From PeterA: 20mm Cold War Brits (47 Points)

This is my first time in the Challenge and so I had obviously planned out carefully the figures I was going to paint. But then I saw a squirrel, or to be more precise, the Norwegian drama series Occupied on Sky TV - about the Russian occupation of Norway in a bid to control the latter's oil and gas reserves. So that got me thinking about a what-if campaign set in Norway, with the Russian hordes out to grab fossil fuels (hopefully) being seen off by an assortment of Norwegian and NATO forces. So, the plan went out the window and my first submission is the start of the British sent to support the Norwegians.

First up is a winterised Challenger I - which to the best of my knowledge would never have been found in Norway. My justification is that lots of NATO equipment was stockpiled in Norway during the real Cold War so this represents the Brits mothballing some Challenger Is in Norway after they introduced the Challenger II, 'just in case' the Reds come calling.

This is also the first time that I have used weathering pigments (Dark Earth by AK) and I clearly have a lot to learn! The tank is a Revell 1/72 plastic kit and the commander is from Liberation Miniatures.

Alongside the Challenger is an 8-man infantry squad, again by Liberation Miniatures. They are in a mixture of DPM and winter gear, with Body Armour Chest Rigs.

Sorry about the rather pony photos - still trying to work out how to best use the camera! Anyway this should get me off the board and net me 47 points, and also gets me going in the Squirrel side-challenge. 

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Welcome to the Challenge, Peter!

Very cool entry, literally. I have a soft spot for 20mm/1:72 as a gaming scale as it seems the perfect compromise between the often table-absorbing 28mm and the sometimes too small 15mm scales. 

I've always liked the design of the Challenger and I think your's looks great. Weathering pigments take a bit of getting used to, but I think you application really conveys the heavy winter mud that these beasts would grind up. The Liberation minis look quite nice and I like your snow effects on the bases - very effective. 

I've not heard of the 'Occupied' series, but it sounds very interesting and I will be actively trying to source it 'off the coast of Tortuga' (as we can't easily get SKY here in the Colonies). 

47 well-earned points for your Challenge debut. Again, welcome aboard, Peter!