From JamesM: Participant Prize for DaveD (71pts)

Hi Folks,

Off to a slow start this year (I blame a number of causes, but mainly buying Pathfinder: Kingmaker for cheap in the Steam winter sale...), but I had asked His Curtness for permission to paint my challenge entry fee specifically for DaveD.

As such, I present a small diorama from 'somewhere in Normandy'. This consists of a GMC CCKW Radio truck, complete with generator trailer, along with a couple of Jeeps and a map table.

The truck and jeeps are 15mm Skytrex models purchased specifically with this idea in mind, while the figures are all Battlefront 15mm metal figures which came from a stash I was holding for DaveD anyway. I had planned to use Skytrex infantry figures, but they were too small compared to the table.

As usual, I tried to arrange the figures so that a bit of a story was being told. This story is 'look, a map!'. In all seriousness, commanders discuss routes for an armoured advance through the bocage while a recce team reports back and a runner in a jeep awaits orders. It should be noted that this truck based radio was also capable of communicating with the UK, and was frequently used by war correspondents and the like to send messages back!

Decals were limited to what few US ones I had (for some M10's) - and the Battlefront 15mm decals seem to be closer to 20mm in size. Still, I'm sure Dave can update if required.

Final tally is:

6 x 15mm figures standing/sitting = 12 points
2 x 15mm figures in jeep = 2 points?
4 x 15mm vehicles = 32 points

= 46 points

James, this is amazing. I am blessed to be able to play with your toys and Dave will love it. By the way GMC CCKW is the worst scrabble hand possible. As it's the entry fee you are short on the points

AdamC: Defensive Ground on Hawkins' Hill (40 Points)

Way Back in Challenge VI there was a bonus round called "defensive ground"  I had it in mind to build a shattered house of the sort that became the temporary home and strong point for many a squad or platoon of soldiers in the Second World War.  I didn't get it done in time got it almost built but not painted since no points were awarded for terrain back then I had not really motivation(as I had plenty of terrain). So it languished for years... sitting on a corner of my table more or less ignored but this challenge as brought it up form the ashes.

 The walls are crock board which I always find makes a good impression as crumbling masonry and the base is a piece of thin plywood with some of that plastic cobble stone stuff you find around Christmas time. More cork, aquarium gravel and other odds and end give it a bit more of a ruined look.  The inside room should have more rubble but I did with out to so troops will sit better.

I painted things a simple gray then did a heavy black paint wash to give it a soot stained look then dry brushed in a lighter color gray.

Dimensions and points base is 5x6 with a height of just over 2.5 inches.  That's about a 3rd of a 6 inch Cube as I calculate it so about 7 points? Adding that to the 30 bonus points Hawkin's Hill and you get 37 points. 

Glad to have this one done. This is my 4th point of the map.

I'm now going around to O'Grady's Gulch to take my 5th point and then it will be time to see about heading up snow Lords Peak.  

This is a great defensive position, I have visions of Jack Palance berating Eddie Albert within its walls. Homework for all Challengers. Watch "Attack", probably again. There will be a test!

I always find the points for terrain a little harsh given the time it can take to therefore I will round up to 40 points - I think that Miles' spreadsheet will melt if I try to add a 0.33333333333333 to the maths.

From AlexS: tanks (24 pts)

Hi everyone, my name is Alex and before the New Year I succumbed to the spirit of universal hysteria and bought myself several models of tanks. It turned out that I was not the only one in our community, my friend also bought models, and we found the rules, which were translated in Russian as “And my dad is a tanker”, although in the original they are called “What a tanker”. Today I ate last year's salads, and decided to paint several models, and the day after tomorrow we will play.

We decided to play the campaign in Africa, because we know almost nothing about it, and at the same time we will get the opportunity to read books and watch films on this topic. We are given the opportunity to find out who Rommel is, what do rats and Italians have to do with it. Wargame is a great opportunity to learn new things, isn't it?

I am not very happy with the result of painting - at first I made very bright and beautiful tanks, I drew markings with my hand, but then I decided to make them a little more realistic. And they turned out dirty. I am not very happy with the result, although on a good table they will look organic. Maybe I’ll make the next tanks more “cartoony” with bright colors. I’ll think, especially since not many tanks are needed for the game.

points:

3x15mm tanks = 24 pts

Hi Alex, these tanks look good to me, although a cartoon version of What a Tanker sounds interesting. Think Kelly's Heroes with shells filled with paint

KenR Ready - 28mm Italian Wars Crossbows 81 points

The second entry of the week for me and a hark back to last years challenge. You may recall the huge Italian Wars Project I did last year, following the massive push to get it done I had a bit of a painting block post March 19, hence I have a small number of units which were primed and planned for last year but not started.

So here we have a unit of 16 x 28mm Perrys Miniatures Crossbow mostly from the plastic Mercenaries Box Set but there are a couple of metal figures and some head swaps too. They are based in 4s in open order which is how our rules work and will be used as an Independent unit of shot.

The flag is from The Company of Leopard who were a mercenary company from the 14th Century, a 100 years before my army, but it's a great flag and I wasn't going to waste it !

16 x 28mm foot figures at 5pts a piece should be 80 points plus one for the flag netting me 81 points.

I managed to finish these off inbetween the tanks of the first two entries and I have a small unit of 16 Landsknechts on the go now who are needed for a larger pike block. Saturday is Tank Day when I start that weeks Tank quota, any time left in the week before the next Tank Day is free to get other stuff done (that's the plan !). See you next week for some more armour hopefully both early war Desert and Italian Wars.

Ken your Italian Wars project has been a thing of beauty and really inspirational. These are really great and make me think about becoing a Condottieri.

From MilesR: 15mm Austrian and Russian Troops, 384 points

A few reinforcements for my fledgling Austrian and Russian armies, all in 15mm (really 18 but who cares).  The figures are mostly AB Miniatures, which are just superb .  There are also a handful of Old Glory figures.  The Old Glory figures are nice but a bit rough when compared to the AB's but one can not beat the price.

First off, for the Austrians, there are 6 mounted generals, 3 heavy artillery batteries, 2, 24 figure infantry battalions and 10 2 figure skirmishing stands.

I messed up on the Infantry battalions by grabbing a brown wash rather than my standard black.  They kind of stand out when next to the black washed skirmishers.  I may end up repainting these chaps post challenge.

For the Russians, it's just command and artillery.  A large army command stand on a 40mm base with two figures and 9 brigade level commanders os 25mm rounds.  All of the Russian figures are AB and it really should be a crime to have such nice figures painted by some one with hands of concrete like myself.  Bonus points if someone can guess the new wave reference - without using Google!

My next big task will be limbers for both forces.  I really hate painting limbers but that artillery isn't going to move itself.  I'll only do 6 for each army so not that crazy.

I have adopted a standard basing for my Napoleonic collection.  Infantry can be based one of two ways: 4 figures on a .75 x 1.0 inch base or as skirmishers on 20x15mm bases with 2 figures.  Cavalry are 2 figures on a one inch square and artillery on a 1 inch x 1.25 inch base with one gun and 4 crew each.  Command figures use round bases with the diameter (25, 30 or 40mm) denoting relative rank.  Technically, this basing is from the rule set Age of Eagles (Fire & Fury for Napoleonics) but I've found it works well with just about any ruleset including my two current favorites: General D'Armee and Et Sans Resultant! (ESR).

 Why all the Napoleonics?  I'm fleshing out my collection to put on another convetion game this summer.  To the right is a picture of the 2019 game "To Catch A King" which was based on a hypothetical invasion of Britain by the french and pitted a combined English and Austrian army against the invading French.  This years game will be no less silly but a bit grander in scope.  You'll figure it out based on the some future Challenge submissions......

As for the pointage, the tally for this submission is:

Austrians:
6 Mounted at 4 each = 24
68 Infantry at 2 each = 136
12 Art crew at 2 each = 24
3 guns at 4 each = 12
  Total 196 points

Russians
11 Mounted at 4 each = 44
48 Art crew at 2 each = 96
12 guns at 4 each = 48
  Total 188 points

Grand Total 384 Points

Welcome back Miles, it's been ages...no wait, that's wrong, it's been minutes. This is a fantastic paint bomb. Love the fact that they aren't French or British. Although painting all those white uniforms must be a nightmare. 

From MilesR: Burches Bluff Space Marine, 35 points

 My second stop along the path of the new shiny is Burche's Bluff.  The toll for passage through this enchanting vista is a 40k themed entry and nothing is more 40K than a Space Marine.  I've painted this chap up to match my Space Wolves Kill Team unit.  Kill Team is one of those game systems I jumped into and then discovered it wasn't for me.  I'm sure none of you have ever made that mistake.  Still painting up GW figures is always fun, so I was very glad to have the excuse.

Not the most detailed of paint jobs but it will be servicable on the table top and I like my Space Marines to be grimy and grim which matches the rather brooding overtones of the whole genre.

The basing is very generic as this figure will be one of my donation figures for the Challenge and I plan to customize the basing to match whatever the recipient wants.

This figure was a nice break from 15mm Nappy's.

I suspect there "may be" a few more Challenge Island post from me over the next few days......










Nice work on this chap, like my space marine types to to black and dusty as well. 

From Mike W. Millsy's Millpond - 20 x Original Warhammer 40K Epic (6mm) Marine Vehicles (60 Points )

Some of the models straight
out of the loft!

So by my reckoning I have had these vehicles since late 1989, when the original Warhammer 40K Epic came out as a boxed set in the UK. If anyone has a better grasp of the dates then please chime in and correct me!

I'd always been a fan of Warhammer Fantasy and the new fangled Warhammer 40K that had been around for a couple years by then and I'd been dabbling in Space Marines and Space Orks in the larger scale and enjoyed the painting and gaming challenges that this new Sci-Fi period opened-up.

So when the option became available to do bigger games in a smaller scale came along I was pleased to give it a go....

All 20 Warhammer 40K Epic vehicles, finally painted

Trouble is life got in the way, in a good way!

Soon after acquiring the Epic boxed set, my first son arrived on the scene and my spare time disappeared very quickly, then we got married soon after and I kind of lost focus on little toy soldiers for quite some time, as I had a new family to bring up.

I did have a half-hearted attempt at painting-up these vehicles on the early 2000s after I got hold of a copy of what I seem to remember was the 3rd edition Epic rules but my enthusiasm had turned to historical figures and so did not allow me to see through that project!

So there they sat for over another 15 years until reaching Millsey's Millpond in 'Challenge X' and I remembered that I had these vehicles to finally paint-up.

Land Raider

Rhinos, Company Commander and Regular Troop Configs

Well I have long given up any idea of Wargammer 40K Epic games, I think I gave away my 3rd Edition rule set as well, but I have always liked the Rhino APC and the WWI-like Land Raider Tanks. So I have painted these vehicles up as a generic Task Force.

I orgaised the vehicles as follows - 4  x Companies each of 4 x Rhino APCs, one in each company designated Company Commander with Red & White flashes on the front side of the Rhino Hulls - a nod back to British WWI tank markings.

2 x Companies of Rhinos are paired together to make a Squadron, so that's 2 x Squadrons in total. Each Squadron is assigned a Land Raider (designated with Blue and White hull flashes), plus a Scout Rhino (designated by Green and White hull flashes).

2 x Squadrons, each with 2 x Companies of Rhinos

All of the vehicles were undercoated in white, then washed in a slate grey water / paint mix, this was to ensure that the moulded detail was not blocked out by too many layers of paint.

Rhino - Scout Config

Models were then washed with a thinned down Gun Metal paint to give a real metallic look to the vehicles, then exhausts on the Rhinos were painted a dull rusty orange/brown, dark terracotta type colour,  as were the tracks in the Land Raiders - really only to break-up the mass of grey colour on these larger models.

Note that some of these models had been previously painted with red or blue paint during my last attempt at painting up a unit - luckily using a thin undercoat and the wash approach worked well on the Rhinos but on the Land raiders I had to resort to dry brushing the Gunmetal colouring due to the thickness of pre-existing paint layers .

Finally Organisational flashes were added as described above.

Points: 
20 x 6mm vehicles at 2 Points ea = 40 Points
10 Points Bonus for pre-1990
10 Point Bonus for Back Story
TOTAL: 40 + 10 + 10 = 60 Points

These are very cool. For many of us life seemed to get in the way, in a good way, in the late 1980s. Nice to complete stuff at the botttom of the lead mountain

JezT - Later Persian Light Infantry - 42 points

Dear All

First post to the challenge for me and great to be back. To be honest I have not done any real figure painting since the last challenge, so another chance to get figures painted to play with for the rest of the year. Again I am going for a modest 500 points which will all be 25 mm.

This year I am trying to "consolidate", so my entries should be a range of small groups that finish off an existing project. This first post is a perfect example of that as it continues straight on from last year and finishes off a 25 mm Late Persian army based for Basic Impetus rules. I needed a couple of light infantry bases to provide an alternative option to fielding a second Greek heavy infantry.

There are just 8 figures in total. The first base has the more uniform yellow tunic. The second below  has a mixed colour scheme with the crescent shield style. The figures are Wargames Foundry but the newer Steve Saleh designed figures.

So just 40 points to get me started.

Welcome back, glad to see you back at the brushes. These are lovely and a nice way to complete an Impetus army, really hate Impetus (sorry). An extra couple of points for the hand painted shields and standard

From BenitoM: Early Production Stug III Ausf D (23 points)

Happy New year challangers. My entry today is the first armoured support for my German Early War project for Chain of Command: a Stug III type D.

This was one of the first German self-propelled guns of the war coming into line and saw limited action in France 1940. Later it was well known for the different variants, becoming a workhorse of the Wermacht as the conflict extended over time.

The type D was built on the Panzer III chassis and its main weapon was the 75mm infantry gun.

This is a 28mm  resin Warlord model, easy to assemble (it has a mere half a dozen parts) and the detail is quite good despite not being a plastic model.

 It has been painted with the typical Panzer Grey look of the era;  I worked the weathering using a combination of MIG washes and pìgments (applied after the final varnish layer, otherwise the pigments would disappear). Markings belong to the 7th Panzer Division (Rommel's Ghost Division), although I'm not sure if any Stug saw service in that Division in 1940.

This entry will add 23 points to my Challenge score: 20 points for the vehicle and 3 points (half model) for the tank commander. 

Brilliant work on this Stug. Love the weathering and the photography is great. Happy New Year 

   

AlanD - AHPC X Prize Figure (30 points)

I'm had a slow start to this year's challenge, with travel and moving house getting in the way of more important things. So it is good to get a few points on the board with my first figure for 2020, and the first figure I've painted since September.

This plucky adventuress is one of Bob Murch's figures from his Dangerous Dames series, and she is my prize figure for AHPC X. I think this gives me 30 points?

Happy painting everyone!

I have this figure and she's a cracker with a gun that would drop the biggest elephant. You've made a fine job of her and she looks well up for a life of adventure. Top work and 30 pts to you

Thursday's Minion has far to go

Happy New year one and all. This is my 1st ever day as a minion so be gentle with me and I will be generous. Otherwise it's geology Santa for you.

Looking forward to getting loads of super cool stuff, standard so far have been amazing, and only getting some of the maths wrong.
Now settled down and get painting.