From TeemuL: Green(ish) Squirrels in Four Acts (135 points)

I have had this flu or something for over a week now. It has prevented me to do my work or participate in my other hobbies (judo and boy scouts), but has allowed me a lot of time to paint minis. I'm not able to work 8 hours a day, but I can paint several 30-45 minutes sessions in a day, so I have managed to paint quite a lot during this week. But let's forget the flu and let's focus on the minis and squirrels. There will be things that should be green and are green, things that should not be green, but are green, things that should be green, but are not and finally a small bonus thing that should not be green and is not green - just to round up one squirrel.

We start with green things, which should be green. These are SU-76s for Operation Bagration and these are from Plastic Soldier company and are assembled as late variants. Painting these vehicles were quite easy and straigth forward, they are basically all green. I might be bit "lazy" with my historical references, but these were actually just green mean machines, so no shortcuts here.

I did some highlights and then covered them in dust and mud, there is a long way to Poland. Exhaust pipes were painted brownish orange, they oxide very easily. The markings are "authentic", my reseach told me that Soviet forces were not like Germans or other countries with strict rules for numbering, they were basically anything that commander wanted. I guess it makes it difficult for the opponent's spyes, when even the Soviets can't figure out what the numbers mean!

But I saw some photos with similar markings and went with these, at least there is an indication that they are from the same unit. P was a simple choice as a letter, since it is written in same way in Cyrillic alphabet, too. Finally I glued them on MDF bases (from Warbases) for easier storage - there is a magnetic sheet on the bottom. The bases are green, with green painted sand and green tufts, Operation Bagration took time in the summer 1944.

There are two crew members on each vehicle, but since I glued them first and painted second, I will only claim points for half the minis - the lower parts are just mess of green, blue and black paint. I chose blue overalls on them, I've seen some evidence, that these were used. There are also two heads on two of the vehicles, but really hard to count them for anything. 5 15mm vehicles for 40 points and 5 infantry for other 10 points, total of 50 points and squirrel for 15mm WW2 Soviets.

Next we have those things, that should be green, but are green! We step in to the world of "Post World War 2 Alternative History" or "Imaginations", weak minded should close their eyes and scroll down a bit. Some of you might remember my Wars of Insurgency project I started two Challenges ago (probably) and I've been adding things every now and then. A short explanation. We are in the alternative history (or universe) after WW2 and there is something happening in the old colony of Delmonteland. There is a power vacuum and several factions are eager to exploit/expand/exterminate the area. There are of course locals, there are private armies, neighbouring countries, super powers directly or indirectly, union of countries and so on. Delmontenland is especially rich in blood oranges, their juice is their primary export.

I have not created a back story of these guys yet, but they are properly dressed in green uniforms suitable for Delmonteland jungles, they seem quite professional (or at least professionally equipped) and ready to fight in the heat of the jungle. Maybe a private army of some rich local or just pawns of some super power in disguise?

I painted their clothes green, I was thinking about adding some camo effect, but liked their green so much, that I didn't want to. They remind me of my plastic army men of my childhood. I added a yellow round on their caps/helmets and yellod dots or stripes on their left arm, insignia or something. Their equipment are simple brown, I used two different tones to get some variation. Rifles are brown and metal, while submachine guns, bazookas etc are black.

I gave them my usual Delmonteland basing, sand pained green and then all kind of green things to emulate the jungle they are. Quite happy with them. You might wonder why these look familiar, but strange, of why these should not be green? Well, these are actually Perry Miniatures plastic DAK, so they should not be green! In my twisted (and open) mind I found them perfect sculpts for jungle fight, light summer uniforms, caps and sun helmets...

Wars of Insurgency rules put a lot attention to bazookas and machine guns, much more than WW2 units do. So I have ordered some bazookas from Warbases and glued three of them for these guys. The crouched position fits nicely here, they are listening orders or looking for a good view to fire. Here you can see the yellow marking quite good, too.

A close up of a mortar team, yes that tiny thing there! Two coats of green lighter green for highlight and a green wash does wonders! Here's one of the rare hard helmets in this group.

This last photo is an example of how you can tell stories with miniatures, which are assembled in hurry and in bad lightning. Quite cleverly the set comes with bare heads, you can glue cap, hard helmet or sun helmet on them, to get a lot of variation. The guy on the right is most likely scared like in cartoons or shot through his cap. The guy on the left is probably just scared... These are 28mm minis, 10 standing, 2 prone, so 55 points in total - that mortar is not a crew served weapon! Also "Post WW2 Alternative History Squirrel" (I would like to see some squirrel sculpts of these...)

Okay, on we go. Next we have things that should be green, but are not. From history to alternative history to pure fantasy! I have long had a dream of metal Imperial Guard (Astra Militarum) army in WH40K - the vehicles will be an exception, of course. It is difficult to choose which minis you want, because you want them all. So some years ago I started my project and decided to include all the different minis with a background story. These are not really a fighting force, but a promotional unit used for propaganda, rising morale and boosting up drafting. Think about a huge LARP, where there are spectators watching how the brave soldiers of the Imperium beat the Chaos and Xenos threats (which of course don't exists) with fixed bayonets! If you can imagine this, then good for you. So far I have been painting Mordians, Cadians, Valhallans and some vehicles, but now it is time for Catachans - you know the guys in green with red bandada?

But of course these aren't green, they are a wild tricolor of red, yellow and blue with black weapons! I have painted all my Imperial Guard minis with this uniform, so they will all look good together. Someone might ask why choose such a striking uniform, even in the grim dark world of WH40K. Just think about the backstory and you will figure it out. But I explain it anyway. These are not real warriors in the warzones, these are basically actors in a play and specatators want to see the actors, right? It would be boring, if all the good guys are camouflaged in the terrain, would it?

In general I have decided to paint yellow jackets, red pants and blue helmets, but it went a bit tricky with these half naked guys, but I guess I managed it. Following my strong contrasts I have picked up details like water bottles or pouches in contrasting colours. And I have painted these with Citadel Contrast colours, quite clever!

What do we actually have here? We have an autocannon team and a mortar team with a sergeant. I have followed my inconstant choice of bases and the heavy weapons are now on 40mm round bases with one crewman and the other is on 25mm base. In the past I have sometimes put them all on the same base or all on separate bases - despite my dream I'm not likely ever play WH40K with these, so the base sizes won't really matter - on the other hand, some of the bases are most likely the correct size!

I'm not sure, but I believe there are Perry sculpts, because this is the only skull in the unit! Looks quite messy in the photo, but is slightly better in real life. That will be 25 points for the warriors, 1 skull and "Warhammer 40K Imperium" squirrel.

This has been a long post, but there is little left. I wanted to round this post with final and boring section, a thing that should not be (I hear Galadried in my head everytime I write this stuff) green and is not green. We stay in the WH40K universe and add to my earlier post from December.

Here is a Chaos Space Marine of the Magma Hounds chapter. Magma Hounds is not created by me, I found it on internet while searching for Renegade Chapters, because I didn't want to invent my own. I wanted a Renegade Chapter, not one devoted to Chaos God or Gods, a bit different and one with no special rules. I painted a group of these for Kill Team (when the current ruleset was in first version) and even played with them. In December I painted that old Dreadnought in these same colours and I realized that "Warhammer 40K Chaos" squirrel is just 5 points away, so I dug up an old metal body and glued some hands and backpack. Not necessarily the Codex look, but these are renegades, so anything goes.

His pose looks a bit strange, at least from some angles, but I guess it would not be too hard to figure our (or build) a diorama, where he would be spot on. Note also the skull on the gun.

So the colours are gold and purple, they work together very nice. And they look even better together, when both are covered in purple wash like I have done here. Purple gives a nice tone to bright gold and naturally ties the two colours together. Very simple. Note the skull on the backpack.

Here's a comparison photo with the new guy and his older friend. Apparently I went mad back then and put those minis on larger bases, but this new one is on the original 25mm base. This one Chaos Space Marine will give me 5 more points, 5 skulls (gun, backpack, both knees and belt) and completes the "Warhammer 40K Chaos" squirrel.

In total 135 points, 6 skulls and 4 squirrels (7 in total)! It was a long post, next time something else and something shorter!

 

Now Teemu please do not apologize for making a long post. We all like to see and read posts like these that show us what our compatriots in the Challenge are up to! Now let's start with saying that I do hope you get rid of that pesky blessing of faher Nurgle soon, get away you foul flu! With that out of the way, I really enjoy your "alternative historical project" a lot, but the GW Catachans are the cream of the crop for me, I also really appreciate your backstory for them which enables you to get so many brilliant figures in one project. 

 

Cheers Sander 

From MarkG: Drozdovsky Officer's Rifle Regiment (55 points)

 

Saturday, my next entry carries on the Russian Civil War theme. The figures are again 28mm from the 'Back of Beyond' range from Copplestone Castings. I’ve painted these up as the Drozdovsky Officer’s Rifle Regiment, another famous coloured unit in the White Volunteer army in the Don (later moving to Ukraine).

 

Again, I painted these with a mix of the Drab and Moss triads from Wargames Foundry, but added in an Agrax Earthshade wash after the base colours for some contrast.

As with my previous entry, I’ve given them the more worn look of a seasoned unit. The dress uniforms of the coloured regiments were exceptional, but bar the officers, I doubt many of the rank and file wore them on campaign.

As for the Challenge ‘entry fee’, I have sent a donation to the Cancer Research Foundation – Czech Republic; a very worthy charity: https://www.vyzkumrakoviny.cz/

The points summary:

11 x 5 = 55 points for 10 28mm foot miniatures.

Wow Mark, another great little study of the Russian Civil War, I do have to read up on it some time soon, do you have any good books you can reccommend? Anyay your painting is fantastic and I for one cannot wait to see where this project takes you next!

 Cheers Sander  

From RafaelO: Warmaster Lizardmen. The rise of a new Army - [75 points]

Greetings again from Spain. I couldn't post anything last week because we're currently in the middle of university exams here in Spain, and I've been grading more than I'd like.

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who voted for my entry in the Bonus Theme Empire. Congratulations to the other participants, because all the entries were excellent.

This year I had planned to paint mainly French units for my Napoleonic army, but... my brother changed those plans, at least partially. He recently bought a Warmaster Dwarf army, and since I still had my Lizardmen armies in their bags... I had no choice but to start working on them.

So far, I've managed to paint, in the last two weeks (I couldn't post last week), a unit of Saurus, a unit of Skinks, and a unit of Kroxigors.

First, I'll show you the big ones: the Kroxigors.

The second unit I painted was the Saurus.

The third was the Skinks, for which I changed the metallic tones to make them even more distinctive.

Finally, I've managed to paint a colonel on horseback for my old guard.

As always, I followed my preferred painting style: White Primer, Xpress paint, Contrast, metallics, washes, and then highlights.

In summary

9 x 10 mm Infantry models Kroxigors @1 points = 9 points.

30 x 10mm Infantry model Saurus @1 points = 30 points.

24 x 10mm Infantry model Skinks @1 points = 24 points.

1 x 20mm Mounted model @8 points = 8 points.

Total 71 points.

I've rated the Kroxigors as 10mm models even though they're actually 15mm in comparison, but the skinks are smaller so...

Cheers Rafa

Why Rafa, you are a fellow teacher as well!? Oh do we know how bad grading is for the available hobby time indeed! I have just finished a large amount of correctionwork myself and am currently onto painting again but nothing so fancy as your stuff shown here! That Old Guard officer is just so incredibly well detailed and crisp and the Lizardmen are very vibrant too. As you correctly pointed out the points on these lizardmen are a bit hard to establish well so I am granting you 4 bonus points in order to get a more rounded out 75 points on these excellent small lizards.

Cheers Sander 

From PeteB - Hat Roman Hastati - 40 Points

Finally I got them finished. These were also ment for the "Empire" bonus round but I was to busy with other things that I couldn't finish them on time. Like the Velites they painted very nice. Pity of the mould lines in the faces but I didn't want to ruin the figures. 

Here are the pictures and I'm off working on my "toy story figures" for the next theme round. I hope you like these.

Thanks for watching!

Points: 4 x 54 mm Foot Figures = 40 Points

Oh my Pete, you have really made these golden oldies shine! One doesn't often see these rare HäT 54mm releases and it's great to see them pop up here in the hallowed halls of the Challenge. I am a bit of a HäT fanboy what with some of the boxes carryng my likeness, and these are great. I do have their 1:72 little brethren kicking around in a box somewhere. must look them up one day and hope to paint them just as well as you did these. 

 Cheers Sander 

From: JP Yawn, more Early Germans (50 points)

Don't say I didn't warn you folks! I am hell bent determined to chew through these, though I still want to do some other periods! Pinning the shields remains a annoying process.

Another warband of angry Teutonic Terrors. These are dedicated to a very dear friend of 50 years whose paintbrush is currently convalescing! Get well soon!!

I hope my opponent doesn't see this angle too often!

So: 10 x 28mm = 50 points

As always, thanks for looking!

Now now JP, nothing to yawn at in your post mate, these are still brilliant to goggle at!  Most of us Challengers are hobby-butterflies and flutter from the one project to the other, mostly always before finishing what we started. You are one of those rare stalwarts that soldiers on (see what I did there?) and tries to finish his projects and I think we all admire that quality a lot! And it also really helps that you have painted these Germans up in the same consistently great level of painting as the rest of your work. So keep it up and let us see you finish this project!

Cheers Sander  

From KristoferD: Veteran Artillery (20 points)

Hello fellow challengers and good people of the Internet!

I've had a bit of a busy week with family and work commitments keeping me from the brushes. Among other things I had to dig through a lot of boxes looking for documents from a long time ago. It'll work out well in the end, but it is annoying in the meantime. But enough complaining, I did manage to get quite far along with what will now be next week's shiny new unit, and I did push myself to finish a small unit of light artillery.

The Swedish army of the 17th century had a lot of artillery. Gunners were trained to fire in various ways to leverage the power of their weapons. Flat trajectories over open ground could cause havoc by bouncing cannon balls among the densely packed ranks of foot and horse that many armies of the time operated in. Dispersing the formations led to increased vulnerability against cavalry creating a nasty version of rock-paper-scissors. At the same time, the Polish-Lithuanian cavalry was well trained and knew how to maneuver in open formation, only forming dense ranks at the last moment of a charge, diminishing the power of gunnery and musketry. By Fire and Sword being a Polish game, this tactic is of course represented in the game for added historical flavour. They are however missing a special rule for artillery shooting against targets in woods. Some 17th century gunners were trained to fire at the trees instead of the men. The idea was that tree trunks would explode in lethal splinters much like cannon balls hitting a wooden ship. Nasty stuff, no doubt. Perhaps I'll play around with some ideas of house rules for this.

Part of why I enjoy gaming the 17th century is the transitional side of things. It's clear that a lot of very intelligent people (as well as some less so) threw everything they had at trying to figure out how to fit field artillery and muskets into warfare. The eponymous pike of the wargamer's "Pike and Shot" era started the 17th century as a necessity of western arms and was largely gone by the end of the century. At the same time, this was a pre-industrial era, and while efforts were made to standardise production, the level of manufacturing technology still resulted in a plethora of different calibres and designs of guns. Wargamer has taken this to heart, and the artillery unit packs come with different casts for the guns in another nice nod to historical conditions.

Finally I leave you with an action shot of my new unit taking aim at a distant unit of Cossack infantry, just to throw all the carefully aligned history out the window. Or maybe not, given how often soldiers switched sides during this period of history. But this specific unit of my collection will be Swedish. At least for now.

And the points tally:
2 x 3 x 2 points = 12 points for the infantry sized gun crews
2 x 4 points = 8 points for the two guns
Resulting in a total of 20 points this week.

Kristofer we are all very familiar with "real life"getting in the way of what really matters: painting miniatures! That said you have managed to turn out some really excellent gun crews indeed! Setting guns and crews up in the way you did, with great and realistic poses and in a scenic basing that ties them in with the rest of the army, really enhances the overall look. Awesome work!

Cheers Sander