From MarkG: 28mm New Figure Debut: Chaco Wars Bolivian & Paraguayan Infantry (120 points) AND A New Challenge Sponsor

Here are some very, cool and exciting figures from Mark, but I'll let him explain in more detail:

For my next entry I have completed 16 x 28mm figures for the Chaco War (1932-35). This was an extremely bloody Interwar conflict in South America which saw extensive trench warfare, use of tanks, HMGs, Flamethrowers and air attacks.

Though little known now, this was a closely followed conflict in newsreels and newspapers at the time, so much so that Hergé dedicated a whole Tin Tin book to it (The Adventures of Tin Tin - The Broken Ear [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broken_Ear ] )

There are 8 figures of Paraguayan infantry (the ones in Olive Green fatigues and floppy hats), and 8 Bolivian Infantry ( in a mix of Khaki, with peaked caps).

These are actually part of a new range of figures which have been released today by Orinoco Miniatures (http://www.orinoco-miniatures.com/) , so these are the first painted examples to be seen anywhere. I hope you like them :-)

Fabulous work Mark and I'm very honoured that you debuted your new range with us here. As many know, I'm a big fan of obscure and/or little-known conflicts so I'm very chuffed to see these (reaching for wallet...).

These excellent Bolivians and Paraguayans will give Mark 120 points with a little extra added in celebration of their debut and for the note below. Well done and thank you!

IN ADDITION:

Mark has generously offered (with the subtle prompting with my sibilant silken words) to offer prize support for the Challenge with his wonderful new range of figures. Thank you so much Mark!!

...And take note Anne, Mark's Irish!

From MartinN: 28mm Dark Age Franks (40 points)

Being a rather slow painter I finally managed to get the figures for my next entry done. These Saxon Gedrith will feature in future games of Dux Britanniarum and Dux Bellorum. I intend to use them as Franks as I want leave the British Isles story wise. 

Although the Age of Arthur in good old Britain is for sure one of the most interesting Periods I'm a bit over saturated by the concentration on British history while there was so much more going on on the continent. The Franks struggling for a place in the corpse of the Roman Empire, the final death throws of the western Empire when Aetius led a coalition of roman and Frankish troops to victory over the Huns, the Visigoths carving out their empire in Italy and so on...

I wanted the miniatures to look like they were about to emerge out of a wood maybe attacking some merchants or a roman patrol on their way home.

The four long bearded models are from the superb Early Saxon range by Musketeer Miniatures. The two other guys are from the nice Arthurian Saxons by Westwind Productions. Both ranges fit together quite well although the Musketeer figures are more detailed.

I wish a Happy New Year to all fellow participants and bloggers.

Absolutely gorgeous work Nick! I really like the edging on their tunics and the weathering on the shields. When you and Axebreaker (Christopher) get together with your collections it must be a real feast for the eyes! I also really appreciate your desire to situate your Dark Age setting on the Continent as there was so much happening all over the world during this period in history. Well done.

These six fierce Franks will give Nick 40 points, which includes a little extra for the shields and excellent groundwork. Great Job!

From BenG: 20mm Napoleonic Artillery (140 points)

BenG finishes one of his Challenge projects with this great entry of Napoleonic artillery.

From Ben:

That's Borodino IV Corps done with a day to spare! The game starts on Thursday, so I'm now madly sticking labels on the movement trays.

As promised, the second Italian 12 pounder battery using Zvezda figures (another with a Franznap head-transplant). Unfortunately, in one of the photos, the flash has exposed the lack of paint on the inside of the wheel hub! Otherwise, it's not noticeable.  

The other stands are of French 12 ponders using the guns and figures from the HaT French artillery set. The first includes two figures from the Strelets French artillery from the Egyptian campaign range. All figures, HaT and Strelets, have head replacements using heads from HaT infantry (except the piratical-looking barrel humper) to replace the bicornes with shakos.

The quality difference between the Zvezda figures and the others is self evident, but I needed to get these stands done quickly and there are less parts in the HaT set than the Zvezda ones.

What you see here are two Italian 6 pounders foot batteries of 5 guns each, hence the narrow bases, and the last 3 regimental guns. All are using the Zvezda French artillery figures, but the 6 pounder guns are the easier to assemble, though aesthetically less pleasing, guns from the Italeri horse artillery set.

The regimental guns are Eureka/AB 15mm guns posing as 3 pounders and 2 of the gunners have had head mods using another Franznap bare head, and a Lancier Bleu pokalem head. I did also by a bag of bonnet de police ad pokalem heads from Franznap, but in the chaos that is my work bench, I can't find them!

Well, it's almost 2014 on this side of the international date line as I write this, so Happy New Year to all the Challengers!

Wonderful work and a monumental effort Ben! These look great and as I mentioned before I like your 15mm swap-in to make the 20mm scale regimental guns - brilliant.

This 1/72 scale artillery park will give Ben 140 points, including extra for the very effective head swaps. Well done!

From KentG: 28mm Napoleonic French Infantry (242 points)

And The Machine grinds on...

From Kent:

48 Front Rank French Line infantry with a few light and grenadiers added.

This is the end of the French line infantry that I have been working on for a commission over the past 2 years, just some grenadiers, more light and a few guns and I'll be starting the next job which is Russian Napoleonics.

Amazing work Kent! Greatcoated infantry are a godsend to Napoleonic figure painters as it provides a much needed break from having to deal with waistcoats, lace, braid piping, facing colours, etc. 

These 48(!) infantry will give Kent a staggering 242 points. Whoa! Great work Kent and you're back in the lead.

Top in Votes for Non-Combatant(s) Theme Bonus Round

Well, we had a very successful first Fortnight Theme Bonus Round with 36 Challengers sending in a submission for the 'Non-Combatant' theme. Of this illustrious group the following entries secured the top three places in the voting poll:

For 3rd place we had a tie with Tim's colourful 'Feudal Japanese Civilians'...

...along with Sidney's excellent vignettes of 'WWI Journalists'. Tim and Sidney will be awarded another 25 points to each of their totals.

AnneO'L claimed 2nd place with her wonderfully vibrant 'Guinevere' and will get an additional 50 point bonus.

And 1st place was taken by ByronB with his fabulous 'Old Queen from Snow White' who will get 75 points along with... 

...this characterful non-combatant vignette from Westfalia Miniatures!

Thanks to all the Challengers who entered and congratulations to the winners! The next Fortnight Theme is 'Villain(s)' so be sure to check back to see what The Wild Bunch has dreamt up for their entries.

From MilesR: 28mm French & Indian War Infantry and ACW Union Dismounted Cavalry (125 points)

From Miles:

First up are 13 French and Indian War figures from AW miniatures.  They're a bit bigger than 28's and appear to be 32mm high - let's call them "heroic scale".  These figures are painted up as the 60th Royal American regiment and are my contribution to the Bloggers for Charity effort.  The figures are well cast but I found painting 18th century uniforms a bit of a challenge.  I think i'll go back and touch up these figures but they're good for now.  

The second set of pictures are of some 28mm Perry Union dismounted cavalry figures - I've completed 12 so far so have enough for a fully dismounted regiment.  As with all Perry figures, these are wonderfully done and were very easy to paint up.  

It has been nice to paint up some Union figures before going back for a few more Confederate infantry regiments - I will finish up Hood's Brigade as part of the "Challenge".

Very nice work Miles. I really like those F&IW infantry, though a closer-in photo would've been nice to get a better look at the detail of the figures. Nonetheless I know they will be a great contribution to the good folks over at Bloggers for Charity. Well done.

These two units will give Miles 125 points. Great job sir!

From BrendonW: 28mm Gladiators (65 points)

From Brendon:

This bunch of circus entertainers are 28mm Foundry and Crusader figures. The dude with the winged helmet on the left hand side is a Hermes Psychopompus. He is near a figure on his knees asking for mercy. Hermes is an arena official (non-combatant) and his job was to stab downed gladiators to check if they are actually dead! His right hand is gloved because his stabber was usually a red hot poker. I went for white loin cloths (except 1) as I wanted to see how it would turn out. I figure for entertainment purposes it would help display any blood spilled all the better. It's kind of a classical look perhaps. 

There are a variety of fighting styles in this bunch. Myrmillo, Secutor,  1 Thracian, 1 Scissor. I found these figures seemed to come with a lack of Scutum in the blisters. The large rectangular curved shield. So one is a plastic shield from Warlord Legionnaires. 

The standard description of these styles is with a Scutum except the Thracian (small shield) and the Scissor. I went for no colour on the shields to see how it would look as well. This challenge is excellent as it motivated to get these figures completed after having them in my lead stash for a long while.

Excellent stuff Brendon! That Hermes chap must have had a lot of friends amongst the gladiators. ...Not. I've long wanted to get into gladiator gaming and your submission is making it very hard to resist. 

This ludus of gladiators will give Brendon 65 points. Great work!

From AaronH: 28mm Early Imperial Roman Auxiliary Cavalry (60 points)

From Aaron:

The last six of my Roman cavalry.  Not much to say about these that hasn’t already been said.  These guys were done pretty quickly, but only because of the way I paint.  When I’m working on a set of models I like to have the next set standing by.  

If I have too much paint then I’ll transition to the next guys in the queue and use it up.  This works best, of course, when they are getting the same paint scheme.  In the case of this unit these models were about a third painted when I started on them this morning.

I also included a shot of all twelve of the cavalry.  They’ll be a nice big unit on the table.  With all of the newly painted units for this army I’m sure to lose the next game but it should look good at any rate.

You may loose next battle but your army will leave fabulous looking corpses. Great work Aaron! It's nice to see the whole unit all ranked-up and good on you for preserving through the lot as I know that painting cavalry can be a bit of a slog.

These six cavalrymen will give Aaron 60 points. Well done!