From KentG: 28mm Napoleonic Russians, Hun cavalry and two tavern maids (375pts)

Next up we have a wee mix of figures first of which of is Two regiments of Pavlova Guard, 24 figures per Regiment. The figures are from Wargames Foundry and I think some of their best Napoleonic range these two complete the 20th regiment and last which I started Five years ago.

Really love  the way they look all shiny, must have been a great target.
Spent a lot more time on these guys than I was expecting but wanted to get them looking their best.

Did a couple of command stands to go with the regiments

Then for a wee change a bar maid for my limbo entry  I put the first layer of skin on her just over a year ago and the Gypsy dancer for my lust entry as she dances for the men. 

Lastly Hun cavalry archers from Gripping beast

So to this weeks figure count

 49 x 28mm Pavlov Guard infantry 245 pts

2 x 28mm ladies 30 pts (Dante’s journey)

2 x 28mm Russian command cav 20 pts

8 x 28mm Hun cavalry 80 pts

Total 375 points

From Millsy:

Another chunky haul of points Kent!

The Pavlov's are an absolute cracker and something I've been waiting for a while now to see. There are few more iconic infantry units of the Napoleonic wars and despite being a nailed on Francophile I actually think they're cooler than French Old Guard. Heresy I know, but you just can't ignore the hats!

The ladies are also beautifully painted, as are the Huns. Brilliant work all round and very well deserved 385 points to boost your tally even further.

Cheers,
Millsy

From Barks: Tommy Atkins's weird WW1 day (Limbo)(64 points)

I've been a little slow getting off the starting blocks for this Challenge, but I'm happy to be back.

My initial Limbo entry is this Martian scout tripod from Alien Dungeon, which I picked up from the good people at the War Library. I sprayed the whole thing silver and washed it black, and then hit a creative wall. Should I make it rusty and decrepit? What colour should the eye be? Should I make the details more defined? So it languished, until the Challenge inserted new life.

I decided to leave it un-rusty, and go for a red gem effect on the eye. I blended a deep red to black and orange, and then gave it a gloss coat. I'm not entirely happy, but it is done. The photos are with a previously painted PSC 15mm plastic soldier for scale. What else will poor Tommy Atkins encounter today?

I painted the tripod because I had been inspired by The Last War, a Forbidden Psalm/ Weird WW1 ruleset. My 15mm WW1 project had also been in a bit of limbo as well, and Last War has helped it approach completion. The tripod will be my 'Thing from the fog'. To add to my meagre Squirrel score, I've painted a few more gribblies.

First, I had a bag of transparent zombies from a board game. These made great ghosts, and also mud ghouls when liberally coated in mud effect.

Ghosts

Mud ghouls

I 3D printed some other figures at 50% size.

Trench maggots (Goonmaster)

Hounds of Annwn (Knucklebones)

Gas bugs (Goonmaster)

Trench rats (Duncan Shadow)

Some of these were barely painted (mud ghouls and ghosts) and others are small (15mm giant rats). So how about:

• 1 x 25mm vehicle: 20 points
• 24 x assorted 15mm gribblies: 24 points
• Limbo bonus: 20 points
• Squirrel (Last War) +1
• Can opener duel +8

From Millsy:

Great to have you join us again this year Barks! This is a great way to kick of your Challenge and I think you did the right thing sticking with the shiny finish on the walker. I've always thought part of the otherworldliness of tripods is they were made of unknown materials and wouldn't rust. I've scored it as a 28mm vehicle given the scale.

Nice work mate, a healthy 64 points to kick of your Challenge.

Cheers,

Millsy

From GeoffT: Dante’s Arcade Games (0 points)

Hello challengers,

Whilst in purgatory I decided to paint these terrain pieces, themed for the inferno, purgatory and paradiso.

The purgatory arcade game is incredibly bland, and each level takes a very long time to load, giving you plenty of time to think.

Since terrain does not get points but is allowed to be posted, I felt it would be good if someone would do ‘a completely pointless post’. The score is on the screen of the inferno game. 

Kind Regards

Geoff.

From Millsy:

These are absolutely awesome mate! I love the painted effects on the cabinets and the end game messages on screen are brilliant. Any scatter terrain is good stuff but these are a cut above. Well done!

Cheers,
Millsy

From StephenS: Limbust! (Limbo and Lust) (50 points)

G'day All!

Submitting two weeks in a row, and hitting two circles of Hell, it might be time to check if we need to crack out the ice-skates down there.

My submission for the first circle of Hell is Darth Vader, in all his 32 mm plastic glory from Atomic Mass Games. This has sat in limbo on my painting desk since its release in 2018, as I find painting black a challenge and didn't want to stuff up such a signature character. I have done my best to differentiate between the materials of his suit by varying the shades and highlights for the black.

My second model is the character Rincewind, a failed wannabe wizard, from the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. It is a 28 mm figure from Micro Art Studio in Poland. When I was a wee lad of 12, I remember walking into a local book shop with some birthday money to buy a specific book, and walking out instead with a copy of The Colour of Magic, after being mesmerised by the cover. 30 odd years later and I still love the world and writing of Mr Pratchett. Rincewind has always been my favourite character, and I have been itching to get my hands on a mini to paint up. It is great to have my lust for all things Discworld slightly sated by adding this figure to the display cabinet. I almost kept this miniature for the Inconstant Circle, but couldn't hold out. I think the miniature captures his belief that certain doom is only around the corner quite well.

Wizard spelt with two Z's. That's how you know he is the real thing...

The book that started the obsession...

2 x figures for 10 points and a 40 point bonus for the two locations, hopefully netting 50 points all up.

Cheers,

Steve

From Millsy:

I have the same Darth Vader in my collection but I think you've done a better job on the blacks Steve. I also opted for a gloss finish on the helmet but your pained highlights look more realistic which is weird but that's painting minis for you!

Rincewind is such an iconic character and you've packed him with every bit of it. The basing in particular is really cool and gives the mini a real sense of place.

Nice work! 50 more points.

Cheers,
Millsy

From RichardM: Sassanid dismounted Savarin Knights 28mm (200 points)

I have been painting a Sassanid army for Impetus as one of my projects through 2024.  Not long after starting to play Impetus, I saw a Sassanid army and since that time have wanted to paint one.  Over the intervening years I collected figures from Aventine, A&A Miniatures and Gripping Beast.  I also grabbed hold of any (and all) that I could find on bring and buy stands and online.  The results of the purchases mean I have now painted just over the 500 points worth for a reasonable Impetus force - and have as many again still sitting in the box.  There are a few more units that I want to complete now and I will leave the rest to paint until later when I have an opposing force that is of sufficient size to face close to 1,000 points.

These figures are claiming the ‘Limbo’ theme in Dante’s challenge as painting had started.  However, as the Impetus list does not have any provision for dismounted knights, I focused on completing other units that were on the list.  Having seen these figures on another blog, I decided I needed to get and paint three bases worth regardless of what the list allows.

These figures are all Aventine in 28mm and the banner and shield transfers are from LBMS.  

The points calculation:

36 figures @ 5 points each = 180 points

Dante’s Limbo theme = 20 points

TOTAL: 200 points

Unconnected to the Painting Challenge - but here is a quick photo to show their relatives that they will be joining 

From Millsy:

Wow, what an amazing image the whole army presents when arrayed en masse! It's an impressive sight and even more so when you know how well individual units are painted based on this submission.

Such vibrant colours, beautiful shields and the composition of the bases giving them a feeling of a moment captured in time. And speaking of bases, very similar to my own style for my Arabs and really setting the minis off well.

200 glorious points. Cracking work mate!

Cheers,
Millsy

From AlanD: Continuing the Reiver Theme... (60 points)

This week I have been enjoying painting more of the lovely Border Reivers from Flags of War. Thank you to those of you who commented on the colours I used in my first lot last week - I took that as validation to stick with a similar palette. I'm trying to keep a few splashes of the most obvious and more saturated colours for clothing of the heidmen and the richer sorts, toning it down for their poorer followers.

So first up, this is the heidman of the Kerr family and a couple of richer sorts.

These two are also from the Kerr family set, and can't quite afford the same level of nice clothing and armour (or haven't stolen any yet).

Since I was minding my girlfriend's dogs this week, I was inspired to paint up a dog handler (on foot and mounted) with his mastiffs. My girlfriend's mini Schnauzer and Maltese were no help at all with choosing the colours, but did curl up at my feet while I was painting.

And finally, I revisited my Presbyterian youth with this dour man of the cloth, bringing his own version of muscular Christianity to the borders.

So all up, that's seven foot figures, one mounted, and three dogs (I suppose at half points?), for a stellar total of 52.5, thanks Millsy!

From Millsy:

Another lovely addition to your growing collection of Reivers Alan. Like the last batch these are a wonderfully subtle paint job that suits the subject so well. You Presbiterian cleric is a gem, such a dynamic pose and your nailed the highlights on the black.

Just because they have four legs doesn't make a woofer any less of a 28mm mini so that's 60 more points added to your total. Even more please! 

Cheers,
Millsy

From Kerry T: London Lobsters - Sir Arthur Haselrig's Regiment of Horse (240 points)

Morning, afternoon and evening all

I think I said in my last post that I was going to produce a number of generic regiments of ECW horse that could be used for either side. Why then have I just finished and photographed one of the iconic units of the ECW, this time a Parliamentarian one? I don't know, I just had the figures!

The "London Lobsters" were a cavalry unit raised in 1642 by Sir Arthur Haselrig, a Parliamentarian politician whose attempted arrest with 4 others was apparently one of the sparks in igniting the ECW. It seems being an armoured unit, equipped with the Cuirass they were one of the few Parliamentarian cavalry regiments who were able to stand up to the Royalist horse early on in the war. It is said that at Roundway Down, Haselrig was shot 3 times but each round failed to penetrate his armour. At this time full armour was rare and had largely been abandoned costing perhaps almost four times as much to equip as an ordinary unit of horse.

The actual figures are those produced by Empress Miniatures 

Charge

I do like the sense of movement conveyed by the Empress sculpts but for some reason I can't say that I really enjoyed painting these. I'm not sure why, I know I was frustrated as my fingers kept wiping off the paint at the end of many of the horses tails and their ears. I'm not sure how many times I touched these up while they were on their bottle tops.

The riders are a mix equipped with both sword and pistol, prepping them was bit tiresome, particularly the bit where you attach the sword arm with either pistol or sword. I made a few mistakes here as some riders with pistol still have one in each holster but I think I just about removed the resting sword from the scabbard in those waving their swords. A few of the scabbards that you thread through the sashes  broke but I didn't replace or repair these (life is too short) but I did pin a few horse tails that broke off. Neither did I bother replacing the tack above the stirrups that was missing on a few figures.

Didn't have printed flags so these area quickly cobbled together

How come this horse looks so white in this photo?

I think the plumes should really be orange as well

Not a great photo but does show the headgear variants

Gratuitous horse's arse picture

To be honest I'm glad these are completed and in the next week I think I'll be back to Bicorne Miniatures ECW cavalry. I'm beginning to regret painting so many horses in the first week of the challenge now! I think I need a change!

So in summary

24 x 28mm mounted figures at 10 points each = 240 points

No bonuses - 1 Squirrel

120 in tin can side duel points 

Thanks for looking

Best wishes Kerry (Valleyboy)

From Millsy:

Another absolutely amazing ECW post from your Kerry. Like last time I've been hearing about these for a few weeks on our chats and once again they are even better than I had imagined!

Such a great range of horse colours, the visually striking mix of red and rebel orange and all capped off with great basing and photography once again!

240 superb points mate. Can't wait for what's next!

Cheers,
Millsy

From GeoffT: Treachery, a pirate (25 points)

Hello Challengers,

Pirates are famous for Treachery.  This one I found as a loose model in a bargain bin and am adding it to my collection for ‘Blood and Plunder’.  I have no idea of its manufacturer.

This particular pirate may not be treacherous, he might just be a Cimarron doing the best he can to get by.  But pirates fit the treachery theme in general.

That is the last of the nine circles of hell visited, time to spend some time in purgatory whilst I work out what minis to paint for the heaven themes.

Points, 1 x 28mm foot for 5 points and the Treachery bonus for 20 points.

King Regards

Geoff.

From Millsy:

What a fetching chap he is for a pirate. Love the striped pants and straw hat, definitely de rigeur for the up and coming gun swab. One day maybe he'll graduate to gun captain. If he lives that long!

Nice work Geoff and well done on finding an entry for all nine circles! 25 dubloons added to your total.

Cheers,
Millsy