Para challenge 5 -end in sight!

Another day, another update!

But no pictures this time, mainly because I have very little to show for myself. The painting challenge goes on, and I am still not done.

I got a good bit of painting done last night a jason's, which puts my final platoon at about half finished. They are inked and based, but the highlight colours need to be done. Which means? A good few more hours to go. Luckily I think I will have time to finish them off after work!

So hopefully a better, picture filled success update tonight, then pics of the game tommorrow!

CP

6 Day Para Challenge 4- Finishing stuff to make me feel better...

Well, as the title says, rather than start new things and get me to being at the point of having lots of works in progress (like last update), I thought that I would actually get something fully done and dusted! So by something, I mean I managed to get my first Parachute Platoon based, along with my Company HQ, along with the Mortar platoon and along with Beep Beeps.

So a mildly blurry morning shot of last nights efforts! This just leaves me with 11 stands from my 2nd para platoon to finish, the only issue being I haven't even started painting them, or based them, or really done anything other than stick them onto a base. Oh well, 2 nights to get them done!

Actually, seeing that photo makes me feel alot better!

Beep beep I am in the lead?

Teams Completed: 29
Teams WIP: 0
Teams to Start: 11

CP

6 Day Para Challenge 3- Beep Beep!

Well, I managed to get a good few hours of painting in last night; and the question you are all asking, how much is finished? Well... nothing.... but I have one full platoon and my company HQ ready to base (I just haven't worked out how I am going to do that yet), my mortars are about an hour away from done, as is my Airborne Recon Platoon.

Enough talk, more pics.

There is the army as a whole, 2 Para platoons, one painted one not, the Company HQ with attached bazooka, and the 4 tube mortar platoon at the back.

And this is the Airborne Recon Platoon- with the crew out on the bases so they get painted properly, with the armoured bathtubs in the background. The jeeps were a bit of a pain to assemble, the armour plate comes in 3 very fiddly parts, but now that they are done, I really like them! They are basically Universal Carriers but Fearless, with armour 0 all around, and armed with a .50cal, these guys should be awesome!

Right. Plan for today? Go to work. After that? Finish the mortars and Recon, base the 2nd para platoon so I can start painting them tommorow....

Not much right?

CP

6 Day Para Challenge 2- Paint!

Well, I took a very important first step yesterday into completing this challenge, I actually bought everything I am going to paint!

So, along with that, I began with getting the whole first platoon based, and the second at least glued to their bases. I wasn't really sure how I was going to paint them, so when it came time to paint the first platoon there were some definite teething issues, with me having to go back and cover up issues etc. Not ideal, but probably was always going to happen!

So, the question of course is, how much did I get done yesterday? As always, not as much as I had hoped! I managed to get half of the first platoon basically done, barring their bases, and a little touch up on their faces, which I only realised I needed to do this morning when I looked at them.... As well as that, the rest of the platoon, plus the Company HQ is about half way done, I should be able to knock them off before lunch!

So, thats the first platoon at its current stage, half done!

Today's goal? Get everything assembled, and hopefully get to work on the Mortars and the Jeeps- as well as finishing the first platoon!

Teams Finished:     0
Teams WIP:          16
Teams to Start:      24

That counter depresses me slightly.....

CP

6 Day Para Challenge- Madness?

A local at the club has been pushing doing a big game of FOW to represent the Market Garden campaign in September of 1944. It was (at that point) the most adventurous airborne operation, a mission which had a vital time schedule and what turned out to be unrealistic goals.

The main allies were the British Paras which landed and held the bridge at Arnhem (that was the one which was too far), the 101st Airborne which was tasked with capturing the bridges at Eindhoven, the 82nd Airborne which captured Nijmegen, and finally 30 Corps, which was rolling up the road captured by the Airborne troops.

So, we had many, many emails between Jason, Simon (the organiser) and myself only to realise that no one had US Paras or Fallschrimjager. Plenty of people had parachute armies at home, unpainted, sitting crying in the dark but none painted. So, in the spirit of the success of the Snow Challenge Jason challenged me to get 1200 points worth of Paratroopers painted.

So, the rules?

1200Pts of Paras painted by next Thursday.
No tracks
No pre painted models

DNC = you buy the winner a jug

Obviously a vicious penalty for failure!

My list will probably be something like this...

HQ- 1 Bazooka
Parachute Platoon- Full Strength, SMG Command
Parachute Platoon- Full Strength, SMG Command
Parachute Mortar Platoon- Full Strength
Airborne Recon Platoon- 2 Sections

So, all up? Alot of Fearless Veteran infantry! I am undecided whether to go mortars or 75mm guns, I like the mortars ability to be ranged in by command teams, but the 75mms are AT 3 on top armour, enough to scare some tanks. Both have smoke, so there is that!

Right, no pics for now, the first platoon plus HQ is currently being undercoated, will post some pics tonight!

CP

Moving forward and sorting out projects

Well, firstly here are the better close up pictures of my 6pdrs, which were painted as part of the Snow Challenge.

The battery of 4 guns.

And a close up of one gun. They are nowhere near as shiny in real life- it was the angle of the sun that did it! They are a little shiny due to ink washes, but definitly not that much. The poor gunner is loading a normal AT round, I bet he is wishing he had APDS!

The Guards Rifles have a need for more support. M10's, 25pdrs, tank support and of course air support will all be on the way for them, hopefully sooner rather than later, so I can start gaming with them. There is a Late War GT in November, which I think I will try to take my Coldstreamers to; so expect to see more of them!

Now, onto Napoleonics. My British Guards force is still short two infantry units, as well as the crewmen for my second artillery battery. Now I own it all, so it is just a matter of assembling and painting. Plus everything needs to be based. It would be good to get them done as soon as too- just so they are done! Here is where they are at right now.

So, coming along very well! There is a tournament in Wellington on the 25th; so I think I will take the Guards to that. Right now, I am thinking of using the smallest possible army in Lasalle, British Guards with Heavy Cavalry support! That should be small enough that I can get it on a plane (hopefully).

Now, there is more for the Napoleonic Period. So I decided a while back that having only one army of Napoleonics was a bit silly, especially when no other locals play Lasalle (yet). So, I made the call to buy a French Army too (tough decision...not). So, as of Thursday, my French have arrived!

So, in that pile of plastics is 4 boxes of Perry Infantry, 3 boxes of Perry Dragoons, 1 box of Perry Heavy Cavalry, 1 box of Victrix Old Guard. The boxes at the front are metal Perry Infantry commands, as well as some Perry mounted officers. And of course, the big (little) man himself is there too!

So, the plan is to get at least some of these guys painted for Conquest, where we are going to run a big Lasalle demo game of Waterloo, but more on that soon!

So, there are my 3 projects for the forseeable future, hoping to have more FOW done by the end of the week, and some test figures up for the Frenchies. My British Napoleonics are a little on hold until I can restock my painting supplies.

CP

Snow Challenge 7- The End

Well, today marks the end of the Snow Challenge. So, without any adieu; here is the army now....

I managed to get it all done! I have officially run out of British things to paint. I will need to go for a hunt, or go shopping to manage to find some more things to paint for a painting evening on Tuesday night.

So, what have I finished?

Company HQ (2 infantry stands)
JOE Vanderleur and Forward Air Controller (2 Armoured Cars)
Rifle Platoon x3 (27 infantry stands)
Heavy Machinegun Platoon (6 infantry stands, 1 Universal Carrier)
Anti-Tank Platoon (1 infantry stand, 4 6pdr guns)
Carrier Patrol (3 Universal Carriers)
Sherman OP Tank
2 25pdr Guns with Limbers
1 spare Piat Team

So, in one week, I finished off 37 Infantry stands, 4 Universal Carriers, 4 Gun teams, 2 guns without crew, 1 sherman tank and 2 limbers. All in all, a pretty darn productive week! As for the army as a whole? Well, it really, really needs some support choices. M10's, more 25pdrs and Typhoons all need to be added to the army, so they will be coming soon!

The light is terrible right now, so I will try to get some good shots of the units, including those freshly painted 6pdrs up tommorow.

Well, it was a damn productive week, and the snow has basically gone now. It seems like setting myself random challenges works pretty well, I will have to look into doing a few more!

CP

Snow Challenge 6- Getting there!

So, the snow stopped falling a couple of days ago, and I have decided to wrap up the Snow Challenge on Sunday, so I have 2 more days left to go!

This is the situation with the snow, here is what is left of Frank the Snowman....

 Lets be honest, he has seen better days.....

But, in spite of the warming weather I have managed to get some painting done! Firstly I managed to paint JOE Vandeleur, sitting atop a Humber Scout Car. Joe was the commander of the Irish Guards on their race to Arnhem; ably leading them to as close as 1 mile away from the town! Plus, he was played by Michael Caine (one of my favouritest actors) in a Bridge too Far, so he had to be in the army!

Driving along side Joe, will be my Forward Air Controller- The Fat Controller! His job is making sure my RAF Tiffies' rockets hit the Jerry tanks dead centre!

So, that is the armour. Now what about some infantry? I managed to finish off my 2nd Guards Rifle platoon; but I don't have a close up picture of them, because they basically look the same as the other Rifle platoon! So, now I have a legal Guards Rifle force, since I now have an HQ and 2 Combat platoons. Along with my 2nd Rifle platoon, I have also finished my HMGs. These chaps will get carriers (soon) but for now they can be foot slogging! They have acquired the spare PIAT that I painted earlier in the challenge, but I will paint another so I still have one spare.

So, with those done, all that leaves me left to do is the 3rd Rifle platoon, plus one PIAT stand. And I have 2 days to do it. Perhaps I need to add some more things to get done over those 2 days?

The army as it stands right now, tonight those guys on white bases will get primed, ready for paint tommorow.

How did other peoples snow painting go?

Models Painted: 25 Infantry, 2 25pdrs and Limbers, 6 Tank Teams
Models Remaining: 10 Infantry

CP

Snow Challenge 5- Any progress is good progress?

Any progress is good progress right? There is still plenty of snow on the ground, but it wont be here for long I don't think! Which is probably good actually, it is about time the town got back to normal!

Now, onto progress. I have one very important tip for young players. When trying to do a challenge (such as this one) it is a really good idea to not buy more things to add to the painting pile!

So... what did I paint today? I got a few layers onto my 2nd rifle platoon, but also I managed to get my OP Sherman painted too. And then what did I add to the list? An HMG platoon, plus JOE Vanderleur and the Forward Air Controller (Fat Controller from now on!)

So, here is the whole army, in its semi-painted state.

And here are two (average) pictures of my Sherman OP

So what painted tommorow? JOE, the fat controller, finish the 2nd rifle platoon and I reckon I can get the HMGs done. Which will leave me with just one rifle platoon to go- so long as I don't go shopping again!

Figures Painted: 16 Infantry, 3 Carriers, 2 25pdrs and Limbers, 1 Sherman V
Unpainted: 19 Infantry, 1 FAC, JOE Vandeleur.

So.... suddenly I am back to being under halfway through....

And so the painting continues....

CP

Snow Challenge 4= Progress!

So, the Snow Challenge continues. There is still a heck of alot of snow outside, so more than enough to keep me from having to work this week so far! More importantly, the challenge has spread to Jason and Craig, with Jason's panzers especially embracing the winter aspect of the the challenge! I managed to have a game against him last night too- as it turns out we live around the corner from each other, so it was a (relativly) easy walk to have a game!

So, the title says progress, so that means I need pictures! First off, this is where the army is as a whole.

So, while out for a walk today I was met by Jason, who generously provided me with the paint needed to get my armour done, which meant I could finish my Universal Carriers....

And also my 25pdrs.

But not only that, but I also managed to get some infantry painted. Firstly, my Company HQ (with random PIAT)

As well as the first of my three Guards Rifle Platoons.

You will notice in the army picture that I have a few more infantry done from the 2nd platoon, but I just don't have a photo of them. I have also painted the limbers for the 25pdrs, but apparently they are shy, since none of the photos of them turned out at all!

I have also added a Sherman to the painting mix, I acquired him in a trade with Jason, he needed a Panzer IV, and I needed a Sherman OP! So that will go up on the painting block tommorow too, along with the remanants of the 2nd platoon. Plus I should get the bases done on the last platoon, so they will be ready to go on Thursday when I get around to painting them!

Models Painted- 16 Infantry, 3 Carriers, 2 25pdrs and Limbers
Models Remaining- 14 Infantry, 1 Sherman

My oh my, what a productive day! Any encouragement glady appreciated for tommorow!

CP

Snow Challenge update 3= And lo did the heavens open.....

And so, the heavens opened last night, and then this was the scene in the morning.

So, it is official. The Snow Challenge has snow!

And I managed to get a bit done today. I started by painting my Universal Carriers and 25pdrs, getting them base coated... only to realise that I don't have the right paint! Doh! So, they are undercoated, and hopefully I can source myself that paint colour....

So, moving on from that little "hiccup"; I got cracking into painting and basing my riflemen. I managed to get a really good start on one whole platoon, who I should be able to get finished in the morning. More excitingly, I got ONE stand finished!

Here is the Piat stand for one of my rifle platoons- showing off their sweet bases! Despite the average photo, I am really happy with how it has panned out, I am actually looking forward to getting some more done!

The whole mob, as i stands. One platoon is looking particularly small, and that is because the rest of them are currently drying in the garage after being sprayed black. The UC's and the 25pdrs really just need to be painted using the right colour.

So, the weather? Snow. And looking like more on the way.

Amount Completed? 1 stand (yay!)
Amount Remaining? 29 stands, 3 carriers, 2 25pdrs and limbers.

But... thats progress right?

So, Jason is painting for the snow challenge, Stephen is painting some Paras and Craig is painting some Ruskis; what are you painting?

CP

Snow Challenge update 2= Impatience

So, the much vaunted snow, that I have based this entire challenge on hasn't arrived. So.. um... the snow challenge continues? Despite the lack of snow!

Possibly in keeping with the disappointment over the lack of snow, my productivity today was equally poor! I managed to base my Company HQ and first Rifle Platoon, as well as priming my 25pdrs and my Universal Carriers.

Oh, did I mention I managed to find a packet of Universal Carriers lying around? (don't mock my floor storage system) So they have been added to the challenge since they will be in the army too!

Onto pics.
Weather? Fine!

 And the amount of painting done? Poor!

Amount Completed: 0 Stands
Remaining: 30 Infantry, 3 Carriers, 2 Guns and Limbers

CP

Snow Challenge update one

Well, here is the first of the Snow Challenge updates!

Weather: Currently calm, but it is the calm before the storm....

Painting completed: Nothing, not at all. But, I have everything glued onto a base, ready to go, thats gotta count for something right?

So, my three rifle platoons, the company HQ at the front and the 25pdrs at the back.

Tommorow will bring paint....

CP

Snow Challenge Rules

For those who are not in New Zealand, we are expecting some serious snow over the next few days. So, with anticipating 3 or more days of no work, and of no leaving the house, I propose a challenge.

I played a game of FOW on Thursday night, against Jason. I fully blame him, because he made me want to play FOW again, it is completly his fault. Now since I am making a Guards army for Lasalle, it is only appropriate I make a Guards army for Flames of War!

My challenge then, is to fully complete all of the infantry I need for a British Guards Rifle Company before the snow is gone! Which could be 3 days, or it could be a whole week. I will be painting....
-Company HQ (2 Stands)
- 3 Rifle Platoons (27 stands)
-Spare Piat team (1 stand)- I had it spare, I might as well paint it, I might use it with an HMG platoon or something.
-2 25pdrs (2 guns, 2 limbers)- Again, I had these spare. No crews yet, that will have to be fixed in the future!

Well, that is the plan so far, might have to modify it if there is more/less snow!

So, other southern gamers, I propose you make yourself your own challenge, since we are all facing a bit of inside time; all you need to do is make some updates and do some painting!

Update 1 will be later tonight....

CP

Not according to plan....

Well, my plans have gone somewhat pear shaped. It looks like I will not be able to attend Call to Arms this year- due to a multitude of factors. But, all is not lost. there is a second Lasalle competition, at Nappycon in the Hutt Valley in September. So, it looks like that is my new goal, get the British done for that.

Now, in keeping with the theme of things not going right, here are a few of my casaulty figures for Lasalle...

The are so dead, that in fact they decided to be shot sideways. From top to bottom, Landwehr, 27th, Guards and 33rd. I have some more to add over time too, these ones are just the plastics which come spare in boxes of French Cavalry and were supplied by a lovely chap from down South!

So, what now? Well, I am going to have a game of FOW tonight, hopefully that will spark me back into liking that game, plus I still have a bucket of painting to do for my British.

Oh, and this arrived today. What could it contain?

CP

That wehr has land....

Ok, so the title doesn't make sense, either grammatically or comically, but I am sticking with it!

Over the last 4 days, some painting has been taking place! First off, here is the first of my two Hanoverian Landwehr regiments, this is the regiment from Osnabruck.

 Here is the regiment as a whole.

And a lovely close up of the regiment's sergant, showing off the wonderful Hanoverian peaked caps that they had! All in all, a very suave german!

And the regiment's colours. These are from GMB, and since there is no recorded standards for the Hanoverians, it is a bit of a guesstimate for what they would look like!
\
So, in addition to my Landwehr, I also finished the guns for my second artillery battery.

Two 9pdr guns, as well as a 5.5 inch howitzer. I think when I get some horse artillery- which I will do when I buy the heavy horsement (Scots Greys....) they will be using the lighter 6pdr gun, to contrast to the infantry's heavy 9pdrs.

And finally, I managed to paint my second sapper model. Yes I know I will probably never use him, but I figured I might as well paint him up since I had him! He represents a sapper seconded from the 42nd (Black Watch) Regiment, attached to help shore up the defences at Hougemont farm!

He is not amazing, but I am still pretty happy with him. He will look much better once his basing is done...

So, a fair bit done. Just 2 infantry regiments and gun crews to go, as well as any other miscellaneous I need to paint!

CP

Do you have a flag? Part 2

Well, I managed to get the last of my flags assembled.

The 27th Inniskilling's regimental colours.

The 3rd (Scots) Guards regimental colours.

And the Coldstream Guards colours.

So, with them all done, all that leaves me to do is the 3 infantry units and artillery unit. Not much...

In other interesting news, the influence of Lasalle is spreading! We are in the progress of organising firstly a Lasalle demonstration game at Conquest, and also organising a one day competition to go along with it on the second day. So all very exciting stuff, but when we have better information, I will post it up here. For all those interested in Lasalle, it will definitly be on show at Conquest!

Right, back to the painting table,

CP