From NoelW for Thursday: Three more units (123 points)

Hopefully this will make up for the pile of boring Romans in the first of this week’s posts. I’ve three small contributions.

Firstly, I’ve a small squad of six SAS soldiers from the Western Desert in WW2. These were the freebies on the cover of the most recent Wargames Illustrated. Warlord have been putting free plastic frames on the magazine for the last three issues, and I think they’re going to do so for some while. Next month’s is Napoleonic French cavalry, I believe. This frame was from their new WW2 British Commonwealth troops. There’s a great selection of heads on this frame – allowing for Australian, New Zealand or South African versions, but I’ve wanted to venture into an SAS setup for a while, so this was an opportunity for a small experiment.

My Western Desert setup is almost entirely Perry figures. These Warlord figures, which are basically their standard British frame with new heads, are a little cartoon-like, rather chunkier than the Perrys’ which are slighter, having more realistic proportions. Both firms have their charms and, though I prefer the Perrys I’ll probably end up with a box of the Warlord to develop this small squad into a rather larger setup, though I won’t mix the figures from both manufacturers in any unit. Presumably I’m falling exactly for Warlord’s plan – a free frame to whet the interest, leading to the purchase of just a couple of boxes, perhaps.

One attraction of the Western Desert SAS – and, indeed, just about any troops in the same theatre – is campaign dress, varied, ragged, half naked in many photos, with varied head coverings to keep off the sun, so that's what I'm aiming for here. I think the Perrys' set will offer more options, but the Warlord frame is still pretty good.

My second offering consists of 12 sci-fi figures. They’re made by EMP miniatures, a small manufacturer run from my local wargames shop, Wargames Emporium. I’m not sure how they’re catalogued – a sort of futuristic militia type force, suitable perhaps for games such as Necromunda and 40K or indeed any sci-fi skirmish. In fact, thinking about it, they could make a great Kill Team. (And good for a Squirrel, too).

And finally a few more medievals. I enjoy the look of medieval armies, though the battles often seem to be very similar. Here are 7 Perry crossbowmen for the French army at Agincourt.

Hopefully there’ll be more Agincourt figures before the end of the challenge, as I’ve a couple of boxes of the new cavalry to enjoy. Really, I’d like the Perrys to step back to Crecy and Poitiers, when we can justify hordes of beautifully caparisoned French cavalry. But an enduring, if incorrect, image for me is the French cavalry charge in Laurence Olivier’s “Henry V” (here’s a Youtube clip, if you don’t know it). It was one of the first historical scenarios I tried to reproduce, way back in the late sixties, with the Airfix set, and I come back to it periodically. It’s disappointing that the closer you get to history, the further you go from such spectacle.

I’ve painted them in a muted and drab style, which I guess is reasonably accurate, but I think I may also add a few more colourful colleagues for them in the name of spectacle.

That’s 6 + 12 + 7 = 25 figures = 125 points


What a varied entry from the king of squirrel! I like your SAS figures,a nice campaign finish to them and your stand in guardsmen work really well, the French crossbow men are very good. I'm afraid prone figures are only counted as 50% so 2.5 for 28mm but let's round it up to to 123 points!

All the best Iain

Thursday From JasperO - Barbed wire and dastardly Germans 60 points

Apart from the Recce challenge, it clearly took forever for me to produce something finished. Coming back from holidays in the US in the first week of January, jetlag hit me worse than ever before. And then there was work, and hobby time going into organising PolderCon. That was last week though, and it was great fun!

I was hosting a Chain of Command game and once I settled on a scenario, I found I needed some extra bits and pieces. Not what I planned, nor what I was working on, but with a firm deadline. I know, there's that thing about the sound they make when they go whooshing by, but it's helpful.

Two sections of barbed wire for Chain of Command. Very artful, if I say so myself.

I still need to make some barricades and team entrenchments, but at now at least, wire emplacements can be, well, emplaced. For the game, I also needed a team of German engineers. The objective would be for the German players to blow up a bridge, while the British players would have to capture it. I figured that would encourage 'stuff' to happen. I've noticed that newer players are sometimes hesitant to act aggressively, and then the game can seem boring when the short 1.5 hours of playtime are over.

These gentlemen are mixes of the Warlord German Pioneer set, with the Grenadiers (and a bit of hacking about). While I was at it, I also painted a few of the very nice Empress Late War German figures, and added a Winter MG42 team from Artizan.

The photos aren't the greatest. As these guys were about to hit the table, I quickly took a few snaps before the dice started rolling. As for points, I guess 10 28mm figures makes for 50 points, with half a 6" cube for the wire, so 10 points?

Nice to have you on board Jasper! Its amazing how a deadline can push things along! Nice barbed wire positions and engineers,the camo on your late war Germans is excellent,a lovely clean finish and I agree, 60 points to your total!

All the best Iain

Thursday BenitoM: Austrian Airborne Grenadiers... (42 points)

... wait a minute!!... I have a problem mixing periods… Austrian Grenadiers and British Airborne!!! This is the right one.

Now on a more serious tone, my painting speed stalled the past two weeks in direct relation to the rapid increase of my workload at the office. I have managed to finish some remnants of the British Airborne projects and have made the opening moves of the Napoleonic project, initially focused on the Austrian Army. This is the follow up of the core project undertaken in the 8^th edition of the Challenge last year.

The British Airborne entry are just 4 final models, comprising a second flamethrower team, a junior leader and a private.

For the Austrians, I’m now painting my first Grenadier unit. This unit will have a total of 12 models (small company in term of General d’Armee) belonging to the  3^rd (German) Infantry Regiment of which I painted two fusilier battalions last year.

The distinctive colour of the regiment is the light sky blue shown in the cuffs, collar and the back of the grenadier shako. The models presented today are the command company of the battalion comprising the officer, drummer, standard bearer and sapper.

The British Airborne are a mix of Wargames Foundry and Warlord plastic. The Grenadiers are from the Perry and Victrix line infantry ranges with Perry grenadier metal heads.

These 8 models will credit an additional 40 points to my Challenge scoring.

Finally, in a previous post I presented some support weapons for the British Airborne and asked whether the 2-inch mortar team models should be individually based or set in a single base. The overwhelming majority of commets were in favour of a single base. This is the final work and hope you like it

 

Hurrah! More splendid British paratroopers!
Lovely clean painting as always,your delightful take on their camo is always a pleasure!
On to the Austrians, they were a highlight for me in last year's challenge and these grenadiers do not disappoint! Perfectly modulated whites and a lovely choice of blue in the facing colour.
42 well earned points and the mortar basing is excellent,1 for a flag and 1 for the additional basing!

All the best Iain

    

From NoelW for Thursday: Valentine’s Day : a time for Romans (260 points)

I’ve two posts this week. This one’s not too interesting, as it’s the remainder of my Imperial Romans. There’s 52 of them, painted in the relatively quick style and approach I used two weeks ago. I wanted to get them finished and out of the way, because that project has become a little dull, so it was just a question of getting them done. I don't think there's much exciting here, though in the mass they look quite impressive.

I still had trouble with the decals on the shields, especially those which are the "damaged shields" of Warlord's veterans, which I don't really like anyway. So I'm going to change the worst of these, when I find some replacements - maybe Victrix shields with Little Big Men decals, which I really like. 

I painted the command figures a little differently in order to distinguish separate cohorts. I guess they ought to have shields, too, though I'd rather not hide the attractively elaborate armour.

I’m also hoping I might get to paint a couple of mounted generals for this army before the end of the challenge, and there’s a rather nice Sarissa Roman Villa I’d like to paint up, too, if I can find time. So that may be something to look forward to.

52 figs = 260 points

Well I'm going to take issue with there being nothing exciting here,these look terribly impressive to me! The mix of makes all work well to my eye they're a bit too early for Claudius II but nevertheless a fine Valentine's post and 260 points it is!

All the best Iain

For Thursday From MarkB 2nd Battalion Nyland Regiment and 6pdr Foot Battery in 3mm (28points)

Hi everyone!
Sorry for not painting and posting more but life can get in the way of our hobby.

So for today's submission I have some 3mm Napoleonic Swedish troops. These are 3mm miniatures and they represent a battalion of the Finnish part of the Swedish Army during the 1808-1809 War against the Russians. I have also painted up a battery of 6 pound foot Artillery. This is the first time I have painted Napoleonic figures in this scale. I like the look and I plan to do more.

There are a total of 85 miniatures in the Infantry Battalion which is about a 1:6 scale from the historic number of men in the Battalion in 1808.

Based on the scoring I think this will get me a total of 84 points.

I hope you enjoy this weeks Swedish miniatures. Skål!!!

Well these are delightful little men! Napoleonic in 3mm scale gives me a headache just thinking about it! You have done a fine job on these chaps and their artillery pieces, I am however afraid that I am going to disappoint you in your points total, having consulted with mighty times of the challenge and looking at precedent, the best I can do for you is 50%of 6mm points
,( Curt did award himself 1 point per 8 figures,but  I think that was just a bit of self flagellation, one neads to keep warm by whatever means necessary on those frozen praries!) which works out at  25points (for 100 figures by my count)so let's call it 1 point each for your artillery pieces,rounded up, to give you a total of 28points!

All the best Iain

Valentine's Day Thursday!

It's Valentine's Day and we have some lovely entries today! From teeny tiny Napoleonic Swedish troops, Imperial Romans and more.
It's sunny and warm here in London, no doubt a false dawn, like Valentine's beau,cured of blindness just in time to see his decapitation,we will no doubt see winter return and on that cheery note I give you Thursdays entries!

All the best Iain

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.
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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

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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