From MartijnN: Away at last! 28mm Württemberg Napoleonics (Under Construction) (95 points)

Yes, I really wanted to get a post up early this year. But of course I didn't. As I have said before, I'm a very slow painter and even then the results are hardly stunning; but then again, I am a functional painter too, painting to get some colour on my toys.

Anyway, here's my first contribution for Challenge XIII: some Napoleonic Württembergers. I painted 12 of these in Challenge XII, with an idea of taking up Sharp practice. After the Challenge, I painted up six grenadiers as well. Then I finally took the step of actually looking at Sharp Practice, and I discovered that units are mostly made up of eight figures... which meant that I had to paint up four more fusiliers and two extra grenadiers. 

The fusiliers, and officer (a Kickstarter exclusive figure) that I had sneakily thrown in to get to 25 points and thus a squirrel, were more or less finished early last week. And then I snapped a bayonet, which proved to be irreparable. Since that meant that I had to start a new fusilier from scratch, I decided to broaden the scope a bit and include an artillery unit, the two missing grenadiers, and an officer on horseback in the package. So here we are:

6pdr Horse Artillery

The fusiliers

The grenadiers with their distinctive helmets

The full force thus far...

They were done mostly using contrast over a black undercoat and a heavy drybrush/ zenithal. On the mounted officer, however, I found that Iyanden Yellow didn't give enough coverage over my apparently too dark undercoat, so I re-did the yellow with Yriel Yellow. To keep them in style with my earlier bunch I also gave them all a coat of Agrax  Earthshade. These are Piano Wargames miniatures; they are available in metal, but mine are 3D printed. They really are great characterful figures, and they paint up rather nicely. The bases were done with Geek Gaming's Base Ready.

As for scores:

11 28mm foot @ 5 = 55 points

1 28mm mounted @ 10 = 10 points

1 crew served weapon @ 10 points = 10 points

Bonus points for the Under Construction Studio: 20

Grand total 95

1 squirrel point too!

Those look fantastic, Martijn. I've always thought of Napoleonics as being tough to paint, I'd never have thought to use Contrast on them. They have come out very nicely, though it is a shame that you broke one of your figures. The caption on the picture says 'thus far...', so hopefully we see more of these in the future.

From Barks: Greyscale Gangster (Black and White)(25 points)

Angels with Filthy Souls is a highly-quotable 80 second metafilm, created for and shown within the classic Home Alone (1990). Starring Ralph Foody as Johnny and Michael Guido as Snakes, it is an homage to the gangster classic Angels with Dirty Faces (1938). There is a good Vanity Fair article about it here.

This is a free digital figure from Wargames Atlantic. The barrel is a bit delicate, but it was a fun figure to paint. I like the shirt garters! I was heavily influenced by Carmen 'Fun Painty Time' Cerra as I learned about greyscale and value painting. I was lucky to have a black and white source to refer to!

I started with a black undercoat, drybrushed white. I used a dark grey highlighted with a mid grey, the mid grey highlighted with a light grey, and the light grey highlighted with white. There's room for improvement with the tommy gun and maybe I could pick out the tie pattern, but that was enough for now. I'm not going to start a whole greyscale project- but it would be fun...

1x 28mm figure (5 points)

Black and White set (20 points)

Nice looking gangster, Barks. You seem to have nailed the greyscale nicely, having an easy reference to draw from must have made things a bit easier. I never knew that the movie clips in Home Alone were created just for that film. You learn something new every day.

From GregB - Rebel Alliance Troopers (89 Points)

Rebel Pathfinders and a heavy support weapon for "Star Wars".

My third submission to AHPC XIII sticks with the Star Wars setting, and picks things up right where I left off at AHPC XII. This is a group of Rebel Alliance troopers - most of them "pathfinders" intended to supplement the ranks of Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso's team that I painted last March. There is also one rebel trooper ready to employ a liberated Imperial heavy laser against its previous owners. All of these are independent 3D sculpts, printed in the unique and oddly large scale of the "Star Wars: Legion" game.

View showing the rear of the fatigues, and some of the kit you can put on their belts etc.

The "Legion" rules themselves are almost unplayably baroque, riven with mindless, card-driven complexity for no good reason and table that rapidly fills with a cloud of chit-style markers. But sometimes you need to separate the figures from the rules, and the "Legion" figures have been a lot of fun to paint, and because there is a great variety of rules you can use them for, they are worth getting. Since relocating to Ontario, I've no longer been able to take for granted that a "Star Wars" game could be whipped together at a moment's notice (which is 110% possible with my great friends in Winnipeg). So in the past couple of years, I have started painting up/collecting my own "Star Wars" figures and models - when I see them, I think of my friends, and hey, they are also ready for a game at any time, right?

Selection of the Pathfinders - equipped with A-300 blasters in "long range" configuration.

The "Rebel Pathfinders" from Fantasy Flight Games (I still use that name, as I have utterly given up keeping track of their endless corporate reorganization bullsh*t) are fine figures, but the pack is quite specific, and you really cannot use the box to build up a more generic force of "Pathfinder" type troops the way you can with the more generic Rebel infantry in the starter box. I really liked the look of the Rebels who fought on the the islands at the Imperial base on Scarif, and wished I could find more troopers with that look to add to my collection. 

Officer in the middle with a pistol - and the set also included a discarded Shore Trooper helmet, so I put that on the base to mark him out. The other two Pathfinders are carrying A-300 blasters in their short range, carbine-style configuration.

What to do? It was hardly a problem - just enter the vast, and incredibly talented world of 3D sculptors and printers dedicated to Star Wars! This "Modular Pathfinder Battalion" was a bit pricey, but fit the bill perfectly - the right mix of helmets, of fatigues and the different blasters used by the Pathfinders, including the odd rifles and carbines that have what seem to be air-cooled barrels...that makes no sense, but why should it, right??? I love it. 

Like so many good projects, these sat in the "pending pile" for months, and as AHPC XIII loomed, I thought it would be good to get them done! They are painted in colours to match the "Pathfinders" from the FFG box I painted last March.

A "liberated" E-web blaster - the sculptor did a great job on this 3D printed design - the Rebel trooper looks to be really enjoying using this weapon against the Empire!

And, when shopping online, it is very rare that I buy just ONE thing, so when I spotted the figure of the Rebel trooper with the heavy laser, well, it just sort of click-fell into my online basket. The colours here are only slightly different, so she could fight with the Pathfinders, or with the more generic Rebel infantry I had painted previously. 

Another view of the gunner. I'm sure nothing will go wrong if a stray blaster shot hits that generator, right?

I now have enough infantry for a fun scenario where the brave Rebels must launch a daring raid on an Imperial base - and really, is there any other kind of raid, right? But the pendulum in my collection, having swung to the Rebel side, looks like it needs to get back to the bad guys...hopefully there will be more to share in that regard as this edition of the Challenge proceeds.

For the Rebellion!

For scoring, we have 12 Legion-sized infantry models, which had been scored as 40mm figures (7 points-per) in the past, and one crew-served weapon, albeit not a very big one, so I see that as only counting for another 5 points. In all, 89 points toward my target. Thanks for reading, and may the Force be with all of us - or at least, our brushes!

A cracking bunch of rebels, Greg. I've only tried the Legion game once and I agree about there being too many cards and chits floating around. It was fun though. The 3D printed models really look the part, I hope you have the chance to get a few games in with your friends soon.

From Barks: Late Dark Age warriors (Under Construction)(62 points)

Herewith, eight Gripping Beast plastic dark age warriors. These will finally complete my SAGA Anglo-Danes! Late, because my blog exposes me starting this project in late 2012, declaring "In 2013 I'm looking into working on my 'Saga' forces."

Ten years later...

One can't rush these things, you know. Hand-painted shields and what-not.

Anyway, here's the entire contingent. Almost five figures each year! I have distant plans of adding another thirty-odd levy to run them as Anglo-Saxons...

I had to try and match my older painting style, and some of the colours have gone out of production. I think I went pretty well, and they look like a coherent force. Historical accuracy be damned, this is SAGA!

8x 28mm figures (40 points)

Under Construction set (20 points)

I am really not short of projects I could have chosen for this location...

Always good to see some Anglo-Danes, especially when they look as nice as this lot. Honestly speaking, 10 years isn't that bad for a project. I'm sure that most of us have something equally as old, if not more so. I'll throw in a couple of bonus points for the hand painted shields.

The Saturday Showcase Spectacular

Some say they are the greatest brush-jockeys ever to slap paint on a mini. Some say they are the most elite group of hobbyists ever to grace the scene. Some say, 'wait, who are we talking about again?'

Yes folks, that's right, the Saturday crew are here to brighten your day with loads of gorgeous eye-candy and finely painted figures the likes of which you won't find elsewhere. And to help keep those rambunctious grandees of the pigments in line, here's their minion, StuartL.

Given the name and the job, this picture seemed appropriate. It's not totally inaccurate either.

Well this is my first time as a minion and so far everything seems to be going okay. I haven't managed to set blogger on fire yet, or accidentally deleted everyone's posts. Still the day is young.

On todays Saturday Showcase Spectacular, we have:

A selection of genres from the brush of the brilliant Barks.

Some rebels fresh from the stars from the great GregB.

And some nifty Napoleonics from the magnificent MartijnN

Hopefully there will be more to come during the day... stay tuned.

From Caleb: Barons War Outlaws Under Construction (80 points)

Hey folks,

At last its my first post for the challenge! I decided I would kick things off with some low hanging fruit by finishing up some medieval figures for the Under Construction studio. I've been bounce back and forth for quite a bit trying to setting in what greens to use, and in the end went with a mix of what all I tested. The result feels both realistic and campy at the same time which is a sweet spot for me. 

Here are a few close ups as well!

    Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

All figures are footsore, and I really like the game I painted on "The Poacher"

Hope everyone has a good weekend, Cheers!

Minion Phil - Hey Caleb, welcome to the Challenge and happy new year! Delighted that another from the Lard America crew has joined in on the challenge, I know I go on about a bit. You have some great projects lined up for the winter. Lovely work on these Paul Hicks-sculpted outlaws, your green and brown tones are just the right amount of irregular, while still looking coherent on the tabletop. The pheasants on the poacher mini are a nice touch, and just the right green :-)

If possible, it would be good to get some more light facing the minis for the photos, they look a bit toplit and you may be losing some of the splendor of the paintjob in the shadows. 

12 lovely 28mm miniatures and a location bonus is a tidy 80 points to start your tally. 

From Curt: Two Units of Fodder for Turnip28 (120 points)

Hi All!

I'm back to my Turnip28 project, carrying on from the 'Snobs' to the next formation type: two units of rank-and-file troops, or in T28 parlance: 'The Fodder'. 

In the game, Fodder come in groups of 12 figures, and while they're pretty lousy on the whole, they do benefit from being able to put out a decent curtain of (inaccurate) fire, and can soak up a lot of punishment. Just like what you'd expect from a troop type sporting such a dubious nom de guerre.

The figures are 3d prints from Knucklebone Miniatures. These are fantastic one-piece models which I highly recommend - I printed a duplicate set in a mirror image in order to provide some variation within the units. I also added some chopped-up tufts, coming out of collars and cuffs, along with a few clusters of mushrooms for colour. 

I really like how characterful these figures are, so wonderfully miserable and downtrodden. When grouped together they give a wonderful impression of a shambling mob of dolorous mooks, sadly trudging to their inescapable doom. 

I did-up one unit with red facings as part of my 'Rutabaga Rifles', and another in yellow turnbacks for the 'Fighting Fennel Fusiliers'. I used an airbrush for laying down the base colours and then went in with a brush for some of the details.

I had a bit of fun doing up a rutabaga on one of the standards - not something I thought I'd be painting as a flag device, but when in the Turnip-World you do silly turnip things.

For their yellow opposition, instead of the usual banner, I gave them a spooky Mari Lywd as their standard. For the uninitiated (meaning me until I read up on it), the Mari Lywd was a Welsh wassailing custom, apparently to celebrate nature's growth and renewal. 

It entailed mounting a horses skull on pole, with the person holding it hidden under a sackcloth.  The Mari Lywd and its attendants would go around to local homes, singing and carousing to get free food and drinks. Yes, the Welsh are a wonderfully weird lot. Anyway, I thought it would make an interesting standard for a unit of creepy root vegetable infantry.

Byron was kind enough to make up some sabot bases for me that are similar in design to those I use for my Malta project. 

I had a bit of fun pimping them out with a dice socket (to track panic in the game), along with gratuitous blood spatters in the empty troop sockets to signify when the poor Fodder take a dirt nap. Fun!

These 24 infantry will give me 120 points for the roster, a few for the airbrush duel, and a nice escalatory bump in our Turnip28 clash of vegetables.

The vegetable patch to-date.

Thanks for dropping in folks and have a terrific weekend!

- Curt

Friday Minion - Aha, trudging in dolefully on the heels of the toffs and toadies, the fodder have arrived! Delightful, miserable, bonkers nonsense here Curt. I confess to liking the grimy, grim aesthetic of Turnip28 (I really should get back to my abortive attempts), but your jaunty twist has its appeal too. 

I love the Mari Lywd as standard, quite coincidentally, shortly before Christmas I spent an hour or so in a wikipedia rabbithole of Welsh and other bizarre festive traditions (looking at you, Finland), and recent attempts at Mari Lywd revival movements, despite seemingly noone knowing where or whence the tradition comes from, let alone why. 

120 points to the Snowlord! 

From MilesR: A Little Slow Off The Blocks This Year (575 Points)

 I had great plans for the first few weeks of Challenge XIII but fate had other ideas for me.  On the morning of Dec 19th, I was on a board call with a UK company when there was a knock at my door.  It was a Maryland State Trooper informing me my wife had been in an auto accident and that I needed to come with her.  My lovely yet fierce Dr wife was taken to the county ER after her car crashed while driving into work.  The car spun around, rolled and the air bags deployed.  More importantly, the car did it's job protecting her as the trooper thought it was going to be a much worse outcome when they first rolled up.  She did have a concussion, a back injury plus some cuts and bruises and stayed in the hospital for that night. I was told by the ward nurse she was a difficult patient as she wouldn't let the nurses work on her until they had seen to their other patients and she could treat herself.  All I can could say was "tell me about it".

Anyway I lost week or so of painting time doing the more important tasks of caring for my wife and handling the insurance and related matters.  We are now life long fans of German Engineering and Audi's in particular and my wife has a shiny new 2023 A8.  I doubt we'll buy any other brand of car going forward.

My nursing duties are now done, which is good because I look horrendous in those white nursing outfits - here's a picture of me in "action".  I know, I know it screams "care-giver".

Anyway, now that MB is doing better, I've managed to sneak in some painting time and have the following submissions for your perusal.  These will be organized as part of three green badged studio tours.

High Adventure:

For the High Adventure Studio I have this groups of 28 WW1 Anzacs from Brigade miniatures.  These are intended for one of my silly game concepts called "Anzacs and Aztecs" which involves some WW1 Anzacs getting lost on their way to Egypt and running into all sorts of trouble in the mystical jungles of central America.  The concept is a follow on from my previous convention games of "DAK and Dragons" and "SOCOM and Sorcery".  There will, of course, be dinosaurs involved and a large model of a Mayan Pyramid which you may see later in the challenge.  There may be some Germans from a U-boat involved too but those were done in during Challenge X

The figures are from Brigade games and where painted use Army Painter "Speed Paint" I liked using the product but did find the color palette a bit limited.  There were two test figures painted a slightly different shade prior to the start of the Challenge which I'll repaint at some point.  To be honest my first foray with speed paints were a pre-XIII disaster and I stripped these figures to redo them.  There is a large 25 pound cannon, a machine gun and nice grenade "tosser" - Since they're small I'll combine the machine gun and tosser into a single gun submission for points.  So thats 28 figures, 2 guns and 1 Studio for 180 points.

Historical Drama:

Next up are some some 10mm Byzantines left over from last years big project (Manzikert).  These are a mix of Magister Militum and Pendraken figures and represent the the last of the lot I had primed from Challenge XII.  Don't worry there a good number of bare metal Byzantines waiting in the wings - there are ALWAYS more Byzantines.

The lot include 8 medium infantry, 32 slingers and 24 Buccelari (my favorite).  That's a total of 108 points including the Historical drama studio bonus

World Cinema:

OK this one is a bit of a stretch but its an homage to those rather awful Hobbit movies and the Dwarven armies at the Battle of Five Armies - here is the start of my 10mm Dwarven army project, which starts with a core of 18, 8 figure infantry bases plus some Human allied light cavalry archers.  Don't worry, you'll see some Dwarves mounted on Rams (assuming I get my resin printer working again)

The figures are metal casting from Copplestone and may be some of the finest 10mm figures I've ever painted.

Opposing them are some test paints of some Copplestone Orc and Warg riders

I am still debating what is the right color for orc skin and tested a variety of tones on the 3 infantry stands.  I'm leaning towards green but that is not aligned with the Peter Jackson canon.  

Oh yes, the Orcs brought along some trolls which while 10mm figures are actually 28mm tall - they're big fella's

The studio tour consists of 9 28mm figures, 174 Infantry and 24 cavalry in glorious 10mm plus 1 room bonus which nets out to 287 points.

So that's it for my first submission - sorry to be a little late this year but it was unavoidable.  I'll help my minion, Phil, by providing a summary of all the scale to make it easier to put in that spreadsheet which surely was created by some lunatic.

28mm

37 Infantry

2 guns

10mm

214 Infantry

48 Cavalry

3 Studios Toured

I believe that sums to a nice total of 575 points

So what's next?  I think we'll be making a detour to the South Pacific for some really tiny miniatures and a  rather large terrain project.  

Minion Phil: Welcome back to your twelfth (?) Challenge Miles. I was sorry to hear about MB's awful accident before Christmas, but am very glad that she is on the mend and spared more of your tender care. 

I like how you say this is slow off the blocks, but two week's work is higher than many challengers' winter ambitions. I do not know how you manage it but your quantity has a hugely impressive quality of its own, let alone your tidy brushwork. 

Great to see you're back at the DAK and Dragons series, I thought we'd lost you to teeny tiny scales. Those Anzacs look great and a mayan temple is something to look forward to. I'm sure it'll be hugely impressive as always. Who doesn't like more Byzantines, and a visit to Tolkien's world. All in one post - marvellous! 

Well, as you've done all the hard maths for me, my role as data entry clerk is done. Onwards!