From TimB: 28mm Spartan Knight and WWI Signalers (20 points)

Tim keeps up the steam and sends in this group consisting of a Lacedaemonian officer and a trio of British Great War signalers.

The Spartan magistrate/officer (denoted by his wooden rod and transverse crest on his helmet) is from the 28mm Wargames Foundry range, sculpted by Steve Saleh. Tim's painting of the cloak reflects that these hard nuts would go for a whole year before washing or replacing them. Yep, apparently they did this on purpose. Perhaps Gerard Butler should have been shouting 'THIS. IS. SMELLY!'

These three WWI British signalers are from Renegade Miniatures. They are in late-war informs and depict troops from the Canadian 3rd Division (as denoted by the grey shoulder patch). The pigeons are particularly cool! 

These four will give Tim 20 points. Nice ones, Tim!

From JuanM: Medieval Peasant (5 points)

Juan continues to impress with his single-figure submissions. This time we have a doughty peasant axeman heading off work in the forest or perhaps the local monthly bread riot. Actually, this range is meant for the Italian Wars or the Peasants' Wars of the mid 16th Century. Just look at the mournful face on this fellow, beautiful.

'I'm told there's a Big Bad Wolf in these here parts...'

This casting is from Pro Gloria Miniatures, sculpted by the very talented Paul Hicks. I have to thank Juan for this as I particularly enjoy finding these boutique ranges of figures. Very characterful and wonderfully niche - excellent stuff. 

This fellow will garner Juan another 5 points to his scorecard. He promises me that his next submission will be an entire unit.  I know he would like the points and to see a unit from him will be great, but I must admit that I enjoy many of these 'singles' as much as the larger entries.

From GregB: 15mm German Panzer MkIII (8 points)

Greg has been mulling around with the idea of collecting some 15mm WWII and so here we have a test model of a German panzer mkIII. He's been playing with paint combinations and this is his version of 'dunkelgelb' (mid-war yellow). I don't have my Ralph Lauren 'Panzers-in-Spring' paint chips handy but I think Greg's got a good representation happening here.

This is a Battlefront 15mm casting. Has anyone tried out the 'Forged in Battle' range of models? I'm curious to how they compare.

Before it clanks off to its doom in the endless steppes of Russia this panzer will add  8 points to Greg's total.

From ChrisP: 28mm Napoleonic British (110 points)

Here are some additional reinforcements from Chris, these depicting the South Lincolnshire (69th) battalion which he will use for  the 'Lasalle' set of Napoleonic rules.

These are all 28mm Perry models; plastic rankers with metal command.

These casualty figures are Perry as well. Chris' (and my) favourite is the duo above which either depicts a faithful soldier dragging his wounded officer from harms way, or he's simply pulling him out of the local pub and rolling him for his pocketwatch. Below we see a Rifleman, an Inniskilling and a poor chap from the 33rd Regiment all taking the 'dirt nap'. (As you can probably tell, I'm not feeling too 'romantic' today - being the first day back to the ludus...)

...and finally, a poor lonely skirmisher, out in front of the lines, facing the French on his own. Fine paintwork here, Chris!

This group will get Chris 110 points! Well done!

The Challenge: Two Weeks Down, Eleven to Go!

'Yes, superglue Kent's fingers together! Excellent!! Now, the rest of you, get painting!'

Hi All! The Painting Challenge is just finishing it's second week and we've already had over 60 entries from talented hobbyists from all over the world. The Challenge has generated over 8 thousand visitors and is climbing daily. Along with the excellent and varied submissions, I find that the good-will, good-humour and mutual support has been pretty awesome. Though it's a bit a scramble to keep on top of, it has been a rush watching it progress.


My vacation ends today, and while it's been great to be able to post stuff pretty much when it arrives I really can't sustain this schedule. (These annoying things called 'careers' - whoever invented them should be shot.) So starting today I will start posting batch updates of each day's submissions during the evenings. I may be able to get some posts up during daytime hours, but it will be sporadic.

On to more fun stuff. At my initial announcement of the Challenge I stated that there would be prizes for the top three finishers who've accrued the most points. Well, in addition to this I've decided to add to the fun and so announce that we're going to have awards for several other categories as well:

Challengers' Choice: This award will be determined only by those taking part in The Challenge. At its conclusion all participants will be asked to secretly vote for their favorite entry (and, no Ray, you cannot vote for your own...)

Judge's Choice: Pretty simple, this will be my favorite submission. Bribes, gifts and overt favours will be duly taken into account...

People's Choice: This will be a poll that I will issue at the Challenge's conclusion for our visitor/commentors to vote for their favorite Challenge submission.

Sarah's Choice: This award is being sponsored by Sarah, my better half (well, more like 7/8s), who will give out a prize for her favorite historical female figure.

So there you have it. Lots of treats and incentives for all to aspire to.

We will now resume our normal programming....