From TimB: 28mm Great War German Casualties & 'Snori' the Viking Axe Caddy (25 points)

Tim decided to break the Christmas Truce and quickly sent in these models while I was gorging myself on turkey, perogies and cabbage rolls.  We see here two Great War German casualties.  We think these are 25mm Old Glory castings.

Next is Tim's brilliant Viking conversion that he made up for me which has its origins from an silly series of comments we exchanged a few days ago regarding Hrolf's scandalously pristine axe, the upshot of which was that any self-respecting Viking/Anglo-Dane should have a caddy with a golfbag full of various axes to meet any occasion. 

Tim made the bag out of putty and festooned it with a variety of axes (courtesy of GW and Gripping Beast). Check out plaid pattern on the bag - very posh.

With the Scottish Saltire on his shield I'm guessing this Viking is from the Orkneys. So we'll call him 'Snori Haggis-McBaggis'. Tim left the basing fairly raw as I like to do the groundwork myself.

Thanks a bunch Tim! These three will net you 25 points (5 extra for the additional thought and effort put into 'Snori').

From IanW: 15mm Cretan Archers & Prodromoi Lancers (96 points)

Ian has been itching to get on the scoreboard for several days now and comes through with these lads from the wars of Philip II and Alexander. Well done!

These are 15mm Magister Militum castings that Ian adds to his Macedonian army which he's based for the 'Fields of Glory' rules.

Ian says the the 16 Cretan archers were fairly straightforward to get done but the 8 light cavalry were a bit more involved with shading the tunics and the leopard skin horse rugs.

This group will bring him 48 points each for the archers and the light cavalry: 96 points total! 


Next up for Ian will be a big unit of 32 Companion pike.

From Curt: 28mm Norman Warlord, 'Tancred de Hauteville' (30 points)

Well, as I suspected, administrating the Challenge is absorbing a good deal of my hobby time. Not that I'm complaining, as its great fun chatting with everyone as their entries come in, but it has cut down on how much I can get ready for submission. Anyway, that being said, I have been grinding along and have just finished here my Norman warlord for my SAGA force. 

I've been reading the Jack Ludlow series of books describing the Norman de Hauteville family. They were large band of brothers who gained fame in Italy first as mercenaries then as powerful warlords. Its a good read and has helped keep my interest up as I slowly work through my Norman warhost.  

So in homage to the patriarch of that family here is Tancred de Hauteville charging on his warhorse with one of his 12 (!) sons acting as his banner-bearer. 

The Norman castings are 28mm Gripping Beast whereas the casualty figures are from Old Glory. There are a few slight conversions but nothing earth shattering. In addition the shields benefit from LBMS treatment and the banner is also an LBMS transfer mounted on foil. I clipped the edges of the foil to make it a little more visually interesting.

I've also snuck in a couple shots which include my Anglo-Dane warlord 'Heldrid' who is set to meet Tancred in a head-on smack-down. I just look at the Anglo-Dane and can hear him growling, 'If you think you've got something, well bring it...'. (Tim, note 'Heldrid's' redux bloodied long axe.) :)

This group will net me a modest 30 points. Onwards and upwards, eh? Currently I'm splitting my time between a fresh regiment of French Dragoons and more Normans - but more on that later.

Happy Christmas Everyone! 

From ChrisP: 28mm Napoleonic British Casualty and WWII Greyhound (11 points)

Chris is just about to go on vacation and so wanted to get some entries in before he left. Here is a Napoleonic British casualty and a M8 Greyhound armoured car.

The casualty figure is a 28mm Perry sculpt. Chris has done the facing colours to go with his upcoming 69th Lincolnshires. Very nice! The pose of the figure really reminds me of that famous but controversial Spanish Civil War photo by Robert Capra of of the Loyalist being shot. Chris will be using this stand for 'Lasalle'.

His second entry is a 15mm M8 Greyhound scout car from Battlefront Miniatures. Chris used a gel pen to put in the 'F 22' markings (Fox Company, 2nd Troop, 2nd vehicle).

I'm giving Chris 6 points for the Greyhound and 5 for the casualty, so 11 points total. 


Enjoy your vacation, Chris!

From TimB: 28mm Great War Highland Infantry (70 points)

One of the big guns in the Challenge to date has been Tim and he provides a parting shot before Santa arrives with this fine unit of 14 Great War Highland infantrymen.

These are 28mm Renegade miniatures depicting Scottish troops in early war uniforms (no covers for the kilts, tams, etc).

You will notice the rags over some their faces. This was an early (and desperate) effort to resist the effects of German gas attacks. It is said that many men urinated in their kerchiefs as the ammonia helped to neutralize the agents in the chlorine gas - pretty grim stuff.

These lads will give Tim a further 70 points to his tally, putting him firmly in the lead. For now.