From DaveD - Return to the Desert Sands: 42nd Highlanders (190 Points)

The primary aim for this years challenge is the Imperial forces for the Sudan. With such an interesting mix of units there are plenty of interesting battalions and regiments to choose from. So first up it's a proper "grand manner" size unit of 36 foot (mind they can be up to 72 figures)  and a mounted commander. These are old school 28mm Connoisseur Miniatures sculpted by the late Peter Gilder and are among my very favourites to paint , even the tartan! They are quick and easy without too much fussy detail, and reward an old school wash and wipe using enamels for the base colours. Nice to get one of the tartan wearing units out of the way early. I have the Gordon's to complete too, but Perry miniatures for those so it will be interesting to compare them when they are done.

1 figure was completed pre challenge while working out a painting plan in advance

** EDIT ** AS REQUESTED

 

Well I can't leave Clint and Phil to the fezzes.. So here is a British commander as well complete with Fez or is it a tarboosh... Nah it's a Fez..

Connoisseur British Officer,in Fez

Cavalry or infantry next..maybe both..maybe some camels...must be time for camels to make an appearance in the challenge soon. The paint desk is awash with khaki.

From Curt:

What a stonking unit of Jocks - and our first Points Bomb! Wonderful work Dave. They look excellent all massed in line, heading off to some hot, uncomfortable fate. If you can, update your entry with a couple close-ups as I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to better see these Sons of Scotland in all their kilted glory. Also, I really like the officer sporting the fez - I'm sure he special ordered it at Harrods...  ;OP 

I look forward to the upcoming Gordons (or camels)!

From TeemuL - Starting with a Ringwraith (5 Points)

Lord of the Rings and Ringwraiths seem to be quite popular this year. I wanted to have something ready quite soon and because I happened to have an unpainted Ringwraith I decided to start with him. Of course I was not able to finish my pre-challenge miniatures before the challenge started, so I didn't get the start I hoped for. Window renovation project at home didn't much help with my schedules, the place is still a little bit of chaos and the fact that there is pretty much no sunlight available, makes taking photos rather difficult.

I was supposed to paint rank-and-file troops to get lots of models painted and gather lots of points, but it seems I need to start small and slow. I have started to paint my bonus theme figure, I need to get it painted in order to get the bonus points, otherwise I'm in big trouble. This is also my first time with Blogger, first time with this Challenge and so on... But enough of this, here's one of the Nine (even this finished, I only have eight...):

Anyway, I wanted to get my first points and open the challenge from my part, especially when I know there are not one, but two Christmas Parties during the next weekend... So there won't be much ready for a while.

The painting is quite simple, lots of black and some metal. But it was not, I recently read "How to Paint Citadel Miniatures" book from 2003. I can now say with confident that I have used various techniques such as drybrushing, extreme highlights, some layering, overbrushing and staining to name a few.

One 28mm model, that's 5 points to start the Challenge.

From Curt:
Welcome aboard Teemu! It looks like we're having a bumper crop of ringwraiths this year! It's too bad that this particular figure coincided with your lighting issues as we can't really enjoy your paintwork to its full advantage. He is cloaked in black, he has a morgul-blade and he is menacing so we're all good (or doomed). Nonetheless, it's great to have you out of the starting blocks and heading down the straights - once the dust has settled leading into the holiday season I'm sure your pace, along with everyone else's, will increase to a blistering tempo. :) Well done.

From MilesR: 28mm Scale WW1 Rolls Royce Armored Car (15 Points)

Submission #4 is a 28mm Scale Rolls Royce Armored Car from TrenchWorx.  I picked up this kit (along with way too many others) from a Kickstarter that was recently run by the Trenchworx guys.  These models are resin casts  made from 3D printed masters.  Both the details and casting quality are amazing and I highly recommend their products.

This particular model was painted up in a fairly generic way and has no nationality markerings.  I'll be using it for inter-war pulp (skirmish) gaming and it may even see it's way into a Bolt Action game or two.

The stowage in the back are custom cast by your's truly and are hold overs from my model railroading days.  They're actually HO scale (1/87) but seem to look good in a 28mm (or 1/56) scale vehicle.  The casting are pretty horrid and only work where I can hide some aspects of them.  One of the great benefits of the Challenge is it does force one to use old inventories of modeling supplies!

You can see in the background one of my next projects for the Challenge - a 36 figure Napoleonic French infantry battalion (Perry plastics).  After doing loads of American Civil War figures, I forgot how intricate Nappy uniforms are.

I think the Rolls Royce Armored Car should net me 15 points towards my tally!

From Curt:

Beautiful work Miles on one of the most elegant armoured cars of the period. I too just received my parcel from the Trenchworx Kickstarter and hope to have at least one of their models up for the Challenge in the coming months. I agree with you: the quality and detail of the models is really top-notch. I fiddled about and did some dry-fitting of the models and everything fit together seamlessly - very impressive. My only caveat to the models is their price, which is a bit eye-watering. 

In regards to your Rolls I love the base sand colour you went with as it really helps to make the rivets, plate-seams and creases pop. I also really like the stowage you added as it really adds character to the model. My only suggestion would be to dirty up the tires, undercarriage and running boards, as from seeing photos from the period, these buggies would get incredibly filthy in the field. 

Top shelf stuff Miles! 

From GillesW - Unity through paint! (20 Points)

Firstly as last year, I chose to pay the entry fee.

I went to my lead pile and took the assassin from the Lead Adventure range and a base from Micro Art Studio with an idea in mind reworking his face to have a plain mask to fake the logo of the Vth challenge.

I hope it will give the feeling I searched.

An Anti hero hiding in the shadows of the underground.

A back view of him returning in the shadows.

The first time I tried a blue grey and black style any comment will be appreciated.

Be seeing you.

Gilles "thefrenchjester"

From Curt:
Ahh, wonderful work Gilles! I love how his mask shines out from the greyscale background - an excellent effect. And the face, did you sculpt that yourself? It turned out brilliantly. Thank you so much for the wonderful figure. 

From AdamC - Man of Honour in a Den of Thieves (20 points)

So we need to have a good Anti-Hero of Rogue to supply to Curt as our entry fee and here is mine.

This is DGS Games figure for their Freeblades game.  I have not played the game (though I am looking forward to trying it at Totalcon this year) but since seeing them for the first time last February I have been a big fan of the figures.  This is the Duelist a member of the Black Rose faction who acts a body guard to the faction leader.  I like these figures because the out fits and poses are realistic and the costuming is very practical. That reverse grip on the long sword isn't one I would choose but its held in a manner that clearly suggest the figure is doing something not just trying to look cool (sorry, I am a trained fencer and these things matter to me).

He's a trained swordsman and gentleman forced to flee into a life of banditry but despite his situation he attempts live and fight as an honourable man.

I am sorry to say I don't have more background as the Black Rose portion of the DGS website is down but I would encourage every one to check these guys out.  This will be on its way to you soon Curt!

Game stats if anyone cares for them are above.  This is a 32mm scale figure so I will guess he is worth 6 points. (half way between 28 and 40?)

From Curt:

Lovely work Adam, thank you very much. I too like his posing - very mannered, like some sort of formally trained Bravo or Duellist. I was reading about the Freeblades rules and am quite intrigued as I often like tiered-dice skirmish systems. Rules aside, this fellow needs a suitable name to be considered a proper antihero. Should we open it up to the mob? People, what should we call this fellow? Perhaps something like 'Destrezos'?

Thanks again Adam. As this fellow is my 'Curtgeld' he is worth 20 points. 

From IanW - A 6mm Napoleonic Love-In (90 points)

My Project Waterloo really started here two years ago so it's fitting that during this Painting Challenge it will come to a close, well figure wise.

So lets start with a bang, eight Prussian guns four each of Adler and Baccus, I prefer the Adler crews whilst the Baccus guns are better overall. 

This gives me enough guns for the Prussians at Waterloo, still have the one limber to paint up though.

Next is three Battalions of the 1st Landwehr Regiment of Silesia which not only finishes off the 16th Brigade but also all the infantry needed for Waterloo. The keen eyed will note the figures out front are Baccus Landwehr (dressed as Jager and the battalions are Adler). I plan to carry on until I have all the Prussian units of the 100 days but will be taking a break once I have the three regiments of horse painted up that I still need. Should be done before Christmas.

I also have painted up a few of the new Baccus Old Guard releases though I will not be using these in Project Waterloo as a mate has these covered already.

Two 6lb horse artillery bases and two 12lb foot bases and I really like them and when I finally get round to painting up my own Guard will finish the guns I have in hand.

Lastly one battalion of Old Guard, again new Baccus and these are really nice and easy to paint, I even painted the moustaches as they were sculptured on the faces. 

Points wise each battalion has a 4 figure skirmish element out front and supposed to have 24 lads in the ranks but I forgot to add one more figure to each of the Prussians so they only have 23 so 109 infantry with two mounted offices and 60 guns and crews for a total of 86.5 points. I will leave it to Curt to decide how that rounds.

From Curt:

Ah, it's great to see you entering the fray with your 6mm Napoleonics. I always love seeing your work with these as you do such a nice job with the basing, which I think is half the trick with approaching in this scale.

Taking the time to paint moustaches in 6mm? You're a lovely man, Mr. Willey, but you are rather touched...

I'm rounding this up to 90 points to reflect the banners (and moustaches). Great work!

From VincentC - "To Mordor we will take you!" Ringwraiths from 'The Lord of the Rings' (10 points)

"Nine he gave to Mortal Men, proud and great, and so ensnared them. Long ago they fell under the domination of the One, and they became Ringwraiths, shadows under his great Shadow, his most terrible servants."

—The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Shadow of the Past"

Better get going as some people are already off to a remarkable 130+ point head start!

Over the course of this painting challenge I'll be completing the models required to play every scenario from the Fellowship of the Ring journey book and the first batch of those is from the first scenario which involves 9 Rangers, 2 Ringwraiths and the Witch-king.

I've got the nine rangers about half way finished but I wanted to get my name on the board before too long in to the first week so I thought I'd get these two done today!

They have to be some of the easiest models I've painted by a long shot and I think they look pretty neat.

I'll be getting the Witch-king done as the first fortnightly challenge entry for 'cold' if it's deemed suitable.

Hope you enjoy.

From Curt:
They may have been simple to paint but they turned out marvellous Vincent (those empty cowls have always done a wonderful job in creeping me out). With these guys I always found that they look their best when you don't overthink them too much - they need some restraint to turn out their best. For example, I like that you left just enough black on their Morgul-blades to convey that wickedly decayed-yet-powerful-look seen in the films. I look forward to seeing your upcoming work with the Witch-king of Agnmar...  

Well done and welcome aboard Vincent!

From ClintB (Paint Monkey) - Not an Anti Hero but a gift for Fran (7 Points)

The hero came from the WEST, the far west, the Irish west. A land of black marshes and emerald green fields. A land of the lilting voice and attractive women and notably less attractive men! Not all men for sure, but one Kung Fu Panda.

Most of you will know Fran, (the Angry Lurker) by reputation if not in person. But for me I feel my life has been improved by knowing the "Fecker!" And Now the "Fecking Feck is absol-fecking-lutly fecking off to his fecking own fecking country. The Fecker!" Or words to that effect.

So I present .....

Francis who Postie has nicknamed "Kung Fu Panda" (Ray has a less polite name for him), but there you go. So when I came across this figure by "Bombshell Miniature" I Knew I would make a gift of it to him (The Fecker) not Ray the "Ejit Fecker". It is supposedly a 28mm miniature but must have shrunk while on the big screen as I think it is much more like a 20mm figure. So I am guessing 4 points. (Which should stop me tieing with Milsy).

You will be missed Fran, but only because we are not very good at aiming!

So FECK OFF!



From Curt:

A wonderful figure, Clint and a great going away gift for Fran. I love his bamboo staff and the gold rimmed base - class!  

Though his stature may be 20mm we know he has the attitude of at least a 40mm warrior: 7 points!

From RoyW - 15mm Moderns, Infantry & Journalists (24 Points)

Hello everyone,

First of all, well done to everyone who's so far posted pictures of their painted miniatures up onto this blog. I've looked at and read each and every post, but have refrained from leaving comments as I find that I never know what to say, and leaving "Very Nice" on every post would sound an empty platitude. I hope you all understand and don't think bad of me, due to this behaviour.

Right, my first contribution to the Painting Challenge.

Peter Pig 15mm Moderns (Range 17 AK-47 Republic) painted and based so I can play using the "Some Corner of a Foreign Field" rules. These represent a fictitious country's military, so the camo' and equipment is not painted to any actual pattern.

The two fire teams, the TV news crew and the war journalist.

Fire Team Alpha

Fire Team Bravo 

 TV news crew & camera toting Journalist 

Twelve 15mm @ Two Points each, equals Twenty-Four Points total.

Thank you all for taking the time to check out my post.

From Curt:
Ah, great work Roy! I really like how clean your style is - it really makes these 15s 'pop', very nice. The TV/Journalist group is my favourite - quite useful for modern-day scenarios I would think. I'm also taken by the look of these 15s on slightly larger bases. I often use pennies for my 15s (as I have a large bowl of them and like the weight they give) but I think I'll have to try some larger MDF bases like these as I like the presence they give. 'Very nice.' (See, I think you could get away with that!)

From AdamC - A bard to tell my tale (5 Points)

As some of you may know myself and fellow Challenge participant John M are involved in a Dux Britanniarvm campaign.   Most of the figures are John's but I have been growing set starting off with various leaders and special characters.

This is a Saga Bard figure I have named Glynn (one of the characters in Guy Kay's excellent Last Light of the Sun, form which I have drawn much dark age inspiration) an Briton singer who was captured on a raid but now a trusted member of my Saxon Warlord's household.  I really like the simple costume of this figure as I could see this fellow putting in a hard day in fields or traveling the roads dressed this way.  The sword may not be entirely appropriate in a historical sense but does give the sense he can look after himself.

I made the cloak a brighter color as an entertainer should have some flamboyance even in a dark ages setting. The high lighting makes it look a little threadbare a happy accident as this was not my intention.  The bard does not take part in battles in Dux but he does give me a +1 bonus when making a pre-battle speech which can boost my force moral.  He'll be a nice addition to the Saxon Army when I can afford him "in game."

The up turned head makes it seem like he could be singing to in pray to some higher being or beings so he may well find himself in my Gods and Mortals army as well.  Scale 28mm so another 5 Points to my total.

From Curt:

Very nice Adam, and a great back story (being Welsh, you could have given him big belt buckle, a pair of bell-bottoms and called him Tom Jones). I'm quite envious of your Dux B. campaign as it sounds like a lot of fun (and I know from experience that John is a great opponent). 

Glynn the Singer will give Adam 5 points. Good work and I hope his next 'set' gives you a suitably up-tempo morale bonus.

From MilesR - 1/600 Broadside Ironclad: HMS Hector (20 Points)

My third submission for the challenge is a 1/600 scale model of the British broadside ironclad HMS Hector.  The Hector entered service in 1864 and was armed with 20 68 pounders and 4 110 pounder guns.  She had a top speed of 12.6 knots, which was very fast such a large ship in the era.  Note - there's a wisp of thread for the rigging along the stern - sorry about that!

A broadside ironclad is exactly what the name describes - these steam/sail powered ships were armored along the sides but had little to no armor across the bow or sterns.   The armor thickness was 114mm on top of 457mm of wood - pretty good for the age.

The Hector will be joined by the HMS Warrior and HMS Scorpion as part of a British intervention force I'm building for a convention game this summer (Historicon).  The game will be split in two parts - the first day will be a naval encounter with the British trying to force a landing and the second game will be a land based battle using 28mm figures including the new Perry British intervention force.  The specific scenario will be influenced by the outcome of the naval game.

From a modeling perspective, this was a tough/frustrating project.  The final model is about 90% scratch built.  I did purchase a hull casting for a merchant but found it unusable - except for the smoke state.  The rest of the hull has been redone by myself and the mast/furled sails are are scratch built.  It's still a serviceable model from a game perspective.

The model is 5.5 inches long and four high.  In terms of scoring, I'll leave that up to Mr Curt. I'm just glad to have the darn thing done!   I suspect you'll see some other British ships and maybe even French ironclad relatively soon.

From Curt:
Fantastic work Miles and a very interesting project (I quite like the sound of your interventionist scenario).  Will we be seeing some of the Perry Interventionist models during the Challenge? I hope so.

Due to its size, complexity and the fact that it was largely scratchbuilt, I'm going to score this like a modified 28mm vehicle, so 20 points.  Again, great work.