotely inspired by those from the Notitia Dignitatum so don't even try to bother me with historical accuracy.

The 50 points of this entry see me doing a precision landing on my goal of 500 points for this years challenge. Unfortunately that's not nearly enough in my side duel with ChrisS, giving me a mere 425 vs. his 504 points.

Whoa, this is some fabulous conversion and brushwork Nick!  I also have a hangup with identical figures on the same base (Gosh, we are so spoiled as it was not that long ago when 1 or 2 poses was the most we could hope for in a range) but you've done a terrific job on bringing it alive with your modifications and artful repositioning. Your 'undeveloped freehand skills' are certainly aspirational for me! That shield is gorgeous and I could care less if the design is a flight of fancy.  Again, great work Nick.

From JaccoK - 28mm Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK) (75 Points)

It took a while to get my next entry ready, I miss the competition with the other Dutch guys. But the bonus is that I have 2 entries ready now. First up are these 15 Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK). 

All from Perry Miniatures. I already painted a lot of DAK mostly from Artisan but I was eager to paint the new Perry desert range. These are the metal figures. I also have a couple of plastic boxes waiting to be painted and lovely vehicles from Blitzkrieg Miniatures, sigh...maybe next year.

It's a shame you had to fly solo this year Jake, but you've held the banner high for the Dutch Waterbicycle Detachment - so you should be proud. These figures are terrific. I particularly like the details you've added such as the uniform insignia on the officers and the colour chipping on the rankers' helmets. I'm also very envious of your desert terrain set-up - it's absolutely stunning and immediately reminds me of Tunisia (or I suppose Tatooine/Jakku for that matter). All inspiring stuff!

The AHPC6 Sprint for the Finish!

I'm a big cycling fan, and early spring is always a treat for me as it marks the begining of the cobblestone Spring Classics, with Omloop Het Nieusbladt kicking off the north European series. These time-honoured races are often cold, wet, grueling affairs, which test the limits of endurance of the cyclists as they hammer over the cobblestone roads of Belgium and France.

We are officially 8 days away from the conclusion of the Challenge, so keeping to the cycling theme I say to you all: it's now time to get up off your saddles, find your lines of attack and begin the final sprint!

For the last week I will be taking over the tiller from our capable crew of daily adjudicators (Thanks so much to Peter, Tamsin, Dave, Millsy and Greg!). From Monday on to the finish next Sunday it's open season for posting, so feel free to submit a draft entry whenever you please. Please keep in mind that I'm in the midst of a few deadlines myself so there may be a several hour delay before I get to your entries, but I will do my best to get them posted and scored as soon as I can.

Also as a reminder, due to me being away this weekend, the final Theme round ('Gambler / Risk Taker') will be posted later on Monday. Accordingly, the deadline for Bonus Theme submissions is midnight Sunday (CST). Thank you for your patience.

Now, on to our talented Saturday crew...