From KevH: 20mm Anglo-Saxons Thegns & Saracen City Militia and Ghazi Fanatics (182 points)

From Kev:

Sculpting's done for now so I am back at the painting table, yaaay. First up are an addition to my 1/72 Dark age collection.

The Anglo Saxon Army in "Hail Caesar" is allowed a single small unit of Mounted Thegns. I could have chose the easy route for these and just painted 4 of the Revell ones. But no, thats not me and I do prefer the Strelets. So here we go, Strelets and Revell conversions. A few head swaps and the odd body swap and all on Strelets horses. 4 mounted Thegns to give the Anglo Saxons a bit of fast hitting power.

Then back onto the Crusades. More infantry for now. First up are another City Militia unit. 12 Figures, these are 3 to a base to show they are a Medium infantry unit.

Then closely followed by the first of the Ghazi Fanatics units. This is a warband, (24 figures) hence the double ranks.

Once again a medium infantry unit with 3 to a base to show this. I decided on a uniform colour scheme for the Fanatics as I wanted them to look menacing on the table. Andy had the idea for the red headgear. Red, black with a bit of white give these the look I wanted and will easily make them recognisable on the table.

The other fanatic units will be a slight variation on this scheme.

All the Saracen figures are HaT 1/72 and from their ElCid range and painted in my high contrast style. I am now working on some of the Saracen Cavalry, at last, lol.

Beautiful work once again Kev! I particularly like the unit of Ghazi fanatics - those colours certainly reinforce their intended role. 

These fellows with their excellent banners, shields and conversions will give Kev 182 points, allowing him to wrest back control of 2nd place from Dave. Nonetheless with only a 48 point spread between the two it's really anybody's race. Pretty exciting stuff!

From KevH: 20mm Dark Age Viking Army (535 points)

KevH breaks for tea as celebration for finishing his new Viking army.

From Kev:

Here is the Viking army in all it's 20mm glory, lol.

All figures are plastic 1/72 (20mm). The majority are Zvezda & Strelets, with a very small amount of Revell to make up the numbers. This force is more or less the same composition as the Saxon Army I painted last year.

The Army general has already been seen and is here just for completion.

The Army is based for Hail Caesar and to our own basing system for the rules. We mount infantry on 30mm x 30mm and four bases make a standard unit. Two bases make a small unit with a large unit at six bases. Skirmishers are usually a small unit and consist of three figures. The troop types also determine how many figures will be on a base. 

Heavy infantry are 4 figures.

Medium infantry are 3 figures.

And Light infantry are 2 figures.

We found this system works well and the troop type is easily recognizable.
The Army consists of
The CinC (already Submitted)
2 x Divisional commands (3 figures per base)
1 x Hearthguard (Huscarle) Heavy Infantry unit (16 Figs)
3 x Hirdmen units, (16 figs per unit).
3 x Bondi units, Medium Infantry, (12 figs per unit).
5 x Beserker stands (2 figs per stand) for representing the Beserker wild fighter element within a unit.
1 x Bow unit, Light Infantry, (8 figs)
2 x skirmish units, (6 figs in total)

Thats a total of 140 figures according to my reckoning and not including the command. [Actually it adds up to 130 figures - ed.]

All standard bearers are conversions as you only get 1 in the Zvezda box and he is blowing a horn as well.

So I used them both as horn blowers and converted 10 into standard bearers for the unit and army commands.

Phew. 

I need my tea now.

Indeed! That is a colossal amount of work Kev, well done young man!

This Viking force will give Kev a very impressive 535 points, which includes some extra for the standard-bearer conversions. This was a little too late in his race with Andrew but it will pip him into 1st place in the points roster, with a point to spare! (And, serves as a quick response to Millsy's challenge!)

Fabulous work and an impressive effort Kev!

From ChrisP: 28mm and 15mm Vietnam Era Helicopters, Phantom II & F16 Jets (84 points)

Another great Vietnam War entry from Chris:

Back to Vietnam (and beyond) for this stack of painting, from a whole variety of manufacturers!

First up, is the big boy, the 1/48th scale Revell UH-1. I made it basically exactly out of the box, leaving off the parts for the gunship variant, but also leaving off the side doors. In combat, the slick pilots left off the doors, they wanted to get as much power to weight as possible! Not the safest if you are the guy on the inside, but there it is. This is painted up as a US Army bird, even though there are two Eureka ANZACs sitting inside! The reason for this is despite Australia sending a fleet of it's own Hueys, the helicopters were forbidden by the government from going into "hot" LZs. What this meant was that when ANZAC troops were dropped into combat zones, it was done by American aircraft. Overall, I am really happy with how it looks! So many lessons learned from making the MH-6s went into building this one, so I am much happier with how it went together. The rotors are magnetized for easy travel, but also because it is cool to spin them.....

So from big, to small. My 15mm US Airborne needed some transport for Vietnam, so there are three Flashpoint miniatures plastic UH-1s. Made straight as the kit asked, with the doors left off like the big Huey. While moving to a new city, like a muppet, I threw away the plastic for the canopy windows! So the manufacturer is hunting me some more down, but it looks like it will arrive much after the competition finishes, hence me putting these up in a non-100% finished state. The kit also came with some door gunners and a few seated infantry, which really add to the model, plus add some weight so that the helicopter sits on it's skids properly!

Fire Support comes in the form of a second Huey Gunship, again armed with a chin mounted 40mm Grenade Launcher, plus the massive rocket batteries on either side! This one I have affectionately named Smokey the Bear, and is a standard Battlefront kit. Size wise, it is comparable to the Flashpoint plastics, but costs twice as much, and has less detail. But then again, it is in resin not plastic, so you get that! I still like it, and it will be a partner for the one that I completed earlier in the competition.

Close Air Support comes in the form of a 1/144 F4 Phantom II, from Academy. This was a cool kit, nice and simple and painted up really nicely, which my photos don't really show (my camera is terrible, and it saddens me). The underside shot is to show off the four centerline mounted sidewinder missiles, which were blue! I am not that happy with this aircraft, but for $3, I can't really complain!

So, there you have it. Air Power! I might be getting a reputation as the "Helicopter Guy", so next update will be something less airmobile... Although I do have one helicopter to go in the competition, any guesses what?

Very nice work Chris. I admire your tenacity in getting that trio of Hueys done up (even taking account the delayed canopies). The 1/48 scale 'Slick' is awesome but I can't imagine doing enough for a proper platoon insertion in 28mm.

This submission will give Chris 84 points. Great stuff!

From MikeP: 20mm WWII Soviet Cossacks (136 points)

From Mike:

Entry #6 continues the theme of February as Russian month. These 17 20mm Soviet Cossacks are soft plastic from Revell. I suspect it is OOP now. This set got high marks on Plastic Soldier Review and they are nice figures, adding a nice touch of colour to an otherwise rather drab army.

The one dismounted fellow ended up on the command stand. I figured he would be holding the boss' reins while he used his binos to look for the Fascists.

I'm not sure what use they will get on the tabletop, but I've been opining for a while now that we don't do enough recon stuff in miniature wargames, and I will try to find a use for them in a recce role.

Wow, gorgeous work Mike! I really likehow you set them in pairs on the circular bases - it seems to really work for them. The officer with his dismounted aide is particularly fine. 

These seventeen cossacks will give Mike a very tidy 136 points. Well done Padre!

From AndrewS: 15mm WWII British Shermans (102 points)

From Andrew:

Continuing with a theme, Here are my 15 Tunisia / Italy themed Sherman's and 1 Hurricane as the Air support option.

The Sherman's are all 15mm scale from Plastic Soldier Company, the Hurricane is from Revell.

I have painted these as an element of 9th Armoured brigade. The Camo pattern used I found on several images on the internet, it is unusual so therefore decided to replicate for my force and have used a theme within for each platoon to aid me recognising on the table. 

The force breaks down as an HQ of three Sherman's and 4 combat platoons of three Sherman's. All the tanks have been subjected to my usual painting style and the application of stowage and hand made camo nets to enhance the look.

Fabulous work Andrew! I wonder if this camo similar to the green 'mickey mouse' scheme? It's very distinctive with the white outlining. I assume these are for one of your sons? I remember the previous group of Tigers were for them as well. Wonderful gifts!

This company of Shermans and the Hurricane (including the commanders and stowage) will give Andrew 102 points. Well done!