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

From SanderS - Fellowship Part I (50 points)

Hoi,

You've guessed it, more Heroquest! Okay, strictly speaking, these are not real Heroquest figures but an assortment of figures I am going to use for the game. There's some Frostgrave plastic henchmen, a Hasslefree figure, Otherworld Elf Sorceress, Zealot miniatures Dwarf and a GW Warhammer Quest Elf.  

So here are the Henchmen to start with, they can either function as mercenaries to the heroes, heroes in their own right or crooks to fight the adventurers.

Now on to the title figures: in my pile of unpainted figures there are quite a lot of groups of miniatures that you could designate as a "Fellowship" these are the first. A group of the 4 main archetypical Dungeon explorers: a Dwarf, Elf, Barbarian and Wizard.

10 figures of 28mm makes for 50 points if I am not mistaken.

---

What a nice bunch of figures. The colour scheme really brings them together and if you hadn't said they were from different manufacturers I'm not sure I would have noticed. I like the blue bases on these as well, it really makes the finished figures 'Pop'!

A tidy 50 Points to add to your earlier entry. You're clearly having a productive week! 
Lee

From KenR : 28mm Italian Wars Sword and Shield (152 Points)

The first of two instalments this week on Project Italian Wars, a unit of Italian Light Infantry armed with sword and shield along with a Papal Command Base.

The unit is all metal 28mm Perry Miniatures and consists of 24 miniatures based on the usual 60 x 50 bases with 6 figures per base and the slight stagger in the front and rear ranks I talked about in last weeks entry.

The figures are painted in the Papal Red and White colours that I have used in the past on other units in the project and is the colours used on the Perry Miniatures website. Flags are Petes Flags again, representative of Julius II. I thought about getting some decals done for the shields but it was too much trouble so I did a quick Papal Cross Keys design onnghem by hand.

The command base, on an 80mm round base depicts a Cardinal on a mule speaking with a Priest on foot who appears to be reading from the Good Book. Both those figures are from the metal Perrys Range, the Standard Bearer being a plastic figure from the Light Cavalry box set.

The conversation depicted is,

CARDINAL - "Read the men a passage to inspire them before the fight"

PRIEST - "And the Lord said, Love they fellow man and bring forth flowers and nice presents to forgive them for their transgressions, hold out the candle of pea.........."

CARDINAL - "Yes, Yes thank you, can you skip to the bit where he goes on about the enemy and giving them a good old fashinoed smite"

So points wise we have 25 foot figures (including the command base) for 125, plus 10 each for the two mounted and 3 flags for 148 points claimed for the Renaissance Side Duel and the Grand Total.

Aside from the Cavalry which is covered in a separate post, I have started a second pike block, this time with TAG figures and hope to have that done for next week. I have 10 days before I head back to work so I will try and make the most of them.

---

Another wonderful unit for a fantastic project. I really like the colour scheme. All that Papal red gives them a 'this means business' look about them! I really like the cross keys heraldry as well. You make it sound like you took the easy option but adding that detail by hand to every figure (along with all the other little heraldic devices on their cloaths and headgear) must have taken ages. 

Your spot on with the points, but I'm adding a couple of bonus points for the heraldic detailing, and a couple more for the quality of the finished unit (and command stand). 152 points. 

Lee

From TamsinP: 28mm Waffen SS (50 points)

My second submission this week is intended for a certain Strontium Dog storyline, "The Schicklgruber Grab", but could be used for historical games as well. As Johnny's target would be guarded by Waffen SS troops, I clearly needed a few of those so I bought a section pack from Warlord Games.

These were also zenithal primed and painted with fairly thin paints, with just the NMM metals being highlighted. Again a thinned dark tone wash was used to black-line the figures. I painted the bases in a more urban ruin colour scheme, appropriate to the story's setting.

Painting the '44 pattern Sumpfmuster camo wasn't as difficult as I'd anticipated, although I did leave out the rain-streak element of the pattern.

Overall, I don't think they came out too bad.

For scoring:

10 x 28mm foot @ 5 = 50 points.

---

Another great submission, and not a 15mm figure in sight! I  love the camouflage helmets and pea dot smocks. Excellent work as always Tamsin and another 50 points to add to the pile. 

Lee