From Curt: 28mm Spanish Civil War 'Talleres Mina De RioTinto' Improvised Armoured Truck (15 points)

This odd looking vehicle is a Talleres Mina De RioTinto armoured truck which was built and operated by Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War.

The war in Spain saw a bewildering number of improvised armoured vehicles, mostly created by the Republicans as they were continually hard pressed for arms and equipment. 

To be honest, I couldn't find much information about this vehicle. It seems to be a modification of a large civilian truck, or perhaps a bus, with a huge amount of armoured plate bolted/welded on. I came across a reference indicating that it could carry a crew of 14, which makes sense as there is that number of firing ports along its side and rear. The photo below shows a Tallares captured by Carlist forces. Note the CNT/FAI/UGT acronyms painted on the front. Knowing that many of the steel/automotive trades came from Barcelona I'm thinking it may have been stationed in or near that city.

From what I undersand many of these vehicles would have gone into service with no body paint, just raw slab steel, perhaps with a few patriotic slogans hand-painted on here and there. So this is pretty much how I approached this model. As it was almost entirely clad in unadorned steel I weathered it quite heavily, having a bit of fun fiddling with pigment powders, washes and rust coloured paint. 

As a bit of tongue-in-cheek I painted the popular Republican slogan 'No Pasaran!' (They Shall Not Pass!) on the back of the truck. 

I also mounted an aluminum tube along the side so I could swap in Republican flags for some additional colour. (I didn't have a CNT/FAI flag so it's shown here with the colours of the Major Attlee Company of the British Battalion, XV International Brigade.)

Originally created for Anglian Miniatures by Ian Crouch, this resin model is now available through Empress Miniatures. Though I really like the model I must say that I'm now being drawn into the camp which believes that 1/56 scale is just too small for 28mm figures (yes, you Greg). This model seems much better scaled to 20mm and just seems a little too weedy next to 28mm figures. Oh well, I still love the brutal look of the thing and it'll great to put it out on the table for some shenanigans.

This ugly beast will give me 15 points.

From MichaelA: 28mm Mahdist Tribesmen (51 points)

From Michael:

Just a quick note to attach my latest entry, more of the very versatile Perry plastic Mahdists; two more stands of five of these fiercesome warriors. 

The first, very much in the vein of what has gone before, but the last are armed with muskets and wearing a distinctive red fez.

I have no doubt that I will be admonished by the Wargames Police for this gross inaccuracy, but I just couldn't resist - perhaps they could go on to be Turkish Slavers!  

Don't worry Michael, this is a Wargames Police Free Zone (except for my own peccadilloes, of course!). Those red fezzes are brilliant. Literally. Hmm, come to think of it I'm going to give you an extra point for your ahistorical audacity. How's that for a poke in the eye, wot! I foresee some great Pulp Adventure gaming with these lads (though they may require some groovy tassels to better fit the part).

These assorted tribesmen will give Michael 51 points to add to his climbing total.

From IannickM: Ronin #15 (20 points)

From Iannick:

A small entry for the challenge. 

Here is the Ronin #15 for your collection. This is an old figure from 'Clan War', and clearly has an heroic look to him, what with that huge Naginata. I figure you will use him as a champion or such. This guy has been sitting in a box for over 10 years so I'm glad to know he's going to a loving family. I like the figure a lot, hope Curt will as well. 

The colour scheme is not based on anything historical, but rather loosely based on the colours of the Crane clan (for those familiar with Legend of the five Rings), by far my favourite clan when I used to play a lot of the CCG and the RPG back in the days. Plus, pale blue is my favourite colour and I wanted to give him a personnal touch. This was my first samurai and I quite enjoyed painting him, they are a nice challenge, however I don't think I could paint an army of these guys! So I see what you did there, Curt... ;-)

That is beautiful work Iannick, thank you so much! Even though these were originally sculpted for a fantasy system they are still some of the best samurai figures out there AND you've done a cracking job on this one. (Though you've uncovered my fiendishly clever Huckleberry Finn strategy of collecting and painting samurai figures...)

Ronin #15 will give Iannick 20 points to add to his tally.

From ChrisP: 15mm WWII Australians (90 points)

From Chris:

First up, is a platoon of Australian Divisional Cavalry in Vickers Light Tanks. Equipped with a 0.5" MG, the Vickers served as a light recon tank in the desert (despite what some armoured commanders tried to do with it!). The Australian Divisional Cav were equipped with them, usually as hand me downs from the British, or from salvage or "semi-legal acquisition". Simple desert camo scheme, nothing too fancy.

Next is a Staff Team and an observer team. Not the most dramatic thing in the world, but if you don't have them, your artillery batteries are  going to have some problems firing! Most frustrating with the infantry is matching it to previously painted miniatures. I don't totally hate how I have painted the auzzies (like I did my US), but it seems a bit silly sometimes to force myself to do average work. But the anal-retentive part of me says DO IT EXACTLY LIKE YOU DID THE OTHERS OR IT WILL BOTHER YOU MORE. And since it was shouting, I listened to that.

Lastly is an Anti-Tank Platoon. This is made up of a command team, 4 2pdr guns and one 25pdr gun! The Auzzies (like all allied nations in 1940-1) found that the 2pdr, although cute wasn't really destroying the Panzers, other than at close range. Which although exciting, has a significant chance of machine gunning. So the Australians detached 25pdr guns to their anti-tank platoons, to give them some far more serious anti-tank firepower. I chose to not put the 25pdr on a turntable, rather deciding that it probably had been "borrowed" from somewhere, and the turntable was a bit too heavy to bother with!

Next up is something I am really happy with....

You did a great job replicating average paintjobs Chris! Urm, that came out wrong. Seriously, these look very good. I particularly like the weathered desert yellow on both the armour and the guns. 

These Australians will give Chris 90 points, further closing the gap with James...

From IanW: 6mm War of the Spanish Succession (126 points)

From Ian:

After the test regiment I submitted a few ago I got the nod to continue so here are the next seven 48 figure regiments for the War of Spanish Succession, these being Bandeveille, La Reine, Aunis, Gardes Frances, Chabrilliont, Brer and Royal La Marine. All but Gardes Frances are white or grey uniformed though I still have two more regiments to do that are either red or blue coated. Then it's onto the Dragoons, Horse and Artillery. Then that's army number one in the bag. I also have a Zulu army and some 15mm ECW regiments to do, some of which may interrupt the cavalry. Before that  though I plan to do some of my own figures.

Matt will base up and flag these boys, once the lot is done I plan to grab a group photo for the blog. These are typically Baccus 6mm and a total of 336 figures (each regiment being a whopping 48 figures). The six grey and white have just been done in a single batch, prior to that I did the blue regiment on it's own, Started to get a bit the same towards the end   :-)

Last Photo is all eight regiments together, all now need taking over to Matt.

Excellent work Ian! That is a very impressive amount of painting - bravo! At 48 figures per unit they will look very substantial when all are based up.

These seven battalions will give Ian 126 points and popping him back into the top four in the points standing.

From ScottS: 10mm Roman Allied Archers (12 points)

From Scott:

Here are three bases of Roman allied archers for my Punic Wars project.  Again, nice 10mm Pendraken figures that could use more than one sculpt.  

I'm gradually trying to build up momentum before I tackle the heavy infantry.  Maybe some more cavalry before I start on the Hastatii.

Cool! I really like 10mm as a scale and these look great. Scott, how big will your heavy infantry units be? (I suppose we'll find out soon enough...)

These archers will give Scott 12 points. Good job!