From DaveD - 6mm Terrain . WWW3 - 15 points

Just a little top up for the scoreboard. I have a plan for the winter season that involves working up through my to do list by scale. So first up are a few terrain tiles for my Cold War gone Hot collection . JamesM of this parish bought me these just over 12 months ago to add to the collection . I think they were Leven miniatures. These are currently the last items I have in the “to do” pile for this collection, and the last 6mm items in this years crosshairs - I will move to my 10s next.

I really enjoyed doing the blasted houses section, but as for the workshop building that had 84 windows each of with 8 panes that need a highlight somewhat less so. Overall though pleased with these. I have 8 terrain tiles now for the collection.The Bundeswehr are previous models so no scoring .

I made the rubble by crumbling some hardened pieces of terracotta colour Milliput.

I think the Frogfoot squadrons had a field day blasting these!

Each tile is 8x6x2 so 192 cubic inches , so call it 15 points

It's alright for the rest of the challengers but I get nagged by Dave and James on Messenger when their post is ready, Dave this is really good and I can see my infantry hiding in there to ambush the Russian horde. Where will the camels go though?

DaveS - Prepare for Landing on Reidy's Reef

So, my Challenge this year was supposed to start by getting my ACW force for Sharp Practice painted. So what better way to do that than to start by painting up a force of US Pacific Theatre Marines.  These have been sat on the shelf with the single, painted squad that I have for a while, primed but no further.  When I was looking for which models I could use for the nautical theme, I thought that nothing said Nautical more that Marines fighting to take islands in the Pacific.  They were bought for Chain of Command, and the units are organised for that game.

I really enjoyed getting these painted up.  Again, it's a simple, quick, tabletop ready paint job, but en-masse, I think that they look ok.  Certainly better than the grey plastic that they started at.  This might have motivated me to get the rest of this force finished.  I have the 2 BAR teams for these units to paint, and then some leaders and another squad with 3 BARs.  That would give me a basic force, but I keep looking at landing craft, and special weapon teams, and all the other shinies that can go with it.....

I've also been thinking about the prize Mini.  When looking through the pile of models, I found one labelled "Hero's Reward".  Nothing says "Prize" like a pile of gold.  So I have taken the opportunity to get that painted as well.

So that should be
    14x28mm Figures = 70
    Reidy's Reef = 30
    Prize Figure bonus = 25
    Points for the Prize model = 10

Making a rather tidy 135

Love these marines, they look rough, tough and hard to bluff. I've no idea how big the pile of gold is so I've awarded it 10pts.The prize pile is really cool by the way

MilesR: Aztecs for Mudry's Mesa 130 Points

 My submission for Mudry's Mesa is part 1 of a likely series of Aztec themed submissions.  In accordance with the rules of Mudry's Mesa, these figures where purchased on Dec 20th.  I'm planning to use them for pulp games and a ww1 version of my DAK & Dragons game, tentatively tilted ANZACs and Aztecs.  I had planned to run that game at Cold Wars this year but need to delay that for business reasons.

This group of 20, 28mm figures from Eureka are all Novices, there's a similar number of more elaborately festooned warriors to come.  The figure quality is so-so and I would have a hard time recommending them.  It's a very old line from Eureka and that shows in the casting.  They're really 32mm figures so are very well fed Aztecs compared to other 28mm figures

I really like the slingers and think this batch will serve nicely as ambushers in a future pulp game.

These twenty chaps should net me 100 points, which goes to 130 with the bonus on passing through Mudry Mesa

On to Rousell's Sandhill!







Enough, Ok. Just stop! I'm so shell shocked that I got these 2 posts the wrong way round. More great work from the Demon Painter of New England. Well done

From MilesR: Swedish Dragoons for Rousell's Sandhill - 84 Points

I really had a hard time figuring out what might pass muster for Rousell's Roost given his rather exacting time period restriction of 1660 - 1669.  Sadly, when one has a leadpile as big as mine, there's likely a figure for any time period.  In this case there are a ton of them form my Kkstarter for the game system "By Fire and Sword".  I present to you a unit of Swedish Dragoons (mounted and dismounted) which the rule books say go all the way up to 1660 - just making it into Ray's time band.

 These are metal castings in 15mm scale from Wargamer.Pl - the Polish based entity that publishes the by Fire and Sword rule system.  BFAS is a really fun game that I've played about 5 times but it never really caught on with my gaming groups.  It has a very innovative command control system and works for both skirmish level as well as army battles.

I've got a ton of unpainted Swedes, Poles and Ottomans to paint up and you may see a few more over the next few months.

This submissio has nine mounted and dismounted figures which totals 54 points.  That goes to 84 with the bonus points.

Rather than head straight to the Snow Lords lair next, I think I'll make a left turn and take the scenic route.




Gordon Bennett Miles, haven't you got anything else to do! These are lovely. Begrudingly stands back and admires the output

From TomG - To Strip Or Not To Strip - Participation Prize Entry

I'm back peeps, with yet another single mini, but this time with more of a story, so if you're sitting comfortably I will begin...

As I was carefully steered in to this most inspiring and motivational challenge by fellow Challengee DaveS (do check out his stuff it's varied and fascinating) he reminded me that I'd need to enter a prize mini, but what to enter, thought I. Then, during one of our gaming sessions a mutual friend appeared with a model he wanted to gift to me, to enter as my prize figure, mainly to see me work with the material offered by the "Wizards of the Coast Primed" D&D figure range. Now, initially it made up part of my holiday trinity of minis that were left at home whilst we went away.

As you can see, each mini has been primed differently, but with Hellboy and the Terminator Captain, I had the benefit of cleaning up the models myself before spraying the primer on. Losing this luxury with the D&D mini led to some frustrating moments as every mould line removed, took some of the primer with it, however this left me with the eponymous question: to strip or not to strip. Having never used this soft plastic before, I chose to leave the model be and just do as little damage as possible. 

But, having finally got paint to the model I tried something new to me with a pale blue skin tone. I followed this by adding a little bit of England to the mini by choosing a native snake scale colour with the European Adder, although I went against adding the dark zigzag pattern common to the breed as it made the model look very busy. 

Having got the skin/scale tones down, I decided to stay with the earthy palette to try and add a more classic D&D vibe. Having got that down, and the metallics finished off it was time for the spot colour. 

I think that the purple really helps draw the eye up to the facial area, but without wiping out the warm tones and instead tying the blue skin to the red leather tones.

Finally happy with the model itself it was time to get the base sorted, for which I turned to the Lukes APS Quick Basing product range. Consisting of a latex style glue and a tub of mixed basing materials, it really does give a lovely finish in no time. 

So to wrap this up I believe that a 28mm model along with the participation entry bonus I am at about 30 points for this one, but I could be very wrong. Either way, I hope you enjoy this new model, my second of the week and second for the blog, and you might see that Terminator Captain again very soon... Watch this space.

Wow, she (it) is a belter, visions of Sinbd movies rushing through my head. This is a great figure, brilliantly painted . The pale skin tone works really well

Sarah's Balloon Flight: Druid (35 points)

With this entry I hereby summon Sarah's Balloon to transport me elsewhere on the island.

Around March last year I was looking for a wargame that people were playing regularly on a day I could make. One of my friends invited me to his monthly Kings of War game - it's a fantasy massed battle rank and flank game designed for two players lasting 6 turns (can go one more depending on a dice roll). It takes a couple of hours for a standard game.

You do need a substantial army and I found a beat up Forces of Nature army on EBay and a nice box of elves and stuff at a bring and buy. The rehab of the EBay army is complete and I'm now painting up the fantasy stuff from the bring and buy. This elf (or half elf?) magic user was in the box and will do nicely as a druid - druids are useful, low points cost magic users in the Forces of Nature list - flinging lightning bolts, healing and making your regiments of naiads, lizards and elementals more effective in combat.

Until last year my experience of painting fantasy figures was limited to a few Citadel D&D adventurers in the early 1980s. I'm enjoying the break from button counting and worrying about the right shade of field grey to experiment with different paints and colours - I'm hoping to make a start on my Nightstalkers army for Kings of War as part of Challenge X.

I have no idea of the manufacturer when this was made - GW? She has a ton of detail from skulls in her hair to a snake at her left ankle. There's jewelry and various bones and straps. I opted for a simple, Forces of Nature-y, colour palette. I'm looking forward to seeing how she does as part of my Kings of War Army.

I'm still working on a good formula for blond hair that isn't too yellow and isn't too brown. Any tips would be much appreciated.

Sarah's Balloon Ride will take me to Docherty's Dock where I hope to get to grips with a camel or four.

Upon landing I would sip glass of champagne to celebrate the completion of entry number six - but it's the middle of the day on the west coast and the champagne's still chilling in the fridge so I'll forgo the bonus drinking points until the next balloon trip. One 28mm figure (5 points) and first journey on Sarah's Balloon (30 points) for a total of 35 points.

This is a truely beautiful figure. She is an old Wargames Foundry figure and a woodland nymph, part of a large collection of naked and mainly naked women. You have done a fantastic job. Kings of War is a brilliant game, bonkers and great fun.

From JamieM - Epic 30k Assault Detachment Burch's Bluff (75 points)

Having (mostly) recovered from the "teensy sky dive" out of Sarah's Balloon, I found myself in the wilds of Burch's Bluff, a place notorious for the many, many rulesets roaming wild in the area, the miniatures of many different scales for the same period living side by side and the odd signpost reading only "Horus for Hope"..... spying only a local hermit who seemed to be painting tiny little figures, I decided to make like I was in Rome and join in!

This submission consists of 8 bases of  Imperial Fist Assault infantry for Epic 30k.  The figures are from Vanguard Miniatures from the "Defeat in Detail" range I think and look enough like 30k marines to do the business.

"Why Imperial Fist Assault troops?" I hear you ask..... well, a couple of reasons.  Firstly, I've had these figures lying around for a while, ever since Greg's Epic 30k forays got me interested in Epic stuff again as a matter of fact.  But then I had to decide on a legion.  By happy coincidence, I have absolutely fallen in love with the Iyanden Yellow Contrast paint by GW and I knew Greg had an epic scale Imperial Fist force.

I decided to therefore kill three birds with one chainsword and after a quick visit to the EpicAU website to look at the army lists, I proceeded to paint them using my new favourite colour, get the points for visiting Burch's Bluff and also provide this detachment as my "Challenge Gelt" figure.  I've also let Greg know that I'll be sending them over to join his forces fighting for the benevolent Emperor against Horus' dastardly villains.

As it's tricky to get details into 6mm figures, they got three sergeants with red helmets and a chaplain to encourage into the fray in his trademark black armour and skull coloured helm.

At 0.5 points per figure I make it 20 points for the figures, plus 30 points for the location, plus 25 for the challenge figure.  I think I spy Mudry's Mesa in the distance and may well head there next....

These are really nice, the yellow really makes them pop. I know nothing about Epic but I'm sure that on the field these will look suitable Epic. Smart use of location and Curtgeld gives you 75pts

From GregB: 15mm WW2 Russian Assault Engineers and Scouts (62 Points)

Some Russian WW2 infantry in 15mm.

Hello again and happy new year to all of the Challengers! For my second submission, my brushes return to a setting which has been largely absent from the past few years - World War 2.  These are 15mm Russian infantry from that era - a platoon of assault engineers, and a squad of scouts.  The engineers are metal figures from Battlefront, while the scouts are from Peter Pig.  All of these figures had been sitting in my "primed-but-not-yet-painted" pile (i.e. "pile of shame") for at least two years - the scouts had originally been intended as a theme submission in Challenge VII or VIII...so it feels good to finally get around to them and get them finished!

LMG teams on oval bases...you can also see one of the flamethrowers on an oval base. He's by himself...nobody wants to stand too close to the flamethrower guy on a battlefield...

It is common to base 15mm figures in groups (as often seen in "Flames of War"), but these particular figures are all based individually for games like "Battlegroup", "Bolt Action" and "Chain of Command".  I enjoy WW2 gaming a lot - probably too much, as I paint the period in a number of different scales. I have found that playing games like "Bolt Action" with 15mm figures gives a great look on the table in terms of engagement ranges on a 6' x 4' table.  So while I have a lot of 15mm figures on group bases, I have been adding 15mm units that are based individually as well.  An additional advantage is that one Company-sized box of 15mm infantry from a company like Battlefront provides more than enough models for any scenario at a great value.

The eight-man squads are configured for "Battlegroup", but of course can be re-organized for any particular WW2 skirmish rules.

The downside to individual 15mm figures is that it can be difficult to work out which weapons are being carried by who (an MP40 and MP44 sure look similar at that size, for example). It also hard to see who is the officer, details which are easier to pick out on a 28mm figure, but not so much on the 15mm foot sloggers.  To work around this I use a similar basing system to one Curt has developed - senior officers (like the platoon CO) are on a hex-shaped base, NCOs are on square bases, and special weapons (in this case, the flamethrowers and the DP LMG teams) are on oval bases.   It is an easy and quick way to ID the notable infantry figures even with smaller scale models.

Platoon commander on a hex base, along with a couple of flunkies to "bite the bullet" for him when the time comes...

The metal assault engineers from Battlefront are fantastic sculpts.  They are wearing SN-type body armour, carrying SMGs and are loaded down with explosives, ropes and other combat engineer goodies.  The platoon pack also provides quite a few flamethrowers. It's a great value, and the sculpts have a lot of character and dynamism, impressive considering they are only 15mm in size.  I'm glad I picked up a couple of these packs a few years ago, as these metal figures (and so many others) are gone from Battlefront's product line up, sacrificed as the company debases itself further and further before the false gods of plastic figures (and releases new versions of its rules every four months).

For the Motherland! Crush the Fascist invaders!

The small group of scouts are from Peter Pig's top-shelf lineup of 15mm WW2 figures.  I'm not sure why I only have five of them...probably something to do with a Chain of Command game I had in mind back in 2017.  At any rate, I tried to "pop" the green out a little more than one normally would, just to help them stand out a bit on the tabletop.

Five of these figures were painted prior to the commencement of AHPC X.  So while I have gathered 36 of them together for these propaganda photos, only 31 of them will count, which should provide another 62 points. Onward and upward!

15mm figs on individual stands, you mad b*$£@!d. These do look really great and a fine piece of work. Bolt Actionin 15mm is a great idea

From JamesM: 15mm Sherman Firefly x 2 - For MartinC (16pts)

Hi folks,

Having painted something for one of my gaming buddies, I could hardly miss out the other. I'd found a couple of Plastic Soldier Company Fireflys for Martin's budding British Armoured Squadron of Battlefront 'Hit the Beach' Shermans. Since these would be going to Martin anyway, I decided to put them together and stick some paint on them for him as well.

Nice to be back painting some British green tanks (Vallejo Model Colour 70.924 Martin, in case you want to paint your others something other than whatever green you have at hand...). I've kept the decals to a minimum as I'm unsure what Martin plans to do with his others - we discussed either 4th or 8th Armoured Brigade as options to fit his Sherman II's.

The air recognition star on the rear deck sits under the travel cradle for the 17-pdr gun barrel. I included the WD  numbers on the sides just to give a little detail.

I also left these unweathered, so that Martin can match them in when he paints his others (all 8 will have been painted in the time it took me to write this blog post, no doubt).

2 x 16mm vehicles = 16 points.

Aw thank you , these are perfect. You mean there are specific colours and not just a random green!

From JamesM: Participant Prize for DaveD (71pts)

Hi Folks,

Off to a slow start this year (I blame a number of causes, but mainly buying Pathfinder: Kingmaker for cheap in the Steam winter sale...), but I had asked His Curtness for permission to paint my challenge entry fee specifically for DaveD.

As such, I present a small diorama from 'somewhere in Normandy'. This consists of a GMC CCKW Radio truck, complete with generator trailer, along with a couple of Jeeps and a map table.

The truck and jeeps are 15mm Skytrex models purchased specifically with this idea in mind, while the figures are all Battlefront 15mm metal figures which came from a stash I was holding for DaveD anyway. I had planned to use Skytrex infantry figures, but they were too small compared to the table.

As usual, I tried to arrange the figures so that a bit of a story was being told. This story is 'look, a map!'. In all seriousness, commanders discuss routes for an armoured advance through the bocage while a recce team reports back and a runner in a jeep awaits orders. It should be noted that this truck based radio was also capable of communicating with the UK, and was frequently used by war correspondents and the like to send messages back!

Decals were limited to what few US ones I had (for some M10's) - and the Battlefront 15mm decals seem to be closer to 20mm in size. Still, I'm sure Dave can update if required.

Final tally is:

6 x 15mm figures standing/sitting = 12 points
2 x 15mm figures in jeep = 2 points?
4 x 15mm vehicles = 32 points

= 46 points

James, this is amazing. I am blessed to be able to play with your toys and Dave will love it. By the way GMC CCKW is the worst scrabble hand possible. As it's the entry fee you are short on the points

AdamC: Defensive Ground on Hawkins' Hill (40 Points)

Way Back in Challenge VI there was a bonus round called "defensive ground"  I had it in mind to build a shattered house of the sort that became the temporary home and strong point for many a squad or platoon of soldiers in the Second World War.  I didn't get it done in time got it almost built but not painted since no points were awarded for terrain back then I had not really motivation(as I had plenty of terrain). So it languished for years... sitting on a corner of my table more or less ignored but this challenge as brought it up form the ashes.

 The walls are crock board which I always find makes a good impression as crumbling masonry and the base is a piece of thin plywood with some of that plastic cobble stone stuff you find around Christmas time. More cork, aquarium gravel and other odds and end give it a bit more of a ruined look.  The inside room should have more rubble but I did with out to so troops will sit better.

I painted things a simple gray then did a heavy black paint wash to give it a soot stained look then dry brushed in a lighter color gray.

Dimensions and points base is 5x6 with a height of just over 2.5 inches.  That's about a 3rd of a 6 inch Cube as I calculate it so about 7 points? Adding that to the 30 bonus points Hawkin's Hill and you get 37 points. 

Glad to have this one done. This is my 4th point of the map.

I'm now going around to O'Grady's Gulch to take my 5th point and then it will be time to see about heading up snow Lords Peak.  

This is a great defensive position, I have visions of Jack Palance berating Eddie Albert within its walls. Homework for all Challengers. Watch "Attack", probably again. There will be a test!

I always find the points for terrain a little harsh given the time it can take to therefore I will round up to 40 points - I think that Miles' spreadsheet will melt if I try to add a 0.33333333333333 to the maths.