From SebG: 15mm ACW Union Regiment from the Iron Brigade (63 points)

From Seb:

What you have here are 31 US regulars in 15mm from Old Glory. Obviously, the references are from the Iron brigade for a simple reason: Sykes was commanding the regulars at Bull Run, and afterwards, he ordered the men under his command to follow the regulars's regulations.

I have added a few wounded/ dead in action to represent the unit attacking the Rebs, as they did at Bull Run, before covering the rout. The flags have been downloaded and printed. The blue might be too light, but the varnish seems to have "whitened" it a bit.

Now on my way to the last bonus entry.

Another excellent regiment under your belt Seb.  Remind us again, how many units are you aiming for in this project? Your collection is bulking up nicely. Personally I think the flags look very good and accentuates the dynamism of the unit.

This regiment of Yanks will give Seb 63 points. Great job!

From SebG: 28mm AWI British 44th Foot Light Infantry (23 points)

From Seb:

What you have here are six 28mm British light infantry from AW miniatures.

You'll have to excuse the poor quality pictures, but my parents' PC refuses to acknowledge the existence of my camera's SD card, and of course I forgot to take the USB cable... When Andrew (Loki) and James launched their Bloggers for Charity project, I was immediately interested. They intend to game a battle during the Seven Years War in Canada. I have offered my services and Andrew sent me these figures to paint as a light detachment of the 44th Abercrombie. I was delighted since I knew i could then practice on my red and flesh techniques for 28mm.

Sadly, the minis are not great. There was no flash but you can find some errors in the sculpting, such as the cartridge box but no belt to carry it !?!  And some cuffs and hands are miscast. Ah well. Still they were easy to paint.

I haven't based them because as soon as James receives them, he'll do it. So that's it. 6 more miniatures done from me.

Seb, the photo effects are actually kinda neat. These shots give the impression that the camera was last used to film Sophia Loren or Catherine Deneuve - a dab of vaseline on the lens does miracles.  Seriously, very nice work here Seb - I quite like your flesh tones and that deep yellow facing colour is excellent as well.

These half dozen hearty fellows will give Seb 23 points. Well done and bravo for contributing to a good cause.

From SebG: 15mm ACW Union Artillery 'The West Point Battery' (30 points)

Seb continues to tear along with his ACW project with his fine battery of Union guns.

From Seb:

Following my previous entries, I've now added some heavy support for my Union brigade, with a battery of three guns. As usual, they're from Old Glory and were a joy to paint. You have 2 10" rifled parrots, and 1 Napoleon. They're supposed to represent the 5th United States Artillery, Company D, aka "the West point battery", under Cpt Charles Griffin, whom you can see observing the enemy positions with his binoculars. This chap is interesting, since he fought during the Mexican war, taught at West point, then was promoted to lead a brigade, and finally the V. Corps at the end of the war. Worthy of a hero. But all in good time. 

They're not the right guns to represent the unit at Bull Run, but it will be more practical for the rest of the war.

Now I need to finish my hero bonus entry.

Lovely work Seb. I like the fellow in his red shirtsleeves and the figure for Griffin looks great calling out orders as he ranges-in his battery.

These three guns and their crews will give Seb 30 points.

From SebG: 15mm ACW Union Infantry Regiment - 27th New York (62 points)

Seb sends in another Union infantry regiment to bolster his collection of Yankee Bluebellies.

From Seb:

Here is my new entry, the 27th New York, or the "Union regiment", in 15mm.

What you have here is a brand new regiment for my Longstreet brigade, the 27th New York. Once again, 10 bases full of character. I wanted the unit to look like they were in the middle of the fight. Therefore, I used a lot of different references from Old Glory: Union skirmishing, generic wounded and generic melee. 

Now this is a dramatic moment, knowing they're going to fight until the last one is standing. This is why I like Old Glory. Where else could you find soldiers in hand-to-hand and another one supporting his wounded comrade?

The flags are speculative. I just downloaded, printed and added a bit of paint to two of them that I had found on the net, in the NY flags section. All in all, you have 30 men fighting for their lifes, and one already down, clutching his head. Poor fellow.

A very nice unit Seb. You're making the best of Old Glory's wide variety of characterful castings and each of your units will tell its own tale.

This Union regiment will provide Seb with 62 points. Excellent stuff.

From SebG: 15mm ACW Union Infantry Regiment (65 points)

At first I thought this entry  was a bit of a surprise from Seb but then I remembered that when I first met him we played ACW at Posties together.

From Seb:

Erm. It's now finally time to get serious. I now have some free time during the evening to paint some more.

What you see is the start of my Longstreet brigade, since I intend to play the grand campaign. I've opted, as my first unit, to depict the famous chasseurs from the 14th Brooklyn. They were at Bull Run in  1861, and, as you can see, wore red trousers and a blue-trimmed red cap.

As I wanted some variations, I chose Old Glory. Sadly they don't do the 14th Brooklyn, so I took some 15mm zouaves, and, with the proper paint job and from a distance, they look the part. What you have is 30 chasseurs plus one dead Union soldiers, just to add a touch drama. You can almost feel they're moving towards the rebs.

I was disappointed by the standard bearers (1 pose only), so the two you have here are actually conversions: I cut the sabre of the officer to put a pole instead, and the other one is a regular soldier who exchanged his musket for the other pole. The flags have been downloaded and then printed.

That is a great looking regiment Seb! You're right, Old Glory does provide a multitude of poses to allow one to make up characterful units, though I am surprised by the lack of variant standard bearers. Nonetheless, you did a masterful job on the conversions and it makes your command stand unique and dynamic.

The 14th Brooklyn will give Seb 65 points, which includes a bit extra for his excellent standard bearer conversions. Well done Mr. G!

From SebG: 28mm Medieval Citizens and Monks (20 points)

Seb begins his climb up the points chart with these four medieval civilians.

From Seb:

Here is my first entry: two medieval civilians and two priests, from the Perry brothers. When Lee had his giveaway on his blog, I had been tempted by those. I had entered only once, but managed to win big time! Thanks again Lee, these minis are perfect for the challenge. Indeed, as soon as I received them, I knew I had to keep them in my lead pile for the challenge.

They've been easy to paint, over a brown coat. I wanted to work on fast techniques to paint the browns, and inks are the way to go! It's also a good way to practice my face-painting.

Nice work Seb! I particularly like the skin tone you achieved with the big bruiser sporting the club. 

These four will give Seb 20 points. Welcome back!

From SebG: 15mm Sligners and Gladiators from the Spatacan Revolt (124 points)

Well, there is less than two days left in the Challenge and things are really starting to hot-up. I'm getting swamped with final entries (or penultimate entries) but I'm having a blast battling to keep up.

From Seb:

This is probably my last entry. I have some troops already primed, but my daughter a chicken pox, so I'm stuck at home with her, not really being able to paint. Fortunately, she doesn't scratch herself much.

First part of the entry, 8 slingers for my Spartacus project. I painted them in one night, with a lot washes and inks. And a bit of paint too. Easy.

The second part is much more interesting, I think: 2 bases of gladiators, 14 of them! They're all different. I put some Roman scutum obviously, but I really wanted a Hoolywood feel about those. I also made some conversions, opening some hands to put spears, etc.

For instance, the jumping gladiator is a Corvus belli legionnary, with a Museum head. The one supporting him was initially a Essex bow skirmisher: I cut his bow, pierced his right hand, gave him a spear, cut the quiver and put a sword there. 

Oh, and I also cut his head to put the helmeted one from the legionary. And finally, I hand-painted all 10 shields. They're all different! Crazy me.

Seb, you're a wild man, these look brilliant! Those gladiators are just incredible with the conversions and hand-painted shields. Of course you realize that they are as doomed as doomed can be when they debut on the table...

These bad lads of Spartacus will give Seb a very well-earned 124 points. 

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 SebG: 15mm Spartacus Army (82 points)

From Seb:

I started my new projet: a Spartacus army in 15mm, first for Art de la guerre, and then , if motivated enough, I'll upgrade it to a FOG format.

I know it's a project that will require a lot of minis, but I also want a Kubrick feel about this army. So, I've cheated a bit. I need 12 bases of untrained slaves/ desperate peasants. I've started looking here and there, and opted for a mix of Corvus Belli and Xyston.

So, first, you have 6 bases of 5 minis each, with 7 shields and a floating hand-painted banner. All the minis are different! For the floating banner, I cut a piece of paper, painted it, including the highlights, and then glued it on the pole. I chose purple because I'm quite sure the slaves would have found a rich villa and taken everything valuable. A purple cloth would be very useful, easy to spot in a battle.

And next, the piece de resistance: Kubrick's Spartacus is famous for the final battle scene, and the fiery rollers! To cheat a bit, and paint a bit faster, I've made six fiery rollers, from cleaning pipe and some metallic stuff whose name escapes me at the moment. For an Hollywood effect, I added desperate/ dead Romans: 2 Corvus Belli, + 3 dead from Freikorps and Donnington.

I love this submission. The figures have such great colour with their varied sheilds, the basework is excellent and the 'burning rollers' are genius. Well done Seb!

This emerging project of slaves and gladiators will give Seb 82 points. Great job!

From Seb: 15mm Chinese General, Supply Wagon & Renaissance Commanders (73 points)

 From Seb:

It's been a few days since my last entry. I was feeling a bit down, and wasn't much interested in painting. Let's hope the mojo's back. You'll have to excuse the crappy quality of the pics, but I didn't have access to my usual place. First, I've finished the Chinese general for my friend Chris, a pretty simple base, with  4 Museum minis. 

Then, A wagon with driver for my camp, again from Museum, but I added a Donnington. 

And finally, my generals! 4 bases of three horsemen, and 3 flags. On one of the pictures, you can see the Condé from Testudo. He's quite nice and was easy to paint. For the flags, I admit I'm wrong, because those are infantry flags. But I wanted to be sure to differentiate them from my cavalry units. 

So, to sum up: 6 foot, 12 mounted, 1 wagon and two horses, plus 3 flags in 15mm. Not bad hey?

The good thing is, my French army is now finished! I can now finish my cold war French, finish painting your Ronin (almost done), and then start my new project in 15mm: just a clue, it's an Ancients army, rarely seen on the tables, but there is a good modelling challenge. And No Tamsin, you can't say a word!

That's a very nice mix of figures and periods Seb! All are lovely but I have a particular soft spot for REMFs and that barrel wagon is excellent. 

This submission from Seb will provide him with 73 points.