From GregB: 40K Imperial Fist Space Marines, Dreadnought, Rhinos & Terminators (120 points)

From Greg:

I'm continuing to round out my sci-fi Space Marines from GW's Warhammer 40k line. This submission includes an officer, a group of scouts, and a dreadnought. 

The officer is a plastic kit from GW - the only change I made was to use a spare "beakie" helmet to help him fit in with the other Crimson Fist marines. Otherwise it is a very similar kit to the one Byron submitted recently. I've marked a "III" on his knee pad to represent his company. He carries a storm bolter (heavy automatic rifle of the dark future) and a scary power sword. 

The scouts are a mix of new plastic models and two metal models. They are nearly all armed with sniper rifles, save the one fellow carrying a rocket launcher (one supposes to "snipe" vehicles perhaps?). I really like the look of these oversize, scary sniper rifles, although I'm not sure how well the idea of light infantry fits in with the ominous feel of a Space Marine chapter. But they are fun models - between the rifles, the optics, the cloaks, a lot of fun details to paint. 

The dreadnought is from GW's current line of plastic kits, armed with an assault cannon (high velocity rotary cannon of the dark future), a power fist for smashing things/people, and a little bolt gun under the power fist. The dreadnought armour units give the Space Marines even more "oomph" on the battlefield. They are powered by the will of a severely wounded marine who is essentially entombed in the suit…how grim, very suitable for the setting.

The Forge World is continuing to fire up here in Winnipeg. Here are three more vehicles for my Crimson Fist Space Marines - two "Rhino" APCs and one "Razorback" APC. These are all plastic model kits from GW. 

My Crimson Fist marines are mostly Rogue Trader era figures, but these models are from GW's contemporary range. I really, really enjoy them, and they scale up very nicely with the old Rogue Trader figures. 

The Rhinos are very basic, capable of carrying ten marines into the fighting. The Razorback is a kind of hybrid vehicle, designed to carry some heavy weapons to support the Marines, but at the expense of room in the troop compartment - it only carries five Marines. The vehicle is often associated with command roles, and to reflect that I mounted the little command bits on this particular vehicle, along with a twin-barrelled heavy laser cannon to help deal with nasty bad guys. 

My Crimson Fists have gone from walking to having a few different "rides" to choose from now - enough APCs to carry 35 of them into a firefight. Watch out Orks! 

Finally, here is a squad of 28mm Terminator Marines from the Crimson Fist Chapter. The figures are pewter models from Games Workshop. These are old school Rogue Trader era models - not quite the original Terminators, but close. 

The Terminators represent the elite shock troops of a Space Marine chapter. The armour is very, very tough and reinforced, allowing the Marines to carry heavy weapons into firefights. They are also equipped with "power fists", heavy armoured gloves sheathed in a power field that allow the Marines to shatter armour, bulkheads and other enemies of the Emperor.

There are enough Terminators here to form a five-man squad, with an option of a heavy flamethrower or rotary-barrelled cannon as a squad support weapon. There is one sergeant figure (the fellow with the sword) and three regular grunts. The shoulder insignia were hand painted once again - mixed results, but not terrible.

These models are long out of production, and were acquired in bits and bobs over Ebay. These days GW has very nice plastic Terminator models. They are quite beautiful - bigger, more action-oriented and they have all sorts of extras to choose from. But these old Rogue Trader models are beauties. 

This represents the end of my Crimson Fist build up for now - my collection has gone from 20 assorted infantry models to almost 60 marines complete with command, vehicles and support. How fun! That is why these painting challenges are great - they get you moving in a direction, and off you go!

Wowza, that is a heap of Space Marines Greg! These guys look brilliant (I think those hand-painted shoulder insignias look ace). I like that in your text you describe their functions and roles - for the uninitiated it gives a bit of context to the various figures and models. Well done. 

This wide selection of marines and their vehicles will give Greg 120 points.

From PaulS: 28mm WWII Soviet Infantry (85 points)

From Paul:

Here are 17 more additions to the painting challenge. I seem to be on a roll finishing things this week!

These Russians are the first half of a 500point Bolt Action force to face off against the Commandos from earlier in the challenge as well as providing a pool of Russians to feed into the Mythos meat grinder against the horrors of the Achtung! Cthulhu models that have also been dribbling in.

Having a standard bearer seems to be pretty iconic in Russian propaganda, so I decided to steal one of the spare Warhammer Empire army standard bearer arms to make one of my own. I've no idea if there's an in-game use for one, but he adds that little extra touch to the squad. These guys had a lot more time spent on them than the Commandos and it shows (in person). I really need to work on better photography this year... 

Finally we also have a Russian spotter. Originally he was part of a sniper squad, but basing two guys laying down was becoming a pain, so he's now a solo spotter instead.

Beautiful work Paul. The use of the Warhammer Fantasy banner is genius. It really amps up the 'heroic' aspect of the figure. I know I've mentioned this to you in the past but I really like the minimalism of the clear bases. I know they may not be for everyone but I think they look quite elegant (and certainly saves time and money on doing groundwork!).

These Heroes of the Soviet Union will give Paul 85 points. Well done!

From DaveD: 28mm Mahdist Tribesmen (460 points)

From Dave:

Having got so far through the OOB for El Teb with the last 3 submission I decided to take advantage of a few days off and press on with the remaining foot units required. All Perry 28''s a mix of plastic and metal. A little more twiddly bits on some patterns on the clothing and headwear this time though. 84 foot figures,3 mounted and 1 gun. Skirmishers hiding in the long grasses, one rifle warband , one spear armed warband, a captured Krupps gun and and crew, and 3 new mounted leaders including Osman Digna,

And a couple of pictures of the whole army as it now stands. 

A few small mounted elements left to complete for the Mahdists, they are on the preparation table now. The Desert Column is in serious need of reinforcements - I have the lead cleaned and ready to go, and I have my eye on a Nile Steamer. Its been such a busy few weeks I have now run out of bases and tufts! A large restock required.

Phew.. right, off to give the paint table a good tidy up!

Fabulous work Dave! I really like your sabot bases with the terrain inserts - very posh indeed.

The final shots of the entire force are gobsmacking. As you say, now on to their poor opponents!

These lads will give Dave 460 points to add to his tally. 

From TamsinP: 'Lady Christina' Recovery and Repair Ship (15 points)

From Tamsin:

"Good morning, you're through to the AA*. How may I help you?"

"Hi, we've broken down outside the jump point from Antares IV to Excelsior II. We need a recovery ship"

"Can I take the name and model of your ship please? And your name."

"Yes, this is Captain Keith Remen of the NAC heavy cruiser London."

"And can you confirm that you or a member of your crew are a member of the AA?"

"Yes, the New Anglian Confederation Space Navy has corporate membership."

"Hmmmm. It appears that your government failed to renew the membership when it was due for renewal last month. Do you have a crew member with individual membership?"

"They didn't renew?!?!?! The useless, penny pinching, pencil pushing, tight fisted *&%$£&s!"

"You can always charge it to a credit card...."

*Astromobile Association

This is a Lady Christina class recovery and repair ship from GZG. Just as a bit of fun I decided to paint it up in the livery colours of a well known roadside rescue organisation from the UK. The company logos are hand-painted, but I might go over them with black as they look a bit crap. Maybe at some point I'll make some decals up. I'm tempted to buy another of these ships to paint up in the colours of their main UK rival.

I've included a couple of pics showing it in action, attempting recovery of the NAC heavy cruiser.

That is a very cool looking ship Tamsin. I like the clampy bits and that you've painted it in the UK motor league colours (ours here in Canada are in white and blue). I wonder what the towing charge is per parsec?

This inter-galactic tow truck will give Tamsin 15 points.

Announcing the 5th Theme Bonus Round: 'Casualty or Casualties' & Curt's Great War Belgian Refugees

For the 5th Fortnight Thematic Bonus Round I asked the participants to compose and paint a figure or set of figures illustrating a 'casualty' or group of casualties. Admittedly it's a grim theme, but I think it's one that bears exploring. In the gallery, which you can find here, you will see many creative entries that illustrate this sobering topic. 

For my own part I decided to return to my greyscale Great War project in order to attempt a perspective to the 'casualty' theme: the refugee. 

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the plight of the refugee has existed as long as war itself. The terror of impeding violence, the disruption of livelihood, the dissolution of security and the mortal risk to loved ones - these are all things that are clearly seen on the face of every refugee no matter their religion, colour, nationality or time in history.

The German destruction of the Belgian city of Louvain in August of 1914 is noted for contributing to the world's condemnation of the Central Powers' cause and pursuit of war. For five consecutive days the city was indiscriminately burnt and looted. Its famous library, housing one of the largest and most impressive collection of ancient manuscripts, was burnt and destroyed, as was Louvain's university. The church of St. Pierre was also badly damaged by fire. The citizenry of Louvain were subject to rape, robbery and beatings, but the most tragic was the mass shootings of hundreds of innocents regardless of age or gender. As Sir Edward Grey solemnly remarked upon the outbreak of  hostilities that summer, 'The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.'

So in these images I have tried to compose a plausible scene that would occur during those first few weeks of 1914. Seen here is a column of Belgian refugees fleeing the German advance while their hastily raised countrymen march to the front to attempt to stem the tide. 

The civilian figures are mostly new castings from Brigade Models' excellent range of Great War Belgians. The old couple with the wheelbarrow and dog are from Kawe's Westfalia Miniatures (meant for the Napoleonic period, but I find that they work quite well 100 years later). The cobblestones are hand painted, both on the figures' bases and the nylon roadway (being too cheap and lazy to get proper cobbled bases/roads). The others are older models from my collection, mostly Great War Miniatures, Brigade Models and the Minerva armoured car is (I believe) from 1st Corps. The buildings are from Kobblestone Miniatures.

...a matter of tone: same scene with a different camera with different settings...

So, please check out the gallery of all the Challengers' submissions, and remember to vote for your favourite entries. I'm using a paid service, Survey Monkey, for the voting poll so please visit the sidebar to the right and place your votes for your favourite entries. Remember, you can vote for as many as you wish! And please leave a comment with your kind words and praise - their work deserves it.