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!

From AndrewS: 20mm Ancient Nubians (200 points)

Andrew motors right along from his win in the 'Vehicle' bonus round with these natty neu Nubians.

From Andrew:

Now I have cleared a large part of the miscellaneous projects from the painting queue it was time to get back to the Christmas Present from my boys.

These 48 figures are all Hat 1/72 Nubian Infantry, and these have been split up to make three light infantry warbands. I have had do a fair bit of conversion work this time as I have almost used all the standard spear/javelinmen in the boxes. 

Again I have kept the painting to a base colour and highlight over the primer. As I have already shown at this scale two colours can often be more effective than full 3 colour work and certainly at gaming distance there is no significant difference. 

These 3 units will form part of the 2nd Division so I have colour coded the loin protectors, in this case they are all blue and only the pattern and officers cloak to distinguish each unit 

I have also given each units shields a different set of colours, Once again I decided to use the stipple effect to represent the hides, I was quite pleased with the final results. 

A little bit of extra work on the bases give a better overall finish to the whole army, and continuing with the scheme already mentioned before.

I am just at the half way point, now with this project.

Beautiful work again Andrew! I love the hide shields, and the colour-coded loincloths are a great idea. Hm, I wonder if Ray has colour coded budgie smugglers for each day of the week? 

Actually, take that back, I really don't want to know.

These lads will give Andrew 200 points, which includes a few bonus pips for the lovely hide shields.

From ReneV: 28mm Dreadball Teams (115 points)

Rene had a slow start but comes off the line sprinting with these two teams for Dreadball.

From Rene:

Well it had to happen one day. To loose the red color of embarrassment I really needed to turn in my first entry in the challenge if ever I was to get to my 1045 target.

So here it is: They are 2 teams of Dreadball Humans and Orcksies including MVP’s (Most valuable players) and the all seeing referee. The Orckish team is made up of 4 Guards, 6 Jacks and Slippery Joe.

The Human team includes 2 Guards, 4 Jacks, 4 Strikers and Number 88.

A nice total of 23 figures (including the referee) to play a game of Dreadball with (which will hopefully happen some day soon).

The colors are loosely based on some ridiculous sport where people try to toss or walk a oblong ball of sorts across and end line. This being the futuristic version does make it bearable.....just (of course my opinion is based on the fact of me being of the “shoot the round ball in a net” persuasion).

It was nice to do these figures though they are on the small side of 28mm (did not measure but around 25 I believe).

Not the most stonking paintjob ever but for some reason I find it “enough of a level” to play with.

Picture quality isn't too good, sorry for that, for lack of time, did not allow me to set up something good in the Kelvin department.

Lets hope Curt will grant me a nice whopping bonus for the 28mm scale ball that is painted to represent something giving light (which has gone fubar big time).

All that I can say is that at least it isn't based on hockey... Seriously, very cool figures Rene. I remember seeing the super-successful Kickstarter for this game so it's great to see the figures coming off of people's hobby desks.

I really like the colours you've chosen for these two teams - I think they work very well for their respective races. And that Number 88 looks quite scary with that featureless yellow helmet! 

These two teams will give Rene 115 points. Great work and welcome to the Challenge!

(Nice glowing ball btw!)

From ClintB: 20mm Arab Revolt Camel Riders (48 points)

From Clint: 

Adding to the Arab forces for my Arab Revolt 1916-18 game here are an extra 6 camels and riders.

They are once more by IT Miniatures and 20mm in size, mostly rifle armed, although 1 carries a sword in his hands for some close in work.

I only have a few left to do before the Arab force is complete for the game so there will be fewer camel submissions from now on, and no I do not have any dead camels for the casualties round.

No! Don't stop the camel entries - I love them! Well, I don't LOVE them (eww!) but I always like the look of the ungainly, doe-eyed blighters and you've really hit your stride with these fellows. Lovely stuff.

These half dozen 'ships of the desert' will give Clint 48 points. Great work!

From MilesR: 28mm Napoleonic French Command Stands & WWII Higgins Boat Landing Craft (55 points)

From Miles:

Two more submissions for the painting challenge. First is something that has been on the lead pile for at least 5 years - some 28mm Perry French Mounted Generals. 

These figures have been assembled but never primed until this weekend. The figures that are mounted individually are Brigade Commanders and the double figures on the slightly larger stand are a Division Command stand. My current French Army consists of 8 Infantry battalions and 5 Cavalry regiments so I’ll need to add some additional units for these gentlemen to command. I’ll go back and touch them up before the challenge ends.

Next up is a plastic and laser cut 28mm scale model of a Higgins Boat landing craft. The model is produced by CoreSec Engineering and are priced at a very low $7.99 ($US) for a 9 inch long model that can hold 12 28mm figs. 

It’s a simple model that’s a bit sparse on details but for the price I think it’s a bargain. Assembly can be a bit tricky but this should make for a good Pacific themed scenario down the road. Effort wise I’d rate it similar to a a 28mm scale tank. 

I put a 28mm scale US Paratrooper next to the model to provide a scale reference. The paratrooper was completed as part of a previous Challenge, so no points for the figure.

Great work Miles. That Higgins Boat is excellent and the price is certainly right for getting a few on the table for amphibious landing scenarios.

The French command stands are good as well, but if I can give a suggestion (at the risk of sounding like one of those Napoleonic uniform pedants) I think you may have gone a bit heavy on the red, especially on their bicornes and horse furniture. Typically the ostrich feather edge on the bicornes would be black with gold lace edging for both General de Division and General de Brigade (or white if they the general commanding or a Marshal). The pistol covers and saddle blankets would be red with silver or gold lace trimming. The epaulettes would be gold braid. 

Sorry, my wife tells me there's a 12-step program for Napoleonic uniform nerds but I haven't come to terms with my sickness yet. :)

These French officers and the Higgins Boat will give Miles 55 points.