From KenR : Italian Wars Gendarme 3 & Command (85)

This week's unit of Cavalry has something a bit different with it, a Command Stand, over the years I have always been really slack on Commanders and never have enough, something I hope to cure with this army.

8 x 28mm Cavalry at 10pts plus three flags for 83 more points for both the main total and the Renaissance Side Duel.

This week's Gendarme is again Foundry 28mm with a couple of Petes Flags to boot, as before I have taken my clothing colours and horse furniture cues from these flags using mostly blue, yellow, red and white.

Although the horses in the Foundry range are quite limited, you can get a good variation with mixing up the riders and the colour scheme.

The flags are those of Federico da Montefeltro, also known as Federico III da Montefeltro (7 June 1422 – 10 September 1482), he was one of the most successful condottieri of the Italian Renaissance, and Lord of Urbino from 1474.

He was employed throughout his life by the Sfozas of Milan, Florence, Naples and the Pope so would not be out of place in most armies.

Federico led a colourful life losing his right eye in a tournament (hence the scar painted over that eye) and is said to have had the top of his nose removed to improve the visibility with his other eye, contemporary portraits clearly show this rather extreme, but useful alteration. The figure is from the Perry's Miniatures metal range.

The standard bearer is a Perrys figure as well but is from the plastic Light Cavalry box set, I was looking around for some flag bearer figs and didn't think about these until I got a unit of them out to paint. The lightbulb went off and instead of a light Cavalry unit they will be now used as Standard Bearers.

That's it from the Italian Wars this week, next week there will be another Gendarme unit and a unit of Sword and Shield Light Infantry, must try to decide if it's time to start another pike block?

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Another magnificent entry Ken. I've said it before, but I'm really enjoying these entries and look forward to them each week. The command stand looks particularly fine, and you can never have too many commanders. And you can never have too many Pike Blocks (hint hint)! 

I've included the usual points for flags but I'm throwing in a couple extra for the added heraldic details you have on the figures themselves. That sort of attention to detail really makes these figures stand out. 

Lee

From PhilH: TIE Specialists (24 points)

Hello everyone!

A small Tuesday post from me with more from Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars: Armada after the Mercenary Theme Round. Yay, two posts in a row the same project: take that, squirrel tendency!

More Armada TIEs, the leftovers from the Imperial Squadrons I set: two each of TIE Advanced and TIE Bombers. A bunch of their screeching brethren were submitted in Challenge XIII.

Bombers in the centre, escorted by Advanced

TIE Advanced are more durable and hit harder than basic TIEs, but for Armada’s squadron metagame they come with an important ability: Escort. Enemy squadrons in range must target these over other squadrons. In short, they help get bombers or other specialists get through to their targets. They're also better at attacking enemy capitol ships.  

Same as last time, I’ve given red markings to more easily spot an ace pilot rather than vanilla squadron, if I’m using one. Their Ace squadron is none other than Darth Vader himself.! 

TIE Bombers's purpose is fairly obvious: they look to get a clear run at opposing capitol ships before ‘bombs away!’. Other than that, they’re predictably, slow and terrible at dogfighting. Their Ace is Major Rhymer, who makes all nearby squadrons more effective against capitol ships - nasty. I wouldn't be surprised if you've never heard of him, but apparently, he first appeared in 1990s Star Wars Collectible Card Game. 

My painting entertainment over recent weeks has been to binge on the first two seasons of the ‘Dice for Brains’ podcast. It’s a Star Wars RPG actual play podcast that’s been going for a good number of years, using FFG’s Force and Destiny system (and later, non-SW RPGs). Not really my usual thing at all, not really being an RPG player, but a friend recommended it highly. After a slow first episode, I found it to be excellent, really nailing the SW universe with a great cast of memorable characters and NPCs and some deft game-mastering. Recommend any fellow Star Wars fans give it a try. 

I recall that we called these 2 points each last time out, so twelve TIEs makes 24 points to my tally please, Lee. 

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A pleasure sir! What's not to like about Star Wars (down Haters, down!)? I may have to take a look at this game in more detail. O-oh...shinney complex kicking in! I really like these and the little bit of 'history' behind them make them extra special. 
Lee

From AlexS - Napoleonics. (565 points)

Hello to all! My name is Alex and I am from Russia. In my country, they love and honour traditions. For me, it became a tradition to work with during the Napoleonic Wars of this wonderful events. There, more than that, I heard that it started because Сurt wanted to finally paint a bunch of unpainted miniatures for this period. Therefore, I present to your attention and my work. Three light infantry battalions, dismounted dragoons and a cannon.

Miniatures from different manufacturers, included in one squad, they perfectly diversify it.

I have traditionally not made banners, because I still don’t know what kind of battalions these will be.

And once again a general view. And again, the problem is that I have no one to play with in my city, the nearest city where people play Napoleon in my country is Nizhnevartovsk. A bit far from me. Almost one and a half thousand kilometres. But maybe I'll be going to go there someday.

Points:
28mm  1 gun x 10 = 10 points
28mm 3 cav x 10 = 30 points
28mm 104 inf x 5 = 520 points
total  560 points

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Stand back, it's a Points Bomb! The idea that these may never see action because you live so far from another wargamer makes me rather sad. Mind you, at least you have an excuse for not playing with your armies...I've painted a few that never saw service just because of I had moved on to the next project before the paint had dried on the last. A sad truism from most wargames butterflies! 

I concur with your points calculation for these but I'm adding an extra five points for the various flags and pennants I can see. Nice entry mate.  

Tuesdays Flanks are for the enemy to worry about

Patton once said, "Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory." I think that is an excellent mantra for this event. We have all set ourselves personal challenges and for most of us, they will be just that; a target that may-or-may-not be met, but can be striven for...and once achieved, feel the exhilaration of victory. 

To mash up another popular mantra, it's the journey that counts. And thus far the journey that this year's challengers have taken has been an amazing one. I'm constantly blown away by the quality of the entries and the quantity achieved. My own meagre contribution represents the height of my painting year, with easily 80% of my annual painting quota being completed in the three months of the challenge...which is good because it means more gaming time in the remaining nine months! 

Today the Tuesday Crew have outdone themselves once again. The virtual in-tray is full once again and today. Prepare yourself for A hoard of Napoleonics; Tie Fighters; More Italian Wars Gendarme; yet more Donnybrook; Ghosts!; Cruiser Tanks; Cossack Artillery; Sci-fi terrain and Mercenaries. There is more yet to come, so prepare yourself for a busy day. 

From DaveX: 20mm Taliban RPG Teams (16 Points)

This week I am submitting some Taliban RPG teams.  There are four models in total from Elhiem.  They are 20mm in size.

They will represent RPG teams.  I felt I rushed these just a little to get them done but they look great in among their comrades.

This will give me 16 handy points.

I really like the guy on the right

I really like the guy on the left

A tidy little entry, nicely done and very evocative. Terry Taliban just can't get enough RPGs.

Barks

From AlanD: The Diether von Roeder (35 points)

 The Diether von Roeder (Z17) was a Type 1936 destroyer of the Kriegsmarine that fought at Narvik in 1940, mauling HMS Cossack and eventually being scuttled by its crew after running out of ammunition.

A few of the chaps from our club have become quite excited about Warlord Games' new Cruel Seas game, and I had my first game on Wednesday, which was quite fun. Paul O'G challenged me to the naval side duel this year, so this is my shot across his bows - a 1/350 destroyer to act as a big target in Cruel Seas.





I probably haven't made a model of a WWII ship since I made the Airfix Tirpitz about a hundred years ago, and I really enjoyed the excercise. This is the Zvezda kit of the Diether von Roeder, which I populated with a bunch of figures from Fujimi. I made the wake from epoxy putty.

 



I have no idea how many points this is worth, but hopefully lots because it took forever! The ship is about 35cm long and there are 24 x 1/350 figures.



All these Cruel Seas entries are causing your minion a lot of complex thinking. I reckon that is about the same volume as a 28mm vehicle, plus 12 points for the crew, plus some bonus points for the dynamic smoke (steam?) and wake effects, and to make PaulOG nervous. So that's 35 points, or 1/cm.

Barks

From StephenS: Reinforcements - 42 points

G'day,

A last minute entry into the Bolt Action tournament at CANCON (a convention in Canberra, Australia) this year, coupled with some last minute changes to my list, resulted in needing some last minute reinforcements for my World War II Germans.

Reinforcements to flesh out a Panzergrenadier squad

The tournament itself was good, I finished about middle of the pack and played five great games against some very lovely gentlemen indeed. It also gave me the opportunity to chat with a number of people that I haven't seen for a while, among them my esteemed Monday Minion and even an old friend from primary school (which was a number of decades ago now).

Panzerschreck and Sniper weapon teams

The miniatures themselves are a mix of metal weapons teams and some of the new(er) plastic grenadiers from Warlord Games. I've attempted to paint them in camouflage patterns in order to distinguish them from their less experienced comrades in the other squads.

While the paint job is not my usual standard as they were a rush job, they performed quite admirably all the same through out the tournament.

Cheers,

Steve

Good to see you the other weekend, Steve! I find that a tournament is a good deadline to paint to. Your grenadiers are lovely, and I'll drop in a few points for your camo painting.

Barks

From BenF: Za Stalina! 6mm 1941 VVS Aircraft (20 points)

While my focus for this challenge has been fimly set on my 6mm Cold War project, I also wanted to get some extra bits and pieces for my Bag The Hun 2 forces completed. After visiting Russia earlier in the 2018, I wanted to add a small Soviet force to my Germans, British, and French.

I like to play the underdog in wargames, and has there ever been an underdog like the poor Red Army Airforce (VVS) in 1941? Tales of brave little Popalikarov I-16s fighting against overwhelming numbers firing till their ammunition is spent, then ramming enemy bombers are pretty stirring stuff - even if overblown by Soviet propaganda.

So, here's the first half of my Soviet force. All of these aircraft are from Scotia, with decals from Flightdeck2400. I really enjoyed painting the little patriotic slogans on the sides of these aircraft.

First off, here's a section (or zveno) of Lavochkin LaGG-3s. The LaGG-3 was well armed, but under-powered and often outmaneuvered by the Fascist Messerschmitt Bf.109Es and Fs.

Next up, the Yakolev Yak-1. These were armed with machineguns and a 20mm cannon, and held their own against the Fascist invaders throughout the first years of the war. 'Yellow 44' is painted up as the Yak flown by Lydia Litvyak, the 'White Lily of Stalingrad', the first female fighter pilot to shoot down an aircraft, and still the highest ranking female fighter ace.

I've also got three Mig-3s,  Popalikarov I-16s, and a brace of Tupolev SB-2 medium bombers in the painting queue, so look out for them.

By my reckoning, the total for this entry should be:

9 x 6mm aircraft  = 18 points

Next up, some more 1984 fast air and some more Soviet armour.

You're smashing these 6mm vehicles out of the park, Ben! I'm impressed by the graffiti on the fuselages as well. Another few bonus points to bring it to 20, and I can't wait to see what microarmour project comes next.

Barks

From BenF: 6mm NATO Fast Air 1984 (20 pts)

So the last two and a half weeks have been a whirlwind. At 8.22pm on the 15th of January, our baby daughter Evelyn May was born. After a spell in the special care nursery where she got a chance to sunbake under the lights to get rid of some jaundice, we were all back home and starting to work out our new routines, which as far as Evie was concerned did not necessarily include sleep.

While I've not exactly had a surplus of sleep over the last fortnight, I have managed to get an hour of painting in here and there, and I've surprised myself by actually managing to get some stuff completed! Here's a picture of our little one.

These are a few 6mm aircraft for my Cold War 1984 project. The four RAF planes are for a mate, while the others are for my own collection.

First off, a pair of Super Etendards of the French Marine. I love the sleek look of some of these French aircraft, and these are going to be support for my French force based around the Force d'Action Rapide. These are Scotia aircraft with stores leftover from some GHQ aircraft.

Next, here is a lone Sea Harrier FRS.1, painted up as from 800 Squadron NAS, which saw action over the Falklands in '82. I've got the bare bones of a British force based around 1 (UK) Infantry Brigade, which was slated as reinforcement for Denmark and Norway, and this little guy will be support for them, when I get around to painting them up. The aircraft is Heroics and Ros, with stores from GHQ.

As no Cold War NATO force is complete without a Warthog, I painted up this little A-10A Thunderbolt II from GHQ. He will serve as air support for any of my NATO forces, and with a brace of Maverick missiles and the 30mm GAU gatling gun, he is certain to cut through any Warsaw Pact armour like a hot knife through butter.

Now, on the the RAF. My mate and regular gaming buddy Steve has a huge BAOR force, and when he asked me to paint up some RAF aircraft I was happy to oblige. First off are two Jaguar GR.1s from Heroics and Ros. I actually have another two in French airforce colours on the painting desk at the moment. These are painted up from 16 Squadron, based on some source photographs I found of a Jaguar at a Belgian airshow in 1986.

Next off, two Harrier GR.3s These are Raiden FRS.1s which have had a fair amount of modification. As with the other aircraft, GHQ stores have been added, but I've also filed down the nose to get the 'snoopy nose' look of the GR.3, and an antenna was added with fine gauge brass wire. Steve was pretty happy with this lot.

 I've also got a brace of Tornados and Phantoms to finish off, so expect those in the not so distant future. I managed to get a game in last night, and as with all freshly painted kit, the Jaguars were chased off by loitering MiGs before even reaching the battlefield.

This is the first of two updates this week, the next will be aircraft again, but some Soviets from the early Great Patriotic War. I'm also racing to get my entry to the Mercenary round complete, but we'll see how that goes. It depends how accomodating Evelyn will be :)

As far as points go, seven (admittedly quite large) 6mm aircraft are by my reckoning 14 points.

Gorgeous work, yet again. Very swooshable! Are the markings decals, or painted, or a mix? Your panel lines and cockpits would be the envy of a 1:144 modeller. Because planes are bigger than tanks, I'll throw in a few bonus points, plus a rounding newborn bonus, to give 20 points.

Barks

Monday's Children: Small, but perfectly formed

Today we have some lovely braille scale miniatures for your to appreciate. BenF has not dropped his standards (despite being a new father) with some exquisite 6mm Cold War and WW2 air power; AlanD has emerged like Aquaman in the Naval Side Duel with a 1/350 destroyer(!); and DaveX flies the black flag for 20mm gamers. Only StephenS stays faithful to 28mm with some lovely hand painted Wehrmacht camo.

Happy Monday!

Barks

Mid point Duels update

The race half run, the competition fierce. One SD has been won; more will follow. Giants will be toppled.  I could go on, but you'd be better served seeing the update here:
https://challengepaintingduels.blogspot.com/2019/02/mid-ahpc-ix-duels-update.html