From TeemuL: Ancient Greek Hoplites (40 points)

Classical Greek Phalanx for Hail Caesar from Warlord Games, or Classical Greek Hoplites. Or Ancient Greek Hoplites from www.immortalminiatures.com. Life is hard, when you are "trained" by Games Workshop products.

Yes, a new frontier for me, perfect excuse for squirreling. I have painted some WWII vehicles and handful of Spanish Civil War miniatures, but mainly different fantasy or scifi. Not a single Napoleonic miniature has passed my painting table, but they might in the future... So I have never painted historical miniatures really, so these ancient Greek warriors are something new to me. I bought them couple of years ago from a sale (less than 10 euros for a box of 40), when I thought I don't have enough to paint... I was just getting back to hobby, and the big GW games didn't attract me at that time, but they are by far the easiest to find an opponent, so I'm on that path now.

I was expecting to get one piece miniatures in this box, may be separate shields or something, but I was wrong. That was one of the reasons I didn't start these earlier. They were not that difficult to assemble, but since there were different helmets etc in the box, but no instructions, I was afraid I'd build them wrongly... After a bit research, I think everything goes, they had mixed helmets and so on. I still haven't figured out if some of them are (or need to be) champions or something, but since I'm not expecting them to end to the battle field any time soon, I'm not taking too much stress on that.

I put four of them on a 40x40 base, that I read from somewhere. Someone wrote that 6 is good. I guess it depends on the rules, but I'm just expecting them to look nice on the shelf. And I think they look rather nice, painted with AP Barbarian Flesh first, then using GW Retributor Gold to pick up shields and armor and then some off-white white, yellow and red to the clothes and they were practically ready. I painted the spear stuffs quite light, I think with all the flesh and gold, brown would have looked a bit mess. I added transfers to the shields, they were a bit messy, but that was just me trying to be quick and ending up using thrice the time... They were not separate ones on the back paper, they were all on one film, which would have been good idea to cut before dumping the piece of 8 decals to the water... And I did that after gluing them into two rows, back row was bit difficult. Some of them are ok, but most of them are not in the middle, they have torn a bit or there are air bubbles under them.

On the bases I tried for the first time Citadel Texture Agrellan Earth, which gave a nice Mediterranean feel to them, I think, but it also shrunk a bit more than I hoped for and the plastic bases can be easily seen. Next batch I need to put something to hide them. And next batch will have transfers, which are properly assembled. Yes, I'll be painting more of these in the future, not necessarily in this Challenge, but soon anyway.

That's 8 28mm Hoplites for 40 points.
______________________________________________________________

To finish, a selection of Greek Hoplites from M. Teemu. Known for the diversity of his dishes, Teemu is one of the select band of chefs inducted into the ranks of the Chevaliers of the Squirrel.

M. Teemu continues in this vein with a surprise assortment of Greek Hoplites, best enjoyed with an ouzo, or perhaps a Finnish vodka. The elegant bronze finish is a fitting close to an evening of culinary delights. 40 points for Chef Teemu!

Ev

From BrendonW - Arabs, Arrows, Dark Ages and more (97 points)

This post contains 18 x 28mm and 1 x 28mm Casualty and all of them are Plastic.
I missed last weeks deadline but fear not I am unlikely to miss next week. No doubt most of us have overlapping projects on our painting tables happening and sometimes time just runs out.

This Conquest Games Norman is having a bad time of it. He has become crippled by being on campaign in foreign lands and overindulging in local food. You can tell by the way he is clutching his stomach that he is in a lot of pain from gut bacteria. An Army marches on it's stomach indeed.

These Gripping Beast Arabs have 4 hand painted shields. At the time of creating them I was really starting to feel a good flow with my painting. Very happy how they turned out and more will be on show next week so stay tuned.

A pike unit boss and a previously painted drummer from Perry Miniatures. Only one of these Red and Black hard drinkers counts for points. The drummer was torn asunder from his base and re-based. A delicate yet brutal task. I have a few flag wavers already so I won't be attaching a flag to this bossy dude. He can boss around a pike unit me thinks.

I am sure he is just trying to boost morale by yelling into his helmet and waving his sword.

He will put it away and join the fight as soon as his hangover lifts a little.

Gripping Beast Dark Age Archers. After painting armoured miniatures these none uniformed humans actually take longer even though in almost every game system they are cheaper. One below was a carry over from the previous batch of completed figures but was waiting for a partner to join him.

Cheers from Brendon

________________________________________________________________

And now to M. Brendon, an exciting chef from the Australian Tropics, whose work with diverse ingredients places him firmly in the ModOz tradition.

A base of dead Norman is surrounded by Dark Age Archers and a layer of beautifully-decorated Arab Infantry, The entire ensemble is garnished with a touch of M. Brendon's signature Beer and Bacon. 

This course nets the lucky chef 90 points, plus 4 for the decoration on the shields and 3 for Le Normand Mort.

Ev

From SimonM - "Age Of Sigmar" Bloodletters (20 Points)

These four 28mm plastic multi-part models of the Blood God’s Slaughter-kin come from the “Games Workshop” Daemons of Khorne Bloodletters boxed set for “Age Of Sigmar”, and consist of a Icon Bearer, Hornblower and two of their Hellblade-wielding brethren. The figures have all been assembled using the instructions found within the miniatures’ box, and having previously assembled a Gore-drenched Icon carrier for my Bloodletters unit, I decided this time round to build a daemon waving a Bloodsoaked Banner instead.

All of the scaly Chaos creatures were treated to a double-dose of “Vallejo” Heavy Red, generously washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Red. Having learnt some valuable lessons previously painting these daemons, I then turned my attention to their “jagged” hand-weapons, musical instrument and icon, and primed them with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna before pigmenting them in a double-layer of Gold.

In the past I’ve experienced the “Vallejo” Acrylic Model Colour frustratingly spattering my figures with tiny flecks of bright metallic paint, so I was keen to both wash these areas with "The Army painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and subsequently dry-brush them with (more) "Vallejo" Gold before moving on to the more detailed brushwork. This would allow me to ‘tidy up’ any irritating splashes of “Vallejo” Gold on their horns, “slavering jaws”, hands, hooves, back spines and sword hilts with “Citadel” Abaddon Black before gently blending these blackened areas in with the Bloodletter’s red limbs.

To finish the daemons off, I carefully picked out their numerous teeth using a combination of “Vallejo” White and “Citadel” Agra’s Earthshade, and ‘dotted’ their eyes with a few spots of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre. In addition, I gave their long snake-like tongues a base-coat of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre and then drenched them in “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade.

The Bloodletter’s Bloodsoaked Banner was predominantly painted using a couple of layers of “Vallejo” Heavy Red, which was then heavily saturated in “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson and “The Army Painter” Strong Tone so as to give it a gory hue. The standard’s wooden parts were simply given a lick of “Heavy Sienna” and (more) Strong Tone, whilst it’s icon had some “Vallejo” Dark Vermillion sponged over it, before it was glazed with “Citadel” Bloodletter. Finally I applied an old Khorne “Games Workshop” decal to the front of the banner to help better tie the standard in with a daemonic follower of the Blood God.
____________________________________________________________

With this regional specialty of the Hell Dimensions, M. Simon has prepared a new take on the rustic boudin. Not a blood sausage, but Bloodletters! I sampled this dish at a charming little bouchon in Lyon many years ago, and they did not disappoint. Be warned, they can deliver a kick to the uninitiated...

A robust burgundy and a strong stomach are recommended (nay, compulsory!).

Vingt points!

Ev

From SimonM - "Toon Realms" Lord Rascal's Icky Spiders (25 Points)

These five "cartoon scale white metal figures" of Lord Rascal’s Icky Spiders are produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be bought from the company's "Toon Realms" range. Sculpted by Steve Saleh, I have previously painted half a dozen of these arachnids for the “Dragon Rampant” rule-set in a simple “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal and “Citadel” Abaddon Black colour scheme, so wanted to make these metal horrors rather more eye-catching on the tabletop, especially when mixed in with their much more monotone brethren.

As a result I decided against just super-gluing the Lesser Warbeasts to their 30mm lipped plastic circular bases and instead drilled a tiny hole up into their underbelly before attaching them to some pieces of wire. This allowed me to prime them with impunity, predominantly wash them using “Citadel” Nuln Oil, and subsequently dry-brush the fanged critters without having to worry about catching their bases with my brush and doing some considerable tidying up once the bulk of their painting was finished.

In order to cover as broad a palette as possible I decided to pigment my eight-legged horrors with “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, Heavy Red, Heavy Blue, Heavy Green and Heavy Violet. I then ‘picked out’ their pointed teeth with “Vallejo” White and “Citadel” Agra’s Earthshade, and the furry fiends’ eyes with a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Red and “Citadel” Bloodletter. However, for my red spider I applied two dollops of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre over its eyes, and shaded them with “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade.

Only once the Necromancer’s fearsome minions were fully-painted did I drill a small hole into the models’ separately finished bases, and pin them in place using a small quantity of superglue. Finally, the arachnid servants were varnished using Vallejo" Gloss Acyrlic Varnish and had their stands flocked using “Citadel” Static Grass.
_______________________________________________________________

M. Simon's second course is a beautifully-prepared selection of spiders. Don't be worried, there's enough for everybody! 

These five-point morsels give this chef another 25 points! Now, I think an aperitif is in order before the next course... *shudder*

Ev

From SimonM - "Wizards Of The Coast" Commerce Guild Homing Spider Droid (20 Points)

This huge 83mm tall plastic model of a Commerce Guild Homing Spider Droid was made by “Wizards Of The Coast” and is model 02 from their Bounty Hunters expansion for the manufacturer’s “Star Wars Miniatures Game”. “Effective against both ground-based and airborne targets”, the OG-9 homing spider droid “was designed to transport a large and devastating weapon throughout the battlefield” and made its first appearance during the Battle of Geonosis in George Lucas’ 2002 American epic space opera film “Attack Of The Clones”.

The anti-vehicular walker was initially ‘hacked’ from its ill-fitting circular base using a modelling knife and permanently repositioned upon a 120mm oval “Games Workshop” stand. It was then treated to a double undercoat of “Vallejo” Gunmetal Grey and heavily washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil, in order to ‘cover-up’ the Baktoid Armour Workshop-built robot’s pre-paint scheme.

With the self-propelled artillery piece’s basic paint-job finished, I subsequently dry-brushed it with (the somewhat brighter metallic paint) “Citadel” Ironbreaker, and then enthusiastically applied some Strong Tone Quickshade by “The Army Painter” over all four of the walker’s all-terrain extendable hydraulic legs, precision homing laser (“mounted atop the droid’s round body) and anti-personnel cannon. These areas were later treated to a further light dry-brush of “Citadel” Ironbreaker.
__________________________________________________________

Chef Simon has produced another tempting dish in his ongoing series of Star Wars-influenced cuisine. The elegantly finished robot is a larger portion than one would ordinarily expect for an entree, so we will score it as a 28mm vehicle. This in no way detracts from its deliciousness.

Vingt points! (that's 20 for the hoi polloi)

Ev

An Evening at Bistro Mercredi

Ah, mesdames et messieurs, bienvenue au Bistro Mercredi. Please, allow me to show you to your table...

Today's degustation menu includes

• An amuse-bouche of Robot, plated with rare earth alloys,
• Freshly Painted Spiders, chilled to perfection and served on individual bases,
• An Assortment of Chaos Demons to cleanse the palate,
• Early Medieval European Archers and Levantine Infantry, served with a 1477 garnish, and 
• A dish of artisanally-produced Greek Hoplites.

Coffee and brandy to follow, with after dinner mints (they're only wafer thin...)

On to the first course...

M. Ev

From TamsinP: 28mm M3 Stuart (20 points)

Three entries from me in a week? Yes, I'm treating you.

The M3 Stuart equipped 2/6 Armoured Regiment was the first Australian tank unit to serve in Papua New Guinea. A squadron arrived in Port Moresby in September 1942; in November HQ and C squadron arrived, and B squadron was initially deployed to Milne Bay. In December, B and C squadrons were shipped to Buna on the northern coast. where they took part in the fighting at Buna and Sanananda.

Of course, it was soon realised that a fast, lightly armoured reconnaissance tank was not best suited to jungle warfare, with many tanks lost to Japanese anti-aircraft and infantry guns. It also didn't help that the crews and the infantry had never been trained to cooperate. However, the 37mm guns did help with taking out Japanese bunkers.

This tank is for 8 troop of B squadron. The 2/6th Armoured Regiment is the only one which fought in the Pacific that I haven't been able to find tank names for, so I just went with "Billy".

The model is 1/56 from Blitzkrieg Miniatures. The hull and tracks are cast as a single piece, with a separate resin turret and metal guns. I'm not sure if it shows up in the photos, but the master must have been 3D printed as there are some ridges which hadn't been cleaned up. I didn't notice them until it came to painting. I do want to add a few more Stuarts to my Australian force for "Big ChOC" games based around the Buna and Sananands campaigns.

For scoring, this is one 28mm vehicle which gives me 20 points and an entry for the "What a Tanker!" prize.

---

To misuse an old advertising slogan for a popular confectionary, With this tank, you're really spoiling us! Nicely done Tamsin, three entries in one day. You must be exhausted, I certainly am! 

I like the Stuart Tank, its got a very 'cavalry' feel about it that must have appealed to those old mounted regiments that had their horses replaced with armour. Tally HO! Although I doubt there were many tank charges in the Jungle!!

Great entry Tamsin, and 20 Points well earned. 
Lee

From MartinC - Army Finished / Army Started (190 points)

It's been an odds as sods week, mad busy at work and some random figures to paint. I really am running out of lead mountain.

48 Commando finished. These are the command units, 2" mortars, snipers, a flame thrower, Piat and a K gun section - basically, an aircraft machine gun fitted for infantry with an epic rate of fire.

Some 15mm Cretan Archers from Xyston miniatures - nice figs but a swarfy nightmare

New project time, I already have a fledgling Russian Civil War army that I have bulked out with Napoleonic Cossack lancers - they look fine. I needed more, the books of Peter Hopkirk are a cracking read and it's a fantastic period - read this months Wargames Illustrated for a flavour.

I had these 3 Nap Cossacks to paint but they had flintlock pistols so I swapped them out for revolvers (ACW revolvers to be accurate as it is what I had)

Empress has taken over the Copplestone interwar vehicles range and I bought this at the York show. It's a single turret Mgebrov WW1 AC. Only 15 of these were made and they were all the twin turret type - typical. Lovely piece though

Soviet flags are a doddle to paint

Finally some Russian Buildings from Sarrissa. These are great kits

2 village houses

Massive church. I had thought about covering over the cupola, round bit on the top, but I like it as is.

Scores on the doors

47 x 15m foot = 94

3 x 28mm cav = 30

1 x 28 vehicles  = 20

3 buildings approx size of 2 6" cubes - the church is massive = 40

Total = 184pts

---

Another wonderful mix of scales, categories and periods. I'm impressed by your productivity!

I'm always wary of declaring an army 'finished'. There's always something that can be added, and to me it feels like tempting fate.  I like your buildings and your right, that church does look better with the cupola....it'll give the troops something to aim at! 

I've added points for the mortars... they may be small but they are, technically, "crew served weapons". Because they are so small I've only awarded 2 points each rather than the usual 4 for larger kit like the 3.3" Mortars you did last week. Still, it's an extra 6 points you weren't expecting bringing the total up to 190 points. 

Lee

From RayR - Donnybrook - Warfare Miniatures Militia (250 Points)

Surprise Surprise!!! More Donnybrook shenanigans!!! I bought these luvvly Warfare Miniatures last year at The Other Partizan wargame show, from Mr Hilton himself. 

These are very multi-purpose figures and are something that was missing from the late 1600's figure range. Dixon's and Reiver do have similar figures, but not in this many poses or clothing styles. And this is only the start, there will be more poses from Warfare minis!!

I mainly wanted these figure to use as Militia for Bacon's Rebellion or King Philips War in America, but they will also be used as Rebels in the army of the Duke of Monmouth and the Battle of Sedgemoor. And also they can be used for as either side in  Ireland in the Boyne campaign.

There are 30 Musketeers and 20 Pikemen/Sythmen I do have another 10 Pikemen to paint up, but I've kept these back.

I've just bought some different weapons for them to hold, hopefully, they'll be painted during the Challenge???

So 50 x 25mm figures should earn me a very nice 250 points! 

---

Wow, I haven't seen you paint so much in a long time. They are a nicely varied bunch of figures making them ideal to represent militia or other irregular troops. Your tried and trusted basing scheme really brings them together making them feel like a cohesive unit. I've seen plenty of figures at shows with poor basing and I think its an area many people miss, but it really can make a difference. Nicely done sir! 
Lee

From KenR : Please, not more Gendarme ! (65 Points)

A week can't go by without an Italian Wars Cavalry unit and this week is no different. Here we have Gendarme number 4 of the challenge (stop snoring at the back 😂).

Nothing new with these, 28mm Foundry Figures with Petes Flags. Not a specific family or Condottiero unit but a Papal Gendarme unit with flags from Julius II.

So points wise we have 6 x 28mm Cavalry at 10 a piece and a couple of flags at a point apiece for 62 points for both the main total and the Renaissance Side Duel. It would be rude not to include a group shot of the Gendarme collection to date.

Just one more Gendarme unit to do before the end of the challenge so next week I will be back on the Stradiots.

---

Snoring in the face of such quality would be blasphemy (and I'd have to get the Priest from your last entry to have a word with anyone who transgressed!!). I continue to be amazed by your work...and then you post that last picture. These are going to look utterly awesome on the games table and I'm sure I'm not the only wargamer tinged with a little green right now. 

As you say 60 points for the cavalry, 2 for the flags and I'm throwing in a couple extra for quality and one more for dedication to a theme bringing this entry up to 65 Points.
Lee