From Grahame H. - 15mm Napoleonic Polish Foot Artillery (58 points)

PANIC!

Just remembered I haven’t sent in my first entry, and i am in a bit of a hurry as about to go to work. Anyhow, my first entry this year is a battery of Polish Foot Artillery. The figures are AB. I am just in the process of finishing off this army, with just a Horse Battery and a regiment of Uhlans left. Hopefully, they will be posted shortly.

Battery

12 crew = 24pts

3 guns = 12pms

Limber

3 mounted = 12pms

3 horses = 6 pts

1 gun = 4 pts

Total = 58pts 

And so it begins. 

 

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Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind, is there Grahame? I think we have all been there, and glad to see that you have overcome this one to get your first entry submitted. Life at 1 to 1 scale can be rather hectic, and I can sense from the brevity of this entry that you must be in a hurry, but from what I can make out, I think you have done fine work with these lovely AB sculpts. Painting artillery is always a b**ch, as spoked wheels are sent directly by Hobby Satan.

And painting a limber??? I salute you! Any man in a hurry taking the time to paint a limber is truly prepared to stare unflinchingly into a countdown...

 

58 points for your tally!

 

GregB

From FrederickC - Early War Polish Black Brigade [History] (200 Points)

My second submission for the challenge is a selection of early World War 2 Poles of the 10th Cavalry Brigade, sometimes called the Black Brigade.  It was the only fully operational Polish motorized infantry unit during the invasion of Poland. The figures are from a range called Kromlech Historical. Unfortunately they are now out of production, but a few stores still have some remaining stock. According to some posts I found in a discussion group, the sculptor who designed the range passed away, and the company is planning to revamp the line at some point. These were picked up at another hobby store I visited while traveling home from a re-enactment event back in April. I had seen these online for a while, but I had resisted buying any until now. 

First up is a wz. 1914/1919 Skoda 100mm howitzer and crew, along with a 3D printed Polski FIAT 621L truck done by a friend of mine. He had already printed off four for me that I had painted for last year's challenge, and he felt bad that one of the truck beds was warped, so he printed off another to replace it, so I now have five. I ran into a bit of a snag when I went to assemble the howitzer and found that the wheels were missing. However a friend came through with a pair of wheels from his bits box that solved the problem. They were actually some Warhammer 40K Ork wheels that started out being pretty chunky, but I sanded them thinner to fit the Skoda. The end result works for me. The howizter's base is MDF and came with the set. It is designed so that two of the gunners can be removed as a result of casualties. The other two gunners are sitting on seats on the sides of the trail, and the sculpting is well done so that the folds of the greatcoat fit nicely up against it.

Next is a reconnaissance section consisting of two Sokol 1000 motorcycles with sidecars, and a Polski FIAT 508 III Lazik field car, with three drivers and five soldiers, two armed with Browning wz. 28 automatic rifles. The motorcycles are resin castings, while the field car is a combination of resin and metal bits, such as the front bumpers, windshield, steering wheel, and front seat. All the drivers and crew are metal. Everything went together nicely, although I did have to trim the feet of the field car driver so that he would fit into the front seat better. The motorcycles came with MDF bases, and I decided to make a base for the field car so that it would be easier to handle. The front bumpers looked like something that could get broken off on the gaming table. I quite like the sculpts of the passengers. Instead of the usual staid poses that one sees, the men have their weapons at the ready. The ones in the field car have a foot on the running board, ready to leap out, while the passengers on the motorcycles look like they are leaning into the wind as the bikes speed along.

Lastly I have a section of motorized infantry wearing German WW1 style helmets and gas mask canisters, and armed with Karabinek wz.29 rifles, plus one man carrying a Browning wz. 28 automatic rifle. With the exception of the squad leader, all the figures were one piece castings. They came with 25mm round MDF bases, but since all but one came with a tab designed for a slotted base, I mounted them on some I had in my inventory already. Although some of the proportions seem a bit off, the animation in the sculpts is quite dramatic with lots of variation. One soldier has his collar turned up, while another is a left-handed shooter.There was only one figure that I modified a bit by trimming the length of one corner of his greatcoat that didn't look right.

All of the figures and vehicles were painted using Vallejo acrylics and then given a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. The Quickshade leaves the figures with a glossy sheen, so when the weather is warm enough to go outside, they will get a treatment of matt spray. The colour palette was essentially that laid out in 'Flames of War' for Polish infantry, with the exception of the tall boots worn by the 10th Brigade that were painted black instead of flat earth. See the illustration from 'Flames of War' below for the different colours used.

Given that the figures are from a line called 'Kromlech Historical', and by being out of production, they are now 'history', that is the Library category that most logically applies. 😁

The points being claimed are as follows:

22 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points each = 110 points

2 x motorcycle 'mounts' @ 10 points each = 20 points

2 x 28mm vehicles @ 20 points each = 40 points

1 x 28mm artillery piece @ 10 points each = 10 points

Library section 'History' @ 20 points = 20 points

Sylvain: I don't know what impress me most of either your amazing paint work or the detailed description of the Polish units you are showing us today. Poles and other early WW2 armies are often discarded by miniatures collectors because of how short the Blitzkrieg campaigns were, but you make things right for these valiant soldiers who fought hard if briefly.

BTW, I love that you paint trucks, I feel less weird :-).

I gave 10 points each to your motorcycles instead of 5. New total is 200.

 If/when I go to Winnipeg, I'll find the time to take a closer looks at all your amazing early WW2 stuff, and maybe have a game? Vive la Pologne!

From IannickM : Duchy of Warsaw skirmishers (25 points)

We take a break from the little fellows (Halflings) this week, and completely change register by doing some Napoleonics! 

Indeed, au menu today we have five Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw skimishers, from Murawski Miniatures. The figures are from the Voltigeurs in Full dress, campaign dress set as well as the new "extra" scruffy Campaign dress figures. And boy are they scruffy! Roger has a real problem and just keeps producing more and more Poles! The sheer variety is one of my favourite thing about the range, and oh if all Napoleonic armies could get this level of completeness and love (other than the French and British, the boring and annoying favourites, of course).

The figures are fusiliers and voltigeurs skirmishers from the Duchy of Warsaw 1st infantry regiment, presumably in the middle of an exhausting campaign! I'll probably end up using them for skirmishes set in the 1809 campaign between the Poles and the Austrians (and maybe Brunswickers 'cause they look cool).

They are meant for a Napoleonic skirmish project I'm just starting, the goal to play really small scale skirmishes and maybe eventually bigger ones like Sharpe's Practice. But mostly, it's an excuse to give extra love to my favourite Napoleonic ranges: it seems I always paint Naps in batches of 16 or 24, and I wanted to work on small batches and individuals for a change. I must say it was a very different experience from batch painting Napoleonic battalions!

The Murawski figures are as usual lovely (I'm biased), and I'm always surprised I don't see more Duchy of Warsaw in blogs and on the battlefield, as it is really a lovely army with their distinctive Czapka and colourful facings.

Finally, I just want to remind y'all that Murawski Miniatures is giving away a complete set of such skirmishers (11 foot, 6 commands), so if you like what you see work extra hard on your productivity and such gems might be yours free of charge in about two months! (this extra motivation speech is brought to you free of charge, courtesy of Murawski Miniatures.)

So, for this entry that's 5 28mm figures, 25 pts, hopefully more to come in between Halflings! 

ByronM: Words you never thought you would say "I miss the halflings!".  Regardless of the halflings, these Napoleonics are cracking figures and paint jobs!  I really like your clean painting and how each one is done differently rather than all the same.  

Maybe this is how I have to do Napoleonics, a few figures at a time to get better results. Doing small batches like this really lets you focus on them as individuals instead of rank and file, and it really shows in your painting here.  Great work.