From FrederickC - Sci-Fi Command Outpost with Turret (10 Points)

 

Finally, my second piece of the challenge is complete, which is also my first post-op submission.  it consists of a roughly cylindrical base with a dome on one side with radar dishes, an a twin gun turret that can sweep the space through an arc of approximately 127°. This is another structure that I bought from Scotia Grendel that was prepped to last year's challenge but not used.

I originally thought I shouldn't have any problem getting this done, but I have found that the fine motor skills in my painting hand are still a bit rubbish. It felt like it did when I first started painting Airfix ACW infantry with a cheap plastic bristled brush and a tin of Humbrol enamel.

 

eight of the structure is 4 inches with a height, not including radar dishes of 4 inches as well. Points claimed: Whatever Byron says.

 

-------------------

Nice to see you painting already Frederick!  This is a nice little terrain piece and choosing it to fit in with stormtroopers makes it look even better, I like the simple colour scheme as it makes it look like it would fit right at home on Hoth.  I am going to guess at a few hours to get something like this done and score it at 10 points.  Keep up the good work Frederick and hopefully the fine motor skills return quickly for you.

- Byron 

From Frederick C - Ranging Shots - SciFi Medical Station, and Scatter Terrain (20 points)

Following the end of AHPC XV I thought I would work on the various terrain pojects that I had prepped or that challenge. I did complete some Middle Earth/Osgiliath ruins, but after that things came to a crashing halt. In the run up to AHPC XVI, I had a hard time making any progress on prepping any new figures for the challenge. When registration opened up in Nvember I saw a lot of comments from past participants saying that they had lost their 'mojo', and they would not be participating this year. I confess that I could strongly relate to those feelings, but I thought that unless I had he push from the challenge, I would get nothing done. I have dropped my point target to half of what I have achieved in past years, and at the moment I feel I may be hard pressed to achieve that. So no opening salvo this year. Just some ranging shots to see how my terrain projects might fare in order to  decide if it's worth continuing with the leftover projects from last year that got shelved. 

For my first submission for this year's challenge I present some pieces of SCi-Fi terrain from ScotiaGrendel. long with some 35mm Figures for size comparison only

Scotia Grendal Sci-Fi Scatter terrain with a meter stick in the foreground 

 

Six Sci-Fi shipping crates L 25mm x W 20mm x H 20mm 

Sci-Fi Shipping crates

 

Ammo and Fuel cache L 100mmxW50mm x H 30mm

Fuel/Ammo cache view 1

Fuel/Ammo ccache view 2

Diagnostic station L 74 x W 33 x H 40

Diagnostic station and medical bed View 1

   

Medical bed L60 x  W 25mm x H 20

 

Diagnostic station and medical bed view 2

Row of Cryochambers LL110mm x W 30mm x H 40mm

Cryochambers row & single
 

Single cryochamber L15mm x W 30mm x H 40 mm 

cryochambers View 2

 

Cryochamber controls

Row of Cloning/Bacta tanks L62mm x W25mm x H 40mm

Bacta/Cloning tanks view 1

Bacta/Cloning tanks View 2

 

Single Cloning/Bacta tank  L 30mm x W 25mm x H 40mm

 

-------------------

 

Thanks for the entry Frederick, I really like a lot of these pieces and while all fairly simple, they will add a ton of cool factor to a table!  I can see them being used in a ton of different skirmish games to spice up the table a bit.  The colours chosen keep them usable for so many different things.

As for points I am going to count each of the 3 major elements (vats, cryochambers, and medical station) as the equivalent of painting a 28mm figure, and then the same for the boxes and barrels together, so 20 points are being awarded to you for some great little items. Awesome work Frederick, keep it coming!

 

-Byron 

From FrederickC - Roaming 'Round the Rotunda [DIY][Literature][Graphic Novels][Sci-Fi] (321 points)

Since my last post two weeks ago, I have been bouncing around between nine different projects, and having trouble focusing on just one until it was completed. I am sure other challengers have experienced similar problems in their own quests. Instead of trying to cram all of the final products into a single post, I will split them into three separate submissions. We will carry on with our exploration of the Challenge Library with a visit to the two levels of the rotunda.

First up is the DIY section. In November 2020 I painted up the first of my growing early war Polish army, and I was keen to play a scenario with them. I was attracted to one found in the Bolt Action 'Germany Strikes' campaign book which was based on the defense of the Polish Post Office in Danzig on 1 September 1939. In preparation I constructed a model based on the actual building, and I painted up some additional German forces specific to the battle. However, when we played the game, I still didn't have the correct type of fence for the front of the building. That has now been rectified using a combination of polystyrene foam (cut with my new Proxxon hot wire cutter), thick cardboard, and some miniature wrought iron fencing that dates back to the 1950s. The sections of fencing were 'collectibles' made in a white hard plastic that came with a German margarine brand called 'Ei-fein' and included all manner of zoo animals, trees, buildings, etc. My grandparents had saved these over the years, and passed them on to me when I was still a young boy. While the trees are more two-dimensional than one would like for use on the table top, and the animals aren't in a useful scale, the fencing was perfect as a starting point for this project.

The longest sections of fencing are 11" long and 2" tall. I built the shorter sections without a column at one end so that they can be butted up against a long section to either make it longer or form a corner.

The original Polish Post Office circa 1930 showing the fencing

Work in progress

Sections complete

Fencing in front of the Polish Post Office

Next we have Literature. I wasn't sure what I could do for this section, until I spotted an extra Games Workshop figure I had of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn from the 'Heroes of the West' boxed set. With a little bit of conversion work to cut his coat shorter, change his sword and give him a wide brimmed hat, he became Viggo Mortensen as Captain Alatriste, the Spanish Musketeer.

 

Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

 

Viggo Mortensen as Captain Alatriste

Image in background is a Spanish Tercio at Rocroi

Taking the stairs  up to the upper level we come to Manga and Graphic Novels. For this one I painted the rest of the retro Star Wars miniatures sculpted by Nevile Stocken of Archive Miniatures within weeks of the first Star Wars movie hitting the theatres. Alas, Stocken couldn't get a licensing agreement, and the line was modified to become 'Star Rovers' with enough changes made to circumvent copyright. These were a gift from a friend who got them from the estate of a mutual friend who had passed away. A total of sixteen figures consisting of Obi-wan Kenobi, Greedo, R2-D2, a Tusken raider, four Jawas, and eight Stormtroopers. Obi-wan's light saber, and the gaffi stick of the Tusken raider  had broken off at some point. I rebuilt them using lengths of florist wire. 

I was initially going to build a Gondorian tower for Minas Tirith, but the materials I had weren't giving off the right vibe. I decided to add another building to my Tatooine collection instead. It stands 8" tall and the base is 8" on a side.

 

Star Wars - A Graphic Novel

 

Somewhere in Mos Eisley

Stormtroopers

Tusken, Kenobi, Jawas, Greedo, and R2-D2

More Stormtroopers

Our last stop in the rotunda is Science-Fiction. For this section I painted up five resin cast vehicles from Scotia Grendel, consisting of two of their tracked Sci-Fi APCs and three of their wheeled A.T.A.C. APCs. I had purchased these at least fifteen years ago when I was still running an after-school wargames club, and I needed more vehicles for the large number of students who attended. In the end, I never found time to paint them and, after I retired, there was little incentive until now. Once again, the Painting Challenge has provided the necessary motivation to paint up items that have resided in a storage box for over a decade. 

The wolf's head on the back of the tracked APC is actually detail that is cast on the model in slight relief. I painted them white on both vehicles.

A group shot of all five vehicles

6-wheeled APC, right side and front

6-wheeled APC, back and left side

Tracked APC, front and left side

Tracked APC, right side and back

 My Library progress thus far:

 The points being claimed are as follows:

17 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points each = 85 points

 

5 x 28mm vehicles @ 20 points each = 100 points

 

2.8 x cubes of terrain @ 20 points each = 56 points

4 x Library sections @ 20 points = 80 points

Total = 321 points

Sylvain: Another point bomb this week! This is also quite a diverse submission. I especially like how you converted Aragorn, keeping the Viggo inside. Seeing the quantity and quality of your production, I can only wish to retire as soon as I can. Keep the projects rolling!

 

 

From StuartL - Screaming Into The Void - Sci-Fi - 120 Points

Hello everyone,

Many years ago, a friend of mine owned a comic/hobby store. He was a really friendly guy, interested in all kinds of hobby things and really, I mean REALLY, bad at running a shop. His attention wandered if he was left alone for more than a minute and he was always taking on other part time work and projects, seemingly at random. I would turn up at his hobby shop after working all day only to be asked to look after the place while he took off to go and fix up an old car or to do a DJing gig at a local club. In my friend's store there were loads of comics to read and a fair selection of D&D products to look over, but there was also a stand containing blister packs of a cool looking SF game, VOID! Wait, whaddaya mean you've never heard of it? Void is essentially a table-top wargame in the style of Warhammer 40K. Aside from only having a handful of factions and none of the brand name recognition, the biggest difference between the two systems was that Void used d10s. Fast forward a few months and my friend's shop was closing down. He wasn't selling anything and had to get a job elsewhere. As he had his closing down sale, I bought a bunch of the Void minis.

Skip forwards about 21 years and I have finally painted some of these models that have been sat staring at me in all their unpainted glory whenever I managed to dig my way down to that sedimentary layer of my to-do pile. I have tried to copy the box art I found for the different models online, though I did add some different skin-tones to break them up a bit. The models are all pretty simple and all of the factions seem to have a mix of male and female models in most of the units. The figures used to be made by a company called i-Kore, but they are now produced by Scotia Grendel I believe.

First up we have the Viridians. From what I can tell, they are based on a jungle planet and ride around on dinosaurs. Nothing screams jungle fighters like bright blue trousers.

These guys are from an organisation called VASA. They are like the space UN and are the elite special forces of the setting. To help differentiate themselves from the other factions, they wear cool?? helmets and knee pads.

And finally we have the Junkers. Reading their background they are all convicts/slaves sent out to fight on behalf of their masters. Apparently they are the low tech, horde faction in the game and are meant to fight in disposable human waves, which really makes me wonder why they have body armour and full length shields. I think the designer just really liked the Roman aesthetic.

So, for my score, this entry is fairly simple. 

20x 28mm models @5 points = 100 Points

Sci-Fi @20 points = 20 Points

Total = 120 Points

My side duels:

Squirrels - 9

Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Dwarves, Fire Giants, WW2 Polish, Daemons, Viridians, Vasa, Junkers

Skullz - 1

Turnips - 0

Next up a trip in the limo.

Stuart, you are right. I've heard of it. To be honest if I was part of the Junker horde, I'd want 2 things, a really big shield, and to be at the back. Great colour job on these, jungle troops need be painted blue and the purple on the VASA is very cool.

From TomM: Voor vorst, voor vrijheid en voor recht! (43 Points)

Okay, so that title is actually from our Belgian national anthem, and translates as "for king, for freedom and for rights" but it suited as the title for this entry.

And that entry consists of my now fully painted Belgian army for Blitzkrieg Commander 4, all models coming from Scotia Grendel's Belgian range, drabbed with some French.

Coming in at a 1000 points, this is a small force I've build because 1) I`m Belgian and 2) is a good size for quick kitchen table games, either solo or to teach new players the basic rules at home.

The army itself consists of a CO and an HQ, as well as a Recce squad of infantry.

For fire support, I choose a 47mm AT gun, an 81mm mortar and a 105mm artillery field gun.

These will provide the support for 3 platoons of Infantry.

And then I took the full armoured might of Belgium (as per the rules, no matter how big the force, these are all the tanks you can take), consisting of 3 T-13 tank hunters, 3 T-15 light tanks, 3 FT-17 tanks and the heaviest we had our disposal, 3 AMC35 tanks.

So all in all for the points, this will grant me the following:

27 infantry models at 0.5 each = 13.5 points
3 guns at 1 point each = 3 points
13 vehicles at 2 points each = 16 points

For a grand total of 32.5 points of Belgian Bravery!

_____________________________

Our first 6mm entry of Challenge X, excellent work Tom. I like seeing these often overlooked forces getting some of the limelight. T-13 tank hunters? AMC35s? Wow, talk about outliers of the armour world. Awesome. 

Your math is a bit off on the vehicles, so we'll put you at 43 points in total. That being said we're having a little issue with our points spreadsheet, but we have our mathemagician and spreadsheet boffin Miles looking into it, so your place on the roster will be updated as soon as we can. 

'No Miles, before you use the blowtorch try unplugging it and plugging it back in again...'

From BenF: Za Stalina! 6mm 1941 VVS Aircraft (20 points)

While my focus for this challenge has been fimly set on my 6mm Cold War project, I also wanted to get some extra bits and pieces for my Bag The Hun 2 forces completed. After visiting Russia earlier in the 2018, I wanted to add a small Soviet force to my Germans, British, and French.

I like to play the underdog in wargames, and has there ever been an underdog like the poor Red Army Airforce (VVS) in 1941? Tales of brave little Popalikarov I-16s fighting against overwhelming numbers firing till their ammunition is spent, then ramming enemy bombers are pretty stirring stuff - even if overblown by Soviet propaganda.

So, here's the first half of my Soviet force. All of these aircraft are from Scotia, with decals from Flightdeck2400. I really enjoyed painting the little patriotic slogans on the sides of these aircraft.

First off, here's a section (or zveno) of Lavochkin LaGG-3s. The LaGG-3 was well armed, but under-powered and often outmaneuvered by the Fascist Messerschmitt Bf.109Es and Fs.

Next up, the Yakolev Yak-1. These were armed with machineguns and a 20mm cannon, and held their own against the Fascist invaders throughout the first years of the war. 'Yellow 44' is painted up as the Yak flown by Lydia Litvyak, the 'White Lily of Stalingrad', the first female fighter pilot to shoot down an aircraft, and still the highest ranking female fighter ace.

I've also got three Mig-3s,  Popalikarov I-16s, and a brace of Tupolev SB-2 medium bombers in the painting queue, so look out for them.

By my reckoning, the total for this entry should be:

9 x 6mm aircraft  = 18 points

Next up, some more 1984 fast air and some more Soviet armour.

You're smashing these 6mm vehicles out of the park, Ben! I'm impressed by the graffiti on the fuselages as well. Another few bonus points to bring it to 20, and I can't wait to see what microarmour project comes next.

Barks

From BenF: 6mm NATO Fast Air 1984 (20 pts)

So the last two and a half weeks have been a whirlwind. At 8.22pm on the 15th of January, our baby daughter Evelyn May was born. After a spell in the special care nursery where she got a chance to sunbake under the lights to get rid of some jaundice, we were all back home and starting to work out our new routines, which as far as Evie was concerned did not necessarily include sleep.

While I've not exactly had a surplus of sleep over the last fortnight, I have managed to get an hour of painting in here and there, and I've surprised myself by actually managing to get some stuff completed! Here's a picture of our little one.

These are a few 6mm aircraft for my Cold War 1984 project. The four RAF planes are for a mate, while the others are for my own collection.

First off, a pair of Super Etendards of the French Marine. I love the sleek look of some of these French aircraft, and these are going to be support for my French force based around the Force d'Action Rapide. These are Scotia aircraft with stores leftover from some GHQ aircraft.

Next, here is a lone Sea Harrier FRS.1, painted up as from 800 Squadron NAS, which saw action over the Falklands in '82. I've got the bare bones of a British force based around 1 (UK) Infantry Brigade, which was slated as reinforcement for Denmark and Norway, and this little guy will be support for them, when I get around to painting them up. The aircraft is Heroics and Ros, with stores from GHQ.

As no Cold War NATO force is complete without a Warthog, I painted up this little A-10A Thunderbolt II from GHQ. He will serve as air support for any of my NATO forces, and with a brace of Maverick missiles and the 30mm GAU gatling gun, he is certain to cut through any Warsaw Pact armour like a hot knife through butter.

Now, on the the RAF. My mate and regular gaming buddy Steve has a huge BAOR force, and when he asked me to paint up some RAF aircraft I was happy to oblige. First off are two Jaguar GR.1s from Heroics and Ros. I actually have another two in French airforce colours on the painting desk at the moment. These are painted up from 16 Squadron, based on some source photographs I found of a Jaguar at a Belgian airshow in 1986.

Next off, two Harrier GR.3s These are Raiden FRS.1s which have had a fair amount of modification. As with the other aircraft, GHQ stores have been added, but I've also filed down the nose to get the 'snoopy nose' look of the GR.3, and an antenna was added with fine gauge brass wire. Steve was pretty happy with this lot.

 I've also got a brace of Tornados and Phantoms to finish off, so expect those in the not so distant future. I managed to get a game in last night, and as with all freshly painted kit, the Jaguars were chased off by loitering MiGs before even reaching the battlefield.

This is the first of two updates this week, the next will be aircraft again, but some Soviets from the early Great Patriotic War. I'm also racing to get my entry to the Mercenary round complete, but we'll see how that goes. It depends how accomodating Evelyn will be :)

As far as points go, seven (admittedly quite large) 6mm aircraft are by my reckoning 14 points.

Gorgeous work, yet again. Very swooshable! Are the markings decals, or painted, or a mix? Your panel lines and cockpits would be the envy of a 1:144 modeller. Because planes are bigger than tanks, I'll throw in a few bonus points, plus a rounding newborn bonus, to give 20 points.

Barks