From GregB: 1/200 Scale Regult Tactical Battle Pod Mechas (24 points)

Greg opens his run up the points roster with this pair of Battle Pods from the Macross animated series.

From Greg:

This submission is a pair of Regult Tactical Battle Pods, the main mecha used by the Zentreadi aliens from the anime series Macross (recognized more commonly in North America as "Robotech").  These are 1/200 scale multi-part models sold under the "Nichimo" brand many years ago, now available these days in isolated Ebay lots.  Six or seven years ago, long before any Kickstarter panhandling, I started piling together enough of these kits to play games of Macross with the gaming group here in Winnipeg.  They are not great models - they have to be screwed together (WTF !?!) so you have to fill those holes with putty.  But they look the part!  These models are about 4 inches tall.

I've loved the Macross series - complete with its bonkers notions, whacky plot with rather large holes, and terrible, terrible "pop music" - since I first saw a few scattered episodes as a teenager. Back then "GI Joe" and "Transformers" were popular cartoons, and in those shows nobody ever got hurt.  Along came this show with very cool animation, amazing mecha, and a plot that routinely killed off major characters (and also half the earth's population, ultimately). It was quite a contrast!  While of course the premise of the show was (and still is) preposterous, the themes in it still resonate (and echo into the current time through shows like Battlestar Galactica, which shares many attributes with Macross, although fans of that show will hate reading that).  I will toss a few episodes of the show on when I'm painting from time to time.  And although Macross fans rightfully take many barbs for the awful pop music angle to the show's plotline, I don't take them too seriously.  Especially from people who in turn believe any comic, cartoon or show with a character like "Wolverine" is somehow good for anything.... :)

The alien mecha from Macross are beautiful. With the reverse articulation in the legs, artful curves, the Regult pods fit the bill perfectly for alien bad guy soldier mecha.  They are armed to the teeth, elegant, maneuverable, funny-but-cool-looking, and easily blown away by the dozen by the heroes of the TV series!  In the series, these pods were about 70 or 80 feet tall, piloted by 50-foot-tall expendable soldier-clone Zentreadi soldiers. The aliens would attack with an approach that made the Red Army appear spartan in comparison, and clouds of these pods would lead the assault, getting mowed down by the ace human pilots in their own super-cool variable fighter mecha.

It was a lot of fun to collect these models from Ebay and paint them. I haven't painted one in years, and these two had been sitting forever, primed black. I figured I would clear them off the pending desk (I literally had to dust them off) as a way to recognize the expansion of the Analogue Challenge into the sci-fi realm!

Wonderful work Greg! These things always kinda make me scratch my head... but Greg's a great friend, so I nod and smile indulgently as he enthusiastically describes the impenetrable storylines and various bits of whacky technology laid out in the series. God bless him. ;)

These two Battle Pods will give Greg 24 points. Great to have you on the board, Mr.B. Now you need to get some Victorian stuff in the hopper to face-off against Michael and Phil!

From GillesW: Challenge Desperado (25 points)

Gilles starts his run up the roster by submitting his desperado for my posse. 

Here I am!

This figure was bought at a bring-and-buy with some other cowboys of different brands. I just cut off the cross he originally had, then I took a shotgun from a Bolt action plastic sprue along with a Colt 45, I cut off half of the Colt and glued it in the belt of the figure.

I undercoated the figure in black, painted it with Foundry paints and some hours later: TADA!!!!!!!

I hope Curt will enjoy it when it arrives at his home under the snow.

Wow! Gilles, this is a wonderfully characterful hombre in a classic Peckinpah pose and setting. You can almost see him moving in Peckinpah's signature slow-motion camera style: pistol in one hand, slide-loading his shotgun in the other, and all the while under a fusilade of gunfire. Great stuff.

As this is Gilles' levy figure it is worth a base of 20 points, but I'm going to add another five for his excellent conversion and basework. Thank you very much Gilles and welcome to the show!

From ScottS: 10mm Republican Roman Command Stand (4 points)

Scott sends in this wonderful 10mm command stand to add to his Republican Roman collection.

From Scott:

This is a command stand for my Republican Rome project. Figures are 10mm by Pendraken, from the cavalry pack and quite nice they are too.

I want to avoid the whole sea-of-red look for my Romans, so used green as the main colour and will probably keep it as the main colour for the legionnaires.

This stand has been kicking around my painting desk since the end of the last challenge, so I thought it was about time to get some paint of them!

Great work Scott. I've always admired Pendraken's models and you've done a very fine job with them here. I like your idea of going with a green colour base as opposed to the usual red theme, and the pigments you've chosen are nice and vibrant which I think benefits these smaller scales.

This command stand will give Scott 4 points. Welcome to the scoreboard Scott!

From ByronM: Great War Germans in Early-Period Uniform (55 points)

Byron submits this wonderfully painted section of early Great War Germans for use in 'Through the Mud and the Blood'.

From Byron:

Here is a WW1 German section with HMG in 28mm scale. I believe all the figures are from Greatwarminiatures.com. They are all based on bases matching Curt's standard, which I believe was borrowed from Sydney Roundwoods blog and is meant for simplifying finding the right figures in the awesome rule set "Through the mud and the blood".

The "Big Man" is on a 30mm hex base so that he can be found easily. The riflemen are on 25mm rounds. The HMG with it's three crew are on a large 60mm round with a bit of protection built into the base in the form of a few sandbags.

While not done as show quality, I aimed for good tabletop quality as I have over 100 WW1 German and Canadian models that I want to paint over the course of this challenge. I hope I got at least an acceptable tabletop quality going.

Oh, and included is their own card for the TTMATB action deck I am making to go with them.

Show quality, schmow quality; this is fabulous work Byron! The Great War range of models are excellent sculpts and you've really done them justice here. I look forward to seeing this project find its way to my gaming table this spring (hint, hint).

This squad of pickelhaubed fellows will give Byron 55 points.

From DaveD: 'Prospector Pete' and 'Jess' (10 points)

Dave begins his opening gambit with this fine duo from his wonderfully realized Wild West town of 'Serenity'.

From Dave:

So its an early single entry just to kick my personal scoreboard into life, and see if the rest of the 600 point mob are on their toes... I give you "Prospector Pete" and the faithful mule Jess. A Dixon miniatures set, and very nice they are too.  My diversion into the  Old West  has been growing steadily and my prime aim for the start of the challenge is to add some extra depth to my collection with some more civilians to my town of "Serenity". We will also be off down south of the Rio Grande , and out onto the plains before long. 

I hosted some of the gang at our first ever "Blog Con" a little while ago, fighting it out on the mean streets of Serenity - well apart from Ray not hitting a barn door - Sidney not being able to get through one, and Fran nearly falling over in fright at an opening "double 1",  James needing all the ammo he could, and don't let Loki anywhere near the steak house. - It was great fun , I am looking forward to the re-run. May be we will have a few other challengers involved.

These two are just great Dave. I particularly like trusty 'Jess' with his (her?) load of prospecting gear. 

Jess and Pete will give Dave 10 points. Good to have you up and on the board Mr. Docherty!