From MilesR: 1:1200 scale British Ship-of-the-Line (15 points)

From Miles:

I wanted to end the challenge with what I consider to be the most challenging but rewarding mini to build - a Langton 1/1200 scale Napoleonic ship.  In this case, its a Brits 3rd rate (74 guns) Ship-of-the-Line.  I have yet to name her but will do so later tonight.

The rigging consists of etched brass rat lines and a very minimalist approach the running rigging.  I've found more elaborate rigging looks great but doesn't last very long on the tabletop.  One of the pictures has a side by side with a 28mm Perry plastic confederate figure to help you see the size and figure out scoring.  I had wanted to complete a few more of these ships but time and work have conspired against me.

Curt - it has been a real pleasure participating in this year's challenge and I want to thank you for your efforts.  I think this event does a lot to bring all of us in the this rather "unique" hobby a bit closer together to learn from one another.  I know my rudimentary skills get a bit better each year by just being able to see all of the fantastic contributions from the other contestants.  It's a grand experience and you should be very proud of your contribution to the hobby

Thanks very much for your kind words Miles. It was a pleasure to have you participate again in this year's Challenge.

I agree, some of the most challenging modelling out there is creating a Napoleonic ship-of-the-line. Your've done great justice to that lovely Langton model, Miles. I really like the well-defined chequering, and the addition of the brass-etched ratlines and proud ensign really set it off. Beautiful work!

This lovely 3rd Rate will give Miles a 1st Rate 15 points. Well done and thanks again.

From Millsy: Ronin #7 (60 points)

Over the past three months we've been treated with many amazing entries from very talented hobbyists all over the world and so to continue in this vein here is something very special from 'Our Man in Australia', Millsy:

This is my entry fee for the challenge, Ronin #7. I wanted to do some storytelling and also go a bit beyond my usual boundaries (it’s a challenge after all). So here we go, a sensory extravaganza involving the visual, the auditory and even the written word. To fully experience my entry as intended please follow these simple steps: 

1. Open this link to YouTube and play the audio track while you read on. You've now got some top shelf Shinto background music. 2. Read the completely bespoke haiku to put your mind into a state of peace and tranquillity (or possibly absolute bafflement, whatever works for you!). 3. Read the back story explaining how the entry came together, what happened along the way and what I think it all means. 4. Finally, check out the pictures of the miniature and his accompanying "stage" with all the above in mind.

Haiku 

It’s harder than you’d think to write one that is properly constructed and contains all the requisite elements! Here we go…

maple trees red-gold 

marking the turn of the new season 

brushes are set aside

Back story 

And now some back story… 

Last year I visited the Art Gallery of NSW here in Sydney and was captivated the Tale of Genji. When I was searching for inspiration for my samurai entry this came to mind and I started digging into the story. I wanted to do something more than paint a miniature. How could I  create a "stage" that brought him to life? And how could I merge that with the story of 47 Painting Ronin?

So I read through the tale in some depth and spent time looking at painted imagery of Japanese shrines and buildings. The one thing that I couldn't go past is the elegant simplicity of the torii that adorn many shrines and which appear periodically throughout the tale. Being a gate it would make a great “3D picture frame” for my samurai right? 

A bit of thinking, some *really* rough measurements and I dived right in. There were no plans, I just let the model evolve from start to finish, adding whatever seemed right at each stage. Bits got added, bits got removed and at one point the torii fell apart in my hands (curse my impatience) so I started all over again. Now it’s done, although the temptation to fiddle with it is near overwhelming.

 

So here is Curt’s own little piece of imagined Japan, the entrance to a Shinto shrine way up in the mountains. The local peasants have put out decorative painted lanterns alongside the torii to celebrate the closing of the festival of painting. This is the end of the painting challenge for 2013 but like the seasons this is just the beginning of a another chapter – a fabulous collection of painted miniatures for Curt to enjoy.

Technical stuff

I don't know the manufacturer of my chosen miniature. It's oldish (at least 12-15 years I think) and was marked simply "samurai" on the base. He was a hard one to paint, steadfastly refusing to tell me what he should look like. Eventually he relented as I got into building the scene and the two sort of grew together.

The scene itself is made to be disassembled so it can be posted safely to Curt and rebuilt for permanent display. It's completely scratch built from balsa, cork, beads, card, etc. My wife deserves due credit for allowing me a minor reign of terror in her supply cupboard BTW. The lettering over the torii says “Curt” in Japanese (at least according to the quite possibly very dodgy translation web site I used anyway). Given I speak absolutely zero Japanese it’s a complete shot in the dark so feel free to correct me. ;-)

And finally...

To close I'd like to add my sincere thanks for Curt for squeezing me in at the last minute. He already had a full quota of eager Ronin but being such a gent he allowed me to slip aboard and join the crew. I've had tremendous fun and really enjoyed seeing everyone else's entries as much as working on my own. Thanks mate!

Um, wow. Just wow... I'm pretty much rendered speechless by this (which takes a bit of doing).  This is amazingly creative work Millsy, and such a wonderful gift - I've very, very flattered, thank you. The archer figure is marvellously painted and very characterful. I'm wondering if he may be an early Citadel sculpt - he has that look about him. The shrine is a wonder as well and is suitably bucolic. I particularly like the lanterns at the entrance. It all very much sets the closing scene of the 47.

Ronin #7 who guards the temple entrance will give Millsy 60 points. Thank you again!

From NicolasC: 28mm Franks of the First Crusade (170 points)

From Nicolas:

Now, here comes my last submission:

'Franks and Pigs.'

Here you have 3 pts of warriors (3*8=24) and a Warlord with his banner bearer to accompany and lead the knights which I presented in my previous submission.

The warlord is of course Raymond de Saint-Gilles count of Toulouse, one of the main leader of the First Crusade, who first practiced against the Muslims in Spain, before he headed to The Holy-Land. I bet he will be an interesting match up for John's superb bunch of Andalusians and North-Africans. As a Count of Toulouse Raymond wears on is shield and banner the distinctive cross of the city of Toulouse, a symbol for all today's South-Western part of France, better known as the Occitan Cross.

The warriors of Raymond are lead to combat by one of his provensals vassal, the Lord of Baux-Orange, Guilhem-Uc, who is said to have accompany Raymond to the Crusade and died in Tripoli in 1105. His shield and banner bears the twelve-branched star of the Baux-de-Provence that symbolise a comet.

The warriors devide in a group of 16 armed with a mix spears, sword, axes and shields (2 SAGA pts), and 8 armed with crossbows (1 SAGA pt) . I went for simple shield patterns for the warriors to reflect their lesser condition compare to the more sophisticated mounted knights. I also tried to make the distinction among them, between the poor knights or knights simply obliged to go by feet and the actual villeins who carry shields that merely ape the designs of them of their lords. There's nothing much to say about the crossbows except that I hope John's light troops will suffer from their spiny projectiles. 

Again, it took me a while to work on the shields and banners, but I think the result worth the pain. Overall, I am quite please with the aspect of this group, they came out clearly better than I first expected and they do look very in period, from my point view.

Now what's with those pigs? I painted them a month ago or so, and did not really consider to throw them in the contest (you decide what it worth). But it has suddenly strike me that they would do great marching in front of my crusaders towards the infidels. I hope the filthy creature can give the creeps to one or two of John's Soldiers of God. Ironically enough, John gave away those pigs to me. I recall he said: "I know you like this kind of s**t. You'll surely find a way to use them". Well... I have found one!  

Thank you very much Curt for all the great job you did during the last three months!

You're very welcome! 

That is one beautiful warband, Nico. I really admire the work you put into researching the heraldry of the commanders - very interesting stuff and, once again, you've done a gobsmacking job on the shields and banners. Gorgeous work.

The pig sitting on the right reminds me of Wilbur in 'Charlotte's Web' (I'm getting all misty here...).

This warband with all its glorious banners and heraldry (plus its family of pigs) will give Nico 170 points. Well done and thank you very much for participating in the Challenge!

From ChrisP: 15mm WWII American Infantry & Vehicles (373 points)

So as we head into the last hours of the Challenge my inbox begins to 'ping' like a German sub running the straights of Gibraltar...  Life is good! (And thank goodness I took the day off.)

From Chris:

So, remember when I decided to repaint my whole 15mm US army? Well, I forgot. Which was good (I went a bit loopy there), but I remembered that I hadn't quite finished!

This is the last of my repainting, there are a few vehicles which I need to do, but all the infantry is done, plus most of the vehicles. All figures are battlefront.

First up is the third rifle platoon. Exactly as the other two, one command base, 9 rifle bases and a bazooka team. Nothing really to say about them!

Next is a mortar platoon, with 4 81mm mortar tubes. A full platoon is six, but I couldn't for the life of me find the other two mortars. They are liable to be lost in the move I would expect. They will probably turn up tomorrow no doubt...

Then onto some artillery. First battery is made of 4 105mm howitzers, with staff team, command team and observer.

Supporting them is a battery of T19 105mm howitzers, which is the same cannon, but this time bolted onto a M3 Halftrack! Offering mobility, but due to the extra weight, poor cross country ability and the limited traverse offered by the mount, the T19 was a stop gap measure before the arrival of the M7 Priest. Cool model tho.

The big guns are 155mm, crewed by African American soldiers. With the US army segregated in WW2, the African Americans were often relegated to supporting roles (transport, artillery) rather than combat roles (with exceptions). By all counts, they performed admirably and with heroism, in spite of the army's segregation policy. The 104th was supported by one such battery, so I chose to represent them.

In case any nasty German fighters appear, there are four Anti-Aircraft halftracks. 2 are the M15, with a 37mm autocannon and twin 50cal, the other two are M16, with Quad 50 cal. By the time they entered the war, the Luftwaffe was all but gone, so the terrifying firepower was turned onto ground targets....

The US army was well equipped with the Jeep, and here are six for various purposes, recon, command etc.

A mixed bag of vehicles, a T30 75mm GMC, a Greyhound and a British Priest round out my 15mm painting.

Oh, and a 1/144th scale P-38 Lightning! Invasion stripes hand painted by me, they are less... vibrant in real life, my camera had a hissy fit with the colours. Doesn't help that the weather is naff.

For all those who have thought I have just recycled the same infantry, perhaps put them in a different order, hoping you wouldn't notice (shame on you for thinking that), here is a group shot of all the 15mm US I have painted...

Whew! That is an awesome amount of work, Chris. I particularly like the T19 Halftracks and the African-American 155 gunners. Very, very cool.

For his efforts Chris will get a very well-earned 373 points for this entry. 

From FranL: 28mm ACW Union Cavalry, Apaches & Geronimo (320 points)

From Francis:

My second last challenge entry consists of 12 plastic Perry Miniatures ACW Union cavalry, I'm not a fan of painting cavalry especially plastic cavalry (not a fan of these but they were cheap!). 

The second lot are a mixture of 22 Foundry and Dixon Apaches including Geronimo.

Below is an Apache stakeout and scalping, 6 figures, all Dixon.

Apache cavalry including Geronimo himself in the middle.

The next entry will be plains indians, steam tanks, a rocket etc.........

Excellent work once again Fran! I really like the indians putting on the jacket and boots - wonderfully macabre. 

The Yankee cavalry, Apache warparty and Geronimo will give Fran 320 points. Brilliant stuff!