Welcome to the Painting Challenge. Here you will find the fabulous, fevered work of miniature painters from around the world. While participants come from every ethnicity, gender, age and nationality, they have three things in common: they love miniatures, they enjoy a supportive community, and they want to set themselves against the Challenge.
This site features the current year's event along with the archives of past Painting Challenges.
Enjoy your visit and remember to come back soon.
Here are 2 units of Gendarmes each of 8 mounted 28mm figures the first unit is the elderly unit in the title as they are venerable Hinchcliffe figures from long ago last century! As they were an ebay purchase the horses are from various sources and indeed as some of them came without heads I was forced to add perry heads to a couple, which have turned out surprisingly well I think. I used Hans Burgkmair's The Triumph of Maximillian as my source in painting them , I added some vines and flowers which are in other period illustrations , these are not terribly succesfull but they are done now and I'm buggered if I'm going back to them! En masse I'm happy with them and they were relatively cheap! The next batch are Old Glory and I wasn't looking forward to them but I think they have come out rather well and I enjoyed painting them, rather more geometric patterns which works well at this scale and fun with the lances, the (rather oversize looking now)banners are overpainted downloads.
This should give me 160 points which would leave me 25 points short of my total , I have another unit of Gendarmes and some bits and bobs so I should make that.
I do have a Curt geld dilemma as I have nothing arranged and the end is looming, I have got 2 nice renaissance figures that go together well, if anyone fancies painting the other one drop me a line at caveadsum1471@yahoo .com and I'll pop it in the post to you.
These should also count in my renaissance side challenge with Curt
All the best Iain
The Italian Wars have some of the most colorful units in history(to include historic personna equally colorful in name,atire, and character)The Gendarmes have always been my favorite ever since I seen some period prints which portrayed Roland and his men as Gendarmes. Big men in metal suits on big horses in metal suits and carrying colorful pointy sticks. These fellows more than live up to the expectation and I quite enjoy the colors and paterns you used on them. There is absolutely no mistaking them for their task. Beautifuly done, Iain!
There's been quite an absence from me due to our house renovations and moving to a new place, but finally it's all finished and I can get back to having free time! Six weeks of painting walls and laying down new floors didn't leave too much time for anything fun. We moved in at the end of February and have more or less settled in. Still a lot of things in boxes around, but at least my man cave is starting to form up!
Allright, let's get straight to the biscuits. World War 2, the Nazis are making their mark on Europe. Adolf Hitler wants to take the world, and keep it... all for himself! Hitler's days are numbered, because Danger 5 are on the case.
A masterpiece of modern television straight from Australia! Danger 5 chronicles the adventures of a group of allied agents, Danger 5, and their quest to kill Hitler. This has to be one of the most absurd shows I've seen in the last few years. Influenced by pulp adventures and 60s action series, it has action scenes that make the original Star Treks fights look realistic, over the top characters, ridiculous plot twists and always a conveniently placed window for Hitler to escape through. If you haven't seen it yet, I definitely recommend watching it!
During last challenge I put a short clip of Danger 5 in
one of my entries and somebody suggested I paint up the heroes from the
series. So when I visited Salute last year after the challenge and
noticed Crooked Dice had a booth there I naturally had to get the set
for the next painting challenge. While I was at it I couldn't resist the
sets of Nazi soldiers and their lizard counterparts as well. Should
provide some nice minis for pulp games when regular WW2 starts feeling
too dull! As a bonus Crooked Dice were giving out a free Cameraman with
all sets bought at Salute so I had somebody to record the heroics!
The heroes, Colonel Chestbridge, Jackson, Ilsa, Tucker, Pierre, Claire and everyone's favorite, the Patriotic Hound, Blondi.
As someone could guess from the TV theme I intended to get these done for the final Bonus round, but alas work got in the way and I had to leave for a business trip and only had a day to paint the whole squad. In the end I decided to prioritize sleeping instead of an allnight painting session and just left them for the week.
Simple paintjobs with a wash over the base shades followed up by a couple of layers to bring out the details. The sculpts were mostly very good and casting was excellent. The cameraman was a bit lacking though. He's definitely sculpted by a different sculptor as the style is different and quality is much worse with especially the face being quite badly sculpted. Still can't complain as it was a free extra mini :)
Who would have known that Lizard people were running the planet already in the 1940s...
So that's 14 figures, 1 dog and 1 camera. I'd figure that's about 16 28mm figures then and should give me 80 points and get me close to my halfway through my goal. With these out of the way it's time to start gathering points in a mad rush to the finish! There's no way I'm going to reach my 1000 point goal after having to take 6 weeks off from all hobby activity. But at least I can try getting close to it! I have some AB Napoleonics in store that should yield a decent amount of points and be a lot faster to paint than these guys were.
That was Patriotic dog, ladies and gentlemen, a tough act to follow
Spectacular Pulpy entry, Samuli! You really can't go wrong with 60's camp Scifi. The addition of Reptilian nazi goons and a loyal pooch just adds the extra oomph! Very clean work on them all! I quite like the lizard flesh,er, scale tones too! I t is a shame that the cameraman wasn't up to the same quality as the rest, but you did a fine job on him as well. It just wouldn't be 7TV without a cameraman and you defintley cannot beat his price! The only place you have erred is in the point tally. I'm quite certain that a camera would qualify as an artillery piece( The past year of my countriy's political theatre has really proven that!) and crew! It is a shame you missed the bonus round with this, but I'm honored to post it on my shift!
My Curtgeld project is a team effort with Sylvain. I've finished my piece of the project and will be handing it over to Sylvain shortly. The base is unfinished as Sylvain's wizardry includes terraforming the base.
We wanted to go with something that Curt could use on table and decided that a weapon team that would fit his SCW project might do the trick. This is a Perry model of an Italian 20mm Breda Auto-cannon from the brothers' WW2 range. The Chain of Command lists allows such a team as support for both the SCW and WW2, so it seemed to fit the bill. Although it was officially an AA gun, it has a decent ant-tank and anti-personal effect under CoC, especially for the SCW. I will note that CoC specifes a team of 5 and the Perry pack comes with a team of 3, but Curt can work that out - he doesn't strictly go by the lists anyway.
I will be happy going back to the SYW!
This set was a brand new release during the Challenge, but I liked the look of and was looking forward to a modelling challenge. Well I can safely say that I now know my modelling skill limits and this gun is definitely past them! Adventures encountered on the way included the following mandatory steps.
Not being sure how things fit together and finding the Ikea like drawing that almost helped
Gluing bits to my fingers and my fingers to each other and everything else
Almost gluing bits in backwards
Losing a key piece and having to replicate it (a round base is now replaced by a washer and a piece of card)
Assembling the gun and carriage without the gunner for painting, only to find out that I couldn't fit the painted gunner under the painted gun. I had to disassemble the gun to get things together.
Having bits that I was sure were firmly glued on drop off unexpectedly. Of course as soon as I took the photos, I picked it up by the gunner and the rest of the gun and team fell off.
The end result is rougher than I would have liked and a definite bodge together in spots, but hopefully people apply the two foot rule and see it mostly in action on table.
Note the many, many tiny parts! Also the gunner comes cast onto the seat so it's not as illustrated!
Painting wise, I found several museum examples of the weapon in a medium green with black gun barrel etc. Action photos tend to be from North or East Africa and show a sand coloured carriage and barrel. I went with the green and black to avoid an all over tan effect.
Action photo with what looks like the green/black gun and a mostly naked but much wimpier crew. Terrain could be North or East Africa
The Perry crew are in tropical kit and are very stripped down. Sylvain's comment was that they are also very beefy! The Italians in the SCW went into the theatre in Tropical kit but most pictures that I've seen include long pants, and they changed to warmer wear over the winter. I guess that this crew has been working their gun hard and it's been hard work. I went with generic tan clothes with brown leather belts etc. The pecs and abs gave challenges but layers of various fleshtones with washes seems to get the effect OK.
I quite like the Officer with binoculars
Well, I can certainly commiserate over instructions(or lack of). Still that beast of a gun will certainly give an adversary pause! That is a very nice green chosen and the Italian lads look very fine as well(I'm almost shocked to see an abscence of lace!)
I'm sure the Snowlord will very much appreciate this and will find a use for it within his devious machinations!
Hi just a small points total but important as been "off the boil" and these few figures take me to my target and nicely set me up back in the groove for the last week.
I have presented the figures firstly in a diorama picture.
In more detail, first are a couple of North star figure range monk shooters.
After this we have a mix with a couple of Perry figures that have converted
heads - these represent the Ikko Iki - a Buddist influenced peasant league.
The kanji represent a Buddist slogan which I have copied from some screenprints used as illustrations in the Osprey range. I chose a slogan with a smaller number of kanji! I think the other two figures with fur cloaks are North star figures and in one I filed the hair off to get a more monk look.
I would especially recommend the Stephan Turnball "Samurai Warfare" book which I got cheaply off Amazon as it has quite a bit of detail on the Ikko Ikki and a lot of the troops were pretty well armoured.
This has the kanji in more detail - accurate ..... but the stroke order and overall calligraphy can be criticised!
Finally I have a "ronin" type figure with a couple of disorder markers -
Overall 7 foot figures and two dead disorder markers.
Cheers Jez
Very tidy bunch, Jez! I cannot score for the diorama shots, but from the parcels to the structure and deck, that is some scrumptious terrain for feudal Japan! The monks are well done as the glyphs onthe banners. Although he is taking a nap, The fellow in the pattern red pants looks very nice too. I appreciate the disorder markers immensely as they are more elegant than simple tokens. Usually prone figures are worth half of the value of the more stoic fellows, but I'm going to count this as nine for the pattern trousers and the extra prep done to fit the others in as monks. The conversions are very hard to spot, so grand job at that! I have also piped you for the caligraphy which is also nicely done!
This could be a multi-post week for me, but I suspect that it will lead to no posts next week. This is a 28mm Powder Cart from Perry Miniatures AWI range. As with (almost) everything else I've done this year it is for my SYW Sharp Practice project.
As with everything else that I've painted from this range, this was a lovely set and went together very nicely and quickly. It also painted up quickly and nicely.
Rather than paint this for a specific army I went with a generic approach so that it could serve either the French or Anglo-Allied forces. I used a faded dark blue-grey for the cart and painted the driver as a civilian. Similarly the Perry's sell this as a powder cart but I think that it can double as a ammo cart, engineer cart or what ever else I need it to be.
I have been basing my troops on washers for individual figures and Renendra plastic bases from Perry box sets for multi-figure bases. This set was bigger than any plastic bases I had on site so I cut a piece of bass wood to fit.
Points wise that's a cart, a horse and a foot figure. I'll leave it to my minion to work out the math officially.
And another post from Peter! I really like this little gem! My initial reaction was the color chosen for the cart which does remind me of the sunbleached timber from the barns here in my AO. It gives it a nice aged and worn look which enhances it's versatility in use for any force. Your groundwork is very nice on this piece as well. It seems they are approaching camp or cannon on a fallow field. It is a very nice sculpt and well rendered by your brush!
My final truck based entry ("thank truck", I hear you say!).
Rumbling down the road from the lead mountain comes 8 x AEC Matador artillery tractors. These are 15mm Battlefront models and will be the 'tractors' for my recently completed 5.5" Medium Guns.
Again, I've decalled these guys up for 79th Medium Regiment (The Scottish Horse), 4AGRA - around the 7th and 8th of August 1944. However, as no one makes the units decals at 15mm, the complete unit decals are on the 'for the future' list - specifically the 21st Army Group formation badge.
I went for a slightly different paint scheme on these, as normally they are seen with black roofs. The 'Mickey Mouse' camo pattern doesn't fit with the rest of my army, and is a bit of a nuisance to paint - so I went with some colours I have seen on re-enactors vehicles.
No fancy bases on these, as they are more gun tractors than HQ vehicles. I don't expect them to see a lot of table time, but it's nice to have the complete unit! Now to fight the urge to have 5.5" guns modelled limbered up!
Thanks!
Very nice work on the work horses, James! The camouflage works well for the scale and although I'd like to see the mickey mouse pattern on them, this version works exceedingly well. I really like the canvas backs as they have the well worn feel to them. I can easily imagine them retaining the box shape if removed from the trucks too! I think they DO need the 5.5 guns...just to be complete! ;)
David, again you may recognize the poses. I love the chaps with the pipes.
Continuing on with my SYW Sharp Practice project I have 13 members of the Hessian Freywald Militia Regiment. The Hessian Militia was originally used to patrol roads in Hesse-Kassel, but were reorganized in 1760 as Garrison Regiments and then used in the field. The Freywald regiment became the Von Kuntzleben Regiment in 1760 with a change in Colonel. They fought (and were roughed up) at Sandershausen in 1758 and with much better results at Langensalza in 1760. I chose this Militia unit because I like the yellow facings. The figures are (no surprises here) from the Perry AWI range, Hessian Garrison Regiment at ease. I love the relaxed pose to these troops. I think all that's missing is a guy scratching his backside, another picking his nose and a Sergeant storming across the field to snap them back into line. I picked them up mainly because I liked the figures, but also because the SP campaign guide Dawns and Departures uses Militia as support troops and I thought these would fit the bill on the Anglo-Allied side.
Not my best photos.
I used the two officer figures from the command pack for these troops earlier, one became a civilian with a book and the other an artillery officer with telescope. So I've re-purposed a standard bearer to fill in as officer. The figure was cast with the standard cover wrapped around his torso, which I have tried to repaint as an overcoat. Mostly though I hope people ignore it! It is not even clear if the regiment carried colours in the SYW, although it did carry them later on in the AWI. The gloves seem to fit an aged Militia officer and I gave him grey hair to fit that role. I find that these figures give a much different feel from most SYW troops. The Prussian cut coats and bicorns are more modern (but less practical) then the standard SYW garb. Plus the blue pants, yellow facings and slacker poses remind me of a French Revolution era Leger unit.
Excuse the dark photo.
In Sharp Practice terms, militia units are 10 strong and conscripts 8 strong. I could count this unit as either type depending on need, so have based them in one base of 4, three of two and two single plus the officer. I normally base my SP units on the plastic Renendra bases that come with Perry plastics (I am cheap and impatient and these were readily at hand), but realized that my supply of these is running low. Therefore I used the three 2 up bases, again from the Perry boxes. Since my original bases are deeper than they are wide, to make the double bases fit the same depth I ended up doing them as files of two instead of a single rank of two. I quite that the effect and may use it for future units. There are also 2 privates on single bases (washers) that can be used as sentries, added to gun crews or combined into another group in the future. The officer is mounted on a larger washer so that he stands out from the rank and filers.
Another smashing unit of 7YW, Peter! I've always liked the tricorns and bicorns over the shalko headgear, and you really can't get classier lace war colors than blue and yellow. Blue also being a favorite color of my own and that is a very rich shade. I like the basework and for the way it can expand and shrink the regiment. I still prefer skirmish, but this is more acceptable in block regiment for myself. I've had to engage in creative basing as the Perry and victrix naps do not really support individual basing. With the fragile plastic bits and small bases the REALLY need support from their fellows! Grand work, Peter!
Thursday comes again, but alas my work week is not quite finished. I have to sit in a "leadership" class which is code for "death by power point". I'm starting to think the spreadsheet has it in for me as last weekend I had drill which was ALSO Power Point Hell and briefings.
*sigh*
I think I'm going to take the spreadsheet on a fishing trip to the UP where there is no wifi or cell towers and we can fish, discuss power point, online classes, shingles, car accidents, rare earth magnets, 15 lbs sledgehammers.... ;)
Peter has spun up a tidy carpet bombing run this week and James has some more vicks idling in the motor pool.
I'll get them up sporadically throughout the day as breaks allow. The spreadsheet may have to wait till evening when I can devote more time to properly bludgeon it...er negotiate with it. I have a new stylus that should work very well, although it does bear a " striking" resemblance to a drop hammer! ;)
