From TamsinP: 15mm Swiss Crossbowmen & Revolting Peasants 'Enfants Perdu' (64 points)

From Tamsin:

I was originally going to submit these separately, but ended up finishing them off at the same time, so they're submitted together. These are the first of my 15mm Swiss in the Challenge - sixteen crossbowmen and sixteen armed peasants. The crossbowmen have been painted with tunics in the colours of the 8 cantons of the Old Confederation, with one pair per canton. 

When I complete my Swiss army for FoG:AM, there will be another 12 bases (24 figures) and my plan is to have every canton's colours represented across all the troop types, roughly in proportion to the canton's contribution to the Swiss force at Morat.

The armed peasants are based as light foot to represent "enfants perdu" (lost children) who are recorded as participating at Laupen (1339), throwing stones down onto Austrian troops. I can't find much else about them in the medieval period, but similar units appeared as light troops alongside mercenary Swiss pike contingents during the early Renaissance period. 

I figured they were most likely camp followers and servants, so would be carrying whatever they could lay their hands on that might be usable as a weapon. In FoG:AM they are classed as Poor, Undrilled, Unprotected, Light Foot with Javelins. In other words not much use, but a reasonable use of 16 spare points if you're already maxed out on handgunners.

Expect some more Swiss in a couple of days, then some more a few days after that!

Niice! I love this period and have always had a soft spot for revolting peasants - they're just so... so... so charmingly ardent (and as doomed as doomed can be).

These two units of Swiss will give Tamsin 64 points, allowing her to leapfrog Fran, John and Andrew to place her in the Top 10. Well done! 

Bring on the pikes!

From JamesB: 15mm WWII British Paratroopers (53 points)

James breaks ranks from his usual 28mm painting to show us this collection of 15mm British Paras. 

From James:

Just a quick entry, not good pictures, but 37 15mm WW2 Paratroops. These are a commission and the customer is basing them himself.

James, what you lack in loquaciousness you make up with your skill in painting. ;) These are excellent and I particularly admire the tonal shading you've achieved on their uniforms. Well done. Question: Are these Battlefront castings?

This group of paras will give James 53 points. 

From NicolasC: 28mm Russian Folk Hero Dobryna Nikitich (12 points)

From Nicolas:

Here is the last of the Russian Bogatyrs: Dobryna Nikitich.

I won’t make a long speech about him since I feel like I have been quite around the topic already. Let it just be remembered that Dobryna was the slayer of dragon Zmei Gorynich, who had no wings of paper, and had three heads. Dobryna was also a knight of Vladimir, ruler of Kiev, and his adventures, similar to his two collegues,  are mostly metaphorical illustrations of the fight to christianize the pagan tribes of steppe riders.

This is the last figure in the serie of the Plastic Miniatures. And again, I really enjoyed the sculpt. I kind of agree with Curt about the poney tail, yet looking closely at Vasnetsov’s canvas, it seems the painter is more ought to be blamed rather than the sculptor.

This one horse was a good opportunity to practice with the grey and white tones of the Army Painter set, and I hope the result doesn’t look to shiny. I gave extra attention to the cloak, as the canvas suggested a pattern.

That’s it! Next, hopefully an entry with more than a single figure… And maybe a chance to climb above 100 pts (huzzah!!!). 

Beautiful work Nicolas! Your brushwork with the pattern on his tunic is just amazing - bravo! 

Dobryna, the three-headed dragon slayer, the last member of the Bogatyr triptych and the tamer of My Little Pony, will give Nicolas 12 points. 

From RayR: 15mm Williamite Cavalry (46 points)

From Ray:

Back to Killiecrankie for my 7th entry. These 2 units are the Williamite Cavalry regts Bellhaven and Annadale. They didn't do very well in the battle, in fact as soon as they saw and heard the Highlanders charging they both promptly ran off, straight through the Williamite lines, which didn't help one bit!!

The figures are my left over bits and bobs from the NYW Essex range, which worked out quite well as I wanted them to have a random look. And no I didn't run out of figures for the Annadale regt, they were a very small unit of only 40 men, so they'll start any battle a little short and well as having the worst morale rating possible!!!!

They may not be the lions of the battlefield but they do cut quite the dash - well done Ray!

These two cavalry units will give Ray 46 points.

From MichaelF: 15mm WWII American Infantry 'The Big Red One' (64 points)

From Michael:

The fourth and final entry for my American project. Mortar and HMG platoon with an additional bazooka team and a sniper. Just as I thought I could replace the paints on my desk for something more colorful I realized I'm one command stand short to field three Infantry platoons. Guess I need to do that one very quickly then. 

Also I'm thinking of adding a couple of Jeeps and Greyhounds in the near future to give them some recon possibilities.

Cool thing is that these minis actually hit the the table before they arrived here on the blog. Many times my efforts  are stored in a box and live in darkness for years before they see any action...

Not much else to say now. Still Battlefront minis, still many mouldlines and other annoyances but they do the job once you have a bunch finished.

Just like your last efforts these are excellent  Michael. Its especially nice that they are seeing some action on the tabletop. I'm not a huge fan of the Flames of War rules but one of the things you certainly have to give it credit for is that its popularity gets people out playing with historical miniatures, which is a great boon to the hobby no matter how you see it.

The Mortar and Machinegun platoons will give Michael 64 points.