From Mike W - My last post of the Challenge or Odds & ends on my Workbench (45 Points)

Well this is my last post for this challenge, as ever it had been fun and as the name implies - challenging!

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone involved in running the challenge, great work! And let's all join the two wee guys below and raise a glass to all our beloved minions...

As the title of this post suggests  I have literally looked to clear all those stray items on my workbench that have stalled and hit a backwater in the last few months.

First off are two Warlord Games ECW Highlanders who along with their compatriots are being readied for a potential future game. These two seemed to have been waylaid at the pub and were missed when I completed their friends last summer.

Two Highlanders celebrating the end of this year's challenge!

Although the figures give a sense of wearing tartan, actually bottled out trying to pait full tartan on these guys. instaed after doing a base colour of green or blue, I used marker pens to draw lines in a chequered pattern over the base colour. I tried to make the lines follow the flow of eth cloth but didn't worry too much about making them too acurate.

A couple of spots in contrasting colors before applying a varnish - the imporatnat thing here being it was an oil based varnish as the markers were water soluable and using water based varnish literally wipes teh lines out! Once the varnish was dry (overnight) I was then able to apply Army Painter washes & Inks to add shading to the cloth and it turned a dodgey child like tartan into something that is in my opinion tabletop passable!

The reverse view

Below is a test figure I did based upon a sprue of figures on the front of a magazine some time ago, I forget now if it was a Perrys or a Wargames Atlantic product....

Later War MP34 infantryman

Finally painted and based!

Another view

At my Wargames Club we are gearing up for a campaign set in the Marion Wars (Mary Queen of Scots) period of Scottish history. The crossbowman below us another figure that got separated and lost from his parent unit on my workbench...

.... yes, my workbench can get quite chaoticat times and usually only gets sorted and cleaned when my wife puts her foot down!

Completed Crossboman

He could be on either side of teh conflict

These Zombicide Invader Survivors have finally been completed, I started these when I was doing my Xenos earlier in the challenge.

Five more Zombicide Survivors

For some reason, I always struggle with doing the survivor figures in these post Apocalyptic games - the monsters always seem more fun to paint. That said I'm almost decided to use North Star figures to provide the Survivors for scenarios I put on as I will develop stats cards for them to be Mining Corporation Marines, providing security for the Corporations mining sites - I like the figures better and I find them more fun to paint!

In case you wondered, Commander Amadi in the Yellow Power Suit
and Madame Singleton to his right

Left to Right: Cloud, Emma & Val

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So there it is  another year and another challenge. Until next year  happy painting everyone!

POINTS

5 x 28mm Zombicide Invader Survivors @ 5Pts ea                25 Points

2 x 28mm Highland DRinkers @ 5Pts ea                                10 Points

1 x 28mm German WW2 Infantryman                                      5 Points

1 x 28mm Border Riever Crossbowman                                   5 Points

TOTAL                                                                                       45 Points

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Great work for your final volley, Mike! Though I like all of these minis, I must say the two Jocks with their ale are my favourites (but being a Campbell, I'm a bit biased). 

Thanks for joining us this year, Mike, and I look forward to having you with us for the next Challenge!

- Curt

From SylvainR: 1/300 German Boats (96 points)

 

Another flotilla for Cruel Seas, to buff up the German Kriegsmarine. This will be my last entry of the Challenge.

 

First, a close-up on three of the five S-100 from the first picture, in simple basic light grey.

 

Two R-boats (Räumboote). Wiki says 424 were built and they were originally conceived as minesweepers but performed a wide range of duties throughout the war. They look stocky compared to the streamlined E-boats. They were fitted with directional propellers so, in Cruel Seas, they get an additional opportunity to turn at the beginning of their activation. 

 

A Vorpostenboot, also known as "flakship" or "VP-boat". It is very well armed with an 88mm and lots of 20mm guns. A good option to escort slow convoys and an excellent target for torpedoes.

An M-class minesweeper.  I've added some crew on the deck as I find it makes the miniature feel like a little diorama. I might have smeared too much rust on this model. Oh well. At least, it will make a good target for torpedoes.

So far, I have less than 10 games of Cruel Seas under my belt, and I feel that the most fun and satisfying part is to see your "carefully" launched torpedoes hit a target and detonate (you get to roll 16d6 for damage!) with a spectacular plume of water. However, in the game, tiny, small and even medium boats are immune to torpedoes because of their shallow draft, so to enjoy hitting something with torpedoes, you need to have large and huge ships in your collection. I find large models are lots of work to put together and paint but hey, you need to provide something for your friends to shoot at!

I am curious to hear other Challengers' experience with playing Cruel Seas.
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Points claimed: 
 
In past submissions, the Snowlord awarded 8 points to small and medium ships, and 20 points to large ones, plus points for the crew, but I will not claim points for the crew; I'm already over my goal of 1000 points.

7x 15mm vehicle @ 8 points = 56 points

2x 28mm vehicles @ 20 points = 40 points 

TOTAL: 96 points

Thanks for reading!

 
Very nice ships here Sylvain! These Cruel Seas models look great, glad you're having fun playing the game. I really like the dazzle camo on the Vorpostenboot. The basing is great too, I love the sea colour and how you've done the wakes.

Ninety-six for you my friend!

Dallas

 

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 SylvainR: Last of the 6mm Late War German (52 points)

I was afflicted with an eye infection last week and realized how important perception of depth is when painting miniatures. I had to stop production, but was able to finish these just before one of my eyes shut for a few days (now I'm fine). So I don't have any D&D models completed this week but I have the last elements of my 6mm late war German army: ten battalion HQs (BHQ). 

Each BHQ is basically a little diorama and the officer is given a WW2 historical name. Not famous names, except maybe "Rundstedt".

On the left, the BHQ for the motorized panzergrenadier battalion, on the right, the BHQ of the armored panzergrenadier battalion. I found a remnant of a railroad in my spare parts and it does add a nice point of interest to the mini-dioramas.

BHQs for the Pz.IV battalion and Panther battalion. For the latter, the vehicle is actually an observation Panther with a fake wooden gun. For these two dioramas, I tried to simulate the "bocage" of Normandy with thick and bushy hedgerows.

BHQs for the Puma reconnaissance battalion and the Sd.Kfz.251 reconnaissance battalion. The collection I inherited had enough reconnaissance vehicles for 3 divisions. That will give me options, I guess...

 

BHQs for the Luchs (only 100 built) / Aufklärungspanzer 38 (only 70 built) reconnaissance battalion and the Tiger I battalion. For the huge Tigers, the two of them could only fit at an angle on the base, offering very limited "posability" for these beasts.

 

HQs for divisional support. The scenery on Vietinghoff's base came out nicely. I just realized while taking the picture that the vehicles are driving on the left side of the road. I also realized that the command truck is an AEC Mammoth captured from the British in the desert. Oh well... That would explain driving on the left side... I might replace the truck for something more "German" later. For Rundstedt, I went for a less crowded base, with only two small vehicles, which helps emphasize the importance of the Marshall in the middle front.

Above, a picture of all the elements completed for my late war German army that I worked on between October and December. This army is now officially finished! Yeah!

 

I can now mark off another army as done. So far I was able to maintain a production pace of 2 armies per year. Only 8 more years to go! :-)

Points claimed: 

23x 6mm vehicles at 2 points each = 46 points (I'm not counting the overthrown wagon)

12x 6mm foot infantry at 1/2 points each = 6 points (I've included the drivers of the Kubelwagens and officers on half-tracks)

Total = 52 points

Thanks for reading! 

 What the last of the Late War Germans.  Are you mister Completeness?  Do you have every Tiger II ever made?  Surely there must be something else to paint.  

 

All teasing aside once gain a fantastic set of mini dioramas.  Having seen your inflamed eye glued shut on Friday night, I am amazed that you got these finished.

 

 

 

From SylvainR: 28mm Goblins and 6mm tanks (183 points)

This week, instead of creating a post for my WW2-6mm project and a separate one for my D&D project, I decided to combined them both. I hope this will please my Tuesday minion :-). 

Let's start with a bunch of goblins. If you look closely at the group picture, you will notice that there are two styles of models, some "old school" and some "dynamic" models, both designated as "goblins" on the Reaper web site. Because they look so different, I decided to make them into two "tribes": a gray tribe and the blue tribe.
 

 

There are only three different poses of "old school" goblins with four models each for a total of twelve. The "dynamic" goblins come in 10 different poses and it includes a female goblin. They are definitely my favorite and I love their mischievous look. Some are armed with lit torches... What could they possibly do with those...

 

 

The last three goblins are the female, the shaman and the leader.

In the 6mm department, I completed twenty Light Tank Mk. VI for the British Expeditionary Force. I ordered these models on Black Friday (November 28, 2025) and they just got home two weeks ago, after waiting for over 7 weeks. I've seen worse. Finally, my BEF cruiser tanks squadrons will be complete.

I also finished fourteen Tiger I tanks. I opted for a two tone pattern. This monster of a model (for 6mm) barely fits on the base. For larger vehicles, like the Tiger II, Jagdpanther and Jagdtiger, I had to use bases twice bigger. I put on them decals indicating their  company, their platoon and their position in the platoon. These are the last tanks I had to paint for my late war German army.

  

I just wanted to show in the picture above the difference in size between the two tanks in this week's tray. Note that I try to differentiate the armies by varying the colors on the bases. For Axis armies I use darker flock. It does help distinguish enemy units on the table.

Above, a scenario I played lately: the Dunkirk Evacuation. The British commander has to designate part of his force to be evacuated, so tanks and truck lined up on the beach are actually "representing" their crew. The rest of the forces are then used to delay the German advance as long as possible. Spitfires are trying to fend off the Stukas dive bombing the ships.

 

Points claimed: 

23x 28mm infantry at 5 points each = 115 points

34x 6mm vehicles at 2 points each = 68 points

Total = 183 points

Thanks for reading!

 Well I guess I can let you get away with one post this week....I really like those Goblins, but the more dynamic ones are my favourites.  Are you sure that those aren't WizKids, I am pretty sure that I've painted some WK goblins that had the same look.

You've really gone the full gamut of Mark VI tanks, from tiny Vickers to huge Tigers.  Great basing as always and I got a chuckle out of the side by side size comparison.  the Dunkirk game looks aces, but obviously you need some dismounted AFV and truck crews added to your collection.