From MartijnN: Just past the post! (402 points)

Wow, I don't think I have ever been cutting it so close in the Challenge. I have been painting steadily throughout, if not as often or as much as I would have liked, but never seemed to get anything really done. So, I have only managed a few posts this time on my appointed Saturday (sorry, Sander!). However, I really wanted to get as close to my target as I could get, so here are my final contributions:

First, there are two more vehicles for my Bolt Action French army. As I said before, I really like the quirky French camouflage schemes, and these two are no exception. Here is a Panhard armoured car, a Warlord resin and metal model that arrived on my doorstep recently. It's a nice model, and I think the Panhard looks surprisingly modern.

Then, there is a Hotchkiss light tank. It is a 3d printed model, designed by Counlane Models. It is a very detailed model, and it went together nicely; it would have been even better had I used a less flexible resin. However, the end result is quite acceptable.

Then, I printed and painted more of the excellent Colonel Muller figures. Here is another squad of reservists, complete with VLB grenade launcher.

I also painted two LMG teams. I put them on a single base, just so that the loader is always with the gunner, and I like them that way.

Finally, a few regular infantry and an officer. In all, there are 20 28mm figures.

Then, I have painted my first "mass" units of 28mm Napoleonics since the 1990's. They are two 24 man battalions of the 28th French Line Infantry, the first battalion with the eagle and the second with the fanion, No, that is not a white flag, thank you very much. I also painted two mounted officers to go with them. The first battalion are Warlord plastics, the command figures and the mounted officer in metal; the second battalion are the gorgeous Piano Wargames figures, now also available in plastic, but these were 3d printed by myself. I have since switched over to a more flexible resin, which is just as well for the first bayonet has already broken off and disappeared into the unknown, However, the unit still looks good I think.

So there you have it. I'll claim 2 points for the Panhard commander, so as not to go down the 0.5 points route. The tally should be, then:

2x 28mm vehicles @20 = 40

2x 28mm mounted @10 = 20

68.4 x 28mm foot @ 5 = 342

For a total of 402.

Must be the most points I have ever gathered in a single post! And hit my target after all, phew.

See you in the wrap-up!

Martijn

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Martijn, lovely work on this veritable points bomb you have for us! I've very much enjoyed watching the progress on your WWII early French project. The armoured car and Hotchiss look suitably en français in their distinctive ameba camouflage. I also like your soon-to-be-demobbed reservists (and agree about having the squad weapon loader based with the gunner). Finally, your first mass units since the 90s! Well, that is something to celebrate, especially when they look as good as these. Again, I have to agree with you in that those Piano models are very nice (and now available in plastic, no less). The only thing that would make them better would be them in the early Empire uniform, but that's just me. :)

I'm delighted that you hit your target with this last post, Martijn and I hope we enjoy your company for the next Challenge.

- Curt

From KillianF: Medieval Medley plus many extras (185 points)

Good day all,

Between a return to work and a minor illness over the last few weeks I've found it hard to keep up. I have however managed to finish the following:

3 weeks' work

Medievals (Medbury Miniatures)

5 mounted hobilars

2 mounted knights

2 dismounted men at arms

2 archers

I 3d printed the blue and yellow shield on the left, which resulted in a straight layer line 3/4 of the way up. This actually assisted in dividing the shield for painting!

Excellent faces as always from Mr Medbury

The colour scheme is deliberately anarchic, but I tried to pull all the shields into something similar. I will add some heraldry at a later date, and refine the mounted knights a bit more. These guys will see duty mainly in SAGA as Scottish or French, and also Midgard.

Napoleonics

5 Austrian Uhlans

On a whim I decided to smash out some of my 28mm Austrian Napoleonics. The cavalry are my favourite branch of this army, and Uhlans are my favourite cavalry type. Interesting uniforms, interesting history.

So here's 5 Uhlans of the 1st Regiment. 

 

Fellow on the right is missing a plume. Worse things happen in battle.

They are 3d prints by Piano Wargames. Before I print more I'm going to digitally remove the lance and leave a hole for brass wire: the resin lance bend at very slight temperature increases, and hot water straightening only lasts 24 hours or so. I went with a few varieties of horse colouration, my favourite being the piebald on the left. Overall an interesting painting experience: these are my first Napoleonics complete, so figuring out how to achieve each colour was a bit different to my normal, more freestyle, approach.

Afterlife (Anvil Industry)

4 Unity Council Special Operatives & Gabriella Aguilar

I've always had a soft spot for Anvil Industry's Afterlife range, and they've spent the last four years or so updating them as part of their digital range. These guys are essentially stealth suited deniable operatives, up to all sorts of dirty trick.

They were painted by priming black and then drybrushing a couple of layers of grey up to a very light coat of near white. They then received an all-over wash of Payne's Grey ink (possibly my single favourite colour) mixed with AK Interactive matte varnish (as seems to be tradition with all the Anvil Industry models I paint....). The lenses and weapon sights were then painted with titanium white, given a very small black wash at the edges, and finally Tamiya Clear Yellow was applied over the top. Like my zone raiders, it's not very tactical. However it does give them some colour, and ties them into the scheme I've used for the rest of my Unity Council faction, who all likewise have yellow visors.

I painted Gabriella with a deliberately darker skin tone. A paler skin tone would have increased contrast, but I've just painted several dozen models with white skin and I wanted some variety. The base is Vallejo Cavalry Brown, highlighted by mixing the brown with Vallejo Beige-Red and then Titanium Buff. 

Epic Armageddon 

6 Steel Legion Chimera IFVs

I smashed out these for my small Steel Legion army. These are 3d prints available online for free (Mk Hand Industry). For absolutely no good reason I magnetised the turrets. Epic is, in my opinion, the correct scale for Warhammer 40k: it actually gives a sense of scale. I tried to add a camo pattern by spraying tan over the brown basecoat through medical gauze. It didn't quite work as planned unfortunately, probably because the spray cans are too high pressured. Still, the tan colour works, so I'm rolling with it. They will get based at some point, to match the Steel Legion infantry currently being painted.

Spaceships

And lastly, I painted two space ships. 

 

They are more 3d prints, from a designer called Grand Fleet Admiral, that have been hanging around on my desk for about 2 years. These will likely see use in the second edition of A Billion Suns. The schemes have been kept simple, so they were pretty quick to paint. My airbrush is out of commission at the moment, so I used a dry brush followed by white ink to paint the engines. Quite a nice and simple project to clear some models off the desk. I have no idea what the claim points wise. Probably 2 points a piece?

Points

7x 28mm Medieval Cavalry: 70

4x 28mm Medieval Infantry: 20

5x 28mm Austrian Napolenic Cavalry: 50

5x 28mm Afterlife Infantry: 25

6x 6mm (technically 8mm) vehicles: 12

2x small scale spaceships: 4

Total: 181

Squirrel points: +3

Squirrel Total: 10

(Zona Scavengers, 10mm Black Orcs, 10mm Skeletons, 28mm Goths, 28mm Elves, Dwarves and Orcs, 28mm medievals, 28mm Austrian Napoleonics, 28mm Afterlife)

Thanks for reading!

Killian 

From DaveD . Hey Killian , you are early today ! Good job . It was good to catch you on the chat this week . This is a great mix of things .I am always a fan of any lancers , te colours on Austrian ones are cool. Definitely worth replacing the lances with a metal version . think the space ships are my personal favourite . 185 it is with a little spaceship bonus.

Welcome to the First Theme Round: 'Empire' / From Curt: Simon Bolivar - Liberator of Venezuela

I'm happy to announce that the gallery is up for our first theme round of Challenge XVI: 'Empire'. Here you will find all things imperial from 40K to Assyrians, Star Wars to the Ottomans. We have 37 entries for the theme which can be viewed in the 'Bonus Themes' section of the blog (click on the button in the navigation bar above, or simply here).

So, fetch your beverage of choice and settle in to enjoy the Imperial entries from our Challengers! Our marvellous Antipodean friend, Millsy, will be installing a voting poll so you can choose your top three entires, so look out for that.

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As to myself I wasn't planning on submitting for this theme round, but current events made me reconsider.

Here is my rendition of Simon Bolivar, famous Venezuelan military officer and master statesman, who during the Napoleonic period led Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela to independence from under the rule of the Spanish Empire. 

Born as a South American Spaniard, Bolivar was educated in Europe and lived much of his early life in Spain. It was during this period of the Enlightenment that he vowed to help South America break from Spain and become fully independent. He returned to Venezuela and over the rest of his life laboured and fought to achieve this goal. In the south and central American region Bolivar is still viewed with great reverence, and the memory of his deeds are being invoked and appraised as another imperial power intrudes into that part of the world. What strange times we live in.

Not surprisingly there's not much to be found for Simon Bolivar figures in the market, but I was not to be deterred! As he is depicted in portraits as being uniformed very similarly to many contemporary Napoleonic officers, I decided to see if I could find a figure that, squinting with one eye, could work. 

After a bit of looking I decided to go with this figure from Piano Wargames (thanks Martijn) as he has the broad closed lapels on his uniform coat and the distinctive swept back hair often seen in paintings of Bolivar. Really well designed miniature with lots of character and detail. I'd highly recommend Piano as another option for Napoleonic figures.

Thanks for looking and please enjoy the gallery for 'Empire' (and remember to vote for your favourites!).

- Curt

From MartijnN: Württembergers, Saracens and Lannisters (140 points)

I have been far less productive than I would have liked this Challenge. However, I have not been completely idle. I finally had the opportunity to finish some models and, equally importantly, take some photographs.

First up are some Saracen infantry. These are from a Saga Warband set from Gripping Beast. They are metal, and the only infantry unit in the warband. I have had these for ages, and finally prepped them for this Challenge.

They came out okay, although they will not win any prizes. I used Quickshade Darktone on them, and as a result they are a bit... well, dark. But they will do. I will probably give them another coat of varnish when the weather improves, because the matt varnish I used (AK ultra matt) is very matt indeed (duh), and for these troops I am not too fond of that. Most of the shields are LBM transfers, but I didn't have enough of those so I painted some by hand. I am sure you won't be able to tell the difference. The rest of the warband are all cavalry, I will try to finish some of those before the end of the Challenge.

Next, the final company of my Württemberg infantry regiment for Sharp Practice. I have put off painting these for a long time, and I am glad they are done. Actually, they are rather a joy to paint. I mostly used contrast paints, like on their comrades done earlier. They are Piano Wargames miniatures that I 3d printed myself, and they are lovely sculpts. I think I have overcured them though, for they are rather brittle. And of course, when I took one of the NCOs off off the painting handle when it was completely finished, I broke off the bayonet...  It went flying through the room and for the life of me I could not find it. By now, it will have vanished into the vacuum cleaner I presume. I may try to replace it with another bayonet, but that is a very fiddly process. At least it broke off rather cleanly, so with a little imagination he is now simply carrying his musket without the bayonet. But a frustrating experience it was!

Finally, I have a regiment of Lannister Guardsmen from the A Song of Ice and Fire starter set. These are rather nice figures. I kept the uniforms "traditional", with lots of red and gold. I spent a little more time on these, using coloured washes and some drybrushing and minor highlighting over mostly contrast paints again, and I am fairly happy with these. 

I have prepared more ASOIAF figures, most of the remainder of the starter set, so I hope to get some of those done as well. We'll see how it goes.

So there we are. Scoring is simple:

28x 28mm foot @5 = 140 points

And 3 squirrels, if I remember to fill out the form!

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Martijn you may have been taking your time but you've done a fabulous job on all three of these sets. Your Saracens look the business (and who doesn't love good old metal minis) - I especially appreciate your freehand work on the shields. I'm often lazy and resort to decals so I applaud your great job! The Wurttembergers are very fine as well and I'm sure a welcome addition to your Sharpe Practice force. The fellow who is sans bayonette is simply a little slow in getting his extracted from his rusted scabbard, nothing to note here, carry on! :) Finally, those nasty Lannisters look wonderfully ostentatious in their red and gold livery. The extra time you put into them really has paid off I think. Very well done my friend!

- Curt & Huck

From MartijnN: Württemberg Jäger and foot artillery (60 points)

Now I seem have painted myself into a corner here. From my present location, Books, I can only go to the Director's Chair (not yet), or to either Black & White or Western, both locations I have already visited. And thanks to me foolishly spending my last female figure on a totally unnecessary ride from High Adventure to Western I have no fee ready to pay for Sarah's limousine. So the only thing to do is trace back my steps to Western and start earning come cash for my next destination, I guess... 

Still I have been painting and today I have some more Napoleonic Württembergers. Yup, more Germans.These are again the fantastic Piano Wargames miniatures, printed on my 3D printer. There are six Jäger and a foot artillery howitzer. I played my first Sharp Practice game a few weeks ago, using a friend's figures, and it was great fun. Six skirmishers make up a unit in Sharp Practice, and the howitzer will also come in handy. The figures were a joy to paint and I am quite happy with them. Some more infantry and a cavalry regiment and I'm all set to field my own force.

As I have submitted Württembergers before I cannot claim a squirrel; also, as I am not visiting a new studio there is no map.

Points:

10 28mm @ 5 points = 50 points

1 28mm artillery piece @ 10 points = 10 points

Total: 60 points

My understanding of the Studio is that you can pass back through an already visited location without having to paint anything, (See point 5 here) so you can access most of the studio lots except for 1980's and Arthouse. That said, these Württembergers look great and you are making some real progress on your Sharp Practice force.