From PeterD: 28mm War of 1812 Canadian Incorporated Militia Battalion (40 points)

Peter adds some additional reinforcements to his War of 1812 collection.

From Peter: 

It's been awhile since my last submission but I've had several units on the go. These are a 24 man unit from the Incorporated Militia Battalion of Upper Canada. However, only 8 count towards the challenge as I had painted the original 16 last year. The unit is mostly made up of Perry plastics with with a few exceptions as follows (all in the 8 new additions): The two kneeling figures are Victrix plastics, but with Perry packs so as to have the same kit as the rest of the unit; the officer with the round hat is from Brigade (ex Victrix) and comes in a pack with 3 metal command figures and 30 heads to turn Victrix British infantry into Royal Marines. Apparently round hats were all the rage among the young Canadian officer corps during the war.

My old gaming buddy Ross had noted that my American infantry regiments gave the look of individual figures firing at will. With this unit I tried to get the impression of platoon fire by completing the new 8 figures in firing poses and basing them together. The remaining 4 bases hold figures in the process of reloading and readying to fire.

The Incorporated Militia Battalion was formed as a permanent standing force from men in the existing militia units of Upper Canada (now Ontario). They were well trained and pretty much as good as regulars and fought well during the War of 1812. Members of the unit served all along the frontier and fought in many of the battles.

The original plan was for red uniforms, but supply issues led to them getting green faced red for a time. This makes a nice contrast in the thin red line. 

Officers apparently got scarlet coats faced blue, and darned if I can find any reference to the musicians. In the end I decided that they got the regular green faced red with extra lace.

Great work Peter! I really like the variations in kit, colour and uniform that you've added to reinforce these as bodged together Canadian militia, especially that posh round hat for the officer - very nice. 

These eight fellow (doing great credit to the rest of their battalion) will give Peter 40 points. Well done!

New Challenge Prize Sponsor: Diplomatist Books

I am delighted to announce that EdwinK has kindly offered prize support for the Challenge through his online book store, 'Diplomatist Books'.

Thank you very much Edwin. I know I'll be able to find a worthy recipient for your generosity.

From RossM: 28mm Citadel Orcs (70 points)

Ross begins to build some steam with these excellent Citadel Orcs from the heady days of 1980s era Citadel Miniatures.

From RossM:

Here is my second entry for the Challenge, a bit behind schedule, but here none the less. 

The figures are all from the Golden Age of Citadel Miniatures, back in the early eighties. Well eighty four to be precise or there about. The Orcs are all 28mm in scale and vary greatly in style as they should do. These were some of the first opponents I faced back when as a fourteen year old beginner in D & D and other such fun. Ironically D & D turns forty this year if my memory is correct.

Over the last year or so I have tracked down these fell fourteen and painted them especially for the challenge. I do remember in one game I played that the Orcs of the Black Shields were the toughest and meanest of all Orcs, their shields stained black with the blood of their fallen foes. 

That memory and many others have been the inspiration behind these dour warriors and will be that of their other seven brethren to come. Hope you all enjoy these.

Ahh, now that was a nice trip down memory lane. Thank you Ross! I forgot how much more I liked these orcs over the modern muscle-bound ones so popular today. These seem much more varied, sinewy and Tolkienesque to me. Very cool.

These fourteen Old Skool Citadel miniatures will give Ross 70 points.

From ByronM: Warhammer 40K Dark Angels Space Marines Assault Squad (50 Points)

Byron takes a short break from his Great War project to get these Space Marines off his paint desk.

From Byron:

Here is another unit that is random cleanup from my pile of unpainted models just collecting dust.

These were put together at least 6 years ago, if not more, for a tournament list, then when play testing I found they were not worth their points (at the time almost 325 points for 10 guys) despite their mobility. They therefore got shelved before being painted and before the tournament, and I painted up something else. 

Since I worked on a Dark Angels character to replace a stolen / missing one lost at a tournament 2 years ago for my hero this coming week, I figured I should break out some more green marines to paint while working on the character, and hence this unit of 10 Dark Angel Space Marine jump pack assault troops.

Complete in the squad are 2 over-priced plasma pistols, and a sergeant with a similar pistol and an even more overpriced power fist.  Oh well, it looks cool, and thats all that counts, right?

Great work Byron. I really like the vibrant red of their various weapons set against the subdued green of their armour - very nice. Now your soon-to-be-revealed Dark Angels hero has some homies to roll out with!

These ten Space Marines will give Byron 50 points. Done and dusted!

From SamuliS: 28mm Winter War Finnish Infantry (50 points)

From Samuli:

Another bunch of Winter War Finnish troops. An automatic rifle squad and the platoon HQ team. I took some inspiration from Michael and decided muddy my guys up too. 

Not much to say about the minis or the paint job. There are actually a few sort of good sculpts in this bunch, like the officer in his leather jacket. 

I simplified the paint job a bit to speed up the whole process by removing the deepest shadow color and the final highlight of pure white.

Nice and fast to do. So maybe there is some hope of clearing the painting table of these guys soon. At least until the next Kickstarter batch arrives.

Ah, yes the dirty uniforms really set these guys off nicely, well done. Also, your streamlined process hasn't affected your quality a bit - lovely work here.

This squad of Fins will give Samuli 50 points. Nice job!