From Millsy: 10mm WSS Cavalry & 15mm WWII Soviet Artillery (335 points)

From Millsy:

This time I’m submitting two batches of figures…

Number one is the 10mm War of the Spanish Succession French cavalry I spoke about on my last submission. These are all Pendraken miniatures, painted up to represent the first and second cavalry lines of the Marquis du Bourg's Corps at Blenheim. All up there are 60 miniatures grouped into units of 12 and based in threes so they are riding nice and tight, boot to boot.

The first line consists of the regiments de Royal (4 squadrons), de La Ferronnaye (2 squadrons), de Levy (2 squadrons), de Prince Charles de Lorraine (2 squadrons) and de Choiseul (2 squadrons). The second line consists of the regiments d'Anlezy (2 squadrons), de Livry (2 squadrons), de Heudincourt (2 squadrons) and de Dauphin Etranger (2 squadrons). Every different unit has a flag even though most a just two squadrons. I figure they would all need rallying points and it looks great to what the hell.

I’ve varied the horse colours a fair bit, going with a total of seven different shades. At this scale a lot of painters go for a single shade, presumably for speed in churning them out. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that but when there is less detail I feel you want to highlight the differences in large areas of colour to bring extra interest. Maybe I’m mad, you tell me! ;-)

Number two is a pile of 15mm Russian artillery from Flames of War - 79 crew and command plus 12 guns to be precise. These are all Battlefront miniatures. I was looking for something quick to bump me over the 1,000 point mark and I’ve managed to churn them out in roughly 12 hours for the lot. That works out to roughly 1 gun base plus one command base an hour. There is a bit of detail work to do like adding a map but that can wait til after the comp. I seem to have ended up with extra command but that’s fine – far better than being short which is what often happens with these guys.

There is a battery of 4 x 76mm ZIS-3 guns along with 4 x 122mm obr 1938 howitzer howitzers. This forms the core of my “God of War”. I’ll need to add another battery of 76s I think so my enemies can experience the full majesty. In addition there is also a battery of 76mm obr 1927 guns for close infantry support. Together these will serve the Rodina valiantly to drive the Fascist invaders from our soil!

I’ve got one last submission tomorrow – my samurai – but I’m up to something a bit special there involving a number of mediums besides simple painting. I’ll leave you to ponder what that might mean…

Wow, great entry Millsy! The guns and crew are great but for me the cavalry really steals the show. I love that you massed them good and proper, stirrup-to-stirrup. Huzzah! They look fabulous.

This mass of French cavalry and Soviet artillery will give Millsy a very impressive 335 points. Brilliant!

From Greg: 28mm Colonial British Camel Corps & Medical Team (60 points)

From Greg:

As the end draws near, another Sudan submission.  Once again these are all Perry sculpts from their excellent Sudan range. 

You can't have the Camel Corps without camels, right? So I painted up a command group mounted on camels, inspired by Micheal A (although my brushwork does not come close to his skill level).  I don't think the British ever fought while mounted on the camels - when battle came the men dismounted - but these will be good command models for Black Powder games, or good figures for skirmishes, representing some officers out on patrol to scout a well or some such thing and coming to a surprise from the Madhists. 

The standing foot trooper is a watch trooper from the Camel Corps...he is supposed to be watching over some waiting camels...those models are still waiting for a paint job. 

The other component in this entry is the British medical team vignette.  Dallas generously brought me this as a gift/souvenir from his visit to Salute with Curt last year. I always feel like it is helpful karma to paint the figures people get you as gifts (particularly all the way from Salute!) and the Challenge was a great spur to finish these figures. 

These figures will be a nice addition to the Sudan table - giving some life to a camp scene, or some character to the interior of a brigade square.  Being wounded in any battle must be miserable, but in the Sudan it was particularly horrible - between the punishing heat and the need to be carried along with the column, every bump and cranny adding to the challenge and the pain, waiting and waiting for the chance to make it to a steamer or hospital ship. 

The Challenge is nearly done - I hope to have at least one more entry.  But it has been great to get all of this Sudan stuff done - my thanks to all of the other Challengers for the great inspiration!

Beautiful work Greg! The camel troopers are suitably whacky (and gorgeously painted) and I'm really impressed with your medical orderly set. Fabulous stuff.

This selection of miniatures will give Greg 60 points.

The Great War in Greyscale: Belgian HMG Team (15 points)

Some of the first figures I painted for this WWI project was a poignant set of castings depicting a Belgian HMG team drawing their weapon and ammunition using dog carts. I've had the deployed version of the team set aside for a few months now and so when the prospect of a game for the guys in Winnipeg came on the horizon I thought it'd be the perfect reason to finally get it done.

These are 28mm castings from Brigade Models. Very clean sculpts if a little anachronistic in the facial bone structure. I decided to have the team deployed behind the body of a horse, something I'm sure that occurred many times in those early weeks of the war, when cover was at a premium and cavalry was used quite extensively, with the horses tragically being run ragged or shot to pieces.

Taking into account the dead horse, gun and other little bits-and-bobs I'm going to give myself 15 points for this set.

From MichaelA: 28mm Vehicles Through the Ages & 'The Four Hops' (110 points)

From Michael:

What could be billed as 'vehicles through the ages' sees a 25mm Egyptian chariot, I believe from Hinchclife.  This was a pig to paint as it had been painted before and stripped leaving little detail to work with.  

The 2 resin 28mm Jolly Boats are from Games of War and have bags of lovely detail although there were far more air holes than I had originally noticed in their raw state.  

Finally a Mercedes truck originally picked up from ebay and converted to be used in a pulp setting.  Additional baggage, tarpaulin, spades and tow chain all added all that remained was to paint it up and then weather the whole ensemble.  What is less evident is that it has parked up on top of a dinosaur skeleton!  

The 4 figures are from Black Hat miniatures and represent Hopping vampires or if these are not permitted then they could always be sleepwalking Chinese priests!

This post just demonstrates how wonderful the Challenge has been in order to clear up unfinished or stalled projects, something I am eternally grateful for.

Excellent work Michael! I love the Merc truck especially. I dunno about any Hopping Vampires but I know those dudes are definitely channelling 'The Four Tops'. 

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for them to do some finger-snapping 'doo-whaaps' and a few slick synchronized moves... Maybe we can call them 'The Four Hops'!  

Y'know, it's just an idea.

These various vehicles and the Motown Vampires will give Michael 110 points and enough for him to meet his Challenge target. Congratulations and thanks so much for participating!

From MilesR: 28mm ACW Confederate Infantry (120 points)

From Miles:

Here's yet another 28mm confederate regiment (that's 6 in total I've completed for the Challenge).  Yup, another 24 Plastic Perry Confederates (only 3 more regiments to go!). 

You can see in the background a few other projects I'm working on - some more 28mm Japanese for Bolt Action and my personal favorites 1/1200 Langton Napoleonic Ships (3 brit and 2 Spanish 74's).  I may get a few of these projects done by the deadline (maybe).

Great work Miles! I'm really amazed. Six 24-figure infantry regiments completed in less than three months PLUS all the other stuff you managed to get completed. Wow. I'm really delighted to see this as this is exactly what the Challenge is all about. 

This regiment of Confederates will give Miles 120 points, allowing him to break his second points target goal. Congratulations!