From JuanM: 28mm Taliban, Civilians & Modern Contractors (50 points)

From Juan: 

I have painted some more models for The Challenge.

These models are from "Eureka Miniatures" in 28mm; excellent figures I´m going to use in my modern warfare games. I am going to test the new skirmish rulebook I have bought, "Skirmish Sangin".

I have painted five Afghan insurgents, two civilians from a wonderful set I found in the E.M. catalogue, a Somali Eureka Miniatures sent me without cost and the first two "Blackwater" contractors I´m going to use in my first game. All of them are fantastic figures, really nice, and, IMHO, better than those of "Empress Miniatures".

Wonderful work Juan. All are excellent but those mercenaries, er, 'contractors' certainly look the part. I always enjoy your painting style as it's so clean and smooth.

These ten figures will give Juan 50 points. 

From KaweWZ: 28mm Napoleonic Vignettes (75 points)

From Kawe:

I finished 2 more vignettes for our booth at the Tactica tomorrow that I wanted to enter in the competition.

One shows Westfalias Prussian Ambulance and an ad Hoc Operation table. It's basically our 2 Prussian medical sets with Perry Horses and Aufsitzer which Niels buys from them.

The next piece is a hell of a rushed Ammo-caisson. Half painted and burried under a lot of snow BUT... I've strangely fallen for it, and I might do another one like that soon.

Sadly, I doubt that I really meet the points target, but I really had to finish these vignettes first.  I could plough on and just sinish a few ranker quick and dirty, but that's not the spirit of a sportsman. :)

Awesome work Kawe! They're both brilliant, but I agree with you in that the snow covered caisson seems particularly evocative of the 1812 Retreat. Beautiful.

These two vignettes will give Kawe a base of 65 points but I'm adding a few extra for their excellent overall composition. This places you well within striking distance of your Points Goal, Kawe...

From SteveM: 15mm WWII Finnish Infantry & German Halftracks and ME 262 (89 points)

Steve cracks on with another mixed entry of 15mm WWII models.

From Steve:

Have a variety for you.

Battlefront miniatures 15mm Finnish machine gun platoon in winter bases.  And lots more Finns where these came from to fight the Soviet hordes....

Battlefront 15mm Sd Kfz 251/21 (Triple 15mm) platoon of three. The Panzer Brigades enjoyed top priority for the latest equipment Germany could offer. Perhaps more importantly, due to their relatively small size, German industry was able to meet all of the required vehicle numbers to fill out the organisation. This meant that a Panzer Brigade going into combat would be armed to the teeth with exceptional medium tanks, the latest tank-hunters, and a wide variety of specially modified half-tracks.

As the war has progressed, the threat faced by the armoured infantry has changed too. With the Allied Jabo, fighter bombers, becoming a serious problem, the Sd Kfz 251 has changed to meet the challenge. The Sd Kfz 251/21 mounts a triple-barrelled MG151/15 machine-gun on a fully-traversable anti-aircraft mount. This gives the anti-aircraft platoons of the new panzer brigades unprecedented firepower.

Battlefront 15mm Sk kfz-251 16d flamme. It would be interesting to find out what the survival rate of the torch crew was for the half tracks. The Sd.Kfz 251/16 Ausf D was fitted with two 1.4cm Flammenwerfer flame-throwers on each side.... On either side of the fighting compartment, two fuel tanks were mounted inside the rear compartment each with 700 litres of fuel.

Battlefront 15mm ME 262 A2a Sturmvogel. The Sturmvogel was armed with two 3mm cannons and a pair of 250kg bombs. With a speed of 870km/h it could outrun any Allied fighter making it impossible to catch. Stuka bomber pilots needed to relearn how to drop bombs at these higher speeds.

Very nice Steve. Did you use an airbrush on the vehicles and the 262? Very smooth work - I really like the mottled green on the Messerschmitt.

This entry will give Steve 89 points to add to his total.

From MichaelF: 15mm WWII American Reconnaissance & AWI Skirmishers (81 points)

From Michael:

The next submission marks the end for my 15mm Americans project in this competition. They will have to wait for reinforcements after we played a couple more games. I finished this small Cavalry recon platoon and a forgotten command stand a while back but I had to wait for decals and in the meantime I put aside my brushes as I could not decide what to paint next. 

Started of with some Napoleonic French but I could not handle the thought of needing to paint so many more before they start to make sense that I left them half painted waiting for better days. 

Then I noticed the Musket & Tomahawk rules hiding in the bookshelves. A quick read through the book and I knew what to do. It was a though call on AWI or some F&I Hurons but I decided to expand a bit on my AWI skirmishers so we can dust of the British. 

I follow the same strategy for AWI as we often do with a period, we start with a skirmish force to get some games and then add more regular larger units for larger scale games.

The American vehicles are from Battlefront and are far better then their Infantry. The Minutemen are Foundry with an Eureka and a Perry mixed in.

This is the typical beautiful work I now come to expect from Michael. The American WWII models are excellent to be sure but I my eye is particularly drawn to his AWI figures - really lovely stuff here.

This submission will give Michael 81 points.