From PeterD 28mm SYW French Dragoons (40 Points)

First post of this year’s challenge for me, I think this makes it 7 for me but my numbers are often wrong.  I am firmly in the by drips and drabs camp and will be bringing units to the table piecemeal, since that’s what works to keep me motivated.  I started work on Boxing Day, and have these four Dragoons complete plus other projects in various stages of completion.  I’ll be focusing on my SYW project, one that started two years ago on the Challenge.  Originally planned as a side project for a Sharp Practice, I found I loved working in the lace wars era and have expanded it to my main horse and musket project.

These are four members of the French Orléans Dragoon Regiment.  The figures are old Foundry ones, sold under their Casting Room line.  I don’t normally spring for Foundry prices but got taken in by a deal.  Even so they’re out of my normal budget when shipping and exchange rates are factored in.  However, the figures have a lot of character and look rough and ready which suits the French Dragoons of the era.

French Dragoons were far more a Dragoony than other nations’, and were expected to fight on horse and foot.  They carry muskets not carbines, wear shoes and gaiters  instead of boots and have axes for  impromptu pioneer work.  The dragoons did were very useful in the Kleine Krieg and also appeared in the bigger battles.

I do like that the Foundry sculpts are carrying full sized muskets.

Dragoon regiments had drummers instead of trumpeters as befit their origins as mounted infantry.  Many regiments also had mounted oboists (hautebois), but sadly no one makes such a figure.  As my daughter both plays oboe and did horse riding, it would be great to have one.  But having seen both oboes and horses close up, I have to say that playing oboe on horseback took balls - it looks like a recipe for having a sharp reed embedded in your upper palette.

I fudged the lace work here to keep myself sane.  The picture of the regiment's lace from kronoskaf (the go-to online SYW site) is shown below.  This appears on a shoulder strap, the saddlecloths and the drummer's coat.

Once the whole regiment is complete, I will add unit labels along the back edge of each base - I've left an un-sculpted strip to hold these tables.  You can see the axes with covers on the horse tack on the right shoulders.

I have two picture references in uniform books showing a shoulder straps with a simplified version with blue and white stripes, which could well be the effect from a distance.  However looking at things again I misinterpreted the direction of the striping and should probably redo it (or not depending).

The drummer figure looks grumpy, I wonder if he's dealing with a sore head after a night carousing!



Well these are tough looking chaps as befits their position between the cavalry and infantry and no doubt very busy stealing, I mean liberating all kinds of kit!
 Admirable dedication to Lace finish, and I particularily like the white socks etc on their mounts.
This gives you your first 40 points of the challenge,well done!

All the best Iain

From BenitoM: British Airborne Section (45 points)

Life is returning to normal after the Christmas period, although here in Spain we still one additional celebration to go through: the epiphany day on January 6^th. This has been (still is) the traditional day to exchange presents; but as many other cultural imports from the United States (Halloween or the Black Friday just to mention the latest two), many Spaniards now has shift their allegiances to the 24-25^th December date, changing the Three Wise Kings for the fat bloke in red.

My first Thursday entry is as usual in this edition of the Challenge, related to the British Airborne project. Having completed the commanders (“Big Men” in the Toofatlardies parlance) and many supports, today I bring my first section into play.

The British Airborne Platoon composition for Chain of Command is made of an HQ section and three rifle sections.  Each rifle section has a rifle team (5 men with Lee Enfields and 1 with a Sten MG) and LMG team (Bren gun with three crew) led by a Sergeant (Superior Junior Leader).

This is the rifle team…

… and this is the LMG team

 

The rifle team is from the Warlord British Airborne plastics box in 28mm. The quality of the sculpting is good, especially the heads and the multi-pose and gear options allow for a wide variety of poses and equipment. The number of parts is significantly smaller than in the first plastic boxes issued by Warlord (for example, the British infantry box) and the sculpting is much better too.

With regards to the LMG team, the two prone models are from Wargames Foundry and the knee-firing model is another Warlord plastic. The foundry models are truly nice. These are  early-design sculpts by the famous Perry Brothers; although somewhat smaller than the Warlords, as I suspected once painted and based, the differences in size are hardly noticeable on a wargaming table.

Therefore I score an additional 45 points with this entry in the Challenge (9 models x 5 points each). 

Gorgeous figures with a  wonderful take on the distinctive para camo! Lovely clean painting on some very characterful sculpts, I'm glad to hear that warlord are reducing the parts in their bolt action boxes as I found them somewhat overwhelming!

45 points it is to you Benito, splendid work!

All the best Iain

 

From NoelW for Thursday: Austrians and Romans (200 points)

Responding to my inner squirrel, I start two new projects here. Well, they're sort of new.

Firstly the beginning of a long stretch of 15mm Austrians. I've an extensive collection of 10mm Napoleonics for mass battles, and a lovely collection of 28mm Naps that I don't have a table large enough to play with. But I'm finding 10mm almost impossible to paint these days as my eyes deteriorate, and it's getting harder to identify units on the table, so I'm going to have to move them on (any interested takers out there?) I'd love to be able to field mass battles in 28mm, but my table is only 4 feet deep, so whilst Waterloo looks good as a diorama, it's pretty much unplayable.

Having taken a step into 15mm in the SYW this time last year, and finding a fair number of Naps among the collection I bought, I decided I'd see whether 15mm gives me a decent compromise. With failing eyesight, and a desire for mass armies, I'm not going to spend a great deal of time on each 15mm figure - I want them to be clean enough to look good in the aggregate, but there's not going to be much in the way of sophistication in how I paint individual figures. Which means my15mm contributions to the Challenge are not going to offer much in the way of eye candy. Apologies for that.

I finished the first three battalions of German troops, 20 figs per battalion. They're waiting for their flags, but otherwise complete:

28mm remains my favoured scale (I know it's not a scale!) As mentioned in a previous post, I've acquired a motley collection of 28mm Romans, from at least three periods, and I'm hoping to get a fair number of them completed during the challenge. First up are Caesareans, of which 16 are now ready to take the field. Being my only painted Romans, these will face off against the Carthaginian army I've also begun, though I think strictly speaking that'll be anachronistic.

I like the plain red shields, so will probably not invest in decals for them, though the shading I've used seems to be a little too subtle to appear in the photographs unfortunately. Will continue to experiment with that. Future units probably will get some decalic decoration to distinguish them, I guess.

So that's 60 x 15mm @ 2 pts = 120

And 16 x 28mm @ 5 pts = 80

A total of 200 pts. And 2 more squirrel points, I think.

Lots more of both armies to follow. Please keep your excitement within reasonable bounds - I've quite a few other projects, too, to give a little variety.

Well I think your Austrians look splendid! From what I understand of painting smaller scales(which is admittedly little!) it is necessary to reign back the detail and go for overall effect which you have achieved admirably! I like your Romans ready to fight for Caesar,Scipio, Sulla or Marius and if mixed in with lighter armoured fellows would be perfect for fighting Carthage!

200 well earned points in different scales and periods, squirrels we salute you!

All the best Iain

(Thursday) From MarkB: 15mm WW2 German Panzer II Tanks. (16 Points)

I hope all is well and you are getting ready to celebrate the New Year.

Today I had some time to work on some Early WW2 tanks that can be used for several different game systems and theater of operations. I am a big fan of What a Tanker and these might find their way to the battlefield soon.

These are two 15mm Zvezda tank models. They are easy to assemble, and they look pretty good for their size once they are painted up.  I added some green canvas that is polled up on the backs of both tanks to add some flavor to the tanks. These should get me 16 points to add to my tally.

Have a good day and I will see you all in the new year!

Skål!

A lovely pair of early war German armour with some nice additional stowage and great weathering!
As you say this will add 16 points towards your total,very nice!

All the best Iain

From DaveS - Anyone else bored of Archers yet?(180 Points)

It's my first Thursday, and that means it's the first of my scheduled posting days.  It's been a challenge getting these models finished in time, but I'm determined that I am going to get something posted on each day.
Thus I present 46(36?) War of the Roses Archers.  12 of them will join the previously posted ones as a second rank, while the rest will form another unit.

As a side note, I've finally got my Henry's straight, (I think).  I've bought the appropriate Perry models, and a later part of this challenge will probably feature me painting them up.

This shot exists to provide evidence they are actually Green and White

Hopefully, and if allowed, I might add some photos of the whole army so far when I get back from work.  I think this is 180 points....

Lovely work on these Perry plastic bowmen, the white is much more in evidence and has come out really well and the basing works really well too. To come over lightly officious I caould only count 36 figures which tallies with your total of 180 well earned points!

All the best Iain 

Thursday's Child has far to go, Minion reporting for duty!

Pencils sharpened a new notepad I'm all ready for Thursday! Thursday, gateway to the weekend!

 We already have splendid Austrians, Romans,German Armour and the British paratroopers standing by and who knows what else will arrive as the day wears on?

I've been painting little men since the late 1970's, first for Dungeons and Dragons, then Advanced D&D, Runequest and the like followed by my first go at historical wargaming which no one else was interested in at the time that I knew. This was then followed by a fallow time while I went to Art College in Nottingham ,while I was there GW released Rogue Trader and I couldn't help myself collecting and painting various armies over the years for myself and my nephews who are now all grown up and we play pretty much just historical stuff now.

So relax safe in the knowledge that a ham fisted Luddite will take his hammer to Miles's spreadsheaf number machine, Ah, what could possibly go wrong? Abby? Abynormal? Anyway I'd better go and paint something so that I'm not culled on the 20th of this month!

All the best Iain

Reminder: Saturday is the 'Reconnaissance' Theme Round Deadline

Hello Everyone,

Just a friendly reminder that submissions for the first theme round, 'Reconnaissance', is due this Saturday. The gallery will be up Sunday for your viewing pleasure.

Thanks!

Curt

From Rob Hingley - Have TARDIS, Will Travel (95 Points)

This is my first submission to the IX painting challenge.  It consists of 1 vehicle (The Tardis) and 15 x 28mm figures for a total of 90 points (See below, Rob - you may be pleasantly surprised - Ev).

Doctor Who is a favorite Sci-Fi choice for many gamers I know to watch. I believe we choose our favorite Doctor to be the one(s) to whom we were introduced in childhood.  Mine were the first two, which aired in Canada on the CBC in the mid-1960s.

I wasn't introduced to the Tom Baker years until sometime in the mid 1980s as re-runs on PBS.

As I wrote my introduction was to the first two doctors. A simple presentation of
a Tardis, based upon photos from the original series, with the simple word POLICE in black lettering above the door.

The TARDIS was a Constabulary Communications Cabinet produced by Ainsty Castings as part of their Professor What line. They are a great source of resin terrain pieces.

Three figures, two in homage to the first Doctor, played by William Hartnell, Richard Hurndall and David Bradley. The third figure represents the 2nd Doctor played by Patrick Troughton. I believe the figures were produced by Crooked Dice as part of their Temporal Traveler Series which I think is no longer available.

The First Doctor

The Second Doctor

(Note: In the comments the Doctors were identified as being from Black Tree Design's Dr Who range. Black Tree is definitely one of my go to sources for miniatures.)

Next is a group of 12 Scary Scarecrow figures from the episode Family of Blood which aired in 2007. These figures were purchased from the Woodbine Design Company through Gripping Beast.

I wanted to keep these figures drab using various earth tones, but in the end decided to add just a splash of colour to a few of the figures.

The light was not the best this morning 45 mins after sunrise. I had hoped to take the photos yesterday but I spent the best part of the sun either on Skype or the phone. Happy New Year to one and all.

Note: I was able to get a couple of photos taken before I left for the office and have replaced the earlier ones of the Scarecrows.
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Cracking work on this assemblage of figs, Rob, though as a 28mm vehicle, the TARDIS now scores 20 points. The fact that the TARDIS is much bigger on the inside can have no bearing on the final score (hey, I don't make the rules...).

As a long-time Doctor Who fan, I can only approve of this submission. The Family of Blood two-parter was one of my absolute faves, and the scarecrows were a wonderfully chilling addition to the roster of bad guys in the Whoniverse.

So that's an opening salvo of 95 points, well done that man!

Ev

From SimonM: "Fantasy Flight Games" Chewbacca (9 Points)

This 47mm tall hard plastic miniature of Chewbacca is produced by “Fantasy Flight Games” and can be found inside the company's "Chewbacca Operative Expansion" for "Star Wars: Legion"; "a miniatures game of thrilling infantry battles in the Star Wars universe!" Described as "Han Solo’s ever-faithful companion", the Wookie was played by Peter Mayhew and made his first appearance in George Lucas' 1977 American epic space opera film "Star Wars".

The figure was initially primed with two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, shaded with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, and dry-brushed with both (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and (lighter) Heavy Brown. I then applied a combination of "Citadel" Doombull Brown and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade to Chewie's side-bag, plus "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey to his "trusty bowcaster" and along his ammunition belt. These areas were subsequently washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil and highlighted with a little more "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey.

I then encountered something of a painting dilemma, as having previously pigmented two slightly smaller models of Chewbacca I knew the next stage was to carefully pick out the leather covering his belt's line of hard metallic shell boxes. However, the sculpting for this version of the Wookie didn't allow for me to get my brush tip in between the tiny containers and I couldn't help feeling that there was more than enough brown on display without the smuggler's bandoleer being the same colour too.

Resultantly, and any purest "Star Wars" aficionados will want to look away at this point, I have left the ammunition belt a dull metallic colour so it stands out a little better on the figure. Finally, I applied some additional "Citadel" Nuln Oil to certain areas of the Wookie, in order to darken him down a bit and break up the colour consistency of Chewie's fur.
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Very tidy work on this iconic character, Simon, and I think we can forgive you some differences to the colour palette in the interests of clarity!

Since a 40mm figure scores 7 points, I figure a 47mm model has to be worth at least 8.5. As I don't want to get into trouble with Miles by fouling his spreadsheet with decimals, I'll round that up to nine (if anyone asks, put it down to Beginning Minion Syndrome).
; )

Ev

From TeemuL: SU-152 (10 points)

First week of scheduled posts and as usual, I try to have something ready for publishing each week. Deadlines give some motivation to me, I just need to finish something, not necessarily much, but something to keep the Challenge running. After the frantic first weeks, it is calming down and getting more organized, so I thought a short introduction could be nice. I'm 40 year old painter and parent (of three year old son), I mostly play the different Games Workshop games, wide variety of board games and so on. I painted my first miniatures in the early 90s to use in our RPGs and soon after that I bought Blood Bowl 3rd ed. I really started painting and playing when the Lord of the Rings was released by GW first time. We switched quite soon to 40K, because most of the friends thought that scifi is better. We played through 3rd and 4th edition, but when the 5th was released, we were all living in different cities, had jobs and girlfriends, so we decided to stop. I kept on buying and occasionally painting miniatures until some five years ago I joined the local Blood Bowl league. One of the players had LotR armies as well, so we started playing that as well. I kept on wanting more, so I gave my little finger to Age of Sigmar as well. Last year I started Kill Team and I bought some Death Guard before Christmas. I have all kind of random miniatures waiting for the paint, so with the Squirrel competition I have a perfect excuse to paint what ever I want - I have enough painted miniatures for all the games I play, so there is no "need" to paint more, so I can now focus on painting things I like and Squirreling. Until I join some Escalation league and everything gets ruined... (I like Excel sheets, but I don't use them for Challenges.) I do have a hobby blog, but it is in Finnish: https://vainvader.wordpress.com/. You can also follow me in Instagram @vainvader, I use English there.Feel free to ask more, read and comment (even in English) my blog, follow me in Instagram and keep painting!

24, not Cyrillic...

Back to the real thing, some painted miniatures. After the 100 point Army of the Dead (and preparation for the first Bonus Round) here is something smaller this time, 1/100 scale SU-152 by Zvezda. Very nice model to assemble and paint, I mostly paint 28mm miniatures, but these smaller things are nice change once in a while. May be I even play with them sometime, I bought the TANKS! game last year, but haven't even read the rules yet. But I have heard it should be a light and quick tank game, X-Wing style.

Quite simple paint job here, I had some troubles browsing the Internet yesterday - most of the pictures didn't load, so I had little choice. Dark green seems to be an appropriate color for WW2 Soviet assault gun. I added white recon stripe and number based on a picture, no idea if they are historically accurate or not. And it is not even white, it's Ushbati Bone, I think bright white is just too bright usually. There's also some lighter green to bring up the details and some brown to indicate mud

 

Some mud and light green highlights

Zvezda manufacturers 1/100 scale models, which is not really 15mm, but 18mm, I think. Instruction sheet has point values only for 15mm and 20mm, 8 and 15 points. 1/100 is generally used as 15mm equivalent, so I'm not sure about the points, especially when the points values for vehicles went up this year. I initially scored this as 8, but I'm happy to take 10 or 12, if this is agreed to be a bigger one. :) Like I said, I'm not that familiar with these historical miniatures, but I have some plans for this Challenge...
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First-time minion gets thrown a curly one; 15mm (8 points) or 20mm (10 points) or something in between? What the hey, I'll split the difference and give it 9 points plus one for being insane enough to hand-paint numerals and stripes on this chunky little beast. 

Plus I have a soft spot for the SU-152, since it was one of the first big tank models (Tamiya 1/35 scale) I built back when I was a lad. 

Well played, Teemu!

Ev

Wednesday Minion Steps Up

Greetings, Fellow Challengers, and welcome to The Whacky and Whonderful Whorld of Whednesdays!

Minion Ev is finally on the case after looking after two pre-school age grandchildren for the last two-and-a-half days; they're delightful, but they are exhausting, especially in a Sydney summer. 

Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing.

That's not me, of course; I look far worse than that. 

A bit about me; I've been a wargamer and figure painter in one form or another since about 1976, when I discovered the local library's collection of Donald Featherstone books, the gateway drug of choice for most fifty-something lead pushers. Painted and played GW games with my sons, GM'ed AD&D and Runequest, and now enjoying smaller-scale tabletop games with occasional forays into 18th C Imagi-Nations with Millsy (see The Wars of the Sable Hat for more details). Also a sporadic contributor to Canister and Grape (the other blog where Millsy does most of the heavy lifting...).

Those of you who pay attention to such things will know that this is my first outing as a minion (fourth as a Challenger), and I plan to be a fair-minded and reasonable judge of your work, at least until the Sydney heat drives me crazy and I go full Colonel Kurtz; "Bonus points for the aubergine! But I hate bases which aren't made of WeetBix! Minus five points!"

This Wednesday is fairly quiet as people are still recovering from Christmas and Hogmanay (that's New Year to those of you without the blessing of Scottish heritage), but we have;

• A big vehicle with a big gun,
• A big furry guy with a big gun, and
• A big blue box and associated figures.

So, Challengers, let's get Challenging!

Evan

Supreme Despot and Unquestioned Autarch of The Midweek Realm

'My Door Is Always Open!'