From GregB: Cold War Canadian Continuation (36 points)

More Canadian armour for the Cold War - 1/100 models from "Armies Army"

Greetings to all AHPC participants and viewers! Sorry to have missed a week, but 1-to-1 scale matters had to take precedence over the brushes last week and therefore I had a big, fat, nothing to report last time.  This was, of course, all rather unsettling, as lack of any painting time tends to cause mental distress, paranoid sentiment that I may forget how to paint etc. so it is with considerable relief I can at least show you a few more items this week!  The theme is no surprise at all - continuing to round out the basic elements of my 15mm Cold War-era Canadian troops for "Team Yankee".

My prior submission had included Canadian Cold War-era infantry, but for the 1980s the infantry need a ride to battle, and for the Canadian forces of the mid-1980s in Europe this ride would have come in the form of the M113 armoured personnel carrier. 

Ugh. M113s. So, so lame...but at least the large decals on the front add a bit of clear character...

We all have painting subjects we dislike, but perhaps can't avoid due to the circumstances of the given period or setting, don't we? Well, for me, the M113 is one such subject.  Where painting NATO tanks tends to be a whole lot of fun, painting an M113 is like throwing some acrylic on a frozen turd. An unlovely box on treads, the M113 is utterly devoid of character, charm, personality or the slightest hint of fun. No turret. No cool vents.  You look at these things and wonder what the point is? Considering the debauched, comically-expensive-but-at-least-sexy-ish outcomes the western military industrial complex is capable of (see here for current example) the existence and near-ubiquitous deployment of this useless-box vehicle throughout Western forces and their client nations is a real downer from the wargaming perspective - the weaponization of the lowest bidder.  I know the Soviet BMPs were cramped, maybe not always quality, and had a spotty performance record at best - but at least they look cool, and are fun to paint...

Commander popped out of the hatch to a) represent the platoon commander's track and b) add some character to the otherwise un-inspiring silhouette of the M113 APC

From a strictly Canadian perspective, we purchased cool tanks from Germany - why not purchase their awesome infantry fighting vehicles too? Really, anything that you will drive in a war - let's just use common sense, and buy from Germany! Sadly, no...you can't avoid the M113 if you want to paint Cold War forces from Canada. The stupid M113 was the core APC for the main mechanized infantry elements of the 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, and as such, they would have to be painted if I wanted to reflect the infantry in my tabletop forces...so here we are...

These models are from "Armies Army" (now available from Plastic Soldier Company).  They are mixed resin and metal kits.  While my love for Armies Army is un-diminished, and I salute Keith's valiant and amazing efforts to bring Cold War Canadians to life in 15mm, I must acknowledge that his M113s were...tricky...you won't have to look hard to spot the gaps between the tread assemblies and the fenders.  In this case I must sadly report that Battlefront's plastic M113s are probably the better way to go...

Adding to the M113 painting misery is the awful camouflage paint scheme Canada used on these vehicles in the 1980s. One of the colours seems like...I'm not sure..."Puke Green"? Come on, Canada! Sheesh.  Anyway, to counter the misery, I used a mix of decals from Armies Army as well as a useful 1/87 sheet for things like Canadian flags and license-plates.  The 1/87 decals are oversize for the scale, but they help the nationality stand out a bit more on the table, and help to limit the flavour of the odious camouflage.

1/100 Leopard C1 from Armies Army - with the "1B" marking I think he is the "Battle Captain" from "A" Squadron...although there is a high chance I'm wrong about that...anyway, popped out commander and blue flowers to indicate the MBT is part of the Squadron command troop.

Leopard C1 with dozer blade attached on the front - an excellent little touch from Armies Army!! It will have no impact in game terms, just a cool thing to include from a completeness perspective...

To wash the terrible flavour of painting stupid M113s out of my mouth, I finished off another pair of Leopard C1s as well.  Positively refreshing!  These are both from the excellent Armies Army, and another element of Keith's utterly complete rendering of these troops can be glimpsed by the presence of a dozer blade mounted to one of the Leopards in the photos.  One Leopard C1 in each squadron had a dozer blade, useful for various battlefield engineering tasks (in particular helping to prepare hull-down firing positions for the other Leopards).  Full marks again to Armies Army for bringing out such an utterly complete collection of models and figures!!!

Canadian armoured squadron, ready to roll out!

And so I have the very basic elements of a battlegroup from 4CMBG in place for "Team Yankee" gaming - a squadron of Leopard C1s and an attached mechanized infantry platoon from either the RCR or the Vandoos. All in this has been just about what...five or six weeks of painting? Of course in a similar period Dave would have painted 1200 Mahdists in 28mm, but still, zero to a useful force in that time period is not too bad!  Here is a photo of the battlegroup to date.

Basic battlegroup from 4CMBG - Leopard C1 squadron with attached infantry support - ready to stand fast in the NATO lines!

Whatever I think of the M113s, at least these fellows will have a ride to take them around the battlefield!

Points wise, this submission is six vehicles in 15mm or 1/100 scale...so, I think, 36 points? Jamie will get it sorted.

I have certainly managed to address my "Must.Paint.Tanks." craving over these past several weeks...might be time to switch subjects...who knows? We'll see what next week might bring...just hope it brings something!

Is that the faint lilt of the Canadian National Anthem I can hear in the background as I read this submission?  The sound of the swish a hockey stick makes as it whizzes towards the puck drifting through the air?  And the distant bellow of a moose?

Here's hoping nobody from the Pentagon is reading this as you pour scorn on Canada's very early attempt to "make America Great Again" by buying boxy and unsuitable vehicles instead of better German versions?

Enough tomfoolery from me, I like the M113!  I even like the green you've used....... They remind me of the Rhinos of the 31st and 41st millenia..... which is no doubt where the early GW designers got their "inspiration" from ;)  Although, if truth be told, I also dislike painting rhinos as they are just boxy and boring.... like you, it's the decals that are the fun bits so I'm pleased to see you found some to relieve your boredom, especially as I see you had to do exactly the same camo on each one!

Those Leopards are as brilliant as always and that's a mighty fine looking (historical buffs look away now......) battalion/brigade/chapter/brotherhood/cabal that you've pulled together in this time - I dread to think how many Soviet tanks this lot was supposed to hold back though!

From KenR : 28mm Spanish Civil War Surprise (166 points)

I say surprise because it is, even for me ! I had planned to be SO disciplined this Challenge, WW1 Mesopotamia one week, WW2 Desert the next and to be fair I did get over halfway without deviation !

This week after a short break away, I returned with new vigour and the realisation that I had planned a Spanish Civil War game starting this week, I needed a Train Station and an Abraham Lincoln Battalion flag bearer, the rest just jumped out of the (now empty) SCW "to paint" box.

So first up in this odds and sods of the SCW entry is these 10 28mm Nationalist Cavalry figures from Empress Miniatures. I absolutely love these miniatures, so full of life. I did 10 of these for last year's Rookie Season in the AHPC and have spent most of the year trying to settle on an organisation for them. In the end deciding on a 2 Fig HQ with 3 x 6 Fig Squadrons.

Just for fun, the full unit of 20, 10 from last year.

So that's 10 x 28mm Cavalry at 10 pts a piece = 100 points.

We are refighting the Battle of Quinto so I needed a unit of Abraham Lincoln for the Battle, reluctant to add another Battalion of International Brigade to the four I already own I decided to use the Yarkshire method (cheapest) and just do a Standard Bearer and swap him in.

Also present is an Ernest Hemingway figure which was given away at a Wargames Show a few years ago, resplendent in his Bradford City FC club tie.

2 x 28mm Figs at 5 pts a piece = 10 points.

Next up is a 28mm Hispano Suiza MC 36 model from the Spanish Company Minairons, a beast of a thing. I have some Panzer IIIs on the table at the moment and this absolutely dwarfs those. I am pretty sure Curt did one of these a couple of three years ago. Great model and something a little different.

1 x 28mm Vehicle for 15 points.

And finally Esther (if you're under 50 and not from the UK you wont get that !),calyptic wasteland than
My Train Station, in glorious 28mm from Sarissa Precision, is part of their Adobe range, more for Mexican borders, I have used them extensively for our Spanish games (you can see plenty of them in the background of the other photos above.

It comes a a basic unpainted MDF kit, which as with all their stuff fits nicely together. I have then textured the base, except for the wooden floor in the ticket hall which I have then painted and added grass patches and tufts in my usual style.

Added to that I have put some Basetex on the walls to a) represent creeping plants and b) hide the joins in the MDF. A touch of light weathering and some Spanish Civil War era posters have finished it off.

The whole thing is 12" long by just over 5" and about 4.5" to 5" tall, I think that should net me about 40 points, cheap at half the price ! A lot of work went into this one.

So all in all 100 + 10 + 15 + 40 = 165 points, not bad for a sidetrack.

What a brilliant and fruitful sidetrack this is!  I like the horses and admire a man who is willing to take the sensible route and use a unit as more than one thing by just switching out the standard bearer...... but that beast of a car is the bees knees!  It looks like it'd be right at home in a post apocalyptic wasteland and I'm now seriously considering getting one for when I get my post apocalyptic stuff together - brilliant!

I'm also a big fan of the sarissa Adobe range and that's a very smartly done station - the little things like the posters and vegetation really make it zing.

I agree with your points and I'll add one for the standard bearer - well done sir!

From DavidB - Scifi troopers and cultists (166 points)

Been a long week as Flu has determined this will be my only day off. 12 hour shifts have taken a toll on my painting time, but I do have a swath of minis finished since I somehow focused on a few or just finally completed em by accident!

 

The blur above is my wife's almost 10 month old St Bernard. Roger and my faithful companion Nova made daily chores today a touch difficult...I just let them have the bed and chose to make it later.

I have a mixture of Games Workshop models making two squads of Nurgle aligned cultists. I wanted to get them done with the Patton PDF tank, but I spent a bit of time on them as they will also be encounter forces in Inquisimunda. I just couldn't let them go with simple paint as each one will probably evolve into a detailed NPC providing they survive!

multiple shades of green and grey kept them from looking too similar.

A modified Goliath(I do have an unpainted Goliath gang that may get painted soon as a Khorne Cult squad), a venerable scavy from Confrontation (Necromunda 0.5 or the prequel), and a conversion from many parts. I like the mutie conversion as with the zombie legs he looks like he has missed leg day for some time!

view from the back, The big mutie has brought a snack!

A close combat squad of cultists also in allegiance to Nurgle. The have several old conversions from the 6th edition Invasion of Cadia.( when Abbadon didn't wreck Cadia)

The conversions are all plastic and use various parts from Chaos, marine, guard, zombie, kroot, and ork sprues. in 40k they'll just be cultists with pistols or cultists with rifles. In Inquisimundia, this fellow will be a close combat brute!

Another mutie missed leg day, with the ork torso his human head looks more like a pinhead! he got the horned helm to help boost his confidence. ;)

I usually make an objective marker or two for any force I build. This one is a shrine to Nurgle. It'll be a nice objective to cleanse in Inquisimundia too!

I rusted up the totem shrine after I completed painting and highlighting everything. I used Typus corrosion to add grime and leaks from the barrels. Blood for the blood god and Nurgle rot varnishes was added in strategic areas for that "ick" factor. and some chaos graffiti was added.

This is a group of six Scifi troopers made from my bitbox. Games workshop, dreamforge games, mantic games, wargames factory and other bits were used. I wanted a multi-species squad for generic scifi skirmish. I'll use 5150 Star Army or Alien Suns for rulesets.

They were kept in neutral colors so the optics and electronics really pop on them as does the alien heads.

this was a freebie from Adepticon and I never found the vendor that put it in the swag bags. I decided it would be a purple alien and I'd paint him(or her) as an Alien Legion trooper.

I'm still looking for more and would like to someday have an Alien Legion fire team. This one will be a lone merc for the time being.

These are Assault marines from RAFM. I bought them new from a hobby shop in Grand Rapids Michigan last century and only removed them from the package this last fall. This is another batch I'd like more of, but they are pretty hard to find now.

So, 22 cultists with a shrine

and 10 generic scifi troopers...

165 points considering the totem as a 28mm figure.

Artist- foo fighters

                         song- Pretender

My local station was on the fritz due to weather, so I went through all my Foo fighter albums today.

 

 

Brilliant stuff!  Once again the eclectic mix of troopers and parts from different producers meld really well together.  From one serial converter to another, I do like looking at the conversions and seeing where the bits are from and you've used some beauties here (that rib rack is a great piece!)

 

The totem is also a really good idea too as having something on the table that isn't just a blank disc with a number on it is really good to help with the immersion into the game.

 

166pts for this little haul, with the one tacked on for all the converting.

From Anthony O - Revenant Worm Riders - 50 Points

I am continuing to fill out the Empire of Dust army with another submission this week. Revenant Worm Riders are a completely ridiculous concept but I love the absurdity. I mean if you are undead you may as well ride a weird undead snake looking thing right?

 I have again used Games Workshop Tomb King miniatures and will continue to do so. I understand the Tomb King line is hard to come by now and expensive as they have stopped producing them but I have sufficient for my project.

They really seem inefficient and not very useful in game but as a centerpiece they stand out and will be noticed.

I absolutely LOVE these figures!  The sheer absurdity of a skeleton riding a giant skeleton snake thing tickles me pink.  In some ways I wish I'd bought some when they were on general release, but given they'd only be sat on the shelves of holding in their box still now, its probably a good job I didn't!

The jade and gold effects on the hoods work marvellously and irrespective of their rules, they'll look awesome above the heads of their little bony cousins as that last picture shows.

Tricky ones to score these as they're more than cavalry, but not quite large enough to be vehicles with commanders.... so putting them through the appropriate algorithms, I get a score of 50 points for the three together.

From DavidB - Chaos Cultists with PDF APC (117 points)

Another week done. Yes I know It's Thursday, but I succeeded in working the maximum allowed overtime. I was able to sleep in today. I also was able to finish up with this modest entry.

These are some more Wargames Factory Greatcoat Scifi infantry, but they are now initiates of Khorne. They have joined up with the Horus for Hope crew and have red armor to show proper devotion. Since Khorne prefers blood and skulls and lots of both, this squad has been modified with beastmen and chaos warrior bits to make them more close combat oriented.

This particular squad has already engaged in battle with the Inquisitors in our Inquisimunda game. Lt Strahd is a ruthless junior officer that felt unappreciated and is an expert duellist that enjoys toying with his opponent.

His cape is adorned with his former commanders skull.

The corporal above is Strahd's subordinate and usually tasked with keeping private Kruger in line and using the squad's autocannon as a rifle and not a massive spear/club. Both men like many in the squad are being altered into beserker beasts as a blessing from Khorne. The Corporal no longer remembers his name, but he does idolise Strahd enough to emulate him. Strahd may soon lose his head to the Corporal.

The other trooper pictured with the beastman head has a massive set of horns. The gamemaster has decided that perhaps Khorne favors him more than the Corporal and Strahd.

This collection of 10 cultists are also followers of Khorne and have been so for some time. They were made a long time ago, but have finally gotten their colors. There is a mixture of all sorts of games workshop bits.

They were backup to the musician bonus round due to the beastman with the horn.

I had more fun painting the tavern, but felt I needed a backup because the Tavern is rather large and took some time with just brushes!

Another mutant who missed leg day and he is dragging his friend along with him!

The head is from the really old chaos mutation sprue and I spent some time making his face look burnt on one side. Unfortunately, I'm lacking in camera and light skills, so the detail is washed out.

Some more fun mutants. orc, kroot, zombie, chaos warrior, marine, necromunda,... a lot of parts!

Some of my gaming group came by today and marvelled at the time I've been spending on troops that are worth so little points in 40k. As I told them, These cultists will not only be in 40k games, but they will also fill in for Scavy and Cult gangs in Necromunda. They are also being used in games with warring Inquisition parties. I prefer them to look memorable and be characters themselves. Just the parts I put together and primed black have already invoked story ideas with our gamemaster. It just makes the game more fun, trying to do in Strahd and his Khorne crew rather than pummelling minion #12! ;)

This is another target identification model that has been salvaged. There was even more bubbles and flash on this one than the Patton. It had no gun and some chips were taken out of it like it had been dropped a few times.

It is a Soviet BTR-60. I believe it was made in the late 50's(the APC not the model) It is one of those vehicles that shows just how smart the Soviets were. This APC is very quick and nimble and can move just as quick off road as on. The exhaust is nearly to the top of the crew cabin, so it can ford through very deep water. It's armor was pretty thick and not too many small arms fire could pierce it's hide.

Unfortunately, it was WW2 era small arms fire that would have a hard time penetrating. A lot of Cold War small arms would make life unpleasant for the passengers. The hull is flat bottomed and mines as well as RPG's also would stop it. Besides a few bush wars, it was used in combat by the Soviets in the Balklands and in Afghanistan where the higher brass discovered those facts rather belated. It is still in service, but Russians use it as Artillery spotting and HQ units not frontline APC. Newer equipment is performing that role way better.

 

It is in use by many former Soviet Bloc and Western Europe Police Departments for crowd control and protection for SWAT type police units. Those units have water cannons mounted and video of them in use can be easily found on Youtube.

The front was chipped pretty good and I found some mesh covered spot lights to serve as headlights. I chopped a lascannon to serve as a main gun and also gave it a couple rocket launchers from the sentinel kits. Some very old rhino doors and some spiky chaos bits finished it up.

I gave it the same camouflage as the Patton, but I did go to town with the weathering powders on it!

Artist-Prong

                                    Title- Snap your fingers snap your neck

Seemed to be a song the Khorne boys would pipe over the BTR's PA system as they bounced down the road. ;)

 

What a fantastic submission as always David!  I'm a HUGE fan of conversions in 40k as all the GW kits really lend themselves to it and in such a large universe there are so many things that "could" exist, our imaginations are the limit.

 

I do like the back stories for all of the fellas fallen to worship the Blood God, you're absolutely right that shooting Strahd is far more engaging than shooting "officer 3, made from various parts".  And I reckon converting so many "grunts" works brilliantly as there'll be so many things to catch your opponents eye that the whole army will come together wonderfully.  So I'm with you, disagreeing with your friends who ask if it was worth it - it absolutely was!

 

I count 20 infantry and one vehicle for 115 points and I'll be adding two points for all the kitbashing and naming going on - excellent work!