From MartinC: Another tale of Dwarfs and Hills (608pts)

 As we approach the end of the challenge it's time to finish off some stuff, namely massive terrain and Dwarfs

1st up the final big hill

This is made from a mix of 3" and 1" Kingspan insulation and is 6 foot long, 17" wide and 4" high. Once again I'm pleased with how it came out.

Like the other 3" hill sections the sides are very steep, although this one does have a path cut into it (trust me, you just can't see it). The aim is for people to climb it they have to take a "bogging" test, or the SAF test (steep or slippery). Overall it is 24x34x6 = 22.67 cubes or 453 points. No decimal points please, my .2 has annoyed me all challenge

Next up a unit of Dwarf cavalry on wild (furious) boars. Can't remember who made these, I bough them 2nd hand.

Love how dynamic the riders look

now we have 5 dwarf riflemen. 2 of these are GW and the other 3 are Oathmark with the addition of rifles from the Wargames Atlantic Lizardmen box

2 GW pistoliers

Love the Puritanical look

An original Citadel Dwarf town guard with a better shield. Had this since 1986 and finally painted him

One of the aims of the Dwarfs is to complete partial units i already had. From the 1980's I have 6 Dwarf Triarii and needed a couple more to complete them. These are Oathmark figs with Roman shields, Celtic standard and crests from the bits box

I also added a couple of cloaks from the bits box. Pleased with how they have come out

Finally my favourite unit of the entire challenge. This unit of  Dwarf riflewomen will be called the Toksvig Rifles as I think they all look like Sandy Toksvig, Danish comedian and national treasure in the UK. Famously she was in mission control as a child when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.

They are from Etsy and joy to paint.

I love that they have axes instead of bayonets.

Scores on the doors

Massive hill =22.33 cubes = 453 pts

6 mtd Dwarfs = 60

19 foot Dwarfs = 95

total = 608 pts

Lovely dwarfs, Martin, and another bonkers hill. I can't promise on the decimal point thing - that's all down to the arcanery of the Spreadsheet of Doom....

Tamsin

From AlanD - More Goths than a Cure Concert (200 points)

I've had a funny old challenge this year. I've been on long service leave (amazing - can recommend), but instead of painting masses of figures, I've used a lot of hobby time to think about some big projects, reorganise some storage and that sort of thing. Some of this is KenR's fault, as listening to his very entertaining Yarkshire Gamer's podcast has boosted my enthusiasm for the 'Reet Big' wargame, rather than the large skirmish sized battles I usually fight. As a result, I've been doing that thing that should only be attempted on long service leave: rebasing. My plan has been to use 50mm square bases to build up armies that can be used for To the Strongest, Impetus, Soldiers of Rome and other rank and flank ancients games I'd like to have a go at. The hairy blokes here will be used as Heruls, Gepids, Goths and whatever else seems appropriate.

Of the figures here, only 40 were actually painted in this year's challenge, so I'm claiming 200 points please Tamsin. They are a mix of Westwind, Footsore, Gripping Beast plastics and Wargames Atlantic, and I'm pretty pleased with they way they look en masse. I did have one varnishing disaster as 10 figures turned white when I sprayed them, thanks to Sydney humidity, but I managed to same them by recoating them with gloss and trying again under better conditions.

This will be my last submission for the challenge this year as I'm off to Madrid for a holiday. Thank you Curt and the Minions for making this madness possible, and to all the challengers (challenged?) for the inspiring entries you all keep coming up with. Especially those involving turnips.

They certainly look great, Alan! Sorry to hear that this will be your last entry of the year, but I hope you have a wonderful break in Madrid.

Tamsin

From DaveD - M88 ARV (22pts)

 Next up is another recent vehicle acquisition . It’s a M88 armoured recovery vehicle . I do like having engineering assets in a game as they make for great scenario creations . 

This a resin  and metal kit  from Simon at Full Metal Miniatures. I have modelled it so the A frame jib can be down or in use , I had to skip doing the support cables in that case but it still looks good . 

 

The command figure is a one I has from a Gringo40s a USAF figure cut down . I have an added a crate of “33” beer to the rear - an interesting evening research on a chat on what beers were drunk in Vietnam - Hic !. 

So 1 x 28mm vehicle = 20 points , 2 for the command figure.

Great work on the recovery vehicle, Dave!

I must confess that I was wondering where the rest of this entry was, but it is indeed just the one vehicle. Hopefully that means you are working on another of your mega submissions in the background.

Tamsin

From Richard P - WSS Front Rank British (270 Points)

Finally managing to get some progress. Another 3 units completed for our early 18th Century games which include WSS and the fictional Indian Ocean island chain of The Woebetides. 

As usual for this project all figured are Front Rank (Gripping Beast) and are painted in units of 18 figures. There are always 16 foot plus a couple of Officer/Sergeant types so they can be used in Sharp Practice games as well as Beneath the Lily Banner games. I intend to add some flags at some point.

Anyway I have now completed 2 x 18 man Guard Infantry units plus 18 foot that eventually will have the rest of the figures added to complete another 2 units. Just on the painting table are the remaining figures including the officers etc. I also have some more Bavarians and the beginnings of the Dutch on the painting table that hopefully i'll get finished before the end of the Challenge.

As always I really enjoy painting Front Rank figures. Thanks for looking!

So that's 54 x 28mm Figures @ 5 points per figure = 270 Points

Those early redcoats look glorious, Richard! I'm looking forward to seeing more of this project before the Challenge ends.

Tamsin

Tamsin's Tuesday Truffles

"Good morning Ladies, Gentlemen...and Ray! Business seems to be picking up a little as we enter the final weeks of the studio's apprenticeship scheme. Last week we had 48 releases, grossing $4,927 million which takes our total gross to $64,626 million. That puts us within $3,000 million of our initial target of $67,610 million. However, it would appear that the $91,000 million prediction of our Chief Financial Officer, Miles, might have been rather over-optimistic."

"We have, as is normal for Tuesdays, a bulging release schedule:

• RichardP  brings us a tale of John Churchill and his fine red-coated men
• DaveD has a Vietnam War short
• AlanD explores Goth culture 
• MartinC continues his travelogue through the Dwarven hills
• SimonG gives us the much awaited sequel to The Men Who Stare At Goats
• BenitoV continues his German language edition of The Motorcycle Diaries
• CurtC, the Show Lord himself, is pleased to unleash a short PSA film on the health benefits of a root vegetable diet

waiting in the wings we potentially have two films from MattW, one from SanderS and another from KerryT."

Toodle-pip!

Tamsin

KenR : HMS Icarus and the U-744 (60 Points)

 Hopefully I will be able to sneak this one in under the wire, a bit of photo etch rage on the Destroyer stopped me posting earlier, and people say this is a relaxing hobby !

This post is for two models who meet in the photograph above as they did in real life on the 6th March 1944.

HMS Icarus was an I Class Destroyer built in 1937 and is typical of the 4 x 4.7 inch single turret arrangement of most early British Destroyer. The ship is built from a HMS Ilex 1/700 kit from IBG Models, I've just changed the pennant number on the sides and rear of the ship to the I03 of Icarus.

As you can see from the pictures the model comes with a lot of photo etch and I have to admit some of it ended up in the bin, handrails I have got the hang of (I do love how they look) but the complex bending of some parts around complicated features led to a lot of breakages, never mind the swearing.

The pendants amongst you may realise I've glued the central AA platform on backwards, I know I have but I'd finished everything before I realised and as far as I was concerned I'd passed the point of no return !

I wanted a HMS Icarus as she was present at the 2nd Battle of Narvik (a potential future demo game) as well as being one of the Destroyers escorting Hood and POW on the chase for the Bismark. She also came in handy for this post and an action towards the end of the war.

Sticking with my previous scoring I have gone for 40 pts.

The second vessel in this post is a surfaced U Boat, this is a Hobby Boss kit in 1/700 scale of a Type VIIC Submarine. I've ditched the bottom part of the hull and put it on a sea base to fit in with the other ships I have. I've added a few deck crew from my 1/700 Eduard Set to give the model a bit of life. I gave the crew a wash with Army Painter dull tone, although I liked the look of the German Destroyer I did with the crew a lot, I felt some of the crew were a bit bright, so I experimented with dulling down the crew on this vessel and perfer these more, so I will give the Destroyer crew a wash later. 

Points wise I've gone for 20, its on a 15 x 4 base opposed to the 22 x 6 of the Destroyer, so I've just halved the number of points.

The two vessels met in March 1944, on only her second Patrol U-744 was chased by a number of ships including Icarus for 21 hours, eventually being forces to the surface following a depth charge run by the British Ship. The U Boat was boarded and a number of important documents recovered however a number of these were lost whilst being transferred to the Icarus, the submarine was taken under tow but that too failed and the U Boat was subsequently scuttled.

For the Naval Project I have Ark Royal nearly complete and Prinz Eugen ready to prime, so that will probably be it, although I may sneak in a Destroyer or two before the end, but that might be a stretch especially if we are loosing a couple of days. I have some 10mm Malburian to post but I will do a round up post for them at Challenge End. Oh, there's the matter of some Italian Wars Spanish too !

Another pair of stunning ships Ken.  It sounds like it's a good thing that the Icarus wasn't the ship selected for the live tweet build!  It's been a few weeks since we've had a photo etched parts rant from you, so I had figured you'd slain that beast.  I guess not.

Anyway, HMS Icarus looks great and suitably grimy.  Maybe the rough North Atlantic weather washed off some of the fragile photo etched bits.  Not the most auspicious of names however, the RN did love to troll Greek mythology for names regardless of how inappropriate they might be.  I remember my dad teasing a fellow officer for having served on HMS Hesperus (did the wreck occur on your watch?) and there was once an HMS Charon serving as a hospital ship.

Also love the chopped down U boat.

KenR - 1/700 WW2 HMCS Huron - Go Canada ! (40 points)

 

This week I have actually painted some 28mm Spanish Italian Wars, I've completed the Sword and Buckler section of my debut Colunela but I will hang on and do a big reveal when the whole unit is hopefully finished, so I'm afraid its more ships !

I was a bit naughty posting a picture of this ship before it appeared on here, but I was chatting elsewhere with someone about how little monetary value is placed on the work of wargames painters, that got me thinking. How long would it actually take me to complete this model, from the Box to the Table. Normally I have 2 or 3 ships on the go so although I've built a few, I didn't know how much time one took.

So on Friday I did a live tweetathon (also on Facebook) starting at 10.00 with an unopened kit and a piece of MDF. It turned out that I failed to complete the ship by 18.15 when Mrs YG called me in for my tea. I went back later that night and put the finishing touches on it. In total (with unpaid meal breaks) it took me 9 hours. So if we say the kit and consumables are £20, minimum UK wage is £10.42 that would put the "value" of this model at roughly £115. Now don't forget that's minimum wage, not a 40 years of experience wage. Now its a long time since I was involved in Commission but is £115 for an off the shelf ship, I don't think so but then I'm not buying ! If you want to see the post follow @yarkshiregamer on Twitter or on Facebook and check out the various stages

Anyway, back to the Challenge, HMCS Huron was a Tribal Class Destroyer in the service of the Royal Canadian Navy and is my little nod to the Canadian Wargamers I have had the pleasure to interact with over the years, Curt of course who has graced my Podcast and dedicated his time to this wonderful event each year. James and Mike from the wonderful Canadian Wargamer Podcast and people like Barnaby Ore who has always been supportive of Yarkshire Gamer.

Guys if you are ever in the UK, I will organise a game for you to take command of this ship. I have always had a soft spot for Canada, as a young child I met one of my Grandads uncles who had emigrated to Regina, Saskatchewan before WW2. We used to write to each other and I would revel in the tales of his life in Canada, I still have 6 Canadian Dollars he sent me back in the late 1970s. Sadly I lost touch with that branch of the family when he past on.

I've claimed my usual 40 points (no extra points for crew this week :-) which we now know is worth 9 hours of my time ! The kit is from Trumpeter, I hope to post up a second post later today as well so hopefully I'll see you later.

Fine work on a fine ship Ken.  You are a madman to attempt this on a day long marathon.  Detailed parts (I assume with the standard photo etched bits), wonderful sea base and great looking weathering over Western Approaches Cammo.

But I am still wanting to see some @#$%&* Italian Wars!

I may take you up on that offer, but my UK family lives in Hampshire so it will be a bit of a trek up to the wilds of the Yarkshire moors.

From PaulSS: Last of the WWII Germans -- 85 pts

This week I finished off the last of the stuff I have in hand for the German force for O'Group, I've now got enough American and German troops painted for a medium sized game and I hope to get at least one game in before everything gets packed up for the move back to Wisconsin at the end of the month.

The final troops in the Victrix German Infantry and Heavy Weapons were completed adding several more sections of infantry, a couple of machine guns, commanders anti-tank and patrol markers. although looking at the photos some of them could use a spray of matt varnish.

I picked up enough sabot trays from Warbases  for all eighteen American and German infantry platoons, but I've only included a couple of shots here, once you've seen one movement tray you have seen them all!

An order from Pendraken sorted out some heavier infantry support for the Germans, a pair of leIG18 7.5cm infantry guns.

And a pair of PaK38 5cm anti-tank guns.

I also made a small order to Red3 as they have some nice defences suitable for our Normandy games. I picked up a pair of Tobruk machine gun positions.

And a pack of sandbagged positions to represent dug in infantry.

Lastly Pendraken also furnished some armoured support for the Germans, a Tiger I will be a formidable opponent for the Shermans.

A pair of StuGIIIG complete the collection.

60 12mm infantry and crews, four 12mm guns, three 12mm vehicles and a one point each claim for the Tobruks and defences will be 83 points added to my total, and I've passed the target I set myself with days to spare!

Squirrel Duel Tally: 4 (40K Kroot, Gaslands, WW2 US, WW2 German)

Another finished project apparently!  Fine looking Germans for you Normandy Paul, they every bit as nice as your prior units.  The sabot bases may look alike, but they look great.  It's also nice to see you field the workhorse support units like the 5cm ATGs and the StuGs.   I am looking forward to seeing AAR of your O  Group games.  O Group was a bit of a bust with our gaming group, but that's another story...

Wisconsin?!?  Are you taking travel advice from that tosser in Love Actually?  But seriously, good luck on your move back across the pond.