From ByronM: 28mm Great War Canadian Highlanders (55 points)

Byron returns from his recent foray of the grim 41st Millennia to the warm, homey trenches of the Great War.

From Byron: 

Here is another unit for my Canadian WW1 force.  This is a section of Canadian Highlanders from the 16th Battalion, and more specifically a section that was amalgamated into the 16th from the The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada from Hamilton Ontario. While the other 3 regiments than went into making up the 16th Battalion were all from the Prairies, there was this one regiment from Ontario amalgamated in. 

The miniatures are mainly Great War figures, however I have a big man from Musketeer Miniatures in command of them. Again, as with the German submission earlier in the week, the Great War figures are great, lots of detail, good proportions, low flash, however have horrid facial details.  If I didn’t know better, a few of them, I would have sworn were cat people from a sic-fi game…  They really need to do something about that.  I guess, since the figures are so cheap, I really shouldn’t complain, but it does bug me that the faces wreck otherwise beautiful miniatures.

I continued this section in much the same colour scheme as my first section of highlanders, other than changing up the pompom on the top of the Glengarry to the red that the regiment used.  I also of course changed the tartan over the the Black Watch tartan, which is probably Curt's favourite since it is very close to the Campbell tartan. These figures have very little of the kilt peeking out from under the apron though so it does not show up that well.

Also included is a “beaver free” activation card.

I dunno, now I'm kinda missing the plucky little buck-toothed guy...

Beautiful work Byron. I continue to be amazed with your brush control. This is especially shown with your subtle work with the Argyll tartan (and it IS a lovely tartan - dark like by cold, cold heart. ;-> ). Wonderful stuff.

These eleven Canadian jocks will give Byron 55 points.

MichaelF: 28mm Winter War Finnish (108 points)

MichaelF sends his first mainstream entry with these two fine squads of 'Winter War' Fins. 

From Michael:

Winter War Finnish.

For this years challenge I took the opportunity to get some unfinished work done. Inspired by the fun we have playing Chain of Command I started with these Finnish rifleman from the Baker Company Kickstarter.

I did about half a platoon a few years back using Brigade games and  Battle Honors figures so I was overly excited when this Baker Kickstarter arrived on the scene. Eager to get my platoon to strength I backed for a finnish platoon deal and hoped for the best. Especially when Baker company announced it would catch up to modern standards since their current range was outdated and not compatible to the current standard of miniatures. Unfortunately it didn't turn out exactly how I wished for.

Now while I'm typing this Samuli just posted his Finnish Rifleman and I fully agree with his opinion on the figures. Baker has been a victim of success and he started sculpting, producing and shipping thousands and thousands of figures like a madman. And yes, I do appreciate the energy and enthusiasm he puts into it but I feel he just forgot his first goal as I have understood it: Get Baker Company on the map again with fine quality modern figures.

So it became a rush job and you notice it immediately.  Flash everywhere, some weird faces and a couple of odd figures. A detailed inspection does not make you much happier. 

But…

I decided to paint up a few and see how they turned out. I took them to my friends here for a final test (they are waiting for their Russians now) if I would continue with them. Well, obviously we found them good enough to give them a paint and have a few games. I was lucky I painted the other half of the platoon in a heavy mud look so I could throw all sorts of brown on those as well which helps camouflaging things.

In the end I'm happy how they turned out and I look forward receiving the extras for this kickstarter because for 60£ you get a lot, and I mean a lot, of extras. Only that, and all the hardware you will get makes the Kickstarter worthwhile to me. I just hope Baker learned from this journey and sorts thing out when he starts his next Kickstarter. We know he can sculpt well because there are good quality figures with these as well.

Great work Michael. Like Samuli I think you've done a wonderful job on these figures. As you say it's too bad that the success of the Kickstarter may have inadvertently affected the quality of the final product (at least for the 'stretch-goal' figures). I think many Kickstarter developers need to build-in realistic timelines to take into account the potential escalation of their the projects otherwise they risk having to deliver products that do not meet their original quality standards.

These Finnish riflemen will give Michael 108 points. Great work Michael and make sure to tell Jake and Rob that they're dropping in your rear view mirror.

From TimB: Ashigaru Bannerman and Head Trophies (13 points)

From Tim:

This is the last figure I needed to finish up for my "Lion Clan" bushi buntai that will be used in the upcoming campaign (oh, I have plenty more Lion Clan miniatures - but I only need 400 points worth for the campaign, so... I'm done these guys for now!).

The miniature is actually a Perry Miniatures Ashigaru Spearman. Ashigaru Bannermen come in packs of four (with banners) and Ashigaru Spearman come in packs of six and I am a cheap ba$tard... so I bought the spearmen and an making my own banners! 

Unfortunately the back of the banner ended up looking better - cleaner, more centred, than the front....

In Ronin, Samurai can gain bonus victory points by collecting heads of slain enemies. So I thought I should make some counters to keep track of who has taken heads....

I love the heads - how wonderfully grisly! (I wish we were allowed to do this at work. It would be very motivational and allow for constant advancement opportunities.) The ashigaru bannerman is brilliant as well and you've done a wonderful job with his banner. 

The standard bearer and the poor lads with the katana haircuts will give Tim 13 points. Great work Mr. B!

From JohnM: 20mm WWII German Late War Vehicles (126 points)

John has been quite taken by the Chain of Command rules and so has been busy building models and terrain for a future D-Day campaign using the system.

From John

German WWII Late War Vehicles

This will be the first of what I am hoping will be a total of 2-3 WWII German Vehicle submissions, I am putting together a 1944 Normandy campaign for Chain of Command. Several vehicles were needed for the Germans, so I have been busy painting away. They were all primed with with BF Late War German Armour and then airbrushed with brown and red for camouflage. I quite like how this came out, I am not a big fan of the paisley patterned camouflage you often see.

First up is a SdKfz 251/1 from Plastic Soldier Company. I really can say nothing negative about this model. Lots of options, in the box, I had already painted the command version Sd.Kfz 251/10 and just bought a box of the specialized versions with flamethrowers and other nice things. PanzerGrenadiers are tough nuts in CoC and this is my first squad.

Next up is a Sd.Kfz 10/4 with a 2 cm FlaK 30. This model is from SHQ miniatures, as are the rest of the models in this submission. Metal, nice and hefty but a bit of work to assemble.

We then have a MC reconnaissance team with a mounted LMG. I took this from the PSC box, did a bit of drilling a stuck it on. I could not meet the challenge of mounting the vehicle number on the front rim, so they have been placed on the rear of the side car.

Next is a pioneer squad in 2 Kubelwagons, I may stick on some more pioneer type stuff, we will see.

The Tank Hunters are in a captured Universal Carrier, in the German nomenclature a Panzerjager Bren 731e. Pretty cool, I thought.

Last up is Kfz 81, specialized to fire and tow a 2 cm AI Gun. well more to come soon. All the vehicles have vehicle numbers, they were very fiddly to put on.

Very nice work John. I checked out your upcoming Normandy mini-campaign and it looks very interesting. I'm eager to see how it all unfolds.

These German vehicles will give John 126 points. Well done!