From ScottB: 28mm Castellans of Dol Guldur from 'The Hobbit' (20 points)

From Scott:

With recent events hotting up in the Hobbit movie and Dol Guldur setting really getting developed, I've been playing some LOTR SBG games at home with my son. We've enjoyed some scenarios from the Fall of the Necromancer.. 

For the next scenario in sequence I needed 4 Castellans of Dol Guldur...

I've had these figures for some time (like most of my LOTR collection now), and have wanted to paint them up for ages, but never got round to it.

I am not sure how good they are in the game, but they fit the setting superbly, and I think they are wonderfully evil and menacing looking figures without going OTT in a Warhammer kind of way...

28mm scale figures for the GW LOTR SBG game. Simple black robes, much like the Ringwraiths, with old looking dark armour. But as a final touch I gave them a wash with GWs Green wash, to try give them a slightly ghostly/spectral quality. I didn't want to over do it, so it's quite subtle.

The bases I deliberately left looking rather sparse - didn't think they'd look right standing besides flower clumps!

I also got a pack resin skulls from Slave to Painting and was going to add some to the bases...but on closer look at the skulls, I think they are just a little too big to scale well with the LOTR range of figures - perhaps more akin to the oversize Warhammer stuff, so in the end left them off.

Hope you like them, and I can't wait to try them out in the game.

Lovely work Scott! I really like the effect the green wash gave to these figures - something that could be used on the Nazgul as well I would imagine.

These four Castellans of Dol Guldur will give Scott 20 points. Very nice and I hope you and your son have a great game with them.

From SamuliS: 28mm Dark Age Norse Gaels (68 points)

From Samuli:

Back to the Dark ages after rolling through the muddy roads of Belgium and Netherlands. I present to you the last half of Gripping Beasts Norse-Gael starter set. Cheaper equipment (spears instead of Dane Axes) has allowed these guys to keep their shoes, so they are not as angry as the previous lot.

I cheated a bit on the shields this time by using Battle Flags excellent decals! Really nice, except for the fact that the metal shields aren't the same size as Gripping Beasts plastic ones. Had to cut the decals up a bit to make them fit. I decided to paint the curved shields by hand as the decals were quite thick and didn't go on very well on curved surfaces.

So this marks my first finished project for the challenge! Rare feeling as I normally just paint whatever takes my fancy so I tend to have a million projects going on at the same time with all of them in various states of progress. Next up Winter War Finns to try to complete the infantry portion of that project.

Wonderful work Samuli and congratulations on finishing off this project! These guys do seem less anxious than your last group so I think you're onto something with your shoe theory. It really is all about accessorizing.

This group of Norse Gaels will give Samuli 68 points. Great stuff! I look forward to seeing your next set of Winter War Finns.

From EdwinK: 54mm Zulu War Colonial British Infantry (180 points)

Edwin's lucky nephew is about to receive these fine reinforcements to his growing collection.

From Edwin:

Here are some more 54mm toy soldiers for my nephew's collection.  Ideal for counterpane wars ;)

The are Armies in Plastic Set 5573 'Zulu War 1879, 24th Foot' (though to be honest the only difference between the various regiments they sell is the box art and the colour of the plastic they are molded in - these are a lurid red).  

It's a nice set though - 18 figures in six different poses.

Awesome! Your nephew will be delighted with these I'm sure. I especially like the floral quilt terrain that they are deployed on. If I squint my eyes a bit I see a detachment of Victoria's finest deploying onto the surface of Mars to claim it for the Empire.

These 54mm soldiers will give Edwin 180 points - only 3 away from his Challenge target. Well done!

From ClintB: 15mm Mahdists (31 points)

Clint adds to his Mahdist forces with this unit of infantry.

From Clint:

Continuing to work on my 10mm Pendraken figures I have 30 more Mahdists. Again 3 figures to a base, this time all melee armed. I still have many more in the lead pile so expect a few more submissions. 

Many of these figures have bright patches on their Jibbeh this is not something I will continue too much as I am not a huge fan of the results of painting the patches on. I Just think they look better without them. Sometimes you just have to try things and see. 

Great work Clint. I actually like the addition of the patches of colour. If you're thinking they are too bright you might try a localized diluted brown wash to tone it down to your taste.

This fine unit of Mahdi will give Clint 31 points. 

From AndrewS: 20mm Ancient Briton Warbands (300 points)

Not wishing to be eclipsed by Kent and Kev, Andrew unleashes these three units of Ancient Britons to vault him back into the lead.

From Andrew:

This is the last of the Ancient Britons for now – once again these are all 20mm newline metals, with a couple of Italeri too make up the numbers.

In total there are three lots of 24 figure warbands for a total of 72 figures.

I have spent a fair bit of time with these, and as well as the tartans and stripes, I have gone to town on both the colours and freehand work on the shields to make these a glorious thump of colour. 

I am sure I have a few bolts loose up top myself, as I actually thought doing checked patterns on shields this size would be fun. I soon realized that it was damned hard work but carried on to make every shield unique.

These buggers will be ready to shed some big nose blood in my next encounter on the battlefield with Kev.

I dunno, I'm getting a nosebleed trying to comprehend all the work, skill and speed put into this force. Wow! Beautiful stuff Andrew. Again, as the other Britons you've submitted, these are wonderful. I love the vibrant colours and the attention spent to make them all unique and characterful. Bravo!

These three warbands of Britons will give Andrew 300 points which includes extra for the marvellous shields, plaids and tartan trews. Great job!