From MartinN: 28mm Late Romans, Fallshirmjaeger & AWI Militia (50 points)

From Nick:

Here's my last submission for this years challenge. It has been a tough ride and I enjoyed it a lot. I've taken part for the very first time and I have to say I was impressed by the high level of painting, the mutual support and of course by Curt's great organization. I guess this were some pretty hard but fantastic three months for all of us.

So my heartfelt thanks to you Curt for shepherding the 'Wild Bunch' and to your wife for giving you the time to do all this.

My last submission is a pretty mixed bag again. First we have three Late Roman Infantry men from Musketeer Miniatures.

Again from Musketeer Miniatures two lonely Late Roman archers. Originally I planed to finish the remaining four also but you know what Sun Tsu said about plans...

This German Fallschirmjäger I painted for a tutorial on painting splinter pattern. So regular followers of my blog probably have seen him already with only his Schmock painted.

And last but not least we have here four AWI Southern Militia from Perry Miniatures. I guess Chris aka Axebreaker will likely be happy to see them as they're proof of him finally succeeding in luring me into AWI. 

I'm pretty chuffed with how they turned out but to be honest they were a real pain in the ass to both clean and paint. Some years ago I already painted some Crusaders from Perry Miniatures so I already knew what I have to expect in terms of cleaning. But what I didn't remember was how hard they were to paint using my usual approach to painting.

And now to finally round things off nicely I've included a group shot of what I painted over the course of the last three month. 

There are two figures missing as these are by now sitting in one of Curt's cabinets in far away Canada.  In total I painted 47 Miniatures, six casualty markers, two Weapon teams consisting of three figures each plus weapon, two mounted guys and one armoured car. In comparison to our top scorers this might not be much but to me this is quite a lot. So much in fact I'm planing not to do any actual figure painting in the next weeks but go for some much needed terrain making. There's still some goodness from Tactica awaiting my attention. So hope to see you all next year again.

Fabulous work as usual Nick. All of these figures are top drawer but the highlight for me is the amazing camo on the Fallshirmjaeger and the wonderfully smooth work on the breaking Americans. Marvellous stuff (and I love the final group shot).

This fine and varied collection of miniatures will give Nick 50 points.

From SamuliS: 28mm Dinosaur, Bard & Challenge Desperado (45 points)

From Samuli:

All good things come to an end, which means that I must present to you my last entry for the painting challenge. A slightly smaller one, though it does include the largest single "mini" that I've done for the challenge!

First up the entry fee desperado. The mini is from Foundry (I think). Bought it off a club mate when I realized I didn't have any suitable minis available. Painted with pretty quite down to earth colours as I didn't want to go too over the board with him.

Next we have a Gripping Beast Bard for Saga. Funny looking mini, though I doubt he'll have much use in the game. Forgot to get any suitable minis for the Sarah's choice category, but I'm hoping that a bard might help gain at least some pity points thanks to his heart wrenching songs :)

And finally we have Danny the Dino. Some cheap 2 euro toy from a trinket store. Green stuff to fill in the most horrible moulding lines and finally painted with an airbrush. This was a random side project which always went ahead a bit when I was bored with other things and had the airbrush handy. Named after the most horrendous music video of all time, from a Finnish artist called Danny. Ever jealous of Swedish success somebody decided it might be a good idea to copy ABBA and their style. Didn't end that well. If you are able to find any choreography worse than this I congratulate you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYllzQPQp78

Finally as there seem to be some funny dresses I thought I might contribute mine. Unfortunately due to restrictions caused by my age I'm not really able to go back to the 70s :) However at least I can be more colourful than the rest of you in my nice pink outfit complete with a funny hat. 

Student fashion is a bit different in Finland. Every different study field has their own colour which also varies by their University. Where I used to study the mechanical engineers wore pink, because it's pretty much the manliest colour available. Plus it's pretty easy to find your mates when nobody else wears the same colours anywhere.

Awesome dinosaur Samuli! I really like how you did the stripes on him - very cool.

I will direct Sarah to your ardent bard, but I wouldn't hold your breath (but you never know).

Thank you very much for the excellent gunslinger. His grey waistcoat and pocket watch chain makes him quite spiffing.

I must say I'm a bit bamboozled by your university togs. I dunno, maybe you should have gone into Home Economics or something...

This eclectic mix of figures will give Samuli 45 points, which, along with your upcoming points for the bonus round, will put you over your Challenge target of 1200 points. Congratulations and thanks again!

From StefanK: 28mm AWI British Infantry, Viking Bondi & Challenge Desperado (110)

From Stefan:

The 44th Regiment of Foot. The regiment was raised in 1741 and firstly bore the name of its founder Colonel James Long and was originally the 55th regiment of foot. After first employments during the Jacobite Risings of 1745 and the Flanders campaign in 1748 the regiment was renumbered as 44th Regiment of Foot, actually as part of a large reorganization of the British army. A few years later the regiment was brought into action during the French Indian War where it fought in important battles like the Battle of Carillon, the Braddock Expedition and the famous siege of Fort William Henry. Above all it served in the Battle at La Belle-Familie which the "Bloggers for Charity" want to restage this year at several events to create attention and rise funds for the charity projects "Help for Heroes" and "Men Matters".

For this excellent venture I agreed to paint a unit of redcoats which will represent this heroic regiment. It consists of twelve figures manufactured by AW Miniatures who is establishing a quickly growing 28mm range covering the FIW. Overall the miniatures are very nice. The casting quality is good at most parts although some thin details like the loading stick are damaged on several miniatures. The sculpting is crisp and clear and make it rather easy to distinguish the different parts and layers of the miniatures. Unfortunately a lot of the finer details (especially the lacing) are left out and must be painted on.

The faces are quite good but don't have the excellence and expression the top-notch manufacturers (Perry, Wargames Foundry, Front Rank et al.) usually provide.

As usual I used Vallejo Model Colours and Armypainter Quickshade to paint the figures. My main source for the uniforms was C. E. Franklin's "British Army Uniforms from 1751 to 1783". There I read that officers used to wear waistcoats in their regiment's facing colours. Therefore I decided to give them that individual blot of paint. This time I didn't base the figures because James and Andrew preferred to do that themselves.

Next is a unit of eight Viking Bondi for my SAGA warband. All eight figures are metal ones from Gripping Beast's SAGA range. Some of them look slightly old fashioned and stiff but altogether they are really good. 

As most SAGA miniatures I know so far these Bondi have open hands to glue the weapons in. Most of mine got spears this way. But I used steel wire spears rather then the leaden ones provided by Gripping Beast. Absolutely outstanding are their faces which make it easy to bring out some expression.

As usual I painted the figures with Vallejo Model Colours and shaded them with Armypainter Quickshade (Dark Tone). The fine artworks on the shield are decals from Stephen Hales' Little Big Men Studios. For the bases I used my habitual combination of sand, static grass and tufts.

And so it ends... As my last entry I proudly present: The Cowboy.

The miniature is from Wargames Foundry and actually his name is "Lonesome Dexter" from the "This town ain't big enough". But this time he shall represent one of the countless cowboys immortalized in Sam Peckinpah's movies. Curt asked for such an act of appreciation and I hope my humble work bestows honour to his concern.

This fellow was the first Wild West figure I ever painted. And it was great fun. It is well detailed and sculpting as well as casting are of top-notch quality as usual for Wargames Foundry. Once again I employed Vallejo's Model Colour range to paint it but skipped Quickshade this time because I didn't have the time to let it dry long enough. To give the miniature a little special 'something' I didn't only decorate the top of the base but the bottom as well.

Well then, Curt, this one's for you. Many thanks for organizing this year's painting challenge. It was great fun to participate and I enjoyed the company of all those excellent painters and modellers a lot. Additionally those three months let me learn a lot about my very own way of painting and pushed my skills forward. It was an honour to see my humble work presented alongside the pieces of art our fellow competitors submitted. For next winter I'll definitely reserve a time slot for the next painting challenge hoping to snatch a slot again. I hope you like this little sign of appreciation. 

Stefan, this is beautiful work, all of it.  I'm sure whoever receives your AWI figures from the 'Bloggers for Charity' event will be absolutely delighted with their 'score'.

Your bondi certainly look the business - I'm particularly taken with the colour detail on their jerkins and trousers. Beautiful.

Finally, I give my humble thank you for the wonderful cowboy figure you've painted as my Challenge 'levy' (or 'Curtgeld' as some have now called it). I really like his grey hair and his jersey chaps are an excellent choice (great pattern). Also, the Challenge banner on the bottom is pure class. Thanks again!

This wonderful assortment of miniatures will give Stefan 110 points, with a bit extra for the chaps! This will be enough for Stefan to exceed his Challenge target of 600 points. Congratulations on pushing through to the finish! 

It's been a pleasure Stefan, I'm delighted you could join us in this little bit of winter madness.

From BrendonW: 28mm Dark Age Saxons and Viking Standard Bearer (22 points)

From Brendon:

28mm Gripping Beast Plastic and Foundry Metal.

The three Saxons have heads from the Warriors box and one shield has a LBM decal. The Foundry Viking has a Banner made by me. I found the Raven image doing a google image search and I think it is actually a Tattoo. 

So thanks tattoo artist. Hope you don't mind me using it. The Foundry viking came with a shorter banner pole with a small Raven on its top but it was a very flimsy join to the hand so I removed it as it probably wouldn't last painting let alone gaming.

Wonderful stuff Brendon. These lads are nice and gritty and that raven banner is a brilliant piece of work - bravo! 

These three Saxons and the Viking banner bearer (and the banner itself) will give Brendon 22 points, enough for him to reach is 750 point Challenge target. Congratulations Brendon, well done!

From AlanD: 28mm Dark Age Arthur & Hun Date Night (120 points)

From Alan:

I am very fond of the Westwind Arthurian range, and finally got around to painting up their Arthur figure, but found a rearing horse from Black Tree Design to mount him on for extra heroic impact. The bloke with the horn is also from Westwind. As always the shields are hand painted. I can't bring myself to use decals.

Here also is my latest batch of ten 28mm Huns, mainly consisting of a group of noble cavalry. I gave a couple of them Roman tunics, which may have been looted from somewhere, or possibly suggest that the wearers once served as mercenaries for Rome. 

We also have a figure that I find very poignant of a Hun with a clearly terrified captive woman. This figure narrowly missed out on being sent in for the casualty bonus round.

Nearly all figures are from Foundry, with one from Gripping Beast. He's the one riding the creature that has some resemblance to a horse.

Very nice work Alan. Those hand-painted shields for the Arthurian figures are superb (though I will never begrudge anyone their decals, least of all me). The Huns are suitably ferocious though I must agree with you that some look like their riding large dogs. 

These lads, both chivalrous and not, will give Alan 120 points, placing him nicely amongst the top 10. Lovely stuff Mr. D!

From SamuliS: 28mm Dark Age Norse Gaels (68 points)

From Samuli:

Back to the Dark ages after rolling through the muddy roads of Belgium and Netherlands. I present to you the last half of Gripping Beasts Norse-Gael starter set. Cheaper equipment (spears instead of Dane Axes) has allowed these guys to keep their shoes, so they are not as angry as the previous lot.

I cheated a bit on the shields this time by using Battle Flags excellent decals! Really nice, except for the fact that the metal shields aren't the same size as Gripping Beasts plastic ones. Had to cut the decals up a bit to make them fit. I decided to paint the curved shields by hand as the decals were quite thick and didn't go on very well on curved surfaces.

So this marks my first finished project for the challenge! Rare feeling as I normally just paint whatever takes my fancy so I tend to have a million projects going on at the same time with all of them in various states of progress. Next up Winter War Finns to try to complete the infantry portion of that project.

Wonderful work Samuli and congratulations on finishing off this project! These guys do seem less anxious than your last group so I think you're onto something with your shoe theory. It really is all about accessorizing.

This group of Norse Gaels will give Samuli 68 points. Great stuff! I look forward to seeing your next set of Winter War Finns.

From BrendonW: 28mm Dark Age Noble, Hound, Banner Bearer, Peasant & Cart (45 points)

More Dark Age goodness (?) from Brendon:

Here is another group I finished very recently.

28mm Dark Ages. Mounted Noble with a dismounted version is Crusader, Dog is Foundry, Flag Waver, Horn Blower and peasant and cart are Gripping Beast as is the big flag. Decal on the Shield is LBM. 

I didn't feel the need to keep the dismounted figure the same colours as the mounted version. I am really happy to get the baggage cart completed as that means in this challenge I have three larger bases of figures for the Saga escort mission. The big green flag will be a talking point in games for years to come I think.

Wonderful collection of figures Brendon. And, really, who can deny a faithful Irish Wolfhound? Your flag is brilliant! It reminds me of 'The Fighting Man' banner described in Julian Rathbone's excellent  novel 'The Last English King' (highly recommended to any interested in the battles of 1066).

This group will give Brendon 45 points. Very nice!