From PaulS: 28mm Night Goblins & Gargoyle (105 points)

Paul returns with this (wait for it): great group of goblins with a great gnashing gargoyle. Schweeet.

From Paul:

First up are a selection of monsters for my project to rebuild Warhammer Quest with newer models. We have 8 Night Goblin archers, 8 Night Goblin spearmen, a champion with spear/shield, a warlord with two hand weapons and a Netter/Clubber team. 

The Night Goblin box has 20 models, so rather than building 20 of one type, I decided that it would be better to start with a small group of different types so I can start some level 1 dungeons. Over 2014 I hope to try and flesh out lots more of the different monster slots as well as making 3d versions of all the rooms...

The lower level monsters are going to be tabletop standard, with characters, NPCs, named villains and the rooms having a lot more love and attention put into them. 

There's also a quick little addition to my Pulp/Mythos skirmish setup too in the form of a gargoyle. This guy came with the Dredd Cultists set from the Mongoose kickstarter and was a real pleasure to paint. I think he is supposed to be a demonic imp, but I thought he looked more like a gargolye, so the blips on him became glowing crystals instead of spots

Awesome work Paul! The Night Goblins are great (love the purple bows and the yellow Bad Moon shields), but I find the verdigris growing between the gargoyle's toes to be particularly fetching. Nice!

This excellent group of figures will give Paul 105 points. Well done!

From KevH: 28mm Wars of the Roses Archers (133 points)

KevH is a man who's remarkable brevity of prose is only exceeded by his mad painting skills.

From KevH:

More WotR.

Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter's Retinue Bow.

28mm Perry Plastics. 24 figures in total with command and the usual bowstrings, argh.

The 'argh' bit cracked me up. 

Okay, this fabulous group of archers will provide Kev with 133 points with some extra added for the banner and the 'argh' bowstrings. Rockin'. Kev has a bunch of stuff in the queue so stay tuned over the next day or so.

From TamsinP: 15mm Choson Korean Missile Troops (196 points)

Tamsin's got her painting mojo back!

From Tamsin:

"Cor blimey guv'nor! If she ain't gone 'n finished another army!"

Yes, these 98 figures complete my Choson Korean army for FoG:AM and FoG:R. Well, for now at least - I may opt to add some more bits later on.

There are 80 arquebusiers and 18 crossbowmen in this submission. The arquebusiers and 16 crossbowmen are by Grumpy (available in the UK from East Riding Miniatures or from Eureka elsewhere), the other 2 figures are from Old Glory 15s left over from my previous units.

72 of the arquebusiers are based as medium foot for FoG:R, the other 8 are based as light foot for use in both FoGs. The crossbowmen are based as medium foot for FoG:AM.

Pretty inspiring stuff Tamsin - that is a load of missile troops - great work! With these tucked away what's next on the painting queue?

These 98 figures will give Tamsin a very impressive 196 points, putting her well within sight of the front-runners. Well done!

From Greg: 15mm M51 IShermans and Israeli Infantry (80 points)

Greg finally gets some traction with this great entry of Arab-Israeli War armour and infantry.

From Greg:

Some more 15mm IDF troops.  Up first is a group of M51 "IShermans" from Battlefront.  These were "released" by Battlefront several months ago but thanks to the company's system of using some combination of floating bottles and Victorian balloons for shipping, they did not arrive around here until the late fall and I was finally able to finish them over the Christmas break. 

The Old Glory M51s had been pretty nice, but I had really been looking forward to these models from Battlefront. The main components of the castings were beautiful, but I was disappointed with the casting quality on some of the extra bits - the crew castings were weak, the MG castings were really weak, and the combination of a narrow mounting point made from resin and a bad casting on the .50 cal MGs makes for some very precarious modelling.   Only a couple of the tanks have the .50 cal MGs up "high" as intended - I cut the posts down and drilled my own mount into the turret for the balance of the MGs. On the plus side, the casting on the running gear, gun barrels, turrets and hulls was crisp and very nice.  And you get magnets with the tanks! The turrets would not stay on without them. 

I tried some new (to me) painting techniques on these tanks, after reading a great online article on the Battlefront website. Battlefront recommended using Vallejo's "Grey Green" to try and get to the elusive IDF "Sinai Grey".  I followed this with a "pin wash" of GW Devlan Mud, and then a sponge-chipping of GW Stormvermin Fur. I'm very happy with the results of this new approach, and glad to have found a more "real" look for the IDF Sinai Grey. 

These IDF infantry are a product of Khurasan's "Year Of The Next Few Days" in which the company spammed TMP with computer-generated renderings of products coming "soon" from countless different scales and settings.  The time period involved with Khurasan's notion of "soon" is highly and frustratingly elastic (from days to months), but they have kicked some 15mm Arab-Israeli stuff into the market.  I'm sure Battlefront's entry spurred this along - competition is good!

I was excited to see these castings arrive - my prior 15mm IDF troops are from Peter Pig and needed head swaps, very annoying! And they were incomplete - no guys with Uzis, for example.  Khurasan products are generally of very high quality, and promised to offer a complete and accurate line of figures for the period.  What could go wrong?

So it was a let-down to see these castings up close. They are messy - the figures have incredible detail in some respects, and they suddenly go soft - right on the same figure!  The infantry rigging is visible on one part of their backs, and then the straps are suddenly gone.  Some of them are very, very thin, bordering on flat.  And there is only one LMG figure in the line, and he's prone (aaargh! I hate prone figures).  

While these are still a lot nicer than, say, QRF castings, these are not as nice as Khurasan's other products, and they eat the dust of Peter Pig. Head swaps are a pain in the ass, but for those searching for 1973 IDF infantry I would still recommend a head swap Peter Pig infantryman over these, and use the Khurasan stuff sparingly to add dudes with Uzis, the "super" bazooka team and other elements to round them out.

  

Of course, Battlefront has some guys too - I hope to paint them if they every show up…

Beautiful work Greg! I really like your new approach to painting Israeli tanks. I think I'm going to steal some of your methods for my Indochina French armour. Too bad about the Khurasan figures. You've made them look fabulous but your description of their overall quality is troubling - this is espcially agravating when they tout them for months and they come off rather flat (literally).

This group of armour and infantry will give Greg 80 points. Well done, my friend!

From ClintB: 10mm Mahdists (58 points)

From Clint:

Here are 57 10mm Pendraken Fuzzy Wuzzy's. Three figures to a 20mm by 20mm square base  ready to use with the "Patrols In the Sudan" rules. 

All figure have been painted in a simple 2 tone manner as befits miniatures of this scale where you are relying on the mass of figures as opposed to the detail. I have only put one flag with this group a simple printed paper flag as I wanted the troops to look like one mass as opposed to several tribes or groupings.

I have also kept the bases very simple using just sand, paint and static grass in small patches. being mostly desert and scrubland I did not want to over detail the bases. This is only the start of my Mahdist army and by using 10mm figures I hope to highlight the difference in numbers between the thin Khaki Line and the Native forces.

Fabulous work Clint! I really like the horde effect these 10mm troops provide (with the added bonus in that they don't take up an acre on the tabletop).

These Mahdists will give Clint 58 points. Great job!

From DaveD: 54mm Wyatt Earp (10 Points)

Like opening some dark eldritch tome on the Lead Mountain of Madness, Dave passes into insanity with the start of a new project: Wild West in 54mm...

From Dave:

So Mrs D continues to feed to my Old West "obsession" and dropped some very nice Xmas presents -  this time its gone up a gear - or more correctly scale . This is a 54mm Andrea Miniatures rendition of Wyatt Earp. Its been a long time since I painted any 54's - the last ones i did were at least 20 years ago and were done in oil painted - so i was a little concerned over the work involved. However I have been using the Andrea paint colour sets the last few years and decided to tackle him using acrylics.The casting itself is absolutley superb , incredibly crisp and the detailid just right to paint. I have enjoyed doing him so much I have been looking at the other figures available in the range - there are some real crackers.

I have decided I will do a 54mm Old West game using these - I will only need a handful of figures scratchbuild a bit of terrain  - oops this is beginning to sound awfully familier to how the 28mm collection started,,,god somebody stop me!!!

Well, its a wonderful madness that you've embarked upon Dave! This is a gorgeous figure and you've done a cracking job on him - well done!

Wyatt Earp will give Dave 10 points. I'm really looking forward to seeing more from this new project Mr. D.

From AndyM: 25mm Imagi-Nation Grenadier Company Officer of the Savage Swans (5 points)

Andy marches onto the Challenge points roster with this great Grenadier Officer.

From Andy:

Well, I say entry. It's only one figure! I've been meaning to rebase (and paint the extra figures needed) for my Savage Swans from my Altefritzenburg ImagiNation for quite a while and finally got round to it. I'd hoped to get them done before the Challenge started. And I did. Except when I started basing them I realised I was a figure short!!! 

So here he is. Officer for the grenadier company. Figure is 25mm RSM SYW Austrian (as are the whole unit). I've included a picture of him in his place in the line.

It's a start! :)

Well Andy, every journey begins with a single step and now you're officially on the path to your 1K target. This very fine officer of the Savage Swans (I really like his green cuffs and turnbacks) will give Andy 5 points for his entry onto the roster. Well done Andy! 

From RayR: 15mm Nine Years War French Cavalry (50 points)

Just in case some of you were beginning to wonder, Ray finally emerges from his sandbagged-entrenched paint-shack to enter the fray.

From Ray:

This is in fact my 2nd entry as the first was for the first bonus round, but I suppose this is my first proper entry.

So for my first entry is a unit of French Chevauleger , no, they are not Light Horse though. They are the same class of unit as an English or Dutch Horse regiment, it's just what the French called them at the time??

They are my usual Essex miniatures affair and are painted up to represent the St Germain - Beaupre regiment, who fought at 3 major battles during the Nine Years War, Namur, Steenkirk and Neerwinden. The flags are from Venexia's old website, before the company was sold, unfortunately you can;t access the site anymore!!

The French Chevauleger are a pretty boring bunch as around 95% of the 135 regiments wore a grey coat with red cuffs, there were some who wore other colours, and you'll be seeing them later......I hope?

Long Live the Badger!!

Badger... Badger? Wait, I thought it was Budgie? What am I missing here? Actually I think you need a coat of arms made up with a Budgie astride a rampant paintbrush with crossed Sandbags... :)

Great work Ray! Even though the grey and red was a popular colour scheme for the French at least it looks sharp. 

This fine group of horsemen will give Ray 50 points. Well done Mr. Rousell!