From JohnM: 28mm Dark Age Flemish Mercenaries (48 points)

From JohnM:

I am going to take a break for a day or two, I have done 480 pts, which is about a quarter of my goal, so I think I am on track. Here we have some SAGA swords for hire, these were primed white and painted in the usual fashion with an application of AP Dark Tone followed by some highlighting. I have wanted these for some time and they herald my SAGA secret project.

To add a bit of fun, I thought I would see Who's a Clever Boy, and can guess what my next SAGA warband will be? These mercenaries are part of this warband and there is a clue in the photos to suggest the answer. A Really Clever Boy will also able to answer Question #2. This one is a little tricky, and one needs to know one's history (I know none). What is the defining feature in these figures which unifies them and why?

I have to start painting Curt's Samurai soon, so I thought I would paint two further figures up and offer them as little prizes. I can hear the screams of derision now, about the quality of Jean de Terre Neuve's painting, and who would want his figures as a prize. But remember the one who answers these questions correctly will be forever immortalized on my blog as Who's a Clever Boy and A Really Clever Boy. According to Curt's contest rules, I have to wait 24 hours after the photos are posted on his blog, so no answers until the post hits my blog http://fuentesdeonoro.blogspot.com. 

ps. Sorry but Curt, Iannick and Nico are banned from answering the first question, but are free to try the second. Just think Curt, you might get two Samurai in the mail.

What great fun! Okay, let's see who can correctly guess John's two riddles. Remember to get over to John's blog in 24 hours to give your answer.

With all the thunder stolen, let's get these lads scored. These 8 sell-swords will give John a base of 40 points with another 8 added for the hand-painted shields, so 48 points total. I must say, 488 points is a very good opening gambit John! 

From IanW: 25mm Cthulhu Investigators for 'Mansions of Madness' (22 points)

Ian sends us some more figures from the 'Mansions of Madness' boardgame.

From Ian:

Following on from the first four, here I have the last four, well five if you include pouch. 

The two women really did not inspire and the owner wanted them more or less as they were in the picture he sent, except the Nun could not be blond. I tried to use the candle as a point of light for the flesh but painted the rest of the figure as if the light source was all around as I did not think it would look right with all the other figures being painted as normal. I changed the belt to green and did a different hat on Miss Green. 

The hobo he wanted in denim and I added a little yellow to the shirt to make it look a bit grubby and I also shaded his chin for that 3 day growth look. His skin is also darker than the rest, after all he see's a lot of the sun. Joe Diamond was required to be a bit flash so he has a very very dark blue suit and whilst his coat is boring brown I shaded via five levels. 

So that's an end to the investigators, I will do the monsters if he want's but that will be post challenge.

Like the ones you did before I really think these are great, Ian. I quite like the job you did on the hobo 'Trashcan Pete' and his dog 'Duke'. Joe Diamond is a nice figures as well - love the bright red tie and trenchcoat!

These four will give Ian 20 points, but we can't forget about Duke so we'll make it 22.

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.

From SebG: 15mm Thirty Years War Infantry (42 points)

From Seb:

I'm still painting my Thirty Years War French, and today I send you another French infantry regiment, Nettancourt. 

According to the sources, it can be ranked as a "newly raised". Sadly they didn't operate in Germany unlike the rest of my units, but rather in Northern Italy. But then, I liked the flag, so here it is.

 As usual it's a 20 minis strong unit, from Old Glory. And this time, no dead nor prone figure. They're all eager to fight ;)

As I said to Seb offline, if I can pick a bottle of wine based solely on its label then I don't see why he can't choose his regiments according to their flags. Again, great work Seb!

Regiment Nettancourt will give Seb 40 points with a couple for the banners.

From ChrisP: 1:285 Modern Vehicles and Infantry & 1:2400 USS New Jersey (108 points)

From Chris: 

Here are the 6mm I promised. I was waiting to have them all done before sending them through, some have been done since the first couple of days of the competition! 

Anyway, it is more 6mm stuff from me, this time, some Russians and some US support stuff. Miniatures are from Heroics and Ros and Scotia. 

First up for the Russians we have 6 T-80 MBT (see above), then 3 T-62 and 3 ZSU-57mm AA, all done in two tone camo. The camo worked out really well, I am looking forward to acquiring more of them and having another go at it.

Then we have some of the cooler support weapons, first is 6 PT-76 amphibious tanks for the Naval Infantry, and 3 ASU-85's for the Airborne. Both were specialised pieces of kit- the PT-76 can swim well (how well depends on how much you believe the Russian designers), the ASU-85 was designed to be air transported and to give the airborne some AT support! 

As ever, an army needs transport. The Russians have it in the form of 9 plain green trucks.Not much to say about them except they are darn useful! Much better than walking.

Lastly for the Russians we have some missile support, in the form of 3 Frog-7 Ballistic Missile launchers. Used by the Iraqis against coalition (and civilian) targets, carrying a conventional, nuclear or chemical warhead these are some scarily big missiles with red noses! 

On to the Western forces.

First for them is 3 M60 MBT, along with 1 M113 ACAV. The ACAV is definitly from Scotia, and is pretty horrible. But.. it is one of those things which I couldn't resist painting! So I gave it a vietnam era colour scheme, and it will sit on my shelf as a reminder to buy GHQ. The M60s are in desert colours, and may well get used as Israelis.

Then, we have a collection of infantry support weapons. Front rank is 3 Browning M2 50cal machineguns, followed by 6 81mm mortars. These will form a support formation in the rules. Infantry are from GHQ.

Of course, the West needs a ride too, so we have just the 9 trucks for them as well. Desert yellow, with an orange air recognition panel on the bonnet. I am not super happy with how these turned out, but I am not so unhappy with them that I want to redo them.

Not to be out-rocketed by the WARPAC, NATO now can call on support from a Lance SSM battery. Not much to say about these, the models are a bit so-so, but they paint up ok.

Lastly, we have some serious firepower support in the form of the USS New Jersey, ready to unleash fire from it's three primary turrets, or it might just lob a cruise missile or two. This is a GHQ model, which I have had for a really long time. I found it in the move, and figured I should paint it!

Another great batch of microscale models Chris! These will give you 108 points.

From JohnM: 28mm Dark Age Skraelings (80 points)

From John:

Up next is two SAGA points of Skraelings or 16 figures to the uninitiated. These are SAGA warriors, there are no Hearthguards among the Skraelings, so this is the 4th and 5th Warrior point I have painted. These Gripping Beast figures are really very nice, but I have to say that it was a little boring as I have already painted 24 of the exact same figures. These 5 Warrior units join a unit of Levy Bowmen and their Warlord.

The last picture (and just to prove I have not been recycling Skraelings!) shows the full warband, each unit has a different colour designation, the two units just painted are Dark Red and Blue bands. They join the Yellow, Bright Red and Green Warrior bands.

These white primed figures were airbrushed with Citadel Foundation colour Tallerin Flesh. I used GW Bleached Bone for the caribou skins. I have found these colours quite effective for the Skraelings and I am quite pleased on how they have come out.

This coming weekend they are seeing action in a Vinland Campaign of SAGA in Montreal. We will recreate the arrival and the attempted settlement of the Greenland Vikings 1000 years ago in Northern Newfoundland. Should be fun.

I've always enjoyed the uniqueness of this project, John, and these new additions don't disappoint. I also really like seeing the full warband all arrayed for battle - very impressive.

Enjoy your coming game in Montreal!

These 16 figures will give John 80 points.

From Curt: 28mm Spanish Civil War Republican LMG Teams (15 points)

I have a batch of SCW figures ready to post but I thought I'd parcel them out over the next few days  to make it look like I've been more industrious than I have. 

These two Republican LMG teams are armed with Soviet made Degtyaryov 'DP' light machine guns. Generally the DP was a good weapon, but suffered from a fragile bipod and its large pan-shaped magazine was prone to jamming as dirt easily got into its exposed workings. You can see the figure of the loader below has a specially designed satchel to keep the magazines up and away from the elements.

Soviet troops often nicknamed the DP the 'Record Player' due to the shape of its magazines.

These 28mm figures are from Empress Miniatures. (The rock outcropping on the base with the prone crew is a bit bark mulch from the garden painted and drybrushed.)

These two teams will push me along for 15 points.