From PeterD: Limo to World Cinema (80 points)

First up we I have to take a Limo from Under Construction to World Cinema using this 28mm figure from Bad Squid.  Challenge veterans might remember that I've got a lot of mileage out of a Bad Squiddo Women of WW2 kickstarter that I backed a few years back.  I think that this lady feeding chickens is the last of them.

I've painted her up in standard Women's Land Army kit with shiny wellies suitable for mucking about in the farmyard.  Not the most exciting figure but a lovely sculpt and I have a lot of time and respect for Annie over at  Bad Squiddo for putting this range together.

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As for World Cinema, the blurb says to post something from a different part of the world from where you don't live.  I offer up the Roman trading ship Berenice of Portus Adurni (Portchester Castle).  I can guarantee that there are no sea going merchant ships in my home town of Regina, SK which is about as far from the sea as you can get.  I should note that there is one attempted ship located nearby on the Canadian prairies.  It's a sad story with a Finnish connection.

On a biographical note I should point out that I am the son of a naval officer, was born in England and basically grew up one, in or next to the sea in Halifax Nova Scotia.  Yes, moving to Regina was an odd choice, yes there's a story and yes it's a bit messy.

The ship is 28mm pdf kit from Sarissa Precision. It went together well (even if I messed up a bit at the stern) and painted up nicely.  I have asked my lovely and talented wife to stitch up a sail for her when she has space on her sewing table.  I've named her the Berenice after a trading ship that plays a key role in the Rosemary Sutcliffe novel The Silver Branch.

I did up three crewmen using mostly Victrix plastic bits plus a few Gripping Beast arms. I painted them up in a simple common uniform and left the bases a flat tan to blend into the deck.  During painting I noted that two of them have shoulder belts for swords, but carry no swords.  I guess I call these a late antiquity version of a Sam Brown belt.

A final picture to show that Berenice is not the only vessel to shelter under the walls of  Portus Adurni .  This is a picture of Portchester Castle taken from one of the last sailing trips that I took with my dad before he sold his boat as we sail up to Port Solent Marine.  The keep and church ruins are Norman and there are medieval upgrades other places.  However, the basic walls are from the Roman Saxon Shore fort.

The photo is bit skewiff as the boat rolled as I snapped it.

Points wise I'd count the ship as a 28mm vehicle and there's 3 crew.

Totals

• one vehicle @20
• four foot figures @5=20
• two locations @20 (Limo and World) =40
• Total 80 points.

I will count 35 for the ship and crew towards the SPQR and Carausius Emperor of Britain Side duels.

From TeemuL: What a great story of the ship and its builder, lots of Finnish stereotypes there.

I like the crewmen, they are almost like dancing, but they'd make a nice crew to that ship.

From PhilH: The Fall of France at World Cinema (110 Points)

For the World Cinema studio, we are making a French war film to honour the valiant (if doomed) French resistance to the German war machine.

These open a new project for me, some early war Chain of Command. With a SCW project under my belt, I have a fondness for the dorkiness of early war armour, particularly French, without an overengineered compensating big cat in sight. I’m looking forward to having a go at some of the French armour schemes, though will get the infantry done first. 

Here are eighteen French infantry from Crusader miniatures, a full Group de Combat and a bit, and the platoon’s V-B rifle grenadier team. This is about half of the core platoon. One Group de Combat, 11 men:

These are first line troops in 1935 regulation kit. Shout out to @pilpol75 on Twitter for sharing uniform details and colour references, they were a great help. I don’t think mine are perfect colour match, but I’m satisfied with the result. One of my hopes for this project is that I can work through each force fairly rapidly (relatively, on my timescales), using some new techniques. I used to be quite set in my ways with my methods, but it is good to try new things (or I just drank too much of the ‘growth mindset’ kool-aid). I did a couple of test models late last year, which were promising and helped refine a method to push this big batch through in one go. My batch painting usually stretches to 5 models at a time, so 18 was ambitious (ok, I know these are rookie numbers to some of you but I’m chuffed).

Using Trello to track my progress, I know the painting took me 10 days where I didn’t work on them every night: lightning fast for me. Some bits were a slog, like blocking in all the leatherwork on the satchels and straps, but overall they were a smooth and satisfying process. So much so I am enthused to get on with a second batch straight away and smash though the whole platoon. I shan’t at the moment though, because there’s only a few weeks of Challenge XIII left and I have other studios and projects to stop in at. 

The method uses drybrushed base and highlights on all of the brown greatcoat and legs, then green satchels, before blocking in other colours. Then I hit them with AK interactive enamel washes streaking grime (greatcoat) for the lovely rich brown tone, and NATO dark brown (satchels, legs), before wiping off the excess with makeup sponges. Allowing that to dry. I just had to highlight the flesh, weapons, straps and helmets. I think the enamel wash gives them the grizzled look I was after. 

Eighteen 28mm figures is 90 plus the studio for 20 is a tidy 110. And more to come!

These are fantastic, I have a French army, and they are great fun.

From StuartL - Poles Apart - World Cinema - 45 Points

Hello again,

After a refreshing ride in Lady Sarah's Limousine, I have some models lined up to take to the stage at the World Cinema area of the AHPC Studio.

In the specifications for this area, our beloved Snow Lord suggested Samurai as an idea, but also said to paint minis "from elsewhere in the world from where you live now." I am fairly confident that there are a few other ex-pats in the challenge, so I am not paranoid enough to think that this line was directed at me personally (as I live in Japan, Samurai would have been an obvious option), but I am also not, not paranoid enough to believe that it wasn't a possibility.

 

So, I couldn't do anything Japanese, but I similarly didn't want to do anything British as that doesn't really seem very international to me either. So I decided to split the difference and went for something from central Europe, in this case, some WW2 Poles.

These are all metal models from Warlord Games' Bolt Action range. Many years ago my gaming group had a fair number of Bolt Action players. Most, myself included, opted for Late War armies as they were all available in plastic and we were interested in D-Day and the Normandy campaigns. However, one of the group members decided to buck the trend and bought an Early War Polish army, all in metal. He then proceeded to do absolutely nothing with it for a few years before eventually returning to his home in the States. Before he left, he passed his army on to me in exchange for some 40K stuff and it has been sitting almost untouched ever since.

These figures painted up very easily and I am happy with how they turned out. I did these as I was working on the Fire Giants in my last post and they made a great distraction when I was feeling burned out from painting those massive brutes. I don't really like cleaning up metal minis, much preferring the freedom that comes from multi-part plastics, but I do appreciate painting metals when they have such nice, crisp detail.

I opted for a lighter shade of uniform than the one suggested by Warlord (the above image is lifted from their store). I wrote down my recipe for these minis back in 2019 and stuck with it as it was super easy to do. A quick search online found examples of Polish uniforms in every shade of green conceivable, so I am guessing that there is no one, definitive colour.

For the scoring, this should be fairly straightforward.

5x 28mm minis @5 points = 25 Points

World Cinema @20 points = 20 Points

Total = 45 Points.

For my side duels, I'm going to claim 1 Squirrel Point for these 5 fellows defending their homeland against the German and Russian invaders.

My Side Duels:

Squirrels - 5

Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Dwarves, Fire Giants, WW2 Polish

Skullz - 0

Turnips - 0

Next up, another ride in the Limo.

____________________________________

Stuart, you think too much - Samurai would have been fine, but these Poles are excellent. :) I especially like that you dug them out of stores from a trade from the distant past. I completely support your decision on painting them as you did. The mass manufacturing of uniforms was not a science at that time (knowing this from working in several archives/museums with uniform collections), and having job-lots that were of a slightly different tone was pretty common across all nations at the time. They look great!

I look forward to seeing your next female figure for Sarah's Limo!

- Curt