From JohnM: 28mm Dark Age Anglo Saxon Slingers (40 points)

 
From John:

These 28 mm figures are from Gripping Beast and will serve in my SAGA Anglo Saxon warband. This completes my SAGA project: 4 Six Point Warbands and 5 Swords for Hire. These figures were done again with multi coloured washes over a 2 layer paint job, but maybe not as successful as the LoTR dwarves. Simpler figures of course but the transitions did not work out as well. Try to spot the Vulcan slinger!

I am hoping that I am over 750 points with this submission as I believe we passed the half point in the contest last weekend. I have one more submission left from what I primed before the contest done which I should be submitting shortly. Then it is a little up in the air where I shall head next. Certainly more Winter War Finns and British Paratroopers will be done once they are received in the mail. I should do some more Napoleonics and I also have ordered a small unit to add to my FIW collection. We shall just have to see.

Very nice John. Maybe it's just me, and harder transitions aside, I still think I prefer these to your previous dip method.  

Wow, with four warbands you could run a mini-tournament in your house now!  Wouldn't your wife be delighted? Yes, I'm sure.

These slingers will give John 40 points. 

FYI, Spock is second from the right. Must have been on of those time travel episodes. :-)

Bonus Points for the Heroes Theme Round Have Been Posted

Oh, I almost forgot to make the announcement: The bonus points for the 'Heroes' Fortnight Theme Round are now reflected on the points roster. Of course this does not include the extra points that will be awarded to the favourite entries, so remember to vote if you haven't done so already. Deadline for voting is 10pm CST Sunday.

Thanks and have a great weekend everyone!

From StefanK: 28mm Napoleonic Retreat from Russian - French Foreign Allies (35 points)

Those following the Challenge will know that Stefan and I are both enjoying working on the Perry range of French 1812 Retreat models. Here are seven members of the Grande Armee's foreign allies that he's recently added to his fine collection.

From Stefan:

Once again a couple of Perrys' excellent 1812 Frenchmen and allies. This time I chose a couple of figures from their infantry and cavalry sets. Actually they were meant to be a group of heroes for the last bonus round but unfortunately I wasn't able to finish them on time.

Actually I tried to paint them slightly unusual. More precisely I wanted to represent as many German soldiers as possible. These are the results:

An officer from some kind of cavalry unit. Actually all of his clothing besides the coat is civilian. But this coat is the pattern usually worn by cavalrymen of the Grande Armée.

A soldier from Napoleon’s Légion Portuguese. Clearly recognizable from the very special hat. In addition he’s wearing an army greatcoat and a couple of civilian scarves.

Cavalryman from the 1st Carabiniers. This regiment served with four squadrons in the 4th Cavalry Division under General de Division Jean-Marie Defrance at Borodino. This guy here seems to weare a rather full kit under his greatcoat although he obtained some civilian clothing as well. Anyway he looks fierce wielding his two pistols and therefore I use to call him “Django” in a friendly way.

Just a grenadier from a line infantry regiment. He’s wearing a combination of mostly civilian clothing and an army greatcoat. Therefore special characteristics aren't recognizable and so I like the idea that he is from a unit from the Grand Duchy of Berg.

An artillerymen from the French foot artillery. Actually he is from the infantry set but the greatcoat is hidden enough to resemble the double-breasted version which was worn by the artillery as well. His shoulders are covered with a civilian blanked which I painted in a checked pattern so his epaulettes aren’t visible. Actually he might be from my home the Grand Duchy of Berg as well…

A very nice figure of a hussar having lost parts of his kit and wearing a kind of blanket. I chose to paint him greenish since he should represent a soldier from the 1st Westphalian Hussars.

Another infantrymen with rather average equipment. He’s wearing an army greatcoat and a civilian jacket and cap. Once again this guy could be used as a soldier from every regiment of line infantry or any other unit. Maybe he’s a boy from the Bergische Land as well…

As usual I employed Vallejo model colours. It was great joy to paint these figures since they are as excellently sculpted as the other miniatures I know from that range. Especially the hussar general (the heroe entry) and the hussar with the blanket have extraordinarily detailed faces. But when I varnished the minis great havoc came over me. Carelessly I used Army Painter Anti-Shine for the final layer and stuff partly dissolved the paint and caused it to wrinkle partly. Fortunately most defects are rather small but the Portuguese infantryman and the Frenchman with the purple cap are rather filthy. I was so angry yesterday because Anti-Shine caused me to repaint a dozen horses two years ago so I should have known better than using it again. But in between I used it on some other miniatures and it worked well. Anyway that stuff will never touch my miniatures again!

I hope you like the results nonetheless. Up to this point I couldn't bring myself to decolour them…

Beautiful work Stefan. I really like that you've picked a theme for these fellows giving us an insight to the incredibly varied nature of the Grande Armee at that time. 

Sorry to hear about your mishap with Army Painter's Anti-Shine spray. I've had similar problems with it myself. It seems to be misnomered as it instead should be called 'Anti Anything' or 'Pro Infuriating' spray. I now stick to Testor's good ole stinky Dulcote.

These seven miserable fellows will give Stefan 35 points.

Stefan, like a poker game I'll see you these excellent chaps and raise you with some more Russians by the end of this weekend. Stay posted!

From GregB: 40K 'Victorian' Imperial Guard (55 points)

Greg sends in these 40K Imperial Guardsmen who seem themed as Crimean period Russians. 

From Greg: 

Another science fiction entry - a squad of ten "Vostroyan" Imperial Guardsmen from GW's Warhammer 40,000 range. There is an NCO with a pistol, a two-man heavy bolter team (heavy MG weapon) and a dude with a flamethrower. The rest have laser rifles. They are metal (yay!) castings. I think the range was originally released sometime in 2006 or 2007, and as far as I know it is one of the very last "themed" metal Imperial Guard ranges GW ever released. 

There is a unique look and feel to these castings, and I find they provoke strong views. People either love them or hate them. I'm obviously in the first camp - to me these castings really capture the dark, dystopian spirit of the Warhammer 40k setting. Even though they are (relatively) contemporary sculpts, they very much capture the feel of the original Rogue Trader game, much more than any of the other conventional Imperial Guard figures available today.

Clad in bearskins, bits of medieval style armour, armed with rifles that look as large and ornate as polearms, to me they are spooky and beautiful. The faces that are visible are drawn, worn and dark. It's like someone gave a picture of an Austrian Grenadier from 1809 to John Blanche and said "go nuts". These seem to me a very fitting portrayal of a "regular" force army that would be assembled in the setting of the Rogue Trader rulebook, either to defend and planetary governor, or slog through a horrible military campaign somewhere in the "grim darkness of the far future".

Many people loathe these same design features, particularly if they already dislike the GW style and the 40k setting, and I can see their point, so my apologies to any challenges who hate these figures!

And upon careful, thorough and balanced evaluation, I have determined that there are a number of Victorian influences to be found within these science fiction soldiers, and as such I shall also consider them a "Victorian" submission - right fellas?

I actually quite like these castings which is funny as I despise the ones they produced that had the guys in the pith helmets - go figure. The bearskin hats, mega-moustaches and archaic looking laser rifles are very cool. I also like the white and blue-trimmed colour scheme - it gives them an almost ceremonial air.

Michael, help me out here. The way I understand it these figures can't possibly be Victorian as I see no gypsy influence at all. ;P  Perhaps if they had bells on their toes and tambourines strapped to their hips...

These Guardsmen will give Greg 55 points. 

From AndrewS: 28mm French & Indian Wars Infantry and Marines (98 points)

Andrew shifts gears back to the 18th century with these wonderfully painted French & Indian Wars infantry.

From Andrew:

The next batch of this weeks submissions are 13 French Infantry from the AW Miniatures range these are part of a fairly substantial commission I have agreed to complete and 6 Marines that I agreed  to paint for AW Miniatures display board. 

The infantry represent the Bearn Regiment, wearing the white jackets while on campaign in the French Indian wars, they are in a mix of uniform as befits the adaptations made by the men in this period. The standard bearer is carrying a hand painted colour made by myself as a little extra for the client.

The marines, well I don't have much to say about these at all, they were a complete pain in the arse to paint and I am truly glad they are done.

Beautiful work Andrew. I like the mixed nature of their uniforms and that hand-painted banner is lovely. 

These lads from Bearn and beyond will give Andrew 98 points.

From PeterD: 'You Say Meeses and I Say Mooses. Let's Call the Whole Thing Off.' (12 points)

From Peter:

Some Meese for you. 

OK before either the grammarians or the biologists get on my case, I know that "meese" is not a correct plural of moose.  For the record either Moose or Mooses are acceptable plurals (like fish and not like Goose).  While the Beaver may be Canada's national symbol, to many the Moose is the quintessential Canadian critter.

These figure came about from a google query "28mm Moose figures".  They are made by Brigade Games, come singly or in a pack of 3 and are quite nice figures.  I intend to use them as game markers for unknown or suspected units. So hopefully that gets me over the umpire's hurdle.  If not then I claim that they are mounts for the Teddy Roosevelt amphibious assault force.

I've based them on Perry Miniatures bases left over from my plastic infantry boxes.  Since moose are happy both on land and lake and like marsh plants, I've given bases with a watery edge.  I did the water in Ultramarine artists acrylic topped with Acrylic Gloss medium to  give the effect of ripples (hopefully).  I also used taller plant life to show rushes along the water's edge.  I am sure that there is plenty of Moose Moss for the trio to munch.

Originally I was going to base each moose separately.  But Junior Moose is definitely too small to be far away from Mum so two bases it is.

To give an example of size for the figures, I have one photo with Laura Secord - a combination of Canadian icons if there ever was.  Oh and just for the Mad Padre I've included a shot of their backsides, since I know he is a connoisseur of moose butts.

More moose info can be found at the link below:

Hinterland Who's Who  

Canadian baby boomers like me can likely recite the narration from heart.

Jeez Louise, the Hinterland's 'Who's Who'?! Wow. Just wow. The theme from that has been seared into my mind from being raised in a northern prairie town with only one TV channel. The funny thing is that CBC, who produced 'Hinterland's Who's Who', didn't realize (or simply didn't care) that half the population that were forced to watch these 'nature vignettes' could look out their window and see the same critters in the front yard eating the flowers and fertilizing the lawn. 

Anyway I like these a lot (nice rack dude...). 

These moose will give Peter 12 points. 

And I'm not going to say a word about the Mad Padre's predilection to moose butts. Nope. No siree...

PS: Peter, bring 'the family' out for our 'Muskets & Tomahawks' game tonight! Maybe they'll scare away the marauding Canadiens...