From AnthonyO - US Airborne, French Dragon Portees and even more Hinds (225 points)

This has been an exciting week for me as I have finished the Russians for Team Yankee with these last six Hinds, added to my Early War 28mm French with some brand new miniatures and I started a new force of 28mm US Airborne.

1:100 Russian Hinds - Battlefront - Team Yankee - 60 Points

These are the last six Hinds that I will ever do, big call I know but after doing ten all now up I have had enough. The rotor assembly is very painful and brittle and caused many a grey hair to form and fingers to be stuck together during construction. Other then that they are great kits to paint and look very menacing on the table.

28mm Crusader Miniatures French Dragon Portes - 50 Points

I am very excited about these miniatures which have only just come out from Crusader Miniatures. As a French fanatic for Bolt Action I have an extensive collection of forces from the Battle of France through to the Desert fighting in North Africa so any chance to add to them with new miniatures and I will jump at it. I am still doing research into the application of the units in the French Army however I understand them to be motorcycle troops who formed part of the Regular French standing Army and were well trained and equipped. They would dismount to fight as shown here and currently I am not aware of any motorcycle mounted available however I am hopeful Crusader will follow up this release with those.

The miniatures are beautiful, well sculpted and cast and with enough variety to kit out a Bolt Action reinforced platoon without to much replication. Expect more of these as the challenge progresses.

28mm Artizan Miniatures US Airborne - 90 Points

Ok so last week I made the mistake of watching Band of Brothers again whilst painting my Dragon Portes. I failed the morale check and all of a sudden I had the entire Artizan collection of Airborne on my paint desk. I just can't explain how nice these miniatures are I quickly decided that they are going to be my showcase army of 2017. Again expect more of these as the challenge winds down.

For this week I have painted 12 infantry troops and 3 artillery crewman along with an Airborne 57mm Anti-Tank gun.

Finally a little Easter Egg if you have made it this far is my share of the Curtgeld, a 28mm Landsknecht member of a looting party. My share is done and is to be shipped off to the other members of the crew so they can put the full party together.

Alan and Paul: 'Failed my morale check..' - hah! Love it! It has been a real treat seeing your entries each week, and these are my favourite of the challenge so far. The Hinds are great, but I am blown away by the French, and particularly by the US Paras. I really admire the way that you manage to get so much depth of tone into figures that could easily end up looking pretty drab. Just lovely stuff! I look forward to basing up the Landsknecht along with the efforts of the other Odinians.

As for the points, the six Hinds get you 60 points, the 26 x 28mm figures earn you 130 points, with 10 for the gun and 20 extra for the Curtgeld. That's 220 points, but I'm adding another five in recognition of just what a great job you have done with the US Airborne.