Friday 6 January 2017

From MattT - First Post 28mm Napoleonic French Light Infantry (81 points)

Hi, this is my first submission to the painting challenge. I am quite a slow painter and winter is never my most productive time so I am hoping the challenge will give me the impetus to be more productive.

For my first submission I am working on my 28mm Blucher project. I know a lot of people play Blucher on a smaller scale but I have always been a 28mm scale gamer since my earliest D&D days.
Anyways I am expanding my French forces with some Light Infantry battalions.




Figures are a mix of Wargames Foundry, Warlord and Perry. 16 figs in total for a respectable start of 80 points.

Matt
Another first entry - welcome Matt. Is it a record? Shall we evermore refer to today as 'Firsties Friday'? Blucher in 28mm seems to be interesting choice, though I  hear good things about the ruleset, and many of the Challengers share your appreciation of the 28mm scale. I'd be interested to see how it looks when you get everything on the table.   

These are great light infantrymen, the poses falling under fire makes your base compositions look really dynamic. Very neat painting too, and I appreciate them being that little bit grubby rather than being pristine parade ground troops, and your classic French blue looks really punchy.  

81 points or you, following the Challenge tradition of a little bonus for the very fine flag.  

Phil


From KeithS: Dwarves, Wererats, and Assorted Hangers-on (315 points)

Having missed finishing anything for last week, that means I have a huge point dump for this week!  So, without further adieu, we turn first to the Dwarves.


Over the past year, I've focused pretty heavily on acquiring and painting adventurers in 25mm for use in playing AD&D (the old school kind, not that fancy new fangled kind).  Anyway, I've ended up with a fair number and decided to start off with finishing off some Dwarves, 22 to be precise.  These are from all sorts of manufacturers - Games Workshop, Ral Partha, VikingForge/Asgard, Grenadier, and who knows what else.  They're an eclectic lot, to be sure.  The scales range from 25mm to something closer to 28mm.


I believe these are Grenadier - plastic ones, probably late 80s, early 90s for their miniatures wargames.  They're a bit soft on features but nice enough.

These fancy dandies are GW.  A bit wide in the girth and really decked out in quite a lot of finery.

These are Asgard/Viking Forge, and I really like the sculpts.  They're metal, very detailed, have oodles of personality, and so on.  I love them!

This is a bit closer on some of the other ones -- not sure on the makers, as I said.  I based them all for dungeons (on steel washers with built-up wood filler carved to look like flagstones).  The downside of that is I cover up all the manufacturer's marks and my memory is too sucky to keep track of which was from which company.  Whatever...they work in a game just fine!

These two chaps were mixed in with them.  Tghey are too short to be normal humans so I was thinking they are a dwarf wizard and a dwarf shaman.  Maybe, maybe not.  But I like them!

Shield Wall!  I did several shields by hand just for drill.  I particularly like how the kite shield guy (5th from left) turned out.


 Turning now to the dark side, my next batch was 31 Wererats.  Why?  because my current D&D campaign is plagued by the dirty buggers!  I figured I should have gobs to play with.  The first groups are Caesar's Ratmen in 1/72 scale, close enough to 25mm for my purposes.  I painted two dozen or so of them, roughly half with brown fur and half with grey.  This will allow me to have multiple tribes of them, if I like, or just mix them up for variety.  The Caesar ones are ok - they are cheap though they have annoying mold lines that are harder to eliminate from the soft plastic.  I did them all dark with dingy colors and rusty weapons, as befits Rat people!


Some of the brown fur dudes.

And grey fur guys.  I liked the triangular shields - not practical, maybe, but something a bit different.

I also had a bunch of metal wererats which were of really good quality and larger than the others, pushing 28mm, I think (again, I forget who made them -- I need to get better at that!).  I did them all with grey fur except a pair I did with white, just to mix it up a bit.  Painting in white is not very forgiving!  I much prefer the darker, and easier, colors.

Up close -- a few had shields of wood.  Rather than just leave wood tones, I painted them with dull colors to make them a bit more interesting, but still trashy like I picture wererats.  Oh, and these guys had BIG blades!

Some of the non-wood shields, and a guy with a really big crossbow.

As I was prepping the figs, I noticed one "wererat" was really big, 33mm or so -- upon closer inspection I determined it was a heavily-armored wereboar.  Not sure where he came from, but I painted him up anyway.


 Wereboar flip side.


I'm in the Facebook group "Old School Miniatures" which is doing a mini painting challenge of its own -- they provided a pair of Ral Partha wizards for painting.  I decided to do mine in classic Gandalfian style, though with one based for dungeons and one based for outside.  I actually have one already painted just like the guy on the right but based for dungeons.

And the back.  The dude on the left is washed with blue ink, the one on the right with black.

Last up today (so far), I finished off a half-dozen Wights I've collected over the past year or two.  They're all quite a happy lot, despite having uniform bad hair days.  I decided to paint their clothing with a cold, weird blue as I've seen that done a lot for things like Forstgrave and Barrow Wights.  It turned out ok, though not quite as surreal as I'd hoped.

They're an ugly lot!


From the back.


That's it for now.  I count 62 figures for a cool 310 points (I wanted to break 400 total, but the day is still youngish here in Virginia so maybe...).  I'm not likely to drop a point bomb like this again, though you never know.  Next up for me:  a set of old Heritage Orcs based on Bakshi's Lord of the Rings from 1978, a bunch of Heritage Hobgoblins from the late 70s, and whatever else jumps out at me from my ginormous pile of prepped stuff!


My Minion shift starts with a points bomb, and looks like it will end with a points bomb too! Seems like that was a week off very well spent, but you'll have to get in lots of adventuring to get all of these on the tabletop.  The collection of classic dwarf sculpts work well alongside each other, and fitting to refer to those the more modern GW ones as dandies! Agree entirely that the best of the bunch are the Asgard/Viking Forge though, they look like some doughty hearthguard in all that heavy armour. Really nice shield desisngs too, thanks for the close-up. I particularly like the blue serpent on black - does that design occur a few times for a reason?  

Very fitting paintwork on the were-rats too, they're really nice sculpts for Caesar plastics. I worried I might have to tweak the points total when you described them as 1:76, but those sculpts look pretty much like skinny 25-28mms to me. Anyway, let's hope Curt agrees, or at least spares the whip if I am in error.  

315 towards your points total, with a few Bonus points on top for the funky shield designs.
Phil 

From SteveM: T27 Xylophone Rocket Launcher Battery (42 Points)

Scale : 15mm (1/100)
Mfg : Battlefront Miniatures
Product : ubx39
Material : Metal and Resin

Paints: automotive primer, Vallejo Model Color, Winsor &Newton Oil, AK enamel washes, AMMO paint, AMMO pigments, gloss varnish, matt vanish
Details: 2 trucks and 15 infantry

When the United States entered the Second World War in 1941, the US armed forces were lacking any form of rocket in their arsenal. Designers came up with relatively simple but effective Rocket, HE, 4.5-in, M8.  The rocket used only fins for stabilization meant they were inaccurate. This required a launcher to be developed which was the T27 Xylophone shown below.






regards,
SteveM.


Woah, I have never even heard of the US deploying rocket trucks in WWII before, let alone seen them in mini form. Trust Battlefront to do a mini though, particularly for obscure artillery. 
 
Really nice paintjob on these - WWII US can sometimes come across as drab particularly in smaller scales, but your use of markings and weathering of the trucks really litfs them 
Did they see much use? Were they effective over other artillery?  
Two vehicles and fifteen crew is worth a fine 42 points

Phil

From IanW 6mm ECW Foote For Parliament and King (112 points)

Last year I intended to get some of our 6mm ECW troops out the door, total failure. So I thought I had best get some out early. I am painting up both Lee's scum Parliament lackeys and for me the rightful Kings fine troops.

I have painted up four regiments for each of us, these are for the rebels. All Lee's troops will be from Essex's army, either Edgehill or First Newbury. Given that both of us bought two armies each we will have no problem getting through most of the possibilities.

The London Trained Bands Red Regiment. The sculpts are Baccus and the first range they released and it is showing on these. Fortunately Baccus are in the process of replacing the whole range.

Sir George Langhams regiment is above, the other two are Holbournes in red and Col Francis Thompsons in blue.

The four regiments of the Oxford army. I have actually painted up more regiments for Lee than myself so I may get a couple more done soon to even the score.

Blackwells Foote has been one regiment I planned to paint for some time. I mean they get to wear black coats, how cool must that have been?

Loed Loughborough's regiment is above and these have a snappy blue coat. The other two regiments are Inchiquins red coats and Lord Percy's in white. The standard of painting is not over high. I have purposely not painted the musketeers apostles as they always look crap. All flags by Baccus with the edges painted and given some life with fake wind. One flag required the white tappers painting yellow to be correct, this being Langham's trust Parliament to be difficult!

That's eight units of 28 figures at 14 points each for 112 points. Now back to the 15mm for a break.

These sculpts may generously be called 'classic' (or due an overhaul), but that doesn't show once they're painted based and flagged en masse: awesome work in this scale as always Ian. What a colourful group, which will help pick out the different regiments on the battlefield whatever your eyesight is like! I think Lord Loughborough's are my favourites. 

So how many of these teensy regiments are we going to see over this challenge? 
PhilH 

From AndrewB: Getting Started with a Wood Elf (5 Points)

With the busy Christmas season winding down, it is time for some real fun: painting miniatures! 

I'm finally getting onto the scoreboard with my first submission. 

I am attempting to paint up a Wood Elf army for Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. 

Before the Challenge, I had painted about six warriors, only one of whom I had finished. (It's so hard for me to ever call anything "finished.")

I am now starting in on a fresh batch.  In all of the GW sourcebooks and package art, wood elves have a green, blue, and grey color scheme.  I was looking for something different.  I am aiming for an autumn feel.  Here are the early results.






The Secret Weapon Fall Leaves basing kit has proven to be very helpful.

So, one 28mm figure may not be much, but it sure was fun.  Plus, I'm no longer being shut out!


Welcome to the Challenge! This is a very fine first entry Andrew - I particularly like the autumnal color scheme you've chosen for this classic wood elf, and punchy orange robes and flowing golden locks. These GW Lord of the Rings sculpts are great and paint up so well. All tied together nicely with those fall leaves - I've not seen any as colourful as those before.  
Good stuff, 5 points to get you started, and I'll certainly look forward to seeing more of them. 
Phil 

From KenR : 28mm WW1 British Commanders & Support (50 Points)


A small group of figures for entry number 4.

As I was prepping figures for the challenge I realised that having sorted out the Signallers and Indian Infantry my "WW1 to paint" box was left with a few Figs I had probably just forgotten about, so I thought why not, it's a Challenge, let's empty the box.





The first 4 figures are from The Woodbine Design Company and their 28mm WW1 in the East range, sold together as a pack as ANZAC Command. I will use them as Brigade Commanders for our "If the Lord Spares Us" games, in fact they left the paint table and went straight onto the gaming table  (hence the background on the photos) As we are currently doing The Battle of Ctesiphon.


The final figure was a donation from one of the regular attendees at Yarkshire Gamers Wargaming Emporium, I believe it is a sculpt of a character from "Lawrence of Arabia" and was a free gift at a show, possibly Partisan.



At the very bottom of the box was this lovely Woodbine Design Company Trench Catapult, again 28mm. I had forgotten I had bought this as I already have one painted up but it's a welcome addition to the collection.

So that's 8 28mm Figs for 40 points plus the Catapult.

Back on the paint table we have more SYW 15mm Saxons, my Armour Entry (which I forgot about !) and my 28mm AWI Cavalry which are still suffering from Painters Block. See you soon.



Nice little entry to supplement your previous Indians! The officers are characterful sculpts to keep a keen eye on the men, and I do rather like that trench catapult with the casually-attired crew
50 points for you sir, and you're pretty close to half way to your target - well done!

Phil

From GrahameH: Completing Armies (494 Points)

Well this is the first time I have entered the challenge and this is my first post. I decided that
the challenge might not only help me to reduce my ever increasing lead pile, but hopefully. assist me completing the armies I started but for various reasons never finished.

First Up 15mm Sarmatians (Riders are Old Glory, Horse Essex) 236 Points


58 Mounted Figures and 2 Foot


 
One of the Unit


I had previously painted the Light Horse and some other generals, so now that the Heavy Cavalry is completed this army is finished.

24 X Mongols Horse Archers (15mm - Legio Heroica) 96 Points



24 Mongol Horse Archers

A unit - 4 Units each of 6 Horse Archers

Again now that these are done this army too is complete.

Finally 15mm Cold War Figures 

I have based these singularly so I can use them for Rapid Fire and Bolt Action Modern rules. Crewed weapons are based together. Most of the Russian Vehicles have been painted already and I intend to start on the West German vehicles shortly.

These Figures are mainly Battlefront, but I have added in some Army Armies which are little larger, but not too much. The Army Armies figures I think are in winter clothing while the Battlefront miniatures are in summer. However, I think they mix OK.

15mm West German Infantry (Battlefront) 70 Points

35 West German Infantry - based for Rapid Fire & Bolt Action Modern

A small Coy - the support weapons have been painted but await basing as I ran out of the large circular bases

HQ Coy minus support weapons and Transport






15mm Russian (Battlefront and Army Armies)

120mm Mortar and 3 Crew - 25 Infantry Including 1 lying down totalling 54 Points

 
1 X 120mm Mortar and 3 crew at the back.  some Infantry including some support weapons (26 Figs)


Army Armies Figures - these are going to be my Engineer Coy

Battlefront Support Weapon - 2 Army Armies snipers (and blurred) in the rear

Having nearly finished the normal Russian Infantry, I found I had a loads of figures left so I painted them as Russian paratroopers. Now I need to buy even more figures to finish the regiment and therefore add to the lead mountain!!!

15mm Russian Paratroopers (Battlefront) 38 Points

Russian Paratroopers in Camouflage that you can't see too well in the photo

Anti-Tank and Aircraft Teams

A poor photo in an attempt to show the camouflage - its there believe me!!


Total - 2 X 120mm and 3 crew each. 15 other figures (including 2 lying down)

That's it two weeks work and I've just primed some tanks and horse archers (not from the same army)

GrahameH


Holy smokes that's quite the points bomb to kick off your participation in this prestigious event, and today's Friday crew entries! Lovely work - I find your style very clean on these 15mms, and neat camouflage on those Russki paras. I'm quite jealous actually, I've not got the knack of 15s msyself. And really nice basing too, i'm impressed your colour scheme is the same across the ancients and near-moderns, just mixing the tufts up, yet suits both well. Finishing off armis is just what the Challenge is for.
And is that a little hex base to pick out the West German officer? Itself a little tribute to our Snowlord. 
A great first entry, 77 infantry and 85 cavalry/crewed weapons in 15mm, which will net you a very tidy 494 points by my count
Phil