From AndyM: 15mm ACW Union Cavalry (113 points)

Andy gets some traction in the points roster by tucking these Union cavalry under his belt.

From Andy:

Many moons ago, late 90's I think, I went to the Edinburgh Wargames Show (Claymore) and on the bring and buy spotted a large 15mm ACW Union army. These were all 2nd Gen Minifigs and based for Fire and Fury. The paint job was simple but neat.  I then managed to acquire a 15mm Confederate army from my mate Billy in Birmingham. I re-based  them and had great plans for ACW gaming! The Union army was lacking cavalry and somehow I never got round to painting any of the numerous unpainted packs that came with it and eventually the project fell to the wayside so I sold the lot back to Billy! Fast forward 13 years or so and the arrival of Sam Mustafa's Longstreet rules and the desire to give ACW a go again! I bought the lot back off Billy and sorted the unpainted stuff out and there was enough to do a basic 8 stand cavalry unit.

I couldn't match the blue used on the originals (and thought it too dark anyway) so upon some research amongst friends tried Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue and Prussian Blue on a sample next to an original:

Happy enough with this I went ahead with the the main lot. I had decided to keep them simple and over black undercoat just painted round straps etc. (Thanks to Loki for the Vallejo Black Surface Primer recommendation). I eventually decided they looked too plain so added a Ogryn Flesh Wash and assorted washes on the horses. And the cross swords on the kepi to give a little contrast:

I knew I needed dismounted versions. Although there were about a dozen already done I decided the difference in colour was too much so repainted the lot!

And obviously I needed a symbolic horse holder stand as well. And took the chance to do one for the Confederate cavalry as well:

And here they are in two ranks.

Flags are by GMB (which were fiddlier than I thought in 15mm!). All figures are Minifigs 2nd Gen although there are a couple of 3rd Gen horses in there (e.g. dismounts and command) and I think the horse holders may be Lancashire Games?

I've also finished rebasing all the Confederates so in theory could go for a game. However I think I might want to re-base all the Union to match first... :)

Now, where are all those 28mm figures I need to do!

Wow, this project has gone through enough hands so lets hope with these great new additions they will take root and see a game! Great work Andy. ACW cavalry is always such a big job as they served both mounted and dismounted roles so you HAVE TO do both. I quite like the blues you've used and will have to try this out in the future in my own collection.

These damn horse yankees will give Andy 113 points. Well done!

From IanW: 28mm WWII Soviet Sniper/Casualty Markers (55 points)

From Ian:

In trying to bounce back into it I offer you eleven 28mm figures. All are Black Tree Miniatures except I think the guy kneeling with the fur cap, he I think is a Artizan Partisan.

Typical of Black Tree, these are great sculpts with very nice faces to fork on. Lots of little details to pick out and realistic poses. 

I actually have painted up thirteen figures but the other two will have to wait as they are being based a little different, the clue to one is on my blog LOL.

Having had Deluxe Materials Scenic Snow effects for Christmas I was keen to have a play. It's quite easy to use though can be a bit time consuming and I recommend a mask as some of the effects happen to be a micro-fine dust that is great for frosting.

I have had a lot of fun with these guys and have another twelve German's to add which will be started soon.

Great work Ian. I've always really liked your Second World War figures and these don't disappoint (and you are a veritable one-man industry with these handy Sniper/Casualty Counters!).

These eleven markers will give Ian 55 points. Well done Old Boy.

From MartinN: 28mm WWI German Flamethrower, WWII British Para Howitzer and MMG (62 points)

From MartinN ('Nick'): 

Once again a mixed submission of Great War and WW2 stuff. First we have a WW1 German Flamethrower team carrying the 'Klief M1916 Flammenwerfer'. The figures are from the superb Great War Miniatures and again were a real joy to paint. 

Second is a '75mm Pack Howitzer' for my Red Devils Paratroopers from Warlord Games. The piece and especially the troopers are of great quality and were a fun to paint.

The spent shells seem to look a bit out of scale on the pics but believe me it's just the angle ;-)

And last but not least we have a 'Lewis medium machine gun' from Warlord Games again. The gun itself was rather nice but the paratroopers unfortunately had some bad mould lines and miscasts.

Beautiful work once again Nick. The flamethrower team, while grim, is very well done but I particularly like the Paras with their denison smocks and the added realism of the expended shell casings beside the howitzer. (It must be heat expansion with the casings that's causing the size distortion, yeah, that's it for sure. :) )

These three weapons teams will give Nick 62 points. Great job!

From AndrewS: 20mm Ancient Briton Slingers (90 points)

After some mulling it over Andrew has claimed 2750 as his new Challenge points target and so to kick-off his new gambit he's sent in these wonderful ancient Briton slingers and fanatics.

From Andrew:

I had decided that while I was working on some Ancient Britons that we needed for a game, that I might as well paint a few more up!

One thing my tribes needed were a few more skirmish slingers, under our rule changes for Hail Caesar all skirmish units are groups of three figures mounted on pennies. Now I looked in my bits box and found 5 slingers, which left me short of making two units but after a good rummage I came up with another four figures that I could readily convert into the aforementioned. 

So now I have bolstered the forces with 3 units of 3 slingers again these are all Newline 20mm metals. The new slingers were made by removing spears and cutting a loop of fine florists wire to make a new sling, I kept the colours a bit more muted on these but still had to do checks and stripes on a few for good measure.

In a very rare moment I was sat painting the other day and had a bit of an idea, you see advancing age means that occasionally I forget the special rules for some troops, the Ancient British warbands have a wild fighters rule which give them a bonus in their first combat, so I came up with the idea of a marker to aid as a visual reminder to use the rule, and then once used can be removed signifying the unit has already been in combat and used its bonus.

Again a good rummage in the bits box provided me with 12 naked fanatics, so I mounted these onto pennies and created some markers.

Now in all fairness I could have just painted them in the flesh colour and called that it. But fanatics are fanatics and the little blighters called for some war paint to protect there modesty a little.

I did not give them shields as they will be regularly handled and therefore they would be unlikely to stay attached for too long. I did have to make a couple of javelins for two figures as they had no weapon, as brave as they may have been I don't envisage them being so stupid as to not need something to fight with.

Wonderful stuff Andrew. Again, I really like the trews on the slingers but the fanatics are my favourite with their wode tattoos.

These wild Briton will give Andrew 90 points with a bit added in for the tattoos and trews.

From JuanM: 28mm Pack Camel & Crusaders (25 points)

Keeping in theme of 'The Year of the Camel' Juan sends in this excellent group of figures.

From Juan:

First one is a camel from "Copplestone Castings". A great all-terrain vehicle for The Back of Beyond and a very nice model from the very, very talented Mark Copplestone.

Secondly, I have painted some more plastic figures from "Fireforge Games", three new crusaders. I like a lot these figures, despite I'm not going to use them in my games, based in the First Crusade, the "true" Crusade for me.

Lovely work Juan. I love that pack camel (very handy for Pulp games I think) and those Crusaders are excellent as well, especially with their hand-painted shields. Wonderful stuff.

These four models will give Juan 25 points. Well done!

From Lord Hill: 28mm Napoleonic British Infantry - The 33rd Regiment (178)

From Lord Hill:

Hear are two companies of the 33rd at Waterloo - 18 men in each company, 36 in total.

All Victrix with a few Perry bits.

In my opinion, the 33rd are the least pretty of any British regiment as their facings were red and thus there's not that nice contract you get with the blues, greens, and yellows of other regiments. But I'm quite happy how they scrubbed up in the end - I just need to learn how to take photos!

A wonderful group of figures Lord Hill. I really like the realistic sense of mass you get from seeing them all densely ranked up - even though they are technically static their overall arrangement is quite dynamic. Very cool.

Britain's 'scum of the earth' will give Lord Hill 178 points. Excellent work!