From AlanD - The Last Post (87 points)

I think I've done it.

Terrible photos sorry, but here's a platoon of Volkssturm and my Curtgeld, which should get me over the line of 1500 points.

A joke I've been working on: When Boromir questioned the wisdom of going to Mordor, is it because he was worried the journey would be Orcward? You're welcome.

This is a model of the Orc captain Wossisname holding Frodo's mithril shirt. I didn't have anything to paint for Curt, so I dropped into the local Warhammer shop. They didn't have any LotR figures that didn't come with about 150 mates and a massive pricetag, but the bloke who worked there - who was strangely lacking in visible tattoos or piercings for a GW employee - very kindly gave me this figure from his own stash. I'm going to paint something for him in return.

I think the Curtgeld is worth 25 points? Add to this 62 points for 31 Volkssturm figures, and that's 87 points. Thank you to everyone for a great Challenge, to the tireless minions, and most of all to Curt for making this madness possible.

Dux actual out.

TamsinP:

It does indeed tip you over your 1500 points target! Very nice work on the Volksturm and the Orc captain (whose name I can't remember either).

That was very generous of the GW employee. Any idea what you'll be painting up for him?

From AlanD - The Fall of the 15mm Reich (51 points)

Right, I'm not going to bed until I hit my 1500 point target. It;s going to be tough, so excuse the breif descriptions.

Here are some bits and bobs for Battle Group Fall of the Reich. All are intended for some games I have planned for Berlin in 1945. The first is a WWI surplus 150mm howitzer with Volkssturm crew, the the gun from the PSC Great War board game, and crew from PSC and Battle Front. The tow is from Skytrex.

This Tiger II is also from Skytrex, and I didn't enjoy assembling or painting it at all. None of the pieces fit. The idea is that this vehicle was rushed to Berlin from the factory. It was finished in red primer at the factory, with some dunkelgelb added as camouflage. I added some rubble that has fallen on the tank.

Much more fun to put together were these Marders, from the very handy PSC kit of Marders and Panzer 38(t).

4 vehicles (32 points), 1 gun (4 points) and 7.5 figures (15 points) = 51 points please!


TamsinP:

Excellent work Alan. The rubble on the Tiger is a nice extra touch. I can't find any fault with your scoring, so 51 points it is.

Now, don't forget the IV caffeine if you are staying up all night painting until you reach 1500 points!

From AlanD: Big Cats (34 points)

Two days to try to get to my total of 1500 points! It's going to be close.

Let's start with a platoon of Tiger IIs and a Jagdtiger from games of Battle Group Fall of the Reich and Spring Awakening. These are little 15mm Zvezda kits, with I like a lot except for the closed hatches. I always like to add crew to give a sense of scale and humanity. OK - next...

The biggest of big cats! Lovely work on these and their camo patters. I particularly like the pics of the Jagdtiger lurking in your rubble.

Almost there! Have a few bonus points for the sheer size of these panzers.

Barks

From AlanD: More Fall of the Reich and a New Project (88 points)

This week I had the pleasure of painting a box of 8-rad German armoured cars from Battlefront. This is a terrific box set, enabling you to build 6 vehicles of the Sdkfz 234 series. I painted up 2 as Sdkfz 234/1s, a brace of Pumas and one each of the Pakwagen and Stummel.

All but one of the Pumas are painted as belonging to SS units, and are destined for games of Battlegroup Spring Awakening or Fall of the Reich. I even had a go at painting some bits of uniform in a very stylised SS pea-dot camouflage, which is sheer folly in 15mm!







Continuing on my terrain project, I also painted up a bombed-out factory to add to my urban layout.

I also started a new project this week. I have been wanting to make a Jugoslavian partisan force in 28mm for some time, mainly for the challenge of converting the figures. Nobody makes a suitable range of Jugo partisan figures, as their appearance differed markedly from the French Resistance or Soviet partisans that comprise most of what is available in 28mm. Consequently, after a lot of research, I've started trying to make my own. The first figure is a proof of concept test, being an easy kitbash from Warlord bits. There will be more.





So for points this week, I make it:

6 x 15mm vehicles = 48
6 x 15mm figures = 12
2 x 15mm half figures = 2
1 x terrain of 34x15cm = 20?
1 x 28mm infantry = 5

Adding up to 87 points, I believe. And now to bed!

A new project! Very interesting to watch this evolve. Was this inspired by your recent trip to Serbia? What makes a Jugoslavian partisan recognisable?

I've always liked the 8-rads, and I'll give a bonus point for the pea-dot camo. That's a WW2 German-appropriate 88 points.

Barks

From AlanD - Whata Loada Tankas! (118 Points)

Fantastic to spend some time with about 10% of the AHPC crew in Canberra this weekend at CanCon. I fear it is likely Barks might put up some visual evidence of our meetup. [Too late! Barks]

This week I cleared some more 15mm WWII, destined for Battlegroup Fall of the Reich and Tobruk games.

Project Berlin continues with a couple of Battlefront ISU 122s. Blimey they are beasts!








On the other end of the visually imposing scale is a German RSO tractor with PaK 40 from PSC. I don't fancy their chances, so I painted a loader team for the gun in the hope they get an extra shot off before the inevitable.





From Berlin it's back to the desert, and a bunch of M3 Honeys. The ones with cast-on bases are Forged in Battle, the others are from Battlefront. One of the Battlefront tanks had a bit of a mishap in assembly, so I turned it into a knocked out objective marker.







12 vehicles, 7 figures and 8 half figures should total 118 points please!

Great to see you again at CanCon, Dux! A prodigious output again this week. Those Big Cat Killers look menacing, and I love your photography in the ruins of Berlin. Good luck to the RSO crew... I like the tracks in the rubble. Have a stingy few bonus points for the handpainted slogans and camo on the soldiers and tanks, to bring it to 120.

Barks

From AlanD: Late Reinforcements (26 points)

Phew! Just managed to get three more vehicles finished for the Fall of the Reich project to meet the Monday deadline. These were a rush, and the filthy Sydney humidity stuffed up the spray varnish, making it look a bit chalky, but we'll call it rubble dust coating the vehicles, ok?

So, a Maultier from PSC, a Jagdpanther from Battlefront and a Skytrex Jagdpanzer IV in snazzy camo. From memory, this grey used on some vehicles at the end of the war was from naval stocks of paint. Maybe I could enter this in the naval side duel? :) Chuck in a couple of half figures, and that should be 25 points.

A Double Dux day today! Some lovely late war pieces here. The Jagdpanther is quite possibly the sexiest AFV of all time- fight me. I like the camo on the Jagdpanzer IV. And I'm always happy to see logistics vehicles- logistics drives maneoeuvre! Two half figures is 2 points, so that's 26 points to you.

Barks

From AlanD: WWII Bits (169 points)

After missing a week of the challenge due to doing some extensive research into the appearance of snow basing in Serbia, I'm back this week with some WWII submissions.

Intimidated by Paul O'G's growing DAK force, I've added some Grants to my desert force. These are Forged in Battle models, and I really like the variations in stowage moulded on to the resin hulls.

Then it's back to a different type of desert to continue with my Berlin 1945 project. 

Firstly, some terrain. Two more boards of ruins from Terrains4Games, 11x8 inches each.

To help defend the ruins, here are a couple of Pantherturms. The first is a bunker with Panther turret, from Battlefront. I'm not sure if these were actually used in Berlin - there appears to be some debate.

What were certainly used, however, were half-buried Panther hulls. This is a great use of the spare turret and hull top that you get with the Battlefront plastic kit if you use the rest of the components to build a Jagdpanther. Judging from photos, the engine deck of the Panther hulls were covered over with a single flat plate of steel, so I had to do some hacking with a fairly blunt craft knife to remove the engine deck.

And then we have the attackers. This platoon of Soviet riflemen and Maxim gun is made up from the Battlefront plastic box, although I think the radio operator was a metal Skytrex figure.

Hmm. Points. Assuming the Pantherturms are counted as vehicles, and assuming the terrain boards are 20 point each, then the scoring should go like this:

• 39 x 15mm figures = 78
• 3 x half figures = 3 
• 6 x 15mm vehicles = 48
• 2x terrain boards of 11x8 inches = 40

That makes 169 points, I think, but happy to bow to the wisdom of the minion!

Der Motor des Panzers ist ebenso seine Waffe wie die Kanone*.

Generaloberst 'Achtung Panzer' Heinz Guderian

I can imagine there were more than a few unhappy panzer commanders when they were told to drive into a hole and stay there forever!

Nice work on these Axis and Allied figures and tanks, Dux. I'm enjoying the scenery- I'm curious if your 11x8" base size is for storage purposes. I've found that for me now, storing and transport of terrain is as much of a consideration as the design, details, and playability.

Barks

*The engine of the Panzer is a weapon just as the main-gun.

From AlanD: More 15mm Urban Ruins (40 Points)

More MDF buildings that I have ruined... 

These are another two terrain tiles for Battlegroup Fall of the Reich games  in 15mm, using buildings from Terrain4Games. The figures and vehicles are just there for atmosphere.

I'll leave points up to Curt. Each base is 11 X 8 inches.

And now to bed!

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Wow, these ruin tiles are fabulous Alan. Question for you: Are these 'whole' buildings that you have broken up, or are they from a ruined set they offer? I ask as I notice that they offer ruined buildings, but I don't think yours are the same (btw, a great resource to check out and a nice option to the well-known large manufacturers). Again, I like the extended curb edges and the heaps of rubble that you've added. These are going to look quite impressive when they are all arrayed en mass.

As to points, let's call them the equivalent of two scoring cubes as, naturally, there a measure of open space between the spires of ruins. So that makes it 40 points.

Great work Dux!

From Alan D: 15mm Urban Ruins (40 points)

 

Building terrain is not something that thrills me that much. However, I'm very keen to play some games of Battlegroup - Fall of the Reich, so some Berlin-esque urban ruins are mandatory. I bought a bunch of mdf buildings a while back from the Polish company 'Terrains4games', which were great value and really quite nice, and thanks to the Challenge I have an incentive to get them rubbled-up and painted.

 

This is the first of about 8 boards, and it meant for gaming, so lots of compromises have been made by not finishing the building properly and so on, but I like the result. The Hetzer and the figures are from a previous Challenge.

Not sure how many points this should be worth. The footprint of the base is about 11 x 8 inches - I will leave it up to the wisdom of the Minions!

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I have to agree with you Dux, I find terrain building a bit of a chore as well. Though I must say that it has an odd parabola effect where once you get over the apex it can be quite fun in the last stages where things just seem to fall into place. These two wrecked complexes look great and I especially like your heaped rubble amongst the ruins, something that is usually missing from many of our wargaming tables. 

The size of these sounds like two scoring 'units' of terrain, so let's put them at 40 points total.