From KentG: Challenge Desperados (30 points)

Kent send in his Curtgeld with this wonderful vignette of a shoot-out.

From Kent:

Today is just a wee one. These two are my price-of-entry into the Challenge - I hope you like them. 

They are Dixon miniatures, full of character and who makes some of my favourite cowboys.

Wonderful stuff Kent! I really like the pistoleer peeking over to take his shot and the poor blighter who's copped it next to his trusty horse. 

This rootin' tootin' High Noon vignette will give Kent 30 points. Well done and thank you very much!

From AndrewS: 20mm Ancient Briton Cavalry (104 points)

Andrew switches from giant spiders back to ancient Britons with this fine entry. 

From Andrew:

Another entry staying with the Ancient Britons once again. This time I present two units of Cavalry which concludes the painting of my first cavalry division for the Army.

Both units contain a mix of Newline 20mm figures and Hat 1/72nd figures. In total 12 cavalry

The first unit is the Medium cavalry, I tried to unify them with the shields to a degree, the hat horses are a bad fit for the riders so all have been drilled and pinned to take wear and tear, though they do come with some gruesome trophies of war attached to the harnesses which add a bit of flavour to them.

The second unit is the light cavalry element again a mix of figures from both ranges, plaid and free hand shield patterns to finish them off.

Lovely work Andrew. I like how relatively bright these are with the shields and plaids really being shown to their best advantage. 

These two cavalry units will give Andrew 104 points which includes a few more for the time and effort for the shields and cloaks. 

From PaulS: Zombie Fatties, Abominations & Commando Force (160 points)

Okay, emerging from the crashing and smashing of the 'Vehicle(s)' bonus round we have another real treat with Paul's excellent greyscale zombies PLUS an impressive Commando force to counter this undead threat. 

From Paul:

I finally finished off the last couple of normal Fatties and the second Abomination for Season 2 of Zombicide. I've also managed to get a sample Rage fattie and Toxic Fattie complete to show the difference in the colour splashes. Hopefully the green will show up in a large horde. At the moment it's looking a little too subtle... but that's what experiments are for.

Just before I came across the challenge, I'd bought some Bolt Action figures to use in some WW2 games, mostly Cthulhu based ones like Strange Aeons or for my players in the Achtung! Cthulhu rpg. I'd originally only intended to put together enough for the players and a few NPCs, but with the challenge came the idea of actually turning them into working Bolt Action forces. So, I would like to present my first, complete, British Commando force, totalling about 500 points worth of troops (24 models). A very small, elite force. Hopefully this will be a fun little setup to learn with and is certainly a good starting point to grow from. Apart from the officer, the entire force was constructed from one box of Warlord's plastic Commandos. If I hadn't given one figure to a friend, I could have made everything from the one set, which seems like excellent value when you compare it to some other manufacturers who I will not name.

The force consists of a 2nd Lieutenant, plus his supporting rifleman. The Lt model came from a set of pulp characters one of the Lead Adventure forum members had sculpted. He was supposed to be Rorschach from Watchmen, so I replaced the masked head with a spare from the Commando sprue so that he fitted in more.

British forces in Bolt Action get a free observer to drop an artillery barrage on the enemy.

A Medic is always useful for keeping your elite squads going.

A PIAT team seemed to make sense in case I come across any armoured vehicles.

And a Sniper team to take out officers or weapon teams.

Along with the obligatory two sets of commandos to fill out the infantry slots. These guys are armed with 4 smgs and 1 lmg each, so should put out a fair amount of firepower

This week Also saw the Achtung! Cthulhu kickstarter models arrive in the post, so the two characters from the British army were painted up in the same style and colours as the rest of the commando force, seen here accompanying the commander; Captain Harris on the left and Corporal Singh on the right. Both are really nice sculpts, even if Harris is tiny compared to any of the plastics that surround him. The smg on his back was from the Commando plastics as the metal one in the kickstarter kit was far too thin and bent to be of any real use. These two will be of more use in the rpg scenarios or Strange Aeons, but could make for some interesting officers in Bolt Action if they ever get around to the rumoured Weird War 2 supplement.

Just for fun, here's a shot of some Commandos cornered in a graveyard by the zombie horde.

Awesome work Paul! Your greyscale zombies are first rate and I think the green will stand out on the tabletop but field-testing will confirm. The Commandos are very nice as well I love the medic with the comb-over hair and the Sikh with his Kirpan. Very cool.

These arcane commandos and the zombie additions will give Paul 160 points. This entry will see him surmount his initial points target with almost two months to spare. Great work!

Announcing the Third Fortnight Theme Bonus Round: Vehicle(s) & Curt's 'Sledging for Marbot'

So to end the weekend we find ourselves careening headlong into the much anticipated 'Vehicle' bonus round. In viewing all the entries I was struck again by the wonderful creativity of the participants. (How Andrew managed to successfully rationalize a giant spider for this round still baffles me...). Anyway, enough of my blather, the link to the gallery is here. I hope you enjoy your visit and I urge you to leave a comment if an entry (or let's face it: entries) tickles your fancy. Also, please remember to to take the time to vote for all your favourites - yes, you can vote for as many as you like!

For my own part I had the best intentions to submit a fairly ambitious (and dorky) sci-fi entry but was thwarted waiting for bits to arrive from Europe so I was forced to tack back to my (somewhat less dorky) Retreat of 1812 project.

These snow sledges are an interesting set of models. The history behind these vehicles is that amidst the gruelling French retreat from Russia, when men and horses were perishing by the thousand each day, Colonel Marbot of the 23rd Chasseurs a Cheval came upon the idea of utilizing the many snow sledges common amongst the local peasantry. So Marbot had his entire regiment requisition around 100 sledges (yes, the peasants got the stick again), assigning two men for each sledge, with the passenger acting as a 19th century version of a tail gunner. As muskets were easily found, discarded along the retreat route, Marbot had each sled armed with several ready-loaded muskets so they could 'give a brisk and lively fire' when they were harassed by Cossacks.

And speaking of Cossacks, I've included a troika of the hairy, vodka-swilling fellows that I've recently completed. These are a mixture of Don and Ataman Cossacks, each armed with pistol, sword and lance. Again, all castings are from Perry Miniatures.

The sledge models were a bit of a puzzle to figure out, but once I referred to a few pictures on the web I managed to bodge them together.  Pretty neat all-in-all, and I can imagine quite a few interesting scenarios with them scampering through Russian forests with hordes of Cossacks madly in pursuit.

From AndyM: 15mm ACW Union Cavalry (113 points)

Andy gets some traction in the points roster by tucking these Union cavalry under his belt.

From Andy:

Many moons ago, late 90's I think, I went to the Edinburgh Wargames Show (Claymore) and on the bring and buy spotted a large 15mm ACW Union army. These were all 2nd Gen Minifigs and based for Fire and Fury. The paint job was simple but neat.  I then managed to acquire a 15mm Confederate army from my mate Billy in Birmingham. I re-based  them and had great plans for ACW gaming! The Union army was lacking cavalry and somehow I never got round to painting any of the numerous unpainted packs that came with it and eventually the project fell to the wayside so I sold the lot back to Billy! Fast forward 13 years or so and the arrival of Sam Mustafa's Longstreet rules and the desire to give ACW a go again! I bought the lot back off Billy and sorted the unpainted stuff out and there was enough to do a basic 8 stand cavalry unit.

I couldn't match the blue used on the originals (and thought it too dark anyway) so upon some research amongst friends tried Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue and Prussian Blue on a sample next to an original:

Happy enough with this I went ahead with the the main lot. I had decided to keep them simple and over black undercoat just painted round straps etc. (Thanks to Loki for the Vallejo Black Surface Primer recommendation). I eventually decided they looked too plain so added a Ogryn Flesh Wash and assorted washes on the horses. And the cross swords on the kepi to give a little contrast:

I knew I needed dismounted versions. Although there were about a dozen already done I decided the difference in colour was too much so repainted the lot!

And obviously I needed a symbolic horse holder stand as well. And took the chance to do one for the Confederate cavalry as well:

And here they are in two ranks.

Flags are by GMB (which were fiddlier than I thought in 15mm!). All figures are Minifigs 2nd Gen although there are a couple of 3rd Gen horses in there (e.g. dismounts and command) and I think the horse holders may be Lancashire Games?

I've also finished rebasing all the Confederates so in theory could go for a game. However I think I might want to re-base all the Union to match first... :)

Now, where are all those 28mm figures I need to do!

Wow, this project has gone through enough hands so lets hope with these great new additions they will take root and see a game! Great work Andy. ACW cavalry is always such a big job as they served both mounted and dismounted roles so you HAVE TO do both. I quite like the blues you've used and will have to try this out in the future in my own collection.

These damn horse yankees will give Andy 113 points. Well done!