From DaveD - Sudan - Gordon Highlanders (216 Points)

Monday comes around quickly again, and here we have another of the larger infantry units for the Desert Column. This time the Gordon Highlanders, castings by Perry. I must say these were horrible to clean up, and I have continued finding little bits I missed almost all through painting , this really puts me off buying them. When other manufacturers can do it so well there really is no excuse. Anyway rant over! Having said that at least they redeem themselves as they do paint up nicely..

36 foot... With complicated kilts ! 

I am really going to have to do a red coated battalion for the collection, after all this was the campaign that the famous red tunic made its last appearance at the battle of Giniss. 

The bit I really miss with the Sudan imperial forces is a large flag!  Well maybe one unit might have snuck their standard on campaign in my little world. Red coated "Devils in Skirts" and a big flag flapping in the breeze what's not to like I ask you. 

Just the one more infantry unit left out of the original target OOB to do. The Yorks and Lancs..they will be along shortly.

From Curt:

Ahh, these do look magnificent Dave! I love the Perry sculpts but I too am somewhat mystified as to why they have such messy castings. You would think that they would have access to the best facilities available. Hmm. Anyway, you've done a cracking job on these jocks. It is too bad about them not having banners - they're just crying out for some bravely flapping flags (I think it was the South Stafforshires that were the last regiment to carry its colours in this theatre? But I might be wrong on that). I'm adding some extra points for the tartans as I know they can be a real headache, especially in large units like this. 

Wonderful stuff Dave!

From BurkhardS: 28mm Warzone Resurrection Imperial Trenchers (125 Points)

It is quite embarrassing... we are over a month into the Challenge and this is my first entry. Part of it is to blame on the fact that we were gone over the holidays, but still I am a bit behind on my schedule. So to catch up... here are the minis I painted since our return about two weeks ago.

These are some Imperial Trenchers for Warzone Resurrection. Some of you may remember some of my entries for last year, which included some Bauhaus  for Warzone. Now I played Warzone back in the 1990´s and one thing that drew me to the game was the strong historical inspiration on some of the minis, most of all Bauhaus and Imperial. Lots of the units with these two factions took their inspiration from World War One Germans and British respectively. And this always made the two my favorites, so I played them in every Edition so far, First, Second and now Resurrection.

Now before I start, showing the minis in detail, I want to go into some info on why I painted them up this way. As most people will recognize, in this edition, these minis still retain their WWI British looks, so I wanted to follow that with my colour choices. British Uniform Brown for the uniforms, lots of tans for the gas masks and puttees and leather webbing. With their Trenchcoats I went for a darker green than would find on historical Brits, simply to enhance the contrast. Same goes for their shoulder pads (yes those are the Trademark in every edition of Warzone ;-)). At first I had gone for the same green as with the helmets and kneepads, but that simply provided too little contrast. So after a try with brown (same result) I went for ochre and that turned out really fine. Especially once the varnish was on these minis, when the colors really popped! The bases were given a trench theme on some of the minis and a mud theme on the rest to give them a trench warfare feel.

What I really underestimated with these minis was the effort, that went into painting all the little details, like the skull shapes on the gas masks, the national insignia or the wrist computer, but I did not want to skip them, so they had to be painted on.

As some with a keen eyes might spot there are small numeral number 42´s on their right shoulder pads. Those are homemade decals. I simply could not resist painting the Black Watch (42nd Highland Infantry) in yet another period.

But now on to the minis. Up first if Brigadier Sir Paul David Rist. In Warzone, your troops need to be led into the fight by a Warlord and he is one of the possible choices. And I really like him. Above par wounds, the ability to guide in Paras and call artillery, an awesome SMG (it keeps generating new shots as long as you do not miss) and the option to have him accompanied by the coolest bodyguards in the game.

Able to fill the same function as Warlords are two Trencher Officers. Now I personally do not like them, since they are too week and lack in offensive power, but my two Starter Boxes contained one each of them, so they had to be painted. ;-)

And to round the group of leaders off. SGT. Benjamin Taylor. He is a bit of a trackhead and gives a force enhancements for their vehicles and the option to repair them. Unfortunately he is a not on the expensive side (pints wise, he cost nearly as much as a cheap Warlord), so right now I do not see myself fielding him, but maybe his price tag will come done with the final Imperial book. A small change with his base here. I added some cogwheels and a road wheel from a blown-up tank buried in the mud on his base to signify his abilities with repairing mechanical objects. 

Oh and as a funny side note... the guys at Prodos Games nicknamed the mini Lenin... wonder if anyone can figure out why! :-P

Up next are the rank and file, four five-men squads of Trenchers. Not much to say about these. Only that each squad consists of four riflemen (including the Corporal) and a Heavy Machine Gun. I apologize if they look a bit boring... it is the same five minis four times, but one needs a certain amount of basic troops in the game, and here they are:

So this is it. 24 minis in total, all 32mm from Prodos Games Warzone Resurrection range.

And I am proud to announce, the next entry is almost finished, so I am positive, I will be back next Monday (and of course Sundays theme round) with more! Thanks for looking!

From Curt:

Ah, I was just beginning to wonder about you Burkhard so I'm delighted to see your arrival within the daily roster of the Challenge - welcome back! 

These figures look wonderful and you've done a great job in conveying that alternate historical reality in their colours and basework (the homemade custom decals are brilliant). It's too bad that the figure designers could not have come up with something like a Future Lewis Gun instead of the rotary cannon (which is becoming a bit of a trope now). Is the terrain custom made yourself? Those bunkers and blasted trees look excellent. 

A few extra points for the custom decals and, again, welcome back to the grind Burkhard!

From AdamC - 15mm WWII US Recon Vehicles (33 Points)

 You saw my I&R platoon earlier in the challenge well I got them some rides.

This fellow was a mistake I thought I had picked up an M20(which I need to work with my Tank Destroyers) not an M8 but making the best of the situation I painted it up.

 Now with this model I can run a cavalry Recon unit (one M8 and two jeeps) in addition or instead of the infantry recon.

The Jeep it just says "America in World War II" these little guys are every where in the US order of battle.

So you can never have too many.  Its one of the few model Battlefront builds with a lot of stowage on the model.

I added the German helmet hood ornament.  The man at the machine gun is actually from Forged in Battle and came out of my dead lead box but he fits nicely.

4 Vehicles and 9 passengers should give me 33 Points.

From Curt:

Great work Adam - these are very nice little models (that standing gunner is excellent)! I also like the addition of the German helmet hood ornament, suitably macabre and probably not beyond the pale amongst these high-risk units. 

From ClintB: A few more Zulus (36 Points)

Yes In an effort to get more Zulus done I have decided to try to do some EVERY week. So here is the next batch. they are mostly "Newline Design" figures but there are a few Pendraken as well.

All the same information about the shields etc. is the same as last time so either don't worry about the details or go back and check. No I would not bother either. It is probably just as boring to check back as it is to paint these. Newline Design only seem to come in 3 different posses so It does get repetitive very quickly.

As you can see 2 single bases each with 3 figures and 5 double sized bases with 6 figures. The horde grows slowly and these should put me along with last weeks at about 1/4 of the total I will be attempting. Very simple bases of plasticard and filler topped with sand for texture and some static grass to finish off.

But there you go another 36 points and ready to take to the table top!

From Curt

I know this project is a bit of a grind but the results are very nice Clint. I find it's the wonderful cowhide shields that really add that touch of character to these bases. Remind me again, what is the final number of Zulus you are aiming for?

Great work!

From Curt - 15mm LRDG Raiders and Afrika Korps Targets of Opportunity (63 Points)

Here is another submission from me this weekend. This time it’s a North African LRDG raiding patrol along with some Stukas, supply dumps and fuel depots to serve as appropriate targets.

When I first saw these 15mm models come out from Battlefront a few years ago I knew I needed to get some to do up some sort of airfield raid scenario. 

I don’t know about you but as soon as I look at a Chevy 30 cwt, festooned with its gear, automatic weapons, and packed with bearded maniacs it just screams for sh*t to blow up. 

'Yoo Halloo! Lock and load the Twin-Ks lads, we're going to partaaay!'

So, with that in mind I’ve been picking up assorted ammo dumps fuel depots, etc from Battlefront and Baueda for the raiders to mess with.  (Thanks to Nick for the tips on crate/drum colours.) I hope to make up around a dozen of these as targets for the LRDG raiders.

The fabulous desert mat is from Alf over at Barrage Miniatures. It’s roughly 8x5 feet and will serve admirably for our future North Africa raiding game (and I imagine for any post apoc games). 

Alf's (from Barrage Miniatures) desert mat

The Stukas are 1:100 scale diecast models I picked up cheap-as-couscous on eBay. I’ve dorked around a bit to dirty them up with some sand erosion and exhaust staining but otherwise they are pretty much stock. Again, they exist purely to sit on the airfield and get blown to smithereens. (I'm on the search for a 1:100 scale Ju-52 to serve as another juicy target...)

I’m thinking of either modifying ‘Formula De’ or ‘Chain of Command’ for the core rules (who knows, maybe I’ll mash them together). It will be a quasi-cooperative game where each player will command a single vehicle along with 2-3 LRDG raiders - the winner being the team who amasses the most damage points, while still managing to stay alive and escape.

I need to find some sort of tents or Quonset huts for the aircrews and airfield staff. If anyone has ideas I’m all ears. I’m also working on some Afrika Korps personnel and assorted vehicles and equipment but that will be covered in a later submission.

As for points, we have 24 for the twelve dismounted raiders, 36 for the six LRDG vehicles and I'm going to give myself 3 points for tarting up the Stukas. So that makes 63 points. 

Next up will probably be some more Russian Civil War stuff in an endeavour to crush Phil in our 'civil war' side challenge (no pressure Phil).  ;P

From Curt - 1/300 Mediterranean Renaissance Ships (30 Points)

A few weeks ago I saw a post on Thomas Foss’ ‘Skull & Crown’ blog where he was play-testing his draft rules and prototype models for Renaissance-period naval combat set in the Mediterranean (update: the rules are titled, 'Galleys, Guns and Glory'). I was blown away by his 1:300 scale wooden models and so contacted him to see if I could convince him to both be a sponsor to the Challenge and to let me get my grubby mits on some pre-production samples of his models. Of course, being a very gracious gentleman, he agreed to both and so I present here some samples for you to check out.

The ship models are ingeniously designed, with each ship, depending on its size, being created from 4 – 7 pieces of flat, laser-cut wood. The pieces are essentially assembled in layers, from bottom to top. While certainly not a perfect rendition of renaissance galleys they provide, in under 10 minutes assembly, a wonderful impression of those elegant vessels.

The 'Galley' and 'Fusta' models on their wood frame.

For this post I’ve assembled and painted three ships, the larger one in green and yellow is a Turkish ‘Galley’, the slightly smaller one in red is a Knights of Malta ‘Galliot’, while the little craft without the sails is called a ‘Fusta’ and serves as a small galley / dice-holder. (I don’t have a copy of the rules yet (subtle hint to Thomas) so I can’t tell you what the Fusta’s purpose is, but my hunch is that it’s used to track ship damage or perhaps morale on the larger ships. Anyway, it’s pretty darn cool.) 

A Turkish Galley

A Knights of Malta Galliot

A Fusta

Thomas was kind enough to provide me with some flags and awnings which you can see here. I understand there will also be ‘strips’ of bulwark art, but it is still in production and will be available later. With that being the case I just bodged a rough paintjob for the hulls. I have to admit that in my eagerness to get to grips on these that I forgot to properly sand the surfaces, so I apologize if the paintwork seems a bit rough.

I used .02 mm plastic rod to mock-up the rigging that seems to have worked out pretty well. At first I thought it wouldn’t be robust enough for gameplay, but now I think it may hold up alright (and imo it's much easier to work with than fiddling about with thread). 

To provide a sense of their size I’ve included a shot below of the Turkish Galley next to a 28mm SCW armoured car and corresponding figure. As you can see the Galley is quite a sizeable model. I understand that there is one class of ship that is even larger, the ‘Lanternas’, which, of course, I’m very keen to see.

The Galley next to some 28mm models

I was also provided with some round crew tokens (not shown here) but I’m thinking I might use small bases mounting 1/300 scale figures for a bit of fun.

Thomas has informed me that while the pricing has not yet been set, one can expect the ships to range in price from $10 – 25 (USD) which will also include crew markers, cannon smoke markers, a sheet of giclee printed flags, awnings and pennants (in a choice of Turkish, Venetian, Maltese, Papal States or Spanish colours) AND the larger ships will come with a ‘Fusta’ damage dice holder. With a typical force being around 3 to 6 ships it seems to me to be an affordable entry to a very characterful period. 

Thanks again to 'Skull & Crown' for these pre-production samples - they were a complete blast to work on. I wish you the very best in this new endeavour and I can assure you that you have my future business! 

Okay so for points, I’m thinking that the Turkish Galley is equivalent to a 28mm vehicle, the ‘Galliot’ to a 20mm vehicle and perhaps a few more points for the Fusta, so say 30 points total? We'll run with that.

Finally, for those who haven't voted for the 'Victorian' theme round please remember to head over to the theme gallery, enjoy the submissions and cast your votes for your favourites. As you can see below the race is very tight again this week, with only a few votes separating those in the top six positions.

Thanks for visiting!

From TamsinP - Salutesville's Finest (105 Points)

"If these are Salutesville's Finest, I'd hate to see their worst!"

For my 10th entry (10 entries in 6 weeks? Am I mad?) I present a bunch of 28mm cops for my Mob Wars project, along with their transport.

The Vehicles are from Blue Moon's "Highways and Byways" range and the crew figures are also Blue Moon.

I will be adding decals at some point. If you care to take a look at the WIP pics on my blog, you will see that the inside of the back of the panel van has been fully painted.

To prove the crew figures are painted to a similar level to the rest of the cops:

"That Tamsin's got to be mad painting us up so well, when we'll hardly be seen!"

A detachment from Dixon Precinct...

...joining the squad from Murch Precinct

Deputy Chief Campbell* thinks The Untouchables' Jimmy Malone is a pussy. "He brings a knife, you bring a heavy machine gun. That's the Salutesville way."

*Named in honour of the Snowlord, as he has his work cut out doing such an excellent job of policing the hoodlums of the Challenge Mob.


You may have guessed from the precinct names that the first 4 cops are from Dixon Miniatures with the last eight being from Pulp Figures.

The paving slab bases were sculpted by me from Milliput so that they'd fit in with my earlier Blue Moon cops.

Now, let us see:
2 vehicles at 15 points each;
4 crew figures at half-of-5 points each (is that right Curt?)
12 cops at 5 points each
one HMG - I'd say it's a little small to count as a crew served weapon, maybe 5 points?

That should give me 105 points, putting me ahead of Alan, but sadly still behind Ian.


From Curt:

Between the Victorian/Steampunk submissions and the work from Dave and Tamsin we're being treated to a wonderful dose of characterful coppers over the past few weeks. 

I love those stretch Paddy Wagons (heading RIGHT over to Blue Moon after this post...). They look almost like diecast models - are they resin or white metal Tamsin? The drivers/passengers are an excellent touch.

While the Murch castings are marvellous, it's great to see the Dixon range getting some love in this popular theme (I particularly like the portly cop with the scattergun). 

Ah, and Deputy Chief Campbell looks like a proper, dictatorial, bossy loudmouth - how especially suitable (Hmm, I wonder if I can get a speaking trumpet on ebay? I could use it to call out to Sarah to fetch me more coffee and treats while I'm working on the blog - I'm sure she'd appreciate that...).

Great work Tamsin!