From JaccoK: 28mm Ramcke Fallshirmjaegers (50 points)

From Jacco:

Here is my 7th entry for the painting challenge, this one will get my over the target, I did it!

Ten figures total, seven figures from Artizan represent the famous Ramcke Parachute Brigade. Following the costly success of Operation Mercury, the airborne assault on Crete in 1941, several elite Fallschirmjäger units were formed into an ad hoc brigade under the command of veteran commander Oberst Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke. The brigade was slated to take part in Operation Hercules, the planned invasion of Malta. When the attack was cancelled, the Brigade, now named Fallschirmjäger-Brigade Afrika, was sent to join Rommel's Deutsches Afrika Korps in North Africa.

The other three figures are from Artizan (the indispensable Medic and the deadly MG34), the officer is from Black Tree Design. BTD has a large collection of WW2 figures but I found only view good figures, this one I like.

Especially for you, Curt, I placed the captured Marmon Harrington and the 8-Rad in the Background. These are older models from (Ian) Crouchie. We always met him at Crisis in Antwerp and we bought a lot of vehicles from, sadly it wasn’t enough for him to continue.

As I have reached my target I will use the remaining days to paint some British Cavalry for the Sudan Campaign. I don’t now if I’m able to finish them in time. If not, it was a great pleasure to take part in this challenge. I would like to thank everybody for the kind and encouraging remarks they have made about my entries.

Beautiful work Jacco! These hard-bitten fallshirmjaegers look the business and I appreciate the encore of the Marmon-Herrington and the 8-Rad, thank you!

These fine German paratroopers will give Jacco 50 points, enough,  as he well points out, for him to exceed his 500 point Challenge target. Congratulations Jacco! Well done!

From JohnM: 20mm WWII British Paratroops (106 Points)

From John:

British Airborne Platoon:

Here we have 27 more 20mm figures from TQD, they complete my Paratrooper Platoon for Chain of Command. I also added one support element a 5 man Vickers MG team. I am happy to have the project done and am quite pleased with the figures, they are very nice castings.

In order to get enough riflemen I had to use their Polish paratroopers, but as far as I can see they are indistinguishable. I took Curt's advice and used Agrax Earthshade to blend the dennison smock's three different colours for a somewhat smoother transition. The two snipers are from the PSC late war infantry box. 

The last photo details the whole platoon and includes figures previously submitted. 

From left to right you can see the command group with the Lieutenant and Platoon Sergeant as well as a 2" Mortar team, a Piat team and a Sniper. Behind them is the 5 man Vicker's MG team (List 4). Next we have sections 1 & 2, with Section Sergeant as well as a 3 man Bren team and a 6 man rifle team (one man is armed with a Sten). Section 3 is a little different with a Section Sergeant as well as two Bren teams with 4 men, one armed with a Sten. This Section also has an attached Sniper. They have a Platoon Force rating of 8+ and 6 Command Dice. I will look forward in putting them up against some Panzergrenadiers.

Wonderful work John. It's great to have watched this whole reinforced platoon come together over the Challenge. I think your Denison camo came out great. Also, I wonder if those TDQ are the same as the old SHQ line? They look very similar to me (I like those crouching poses and its wonderful to see plucky Major Frost in there with his hunting horn). 

This group of British Paras will give John 106 points. Lovely work!

From PaulJ: 28mm WWII British Paras (55 points)

From PaulJ:

Here is another section of WW2 British Paratroopers in 28mm.  They are a combination of Warlord and Crusader metal figures.

A fourth Infantry section provides an additional support element to my core three section platoon. 

The second PIAT team also add a bit of redundancy to the platoon.  The PIAT isnt that good an anti tank weapon, but its handy to keep the lighter and recon stuff at arms reach.  Having only team makes it a bit vulnerable, and an extra team should help build a crossfire too.

For those who asked for more closeups of the rest of my Para platoon I've uploaded a bunch of closeups and pictures here:

http://tasmancave.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/red-devils-platoon.html

Lovely work Paul. You've really hit your stride with these fellows. They all look superb but I especially like the photos of the prone PIAT team - your garden should be free of critters with these lads guarding the verge.

This section of paras will give Paul 55 points. Nicely done! (As you see your choice of 800 points for your second points target was a bit conservative. I still think you should go for 900... just sayin'.)

From MichaelF: 28mm & 15mm WWII American Paratroopers (33 points)

RobP's current activity with the Challenge has paid its dividends and so we are treated to these marvellous figures from his good pal Michael.

From Michael:

Well, this challenge is not the best for me so far. Way too many distractions but I hope during the second part I will have some more painting time... 

For my second entry another couple of figures I had to paint to finish a unit I started before the challenge. They are Offensive miniatures I bought at Salute last year. I already painted a platoon a few years back but I really liked this figures and it would give me something different than the usual Artizan WWII figs. They are highly detailed quality figs but that also means they take up a lot more time than the bulkier figures.

The 15mm are a test to see if this scale will work for skirmish games. They have passed the test and I will be joining a couple of friends friends with a 15mm skirmish force for Chain of Command.

Although these Battlefront figures are nice I won't be painting them any time soon as I prefer doing regular infantry as opposed to the elite guys.

Absolutely gorgeous work Michael. Those paratroopers are off the hook. Beautiful colour blending and the screaming eagle insignia is clearly discern. I particularly like the medic and the .30 cal gunner with the tawny moustache who is creeping ahead, slowly letting out a breath under the tension. Brilliant.

Your 15mm paratroopers are also very nice. Our group games WWII in 15mm for Chain of Command as well so you're not alone. The scale of the smaller figures seem to really fit the ranges of these skirmish rules. That being said we also like (and use) 28mm figures for the sheer detail and spectacle of the tabletop. Apples and oranges, eh.

These very fine American paratroopers, in two scales, will give Michael 33 points.

From PaulJ: 28mm WWII British Paratroopers (296 points)

Evidently Paul has not been idle these past few weeks...

From Paul: 

Presenting my 28mm WW2 British Airborne force.  In fact, this project was the main reason for my acceptance Alan's dare to get into this painting challenge in the first place, so that I could start and actually finish a new army.  I must admit that I have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with these guys, but it has been very satisfying to build and get a new army onto the table in  a short period of time.  Initially this force was planned for Bolt Action, but what you see here has been re-tweaked to comply with the historically correct orbats used in Chain of Command rules (which I very much like).

The force as shown comprises 54 figures - 3 x 9 man Airborne infantry sections, a Platoon HQ which includes snipers, a PIAT team and a 2inch mortar (proxied by the prone Bren gun team until I get the figures).  The support elements available are a 5 man Vickers MMG team, a 5 man Light Howitzer detachment, a 3 man Sapper team with a Flamethrower, a medic (already submitted for the Hero bonus round) and a Forward Observer team.   I still have another infantry section and a two man PIAT team to come as reinforcements...plus a big chunky Churchill Mk VII Heavy Tank!

I would like to thank everyone for their suggestions on tackling the signature camo denizen smocks, which I found somewhat daunting.  I really appreciated the advice and quite like the end result, though they came out darker than I had originally intended.  I spent quite a bit of time on the basing too, and have tried something a bit different.  All Officers and Senior NCOs have yellow flowers on their bases to help indentify them.  Similarly, anyone not armed with a trusty Lee Enfield .303 rifle has a small white rock on the base.  That should make it easier to pick out out the stens, brens and other special weapons on the table.  Models are a combination of Bolt Action and Crusader - the latter are a bit chunkier but not overly so and I think it adds nice variety in the force.

And so my Red Devils are ready for their first outing on the table - watch out Jerry!

Yes, its Para Monday! This is really awesome work Paul. The denison camo looks very good though I'm sure many of us would like to see some close-ups in an upcoming submission. I particularly like the howitzer team and the mix of berets and helmets. A classic force.

These paras will give Paul a very impressive 296 points, enough for him to meet and exceed his Challenge target of 500 points. An amazing effort Paul, congratulations! 

I look forward to the future additions to this collection including the promised Churchill.

From JohnM: 20mm WWII British Paratroopers (48 points)

From John:

British Paratroopers:

These 20 mm figures were a bit of a challenge. I have never painted personal camouflage in the past, and the dennison smock that the these paratroopers took me 3 goes before I had it right. I am sure they could be done better but for war gaming they look OK. I will get better on my next go with them. 

The figures are from TQD castings, and really they are quite nice. Beautifully proportioned, with lots of neat stuff, my only complaint are that they are on slotta bases. I had to hack off the slots for the Senior Leaders as I base them on nickels, rather then pennies, but I used the supplied bases for the men. 

The faces are just great, although I think I have to work on the mustache on the chief. 

I have ordered more figures as I have decided that I will do a whole platoon for Chain of Command. 

The proportions are a bit wrong for a paratroop section as I was short of rifles, but that will be corrected when new supplies arrive. We have two senior leaders, a Piat Team, a Bren team, a 2" mortar team as well as troops with rifles and SMG's. It is funny how all the little imperfections are missed until you photograph figures, but I have always found it a challenge to go back and fix things.

Great work John! You've done a very nice job with the dennison camo. I have found giving the camo a light was of Agrax Earthshade really helps to tie the various colours together. Try it out on a test figure and see what you think. 

Are some of these fellows using captured weapons? The LMG team looks like they're firing a MG-34 and the leader a MP40?

Slotta bases on 20mm? That's just cruel. I really wish manufacturers would drop the use of slottas as they're just so restrictive. Not everyone wants to be proscribed to a certain design of base. Makes me crazy.

These paras will give John 48 points. Nice job!

From MartinN: 28mm WWI German Flamethrower, WWII British Para Howitzer and MMG (62 points)

From MartinN ('Nick'): 

Once again a mixed submission of Great War and WW2 stuff. First we have a WW1 German Flamethrower team carrying the 'Klief M1916 Flammenwerfer'. The figures are from the superb Great War Miniatures and again were a real joy to paint. 

Second is a '75mm Pack Howitzer' for my Red Devils Paratroopers from Warlord Games. The piece and especially the troopers are of great quality and were a fun to paint.

The spent shells seem to look a bit out of scale on the pics but believe me it's just the angle ;-)

And last but not least we have a 'Lewis medium machine gun' from Warlord Games again. The gun itself was rather nice but the paratroopers unfortunately had some bad mould lines and miscasts.

Beautiful work once again Nick. The flamethrower team, while grim, is very well done but I particularly like the Paras with their denison smocks and the added realism of the expended shell casings beside the howitzer. (It must be heat expansion with the casings that's causing the size distortion, yeah, that's it for sure. :) )

These three weapons teams will give Nick 62 points. Great job!

From MartinN: 28mm WWI Russians & WWII Germans and British Paras (40 points)

Martin (aka 'Nick') sends in this wonderful set of miniatures for his emerging Great War project and further reinforcements for his enviable WWII collection.

From Nick:

As I finally decided to let my Great War games take place on the eastern front I ordered a pack of White Russian Officers from the Copplestone Russian Civil War range.These were intended as a test what colours to use and if they fit the bill. After all I'm rather pleased with the outcome and probably will stick to the range for further reinforcements.

The white bearded Officer is meant to be the Captain of the force in beeing. He wears the blue trouser of a cavalry general to further distinguish him from his fellow officers and NCO's.

I went for blue shoulderboards instead of the most commonly seen red ones if I should ever plan expand the project into the Russian Civil War and therefore reserve the red shoulderboards for the Reds.

Next are two WW2 Fallschirmjäger. Both models are from Warlord Games and rather crappy to paint as they're varying greatly in casting quality. Lots of mould lines and flash with sometimes quite weak detail.

The guy on the left is carrying a FG-42 Assault Rifle. At the moment I'm experimenting with my base sizes. I decided to go for hexagonal Bases for heroes, officers and NCO's but for the rank and file I'm pending between 20mm and 25mm round bases.

Last but not least two Red Devils also from Warlord Games. Contrary to the Fallshirmjägers I really love these sculpts. They're full of crisp details although there are some minor mould limes. As I'm rather disappointed with all my different basing styles I'll try to stay with the kind shown here for all my modern or more recent periods.

Absolutely brilliant work Nick. I've always been a great admirer of your paint style (your faces never cease to amaze me) and these certainly don't disappoint. I'm really not sure what you don't like about your groundwork as I think its superb - I do like the integration of points-of-interest such as the planking with your Russians. 

These eight lads will give Nick 40 points. Lovely stuff Nick!

From SamuliS: 15mm WWII American Paratroopers (91 points)

From Samuli:

Back from the holidays and at the painting station again. Starting to fall behind my schedule a bit, don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing this early. Either I have time to catch up or then I'll miserably fail... 

Anyhow here is the first part of my effort to paint up my Flames of War US Airborne army during the challenge. It's a full rifle platoon based with Kerr and King and Peter Pig products. Being a big fan of Saving Private Ryan, I had to include a bunch of dead cows on the bases. Luckily Kerr & King makes some in resin. Most of the bases for this platoon are Kerr & King resin with some small additions of Peter Pig stuff and then a few ones with only Peter Pig products. 

Maybe a bit too much to paint in one huge bunch as I did get quite frustrated at times when I had to paint the exact same stuff on 44 tiny minis at a time. First time I painted any 15mm without using metallics on rifles etc. and instead went with a mix of greys and blues to get a good shade. I think it turned out nicely and looks better in this scale than anything shiny. I also painted a representation of the US flag and 101st Insignia. The red was maybe a bit too bright, but looks good from a distance.

Next up a change in period and scale again by turning to 6mm ACW figures for a club project. Never done anything in that scale or era before so should be interesting.

Great work Samuli! Those resin bases work a treat and your non-metalic metal effect looks very good as well.

These US Paratroopers will give Samuli 91 points. I look forward to seeing your upcoming ACW entry...