From ClintB - 28mm Betteshanger Miners (111 points)

Betteshanger Miners;

The following is taken from Wikipedia.
Betteshanger colliery opened in the late 1920s and was the largest of the Kent collieries. It had two shafts of almost 2300 feet, plaques can still be seen where the shafts were once sunk. The colliery was served by a railway branch which left the main line between Deal & Sandwich.
Betteshanger had a tradition of union militancy; it was the first pit to come out on strike during the second World War and took active part in the miners' strikes of 1969, 1972 , 1974 and 1984-85
A sit-in was staged at the colliery in 1984 and those involved were sacked for trespass. The Kent Area's NUM initially refused to return to work until those sacked were reinstated and continued to picket the rest of the country after the NUM's national executive had voted to return to work,so Betteshanger was actually the last pit in Britain to return to work after the strike.

Thereafter, Betteshanger became known for the brutality with which strikebreakers were treated. Posters had gone up in the village with photographs and names of the 30 men who had broken the strike. It was the last Kent colliery to close, closing for good in 1989.

So where does this leave wargaming? Well these will be a socialist faction in Kent loosely allied with the Anglican league. Not working against them but neither fully supporting them in their fight against the London fascists. I will fully write them up for the VBCW forum. Probably next week.

The figures are a mix of makes, Sloppy Jalopy, Ironclad and Musketeer miniatures. Oh and one Warlord "Dad's Army- Verger" While the Flag was created by PETE BARFIELD  (LINK to Petes Blog). I have permission from Peter to offer the flag to any who want it in the challenge if they are to create this force. So if you want the Flag email me at Clintburnettagain(at)Hotmail{dot}UK[dot]com and I will happily pass the PDF of the flag on to you. the flag is not the official/real Betteshanger colliery flag, but one created for VBCW.  The flag was slightly too large when printed so I have had to turn one of the banner bearers just to fit it on the base. Oh well such is life! But you will notice the white horse emblem of Kent prominent on the flag which bears the motto "Invicta".

These troops carry a mixture of weapons, mostly rifles but also 2 Thompsons, a shot gun, a pistol and a Lanchester smg (Used by the royal navy).

All in all there are 22 figures with a flag and ready to join my previous miners and reek havoc on the Gravesend Fascists. All 28mm and all ready for battle now as I have over a platoon of miners if we include the ones from 2 weeks ago.

Thanks for looking and all comments welcomed.

I've been waiting for these boys to appear! And what an awesome appearance they've made. As for the banner, Petal's done a great job with that. As for the trouble fitting it on the base, just be grateful it wasn't one from the Yorkshire pits - you know, the ones that are so big they are on wagons.
This bunch of belligerent blackleg bashers should give you 110 points, but I'm going to add a point for the work with the banner.

From ClintB - 28mm Kent Miners (82 points)

Only one entry this week Tamsin; real life is getting in the way. But here this week are the first detachment of my Kent miners for a VBCW. The figures are a mixture of makes including "Sloppy Jalopy" "Ironclad" and "Musketeer Miniatures" All clumped together and in this instance bearing the flag of the "Peoples Assault Column-Kent Miners" . The Betteshanger Colliery will be shown in the future.

They have all been painted in sombre colours as befits the time and place as not everything in the "Garden of England" is bright and cheerful. Most of the miners are wearing hard hats a few are carrying them on their belt at the back and just a couple are not carrying them at all. We have to assume the ones not carrying hard hats work above ground. Historically in Kent 4/5 did work below ground so a couple without hats is about right.

The Flag is by Solway, but the Kent Miners Flag will be shown next time. As Pete Barfield has done one specifically for me. But I am happy to send it out to any VBCW player in the Kent area. (Yes even to Tamsin in London IF she would use it!)

Thanks for looking and see you again next week.

It looks to me as though these chaps are quite rightly upset about the actions of an American manager with a Scottish surname who has been brought in by the government to screw the miners while they, allegedly, sc[redacted on instructions of our lawyers due to ongoing police inquiry]ors.
Nice bunch of figures Clint and I think they deserve a couple of bonus points.

From Clint - 28mm WWI British Lewis Gunners (30 points)

Here today we have 3 WW! Lewis Gunners and 3 ammunition carriers. The figures are either Woodbine or Musketeer miniatures all in 28mm and all painted to fit into the rest of the WW1 figures Matt owns so a little bit more brown than my own which are more Green. Both colours work though.

A very brief post from me this time as I am pressing on with the "Epic Fail" and Including that one I will be trying for 3 submissions this week. (Fingers Crossed)

Matt's building up quite a lovely collection thanks to your paint monkeying. Very nice Lewis gun teams Clint - another 30 points for your tally.

From Millsy - VBCW Militia and Armour (170 points)

My second entry is a "clearing the decks" type of effort and pretty much finishes every unpainted VBCW miniature in my collection [woot!]. My ongoing Port Sunlight 1938 project is focused around the Lever Brothers Soap Works in the Wirral. Today's entry represents some civilian militia, supporting armour and a few top-ups for the "forces of evil".

First up we have "Hector", a Warlord Games resin/metal kit which I've painted up as an import from the Spanish Civil War. He's deliberately faction-neutral in terms of markings so he can fight for different sides each week.

Fighting alongside Hector we have a mix of Musketeer/Footsore Miniatures VBCW and Artizan Designs pulp figures.

The Infamous Five: Bomber Brown, Capt Arbuthnot, Weird Uncle Cyril,
Mrs Graham's Little Boy Eric and Bomber Tomkins

Mrs Graham's little boy Eric is really too young to go on raids but his mum lets him out as long as he stays well rugged up (even if it is his horrid ugly Christmas jumper). Weird Uncle Cyril goes along to see if he can find more Jerries in the bushes. He hasn't taken that balaclava off since 1918...

My entry in Sarah's Choice this year is Margaret Graham...

Margaret Graham is Manageress of Lever Brothers Dining Room and something of a local hero. Back on 13 November 1919 she extinguished a chip pan that had set light to the clothing of a young staff member. For her efforts she was awarded the first ever Gallant Conduct Award of the British Industrial Safety First Association. She was also awarded the Port Sunlight Order of Conspicuous Merit. This is an absolutely true story - see p52 of Yesterday's Wirral: Port Sunlight a Pictorial History if you want to read more :-)

Lastly we have a couple of extras for my other factions, a BUF light mortar and a Yeomanry Heavy Mortar and crews. Again Musketeer/Footsore/Artizan and the heavy mortar is "borrowed" from 40K.

In total that's one tank, three crew served weapons and twenty-five infantry for a total of 170 points.

Happy New Year everyone...

Beeeutiful work Mr. Millsy. 'Hector' is a wonderful (if imposing) addition to your VBCW collection, and I love all the little back-stories you've created for all your various factions. The floral print on Margaret's dress is fantastic and I'm sure Sarah will love it when she see's it later today (the woman, bless her heart, works like a Trojan to keep me in the style I've become accustomed).  

170 points is a very respectable addition to your running total. Well done and a Happy New Year to you Millsy!

From ByronM - Back to the Great War and My Painting Desk (95 Points)

Wow, it has been a while since my last post, other than the fortnight challenge pieces.  Sorry for the lack of output during the Challenge, work has been extremely busy and stressful, and its been hard to get motivated for more than the challenge pieces (which I have been having a lot of fun with).

Anyway, last year I started working on some Great War 28mm figures for both Canadian and German forces.  I finally got back on track and got 2 more rifle sections completed for the 10th Battalion force that I am working on.  Just 1 more section to go on them, hopefully to be done before the end of this Challenge.

Here they are, 2 sections each of 8 riflemen and a Big Man.  Also included is another command figure that I found sitting around for my 16th battalion, you can see him in the background with his glengarry hat.  The colours and uniforms are the same so I included him in this batch of painting, making a total of 19 models. 

Most of the figures are either Great War or Musketeer/Footsore, both of which are excellent quality, and almost exact matches for scale.

I haven't had time to create cards (or even research names for the officers) just yet, but will sometime soon so that they can be used in the Through the Mud and the Blood game.  These 19 figures should give me 95 points, and bring me a little closer to my goal, which I have been slacking on.

Also, since everyone has been showing off their painting areas, and asking others about them, I figured I would include mine here.

To try and keep everything organized, I initially made shelves for my paints, however over time I collected too many and they were 2-3 layers deep and I could never find anything.  So when I got the laser cutter last year, I decided to make some paint organizers that fit into the shelves and allowed me to see the paints and grab them easily.  Some are different sizes, as I was playing with the design a bit, but I just kept the test cuts anyway as I like the little space at the end of each row for other shaped bottles.

Also on the table is a pair of miniature stands I did up, to mount figures to instead of holding them by the base while painting them.  For years I have used dowel, but just rested them on the table, and a few times have had them fall over and chip figures.  Problem solved.

I also have a pair of oak drawer units that my dad made for me. They hold all my tools, decals, flocking, magnets, and more.  I even have two more tucked away in my miniature closet to keep other bits and pieces in that are not used that often.  They help keep everything organized and appeases my OCD.  He has even made a few for friends in the past.

And for Curt, who likes seeing whats coming up... This was taken while my Satan figure was in progress, as well as these Canadians.  However, if you look on the painting rack, there are a bunch of 28mm French Napoleonic figures in progress (although they haven't progressed much further).

Anyway, hope you all like the figures, and my painting space.


From Curt:

Wonderful stuff Byron! Those Great War Canadians look absolutely brilliant. Such clean lines and great shading - your typically excellent brushwork. I really look forward to seeing these fellows on the tabletop when I come out to visit next. 

Your painting desk is a thing of wonder as well. I have the same lights (Costco rocks) and can attest to their brilliance (literally). I also like your various organizational drawers and dowel holders. And I may have to get you to make me some of those paint dropper slot thingys - they're the absolute dog's dangles.

From AlanD - Post-Romano-Sub-Arthurian-British Infantry (168 Points)

It has been quite a while since I painted any multi-figure bases, and I already have a number of sub-Roman British figures painted up that are individually based. However, I've been wanting to put together some larger armies for Impetus and Dux Bellorum, and wanted some bases that looked a bit more realistically packed with spearmen than is possible with movement trays.

School started back this week, but I wanted to make a last push to reach my 1500 point total before work inevitably cuts too deeply into hobby time. The figures are a real grab bag of whatever spearmen at rest I could find in the lead pile, so I think there are Westwind, a couple of Black Tree Design, Musketeer and Crusader figures. I painted most of them to look somewhat Romanised, and a few with decorated tunics and Late Roman helmets that they no doubt bought from an army surplus shop in Silchester before heading off to fight the Saxons. Shields are hand painted, natch.

28 figures gives me 140 points. Along with the 65 points that my entry to the Myth Bonus Round will get me, this means I've reached my 1500 point total, and also smashed my total for the whole of last year's challenge (1349 points). I'm feeling pretty happy as a result. I leave it up to Curt to judge whether I should now claim victory in my side bet with Tamsin :).

From Curt:

Beautiful work Alan! I love these closely-packed units as they really give the sense of how these formations must have looked.  As usual, your shields are gorgeously painted and give the whole unit a wonderful, bespoke quality about it. 

This past weekend Tamsin, Alan and I discussed their 1500 point duel, as their relative scores were so close, and Tamsin has graciously conceded the contest. Congratulations go to Alan for the win, but also to Tamsin for keeping us all (especially Alan) at the edge of our seats with her flurry of entries. It was a wonderful match to see played out. I tip my hat to you both - thank you!

From Curt - 28mm Russian Civil War Sailors, Commissar & Austin-Pulitov-Kregesse Armoured Car (75 Points)

In 1963 the Soviet Union released the film ‘Optimistic Tragedy’.  It won ‘Best Revolutionary Epic’ at Cannes that year (though one wonders how many other films were in the running) and within the Soviet Union it took in 46 million tickets at the theatres (again, ticket ‘sales’ may have been encouraged by the state or perhaps even made free). Politics aside, it was regarded as an important film and was credited for its technical authenticity and production quality.

'Optimistic Tragedy' - Yes, only the Russians could come up with such a title for a movie...

The movie tells the story of a Russian Naval unit which comes under the leadership of a female commissar (named simply ‘The Commissar’) played by Margarita Volodina. The film is essentially about the struggle for the control (and identity) of a band of anarchist sailors during the Russian civil war. This group of sailors basically acts as a self-governing detachment until a female commissar is detached from Party headquarters to bring them into the fold of the Red Army. 

Russian Sailor Beefcake

The plot will remind many of today’s viewers of movies in which a steely-willed teacher slowly civilizes a classroom of unruly teenagers. It's a historically interesting film, and so inspired, I thought it a great opportunity to put together a small vignette depicting a female commissar who is urging forward her unit of Russian sailors for the glory of the Revolution.

Historically the Russian navy provided some of the hardest fighting cadres for the Bolshevik cause. They were often committed to hardest fighting in both the Revolution and the Civil War – they were depended upon for their professionalism, aggressiveness and steadiness under fire.

A.Z. Zhelezniakov, a Russian sailor who became a prominent Bolshevik commander during the Civil War.

Ironically the sailors themselves became some the last casualties of the Russian Civil War.  In 1921, when based back with the Fleet at Kronstadt, they made demands for a return to the original purpose of the Revolution, namely free elections, free speech and right of assembly. They were swiftly labeled as counter-revolutionaries and were attacked by approximately 60,000 Bolsheviks, who stormed them over the ice at Kronstadt harbor. After fierce fighting, where they caused appalling casualties amongst the attacking Red Army, the sailors either surrendered or escaped to exile in Finland. Overall, an embarrassing closing chapter for the Bolshevik's revolution.

The sailors seen here are all from Copplestone Castings. I’ve painted them in a mix of either their regular blue or white dress trousers.  I did this to add some variation as many of the poses are virtually identical so I reasoned that some men may have resorted to their dress trousers when they wore-out their blues.

The female Commissar is also from Copplestone. On the same base I’ve added a NCO from Footsore Miniatures (previously Musketeer). I had them both based, primed and ready to paint when I realized he had epaulettes on his shoulders and an Imperial rosette on his cap. This is a BIG no-no with Bolsheviks, especially after December 1917 where they made it mandatory to remove all symbols of imperial rank. In fact it was regarded as a damning insult to be called a ‘Golden Epaulette’ in the Red Army. Anyway, knife and file were duly brandished and the offending insignia was removed so he could be 'a Soldier of Equal Rights'.

As with the squad of Whites that I did a few weeks ago, I’ve placed flowers in the groundwork that identifies with their political affiliation (though with all of these fellas being festooned with red armbands and accompanied by a commissar who's waving a honkin’ huge red banner it does seem like a bit of overkill, oh well…).

The vehicle is an Austin-Putilov-Kegresse halftracked armoured car. The Kegresse variant was particular to the Bolsheviks who modified twelve Austin cars to this halftrack model.  The machine gun turrets were off-set to better allow overlapping fields of fire (and just in case you're wondering the shields on the sides of the guns were designed to protect the barrels’ water coolant casings from being holed from incoming fire).

This 1/55 scale model is from Copplestone and while a bit small for my liking, was a very easy build.  Nonetheless, when I originally unpacked it I discovered that while the resin body was excellent, some of the white metal parts were flawed in that they were missing some of their edge detail, and the existing detail was rather soft.  I sent a note to Mark Copplestone outlining my concerns to which he immediately replied, apologized for the defects, insisted on sending out another model of equal value (post free), and also stated that he would pull the Putilov model until the quality issue was resolved. Wow. Now, how’s that for excellent service?! I'm very impressed and must thank Mark again for being such a gracious vendor, he’ll definitely be getting my business again soon.

Magnetics installed for the turrets.

I painted this model in a two-tone camouflage pattern that I understand was typical for the period. Photographic evidence suggests that some of these vehicles operated without any insignia or slogans so that is what I went with here (and it allows it to be used as a captured vehicle by the Whites, Poles or even for Pulp gaming).

For scoring, these dozen figures and the armoured car will give me 75 points. Now, this places me at 125 points total for my duel with Phil (where in our 'Duel So Civil' we challenged one another to see who could first paint 100 points of any civil war infantry). This past Friday I challenged him to hit his 100 point target by his next posting day (this Thursday), or better yet, beat my par of 125.  Okay, the clock is running Mr. Hawkins, it's now your move…

From Curt - 28mm Russian Civil War - Czechoslovakian Volunteers from the Kornilov Shock Regiment (65 Points)

In response to Miles’ request to provide pictures of our various hobby spaces here is a shot of my nerve center (or is that 'nerd center'?). 

Yes folks, it’s literally a closet, so no snarky remarks… :) Both my wife and I are pretty draconian about having a fairly minimalist household (I should’ve prefaced this by saying we have no kids). We try to keep things pretty spartan around the place, but our book collection and my hobby stuff frequently pose a challenge. So I created this ‘hobby closet’ in our media room in order for me to keep my hobby rig set-up while still having the ability to close the doors in order to keep the room looking neat and tidy. 

I know, it's a little OCD, but I'm okay with it (rocks back and forth).

Anyway, I’ve got about half a dozen hobby projects all on the go right now, which I must say is making me a little mental. Most of them are waiting for ‘that one essential thing’, a decal, a flag or some other infuriating detail that I’ve convinced myself that I absolutely need to properly wrap them up. Now, if I can get some of this stuff wrangled I should be able to get back on track towards my points target but right now it's pretty much a complete gong show.

Nonetheless, from all this chaos, I’ve actually managed to finish something to the point that I can submit it!  Woohoo!!

Continuing on from my Tachanka, this is another entry which focuses on the Russian Civil War. 

I find this period of history fascinating as there were so many personalities and groups involved in the conflict. Russians, Latvians, Finns, Poles, Ukrainians, the list goes on and on. This submission is about a small portion of the Czechoslovakians who fought in Russia during the Civil War.

I was quite close to my grandparents on my mom’s side. Granma's family was Austrian and Grampa was from the outskirts Prague. Gramps, while being a fervent new Canadian was also very proud of 'The Old Country' and took great delight in telling me stories of Jan Hus and his Hussites, and of the ‘Czech Legion’ which fought the Reds and helped to secure Czechoslovakian independence. When he told me about the Czech armoured trains and the fact that the Legion itself controlled thousands of miles of Russian railways I was a little dubious, thinking he was pulling my leg. Later on, when I was in university, I read more about the Czech Legion and discovered that truth is indeed sometimes stranger than fiction.

This squad represents some of the Czechoslovaks who volunteered to serve with General Lavr Kornilov’s forces. They became part of the famous (or infamous) Kornilov Shock Regiment which was considered very dependable amongst the White forces and was composed of some pretty hard, hard men. Suffice it to say that not many of these guys survived the Civil War but apparently a few made it back to the new state of Czechoslovakia and probably had some harrowing tales to tell I’m sure.

These models are almost all from Footsore Miniatures (previously Musketeer Miniatures) while at least one is from Copplestone Castings. All of them are excellent figures, easy to prepare and a real joy to paint. 

Even though the traditional uniform of the Kornilov Shock Regiment had the men in red caps I decided to keep these lads in a mix of headgear to show them as separate volunteers. I also painted in white-over-red cockades for their caps and right breast as that was the chosen colours of the Czechloslovakians fighting in Russia.

One thing some may notice is that there are a lot of white flowers on these bases. I thought that since the basic uniforms in the Russian Civil War were often very similar to one another I’d have the white flowers signifying White troops and, you guessed it, red flowers for the Red forces. Dorky I admit, but I think it will make things easy to decipher when they’re all mixing it up on the tabletop. (In fact I think I’m going to use the same idea for my upcoming Wars of the Roses stuff…)

I’m not sure what I’m going to actually do with this these guys. To be honest I'm collecting this period in both 15mm and 28mm. Yep, nuts I know, but I really like painting the detail of the bigger castings from Footsore and Copplestone, while also loving the little 15mm cavalry and armoured trains from Peter Pig. I’ll probably do up enough to use for ‘Chain of Command’ and perhaps some Pulp gaming as well, other than that I have no clue. But I guess that’s the fun of it all!

These 13 figures will give me 65 points.