From BruceR: FIW natives, bits and bobs (42.5 points)

Not as productive as I should have been with temperatures well below freezing as the northern plains rival even the snow lords temperatures. And no Teemu we are not barbequing. Another reason as my gaming compatriots agreed to venture out in the cold and play a game of bolt action. We did early war and I created 2 forces with my French legionnaires and French colonials. I had some points left over and went looking for the motorcycle I'd painted for a BA gathering in Minneapolis last year (which I didn't make due to closed interstates and snow).  Ah, based and primed, not painted. To the paint desk. So, my first submission is this French motor bike, without riders. This is a 3d print I picked up and I may get to the 4-5 mounted bikes I have from the same purchase. Base coated grey and I hit it with a Contrast green. I did some weathering (makeup brush) and painted some unit numbers and colors. Add some ground paint, highlight and tufts. I use these models dismounted and firing. I liked how it turned out, not sure about the blue head lamp as I saw photos of the screened lamp with the slit, too late as it was needed on the wargames table. Senegalese painted last year for the same gathering. For points I'm not sure. A vehicle, but seems small so I'll tally 10 points and Teemu can deduct if he feels it is slightly high.   

Senegalese w/ LMG and driver (Fez's painted last year)

As I went to grab the two tanks and armored car that the rules allow for two forces I noticed a missing commander on my AMC 35. Lost to the travel gods I imagine. Well, again to the paint desk. Sitting on a pin is a primed vehicle commander. Not sure if French or Italian, well being cavalry I'm sure he would be all in for nonofficial attire. So, he has a pith helmet of some sort, with a band, and great moustache. He was told to jump into his mount and counterattack immediately (after some paint). The AMC 35 (dubbed by the French Automitrailleuse de Combat) did not live up to its great name. Fired once missed and then was taken out by my gaming nemesis dice rolling and a PAK 36.  

I present Pepe Le Pew tank commander of Automitrailleuse de Combat 35.

Lt Le Pew

Gaming done and back to the paint desk. I'm running a FIW Sharp Practice game at Adepticon so I need to crack on with some French forces for the game. Earlier in the year I purchased a starter force of French from Galloping Major consisting of 12 Huron allies, 6 Canadian Militia (Milice), 6 Compagnies Franches de la Marine, with two leaders, which are great. I previously painted up the Milice and leader prior to the challenge.  My British force is done and ready. First up are 6 natives out of 12+leader, the other 6 should make next weeks tally. I flip back and forth using contrasts or speed paints. With all this flesh I decided to give them a go and did most of the 6 with contrast. Not super happy and did some additional highlighting to get them to a reasonable state. Tried to give them each a different warpaint type of extra. The next 6 and leader are 80% done without contrast so I (and you) can compare the results. I'm happy with how they both look and they should give participants decent troops to push around. 

Thats one group done. I'm going to run the natives as skirmishers rather than tribes (6per group rather than 12). Different folks have lobbied for this type of use and an article in the 2022 Lard Magazine has them set out as sneaking about the bush firing rather than a horde charging about the table. The game will be a very small scale (40+ figures per side) battle with light troops battling it out for the most part in the NE wilderness (of course contesting for Grey Hair's daughters).  

Score

28 mm motorcycle                = 10 pts

28mm French cavalry ldr      =  2.5 pts

28mm natives 6@5              = 30

Total                                         42.5 pts

Temps above zero today which is a nice break from the subzero shite we have been having. 

Paint on and be well all.

Bruce 

TeemuL: Good job, Bruce! I guess the closest match for the motorcycle is cavalry. Bike and horse are quite the same (from scoring perspective) and the sidecar is like a rider. So ten points. No point problems on others, very neat paint job.The blue headlight might a reflection from the sea and screens can always go missing in the middle of the war. I like the colourful natives, too.

From DaveS: More Adventures In the Congo, and something Newly Acquired [New Acquisitions] (95 points)

So, I've painted some more of the miniatures that I got for playing Congo, although I have never actually played the game (or even read the rules for that matter), relying on the prebuilt "Expedition Packs" from North Star to decide what I should include. These are made up of the rest of the units that were unpainted from the last post, plus a few additions to units that I realised I hadn't fished out of the "Drawer being used as a shelf support".

First, we have the final 2 archers for the unit.  These were painted in an identical fashion to the others, using predominantly contrast paint.  Since severl people asked, I used GW Contrast Wildwood for the skin for all of the Natives in this post.

Next, we have another Askari that I found, to bring the total unit size to 5.

A unit of scouts.  These didn't come with spears, and led to some consternation, as I know that when I first bought these, a friend kindly donated some brass wire spears for me to complete them.  Several years later, I have no idea where these are (believe me, I looked), and so having checked the online stock, I tried my FLGS.  Who showed me to a 10'x4' display of blisters, and let me know they were in there somewhere!!!!!! (I should stress that had I ordered them from the website, they would have dug them out for me).  As the wife was in the car at the time, I declined to go through 100s of blisters, and so these have spears donated from some sprues of Ancient Celts.....

Next, we move on to what are referred to on the box as "Explorers".  These were again, painted mostly with contrast paints.  I'm probably most happy with these of all the models that I painted from this set.

Finally for now, the two characters.  Lady Isobel Poppington herself, and the Professor.

I'm not hugely happy with how Her Ladyship's glasses turned out, but I will live with it I think.  I still have some "Soldiers (Acutally Sailors)" to paint to have the complete expedition finished, but I haven't quite got them polished off yet, so they will have to wait.

As a break, and because I finally got hold of them, I have also painted some of the new GW Legion Imperialis Space Marines. Space Marine was the very first wargame I ever got bought, for christmas when I was still at school. I never played that edition, and a few years ago sold on my attempt to start collecting a force for the NetEpic version that was around online.

But since I had bought a small (honest) number of titans to use with it when this was first announced, I decided that this would break my embargo on buying new models for the challenge.  And thus I present my first 4 bases of Tactical Marines. Since 6mm is .5 points, and 10mm is 1 point per model, I propose .75 points for the 8mm that these are claimed at.  I'm also going to claim New Acquisitions for these, if I may.

So that should make

13x28mm Models at 5pts = 65 Points

20x8mm Models at .75pts = 15 Points

New Acquisition Desk = 20 Points

For a round total of 100pts

TeemuL: More warriors for Congo. The Contrast paints seem to work very well on these minis, they all look great! The Space Marines look good, too. But in the future posts, could you include more photos from different angles and the Challenge Map, please? Especially the Explorers, they do look good and I'd like to see more of them.

I understand your scoring proposal and that was discussed before the Challenge started with Minions, but in the end it was ruled that 6mm category will be known as 6-8mm category from now on, so they are only worth half a point, so total of 10 for Space Marines and 95 in total.

From MartinC: Some Napoleonic Action [History] (135pts points)

So I've been away wargaming or a week in sorry York and bleak Scarborough playing Napoleonics. Fun but tiring, so not much painting done.

Quick peak at the main battle that was fought. We fought Waterloo for 4 days

10mm on a 24ftx6ft table. Thousands of figures. I was the allies given the task of holding Hougemont.

My forces were the Dutch, Belgians and Brunswickers under the command of Prince of Orange (whose best command rating was inept). I didn't get the guard so all my troops were the bottom 3 grades out of 6 levels. 

I held Hougemont for almost no time at all against veteran French Legere and the French just rolled us up. This is the end of the battle, me is squares facing the Old Guard! Nobody else on my side did any better

Where did my men go. Well to the matching table behind where they set of for Brussels asap.

Aside over, I have done some painting. 

28mm Russian Napoleonic Jager Battalion

These are Perry Miniatures

I've been painting Russians all summer so they have friends

8 infantry battalions, 4 jager battalions, 3 grenadier battalions, 3 dragoon regiments, 3 cossack regiments and plenty of artillery. I have 3 more grenadier battalions to paint, 2 Uhlan regiments and a Hussar regiment, plus a large general staff stand. Should keep me busy.

Scores on the doors

21 infantry = 105

1 mtd colonel = 10

Historical book section = 20

total = 135. 

Now I need a palette cleanser

TeemuL: If there is an excuse for not painting minis, I guess you have the perfect one. What a nice table and game there. Every now and then, when I used to play Age of Sigmar in our local group, and someone wanted just to try something new and wanted to have just 1000 points on 4x4 table, maybe something narrative, some of the "real players" were jokingly mocking them as "kiddie games" and 2000 points on a big 6x4 table is the only solution, with Matched Play rules of course. I'd like to see how they react to games like those you have. :)

And you were painting some minis, too. Excellent. I guess the Perry models are always a pleasure to paint and you have done them justice. And I expect to see more of them during the Challenge. 135 points it is, not bad result for being a week away...

From GrantH: Germans for the Battle of the Scheldt [Overdue and Returns] (360 Points)

Greetings everyone! 

Happy to be back for the first time in a few years! After letting the "I will surely get around to it" pile go out of control while away at school, the challenge has once again motivated me to chip away at the unpainted things in my collection.

For my first post of this challenge, I present 68 late-war Germans for my Battle of the Scheldt project. I started this project after reading an excellent two-part series by Tim Cook on the Canadian contribution to WW2.  The watery battlefields of the Scheldt campaign immediately stood out as an interesting operation to model a few forces and draft a 'pint-sized' campaign around. Having finished my Canadians in the time between challenges, painting up a worthy adversary was long overdue.

For this particular force, I mainly used Warlord Games plastic SS and Winter infantry kits to create a varied core force of infantry and support specialists for my Bolt Action and Chain of Command games. I equipped them with the idea in mind that by the later stages of the war, they would likely have a mishmash of equipment and uniforms. As such, these troops have varying colours of greatcoats, smocks, and field uniform to reflect the diversity of equipment supplied or scavenged. Some are equipped with darker variations of the German field grey and the more orangey fall camo smocks, while others have been outfitted in more greenish variations of field grey. 

Here they are broken down into some easier to view sections:

German Pioneers with anti-Tank Gear.

Special Weapons Teams - Tripod mounted MG42, Panzerschreck, Flamethrower, and marksmen.

NCO's and Officers with MP44s and MP40s and a few C96s.

Officers 2: Now with more peaked caps!

and the Infantry.

So much infantry. 

Can never have too much infantry.

Some light machine-gunners in the mix with some loaders.

That one guy without a helmet will surely regret his decision.

More infantry!

Some machine gunners to support the horde.

Because there are 68 of the buggers, I did not want to photograph all the webbing, so here is a little selection.

For a grand total of 68 Minis at five points per figure in 28mm, and a submission to the challenge theme 'Overdue and Returns', I believe this post is worth 360 points to kick off my contribution to the Challenge! At long last these figures may face their Canadian adversaries in full Technicolor after one too many games with matte black primer.

Thank you to Curt and the minions for once again organising this fantastic event! It has been a pleasure to see what everyone is working on and to once again be involved in the challenge. I think I will have German armour support to paint next, but after this long project working on cold weather forces I think it is time I turn my attention to something sunnier...

TeemuL: What a nice come back to the Challenge, Grant! Waiting for the last minute to make the first entry and with that first entry almost reaching your points target. :) I do hope you don't let the target to prevent you and you keep painting more and more. Your mixed uniform approach looks good, as well as the muddy bases.

From SteveA: Cowboys at Church [New Acquisitions] (115 points)

Heya there, my first post here on the last possible day before getting the boot.  

To check out a 20 point challenge tome from the Front Desk and New Acquisitions  I have here a fist full of western gunslingers (mostly 3D prints from 3dbreed's  'Join or Die wanted collection'  along with a couple model finds from Thingaverse)  as well as a MDF model church from NorthernLightsTerrain which I had converted a bit by cladding it in stir-stick 'lumber' and cardboard 'shingles'. 

What I have painted up here are New Acquisitions because these are among the very newest additions to my pile of unpainted shame  potential....... representing a rare occurrence where my models are fully painted before receiving a layer of dust while awaiting the touch of a brush.  I'm happy to say it was only a mere few weeks between a conversation with ByronM about Western themed minis and games sparked getting these printed-up shortly before start of this year's challenge and posting them painted here now.

I'm not sure with what system these models will first give cause for me to roll some dice in a old west style shooty-shooty-bang-bang skirmish game. So in addition to these being among the quickest turnaround between acquired to painted in my collection, they are also the first set of models I completed painting before ever putting them into the field of play.

I learned a bit in this painting effort to push a the edges of my comfort zone, as this was the first time I used a variety of  Army Painter speed paints on models I finished, getting used to how each speed paint provided coverage and color, while also spending some time mixing speed paints for different shades of blues, browns and reds used here. I don't think I figured out yet  how to best get speed from these speed paints, but they did boost my rate of progress to be a tick quicker than that of a tortoise on a tea break.  Also, this is first time I painted with white on modules and terrain to any significant degree of satisfaction where I decided it was good enough to game with and time to move on to the next  in my pile of unpainted.

I started this painting effort on the first day of this year's challenge, working them as a batch of somewhat related color schemes.  I'd like to say a combination of xmas holiday and familiy events kept me away from my paints to delay readiness for my first post until now,  but I confess it was more due me getting back into the painting groove, trying out new "speed" paints and more than a few rounds of paint correction due to color experiments gone awry (and due to accidental pigment applications to unintended targets arising from unfortunate incidents of suboptimal brush control).  So now with my painting digits recalibrated, paint pots relocated, and ocular orbs re-sighted I aim to pick up the pace to stay on my total challenge points target, and prepare more models for future game tables.

Cowboys, Bandits, Marshalls (28 mm Foot Figure) 15x5pts = 75pts

Church  (Terrain) 5x7x8 inches, score as 6x6x6 inches @50% off due to simple color scheme  = 10 pts
Topic "New Acquisitions" =  20 pts

Total = 105 Pts

TeemuL: Welcome back to the Challenge Steve! It is a nice group of cowboys, bandits and marshalls to play with. I agree the "Speed" is sometimes not so obvious, especially when learning new things. But they do give some kind of a boost, I'd say. Unfortunately the Score Sheet (nor I) doesn't recognize "terrain with simple color scheme" so I must reward you with fully 20 points. Terrain scoring  is bit hazy and usually terrain is painted very simply (like hills for example) so I don't see any issues with rewarding you fully 20 points. But I might be more pedant in the future, if you don't add your Challenge Map. ;)

From NickY: 28mm 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy High Elf Prince Tyrion [Overdues and Returns] (30 points)

Hello to everyone, my fellow miniature enthusiasts and brush wielders!

Why did I choose a character model for my first entry? Well, in for penny, in for a pound I guess!

Daemon slayer sword. Check. Majestic steed. Check. Massively oversized helmet. Check.   

This miniature holds quite a special place in my heart. It was, after all, what drew me into miniature gaming way back in the early 90s. My neighbor introduced me to this game with figures and dice that allowed me to extend my love of fantasy from books to tabletop. I was hooked, and with Prince Tyrion, well, it was love at first sight. I mean look at the fellow! I'd follow that man [elf] into battle. Fans of the game and the miniatures will probably notice that he is not riding the horse miniature from the original blister pack. But, I like to think that it is his horse 'Malhandir', but the steed has decided no longer to where that irritating sheet that everyone kept throwing over him before very battle! Nevertheless, the horse I did find for Tyrion is from the same edition and from the the same High Elf range. 

For those of you who may not be familiar with the character, here is a short copy and paste from the web.

Tyrion, also known as the "Heir of Aenarion," the "Dragon of Cothique," the "Champion of the Everqueen," and the "Defender of Ulthuan," is a High Elf Prince and the greatest living High Elven warrior of this age, as well as the twin brother of the High Elf Archmage Teclis. So valiant and skilled is he that the bards of Ulthuan sing that he is nothing less than the first Phoenix King Aenarion reborn -- a tale that is given credence far beyond Ulthuan's shores.

The paint scheme I chose for him was one that would help him fit in with my current High Elf army, but still give him an ere of nobility and majesty. My army is inspired by the region known as Chrace, which is a mountainous realm of dark forests inhabited by giant white lions that prowl beneath the boughs. Those who make this land their home are skilled hunters and trackers. They may be perceived as unsophisticated and unrefined by other High Elves, but I think Tyrion would fit right in there, joining in the hunts and enjoying the honesty and unpretentiousness of its people.

What was the most difficult part about painting him?

It ended up being his famous sword.- Sunfang. It has been a good year I think, since I have picked up a brush and my wet blending skills are very rusty. I had to cover up the error and change the style. I painted the sword last, so there was no way I was going to strip the paint and start over. ;) Overall, I'm still happy with how it turned out, but the there is an extra layer of paint on the sword that shouldn't be there and covered up some of the parts of the runes on the sword.

My thank you to you all for your hard efforts. I am checking your awesome work and being inspired by it all. My thanks to Curt, and the minders for making the challenge possible.

Onwards and upwards and I hope to get a lot more painting done in the coming months.

Citadel Miniatures [Dec 1992] Warhammer Fantasy High Elves Prince Tyrion

1 x 28mm mounted @ 10 points = 10 points

The Challenge Library [Section 1: Overdues] bonus = 20 points

Total = 30 points

TeemuL: This is a marvellous mini and you have painted it well! What an excellent first entry to this Challenge! Welcome to the Challenge and Thor's Day team. Your paiting skills are way better than mine, so I just say that, you might have had some issues, but I guess everyone is their own worst critic. Are you using some old WHFB rules or something else on your games?

Sunny Thor's day

Yes, sunny, at least in theory it is possible now in whole Finland. Kaamos ended yesterday in the most northern part of Finland. What is kaamos and how it is related to sunny, I hear you ask. Well, the most northern parts of Finland are north of Arctic Circle. The more north you go, the longer the days are in the summer and shorter in the winter. And when you reach the Arctic Circle there is time, when there is no night or no day. In the most northern part of Finland this dayless day lasts for roughly 53 days. (Good, if you are a vampire.) And yes, there are people living there and tourists go there and so on. But now we are just waiting for the summer on nightless nigths (unfortunately I live in the south, where there is always a day and night, so I need to travel to experience this).

Next week I might need to post something related to Finnish cuisine, cuisine in general seems to be a popular trend now. In the other news, we had a sudden heat wave yesterday, temperature went up 20 degrees and is now at -3. Last night we got some 15cm of new snow. It is quite white out there.

:kaamos:

KAAMOS

The feeling of sunless days.

Finnish winters are long and dark. In Lapland, the sun doesn’t rise at all between December and January. In Finnish, this sunless period is called ‘kaamos’.

----- End of Finn talking about Finland -----

We should have some interesting entries from our Thor's Day crew today, too. Especially happy for the last three crew members (and couple of extras...), who managed to jump in just before the deadline. Yes, everyone. Very happy and proud of my team.

• Let's start with NickY, his first Challenge and first post. He has painted a high elf hero, a high elf who it would be difficult to describe as "snooty". Yes, I have been practicing some English, I had to because of the Challenge topic descriptions. :) Regarding the Challenge topics, this entry is Overdues and Returns.
• Then we continue with SteveA. Steve's first post on this Challenge is a group of cowboys and some wild west terrain. New Acquistions is the theme here.
• And finally GrantH, who has been very busy with his army, but managed to finish his entry in the last minute. "You and what army?" I hear you ask, late war, and very fittingly claiming points from the Overdues and Returns topic with so many refenrences to "late."
• Then the more familiar faces, starting with MartinC, who surprisingly offers us something Historical - who would have guessed? Not me.
• BruceR will present pretty much everything on his elegant post, but no theme points here.
• We have two special guests here, starting with the CurtC and he is continuing his exploration of Japan
• Second special guest is presenting us a halfling and I shall not tell you why is a special guest. :)