From JohnB: 20mm MarDav WW2 Italian Weapons Support Group (40 points)

Well I think this is the last posting from me - thanks to everyone involved and hopefully I will return with AHPC17. First up "the one that got away" 1/72 French Dragoons for the Wars of Louis XIVth around 1700 they are made by STRELETS a Ukrainian company still operating despite the Russian Invasion. The figures are produced using plastic injection moulding - a process popularised by Airfix back in the late 1950's. Ironically they compliment my earlier forces made up with Zvezda Russian Great Northern War figures which started my interest in this period back in 2010 when plastics were a cheap entry point to test a wargaming period out. Plastics in 1/72 are still a good deal £8 in the UK gets you about 40 infantry and 12 cavalry. or thats 20p infantry and cavalry 70p.

They come in boxes with nice artwork

only a small logo suggests the country of origin.

The sculpting is great for me and these recent products are now a match for a lot of metallics - AND THEY BOUNCE! Hopefully I will complete this unit soon and then post my AHPC stories on my wordpress blog site "the wargaming erratic". My last offering is a departure from my usual plastic injection mouldings and occasional metallics. This time its a resin product from MarDav of the UK.

The figures have fine layering so the material looks like its deposited. However they look fine painted up and at wargaming distance.

They are actually GOMBARDIANS for my FAUXTERRE wars - 1930 era in this case. I painted them in my chosen style for Italian green uniforms reference being the Osprey Greek Italian War of 1940 - they appear kind of blue green in the artwork. So I went with that. I have an anti tank gun, machine gun and light mortar all of which I inspected at UK Battleground Wargames show at Stockton, Teeside, last Autumn and bought them there and then. Pendraken run the show and this year went stateside for the first time - great products. And they get interesting traders to their free entry show. I think MarDav are mainly an online business so it was nice to see them in the flesh so to speak esepcially in terms of scale.

Basically they get a craft paint mid green base then Citadel CC warp lighting and militarum green(I did 50% of them without Militarum as an experiment) then dry brush Vallejo Air light green for aeroplanes! which actually comes out a bit blueish. The helmets just got militarum over warp lighting to provide contrast. Why? well for Italians it is the case that their helmets are different from the Russian and US "bowls". And I wanted to highlight that.

Points wise its 1 x 8 points for the anti tank gun and 8 x 4 points for the crews. TOTAL points = 40 points and one squirrel I believe. And that wraps up my highest AHPC score to date which simply shows I have been very productive this winter.

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Sylvain: Shotgun posts! Some infantry to add to your cavalry (that I can see lying around in the background). You invest a lot of love in this Fauxterre projectand it's makes your post very interesting to read. Great paint job on these miniatures! Bravissimo!

 

 

 

From JohnB: The clatter of hooves - HAT 1/72 Fauxterre Lancers (64 points) and a squirrel

OK so this might be my last post as the deadline looms. Therefore a big thankyou to Curt and the gang, my Minion Peter and the Tuesday Terrors team. Its been great fun and this year I actually did a lot of painting - the two previous AHPC's I have entered resulted me in doing a lot of scratch building - something I had not signed up for. Anyway this year its different and I have painted all I prepped so actually I have just one unit left to paint - of course with a giant pile of "half paints" left untouched since December.... I have enjoyed seeing every ones submissions and I have learnt quite a bit more about painting models figures - even after half a century at it: new tricks and old dogs saying does NOT apply here. So back to my last but one post - hopefully......... Having spent some time building up sinews of war for my fantasy historical Fauxterre Wars I have finished up getting some pointy end forces done.

Being interwar/nearly mechanised in theme it's no surprise that Cavalry units might have some new armoured kit but also still rely on the horse.

Normally I steer clear of static grass but on this occasion succumbed and I quite like the result. The horses were burnt sienna over white primer with gore grunta fur citadel contrast wash over the top - nice and speedy. belatedly I noticed I had only painted yellow metal buttons on the front facing ammo pouches for which I seek forgiveness.

This is a unit of World War One British Lancers now appearing as Fauxterre Cavalry of a number of countries at war with each other. The equipment and uniforms except perhaps the Lances were to be seen in the real world war two. Italian Cavalry (Savoia Cavalleria) fought on the Russian Front charging the Russians at Izbushensky in 1942 albeit armed with sabres and grenades. I think the lances look better for the gaming table. Thats Fauxterre for you.

Total Points 8 x 8 points for 1/72 cavalry = 64 points one squirrel I believe?

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Sylvain: That you have painted all of what you have prepped (or almost) is a sentence that is great to read in the final stage of the Challenge. And the cavalry you are showing us today is a great way to conclude a stunning production. Bravissimo!