From SebG: 1:285 Modern French Tanks (21 points)

Sebastien debuts with a batch of seven French modern tanks in 1:285 scale.

From Seb:

This is my first entry. Fortunately for me I was alone at home for the whole day, so I could start painting. The longest part was for the varnish to dry ;) 

And here is the result:

4 ERC-90 Sagaie, and 3 AMX-10RC in 6mm for my modern French army.  

The Sagaie is armed with a 90mm gun, and the AMX-10RC has a powerful 105mm gun. Both are recon vehicles and can also be used in fast attack/intervention units.  

The minis are from CinC.

Great  job on these. What rules are you using? Modern Spearhead? 

This group will give Seb 21 points. Welcome to the scoreboard, mon ami!

From IanW: 20mm Numidian Elephants & Riders (44 points)

Ian cracks off his first entry with these three elephants and riders for his Numidian army.

Take it away Ian:

These are HaT 20mm Elephants for my Numidian army. The three escorting infantry were painted pre-start by about 4-6 months so I am guessing don't count, LOL. The Elephants are the only really strong part of what is almost totally light infantry and cavalry army so will be interesting to play. Barry wanted to have separate command units even though they are based for Impetus and I agreed so one of the spare Elephants makes a cool command base. 

These three elephants with their riders will give Ian 44 points. Good to have you on the roster again, Ian!

From MilesR: 28mm WWII Japanese Infantry (30 points)

Just as last year, Miles chips in with one of the first submissions for the Challenge (good lad). Today we see a detachment of six WWII Japanese infantry.

From Miles: 

Well it's the 20th and the sporting world now turns it's eyes to the 3rd Annual Painting Challenge! I added up the individual score level targets and it's roughly 42,675 (I may be off a bit as I just did it in my head - I'm a numbers geek) - that represents 8,535 painted 28mm infantry figures and 910 per ronin!

Ok, Enough with me proving that I'm a multidimensional geek.

Here's my first entry, 6 28mm WWII Japanese infantry from Battle Honors. Think of them as second cousins to your Samurai.

Excellent work Miles (and those are some frightening numbers)! This group will give you 30 points to start your climb on the roster. (Well, I was in first place for at least a few hours...) ;)

The First Cut - Lord Asano, Daimyo of the 47 Ronin - The 3rd Annual Painting Challenge Begins (oh, and 5 points...)

Well, I thought it only proper that since I'm the host of the Painting Challenge I should try to open with the first submission. Similar to last year I burned a bit of midnight oil and powered through this figure to get it done quickly (literally powered, with a hair dryer - the texture gel was still quite soft when I took these photos).

This is a Perry casting from their excellent 28mm samurai range. 

I quite like the dynamic yet mannered pose of this sculpt. When I first saw it I knew I wanted to use it to depict Lord Asano, the tragic feudal lord (daimyo) of the 47 Ronin, at the moment when he lost his temper, striking out at Kira Yoshinaka who had bated him. This action , in turn, sparked the legend of the 47 Ronin as Asano was forced to commit ritual suicide (seppuku)  for this breach of discipline.

I made an attempt to replicate the Asano clan crest on the back of his kimono. My hand is not as steady as it used to be so I hope I haven't made a complete hash of it. Otherwise I kept the paint scheme fairly minimalist.

This figure will give me 5 points (and the crowd goes wild).

Alright everyone, let the fun begin!