From ByronM -WW2 German Infantry Squad + Shrewzerker [75 points]

Now that the Christmas Craziness and Family BS is over with, it's time to get down to what really matters, Wargames, Miniatures, and Painting!!!

First up today is a unit that I first primed up probably 3 or 4 years ago for a challenge and they have sat primed black hiding in shame in the back of the closet since then.  They are the germans that came with the second edition of Bolt action, that I have always meant to get around to, but never have.  There are more coming as I think there were 30ish in the box, so expect another few units over the coming days/weeks.  Since these have sat primed and waiting for so long I am counting them towards the First Circle of hell, Limbo for a bonus 20 points.

They are painted mainly in German field grey, with grey pants and an almost black helmet.  They are a pretty basic paint job, but it works at a distance.  I also decided to base them with small yellow flowers as seen in the Sound of Music, so that at some point I can maybe put on a game where the Germans chase down the incepted and ear piercingly annoying Van Trapp family and silence them once and for all.  They will of course keep Julie Andrews alive, but the rest of the family must be silenced!

Next up is my first test model for a project I am really looking forward to this year, Burrows & Badgers.  I love anthropomorphic animals so when I saw this game for the first time a few years back I needed to get it, but then got sidetracked on other projects so never got around to it.  This year that changes!  I have about 20 models for this game to get painted and have several more in progress on the paint table already.

Points wise this should be 75 points (11 28mm figures x 5 = 55 points, + 20 bonus points for Limbo)

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Terrific work on this German squad, Byron. You may have missed the refreshed edition of Bolt Action but you should have them done for the 2nd edition of Chain of Command this upcoming year. I also really like your maniacal axe-wielding shrew(?).  If ever there was a shrew in need o taming it may be this chap. I've not heard of the game, but a quick look at their website shows some very cool minis. I very much look forward to seeing you show us more of this range. Lovely work.

- Curt

From MattT - A horde of zombies, that's just my style Sir. ( 50 points)

One of the gaming plans I have with my brother for next year is to start playing The Silver Bayonet. I know we are a bit behind the curve but it does look fun. We have decided to set it in Russia as we already had a few minis and my brother liked the Perry's, Retreat from Moscow minis. I think he will be posting some of them this challenge. I had painted up my Russian warband before the challenge so have decided to focus on a few baddies.

I think I have managed to create some pretty good-looking Napoleonic zombies by bashing together some plastic Napoleonic's with some zombie bits and filling in the gaps with green stuff. The good news about converting zombies is the worse your sculpting is the better they look. I had created 6 before the challenge started, which is probably all I will ever need.  However looking at them 6 zombies didn't feel like much of a horde so I created 10 more.

Group shot of them all together

As I sit here looking at them I think I need an eagle. Might have to see what I can come up with.

10 x 25mm Zombies = 50 points

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I love these! They are so creative and unique. Really wonderful stuff Matt. I also like the idea of an eagle bearer who still has some vestigial sense that he should be carrying it long after death. Creepy AF. Love the snow too. Brilliant work.

- Curt

From EdwardG - 28mm (kinda) Swiss for SAGA AoC [40pts]

 Hello all!

So very happy to be back taking part in the painting challenge! I've got a massive lead pile (don't we all!) And great, certainly delusional,  plans to make a significant dent into it this challenge. As a family we've recently been joined by our second child, so painting time is even more limited! But I am managing to grab 30min here and there. So, look forward to an eclectic mix of table ready quality minis in many different scales from me this year :) hopefully. Sadly though, I'm not sure I've got much that fits into the challenge locations, so I'll not be gaining many bonus points this year.

First up, I present a round 8 of Perry miniatures. The bodies are all from the plastic French Agincourt kit, with heads from an mix of different kits. Annoyingly it seems that the Perries changed their neck connection somewhere between two generations of plastic kits. Made kitbashing a little more of a pain than it might have been. 

The minis have been painted up in a totally imaginary livery colours. They're to join my current project of trying to get a SAGA Agr of Chivalry Swiss force painted up for a competition at the end of January. I've been hamstrung a little as the supplement book was supposed to be published in the summer, still hasn't appeared. So I'm not sure exactly how many minis I need to paint. So I'll keep painting until the day and see what kind of force I can build. I've gone with the imaginary livery as I'm rather bored of only seeing red/white, black/yellow or blue/white colours on Swiss minis.

For points that should be:

8x 5pts = 40pts

Hope everyone has an enjoyable rest of the festive holiday! And see you all soon! 

Best, 

Ed

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Lovely work Ed. Yes, I think we all suffer from a somewhat over-optimistic expectation of what we can achieve over the three months of the Challenge, but that's all a part of the fun, right? Congratulations on the new addition to your family. I laud your efforts to try to carve out time here and there to work on your hobbies. Sanity is key! :) These Swiss-adjacent chaps look the business with their green and yellow livery cutting the dash and being quite fashion-forward. I hope the army book shows up for you before your upcoming tournament, but at least you should be ready for whatever it reveals. Well done!

- Curt

From MartinC: My usual random start (198 pts)

New challenge, my 10th (or 9th or 11th). As usual I have a whole range of lead mountains to paint. However there has been a dramatic change of circumstances and total loss of mojo.  I took early retirement in August and moved house to be closer to my family. Since then I have been working on the house, it was quite leaky. I'm almost at the decorating stage.

So my plan for the challenge is to paint a 28mm Napoleonic Bavarian division, obviously I'm not doing that yet. Instead, along with a friend Ian we are doing Barbarossa in 10mm for Rapid Fire Reloaded. I have found an excellent campaign game called Kicking in the Door on wargames vault and have tweaked it a little bit. 

We are both building Germans and Russians, and will both have 6 or 7 battalions of each side. I have had most of mine for Christmas but had a few Germans to paint 

German armour

Command bases, mortars, machine gun and AT

Most of a motorised battalion,  needs 3 more bases plus transport

The barbarossa stuff will take up most of the start of the challenge 

As usual I will also have a load of random things to paint

1st up a 28mm steampunk mechanical octopus. I picked this up 2nd hand but don't know who made it and can't find any pictures on the web, so it was a bugger to put together. I fo love it though, it is very dynamic.

Next some skeletons picked up in a sale. I do love skeletons, they are a joy to paint

Finally I recently bought a massive Spanish style villa from JB wargaming and will use it as a convent in Vietnam. So needed some nuns. Never type in 28mm nuns on Google. 99% of the results are NSFW. These are from Westwind and are OK.

Scores on the doors

10mm vehicles 7 x 6 = 42

10mm infantry 70 x 1 = 70

10mm artillery pieces 7 x 3 = 21

9 x 28mm foot = 45

1 x 28mm vehicle aka octopus = 20

Total = 198

Have a great new year

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It's great to have you back Martin! It sounds like you've had a LOT on your plate this year so I can understand the loss in the hobby mojo. That aside, you seemed to have roared back with your opening entry here! I missed the return of Rapid Fire, but I can see how that would cause some interest in 10mm WWII as it was such an iconic ruleset in the 90s. Great work on this German force - you'll be doing Russians too, right? I can help you the provenance of the Clockwork Octopus as I have one sitting unbuilt on my desk. *sigh* It's from Kawe over at Westfalia Miniatures, but its now long out of print. Kudos to you in it's assembly (it's a beast) and you've done an excellent job on all of its brass, steam-fitted glory. And who doesn't love some skellies and nuns? The only thing that could possibly make it better is NSFW nuns. *cringe*

Great stuff Martin. I'm looking forward to your oncoming onslaught of painted minis! 

- Curt

From Curt: Mar-a-Lago Militia - The Boggs (25 Points)

Hey Y'all,

I return to my ACWII project with these colourful denizens from the dark, dank swamps of south Florida. I give you the Bogg family. 

In my wondrous, fictitious, fantastical and terrifying 'Merica they they are part of the local Mara-a-Lago Militia, fiercely loyal to Father Dagon and 'The King in Orange' (Yellow being so very passe these days). 

The Boggs (distant cousins to their Yankee Innsmouth relations, the Marsh family) are a spiteful, vain, and oily clan. They revel in their own stupidity, are selfish, hate outsiders and rarely listen to reason.

Yes, they very much have 'the Mar-a-Lago look'.

Cyrus

Cletus

Ruffus

Festus

Jo Lean

These figures are Deep One Hybrids, 3d prints from KLT Studio. I had fun working with their flesh tones, giving them a fishy look about them, but in the end they sort of have a Simpson vibe going on, which makes me smile as I can easily envision an episode where he Boggs cause chaos amongst the good folk of Springfield. :)

The Boggs will give me 25 points and one point for the Squirrel Duel ('ACWII Red Forces'). 

Thanks for dropping in for a look!

- Curt