From StuartL - Finishing at the Start - 75 Points

Hi all,

Despite a lot of real life stuff going on, I was able to finish off some minis just in time. Both of the batches below represent new projects for me, hence the title of the post.

Many years ago, I got into Napoleonics with some friends at my local gaming group. I bought a few brigades of Waterloo era British, while those around me collected French, Russians, Austrians and Prussians, though mainly for the slightly earlier period. Unfortunately, all of my opponents moved away or changed hobbies completely. This left me with a bit of a problem. Having only one force meant that they would never see the table. So, I figured that I would have to start collecting a second army. While I was tempted to get a Waterloo era French force, I decided to go for the earlier uniforms. I got a couple of boxes of Perrys 1807-14 French for Christmas, but I haven't had time to start building them yet. I did want to do something for the challenge, so I had a friend print me some artillery.

    These are some French Foot Artillery from Battlecat Miniatures on MyMiniFactory. They were fairly easy to paint up and the details were nice and sharp. The gun limbers have very deep grain on the wood, which doesn't look so realistic up close, but at tabletop level it should be fine.

    I did have some trouble getting all of the minis onto the bases I had, especially the guy adjusting the wheel position. Some parts of the figure are sticking out over the edge of the base.

    
    These are really nice minis and I am thinking to have my friend print a few more for me. I have a couple of French generals printed as well, but sadly time was not on my side. 

    The second new force is more Space Marines. I have way too many Space Marine armies, (cough, 14 different armies including this one), I think I may have a problem. My armies come in two types, Horus Heresy armies and Badab War armies. These are both primarily Marine Vs. Marine conflicts, which explains why I have so many. I have dabbled with the new Primaris figures, but sold them on as they weren't really my thing.

    These five minis represent half of an assault squad for the Star Phantoms Chapter for the Badab War. Painting this much white was not as much fun as you might expect. 

    The Star Phantoms' background hints that they are an offshoot of the Dark Angels Legion, from the Dreadwing formation, which uses the same iconography. Their preferred tactical doctrines are 'Scorched Earth' and 'War Crimes'. They lean heavily into the 40K skull motif too.

     I have a bunch more models for this force lined up, so hopefully there will be more to come in the next challenge.

    Well, that is about all from me for this year. So, this final group should score me:

2x artillery pieces = 20 Points

6x French gun crews = 30 Points

5x Space Marines = 25 Points

    That should add 75 Points to my tally, taking me well past my target number, though not as high as previous years. 

    This lot get me two last Squirrels and the Star Phantoms have 32 Skulls between them.

  My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 271 (+32)
BSRoD - 17 (+0)
Squirrels - 20 (+2) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French, Daemons of Khorne, Modern Vehicles, Turnip28, Space Wolves, Free French, Arabs, Snake Folks, French Napoleonics, Star Phantoms.

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I know you've been very busy as of late so it's nice to see you back for a final volley, Stuart. 

The Star Phantoms are very nice in their stark white livery and close combat weaponry. That being said, the stars of this post (at least for me) are the French artillery. I've seen several examples of Battle Cat figures during this year's Challenge and they look very nice (I think the deep woodgrain is a nice feature as it helps with painting). You've done a great job on this small battery and I look forward to seeing more from this project next Challenge! 

Until then have a great rest of the year!

- Curt

From MikeF - Tyrant’s Legion Tanks and Turrets - 3 x 28mm Vehicles and 2 small turrets - 68 Points

After completing a few infantry units for the Tyrant's Legion, I decided it was time to add some armoured support. The TL army list has a few interesting options unavailable to normal guard units in 5th edition. These include twin-linked lascannon turrets for the Leman Russ tanks and Thunderer Siege Tanks equipped with a demolisher tank. I sourced the lascannon tanks from Kromlech which are designed specifically with the classic Leman Russ tank for 40k. The thunderer is a conversion using the 30k Leman Russ tank designed for the Solar Auxilia and a kit from Tiny Panzer Studios (through Etsy) which adds the hull mount with gun and top plate to hide the turret ring. It's a very nice 3d printed part that required very minor cutting and sanding to make it fit properly. The conversion kit does NOT fit the classic Leman Russ model however and is designed specifically for the Horus Heresy version.

I also painted up two chimera turrets to swap out the ones for my Steel Legion Imperial Guard. I included a photo of the two chimera's for display purposes only and only the turrets were painted during this challenge. I went with 4 points for each turret, but I'll accept Peter's final judgement on what he feels the turrets are worth. 

The vehicles use the same grey formula, but they're a little busier with decals and markings than the Tyrant's Legion. I may pick up some new transports in the future, but they should work for now.

That's 3 x 28mm vehicles for 60 points and 2 x 28mm vehicle turrets for (maybe) 8 points = 68 points total.

I think I'll take a break from the Tyrant's Legion for now.

Thanks for visiting!

Those are great looking tanks Mike, love the 1918-1940 look to these clunkers.  Great blue too.    

From MikeF - 21 x 28mm Tyrant’s Legion Auxilia - 105 points

 I'm still rolling with the grunts for the Tyrant's Legion! The majority of the soldiers in the Tyrant's Legion were poorly trained and equipped conscripts conditioned to die selflessly for Lord Huron. In the rules, they have the worst armour save available and combat stats available. I again went outside of normal GW offerings and picked up a 20 man squad from the Mad Robot Miniatures "Grognard" selection. These are heavily modeled after the original Rogue Trader guardsmen and they work perfectly as Legion Auxilia. Their armour barely covers their vital organs, they have absolutely no equipment, packs or ammo pouches and even their lasgun looks like a glorified flashlight. I imagine the group of them crowding around a single USB port waiting their turn to charge them. Mad Robot Miniatures are very modular with separate legs, torso, arms and heads. They have a stunning variety of options, including a few that some old school guard players with instantly recognize. They are also not cheap. Quality is very good and there was very little flash to clean up. They're made of resin, so hot water treatment will quickly straighten out any rifle barrels that come bent.

I painted them with the standard light grey uniforms, dark grey armour and blue weapons. As I start putting them on the shelf with the other units, it's really starting to come together as an army. I'm hoping to have a few tanks painted up for next week and maybe some actual Astral Claws marines painted before the end of the challenge.

The squad leader's torso is actually from Anvil Industry

I thought a view from the back would be good, as I think its the side the enemy will most often see.

That's 21 x 28mm miniatures for 105 points.

Thanks for visiting!

Great looking miniatures Mike.  Love the detailing on your officer and the simple but effective basing.  It maybe you who gets to watch their backs as they stride across the table to victory.

From MikeF - 20x Tyrant’s Legion Armsmen - 20x 28mm - 100 points

 My first post was for the Empire theme and was the command squad for my Tyrant's Legion army. My next entry are 2 squads of Armsmen. Armsmen are basically equivalent to Imperial Guard and are armed in a similar manner. For the armsmen I used the excellent Raumjager infantry from Wargames Atlantic. To give them a little 40k treatment, I replaced the heads with some Rogue Trader inspired heads from Mad Robot Miniatures. Wargames Atlantic is definitely the most cost effective way to add lots of infantry. For $55 CAN, You get 24 models in a box which was enough for the command squad and 2 squads. 

Squad with flamer and missile launcher. The Sgt has a shotgun and knife from the genestealers cultist kit.

Squad with heavy stubber and missile launcher. The Sgt is pointing and holding a lasgun.

20 x 28mm miniatures for 100 points.

Thanks for visiting!

Fine looking squads here Mike, even if I am totally out to sea as what these are!  (I am basically hard of 40K-ing, although I own a few Space Orcs so that I can wreak havoc on our group's rare games).  I appreciate the kit bashing that you've done and there's some nice subtle shading in the drab uniforms and webbing.  I also love the missiles lying around on the ground, and the grim basing ground work style that you've come with.