Welcome to the Painting Challenge. Here you will find the fabulous, fevered work of miniature painters from around the world. While participants come from every every possible demographic, they have three things in common: they love miniatures, they enjoy a supportive community, and they want to set themselves against the Challenge.
This site features the current year's event along with the archives of past Painting Challenges.
Enjoy your visit and remember to come back soon.
The Maritime section of the Challenge is always an issue for me. I'm not really a "naval gamer" (although I did buy a copy of Black Seas and never assembled or painted the models, anyone interested?) but one naval thing I did get into was the Great War at sea using tiny tiny 1:6000 models. I happened to have a few unpainted in the Plano case so figured I'd paint them for this Challenge.
This scale is great for dreadnoughts because the models are so small you can have a reasonably convincing action on a 6x4 table, and it doesn't look like Napoleonic broadside action. The ships are spread out and far apart and it looks sort of like a real-ish naval battle would look.
Here are the British dreadnoughts I've painted - two "Colossus" class (Colossus and Hercules) and three "St. Vincent" class (St. Vincent, Vanguard and Collingwood). The base tags are white (for British) with a red stripe (battleship) and my own three-character code for the ship name. Colossus and Hercules were laid down in late 1909 and 1910 and of course saw service in the Great War. St. Vincent, Vanguard and Collingwood were laid down in late 1907 and early 1908.
Here are the Germans (again with grey bands for Germany, red stripes and three-letter codes) - four "Nassau" class battleships, Nassau, Westfalen, Posen, and Rheinland. These were Germany's first modern dreadnought battleships and were laid down starting in mid-1907. All saw service in the Great War but reviews were mixed. Somewhat unusually they had turrets mounted amidship which contributed to their poor handling and severe rolling due to the wing turrets' weight. In plan view they were pretty wide and stubby looking.
Hopefully we'll get to gaming with these models again someday soon but for now they'll take their places with the rest of the fleets in the case.
(added after suggestion by Minion)
Points:
9x tiny ships 18 points
Maritime bonus 20 points
See you soon with the next post!
Good entry for the Maritime section. One that Many are struggling to get to. Nice work on the waves below the ships, and the tags to know which is which considering the scale.
Would be good to add the Library map to show your path also to make adding the extra points easier.
Here we go, my first post of this Challenge and I am happy to be back again. Since we have just done down into another lock-down here in the Netherlands, a lot of time last week has gone into preparing for online-teaching when the break is over. That left me only limited time for my first post and I really wanted to make something Christmas related but the only figures I had lying around for this were the two WW1 soldiers playing a game of soccer during the Christmas Truce of 1914 made for Wargames Illustrated.
From the start I intended this piece to be a showcase vignette and not a wargames figure and so I made the scenics more to give the impression of nearby trenches and battlefield debris, rather then really recreating an actual battlefield with trenches and all.
In the end I am very happy with how this piece turned out and it nets me my first 10 points for the two 28 mm figures.
Now on to some more point-heavy posts.
Have a great Christmas everyone, cheers Sander
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Wow, you've done fabulous work on this vignette, Sander! I'm gobsmacked, really. I've seen these figures several times, but think this the best treatment of them. On top of the excellent figures, I really admire the judicious use of battlefield scatter to set the scene - wonderful. I'm going to add a few extra points for your work on this wonderful vignette.
Today I venture into the chamber of darkness to explore painting in grey scale. However, since this is supposed to be an actual challenge, and since I have already done hordes of zombies in greyscale in past challenges, I thought I should challenge myself in some other way... yeah, I know, I am a glutton for punishment. So, in addition to doing this figure in grey scale, I also did it with oil paints for the first time ever!
I know, I know, oil paints on a 28mm miniature? Madness you say, and you are not far off. To be fair...
Sorry, I couldn't resist... I love Letterkenny :-)
Anyway, to be fair, I have used oil paints in the past but only as super thinned down pin washes for vehicles, so using only oil paints on a figure is now to me (and maybe a new normal? more on that later). So, here is all I used when painting this figure....
I started by priming the figure black then a white zenithal highlight, and then mixed some black and white together to make a mid grey tone and applied it over the whole model.
After that it was simply putting dots of black or white where I wanted shadow or highlight and using a clean brush to blend it with the grey already in place. It was an amazing experience, as it was so much easier to get smooth blends compared to acrylics where you need to wet blend with incredible speed to avoid drying or super thin layers.
While the images are ok, they really don't capture the tones of the model in real life, try as I might I just could not get them to show in images. At first I thought it was due to the white background, but I tried black, blue, and green and they all did the same thing, so I think it's more about my lighting washing it out. Trust that in real life the tones are better than they show, sorry guys.
I even painted the clump of static grass with thinned oil paint as I only had coloured tufts. You can not imagine how hard it is to paint static grass until you try it.... OMG, not my best idea, but at least it turned out ok.
I always take this challenge as an opportunity to try something new each year, either a new era, a new scale, a new painting technique or tool, just something new. After all experimentation leads to learning and growth (even if the experiment fails you learn something, sometimes you even learn more!). This year the plan was a new era (coming soon) and playing with oils, and I have to say that so far, I loved the process of painting with oils so much that I will be trying a few more full colour oil painted figures over the course of the challenge, so watch for more to come.
I am assuming that working with colours is going to complicate the process vastly compared to just black and white, but it's a new chance to learn. Also due to the drying times involved, it is not something I would consider for everything, but for characters or special models or even just for effects, I think I may just have a new tool in the toolbox!
Oh, and this is a 28mm French Great War infantry model, I am sorry I do not remember the company though. It might be a Renegade figure as it is pretty chunky.
Victim #11, I presume!
Grey-scale and oil paints? My word! I must say you've done a great job on this chap. So, 25 points for you.
Since it is getting close to the deadline for getting our entry fee completed for the challenge, I figured it was about time I get mine in! HINT for anyone else that is slacking, the deadline is 30 days after the challenge started, so you have less than 1 week left!
I didn't really have a plan for anything specific for the entry fee since there was no real theme set for it this year. So I started digging through my pile-o-shame looking for something that would be recognizable by challenge members as mine. I came across a bunch of Great War figures left over from the first challenge that I entered which was in 2014, so #5 I believe? Has it really been that long?
Worse yet, I got this all ready to go a few days ago and almost had it put live! Then realized, that I would need something that was older than challenge #7 for my next map space! See, I really am just winging it as I go... I really should have planned ahead!
So, here is a great war Canadian soldier that I am submitting as my entry fee. He is waiting to be shipped off to a new home someplace.
Also this weekend, I worked on finishing up some more Star Wars: Legion figures. These make up the last things I really need done to be able to play a game, so I will be trying to get one in this coming weekend with friends. They are 4 speeder bikes with scout riders.
I am sure since the Imperial force can aim so well, they should have no issue missing obstacles as they speed along. What could go wrong!
The only things I have left to paint up now for Star Wars are a few characters (which will get some more time spent on them) and some objective markers for missions. Watch for them, coming soon(ish).
This should provide me with a little bit of a points boost. I believe 5 base points and 25 bonus points for the Curtgeld plus 30 points for it being for Hawkins' Hill, and then 60 points (4 x 15) for the 40mm speeder bikes for a total of 120 points.
From DaveD. Thats a fine Curtgeld entry - i love the war weary look on his face. Your Star wars stuff continues to inspire i must say. I am going with 140 points for this for you for the speeders
I painted one of these guns and crews in 2016 for AHPC VII, my first Challenge. I painted the guns in 2017. For Hawkins' Hill, I've pulled my finger out and painted the remaining crew. Silver Whistle convinced me to go 40mm round bases.
16x 15mm +32 (just the crew, not the tubes)
Hawkins' Hill +30
So this leaves me with five locations complete, and I'm bracing myself for an attempt on the northeast face of Snowlord's Peak.
I found I had more I could do - this last burst of adrenaline is rather invigorating. 18x 15mm figures for PSC's Great War, which are good fun to paint up. 36 points
And finally, some gribbly tentacled terrain from GW on 30mm Renedra bases. ?1 point each
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Haha, a very nice last spasm of activity Barks though, to be perfectly honest, I would have been quite happy NOT have seen those tentacled orifices as a 'closer'. :) 40 points it is. Well done mate! - Curt
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.
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.
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.
"Das Wort Operation verbitte ich mir. Wir hauen ein Loch rein. Das Weitere findet sich. So haben wir es auch in Russland gemacht"
-Generalquartiermeister Ludendorff-
Another year, another challenge and yet another project. A little more than 100 years ago World War I, or the Great War as it is also known, ended after claiming the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians alike. The tragedy of the whole conflict, especially on the western front, is in my opinion perfectly epitomised by the quote with which I started this post. Translated into English it reads like:
"I refuse to tolerate the word Operation. We simply punch a hole into it [i.e. the front]. Then we'll see about the rest. That's just how we did it in Russia too."
-Quartermaster General Ludendorff-
Ludendorff made the comment in the spring of 1918 when asked for the strategic conceptions and aims for Operation Michael, the German spring offensive meant to encircle and break the British Expeditionary Force and thus ending the war. Germany by than was on its last leg and the offensive was seen as the last chance to come to a victorious conclusion after four years of all out war.
The quote shows the complete disregard of (not only) the German High Command with which it spent the lives of its soldiers without really having a clue as to how to break the deadlock in the first place. And if, by some miracle, the breakthrough actually happened, how to exploit it.
The famous phrase "On ne passe pas!" (They shall not pass!), which probably is better known in its Spanish Civil War iteration "¡No pasarán!", was coined when the Germans actually threatened to break through on the Marne for a second time after 1914. And while coming close to actually break the backbone of the BEF the Germans were actually stopped.
Some might remember my first tentative steps into WW1 from a few years back. The project never really got off the ground, thus I hope to breath new life into it during this challenge. Other than in my earlier efforts I'll mainly focus on the Western Front but may stray into other theatres as well. For a start I've ordered a whole bunch of Woodbine Designs French and am currently thinking of maybe adding some Brigade Games French to the mix.
I'm not completely decided on the basing yet, thus I shamelessly borrowed a method used by our very own Sidney Roundwood which he used on his Great War project.
So, with my first entry for the challenge out of the way it's about high time to prepare for Christmas eve.
A Merry Christmas to you all!
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One can always count on your work being stunning and you don't disappoint here, Nick. I love your take on French 'Horizon Blue' and your skintones are always a marvel to study. You can't go wrong with a Roundwood-inspired base as Sid has pretty much nailed the groundwork for that conflict. I think there'll be several us eagerly awaiting how you get on with the re-start of your Great War project. One thing for sure, it will be a feast for the eyes!
