From KyleC - American vs German (10 pts )

Ok... so last week I had a paint bomb.. this week well I don't.. mostly due to being told I have to move out, so that process is taking priority.. but I did paint 2 new models yet to be released to help bring me some sanity!

These chaps are from a soon to be announced little company calls Stoessi's Heroes! A US Commander and a German Grunt are the first 2 models, and I was lucky enough to snag then pre-release!

First up is the US Commander. Considering that I just finished ( almost ) my USMC force, this was a perfect addition to my force ( and one that got to see some action at the club last night! ). He has a neutral stance, which to be fair as a commander is not uncommon. He has his trusty rifle, sack, shovel pouch, but also a stoggie lit and ready take out the enemies!

Thankfully Thomas is doing the boxart for this as mine is more table top than showcase, but it does do the business required for the piece I believe! I also hope to obtain a few more once the official first batch of casts are completed, and paint some up for the guys at the club.

Basing was done simple enough. Gravel, sand, and some pieces of slat. I will toss on some static grass clumps at some point, but for now he is fine.

The German grunt however was a lot more interesting and difficult to paint up! Especially considering all the choices for camo that exist for it!

I will say now, I paint more for fun than I do for historical accuracy. I am not sure if any of this works, and actually once the model is away from the bright table lights, the colors all fade together ( almost like he is in camo! ).

He sticks out quite a bit from the base work, and the green/brown/black camo pattern on top of the blue probably is not smart. But in the end I had fun painting him up, and I think he looks good as a one off ( or until I want to start my trip to the insane asylum and paint up an entire company of these guys in this pattern.. ).

I do have a German army in the works at some point, but they are more Afrika Troops than Normandy/Berlin troops.. so he still won't really fit in. But I can always use him as some daft single troop choice I am sure.

So 2 models, of 28mm size. giving me a grand total of 10 pts! Some may say that I have lost the wind in my sails for painting, and honestly they might be right. But it is not from painting, but from external forces ( flu, moving, realtors in UK, .. ) and I hope that once moved ( beginning of March ) I can really hunker down and get some more pieces finished up! I still have 8 models sitting on my desk primed and ready for some paint.. so maybe this weekend before a friend comes for the week I will get some of them finished up!

Enjoy hump day!

MMMmm. now they are interesting, very tempting. A really nice job on these too Kyle.Having fun painting has to be the best way to do it. External forces catch us all at some point, they will pass.. and i am sure we will see another Kyle Pointbombe!

From MarticC --For the Legion Boys (131 Pts)

My Republican Roman army continues at a pace. I'm really loving painting these. It helps that the figures are great, a mix of Crusader and Aventine. The colours are bold and I love painting the shields.
First up is another unit of  Hastai in simple grey tunics with hand pained shields

Every legion needs commanders. This one has 3.

First up a grizzled old commander with his loyal slave, a comfy campaign chair and some nice soft boots for his aching feet.

Next up a professional looking guy with a lictor to confirm his authority

Finally a fresh paced political appointment, again with a lictor. There is a raven in the tree.

That is 21 foot and 1 mounted figure plus 16 hand painted shields - 131 points I think

 More Roman shinyness from Martin as he powers his way along at the top of the table. Really like the simplicity of the white shields, and the grey clothing - it really works.

From SeanS - "Psycho Sam" Oldhammer 2015 figure (5 points)

I'm drafting this early in case I somehow fail to finish and photograph any other figures.

"Psycho Sam" is a figure that was commissioned for the Oldhammer 2015 events that happened, coincidentally, last year.

The color scheme I chose is a riff off of the Plexus Ranger uniform from the Howard Chaykin comic American Flagg. The idea is he will be a leader/member of a group of cop types that "enforce" the laws of Borborygmus Prime.

I deviated from my normal process in that I did not slather the figure in my grunge wash. In fact the only wash on him was a darker blue on his pants. If I had thought about it I would have layered up from that color, but I forgot I had it.

The other thing is my sort of NMM on his gun. I wanted to differentiate it from the black leather so I used Charcoal with Zinc highlights on the edges. I need to work out a little better how to spot gloss varnish the metallics, his facial piercings and ear rings look like I might have accidentally hit them with the matte varnish. They're supposed to be gold.

I used the same flash photo set up, I spent a bit of time dialing in Shutter Speed, Aperture and Flash strength to get it. I'm still not sure if it isn't a little under exposed. I left it without any post processing this time, other than cropping and resizing for the blog.

I intend to use him for Rogue Trader games, but if he's not Sci-Fi enough to count in the duel, that's fine by me.

May your brushes keep their points.

Now thats way to cool Sean. A really colourful piece too. Yes i agree a bit of spot gloss would help things pop - i use an old enamel gloss paint - its reasonably thick and does not run , just apply with a brush reserved for enamels. 

EricMc- Back From the Brink---The last of the French (130 points)

I am sorry I dropped the ball last with the last post. I had a mishap with Fallout 4.  After a family intervention, I am 4 days clean and back to my normal obsessions.

After kicking the Fallout habit,  I am finishing the last of the living french.   I have a few casualty figures left to paint but after that I am on to the Senegalese .

This week I finished off 2 more units of Chasseur for the Bois des Caures game which is coming soon (April I think)

In addition to the Chasseur I finished off 2-37mm trench guns and crew.

Unfortunately, my production is going to start slowing down.  My son convinced me that we need to run a game together at Cold Wars. I cant say no to that invitation.  So in addition to painting we well be building terrain boards for skirmish game set between the trenches at Verdun.  My hope it this will hook him, like his introduction to Fallout hooked me!

26-28mm Figures 

You really do have these nailed Eric.. They look a fearsome bunch alright...Now just remember step away from the digital hobbies! Lets hope gaming with these really hook in your son to the joys of Analogue..

Wednesday - Midweek Minion

Its time for that mid-week feeling once more. The Wednesday crew have posts stacked up , for your entertainment once more..

Time for a bit of mid week in flight entertaintment.

I am about to hop in the car as i have a few meetings today - and I hope it was not made on Wednesday!

From TeemuL - Last of the Dwarfs (15 points)

No King Tigers, no 3mm Italians, just these old, boring dwarfs. You know where they come from and so on.

As you can see, I had again some difficulties about choosing the colors for striped jerkins, but in the end I managed to do something. One of the dwarfs seems to wear a FC Barcelona jersey, which is purely a coincident, although it is my preferred team in La Liga.

Other striped guy had some difficulties, my purple turned out to be quite brown, but I hope you get the idea.

15 points, please. Next week: Something completely different!

The Whole Unit

Oh! So, my guesses last week were wrong! Those three dwarfs are a great addition to complete the group. great to see them all together in that last pic :)

From BillA - 28mm Frostgrave Archers and Crazy Pete the Prospector (25 points)

I've been a bit behind on my painting, as reflected by my drop down the ratings board a solid ten places - yikes! I've been painting, albeit a bit slowly, and with multiple projects in varying stages of completion instead of working away on one at a time.  I did manage to get a couple things done yesterday, so let's get those uploaded.

First up are a set of four Bretonnian plastic archers from a few years back in Warhammer.  These were, I guess, give-away figures at some tournament or event - I got them for free off a guy on the Frostgrave Facebook page, and he had something like a hundred of these archers to dispose of.  Looking at them up close, I would have been giving them away too -- the detail is very soft and poorly defined, and on these guys I felt like I was actually painting facial features on to them, as opposed to painting the features that were there.  Oh well - I got what I paid for, I guess.  I don't have any real concrete plans for these guys, but they're there if I need to add some archers to a Frostgrave warband - hence the very generic color schemes on their clothes.

Next, something a little more exciting.  This is "Crazy Pete, Prospector" from Reaper's Chronoscope line.  He's exactly the sort of character you'd see Gabby Hayes playing in an old western, and I freely admit I found myself doing a bad Walter Brennan impression to myself as I was painting him.  In fact, Gina bought him for me for Christmas for exactly that reason - I had a "crazy old prospector" type character in the Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'd been running, called "Old Man Walter," who had that voice, and the figure reminded Gina of him.

With his jubilant pose, I wanted to do something a bit more exciting than the lipped slotta base he came with, so I grabbed a 50mm base, built up a little ridge from Green Stuff, and pressed his tab into it to make a slot for him.  I also glued a pair of cacti from a Pegasus Hobbies scenics kit to the base for a splash of color.  I've taken to referring to the resulting vignette as "Hooray, My Luck's Finally Changed!" -- with the assumption that, while leaping for joy at having found gold, poor Crazy Pete's going to end up tripping and falling into the cactus patch.

Nice clean painting on the archers Bill and Crazy Pete is just great - the cacti on the base are a nice touch. 

From LeeH - 6mm Punic Cavalry (90 points)

These are my first batch of 6mm Carthaginians from Baccus entered into the Challenge. I'm also working on several units of infantry but the cavalry muse was with me so these got finished first. Baccus list these as Libyan Cavalry but in the TtS! army list they fall under the broader description of Punic Cavalry. Later on I will try to find some of the famed Numidian Light Cavalry but for now they are alluding me in the catalogue.

I just about finished these in time for submission today, thanks to a long session on Sunday and the tolerance of a very understanding wife! There is method in her madness because I think after 25 years of marriage she has realised that painting keeps me happy and a happy husband is also a docile husband!!

I have mixed feelings about how these turned out. I like the colourful shields and the waterproof pen I use for the shield designs is once again proving its value and utility. The pen writes best straight onto the acrylic paint but needs to be sealed with a spray varnish to avoid smudges (don't use a brush varnish as it can make the ink run). I'm less happy with how the white leather armour turned out. The ink wash I applied has made the armour look a bit muddy for my liking and I wish I had taken time to reapply the white highlights again after the wash. Still, its a lesson learned and a mistake I won't make again.

So I have just about managed to get my first Carthaginians into the Challenge but they most definitely won't be my last. I have already started on my next submission and a possible entry to one of the later bonus rounds, and all despite simultaneously working on a 1:1 scale bedroom. I wonder what the points would be for that project...ah of course, its Terrain so doesn't count!

Seventy Two 6mm cavalry should net me 72 points so I'm starting to make headway towards my 300 point target. I have a lot of infantry to work on next and although there are more of them they are worth half the points of cavalry...so I'd better stop typing and get back to my painting desk.

These Carthos look fab Lee - nice work on them, particularly the hand-penned shields. Doing individual designs by hand at this scale definitely deserves a bunch of extra points, which I will award with pleasure.

From ClintB - 28mm Kent Miners (82 points)

Only one entry this week Tamsin; real life is getting in the way. But here this week are the first detachment of my Kent miners for a VBCW. The figures are a mixture of makes including "Sloppy Jalopy" "Ironclad" and "Musketeer Miniatures" All clumped together and in this instance bearing the flag of the "Peoples Assault Column-Kent Miners" . The Betteshanger Colliery will be shown in the future.

They have all been painted in sombre colours as befits the time and place as not everything in the "Garden of England" is bright and cheerful. Most of the miners are wearing hard hats a few are carrying them on their belt at the back and just a couple are not carrying them at all. We have to assume the ones not carrying hard hats work above ground. Historically in Kent 4/5 did work below ground so a couple without hats is about right.

The Flag is by Solway, but the Kent Miners Flag will be shown next time. As Pete Barfield has done one specifically for me. But I am happy to send it out to any VBCW player in the Kent area. (Yes even to Tamsin in London IF she would use it!)

Thanks for looking and see you again next week.

It looks to me as though these chaps are quite rightly upset about the actions of an American manager with a Scottish surname who has been brought in by the government to screw the miners while they, allegedly, sc[redacted on instructions of our lawyers due to ongoing police inquiry]ors.
Nice bunch of figures Clint and I think they deserve a couple of bonus points.

Terrifically Tamsin Tuesday

Ladies, gentlemen and badgers. Flight AHPC6 out of Challenge, Blogland is currently cruising at 33,660 points aiming for a new target altitude of 71,750. I think some of our late boarders will have to pull their fingers out and produce their boarding passes if we are to meet that vertiginous target. Or maybe lock Alex, Miles, MartinC, Kyle and Sylvain in a room together with everybody's lead piles for the next 6 weeks...


In the cabin crew cabin yesterday, myself and my crew were discussing this snippet of industry news. I was tasked with asking the flight's owner (not to mention our esteemed pilot) Curt Snowlord if we could also wear trousers. He was actually quite agreeable to the idea, provided the trousers were like these:

but in Campbell tartan.

Hmmm, so we'll be sticking with our current skirts (closer to belts if you want my opinion) for now.


But that's enough of that. What entertainments do we have in store for you today?

So far, not a lot. It's all suspiciously quiet. Perhaps everyone is working on their "Ray and Fran Bromance" entries for the "lAmour" bonus theme?

What we do have is:
Some miners
Some tiny horsemen who enjoy plays-on-words
Some more chilly people

AdamC- Two and Two-Thirds Tercio (120 points)

  These are 10mm figures form Warmonger Miniatures a local company in Worcester MA that I supported via the Kickstarter they have a small line of landsknecht troops.  There are 60 Pikemen and 60 arquebusiers.

 The Front two stands each with 20 Arquebusiers are in gray and red...

 They are painted to match a unit of Pikemen I painted a few years ago.

 The second groups is 30 Pike men in brown with orange in the slashes typical of the landsknecht uniforms.

 The two sleeves of arquebusiers are in matching uniforms.

 As above.

 Rear view of the pikemen

 One of the things I love about this set is the musician is a fiefer not a drummer.

 Here we  have the last group another 30 pikemen in golden brown and with blue in the slashes

 Hear are the two sleeves of arquebusiers are show form the rear since you saw the other guys from the front.

 Rear of the pike men, the flags are hand painted.  This isn't my best work but it is only the second time I have worked in this scale and the detail on these small figures is impressive, I think they have more detail then many 15mm figures.  I think I might need to give them a wash I can't recall if I did or not with the last set or note.  Any way please check out Warmonger they have great products. Also a pack of 30 arquebusiers are available on my blog as a part of my 1000 post giveaway 

Something I didn't expect Adam, nice looking Tercios.  It's nice to see some other P&S figures on the challenge blog.  I wasn't aware of Warmonger, but will be checking them out.  I have painted 10mm, for WW2 but that was years ago.  There is a lot of detail to bring out on these Warmonger figs.  I like the plumes on the hats and the units look great with the pikes all bunched up like that.

Well done for 120 points.  I had to check the rules for the scoring since these are my first 10mms on the Challenge.