From DaveX: 20mm Taliban RPG Teams (16 Points)

This week I am submitting some Taliban RPG teams.  There are four models in total from Elhiem.  They are 20mm in size.

They will represent RPG teams.  I felt I rushed these just a little to get them done but they look great in among their comrades.

This will give me 16 handy points.

I really like the guy on the right

I really like the guy on the left

A tidy little entry, nicely done and very evocative. Terry Taliban just can't get enough RPGs.

Barks

From AlanD: The Diether von Roeder (35 points)

 The Diether von Roeder (Z17) was a Type 1936 destroyer of the Kriegsmarine that fought at Narvik in 1940, mauling HMS Cossack and eventually being scuttled by its crew after running out of ammunition.

A few of the chaps from our club have become quite excited about Warlord Games' new Cruel Seas game, and I had my first game on Wednesday, which was quite fun. Paul O'G challenged me to the naval side duel this year, so this is my shot across his bows - a 1/350 destroyer to act as a big target in Cruel Seas.





I probably haven't made a model of a WWII ship since I made the Airfix Tirpitz about a hundred years ago, and I really enjoyed the excercise. This is the Zvezda kit of the Diether von Roeder, which I populated with a bunch of figures from Fujimi. I made the wake from epoxy putty.

 



I have no idea how many points this is worth, but hopefully lots because it took forever! The ship is about 35cm long and there are 24 x 1/350 figures.



All these Cruel Seas entries are causing your minion a lot of complex thinking. I reckon that is about the same volume as a 28mm vehicle, plus 12 points for the crew, plus some bonus points for the dynamic smoke (steam?) and wake effects, and to make PaulOG nervous. So that's 35 points, or 1/cm.

Barks

From StephenS: Reinforcements - 42 points

G'day,

A last minute entry into the Bolt Action tournament at CANCON (a convention in Canberra, Australia) this year, coupled with some last minute changes to my list, resulted in needing some last minute reinforcements for my World War II Germans.

Reinforcements to flesh out a Panzergrenadier squad

The tournament itself was good, I finished about middle of the pack and played five great games against some very lovely gentlemen indeed. It also gave me the opportunity to chat with a number of people that I haven't seen for a while, among them my esteemed Monday Minion and even an old friend from primary school (which was a number of decades ago now).

Panzerschreck and Sniper weapon teams

The miniatures themselves are a mix of metal weapons teams and some of the new(er) plastic grenadiers from Warlord Games. I've attempted to paint them in camouflage patterns in order to distinguish them from their less experienced comrades in the other squads.

While the paint job is not my usual standard as they were a rush job, they performed quite admirably all the same through out the tournament.

Cheers,

Steve

Good to see you the other weekend, Steve! I find that a tournament is a good deadline to paint to. Your grenadiers are lovely, and I'll drop in a few points for your camo painting.

Barks

From BenF: Za Stalina! 6mm 1941 VVS Aircraft (20 points)

While my focus for this challenge has been fimly set on my 6mm Cold War project, I also wanted to get some extra bits and pieces for my Bag The Hun 2 forces completed. After visiting Russia earlier in the 2018, I wanted to add a small Soviet force to my Germans, British, and French.

I like to play the underdog in wargames, and has there ever been an underdog like the poor Red Army Airforce (VVS) in 1941? Tales of brave little Popalikarov I-16s fighting against overwhelming numbers firing till their ammunition is spent, then ramming enemy bombers are pretty stirring stuff - even if overblown by Soviet propaganda.

So, here's the first half of my Soviet force. All of these aircraft are from Scotia, with decals from Flightdeck2400. I really enjoyed painting the little patriotic slogans on the sides of these aircraft.

First off, here's a section (or zveno) of Lavochkin LaGG-3s. The LaGG-3 was well armed, but under-powered and often outmaneuvered by the Fascist Messerschmitt Bf.109Es and Fs.

Next up, the Yakolev Yak-1. These were armed with machineguns and a 20mm cannon, and held their own against the Fascist invaders throughout the first years of the war. 'Yellow 44' is painted up as the Yak flown by Lydia Litvyak, the 'White Lily of Stalingrad', the first female fighter pilot to shoot down an aircraft, and still the highest ranking female fighter ace.

I've also got three Mig-3s,  Popalikarov I-16s, and a brace of Tupolev SB-2 medium bombers in the painting queue, so look out for them.

By my reckoning, the total for this entry should be:

9 x 6mm aircraft  = 18 points

Next up, some more 1984 fast air and some more Soviet armour.

You're smashing these 6mm vehicles out of the park, Ben! I'm impressed by the graffiti on the fuselages as well. Another few bonus points to bring it to 20, and I can't wait to see what microarmour project comes next.

Barks

From BenF: 6mm NATO Fast Air 1984 (20 pts)

So the last two and a half weeks have been a whirlwind. At 8.22pm on the 15th of January, our baby daughter Evelyn May was born. After a spell in the special care nursery where she got a chance to sunbake under the lights to get rid of some jaundice, we were all back home and starting to work out our new routines, which as far as Evie was concerned did not necessarily include sleep.

While I've not exactly had a surplus of sleep over the last fortnight, I have managed to get an hour of painting in here and there, and I've surprised myself by actually managing to get some stuff completed! Here's a picture of our little one.

These are a few 6mm aircraft for my Cold War 1984 project. The four RAF planes are for a mate, while the others are for my own collection.

First off, a pair of Super Etendards of the French Marine. I love the sleek look of some of these French aircraft, and these are going to be support for my French force based around the Force d'Action Rapide. These are Scotia aircraft with stores leftover from some GHQ aircraft.

Next, here is a lone Sea Harrier FRS.1, painted up as from 800 Squadron NAS, which saw action over the Falklands in '82. I've got the bare bones of a British force based around 1 (UK) Infantry Brigade, which was slated as reinforcement for Denmark and Norway, and this little guy will be support for them, when I get around to painting them up. The aircraft is Heroics and Ros, with stores from GHQ.

As no Cold War NATO force is complete without a Warthog, I painted up this little A-10A Thunderbolt II from GHQ. He will serve as air support for any of my NATO forces, and with a brace of Maverick missiles and the 30mm GAU gatling gun, he is certain to cut through any Warsaw Pact armour like a hot knife through butter.

Now, on the the RAF. My mate and regular gaming buddy Steve has a huge BAOR force, and when he asked me to paint up some RAF aircraft I was happy to oblige. First off are two Jaguar GR.1s from Heroics and Ros. I actually have another two in French airforce colours on the painting desk at the moment. These are painted up from 16 Squadron, based on some source photographs I found of a Jaguar at a Belgian airshow in 1986.

Next off, two Harrier GR.3s These are Raiden FRS.1s which have had a fair amount of modification. As with the other aircraft, GHQ stores have been added, but I've also filed down the nose to get the 'snoopy nose' look of the GR.3, and an antenna was added with fine gauge brass wire. Steve was pretty happy with this lot.

 I've also got a brace of Tornados and Phantoms to finish off, so expect those in the not so distant future. I managed to get a game in last night, and as with all freshly painted kit, the Jaguars were chased off by loitering MiGs before even reaching the battlefield.

This is the first of two updates this week, the next will be aircraft again, but some Soviets from the early Great Patriotic War. I'm also racing to get my entry to the Mercenary round complete, but we'll see how that goes. It depends how accomodating Evelyn will be :)

As far as points go, seven (admittedly quite large) 6mm aircraft are by my reckoning 14 points.

Gorgeous work, yet again. Very swooshable! Are the markings decals, or painted, or a mix? Your panel lines and cockpits would be the envy of a 1:144 modeller. Because planes are bigger than tanks, I'll throw in a few bonus points, plus a rounding newborn bonus, to give 20 points.

Barks

Monday's Children: Small, but perfectly formed

Today we have some lovely braille scale miniatures for your to appreciate. BenF has not dropped his standards (despite being a new father) with some exquisite 6mm Cold War and WW2 air power; AlanD has emerged like Aquaman in the Naval Side Duel with a 1/350 destroyer(!); and DaveX flies the black flag for 20mm gamers. Only StephenS stays faithful to 28mm with some lovely hand painted Wehrmacht camo.

Happy Monday!

Barks

Mid point Duels update

The race half run, the competition fierce. One SD has been won; more will follow. Giants will be toppled.  I could go on, but you'd be better served seeing the update here:
https://challengepaintingduels.blogspot.com/2019/02/mid-ahpc-ix-duels-update.html

The 'Mercenary' Theme is Now Up! ...and Curt's 'Mauvais Garcons', Mercenary Captain and Great Gun

Hi All!

The 'Mercenary' theme round is now up in the gallery page, so please head over to the gallery and enjoy all the entries.

This round the theme is 'Mercenary' and we have wide spectrum of interpretations of the topic from medieval Flemish mercenaries, and modern contractors to 40K Kroot and Star Wars villains. It's a panoply of all things avaricious and dangerous.

After you've enjoyed in the gallery please take a little time to vote for all your favourite entries.

Again: Blogger has a glitch dealing with large uploads occurring over a short period of time. So, when you advance to view the next submission it may skip one or two ahead. Yes, it's a pain. Anyway, the way to ensure that you're seeing all the submissions is to use the list of posts on the right sidebar to advance through the list of entries. 

______________________________________

My entry for the theme round is  a doughty, if somewhat hapless unit of French pike being led in by their mounted German mercenary captain and supported by a great gun.

The French, with a few notable exceptions, were not especially renown for fielding effective pike formations. Where the Swiss cantons and German landsknechts had the pike market pretty much sewn-up, the French expertise lay more in their heavy cavalry and artillery. From reading David Potter's 'Renaissance France at War' it was not uncommon for inexperienced pike French formations to acquire foreign mercenaries, who, being more seasoned in the profession of arms, helped steady the ranks. 

The French liked to muster their troops from particular provinces or townships, which gave each unit a bit of 'local colour'. For example, men from Picardy, led by the reported libertine Mssr. Monclou, were known as the mauvais garcons (literally translates as 'bad boys). A bit of a rude chap himself, Monclou was executed in 1523 for his 'depredations' during campaign (not especially surprising when your employer is the Pope, but there you have it).

Last year, my good pal Millsy was kind enough to paint up a schwack of Perry plastic pike for me so I could field another unit for my Italian Wars collection. After the hurly-burly of the summer, and being distracted by other projects this autumn (I'm looking at you 'Titanicus'), I've finally managed to get this mob flagged, pimped-out, and based-up to roll with my other units.

This pike block is nothing but a top-heavy delivery system for my brazen grasp at a few meager theme points from the mounted German mercenary I managed to paint up. This is a Perry-sculpted figure from the Wargames Foundry range of Landsknechts. I love these figures as they are so wonderfully characterful and satisfyingly hefty. The Perry's did a great job in sharply defining the puff-and-slash of the clothing which makes them really fun to paint.

It always seems to take me an age to get the figures placed in some kind of sensible arrangement, and since I like having my pike blocks bunched in tight, I found that I was a few figures shy to fill in all the bases. Not a problem! I estimated the space I needed to fill-up and then printed a few gabions on the handy-dandy 3d printer. In the end I'm happy with the overall look of the unit, slightly broken up, weaving their way around a line of light fortifications.

Both of these units I've based in an autumnal theme to match with the rest of my Italian Wars stuff. (Thankfully I keep a 'hobby recipe book' as I have a bad habit of bouncing between periods and always, always forget how I did things - so it helps keep things straight in my noodle.)

Millsy also painted me a trio of gunners as Curtgeld last year. And so like the pike, I've been holding on to these until the Challenge to get them matched up with an appropriate gun (this one being an old chestnut from Warhammer Fantasy (RIP)). As I had a spare gabion left over from the pike unit, I popped it on the base for a bit of visual interest.

For points? Only the gun, the mounted mercenary and the banners count, so let's place it at 25 points.

I want to thank Millsy very, very much for the brilliant figures - they're a wonderful addition to my Italian Wars collection. Thanks again mate!

Okay, folks! Have a great week and start thinking about the next theme round: 'Water Feature'.

Duels Tabulation in Progress

The gears of the steam powered tabulating machine are whirring as the mid point Duel update is generated.

A reminder to all duel participants that any updates they wish to have reflected, need to be emailed to me at:

challengeixsideduels@gmail.com

I will endeavour to post the update in the next 24 hrs and then will be increasing the refresh rate as we race towards the finish line!

Wallah 9 Actual out

From ByronM - 28mm WWII Canadians, 15mm Thirty Years War, and Epic 30k ( 133 Points)

A few things to post up this week, that are all over the map, I really wish I had seen and entered that "squirrel" challenge.

First up I have a squad of WWII Canadians from Warlord.  These are the metal figures and are great, with a ton of character in the faces.  In addition to the squad itself, I have included a command figure.

While the pink flowers may look a bit odd at first glance, they are there to be my unit designators.  This is a pink squad, later will be followed by purple, blue, red, etc.  That way as units get mixed up on the battle field it is always easy to see which one belongs to which squad.

The figures were done pretty quickly, but turned out pretty well.

Next up is my first submission of a new project, I plan on painting several armies for the Thirty Years War, and this is the first few bases for a Swedish cavalry skirmish group.  The figures are from Wargamer LLC who publishes the rules By Fire and Sword.  While not specifically targeting the 30YW period, they are aimed at the late 1600's just following the 30YW and not much tactically had changed during that time, so I plan on using their rules for the period.  If they don't work out I can always fall back to the tried and true Pike and Shotte rule set.  Regardless of the rule set I end up using, the figures are amazingly good and I strongly suggest them. 

I tried painting these figures initially, but was just not coming up with something that I liked.  I paint way more 28mm than anything else, and was using a 28mm paint method which was taking way to long and not showing well on the figures.  So, having Greg in the area, and knowing that he can bang off amazing looking 15mm figures with ease, I invited him over to give me a painting lesson!  Sure enough, he had a completely different way to paint 15mm figures than what I was doing.  It involved way more contrast than I was using, a different order of painting, and looked way better with way less effort.

While I still don't have it down solid, and my version of his painting does not look as good, I am getting there. So thanks to Greg again, but don't judge these figures and reflect badly on him, it's just my first attempts at his style. If you look closely, you can see 3 figures that look much better than the rest, those are the 3 he did that night to teach me how.  I am still not super happy with my results, but hopefully I get better as I paint more of them.

The bases for By Fire and Sword and Pike and Shotte for 15mm should be 40mm wide for 3 figures and either 20mm or 30mm deep depending on infantry or cavalry, however I found that a bit cramped and since the basing doesn't really matter (as long as both forces are done the same way, and I plan on doing both sides for games) I expanded the bases by 10mm in both directions.  This allows a bit more room for groundwork and to protect the models.  It also allows infantry a bit more room for Muskateers to spread out, or to add a few more pikemen onto a base to look more like a block of men.

Also shown here are 3 test figures for Musketeers of any nation.  These I believe are Bluemoon sculpts, but could be Khurasan as well.  I bought a pile from the three different suppliers and then cleaned and primed them all together, so no real idea which are which any more.  They all look good though, the only issue I have with the Bluemoon figures is that they come in bags of 50, but only have 3 different sculpts.  The price is right and they are the cheapest and look good alongside the other two companies, they just have very little variation, so can not really be used by themselves.

Lastly, I have a small squad of Epic 30k vehicles that I forgot to photograph last week.  The squad is made up of 5 scimitar jetbikes and a speeder.  They are great little sculpts and while they will provide almost no use on the battle field, being way to fragile, they look awesome and I could not resist.

That should give me a little bit of a points boost, but I have been struggling to paint this year, so I am not all that hopeful about meeting my goal, I really need to get working!  Oh, and 3 of the Cavalry should count to Greg's points as he painted 3 of them, so 12 points to GregB as well.


11x 28mm = 55 points
15x 15mm cav = 60
3x 15mm inf = 6
6x 6mm vehicles = 12
Byron's total = 133

3x 15mm cav = 12
Greg's total = 12
************


TamsinP:

Ah, yes, the switch from painting 28mm to 15mm can be quite difficult. The same applies the other way, as I can well attest.

Excellent work on all of these sets Byron. And Greg for his three 15mm cavalry.