From StephenS - Veteran Grenadier Squad (50 Points)

Here is my first ever entry, a 10 man squad of 28 mm Veteran Grenadiers from Warlord Games. These will see action in my German force for Bolt Action. They have been sitting in the pile since I picked them up at Cancon (a gaming convention in Australia) in January. It's amazing what a little bit of friendly competition will do for painting motivation!

I know, I know, everyone loves going up against veteran troops armed with assault rifles in Bolt Action. However, these are the first part of a 1945 - Last Levy list I'm building, more of which I hope to reveal as the Challenge progresses. The rest of the troops will be mostly inexperienced Volkssturm and Kriegsmarine squads, which should hopefully balance things out.

The camouflage is my first attempt, and not a pattern you are likely to find in any history books :) 

Apologies for the blurriness of the photos, I'm still working out how to take the best shots. All up, it should be 50 points. 

Cheers,

Steve

Really lovely work Steve. Even though the camo may be a bit conjectural, I must say it looks pretty darn good to me. I also like your basing using a bit of deadfall leaves to break up the grass - nice.  I look forward to seeing your upcoming Volkssturm as I'm sure they will be a mixed lot. 50 points it is - well done.

From MarkH - 28mm Panzer Mark III Tank (18 Points)

 Hi Everyone

Here is my very first entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  I honestly wasn't sure i was going to make this one with all the issues with my back and my camera and light box deciding they didn't want to cooperate - none the less i got something done.

A Rubicon plastic Panzer 3 tank for my bolt action DAK army.

Here are a couple of side views.

And here a couple of close up shots.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - 3 hours of work spread over the last 5 days. This was a great little model to put together and paint up and I'm looking forward to my next Rubicon model.

I think a 28mm vehicle is 15 points for the competition - I'm sure ill be corrected if I'm wrong.

Till next week. Mark :)

Oooh, that is a rather tasty Panzer Mk III.

Absolutely top notch work Mark! Your weathering is brilliant, especially the chipping and spotting of rust. The only thing I might suggest is adding a little more dust to the bottom of the chassis.  In looking at period pictures of these vehicles in North Africa you can see that they were often virtually caked with sand and dust.  

And you are correct, this Panzer will give you a base of 15 points, but I'm going to give you a few extra for the excellent detail work. Well done.

From JuanM - Special Agents (10 Points)

 Here is my second entry for The Challenge, in the first week! I have been able to paint two 28mm models from Crooked Dice, very nice figures:

The little girl, from Haslefree Miniatures, is a veteran from a previous Challenge and is here only to compare her with the Crooked Dice models. Perfectly compatible, I think.

These figures, Melody Lake and Mr Killan, are very easy to paint, and a pleasure to do it, clean and simple, so they have been a perfect side distraction from my main objectives... I could use them in a Zombie game or in a 7TV game if I buy that ruleset, but not at the moment. Now, they have been only a test about painting civilians (and more white clothes), and 10 points.

Cheers!!!

You've done great work on these Juan!  I particularly like the face on Mr. Killan - he has a very pensive expression. Where are these character from? I'm assuming they must be from a TV series. Anyway, they are very cool.

Now, we seem to be experiencing a long silence from your dueling partner Mr. Hawkins... When will he give fire?

From JohnM - The Inscrutable Tong & Minions (45 Points)

For my first submission to this year's Painting Challenge I decided to go with the leftovers from last year's Challenge. I had 12 figures primed that I never got around to painting. These are the first nine. They are of course from West Wind Productions Empire of the Dead line and are their Chinese Tong boxset with the Inscrutable Tong.

What is somewhat strange to me is that even though I clearly devote a couple of hours a day to wargaming, these are the first 28mm figures I have painted since last year's Challenge! It is amazing to me that my hobby time has so shifted from painting to wargaming and terrain planning. I do like painting but enjoy wargaming much more so it is all good.

 

 

The figures are very nice, but my painting is a little rough but at 12" they look OK. This set joins the Nemesis Criminals and the London Bobbies sets I have already painted from this line. I am not sure if I will ever get to play Empire of The Dead. There are at least a couple of people in my club who seem to regularly play In Her Majesty's Name which is quite similar.

Ah, it's good to have another one of the Challenge's Grognards back in the stirrups - welcome back John and welcome back to painting figures!

These figures have such great character and would be fabulous for many Pulp scenarios and, really, who can resist a character named 'The Inscrutable Tong'? Now you need a Chinese Junk or perhaps a Warlord's armoured train for them to inhabit.

The Inscrutable Tong and his Gang will give John 45 points. Well done!

From IanW - 6mm British Napoleonic Rifle Battalions (24 Points)

Now for the small stuff, I have painted up these two battalions of rifles for my nine year old's growing Peninsular army. They are Baccus 6mm and needed very little clean up work.

First up the 60th Rifles who tend to get over shadowed by the 95th due to the Sharpe novels. Shame really as I think the red facings make them a better looking unit.

Talking of the 95th, here they are with a few more out front skirmishing the poor French. Each base has 24 figures making for a total of 24 point's as I make a move on my second side challenge.

Ahh, our 6mm specialist, excellent. These look marvelous, Ian. I can clearly visualize the mullets, hear the churning guitars of 'Over the Hills and Far Away' while I peer into the ranks of the 60th to see if I can spot Sweet William. ;) 

Well done and 24 points for you!

From IgnacioR - 28mm Mordheim Skaven (30 Points)

First entry, I´ve been really busy at the office but I managed to paint some rats, I custom made the bases so the whole band will look like walking around the city of damned.

My first idea was to work on a 40k army, but my friends are in a Mordheim campaign and I wanted to have a warband as soon as possible, so here are four Verminkin with slings and two night runners.

Really funny to paint them, the skin of one Night Runner its a little bit darker cause I'm gonna try to use different skin tones to give some variation to the warband. Now I just need to paint fourteen more...

I also think my cat is shock cause I'm painting rats...

Haha! Yes, you cat does look in shock. Perhaps (s)he can make a debut in your Mordeim campaign as Giant Cat that's been mutated by the Wyrdstone.  

Very nice work Nacho. I quite like the flesh tones of your Skaven and those custom bases are really fabulous. Is there a puddle on the one in the second last image? Very cool.

30 Points for you Nacho, and welcome aboard!

From AlexS - Mercenary Longbowmen & Russian Line Infantry Battalion (210 points)

A unit of hired archers manufactured by the Perry brothers, who will be part of my army of Venice. I tried to make them the same as the previous unit.

Russian line infantry battalion to 1812. Once again Perry brothers - in my opinion, the best manufacturers of plastic on the historical wargames, although they have small errors. I'm having difficulty with the right green - he was more light than necessary. Hopefully, next time will be better.

Total - 42 miniatures and 210 points.

Wow, it would seem that we have several participants who are swinging for the parking lot this year! Great work Alex. I particularly like that Russian line battalion, though I think they've left the depot without their banners!  The Czar will be most displeased... ;)

From MartinC - I'll Raise You Another Impi (120 Points)

Work's party yesterday so a little peaky today. Now off work for 2 weeks, so I get to do some painting - which is nice.

Finished another Impi today. These 24 Zulus are the umKhuse regiment in their Sunday go to meeting clothes. These were a pain as 12 figures don't fit on a single 80x60mm base so I had to cut off a lot of their hands before attaching the shields to make them fit.

Great work Martin! I know you had to do a bit of fiddling about to fit them all on the base, but they do look fabulous ranked-up in a tight mob. Again the grass is a great touch and I like the red shields on these fellows. 

This impi will give you 120 points to add to your tally. I have a strange feeling we'll be seeing more of these fierce chaps coming over the horizon...

From PaulS - Dead rising... (45 Points)

Congratulations to everyone who has already managed to submit entries. It's taken a lot of effort for me to even finish these 9! For the first time ever I've opted to partake in some side challenges as some extra incentive to push things a bit. So what's up first?

The first batch off the painting table are all 28mm fantasy figures from the core Dungeon Saga set. We have three skeleton warriors and 6 zombies. All are based on clear acrylic bases, which is my standard fare for skirmish models.

The skeletons are nigh on identical in pose to the classic Heroquest skeletons... though a little bit more in proportion. You would, theoretically, be able to fit one of these inside the barbarian character. I'll do a side-by-side comparison when the heroes get painted. 

Then we have some classic style zombie peasants

And some more feral looking zombies that look far more like Mantic's ghouls... so I can see them changing role once the Zombicide: Black Plague zombies start to be painted up.

For the side challenges only 2 of each count towards the Dungeon Saga side challenge as the others were KS bonuses, but all of them are useful for Frostgrave and that side-challenge. 9 figures should total up to 45 points, which is less than I wanted for the opening shot, but is better than nothing :)

These are some wonderful looking undead, Paul, if 'wonderful' can be used to describe undead... Hmm, I'm sure for some Lich Lord undead are perfectly wonderful... The shading on the skellies' bones and zombies' purifying flesh is excellent and I really like the glowing eyes. I'm also a big fan of your clear bases as I love the minimalist look of them. For me, I'm afraid old habits die hard, and I'm just too used to doing my own groundwork, that I couldn't take the plunge with this approach (I'd miss the tufts and rocks!). This provides a great aesthetic though...

45 Points for your climb up the roster Paul! 

From AdamC - Hagman the Sharp Shooter (5 Points)

Another Frostgrave entry this time a "Soldier" or adventurer as I prefer to think of them. This particular one is a Marksman (or he could work as a Crossbowman, both are soldier types in the original Frostgrave)

I put him in green leggings and shirt sleeves of the sort an 18th Century Jager or a Rifle regiment soldier of the Napoleonic wars might wear.  I made his outer garment light blue, then a heavy wash followed by a white/gray dry brush to create as sort of cammo a smart warrior would wear in a snow covered land.

 

I name my Frostgrave soldiers and this fellow is called Hagman after the sharpshooting poacher from the Sharps novels.

He's a great figure Adam. His face has loads of character and he certainly looks the business in his winter camo, crossbow up, ready to feather some fierce reindeer or some poor fat sod in a red suit clambering around on rooftops. ;o)

5 points for you. Well done.