From SylvainR: 1/300 German Boats (96 points)

 

Another flotilla for Cruel Seas, to buff up the German Kriegsmarine. This will be my last entry of the Challenge.

 

First, a close-up on three of the five S-100 from the first picture, in simple basic light grey.

 

Two R-boats (Räumboote). Wiki says 424 were built and they were originally conceived as minesweepers but performed a wide range of duties throughout the war. They look stocky compared to the streamlined E-boats. They were fitted with directional propellers so, in Cruel Seas, they get an additional opportunity to turn at the beginning of their activation. 

 

A Vorpostenboot, also known as "flakship" or "VP-boat". It is very well armed with an 88mm and lots of 20mm guns. A good option to escort slow convoys and an excellent target for torpedoes.

An M-class minesweeper.  I've added some crew on the deck as I find it makes the miniature feel like a little diorama. I might have smeared too much rust on this model. Oh well. At least, it will make a good target for torpedoes.

So far, I have less than 10 games of Cruel Seas under my belt, and I feel that the most fun and satisfying part is to see your "carefully" launched torpedoes hit a target and detonate (you get to roll 16d6 for damage!) with a spectacular plume of water. However, in the game, tiny, small and even medium boats are immune to torpedoes because of their shallow draft, so to enjoy hitting something with torpedoes, you need to have large and huge ships in your collection. I find large models are lots of work to put together and paint but hey, you need to provide something for your friends to shoot at!

I am curious to hear other Challengers' experience with playing Cruel Seas.
===============================
Points claimed: 
 
In past submissions, the Snowlord awarded 8 points to small and medium ships, and 20 points to large ones, plus points for the crew, but I will not claim points for the crew; I'm already over my goal of 1000 points.

7x 15mm vehicle @ 8 points = 56 points

2x 28mm vehicles @ 20 points = 40 points 

TOTAL: 96 points

Thanks for reading!

 
Very nice ships here Sylvain! These Cruel Seas models look great, glad you're having fun playing the game. I really like the dazzle camo on the Vorpostenboot. The basing is great too, I love the sea colour and how you've done the wakes.

Ninety-six for you my friend!

Dallas

 

From BillaA - NEEEERRRRDDDDSSSSS (15 pts)

It's been really great to return to the AHPC, and my productivity has exceeded anything I anticipated accomplishing. Did I necessarily finish everything I'd set out to? Nnnnnno. I have, I guess, 14 more Mayans to paint (four of whom are very ornately dressed), plus quite a bit of terrain for them that hasn't even been started. But, more importantly, I painted a lot of figures and made a big dent in my leadpile, which is what really matters. So to conclude this year's AHPC, I have one last post. And it's a bunch of nerds.

Or rather, a bunch of geeks. This is Reaper Miniatures' "Townsfolk: Geeks" from their Chronoscope line of pulp, scifi, modern and miscellaneous non-fantasy miniatures, sculpted by Gene Van Horne. They're pretty simple and straight-forward sculpts in non-dramatic poses but they've got a lot of personality to them and were entertaining to paint.

My favorite is the big guy in the middle of the group photo. I think the sculpt was probably influenced by the Simpsons' "Comic Book Guy," with his bulk, shorts and ponytail. I opted for some different color choices, with khaki cargo shorts and a white T-shirt inspired by one the president of my college's anime club wore when I was a student. I've also painted the bottle in his hand as Mountain Dew. The figure's face was large and open enough for me to paint his eyes. 

It's like looking in a mirror.

Up next is a small man in glasses and a short-sleeved button down shirt; I'm realizing now he's supposed to have a beard to go with that mustache and I just didn't paint it. I'll fix that. He's got a pouch in his left hand that I've interpreted as a classic Crown Royal bag full of dice.

Finally, the female member of the trio; she was the hardest for me, actually. I'd painted her face first and then started filling in the hair around it, only for the base turquoise shade to go on really thin and flow, wash-like, on to her face. I had a few choice words for that bottle of paint! Once the hair was finished I went in and redid her face, but it resulted in some of the definition of the sculpt being lost. 

Three more 28mm figures on foot yields another 15 points. Thank you to the Snowlord for welcoming me back after too many years absent, and thank you everyone for the kind words and encouragement on every post! 

______________________________

Fabulous final post Bill! I love the little details that you put in, like the Mountain Dew bottle, Crown Royal dice bag and the fandom blue hair. A wonderfully geeky trio that we can all identify with. It was great to have you back this year and I hope we see you out for Challenge XVII!

- Curt

The Votes are In for the 'Resistance' Theme Round!

The votes have been tabulated for our third and final theme round: 'Resistance'! 

I enjoyed taking-in the various interpretations of 'Resistance' (some perhaps a bit more tenuous than others).  We had entries depicting Joan of Arc to the Dutch Resistance, from Luke Skywalker to the Free French, all excellent examples of the power of various kinds of resistance. 

______________________________________________

In third place is Barks' excellent submission of Robin Hood's 'Merry Men'

_________________________________________

For 2nd place, we have Dallas' doom of Custer, his wonderfully painted 'Plains Warriors'.

___________________________________________________

And, in first place, we again have Kerry (the Man with a Plan) with his very impressive castle and siege works in his 'Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War'!

Wonderful work, Kerry!

_________________________________________

Kerry, in recognition of your first place for the theme I'm delighted to award a $50 gift voucher from Byron's Northern Lights Terrain & Gaming Supplies. Please drop me an email for details and thank you Byron for your prize support!

Again, a big congratulations, to Barks, Dallas and Kerry!  Also, a huge thank you to all those who submitted their creations for this, the final theme round - alway good fun!

Now, back to your brushes and final projects as we close-in on the end of the Challenge - Good Luck!

- Curt

From NormS: A 20 man Napoleonic Austrian Battalion in 28mm (100 points)

This submission allows me to hit my 400 point goal, which was looking very unlikely just a week ago and as I am now away on my hols, there was a narrow window for completion before the challenge ended.

I would like to thank Dallas, Curt and the AHPC team for the time they set aside for the yearly challenge, together with all those who have kindly commented.

It has brought my painting discipline back on track and has added the equivalent of 80 infantry to my Napoleonic Austrian force, which was really needed to allow them to equalise in terms of numbers with the French force that I have. I can now do more balanced scenarios.

As before, I am using just two bases per unit (80mm x 40mm). These are Perry plastics, with facings of green to represent the 9th Infantry Regiment, Czartorski Galician.

I have still not fully standardised my whites - this unit was primed black and then had a base (two coats) of artist quality (Liquitex)  Titanium White acrylic and for a while was perhaps too white! But a dirty wash and Vallejo white highlights helped restore the balance of the universe.

20 x 28mm = 20 x 5 pts

Total for submission 100 points

Thanks Norm.

Norm, your Austrian Napoleonics have been an inspiration throughout the challenge - for one, white is a colour I find very difficult to paint, and two - they're Napoleonics, which look awesome but do require considerably more paintwork than, say, Khorne Berzerkers! You've done a great job on these ones too.

One hundred points for you my friend.

Dallas

From RobH: A walk in the Sun (190 points)

Time flies. The month of February is the busiest month of the year for me at the office. It actually begins in mid January and ended last week. As a result I get next to nothing gaming related completed. But here goes.

1) This was a project I began on Thursday after I signed off work. Twelve Late Roman slingers, or a Saga Levy. This was 15 stages of work, completed at all hours of the day or night. From the first application of paint applied to the trousers (AV Game Color 72.037 Filthy Brown to the final stage of a coat of Mod Podge applied to provide a sealant for the Meadows of Purity Krautcover Scenics. I just wanted to see if I could push it throught in about 60 hours.

2) The second project was the completion of 10 Late Roman Cavalry.  This would be a Warlord and bannerman and a Saga Warrior Unit. This was the project that was start and go in the middle of the night during the long winter season.

3) Finally we have a walk in the sun. This was a freebie from Warlord Games showing off their French Line Infantry. I have some plastics but I prefer my mins to be metal. It had just the right amount of model work that appealed to me. Glue on a head, attach the backpack and roll. No fuss, no muss. I have never got into painting Napoleonics and I don't have a lot of knowledge of the period. This was an easy project simply because I thought, six figures and my Spanish Guerrillas needed someone to ambush. I went for a ragtag look. The greatcoat makes it an easy project.

18 25mm Infantry X 5 points = 90 points

10 25mm Cavalry x 10 points = 100 points

Total 190 Points. 

Very nice work here Rob and a nice variety of historical subjects! I have a large amount of 28mm Napoleonic British and French in a box, waiting for the right moment... I suspect they will be a retirement project. Your ragtag Frenchmen do look the part though!

One-ninety for you!

Dallas

From MarkG: 28mm Railway Tracks (50 Points)

My first, and rather mundane, terrain entry; a set of 28mm railway tracks.

These were part of my effort to create a Russian Civil War Armoured train set, though they will have much use for other WW1 and WW2 wargaming scenarios. 

2 Metres in length, composed of seven sections, each 28.5cm long and 6.5cm wide. In creating these I was very much inspired by an article that appeared in the Lardies 2014 Xmas Special by Pat Smith "Building the Deutsche Reichsbahn."

The tracks are from Sarissa Precision. I used model rail ballast to fill out the base, and then mix of cheap paints from the hardware store and stationary shop (all tones mixed from basic black, white, brown and beige bottles). Painting them was straightforward enough, but time consuming, starting from dark brown layers, through mid gray, to stone gray highlights, and rust for the tracks (a drybrush of Vallejo Cavalry Red). Ballast though is a devil to paint if you don't want to completely drown and warp the track and base.

------------------------

The tracks look awesome Mark, and having worked with ballast before I can sympathize with how much of a pain it is to paint!  Mainly because for model trains it is not usually painted, or even glued down a lot of the time, but rather just laid in, which obviously does not work for our uses.  

As for painting time, it sounds like you spent a ton of time on them, but I have to judge based on an average paint job, not the great job you did.  I am going to award 7 points per strip because I think if I was to soak these in glue first to make painting easier, each strip should take a bit more than painting a figure.  Not sure how you did them, but I would paint the ballast area quick and dirty and messy, then paint the ties and tracks after neatly.  Therefore 7 strips  would come out to 49 points but I am going to round it to 50 points.  Great work.

- Byron 

From Kerry T - A home from home (60 points)

Morning afternoon & evening all 

I've printed off a lot of terrain in the past 18 months and just stored it under the gaming table. Last week when I put a castle together I rediscovered something I'd printed off but forgotten about and thought it would be good get finished.

Its from the Printable Scenery King & Country range and is labelled as a Norman Garrison. I think I know who Norman was but I believe this garrison/fort will suffice for earlier periods including the Viking  & Saxon era and perhaps even a home for a Romano-British warband as its effectively a walled palisade

This is intended to sit on the table edge so there are no back walls

None of the figures or thatched houses were painted for this and have just been included for the setting and the pictures were taken quickly outside on a cloudy day

Can you see the block of wood holding up the backdrop? (doh)

The gateway

The STL files come with straight sections, inward and outward curves, a gateway and raised 2 story section. Ruined versions are also included allowing great overall variation and good value for money. I've only printed off a few pieces

This was a quick and simple paint job using my usual terrain recipe of Black undercoat, then Vallejo Flat Earth dry brushed with Iraqui sand then Pale sand and then flocked to match my terrain boards. The wooden bits were painted in various browns from Vallejo and dry brushed

Dimensions are 100cms in total length, 10cms wide and 7cms high

Many thanks and best wishes

Valleyboy

 

-------------------

What a great looking piece here that can be used for so many different games. The effect you got on the wood and the ground work are both great and very effective. I am going to guess it would take about 4-6 hours per strip here and I count 5 strips, with the middle one with the gate taking longer to paint.  With that I am going to award 60 points and say great work the final result looks really great!

 

- Byron 

From SteveA: Hagglethorn Hollow Ruins (40 points)

Three pieces of "Hagglethorn Hollow" ruins, 3D printed with black filament in scale suitable for 28mm gaming.  While filament was indeed the best choice for cost and durability, the downside is the many many layers of print lines that form small surface ridges meant a simple dry brush paint job would result in very little suspension of disbelief that these were the shrunken stone ruins of a once great and maybe somewhat real castle 

So I took a "two thick coats" painting approach, using a ~ 4:1 mix of Artist Loft craft paint mixed with baking soda, aiming for the thickness of craft paint and the add texture of baking soda would obscure the print lines. 

First coat dark grey stippled on with sponge ensuring total coverage, second coat a lighter grey focused on the upper and outer areas, resulting in the desired "I cant really see the print lines unless I am looking for them" effect I was seeking.  However,  small snag in my paint plan was encountered after I performed and dried my first paint wash, when the science of exposing the Baking Soda(Sodium Bicarbonate) to a very watery paint bath resulted in some of the baking soda from stippled on paint dissolving into the paint wash and then later forming a undesirable clumps of white crust on the paint surface after drying.

So a third coat of stippling with an old craft bush became necessary to conceal the white crusty bits, but in the end was to positive effect as it did lend to more subtle colour texturing.   A craft quality paint brush to anoint miscellaneous bricks with the liquid talent of Agrax Earth shade or Nuln Oil, and then some line work with thinned black craft paint to fill in the spaces between bricks completed the application of pigment, with the last step an application of a few ground level brown grass tufts, achieved the effect I was looking have in my future table top adventures.

I'm looking forwards to using these pieces for games such as Burrows and Badgers,  Frostgrave and maybe a return to Mordheim.

Dimensions of these pieces is roughly 6"x6"x3,  6"x5"x3",  "5,2",10".

------------------

Hmmmm, Let's try this again, shall we???  I commented and scored this yesterday and then published and got a message from Steve today asking about points and comments....  No clue what happened, I blame the big dumb Ukrainian (me!)... so here we go again!

Great work Steve,  I despise the print lines as well, but doing multiple layers of paint and baking soda is a whole level of insanity beyond even me...  It works and looks very effective, so I like it, but not sure I would do it myself.  I also really like the look of multiple different shades of stonework which really help to bring it all alive. Great work.

As for points, I am going to go with just over 13 points each as I feel the probably would take about 4 hours each to get done as they are quite massive (having printed them for you).  I know this doesn't count the stippling time, but I view that as assembly/priming which we are not rewarded for for miniatures, so the same applies to terrain.  I am rounding it up to an even 40 points though.

- Byron 

Ians:10mm Mumakil; ( 44 points )

Hi All At last i have finished the first of the Mumakil. This model has been a nightmare, i got the stl file free on 3d Cults and just could not print it, in the end i went to a local printing company Colourful 3D Creations in fornbourgh in the UK. Even he had trouble as it turned out the models were hollow. There was alot of filling and adding bits that just wouldnot print like the ropes holding on the platforms. But here is the first one. The figures are from Wakelessrex and are their version of the Hadarhim archers {Kabiliat Aljanubi archers) all printed by me. The mounted figures is my version of Erkenbrand from ROK minatures and is a 10mm model.

From the front (i just cannot paint tusks)

and from behind

Close ups of the platgorm with archers

Only another 5 to go {help} So thats 11 x 10mm infantry so 11pts Erkenbrand 3 pts Mumakil ok no idea here

From DaveD . Well that is indeed a beastie . I will class it as 54mm vehicle so that gives you 44 points