From AlanD: 15mm WWII Scottish Infantry & German Ferdinand Tank Destroyer (80 points)

From Alan:

Yes! Here's yet another project!

 

As any visitor to my blog know, I'm a huge fan of the Battlegroup series of rules. I've been loving playing Battlegroup: Kursk over the past year or so, and am also very keen on building up some forces for Overlord and (especially) Fall of the Reich.

 

To this end, I present my first platoon of 1944-5 Tommies. This is made up of a HQ base with PIAT, a 2" mortar and three rifle sections. In Battlegroup British rifle sections can choose to detach their Bren groups, so I've put them on separate bases. The platoon is from the 15th (Scottish) Division, with shoulder flashes supposed to suggest the red lion rampant in yellow circle of the Division.  

Figures are from SHQ and Peter Pig.

Here's an intimidating hunk of resin to strike fear into the hearts of Soviets in Battlegroup Kursk.

I was at my local vaguely friendly model shop when I spotted this Ferdinand from Battlefront and decided to add it to my German troops for Kursk. Despite the characteristic Battlefront price causing me to wince slightly($18 AUD), this was quite a satisfying beast to whack together and paint. 

However, given that these objects aren't cheap, I really think Battlefront could make a bit more effort to make the pieces fit better, and in the case of the Ferdinand supply hatch covers (round) that actually fit the hatches (square, in the case of the commander)

. 

Anyway, grumpiness aside I'm quite looking forward to seeing this get pinned by Soviet artillery or run over a mine the first time I try to use it. 

'Vaguely friendly model shop', heh-heh, that made me smile. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big booster of my local hobby shops, but I have to admit that in my travels I have left some establishments wondering under what dank bridge did they manage to recruit the troglodytes 'working' the front desk. This being said it IS nice to see the product in the flesh, as it were.

Both the figures and the Ferdinand are excellent Alan. I'm quite intrigued by the basing of the infantry. Is that something recommended by the rules or a something of your own design?  It reminds me of the countless photos showing troops moving cautiously down the flanks of roadways.  Very evocative stuff. The camo on the Ferdinand is also well done. Shame about the hatch mixup - the beast must have rolled out of an Alsatian factory supplied with Schindler quality parts...

These jocks from the 15th Scottish and the Ferdinand will give Alan 80 points, enough for him to reach his second points target. Great job Alan!

From JuanM: 28mm Battle of Otterburn - John Dunbar, Earl of Moray (21 points)

From Juan:

I have managed to paint a few more models. These ones are also from Claymore Casting, a Scottish command group with John Dunbar, Earl of Moray. The banner is specially designed for Claymore from 'Flags of War'.

This year´s Challenge is fantastic, what a great level of painting and of fast-painting as well! Great job everyone.

Beautiful work Juan. You've done a wonderful job on the armour, the banner is magnificent and the heraldry on Dunbar's surcoat is particularly fine. 

The Earl of Moray and his retinue will give Juan 21 points. Very nice Juan. You've certainly added to the excellent level of painting that we've been enjoying these past few months.

From JuanM: 28mm WSS French Officer, Chaos Dwarf & Otterburn Scots (50 points)

From Juan:

Another entry for "The Challenge". I have painted the "Crisis 2013" special figure that I was able to buy from a visitor. This is a very nice 28mm sculpted by Paul Hicks that I have painted as a Bourbon Field Officer on foot for the WSS.

Secondly, there is an old 28mm model from "Mirliton Miniatures", a Chaos Dwarf.

And finally, eight Scott foot soldiers for Otterburn. They are 28mm miniatures from "Claymore Castings" also sculpted by Paul Hicks.

 

Fantastic miniatures, really fine. I am painting a 24 models unit to use with their own ruleset, "The Hollow Crown" that I am adapting a bit.

Wonderful work Juan! My favourites are that WSS French officer (love the wig) and the Scots.  This entry makes my resolve waver on this Otterburn line - they are sooo nice!

This selection of miniatures will give Juan 50 points. Lovely stuff.

From SteveM: 28mm Dark Age Scots (185 points)

Out of the mists Steve emerges with this wonderful warband of Dark Age Scots.

From Steve:

The long and probably forgotten SteveM lives. I have managed to cobble together this large SAGA Scot warband. They are painted for the guys over at WWPD podcast (assume for the saga tapestry segment)

It consists of figures to make up warlord x2, Thanes, heathguard, and warriors for the SAGA game system.

Having never painted this era before I had to do some research of paint schemes and colors.

 

They are painted in a variety of tartan patterns and colors and given some tattoos for flavor.

And to make each one different where there are multiple of some figures takes some planning.

Amazing work Steve. The variations in plaids you've done is wonderful yet the entire collection still retains a cohesive feel about it. Very, very nice indeed.

This fine collection of Dark Age Scots will give Steve 185 points, including a little more for the lovely plaids and tatoos. Welcome back to the roster Steve!

From SamuliS: 28mm Napoleonic Gordon Highlanders (128 points)

From Samuli:

Time for my last entry. Part of my 92nd Gordon Highlanders for Waterloo rushing towards those dastardly French. The rest are still on the painting table waiting for some more painting. Deciding to start painting the kilts wasn't the best idea points wise. 1000 points was maybe a bit optimistic especially with a long trip in between, but in the end it turned out quite well.

Most of the models are Perry metallic charging highlanders. Great for depicting the 92nd rushing towards the enemy with their friends from the Scots Grays! Terrific detail and really nice poses too. Really need to buy more of these guys for the last highlander unit in my Waterloo project. I also used a couple of Victrix plastic highlanders to fill in the ranks. The two makes actually go together quite nicely with neither standing out too badly.

I think the kilts turned out quite nicely with only a couple of slips of the paint brush which are still evident in the photos. Slightly simplified the Gordon pattern to make it more suitable for the scale. Looks nice, and should stand out on the battlefield. Which is just perfect for Highlanders who have had a pretty nice record in our club games, causing a lot of destruction in the French ranks and always ending up as the target of choice for all their artillery.

All of them painted with Vallejo and finished with Army painter quick shade on select parts. I went through testing a couple of different yellows on these guys, but still haven't found any make that would work. 4-5 layers seems to be the minimum with anything that Vallejo or GW makes.

Holy Haggis McBaggis Batman those Jocks are the t*ts! Your work on the tartans and bonnets is incredibly clean - wonderful. I have a schwack of these to do for my own collection and you've certainly given me some food for thought. Again, excellent stuff.

This storm of Highland laddies will give Samuli a base of 90 points but I'm adding another 38 for the tartans and excellent work on the banners. Well done and thank you for participating!

From SamuliS: 28mm Napoleonic 1st Royal Scots (165 points)

From Samuli:

Well I'm back from my alpine holiday more or less intact eventhough I had some minor disagreements with an avalanche over my chosen snowboarding lines. Work and Uni have kept me quite busy in the last couple of weeks so I only managed to finish these guys now. 

A battalion of british infantry for Waterloo in the form of the 1st Royal Scots. This bunch is a mix of Victrix and Perry figures and I don't think there is a single guy who is made completely from parts of one manufacturer. I'm pretty happy about the interchangability of these plastics as it makes it pretty easy to add variety to your units. 

Painted with Vallejo paints and finished with Army Painter basing stuff. The flags are from GMB designs. Gotta love those things, eventhough they are quite big for 28mm. At least I can spot my units during the game easily.

Probably should clean up my minis better before rushing them to the photo booth. Quite a few of them seem to have static grass stuck onto them :)

That is a lovely looking battalion Samuli, well done! I've glued my fingers together assembling a couple Victrix battalions in the past so I applaud you for taking the effort to mix and match between the Victrix and Perry boxed sets. The additional work has paid off in providing a wonderful assortment of poses to entertain the eye.

The Royal Scots will give Samuli 165 points. Again, well done!

From RayR: 15mm Scots Artillery, Archers and Highlanders (88 points)

From Ray:

Entry No 6 is a few more figures for my Scots army for Flodden, firstly we have 3 artillery pieces and their 7 crewmen, I bought these from Ebay a few years ago and have no idea what make they are, maybe Minifigs? Next are 24 Sottish archers, all the figures bar two are made by MY Miniatures, the others are from the old Falcon range, I think?

Lastly I've added a pic of 6 Highlanders that I forgot I painted,(yeh I know??)  they'll be added to my Killiecrankie Highland units that were short of figures, so I may have to do a little rebasing and I'm not a happy bunny!!!! 

Those massed archers look very good and the wee cannon are brilliant. Too bad you forgot about those Highlanders (btw there are 7, not 6), they must have been out on the town chasing skirts (!) when you were basing the others.

This group will give Ray 88 points bringing him back into the top 10 (sorry Greg!). 

Ray's now at 666 points, just confirming what we knew it all along. You're such a Devil, Mr. Rousell.

From RayR: 15mm Scottish Highlanders (178 points)

From Ray:

A nice biggish entry for me today. Here we have the 6 Highland units that fought at The Battle of Killiecrankie. I did make a bit of a boo boo when I ordered the figures as I didn't order enough!

So some of the units are a little light on numbers. The units should really have 15 figures in each, but since some idiot didn't order enough figures, I had to compromise.

Unfortunately Essex don't make any standard bearers for the Scots so I had to get out my knife chop and cut out weapons and drill a few holes to fit some poles for the flags.

As per usual with me the figures are from Essex Miniatures and the flags are once again made by myself. 

Lovely work Ray. All of those claymores, targes and tartans really float my boat (except for those nasty, sheepshagging MacDonalds, of course).

These 82 figures will give Ray a base of 164 points but his excellent flags will add another 14, so 178.