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