From ClintB - More an Air Assualt than a Points Bomb! (315 Points)

Well, I blame Martin Goddard. I know what you are thinking, who the heck is Martin Goddard! Well he's the guy who writes the rules for "Peter Pig" and the latest edition of PBI is now out and to celebrate I have decided to paint another company with a little support.

Therefore kindly let me introduce Captain Brown of Dog Company. Yes I could have done Captain winters of Easy company but I did not. I must admit all the names are made up and I have no idea if these were ever officers in Dog company and neither do I much care as these names were all easy to paint and by adding names it does give them all a little more life than random lumps of metal usually get and that's good enough for me.

The first Platoon is led by Lt. Cole. It consists of the command element, 1 Bazooka stand, 1 smg stand 5 Garand rifle stands and 3 BAR stands. Originally BARs (Browning Automatic Rifles) were considered to big at 48 inches to be a paratroopers weapon so were not originally issued. So during the Mediterranean theatre they were never officially issued but by 1944 and D-Day they were. Yellow clump foliage shows the bases designation for BARs.

The second Platoon is led by Lt. Powell. While it has a similar make up to 1st Platoon I have swapped out the BARs for .30 LMGs hence the red clump foliage. I knew you were paying attention. But other than that the platoon has the same number and type of stands. And with me every platoon gets a Bazooka as I know my usual opponent likes STUG 4s so a bit of Anti-tank tends to keep the game a little more balanced.

Third Platoon sees the return of the BARs, although I do have some more .30 cal LMGs to paint up a little later. 2nd Lt Dixon commands here and if he does well in the games I will paint out the 2. If any of them die I will paint out the names and paint someone-else's in. Yeah I am like that. Again the same unit composition as 1st Platoon. So moving on.

4th Platoon is the MMG platoon. As the MMG platoon and 2nd platoon use the same .30 Cal machineguns I thought it only right to give these guys orange tufts and to lay them down to indicate a more fixed position. In reality they had a different tripod which in the PBI rules changes them from am LMG to a MMG. It also changes the point cost of them. This small Platoon also has a bazooka stand (tell me that was a surprise) and a Garand rifle stand to represent the guys bringing up ammunition. It also has a command stand with Lt Hopkins now in charge.

I also have a stovepipe platoon although you may call them medium mortars if you choose. If you have not noticed it already each figure has the US flag painted on their right sleeve just to show whey are not Germans.  If you haven't noticed feel free to go back and check. These really were quite fiddly to paint on and I sis not manage to get all the strips let alone all the stars on them but they are 15mm figures so what do you expect. So this platoon has a command stand, 3 medium Mortars, a single Garand Rifle stand and as you Know by now a Bazooka stand.

I know you thought this is where it would end but now I have an engineer platoon to finish off. So expect that to follow before the end of the challenge. You may take that as a warning but I had to buy some more troops for it yesterday and did not want to miss the weekly deadline.

 If one lot of antitank was not enough I have also finished 2 57mm anti-tank guns. In the rules these do not need a platoon commander stand to accompany them as they may well be farmed out to different companies within the regiment. As the Typical bases for Peter Pig ere not big enough I have resorted to my bases box and put these on some flames of war bases. 2 Anti tank guns should be enough and if not I will use my next unit.

Yes 4 75mm Pack howitzers. again these were air dropped so totally in keeping with the rest of the unit. As with the Guns above being Peter Pig Models they did not fit on bases so I used up some more flames or war bases. While these may not be all that awesome in the game they could fire a variety of rounds in real life including HE, Smoke and Mustard Gas..... yes they could but there is no way I would want to drop with a glider full of mustard gas! these guns were never towed behind lorries or jeeps for very far as all the pieces were so light doing so would damage them. If they needed to be moved a long distance it was better to dismantle them and load the pieces into a truck!

Just when you thought I had finished one last wafer thin figure. A single sniper. As there was no need to put him on a standard base and as I had 1 spare another FOW base was used. In the game snipers are assets which may or may not be effective or even appear on the battle board but I though best to have one just In case. you never know I might do another as I do have one lurking about.

And Finally a couple of shots showing it all together. Just so you do not think I have just painted 1 unit and a couple of spares and re arranged them in different photos. (Ray, Tamsin you know who I am talking to!)

Just a final note about the bases. Other than sand and filler, clump foliage and static grass, I have also driven myself quite cuckoo doing reed foliage as well. the reeds came from a wall papering brush. I cut the bristles and then in groups superglued them in place, and yes I did get some on my teeth and yes that was not the plan and I do not recommend it to anyone! It really is funny the lengths we go to some times!

I have not done all these in a week I have been working on them since Christmas day and I prefer to think of them as not a bomb but an air assault. All the figures are 15mm and are a mixture of Battlefront (Flames of War) and Peter Pig figures. They are all based for PBI 3rd edition, and yes as mentioned above an engineer platoon to finish as well as various odds and sod to cover ever eventuality!

So How many figures?

Captain Brown. 2 figures.

1st Platoon:

• Command stand 2 figures
• Bazooka stand 2 figures
• SMG stand 2 Figures.
• 5 Garand rifle stands 3 figures a stand, 15 figures total.
• 3 BAR stands 2 figures a stand, 6 figures in total

31 15mm figures
2nd Platoon

Command stand 2 figures

Bazooka stand 2 figures

SMG stand 2 Figures.

5 Garand rifle stands 3 figures a stand, 15 figures total.

3 .30 cal LMGs stands 2 figures a stand, 6 figures in total

31 15 mm figure in total

3rd Platoon

Command stand 2 figures

Bazooka stand 2 figures

SMG stand 2 Figures.

5 Garand rifle stands 3 figures a stand, 15 figures total.

3 BAR stands 2 figures a stand, 6 figures in total

31 Figures in total

Machine gun Platoon

• Command stand 2 figures
• Bazooka stand 2 figures
• Garand Rifle stand 3 figures 
• 4 MMG stand each of 2 figures but laying down

16 figure total but 8 are laying down so counts as 11 figures.

Mortar Platoon.

• Command stand 2 figures
• Garand Rifle Stand 3 figures
• Bazooka Stand 2 figures
• 3 mortar stands with mortars so 6 figures and 3 mortars

13 figures and 3 mortars (Not sure if they get any points so let us say not!)

Anti tank and Artillery

• 2 57mm guns with 4 crew each!
• 4 75mm Howitzers with 4 crew each!

24 figures and 6 guns

1 sniper.

Grand total
149 15mm figures. (8 of which are laying down.) 6 guns, and 3 mortars. I think but feel free to count them . I will leave Curt to do all the maths and assign points ! (Let's hope he is generous!!!!)

The Partridge and Pear tree not included in the points but are modelled opps the partridge has flown off! darn there goes another point!

That should be enough points to spring me past my target so once the Engineer platoon is out of the war I can get on with some space ships.  (I hope).


From Curt:

Woo! This is a wonderful (and impressively large) entry Clint - well done! The figures are very nice but I must say I'm particularly taken by the verdant groundwork you've created for them.  It really brings forward images of the airdrops in France and Holland. (See, the reeds superglued to your teeth paid off!)  Beautiful work. 

Finally, congratulations on blowing past your 1250 point target!  Bask in your achievement and enjoy your coast to the finish line!

From AlanD - A 15mm German Assortment (65 Points)

Well, this week sucked. I was out every night, busy with start of the year stuff at school and Cubs, and output suffered accordingly.

I did manage to get these 8 vehicles from the 7th Panzer Division painted for Battle Group Barbarossa. They are a mixed bag. First up, three Panzer IVs from Zvezda with extra stowage added and a flag made from champagne bottle foil.

Also from Zvezda is this little StuG IIIE. I think the proportions of this model are a bit wonky - it seems to be too wide - but I have a soft spot for it. I bought this kit at the Russian artillery museum in St Petersburg last year, which is a must if you ever find yourself in in those parts.

From Battlefront now, a brace of Krupp Protze trucks, which brought back fond memories of making the Matchbox kit as a boy. When PSC releases their German heavy weapons set I'll now have something to drag around the PaK36 and IG18 they're including.

Battlefront is also responsible for this Horch 180, which is destined to cart around the HQ of an infantry platoon.

And finally, a teeny tiny Pazerjaeger I, also from Battlefront. A nice little kit that comes in a pack of two, so I can use the second one for the desert.

So that's 8 15mm vehicles and 11 crew. Warm hugs everyone, Dux xx.



From Curt:

Wonderful work Alan. I'm a big fan of early war German equipment so I love seeing the StuG and the Panzerjaeger I. The stowage and aerial recognition flags really finish them off nicely.

The Comedic Theme Round is now Up!

Hello Everyone!

Okay, please feel free to head over to the Theme Page and enjoy the entries from this week's 'Comedic' round.

As you can imagine this round is meant to be a bit of fun, allowing us to get an inkling to many of the Challengers' sense of humour. As such you will be treated to entries like  Hokey Pokey Tribesmen, zombie slaying banana men and a nightmarish sequence of Rob Lowes (!). Some of the submissions are tongue-in-cheek, others are over-the-top maniacal and there are a few which are weirdly fantastic - It's quite entertaining.

So, please get a cup of your favourite beverage and settle in for a smile, a chortle and maybe even a belly laugh. 

Finally, remember that once you've finished seeing all the entries please take the time to vote for all your favourites.


NOTE: Hey Folks. I had some issues with both Blogger and Survey Monkey and so I had to rebuild and reset the voting poll an hour after the theme's launch. If you were one of the early birds please return to the poll and recast your votes to make sure they have been captured.

Sorry about that but it couldn't be helped.

28mm Servitors of Nyarlathotep from ‘Achtung! Cthulhu’ and Greyscale Mat from Deep-Cut Studio (15 Points)

This entry takes me back for a bit of pulp adventure, this time it's a trio of figures from the game where the world of H.P. Lovecraft meets the Second World War: ‘Achtung! Cthulhu’.

Several weeks ago someone had mentioned that many of the Cthulhu miniatures currently available are not really horrific enough to convey the vision of the literature.  For the most part I tend to agree, but I think there are some exceptions, such as these creepy fellas below. 

These rather disturbing creatures are known as Servitors of Nyarlathotep.  They’re beings that use a human host as both an incubator and delivery device.  Lurking until their dark designs are needed and then tearing themselves into our reality in order to wreak havoc.  Sort of like tax assessors with a skin condition.

These are 28mm figures from Modiphius Entertainment’s ‘Achtung! Cthulhu’ range.  Nice figures, with very fine features and excellent detail.  They're perhaps a smidge smaller than most other 28mm WWII lines, but not markedly so.

Many of the paint schemes I’ve seen online for these figures depict the emerging creatures' bodies in a single uniform colour.  As the figures' design reminded me of the art of H.R. Giger (famous for his conception of the first Alien movie) I chose to portray them as something almost quasi-sexual, with a nasty pink pseudopod emerging from a carapace.  Ewww, yeah, sorry about that.

 

Okaaay, to help take your mind away from that disturbing image I’d like to point out to you the wonderful cobblestone mat that I've used in my photos. Yes, if you look closely you’ll see that the mat is in greyscale. Now, how neat is that!

You see, when I approached the good people from Deep-Cut Studio about the possibility of them being a Challenge sponsor they recollected my Great War greyscale work and so offered to do up a PVC cobblestone mat in a similar motif.  Very flattered, I happily accepted and am extremely delighted with how it all turned out.  

 

Georges Boillot and his Renault 'Taxi de la Marne'

As you can see it works very well with my greyscale figures and building facades.  The original coloured mat has a few manhole covers as part of the design, but I did not want to have to work around them in laying out my buildings so I asked to have them removed.  No problem, the designers quickly made the necessary adjustments and I now have a wonderful 4x4 cobblestone layout for my Great War and Pulp gaming. Thank you very much Deep-Cut Studio - you did a brilliant job!

Tomorrow I'll be beavering away with the 'comedic' theme round so expect something on that front later in the day. But now, off to sleep!

From TeemuL - Curtgeld (20 Points)

Here's my so called Lurtzgeld. I have a feeling, that Curtz already has this same miniature in his collection (at least he has the wounded Boromir from the same boxed set), but I can't be sure. Anyhow, it seems to be one of the hot topics this year to paint something for Curt, that he is just starting to paint...

This Lurtz with bow comes from the Ambush at Amon Hen boxed set, which was released before the first movie came out, if I remember correctly. I didn't by the set then, I regretted it afterwards, but then late last year I was able to buy the set second hand. So I stripped of the paint and applied the paint of my own. I have painted Uruk-Hais in the past, so I had the color scheme ready. Of course the leader needs a little bit more special attention and details. Anyway, the recipe is limited amount of earthly colors, different browns, black and dark metal, lots of washes. Lurtz has a bit of worn look, he has been marching for days (and nights) and cleaning the equipment is not something I believe Uruk-Hais are interested in.

Lurtz is a villain, I don't think anyone can argue with that. A servant of Saruman on a mission to capture the ringbearer hobbit, almost accomplished his task and killed Boromir among other things. He is not a named character in the books, but something Peter Jackson & Co added to the movie.

In the movie the Uruk-Hais have the White Hand of the Saruman hand-painted on their head or helmet. I have painted them on the helmets and occasionally on the shields as well, but Lurtz has neither. I did't want to mess his head with white paint, so I left it out. Does it mean he is in fact part of the ImagiNations? 

No white hand on the pretty face, just two evil eyes and a bunch of teeth.

This little fellow should give me 5 more points. With the Hot bonus round points and this I should have reached my initial target of 500 points, do you agree Lurt? Let's see if I can reach 700.

From Curt: 

A wonderful miniature Teemu, thank you (I particularly like his creepy light eyes)! 

I'm not sure if we can sell Lurtz as a classic antihero, especially to the Forces of Light, but perhaps to his Uruk-hai bretheren he might be considered an antihero as he slew Boromir, captured Merry and Pippin, but was shamefully bested by that nasty Ranger, Aragorn. 

It works for me. :)

Thanks again Teemu, it's much appreciated!