AHPC VIII Reflections - Part 2: the Pics

I've been all at sea lately (quite literally) but I've finally gotten to photographing my AHPC VIII totality.  Like many I suspect, it seems more when under the brush than when tallied, but regardless it is a satisfying chunk of hobby happiness.

 As you can see I embraced the new terrain category, finishing off a 15mm Russian village, a 6mm ECW castle and a 28mm bridge.  I got a good portion of my new DAK Army finished and managed to complete entries for all bonus rounds.  I started with a 500 point goal, extended it to 600 and finished up with 679pts - which I was very happy with noting that I was travelling for about 4 weeks of the challenge.

Last year I was thrilled to get a Bonus Round Runner Up spot - this year I managed to jag two!  The first was this really wonderfully sculpted One Man Dirigible which I had sitting around for about 4 years and which I entered for the Flight Round

My Second Runner Up placement was for my FIW Royal Artillery Piece in the BFG Round.  I really enjoyed building this small vignette for the FIW Army I built last year during AHPC VII.

Perhaps my favourite piece to work on this challenge was my Friekorps PanzerAuto (Armoured Car), which I did in January:

The Challenge was, once again, a tonne of fun for a LOT of fun amongst wonderfully productive and encouraging hobbyists. 
I hope to be back for AHPC IX!

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com.au/2018/04/paul-ogs-ahpc-viii-wrap-up.html

AHPC VIII Reflections - Part 1: Facts and Figures

Another Painting Challenge comes to a glorious end this week.  While there are still a few days to run, I've entered my last submission and its time for me to tally up:

AHPC VIII: Target Acheived!

Challenge target: 500 Initial, Stretched to 600
Total Points Achieved: 679 - Stretch Target Achieved!

I knew I would have difficulties this year with significant work travel scheduled for Feb-Mar, but preparations and a sensible total allowed me to crack it in AHPC VIII

Scale: Combination of 28mm and 15mm, with more of the latter.

Bonus Rounds: did them all, and got two Runner Up positions this year, making it a PB.

Genres: I took advantage of the new terrain category this year, with the remaining submissions mostly being WW2 (15mm DAK) with a touch of FiW and Fantasy thrown in.  I had prepared a stack of 28mm Fantasy figs but a last minute club focus to WW2 Western Desert gaming caused a mid challenge switch!

So that completes my fourth AHPC and brings my aggregate total throughout all four to 2817 points of a summed target total of 2350.  Yes, some individuals crack that for each challenge, which astounds me

And yes, I'm already thinking about what I might keep aside for AHPC IX!  :-)

DAK '88'

My 'Monstrous' themed round for AHPC 8:

For WW2 Allied tank crews in the Western Desert (and beyond) there was nothing more monstrous than a German '88'. This famous FlaK gun with its high velocity and flat trajectory became one of the most feared anti tank weapons of the war.

British accounts include anecdotes of tankers bailing out after watching a near miss 88 round skip past their machines; they knew the next round would not miss and its effects would be catastrophic.  Cyril Joly in his excellent book Take These Men grimly described the impact of an 88mm round on a British tank:

“As I spoke I saw the flame and smoke from the German gun. In the next instant, all was chaos. There was a clang of steel on the turret front and a blast of flame and smoke from the same place, which seemed to spread into the turret, where it was followed by another dull explosion. The shockwave, which followed, swept past me, singed my hands and face and left me breathless and dazed. I looked down into the turret. It was a shambles. The shot had penetrated the front just in front of King, the loader. It had twisted the machine-gun out of its mounting. It, or a jagged piece of the torn turret, had then hit the round that King had been holding ready – had set it on fire. The explosion had wrecked the wireless, tore King’s head and shoulders from the rest of his body and started a fire among the machine-gun boxes stowed on the floor.”

A British tanker taken prisoner in 1941 is reported to have complained to his German captors that "In our opinion it is unfair to use 'flak' guns against tanks".  Just not cricket apparently!

So for the Monstrous round I present an 88, painted up for desert service in the Africa Korps in 1941.  This is a Forged In Battle model and in Battlegroup terms the unit includes the Gun and 4 man crew, an additional 3 man loader team, and the Sd Kfz 7 tractor team.  Unlike my other DAK units I have made this one a less battered and more recent arrival to the theatre.

I estimate this to total 30 points for the tractor (6), gun (4), 7 crew (14), a driver (2) and the limber pieces (which I costed as another gun sized model for 4 points), plus the bonus points. And that should get me over the line for my extended 600 point target!

https://analogue-hobbies-theme-rounds.blogspot.com.au/2018/03/monstrous-from-paulog-monstrous-88.html

AHPC8 Submissions - almost there!

My weekly submission on the heavier elements of my DAK force, and the Childhood Bonus theme round.

DAK Pz IIIs and Transports (82 points)

Building upon my Recon vehicles and light tanks of last week, this week I focused on heavier armour and transports. While there was a number of Pz IVs and long barrelled Pz IV specials, the Pz III was always the most numerous armoured fighting vehicle of the Africa Korps. Here I present two platoons (Battlegroup uses them in 3s): 3 are metal Battlefront and 3 are plastic PSC, which gives some good variation between the hulls.

In 1941 the Panzergrenadier units had not yet formed and the majority of Infantry were truck mounted Shutzen units. And trucks are just handy in general for the desert, so here are 5 of them in an assortment of colours. Resin models by Forged in Battle.

Rounding out today's submission are a pair of Horsch heavy cars, very useful as staff vehicles and for towing light field and AT guns (though I have yet to assemble those). Again these are Forged in Battle resin models.

These 13 vehicles and 2 drivers net me 78 + 4 = 82 

http://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com.au/2018/02/paul-og-dak-pz-iiis-and-transports-82.html

'Childhood' Bonus Round: Two Little Boys

Rolf Harris has been a famous Australian entertainer for many decades (lets just forget about his more recent issues shall we?). While I would not say I am a big fan of his, his song "Two Little Boys" has always appealed to me.

Broadly, its a song about two men who played war together as lads and when they grow up they  look after each other on the battlefield when one of them in wounded. For those with a few minutes, here is the song in full:

When I saw these Downed Luftwaffe crewmen by Wargames foundry six months ago I thought of that song but never got around to painting them, so they seemed perfect for this Bonus round.  Here are my 28mm version of Two Little Boys (or "Zwei Kleine Jungen" I suppose!)

2 x 28mm figs = 10 points + bonus round

http://analogue-hobbies-theme-rounds.blogspot.com.au/2018/02/childhood-from-paulog-two-little-boys.html

Together, these entries push me past my original 500 point goal and almost touch my stretched 600 point line - the next bonus round will take me over nicely! Which is hardly as I'm of to sea tomorrow and likely wont get anything more done before AHPC8 finishes.

Painting Challenge - DAK Light Forces and and Orc Drummer

Its been a busy few weeks with work travel etc so my pace of AHPC8 submissions has slowed.  Nice to get a few in this week after a bit of a dry spell.  Here they are:

15mm DAK

Last week Alan unveiled the start of his 8th Army project for Battlegroup Tobruk with some fantastic Crusader II tanks - some of his best work in 15mm IMHO (and I've seen most of it at some point).  This week I present the start of my corresponding DAK project:

Appropriately leading this modelling push are the Recon and Light elements of the Army.  While my full army is a mix of manufacturers, these are all Battlefront models and I've enjoyed personalising each of them.  Unfortunately, I also painted them like I would 28mm vehicles with a silly number of washes and layers.  Accordingly, they took way too long to finish but I do love their veteran, desert worn look.

Leading this week's submission is a quartet of iconic Sd Kfz 222s, and I have done some alternate turrets for them as well to enable all the force options.

For heavier Recon tasks is this pair of 8 rads:

My Light Panzer element is a reinforced platoon of four Pz IIs and a Pz I (so cute!):

Forgot to do the Platoon Commander figure! One for next week's batch

And finally, a cracking little PzJg I which adds some modest AT firepower to this screening force.  Not a monster killer but it will keep Alan's Daimler Dingos and Universal Carriers pause for thought.

My next DAK focus will heavier Pz IIIs but for now that's twelve 15mm vehicles (and a couple of extra turrets) for 72 points. 

Challenge entry is here: From Paul OG: Africa Korps Recon and Light Panzers (72 points)

'Music/Musician' Bonus Round

My entry went through a range of challenges from missing models to me mucking up an order and not getting the figure I wanted  Then Marty from the club gave me this...

This Orc War drummer was produced by a small Australian company called Inquisition miniatures in the mid 80s.  In those pre-internet days they didn't get out of the Aussie market much and once GW found out about their imitative sculpting style the IP alarms went off. Inquisition no longer trades and hasn't done for a long time.

Anyway, I bought this figure as a young teenager and half painted it. It was then one of those minis I would seem to find everywhere, feel guilty about not finishing and then loose it again only to be haunted by it again a week or two later. This continued until it was lost to antiquity when I moved out of home several years later.  My gaming club mate Marty was offloading some old figs recently and gave me this, which I immediately recognised.  So here, a couple of decades late, is my completed Inquisition Miniatures Orc Drummer!

See the entry here: 

https://analogue-hobbies-theme-rounds.blogspot.com.au/2018/02/musicmusician-from-paulog-orc-war.html

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We are now well past the half way mark of AHPC 8 and these entries take me almost to my target of point 500 target.  I have more work travel coming but will stretch my goal to 600.

Australia Day and AHPC entries

Couple of small terrain entries this week.  For the second year in a row I have set aside the figures carefully prepped before the challenge in order to follow (willingly, it must be said) Alan into another project of opportunity :-) So just a few small terrain offerings from me this week in the interim while I build a prep the new models.

First up is this 28mm Stone Bridge by Warlord. A nice plastic model with lots of lovely detail and useful for pretty much any period.  Very happy with how it came out.

Secondly, a 15mm desert building. Found it in my spares box, manufacturer unknown. Offered here as a hint of the project to come...

Together these models fill most of a "terrain cube" (the AHPC patent pending unit of measurement) so 20 points the total.

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/from-paul-og-stone-bridge-and-mosque-20.html

And for all my antipodean brothers and sisters: Happy Australia Day - I hope you had a great one, whatever you did!

Aussie essentials - Champagne & Orange, lamington cakes, big hat, flag and great views of Sydney Harbour!

AHPC 8: "BFG" Bonus round - FIW 12 pounder

My entry for the BFG round is an emplaced Royal Artillery field piece to support my British FIW army that I painted in AHPC VII.  Now Alan's French and Canadiens will have to contend with bombardment, ball and shot while my ranks of Redcoats advance with cold steel!

I know what you're thinking - 'nice, but is it really "Big" for a BFG Bonus round?' Well big is a relative term and in the FIW campaigns along the frontier, there wasnt a lot of artillery.  Most were emplaced in fortifications or brought up for specific sieges but in general, columns didn't have guns attached.  So dropping a 12 pounder onto the table makes it a BFG indeed!

Figs are by Front Rank and I have used a large sabot base from Charlie Foxtrot models, which gave me the space to do a nice dioramic front with the gabions.    The crew of 5 is for Sharpe Practice - our FIW rules of choice. Front Rank also impressed by providing alternate barrels for the gun carriage.  In the pics above the larger 12 pounder barrel is shown.  Here is the smaller alternative they provide in the pack, allowing me to field it as a 9 or even a 6 pounder.

After time away from painting Lace Wars era uniforms, I found these a bit of a struggle - not sure how I managed 50+ of them last challenge!

Notes to self on colours used:
Gun Carriage - GW Blue Grey
Uniform: Blue- Vallejo Prussian Blue with GW Asurmen Blue wash; Red-  GW Scarlet with Army Painter Red Tone wash; Coat d'arms Sunburnt Flesh

In toto thats one field gun (10 points), 5 crew (25 points at 5 points each) and the 50 bonus points for a total of 85.  That takes me to 305 points and past the halfway point!

AHPC entry is here:
http://analogue-hobbies-theme-rounds.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/bfg-from-paulog-fiw-royal-artillery.html

UPDATE: Pleased to announce that after voting my FIW artillery got a Runner Up position! 

Thats two such results during AHPC 8 - WoW!

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/the-votes-are-in-for-bfg-bonus-theme.html

So one month down and my progress rate compared to previous years is up there, but that will drop off shortly as I start some significant travel with work (thus my 500 point target).

AHPC 8 - Week 3 Terrain submission

This week I have laboured to complete the Ukrainian village of Ostrog for the Battlegroup Barbarossa Campaign that Alan and I are enjoying:  3 more small houses (1 damaged) plus a wonderful partly destroyed church.

The fruits of my labours this week

Like the two buildings from last week, these are lovely resin models by Mk IV Miniatures. Wonderfully crisp sculpts with no bubbles or flash, they are a delight to paint.  The battle damage is particularly good - not overly done but still quite evident both inside and out.  The interior detailing is also lovely (all roofs are removable) though took quite a bit of extra time to do justice to it with the brush.

Its been great to finish off the total of six buildings from a standing start i.e. when a mate comes over, tells you your painting table priorities are all wrong, informs you we need a new 15mm village finished ASAP for our games, and points to the buildings in the lead pile looking all forlorn in their packets...  

That said, I bought them at Fall-In in 2015 (where I met Miles) so its good to finally give them the attention they deserve.

Next up are 4 MG bunkers - resin Battlefront models. 3 have Maxim barrels and 1 has MG 34/42. These were fun to paint up.

Overall, the 3 houses and the larger church are three 6inch terrain cubes, totalling 60 points. For the MG bunkers I suggest the same as a 15mm infantry figure, 2 points, for 8 more; a total of 68 points for this submission. Now to get back to some figures!

The village of Ostrog, which I have completed in the last fortnight

Altogether, that inches me 68 points closer to my goal and my total now stands at 220