From HerrRobert: Quantity has a quality all its own (20 points)

The commander folded the paper with stiff fingers, aware that its phrasing allowed no appeal to weather, fuel, or enemy strength. Ahead, the forest line burned with intermittent muzzle flashes, and somewhere beyond it German guns waited patiently. The BA-20’s engine coughed into life, its tires biting into frozen mud. As the vehicle lurched forward, the commander understood that, not victory, not survival, but obedience, absolute and unquestioned is what mattered in the brutal winter of the Russian front.

My first entry for the 16th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is a Soviet BA-20 armored car. It's a roughly 1/50 3D print I sourced off of ebay for a 1941 Chain of Command campaign several years ago. It sat in the primed pile of shame for years until The Cull warning approached, and I needed some quick points. So I picked it up, dusted it off, and got to work.

You can see a lot of the lines and layers of the 3d print in both the original and the photos, but I honestly think that works for Soviet vehicles in WW2.

For those of you wondering what a BA-20 is, Wikipedia provides a pretty decent summary, and several images of surviving BA-20s in various museums to use as inspiration. It's basically a Russian copy of a Ford truck, given a bit of armor and a 7.62mm machine gun. Since it was used in the Spanish Civil War, the Khalkin Gol incident in Mongolia, the Soviet invasion of Poland, the Winter War with Finland, and the summer and winter fighting of 1941/1942 against the Germans, I wanted a pretty universal color scheme for maximum versatility. Fortunately, I found a few good examples in the Wikipedia article to copy:

I think I did a reasonable job approximating the plain green:

Paint choices were pretty simple. Prime with Vallejo Russian Green, paint over the primer with Vallejo Russian Uniform, wash with Army Painter Quickshade Military Green and paint the tires. I used craft paints for those, first Mondo Llama Fresh Pavement (available from Target), and then dry brushed with Apple Barrel Pavement. The goal was to get as close to the worn look of rubber tires in actual service.

Comparing to real world examples - not too bad!

It was reasonably simple to put together. The only difficult part was getting the axels to fit into the chassis, since the slots to glue them in were narrower than the axel pieces. Fortunately, the axels are the same width as my very large file, so some elbow grease and a lot of unkind words eventually solved the problem. 

I admit to a slight bit of cheating on the photos. As many of you know, I've always been trying to get the pure black background Curt uses in his photos, and I think I have finally cracked it, by having Preview on my Mac remove the background, so the black of the blog shows through. It has worked on these photos, so we'll see how it works on more complex ones in future entries. 

Scoring:

• 1 28mm(ish) vehicle @20 points per = 20 points

So that's it! I'm on the board and 20% of my way to my goal, and I now have a BA-20 ready to zoom off and scout, or maybe just get blown up. Only the dice gods know.

 ===================

Sylvain: Remarkable vehicle and paint job. The amount of research you did to find that "perfect color" is impressive. Excellent travail!

From KillianF - Entering the Zone (30 Points)

First post for my first time challenge! I have painted six modern adventurers who are exploring "The Zone", a mysterious area in unspecified Eastern Europe. For some reason these guys jumped up past the  4th C. Goths I originally planned to start with.

 From left to right:

Simeon the Scrounger, Handy Javik, Natalie Halovna, Andrei Peshtov, Vas "the Boy", and Kid Czerno.

These guys and girl are all in a mish-mash of tactical gear and weaponry, which was good fun to paint. Some jazzy camo patterns were suitably dulled down with washes made from acrylic ink and AK fluid matte varnish. The various lenses are not accurate or tactical, but I like the pop of colour and texture they add. They were done with Tamiya clear red and yellow.

These are the start of a small collection of figures for Zona Alfa and similar games. The models are 28mm from Anvil Industry (from a whole variety of packs), 3d printed by myself.

6x28mm infantry: 30 points.

I also believe this qualifies for 1x Squirrel Point.

Probably need to crack on with some Goths now......

___________________________________

First, welcome to the Challenge, Killian! It's always a pleasure to have new people join in on the madness, and for all of us to enjoy looking at new brushwork and toys!

Excellent work on this post-apoc squad. The figures really have that Metro 2033/STALKER vibe going on. I also like the desiccated ash waste groundwork - very on-theme. I haven't checked out Anvil Industry in ages and am bewildered by how much their stocklist has grown - thanks for the tip!

These half-dozen ZONE adventurers will give you 30 points towards your Challenge target. Well done!

From Nick: 20mm WW2 Soviet reinforcements (100 points)

Well, clearly I had hoped to have a little more to show for my efforts today, but alas I fell somewhat short of my self imposed goal. Anyway, I've got a few more figures finished for the 20mm Soviet force I started during last years challenge. By now it has grown somewhat in size and I keep adding to it.

In 28mm it's the Germans I keep returning back to whenever my painting mojo is at a low ebb, but in 20mm it obviously is the Soviets. The first few figures I painted for this force where done using the simple triad method, but by now I'm using as many layers as I'd use on a 28mm figure. There's just so much detail packed into these small fellas.

First off the starting block today is a DShK 12,7mm HMG with five crew. The DShK, it's gunner and the loader are from SHQ Miniatures while the other three figures are AB Figures. I'm not particularly fond of the SHQ castings, but once painted they fit reasonably well with AB.

Next we have a 76mm M1927 regimental gun by Zvezda crewed by AB miniatures again. Zvezda make nice and cheap kits in 20mm and while the figures fit quite well with AB I prefer the latter and if it's just for the later uniforms as worn by AB.

No, the rear left figure isn't prone, it's crawling ;-)

This is followed by a RM-38 50mm mortar. Again this is a SHQ casting, as is the loader. As before I opted to replace the other figure as they're so much nicer.

Also on offer today is a ROKS-3 flamethrower team. A nasty piece of equipment you shouldn't leave home without.

And last there is a tank hunter team armed with liberated Panzerfäuste. Not really suited for Kursk but quite appropriate for Operation Bagration in 1944.

As for points it's:

14x 20mm figures (Upright/ Kneeling) = 56 points
5x 20mm figures (prone) = 20 points
3x 20mm artillery piece / crew served weapon = 24 points

Total: 100 points

Gorgeous work on these Soviets, Nick. I always like a flamethrower team. I thought they were 28mm, and can see how much attention you lavish on them. I know so many of us do the same period in multiple scales, but 20 and 28mm? Carry on, sir.

Barks

From GregB: WW2 "Soviet Sampler" In 10mm (67 Points)

Aerial intel showing a disturbing preliminary buildup of 10mm WW2 Russians in my kitchen...is another project looming???

The end is nigh! Time to look at the painting table, and scrape together submissions from projects started in the heady, early-Challenge period. Remember those days? "Of course I'll get all this sh*t painted - why, I have three months ahead of me!" Here we are in March, and it is more "F*ck it, I'll just submit this stuff, and make more progress next time." In this spirit I present a WW2 "Soviet Sampler" of 10mm products from Pendraken. 

Light T-70 tanks on 50mm square bases - T-34s can be seen behind.

These figures are based with some particular logic in mind - the game "Spearhead", a set of division-level WW2 rules by Arty Contliffe . I wanted to re-build the collection necessary to play this amazing game, and at first set out to do so using 3mm figures. Alas, while I love painting the 3mm tanks, I find little or no motivation to paint 3mm infantry...so I thought I would try again, this time using the excellent 10mm figures from Pendraken.

3-man stand represents an SMG platoon...will need many, many more of these bases to represent the tank riders.

Battalion command out front, pair of rifle platoons, and an assortment of heavy weapon teams in behind - three maxim guns, and three medium mortars.

The "Spearhead" rules work best with square basing - each base representing a platoon (or gun battery etc.). The infantry elements are based on the traditional 1.25" squares, while the vehicles are based on 50mm squares. My hobby lizard brain likes to have consistent basing for "Spearhead" if possible, but the 10mm vehicles will not fit on 1.25" squares...and regardless, tanks and armoured vehicles should take up more space than infantry elements on the table. This was meant as an experiment, and I was pleased with the results.

A Zil truck...one thing you end up needing a lot of in some Spearhead games is trucks...this one is just a start...would be carrying engineers and other assets to keep pace with the armour.

The elements with round bases represent the command units...the larger/more crowded the base, the more "senior" the command element. In a typical Spearhead game there will be a number of battalion and brigade/regiment command elements involved. 

Brigade commanders debate the relative merits of Soviet politics on a break from their armoured car...

Spearhead games have many, many elements to paint...what you see here would represent the main elements of a 1943-ish Soviet tank brigade, mixing companies of lighter T-70 tanks with heavier T-34s. The brigade included a motor rifle battalion, although the infantry components you see here would be well-short of the actual battalion strength. 

Early-model T-34s...you can see some later-model versions behind them.

Once more, I am very pleased with the products from Pendraken! Their range is quite comprehensive, and I really, really like their stuff. Of course, I meant to get much more of it finished during this edition of the AHPC, but...well, you know how it goes. Anyway, something to perhaps watch for during the next edition of the Challenge? 

Another view of the massing Russian armour.

So, scoring...we have...31 foot figures and 12 vehicles, so I think that works out to...67 points? Something like that...anyway, enough to drag me over the 1,000 point line. I'm still well short of my target, but 1,000 points is respectable enough, and there are still a few days remaining to cram more stuff in. Thanks for reading everyone, and best of luck as we all race to the finish!

That's a good looking start force, Greg. Any more of this project to come before we shut up shop on Saturday?

Tamsin

From NoelW: Outnumbered in the Oubliette (1159 points)

 [INTRO: This is a longish post with quite a few photos, so I’ve only given one or two photos for each item, and I’ve scored the probable points as I go along. ]

But first…

***

“Stop shoving!”

“Where are we? I can’t see a thing.”

“More to the point, who are we?”

“Well, I don’t know who you are. But I know I’m – definitely – someone.”

“Or something, judging by the smell. And you’re holding a big shiny stick.”

“I am, aren’t I? I wonder why.”

“Oy! Keep the witty conversation down, will you? There’s a legion trying to get a bit of shuteye in here.”

“There must be a way out. Stands to reason. We got in somewhere. Just find that place and reverse the process.”
“Hey! Watch where you’re treading!”

“Sorry – if only there was a light.”

“Get your foot out of my mouth!”

“Must be an elf, if it’s foot in the mouth time.”

“Who you calling an elf? You take that back this minute!”

“If we had a couple of sticks we could rub together, we could make a fire. Or at least a spark. Like a boy scout.”

“No thanks. I’ve just eaten.”

“Ok, that’s an ogre, or I’m a person who identifies as man from the Netherlands.”

“You got something against ogres?”

“No! No. Apart from my chin, that is.”

“I wish I could remember – something…”

“I think I’ve found a couple of long knotty sticks. Possibly elven legs. I could rub them together, see what happens.”

“What have we got to lose?”

“Let go of my ankles. I’ve a great deal to lose.”
There’s a grating sound, like sandpaper rubbing against grandma’s stubble. Nothing happens.

“If there was a sorceress or a cleric, they could shed some light on the situation. Even a halfling with a bright idea.”

“Unlikely.”

“Hang on. Maybe one of these sleeping people is a magician. I’ll have a look. Let me just light this torch so I can see better.”

For a moment the oubliette – for such it is – is as thick with silence as it is with darkness, a silence broken only by the snores and whimpers of thousand bodies, suddenly illuminated by the blaze of Titchy’s torch. Rows and rows of sleeping warriors.

“Ah! Tread softly, or we’ll tread on their screams.”

“There’s a lever over there, by that small wooden wall.”

“If only we had someone who could pull a lever…”

***

I thought Oubliette was a character in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, because I’d forgotten what it actually meant. I read French as part of my degree, tutored by a very French lady called Mme Grillet (which is French for ‘grill’, which she frequently did to me). I learned one thing: that parapluie meant ‘butterfly’, so that on my very first trip to France I could declare, brightly, to demonstrate my erudition, “Voila les parapluies dans la jardin”. Highlight of my polyglottism.

At my age I forget many things but, fortunately, one of them is how many things I forget. There was a time, almost forgotten now, when I thought 10mm was the answer to every wargaming need. 10mm figures weren’t too expensive, didn’t need lots of storage, could fit on the smallest of gaming tables and enabled massive battles, yet weren’t so small they could not carry detail worth painting. I planned several massive setups: Borodino, Leipzig, ever battle in Tolkien.

Well, of course, you know what’s coming next. I acquired drawers full of 10mm figures, only to decide that 28mm was where I really wanted to be. The 10mm figures were assigned to miscellaneous receptacles, languishing for years in forgotten corners of the parallel world that is my attic.

Until last year I sorted out some of the figures for the Joshua Project, and was reminded of how much unpainted 10mm I had. These days, with my declining faculties (no comments, please) I find it hard to see the detail on 10mm, and get bored with painting them. So this time round I decided I’d do some bulk 10mm painting between working on posts for the Chambers before it's too late, and post whatever I’d managed when I reached the Oubliette, focusing on two of the unfinished projects: Borodino and fantasy.

Eh, voila!

Borodino

All Old Glory figures.

For the Russians: 90 infantry, 90 points

For the French I’m working towards nominal units to represent each of the Corps:

90 Poles (Duchy of Warsaw): V Corps (90 points)

30 Westphalian Garde-Grenadiere: VIII Corps (30 points)

(There are 9 hand painted flags in these units, but they’re such poor quality, I’m not asking any bonus for them).

TOTAL: 210 points

[So that's also 210 points for the Napoleonic Challenge, and I guess three armies gives me 3 Squirrel points.]

Tolkienic Fantasy

Most of these figures are 10mm plastic from GW's Battle of the Five Armies set, comprising humans, dwarves, elves and goblins, including wolf riders. The individual figures are from various sources, and of various sizes. 

Elf archers: 84

Elf spears: 210 

Dwarves: 210

Humans: 42

Goblins: 252

Wolfriders: 12 figures, 24 points

Unicorns (unknown manufacturer, possibly Pendraken): 3

Trolls: (The trolls and Black Riders are from Lord of the Rings Risk. The trolls are 25, whilst the Riders are really 15mm rather than 10mm, but as they’re supernatural creatures, I think they look fine and as the painting is simply black with a drybrush, I'm scoring them as 10mm):

3 x 25mm Trolls: 15 points

Black Riders: 9 cavalry: 18 points

Ghosts: (I think these are Kallistra)

9 x 20mm figures: 36 points

Sea monsters: These are from GW's old Man O' War game. I regret getting rid of the ships from this game, which were lovely models, but I did keep hold of these four monsters. The range in size from 25mm to 50mm, but I'm scoring them all as 25mm.

4 x 25mm figures: 20 points

TOTAL: 929 points
[Not sure how to compute the Squirrels here: maybe 4 for the main races, and another one for all the “Specials”?]

20 points for The Oubliette

Grand Total: (210+929+20) = 1159 points