From HayesW - Vietnam USMC Mortar Crew (10 Points)

 

My first post - thanks to a busy Christmas and start to 2026 schedule I decided I better knocking something out! So starting with this 28mm Gringo40 USMC 81mm mortar crew. Love the Gringo40 figures. My “plan” is to complete about 60 28mm Vietnam figures, filling in what I’m missing - crews, casualties, SF, etc. Excited to really get rolling!

2 x 28mm Figures = 10 Points 

Nice first post here Hayes, the US war in Vietnam isn't a gaming subject you often see and I like these two models. The Gringo40 castings look quite nice and you've done a good job with them, they look like they're straight out of "Platoon" or "Full Metal Jacket". Well done and 10 points to open your tally.

Dallas

From FrederickC: WW2 Soviet Anti-Tank Guns and Heavy Weapons (200 points)

In my post from last Monday, we saw a major buildup of my Bolt Action Soviet tank forces. This week we are looking at giving the Soviet infantry some much needed firepower. All of the figures and weapons in this post are from the Plastic Soldier Company's 28mm range, specifically their boxes of 'Russian 45mm Anti-Tank Gun' and 'Russian Heavy Weapons'. 

The Plastic Soldier Company's range are an inexpensive alternative to metal, or even multi-pose plastic figures, although I do find some of the poses remind me of the cheap toy soldiers I owned as a young boy, especially those cast as a single piece. They are fine in length and width, but a bit lacking in depth. All of the figures were assembled, mounted on bases (with the exception of the anti-tank gun crews) and primed black using a rattle can. I painted them using acrylics from the Vallejo Soviet Paint Set. Finally everything was hit with Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. The Quick Shade leaves everything with a glossy finish, so when the weather is warmer I will be taking these outside to give them a coat of matte spray to dull them down a bit.

The Russian 45mm Anti-Tank Gun box contains 2 guns and 8 crew figures. Each gun sprue has different barrel options to allow you to build any of the following: 45mm M1937 anti tank gun, 45mm M1942 anti tank gun or 76mm M1943 infantry gun. Since I am current working on an early Operation Barbarossa theme, I built my guns as the M1937 version. The set also contains ammo boxes, both live shells and spent casings, as well as a rifle and sub-machine gun to add to the ambience. Since the bases I used for my guns were getting a bit crowded, I shifted some of the ammo boxes to the medium mortar bases, and the rifles to the machine gun bases.

 

The Russian Heavy Weapons box provides you enough sprues to build 26 miniatures and 8 models depicting WW2 Russian infantry heavy weapons as follows: 2 x 3 man Pulemyot Maxima PM1910 machine gun teams firing, 2 x 2 man machine gun teams moving, 2 x 2 man RM-38 50mm light mortar teams, 2 x 3 man M-37 82mm medium mortar teams, 2 x 2 man firing PTRS-41 anti -tank rifles, and 2 moving PTRS anti-tank rifles.

 

Pulemyot Maxima PM1910 machine gun teams

M-37 82mm medium mortar and RM-38 50mm light mortar teams

PTRS-41 anti -tank rifle teams

 

The points being claimed are as follows:

32 x 28mm figures @ 5 points each = 160 points 

(I am counting the prone anti-tank rifle teams as half figures)

2 4x 28mm artillery pieces @ 10 points each = 20 40 points

(I was hoping that the machine guns and mortars might be worth a few points, but apparently "size matters" when it comes to crew served weapons) 

За Родину (For the Homeland)

Stout defenders of Holy Mother Russia Frederick.  Nice work and they look good on your tabletop.  My research (i.c checking with Tamsin) told me that the 81mm mortars do count so I've upped you scores accordingly.

From BenitoV: Having Fun with Smoke at Babylon 5 (30 points)

 Greetings, Galactic Hitchhickers. Today's destination is Babylon 5.

After a pleasent flight in a third class cabin in Sarah's Yacht shared with some disturbing aliens, we arrived to this planet well known in the whole Galaxy by its joie de vivre.

The submission today is a 2-inch mortar team for my Chain of Command Canadian infantry platoon core project in this year's Challenge. 

The small 2-inch mortar was an ubiquitous support weapon at platoon level in all the British and assimilated TOEs during the Second World War. Tipically, many armies in the early stages of the conflict displayed similar weapons; but over time these were discarded as the "punch" from such a small caliber was ineffective, while tactics evolved to offer better support from the higher echelon artillery (medium and heavy mortar units)

 

The British army however kept these small mortars in TOE through the war; but the main tactical use shifted from pinning enemies to mainly providing smoke coverage to the advancing infantry squads. In fact, the Chain of Command rules allow a very accurate historical use of these mortars and every game with a Commonwealth army in play, usually ends with the table filled with lots of small cotton balls representing the smoked areas.

 

Why Babylon 5? As the planet theme is "low budget fun", you'll probably agree with me: what would be funnier that smoking your enemies with such low cost weapon XD.

The mortar team belongs to the 28 mm multipose Warlord's plastic British and Canadian infantry box. One of the head alternatives in this box is a guy wearing glasses that I found also fun to become part of this lively and smoky team.

 

According to my calculations this entry is worth 30 points that adds to my total score so far in this year's Challenge

2 x 28 mm models @5 points each =         10 points

Babylon 5 (outer ring) bonus =                   20 points 

Total =                                                          30 points

From DaveD

Indeed the ubiquitous 2inch mortar and whole lotta smoke to come . Fine additions to your core project alright - 30 points it is .

From ScottM: Early War German Ordinance (105 points)

My contribution this week is a group of early-World War 2 German guns and mortar. All figures are 28mm metal and are from Warlord Games. First up is the leFH18 105mm medium artillery piece.

Next up is the sIG33 150mm howitzer.

Next is the 75mm leIG18 light artillery piece.

And finally is a medium mortar team.

So that should be 3 guns = 30 points and 15 crew = 75 points for a total of 105 points.
Next week hopefully some tanks.

That's some very nice artillery pieces there. I particularly like how you have subtly dirtied them up so they're more interesting than just dark grey. Looking forwards to some early Panzers!

Barks

From Barks- WW1 French big post (230 points)

These 15mm French were one of my key goals for this challenge, and I've knuckled down over the past few weeks to get them done. They're from PSC's  Commands and Colors: Great War game, and are in soft plastic. I was heavily influenced by James White's painting technique. The bases are Vallejo Dark Earth paste drybrushed with VJ US Tan Earth.

First, les Poilus: 52 riflemen.

Squad specialists: Elites, marksmen, grenadiers, and Chauchat LMGs.

An ammunition handler and engineer.

Hotchkiss MG teams. I resculpted the front tripod legs using green stuff and 1mm plastic rod as the original figure just had a flat triangle.

Crapouillot ("little toad") 58mm trench mortar teams.

Flamethrower! The first time I have tried this technique. I soaked some clump foliage in black paint and PVA, then drybrushed it white/ yellow/ orange/ red. It is affixed to the base with a small nail and has a styrene rod running through it. I'm really happy with the outcome.

Officers. The binoculars have two spots of gloss white.

Staff Officer- this is a metal figure from PSC's original Kickstarter. I based it on General Foch, and I think it came out OK for 15mm!

But that's not all! I picked up some tanks from PSC (Schneider CA1 and a Saint Chamond) and Battlefront (two Schneider CA1s). I made up the camouflage scheme, and am really happy with it. The PSC tanks had no machine guns, so I drilled out holes and added 1mm plastic rods.

Saint Chamond

I've got one PSC Schneider CA1, and two from Battlefront. The PSC one is diecast pre-assembled, and the Battlefront ones are resin hull with metal MGs and tracks. They are very similarly proportioned, but the Battlefront ones have more pronounced rivets and deeper detail on the front grill. They were harder to assemble. I added the front posts from H-column strip styrene on all the Schneiders.

Schneider CA1s. PSC on the left, Battlefront centre and right.

They'd be perfect for WW1 What A Tanker!, but are in an unacceptable scale... 😔

Finally, the hex tile groundwork is a 3D printing project I've commenced to make a full battlefield with 'proper' trenches. I won't score it yet, but maybe later this Challenge...

On ne passe pas!

94 Infantry 188
4 vehicles 32

From guest grognard minion DaveD

Oh my... now thats a sight to behold a proper points bombe! Cracking work Barks , lovely blue on this smaller scale to make it stand out. There so much to like here and I am not sure which is my favourite - Foch , flame-throwers or tanks .. hmmm ... I think its the flamethrower.. extra 10 minion points for the tank camo , and a brilliant job on the flamethrower. 

From Barks - WW1 German support weapons (72 points)

After last week's austere post, here's a bit of a meatier effort. This is the remaining 15mm WW1 German forces from PSC's Great War, comprising three MG-08s, three 7.58cm Minenwerfers, and their crews.

I found myself whistling Blackadder whilst setting this up

Now I have completed the 'core set' of Tommies and Germans for The Great War, and will be moving on to other, lighter projects for the remainder of the Challenge. I've still got another nine artillery pieces to go, if I get bored they may yet come out!

Furthermore, this week I suffered for my art. I was intently focused on painting some fine detail when I burnt my forehead against my lamp! Eheu!

What is it with pics of people's heads this week? This is the second in as many posts! Mine is pretty ordinary but at least it wasn't sporting a rather nasty looking burn. I know you work hard at the paint desk Barks but please, safety first mate! On the plus side you've give us a relative War and Peace compared to last week's erudite background so maybe there is an upside to overheating your noggin after all... 

All that aside, these are once again a very well executed batch of support weapons and their attendant German crew. The more I look at these as you roll them out the more I find it hard not to think they're 28s given the detail you pack in. All up this batch is worth a tidy 72 points. Well done! Cheers, Millsy

From Barks - WW1 British Support Weapons (72 points)

Here are some more 15mm plastics from PSC for The Great War. Again, I have based them on washers. The Vickers MGs are on 25mm washers and the Stokes mortars are on 20mm washers, with the rest on 15mm washers.

I'm wondering if I should rebase the mortars (after The Challenge!) so there are two figures and a tube on a 25mm base?

It's easy for you Northern Hemispherians to concentrate on The Challenge at this time of year, being all snowed in and stuff. Down Under we have a few more distractions. Today it was 41.5C when I left work (106F if you're in Bahamas, Belize, Caymans, Palau or the US) when I left work so I had to go for a swim in the surf. Due to the heat, the Drop Bears and Great Whites had called a truce and were lazing around in the shallows, and the shrimps were throwing themselves on the barbie to cool down. There's a southerly coming through now, and it should drop to the high 20s later this arvo.

My local beach, I live about 50 metres away.

More 15mm goodness Mr Barks! I'm continually impressed by how well you paint both at this scale and with the WWI palette which is limited to say the least. I'm not sure you need to rebase the mortars as this way casualty removal is nice and simple but then it's as much a matter of aesthetics as it is rules I suppose? 72 well earned points for your total. Now go have a cold one and put your feet up. Cheers, Millsy.

PS. We seem to have a weather report theme developing today so I've added a new label. :-)