From TeemuL: Wild West and Eastern Front (71 points)

Two different projects gaining additions this week, and both of these are projects I have already played games with and hope to play more in the future! Let's start with Old Wild West or how you want to call it. This fellowship of nine are Great Escape Games multipart plastic gunfighters from Gunfighters and Gunfighters II boxes - the first one contains the gentlemen and the second one the ladies. I shared these boxes with a friend and painted one lady on last challenge, hence the odd number. What a Cowboy is the ruleset I have and have played with, so I went with varied weapons to have all kinds of different options available. I have painted some several Old West minis in the past, now I should have quite a large selection - barring the mounted options.

I used mainly quite dull, earthly colours and drybrushed everything in the end to get a dusted appearance, but tried to add some bright colours here and there - the scarf, undershirt or something. So you see lots of different browns here, lots of Reikland Flesh Shade everywhere, but still not exactly Sergio Leone dust levels. :)

Playing around with some other environment than the dungeon (see below), I decided to use Last Chance Saloon for my Gunfighters, and it is quite ok. I just need something colourful for the background.

I painted some SU-76s for the Soviet Army for Bagration and since I'm in the process of painting the both sides, it felt only fair to give something for Germans as well. I guess the Russians have quantity and Germans have the quality, here are two Hornisses, also known as Nashorns, and officially as Sd.Kfz. 164. These are part metal part resin figures, a bit painful to assemble thus, but they look quite nice when ready. They are tank hunters, rather cheap and manouvarable solution to break Allied tanks. Open topped with a highly effective Pak 43 gun, similar gun was used later in Tiger IIs and Jagdpanthers. And of course as anti tank gun as itself. Hornisse first saw action at the battle of Kursk and remained in the service until end of the war.

I have used Averland Sunset as the yellow colour, then some green DIY store green added with blister foam to create the camouflage and finally some XV-88 (nice connection to the gun "8.8cm Pak 43" this vehicle carries) to finalize to overall look. AA gun was painted black, same as the wheels. Tracks are some greyish colour I had. Reikland Flesh Shade is used here, too, some touch ups and identification info. Glued on MDF base with some green sawdust and tufts to tie them nicely to Eastern Front in summer 1944. My philosophy with late war Germans is, that anything goes. I mean, there are of course rules to follow, but as long as playing Flames of War type of games, which are not strictly historical battles, rather generic encounters of what-ifs, German forces are happy to field what ever they have available. Retreating units from the front line, reinforcements from the reserve, you take what you have to fight for the Motherland. So these two Hornisses should have no trouble finding a home in my army.

The crew was painted separately, because that was easier and I could then claim full points of them. Khaki jacket and caps with dark brown and bright green camouflage pattern, grey pants and black boots. And that famous Reikland Flesh Shade pretty much everywhere.

Nine 28mm gunfighters for 45 points and a "28mm Old West Squirrel!"

Two 15mm vehicles for a total of 16 points and then 4 and 2 halfs of crewmembers for 10 points, 26 in total and a "15mm WW2 German Squirrel." It's amazing how they plan these "Squirrel in a box" products!

Total for this post is 71 points and 2 squirrels, no skulls or stompy robots, but something for Lady Sarah, if that is still a thing. :) And three cardboard boxes are now empty and ready to be recycled.

Fellowship of Nine on the balcony

P.S.While I was taking photos of these, my 10 year old son was bored, because screen time was all used up and he then spent some time chatting with his mother and I overheard this kind of question:

- What is that "Desert song" that is always played in the movies, when they are in the desert?

I'm quite sure he means Youtube videos and such like, since he doesn't watch movies, they are too long and boring. My wife was a bit puzzled about this "Desert song", but our son insisted that it is a real thing and told her to search for it. She thought a while and then played this song from Youtube and that actually was the "Desert song!" So now you know, too! :)

P.P.S. I did write the text about "Sergio Leone dust levels" before this conversation!

There's nothing better to get the vreative juices going then playing the game that needs painted miniatures and while those Eastern front tanks are awesome, for me it's the Wild West figures taht are the star of this post, more so because of the very recognisable story about your son and his questions... it's no different at this end of the line mate. 

 

Great work and see you next week, Cheers Sander 

From ValeryN- Two Dianas (16 Pts)

So, I'm slowly starting to "roll in" to IX Challenge. For a start, a little work - "Two Diana". This is not a novel by the French writer Alexandre Dumas:

but two self-propelled artillery pieces from the Rommel African Corps.

The "Diana" was a conversion of the Sd Kfz 6 5-ton half-track tractor mounting the captured Soviet 7.62cm gun (FK 36(r)).

605. Panzerjager-Abteilung had its anti-tank ability strengthened just before Rommel’s attack on the Gazala Line in late May by the arrival of the Diana.

Fitted with captured Soviet guns, six of these vehicles arrived in late January 1942, and three more in February.

These models were partially collected from me for several years, so, unfortunately, the gunshields were lost. But even in this form, they will replenish my German army on the "Flames of War" gaming system.

Great work, Valery! Russian guns on German armour in North Africa to back up the Italians- a very cosmopolitan entry. I like the weathering, and wouldn't have noticed the missing gunshields if you hadn't pointed it out. 15mm AFVs are now worth 8 points, so that is a satisfying 16 points!

Barks

From Barks- WW1 French big post (230 points)

These 15mm French were one of my key goals for this challenge, and I've knuckled down over the past few weeks to get them done. They're from PSC's  Commands and Colors: Great War game, and are in soft plastic. I was heavily influenced by James White's painting technique. The bases are Vallejo Dark Earth paste drybrushed with VJ US Tan Earth.

First, les Poilus: 52 riflemen.

Squad specialists: Elites, marksmen, grenadiers, and Chauchat LMGs.

An ammunition handler and engineer.

Hotchkiss MG teams. I resculpted the front tripod legs using green stuff and 1mm plastic rod as the original figure just had a flat triangle.

Crapouillot ("little toad") 58mm trench mortar teams.

Flamethrower! The first time I have tried this technique. I soaked some clump foliage in black paint and PVA, then drybrushed it white/ yellow/ orange/ red. It is affixed to the base with a small nail and has a styrene rod running through it. I'm really happy with the outcome.

Officers. The binoculars have two spots of gloss white.

Staff Officer- this is a metal figure from PSC's original Kickstarter. I based it on General Foch, and I think it came out OK for 15mm!

But that's not all! I picked up some tanks from PSC (Schneider CA1 and a Saint Chamond) and Battlefront (two Schneider CA1s). I made up the camouflage scheme, and am really happy with it. The PSC tanks had no machine guns, so I drilled out holes and added 1mm plastic rods.

Saint Chamond

I've got one PSC Schneider CA1, and two from Battlefront. The PSC one is diecast pre-assembled, and the Battlefront ones are resin hull with metal MGs and tracks. They are very similarly proportioned, but the Battlefront ones have more pronounced rivets and deeper detail on the front grill. They were harder to assemble. I added the front posts from H-column strip styrene on all the Schneiders.

Schneider CA1s. PSC on the left, Battlefront centre and right.

They'd be perfect for WW1 What A Tanker!, but are in an unacceptable scale... 😔

Finally, the hex tile groundwork is a 3D printing project I've commenced to make a full battlefield with 'proper' trenches. I won't score it yet, but maybe later this Challenge...

On ne passe pas!

94 Infantry 188
4 vehicles 32

From guest grognard minion DaveD

Oh my... now thats a sight to behold a proper points bombe! Cracking work Barks , lovely blue on this smaller scale to make it stand out. There so much to like here and I am not sure which is my favourite - Foch , flame-throwers or tanks .. hmmm ... I think its the flamethrower.. extra 10 minion points for the tank camo , and a brilliant job on the flamethrower. 

From Barks: French 75 in two forms! (25 points)

The French Canon de 75 modèle 1897 was a spectacular success, with a hydro-pneumatic recoil system allowing over 15 aimed shots per minute compared to the usual contemporary 2 shots per minute. It is considered the first modern artillery piece, and these are the Battlefront 15mm models on 40mm round bases.

It inspired a cocktail, the French 75, the effects of which were like being shelled. In the interests of historical science I made a batch of these for the Skirt Swisher and myself.

• 30mL gin
• 15mL lemon juice
• 3 splashes simple syrup (sugar water)

Shake these three ingredients with ice, strain out from the ice and serve in a chilled champagne glass. Top up with champagne. Enjoy and Repeat! It is rather nice, a refreshing bubbly gin. Apparently being shelled is quite pleasant.

You can see the other project that has occupied my last week, a spectacular Lego Big Ben.

Cheers!

2x 15mm artillery 8 points

8x 15mm crew 16 points

Bonus Minion JamieM here once again....... now then....... frantically checks diary....... I'm pretty sure yesterday was French day from all the postings, n'est pas?  Anyway, enough of that and what a lovely couple of guns.  They look like they'd have smashed up anybody coming near them with that rapid fire!  One bonus point for tying your submission into a related drink and whilst I'd love to award you yet more bonus points for the lego, I'm not sure what scale it is and I can see you haven't painted it anyway ;)  Looks great though, lego is rather relaxing after gluing miniatures together.

From ValeryN Soviet tanks (18 pts)

Greetings to all!

Last time I almost did not post messages here. Alas, the work swallowed me up. But I still made an effort and painted three tanks to cross the line of 1500 points.

Thanks to everyone who has been with us these three amazing months!

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From SidneyR (stand-in Minion) - Yet more fantastic work, Narval! Well done again - these are a perfect final post - beautifully finished, fitting perfectly with your many other great submissions in this Challenge.

Your output over these three months, and your friendship and contribution to the Challenge has been wonderful. I can only hope we will all see so much more of your splendid collection as your forces grace your wargames table. Another well-deserved 18 points here, and huge congratulations on making the 1,500 points line!

From MartinN: A last hurrah (62 Points)

Another challenge is drawing to a close and what a blast it was once again! So here I am with my last submission for this year. I feel a little drained by now I tell you.

So, in order to cash in some easy points I changed scale and went 15mm.
After having painted a US Paratrooper force for the Battle of the Bulge over the last two challenges, I decided it was about high time to give them some opponents...

... oh well, bugger that.

No, in fact I started work on some US Army guys ready to invade Tunisia/ Sicily/ Normandy. Figures are the current Battlefront plastic offerings. I got them for a steal which meant instead of painting up some Brits for a change, I was stuck with US... again.
The figures are OK-ish. Better than most of their metal ones but still there's the odd miscast in the mix.

And as if that wasn't OCD enough I also decided to paint a ISU-122. It's also from Battlefront and compared to the figures it was a joy to paint.
And truth be told it's all about tanks in 15mm - for me at least.

While being able to paint up whole infantry platoons in 15mm in the same time it'd take me to paint a squad in 28mm is certainly a boon, I definitely don't enjoy it half as much.

With tanks it's a completely different matter. In this scale they have just enough detail to look interesting while still being big enough to make best use of all the different techniques out there.

With 28 infantry and a tank this submission should be worth 62 points, thus lifting me comfortably over the 500 points barrier.

From Byron:

Wow, what an excellent last submission!  I am with you on feeling drained after a busy painting season, but what a way to end it!  I wish you had included some closer up images of the infantry though, because if they are anything like the tank destroyer... wow.  So much to love there with all the subtle shades of green and what I assume are brown or sepia washes and streaks over it.  Simply stunning work in 15mm. 

Also, congratulations on meeting your points goal.  With super high quality entries like this, that is no simple achievement.

From ValeryN: German Grenadiers - Second part (166 points)

A two month ago I was already laying out the first half of the miniatures of the German infantry from the starter of the third edition of gaming system "Flames of War"("Open Fire"). Now it's time for the second part.

There are 83 miniatures*2 points = 166 points.

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That's really an impressive paint-bomb, Narval!  And when one thinks that's just the second half of the force, it's even more remarkable!  They fit together wonderfully well as a force, with your skillful basing bringing each of the component units together.  There's a lot going on, and I love how we can pick out the special weapons and anti-tank teams in the mass of grenadiers!

Super work, and another 166 points towards your very impressive total!  A great way to bring you into the final week of Challenge VIII, Sir!

From ValeryN - Fifty Shades Darker (24 points)

Hello everybody!

Unfortunately, last week was not too productive for me in terms of painting miniatures.

Today I bring to your attention the continuation of the theme of the Germans for the early war. These are the four tanks Pz-IV from the company "Zvezda", painted for 1941. They bear tactical signs of the Third Panzer Division of the Germans.

4 tanks with 6 points = 24 points.

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These are splendid, Narval!  They will look perfect alongside the other German and Soviet vehicles and artillery you've been painting.  I can well understand other things diverting from painting-time, but four Panzer IVs in a week is still a fine and enviable output, Sir!  And not just painted, but with perfect decals as well - top work, Narval!

One of the great things about Panzer IVs is how versatile they can be on the wargaming table.  I have a sneaking suspicion that these fine models will see good service in your armies from Italy to Lake Ladoga, and from Brest to the Volga, no doubt.  

Great work, and a thoroughly well deserved 24 points!!