From TimB: 28mm Assorted Sci-Fi Figures (30 points)

 From Tim:

Continuing on with the theme of "I'm sick of painting Samurai"... I finished off a few odd sci-fi-ish figures last night. 

A pair of Citadel Miniatures/Games Workshop Rogue Trader era Eldar. 

I have NO IDEA what make or manufacture this fellow is... I found him in a bargain bin a number of years back for $1 (or maybe it was $1 for a pack with two in it...? I can't remember...) anyway, I thought he looked kind of cool and figured I could use him as some sort of techno-whatever in some sort of sci-fi game or even a superhero (or supervillain!) with some sort of electro-techno powers.

Finally three Cobalt-1 figures from Black Hat Miniatures. I thought the middle fellow looked like he could be a Rogue Trader (or a senior advisor to a Rogue Trader) and so picked him up recently along with these two others. 

Very cool! Those early Eldar figures take me back and I quite like the black girl with the white bobbed hair and the portly Rogue Trader as well.

These half-dozen non-Samurai figures will give Tim 30 points. 

From TimB: 28mm Feudal Japanese

Tim sends in this stonking submission for his Feudal Japan project.

From Tim:

STILL More Feudal Japanese in 28mm. This is a mix of 37 Perry, Dixon and Black Hat Miniatures.  Finishing this batch up last night put me at 1000 28mm foot painted in 2013. 

The temperature in Saskatoon is -30°C with a windchill of -40°C... I damn near froze my fingers off trying to arrange these for picture taking - I do like taking pictures of my minis outside in the natural light whenever possible. Sometimes when I don't get one that's totally in focus I'd go back out and set them up again... not doing that today... so one or two of these pics aren't totally in focus. 

Four assorted armoured Ronin from Black Hat Miniatures. 

The backs of the Black Hat Ronin (to show off all their annoying... er... highly detailed cording) 

A merchant and two ronin I imagined as his yojimbo (bodyguards) - all from Dixon Miniatures

The backs of the Dixon Miniatures Merchant and Ronin. 

A few female samurai from Dixon Miniatures

The backs of the female samurai from Dixon Miniatures

A couple teppo gunners from Dixon Miniatures

Ashigaru teppo gunners from Perry Miniatures. 

I have about seven Bushi buntai that I am working on - the colours for each are based on the clans form the Legends of the Five Rings games (as many of the miniatures are from their old Clan Wars games). I thought I'd get a few Teppo gunners so they could all have the option of fielding one if they wished - hence the wildly different colours of the Ashigaru above.

The rest of the batch I finished up is a (more or less) complete Ikko-Ikki Buntai for Ronin. The entire buntai - all from Perry Miniatures. 

These are the leaders The Hanshou (the big boss - on the left) and a Monto Gashira (on the right) 

Four Monto (foot soldiers) armed with teppo

Five more Monto with various armour and close combat weapons. 

Eight Peasants with a mix of yari and improvised weapons. I also have a few other Perry Miniatures peasants I painted earlier with the "villagers" that I could add in to pad out the ranks. 

In the game the Ikko-Ikki buntai adds up to a little over 200 points - unlike the Bushi or Sohei buntais that would, for the most part, only be able to field one teppo gunner - due to the high point cost of their significantly better troops and thus low number - I could probably field three or four of these in a 150 point buntai. I am curious to see how swarms of totally crap troops do against the considerably smaller but hard-hitting and well armoured Samurai/Ashigaru of a Bushi Buntai.

Now... to find some "Villains" to paint...

Awesome effort Tim! These are all just wonderful. The samurai corded-armour is excellent but my favourite is still your patterning on the kimonos, robes and trousers. Very nice.

This group of 47 ministures will give Tim 200 points, with some points added for the detail work on the armour and the various patterns on the clothing. Well done!

From TimB: 28mm Samurai, Ronin & Ashigaru (60 points)

Tim continues to get ready for his upcoming Samurai/Ronin event with these excellent unarmoured Japanese warriors.

From Tim:

12x 28mm Samurai, Ronin and Ashigaru.

Yet another assortment of Feudal Japanese. Again these are mostly unarmoured Ronin and Samurai from Black Hat Miniatures, but there's also a few Armoured Ashigaru from Old Glory. 

Two unarmoured Samurai or Ronin with Yari from Black Hat Miniatures.

Three unarmoured Samurai or Ronin with Naginata from Black Hat Miniatures.

Two unarmoured Samurai or Ronin with Yumi from Black Hat Miniatures.

Two unarmoured Samurai or Ronin with Katana from Black Hat Miniatures.

Three Ashigaru with Yari from Old Glory.

Again, great work with these figures Tim.  I particularly like the fellow with the yellow dotted kimono - he looks a bit like an Eeyore-type character to me,  'Oh dear, the sky is dark with arrows... I really hate it when it rains arrows... <long sigh>'

This dozen Japanese warriors will give Tim 60 points, bringing him within striking distance of the leading pack in the point roster. Well done Mr. B!

From TimB: 28mm Feudal Japanese Infantry (85 points)

From Tim:

Here's my latest:

17 x 28mm foot 

More Samurai for my various Ronin buntai

The first two are peasants armed with sharped bits of bamboo from Black Hat Miniatures. They could be used in Peasant, Bandit or Ikko-Ikki buntais but I picked them up with the idea of actually having enough for a peasant Buntai. 

Three Samurai (or Ronin, I suppose) with No Dachi (Great Sword). Again, from Black Hat and these, as with the others below, could be used in a number of different buntai. A couple will probably end up in the Peasant Buntai as hired Ronin, others may end up in a Bandit Buntai, others will likely end up in one of the Bushi Buntai I am putting together. 

Two Samurai/Ronin with yumi (bow) - also from Black Hat.

Two more Samurai from Black Hat - one with just his Katana and one with a yari (spear) 

This is the odd one out - this samurai is an old AEG Legends of the Five Rings: Clan War miniature. He's earmarked for the Lion Clan Buntai. 

Beautiful work Tim. The red/yellow kimono on the one swordsman is lovely and I really like the 'hedge' of bamboo shafts featured with that first peasant unit. Wonderful stuff indeed.

This great selection of Feudal Japanese will give Tim 85 points. Wonderful stuff Mr.B!

From SebG: Ronin #38 and His Two Compatriots (30 points)

From Seb:

My new entry is about the long awaited ronin! Since I didn't have any in stock, I bought a set of three from Black hat miniatures, and they look pretty good. They have characterful faces and I enjoyed painting them, even though I really don't like 28mm. I kept the painting quite simple. 

After all, they're supposed to be ronin, and according to the story, they had to stay low. So, too fancy a dress, and Bob's your uncle. 

Curt's ronin will the red one. 

The thing, I really don't know what to do with the other two. If someone has an idea ;)

Lovely stuff Seb! You've done a great service to a wonderful set of sculpts. I really like how you painted the kimonos on each of the three models, they work so well together. In fact, it would be a crying shame to break them up...  

Just sayin'.  ;-P

Ronin #38 and his two bow-armed pals (as opposed to bow legged) will give Seb 30 points. Thanks so much, mon ami!

From KentG: 15mm Mycenaean Army with a Trojan Horse (240 points)

Kent is going to finish the Challenge in style with an entirely new army, this one being a Mycenaean force based for DBA.

From Kent:

'Well here we are again, I think this could be the last entry on my part, but who knows. (I've heard this before... - ed)

This is a 15mm Black Hat Miniatures Mycenaean army done up for DBA -  great fun. After painting so many 28mm I decided why not try and paint these boys with the same three layer painting I use on the 28mm figures - seemed to work quite well. It was fun trying to work out the cow hide shields as i had never done them before but they worked out well in the end.'

Beautiful stuff Kent. I really like the work you did on the shields - top notch.

Love the Trojan Horse, but the head looks sort of avian to me. Maybe we've been duped all along and it was the 'Trojan Pterodactyl' that brought down Troy. Just sayin...

This force will give Kent 240 points (with a bit added for the great hand-painted shields). Well done Kent!