From MarkG: Russian Civil War Armoured Train and Artillery Crew (160 points)

For this week's entry I finally get to present a project that I've been thinking about for ages, and tinkering around with for a few weeks.

This is an armoured train that I printed on my filament printer over Christmas. I obtained the files from the Kickstarter that Mad Bob Miniatures ran last year. 

Though designed for a resin printer, the carriages came out quite well on the FDM printer. The few visible filament lines on the upper surfaces were easily dealt with by applying some tile filler, which was then smoothed out with some water.

The train in question is the "2nd Siberian," a Bolshevik train that was in turn captured and used by the Whites. For the moment I will keep it generic for use by both sides, just adding the appropriate flags for which side it's currently on.

I've tried to achieve the effect of sun bleached paint on rusty armour. I was inspired by the look of the numerous weathered tanks at the Lesany tank museum outside Prague.

The carriages themselves are quite big, easily twice the size, or more, of an average 28mm tank/vehicle (as you can see in the picture next to the 28mm armoured cars for scale). For this reason I am proposing to score the engine, tender, and two artillery carriages at 30 points each (as for a 54mm scale vehicle). That said, whatever the agreed final points allotment is fine.

For the artillery crew I used the wonderful Copplestone castings again. I cannibalised these off the White field gun set. 

The ones dressed in the classic Russian Imperial Army uniform, with green hats (piped red), represent the Kornilov Artillery Brigade, and the second set in red hats, the Drozdovsky Artillery Brigade. The last two generic figures in shirt sleeves, are from Scarab Miniatures. 

Based singly they can be used for the train, or any field pieces.

The rail track pictured is from Sarissa Precision, and will be sent as a separate terrain piece entry on Sunday.

The points summary:

4 x 30 = 120 points for 4 large armoured train carriages/engine

8 x 5 = 40 points for eight 28mm foot miniatures.

Excuse me?! Are you kidding me? Is this gorgeous piece of hardware an fdm print? Surely not? Well either way it is dropdead beautiful Mark! The weathering is awesome and the guns and crew are excellent too. Sometimes a finished project really shows how much thought and care went into it's production and this is no exception on that. I will go with your suggestion for scoring because this truly is huge, what a whopper, well done!  

Cheers Sander 

From TeemuL: Bifröst civilians (25 points)

I'm not sure what I can finish this week, since I'm away the whole weekend on a basic scout wilderness training (loosely translated) and if I manage to finish minis and take photos, I write the text beforehand and photos later and if I don't, then I can happilly just leave the finished entry as ready and this one as draft. Almost like free fire period, but too soon. And while I remember, thank you Sander for minioning our Saturday crew, I'd hoped to see more of your output, but sometimes life is what it is. Last minute edit, I have managed to finish these, but I still haven't packed for the weekend... The choices we make.

Some years ago I bought this set from Warbases, a bunch of simple civilian minis originally for my son, who disliked the overly detailed GW minis I offered him to paint, but then his interest shifted and these sat for some time. AHPC is good opportunity to paint some fine metal minis and give a nod to a long time sponsor of the challenge. Bifröst is original miniature range by Warbases, created based on the needs of the owners, if I understood correctly. Similar to Perry Miniatures, I guess, nice to have an own company to make miniatures if you miniatures. :) While the range is quite wide, this set is quite general and usable on many games, worlds, battlefields, eras and so. Very nice from gamer point of view, a bit problematic from a squirrel point of view (see later).

I based these on small Renedra bases, which come in some of the Perry boxes. I like these smaller bases, they don't take too much space, but are large enough to keep miniatures standing. And as these are civilians, it is nice that they don't take too much table space. I have in the past used 25mm bases, so these are much smaller and "a new idea" to me. There's some sand to hide the metal base, brown wash and highlight and some tufts. I have not painted the eyes, at the moment I believe that with my skills the minis look better without the eyes, at least on models this style.

Characterful but rather simple minis, there are several layers of clothes on some, but still quite easy. I painted the guy with a sack as a jester even though he is missing the bells, but otherwise he looks like one. On the website he is described something as a "shady character", but naturally I painted first, read second. I gave him (and others) quite dull, muted colours, they are civilians - not brightly coloured soldiers or nobles. Jester is clearly not part of the royal entourage - at least yet, may be when he gets couple of coins and can buy brighter clothes.

The farmer should have a shovel, but my version came like this. And again, I checked the website after painting, so didn't realize that. Now he is just holding a stick, which I guess is good enough to poke the ground. The plague doctor wears all black and silver mask, the holy and pure material most likely protecting him from the disease.

Two ladies have a bit more colour, but not much. One is selling frest meat (still with fur or feathers) and another one is just looking important. These are mainly painted with just a basecoat and a generous wash - I only used brown, green, blue and purple washes using them on many different colour. The black robe being exception, black cloak is highlighted with couple of shades of grey. I bought some new grey paints recently and they seem to be too light when used straight from the pot. I need to do some mixing or buy a darker grey. It's a pity that paint pots get empty or dried.

I'm not sure if these count as a squirrel, since I have already painted "28mm General Fantasy" squirrel and these are not that much different. But Squirrelmaster General has been quite generous, so I'll try and be happy with his rulings. Scoring wise this is easy 25 points for 5 minis, no skulls, but couple of females for Sarah.

 

 

 Teemu, this is a brilliant set of NPC civilians to be used with any and all RPG like games and as table dressing. Your painting really enhances these venerable sculpts so thanks heap for sharing these with us.

 

Cheers Sander  

From the Saturday Minion: Last saturday of regular service!

 Hoi there,

 Yes people this will be the last regular Saturday before the "Open Season" of the final Challenge week starts this Monday. So what does the crew have in store for you this day? Well I will tell you kind Challengers:

- Teemu is on a roll with two different posts regarding Civilians and very small undead.

- MarkG goes choochoo with a train! 

- PeteB has a lovely vignette to show us.

-  MarkE goes on sale with some cans of fizzy pop!

Let's dig in everyone !

 

Full Speed to the Finish!

Hi All!

Holy moly! It's hard to believe, but we are now entering the last week of the Challenge. Wowzers. With that in mind, I have a couple administrative reminders, and an update:

1) If you haven't done so already, please put aside some time to take-in the wonderful Theme Round entries for 'Resistance' and cast your votes for your top three choices. The deadline for voting is today (Saturday) midnight. I hope to announce the results of the voting late Sunday. 

2) Starting Monday we will be going into the final 'Free Fire' period for submissions. This means that you can submit at any time you like and our friendly minions will post and score your hard work.

3) Finally, due to a very busy work week, I'm going to extend the Challenge by 24hrs. So instead of concluding at 12:01am Friday, the wrap-up will be 12:01am Saturday. I'm sure there are a few of us that will welcome those few extra hours to get that last submission across the line (I know I will)!

Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing your final entries over the coming week! Full speed ahead!

- Curt

From Curt - Rashaar Warband for 'Carnevale' (39 Points)

Hi Everyone!

A few years back I picked up the starter box for 'Carnevale', you know, as one does when one already has loads of other game systems to play. I'll take a page out of the Orange Toddler's playbook and blame someone else for clearly what I did myself. So, I blame JamieM and DavidB as, over the years, they have posted some wonderfully painted miniatures from the game and I thought, 'Geez. This is essentially parkour street combat in 18th century Venice with some Cthulhu vibes thrown in... Well, pass me an espresso, and take my money!'

So here are my efforts with one of the factions: The Rashaar. 

The Rashaar unashamedly draw upon Lovecraft's Innsmouth creepy-watery mythology of Father Dagon, Mother Hydra and their Deep Ones. So lots of aquatic nasties to take advantage of Venice's network of canals. The Rashaar are also slavers, so they can call upon the unwilling support of poor unfortunates to assist them in their nefarious plans. A damp, villainous crew to be sure.

I have to say I wasn't really feeling it with these models. That's entirely on me as the models themselves are great. I simply ran out of steam with them. Thankfully they're not very complex, so I managed to get a lot done with the airbrush and some light brushwork. I think they'll be fine on the tabletop, and they help set a colour palette for any upcoming additions to the faction.

As with many of the newer ranges these days, these models are rather heroically scaled. The human slaves and deep ones are 35mm, while the wizard and Big One tip into the 40mm band. So, I believe, 39 points in total, but I leave it to our esteemed Antipodean Minion to make the final adjudication.

This warband should also provide another Squirrel Point aaand as a bonus, a couple of the deep ones are holding a skulls in thoughtful contemplation (again, as one does), which should please the cranial interests of our Skully McSkullface.

Thanks for dropping by for a peek!

- Curt

From Millsy:

LOL, Curt! That first sentence was like a lighting bolt of self recognition, shame, pride, humour and about fifty other things in one punch right between the eyes.
I like that you included a little blamestorming in your efforts to somehow excuse your own behaviour.

Judgement of your motivations and excuses aside, your work with the brush is superb mate. Your dark skin tone and the saturated blue/green are beautiful and your airbrush blending with the lilac lower torso and legs lends a very natural feel.
If this is a taste of more to come then I can only add "Yes please!"

39 points added to your tally. Nice one brother.

Cheers,
Millsy

From MattW: StarCraft and Renaissance ships (35 points)

 MattW Statcraft and Renaissance ships 

A bit slack over the last week with too much opportunity on the deck and not completing much! 

First up completed some 1/600th renaissance galleys 

Then completed some skirmish figures. First up and old Paranoia Citadel figure from the 80s, “the blue trooper” painted up as as a block riot control for my Judge Dredd collection. 

Finally 3 figures for Tomorrow’s War futuristic skirmish game, two are crusader and the single I think is Infinity? 

Four 28mm @ 5 points = 20
Five 1/600th galleys @3  = 15 points 
Total points 35 points 

Squirrel points 
Renn galleys 1
Tomorrows War 1
Total 2 

Cheers

Matt

From Millsy:

Wow, what a blast from the past! We played a lot of Paranoia back in the day and really enjoyed it. Such a fun game and so far removed from anything else we played. I never had any miniatures for it though. Your miniature really suits the Judge Dredd vibe, so much though I do wonder if that was where the inspiration for the sculptor came from.

Your galleys are especially nice, really crisp lines and great colour choices. Will you add sails and if so made from what?

35 more points for you mate. Nice work.

Cheers,
Millsy

From Kerry T: Once more unto the breach (205 points)

 Morning, afternoon & evening all

When I started this challenge I envisaged that I would paint a fair chunk of my English and French 100 year war armies, focusing mainly on French Mounted Knights and more dismounted English Knights and Men at Arms. Last year I prepped some Perry Plastics and metals from their Agincourt range though they remain well down the painting queue.  The main reason for this is that I've developed more of an interest in the Edwardian phase of the 100YW. In short I've listened to too many audiobooks from authors like David Gilman, Griff Hosker and lately Dan Jones (Essex dogs) and others. Listening to audiobooks while you paint can be very distracting and easily set somebody like myself off on tangents and plays havoc with my painting plans.

Early on in the challenge I somehow wandered back into the Reconquista so displacing my Claymore Casting figures that continue to sit untouched on their bottle tops where they've been for the past 6 months or longer.  I hope I can get a few knights painted in the next week. The only substantial post depicting newly painted 100YW figure I've managed so far was for last week's Resistance bonus theme centered around a siege. I didn't manage to get all that I wanted done in time for that so this week I've decided to add to the scene or scenario by producing more English foot and a few French foot.

An overall view of the siege

The siege towers move closer

This week's figures are all from the Medbury Miniatures 100YW range which I had previously printed. I wanted some figures that I could use to populate the siege towers . I decided I would base them on 3 x 6cms bases in the hope that they would fit but also come together to form a standard unit usable in an ordinary game

Last base lower right doesn't fit as his sword is held upright

I decided to base others on single bases in anticipation of creating retinues for the recently released Ecorcheurs game written  by historian Rob Jones and released by Groping Beast. This is what comes of listening to too many audiobooks and wanting to send your figures on a chevauchee through French lands. 

Some are based singly and others in smaller than usual close order bases

In the audiobooks I've been listening to, the men in the retinue of Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent seem to feature prominently along with those of William de Bohun, Earl of North Hampton - this made selecting an English retinue quite easy

Thomas Holland's retinue

This is where its handy to have a brilliant minion - normally we in the "Down Under" group meet on line on a Tuesday and Thursday evening for a paint  and chat. On Thursday I mentioned to Millsy that I was going to try and paint off a banner for Thomas Holland because I'd already used the one I had previously bought in a close order unit. Less than 10 minutes later he's got Chat GTP to make me one from scratch that will pass muster, Its in the picture above. 

Cheers Millsy, I think you should award yourself a flag bonus!

I hadn't given much thought to the French opposition so I gave them shields from some closely related French Nobles  that looked similar. The only problem is that having made these a few months ago after a bit of research, I can't remember who they are! all I know is that looking at the picture above they're a bit fishy! They may even have been from Luxembourg

Anyway, if my fictional audiobooks are anything to go by then its certain that Thomas Holland's men were good in a scrap so let's chuck them into the breach

Have at them lads

The reception is hot

The shield transfers are home made

Meanwhile those based in close order find themselves in the siege towers (if they can fit)

In summary

41 x 28mm Foot figures @ 5 points = 205

No squirrels on account of the fact its hard to kill a squirrel with a sword!

Many thanks and best wishes for the last week of the challenge

Valleyboy 

From Millsy:

Holy cow, another belter of a siege entry mate! After last week I thought you might take it easy, especially with golf on the cards too but I was WAY off the mark. Another 40+ gorgeously painted miniatures to feast our eyes on and a continuation of the narrative from last week complete with commentary and a storyboard. Do you ever sleep?

You are most welcome re the banner, it was an absolute blast working through that together in real time. It certainly looks the business. What a world we live in now right? From pitch, to concept, to reality in the time it takes me to put the bins out. Twelve year old Millsy starting out gaming couldn't have imagined what was ahead.

This lot nudges you back into top slot on the points roster but only just. Can you maintain the rage?

Cheers,

Millsy

From RichardM - 6mm Napoleonics, Last of the Swiss, Spanish Marines and Militia (146 points)

Starting with the last of the Swiss that I planned to paint for the Challenge, this is the 3rd Swiss Regiment that joins the 2nd and 4th Regiments painted a few weeks ago.  I have two battalions of the 1st Regiment that also joined these other three regiments and fought in Russia but that is for another time.  I was reluctant to paint these as I felt that the black facings would kill the colours - but actually I quite like them.

As with all the other figures in this post and throughout the challenge, these are the wonderful Adler Miniatures Napoleonics in a notional 6mm size.

Then I have the lost unit from the 5th Regiment of the Confederation.  Keen readers will (may???) recall from my post on 13 February that I felt I had purchased the wrong figures for the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Confederation Regiment - and so I only painted the 1st Battalion from Anhalt at the time.  I did further research and the conclusion I came to was that the figures I had were correct - but from before they were sent to the Peninsular.  So I stole a French Line unit from the stash instead and now present the long awaited 2nd Battalion of the 5th Regiment from Lippe.  I do like the colour that they carried.

Next we are onto more Spanish - but different units than painted previously.

Firstly, I have three battalions of Spanish Marine infantry.  The Spanish had 12 battalions of Marine Infantry and they are certainly in the OOB for Talavera.  I decided to give all three battalions the Coronela colour as I was particularly taken by the burgundy colour.  Besides it is a good way of identifying them as different to other Spanish infantry on the tabletop.

Lastly for the week I have three battalions of Spanish Militia in the 1802 brown uniform issued to (some) Provincial Militia units.  There was also the 1802 Blue uniform and a white one issued in 1805.  However, there are records from mid-1808 of 22 Provincial Militia regiments and all but five were still wearing the brown uniform.  

Points

3rd Swiss Regiment - three battalions of 36 @ 0.5 points plus 2 mounted = 56 points

Lippe Battalion from 5th Regiment - one battalion of 36 @ 0.5 points per figure = 18 points

Spanish Marine Infantry - three battalions of 24 @ 0.5 points per figure - 36 points

Spanish Militia Infantry - three battalions of 24 @ 0.5 points per figure - 36 points

Total = 146 points

From Millsy:

I feel a bit like one of Pavlov's dogs with a conditioned response. Whenever I see "6mm" in a draft post my brain immediately responds "Good stuff, Richard has got his stuff ready for me". This may be something I am forever unable to unlearn, rendering that particular set of neurons good for nothing else. If that's the price I have to pay, so be it.

Cracking brushwork as ever mate. For some reason a lot of people don't like brown coats or bicornes. I love em both. 146 more points added to your already significant tally. For a while I thought I could keep up but you're pulling away now. Nice one.

Cheers,

Millsy

From StuartL: Arabssss (50 Points)

    Hi all, well, we are coming to the end of the challenge, and I still have a small way to go to reach my target. Work has been incredibly busy this year, but I have managed to do a bit of painting here and there.

    Today, I have two small groups of models to post. First of all, some Arabs for Saga.

    These are a mix of plastic and metal miniatures. The plastic figures are from Gripping Beast, but I can't remember where the metal figures came from as I tend to order from a variety of makers when doing historical projects.

    

    The figures were all easy to paint up with just base coats, washes and highlights. 

    The next set of figures are some 3D printed Snake Folk.

    These models are from Artisan Guild on MyMini Factory. They were fun to paint and I have a bunch more of them in my to-do pile. I have no idea what I will use them for, but the models are cool even if I don't have a plan yet.

    So, that gives me 10x 28mm minis for a total of 50 Points, plus two extra Squirrels for my tally. (Apologies to all Squirrel Duelists, I haven't had time to do another update, so we'll have to wait for the Challenge to finish to see the final totals.)

    Hopefully I can get some more minis done before the end of the Challenge.

    My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 239 (+0)
BSRoD - 17 (+0)
Squirrels - 18 (+2) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French, Daemons of Khorne, Modern Vehicles, Turnip28, Space Wolves, Free French, Arabs, Snake Folks

From Millsy:

I recongnise those Arabs. I painted a whole pile of them last Challenge and that was just my most recent batch. You've done a sterling job on them Stuart and they look a lot better than the "serviceable" description I would normally apply.

Your Snake Folk are definitely cool. I'm 100% in agreement you don't need to have a specific use for something just to buy and paint them. It's one of the joys of a hobby, just do it because it makes you happy. My problem is that then leads to ideas on HOW I could use them, then needing MORE, and then... I'm willing to bet you suffer from a little of that too :-P

Great stuff and another 50 points banked. Nice one.

Cheers,

Millsy