From MartinN: Fallschirmjäger and Firefly (65 pts.)

Another challenge is drawing to an untimely close and once again I come up short a few points. While I had a good start I rapidly lost steam and only were able to pick up speed again those last few days. I'm pretty certain that a lot of you know the feeling only too well. But the ride was a lot of fun and once again I enjoyed myself immensely. I wasn't as active on here as I'd have liked, but I enjoyed watching the daily stream of gorgeously painted miniatures.

First off for my last entry this year is a 20mm 3D printed Sherman Firefly by Arvernes Miniatures. Having painted two regular 75mm Shermans for my Canadians previously I felt the urgent need to add a Firefly for that little bit of extra punch. The stowage is mostly from AB Figures as is the tank commander.

This is then followed by a Squad of 20mm Fallschirmjäger, also from AB Figures. They're a mix of regular Heer figures, mainly with Zeltbahn, and Fallschirmjäger with head swaps as I was aiming for a very late war feel. So these should be more suitable for those battles following the German defeat in Normandy. A time when the Fallschirmjäger were a mere shadow of their former strength. I don't like the hype that surrounds some of the supposedly 'elite' German units and having this hodge podge of grizzled veterans and raw recruits is just my thing.

For points we have one 20mm tank clocking in at 15 points, a half figure tank commander for 2 points and 12 Fallschirmjäger of which two are prone figures for another 44 points. All this should give me 71 65 points.

A huge thank you for goes out to my good friends Sarah, Curt and Greg as well as all the other minions. 

***

Nick I am confident I speak for all Challenge participants when I tell you it has been an absolute treat to have you along for the ride once again. Your brushwork sets the bar, as ever, and combined with top-shelf photography, your entries are a real treat for all of us. I think many Challengers will relates to the ebbs and flows of interest and momentum when it comes to painting all of these miniatures - and many of us will come up short in the face of our targets (certainly I will!). 

But what a treat is has been! And you close out with some absolutely stunning brushwork. Nothing makes me bonkers like camouflage patterns of late WW2 German units, and you have made it look stupendous here, and the blend of the zeltbahns and sky-blue uniforms, of the veterans the rookies, it is all just spot-on and makes we want to get back to painting some WW2 myself!

But my favourite here is the Firefly! When it comes to WW2 tanks, I'm always struck by how dreary so many of the western allied designs were. Even the ones with cool names were disappointing to see. But NOT the Firefly! One of the best silhouettes of the war (and only improved once the IDF started cracking out I-Shermans later on) and you've done it absolute justice here. Even the weird colour pattern at the bottom of the barrel - excellent!

As for your points, the magical spreadsheet tells me this is all worth 65 points - so I'm going to listen to the spreadsheet. Great Challenge Nick, it has been a treat to "minion" your work!

GregB

From MartinN: 20mm StuG III and Opel Blitz (62 points)

This submission has been simmering for a while, but I had a hard time getting started on the weathering.  I quite like the look of the vehicles once finished, but getting there is always a little tedious in my opinion. I'd rather paint some foot sloggers instead. Anyway, here's the latest reinforcements for my German motor pool.

First of a 3D printed StuG III Ausf. F/8 from Night Sky Miniatures with an AB Figures commander. While I was a bit of an early adopter when it comes to resin printing, I never got comfortable with the process. It's smelly, dirty and needs a lot of effort to get right. In short I can stand it even less than weathering the final product. And probably that's the only reason I'm not drowning in unpainted prints and I'd call that a clear bonus. I turn on the bloody machine once or twice a year and that has to suffice.

Anyway, there are certainly upsides to the technology. For one there's lots of niche stuff out there that'd be hard to get commercially and I can scale to any scale I like. So while the file was scaled to fit 28mm originally it was quickly converted to go with my 20mm collection. Especially helpful as I feel that there's less 1/72 stuff available than it used to and if it's available it's just as expensive as 28mm.

Next is a trio of 20mm PSC German trucks. The vehicles are a little too basic for my liking, but went together easily. For a little more variety I printed a box body to go with one of them. Can't remember the sculptor though, I'm afraid.

So, 4 vehicles in 20mm as well as a half figure should give me another 62 points towards my total.

Still quite some way to go to 300pts, so we'll see how much I can squeeze in over those last few weeks.

***

Always such incredible work Nick! I am out of superlatives on the painting, beyond just noting that it meets your usual incredible standard of brushwork and weathering. I love the foliage on the vehicles, speaking very much to the whole "let's hope they think it's just some bushes moving along" amid skies full of Allied fighter-bombers. 

I also love the off-colour look of the barrel on the StuG's 75mm gun. I often don't think of how often barrels on guns like that need to be replaced, and the presence of a barrel which doesn't match the rest of the paint speaks to the under-pressure nature of the German forces late in the war. 

62 brilliant points for you!

GregB

From GrahameH - More 15mm Cold War (the Dutch) and other Stuff. (676 Points)

 Yet another Cold War Battlegroup (BG). This time the Dutch. These are mostly from Army Armies which is now called Army Bits, but I don't think the Dutch are available anymore. Shame because they are very nice models. Again the infantry has already been painted so this post just contains the vehicles. 

The Dutch 

The HQ and Infantry Coys Vehicles YPR765s (45pts)

Artillery Battery 2 X M109s and a Landrover FO (3 crew) (30Pts)

Recce Plt - YP-408 (8 pts)

Support Coy - 2 X YP-408 with TOWs and 120mm Mortar (4 Crew) I forgot to add the YPR Tow for the mortar in this photo but you can see it in the back of the group picture (36 pts)

AA Platoon - Gapard (8pts)

Tank Company - 3 Leopard 1s (24pts) 

Dutch Total = 151 pts 

So in my first post I mention I was rebasing and playing around with my Italian Wars and Napoleonic Poles. However, I have decided they needed adding to (an army is never completed)

Italian Horse for the Italian Wars

12 Venetian Horse (Essex Miniatures) - 48pts

12 Italian Horse (Essex) 48 pts 

As a break from all the green I have been painting I thought I'd paint some Skaven. Well 40 of them. 

Skaven = 200 Pts 

Finally I have finished my Napoleonic Poles (well for the present) All figures are AB

Polish Horse Battery 

Polish Horse Battery Limber 

Battery Total - 4 Cannon, 15 crew and 6 horses. (58pts)

And Some Uhlans

3rd Polish Uhlans (24 Cavalry) (96pts)

 7th Polish Uhlans (24 Cavalry) (96pts)

And that's it. I have caught up with all my outstanding uploads so I can now carry on painting Cold War Battlegroups.

Grand Total 

14 vehicles = 112

172 (15mm) Figures = 344

5 Artillery pieces = 20

40 X 28mm Figures = 200

Grand Total = 676

 

***

 

Nothing like a points bomb to start the morning here in North America.  It's cool to see some Cold-War-era Dutch troops, and I love the look of those modified Leopard MBTs. Commuting to work would be so much easier if I could get one of those...

 

GregB

From GrahameH: Another 15mm Mix

 I am still focusing on getting some armies finished. So some more 15mm Midianites, Galatians, Prussian Napoleonic Cavalry and Early Republican Romans.

15mm Midianites (Essex Figures)

I can honestly say I am a bit fed up painting camels, but these, apart from some to be used with the baggage, are the last of them. Same as last time 16 double crew camels. 

                             

I felt that natural colours on the saddle cloths were a bit dull so I painted them brighter colours, so they would stand out more. However, not sure that was a good idea, so I painted the generals cloths in duller colours which now seems better. Oh well, live and learn, and they aren't too bad.

Next the General, two Sub-General (spot the old DBM players) and three camels on their own. I have started painting figures that are left in the packs once the army is completed. They can act as Heros in Too the Strongest rules or just extra baggage, but more importantly I don't want loads of unpainted figures hanging around and I can't bring my self to throw them away.

Points wise (see if I can get it right this time)

2 X Camel units of 16 camels (each camel = 3 figures) 96 X 2 = 192 pts 

The General (9 Figures) = 18 pts 

Sub Generals (10 Figures) = 20 

The "Extras" (6 Figures) = 12 Points 

Total = 242 points 

The Early Republican Romans 

I have now finished this army apart from the camp, which I will probably do after the challenge has finish. For some reason I think I am wasting time painting terrain when I could be painting figures!!

Three units of Triarii (Chariot Miniatures). Each unit is made up of 16 figures, rather than my usual 24, as they tended to operation in smaller units. I painted my Early Imperial Army red so, for a change, I painted this army white. 

Then finally some Italian Allied Cavalry (12 cavalry) made by Essex Miniatures. These figures come in the same poses, so I turned their heads at different angles just to try and make the figures look different. Many a figure has been decapitated by turning them too far. 

Another army finished (well apart from the Marching Fort). 

Triarii = Each unit 16 Figures (32 points) - 3 units = 96 pts.

Allied Cavalry = 12 Cavalry = 48 pts

Total = 141

Galatians

A mentioned before I was going to sell this army, as I didn't really take to the figures, but I hate parting with figures, but I already had an Ancient Briton Army. So I thought I could use these as a small Galatian army, which I think is what Museum Miniatures call them. I read somewhere that the units on a table should never be more than the tables length multiplied by the tables width. I have a 6 X 4 table, therefore the total units on the table should be 24. 12 units per army, plus perhaps some skirmishers. So I thought I give this a try, but for some reason my armies seem to become large than this. No idea why.

The Last of the Galatian are some Skirmishers (3 to a base, 15 bases)

The General and Extras (13 Figures)

Some Galatian Cavalry (Essex Miniatures - I am a bit of an Essex Fan-Boy) 16 Cavalry

And finally three Scythed Chariots. 

Apparently Galatians used these, although I'm not sure they has as many as I have painted? Added the reins too. It would seem I hate doing reins as much as I hate painting camels.

Skirmisher (15 bases each of 3 figures = 45 figures) 90 pts 

General etc (13 Figures) = 26 pts 

Cavalry (16 Cavalry = 32 Figures) = 64 Pts 

Scythed Chariots (3 made up of 5 Figures and the Chariot - 10pts for the Crew & Horses, 5 for the chariot) T= 45 pts

Total = 225 pts 

Napoleonic Prussian Cavalry (AB Figures)

My treat for painting the above, painting some more Napoleonics 😊

This is the the 6th Hussar Regiment (2nd Silesia). Some Prussians seemed to have two names just to confuse ME. (32 Cavalry). This regiment was painted as it was Green, and not BLUE, having got bored painting  a load of blue on Prussian Infantry prior to the challenge). You can obviously see now I get bored very easily. 

The 5th (Pomeranian) Hussars (back to Blue) (32 Cavalry)

64 Cavalry = 256pts 

And that is it until next Time.

Total 

Midianites = 242 

Roman = 141 

Galatian = 225

Napoleonic Prussians = 256

Grand Total = 837 pts 

Minion Miles: Now this is a post worthy of exclamation! 15mm Nappys FTW!  I came up with a slightly different total 846 points but thats your fault because I had to add up all the infantry and cav to get it in the spreadsheet