Sunday, November 24, 2013

Earthen Artillery Emplacement from Forge World


As I'm hoarding all my toy soldiers for the start of the Challenge I thought I'd get a bit of work done on some terrain before it's 'all hands to the oars' for the next three months.

Back in the day, Forge World used to make a wide range of wonderful resin scenery, yup, not just whacky sci-fi tanks with guns that look like their compensating for something and armoured 'humans' who look more like walking volkswagens, but stuff you could actually use for things other than the GW family of pocket-emptying games. 


I've managed, through hook and by crook, to pick up a few Forge World gems over the years. You can see their wonderfully sculpted 6mm castle and windmill here, but for todays post I'm featuring their excellent 28mm artillery emplacement which features finely sculpted gabions, log buttressed earthwork, assorted barrels, etc. 


No assembly required! It's all one piece. I like that - nice and simple. I think it will be a great objective in a 'Sharpe Practice' skirmish game or to serve as cuirassier-bait as one of the smaller fleches south of the Great Redoubt at Borodino.


To provide a sense of scale, I've manned the emplacement with a 28mm French 12pdr and its crew. The gun is an old Elite model (a hefty beast) and the crew are from the venerable Foundry range.


Anyway, if you come across any of these rare lumps for a reasonable price (I know, what are the chances of that) I recommend you to pick it up as it's a great bit of terrain. 


On a side note, I've decided to conduct a little experiment regarding my photography for the blog. My old warhorse camera, a wonderful Panasonic Lumix, is dying a dignified death so I thought I'd let it 'diminish and go into the West' while trying something else. So I've been casting my eye around for a replacement camera, reading reviews and consulting with friends who are photo buffs. I was ready to plunk down some substantial dosh on a new rig, but then I had a wonderful discovery - my new iPhone 5s actually has a pretty decent integrated camera! So, for for the balance of the Challenge, all of my personal submissions  (starting with this one) will be photographed with an iPhone. In addition, I'm going to audition various photo app software and try out nifty lens add-ons, like these from OlloClip to see how their macro, telephoto and polarizing lens work. All this should be dorktastic good fun!


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

The Wild Bunch - The 4th Painting Challenge Roster: We're Locked and Loaded

'Darned fool. I told him that taking on over 50 Challengers was going to be the end of him...'
Whoa! That was a rollicking week of breakneck correspondence and record-keeping. So, now that the dust has settled we now have our Wild Bunch!! 

All, ahem, 60 of them... 

Cripes, what have I done? Oh well, who cares - it's going to be a blast and c'mon, really, this whole 'sleep' thing is sooo overrated...

The roster for the 4th Annual Painting Challenge can be seen below. If I've made a hash of someone's information please drop me a note so I can correct/update it. Trying to keep it all straight demanded an afternoon fuelled with many espressos and glasses of plonk. So while the roster is complete, I'm afraid there's no guarantee of its accuracy!

Anyway, I invite you to visit the Challengers' personal blogs to see what marvelous things they're concocting or, if they are being a useless wastrel, give them a vigorous prodding on my behalf, wot!

Once the Challenge kicks-off, a version of this roster will be featured on the sidebar to the right. I will make every effort to keep it updated to each Challenger's points total along with other information as the Challenge gallops along.

So gentle readers, over the next few months I encourage you to come and visit, see all the fabulous work being displayed, and give the Challengers their well-deserved kudos and some encouraging words.

Alright! Let's get assembling and priming for December 15th!




Challenger
Points Target
Blog
1.               
AaronH
600
2.               
AlanD
500
3.               
AndrewS
1000
4.               
AndyM
1000
5.               
AnneO’L
200
6.               
BenD
750
7.               
BenG
600
8.               
BrendonW
600
9.               
BurkhardS
1000
10.            
ByronM
600
11.            
ChrisP
1000
12.            
ChristopherS
500
13.            
ClintB
600
14.            
DallasE
250
15.            
DaveD
600
16.            
DaveR
?
-
17.            
EdwinK
500
18.            
FranL
600
19.            
GillesW
500
20.            
GregB
1000
21.            
IanW
1066
22.            
IannickM
590
23.            
JaccoK
500
-
24.            
JamesB
4500
25.            
JamesL
500
26.            
JeremyM
500
-
27.            
JohnM
1500
28.            
JuanM
500
29.            
Kawe
200
30.            
KentG
1500
31.            
KevH
1000
32.            
KevinH
300
33.            
KevinS
2000
34.            
LeeH
600
35.            
LordH
1200
36.            
MarkG
1000
37.            
MartinN
400
38.            
MichaelA
600
39.            
MichaelF
501
40.            
MilesR
1500
41.            
Millsy
1250
42.            
PaulJ
500
43.            
PaulS
600
44.            
PeterD
500
45.            
PhilH
?
46.            
RayR
600
47.            
ReneV
1045
48.            
RobH
200
49.            
RobP
500
-
50.            
RossM
585
51.            
SamuliS
1200
52.            
SeanS
500
53.            
ScottB
600
54.            
ScottS
1000
55.            
SebG
800
56.            
SidneyR
700
57.            
StefanK
450
58.            
SteveM
?
-
59.            
TamsinP
1200
60.            
TimB
2000
61.            
…and Curt
700