From DaveS: Unwashed Masses 180 points

So, I managed to miss last thursay, and only finished the planned unit on wednesday morning.  Nevertheless, I therefore present or inspection a further 36 models for my War of the Roses forces.

These are built using the same Perry plastics as the rest of the archers, but I made a determined effort to select out the less armoured looking torsos and legs.  I then based them in 3's to a 40mm base, making them count as open order miltia for swordpoint.  It was nice to be able to paint a unit with a variety of colours after the large numbers of liveried troops I have been working on.

This is also the first one of the units where I have painted and flocked the movement tray as well.  It's a job that I need to do for all of them, and I will probably spend some time in the next week going back and doing the rest of them.  It's a job I've been putting off, but I probably need to get on with.

Coming up next are some skirmishers.  These will be represented as Welsh skirmishers in my army list, and I'm currently trying to figure out how to paint them. I also hope to at least get built some command stands.  All the advice that I have received says that I will want as many of these as I can get, so I'm looking at building another 5 generic Captains, probably with Standards, and then the General, using the Henry Tudor and Standard model, again from the Perry range.

I also have a Kings of War Vanguard force that I need to get started on.  Seems like my New Year's plan is to enter tournaments for systmes I don't have armies for as an inspiration!!!

Anyway, 36 28mm models is, I think 180 points?
                                                                 

What a splendid body of archers, nicely varied and based,it seems like entering tournaments you don't have forces for concentrates your mind wonderfully!
180 points to your total!

All the best Iain

From NickJ - Flaming Bull Horns (30 Points)

Ahem. Once upon a kind of Magic...

For those of you unfamiliar with the GW Age of Sigmar I suspect this week’s entry will consist of plenty of “What The Fudge is that?!”

I can only apologise in advance. And apologies for any photo issues as my camera batteries died and I've ended up using my iPhone instead...

Previously in the Tale of Endless Spells we’ve met a flock of purple ravens and a glowy stick, er staff, carrying Shaman. Now allow me to introduce the other 2 Endless Spells that our wonderfully nuts Shaman can generate

First we have a Horn. Or to be more precise a Doomblast Dirgehorn

The blurb says: "Drawn from beneath the earth, animal bones are fused into the shape of a giant horn". As you do.

Hence I tried to give it a bone like look

The flames were going to be orange until my son piped up with the comment "you should do them blue". Not one to say no off I went; couple of tips from the group and I'm quite pleased with the overall effect

The main advantage of the blue is that now all of the spells are varied in their colour schemes as you'll see in a minute when I pull out Spell #3

The effect on the battlefield of this spell is to render it harder for the enemy to hit you in combat as their minds are, allegedly, stripped of their sanity. Nice.

Which leads me to Spell #3. Pictures speak volumes so here then is the Wildfire Taurus

Yes you are seeing what you think you're seeing. That's half a bull. On fire. He stands a whopping 100mm and is 130mm from tip to tail. He's a hefty chunk of plastic.

This took an age to get the skin to a colour I was happy with. He's grey with a yellow shade which seems to have turned him dark green - an unexpected but quite nice effect!

I painted flame effects in the cracks and folds of his skin to hopefully show how hot he is on the inside.

The horns, hooves and teeth have been painted bone and then washed with warmer fleshshade to hint again at the heat within.

The flames themselves include yellow base, white drybrush, red wash, orange wash, yellow wash. Lots of coats to reach the end result. Washes take ages to dry so I was able to paint my entry for the next bonus round at the same time - result!

On the battlefield this chap charges around killing stuff. Nothing subtle whatsoever.

Scoring wise I'm not sure and will leave that to my Minion - sorry Iain :-)

Horn - stands 60mm
Bull - stands 100mm and is 130mm from horns to flames

Next time something normal. Ish. Kind of normal? No probably not to be fair.

NickJ

Lovely reappearing flaming bull and horn, super finish, I'm counting your horn as a 54mm figure and the bull as a 54mm mounted figure giving you a total of 30 points, splendid!
All the best Iain

From NoelW: A little less conversation and a little more action, please (442 points)

Last week’s post was a little tedious, so I promised myself a bit more variety this time round. As is the way of plans, they immediately went awry.

Ever since I’d walked the length of Hadrian’s Wall in my youth, I’ve thought about building Roman armies, but somehow never got round to it. In those days (the 70s) you could walk along the Wall itself for almost all its extant length, there were very few tourists and the protection/policing of the monument was almost non-existent. So we were able to camp in the vallum and amongst Roman ruins in a farmer’s field, both of which are now unlikely to occur. We also had a taste of what it would be like to be a legionary stationed in those wild fells: a thunderstorm one night ripped out our guyropes and kept my companions awake with fear our tent would blow away (I slept through). Another morning we woke to find the tent covered by inch of snow. But we did get to explore Corstopitum, Vindolanda, Housesteads and so on almost like private exhibits.

I digress. Last year I decided that Romans would be a new project. I fancied the Roman invasion of Britain, of course, but also the Punic Wars (which means two different periods and, effectively, two different armies. But I can live with that...) No 28mm range of Romans particularly attracted me, so I decided to see what the year's flea markets and tabletops threw up to start a Roman collection, planning to add or replace more attractive figures when I found them.

Upside? A cheap army. Downside? Building a very haphazard collection. You’ve seen the Caesareans already, and also some Libyans and Celts. But most of what I came across were the Imperial troops in classic lorica segmentata, mainly figures I was a little underwhelmed by.

This week, unexcitedly, I decided to paint a test Imperial figure. Just to see. Then I thought I'd test a figure with pilum and another with gladius. I found I could paint these up pretty quickly, given a couple of compromises. (For example, I use Citadel Flayed One Flesh as the base coat for both flesh and tunics, meaning both can be painted at the same time. Then I highlight the tunics up with white, and darken the flesh down with Army Painter flesh wash.)

This is easy, I thought. Let’s paint a couple more. And, suddenly, I found I’d 60 painted figures.

Here they are in the mass:

It’s a bit of an awkward collection. The few Victrix figures stand head and shoulders above the majority, who are Warlord, I think. Many of the figures had already been assembled when I bought them, meaning I had to live with some rather odd choices made by other gamers. So mixed in this mass of “normal” imperial troops there are figures wearing the heavier armour and helmets used in the Dacian wars, and a few rather odd poses, such as this guy with two gladius (gladiuses? gladii? gladioli?)

Presumably he was intended for the Colosseum. I also had a little trouble with some of the shield transfers, so a couple are a bit of a mess as close inspection of the photos will probably show. I’ll replace their shields when I’ve suitable alternatives.

But, as a whole, and as a massive starting point for that army, I’m actually very pleased with them.

Here’s some command figures:

I was particularly pleased with this Wargames Foundry command figure, who I gave a little extra attention to:

60 x 28mm figures = 300 points

Are Imperial Romans sufficiently different from Caesarean to merit a Squirrel point? They should never be on the field together, but they’re the same army in different periods. Yet another point for adjudication…

One big objective for me in this Challenge is to paint more terrain. I’m really lucky, for my wife often buys me mdf buildings whenever a celebratory occasion arises, and she enjoys assembling them, too. But it does mean I’ve now a backlog the size of a small village awaiting the paintbrush. So here’s my next venture into that territory, completely unrelated to Romans: three pill boxes from Sarissa. Two are concrete, one brick.

I love just about everything Sarissa do. These are great little models, with separate rooves, swinging doors, and removable central bases that can be used to house a machine-gun nest or similar (so that’s another project!)

Each pill box is approx. 4 * 4 *2 inches = 32 cubic inches, meaning that overall that’s 96 ci or just under half a 6” cube. 3 points each, perhaps?

Now to give you a little eye candy, I finished 20 Perry men at arms for the Hundred Years War. I’ve been working towards an Agincourt game ever since the centenary (Oct 2015), and by the end of the Challenge, I think I'll be almost there.

Most of these are painted as “generic”, usable for either side, though a handful sport the cross of St Denis and just one wears the cross of St George, so their allegiances are committed:

20 x 28mm foot @ 5 pts = 100 points.

Finally, to add a little more variety (and nothing to do with greed for Squirrel points), here are five figures from the Fallout boardgame. I’ve never played the game, neither on PC nor tabletop, but was asked to paint these for a friend.

There’s three Supermutants (perhaps a little too green, but effective enough),

one Brotherhood of Steel:

and, my favourite, Nuka girl:

She is standard 28mm, but the other four are between 42mm and 48mm, so I guess the score is: 1 @ 5 and 4 @ 7 = 33 points.

Summary: 300 + 100 + 9 +33 = Total: 442 points

                                                               

Boom! I think that qualifies as a points bomb! En masse your Imperial Romans are great,we come in all sizes so I have no problems with mixing Victrix and Warlord,y your Imperial Legate looks sufficiently patrician and is really nicely finished.
I feel you surely deserve a squirrel point for these , having them on the table with Caesarean legionaries would be like having Napoleonic and Crimean war on the table,oh the horror!
Really useful pillboxes and interesting sci first types.
Got to say the Hundreds year wars figures are really really nice, lovely finish!
So I agree with your points total,442 boom!

All the best Iain

From PeterD: Grenadiers de France 82 points

For this week, I have completed the full battalion of the Grenadiers de France for my Seven Years War project.  There are 22 foot and one mounted in the battalion, but 8 of the footmen appeared earlier in the Challenge, so the count for this week is 14 infantry plus one mounted officer.  Figures are 28mm from Front Rank.  I really like the Front Rank figures but they do suffer from monopose for the rank and file.  However, the monopose works for the SYW since the uniforms have an old fashioned toy soldier feel.

The Grenadiers de France were formed after the War of Austrian Succession from the grenadier companies from several regiments that were disbanded at that time.  They followed a different organization than most French infantry regiments being formed into "brigades" instead of battalions and were heavily engaged in the campaigns in Western Germany.

While the regular French regiments wore white, the Grenadiers wore blue coats with red lapels and white lace.  They also were the first to wear the bearskin grenadiers cap which became popular with many regiments during the SYW.  The combination of their droopy moustaches and braided coats with the pose of these Front Rank figures reminds me greatly of.....

Musical and fashion icon Floyd Pepper

I bought a battalion pack of 24 foot from Front Rank, but swapped out two foot figures for a mounted officer.  Front Rank included two standard bearers while the Grenadiers (again just to be different from regular regiments) carried only the Ordonnance colour and did not carry a Colonel's colour.  I have a home for he other standard bearer and grenadier private and spare officer fits nicely, as he looks done the line.  The flag itself was downloaded from the Kronoskaf site, manipulated in Preview and then printed at home.

So by my math, that's 14 foot plus one mounted officer plus 1 flag = 81 points, for both my total score and the Black Powder side duel.
                                                                  

Great looking unit of dashing Grenadiers! Lovely and colourful,I like the addition of the mounted officer and flags are just great!
Always good to see a Muppet in an entry too!
This will give you 82 points as I have rounded up to an even score.

All the best Iain

From BenitoM: British Airlanding Anti-Tank (55 points)

This week I bring one of the optional supports of the British Airborne platoon list for Chain of Command, in the form on an airborne anti-tank battery. This is composed of a 6-pounder anti tank gun and an airborne Bren Carrier that acts as a tow.

The 6 pounder batteries of the Airborne division were a key element to provide some defensive punch to the generally lightly armed infantry troops. Although less powerful that its sister the 17 pounder (also used by the airborne troops), it proved to be versatile and very effective both in the Orne battles in Normandy (June 44) and in Arnhem (September 44).

As it can be expected, they were also a priority target for the enemy. The 2 anti tank batteries at Arnhem suffered an extremely high casualty rate, as illustrated by the following numbers: the 1^st Airlanding AT Battery evacuated 52 out of the 191 men that went in; in the case of the 2^nd Airlanding AT Battery just a mere 37 men out of 168 re-crossed the Rhine back.

The Bren Carrier is a very nice Warlord plastic model. For the crew I replaced the heads on the front driver and gunner with 2 heads from the British Airborne plastic. For the third crew member sitting in the rear, I used a torso and head of the same box.

I found information about the markings in the Arhem Jim blog commented in the Scout bonus round entry post. The 46 in a blue and red square matches the numbering of the AT battery and was placed on the right fender of the vehicle; the divisional marking was located in the left fender.

Note that the model has been painted with the Mickey Mouse camo scheme, widely used in light and transport vehicles by the British in 1944. The vehicle is loaded with a lot of stowage as (ammo boxes, jerry cans, etc) as shown in contemporary photos. 

With respect to the 6 pounder, it is also a Warlord model and comes with a metal crew of three.

If I’ve done my maths correctly, I should receive a total of 55 points from this entry.
 

·       The Bren Carrier is 20 points + 2 half crew models (5 points total) + a full crew model (5 points) = 30 points.

·       The 6 pounder is 10 points for the gun + 15 points for the 3-crew serving the weapon = 25 points.        

To conclude the Airborne Platoon project I’ll be painting an HMG Vickers piece, some jump-off points and a few more single infantry models. As some asked to see the full platoon displayed take a look below. It is not a good photo but you can basically have an idea.

Front left are three supports (PIAT, flamethrower and FOO). Front right is the HQ section (two senior leaders, sniper team and 2cm mortar). At the bottom the three infantry sections.

--------------------------

For the remaining of the Challenge I have decided to return to my Austrian Napoleonic project of last year, and paint some infantry and cavalry reinforcements: white over white will be a rest to my eyes after so much Denison Smock camo!!

The basing and the priming is already done so expect to see some gallant Austrian troops marching here in no time.

                                                                                       

Well, more super paratroopers! Gorgeous camo as always and a delightful 6pdr and equally nice a splendidly weathered carrier, lovely work and yes 55 points it is and  good of you to post your force to date .
 Even though I will miss your paratroopers I am now looking forward to your Napoleonic Austrians!
All the best Iain

From MartinN: 50 shades of Grey... errr... Panzergrau (60 points)

I hope you don't mind the rather... delicate title.

For this, my first scheduled post to this years challenge, I offer a rather minuscule little tank, almost a tankette, accompanied by two slightly bigger transports. Real live (tm) has a habbit of preventing me from spending too much time on the painting desk, but it's moving along slowly at least.

The Panzer I was the first mass produced tank to be introduced into the, then still secret, new Panzertruppe or Panzer Corps. When the German government officially announced the rearmament of the Wehrmacht in 1935 about 150 Panzer I without rotating turret had already been delivered. These first tanks were purely intended for crew training. But after that production switched to the Ausf. A (short for Ausführung or model) which was to be produced till August 1936. The Ausf. A had several design flaws, ranging from an unreliable gearbox to suspension problems. These early flaws were corrected with the Ausf. B.

Even at its introduction it was obvious that the Panzer I had no chance whatsoever against most if not all contemporary tank designs. Still it was decided to keep the tank in production first to prepare German industry for mass production of armoured vehicles and second as it was otherwise impossible to satisfy the huge demand for tanks during Germanys rapid build up of the Panzerwaffe.

The Panzer I first saw combat during the Spanish Civil War where it was found markedly inferior to the soviet T-26. Nonetheless the experience gained during this war proved invaluable for the further development of the Panzertruppe. Production ceased in 1939 but the Panzer I still saw service as late as Operation Barbarossa. At the end of 1941 though the Panzer was mainly withdrawn from frontline service and relegated to rearguard and anti-partisan duties.

This Panzer I Ausf. A is from the fine folks at Empress Miniatures. It's rather hefty though as it's an all metal model but has some lovely detail like welding lines and such. For stability I added a base as otherwise I doubt it would stand the rigors of gaming. Originally I had intended it to be used with my SCW Rebels but with the recent release of the Blitzkrieg 1940 supplement for Chain of Command my interest in the early phase of WWII was suddenly and fiercely rekindled. 

Opel Blitz was the name for a range of medium trucks from 1930 till 1975. The trucks original logo which looks like a stretched "Z" or lightning still forms part of Opels current brand label.
Several thousand of this rugged and reliable truck as well as some variants like the Maultier were produced for the Wehrmacht. Together with horse carts, civilian vehicles, captured enemy models and a few models from competitors it formed the backbone of German logistics during the war. Despite the popular image of German soldiers riding into combat mounted on halftracks, it was more often the Blitz if not the soldiers feet on which the Landser arrived on the frontline. Some formations like the Fallschirmjäger in fact received no halftracks at all and were transported solely by truck.

These two Blitze are by Rubicon models and were already undercoated during last years challenge, but it took me a year to paint them up finally. I simply love the Blitz and Warlord Games recently released their own version in plastic, thus I might add another one or two to my growing collection (5 thus far). Rubicon also offer an expansion set to build the Blitz with box body... 

So, that's it for today. Stay safe!

                                                                               

It's, it's an Opel Blitz! As no punk band ever sang but I always thought they should! Cracking pair of Blitz's, I remember in my youth building and painting one in 1/35, your much smaller models are literally light years beyond mine,fantastic painting and weathering,top notch stuff!
Your Panzer 1 is as endearing as an armoured mobile machine gun nest can be and once more delicately painted and weathered, really very nice entry.
Three 28mm vehicles at 20 points each,even I can work out that's 60 well earned points!

All the best Iain