From RafaelO: More Napoleonic French and some Warmaster bonus (193 points)

 

Hello everyone!

Two more weeks of hobby progress and some fresh units added to my army. Last week I managed to paint quite a lot, but… I completely forgot to write the post. Yes, yes, I know — I deserve some kind of punishment for that 😅. This week, however, I not only finished a few more units but also remembered to actually write the post! Hurrah!

Let’s start with some heavy cavalry. First up is part of my French Cuirassier Cavalry for the Heavy Cavalry Division. I painted eight figures, mounted on four bases, so I can field them as one or two units depending on the ruleset.

Next, we have some Polish Lancers of the Imperial Guard for my Imperial Guard Cavalry Division. Same story here: eight models on four bases and a commander, ready for flexible deployment on the tabletop.

Now it’s time for the infantry. This week I managed to complete four bases of Fusiliers-Grenadiers from the Middle Imperial Guard.

And finally… something a bit different. I wrapped things up by finishing a Warmaster unit: a unit of Terradons for my army.

In summary

3 x 10 mm Mounted figure @ 3 points = 9 points.

17 x 20mm Mounted model @ 8 points = 136 points.

12 x 20mm Infantry model @ 4 points = 48 points.

Total 193 points.

More updates next week — hopefully without forgetting the blog post next time!

Rafa

Oh man Rafa, now I do not know which figures to like best they are all sooooo well painted! I have always had a soft spot for the Zvezda French Cavalry and have plenty of both the lancers and Cuirassiers to paint still, but your level of quality is omething different all together. That said I do think those bright oranges you chose for the Terradons really win me over for those as pick of the litter awesome entry indeed! 

From TeemuL: Winter vignette [Local History] (40 points)

First the map. The nice lady in shiny armour guided me to the Local History topic and here I complete the second section of the Library. Still in the schedule, but it is getting more and more difficult.

Local history. If you have paid attention to my Minion posts, then you might remember two things: 1) I'm from Finland and 2) there's snow in Finland. So here is a group of German infantry in snow. Yes, Germans, not Finns. Well, I didn't have any miniature Finns, but I had this odd box of Germans, which I bought years ago in clearance sale. It is a Zvezda box "German infantry in winter uniform 1941-1945" in scale of 1/72 or 20mm. Painting this box was part of my plan (which you may have read) and some brainwork was needed to fit it into the Challenge map.

Local history of Finland is quite well tied with Germans especially on the WW2. In Winter War the Soviet Union invaded Finland (after making false accusations of first fire by Finns) and after 105 days a treaty was made, where Finland lost some areas, but kept independence. Soviet Union basically won the war, but with great cost (1:10 kill ratio) and needed forces in other parts of Europe. Finland was quite alone, because Soviet Union was part of the Allies and Allies didn't want to fight each other.

After the Winter War Finns were quite pissed off and wanted to get the lost areas back. Finns and Germans found a common enemy and joined their forces to attack Soviet Union. Thus began the Continuation War, where Finns attacked, made some nice progress and then got halted for two and half years. At that time Germans were retreating back to Berlin and Soviets had their factories running and Finns started to retreat, too. There were German forces in Finland all the time, thus German infantry in winter uniforms 1941-1945 is part of Finnish local history.

In the end peace treaty was made with Soviets and Finns, Finland again kept the independence, but had to pay huge compensations and lost some areas. They were also forced to fight the Germans off. Germans were ready to retreat to Norway in peace, but Soviets demanded war. There was some real combats and some phony combats in so called Lapland War.

I guess I have now made it clear, that this little vignette is local history. There were separate bases for them in the box, but I used the vignette base, because I have no intention to use them in any games. Naturally I glued them first and then started to paint. Sigh. Because they are historical minis, I tried to make them look real. I used the cover art and Colours of War book as references. The box has them in green coats, which doesn't look practical in snow, so I went with greenish grey. Grenadier uniform in Colours of War looked nice, so I followed it with some artistic rights. I'd say, when you are fighting in snow, you try to be practical and not follow the guides. Also, during the long war, you get some equipment from enemy (Soviets) and allies (Finns). So green helmets and pants with grey coats. Then several drybrushes with various greys, off whites and finally white.

I'm very happy with the end result, I'd say the miniatures look quite wintery. It is not exactly what I was going for, it is different, but better. And I'm sure I couldn't duplicate the result again, so I'm happy this is a one-time effort. I glued some sand on the base and some blobs of PVA and then painted them on various whites. I tried to make the base uneven and have some texture, to make it look like snow. Not just a "regular" base with some snow on it, but real snow. Yes, I have some first hand experience on the issue.

And the last photo shows the progress of my plan. What is my so-called-plan? My plan is to take unopened boxes from my warehouse department and paint the minis from the boxes. Quite often the boxes take more space when unassembled compared to assembled ones. Thus the idea is to create more space. So far I have managed to empty one box, but I have assembled and primed four others. This box is quite small, so there is not that much space to gain with this one, but at least some. The next box might fit the "snooty" Literature topic in the Rotunda.

That is 5 minis in 1/72 scale (20mm) and they are 4 points a piece, so 20 points and 20 points for Library location.

Sylvain: Thank you Teemu for sharing that part of your local history. Indeed, Finland was (and still is) sharing a frontier with a ruthless military power. I like how you tried to "winterize" the German colors. You vignette almost feels like they are fighting in a snow storm. Excellent work! 

 

From Nick: 20mm PaK38 & leIG18 [64 points]

I‘m currently stuck in a lack of mojo, and also I‘m working on several units at once. Thus it’s taken me a while to get todays submission done. 

The PaK38 is a rather nice kit by PSC, but a far cry from Zvezdas offerings. As ever the crew are all AB figures. Frankly the PSC ones, that come with the gun, are utter tosh.

Whenever possible I try to stick with Zvezda with my guns, as they‘re so much nicer than most of what the competitors have on offer. So this leIG 18, leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18, is no exception. The two figures actually manning the gun are als Zvezda figures while the rest, well yes, you guessed it, are AB. Unfortunately AB don’t do a dedicated set of leIG 18 crew, so I had to source these from several different sets. Yet, that’s all part of the fun, isn’t it?

 Points:

2x 20mm gun = 16

12x 20mm figure = 48

Total: 64

Thanks for treating us to another gorgeous set of WW2 goodness, Nick. The smaller guns were more common than the sexier 88s, but tend to get short shrift from gamers and sculptors. It's a shame the PSC figures are lacking, and I'm surprised AB don't have a dedicated leIG18 set.

Barks

NB: labels, man!

From HowardT: Later Achaemenid Persian 1/72 20mm (163 points)

Submission for the second half of the Later Achaemenid Persian army.    This submission includes Kardaka, Horde, Cavalry and Chariot.  Will now be moving on to some terrain.

Scale 1 /72 (20 mm). All HAT plastic figures except the Chariot which are Zvezda.

For DBA purposes this army is now complete.

 Points breakdown:

Kardakes,  four stands of 4 figures each.           Points = 4 x 16 = 64.

Horde,   1 stand of 7 figures.             Points = 4 x   7 = 28.

Heavy Cavalry, two stands  of 3 figures each.    Points = 8 x  6  = 48.

Chariot   one stand  with 2 figures.                    Points =  1 x 15 = 15.

Total of points is  (64+28+48+15) = 155 points.

Based for DBA, 8 Stands of Achaemenid Persians of Darius III, 330BC ish. Kardaka to the front Horde to the left, followed by the scythed chariot and heavy cavalry.

Based for DBA, 8 Stands of Achaemenid Persians of Darius III, 330BC ish.
 Kardaka to the front, Horde to the rear left, followed by the scythed chariot and heavy cavalry.

Left side profile.

The Scythed Chariot

Cheers

Howard  2lk

Nice work, Howard. You've pulled out some fine patterns on the shields and armour. Well done on finishing a DBA army! I've added some well-earned points for the chariot crew.

Barks

From Nick: 20mm Panzer IV Ausf. H (15 points)

Finally got around to finish this 1/72 Panzer IV Ausf. H by Zvezda. The kit is nice enough and despite some rather fragile parts, like the rails for the side skirts, it should be sturdy enough for wargaming. But it comes with the hatches molded closed, something I really can't stand. It's not like separate hatches are so super difficult to handle during assembly. That said it's something that seems surprisingly common in 1/72 scale modeling tanks. 

The kit was painted using the Real Colors range by AK Interactive. While I can't attest for the tonal accuracy the manufacturer claims, the paints work rather well through an airbrush. Much less of a hassle than acrylic paints. That said I miss the ready made modulation sets you get in acrylics. Means you've got to work more with pre-shading in black and white or mix your own modulation colours. Both things I don't really have the patience, nor the desire for.

For a more realistic look I skipped the combined edge highlighting/ micro scratch method I went with for my more recent vehicles but only used a sponge to apply some wear and tear here and there. Not fully convinced though, as a) I find the sponge very hard to control and b) it looks less 'defined', less visually interesting, especially at arms length.

For most of the weathering I used AK Interactive Weathering Pencils. Quite an interesting tool, especially as you can create different effects depending on wether you apply them dry or wet. Only the rust effects didn't really convince me, as they look somewhat off compared to the same effects done in enamels. So they're (of course) not the deal changer they're marketed as, but another useful tool in the tool box.

Points: 15

Well, she looks simply gorgeous. I recall doing 1/72 models as a youngster. All the road wheels and tracks were a nightmare. Your sponge and pencil technique works well- I struggle with vehicles and will keep my eyes open for a set.

Barks

From Nick: 20mm German 8.8cm Flak 36/37 (36 points)

Fielding an 8.8cm Flak 36/37 in a skirmish game is probably akin' to overkill, but it's such an iconic piece, I simply had to get me one. Figures are 20mm AB as ever, while the Flak gun is from Zvezda. I had thought about creating a larger vignette style base, but as the gun comes without carriage I decided otherwise. But given the AB figures would let themselves well for a diorama due to their posing I might yet do one.

Wanted to try out a new recipe for Reed Green summer Drillich uniforms, but it turned out way too greenish. Still I couldn't be bothered to correct it. For the moment at least. Given the Wehrmacht used any kind of captured stock and dyes often varied from batch to batch anyway I think I'll get away with it... even if maybe just ;-)

I'm not completely sold on the shrubbery, thus it's not glued in place yet. 

As the gun was already started before the challenge I'll only claim 36 points for 9 20mm scale crew.

Lovely work, and a bit of variation in uniform tones adds realism and 'campaign cred'. It is skirmish overkill, but makes a great scenario centrepiece and objective. I would like to see you turn this into a vignette... I'm always a bit leery of vegetation and camo netting that would hinder the operation of a vehicle or gun, myself. (Unless it is backed up by a photo.)

Barks

From LeeH - The Mouse that Roared - Panzer VIII 'Maus'

I'm aware that I have painted a lot of fantasy figures this Challenge, so I thought I would paint something historical for a change...well sort of. The Panzer VIII was only at the design and trials phase in late 1944 when the Soviets overrun the German testing grounds and of the five ordered, only two hulls and one turret were completed. Had it been completed it would have been the largest tank in service.

At 33 ft long, and 188 metric tons the 'Maus' was absolutely huge, dwarfing all other German and allied tanks. Its main armament was the Krupp-designed 128 mm KwK 44 L/55 gun with a coaxial 75 mm KwK 44 L/36.5 gun. The main gun was powerful enough to destroy all Allied armoured fighting vehicles then in service, some at ranges exceeding 11,500 ft. But like all grandiose vanity projects, it was plagued with practical problems, not least finding an engine powerful enough to drive the tank. At a time when the Wermacht was desperately short of regular tanks, this hugely resource-heavy development project could only have been dreamed up in the minds of a political system that couldn't comprehend defeat, let alone appreciate the practical needs of fighting a war on two fronts.

Of the two hulls built, only one survived the war and was married up with the surviving Turret and taken back to Russian for evaluation. After testing it was taken to the Kubinka Tank Museum for storage, where it remains on display.

(Scoring - 1x15mm Vehicle = 8 Points)