From MikeW: 28mm El Cid Mounted Sergeants & Ronin #42 (110 points)

From Mike:

Well, I'm not going to catch Ray, but...

Herewith Ronin #42: this is one of a very very nice set of Westwind Samurai, of which this was the one I picked. I kind of regret it, because while it was the easiest to assemble, those arms are in a really awkward place and I hate doing faces at the best of times!

The nittygritty: Army Painter black undercoat: the base details - the red armour is several layers of progressively more sparingly drybrushed AP Dragon Red, and the chest armour is the same drybrushing but with layers of AP Weapon Bronze and then AP Greedy Gold and AP Strong Tone ink. Based on a UK 2p piece, Tamiya Dark Earth textured paint, some eBay foliage clusters. I have to say I'm not 100% happy with it, but as a piece it's way way outside my comfort zone, and it's not anything I'd attempt for myself!

And...

I wanted to explore just /how/ good Army Painter can be, even for someone as generally lousy as me, to get a unit to wargames standard. So...

4:30 pm today: start assembling the horses from a box of Fireforge mounted Sergeants (I already used three as command in my El Cid army, so there were 9 left)

5.05 pm: done. Spray undercoat in AP Matt Black, leave to dry. 

5.10 pm: assemble first four riders

5.30 pm: pause to consider cloaks, realise I've put the heads on too soon. Swear, remove heads before glue sets. Stop assembling riders. Remove rest of bits of riders *except* cloaks from sprue. Spray cloaks AP Dragon Red *on the sprue*.

5.40 pm: Dad's Taxi Service to take son to tennis

6.10 pm: return from tennis, assemble rest of riders sans heads

6.30 pm: blutac to painting stick, spray undercoat AP Daemonic Yellow - two coats about 2 mins apart.

6.40 pm: find spare kite shields without arms from left over Conquest Games Normans, satisfy myself I have nine between these and the non-heater shields in the Fireforge box. Spray backs AP Leather Brown, leave to dry while finding wife's pin box, spray fronts of shield AP Daemonic Yellow, again on the sprue. 

6.50 pm: Paint shield designs with AP Dragon Red

7.05 pm: try sticking pins in heads. Discover they won't go in. Heat pin on gas ring, NOW they do. Arrange line of heads on pins on painting stick. Feel like a very angry Sheriff of Nottingham making an example of some miscreants. Wish I'd photographed it.

7.15 pm: Discover I'm out of AP Plate Mail spray. Swear. Spray heads with AP Human Flesh instead (and the can ONLY just lasts).

7.20 pm: brief moment of panic as I can't find glasses to drive to fetch James. Find them upstairs by dressmaking box. Pass wife (on way back from work) on garden path on way out to be Dad's Taxi again.

7.50pm: Return with son. Supper.

8.20pm: Start painting horses. Three black, four bays of various shades (mixes of AP Oak Brown and GW Dark Flesh), one chestnut (GW Dark Flesh/AP Monster Brown mix, Vallejo Khaki mane and tail), one grey (AP Ash Grey using an AP stippling brush). A couple get white markings with AP Matt White and a touch of Vallejo Khaki on white-socked hooves)

8.50 pm: Start on horse blankets (AP Dragon Red), saddles/tack (Vallejo Red Leather - I pick this because I *never* use it as a horse colour, so my tack always stands out).

9.10 pm: brief pause to say goodnight to son.

9.30 pm: finish horse tack. Glue riders in saddles, start painting mail, axe head, swords, spearpoints on riders (AP Plate Mail). Re-glue the riders that don't stick first time.

9:55pm: start on spear halts, axe handle, standard (Vallejo US Field Drab)

10.15pm: Start assembling cloaks/heads.

10.30pm: Start basing: Tamiya Desert Sand textured paint and straight into a tub of Javis Desert Sand mix, knock excess off on sides of tub.

10.45pm: realise I forgot to do stirrup leathers and sword scabbards: Out with the Vallejo Red Leather again, being careful how I handle the bases!

10.55pm: Deep breath. Ink washes. AP Strong Tone first, on the mail, cloaks, standards and shields (just to back off the brightness of the yellow a bit). Then AP Soft Tone on the yellow surcoat.

11.15pm: mix 50/50 AP Matt White/AP Barbarian Flesh, try and retouch highlights on faces a bit.

11:20pm: AP Dark Tone ink wash on horses (except for the grey which gets AP Strong Tone.

11:27pm: poke head outside back door, realise it's close to zero outside. Decide varnishing is probably a bad idea :D

11:30pm: photograph, upload, start typing ... :D

Mike, that was a great advertisement for both AP and for what can get done in an evening. Great job! Also, thanks very much for Ronin #42, he will take his honoured place amongst the others in many blood-soaked skirmish battles to come.

Mike's Ronin and the mounted sergeants will give him 110 points. Well done and thank you very much for #42!

From MikeW: 28mm Parthian Cavarly (950 points)

From MikeW:

Here with submission number N+1 - what am I at now? Four? My entire Parthian army for this weekend's WABGT (http://www.wabgt.co.uk): a batch painting job to wargames standard that took me most of a weekend and a week of evenings once I'd got them assembled.

23 cataphracts, being a mix of Old Glory Parthians and Palmyrans, with some A&A Miniatures Palmyran command figures. (Old Glory UK didn't have enough of the Parthians, and they basically said 'will the Palmyrans do, they're very similar). Horses were undercoated in Army Painter Matt Black, and dry-brushed with Army Painter Plate Mail (or, for the unit leaders, Weapon Bronze). Riders, to provide a slight contrast, were undercoated in Plate Mail spray, faces, hands (AP Tanned Flesh), metal kontos (Vallejo US Field Drab), leather work (Vallejo Red Leather) etc painted, and then washed with AP Strong Tone ink and the faces retouched with AP Human Flesh (a lighter shade).

72 (yes, really) horse archers, being 6 complete boxes of Wargames Factory Persian cavalry. Horses were undercoated in AP Matt Black, then given assorted shades of brown (AP Oak, Monster, Fur Browns, Vallejo Flat Earth). I went with the 'mostly bay or black' approach for what's probably a set of fairly inbred mounts, though there are half a dozen pale enough to be duns or roans - see  here for what I mean. Saddle blankets in Vallejo Khaki, and one of AP Red, Ultramarine Blue or Angel Green detailing, and then harness in Vallejo Red Leather.

The riders were undercoated in batches of twelve in AP Daemonic Yellow, Desert Yellow, Bleached Bone, Uniform Green, Ultramarine Blue and Necrotic Flesh. After that, I snapped them on the mounts (they're a tight enough fit not to need glue, actually!), did faces/hands (AP Tanned Flesh), headgear (AP White, which covers *superbly* well), leggings (AP Leather Brown) and leatherwork (Vallejo Red Leather), and bows (Vallejo US Field Drab). Final stage was a wash of AP Soft Tone ink which dragged back and evened out the overall 'look' of the different colours.

Basing was Tamiya textured 'Desert Sand' and then dipped straight into Javis Desert Sand mix: left to dry, a few dabs of PVA and a sprinkle of AP Winter static grass. Varnished with AP Anti-Shine, and bob's your uncle. Done with most of an evening to spare! The pile of dead plastic sprues was *impressive*.

Pictures are taken from the WABGT (handily I was on a desert table for my last two games). Oh, and for the record? I came last :D

Woah! That is a heap of Parthians! Incredibly impressive work Mike and they look very, very good. Sorry that they did not come through for you during the tournament but that always seems the case with new recruits... 

This horde of horsesoldiers will give Mike a staggering 950 points! So in one entry he's achieved his 1K target and also rides into the top 10 - Well done! 

Nonetheless Mike, I do remember a niggling detail regarding a Ronin AND a Viking...

From MikeW: 15mm WWII American Infantry (100 points)

From Mike:

Remember I said that was it for the US 15mms? 

I, um, lied :D

Two more batches, in fact! The first (first three pictures) is four 4-man M1919 .30cal sections, three 2-man mortar teams, three snipers, two FOOs and a couple more 3 man command stands, for a total of 33. The second (last picture) is four M1917A1 5-man MMG teams, and another command bases, for a total of 23, and a grand total of 56. Same general details as before - Army Painter + Vallejo paints, Tamiya textured paint + Javis grass (and a couple of Army Painter tufts and a resin rock). 

That really /is/ it for the US. Next up, some Germans! (and an Amazon order for a small portable light tent and a better tripod, since it appears I'm going to be doing a lot of figure photography this year!)

Great work Mike. Tamiya textured paint? Hmm, I have not heard of this product - sounds interesting. How do you find working with it?

These Yanks will give Mike a very tidy 100 points. 

From MikeW: 15mm WWII American Infantry (80 points)

Mike delves for the first time into the world of 15mm and manages to fight his way through the project.

From Mike:

40 15mm Battlefront WW2 US Infantry in a mix of M1941 and M1943 uniforms (there's even one guy in M1941 with Herringbone Twill fatigue trousers), based for I Ain't Been Shot Mum. The 'Big Men' are on 1p and 2p coins, the rest on Flames of War bases. These are the last platoon of a company I've been working on for a while, as my first attempt at anything 15mm. I'm definitely starting to reach the conclusion that painting 15mm's to the standard some folks seem to be able to pull off is a younger man's game, though a 2x magnifier/daylight lamp and some decent brushes seem to help (and you do get a pleasant surprise when you look at them *without* the magnifier afterwards!)

Usual technical details - black Army Painter undercoat, Vallejo/Army Painter arcylics, a little help from a 0.2mm paintliner pen, and the bases are Tamiya diorama paint + Javis static grass and edged with Vallejo Flat Earth (and a white panel with platoon/section number inked on it at the back).

It's good that you preservered Mike, as they are very nice. I know it makes no material difference, but I like that these are going to be used for 'I Ain't Been Shot Mum' instead of the usual 'Flames of War'. 

These Yanks will give Mike 80 points to add to his tally. Well done!

From MikeW: 28mm Dark Age Saxons (30 points)

Mike sends us six Dark Age Saxons that will bolster his forces for an unfolding campaign. 

From Mike:

A small selection of Dark Ages Saxons... 4 Musketeer Saxon archers (the detail on these is so gorgeous even I can't fail to bring some of it out) and a Musketeer Duguth that I'd undercoated and found left over from my last painting stint while I was hunting out other figures. 

The other figure is (as far as I can tell) a late 80's Citadel female ranger - noticeably not as good a sculpt, but is perfect for the character of Lavinia in my Dux Britanniarum campaign (see:

http://troubleatthemill.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/to-britains-shores-chapter-4-new.html). 

It had been painted (badly) back in about 1990, but I gave it a fresh undercoat and a less garish repaint.

The nitty gritty details - Army Painter black undercoat, and a mix of Army Painter Warpaints and Vallejo, with my usual Tamiya textured diorama paint and Javis static grass basing.

Great stuff Mike! Its really nice to see the old Citadel stuff come out of the woodwork.

This half-dozen will give Mike 30 points for his climb up the roster.

From MikeW: 28mm Clergy and a Brigantes Army (!) (600 points)

God's Holey Trousers! Mike drops a bomb with this entry. You'll see, just read on.

From Mike:

'First up, a set of 9 clerical types from Conquest Games UK. Slightly different from my usual approach in that I used Citadel washes (brown on most things, black on greying hair) rather than Army Painter dip. It's quicker to dry, but slightly slower to apply. Basing is Army Painter desert flock.'

'The second batch was completed for the WAB GT competition at the end of February - it's 110 (count 'em if you like :D) Brigantes warband, a mix of Warlord plastics, Warlord metals, Wargames Factory plastics and Wargames Foundry metals.' 

'Back to the usual approach for these - a mix of various colour Army Painter base coats (fur brown, platemail, human flesh, white, uniform green, dark blue, red) to save time with the top coats, then block colours and dip - basing is Tamiya drark earth texture paint, Javis moorland scatter and static grass.'

'These were painted on Monday through Wednesday, dipped Thursday, based and varnished on the Friday and packed off to the tournament on the Saturday. If I'm honest, it shows... but.. a) they pass the two-foot test and more importantly, b) I managed to figure out a production line system for getting a set of different colours on the tunics and leggings, and c) this is the batch of figures during which I started to get my head round how to apply dip properly with two brushes.'

Awesome work Mike! Its amazing what you achieved within a work week - a full army - wow. Well, this whack of 119 figures will give Mike 595 points, but I'll make it an even 600 for the sheer effort behind it. Well done!

From MikeW: 28mm Early Saxon Gedrith Warband (100 points)

Mike sends in this fine unit of Early Saxon Gedrith warriors that he will be using for a WAB 'Age of Arthur' list.

From Mike:

Gripping Beast plastics (with one exception), with the usual approach - basic block colours, Army Painter dip (this time I used the two brush technique - brush dip on in batches of four, take a clean brush and remove anywhere it's pooled), Army Painter varnish, and Tamiya diorama paint plus Javis Spring Grass and Gale Force 9 Parched Straw on the bases. The standard bearer is a Wargames Factory plastic Saxon Thegn (the double-handed axe wielder) and the standard itself is hand-painted atop a computer printout and attached (with the wife's blessing) to a bristle cut off our garden broom :D 

These fierce lads will give Mike 100 points to add to his score. Well done! He tells me there is a substantial submission on the horizon, so stay tuned!

From MikeW: 28mm Prince Rupert, Boye & Numidian Cavalry (102)

Here we have from Mike Rupert of the Rhine and his K9 pal, the Royalist Demon Dog 'Boye'. 

These are 28mm castings from Warlord Games. I have this same set of miniatures in my To-Do figure reserve.  I remember looking closely at the Rupert casting when I got it and Mike expresses my thoughts exactly when he writes, 'I HATE painting faces hidden behind helmet bars.' Yes, indeed... Well, you did a very good job on him, Mike. I'll have to give mine a crack sometime soon.

Next is a group of nine 28mm Numidian cavalry. Mike got these castings from a friend, but believes they are Wargames Foundry models.

This fine group of figures gives Mike 102 points to add to his Challenge tally. Well done!

From MikeW: 28mm WWII German Infantry (55 points)

Mike has sent for his opening gambit to the Challenge a squad of eleven World War Two German infantry.

These are 28mm Warlord Games plastic models that Mike is going to use with their 'Operation Squad' set of rules. (I'm curious to know how these rules play. Hopefully sometime Mike can give us a synopsis of what he thinks of them.) 

'A squad of Wehrmacht, based for Operation: Squad (well, based for pretty much anything, actually, since Op: Squad isn't that fussy - most of them are Renedra round 25mm bases, one is a UK 2 pence piece, which is almost dead on the right size and cheaper!). Army Painter Uniform Grey spray primer, Tamiya Field Grey uniforms, Army Painter Strong Tone dip. Basing is my usual (Tamiya Dark Earth Diorama paint, Javis moorland scatter and spring static grass, some GF9 medium basing grit), and then an overall coat of Army Painter Anti-Shine (JUST before it rained!).'

These 11 models will give Mike 55 points to get on the board. Nice job and welcome aboard, Mike!