From FrederickC - Early War Polish Black Brigade [History] (200 Points)

My second submission for the challenge is a selection of early World War 2 Poles of the 10th Cavalry Brigade, sometimes called the Black Brigade.  It was the only fully operational Polish motorized infantry unit during the invasion of Poland. The figures are from a range called Kromlech Historical. Unfortunately they are now out of production, but a few stores still have some remaining stock. According to some posts I found in a discussion group, the sculptor who designed the range passed away, and the company is planning to revamp the line at some point. These were picked up at another hobby store I visited while traveling home from a re-enactment event back in April. I had seen these online for a while, but I had resisted buying any until now. 

First up is a wz. 1914/1919 Skoda 100mm howitzer and crew, along with a 3D printed Polski FIAT 621L truck done by a friend of mine. He had already printed off four for me that I had painted for last year's challenge, and he felt bad that one of the truck beds was warped, so he printed off another to replace it, so I now have five. I ran into a bit of a snag when I went to assemble the howitzer and found that the wheels were missing. However a friend came through with a pair of wheels from his bits box that solved the problem. They were actually some Warhammer 40K Ork wheels that started out being pretty chunky, but I sanded them thinner to fit the Skoda. The end result works for me. The howizter's base is MDF and came with the set. It is designed so that two of the gunners can be removed as a result of casualties. The other two gunners are sitting on seats on the sides of the trail, and the sculpting is well done so that the folds of the greatcoat fit nicely up against it.

Next is a reconnaissance section consisting of two Sokol 1000 motorcycles with sidecars, and a Polski FIAT 508 III Lazik field car, with three drivers and five soldiers, two armed with Browning wz. 28 automatic rifles. The motorcycles are resin castings, while the field car is a combination of resin and metal bits, such as the front bumpers, windshield, steering wheel, and front seat. All the drivers and crew are metal. Everything went together nicely, although I did have to trim the feet of the field car driver so that he would fit into the front seat better. The motorcycles came with MDF bases, and I decided to make a base for the field car so that it would be easier to handle. The front bumpers looked like something that could get broken off on the gaming table. I quite like the sculpts of the passengers. Instead of the usual staid poses that one sees, the men have their weapons at the ready. The ones in the field car have a foot on the running board, ready to leap out, while the passengers on the motorcycles look like they are leaning into the wind as the bikes speed along.

Lastly I have a section of motorized infantry wearing German WW1 style helmets and gas mask canisters, and armed with Karabinek wz.29 rifles, plus one man carrying a Browning wz. 28 automatic rifle. With the exception of the squad leader, all the figures were one piece castings. They came with 25mm round MDF bases, but since all but one came with a tab designed for a slotted base, I mounted them on some I had in my inventory already. Although some of the proportions seem a bit off, the animation in the sculpts is quite dramatic with lots of variation. One soldier has his collar turned up, while another is a left-handed shooter.There was only one figure that I modified a bit by trimming the length of one corner of his greatcoat that didn't look right.

All of the figures and vehicles were painted using Vallejo acrylics and then given a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. The Quickshade leaves the figures with a glossy sheen, so when the weather is warm enough to go outside, they will get a treatment of matt spray. The colour palette was essentially that laid out in 'Flames of War' for Polish infantry, with the exception of the tall boots worn by the 10th Brigade that were painted black instead of flat earth. See the illustration from 'Flames of War' below for the different colours used.

Given that the figures are from a line called 'Kromlech Historical', and by being out of production, they are now 'history', that is the Library category that most logically applies. 😁

The points being claimed are as follows:

22 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points each = 110 points

2 x motorcycle 'mounts' @ 10 points each = 20 points

2 x 28mm vehicles @ 20 points each = 40 points

1 x 28mm artillery piece @ 10 points each = 10 points

Library section 'History' @ 20 points = 20 points

Sylvain: I don't know what impress me most of either your amazing paint work or the detailed description of the Polish units you are showing us today. Poles and other early WW2 armies are often discarded by miniatures collectors because of how short the Blitzkrieg campaigns were, but you make things right for these valiant soldiers who fought hard if briefly.

BTW, I love that you paint trucks, I feel less weird :-).

I gave 10 points each to your motorcycles instead of 5. New total is 200.

 If/when I go to Winnipeg, I'll find the time to take a closer looks at all your amazing early WW2 stuff, and maybe have a game? Vive la Pologne!

From AdamC: Black Seas Overdue (134 points)

Here is a Black Seas offering Three English Frigates and and Six Brigs, three Royal Navy and three Spanish.  These are for my friend Frank Shephard in exchange for several 1/2400 ships he gave me last year.  I asked him what you want for payment and he asked me to paint is Black Seas Starter set.  I told him sure as long as you don't need them in a hurry.  Well a year later is longer than I expected so these are overdue. 

HMS Squirrle  a 6th Rate Frigate the served in the Seven Years War and American Revolution.  I have told Frank he needs to pair ith with a Canadian Privateer named the Moose... a possible future project. 

HMS Enterprize another AWI era 6th Rate and yes historicly the ship's name was spelt with a "z" her service was extensive but fairly unremarkable. 

HMS Serapis  a famous 5th rate Frigate of the AWI period here I think Frank just likes the name as the historic Serapis was a two decked ship of 44 guns something that isn't modeled by Warlord Games at this time. 

Three English brigs HMS Teaser, HMS Sparkler, HMS Fearless done in the 10 a penney fassion of the 18 gun Royal Navy hard working smallships with weather stained sails. 

Three Spanish Brigs: Destructor, Furor, and Mistral probably privateers or smugglers possibly auxiliaries of the Spanish navy, ready to play cat and mouse with the Royal Navy ships above. 

This is my fist real broadside of the challenge.  Based on past scoring each brig should be 10 points each for 60, and the Frigates 15 points each for another 45 and Overdue gets me up to 125 a solid step toward my goal of 500.   I'll leave it to Sylvain to handle any extra points for rigging, flags etc. and hopefully Frank will like them. 

 

Sylvain: I especially like how you shaded your sails to create volume. It really gives a realistic feel to your miniatures. The extensive use of flags is not only a cool addition, it helps to instantly identify the nation of each of your ships. Well done!

As suggested, I will throw in 1 point per ship for the extra bits and details, bringing  the total to 134 points. Voguent les bateaux!

If you could provide a map of the Analogueville Library showing your progress, that would be appreciated.

 

 

From SimonG: Heretics and Heraldry: Cathar Crusade in 15mm (56 points)

For my second submission and next stop in the Analogueville Public Library I'm visiting the new acquisitions desk to share the first drop in my new wargaming project -- The Albigensian, or Cathar, Crusade in 15mm. For me this is not only a new period but also a brand new scale. Now I know that this wasn't a war known for its pitched battles (more a series of sieges and massacres) but I'm a sucker for the heraldry and after spending several holidays in the area I am very interested in the history and locations, plus I was led to Sumptions book on the period from his HYW series.  The figures in this first submission are a quartet of command figures for a pair of Impetus armies.

The figures are the 13th Century range from Khurasan Miniatures and are nicely modeled and cast, not too chunky with actually a choice of oversized or more realistic mounts (these are the more realistic).

15mm vs 28mm comparison

My technique for 15mm painting seems to be ...... my technique for 28mm painting (maybe I'm missing a trick here!). It takes just as long and heraldry is even more fiddly!

From the Albigensian side the two leaders here represented are Raymond VII of Toulouse (the Cathar Cross is fun to paint) and Bernard V de Comminges -- by far and away the most fun to paint heraldry here.  All heraldry is sourced from this site and the home printed flags were all made using DrawShield (a real boon and highly recommended)

Raymond VII of Toulouse

Bernard V de Comminges

For the Crusader side we have The Duke of Burgundy (remind me that bendlets are absolutely the worst things to try to paint!) and Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester (father of the Simon of Baron's war fame -- I imagine I could reuse this figure and in fact most of these armies for Barons war use as well!).

Simon de Montfort

The Duke of Burgundy

All in all I enjoyed painting these figures, horses, heraldry, caprisons and banners, what more is there to like! They were however very time consuming and as to the points per hour don't ask! Still I'm looking forward to more from this project over the coming months and it will be nice to be able to fit an Impetus army into a handful of KB boxes rather than dozens I need at 28mm.

Pesky fluff under horse's eye! Only noticed after all the shots are taken

 

One little touch for this project is to colour code the bases as, unless you remember all the heraldry, it can be hard to distinguish the two sides. Red for the Cathars and Blue for the Crusaders.

This should be 8 mounted 15 mm figures at 4 points each for 32 points plus the 20 point new acquisitions bonus for a total of 52 points and another drop towards my now increasingly far away target for the challenge!  Next stop fantasy en route to Overdues and Returns! Until the next time!

 

Sylvain: These are really good looking miniatures and I from your pictures I really thought they were in 28mm scale, not 15mm scale. You really put a lot of details in and your love for heraldry really shows. I'm going to throw in four more points for the flags. 

About adding color to the side of your base, I tried that with my 6mm miniatures, but from a distance it's very hard to see. I ended up bleeding the color on to the base itself. But test and trial will tell. Excellente peinture!

If you could provide a map of the Analogueville Library showing your progress, that would be appreciated.

From MikeW - Warhammer 40k Tau, Fantasy Savage Orcs and various 28mm Figures, Squirell & Skulls (125 Points)

 I've switched my focus back to the Tau as I have now completed 5 x trooopers, 1 x drone, 3 x Stealth Fighters and 2 x Crisis Battlesuits. All with the same white and Orange theme that I piloted in my first post of the challenge.

Two Tau Fighters in Crisis Suits,
large Sci-Fi mechs, with varied weapons load-outs 

Rear view of the same

Close-up of one of the Tau Mechs.

...and the other one.

The three Stealth Suit Fighters have benefited from being slightly larger models that the standard Tau Troopers, this made the pinlining of the armour panels much easier to do and I'm pleased with the results. Again these guys have the same white armour, painted in the same manner as previously described, with random orange panels, the only item that remains constant  is that all models will have a left knee pad that is orange.

Three Tau warriors in Stealth Suits,
these are similar is size to old school Space Marine Terminators

These guys each carry a heavy weapon in their left hand and have various load-outs on their back packs and antenna as required.

Reverse view of the Tau Stealth Warriors

The Crisis Suit Fighters are the smallest of the Tau 'Big Mechs' and these two were sourced from eBay and came pre-made with the load-outs that you can see. Again these figures were undercoated in a grey and then dry-brushed light grey and then white before applying several white glazes to bring out the highlights.

Business end of a Large Plasma Gun

Again the panel lining is easier due to their size but also due to their size tere are alot more panels to line! The black is done with GW Black Templar contrast paint, whlist the panel lines are GW Aggrax Earthshade.

Reverse side of the other Mech, with a combat Force Field shield

The weapons on each figure vary, I believe each can have upto 4 weapons attached to their 'hardpoints' but each has only three. (I may add more later as I build p a supply of spares).

Tau Droid to spport the additional Tau Troopers

Regarding Points, I have counted the Stealth Suit Warriors as regular 28mm figures, my logic being these are similar to Space Marine Terminators who get scored that way and also counted the drone as a regular figure as well. For the Crisis Suit figures I have counted these as 28mm vehicles, as they are considerably bigger than regular figures - I have seen similar in posts to older challengers but happy to be corrected if that oversteps the mark.

Tau Trooper section with a Gue'Vesa on the left 

Size comparison of Crisis Suit, Stealth Suit and regular Tau Trooper

The other items that I have been working on are a first batch of Savage Orcs, the first six figures of a twenty strong unit, which I'll hopeflly finish in the next week or so.

First six Savage Orcs, of a twety strong nit that I'm working on!

These guys were again sourced on eBay and they were a ready made totally unpainted unit with a few figures needing a bit of TLC to either complete their construction or put back together where they had broken. 

Close-up od three of the Savage Orcs

These are essentially wild Orcs, with very few clothes on them except for the skins of various beasts that they have slain. These figures are heavy on bone weapons and body ornamentation and again disappointinly sparce on skulls, only two in this first batch!

The painting method was essentially the same as in my last post bit with the lack of clothing to distract the eye, the skin has appeared to retain a very vivid green hue. I have offset the skin with alot of attention to the bone and this was achieved with an ivory paint job, washed with GW Skeleton Horde and the highlighted with more Ivory and then White.

The remaining three, just 2 skulls between them all!

I opted for the Lizard skin clothing to be blue, so this is an Army Painter Blue Speed paint, then dry brushed with a sky blue before being washed with a dark blue ink to pull the colours together.

Finally I have also completed a few 28mm figures for some of my historical interests. Of these I have 5 x Interwar British Infantry, these are Wargames Atlantic plastics, built to represent a faction in a proposed Very British Civil War (VBCW) collection that I'll put together. Some older readers may remember I have done VBCW figures in 20mm previously - but I have decided to go big and swap to 28mm for future figures.

Five Man Infantry Squad, Lewis Gunner on left,
next to his No.2, then two riflemen and an officer.

There is an officer, 3 riflemen and a Lewis Gunner, these guys were undercoated in white, painted with a watered down khaki and webbing and packs in a light brown. I'll claim a Squirrel point for these guys! Hopefully I'll find time to do some more as the challenge progresses.

Another view of the Interwar Infantrymen

Last figure this week is a Polish Late17th Century Foot Officer, armed with a two handed sword, he is destined to command a Polish infantry regiment in my Siege of Vienna collection.

Polish Officer, with two handed sword,
ready to lead a his nit

POINTS

9 x Tau Figures (Stealth, Drone & Troopers) @ 5 Points ea            45 Points

2 x Tau Crisis Suits @ 10 Points ea                                                      20 Points

6 x Savage Orcs @ 5 Points ea                                                              30 Points

6 x 28mm Infantry @ 5 Points ea                                                         30 Points

TOTAL                                                                                                   125 Points 

2 x Skulls

 

Sylvain: The pattern you choose on your Tau unit is very clean and also evocative of Japanese anime. Good job on the pin wash, it really provides depth and definition to your miniatures. After  searching for precedents, I counted your Crisis suits as "mounted figures" for 10 points each. I would be curious to see all your Tau units together, as well as all you have collected so far for your "Siege of Vienna". Joli travail! 

 

 

MONDAY'S MUSÉE DES FOSSILES

 

 

Today, we have an abundance of special exhibits for our visitors. We recommend checking in your coat at the “Consigne” and keeping this program handy during your tour. Audio-guides (in French only) are available at the “Comptoir”.

Exhibits du Jour:

■ ROOM “A” ■ 7:00 AM ■ Archaic and Non-archaic Xeno-technology Examples in the Sub-culture of a Heavily Copyrighted British Fantasy/sci-fi Intellectual Property. Curated by the Honorable MikeW.

■ ROOM “B” ■ 8:00 AM ■ Samples of Medieval Heraldry at a Non-familiar Scale. Curated by the Honorable SimonG.

■ ROOM “C” ■ 9:00 AM ■ Naval Architecture in the Age of Enlightment, with an Emphasis on British and Spanish Vessels. Curated by the Honorable AdamC.

■ ROOM “D” ■ 10:00 AM ■ A Descriptive Approach to the Representation of Early World War II Polish Units, More Specifically of the Infantry, Artillery and Vehicular Type. Curated by the Honorable FrederickC.

■ ROOM “E” ■ 11:00 AM ■ Demonstration of the Importance of the Quantity of Foot Troops in Post-revolutionnary French and Bavarian Battalions. Curated by the Honorable BobV.

■ ROOM “F” ■ 12:00 PM ■ Pertinence of the accurate depiction of the Danish Guards of the year 1848. Curated by the Honorable Lorenzo.

■ ROOM “G” ■ 1:00 PM ■ Compilation of Archeological Evidence Regarding the Sociopathic Behaviour of Small Coteries from the Location of Mordheim in the Sub-culture of a Heavily Copyrighted British Fantasy/sci-fi Intellectual Property (see also ROOM “A”). Curated by the Honorable SanderS.

■ ROOM “H” ■ 2:00 PM ■ A Dissertation on “Schmoozing with the Distinguished Opponent” involving painting an Iberian faction. Curated by the Honorable PeterB.

■ ROOM “I” ■ 3:00 PM ■ Idyllic Narrative at the Conjuncture of Space officers and a Tank (?). Curated by the Honorable TeemuL.

■ ROOM “J” ■ 4:00 PM ■ Non-exhaustive survey of now-painted miniatures with promises of more. Curated by the Honorable ColeF.