From ScottB: 28mm Goblin King & Minions from 'The Hobbit' (35 points)

From Scott:

The Goblin King, 2 captains including Grinah, and the scribe. Painted in a style to match the rest of the previous batch of Goblins of Goblin Town.

But a real variety in scale this time!

The monstrous Goblin King himself who measures some 6cm to the top of his crown. Truly a beast, and in the game will no doubt cause some chaos especially with the new 'monster abilities' in the new Hobbit SBG rules!

Played wonderfully by Barry Humphries (AKA Dame Edna Everidge) in the movie and masterfully CGI adapted/animated by the team at Weta. 

I was almost sorry when Gandalf dispatched him so easily!

Compared to the bulk of this monstrous Overlord, is the tiny and diminutive 'un-named' goblin captain, who I feel may be meant to be the one that tackled Bilbo in the movie then fell to his death, ultimately at the hands of Gollum. This tiny fellow measures 1.5cm.

The next Goblin Captain is named Grinah, and he bears a brutal whip to keep his charges in order. This fellow is your more typical nominally 28mm scale though is more likely 20mm or thereabouts...

And finally the hapless figure of the Goblin Scribe on his wooden 'gantry'... I don't recall him having any lines in the movies other than a sly chuckle... charismatic none the less. He was a bit a bit of a bugger to paint, quite small and fiddly and a little awkward to handle. Wonderfully detailed for such a plastic model. And quite a useful character in the game too, allowing goblin reinforcements to be brought to the fray!

I am going to finish the Goblin King's throne next. It's been quite a bit of work to get it to how I am happy with it , and realize it probably won't score me any points being a 'terrain piece' but that can't be helped as it's the next part of the 'set', to complete...

After that, Groblog, then the Eotd Police inspector and then I can make a start on painting the dwarves of the company... I don't think I am going to get them done in time for the end of the challenge, but we'll see how far I get with them...

Tremendous work Scott. Again, I love the skin tone you've created for your goblins (and the buboes are particularly disgusting, but in a good way). Makes me want to go see the film again!

The Goblin King and this three minions will give Scott 35 points which includes some extra for the monstrous King and the Scribe's harness-contraption thingy.

From ChrisP: 28mm and 15mm Vietnam Era Helicopters, Phantom II & F16 Jets (84 points)

Another great Vietnam War entry from Chris:

Back to Vietnam (and beyond) for this stack of painting, from a whole variety of manufacturers!

First up, is the big boy, the 1/48th scale Revell UH-1. I made it basically exactly out of the box, leaving off the parts for the gunship variant, but also leaving off the side doors. In combat, the slick pilots left off the doors, they wanted to get as much power to weight as possible! Not the safest if you are the guy on the inside, but there it is. This is painted up as a US Army bird, even though there are two Eureka ANZACs sitting inside! The reason for this is despite Australia sending a fleet of it's own Hueys, the helicopters were forbidden by the government from going into "hot" LZs. What this meant was that when ANZAC troops were dropped into combat zones, it was done by American aircraft. Overall, I am really happy with how it looks! So many lessons learned from making the MH-6s went into building this one, so I am much happier with how it went together. The rotors are magnetized for easy travel, but also because it is cool to spin them.....

So from big, to small. My 15mm US Airborne needed some transport for Vietnam, so there are three Flashpoint miniatures plastic UH-1s. Made straight as the kit asked, with the doors left off like the big Huey. While moving to a new city, like a muppet, I threw away the plastic for the canopy windows! So the manufacturer is hunting me some more down, but it looks like it will arrive much after the competition finishes, hence me putting these up in a non-100% finished state. The kit also came with some door gunners and a few seated infantry, which really add to the model, plus add some weight so that the helicopter sits on it's skids properly!

Fire Support comes in the form of a second Huey Gunship, again armed with a chin mounted 40mm Grenade Launcher, plus the massive rocket batteries on either side! This one I have affectionately named Smokey the Bear, and is a standard Battlefront kit. Size wise, it is comparable to the Flashpoint plastics, but costs twice as much, and has less detail. But then again, it is in resin not plastic, so you get that! I still like it, and it will be a partner for the one that I completed earlier in the competition.

Close Air Support comes in the form of a 1/144 F4 Phantom II, from Academy. This was a cool kit, nice and simple and painted up really nicely, which my photos don't really show (my camera is terrible, and it saddens me). The underside shot is to show off the four centerline mounted sidewinder missiles, which were blue! I am not that happy with this aircraft, but for $3, I can't really complain!

So, there you have it. Air Power! I might be getting a reputation as the "Helicopter Guy", so next update will be something less airmobile... Although I do have one helicopter to go in the competition, any guesses what?

Very nice work Chris. I admire your tenacity in getting that trio of Hueys done up (even taking account the delayed canopies). The 1/48 scale 'Slick' is awesome but I can't imagine doing enough for a proper platoon insertion in 28mm.

This submission will give Chris 84 points. Great stuff!

From KevH: 28mm Wars of the Roses & 54mm Medieval Infantry (275 points)

From Kev:

First up some 28mm Perry's. Richard Duke of Gloucester's Billmen. 

 Usual White Boar Livery, 12 figures including command.

Followed by William Lord Hastings Billmen.

Bulls head Livery with Blue and Murrey back. All flags are my own design. 

I decided against the livery decals as they are so fine and a real pig to fit. So painting them it is.

Followed up by some pretty basic 54mm Medievals. A unit of 6 foot Knights and 8 Men at Arms. 

 These are for my "Siege" game. Figures are from "Accurate".

My Mrs is now finished painting some of the missile troops. They are on her blog, (follow the link on mine). She would really love and comments and advice. She not made a bad job of her first figures and she really enjoys painting. That's it, got her hooked, lol.

28mm Empress ECW lobsters on my table and some more 54mm meds. We getting near the end now. Hitting my new target will be close but if I can get all the 54mm stuff done, I may just manage it.

Very lovely work as usual Kev. I particularly admire your job on the livery and banners - well done!

I'm quite looking forward to seeing your Empress ECW cavalry as I'm thinking on picking some up myself.

This submission will give Kev 275 points.

From NicolasC: Ronin #30 (20 points)

From Nicolas:

Here is Ronin #30. I didn't have a samuraï in stock when the Challenge popped up, so I had to browse a few manufacturers on the web to find a figure that would suite both the purpose and my taste. Yet, I didn't hesitate very long to pick this Reaper Miniatures interpretation of a Ronin. Okay, this is a 32 mm model, but I thought it would do the job. Let say this ronin will be the tall guy among the crowd. And Curt, we both know what it feels to be the tall guy…

Now, the way I would paint this figure was not very clear to me until I received it. But, once I had it in hand, the propinquity of this model with the two prominent characters that have shaped my understanding of the concept of ronin really stroke my mind. In fact, this figure proved to be the perfect illustration for both Ronin Kogaretsu, the hero of a rather fascinating Franco-Belgian Comics (13 episodes so far), and the nontheless fascinating (and Rock n’ Roll) villain of the movie Samuraï Fiction: Ronin Kazamatsuri. I don’t think that the adventures of Kogaretsu have been transalted to English, although… But I am pretty confident you can find the movie quite easily. I actually advise anyone who has interest for the Chambara movie style to watch it: it's a quite cool reassessment of the genre.

So, it has suddenly become all clear that Ronin # 30 would dress in black. What wasn’t so clear to me though, was how I would paint a nice black dress, since, as we all know, black is among the hardest tone to render… After a deep breathe, I went with the option of experimenting new things, and tried to see how well my brush could respond to John de Terre-Neuve’s approach. Well, not clearly his technic, rather what I understood of it: some sort of semi grey-scale chiorusco slowly darkend by layers of a very diluted mix of dark-grey and orange, and washes of GW blue ink after washes of AP Dark Tone.

To be honest, I am not so pleased with the result. But I thought that I would mess it up if I would try anything more to make it better. Also, I had never painted asian skin tone before. Therefor, I went with what Army Painter recommends, i.e. a mix of AP Desert Yellow and AP Skeleton Bone. Here again, you might feel he looks a little sick… Not to mention that each time I give a Matt Varnish coat with the brush it ends up looking shiny… Well… Hell is paved with good intentions. I Hope you’ll like this ronin anyway.

I dunno Nicolas, he looks pretty darn awesome to me. I really like your choice of muted tones for the figure - its seems appropos. (I've not heard of 'Samurai Fiction' but will definitely try to track it down as it sounds quite interesting.)

Ronin #30 will give Nicolas 20 points. Well done Nico and thank you very much! 

From JamesB: 28mm Seven Years War & French and Indian Wars (495 points)

From James:

Long time since my last entry, in between looking after my wife pre-op and a weeks holiday post op I did manage to pick up a brush for an hour or two. I offer you my next entry 3 units of SYW French Cav, these are all painted as Heavy Cav as I hoped the off white uniform with red cuffs is a great look. Of the 3 units 2 are Front Rank, again great sculpts. The third unit are Crusader miniatures my first painted from them, I have 3 units of Infantry to paint next from them. 

The next lot you should all recognize as this is the forth unit of Foundry Hussars I have painted during the challenge, these are painted the same as the last lot of Hussars in blue and red.

Back to the F&IW for the next lot I have 8 more civies and 12 Canadian Militia - French Irregular troops from Galloping Major. I took a few figures with me to Norfolk to paint and the last lot of figures are the result 7 Forest Indians from Conquest.

I am well on target for my par score and I want to see how far passed the 3000. Hopefully that will give me my par target for next year. Next on my painting table is 2 units of Grenadiers and a unit of Musketeers plus 12 French light troops.

Fabulous work James! Wow, three unit of cavalry PLUS a passel of foot figures!? Simply amazing.

This impressive collection will give James 495 points. Again, astonishing work.