Saturday, February 1, 2014

From IanW: 28mm Winston Churchill (5 points)


From IanW:
After submitting the ultimate villain in the bad boys round I was going to use this figure as his foil but was feeling that all my bonus rounds were rather cheap point grabs being single figure. So I have subbed him for another more time consuming effort and instead you get Churchill in all is glory.
Problem is, he is not that colourful but my wife came up with the idea of a Union Flag draped over the base to give it some pop. Well I was not up for painting it on so surfed the nett until I found one to suit and here we go. I will hasten to add that Winston is not STANDING on the Union, I cut out the feet and moulded it around. 

So thanks to Cath he is that bit more interesting and colourful!


This is awesome Ian! Kudos to Cath for the flag idea - brilliant. Hmm, I really need one of these for my upcoming 'The Eagle has Landed' game...

Winston will give Ian 5 points. 

'Never in the field of a painting conflict was so much owed to so few (points)....'

Here's one for you Ian:




From KevH: 28mm WotR Infantry and Cavalry, Crusader Cavalry and Command & Saracen Archers (205 points)


From Kev:
First up are more WotR. All 28mm Perry's and a mix of metal and plastic.
This time we have the Earl of Oxfords MAA retinue on foot. 12 figures with command.
I decided to go with the blue star instead of the blue boar on these.
Followed by one of the few mounted units in the current army. This is a small unit of Mounted MAA that form part of the Duke of Exeter's Retinue. 4 mounted figures with livery banner.


Then we are back onto the Crusades. All 1/72 Plastics from Strelets, Italeri and Hat. Once again a mix from both sides, We have 6 mounted crusader knights first. These are generic knights and belong to no particular military order, they add a bit of colour to the Crusader force.

I have nearly finished the Crusader mounted element. A unit or two of Sergeants to go. Then we have a Divisional Command stand. This consists of 2 foot and 1 mounted. I decided to give this a Christian feel without it belonging to a particular military order.
The Knight in a plain blue surcoat and the addition of the Monk and a standard bearer fit the bill I think. Instead of the usual cross on the banner, I went for a crucifix. I left it as a simple representation as it is quite small.

Finally, some more Saracens. A unit of Light infantry with bows. Simple figures from the Hat El Cid range again. These are actually Andalusians, but fit the part.

I will be using some of the El Cid Almoravids for the Ghazi Warbands.
The Crusader forces are coming along fine, with the Crusaders nearing completion and the Saracens (Ayubids) growing slowly.
More to follow..
Another impressive entry Kev! Oxford and Exeter's retinues look suitably ferocious in their heavy plate. This is a period I know I'm going to get into in a big way soon.  Right Greg?  The mounted Crusaders are great but the pick of the litter is that lovely command stand. Gorgeous. The banner is just brilliant.

This varied group of WotR warriors, Crusaders and Saracens will give Kev 205 points (which includes a few bonus points for the excellent heraldry and banners).  Great work Kev!


From ReneV: 15mm WWII Soviet Tank Riders (45 points)


Rene builds more steam from his Dreadball debut with this collection of T34 tank riders.

From Rene:
My second entry into this years challenge.
The red colour of not sending in anything has passed with my first contribution earlier this week. To keep some momentum going I decided to push on with a small addition of 15mil chaps. These were a present from a fellow clubmember from Murphy's Heroes (Dutch wargames club in Delft). He did not need them and I could find good use for them as Tank Riders / Mounted Tankodessantnicky for my T34's.

There are 10 improvised stands (Litko bases but home cut and trimmed) each with 2 figures. Not a whopping amount nor a lot of points but at this stage of the "competition" every tiny soldier counts.
The tanks were painted some time ago and need some adjustment since the soft tip pen did not work out to subtle (understatements are fun).
Even though I was very very tempted my left shoulder told me to stop being a IIIIAAAAAHH and declare them non competition entries. So Curt, only the 22 Tank Riders are point scorers for this entry!
Sorry to have to take pictures in the formation as shown but unfortunately the only way to fit them all in. I am normally strongly opposed to "line them up and roll them down the table games" but it IS only a picture after all.......
Nice work Rene. I quite like your idea of having the tank riders on their own base which fits on the rear deck of the tanks (thereby freeing up the tanks for 'solo' work if required) - very smart!

This group of dessantnikis will give Rene 45 points.  Well done!


From BenG: 20mm Dark Age Gothic/Germanic Command Stands (56 points)


From Ben:
Here's two command stands of Gothic/Germanic infantry and cavalry. The infantry is a mix of metal Newline commander, standard bearer and trumpeters, while the commander's guard are Strelets and Miniart. It was a risk putting the lovely Newline figures on the same stand as the Miniart figures, but if you don't look to closely, you'll miss the mold-lines on the Miniarts! 





The cavalry stand is all Miniart, though one of the commander's posse has been converted into a standard bearer after chopping off his lance and replacing it with a standard from the Italeri infantry set.

Beautiful work Ben. Its interesting to see the mix of metal and plastic on the same base. As you say unless you look very close your really can't tell - yet another benefit of figures seen in mass. I really like the hand painted shields and draco standards - the colours are very dynamic as well. Great job.

These two command stands will give Ben 56 points which includes a bit extra for the great work on the shields and standards.

From JamesL: 28mm WWII German Panzer II (15 points)


 From JamesL:
This time I'm sharing the Pz 11 from my German Bolt Action army, fresh from battle. Whilst it didn't survive all 5 of my games, it do give a good account of itself against much heavier tanks...
The model is a Warlords 1/56th scale. As an early war tank still fighting on in late 1944 , I painted this one in the Early War paint scheme of dark grey (German Grey ) then patchily painted it with Middlestone to represent a hurried paint job after bringing the tank out of storage in the desperate days of the war for Germany. To that end I left the edges of the tank untouched by Middlestone to represent the hurried paint job rubbing off....
The pics include one taken of the tank in battle at CanCon, proving we're not just about painting in this man's toy army...and if anyone reads this , I'd love any suggestions for a name for the tank, it just doesn't feel right calling it...tank...
Great job James! I really like the idea of gaming with vehicles that were pressed into service from 3rd tier stocks. It illustrates the desperate the desperate nature of those last months of fighting in Germany. I also quite like the effect you achieved to reflect the rushed paintjob over the original panzer grey - very effective.

A name for this feisty fellow? Hmm... From my reading of the period the German tank crews often had a dark, ironic sense of humour. Perhaps something like 'Der Kaiser' might be good as this little chap would be rubbing shoulders with many of the Big Cats during those final days of WWII. If you can't walk the walk you can at least talk the talk...

This Panzer II will give James 15 points. Well done!