From StuartL - Challenge Island Safari Journal - 18th March (265 Points)

Greetings implacable C.I.S.T.ers,

Today we're heading to a little known spot on Challenge Island, the site of the Challenge Island Airport, or at least a field where a hot air balloon can land.
Joining us on our visit to the trip are the Challenge Island Reenactment Society, here to faithfully recreate the bygone days of when the American Continental Army defeated the dastardly British. As I am sure every red blooded hatted patriot knows, the Continental Army defended the airports of America and prevented the British from using these vital transportation hubs.

Here we can see the Reenactors in their replica uniforms preparing for the event, forming up as their fore-fathers did many years before.

The American War of Independence shaped the modern world as we know it today, though numerous historians often debate the turning points in the conflict, the truth is that the British were not prepared for the war in any way.

When the colonists stated that there should be "No taxation without representation!" The British leadership scratched their heads in confusion.

"So... they are okay with being taxed if we let them have politicians?" said one British general.
"I'd gladly pay more tax to get rid of them to be honest," said the second.
"It must be a wind up. Nobody would actually want that," said the third.
"Agreed!" said the other two generals. "Let's have some tea and wait for all this tomfoolery to blow over."

And so began a conflict which changed the course of history and gave rise to some of the most memorable battles of history. The JFK International campaign. The Battle of LAX and of course, the great siege of Chicago O'Hare.

Sadly, not all of the reenactment group appear to be enjoying their day out. Mrs. Mosswell came along with her husband to show her support for his hobby and to enjoy the tropical delights of Challenge Island. In an effort to join in, she has donned settler's garb from the 1770's and helped out around camp. Mr. Mosswell however has spent most of his time chatting with his friends and fellow hobbyists about the minutiae of musket drill and the correct way to wear the 1781 issue canteens, leaving his better half thoroughly ticked off.

In an effort to cheer herself up, and to get away from dozens of middle aged men mucking about in fancy dress, Mrs. Mosswell has decided to take a trip on Lady Sarah's Balloon. Fran's Fjord is only a short hop away and it sounds quite exotic, so maybe some time spent enjoying one of the island's beauty spots will brighten her mood. 

Have a safe flight Mrs. Mosswell.

----------

Ok, I'll admit, the American War of Independence isn't a conflict that I know a great deal about. Apologies to any American challengers from my tongue in cheek view of one of the key points of their history.

Back before Challenge IX, a friend suggested that we work together on a new historical project and eventually we settled on the AWI as something neither of us had done before. It helped that the Perry Brothers had a wonderful range of minis to work with. My friend was planning to order the minis in September 2018, but that date quickly fell by the wayside and so did October and November. He promised to order them before Xmas and I had hoped to get my part of the project done in Challenge IX. In the end, I ended up ordering the models myself in summer 2019, with the intention that both my friend and I would get the first units done and on the table in early 2020. We did manage to get in one game of Rebels and Patriots from Osprey, but my friend is leaving the area in a couple of weeks to take up a new job 350km away. Suffice to say, this project has not been one of the more successful ones. Still, I have the start of an army done and more minis to work on for when my friend comes to visit.

For the challenge I have painted:

40 Infantry (there are 42 models and an officer in the top picture, but two of them were done as a test before the challenge and the officer was done before Challenge IX) - 200 Points

1 Gun with 4 Crew - 30 Points (Is that correct?)

1 Disgruntled Housewife - 5 Points

Plus 30 Points for my first trip on Sarah's Balloon, stopping at Fran's Fjord.

That should be 265 Points I think.

You think correctly! That's a good looking set of Rebel Scum - sorry! Wrong game system! We've had far too many SW Legion posts! - continental army troops. Poor Mrs Mosswell though; she tries to show an interest in her hubby's hobby and gets abandoned in the camp.

TamsinP

ChristopherS : Fallschirmjäger Tank Hunters (35pts.)

I decided to add some more support options to my force with some important anti- tank options in the form of a couple deadly panzerschreks and some nasty panzerfausts plus a  Panzerbüchuse 38 Anti-tank rifle followed up by 5cm mortar team to keep the enemies heads down.

I had two of same models for the panzerfausts but by changing up their uniform I think that really helps for them not to look like repeats.

You may have noticed that all the Crusader miniatures are sculpted in the early war uniforms and I kept them that way without any late war camo. I did this for two reasons one being that troops wearing early uniforms works fine in the late war and second at some point I also want to build an early war Fallschirmjäger force and the Crusader figures will help towards that goal.

I hope this overhead shot works as I wanted to better show what the base and the prone figures look like that is a bit harder to see when looking head on.

As usual for my 20th century figures and beyond  I used mostly Vallejo paints and MIG  pigments for the dusting to get the colors I want.

Some people speculate what theater I designed these for and mostly it was for Normandy with some Italian veterans and of course Italy itself.

I still have some more fallschirmjäger on the way, but starting to see a small crack of light at the end of the tunnel, however still some ways to go yet before the job is done.
So that's 4 prone and 4 standing 28mm figures which I believe comes to 30pts.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company-Artizan, Crusader

Nice work on these Fallschirmjagers Christopher.  I'm not enough of a rivet head to tell the difference between early and late war uniforms, so I'll let others begin the Y-webbing critiques.  They look great to me and I especially like the overhead shots of the weapons teams  which are very nicely based.  I have Crusader figures for SYW and El Cid and ave to say I like their sculpts, very clean cast with subtle variations.    FYI which figures are Crusader and which are Artizan?

I'll bump your score up to 35 for those nice bases.
PeterD

From RossM: 28mm Red Pirate - Curtgeld (60 Points)

Second entry for this year's challenge and this time it is also a part of Challenge Island. 

Starting by landing at Sander's Sand Dune, this lonely pirate is seeing red all around him. Napoleonics, Romans and many more all in shades of red.

A Wargames Foundry Oriental pirate that was a part of a small band of rogues in the painting lists.

The red is a new addition to the paint pot coming from Citadel's range of paints. Base, wash and layer giving a red with impact and depth. The colours, god only knows they have such strange names.

This figure is also being offered as the Curtgeld and a prize for those who have journeyed to the Challenge Island.

Thanks for looking and in terms of points this bring in

5 for 1 x 28mm
25 for Curtgeld
30 for Challenge Island prize.

Totaling either 30 for Curtgeld or 60 for Curtgeld and prize.

Cheers for now.

***

Pirate? Why, he is merely an innocent fisherman, no? Sporting red finery and...a polearm. Well, safety first, right? I mean, with so many OTHER pirate types around - not to mention an army of red entries along these specific sand dunes, a polearm is only logical, right?

Very nice Ross.  You have some great results here. I use the GW paint line for 98% of my painting, and I share your exasperation at the stupid names of their paints, but they are good paints, easy to acquire, and give great results - just see the output above. 

As a minion, I find your math complex. So it's probably correct. If not, Miles will launch me directly into the Sun. But that's a problem for another day. 60 points for you!

GregB

From DavidB - Ad-mech (140points)

Boy is time cruising by. I have one more day before I have to report for more duties. I did manage to squeeze out a few more enties between family time. I also had to adjust my painting plans....alright..true...I've never had one of those spreadsheet type plans for hobby time as I really just see what sorts of mischief I can find in the random heaps of miniatures piled upon my desk. I did, however, remove some which would take a lot of effort and planning...well detail and research.

These fellows did take a moment as I wanted them to be Ad-mech forces from the Forgeworld Gryphonne. That forgeworld was overrun by a tyranid swarm and the survivors including the garrisoned Knights and Titians were last seen fighting on Cadia before Abbaddon destroyed the world.

As I have a Cadian force, Gryphonne seemed a good fit for the Cadian 7th that have lately been skirmishing with Blood Angel Elite and huge Chaos forces. The tanks of the 7th keep getting brewed up, so Ad-mech forces for repair and aid seemed a good fit. The only official look was a plate of a ranger in white robe with red in the interior wearing blue grey trousers with orange trim. Not too much else, so I was free to make things up as I went along. I used snakebite leather Contrast paint on most of the armor as it has a dull copper look. I used lots of grey Contrast paints for the rest of the metal bits too. I think it works pretty well as I wanted the many lights/optics and exotic weaponry to be focal points. I'm still getting used to the weapons, so every bit helps in drawing my eye to them.

"010001011101101000"- binary for HUZZAH!

The rangers have impressive range abilities and were made from the start collecting box. They are best used as a backstop gunline since their rifles have a healthy range on par with the Tau.

Since I was free on colors, I did borrow from BB-88 on the infiltrators. the shock prods are good at taking down marines. They are very fast and disrupt enemy communications and sensors.

although I did use contrast paints, I also used traditional highlighting on the fabric and metal bits to accent them. The Sicarians are my favourite models of this force with their spider like legs and arms. The kits let you build eally dynamic poses too.

The Sicarian Ruststalkers are armed with phase swords and look really sinister. I tried to keep them dark so the lights and optics really pop as well as the phase swords. Cordclaws like the leaders right hand are the better weapon for them, but with my affinity for lightsabers and they dynamic poses that ca be made... I went for style over capabilities. The next five I build will have Cordclaws to rip into Blood Angel elites better though!

These are my favourite unit for the admech so far. They are just as fast and vicious as they look.

A tech priest and a servitor from the Blackstone Expansion. The tech priest is actually a surveyor and the servitor is a hireling available for any in the blackstone game. I'll still use them as such, but the techpriest can still repair tanks while he looks for lost tec and a new home for the Gryphonne Forgeworld.

A Manipulus and Dominus Priests. The Manipulus comes from  a kill team set and is a good support for the Sicarian squads. Although the Sicarians are very fast, the manipulus is a good mobile fire support for them and if close enough, he really helps in hand to hand with tough opponents like Blood Angel Sanguinary guard and Death Company. In fact the Sicarian Ruststalkers and Infiltrators need his support to have enough left to engage new targets.

The Dominus came with the start collecting box and is the force commander. As Tech Priests, they are perfectly capable of restoring tanks when not shooting or assaulting too. I used a crimson red on the battery packs to show allegiance to Mars. Corporal Razor, my regular Blood Angel opponent does do a victory dance when he takes them out as they are both capable of wrecking his marines with ease and each have many nasty Ad-mech tricks!

The Dune Crawler came with the start collecting box. a good value for the contents. I gave this one the big gun thinking big damage, but the other loadouts are better. I'll pick up another collecting box and build a different companion and some vanguard infantry.

I also shown allegiance to Mars with the dune crawler. I used that quirky zenthial shading trick with the primer and the apothecary white Contrast paint really popped the detail on it. I haven't used an airbrush on tanks yet, but the contrast paints really sped up the time spent spent on this beastie.

When destroyed in battle I leave the spider legs behind( maybe a robotic monster in another scenario/game) it also lets me point that big barrel at it's next target.

Not quite as large as Byron's force but it is still growing. In  few years They will be able to head out to battle without the Cadian 7th Cavalry.

24 28mm troops for 120 points

a tank for another 20

***
Hey David, awesome looking Ad-Mech force!  While I prefer the deep rusty reds for mine, you make the white look very good here, especially on the cloaks.  I have not gotten into the 40k version of the Mechanicum yet, but those models look like a blast to paint, although they do look a little fragile, how are they?

As a fellow Mechanicum player though, and as a computer security specialist that has to read binary and hex most days, I do have a problem with your Huzzah translation.....

01001000 01010101 01011010 01011010 01000001 01001000 00100001  = HUZZAH!
010001011101101000 = EÚ 

I am going to have to assume your translator got shot while trying to say huzzah?

Aside from your translation bot malfunctioning though, this is an awesome looking force, and one I hope to see expanded on over the course of the challenge.

- ByronM

From IainW: Final post Great Italian wars stradiots (81points)

Final light cavalry unit,another old glory unit, you have to stick the hands on before you drill them out! Still nice figures in the end and fun to paint.

So that's the end eight stradiots in the service of Florence,I've failed to complete Florence in 1500 but its a work in progress! Thanks a lot to Curt and to my fellow minions,it's been great fun! Oh and points 8x10 + flag 1 total 81.
All the best Iain


TamsinP:

Jinettes and stradiots in one day? You are treating us with your light cavalry Iain! These certainly look quite fabulous. 81 points it is!

From AlexS - Wild West, SAGA and Curtgelt (170 points)

Hello to all! My name is Alex and I from Russia. Today I present to your attention a few different miniatures.

First, this is a gang of a vampire and his minions for playing in the wild west. All the miniatures are beautiful, especially the younger vampires, and the supreme vampire himself - just like from old movies! I tried to paint them so that on the table were footage from the movie "Interview with the Vampire."

Secondly, the priest and the "men in black" who hunt for various strange creatures in my world of the Wild West. The priest seemed to have left the frames of the film about exorcism.

Thirdly, four veterans for the game system "Saga". These will be veterans (hearthguard) of the Roman-British gang, I made them last year when I painted this gang for AHPC8, and now I have completed them with these figures. I finished another project!

Fourth, the cultists. Just cultists. Universal cultists for almost any gaming system. I will have the Cthulhu cultists. But they can be cultists of any other gloomy god.

Next - a few soldiers and officers of the army of the Union, which are sure to be useful for games around the world of the Wild West. I painted without taking into account the historical period and the specific regiment, the main thing for me was the recognition of the army in general.

The following miniatures are different characters for the Wild West world. Zombies, Confederates, cowboy pirate and one-eyed necromancer planter. This different set of thumbnails shows how crazy my brain is when I think of my Wild West world.

Well, the most important miniature is that miniature that I painted specifically for the Snow Lord (Curtgelt!) and will send it at the end of the event. This is a goblin from the hobbit’s adventures, but I think it’s great for the theme of this year’s event. I tried to change the technique of work, to make it faded and vile, as in the film. I hope I did it.

That's all for this week. I hope my "vinaigrette" of miniatures today was interesting. Thank you all!

Points:

28mm 30 inf x 5 = 150 points

---

A wonderfully eclectic selection of figures mate, and a real bunch of ne'er-do-well's if ever I saw one. I particularly like the old-school vampires. I think your old west setting would probably have been almost as scary as the historical one! As well as the 150 points for the figures you'll also get an extra 20 points for the Curtgeld bringing this lot up to 170 Points. Nice work mate. 

Lee

From DavidB: Beware the old man (80 points)

Very late and missed the mercenary round, but they still beat my recon round.(the reconnaissance team mustve been dropped at the wrong grid)

Like quite a few here, I grew up with star wars and was young enough to gather a large collection of action figures. Fantasy Flight Games has rekindled that desire to amass a large collection of those figures and game all the adventures from the movies and more.

Since my youth and the original theatre outings, I grew older and found myself often in areas without creature comforts like electricity. Books only need daylight to work properly and Ive read nearly all the Star Wars books released, all over the world. I have battered paperbacks on my shelf at home and even a few newer books stashed in my ruck and assault pack.

Ive even met and and conversed with quite a few people in oddest places just because they seen I was reading Star Wars. An SAS Sgt is convinced that the books don't count as only the movies are"real". A Kiwi recon scout and I also quietly passed the time sharing our favourite characters while in a HIDE site on a frigid Afghanistan mountain.

Like it or hate it, Star Wars is pretty universal.

Trandoshans like Boosk are a race of reptilian hunters. Often hunting in a family pack, they are carnivores and will eat anyone. Boosk is the only survivor of his family and prefers the contracts that allow him to eat. he has no loyalty to anyone and views most as just meat. Trandoshans are a race of mercenaries hiring out hunter teams, assassins and soldiers and have no scruples for reasons they just want the credits. 

Rodians are from a planet with slavery embedded in the culture. The green Rodians are the most common and are the slaves while the yellow ones are the noble class of slavers. Besides the slavery, they are very advanced, but seem to have issues from the recently ended slavery. Young green Rodians often grouped up into gangs for protection and freedom fighting, but often that life just led to crime and mercenary work.

The space orc Gamorians have long allied with the Hutts and provide a core of disciplined elite guards. The Hutts don't abuse them too much as they are very loyal and they have developed  culturally with the Hutts although they do roam as space pirates and mercenaries for hire.

Weequays are a leathery humanoid race that have very little by way of artistic culture, humour, science, or any worthwhile export. Their home world is nearly dead and the leathery wrinkled skin is a result of generations of radiation exposure. They roam as space pirates when not engaged in mercenary work. They wear all their individual wealth and are always ready to move. They work for the highest bidder and have been known to switch sides when a better deal comes along.

The Fett and Dengar. Don't really need to mention too much about the Fett who hails from a race of soldiers for hire. Mandoralians are pretty popular with any fan of Star Wars.

Dengar though is probably the least popular. I used to not be fond of him myself, but thanks to the books I have a better understanding of him.

He is a bounty hunter and soldier for hire. he has very bad luck in all his peaceful endeavours and often lost his funds just by helping out others. He was a soldier for a long time and was(is) highly trained in shooting, explosives, and reconnaissance. He helped out Boba after the Fett escaped from the sarloc pit(Corporal Grosse said he died in Film and IS dead). He even has helped Fett in eliminating those who assume the Fett's identity. Boba doesn't have many he trusts and even fewer friends. Dengar is one in both camps and will always help boba out including providing a safe house. Dengar is mainly a farmer now providing for his lady and a brood of children and grand children.

Dengar is an old man and is still somewhat active in a profession a young man's game. Dengar is also still in the game while many are not which shows how dangerous the old fellow with his aged equipment is. I rather like him now and sympathise with him more that I did when i first got his action figure in the 80's. Sometimes just age is needed to alter the perspective. ;)

This whole squirrel challenge has definitely added more butterfly distractions to my desk!

16 28mm troops for 80 points and another tally for the squirrel challenge!

__________________________________________________________________

I've read some of the Extended Universe, and nothing new really replaces the Thrawn Trilogy. 

You've done some excellent work on these. Especially the Rodians.

80 points incoming.