From MarkG: 28mm Railway Tracks (50 Points)

My first, and rather mundane, terrain entry; a set of 28mm railway tracks.

These were part of my effort to create a Russian Civil War Armoured train set, though they will have much use for other WW1 and WW2 wargaming scenarios. 

2 Metres in length, composed of seven sections, each 28.5cm long and 6.5cm wide. In creating these I was very much inspired by an article that appeared in the Lardies 2014 Xmas Special by Pat Smith "Building the Deutsche Reichsbahn."

The tracks are from Sarissa Precision. I used model rail ballast to fill out the base, and then mix of cheap paints from the hardware store and stationary shop (all tones mixed from basic black, white, brown and beige bottles). Painting them was straightforward enough, but time consuming, starting from dark brown layers, through mid gray, to stone gray highlights, and rust for the tracks (a drybrush of Vallejo Cavalry Red). Ballast though is a devil to paint if you don't want to completely drown and warp the track and base.

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The tracks look awesome Mark, and having worked with ballast before I can sympathize with how much of a pain it is to paint!  Mainly because for model trains it is not usually painted, or even glued down a lot of the time, but rather just laid in, which obviously does not work for our uses.  

As for painting time, it sounds like you spent a ton of time on them, but I have to judge based on an average paint job, not the great job you did.  I am going to award 7 points per strip because I think if I was to soak these in glue first to make painting easier, each strip should take a bit more than painting a figure.  Not sure how you did them, but I would paint the ballast area quick and dirty and messy, then paint the ties and tracks after neatly.  Therefore 7 strips  would come out to 49 points but I am going to round it to 50 points.  Great work.

- Byron 

From MartinC Really Big Ship and Crane (90 Points)

 My club, much debate about if we wanted to be an actual club as we are all a bit Groucho Marx, is running an insane Back of Beyond campaign and DaveD (umpire and man who knows the rules) told me last week the Japanese and Brazilians (not a typo) are invading Vladivostok at my house on Friday and we needed a port. Luckily I had a ship and a dock crane that needed painting. 

The ship is an mdf kit from TT Combat and is massive

Made it look suitably rusty and dirty.

Told you it was big, 20 inches by 6 by 6. The deck holds 3 28mm shermans and 3 M3 half tracks.

Any dock needs are crane, this one is from Sarissa and a pretty big mdf kit, the body is twice the size of a tank

Painted in a dull red, it's a crane and seemed a suitable colour.

I've got no clue how to score these, crane about 3 times bigger than a tank and the ship about 12 times bigger than a tank. Helpful guidance much appreciated. 

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Wow, not that is a huge piece of terrain there Martin! 

Let's start with the simpler one first, that crane is a big piece but in my mind fairly simple to paint up, so due to its simplicity even though its much bigger than a tank in 28mm I am going to consider it as a vehicle for points so 20 points for it.

 

As for the ship, wow.  Again very massive, and I have seen one of those kits in person it kinda fills a table!!  Again though it its a very low detail model, so while its massive, its pretty simple and does not require a ton of fiddly detail work. Then again, it is almost 2' long!  I am going to go with 70 points for it as I see that you have tried to do a lot to the kit (like the lines and weathering).

 

Both are great pieces of terrain and will dominate a table and make for some interesting fights.  Great work!

 

-Byron 

From KenR : Condottieri, Castles and Hills (226 points)

 

A mixed bag this week, I didn't post anything last week as I was preparing for the first outing of the Mentana Game at York (more later) lots of things like sorting boxes for transport etc that are important but not exactly good for scoring 😁

I have to say that this post felt more like a maths exam than a painting competition but we got there in the end ! In the background you can see the part of Mentana Town which I built over the last couple of weeks for the game, first up, the hill.

The hill is sat on my normal gaming board and has been specifically built to fit the Mentana Castle on. It's a 3mm mdf base, a xps foam core top which has been cut into a rough hill shape. This is then covered with modelling plaster and tile grout as a base. Once dry it's painted mid brown (or grey for the rocky outcrops) and to finish off I've added layers of static grass to blend it in with the base boards. 28mm Cavalry Base for scale.

Next up is the Medieval part of the Town walls. This is a plastic modular kit from Tabletop Workshop, OOP but still available from some retailers. It's been glued together then the hard work done with spray cans, before blocking in individual bricks, weathering and pin washing.

Finally we have the Renaissance part of the walls, now this is a proper mix mash. The core of the building is two Large Bastle Houses from Sarissa Precision which have had the roofs cut down and glued together end to end. After that I added the corner Turrets using toilet roll card and Rendera Bell Tents for the roof. Finally I've done my tried and tested stippled filler, sand and paint to get the final look. After the messy bit I've simply added some plastic card tiling to the roof and added some terrain juice to add some contrast.

Above is the town (with added pieces done pre Challenge) at the York Show.

Scoring (from my notes) the tower (I needed to invoke the power of pi for this) was 124 sq in whilst the walls were 71.5 for a total of 265 sq in.

The Renaissance Castle is 12.6 x 4 x 8 for 404 sq in

The Hill is in two layers (irregular so I've guesstimated for gaps etc) 35 x 23 x 1 and the top deck 15 x 18 x 1 for a total of 805 + 270 = 1,075 sq in

Grand total of 1744 sq in, there are 216 sq in in a 6' cube so dividing the two gives 8.1 cubes or 161 points, can I lie down now please !

That's one project done and back to another, top tip if you do Projects in the same scale in the same country you can use the same terrain ! 

Many of you will be familiar with my Italian Wars and bar diversions for Libary entries it will be back to my old favourite for the rest of the Challenge. Above is one of two units of Foundry Miniatures 28mm Condottieri in Service of the Papal States.

Above is the second one with colours of Julius II the Warrior Pope. Flags are Flags of War for the top unit and Petes Flags for the second. A little background on these, a friend past away last year and left me his entire collection, I'm still finding things in the huge amount of boxes I collected from his house. 

One thing I found recently were some painted Foundry Horses, which you see here, I've painted and added the riders and flags so I'm only claiming for those at 12 x 28mm "foot" at 5pts each plus four flags at a point each.

That's a total of 225. Hopefully I can get a ship done for next week while I crack on with a Pike Block in the background.

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Hi Ken - another amazing post from you. Your terrain looks incredible of course, although I'm sure nobody will be surprised to know that my mind breaks the moment I read the words "foam core" and it all might as well be Klingon or something from there onwards...but it sure looks amazing. I cannot question your math - as I utterly lack the qualifications! If you say it is "8.1 cubes", that is good enough for me!

The best part are the mounted lads (yes, even though your terrain is utterly stunning, my mind always goes to the painted miniatures - I have a brain wiring problem or something). It is great to that you are honouring your friend by getting these beautiful figures completed and integrated into your own collection. Lovely stuff. 

The spreadsheet tells me this comes out to 226 points. I won't argue with the spreadsheet - so that is 226 points for you!

GregB

From PaulSS: Gaslands gates -- 40pts

Starting gate, I included a reminder for the drivers to engage weapon safety

 

Hopefully this post will just make it under the wire.

I've added some more Gaslands Tracksessories in the form of six racing gates from Sarissa Precision that I picked up from the Northstar stand at Hammerhead a couple of weeks ago, apologies for the shonky photos, I set them out on the track ready for a game and forgot that it would not be optimal lighting.

Gate 1: Safety Off!

Gate 2: Rickety and held up with chains

Gate three with a blood splattered reminder you are half way there

Gate 4: Looks like it's seen better days

The finishing line

My daughter and her partner Neil are visiting this weekend so after setting up the track with the gates, Neil and I played out a 50-can Death Race with Neils' Dodge Challenger easily out in font and crossing the Finish line.

The three cars I used were all painted during the challenge.

Like all the best Gaslands, much carnage took place during the game with gate 2 being especially treacherous.

Thursday evening also saw the other main project I worked on during this challenge, the 12mm US and Germans for O Group also got an outing.

Like a couple of years ago, the end of the Challenge coincided with a trans-Atlantic relocation, so most of my gaming stuff is all packed up and ready for collection next week!

The race gates are quite large and would be two "terrain squares" for the lot adding 40 points to my final total.

Many thanks to Curt and all the Minions, especially Monday Minion Peter for all his work and words of encouragement.  

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These gates look brilliant, Paul. I especially like the gate held up with chain tensioners. It's wonderful that you got in an early game with them as well!  I'll have to consider something similar for my beginners-level Mad Maximillian collection, so thank you for the inspiration.

It was great to have you with us again this year, Paul, and best wishes for your upcoming move - I hope it's not too stressful!

Until next season!

- Curt

From SimonG: A Final Flourish - The Temple Mount CE 70 in 28mm (1390 points)

For my final post of this challenge I'm delighted to serve up my big project for the past six months -- a recreation of a slice of the Temple Mount and Antonia Fortress at the time of the Jewish Revolt CE 66-74.

Something's Afoot!

Historic Context

There is still an ongoing archaeological debate as to what exactly the temple mount looked like. Given the ongoing religious and political sensitivity at the site it's not practical to go digging it up so there's still lots of room for alternative theories.  While most representations of the Antonia Fortress see it as some complex multi tower structure there is one theory that it was actually a Roman Military fort linked to the mount itself by two foot bridges -- these bridges are described in some detail by Josephus.

In part because modelling this layout seemed feasible I chose to build a slice of the corner of Antonia and the start of the two bridges as shown in the illustration above. In real life the bridges were about 600' long so at 2' each this either represents appx 20% of the bridge, or it's more of an approximation (lets say a 3-5x scale up). Incidentally I think one could use the exact same layout for a good mass combat game at 12-15mm scale which sounds like a possible future project!

Construction Approach

The base elements of the model are six Panel Systems Craftfoam 24"x24"x4" (600x600x100 for those in Europe!) slabs -- a great material that is easy to work with but does dent easily so treat it carefully. The architectural elements are a mix of Sarissa and Empires at War MDF kits but most have been customised.

Buildings and base before cladding

The specifics to get the required finish included

• Carving out the rough West side into the panels (across two that stack) and finishing with Geek Gaming Modelling Compound which is a base for scatters and also gives a good rock effect in itself;
• Building the two walkways from eight Sarissa aqueducts;
• Cladding all wall surfaces (including into the base panels themselves) with a thin layer of room temperature hardening modelling clay which was rolled for brick or random stone texture;
• Using the same approach for the walkways themselves and for the ground in the temple section;
  
• Making up a simple wall to edge the West side of the temple walkway area with lengths of MDF finished with clay cladding;
• Tiling the roofs of the Sarissa temple and workshops with card tiles;
• Carving a stair way into the base and adding scratch built stairs and a re-purposed Empires at War main door;
• Painting in a wide selection of Wilko matt sample pots with Citadel washes (the main walls are thinned Reikland Flesh Shade which gave a great pinky Petra like effect) and dry brushing;
• Finishing the interiors and floors of the Temple and Workshops with printed mosaics and printed painted walls;
• And a good selection of attractive flowers and greenery flocks on the temple section to contrast with the dry/business like fortress.

Two panels stacked and carved

Extra effort to add tiles

Papered temple walls and floor - suitably smoke blackened!

The parts in finished form

The Finished Product

The final piece is a 4' square with two levels of playing surface. This allows for multiple scenarios with either side as aggressor or defender. I'll add some ladders and other siege machinery to allow for scenarios in which the Romans are attacking from their ramp on the top side in the shot below. The scenario set out here has the Jewish revolutionaries attacking from the temple side across the bridges into the Antonia fortress with the Romans rushing to respond.

I still have some more scatter elements to add but in the main part it's pretty much finished (other than a statue and other pieces for the temple interior).

And the points?

I reckoned points using the standard cube method for all of the 3D elements and then half points for the flat finished surfaces such as the clad walls and rough stoney grass area -- I'm not claiming any points for the large sandy surface of the fortress or for the stone clad ground within the temple bridge area but as every the Minion's verdict is final!

All dimensions in the table below are good old Imperial Inches!

By my calculation I should be good for 284 points which will at last take me to my 1000 point target for the challenge.

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With this last entry I'll bid farewell for this time and want to extend my thanks to our esteemed minion Tamsin and all of the Tuesday crew plus of course as always to the Snow Lord himself and the gracious Lady Sarah!

What mystery awaits?

Next year perhaps I might get to the Temple itself (anyone know of a stock of Roman columns as I'll need loads and loads of those!)

I'm sorry to say this, but your points claim for these hills is woefully inadequate compared to MartinC's recent range of hills. You leave me with no option but to increase the claim based on a guesstimate of the actual volume - I reckon the volume of all the bits you claimed a discount on the surface area of (rather than volume) comes to about 57 cubes. Adding on the 12.5 cubes for the bits you correctly claimed, that gives you 1390 points for this submission.

Tamsin