From LeeH: Abandoned peasant wagons - 40 pts

I’ve been a bit remiss in submissions the last few weeks, and it's entirely my own fault…well, not entirely, but I am partially culpable. The last couple of weeks have been incredibly busy, both in work and around the games table, pushing painting into last place. Add to that a winter cold that just won’t give up, and you have my rather poor excuse for not finishing anything for a few weeks. I now have several jobs on the painting table, but only these Carts and Wagons got finished in time for today. 

These are all MDF and produced by Warbases. I plan on using them as abandoned wagons or even makeshift barriaciads which is why I have not put them on terrain bases as I have done with other models. These are for use with the 1812 Retreat from Moscow stuff I have been working on, but I guess there's no reason they couldn't also feature in 1939/40... a cart is a cart at the end of the day, and the design hadn't fundamentally changed that much in the intervening century

More Winter War Soviets are on the way for next week. Their 90% done, but waiting for bases and varnishes to dry means I won’t get them finished, and I don’t want to rush and ruin them.   

As for scoring, technically these are 28mm Vehicles, but I think it's a bit cheeky claiming 20pts each for these. Is a vehicle still a vehicle without a power source (in this case, a horse)?? So I think I'll leave the scoring for the umpire to adjudicate on this one! 🤣

From DaveD . Sorry to hear the winter bugs are still at you . You have a hobby with so many distractions , it’s a hard life 😆. But good to see some output . The warbases carts are nice simple little pieces , so I will give ya 40 altogether. Pretty sure Rays lads will be nicking these for for firewood ? Will you do a burning one ?😆

from RayR - Retreat from Moscow - 72e Régiment d’Infanterie de Ligne 40pts

 

I'm quite enjoying trying to paint up 4 projects at once.....he says!!

Its back to last years first love, my and Lee's Retreat from Moscow project with this post, my 5th of Challenge 16.

The 72nd French line was part of Mashal Ney's Third Army Corps, They were in the 10th Division under Ledru, they joined their fellow Frenchmen of the 129th Line in Bruney's Brigade

Prior to the Retreat, the 72nd fought at the Battle of Borodino on the 7th September 1812, where it suffered severe losses but survived as an organized unit.

The regiment was involved in rearguard and defensive actions, helping to shield the retreating columns from Russian regular forces, Cossacks, and partisans as the army struggled toward Smolensk and beyond.

Their recorded battle honours show that they were present during the critical engagements of the retreat, notably Krasnoe in mid-November and the crossing of the Berezina River at the end of November 1812. (Hence the pics on a bridge.) At Krasnoe, French infantry units were repeatedly attacked by Russian forces under Kutuzov, suffering heavy losses and disorganization. At the Berezina, the shattered remnants of the Grande Armée fought desperately to cross the river under intense pressure.

The figures are from Perry Miniatures and I chose a drab earth brown coat this time, quite different from the last regts grey-blue coats.

Points wise, there are 8 figures@5 points each giving me a total of 40pts!

From DaveD. Four projects at once you say - excellent , that great commitment and we all know you are as mad a bid of frogs anyway . Ah yes Frogs , these are most excellent . They exude the chill of winter . How long before you get to a game ?  40pts it is 

From: LeeH & RayR - A combined project round-up (and punch-up)

Ray and I got together yesterday to bring both sides of our Retreat from Moscow project together in the Rejects Shed-o-War. Laid out on the table we are more than a little amazed at how much we have got done during the painting challenge. Once again this amazing event has stimulated our creative juices, whipped up our enthusiasm and kept our brushes whirling in a way we never normally manage to replicate at any other time of the year. 

Ray beat Lee on points... so we recreated that beating in
front of our combined output from the Challenge 🤣

We've had a good long chat about our respective armies and have already made a list of extra units we want to add. We have already started making some of the terrain we want for this project and yesterday we made agreed what to buy next and exchanged ideas of items we would like to see on a future battlefield. So while the frenetic pace of activity during the challenge will abate a little over the next few weeks, we are hoping to keep that enthusiasm burning throughout the year. Ray summed it up perfectly when he describe our efforts during the Challenge as "phase one of the project". 

From LeeH - It's a Wrap! : The Russian army for the Retreat from Moscow

That was probably one of the most fun Painting Challenges I have done for years. I left my 6mm comfort zone to team up with Ray for a Retreat from Moscow combo, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. My initial target was 300 points which reflected the models I had bought when the challenge started. I didn't officially increase my target but once I had breached the 300 points and had a clearer idea of what I wanted to complete I set myself a private target of reaching 1000 points. I did indeed achieve this yesterday so you can see I bought a few more figures along the way! 

I have managed to complete one, sometimes two units a week, while still keeping up with posting here on the Challenge blog, on my own blog and still getting a weekly video for my channel in on time. Time now to dial back the workload, take a deep breath and have a tidy up... my Operations Room is a complete mess and unsurprisingly there is snow everywhere! 

My trajectory during this challenge has been pretty consistent,
netting my third highest tally.

Grenadiers

Musketeers / Line Infantry

3 units of Jáger skirmishers

Mounted officer

Another Musketeer / Line infantry unit

Three junior officers /  NCO's

12 Pounder Artillery and crew

Don Cossacks

Moscow and St Petersburg Opolchenie

Two mounted officers

Smolensk Dragoons

Two units of Jágers

Opolchenie 3 pounder gun & limber

Opolchenie 3 Pounder Gun Team

Cossack Opolchenie

6 Pounder Artillery piece & crew (and a Water Cart)

6 Pounder and 12 pounder Guns side by side

Water Cart

Two units of Carabineer's

Very angry peasants!

Phew!

Well done to Curt and all the Minions for a terrific job on this years Challenge. As always it is a highlight of my hobby year. And congratulations to all the participants this year. Your work has been inspirational. 

From RayR - Retreat from Moscow - 23rd/24th Chasseur a Cheval Sledge 35pts

 

Its finally here, my last post of this years Challenge, I'm chuffed with all I've managed to get finished, but also gutted for what I didn't manage to get started. Including the figures in the post. My plan was to have 1 unit of 4 sledges. Perry's make 2 sledges, 1 walking and this one running. But the 2nd running sledge has been out of stock for ages, only coming back last week, so it scuppered my plans.

I started painting this back in January, but held off finishing it off until the other sledge turned up, but as time ran out, I thought it could be my last post.

"During the Retreat from Moscow, Colonel Marbot seeing that

his regiment, the 23rd Chasseurs a Cheval, was falling apart,

decided to dismount them, use their remaining horses to pull two-man peasant

sledges easily found in local villages. The 23rd formed up with the

24th Chasseurs a Cheval to create a sledge born brigade. At night

these formed squares which were frequently used by Marshal Ney and General

Maison for shelter. Each man was ordered to have two muskets to enable them to

resist attacks with ‘the liveliest musketry"

from Perry Miniatures website.

https://www.perry-miniatures.com/product/fn-177-marbots-two-man-sledge-galloping-retreat-from-moscow-1812/

I really can't wait to get a unit of these out on the tabletop.

I've got to thank Curt and Sarah for all their hard work in putting the Challenge together and running it, also thanks to my favorite Fin, Teemu, for putting up with me since December, as well as all the other Minions and fellow Challengers and commenters who helped drag me along.

As for the points 5pts for the 2 figures and horse = 15pts

and 20pts for the sledge, making 35pts altogether!

Thanks!

_______________________

A fantastic final volley, Ray. These are such characterful models and you've really done them justice with your brush and basing. I have both variants in my collection, but I think I like your rendition of this one better. 

Thank you for joining in with us again Ray. I very much look forward to your wrap-up photos and your upcoming games with Lee. Bravo to you for sticking with this fabulous project. Well done!