From MichaelA: Sudanese Camel Riders & Captured Krupp Gun (55 points)

It seems Michael stole some time from the eggnog and mince pies to complete these wonderful additions to his colonial Sudan collection.

From Michael:

After a wonderfully relaxing Christmas and New Year, I have finally managed to cobble together another entry and this time it is a welcome return to the Sudan.  Mounted Beja on camels with spears and sword and a captured and shackled Egyptian Crew loading Krupp 6pdr with Beja overseer.  

Boyz out cruising for hawt Victorian gypsy girls...

The Perry sculpts really are a joy to work with as has been said on many occasion, but they are a pig to get ready to begin with!  Even after the customary clipping and filing, I still noticed extraneous flash and mould lines when I started painting - perhaps a bit more effort required on my behalf to begin with!  

Painted, pretty much as you would expect, all accept the Beja overseer who has been given a rather natty blue waistcoat in homage to GregB's identical entry last year.

Lovely work Michael. I really like the camels and their jaunty riders but that captured gun crew is always a crowd pleaser. The fellow cringing with the rammer reminds me of how I typically feel by the end of the workweek.

These excellent models will give Michael 55 points, building up his lead in the Victorian-themed challenge. Greg, pick it up buddy! You're getting your pith helmet handed to you by these Brits!

From SebG: 15mm ACW Union Infantry Regiment (65 points)

At first I thought this entry  was a bit of a surprise from Seb but then I remembered that when I first met him we played ACW at Posties together.

From Seb:

Erm. It's now finally time to get serious. I now have some free time during the evening to paint some more.

What you see is the start of my Longstreet brigade, since I intend to play the grand campaign. I've opted, as my first unit, to depict the famous chasseurs from the 14th Brooklyn. They were at Bull Run in  1861, and, as you can see, wore red trousers and a blue-trimmed red cap.

As I wanted some variations, I chose Old Glory. Sadly they don't do the 14th Brooklyn, so I took some 15mm zouaves, and, with the proper paint job and from a distance, they look the part. What you have is 30 chasseurs plus one dead Union soldiers, just to add a touch drama. You can almost feel they're moving towards the rebs.

I was disappointed by the standard bearers (1 pose only), so the two you have here are actually conversions: I cut the sabre of the officer to put a pole instead, and the other one is a regular soldier who exchanged his musket for the other pole. The flags have been downloaded and then printed.

That is a great looking regiment Seb! You're right, Old Glory does provide a multitude of poses to allow one to make up characterful units, though I am surprised by the lack of variant standard bearers. Nonetheless, you did a masterful job on the conversions and it makes your command stand unique and dynamic.

The 14th Brooklyn will give Seb 65 points, which includes a bit extra for his excellent standard bearer conversions. Well done Mr. G!

From AlanD: 28mm Dark Age Huns (100 points)

Alan sends in these awesome mounted Steppe warriors who will debut in his upcoming games of SAGA.

From Alan:

I'm flitting between a few different projects, as is my wont. This week, I have been mostly starting on a pile of unpainted Huns. These chaps have been making unruly noises in my lead mountain for a while, threatening some of the other figures and making unkind remarks about the Duchess, so it is time to get some paint on them. Appeasement? Perhaps.

I originally bought these Wargames Foundry figures for some rules I was working on for a version of SAGA set in the fourth and fifth centuries. Now I think they are also destined to act as Steppe Nomads in SAGA (some of those late Roman helmets were obviously treasured family heirlooms...), and might form the core of an army for Impetus.

I wanted to give them a beginning of winter feel, mainly to match up with my Pagan Rus figures. Having seen Curt's beautiful snow effects on his figures for the 1812 campaign, my snow looks very unconvincing. Then again, I live in Sydney, so what would I know?

Wonderful work Alan. I think all-horse Hunnic armies look so very cool on the tabletop. The natural earth tones of your Huns along with their mounts contrasts very nicely against the stark snowy terrain (even if it has a certain Hollywood fluff about it - as you say, you Sydneysiders can claim blissful ignorance regarding the artful nuances of ice & snow, lucky gits...). 

These 10 Steppe Nomads will give Alan 100 points. which places him within striking distance of his 500 point target. Great job! Paul and Alan - you best lash yourselves to the oars if you plan to catch up!

From AnneO'L: Bombshell, Robot, Evil Warrior & Cyber-Ape (28 points)

Anne has sent in this wonderfully eclectic mix of figures for us to enjoy.

From Anne:

These pieces were all about getting a handle on painting weathered metals. I got into this hobby by following wargamers and no one can weather metal like those guys can.  It took me ages but I finally found a tutorial here that helped me work it out.

The female is a 28mm figure from Bombshell Babes and was sculpted by Patrick Keith and the Robot is from Stonehaven.

Normally one would not think of putting these two figures together, but last year I developed a fondness for Pulp and so it seemed natural for me to do so.  

I included a close up of the metals so that the weathering would be apparent.

The Evil Warrior is a 28mm BONES from Reaper and was sculpted by Bobbie Jackson. The kitten is actually the sidekick for the Bombshell Babe figure in the first set of figures.

I'm known for painting "girly" figures so I thought "Anne, it's time you painted something big, something fierce, something macho" so I settled on this big scary guy. He also had loads of metal for me to practise my weathering on.

After I'd got him done and looked at that pose I thought "He really should be attacking something, moving in for that final kill" 

So here I am with this masculine figure and I just can't leave well enough alone. So I let my true nature have it's way and decided to have him attacking the kitten. It made sense to me.

I knew I wanted to free hand a skull on that shield but I had a hard time coming up with something that would work with the curves at the top of the shield and the spikiness of the bottom. It took me three tries to come up with this modified skull.

This is a 40mm Reaper BONES figure and was sculpted by Jason Wiebe.

I had to fight my girly nature with this guy. My instinct was to paint up a petite female to base him with and call it "Beauty and The Beast", but I resisted that temptation and painted him up alone and based him in a simple manner.

Reaper really dropped the ball when they cast this figure. The face was in terrible shape and the mouth was an utter mess, making it difficult to bring out the personality of this figure. In my opinion what Reaper has done by miscasting figures from talented sculptors is an outrage. When a company destroys the work of sculptors like Patrick Keith, Bob Oily, Jason Wiebe, Bob Ridolfi and Sandra Garrity in order to turn a mass profit, that company is damaging our hobby and they should be ashamed of it.  Some of the BONES figures are great value for money, but if you're looking for quality, look elsewhere.

On the painting table right now is a Cowboy vignette of a Faro game gone awry along with a diorama made up of Foundry Orclings riding dinosaurs. 

This is a great collection of work Anne. I like the rusted metal on the Robot and the Kitten has an expression like it's hiding something that the Evil Warrior has not taken into account. I've not worked with any of the Reaper BONES stuff so I find it troubling that the casts are not living up to the hype. I hope this is something they will troubleshoot and resolve because, as you say, it would be a shame to mare the good work of these talented sculptors.

I'm not quite sure on all a the scales but I'll go out on a limb and assume the Cyper-Ape is a fairly large lad. This wonderfully motley assortment of figures will provide Anne with 28 points including a bit extra for the wry puddy tat and the nice bases.

From MilesR: 28mm ACW 4th Texas Infantry Regiment (121 points)

Miles diligently continues his American Civil War project with this regiment from the Lone Star State.

From MilesR:

Please find my latest submission for the challenge -the 4th Texas Infantry regiment from Hoods Brigade. This 24 figure unit consists of the superb 28mm Perry plastic Confederate infantry figures. 

I think I’ve painted over 250 of these guys so a change may be in order in a few weeks. The completion of this unit brings to 3 finished regiments (1st, 4th and 5th Texas) out of 5 total. 

Next up will be the Georgia regiment from the brigade and then the Arkansas one. I’ve gotten pretty efficient painting rebel infantry and can complete a 24 figure regiment in a day. Next up will be some artillery and then maybe something not ACW!

24 Confederates in a day? Holy Molly that is impressive Miles. When I first saw this post arrive I was wondering how many of these bloody guys has Miles painted over the two Challenges but now I know, over 250 - amazing. Miles, when you get your last unit done for this project let me know and I'll post something to make you laugh.

These Texans will give Miles 121 points. Great work!

From StefanK: 28mm Napoleonic French Infantry from the 1812 Retreat (40 points)

Stefan and I are obviously channeling the same winter theme with these amazing Perry miniatures.

From Stefan:

Retreat from Moscow 1812:

After he found Moscow burning Napoleon had to abort his campaign in Russia in 1812. He wanted to return to safer countries as Poland or Prussia and wanted to spend winter there to undertake another try in 1813. But he hesitated too long and his Grande Armée was assailed by the relentless frost of the Russian winter.

The eight miniatures I happily present here are from Perry Miniatures's excellent Napoleonic range. They represent a couple of French and Allied soldiers fighting for their bare survival. They collected winter gear wherever they found it and are wearing a mix of military and civilian clothing. The miniatures are extremely detailed and very well painted. Especially the faces are crisp and clear and great joy to paint. They are full of expression and make it easy even for a mediocre painter like me to work it out. As usual I painted the miniatures with Vallejo Model Colour and Army painter Quickshade. As snow I used corundum sand. It is bright white, durable and has a nice sparkle in it. The tufts of grass are by Mini Natur and -to my mind- complete the bases nicely.

Hmm, I dunno, there's nothing mediocre at all about your work Stefan - these miniatures are excellent. I really like the detail you've pulled from their faces, and you've really done a wonderful job with the basework - I would have never guessed you could get that nice of a snow effect from sand. I learn something new every day (and I need to get some of those great looking winter tufts instead of continually puzzling through my handmade ones).

These eight freezing Frenchmen will give Stefan 40 points. Beautiful work!

From RayR: Challenge Desperado, NYW French Cavalry & Two Wizards (105 points)

Here is my entry fee, a Foundry Cowboy, to join the Wild Bunch. I had a few to chose from, this one seemed to fit in better with the stills I found of the film online.

My next entry's a bit of a mixed bag, as some of you may be aware I bought a part painted French NYW army from Reject Richard. To save time and money, Richard only included 1 command stand per 2 squadrons of Cavalry. I decided to add the 2nd command stand, so they matched in with my English, Dutch and Jacobites. So the next entry is a group of newly painted Horse and Dragoon command stands.

Lastly 2 figures dug out from the deepest depths of my lead pile, infact I don't even remember buying them??? I came out in a bit of a rash painting these non-historical figures....shudderrrr!!!! They're from the evil empire that is, Games Workshop and represent the 2 famous Wizards in the first Lord of the Rings film. Gandalf the Grey and Sauramon the White.

Thanks so much for the great cowboy Ray - he's quite spiffing! The French cavalry look superb (the colours on these fellows really seem to pop), though with all those banners flying who actually fought in these units? Also, I know that fantasy and sci-fi are not your cuppa but I must say you do such a nice job on these sword & sorcery fellows (your Sauron for the Villains round was fabulous).

This wide assortment of miniatures will give Ray 105 points, nudging him further up the points ladder.

AndyM: 28mm SYW Limbered Artillery (90 Points)

First, my apologies for those in the queue waiting for their entries to be posted. For some reason Blogger is being very obstinate for me these past few days. I'm getting odd errors which are taking an inordinate amount of time to work through and is causing delays in getting pages posted. Please bear with me...

From Andy:

These are the limbers and bits I needed to add to a collection of beautiful figures give to me last November. I'll be posting them on my blog soon. To supplement them I wanted to do limbers for the guns and a colonel. The entry for the challenge just consists of the limbers themselves and the Master of Artillery. The limbers and horse are Irregular, the drivers are Minden (lovely figures) and the Master is Irregular. He is much bigger then the others but I have a backstory to explain his giant size!

I've attached pics of the full battery 'in transit'. I THINK the guns are Foundry but not sure. The guards are Huzzah Miniatures from Fighting 15s. You can also see the Minden colonel I painted as commander of this new contingent.

The 'guard' bases have a curved front to allow the gun to 'bend' when in column of march. An idea shamelessly stolen from my mate Essex Boy!

Not a huge entry but it gets me in double figures and clears the decks for the main effort...

More coming soon!

Lovely work Andy those Huzzah figures are gorgeous and the Minden stuff is superb as well. I also quite like that curved base idea (I'll be stealing that, thank you!).  So, what is the backstory for the difference in scale with the Master? 

This excellent battery of guns will give Andy 90 points. Well done!