From SebG: 15mm ACW Union Regiment from the Iron Brigade (63 points)

From Seb:

What you have here are 31 US regulars in 15mm from Old Glory. Obviously, the references are from the Iron brigade for a simple reason: Sykes was commanding the regulars at Bull Run, and afterwards, he ordered the men under his command to follow the regulars's regulations.

I have added a few wounded/ dead in action to represent the unit attacking the Rebs, as they did at Bull Run, before covering the rout. The flags have been downloaded and printed. The blue might be too light, but the varnish seems to have "whitened" it a bit.

Now on my way to the last bonus entry.

Another excellent regiment under your belt Seb.  Remind us again, how many units are you aiming for in this project? Your collection is bulking up nicely. Personally I think the flags look very good and accentuates the dynamism of the unit.

This regiment of Yanks will give Seb 63 points. Great job!

From PaulS: 28mm 'Qu-Sh-Ug' Monster (8 points)

From PaulS: 

This time we've got one, large beasty to terrorise the other entries with. This model, a Qu-Sh-Ug, is from PureEvilMinuatures and was funded through their kickstarter last year. Sadly it is not available to the general public though  which is a real shame as I want another one!  You can see some great versions over on their Kickstarter page along with some scale shots towering over one of their 28mm figures.

The kit consists of three major parts, the body and both front legs, plus a metric ton of tentacles to customise your nasty however you wish. All of the examples had different numbers of tentacles coming out of the mouth, but I decided to be different and turned one into a tail instead as it seemed to balance out the reaching paw. 

Painting wise he was a joy thanks to all the fine texture in the skin. This took a few layers of drybrushing, followed by a series of different washes to target specific parts of the model.

This guy is pretty darn awesome.  He reminds me of how I feel after a day in which I've skipped lunch.  I love the colours Paul's chosen for him, especially that turquoise for his veins and soft tissue. A very cool figure. I would have joined the Kickstarter if I'd realized that he was destined to be a limited edition figure. Oh well, you snooze, you loose.  

This stout fellow with his great gnashing teeth will give Paul 8 points. Nice one.

From IanW: 28mm WWII 8th Army and Afrika Korps Infantry Markers (80 points)

From Ian:

Here we have eight boys from the 8th Army all looking rather grubby with all that dust and heat. These are Black Tree Miniatures and whilst they have good detail they are missing the usual rifle slings that normally make BTM stand out. 

Other than the lack of slings they still are rather nice and were reasonable to paint up.

The Afrika Korps, on the other hand mostly have the slings (one pose out of four did not) and all have the traditional Y webbing. I struggle a little with the goggles and due to lack of time had only a short period to touch and retouch them up, not helped by a roaring cold that made detail work hard as I could not hold my breath LOL.

I have a further four each but the bases are not finished and need another four plus hours work so will do them when I am back from a very busy four days away (yes I am all excited, just one more sleep to go).

Well, you did a great job Ian, even without having to hold your breath for the detail work. I particularly like the 8th Army lads and your pebble groundwork seems to work very nicely with these desert-themed markers. 

These sixteen figures will give Ian 80 points. Well done and I hope you had a great time at your ASL tournament.

From KevH: 20mm Anglo-Saxons Thegns & Saracen City Militia and Ghazi Fanatics (182 points)

From Kev:

Sculpting's done for now so I am back at the painting table, yaaay. First up are an addition to my 1/72 Dark age collection.

The Anglo Saxon Army in "Hail Caesar" is allowed a single small unit of Mounted Thegns. I could have chose the easy route for these and just painted 4 of the Revell ones. But no, thats not me and I do prefer the Strelets. So here we go, Strelets and Revell conversions. A few head swaps and the odd body swap and all on Strelets horses. 4 mounted Thegns to give the Anglo Saxons a bit of fast hitting power.

Then back onto the Crusades. More infantry for now. First up are another City Militia unit. 12 Figures, these are 3 to a base to show they are a Medium infantry unit.

Then closely followed by the first of the Ghazi Fanatics units. This is a warband, (24 figures) hence the double ranks.

Once again a medium infantry unit with 3 to a base to show this. I decided on a uniform colour scheme for the Fanatics as I wanted them to look menacing on the table. Andy had the idea for the red headgear. Red, black with a bit of white give these the look I wanted and will easily make them recognisable on the table.

The other fanatic units will be a slight variation on this scheme.

All the Saracen figures are HaT 1/72 and from their ElCid range and painted in my high contrast style. I am now working on some of the Saracen Cavalry, at last, lol.

Beautiful work once again Kev! I particularly like the unit of Ghazi fanatics - those colours certainly reinforce their intended role. 

These fellows with their excellent banners, shields and conversions will give Kev 182 points, allowing him to wrest back control of 2nd place from Dave. Nonetheless with only a 48 point spread between the two it's really anybody's race. Pretty exciting stuff!

From DaveD: 28mm Mahdist Horsemen and Camelry (190 points)

From Dave:

So here we have the Mahdist mounted forces (19 in all) , 6 Beja camel, 12 Baggara cavalry and another leader for the cause. All 28mm Perry figures. For the Baggara I had to replace the "chocolate fireguard" Perry spears with something that will stand the test of time , so used some piano wire with flattened and shaped ends, soldered into the hands. It gives a somewhat better look and way more robust. 

This completes the Mahdist Order of Battle for 2nd El Teb at 1-20 - altogether around 600 figures , thats it for this painting season on these lads - but there is a "long" term plan to at least double the forces - well maybe treble....

Time to give them some "opponents" - this lot were well under way prior to the challenge ,so its just a taster - no points - of the advance elements of the Desert Column . 

Here we have the Camel Corps - not strictly needed for El Teb , but what self respecting gamer is not going to do the the Camel Corp?- securing the village . Followed by the RMLI and the Bravest Man in England - Colonel Fred Burnaby ( just google if you have not read of his exploits) complete with short barrel shotgun!

Beautiful work Dave. It's always wonderful to have another dose of camelry for the Challenge and these fellows certainly look the business.The appaloosa horse you did for the leader if very fine - lovely colouring. Also, I'm going to have a chat with you about this whole soldering business as I'd like to learn how to do that - superglue just doesn't cut it and I'm getting weary of spears/banners snapping loose from hands during gameplay.

These two groups of mounted Mahdist warriors will give Dave 190 points, enough for him to reach his second target and to slip into second place. 

...but I notice I have an entry waiting here from KevH so we'll have to see what happens to the rankings on the Challenge roster over the next few hours.