From StefanoS: 28mm Napoleonic Marine de la Garde (112 points)

Stefano from Italy delivers his last volley for the Challenge.

From Stefano:

Here attached please find my last submission for your 2013 Painting Challenge.

This unit is the Marine de la Garde

Composed of 22 x 28mm Perry Miniatures.

The flag was downloaded and printed.

Gorgeous work Stefano. I really like how you've done the highlighting on your French blue. It has such a great high-contrast effect which makes the gold and red of the uniforms really pop.

These French Marines will give Stefano 112 points. Well done!

From JuanM: 28mm Afghans, Poles a Mercedes & Ronin #20 (65 points)

From Juan:

Here is, I think, my last entry for this year´s "The Challenge". I have been able to paint an small group of figures, but I have had no much time, I´m painting terrain elements for my Afghanistan first game and, also some Science Fiction figures. At least, this years I have been more disciplined with my topics! 

First up, is an Afghan insurgent and a civilian from Eureka Miniatures in 28mm. Really nice models very easy to paint.

Secondly, a Mercedes SUV from Company B, also in 28mm. This one is for my Contractors team.

Thirdly, at last, Curt's Ronin. This figure is an old Dixon Miniatures model I have had for many years. I like a lot these figures, and would like to paint some more of them, specially for this period, the Mogol Invasions.

And finally, two Polish soldiers in the French pay, 28mm models from Murawski Miniatures (only the sapper and the soldier at his left can participate in The Challenge). These are fantastic models sculpted by Paul Hicks. They are wonderful, wonderful.

I have other two figures on the table but I´m not sure if I'll finish them on time.

Awesome work as usual, Juan. That civilian checking out the bloomers just kills me. His expression perfectly conveys that race, religion and politics aside, shopping is truly universal. Your Ronin #20 is beautiful and you've done a wonderful job on his ornate armour. Finally your Poles are marvellous - I'm very jealous of you as I've not been able to source these figures yet but look forward to trying them out.

Ronin# 30 along with his Afghan and Polish compatriots will give Juan 65 points.  Well done and thank you very much! 

From MikeP: 28mm Samurai, Ronin #28 & Oktoberfest Hottie (45 points)

'Quick, protect the girl with the beer and nice badonkadonk.'

This may be my last entry before the deadline. There is a unit of horse on my painting table that may get done in time if I pull an all nighter. We'll see.

I am happy to say that this entry includes Ronin 28, my entry fee. He is the fellow holding the severed head of his foe and bellowing in triumph. Perhaps he can be the ronin who takes the courtier's head to the grave of Lord Asano?

The samurai figures in this entry are 28s from The Assault Group. A few words on the awesomeness of TAG are in order here. I ordered a blister of four samurai with katana and got the other four chaps shown in the attached photos. The fellow with the head came on his own in a blister entitled "Special Edition" which they seem to have thrown in for free. I am becoming a huge fan of TAG for classy gestures like this and don't mind paying a bit more for their stuff.

Of the other four samurai, three will be going to Curt because I am also a fan of the SPCA and have no practical use for them. One will go to my friend Krista Johns, who runs the blog Flat-Out Whimsy (shameless plug here).

Also, in the hopes of winnng either Sarah's choice (I think it was for civilian female fgure?) I also present Samurai Beer Garden Girl. 

She is the Reaper 28mm Oktoberfest Fraulein, which I bought for my Weird War Two campaign where she will be an Allied agent (code name Katana) gathering intelligence in German beer gardens and practising some wicked Kill Bill style sowrd moves that she learned from hanging around with these guys.

I also got her because I am moving to Kitchener/Waterloo this summer and I like Oktoberfests. :)

Awesome Mike! Thanks so much for Ronin #28. He is suitably badass and you've done a remarkable job on his and his compatriots' armour - such vibrant colours! Miss Katana is lovely and I'm sure will be the scourge of the nefarious Nazis (if she doesn't succumb to exposure first).

Ronin #28, his comerades and 'Katana' will give Mike a well-earned 45 points. 

From JohnM: 28mm Napoleonic Brunswicker Infantry & Austrian Command (260 points)

From John:

Well here is my 15th and final submission to the Painting Challenge. These figures just push me over my personal goal of 1700 pts and I have to say that I am done with the brush for a bit. Rather then finishing with the 18 figures I need for my Romano-British force or the 16 figures left in the Hobbit box set I decided to finish off some Napoleonics.

Here are the final 2 units needed for the Brunswick Light Brigade at Waterloo. The 1st Light have yellow facings and the 2nd have tan facings. They join the 3rd with orange facings as well as the Avant Garde and the Lieb battalion in the Light Brigade.

All I have to do now to finish off the Brunswick Corps are the 3 Line battalions, they will be next up as I they really have great looking flags, which were not available for the light troops. I just received some amazing flags from Flagdude. so maybe I will be unable to rest the brush for too long.

The final two figures to get over the 1700 mark are 2 Austrian commanders. A couple of years ago I started an Austrian unit, I am not sure if I will ever finish it, but I have 2 battalions of line, 1 battalion of grenzers and 4 companies of jaegers done as well as some artillery and a regiment of cavalry. A nice brigade sized force, but no brigade commander. So here we have an Austrian Major General with his ADC. These are Front Rank figures and are just very nice to paint. As you could see from the close up of the face I could have easily painted some eyes, which I have not been keen to do, but thankfully I have still resisted.

Anyway I would like to thank Curt, his annual contest has really grown over the last 3 years and he has done a great job. The next time I see him, I will certainly buy a drink for all the great work he has done. And congratulations to all for the amazing submissions that I have got to enjoy over the last 3 months.

Thanks for the kudos, John, much appreciated (and I will hold you to that drink!). I've been a big fan of your Brunswickers since you first debuted them. Also, those Austrian officers look brilliant (I have a thing for bicornes) and I really like the use of the oval base-shape for your ADCs - quite elegant that.

These two battalions of black Brunswickers plus the two Austrian officers will give John 260 points, just enough to pip him past his Challenge target. Congratulations friend, and well done!

From SebG: 15mm Sligners and Gladiators from the Spatacan Revolt (124 points)

Well, there is less than two days left in the Challenge and things are really starting to hot-up. I'm getting swamped with final entries (or penultimate entries) but I'm having a blast battling to keep up.

From Seb:

This is probably my last entry. I have some troops already primed, but my daughter a chicken pox, so I'm stuck at home with her, not really being able to paint. Fortunately, she doesn't scratch herself much.

First part of the entry, 8 slingers for my Spartacus project. I painted them in one night, with a lot washes and inks. And a bit of paint too. Easy.

The second part is much more interesting, I think: 2 bases of gladiators, 14 of them! They're all different. I put some Roman scutum obviously, but I really wanted a Hoolywood feel about those. I also made some conversions, opening some hands to put spears, etc.

For instance, the jumping gladiator is a Corvus belli legionnary, with a Museum head. The one supporting him was initially a Essex bow skirmisher: I cut his bow, pierced his right hand, gave him a spear, cut the quiver and put a sword there. 

Oh, and I also cut his head to put the helmeted one from the legionary. And finally, I hand-painted all 10 shields. They're all different! Crazy me.

Seb, you're a wild man, these look brilliant! Those gladiators are just incredible with the conversions and hand-painted shields. Of course you realize that they are as doomed as doomed can be when they debut on the table...

These bad lads of Spartacus will give Seb a very well-earned 124 points. 

From AndrewS: 28mm Napoleonic French & FIW Colonial Rangers (135 points)

From Andrew:

This is my final entry. First up is 21 conquest miniatures 28mm Colonial Rangers. I have painted these as two groups of 6 and one group of 8 with a single officer as per the rules for Muskets and Tomahawks.

These figures will complete my ranger force now I will be moving onto some French forces.

The last submission is 6 Perry French skirmishers, I have painted these so as to be able to use as a detached light company for the Neuchatel Battalion I painted at the start of the challenge. Again I have given them a campaign feel in the painting.

Fabulous work Andrew. You've done a marvelous job on those Conquest sculpts (love the fellow with the map) and I've always had a soft spot for Berthier's yellow Canaries. 

This final submission from Andrew will give him 135 points. This will give him a grand total of 1274 points for the three-month Challenge. Great work and thank you very much for participating!

From Millsy: 10mm WSS Cavalry & 15mm WWII Soviet Artillery (335 points)

From Millsy:

This time I’m submitting two batches of figures…

Number one is the 10mm War of the Spanish Succession French cavalry I spoke about on my last submission. These are all Pendraken miniatures, painted up to represent the first and second cavalry lines of the Marquis du Bourg's Corps at Blenheim. All up there are 60 miniatures grouped into units of 12 and based in threes so they are riding nice and tight, boot to boot.

The first line consists of the regiments de Royal (4 squadrons), de La Ferronnaye (2 squadrons), de Levy (2 squadrons), de Prince Charles de Lorraine (2 squadrons) and de Choiseul (2 squadrons). The second line consists of the regiments d'Anlezy (2 squadrons), de Livry (2 squadrons), de Heudincourt (2 squadrons) and de Dauphin Etranger (2 squadrons). Every different unit has a flag even though most a just two squadrons. I figure they would all need rallying points and it looks great to what the hell.

I’ve varied the horse colours a fair bit, going with a total of seven different shades. At this scale a lot of painters go for a single shade, presumably for speed in churning them out. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that but when there is less detail I feel you want to highlight the differences in large areas of colour to bring extra interest. Maybe I’m mad, you tell me! ;-)

Number two is a pile of 15mm Russian artillery from Flames of War - 79 crew and command plus 12 guns to be precise. These are all Battlefront miniatures. I was looking for something quick to bump me over the 1,000 point mark and I’ve managed to churn them out in roughly 12 hours for the lot. That works out to roughly 1 gun base plus one command base an hour. There is a bit of detail work to do like adding a map but that can wait til after the comp. I seem to have ended up with extra command but that’s fine – far better than being short which is what often happens with these guys.

There is a battery of 4 x 76mm ZIS-3 guns along with 4 x 122mm obr 1938 howitzer howitzers. This forms the core of my “God of War”. I’ll need to add another battery of 76s I think so my enemies can experience the full majesty. In addition there is also a battery of 76mm obr 1927 guns for close infantry support. Together these will serve the Rodina valiantly to drive the Fascist invaders from our soil!

I’ve got one last submission tomorrow – my samurai – but I’m up to something a bit special there involving a number of mediums besides simple painting. I’ll leave you to ponder what that might mean…

Wow, great entry Millsy! The guns and crew are great but for me the cavalry really steals the show. I love that you massed them good and proper, stirrup-to-stirrup. Huzzah! They look fabulous.

This mass of French cavalry and Soviet artillery will give Millsy a very impressive 335 points. Brilliant!