From KevH: 20mm Anglo-Saxons Thegns & Saracen City Militia and Ghazi Fanatics (182 points)

From Kev:

Sculpting's done for now so I am back at the painting table, yaaay. First up are an addition to my 1/72 Dark age collection.

The Anglo Saxon Army in "Hail Caesar" is allowed a single small unit of Mounted Thegns. I could have chose the easy route for these and just painted 4 of the Revell ones. But no, thats not me and I do prefer the Strelets. So here we go, Strelets and Revell conversions. A few head swaps and the odd body swap and all on Strelets horses. 4 mounted Thegns to give the Anglo Saxons a bit of fast hitting power.

Then back onto the Crusades. More infantry for now. First up are another City Militia unit. 12 Figures, these are 3 to a base to show they are a Medium infantry unit.

Then closely followed by the first of the Ghazi Fanatics units. This is a warband, (24 figures) hence the double ranks.

Once again a medium infantry unit with 3 to a base to show this. I decided on a uniform colour scheme for the Fanatics as I wanted them to look menacing on the table. Andy had the idea for the red headgear. Red, black with a bit of white give these the look I wanted and will easily make them recognisable on the table.

The other fanatic units will be a slight variation on this scheme.

All the Saracen figures are HaT 1/72 and from their ElCid range and painted in my high contrast style. I am now working on some of the Saracen Cavalry, at last, lol.

Beautiful work once again Kev! I particularly like the unit of Ghazi fanatics - those colours certainly reinforce their intended role. 

These fellows with their excellent banners, shields and conversions will give Kev 182 points, allowing him to wrest back control of 2nd place from Dave. Nonetheless with only a 48 point spread between the two it's really anybody's race. Pretty exciting stuff!

From DaveD: 28mm Mahdist Horsemen and Camelry (190 points)

From Dave:

So here we have the Mahdist mounted forces (19 in all) , 6 Beja camel, 12 Baggara cavalry and another leader for the cause. All 28mm Perry figures. For the Baggara I had to replace the "chocolate fireguard" Perry spears with something that will stand the test of time , so used some piano wire with flattened and shaped ends, soldered into the hands. It gives a somewhat better look and way more robust. 

This completes the Mahdist Order of Battle for 2nd El Teb at 1-20 - altogether around 600 figures , thats it for this painting season on these lads - but there is a "long" term plan to at least double the forces - well maybe treble....

Time to give them some "opponents" - this lot were well under way prior to the challenge ,so its just a taster - no points - of the advance elements of the Desert Column . 

Here we have the Camel Corps - not strictly needed for El Teb , but what self respecting gamer is not going to do the the Camel Corp?- securing the village . Followed by the RMLI and the Bravest Man in England - Colonel Fred Burnaby ( just google if you have not read of his exploits) complete with short barrel shotgun!

Beautiful work Dave. It's always wonderful to have another dose of camelry for the Challenge and these fellows certainly look the business.The appaloosa horse you did for the leader if very fine - lovely colouring. Also, I'm going to have a chat with you about this whole soldering business as I'd like to learn how to do that - superglue just doesn't cut it and I'm getting weary of spears/banners snapping loose from hands during gameplay.

These two groups of mounted Mahdist warriors will give Dave 190 points, enough for him to reach his second target and to slip into second place. 

...but I notice I have an entry waiting here from KevH so we'll have to see what happens to the rankings on the Challenge roster over the next few hours.

From MilesR: 28mm ACW Confederate Infantry - Hampton's Legion (121 points)

From Miles:

I’m very happy to submit the 5th and final regiment of Hood’s Brigade (circa 1862): Hampton’s Legion from South Carolina. As with all my ACW Confederates, these are the 28mm Perry Plastics. Outside of some ironclad crewman and Confederate marines (Redoubt figures) all of my ACW collection are either Perry metals or plastics. This regiment has a very unique history as it was formed and financed by the leading land owner in South Carolina, Wade Hampton and was the only regiment in the Confederate army to boast integrate cavalry and artillery companies along with the infantry - hence the “Legion” designation. In practice, while on campaign the integrated cavalry and artillery units were parceled out to more traditional commands.  The unit was attached to Hood’s “Texas” Brigade in 1862 and fourth with distinction during all the major engagements in the east during 1862. The regiment took horrific causalities at Antietam and went into reserve until reactivated to join Lee’s Gettysburg campaign where it arrived in time to cover the retreat. Wade Hampton was a very interesting character. Not only did he personally raise and fund the unit during the war, he also became a leader of the opposition to the radical republicans reconstruction. Unfortunately, Hampton lead a political movement in South Carolina known as the “Red Shirts” which advocated violence to influence elections. Today we would refer to the Red Shirts as a para-military group. Despite his unsavory affiliations, Hampton was elected governor of post-war South Carolina twice and to the US senate after that. Perhaps the only redeeming aspect of Hampton’s post war political career is that he ran his campaigns from an infamous brothel in Columbia, SC called the “Big Brick House” - his stated reasoning was to assure “privacy”. I think it somewhat fitting for a politician to be based out of brothel. Next are a few photo’s of the completed brigade, including General Hood himself. During this year’s challenge 4 of the 5 infantry regiments were painted along with the 2 guns and crews. The brigade consists of in the front row, from left to right, Hampton’s artillery battery, the 1st Texas (completed during last years Challenge) and general Hood. The second row features the 4th Texas and 18th Georgia regiments. The back row has the 5th Texas and, finally, Hampton’s Legion. I’ve really enjoyed building out the brigade. It’s one of three full brigades I’ve completed for my Confederate army, with the other two being the Stonewall brigade (everyone has that one) and a generic brigade that has more of a Western theater feel to it. The command of Hood’s brigade at my upcoming game at Historicon this year will be reserved for any Challenge participants that make their way to the con. Of course, if you prefer the side of the Union, there’s always the Iron Brigade or even the Irish brigade awaiting your orders! Wow, what a great accomplishment Miles!  I've heard of Hampton's Legion but I was not aware of his chequered past - a great unit to finish off with. Also, I'm really delighted to see the whole brigade all arrayed and ready for action. Very, very impressive. Hampton's Legion, his final unit to this project, will give Miles 121 points which is enough for him to exceed his Challenge points target. Well done and congratulations Miles! Okay, a few posts ago I had given warning that once Miles had completed this segment of his ACW project I would submit something to mark the occasion and make you all laugh. So, to keep that promise and in recognition of Miles' dual achievements below is a picture of me from many, many moons ago when I worked in Biloxi Mississippi at the Beauvoir Museum (it was taken for a newspaper article and my boss, the head curator at that time, is seen loading his musket next to me). While I was down there I re-enacted with a wonderful group of folks from the 3rd Miss. and managed to take in many, many ACW events in the South. As you can see I was rather hirsute back then (I remember taping a couple mock arrows to my chest and going as Custer during Halloween that year). My wife laughs looking at this photo as she has borne witness to the inexorable 'deforestation' of my locks and tresses. Nonetheless, those were very good times and I grin whenever I see this picture. Yeah, laugh it up people...

From RobP: Challenge Desperado & Rubber Duck (20 points)

From Rob: 

My next entry is the Painting Challenge Entry Fee Figure.. The theme being anything related to Sam Peckinpah made me look at different options since I have seen almost all of his pictures.. 

I figured that almost everybody would choose the theme of the Wild Bunch (and so it seems now..) and enter a western figure in the contest; so i decided it had to be something else... 

Starting out with Major Dundee, I came across another film that is an iconic Peckinpah work.. For those who remember the movie 'Convoy' will know what I mean...

Here he is: one of the most mentioned characters in the movie: Rubber Duck...

Nonetheless, since I thought it best to please the Judge of the Challenge I thought it would be better to have an entry that can lavish his cabinet so decided to change plans once more and to come up with yet another desperado to make up The Wild Bunch. 

Figure is from Foundry, as always easy to paint and plenty of character...

Superb work Rob. The yellow is remarkably smooth, the highlighting spectacular and the evil glint you managed to convey in its eyes is especially chilling. 

...that cowboy isn't too shabby either...

Thanks so much Rob - that's 20 points for you! I very much look forward to seeing BOTH of these in my collection in a short while.  ;)

'Yep, that's a big 10-4.'