From PeterB - 6mm Napoleonic Russian Artillery (45 points)

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post, it's really appreciated.

I completed the light batteries this week.  Again I've done these as 3 model batteries to reflect the fact that they usually contained 12 guns (8 x 6 pdr cannon and 4 howitzers).  That's another 45 points in the bag I think.

Unfortunately, I didn't quite finish the basing on the horse batteries so these will have to wait until next Thursday.  I'm finding the basing on these guns quite time consuming as there is quite a lot of drying time needed between each of the early stages.

On the plus side, I'll have the horse batteries completed tomorrow and can then move onto the cavalry (Dragoons, Cossacks and Hussars).  I'm a bit concerned about painting horses in this scales, but then again I was concerned about painting 6mm figures in general when I first started.

I've also taken quite a few pictures at each stage with these so will try to write up a short tutorial for my blog over the next few days.

From Curt:

Wow! Peter, you are well on your way to creating the Russian artillery park at Borodino at 1:1 scale!  :)

These are excellent. As I mentioned when you debuted your first group, I think your basing is wonderful and well worth the extra effort you've put into them. 

I look forward to seeing the horse artillery next and then the cavalry!

Great job.

A New Challenge Sponsor! 'Tsuba Miniatures'

Greetings All!

I have great news! We have a new Challenge sponsor!! Markus Heurung, proprietor of 'Tsuba Miniatures' has kindly offered to provide a gift voucher good for a selection of figures from his wonderful range of Russo-Japanese War and German Revolution models. 

Thank you very much Markus for your generous support of the Challenge!

From Millsy - ECW Dragoons and Scots Pike (182 points)

As if the Space Marines from my other entry this week weren't complicated enough I thought I'd also paint a pile of cavalry and then try my hand at Scots plaid as well. Like all my great plans it came unstuck about 15 minutes after I started. I've never tried painting plaid before. That's Evan's job after all...

These are Renegade Miniatures like the vast majority of my ECW collection and I love them. The detail is sharp, they're well proportioned and the have loads of character. The faces on these are a little flat and gave me some trouble but I'm happy enough with them.

I decided to arm these with a half-pike for no other reason than it looked good. The colour is another home-brew Photoshop effort - just a plain St Andrew's Cross - so these can be used for both sides as required.

As I said I'd never painted plaid (nor tartan) before and had me some swearing [ahem!] until I got my head round it. I wasn't helped by the lack of flat surfaces like kilts either I don't think. A quick squizz at one of the best blogs on t'internet in Project Auldearn 1645 gave me plenty of ideas though and I'd happily do more now. I've got 16 shotte on the table at the moment to go with these but they don't have any plaid (thankfully?).

While I was painting these I also finished my last horse regiment - the mounted version of Sir Arthur Aston's Dragoons. You saw the dismounted version of the same unit in my very first entry this year.

These figures are mostly from Bicorne Miniatures which mix very well with Renegade for size and style being the same sculptor. I've mixed in a bunch of horses with and without pistols for a more experienced look. There's also a Wargames Foundry chap as I was short one rider but you'd never know. One of the things I really like about these is the continental influence with the Dutch style coats on a couple of the riders.

Painting-wise I went a bit crazy on the horse colours once again. 5 different browns, 3 different greys and a black. :-) You'd think I would have given up now as I'm passing the 70 mark with these ones. They're the last ones I'm painting. Really they are. The flag is home-made once again and something of a guess as I explained here.

So a few more Scots shotte figures and this project is pretty much complete. For now. 200+ infantry, 70+ cavalry and a host of other stuff. When I submit the last bits next week I'll do some army shots for you as well.


From Curt:

Ah, I'm a bit biased here as I love how this army has developed. You've done a beautiful job on the Scots Millsy. I think you nailed the plaid, giving just enough of an impression of the pattern without getting lost in it (a problem I have all the time). The half-pikes are thematically spot-on and the Saltire is a great way to go for game flexibility (though in the future I'd like to see a nasty Argyll banner representing my 'home team'). 

The regiment of Horse are brilliant. I think the variation in brown tones has really paid off when seen as a whole and so does the seeding of various figure ranges throughout the unit (I too like those Dutch-style coats - the juxtaposition of fine lace and swords, you can't beat it.). 

Wonderful stuff Millsy!

From KevinH - 28mm WWII US Airborne Troopers & Lt. Winters (60 Points)

For today's post, let's continue the "US Airborne" theme...

First off, the Limited Edition "Lt. Winters" figure.  I really liked this figure!  I have to look into this, but I think Warlord commissioned Paul Hicks to sculpt this figure, and it just looks awesome.  It's not quite so easy to see from my pics, but "in person," it looks to me as if the face even looks a bit like Damien Lewis from the "Band of Brothers" series!

My only gripe about this figure is the "dog tags."  They were cast in metal, and that makes for a very HEAVY figure!  I wish they had cast the dog tags in resin, to cut down the weight.  I might have to pick up another of these models, so I can do one on a "groundwork" base, to match my other figures.

Next up, Lt. Winters gets a Radio Operator, to keep in touch with Command.  I had to replace the barrel on the Carbine, as it was about ready to break off anyway.  A bit of fine brass wire, and a bit of Super Glue to mock up a muzzle, and we're done.  Also added a nylon paint brush bristle for the radio antenna!

This round, sees the addition of a 60mm Mortar team for the Airborne force.  I'm not really a fan of modelling a group like this on separate bases, but some rules require this sort of thing, so there you go.  And this way, I can always use the guy with the binoculars as an Artillery Forward Observer (watch this space for further developments on that idea!)

Carrying on, we have two Sergeants with Thompson SMG's.  I don't think this line has one, but a running figure with a Thompson would have been nice, to model Lt. Spears from "Band of Brothers!"

I also completed a few more Riflemen models to start fleshing out this force.  Here are two kneeling models.

And here are three standing models.  I really like the running figure in this group - a really nice 'dynamic' pose, and and the animation of the posture is spot on.

And just to recap, here's a "group shot" for this round - 12 models for a grand total of 60 pts. 

And last up, a shot of my Airborne force so far.  A Lieutenant with two Riflemen; a Bazooka team; a 60mm Mortar team; two seven man Rifle squads, with one squad including a Medium Machine Gun team; and an M4A3 Sherman tank.  I think I might just have enough to start playing modest games of Bolt Action!

Thanks for looking!


From Curt:

You did a cracking job on these Kevin! I think you really nailed the colour tone for the uniforms on these American paratroopers - very clean paintwork and great contrasts which makes them 'pop' in the photos. 

That Lt. Winters figure is an amazing sculpt (Hicks' skills in capturing the face of Lewis is astonishing) and you've done him great justice. Too bad about about their choice to go with the dog-tag base - pretty schmaltzy if you ask me.

I like the last shot of your force-to-date. What are you thinking of painting for opponents? Fallshirmjaegers? Garden variety Heer troops?

Again, great work Kevin!

From Millsy - Space Marine Veterans & Predator (40 points)

I'm rapidly approaching the completion of my home-brew 40K Space Marine chapter which I must admit is something of a relief. Each of these last units seems to take an inordinate amount of time to paint up as I've left the most complex and detailed to the end. Doh!

In this batch we have a unit of five Veterans with close combat weapons and a Predator Annihilator (that's a big tank for you non-40K peeps).

The Veterans are all my favourite "beaky" style helmets and have a two-tone red/green scheme with gold helmets (to indicate their Veteran status). Like all 100 or so previous metal body and plastic armed chaps these have had their arms pinned in place and yes I did drill each and every one by hand. My doctor says I'll be fine so long as I stay away from crowds and keep taking the tablets.

They each have pimped up jet-packs with extra gold widgets and wing thingies for extra woot. The sergeant also has a natty loin-cloth covering up Emperor-knows-what...

Until now I've been pretty light on with armoured support basically because I like painting infantry and hate painting vehicles. Painting this beast I remembered all the reasons why. I'm a bit over the top when it comes to pimping my rides and this is no exception.

I've added loads of icons, a pile of custom made Mechanicum-style gear tooth extra armour and several other bits and bobs. All that means loads and loads of careful edging, nooks, crannies and general faffing about. Looks OK though...

You'll note there is absolutely no light weaponry like MGs on "Big Red". That's because I envisage he's something of a WWII German Elefant-esqe monster designed to kill other tanks and not much else. Anything on foot that gets near him will be dealt with by someone (as opposed to something) else. I hope.

I've got one more AFV to go which might appear in next's weeks batch if my eye stops twitching. I might also have a few more infantry but I've got no idea where they are right now. Like that's never happened before...


From Curt:

Millsy, I can't remember, did you start this force with us a Challenge or so ago or was it a previous project? No matter, I've always really enjoyed watching your progress with it. It reminds me of the heady days of early Rogue Trader where GW actually encouraged people to make up their own Space Marine Chapters.

 I love the punchy colours of this army, especially the bold choice of combining green with red - which can often go terribly awry, but the tones you've chosen work marvelously well together (especially with that judicious touch of gold you introduce from time-to-time). The Predator looks, well, very predatorial!  Nonetheless, after seeing the behemoths coming out of Forge World it will need every las-cannon it has to keep up with the arms race.

Great job Millsy!

From JamieM - Pulp Sci-Fi: The Heroes! (30 Points)

So, after my evil minions last week, I've now completed the heroes of the story, taking influences from Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy among others.

All of these figures are from Bombshell Miniatures and they're fantastic to paint up and just made me smile.

Captain Skip Westmoreland and the long suffering mechanic Maelee, whose job it is to keep the rustbucket ship going:

Next up, the aliens. Fiercely loyal to Skip and Maelee, they add keen firepower and scientific expertise.

Last up are those staples of sci-fi, the hulking, good natured alien and the fussy robot. The robot was going to be silver or gold, but then I saw the great scheme AnneO applied to her smaller Bombshell Miniatures robot and I was sold.... So I stole it!

Matching grey coats and this is the view the bad guys often see if things get a bit hot.....

And lastly, the group shot:

I think these will do nicely as a Pulp Alley League or 7TV cast, just need to top them up with some other miniatures waiting patiently and get the evil mastermind done now too. Oh, and the ship of course!

From Curt:

Ah, these are all really wonderful Jamie! You have all the great archetypes here. My personal favourites are  'The Hulking Good-Natured Alien' and the two mono-eyed, green-skinned lasses. Lovely work. I very much look forward to seeing the Evil Mastermind and the space ship (!).