From MattW: Roman Command (15 points)

Roman Command  

Another Roman addition, a Roman Senator and Roman Legate, both miniatures are from the Foundry Imperial Roman range. The horse is Aventine I think

3 x 28mm figures @ 5 points = 15 points 

Cheers

Matt

TeemuL: Nice and simple entry from Matt, let's see how many other entries we get today? Including my opening post this is the tenth for this Thursday. There's great interaction on this little vignette, very nice command base. I like the strong contrasts on the white cloth, makes one believe to be under a strong sunshine straight from above.

From DaveD: The Chapel of St Martin and the Blessed Sisters of Mercy - plus tanks! (47 points)

A little more winter work this week . I picked up a 3d printed Chapel building so that has been completed this week - complete with some stained glass painting . It will do for a nice little roadside one I think -,with a secret stash of  Tripel beers . I also have a stand of Nuns .. ok yes it’s bonkers but I think a little random event of the Blessed Sisters of Mercy crossing the battlefield could add a little something. Though I am pretty sure they may have been out hunting Werewolves or Dracula … hmm now there is another option .

The figures are from a Blue moon set . 

Next up some extra German Armour . Time for a Tiger , PzIV and 3 Stugs . These have lain in the stash for a while with a base coat on - the upside of the winterising means they don’t need to much overall attention , just a basic paint job and away they go .  So this gives my German forces some extra punch now .  I need to top up the US infantry available next . I have a club game booked with it all just after the challenge ends .

The Stug contingent 

The Pz IV

Points 

15mm foot delivering a message from God x 3 = 6 , plus 1 tank crew =7

15mm tanks x 5 = 40 

TeemuL: Great to see some snow again, southern Finland has been lacking it, but thankfully you and Ray keep the snowratio at bearable level. It would be nice to give some points for the chapel, but we do know the rules. I believe the chapel and nuns give nice flavour to many scenarios - abandoned (assumed) chapel would be a nice strongpoint for a HQ or some guns, but close contact reveals there are some devoted nuns still there and all the plans go with the wind. Great especially for games with umpire, I'd say.

What you say about winterizing is quite true, but of course the base paint needs to be solid or the whole effect will look very cheap. Yours are great and hope the club game will be great!

From TomC: Rataclysm! [Gluttony] (40 points)

Hello again everyone, it may have been some time since my last entry but it has been great to see all the entries so far, particular thanks to my fellow Thursday crew members for keeping the day's momentum going! Today's submission is a slightly unusual creature, the Rataclysm from Steamforged Games's Animal Adventures Gullet Cove Kickstarter. I'd painted one of the wererats from the set previously, but the Rataclysm is a materially more substantial prospect for any adventurers!

As you can see, life in the sewers has not been so unkind to this giant, three-headed rat-creature! Having broken free of its bonds, no shortage of culinary delights have clearly been available as our chap is now quite portly! I therefore thought this might qualify as a little too much Holiday feasting and so have offered it up for Gluttony.

As is probably evident, I used Citadel's Contrast paint to get most of the beast done, the body is Goregrunta Fur, which seemed the most suitable of the various tones I had to hand (most of which I picked up with a view to Flames of War miniatures, none of which have yet to see any Contrast paint, of course!).

This is my second trial of Contrast, I also painted a Beholder a while back, but I'm pretty happy with the results for the time taken and have tried to broaden the application, blending a little in with Vallejo Medium Sea Grey and Cadian Fleshtone to get a fleshy tone on the tail. Originally, I tried to use Basilicanum Grey for the stomach, but this did not work, it's much too dark! It is instead another blend of the Goregrunta Fur to Medium Sea Grey, with a little Dead White added towards the very centre. The veins had a little Genestealer and Xereus Purple blended in and the Basilicanum Grey was instead used for shading, where it was much more successful (to my eyes!).

Various details were picked out in the traditional manner: the claws and teeth were Vallejo Flat Earth, Heavy Goldbrown and Ivory in varying ratios; the eyes were going to be red, but I pushed this up to yellow as I enjoyed the contrast, I used Two Thin Coats Yellow Flame over Vallejo Orange Fire in the end. I particularly like painting rusty metal, the various manacles go all the way from Dark Rust to Orange Fire and now look thoroughly corroded! I did also try adding scratches with Russian Tank Crew (and then with added white) but kept these quite limited, to the point where it might be a little difficult to know they're there!

In terms of points, our beastie is quite generously sized, being in the realms of a 28mm monster and about the size of a light tank. I think 15 points is a fair claim as 28mm vehicles can be much bigger, but will defer to my Minion's wisdom! The location bonus is 20 points, so in total I have submitted 35 points, which should get me over my target for the Challenge! This is probably for the best as we are currently moving house and my wife is also now expecting so this may well be my final post and, if so, I would like to thank Curt for organising the Challenge (as always!), Teemu for bearing through my antics, the wider Minion team (without whom the Challenge would struggle!) and my fellow Thursday crew for doing all the heavy lifting!

TeemuL: I hope your not asking Thursday crew to do the heavy lifting of your move? Congratulations for your new home and the coming family member, I hope everything goes well! If you can, I belive you can post a voluntary wrap-up post after the Challenge to show all your painted minis in one post. It is always nice to see how much participants have actually painted.

Then the miniature. Goregrunta Fur is a very nice, strong brown colour and as Contrast paints work very well on textured surfaces, it would have been difficult to pick some other paint for this monster. The browns (and other colours) look great! I saw the comparison photo you sent me and this is a big one. To make it simpler and spreadsheet friendly, I have scored this as a 28mm vehicle - some vehicles are smaller and some larger, so I guess this one fits the category. 40 points in total, well done!

From MattW: Chassuer Ardennais heavy weapons battalion (64 points)

 Chasseur Ardennais support elements MattW

A follow up on last weeks entry support elements for my Chasseur Ardennais. In the majority the figures are Early War Minatures, some battlefield/blitz and FAA. EWM artillery and Anti tank gun. Each Belgian Infantry regiment had three battalions of Infantry and one battalion of heavy weapons, this battalion was split into three support companies, this in turn was allocated to support the rifle battalions as required. 

Artillery and antitank 

Bofors mountain gun, cannon 75mm model 34 infantry support gun.

Fonderie Royale de Canons (FRC) 47mm anti tank gun coy 

A interesting development of this gun, it used the same carriage and trail as the 76 FRC canon. The Chassuer Ardennais carried two barrels on their vehicle the 47mm anti tank and the 76mm IG on the Vickers carrier or Alvis Straussler Hefty so they could be swapped out as required. 

Fonderie Royale de Canons (FRC) 76mm mortar gun coy 

Medium machine gun coy 

Maxim 1908 MMG

Colt 1914 MMG 

2x 20mm guns @ 10 points 20 points 

12x 20mm crew @ 4 points = 48 points 

Total 68 points 

Cheers

Matt

TeemuL: 20mm guns are only 8 points, but otherwise your math is right. Some nice firepower for Belgian infantry, should help fighting back the invaders. I very much like your basing, too, it creates a nice backdrop for the gun crews. The green berets look cool, I guess they were actually used at that time?

From MartinC: Further into Zululand. I sense we are being watched. (225 points)

Another week and the sense of unease increases. Luckily we have bought a lot of stuff, with reinforcements also being sent for

1st up the 60th rifles in their distinctive green uniforms

Continuing the units not in redcoats. The Naval Brigade

With the artillery in need of transport there are 6 limbers, ordered some more drivers - oddly the best figures for this are WW2 german wagon drivers. I also need to paint the artillery

All armies need supplies and mine has 10 ox carts, more drivers needed.  Never make 200 individual meanie bags and glue them in the back of 10 wagons. Just a tip for sanity

The most unusual units were the rocket batteries and mule pack horses 

3 gatling guns

Finally 5 hippos to disrupt river crossings

Scores on the doors

16 x 10mm vehicles = 96

61 x 10mm infantry = 61

9 x 10mm crewed guns = 29

24 x 10mm gun crew = 24

12 pack mules = 12

5 hippos = 5

Total = 203

TeemuL: I'll take your sanity tip and try to remember it! Your maths a bit off, I get 225 in total, which puts you nicely over your target. The question remains, two weeks left, how much more you will get?

These look great again, and hippos are a nice addition. I heard the Zulus are getting stronger and stronger, the British are happy to see some much needed reinforcements and equipments.

From GrahameH: Spanish Reconquista 15mm Legio Heroica and Modern French Foreign Legion (666 points)

As mentioned in my last posted I had decided to start an Impetus army after listening to the brilliant interview of of Lorenzo Sartori on the Yarkshire Gamers Podcast (a second plug for you Ken, not that you probably need it). 

Sartori is the Italian author of the Impetus rule set, and as I was struggling to decide what to paint next, listening to the interview was rather fortuitous. Hence a Impetus army made by an Italian figure manufacturer. 

The army however, is Spanish so the theme seemed to die off a bit here. All the figures are 15mm Legio Heroica, sadly it would seem no longer in production after the passing of the owner. The mounted units are made up of 9 mounted figures and the infantry 16. 

The Spanish Reconquista Army 

Its a smallish army consisting of 10 mounted units and 6 infantry. 

The Generals 

One C-in-C and two sub generals (28pts)

Two Hildalgos Units (Basically mounted Knights) (72pts) 

Two more Hildalgos Units (72pts)

Two more Hildalgos Units (72pts)

The Last Two Hildalgos Units (72pts)

Two Andalusian Cavalry Units (72pts)

Two Heavy Spear Infantry (64pts) 

Four Units of Medium Spear (128pts)

I have added Spanish shields to these as they figures are from the Crusade Range and they came with kite and round shields. 

Slingers (10pts)

A small army totalling 590 pts 

French Foreign Legion (FFL).

Yet again, Peter Pig tempted me with a discount voucher just before the challenge. Having no will power whatsoever I purchased some Modern French Foreign Legion figures. Then realised I would need some transport for them. So, while the Reconquistas bases were drying I painted the vehicles below.

These are six 15mm VBMR Griffon (3D printed but I can't remember by whom) 48pts

And one AMX 10 (8pts)

FFL points 56pts 

Total Post = 646pts 

(Remember the Labels this time - sorry I missed them on the last post) Edit: I added your name to the labels. :D

TeemuL: It is a wonder! Me, Grahame and Spreadsheet all agree on the total points of this entry, woohoo! And what else can we expect from Grahame, than army and more in one post. :) Great brushwork once again and lots of details on shields and banners (be they freehand, sculpted and/or transfers) which will grant you some bonus points. Very nice and colourful units in your Spanish army and your modern vehicles look spot on, too. I believe you are struggling to figure out what to (buy and) paint for the last two weeks of the Challenge? Any good discounts in sight?