From IanW - 28mm Vikings, Partizan and the Contractual LotR Figures (96 Points)

Whilst I did finish this lot last week, I did not get them based. I could have just about managed it but would have spoilt the end result so instead I based up both weeks worth at 5AM this morning!!!

I always do a few of my Sniper Reminders every challenge but this one is a gift for a mate who I thought of when I picked up the figure two years ago. Good job it's not meant as a gift for any reason other than because he will like it!!

The pavement is a few bits of Linka stone wall that I cut out a base sized hole and filled in part. I often try to use Linka and keep some cast wall sections in hand. The poster is taken from a Pro-German image on the internet that I feel this patriot has ripped off the wall.

I started this figure a few times but took here back to the start as I just did not like the coat colour and then in the end threw sense out the window and dressed her in red, I doubt she will see the end of the war! She is an Artizan WWII Russian partizan but I saw her in France rather than Russia.

Given the need to have at least one Lord of the Rings figure posted I went with these GW plastic's and will work them into the roleplaying at some point.

As has already been mentioned a mix of soft and crisp detail but fun to paint. I looked at a few images on Google before finally setting about them but they seemed to paint themselves.

I set my self the task of painting up another four points of Vikings before the end of March. One point a few weeks back and the other three here today. These are all Black Tree figures and whilst I like most of them I have built up a dislike for a couple so my son will be getting some of them for his second Saga army.

In the packs you get a mix of useful figures and the odd one that does not work for me. The guy with the wound is great, the one with the flagon of ale, er not so.

I have agreed to paint up a lot of British 6mm Naps and as part of the payment is some of the Stick on shield decals that I read about with mounting horror in a recent challenge post. Given that I have seventy two of these things I was more than a little worried I would end up throwing them. Well I tried them and have fortunately been a lot more lucky with them. Out of all the decals I added only one failed. So I have a good supply of sticky decals and the water transfers, I will still hand paint plenty though.

The last four allowing me two points of four figures and one of eight. I will get a few more painted yet as I now have some berserker's worth painting up.

So 16 Vikings, 2 Rohan and one angry woman gets me ninety five points, again short of the required weekly haul but I may have a bit of leave where I can catch up a bit. Back to the 15mm Romans for next week.

From DavidL - And for something completely different... (65 Points)

In between painting my Epic Orks, I took the time to bang out a small diorama.

This is a project for a tabletop role-playing game campaign I'm currently running, the Great Pendragon Campaign for the King Arthur Pendragon RPG. This is a massive adventure that takes players through the entire sweep of the Arthurian saga, from Uther's downfall to the final battle between Arthur and Mordred. Along the way, the campaign follows the timespan of the Middle Ages, such that Uther's reign is similar to the 11th century while at Camlann the troops are accoutered in a manner reminiscent of the War of the Roses.

As a visual aide, I've been making these little dioramas to show the players as different types of arms and armor appear. Likewise, outside of enchanted Britain, the world goes along much as it did in our own 6th century, and whenever that element intrudes into the mythic timeline, I'll include a bit of it in the diorama.

Right now, we're in the "Conquest Phase", which takes its cues from Malory's and Geoffrey of Monmouth's descriptions of young Arthur's wars against the "Roman Empire" and the Irish. To reflect this age of war, this diorama features only military men (I usually try and include some civilians and ladies in the set pieces). I crafted a base divided into three parts, an homage to medieval maps that showed continental divisions with narrow little waterways.

On the "Britain" portion, we have Arthur's men, sporting their "early-13th-century" (the point where the campaign is currently at) arms and armor. Miniatures are primarily Curteys (as are the transfers), with the herald, er, heralding from Barony Miniatures.

On the "Ireland" portion, we have tribal Irish (from Crusader). This was my first go at painting plaid patterns, and I just had to muddle through as best I could.

And on the "continental" portion, we have late-Roman infantry (also from Crusader) ready to defend their crumbled empire.

A fun little project, and one that particularly emphasizes the at-times rather gonzo nature of the Great Pendragon Campaign - this is sort of the medievalist equivalent of mixing cavemen and dinosaurs! But that's what's in the literature, and we're having great fun with it. We've been playing for a year of real time and still have about nine months (and 40 game years!) left to complete...

With four mounted and five infantry pieces, this will tally up 65 points for my total.

From IanW - Baccus 6mm Mixture (64 Points)

Last week I failed to supply any figures for the first time in the Challenge but now I hope to make amends with two weeks worth over two posts. First up the little 'un's.

The new project started this Challenge so far has the one unit so I wanted to reinforce them with a splash of colour and nothing does that better than Saka Horse Archers.

One base has seven figures and the other eight so less than I would normally put on a 30x60 Naps cavalry base. Even so these are on a 60x60 base as I just don't see the small base of light cavalry taking up a small area, these boys want enough room to swing a leopard.

Whilst at York Peter from Baccus gave me one of his new Flock Applicators to try, it's a plastic bellows thingy and costs £1.75 and is supposed to make your flock stand up. Well it did not dissapoint and a full review will follow in a few days on the blog.

Six Elephants each with two crew, these are based on 40x60 bases and I have added infantry escorts in the shape of 4 peltasts each. The pikes are again bristles from a brush.

The elephants fill up the base quite a bit which is all fine by me as I want some feeling of mass from them. After all they will have to take on either pike blocks or legions and they have to at least look like they will dent the wall that opposes them.

Next we switch to Napoleonic's and a chance to paint more than a couple of figures the same colour. Whilst I am not painting up the Guard for Waterloo I have set myself the task of painting up every new Baccus new release for the French so could not pass these up. This is the 1st Squadron of the Guard Lancers, everyone does the Red Lancers so I wanted to be a bit different.

Quite nice figures and typically good to paint. Unlike all other Baccus Napoleonic cavalry I have painted these have the Lances at charge and whilst I would have liked more movement in the pennants I applaud the move from attention to attack pose.

Keeping with the Guard we have the Horse Grenadiers with their Bearskins. Nice rich blue after the very dark blue of the Lancers. These have the cast in place flag that I originally did not like of the new castings. Nothing has changed I am still not a fan and would cut it off if I could without making a worse job of it.

I went with a rich yellow rather than gold for the trims and think it came out better than a metallic finish. Again you can get a good look at that grass standing at attention, must be the influence of the Guard.

Away from the Guard but staying with the Elite we have the 1st Carabinier which came out at the same time as the two new Guard sets and brings me back up to date with the new releases. So ends my weeks worth of painting, next up the previous weeks painting :-)

So this totals forty two cavalry figures, eight infantry, six elephants and twelve riders. Rather short of what I need to paint per week to make my 2000, not sure what I can do to catch up.

From JamesR - 28mm Prussian Landwehr Cavalry (70 points)

Hello,

I've managed to finish painting seven Old Glory Prussian Landwehr Cavalry.

They are from the 4th Regiment of the 4th Silesian Landweher Cavalry. They are wearing frumpy schirmutz caps instead of proper shakos. Instead doing my own research, I filched the color scheme from the terrific "Blunders on the Danube" blog.

Here they running towards the left of your computer screen. I've included three previously painted models, that I posted a month ago, before I ran out of blue paint.

Here they are running away.

Here they are helping the Rohirrim cleanse the land of orcs.

Love,

Baconfat

From DavidL - Epic Orks (62 Points)

The Epic project rolls on. Having finished my Titan Legion last week, I turn now to their green-skinned foes. My Ork army consists of three clans, all of which are a bit on the...B-list as far as popularity goes. But what can I say? I like my Orks weird. So first up we've got the Blood Axes...

About half the clan...I'll have to figure out a way to shoot larger groupings of troops...

For those unfamiliar with Orky backstory, the Blood Axes are a clan of Orks that "trade openly with the worlds of the Imperium, parley with the foe, and will even consider retreating from battle if faced with insurmountable odds." Of course, every other Ork clan hates them for this distinctly un-Orky behavior.

Half the infantry and their Rhinos.

In the background I've worked up for my army, this clan is a mercenary company that's hired on with the warboss (who will hopefully be showing up in the next update). Due to the fact that they're mounted in Rhinos, I've dubbed them "Panzork-Grenadiers" and have given them an appropriate palette - dunkelgelb for the armored bits and the heavy weapons, feldgrau for the fabric bits (which are only visible here and there in these pics).

And the other half.

I gave every stand a missile launcher and all the Nobz stands feature a ludicrously oversized autocannon - I figured all the extra heavy weaponry emphasizes this clan's role as seasoned mercs. Likewise, I went heavy on the weathering for the vehicles. These are hard-bitten campaigners who move from war to war, fighting for the highest bidder. They don't have time to keep their kit parade-ground clean!

And the Nobz.

Given the prevalence of those humie Rhinos, I had to attach a section of black-market Land Raiders as well. These old plastic sculpts aren't the best, but they're totally iconic for me, as they were part of those 1st and 2nd edition Space Marine boxed sets that so many of us hold fond memories of.

This clan also sports a couple support units, and they'll be showing up in next week's Epic update, along with the second clan of the army. In the meantime, we've got 80 infantry and 11 vehicles, so that makes 62 points for this entry.

From AaronH - 28mm Dwarfs (55 Points)

This entry is the rest of the army from last week.  These are the eleven models that I wasn't able to prime until right before the weekend.

Eleven Dwarfs.

These are all metal sculpts, more Khazad Guard and Iron Guard, along with a single captain.

The Captain is a very nice sculpt.  At times it can be hard to tell the leaders from the rank and file but this model is unique in the army.

The beaten bronze shield.

His shield looks like beaten copper or brass to me.  I went with a simple Dwarf Bronze and Devlan Mud wash.

He has a unique helmet as well.

The other models are more of the same sculpts as last week.  They are great models.  Some of my favorites from GW.

Great beards and braids.

This is the last of this army for the Challenge.  I'll be painting more of these as I want to change the list up, but the replacement killers need to be assembled and primed and there's not enough time left to muck about with that sort of thing.