From KentG: 'He Ends As He Started' 28mm Imperial Romans (40 points)

What did I say about not trusting Kent to stop... He discovered that he had done the command stand for this Roman century about a month ago but had forgotten about them! Crazy.

  

These eight fellows will give Kent 40 points and will serve as his rearguard.

I'm going to be the bartender who sees the punch-drunk sailor wavering in front of the bar: 'That's it lad, you've fought the good fight. You're cut off...'

From TimB: WWII Soviet Infantry Regiment (752 points)

Tim's last entry is a very nice (and suitably huge) collection of 20mm WWII Soviet miniatures.

I'll let Tim describe the pics (It gets a bit 'involved', as you will see!):

'First, two Canadian 6 pounders and crew - Guns are from Rafm, crews are from FAA'

'Next, Canadian casualty marker - some sort of 1/72 plastic...? REvell, maybe... or Italeri...?'

'A German German officer which will act as a Forward Observer stand... again some kind of plastic...?'

'Regimental AAMG Platoon - previously painted FAA'

'Regimental Reconnaissance Company - one Foot, one Mounted Platoon - foot previously painted (Platoon 20), Mounted are new and I have no idea where the minis came from... combat Minis...? Maybe...? with plastic horsies from Eagle Games...?'

'Regimental Pioneer Platoon -  Platoon 20 - another OOB I saw claims there was a Regimental Pioneer COMPANY... but all I have is this platoon... so I'm going with the OOB that said only one platoon... (until I find some more Soviet Pioneers!)'

'Regimental SMG Company - Should be 3 platoons, I have only two. the one on the left is previously painted (Platoon 20) the platoon on the right is newly painted - Plastic Soldier Model Company.'

'Regimental Gun Battery - two platoons of 76mm Infantry guns - Plastic Soldier Model Company.'

'This is the rest of the WW2 Soviet Rifle Regiment.... These five pics are of the Rifle Battalions themselves... First Battalion (Rifle companies) Plastic Soldier Model Company (one rifle platoon stand and one HQ stand was previously painted, rest are new)'

'Second Battalion (Rifle companies) Plastic Soldier Model Company.'

'Third Battalion (Rifle companies) The two files on the left are assorted plastics (Revell, Italieri, etc) They are new as is one of the HQ stands and the Battalion Command, the file of the right are previously painted Platoon 20 figures.'

'The HMGs - the three platoons of plastic figures (Revell, Italieri, etc) in the front row are new, two in the rear are previously painted (Platoon 20) - now, here's where I get a little confused... a couple OOBs I've seen state that each battalion had a complete company of HMGs (three platoons each) AND each Rifle Company had an MG platoon, in addition to it's three rifle platoons... for a whopping SIX platoons of HMGs per Battalion (compared to nine rifle platoons in the battalion) and EIGHTEEN Machine-gun Platoons in a Regiment...  Is that for real?! Or is that wishful thinking on behalf of the Soviet general staff!? I have only five at the moment... guess I need to get a few more! I'll probably just pick up four more at some point and have three per battalion...'

'The Mortars - the plastic ones on the left are new... again, according to most OOBs I've seen the Soviets apparently had a Mortar COMPANY per battalion - three platoons serving 9 tubes! Compared to one platoon in each Commonwealth infantry battalion!? So I need another SEVEN for the Regiment at some point - if I ever care to kit out the force with their full authorized strength... to start with I'll probably pick up ONE more and give each battalion a single platoon...'

WOW, that is a shed-load of Soviet soldiers and attendent kit (174 foot, 3 mounted and 4 guns by all account)! This will give Tim a very impressive 752 points, placing him solely in 3K territory at Challenge end - fantastic stuff Tim!

From RossM: 28mm Hector and his Trojans (52 points)

For Ross' final Challenge entry he sends us this great stand of Trojan infantry with Hector in the midst of the fray.

These 28mm models are from Redoubt Miniatures.

Once again, Ross has done great work on the shields

Ross tells me that Hector and the casualty figure should not be included in the scoring so this group will give him a base of 45 points but I'll place it to 52 with the great shields and groundwork. Well done Ross!

From JohnM: 28mm Napoleonic Prussian Fusiliers, Artillery Officers & Caissons (140 points)

John sends in his final entry to the Challenge with these fine Prussian Napoleonic fusiliers, artillery officers and a caisson.

Fusilier battalion of the IR21, 4th Pomeranians in their British supplied riflemen uniforms.

From John:

'I was aiming for an even 1000, but sometimes the gods conspire against you.' (I won't provide you John's full expletive as its wonderfully blistering and foul. - ed) 

For my Prussian Fusilier battalions I have decided to go with 4 figures to a base rather then 6 to allow more dynamic basing.

'I knew that the French command stand would bring me up to 860 points. Yesterday morning I got up and said, I am going to paint 140 pts of Napoleonics in 24 hours. There was some technical difficulties as my terrain style requires 24 hours for the first coat to dry, but things like hairdryers exist (I live with 2 women), so I said soldier on. I painted the 3/21st 4th Pomeranian Regiment yesterday, but woke up this morning with still 60 points needed and the terraining on the Pomeranians left to do. OK I said a Prussian caisson (10 pts), 4 horses and 2 riders (30 pts) and 2 mounted Artillery officers (20 pts)=60 pts=1000 pts= goal achieved.' 

Next up are some Prussian Artillery figures. Still drying I am afraid, but they are finished.

We have 2 mounted officers, a artillery colonel on the right and his ADC to the left. They are from the Artillery command set.

Well all good….by 2pm done aside from a bit of terraining, and then the inconceivable happened, I had painted a horse and a caisson driver that did not match, I just could not get him to fit on any of the horses. Should of checked before I started. C'est la vie! 

Here we have a horse artillery caisson sans one driver. I am using only 4 horses for each artillery support unit, so have 4 in reserve for Schrumpkopf's medic wagon.

Who's a silly boy! Can't find his horse.

Beautiful work as usual, John. But I'm afraid I can't see the problem. Obviously this last figure is a dismounted rider who is particularly bowlegged (or has some rare form of Prussian Rickets). So I've added the 5 points for him to make your total 140 for this entry. Oh my, look, you've broken the 1K barrier! Congratulations my friend, well done!

From MikeW: 28mm Clergy and a Brigantes Army (!) (600 points)

God's Holey Trousers! Mike drops a bomb with this entry. You'll see, just read on.

From Mike:

'First up, a set of 9 clerical types from Conquest Games UK. Slightly different from my usual approach in that I used Citadel washes (brown on most things, black on greying hair) rather than Army Painter dip. It's quicker to dry, but slightly slower to apply. Basing is Army Painter desert flock.'

'The second batch was completed for the WAB GT competition at the end of February - it's 110 (count 'em if you like :D) Brigantes warband, a mix of Warlord plastics, Warlord metals, Wargames Factory plastics and Wargames Foundry metals.' 

'Back to the usual approach for these - a mix of various colour Army Painter base coats (fur brown, platemail, human flesh, white, uniform green, dark blue, red) to save time with the top coats, then block colours and dip - basing is Tamiya drark earth texture paint, Javis moorland scatter and static grass.'

'These were painted on Monday through Wednesday, dipped Thursday, based and varnished on the Friday and packed off to the tournament on the Saturday. If I'm honest, it shows... but.. a) they pass the two-foot test and more importantly, b) I managed to figure out a production line system for getting a set of different colours on the tunics and leggings, and c) this is the batch of figures during which I started to get my head round how to apply dip properly with two brushes.'

Awesome work Mike! Its amazing what you achieved within a work week - a full army - wow. Well, this whack of 119 figures will give Mike 595 points, but I'll make it an even 600 for the sheer effort behind it. Well done!

From KentG: 28mm Normans, Wild West Civilians & Indians (90 points)

Well, I've learned not to say, 'This is the last one from Kent.' as I've been proven wrong so many times before. Nonetheless, as we move into the final hours of the Challenge I think this entry will help Kent relax as it further protect his 1st place in the points standing from that 'Rapacious Ray' character.

I'm not sure about the Normans (Gripping Beast?) but Kent tells me these Western folks are from Dixon.

This group will give Kent 90 points. Is 176 points enough of a buffer? We will see.

From RayR: 15mm F&IW Canadiens & Generals (106 points)

Ray is trying to go for my heartstrings with this submission of a unit of Canadien cavalry that were formed during the French and Indian Wars along with some flash-in-the-pans types by the name of Washington and Wolfe.

From Ray:

'That's it I give up!!! If I painted and based for the rest of the day and night I'd have an extra 400+ points, but I'll just have to settle for these guys as my last post. Quite apt really as the last post are a small force of Canadians.'

'Here are 10 men of the short-lived Corps de Cavalrie, a light cavalry unit for the FIW consisting of 200 Canadian volunteers and 5 French officers, then we have the same unit but dismounted.'

'The Corps de Cavalrie are all from Essex minis, but I did a little conversion work on the riders, Essex don't sell mounted cavalry in bearskins with this uniform, so I bought normal French Dragoons and chopped off their heads and replaced them with French Grenadier heads, the bearskin is not exactly as it should be but hey they 15mm!!!'

'Lastly there are two famous General's from the war, Gen Wolfe and Gen Washington. They are both from Frei Corps.'

A supreme effort, Ray - bravo! These lads will give you a base of  96 points, but I'm awarding another 10 for the conversion work and the fact that they are Canadien. So even with an updated total of 4508 points that still places Ray a little behind Kent in the point standings. Nonetheless, well done!! Thanks Ray for keeping us on the edge of our seats these past few days! It certainly made the Challenge that much more enjoyable.

From IanW: 28mm Sniper Markers & 15mm Ancients (224 points)

From Ian:

'I must say the temptation to stop once I was on the devils number was there a little, so it was a good thing I was already well on my way to painting this lot. Not a small selection of figures as I had set myself a target that I thought was not possible. I was so pleased that I managed it. I had based up the figures with the brown pebbles before going to bed last night and flocked them on getting back from walking the kids to school.

So I give you 16 British 28mm Sniper reminders. These need the tufts adding when they finally arrive. I needed to order via Germany as no UK stockist had the big sheets of them. I was fairly concerned that the uniform brown would not come out well but after lifting it before wash it seems to be fine.'

'Now down a scale all below are 15mm. First are 12 Cataphracts, these are part of the Seleucid army a mate gave me, it's almost a complete army to the FoG lists about 400 figures so it was a big deal that he gave them to me. I want to get it going and these are a short cut to being able to play with some of it combined with my own already painted units. Essex miniatures with horrid small bases.'

'Command stand of 4 figures for this army. These will go with the other command I have already painted. Just like the cataphracts the mix of metal paints make the unit interesting. Magister minatures and not as big as the Essex and to be honest not a great figure, some of their worst.'

'... and last and possibly least 16 Cretan javelin armed infantry, these boys are poor quality on the field so I don't expect much from them but really liked the figures when I first saw them and just bought them hoping I could work them in some how. More Magister but obviously ones I like!!!'

Excellent stuff, Ian. This group will give you a very respectable 224 points!  I'm very happy you exceeded your personal target for the Challenge - you certainly embraced the spirit of the whole thing - bravo!