From JohnM: 28mm AWI British Infantry (55 points)

From John:

British Infantry for French Indian War

These 11 figures bring up my British colonial force for Muskets and Tomahawks to over 400 points. Like my previous FIW miniatures these are from Conquest Miniatures, also sold by Warlord Games. Again very nice figures, well proportioned and almost anatomic in nature. A bit more flash than usual and only 3 different sculpts, unlike the other figures they sell, which are all different. Rank and file, I suppose.

They were primed white and painted completely with Citadel paints and washes. I am quite happy how they came out.

Well we are to the end of the contest and I think I am going to be just shy of my 1500 point goal. I thought I might have a chance as I have one more submission that is almost done and I was cunningly planning another to just push me over the top, but I just figured out that the contest ends tomorrow night, not Thursday night. Very tricky..........when I saw the deadline date I presumed the contest was over the end of the day on the 20th March, I just realized that it finishes 1 minute into the 20th if I have it right. Should never presume anything, but anyway I was getting tired and if I can get this last submission off I will be happy!

Yes, I think I may have sucker-punched a few people with the deadline... Sorry for that John!

Oh, these are very tasty. I quite like the bright yellow facings and turnbacks - quite natty me thinks! 

These  lads will give John 55 points. Nice!

From AndrewS: 28mm F&IW Coureur des Bois & Huron Indian Allies (100 points)

From Andrew:

This submission is 14 Coureur Des Bois and 6 Huron Indians all from the AW miniatures range. 

The Coureur Des Bois are a very nice set of figures from this range with a good variety of equipment on the men, the only downside is there are only three poses available. 

However with some different coloured clothing and ensuring that they are well mixed, I have managed to make the whole force look as I hoped.

Last up the Hurons are nice sculpts and there are a wide variety of poses available, only one figure in my opinion has issues due to its separate arms that can only be put in one position, and a lot of work has then to be done with green stuff to make them fit properly. 

Although warpaint comes in handy to disguise any issues. I have liberally applied a red and black colour scheme to the warpaint. I really enjoy painting these Indians as my research has shown that they used a wide range of colours so it does allow me some freedom as a painter to go with the flow.

Beautiful work Andrew. I like that you made each and every figure distinct, either by varying pose or through use of colour. While the French frontiersmen are great I have to say that your Hurons, resplendent in their fierce warpaint, are my favourites in this submission. Wonderful figures.

These warriors of the forest will give Andrew 100 points. Well done!

From RayR: 28mm F&IW French Infantry - Royal Rousillon Regiment (45 points)

From Ray:

My 8th entry into Curt's Challenge are the 12 figures I volunteered to paint up for Bloggers For Charity.

They're from AW Minis. They represent the French Line regt Royal Rousillon. Lots of the other painters had trouble with the figures, there was a lot of flash on them, but apart from that I thought they were fine?

These are nice figures for a good cause Ray. Well done. 

These French infantry of Rousillon will give M. Rousell 45 well-earned 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 PhilH: 28mm Coureur de Bois and Explosions (30 points)

From Phil:

This week, I also took a step back from Victoriana to submit my contribution to the Bloggers for Charity project started by James and Andrew. I hope that they will be put to good use. 

These were a bit of a slog for me as I'm unaccustomed to painting irregulars in an efficient way, but I'm glad to have them finished in time to be based with everyone else's fine contributions. The fine sculpts by AW Miniatures took the paint well and have well-defined detail, though I feel they are in the classic style, with larger hands and weapons akin to some Artizan sculpts I've painted.  

I also offer a recent side-project - explosions and subsequent craters that I've been working on. The explosions are made using the classic wire frame and clump foliage stuck on with a hot glue gun (note - this uses a lot of glue!). Sprayed black, then lightly with white. I inadvertently started using a nearly empty can of white that was spitting blobs of paint, then dusted them with a new can to neaten them a little. I do like the end result as the larger blobs go e the effect of debris. The craters are resin offerings from Warlord Games. 

The nonchalant German was painted last year and is only included for scale. These five markers will be endlessly useful, to note shock in Black Powder (the smaller ones preferably) and pinned units in Chain of Command, or just to add flavour to in game photos. 

Very nice work all around Phil. The Coureur d Bois are great - suitably varied and rustic. I'm sure whomever gets these will be delighted with them. 

The explosion markers are brilliant. I have something similar but I think I will redo mine with your hot glue idea as it sounds more resilient to tabletop accidents. Unfortunately these are not eligible for scoring as I consider them to be terrain... (I know: Boo!! Hiss!!)

These hearty 'Runners of the Woods' will give Phil 30 points. 

From AndrewS: 28mm French & Indian War French Infantry (60 points)

From Andrew: 

Well having shot through my target in three weeks I have decided to take it a little easier this week.

The first of this weeks submissions are 12 French Infantry from the AW Miniatures range these are part of a fairly substantial commission I have agreed to complete.

I know there are 13 figures in the picture however the officer was completed before the challenge started but he needed basing with his men.

These are substantial 28mm figures in fact they are more the 32mm heroic scale and a couple of the figures needed some plugging with green stuff, looks like a mould defect as a hole runs right through the body and out the bottom of the figure. 

They represent the La Sarre Regiment, wearing the grey 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.

Wonderful work Andrew. Those fellows do look well fed but have a nice heft to them, reminding me of the Napoleonic figures from Elite Miniatures.. 

These dozen French from the Sare will give Andrew 60 points. Great job!

From Aaron Hunt: 28mm Rogers' Rangers (32 points)

Aaron shows us his Bloggers for Charity figures, a fine set of Rogers' Rangers.

From Aaron:

These eight models are rangers for my Bloggers for Charity contribution.  They were generously donated by the manufacturer, AW Miniatures, and shipped to me by Loki.  I had started these before the Challenge, but only got as far as painting their faces.  Since I wasn’t all that happy with the primer on a couple of them anyway (it was splotchy/chunky) I stripped the lot and started over. 

I found these to be really hard to paint.  I had to do a lot of research to figure out the uniforms, or whether they were even going to have a uniform appearance.  In the end I decided to paint them up as Roger’s Rangers, since that is the most famous American ranger unit.  My sources seemed to have them in green jackets, but I mixed things up a little bit in other places.  

By and large the castings are very nice but the muskets have some of the oddest flash on them that I’ve ever seen.  Two of these model’s muskets are the worst castings I’ve dealt with in a long time.  I did my best to cover the imperfections with paint but I’m not completely happy with my ability to cover the casting errors.

Now that they are done I’m very happy with them.  Painting these was a bit like free association.  I was just unable to develop a plan so I started slapping paint on until I realized they were done.  Future units will be easier, if I ever get into FIW. 

These are unbased as Loki will be taking care of the basing to ensure a uniform appearance, on that front at any rate.  Loki, if there is anything you want me to change on these, you have a few days until I’ll be able to get them mailed across the pond to you.

Great work Aaron. I think you've done a wonderful job on these fellows especially since it's your first foray into the period (quite like that green you've done).

These eight Rangers will give Aaron 32 points. Nice job!

From TamsinP: 28mm Coureur de Bois (32 points)

From Tamsin:

This submission consists of eight 28mm FIW coureurs de bois from AW Miniatures. These represent my painting contribution for the most excellent Bloggers for Charity project organized by James B and AndrewS.

These were painted over black primer drybrushed with white to provide some pre-highlighting. As the figures were all the same pose, I decided to use a wide range of colours to make every figure different. It also made for some confusion on my part when I went to do the final highlighting. It might have been better if I'd done them before I gave the figures a wash of brown ink - a lesson learned for next time!

I still haven't mastered the art of painting eyes, so I've just done the iris colour and ignored the whites. I have remembered one lesson I learned after painting my Norman Dux a couple of months ago - seal with Klear on its own rather than mixed with ink as the ink mix is very good at hiding all the effort put into the highlighting.

These have been left unbased as Andrew will be doing all the figure basing for the project.

Lovely work Tamsin and all for a good cause. I especially like that you've reflected the bead-work ornamentation that was a common feature of these intrepid fellows' clothes. Well done.

These eight Coureur de Bois will give Tamsin a well-earned 32 points. Nice job!

From MilesR: 28mm French & Indian War Infantry and ACW Union Dismounted Cavalry (125 points)

From Miles:

First up are 13 French and Indian War figures from AW miniatures.  They're a bit bigger than 28's and appear to be 32mm high - let's call them "heroic scale".  These figures are painted up as the 60th Royal American regiment and are my contribution to the Bloggers for Charity effort.  The figures are well cast but I found painting 18th century uniforms a bit of a challenge.  I think i'll go back and touch up these figures but they're good for now.  

The second set of pictures are of some 28mm Perry Union dismounted cavalry figures - I've completed 12 so far so have enough for a fully dismounted regiment.  As with all Perry figures, these are wonderfully done and were very easy to paint up.  

It has been nice to paint up some Union figures before going back for a few more Confederate infantry regiments - I will finish up Hood's Brigade as part of the "Challenge".

Very nice work Miles. I really like those F&IW infantry, though a closer-in photo would've been nice to get a better look at the detail of the figures. Nonetheless I know they will be a great contribution to the good folks over at Bloggers for Charity. Well done.

These two units will give Miles 125 points. Great job sir!

From AndrewS: French & Indian Wars Armed Civilians (70 points)

Andrew comes to us again, this time with a passel of French & Indian Wars figures.

From Andrew:

These 14 redoubt figures from their French Indian War range are all 28 mm figures, range that I have bought via ebay and various other sources. 

I split these away from the un armed ones so as to be able to make this my 2nd entry proper this year. They have all been worked up from a black undercoat with a mix of foundry and vallejo paints. Then finished with a gloss varnish followed by army painter anti shine.

Wonderful work Andrew. I have quite a few Redoubt models for my ECW collection and I forgot how nice they can be when painted well. Lovely stuff.

This fine collection will give Andrew 70 points. 

From RayR: 15mm English Pikemen, Demi-Lancers, FIW Canoes and Rafts & Danish Cavalry (648 points)

...and Ray drops his last sandbag:

In this entry we have 2 units of 16 figures of Henry VIII's English pikemen for the Battle of Pinkie.

Also included are two units of English Demi-Lancers. They're all Essex figures and the flags are all made by me. They were painted up at the same time as the Scots pike but I wanted to keep them separate.

Then we have my one and only post of French Indian Wars figures. A few canoes and rafts. Infact there are 32 canoes and 6 rafts, but 2 rafts and 2 canoes cannot be entered. 

I painted them before the challenge but had to base them up, so I included them in the pics. The figures are mainly from Irregular minis with a few from Matchlock, which are now unavailable. 

As you can see in the pics I based the figures in the canoes on bases (actually coffee stirrers), so you can take the figures out when they've landed on the beach. 

For my last entry, I've just managed to finish my first of 3 units of Danish horse for the battle of the Boyne. This regt is Donop's Horse, all figures are my usual fix of Essex minis and the flags were made by me! 

Thanks again Curt for hosting the challenge, me and Fran are knackered and need a rest from the brush.

Very impressive Ray! Those canoes are fabulous little models (I particularly like the crews). 

This huge lot of 15mm goodness will provide Ray with an astounding 648 points. His new total will pip him into 3rd place in the points standings. Well done Mr Rousell and thank you for keeping us all on the wire these past few weeks!