From ClintB - 20mm WWII LRDG Jeep (8 Points)

A while ago (September) I bought this jeep from Grubby Tanks (Britannia) Assembled it and then lost a part. So one part of this model is actually from a different manufacture (Frontline). It's a clearly visible piece and for me it's loss and now replacement has improved the vehicle as it adds to the beat up grimy shabby look which the crews and vehicles developed. Many things in the Western desert were of a "Make do and mend" approach and very little of the "Long Range Desert Patrol" was factory finish. And after the first month almost nothing at all.

As you can clearly see the vehicle is heavily armed with twin Vickers K Machine guns for the co-driver and a Lewis gun in the back, so 2 crew and three machineguns. Considering that the main task was "Road watches". To determine the enemy strength and most importantly fuel lorry convoys, were they full and in which direction where they headed, as that would determine the most likely point/week of attacks. Many people might consider more machineguns than crew slightly overkill. Wargamers and roleplayers would NOT! You can never have too many guns!

Note the replaced rear wheel.

Jeeps were used as command vehicles as opposed to the more common Chevrolet light truck so one would not expect to see one of these on it's own. It did happen of course but was not the preferred transport across the desert solo, but needs must and all that. But generally it would be travelling with 1-4 light trucks. Most commonly 2-3 light trucks.

I have deliberately kept the painting on this quite rough. Well that's my excuse. As the vehicle and crew do need a lived in, been too long in the desert feel to them. I will need to get some more of these vehicles from Andy Grub (Grubby Tanks)  as he does a range of 4 other light trucks each with different armament combinations and stacks of stowage. That will have to wait till February at the earliest.

From Curt:What a wonderfully scrappy looking jalopy! Clint, is the stowage part of the casting or did you add it later? Whatever the case it looks great and I also like the tanned/sunburnt crew - a bunch of tough nuts to be sure. I hope we see some of the Chevy WBs later in the Challenge.   

US Armored Field Artillery Battery (22 Points)

My first entry into the challenge is a by adding to my FOW US Tank Company in the form of an Armored Field Artillery Battery. It consists of 3 M7 Priests, 2 M2 Halftracks and 1 M4 Sherman Observer Tank. The staff can be on foot, but I decided everything will be mounted.

Painting vehicles is not in my comfort zone and I vastly prefer painting foot troops, but tank company's are the quickest way to getting something on the table although it turns out it hasn't been all that quick for me as I've been puttering around on this army for quite sometime (over a year or two....) however it is fun doing the weathering on them!:-) In hindsight I would have done Airborne first and added a supporting vehicle here and there so my plan is to hopefully finish the tank company during the Challenge and start on the Airborne.

Since I blocked in the first layer of colours on the vehicles before the Challenge I will score myself zero points for them, but for the crew full points at 22. I started them along while back, but then put them up as I got distracted by something else!

From Curt:

Very nice work Christopher. Vehicles may not be in your comfort zone but you've done a marvellous job on these tracks. I really like the aggressive weathering that you did on these and the crew look excellent. I look forward to seeing the rest of the force emerge from your hobby desk over the coming months.

BrendonW presents four Romans (20 Points)

Warlord 28mm Plastic Romans are my first submission to this most illustrious of Painting Challenges this time round.

Three Auxiliary and one Veteran Legionnaire. I have been building and painting an Early Imperial Roman army for a long time but I am in no hurry to complete it. I have around ten more Legionnaires remaining that will get completed during this challenge. Until now though, a box of Auxiliary on foot had not been touched and to get back in the painting saddle I got these completed.

All figures used the Army Painter strong shade from a can but applied with a brush for better control instead of dipped. The shields on the 3 Auxiliary I actually completed before the challenge a long while back so perhaps a deduction for that. All shields have decals but the Oval ones are clear except the graphics. Means you can decide the background colour which is good.

Cheers and enjoy your painting.

From Curt:Wonderful figures Brendon! I'm puzzling through a few Romans myself and I really should take some pointers from your fine efforts here. The 'Strong Tone' worked very nicely with these fellows and I can tell you used a bit of restraint in its application as their flesh doesn't look jaundiced like some Army Painter forces. Also, I find with Romans it often comes down to their shields, and yours certainly don't disappoint. Hand-painted shields are great, but with these detailed, symmetrical designs it really is nice to know that there are some great transfers to help you out.  You've done a great job.

From Millsy - 15mm WWII Soviet Naval Infantry (206 points)

I figured it was about time I dropped a half decent sized points bomb and so here it is - an entire Russian Naval Infantry Brigade a.k.a. Morskaya Pekhota from the 15mm Flames of War line.

The Naval Brigades were raised from during 1941-42 to help make up the huge losses sustained by the Red Army as it slowly came up to speed fighting the Germans. They were famous for their tenacity and willingness to absorb huge numbers of casualties, especially when on the defence of their own encampments and ports. So feared were they by the Germans that they earned the nickname the "Black Death" after (you guessed it) their black uniforms.

In total there are 102 of the little buggers on 29 stands, including a CO and Komissar. I've cheated a bit in that I've stretched two packs to do the work of three but as I already have another two complete infantry battalions I just couldn't bring myself to buy the third pack of something that will rarely get used.

Modelling-wise these are some of the most frustrating and unrewarding miniatures I have ever painted. The uniform is black, more black, some more black and then some black highlights with a white hat band. Theoretically the black might also be dark blue but it's so dark it might as well be black. So I painted them all black. They don't even have much in the way of webbing or equipment to break up the relentless colour-which-shall-never-be-mentioned-again. You'd never guess I dry brushed highlights on every one of them because they just look you-know-what.

Not only are they dull to paint they aren't a particularly nice miniature either. The poses at times are quite stiff and unnatural, the sculpting is indifferent and the detail is negligible on places that matter like the face and weapons. A pity really, as they have the potential to be so much more with such an interesting background.

To try and lift them up I've gone to town on the basing with blasted trees, rocks, flowering bushes and variety of grass tufts over a two-tone base. From a distance they actually look pretty good considering all of the above complaints!

Anyway, at least they are done and I can more onto something more rewarding. On the plus side they are worth 204 Challenge points... Ka-ching! Oh yeah, did I mention I now hate black?!?

From Curt:
Yoiks!! That is a points bomb to be sure! Awesome work Millsy, though dealing with all that colour-that-is-not-a-colour must have been a little tedious (but fast!). Thankfully your wonderful basing along with the white hatbands and red banners help to set them off. If possible, see if you can pop in a nice close-up of one of the groupings. These 'points bombs' are impressive in their sheer mass but the photography can be limiting trying to fit everything in. 

This entry is worth 206 points, with a couple added for the Red banners. That's quite a bite out of your target my friend - well done!

From AdamC - The StuG Life: 15mm WWII German Tank Destroyer (13 Points)

I play a fair amount of Flames of War using German Armies.  A lot of players may prefer the big cats Tigers and Panthers but I prefer the StuG. Yeah the the gun isn't as good and the armour isn't as good as either of those but they look cool and you can field them with numbers.

I already have 11 StuGs so this brings me to lucky 13 for my collection.  I decided to go with a winter paint job for these as I have 3 with that color scheme already and 4 Panzer IVs with a similar paint job.

These will make a nice combination for a late war Panzer company.  These two are plastic model kits from the Battle Front they went together well and were only little more work than the resin models.

I believe this is 12 points unless the driver who is sticking out of the hatch counts for additional points. 

From Curt:
Great work Adam. German tank destoyers are some of my favourite vehicles from WWII - they have such a great predatorial look about them. I like both the stowage and the winter white-wash you've given them, with just a hint of dunkelgleb peeking through, a great touch. 

I typically give 1/2 points for crew so these two bruisers and their commander will give you 13 points. Well done!

From MartinC - 2nd Volley, 57th Pennsylvainia (92 Points)

My 2nd Union regiment, the 57th Pennsylvania, is complete. Much improved on the 63rd, both in painting and photography, thanks Sean for the advice.

I have this ongoing quandary with eyes. Some figs don't have obvious eyeballs and it is simple to just shade this area, but many, these Perry figs included do and I feel obligated to paint them. The problem is the pupils. If I leave them out  then look fine on the table ("don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes") but up close they are the undead (see below). If I put them in then to avoid the vacant staring look they end up looking quizzical, surprised or even like they have been groped (see drummer in previous submission). What is the opinion of others?

Confederates next for a change.

From Curt:

Ah, yes, these show up much better! Lovely work Martin. The uniforms look very vibrant and I particularly like the detail work you put into the drum - wonderful. Personally, I pretty much never do eyes as, in these scales, you would never really see them, as often they are in shadow from the brow. Also, as you point out, they can be damnably tricky to pull off properly and I'd much rather be moving on to painting another figure. Just my opinion though, and I know others will disagree with me. Horses for courses, I suppose.

These Yanks will be worth 92 points, with extra for the flag and drum. 

From Curt - Donon 'Le Rouquin' Carro: Fisherman, Loyal Son and Gun Runner (5 Points)

Donan Carro is from an old, established family of fisherman from the coast of Britanny. Like many fishermen around the world, life for the Carro family has been made up of hard work, calculated risk and a bit of luck. This is especially the case for the Carros as they also smuggle contraband to 'augment' their fishing. Donan’s father, Bernez, survived Verdun, barely, and so holds little love of Germany, nor any for its new leader, Adolf Hitler. So when civil war broke out in Spain in ’36, and Franco’s forces began receiving arms and equipment from the Nazis, the Carro’s not only envisioned a great opportunity to make money, but also saw a way to resist the growing stain of fascism that threatens to overcome all of Europe. As a result the Carro family has begun the very dangerous business of running the Spanish blockade, selling arms to the hard-pressed Republicans and perhaps doing a few other shady deals on the side as well…

We see here Donan Carro on shore, wearing his yellow boat slicker, oilskin trousers and knitted watch-cap over his distinctive red hair. He’s armed with a fresh-out-of-the-crate Bergmann MP-18 SMG and looks quite ready to use it. A fairly straightforward paintjob, this is a 28mm miniature from Artizan Designs’ wonderful range of pulp adventurers. Over the coming months of the Challenge I hope to complete the rest of the Carro family along with some of their shady associates.

Oh, and another 5 points for me. Whoohoo!

From SeanS - Rum, Bugbears and the Brush (8 points)

Well the seal has been broken by me, finally.

For your pleasure I submit two Splintered Light Miniatures Bugbears from their 20mm Fantasy range.

I really struggled with waffling on how I wanted to do these guys. I feel like I need to explore better ways to do fur, as they're okay, but just not really grabbing me. I felt really good about my work on building up the flesh using brown, orange and yellow. I did until I tried some Reaper Oiled Leather that looked almost exactly like my painstakingly mixed and layered flesh straight out of the pot. Sigh!

All paints used were craft acrylics except for GW Bolt Gun Metal for the iron bits and the aforementioned Oiled Leather and Ruddy Leather, by Reaper, for the leather belts and pouches.

These little guys have a lot of character which was enhanced by dropping the guy on the right several times, bending his left ear.

I hope I can maintain this blistering pace of two figures every five days.

It's going to be a looong Winter.

From Curt: Sean, welcome aboard - these guys are excellent! They remind me of the old school D&D miniatures that Ral Partha and Citadel produced during the mid 80s (and  right there I've just hopelessly dated myself). I particularly like how you did the hide shield of the fellow with the sexy topknot (and frankly the guy with the bent ear is rather fetching as well).  I'll have to score some of that Reaper Oiled Leather and give it a shot - thanks for the tip.

From GregB - 20mm WW2 Soviet Rifle Platoon (56 Points)

1/72 WW2 Russians from Plastic Soldier Company

Here is my first entry for the Painting Challenge - a completed rifle WW2 Soviet rifle platoon.  The figures are all from Plastic Soldier Company's 1/72 range.  Some of these were painted prior to the Challenge, but the balance were whipped up over the weekend.

Officers on hex-shaped bases

I have painted a lot of WW2 stuff over the years, but 20mm is all new for me and I'm finding I quite enjoy it.  It is, as Curt and others have expressed, a great "compromise" scale between 15mm and 28mm. I don't think these PSC plastics are the best figures out there - some of the poses look a little odd, more "possible" than "natural", if that makes sense - but I was pleasantly surprised by the detail on them, and you get quite a few figures in each box.  I have enough for a rifle platoon, and I still have a bunch of extra fellows with SMGs to finish up. A good value, and a good way to get started painting a new scale.

NCO on a square base with rounded corners

There are enough figures here to represent a rifle platoon - three 10-man squads, each sporting a 2-man LMG team - and a couple of officers.  The basing will be familiar to anyone here who has followed Curt's system - 20mm rounds for the regular fellows, 20mm squares for NCOs and junior leaders, and 25mm hexes for the senior officers/commanders.  Having the different bases makes it a little easier to determine which figures represent leaders at a glance, important in gaming systems like "Chain of Command".

Ready to defend the Motherland!

My only complaint with these figures is the poses chosen for the LMG gunners - prone (and PSC is hardly the only ones doing this - it is very common).  I know lying prone is a very realistic portrayal and something that happened a lot/all the time in real fighting, but in toy soldier fighting, prone figures are lame, particularly at 20mm scale and above. Prone figures require alternate basing, often much large than others and looking out of sorts compared with the rest of the fellows in the unit.  Every time a prone figure is cast in 20mm scale or larger, I'm pretty sure a baby whale gets kicked.  The only prone figures on a table should be snipers!

PSC figures were surprising with the amount of nice detail for plastic figures; much better than their 15mm size figures

Of course, for skirmish gaming, the only worse sculpt than prone is marching - and sadly, the PSC alternative to the prone LMG team is a pair of fellows marching along like they are having a jolly time.  Again, PSC is not the only one that does this. The marching figures look even more out of place on the table, so they went into the spares bin, while the prone figures got the paint.

20mm has been a lot of fun to paint so far, and I'm looking forward to adding more 20mm WW2 stuff during the Challenge and beyond.

There are 26 figures and 3 MG teams here, but 13 figures and two of the MG teams were painted prior to the Challenge starting, so on whole I think this net of 13 figures and one prone MG team in 20mm should get me 56 points.  

From Curt: Whoa, beautiful work Greg! These Soviet lads are top notch. Your shading on them is very smooth and the basing looks spot on. I've seen some the PSC stuff in other forums and I think I'll have to try some of them out. Nonetheless, I do have some old SHQ German Fallshirmjaegers on the painting desk and when they're finished we'll have to get together for a rumble. 

(As an aside, I always love hearing Greg go off on prone figures. The topic is usually good for about 10 minutes of his very funny, expletive-ridden philosophy of how toy soldiers should look - what you've read above is a much more abbreviated (and cleaner version) of his usual diatribe. I swear if I handed him a hammer in the midst of one of these rants he'd flatten every prone figure in his collection. Here get this: 'Hey Greg, you're a complete tw@t about this 'cause prone figures are not only realistic, but they provide some much-needed variation to the typical upright poses AND you don't have to paint as much as half of them are belly-to-the-base.  And, c'mon, look at them, they're just plain cool: lyin' down and takin' up space n' stuff.' 

There, that should set him off...  Really, what are friends for?)

From DaveD - Return to the Desert Sands: 42nd Highlanders (190 Points)

The primary aim for this years challenge is the Imperial forces for the Sudan. With such an interesting mix of units there are plenty of interesting battalions and regiments to choose from. So first up it's a proper "grand manner" size unit of 36 foot (mind they can be up to 72 figures)  and a mounted commander. These are old school 28mm Connoisseur Miniatures sculpted by the late Peter Gilder and are among my very favourites to paint , even the tartan! They are quick and easy without too much fussy detail, and reward an old school wash and wipe using enamels for the base colours. Nice to get one of the tartan wearing units out of the way early. I have the Gordon's to complete too, but Perry miniatures for those so it will be interesting to compare them when they are done.

1 figure was completed pre challenge while working out a painting plan in advance

** EDIT ** AS REQUESTED

 

Well I can't leave Clint and Phil to the fezzes.. So here is a British commander as well complete with Fez or is it a tarboosh... Nah it's a Fez..

Connoisseur British Officer,in Fez

Cavalry or infantry next..maybe both..maybe some camels...must be time for camels to make an appearance in the challenge soon. The paint desk is awash with khaki.

From Curt:

What a stonking unit of Jocks - and our first Points Bomb! Wonderful work Dave. They look excellent all massed in line, heading off to some hot, uncomfortable fate. If you can, update your entry with a couple close-ups as I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to better see these Sons of Scotland in all their kilted glory. Also, I really like the officer sporting the fez - I'm sure he special ordered it at Harrods...  ;OP 

I look forward to the upcoming Gordons (or camels)!

From TeemuL - Starting with a Ringwraith (5 Points)

Lord of the Rings and Ringwraiths seem to be quite popular this year. I wanted to have something ready quite soon and because I happened to have an unpainted Ringwraith I decided to start with him. Of course I was not able to finish my pre-challenge miniatures before the challenge started, so I didn't get the start I hoped for. Window renovation project at home didn't much help with my schedules, the place is still a little bit of chaos and the fact that there is pretty much no sunlight available, makes taking photos rather difficult.

I was supposed to paint rank-and-file troops to get lots of models painted and gather lots of points, but it seems I need to start small and slow. I have started to paint my bonus theme figure, I need to get it painted in order to get the bonus points, otherwise I'm in big trouble. This is also my first time with Blogger, first time with this Challenge and so on... But enough of this, here's one of the Nine (even this finished, I only have eight...):

Anyway, I wanted to get my first points and open the challenge from my part, especially when I know there are not one, but two Christmas Parties during the next weekend... So there won't be much ready for a while.

The painting is quite simple, lots of black and some metal. But it was not, I recently read "How to Paint Citadel Miniatures" book from 2003. I can now say with confident that I have used various techniques such as drybrushing, extreme highlights, some layering, overbrushing and staining to name a few.

One 28mm model, that's 5 points to start the Challenge.

From Curt:
Welcome aboard Teemu! It looks like we're having a bumper crop of ringwraiths this year! It's too bad that this particular figure coincided with your lighting issues as we can't really enjoy your paintwork to its full advantage. He is cloaked in black, he has a morgul-blade and he is menacing so we're all good (or doomed). Nonetheless, it's great to have you out of the starting blocks and heading down the straights - once the dust has settled leading into the holiday season I'm sure your pace, along with everyone else's, will increase to a blistering tempo. :) Well done.

From MilesR: 28mm Scale WW1 Rolls Royce Armored Car (15 Points)

Submission #4 is a 28mm Scale Rolls Royce Armored Car from TrenchWorx.  I picked up this kit (along with way too many others) from a Kickstarter that was recently run by the Trenchworx guys.  These models are resin casts  made from 3D printed masters.  Both the details and casting quality are amazing and I highly recommend their products.

This particular model was painted up in a fairly generic way and has no nationality markerings.  I'll be using it for inter-war pulp (skirmish) gaming and it may even see it's way into a Bolt Action game or two.

The stowage in the back are custom cast by your's truly and are hold overs from my model railroading days.  They're actually HO scale (1/87) but seem to look good in a 28mm (or 1/56) scale vehicle.  The casting are pretty horrid and only work where I can hide some aspects of them.  One of the great benefits of the Challenge is it does force one to use old inventories of modeling supplies!

You can see in the background one of my next projects for the Challenge - a 36 figure Napoleonic French infantry battalion (Perry plastics).  After doing loads of American Civil War figures, I forgot how intricate Nappy uniforms are.

I think the Rolls Royce Armored Car should net me 15 points towards my tally!

From Curt:

Beautiful work Miles on one of the most elegant armoured cars of the period. I too just received my parcel from the Trenchworx Kickstarter and hope to have at least one of their models up for the Challenge in the coming months. I agree with you: the quality and detail of the models is really top-notch. I fiddled about and did some dry-fitting of the models and everything fit together seamlessly - very impressive. My only caveat to the models is their price, which is a bit eye-watering. 

In regards to your Rolls I love the base sand colour you went with as it really helps to make the rivets, plate-seams and creases pop. I also really like the stowage you added as it really adds character to the model. My only suggestion would be to dirty up the tires, undercarriage and running boards, as from seeing photos from the period, these buggies would get incredibly filthy in the field. 

Top shelf stuff Miles! 

From GillesW - Unity through paint! (20 Points)

Firstly as last year, I chose to pay the entry fee.

I went to my lead pile and took the assassin from the Lead Adventure range and a base from Micro Art Studio with an idea in mind reworking his face to have a plain mask to fake the logo of the Vth challenge.

I hope it will give the feeling I searched.

An Anti hero hiding in the shadows of the underground.

A back view of him returning in the shadows.

The first time I tried a blue grey and black style any comment will be appreciated.

Be seeing you.

Gilles "thefrenchjester"

From Curt:
Ahh, wonderful work Gilles! I love how his mask shines out from the greyscale background - an excellent effect. And the face, did you sculpt that yourself? It turned out brilliantly. Thank you so much for the wonderful figure.