From FrederickC: Ruined Hamlet, Stone Bridge, and early WW2 Polish Army (177 points)

This is my first post of my first year of participation in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, so bear with me if I screw a few things up. My submission for the first week of painting consists of a mix of figures, vehicles and terrain, mostly in 28mm scale to be used with Bolt Action. Other than the armoured car, which is from Ace Models, the rest are from Warlord Games.

 

I started painting an early WW2 Polish army two years ago, and wanted to flesh it out with a few more support weapons and vehicles. For this submission I have completed a Polish 10th Motorized Brigade Squad, a Polish Army Medium Mortar Team, a boxed set of Polish Army Marksman, Anti-Tank Rifle, and Light Mortar teams, and a Polish Vickers E 6 ton Tank, all from Warlord Games. All are 28mm or 1/56 scale with the foot figures cast in metal and the Vickers 6-ton cast in resin. The armoured car is actually a 1/48 scale plastic model of a Soviet FAI-M light armoured car by Ace Models, a company out of Kyiv, that I picked up from a local hobby store. I painted it in Polish camouflage to stand in as a proxy for a Samochód pancerny wz. 34 light armoured car.

Polish 10th Motorized Brigade Squad

Polish Army Medium Mortar Team

Polish Army Anti-Tank, Light Mortar, and Marksman Teams

Polish Vickers E 6-ton Tank and FAI-M Armoured Car

The Ruined Hamlet consists of four models of a Ruined Farmhouse in hard plastic from Warlord Games that I bought during a sale of 'four for the price of three'. They can now be purchased individually, or as a 'Ruined Hamlet' box of three. Each set consists of a two story building plus a one story shed. While they are quite generic for 'somewhere in Europe during the last 400 years', they will work best for either WW1 or WW2. Assembly can provide some variation as to how the walls fit together, but I would say that there is definitely a 'preferred way'  that results in a 'best fit'. Once all the buildings and rubble piles were glued together, I mounted them on bases made from some pieces of scrap 3mm Masonite board onto which I had scored lines to look like floor boards. I then glued down some coarse sand around the walls to blend them into the bases. Once everything was painted, I added some flocking along the edges.

European Ruined Hamlet

The Stone Bridge is manufactured by Italeri, but marketed by Warlord Games. It comes as a 6 piece hard plastic boxed set that goes together very smoothly to give you a single arch stone bridge that would work on any battlefield in Europe for the past 500 years.

 

Single Arch Stone Bridge.

 

 The points being claimed are as follows:

19 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points = 95 points

2 x 28mm vehicles @ 20 points = 40 points

453 cubic inches of terrain @ 20 points per 216 cubic inches = 42 points

I was considering claiming for the Caprica (Outer Ring) bonus with the theme of 'Doomed' in mind. Let's face it. The Polish Army in 1939 was definitely doomed, but we will save that for another entry.

 

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First, welcome to the Painting Challenge, Frederick, it's great to have you with us!

It's wonderful to see you adding to your fine WWII Polish collection. I quite like the whacky looks of that armoured car (cool camo!), and give it additional kudos for being in 1/48th scale (I dislike the accepted 'clown-car scale' of 1/56), though I realize this opinion is highly subjective (I await your comments, Nick). :)

Those Renedra plastic building sets are terrific, so versatile, and you've done a great job in their assembly and basing.

All in all, an excellent first volley towards your points target. Good work!

- Curt

From TeemuL: Line infantry variations (77 points)

I had a pleasant Christmas Eve and Day (in Finland the Eve is more important, Santa comes during the evening and everyone relaxes, so the Christmas Day is very peaceful - 25 centimeters of snow caused some outdoor exercises and our son needed some assistance with the new Lego kit, but otherwise I had quite a lot of time to paint) and here is my second post. No planets this time (where did the Napoleonic planet disappeared, which was in the early map?), but 2 Squirrels should do the trick.

First two bases of Austrian Infantry from Italeri. They should have white uniforms, but I have taken rather grey approach - historically inappropriate, I guess, but I'm just getting into historicals, so don't crucify me yet, you would lose a prospect, if you'd do that!

I haven't played any Napoleonic games (yet), let's say I'm practising to paint smaller miniatures and learning multibasing and so on. There's not much availability on these models here in Finland, so when I noticed couple of boxes in a local store, I just took what was available. I painted some of these earlier in the previous Challenge or in Vaccination Challenge, so they might look familiar. I have only two more bases to paint, so I might paint them during this Challenge.

They are painted mostly with Contrast paints using the box cover as a guide. There are 4 models on a 40x40 mdf base, which has a small magnet hole with a magnet. GW texture paint to hide the plastic bases, not perfect.

Wrong end to be...

 

The second batch is for a new game, Sludge Wargame. The rules were published this year and one guy in our small group got interested in it and soon the rest of us were making orders to Perry.

For a while we have been more and more frustrated to the GW's rule cycle, where new set of rules comes out before you get properly in to the old ones (ignoring Blood Bowl LotR/MESBG here), not to mention battletomes, codexes, campaign books etc, so we were easy prey for something new. It could have been anything, but the stars were aligned and we all got interested in this.

This is probably a new game to lots of, so please google for more information. It is a skirmish size game with very flexible and generic units in a World Gone Bad. Basic instructions are to grab some Perry sprues and build some cool looking units, and that's what I did.

Foot Knights combined with ACW Zoauves. This is cannon fodder with firearms, they have a hard hat and body armour for protection, but since they are fighting in mud, they want to stay otherwise light. That is my backstory anyway.

Yellow and brown remind them of the good old times, golden crops and fertile earth. I took the extra pain to paint striped pants. So yes, there are varied shades of browns and yellow with dirty looking metals and some dark green here and there. I have more of these to paint, so I'll give some more background in the future, may be some thoughts of the actual game as well, if we get that far...

8 20mm miniatures, 32 points

9 25mm miniatures, 45 points

77 points, two Squirrels

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Sorry Teemu, The Death Star took out Marengo in early December with the re-edit. :)

'Sludge'. Hmm, this sounds very similar to the 'Turnip 28' rules I've recently seen here, I wonder if they are the same? Anyway, I really like how these composite figures turned out. Is this basing what is recommended in the rules - it looks great. Anyway, I look forward to seeing more 'Sludge' units from you Teemu.

- Curt

From Mark B: Dwarfs on Glorianthra (185 Points)

For my first challenge I wanted to land on the planet of Glorianthra on the outer rim. The challenge involved runes, heroes and quests… the answer had to be Dwarfs!

What better way than with some Oldhammer Dwarfs! These are Bugman’s Dwarf Rangers. The second incarnation of the regiment of renown (and in my opinion the best - but possibly that just reflects my age!) These are great characters with wonderful faces and proud beards. The runes are all the letter ‘B’ for Bugman’s a potent Dwarf brew created by the unit leader Josef Bugman.  The shields are hand painted with the foaming brew emblazoned on each shield.

Along with the 17 Dwarf rangers I added 9 Dwarf crossbows. I already had a small unit of these but these are the rest of the old school figures I had managed to pick up over the last few years on eBay and bring and buy sales at shows. Mostly Citadel miniatures with a couple of the slightly later Marauder sculpts.

 

Now to finish this planet I really needed a quest. What better quest than a death quest by a group of Troll and Giant slayers? 4 more crazed warriors hoping for a heroic death at the hands of a far larger beast! Mostly Marauder Miniatures with a rather ugly more recent Citadel figure with two axes, who frankly looks daft! The others in contrast are wonderful sculpts, especially the slayer with the eye patch and huge hammer!

So that’s 30 28mm figures = 150 points

The planet completed = 20 points

Grand total = 170 points

Something even smaller next time I think!

Cheers

Mark B

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Ahhh, like the saying goes: There's no school like old school. These are wonderful, Mark. I'm not a huge fan of Dwarfs by any stretch ('Dogs of War' all the way), but I still get a little misty seeing all these venerable models. I agree, the newer sculpts aren't nearly as characterful as the crazy-looking originals (love the eyepatch guy as well), so all the hunting and gathering has been more than worth it. 

I'm giving you 15 extra points for the hand painted Bugman shields. Lovely work that.

Welcome back to the Challenge, Mark!

- Curt

From IanS: First post of Challenge XII - Ancients, and Napoleonic's all 15mm

This will be only my second year on the challenge, and I have been looking forward to this all year.  This time around the majority of the figures will be for myself with some for my son.

The projects for this year are:

Napoleonic:  15mm

Wurttemberg army for 1809

Danish army for 1813

Foreign Cavalry for the French army – This has come about due to the release of the Warlord Games waterloo epic range and Wargames Illustrated free sprue on December’s issue.  Due to the generosity of the members of the Farnbourgh wargaming club and extra sprues from Wargaming Illustrated I have ended up with 6 French and 6 British Heavy cavalry sprues -240 figures and 12 guns.  My son has set me a challenge to use them to make units that are not French or British so over the next few months there will be numerous conversions of these figures.

Ancients:  15mm

Ancient British – My first 15mm army which has been stripped and is undergoing repainting

Seleucid – Due to points system for local rules being changed I find that I need more units for this army, what a shame.

Ptolemaic – My sons Christmas present 

Naval:

Italian per dreadnoughts 1/3000 all ships will be scratched built

Last year I had a frozen left shoulder which did not hinder my painting but this year I have a frozen right shoulder which causes my hand to tremble after about 15 minutes painting as well as not allowing me to sleep longer than and hour and a half.  Put the combination does seem to work for the challenge, wake with pain paint for 15 mins try to sleep repeat till need to go to work.

My first entries are in the ancients with a Ptolemaic Phalanx.  Figures are from Outpost Wargaming Services

Next up an Ancient British warband figures from ebay but I recognise some Donnington’s in the mix.

Lastly in the ancient’s category is a unit of Seleucid Cataphracts again figures from the Outpost Wargaming Services.

Napoleonic Entries

These are Wurttemberg units for my 8^th Corps 1809.

2^nd Chevauleger all figures from Warlord Games Epic French Heavy cavalry Sprue.  In true Christmas tradition the printer packed up so I was unable to print standards for units.

Horse artillery a 2 gun battery again using the figures from the Warlord Games Epic sprues.  This time I have used the Royal Horse Artillery figures from the British sprue and combined them with the French gun carriage.

And finally, some infantry, unfortunately I have no idea what the make is as again an ebay purchase.

So, points I would like to claim:

Ptolemaic Phalanx - 16  x 15mm figures = 32

Ancient British warband – 12 x 15mm figures = 24

 Seleucid Cataphracts – 11 x 15mm figures = 44

(Yes I know there are 12 in pictures, but one was a test run done before the challenge started)

 

Wurttemberg Cavalry – 12 x 15mm figures = 48

Wurttemberg Infantry – 22 x 15mm figures – 44

(Again 2 test figures)

Wurttemberg Artillery – 8 x 15mm figures – 16

                                            2 x 15mm guns – 8

 

Total claimed – 216 points.

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Fantastic stuff with this crashing opening volley, Ian!  Wow, incredible output. You've been very industrious over the holidays. I like that you have your projects all lined-up and organized for the Challenge. I wish I had such discipline, but I seem to be happiest when I'm pinwheeling all over the place. 

So much to like here, but I have to say that my favourites are the colourful warband warriors and the Seleucid Cataphracts with their red lances. Lovely stuff. This entry will pop you quite high in the points standings. Terrific work, Ian!

- Curt

From PeterD: 8mm Dark Age Terrain (5 points)

I wasn't supposed to be posting today.  I was supposed to be in Halifax, NS staying with my mother in law and doing Christmas with family.  However, we cancelled our tip based on COVID numbers and so here I am.

First up for me is a couple of terrain items in 28mm.  These are 28mm scale and MDF kits from Sarissa.  I've had good experience with Sarissa and these were no exception.  The main piece is a barn or forge.  It is sold in their dark age range but I figure that I can use it for my Beowulf themed RPG games, my El Cid era games and my SYW games plus others.

The other bit is a piece of dock that should have been painted a while back.  I finished up some similar docks and a Viking town for a tabletop RPG game featuring Thigmund the Thea Therpent, but somehow missed this one.

Points wise these measure out to be about 1/4 a of terrain cube so that's 5 points to erase my duck.

We are in the midst of a Prairie cold snap so I'll be hunkered down like this fellow who took up temporary residence in our snow bank

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Be careful Peter, it may look cute, but I hear those have nasty, big, pointy... well, you know the rest.

Nice work on these mate! Sarissa makes great stuff, and these two pieces will be very nice additions to your picturesque seaside Dark Age village.

Well done and welcome back to the Challenge!

And stay warm!

- Curt

From Pete F: Stargrave Crew land on Babylon 5 (65 points)

 

Babylon 5 is Operatic and/or Low Budget Fun - a perfect planet for a Stargrave Crew. Crews for this "Frostgrave In Space" game are 10 strong - but you only see 9 here. That's because I started the crew in the summer, completing only one of its members. To comply with the rules of Challenge I re-primed the remaining crew members before starting over.

The idea was to have a uniform colour scheme but individualize each crew member - I think it looks OK from 2 feet away! The clear bases have magnets in them so the crew can be easily transported - drilling a hole and gluing the figures without ruining the bases was, er, challenging for one of my skill level - thumbs seem to have become fatter in the last 12 months. Again, looking at them from 2 feet away and taking my glasses off seems to solve any problems.

I thought about saving the hacker and the assassin for when I need to use the Star Yacht - but they wanted to stay with their crew.

I'm really looking forward to finally playing a game of Stargrave - I went all in with the Nickstarter and got boxes of crew, mercenaries an troopers with a pile of other Northstar sprues as well as some nice metal minis. Several of my gaming friends are already playing it and like the game. One of them has a printer and a bunch of sci fi terrain so we'll be set for monsters and playing fields. Ten minis is a nice, low budget threshold to get into the game - any old sci fi stuff can work - I'm eying up the Wargames Atlantic lizardmen (Lizards. In. Spaaaaace!) and I've put together a few of their spiders holding laser/blasters (Spiders. In. Spaaaace!) to oppose this crew - going to have to start thinking about their background, the name of their spaceship and all that.

Nine 28mm figures and a new planet

9x5 = 45 plus 20 = 65 points

Squirrel:1 (Total:2)

Skullz:0 (Total:0)

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A great looking band of interstellar miscreants. I especially like that hacker-type with the pink hair and dataslate. Tip on the clear bases. If you use superglue they have to be completely dry and you should be wearing nitrile gloves. Reason being that ANY moisture (even wicked from your fingertips) can cause the glue to frost. The less crazy-making method is to use this stuff:

https://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/instant-glue/646-e600-adhesive-for-acrylic-plastics-9ml.html?search_query=glue&results=310

Apparently made from the tears of orphans mixed with the saliva of West African newts. I dunno, but it works.

Again, a wonderful looking crew for your adventures in... Spaaaace!

- Curt

From ScottM: 54mm War of 1812 U.S. Units (220 pts)

Merry Christmas all! My first entry for this years' challenge is a pair of 54mm War of 1812 units. These two units are the last unpainted units for this project. These figs are 54mm metal figs from the sadly now-closed All The King's Men. Both units are done up for the U.S. side. First up is a unit of infantry.

Next is an artillery unit with a small gun.

As this completes my War of 1812 project, I thought I'd post up a group photo of the whole lot. First pic is the U.S. forces and the second is the British/Canadian/First Nation forces.

So that should be:

20 - 54mm foot figs = 200 points

1 - 54mm artillery piece = 20 points

Total = 220 points

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Wow! Here we're treated to a wonderful paint bomb, for sure! You've been a busy lad, Scott!

I love the old school toy-soldier look to these. Our local sculptor/caster JohnB will be quite chuffed to see these. I particularly like the group shot with all the forces arrayed on the tabletop. Fantastic stuff Scott - you streak to the top of the roster with this group, well done!

- Curt