From LordH: 28mm British Officer (10 points)

Lord Hill enters the fray with this fine Napoleonic figure depicting Major MacLean of the 73rd Foot. 

From LordH:

I've come to realize that my Henry Ford approach to painting might be a quick way to paint 400 figures but it won't add much to this great competition until March! I'll therefore be trying to submit some completed figures just to get on the board.

Here is Major John Maclean, killed whilst commanding the 73rd Foot at Waterloo. Terrible pic - but it's like the end of the world outside and thus no light even at miday. A measly 10 points I think! Really enjoying seeing all the great entries -  Well done!

Excellent work LordH! What make is the figure? Nonetheless, Mr. MacLean will be a great addition to your mammoth project. 10 points it's true, but you now have a place on the scoreboard - welcome to the Challenge and Happy Christmas!

From BenG: 20mm Napoleonic Italian Light Cavalry (68 points)

Ben comes back with some more Napoleonics this time its Italian light cavalry.

From Ben:

Here are the pictures of my latest unit, the 3° Cacciatore a Cavallo, or 3rd Italian Chasseurs a Cheval. 

The figures are a mix of 3 different sets; the horses are from the Italeri French hussars set, the riders from the Italeri French light cavalry set and the heads form the HaT infantry set.  

The horses that came with the figures have the wrong shabraques and just look plain odd to boot, while the hussar horses are just lovely sculpts and very animated, but also most importantly have the right saddle furniture.

The original figures' heads suffered from a lack of chins, so rather than have a whole regiment of in-bred looking twits, I've given them a more manly looking head transplant.

Ben, you've done a wonderful job on these fellows. I quite like that trumpeter - very spiffing uniform. The head-swaps look seamless as well - and they now all have manly, swarthy, latinate chins!  Bravo!

This fine unit of Italian chasseurs will give Ben a base of 64 points but I'm topping it up to 68 in light of his mandibular modifications.

From DaveD: 28mm Mexicans (90)

The good ladies of "Neuva Tranquilidad" were shown as part of the the first challenge theme and here we have the men from the town. Armed with a variety of weapons to defend thier homes from any aggressive Gringo's. 

28mm Wargames Foundry once more - funny what happens when you a get a more sensible pricing regime - they got more tempting. A fairly simple colour scheme which I have broken up with some variety on the poncho's. 18 figures in this group as one was completed pre-challenge as a test piece. This means I can start the remaining adobe buildings to complete the set after the challenge ends in preparation for a "Magnificent Several" game.

I set myself a hefty pre Xmas target as January is going to very lean (probably just bonus round entries) as I have to knuckle down and do some serious amount of  exam revision, so pleased to have got a decent amount done and under the belt. Time for a move further out west next I think.

Merry Xmas to one and all the wonderful band of challengers!

Wow, superb work Dave! I like your use of bright colour on an otherwise fairly restrained palette. I quite look forward to seeing the town of Neuva Tranquilidad develop over the coming months.

This group of Tranquilidadians will give Dave 90 points. Great stuff Dave and a Merry Christmas to you and yours!

From AndrewS: 28mm Games Workshop Troll (23 points)

Andrew breaks from his historicals and delights us with this wonderfully vile troll.

From Andrew:

Today is my final entry before I break off for the festivities, This was another of my EBay shinyitis moments, I don't know why I bought him but you can bet he was cheap!! 

I don't often delve into the world of fantasy painting and monsters but have been known to do the odd bit. This was a complete joy to paint lots of fun and plenty of crisp clear detail. Allegedly this Troll is a 28 mm miniature, yeah right!! the blighter is a full 50 mm from foot to eye, His foot is nearly as big as the 28 mm dwarf he is stood on. Yes I had a spare dwarf and decided to fit that into the diorama as well. There just has to be a story about this somewhere!! 

Again I have gone heavily into the base work for this and created a swampy marsh area to compose them in. If this qualifies as a beast then please accept this as my first entry into that category.

That is a very cool troll Andrew! I have to laugh as he looks like he's just about to have a terrific sneeze! Perhaps he's allergic to dwarfs. I really like his skin tone and you've done a very nice job on the groundwork as well.

This fine fellow and his poor dwarf victim will give Andrew 23 points. Great work and Happy Christmas Andrew!

From AlanD: 28mm Miss Lily and her Girls (15 points)

Alan continues to build upon his Western town of 'Hurricane' with these three lovely ladies.

From Alan:

The population of Hurricane is steadily growing. Inevitably, the girls from Miss Lily's Oasis demanded my attention first, so here they are. Miss Lily is the redhead packing heat; I'm open to suggestions of what to call the other two.

Miss Lily is from the set of armed civilians put out by Great Escape Games, the other two are from Wargames Foundry. Giving them a sandy base didn't seem right, so I fashioned some bases from 4-Ground boardwalks which I think look more the part.

Excellent work Alan! Miss Lily looks to be quite the firecrackers and I really like how you've done their bases to fit with the towns planking/floors.

Hmm, the brunette lass looks to be a Phoebe Parker to me...

These three spirited girls of 'Hurricane' will give Alan 15 points. Well done!