From MichaelF - 20mm Shermans (36 points)

For my second entry I'm continuing with some more 20mm stuff to reinforce the freshly painted infantry platoon. For the first game in December we cheated and ordered some pre-painted tanks from Grubby but hey, nothing beats playing with your own painted minis so let's see if I can get a decent amount of armour done.

I'm always impressed by what you can do with an airbrush and regularly I'm staring at beautifully models thinking one day I need to give it a try. But I don't even own an airbrush and I lack the skills and time to master it so I ordered some enamel washes and pigments, grabbed a few brushes to see if I could get a decent enough result. I had great fun trying all sorts of different techniques and the next batch with slightly larger barrels is on it's way as well.

Models are from PSC with the tank commander from Sgt Mess I think.

Ouch, just noticed I still need to add the antennas. Well, will do that later, now we have a thursday deadline...

From Curt:

I completely sympathize with your 'airbrush envy' as I've never tried using them and have always envied the look others have achieved with them. Old dogs / new tricks, eh? Nonetheless, you've done a marvelous job on these Shermans, Michael. Masterful brushwork with the smooth blending and shading. I also find the weathering to be nicely restrained yet still effective. Excellent. I have a trio of SPC's later Sherman IIIs to do and now, with these, I have a sobering benchmark to work towards. Thanks for the incentive!

Great work Michael!

From Millsy - 28mm Pulp Rocket-Truppen (25 points)

One of my plans for this Challenge was to deal with some of my "Raggy Dolls", those miniatures that I bought (and often primed) but then neglected. These rather exotic chaps are "WW1 Germans with Rocket Packs" from Eureka Miniatures and fall well and truly into that category. Now "WW1 Germans with Rocket Packs" is not a very inspiring name so I prefer to refer to them as "Raketenschiffjager", which to me sounds a lot more Pulpy.

The miniature are not especially well sculpted but they are full of character which to my mind is probably more important for this kind of thing. The rocket packs are jolly good though but are remarkably fragile and required me to reinforce the wings at the bottom. The only thing I had handy was some 25mm Minifig Napoleonic cannot bits but they do the job nicely.

Herr Krapp the commander has a wonderful shouty facial expression and is either yelling over his rocket pack or in severe pain, possibly because his hands have swollen to enormous size due to jetting about at high altitude...

There you have it. 5 Pulp chappies for 25 points. Zooooooooooooooooom!


From Curt:

Sweet! These guys are awesome Millsy! I have a similar set from Bob Murch that I called 'Racketrucksaktruppen' but I think your title rolls off the tongue better (and creates less spittle). 

I like their spikey pikelhaub helmets and the jetpacks are suitably baroque and unsafe looking (I like the brass/burnish gold you've used for them). When I saw Herr Krapp I thought he's reacting to having just sat on his helmet...

Well done!

From JohnM - 28mm Victorian Criminals (45 Points)

Jack Stapelton, Selden, Colonel Moran

Since my last submission was the Victorian Bobbies, I thought it would be nice for them to have some criminals to chase. These figures are from West Wind Productions EotD line. Again, I really enjoy painting these figures. The sculpts are very nice, beautifully slender, I only wish that all the Napoleonics I have painted were sculpted in the same way.

West Wind has been a bit of a challenge with their EotD project, the support has been slow after the Requiem Kickstarter. I can guess who most of the figures represent but I am not 100% sure about two of them, as the sculpt changed from that on the kickstarter page. 

Dr Roylott, Professor Moriarty,  John Clay

But hard to argue with success, as over 600 backers with 20x the original amount asked was pledged. I have bought both the EotD and Osprey's In Her Majesty's Name rulebooks and am still deciding whether I will give Gothic/Horror/Steampunk/Victorian wargaming a go. I understand though that the EotD supplement is almost done. Another terrain project just terrifies me.

The Butler!, Jack the Ripper, Dorian Grey

It is a fun era though, I really found the 2nd season of 'Ripper Street' enjoyable and Curt had recently recommended the 1st season of 'Penny Dreadful'. Well all I can say is that we watched the season in two sittings.......it is the balls. I just find Eva Green mesmerizing (I could not believe Camelot was not renewed after the 1st season)........I am still trying to figure who my wife Jennifer was finding so compelling!

From Curt:

Excellent work John. I particularly like your Dorian Grey in his rich red tones as it really conveys that sense of decadence about him. Moriarty is wonderful as well with his red-lined opera cape, cane and spectacles. Hmmm, I really have to think about getting a set of these for myself.

I'm delighted you enjoyed 'Penny Dreadful' - a wonderfully dark series with great promise (and, yes, Eva Green is an absolute treat). I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the Victorian 'cycle of mythos' (i.e. Dorian Grey, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Dr. Frankenstein, etc.).

From MartinN - 28mm BEF Support Weapons (30 Points)

I'm really a bit proud of myself lately. Normally being a true wargames butterfly it seems like I actually manage to stay focused... well, for the moment at least.

With today's submission I'm done with my first batch of British Expeditionary Force figures.

One of my few New Years resolution was to paint up all I already have for a given project before buying any reinforcements.

So today I can show you the Support Weapons Teams for the BEF.

 First off is the Vickers MMG:

 Followed by the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle

And last but not least the  2" Light Mortar:

As I said before the first batch is done. But fear not, reinforcements are already on the way!

From Curt:

Over the past few weeks I find I'm running out of superlatives to describe your work Nick. :) Again, gobsmacking stuff here, made particularly eye-catching with the Roundwood-inspired bases (for which I've shamelessly stolen the same brick effect for my post apoc stuff as well). Thanks Sidney! I really like the mortar crewman who's without his tin hat - makes one want to yell out, 'Get something on your head, you git!'

Again, a wonderful entry Nick!

From MartinC - 28mm ACW Confederate Infantry, 8th Louisianna (91 points)

So work and drinking have got in the way this week, not at the same time though. Only one unit finished, the 8th Louisiana, which completes the infantry for the confederates. I still have some artillery and a couple of spare units to paint to complete all the ACW troops.

I decided to paint these in grey, not all the rebels can look scruffy all the time. The uniforms are washed with black ink and then I retouched the top of the folds etc. J added some extra colour to the blanket rolls, including the end front ranker who has brought his quilt from home. The faces were washed and again retouched  on cheekbones etc. but I'm not overly happy with the results. The faces on the models are fairly featureless and so there are few places for the wash to pool. My detail work isn't good enough yet to compensate and so they just looked tanned.

Dale Winton - an orange UK TV "Celeb"

More work needed here, I have some very wrinkly figures and a new brush to practice with for next week. I'm very hard on brushes - gone through 2 already during the challenge.

Finally I've started to play with interesting bases and these guys are advancing (my infantry always advances) through long grass made from Tajima long grass tufts and the remains of the cornfield I used on a earlier unit, my first attempt at interesting bases. Finally the bare patches are covered in coconut matting collected from my hanging baskets before the birds nick it.

I'm starting to run out of figs on the ACW painting, and have started to paint up the random stuff I purchased in the sales - I'm a sucker for a bargain and almost never buy to a plan. Expect more variety moving forward.

From Curt:

Another great regiment to add to your collection Martin! I quite like the wild foliage on your bases (Tajima is such a great resource for groundwork). As for washes you may want to try a brown wash instead of a black as it often easier to control and gives a more moderate effect (GW's Earthtone is good). In regards to flesh detailing I can recommend the Formula P3 Flesh Wash from Privateer. I find it's far more subtle (and natural) than anything GW has produced (and should help keep the Dale Winton effect to a minimum). Both of these products can be 'cut' with water which allows you to layer to taste.  Just my two Confederate Dollars (i.e. interesting to collect but perhaps next to worthless)...

Voting Results for the 3rd Bonus Theme Round: 'Victorian'

Ah, the 'Victorian' round proved to be a real corker, with many imaginative entries ranging from steampunk ships to an indomitable ratcatcher plying his trade in the back lanes of London. 

Again, it was another tight race with only one vote separating First and Second place and no more than a dozen pips between the other top 5 spots. Great stuff.

Here are the runners up:

AlanD's 'Flashman's Guide to International Diplomacy'

MartinN's 'Jack the Ripper'

IannickM's 'Monsieur la Mort'

ByronM's 'Steampunk Tinkerbell'

As for the finalists, I was fortunate enough to secure Third Place with my rendition of 'The Artful Dodger'.

BrianB took Second Place (and 50 bonus points) with his brilliantly SCULPTED AND PAINTED 'Pennyfarthing'.

...and in First Place we have the ever-talented MichaelA with his fantastic ensemble cast: 'Scotland Yard Company' 

Michael, for your efforts you will get a 75 bonus points AND a gift certificate from Martin and Diane at Warbases. Congratulations Mr. Awdry, and thank you Martin and Diane for your generous and continued support of the Challenge!

Okay! This Sunday the bonus round theme is 'Myth' so participants make sure to get your submissions in by Saturday and visitors please come back and visit the gallery to see all of the fantastic entries from our maniacal painters. Paint On!

From IanW - 6mm Zulu's and Project Finished!! (40 Points)

Well one of the aims of the Challenge is to get us to finish long overdue projects and this one really fits the bill. Back when I was unable to work I took to painting up mates figures for them just to give me figures to paint. They tended to give me two figures for every figure I painted for them or so. Well given that I have now been working for just under two years you could say this was a tad late Matt has been a real gent and been really good about my lack of push on these.

So as part of my to do list for 2015 was to get these finished before the end of February, well a big bad tick in that box.

These are the rifle armed Zulu's and by far easier to paint up than the shield toting ones from last weeks post.

Again I went with four different coloured loin cloths and give the finished figure a brush over with Windsor & Newton Chestnut Brown ink with adds a good skin tone and depth.

Here is all the Zulu's painted during this years Challenge and the few I did just before the Challenge started. A total of 96 figures at 0.5 points each so base value of 48 points but Matt is basing all of them including the ones from way back so knocking 20% off 38.4 points for Curt to round up or down.

Given that this will leave my original points in the rear view I will push for 2000 points which would be better than last years total if I remember correctly.


From Curt:

Ah, brilliant! Congratulations on getting this project behind you Ian - well done. That is an impressive mob of Zulus and you've really done a great job on painting these tiny castings. I'm going to have to get myself a bottle of that W&N ink as it really did a wonderful job on their skin tone. Great tip, thanks.

Just for the record you made it to 1153 in the 4th Challenge, so 2000 is a great target for this year. It has been duly registered and scribed. 

Now, back to your painting bench Mr. W. there's not a moment to loose!