So, the painting challenge ended on the 20th, bringing to a close 3 months of hard work sloging away at the painting table!
This is what I finished in 28mm....
From left to right-
- Germans, Australians and Americans for WW2 Force on Force gaming.
- Greeks for SAGA and Impetvs
- Irish for SAGA
- 1 Artillery unit, 1 Infantry unit, Duke of Wellington and Casualty markers for Lasalle
And in 15mm...
From left to right..
- Early War British Infantry Tank Company
- 1st (US) Infantry Division Beach Assault Company
- British Late War Artillery Battery with Transports
- German units- Kradschutzen, Panzer III's, Stukas, Pak 36s, Pak 40s, 15cm SiG guns
- NZ 4th Armoured Regiment Sherman tank Company
So, just a wee bit painted in 3 months!
The voting is up on Analogue Hobbies (here)so have a vote for your favourite- and if in doubt, vote my Irish!
Well, here is my 1200 point force for Day of Days this year, the New Zealand Armoured!
Now, in keeping with the "Ironman Challenge"- I had to choose a force that was either mechanised or tank based. This all stemmed from Jamie pointing out the proliferation of "tough" infantry forces- and the players running them not taking any risks with the lists!
1200 points, in all it's glory!
So, for 1200 points, what do I get?
Company HQ- 2 Sherman M4A2, 1 AA 50 cal HMG
Tank Platoon- 3 M4A2 Sherman
Tank Platoon- 3 M4A2 Sherman
Company HQ- Tank numbers 15 and 16
First Platoon- Tank Numbers 3, 4 and 5
Second Platoon- Tanks 6,7 and 8
So that is 1200 points. To bring it up to the 1750 needed for Warclouds (if i go) I needed to add yet more stuff!
Sherman OP Tank (left) and an extra Company HQ Sherman- number 17
An M32 Tank Recovery Vehicle
'The story goes that the 4th armoured had only wheeled recovery vehicles on their Order of Battle, but the terrain in Italy demanded the need for something more capable! The 20th Armoured Regiment came upon a suspicious looking haystack in their advance in Italy, lo and behold an armoured recovery vehicle was inside, bogged down! So once the kiwis had pulled it out under sporadic mortar fire, they painted over the allied star and then it was theirs! Eventually the Americans wanted it back, but the 20th managed to keep it. Once the 20th had gotten theirs, the other armoured regiments got one through far more legitimate means!'
Three Stuart V Jalopies- Tank Numbers 4,5 and 6
The Stuart Light tank had been in service since the desert war, acting as a light tank, but by late war was relegated totally to a recon role. The 37mm turret was removed, to produce the Jalopy. This gave it better cross country performance (due to the reduced weight). Defense was kept with a 50 cal HMG, which the Kiwis put with a gun shield (borrowed in this case from a BF ACAV kit).
Hope you like them! Need more stuff for Warclouds, need to paint more for Valleycon and then I did this last night....
This will be my infantry aces army! More on this over the weekend...
Having 3 flames of war armies on the go at once is a good idea right?
Here are some Panzer III's- Pretty standard Panzer Grey. Definitly not as shiny in person- thats just the sun in effect!
These Panzers are part of my Early War army for Valleycon- they get one more to their number (who is on the painting table right now...). Armed with the massive 37mm gun, and lots of MGs these guys are a big part of my Tank defenses for the army.
Another big part are these...
Two PaK 36 guns, for more 37mm goodness! These guys round out the platoon (one was done before) and are my ground pouding AT weapons, ready to hunt those dastardly Limeys and Frogs!
Lastly for Ze Germans this update, and the big guns....
Well not guns per say, rather bombs! Two 1/100th scale Stukas to act as my air support. These are two die cast models, sourced from a random Aircraft magazine (I bought 3, one is an objective marker). Pretty standard German Stuka camo for the invasion of France (that is, none) with the crosses done freehand. Not the neatest thing ever, but they give a good impression of some air support!
So, with the beginning of 2012, I have returned from my sojurn up north, and have powered back into wargaming.
Centurion Tank at the Waiouru Army Museum, with some doofus in front of it....
So, in terms of the painting challenge. At this exact point, I am a bare 800 points away from the leader Kent (go NZ!). He has been likened to a painting version of the Terminator; but Kent has never seemed Austrian enough to pull that off. I like to think of him as akin to Robocop, his painting life tragically cut down by gangsters, he was rebuilt to become a mesh of human and robot components optimised to produce great work, incredibly fast.
So, my excuse for not winning the painting challenge? The winner is a cyborg.
But I have managed to get some painting in at any rate, here are the completed 69th South Lincolnshire Regiment.
The regiment itself
The poor skirmisher out by himself!
So with them completed, I only have ONE small infantry unit to get finished before my Guards British army is completed! Well, until I want to run some different support. Which I probably will. But I will at least have enough to have a game!
Right, so on the painting table now is some 15mm Germans, some 15mm Kiwis, some Stukas...
Oh and this arrived....
Looks like I am going to be a busy boy!
Some info on Dystopian Wars tomorrow, and some more painted stuff....
This is my last post of the year, I thought it only fitting to have a wee recap of what the year has given and what I want to do next!
On the home front, 2011 had it's tough moments. Major natural disasters will do that! But that's all the talk of earthquakes that's needed.
I went to five Flames if War tournaments,Tempest, Southcon, Conquest, Flamescon and Bedecon. I managed to win 2 and was first equal in one. Next year, must put in a better showing at Southcon! I painted some new armies, british and some US paras in a week! I think next year I will rebase my paras onto the BF rubble bases, with snow. Because my favorite episode of Band of Brothers is Bastogne! Jamie has made his Ironman challenge, to encourage the use of tank and mechanized companies. I suppose I should do it too! First up is some form of tank army to fight at Valleycon- 1500 points Mid War at the end of January.
In other gaming? I painted the majority of a Napoleonic army. Never had one of them before! Got the start of some Thirty Years War too. That will be big in the start if next year. Dystopian wars is taking up an increasing amount of my time, which I am totally happy with.
The painting challenge? It has been one week, and I am 300 points behind. Bugger. What's the plan then? I will initiate "Operation Face Saver", a weeklong see how much I get painted beginning on the 3rd of January. I will paint British napolonics, a flames if war army for Valleycon and start some TYW Spanish. And get as much done as possible!
Finally, I want to play more games. Seems logical enough, but is it possible?
So that's the plan to start the year. Paint paint paint!
Well, for those of you who don't read the blog from Analogue Hobbies (link on the left); you really should! But as well, I will post up some pictures of what I have been painting lately on here too!
First up, some Napoleonics!
One of the wonderful Perry casualty miniatures. This is one from the forthcoming South Linconshire regiment.
My second artillery battery, 2 9 pounder guns and a 5.5" howitzer with all their crew
The reverse of the same unit
Plus, the all important man himself, Stephen Fry! I mean, the Duke of Wellington...
If you have a spare 5 minutes, I highly recommend reminding yourself of this show. I like to think of the Duke like how he is portrayed here!
Two shots of the Duke himself, maintaining a commanding position on the battlefield!
In addition to that Napoleonics stuff, I also managed to get an M8 Greyhound scout car done. Why? Well it was sitting on my desk waiting to be painted. Or is it for a secret project?
Hint- It's not for a secret project...
Well, that is all folks! No more painting for 2011 for me, I am off on holiday this afternoon, returning in the New Year. I think I will put up one more blog post before the year is out, but this is the last one with proper pictures!
Merry Christmas, I hope Santa brought all of the Toy Soldiers you desired...
So, for those who don't live in Christchurch (affectionatly known as Quakechurch); we experienced more rocking and rolling yesterday. I myself was safe and sound with my family slightly out of town on Banks Peninsula, but recieved the very odd sensation of watching large rockfalls across the harbour. Unnerving. Sadly, this is common place here at the moment- although we have had no large rumbles in 6 months according to the TV. After a brief time stuck over there (roads were closed to be checked for slip damage), we were able to come home to a house with no further damage or nothing too much fallen over.
But still, an earthquake is no excuse for such poor discipline from my South Lincolnshire Regiment! I came home to find them like this..
All bar the two bearers of the colours were no longer in ranks- two of the troopers had the audacity to attempt to go AWOL; they were picked up as they attempted to escape (to the pub I assume).
Who could redress the ranks, instill an air of courage? Well, the Duke of Wellington of course!
Here is my WIP Duke- there is only a little bit to finish on the Duke- some highlights on his hat, the gold and maybe a touch up on the flesh. His horse has not even got base colours, but I will have to find the right brown! He will hopefully get done today.
So the way the Analogue Hobbies competition works is that I will send them pictures of my finished models, they will be posted on their website then I can put them up on mine too after a day or so. So, without any further ado- here is my painted first (and only) model up on Analogue Hobbies... A Spartan!!
No need for pictures up on here for just that one test model- I am pretty happy with the bronze and the red. Not so much the flesh- something to work on when I paint some more.
Right, off to start painting the Duke's horse, and sending some photos of British Artillery to Analogue.
Well, here it is, my first update for the painting challenge.
So, what I have I completed?
Well... no full stands of Napoleonics... but I did paint these six chaps!
Six artillery crew; which marks exactly where I left off last time I painted Napoleonics! I had just finished their 3 guns, then got caught by a serious bout of "can't-be-bothered-itis". I just don't actually enjoy painting these guys, not sure if it is the Victrix faces (which I hate) or the combination of colours (I really hate yellow) but they just are not enjoyable to paint. What is enjoyable however, is that I only have 6 more to go!
What's the plan then? Well, I am off on holiday on the 26th. Until the new year. Which means no painting (at all) will be done in that week! Which will keep putting me behind (darn it). So my goal before Christmas is to get this artillery battery done fully. I then plan to make up for the no painting week by a whole week where I am at home, and I don't have to work. It will be my goal to get as much painted in that week as possible! So look out for some frantic updates from the 2nd of january until the 9th of January!
Oh, in other news I finished a secret test figure (pics tomorrow), and my Thirty Years War army is winging it's way towards me from the UK.
Well, after a week of PVA glue and big paintbrushes, my British Napoleonic Army is based!
There is what I have got! In Lasalle terms: 2 Large Guards Infantry Units, 5 Infantry Units, 1 Hussar Unit, 1 Unit of Artillery, extra skirmisher and sapper stands, 4 commanders and some casualty markers.
A close up of the Artillery base. The bases themselves need a little bit of colour, which I am sorting as we speak. It is hopefully winging it's way to me from England....
So what is left to paint for my Napoleonic British?
2 Units of Infantry (69th South Lincolnshire and some more Landwehr)
The artillery crew for another base of artillery
The Duke Himself- because it ain't Waterloo without the Duke!
With that in mind, here is the 69th Regiment ready for some paint
Although I have just noticed one of the front ranks has a particularly... exaggerated pose of his head. I will fix that before I apply some paint!
Because it aint Waterloo without him; here is the Duke of Wellington himself, ready to get some paint applied also.
But no paint (other than undercoat) can be applied until 11:01 am on the 20th of December (00:01 Canadian Time) so these chaps will have to wait! I still need to assemble the regiment of Landwehr, so that will likely happen in the next day or two as well.
But in other news, there has been some trouble brewing in Bangkok; which concerns the economic interests of the Kingdom of Brittania in that little slice of the globe....
So as this year comes to a close, it is about time to get myself a new challenge, because you may have noticed that without a reason to get things finished, I tend to not do it!
I found a perfect challenge here; a Winter Challenge run by a blog out of Canada (hence it being a winter challenge!). The challenge is simple, paint as much as possible between the 20th of December until the 20th of March. Different scale models are given a points value, the goal being to get as many points! The challenge is truly international; contestants from Spain, Germany, Canada, England, Scotland, Belgium, Newfoundland and the USA will make for a truly awesome challenge!
Scoring Matrix
5 points per 25/28mm foot figure
10 points per per 25/28mm mounted figure
10 points per 25/28mm artillery piece or limber model
4 points per 20mm foot or unmounted horse figure
8 points per 20mm mounted figure
8 points per 20mm artillery piece or limber model
3 points per 15mm foot or unmounted horse figure
6 points per 15mm mounted figure
6 points per 15mm artillery piece or limber model
They also have to be based; which is my arch nemesis!
So, that is the challenge. What is the plan then?
Step I: Base everything I have painted of my British Napoleonic Army before the 20th of December Step II: Paint Three more regiments of British Napoleonics Infantry and 1 unit of Artillery crew to complete my Guards army, and to have it so I can play it as either Guards or Infantry. Step III: Begin work into a Spanish Army of the Thirty Years War, based around Tercios! Step IV: Paint a 15mm Australian Divisional Cavalry army for Early War FOW Step V: Order and Paint 2 units of British Heavy Cavalry for Napoleonics (Scots Greys and Dragoon Guards) Step VI: Sleep and not paint.
That's as far as I have gotten, if I manage to get that all done, I will be pretty darn stoked! There is plenty more to paint if need be! I don't really care about winning the challenge, more that it is a darn good excuse to get my Napoleonics done! Kent is also joining in the challenge- he is attempting an absolute stellar amount of Romans!
Right. Thats the challenge, and what I will be working towards for the next 3 months or so. Pictures tommorow of the based Napoleonics, as well as a better description of where I am headed with them.
