From KentG: 28mm Carthaginian Veterans (120 Points)

In this submission we have 24 Carthaginian vets these are part of an ongoing commission that i've been slowly adding to over the past year, they are Victrix models with some nice detail but man you have to be careful of those spears and the transfers were a right pain -  took me an hour and a half to get them attached. I'm happy with the end result, but even happier to be back to the naps, oh and another sneaky wee side-project.

I thought that these would be a fast paint, but they actually took a bit to get finished.

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Stunning work, Kent! I really like the chain armour and bronze helmets - very clean brushwork. I sympathize with the decals, but, as you say, they really help tie the unit together. 

Another 120 points for your climb up the roster. Again, cracking stuff.

From VictorC: 10mm Old Glory War of the Spanish Succession Infantry (120 points)

Well this is my first time participating in the challenge and very first submission. I was able to complete two battalions of French figures. Each 4 stand unit has 60 figures in it.  The figures are painted with acrylics and the flags are hand painted as well.  The two units below are the Maulrevier and Schomberg.  I was rather happy with myself as I painted these in two days. Usually it takes about 2 weeks.

Enjoy the photos:

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Welcome to the Challenge, Victor!

It's been a few years since we've had any War of the Spanish Succession figures grace the blog, so this is a bit of a treat. 

Great work and kudos to you on the hand-painted flags (though it looks like you may have been forced down that path with them being cast-on). One thing I like about Old Glory is that their infantry are usually mounted on strips, thereby reducing the fiddliness of painting and basing them. How many units do you have targeted for the Challenge, Victor? If you keep cracking on like this you'll be set up quite nicely. 

120 points is a tidy first volley for your Challenge debut - well done and, again, welcome aboard!

From AnthonyO: Vrooooooom! (120 points)

Well I am back from holiday and in the challenge again. This time around it is some 40k Eldar Samm-Hain Jet bikes with a walker and some heavy weapon platforms.

I obtained a very large Eldar force as a trade a few months back and they will be a recurring theme for me throughout the challenge. Due to the amount of jet bikes and vehicles I felt that it was an obvious option to go Samm-Hain and I do like painting red. For scoring I have considered the jetbikes the same as a horse mounted 28mm so they are worth 90 points, the walker is 15 and the heavy weapons I only gave 5 points each for a total of 120.

I use blister pack foam after a basecoat to do all the shading on vehicles, while not as efficient as an airbrush it has a somewhat similar effect and I can do it in my lounge room while watching tv.

Not sure what is next up but I intend to have a very wide selection of different miniatures as the challenge progresses.

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Welcome back to the Challenge Anthony!

Wow, what a great passel of jetbikes you have for us! You know, I've never heard of using blister pack foam for paint sponging, but the effect is very convincing. I learn something new every day. The red looks very good and I like your addition of the black stripes and rider armour to add a bit of contrast and break-up the colours a bit. While the bikes are very cool, I must say my favourite is that walker.

120 points for you, sir!

From JohnM: Some Armour for the Battle of Kasserine Pass (26 Points)

Readers of my blog will know I have been much involved in developing 6mm forces for Sam Mustafa's Rommel. I am not really sure why this game has captured my imagination but it has. I enjoy WWII gaming, it is a lot of fun and you get to read about all kinds of interesting weapons and battles.

Until Rommel arrived, my whole focus has been on gaming WWII at the skirmish level, but I have always been fascinated by the North African theatre of war and Erwin Rommel. Skirmish wargaming was just not going to do it for the wide open desert and the rapid advances of the Deutsches Afrika Korps.

My initial focus has been on the Western Desert Campaign but I thought I would mark this years Painting Challenge with American forces for the Tunisian campaign, of which I suppose the most famous battle was that of the Kasserine Pass.

Some models arrived from GHQ on Christmas Eve and I have to paint them up over the last couple of days. I made a larger order from CinC but they have yet to arrive, so this has given me a chance before I get overwhelmed to get these models on the table.

You can find a description of the evolution of my Rommel project here. It really has been a lot of fun, I have painted well over 300 models so far! If you are interested you can read about our latest game, Operation Battleaxe.

M3 "Lee" Tank

M7 "Priest" Self-Propelled Artillery

Thirteen 6mm vehicles, I believe that should be 26 points.

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Nice work, John. I've been enjoying your foray into 1:285 WWII gaming with keen interest these past few months. I like your minimalist-yet-elegant approach to the groundwork - very evocative of the period. (And nice looking buildings btw - where are they from?)

I have to admit that the 'Rommel' rules leave me a little flat - I think it's the whole grid thing. Oddly enough, I can put up with grids for pre-combustion engine periods (Simon's 'To the Strongest' for example), but it doesn't translate for me for the free-wheeling (tracking?) nature of modern combat, but that's just my lizard brain being weird I'm sure.  All this being said, Sam Mustafa always puts forward a well-considered set of rules, so I'm sure they're very good.

I look forward to seeing your upcoming reinforcements for this project.

From DaveD - 1/300th 1980's Soviet Infantry (53 Points)

So I told you things would be a little more diverse this year and my second entry takes me back to project from last year which is my 1980's Cold War Gone Hot. I have a game coming up with  fellow challengers MartinC and JamesM who picked up a sizable ready painted British force at a  show we attended recently. I had previously completed tanks and APC'S and was in need of some actual infantry. These are old Heroics and Ros figures - they are not the greatest of castings , but i guess will do the job,.

So all together it is 95 standing infantry , 18 prone figures , 3 mortars and 4 separate ATGW

Glad to get these out the way as the old eyes were struggling with these. I am currently awaiting the previously ordered Hinds to create the air elements for my force - fingers crossed they arrive before my game!

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Very cool project Dave! I know that Byron is using 1/285 models for Team Yankee (I think) and the scale works very. I find that weapon ranges and ground distance looks so much better in these smaller scales. A few Hind gunships will certainly stiffen these lads. I look forward to seeing those whirlybirds sometime in the coming weeks and reading a battle report on your blog of the game!

From AlexS: El sueño de la razón produce monstruos (100 Points)

Hello everybody! My name is Alex and I'm from Ekaterinburg. Curt in his first message of this event began a very interesting topic - the theme of the fact that monsters are the embodiment of our fears.

I was interested in this topic. So I decided to work with modern myths and fears. For example, that ordinary things in the house can be monsters that simply pretend to be ordinary things. But then I went further and imagined a European who walks through the jungle and dreams of a normal toilet.

And suddenly he meets him on his way! But then nothing is known about this European ...

The model is completely the result of the work of my hands. Mentally, I called it a "bio-toilet" and will use it in games to display a dangerous terrain.

In addition, I started one important project for me. This project is devoted to strange and mysterious events that took place in the vicinity of Ekaterinurg in the summer of 1918.

This project will be performed in the framework of the popular in Russia "novel with miniatures", when the events that occur on the gaming table are described in a literary work.

And here are the actors of the first chapter of my "novel with miniatures":

A retired officer who lives in the countryside and who loves hunting

Detachment of Chekists:

Detachment of the White Army

All:

It is especially pleasant that all models (except for two dogs) are the result of the production of local, Russian producers: Siberia-miniatures STP-miniatures and Leon. Firstly, it is patriotic, and secondly, they are very qualitative from the historical point of view, because local producers know the historical material better and had the opportunity to see the uniforms of that time in museums.

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Wow, how wonderfully imaginative, Alex!

That 'Biotoilet' is both a work of creative genius and quite terrifying. As one who likes to have access to modern 'facilities' while travelling, I can completely sympathize with your tragic European traveller. What a nightmare!

I'm very much looking forward to the unfolding events of your 'Great Russian Novel'! I really enjoy collecting dog miniatures so I'm definitely going to be checking out this list of suppliers (and to see if I can get some of these RCW models as well). I really like the vibrant colours of all these models, especially the White Russian infantry. Lovely stuff.

The dogs look to be all giant breeds so I'm going to score them as regular 28mm foot figures. 100 points for your fine work, Alex! Keep it coming! 

From MartinC - 28mm Bolsheviks (65 Points)

I've finally managed  to get started on this year's challenge. My opening submission are some Bolsheviks for Back of Beyond. I've been reading the Great Game by Peter Hopkirk and have become a little obsessed with the North West Frontier and the expansion of the Russian, Turkish and British Empires. The Russian Revolution provides a great opportunity to battle against imperial and tribal forces.

These 13 figures the the start of my Bolshevik force. They are from Copplestone and are nice figures. The painting is my usual style as I get warmed up

Good to be back in the challenge, 13 x 28mm figures = 65pts.

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First, welcome back to the Challenge, Martin!

It's -29 C here in the Saskatchewan prairies, a very 'Dr. Zhivago' day, so it's quite fitting to see these Bolsheviks, shivering in their greatcoats and lambswool caps. 

Lovely work Martin! I really enjoyed Hopkirk's 'Great Game' and am now working through China Meiville's 'October' and getting inspired to do my own Copplestone minis. I like how you did the soft grey of their astrakhan hats and the groundwork looks like the first snow is about to fly. 

Will we be seeing some armoured cars and cavalry being added to this force? I look forward to seeing how it develops.

65 points for you, Comrade!