From SimonG: The Final Squaddies! Finishing my 1980s BAOR in 10mm (32 points)

While my progress overall in this challenge has been slow I am delighted to actually have been able to finish something and to finally bring to a close my 1980s Cold War Gone Hot project in 10mm -- something I started way back in January 2021!

Cpl Kitchener Wants You!

As before these are 10mm TimeCast Miniatures which I love. This time there are four squads of 8, for a total of 32 based in pairs.

I can never stick with the same technique so this time around I added the black lines in the DPM camo pattern using a 0.05 unipin fine line which worked absolutely wonderfully -- I use a mix of unipin and copic fine-liners and find them indispensable for detail work like this or for edging heraldry.

Black lines added with .05 pen

Anyway, here are some other close ups. I ended up doing the 58 pattern webbing in a different shade to my last batch, oh well there was some variation in the field!

As before these are based on 2mm East Riding Miniatures MDF bases with a mix of Geek Gaming Rugged Fields base ready and my 2mm autumn static grass. The labels are laser printed, covered with sticky film and then stuck onto 2mm brass strip.  Also, apologies that I haven't cleaned up the base edges which I still need to do!

It is great to have finished this project after 4 years -- here's a view of the complete British force ready to make its debut on the table.

So that probably does it for me for this challenge as I've got a lot going on over the next week so don't feel able to start on another painting job -- while I have again failed to achieve my target I am pleased with the work I've done, making progress on several fronts and actually managing to finish a project, and complete my two vignettes!

TeemuL: Targets are something to aim for, but it is practical to look behind and see what one has accomplished. You have a nice list for that and now you are ready to play a new theater, good luck!

10mm minis are comfortable to calculate, since one is 1 point, so 32 to you. Any camo in that scale is difficult, but you have done a great job! The labels are clear, just finish those base edges before the first game and before starting the next painting project. ;)

From SimonG: Welcome Back with more 10mm 1980s BAOR (44 points)

Well here we all are again, stuffed after Christmas and labouring to finish off our first submissions. In may case labouring once again in the limbo that is DPM camo in 10mm for my now four years old 1980s cold war gone hot project. I'm genuinely in the final stretches now with only 32 more figures to go!

Nothing to see here (nice tash Sarge!)

Once again these are Timecast 10mm (1:144) and really nice sculpts with chunky details and even character in the faces (when they are visible). The Timecast painting guide for DPM is very easy to follow although this time I think I've let a bit more of the sand shade show through, which actually makes for more dramatic effect I think.

Group Shot with Transport

Based and labeled

DPM in 10mm (easier than you think)

While painting up the camo is actually quite pleasurable (provided your brushes are in good shape) basing is a real pain in the butt with tiny figures, tiny bases and the need to make up and locate printed brass labels -- I think it takes me as long to base these as it does to paint them. However the result seems to be pretty good.

So that's me started for this year -- and here are some beauty shots of the four types (a section NCO plus mate, GPMG crew, two squaddies and a MAW crew). For those who care about this sort of thing these are taken with a Nikon D-750, AF-S Nikkor 105 F2.8 at ISO 3200, f16, 1/80 to get depth of field in macro. However it's astonishing how good the iPhone 15Pro Macro shots (the two overhead ones above) are, just lacking a bit of that nice depth of colour I feel.

So to make a start on my 1000 point target thats 24 points for 24 10mm figures and a 20 point limbo bonus for the project that never ends. For coming weeks I have more 15mm Albigensian Crusade and 28mm Romans -- no new big projects this year but I have a nice special vignette in the works inspired by a Kate Rusby song -- so looking forward to sharing that with you all.

Got 'im!

_________________________

Welcome back to the Challenge, Simon! It's great to see your Cold War Gone Hot project again. Just 30 figures away from completion? That's terrific! You really bring the best out of these 10mm figures with your clean and precise brushwork. I can sympathize with your comments on the basing (which is terrific btw), in that it often can take as much time as painting the figures themselves. Still, the final effect speaks for itself - lovely work. I look forward to your next entry!

- Curt

From SimonG: Wrap Up, Or A Mixed Bag (In Many Ways!)

It's once again time for my wrap up post and the one time a year I have to struggle with taking a selfie without holding my stupid phone at arms length (which btw always gives terrible results). It's also rather a shock that the picture that comes back is one of my father (but that's another story!)

Who is that guy? And why does he smile so oddly?

The Final Array

Anyway this is now my fourth challenge and while not a terribly high scoring excursion it has allowed me to embark on two exciting new projects. The first is the expansion of my existing Jewish Revolt 28mm skirmish project into a full scale Impetus based large battles setup with figures from Victrix.

I though it would be nice to show the figures alongside some key references. In this case they are of course Josephus' "Jewish Wars" but also Jodi Magness' recent study of Masada and how this has echoed down the centures, and finally Martin Goodman "Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations".

My other and completely new project was another Impetus army but in this case in 15mm for the Albigensian Crusade. All figures are from Khurasan.

The references here are Jonathan Sumption's first publication "The Albigensian Crusade" plus "The Perfect Heresy" by Simon O'Shea and Sophie Thérese Amblers "The Song of Simon de Montfort" to show how the experience of Simon the elder influenced the younger.

Finally I am close to finishing up my 10mm 1980s Cold War project with figures from Timecast.

In this instance I've shown the figures alongside two rule sets for the period -- Sabre Squadron and Battlegroup Northag -- all I need now is some terrain and I am ready to go.

Finally I wanted to share my secret for detail work at all scales -- a really good set of magnifying visors -- and I can heartly recommend The Donegan Optical OptiVISOR - I use the 2.75X No 7

So with no more to say I will offer up invocations and thanks to the lord and lady of the challenge -- Curt and Sarah, to my scholarly minion Sylvain (I hope my errors in erudition didn't embarass you too much), and all the others in the Monday crew who seemed among the most valiant posters and commentors and a great group to work alongside.

I also wanted to say how much I appreciated the theme for this year’s challenge. Libraries are sorely under appreciated, especially here in the UK, and I wish I was still in Portland, OR which has a great program of building new libraries to serve all the local communities and where I was able to make a donation. 

My calendar is now marked for November 20th 2024 and I am already making plans for the next time -- see you all in nine months time!

From SimonG: A Mixed-up Monster and Mini Military Men (80 points)

Week three in the challenge and I'm finishing up the entry hall in the Analogueville Public Library with stops in Fantasy and Overdues and Returns. I'll be showing my final and oldest ongoing project -- my 1980s BAOR vs Soviets in 10mm plus (as always) a Black Rose Wars fantasy figure.

Look! A squirrel?

First up is a new offering from Ludus Magnus Black Rose Wars game -- this is a Chimera from the Magister add-on that was released in 2022. It's quite a large figure as you can see in comparison with my reference 28mm mounted. 

The Chimera

10mm vs 28mm vs ??

Part lion, part snake and part satanic goat it gave me three different sets of eyes to paint (who knew that snake irises show vertical, while goat's are horizontal, and lions tend to have brown eyes!)  Anyway I tried to pull off all of these differences plus anatomical details in the lions mouth (based on my lion taming experience 😂)

I'm also very pleased with what I was able to do with a very large, very flat and featureless slab of stone. I went for a rough marble effect greatly aided by a pair of washes (the ubiquitous Nuln Oil over Soulblight Grey) -- layering washes is something I've not tried before but worked out well.

Now that we're finished in fantasy we can head over to Overdues and Returns and visit the final pieces of a 1980s Cold War project  I started back in AHPC XI (Sabre Squadron or Battlegroup Northag rules.) The final elements being the UK infantry. Not surprisingly I've been putting off painting DPM in 10mm. 

The figures are from Timecast who provide a helpful painting guide and with some patience and practice the results don't seem too bad. Anyway the pictures below show a command team plus engineers and two anti aircraft crews with Blowpipe SAMs. The associated vehicles were submitted as part of the last challenge.

Command squad and FV438

He's a Medic!

LMG and Sniper

Blowpipe SAM Teams

Engineers

Another view of the engineers with their Land Rovers behind

Each base has a small brass printed and label on brass strip, in practice basing at this scale is a complete PITA with the need to fit tiny figure bases, labels and static grass all in a base the size of a postage stamp -- it took me the best part of two days just to base 20 figures so it remains to be seen if I'll get the remaining 56 (7 more 438 squads) done by the end of the challenge!

Overview of the 20 figures with their associated transport

So my total for today is one oversized fantasy figure -- given Domini Nivis Predcedentes I'll call that a 28mm vehicle for 20 points plus the 20 point fantasy room bonus. Then I have 20 10mm figures at 1 point each, 3 of them prone  and a 20 point overdue bonus. So 78.5 points in total I think.

Here's progress so far (this week shown in red) -- up next my first jaunt on Lady Sarah's library cart to learn more about Roman statuary and take a deeper delve into my Jewish Wars 28mm Impetus project.

Progress to date - 4 locations visited

Sylvain: What an awesome mix! I like the colors on your Chimera and how you gradually shifted the colors from brownish to blackish. Your camouflage pattern at such a small scale is brilliantly executed. It really brings out the "modern" flavour of the miniatures.

 Pointwise, standing or prone a figurine is worth the same amount of points. So 80 points for you!