Challenge Submission #13 - A Handful of Special Challenge Targets

 One of the features of this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is the Challenge Quadrant, consisting of three rings of planets surrounding a central star, each planet representing a special theme for the figures to be painted. Here are some of those special figures that I completed in late January and early February.

 The figures of Gandalf the White on foot and mounted on Shadowfax are the older Games Workshop Lord of the Rings castings. I have included Gandalf the Grey in the photos for the 'Before' and 'After' comparison.

A Canadian Churchill tank at Dieppe -Churchill Mk III T68696 'CAT' is a repainted 1/50 Solido diecast model I acquired from a friend. It was originally painted in a desert yellow/olive green striped camouflage pattern for service in Tunisia, but I wanted it to match another Solido Churchill that I had that depicted 'Cheetah' (shown in the background). So the 'tank from Tunisia' was repainted using Vallejo Dark Earth, and then the vehicle name, numbers, etc. painted on freehand.

 A legionary of early Imperial Rome, equipped with lorica segmentata, gladius, and scutum. This is a 28mm plastic figure that came as a sample years ago with an issue of Wargames Illustrated. I was never sure what to do with it, and thought I might use it as a gladiator in our 'local arena'. I'm glad I had it on hand for one of the stops on the Challenge Quadrant.

 A Eurasian Solar Union SAW gunner from Ground Zero Games and a Rebel Commando from West End Games. Both date from the mid to late 1990's. I have painted them up in the colour scheme for the Ral Partha Galactic Grenadiers figures I use as 'Planetary Militia'. In the past I have used both GZG and WEG minis to augment the variety of poses and weapons in my squads.

 

 A 54mm miniature from the Scale Link Ltd. WW1 Grand Guerre range, which depicts a British or Canadian infantryman advancing at the 'Trail Arms' position with fixed bayonet, and his Small Box Respirator worn at the 'Alert' position. He is identified as a member of the 27th Battalion CEF by the blue circle over a blue rectangle on his shoulder. The figure was painted using Vallejo acrylics, followed by some Games Workshop washes. Finally some AK Interactive Spattereffects 'Wet Mud' was applied to areas like knees and elbows. 

  Two 'old school' 25mm Star Wars figures from West End Games depicting Princess Leia Organa as she appeared in 'A New Hope' and 'Return of the Jedi'. Again, these are painted using Vallejo acrylics with GW washes on the faces and hands, and to produce the camouflage pattern on the poncho.

 These special challenges have been very useful in clearing out some of the miniatures that have been lingering in the 'PENDING' box for some time.

Thanks for reading.

Challenge Submission #12 - Soviet Army (Winter) Support Group and T34/76

 

Having completed all my PSC Soviet troops in Summer uniform, it was time to move to those dressed for colder weather in front of the gates to Moscow. I didn't get a huge number of miniatures completed this week as I have been experimenting with different materials to get a 'Winter look' to not only the bases, but the tank as well.

First up is a boxed set of Soviet Army (Winter) Support Group sold by Warlord Games. It consists of a Soviet HQ of two officers, a radioman, and a medic tending a wounded soldier, a Soviet Maxim MMG team, and a Soviet 82mm medium mortar team, all dressed for the cold in a variety of greatcoats, fur hats, felt  winter boots, etc. Each of these groups can be purchased separately, but you save $5 by getting the 'package deal'.

All of the minis were painted using Vallejo acrylics followed by the application of the Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. This is pretty much what I have done up to this point with the Summer Soviets. I used AK Diorama products 'Snow' and 'Snow Sprinkles' on the bases to give them that frosty look.

 

Soviet Army (Winter) Support Group

Soviet HQ (Winter)

Soviet Maxim MMG and 82mm Medium Mortar teams (Winter)

 The second item is a 1/48 scale Tamiya T34/76 in Winter camouflage. The kit was very easy to assemble, even though a lot of the track comes as individual links. The chassis is made of metal, so it actually has some weight to it. 

Once assembled, the tank was primed dark brown, and then painted olive green using Tamiya acrylic paint. Since I already have four T34/76s in various shades of green, I wanted to put this one in Winter colours to go along with my Winter Soviet infantry. I first applied AK Chipping Medium to all the areas that I thought would get a lot of wear and allowed it to dry thoroughly. I then applied a heavily diluted coat of white acrylic paint to give it the appearance of whitewash that was starting to wear off. Once that was completely dry, I used water and a brush to remove the chipping medium to reveal the olive paint underneath. Finally I applied AK Interactive Splattereffects 'Wet Mud' to the tracks and underside to make it look like it had been driven during the Rasputitsa. I may decide to add more 'Wet Mud' to the road wheels, but I am calling it done for now.

 

 This is my first foray into Winter figures, and I am happy with the results. Now that I have the method worked out, I will be ramping up production to meet the quotas of Stalin's latest five-year plan.

Painting Challenge Submission 13 - To The King!

Erkenbrand and Eomer lead the Riders of Rohan to war!

Another Painting Challenge submission. Recall that, in terms of the "Challenge XII Quadrant Map", I had arrived on Arda. The theme for this planet called for something "Tolkeinesque" - here are a group of Riders of Rohan from GW's "Lord of the Rings" figure line. The Riders are lead by Eomer, Marshall of the Rittermark, and Erkenbrand, Lord of the Westfold. They are mostly plastic, but there are a couple of metal castings in the lot, as well as one "Finecast" (which still sucks!) figure.

I can hear you asking "Hey, Greg, didn't you have these guys already? I mean, you painted Erkenbrand back in 2019, right?" Well yes...without making the story too long, some folks may recall I moved house in 2020. That was quite the process, it all happened a bit suddenly, and required some hard decisions when in came to my large collection of figures. Some parts of the collection had to go...and one of those was my Riders of Rohan, who were sold to a new hobby home.

Some of the regular warriors, mounted and ready to fight for Rohan!

The whole move was not easy, but it got done (and many friends, contributors to this blog, were critical to that - thank you!). But wow, did I find that, as I unpacked my stuff, I regretted selling those Riders of Rohan. I had enjoyed so many great games of "Lord of the Rings" over the years with my friends, and I missed seeing those riders on the shelves. The ache was accentuated by the Painting Challenge, which would feature many great submissions of LOTR figures. For example, last year Dallas did an awesome run of LOTR stuff. This year, a number of Challenge participants are continuing the trend. 

I tried to shrug and say "oh, well, need to stick with my decision." But that didn't work...this year, I cracked, and did that dumb thing that we hobby people do sometimes: I ordered replacements to re-start my Riders of Rohan collection! 

Erkenbrand, on foot and mounted - figure from GW.

Of course, things have changed over the years - GW still makes the LOTR figures, and broadly supports the game and the range, but many figures that were once metal are no longer available as metal castings. Erkenbrand is now "Finecast". The plastic-resin of "Finecast" was rightly reviled when it came out, and it still sucks @ss today - the sword on the foot version of Erkenbrand here was drooped like a noodle, and even after a LOT of effort and boiling water, the sword it still not fully straight. Let's hope the Lord of the Westfold stays mounted...

Eomer, mounted and on foot - plastic kit from GW.

The new plastic Eomer is tricky to assemble, but just a stunning figure.

Then Eomer, who used to be a metal casting, is no longer available as a metal casting - he is, in fact, a multi-part plastic model. This brings some frustrations to someone like me. For example, the head was TWO parts, for a single 28mm figure, WTF??? But on the whole, the benefits outweigh the problems by a large margin.While I really like the previous metal Eomer, this plastic one is amazing. The pose is incredible, you get options for heads and weapons. The horse is customized, and because both horse and rider are plastic, you avoid another issue...

Generic Rohan command, mounted. These are metal figures on plastic horses, held up on the base by one leg...f*ck...

Generic Rohan command figures on foot. Note the finial on the standard was a mis-cast...oh well. These guys shouldn't be on foot too much anyway!

...and this will be familiar to many hobbyists already. GW is prone to brain cramps, and they had a major one when they designed the plastic horses for the LOTR range. These horse are bound to the base by a single, thin leg! This is the height of stupidity, and makes things tough - for example, the generic command figure and banner-carrier are both metal figures, and the single, thing, plastic leg is holding them all up. This is idiocy...but it is all we have to work with, so, prayers to the hobby gods...

A selection of plastic Riders.

I also want to thank Curt for his help in figuring out Eomer's armour. It is pretty complicated, with leather patterns worked on to sections of plate...not sure how well I managed it, but it was definitely a Challenge and I am pleased overall with how he turned out. It will be good practice for when I turn to King Theoden, who wears armour with similar complications.

To the king!

Anyway, it is lovely to be back in the LOTR game again! It warms my heart to once more see the Riders of Rohan on my shelf! Thanks for reading, and watch for more Painting Challenge content as we head into the final week! :)

Challenge Submission #10 - No. 11 (Scottish) Commando in North Africa

 

To fulfill the theme requirement of one of the Challenge Quadrant planets, I painted two sections of No. 11 (Scottish) Commando, who were involved in 'Operation Flipper'. These are the first British North Africa figures I have done, but I am not sure if I want to expand my miniature collection further in that direction. I kind of bought them by mistake, and didn't realize until I opened the blisters that half of the figures were wearing shorts or 'Bombay Bloomers'. I was planning to just sell them unpainted online, but when I saw the 'Desert' theme on the Challenge Quadrant I thought, "I have just the figures for that theme."

The miniatures are by Artizan Designs and consist of an officer in a Balmoral, a sergeant wearing a Tam O'Shanter and kilt with kilt apron, and a dozen soldiers armed with a mix of SMLE No. 1 Mk IIIs, Bren guns, or Thompson submachine guns. I found the detail very pronounced, which made them quite enjoyable to paint, especially after painting all those PSC Soviets. In my usual style, I glued the figures onto 1" fender washers, added sand to the bases, and primed everything black using an airbrush. They were then painted using a selection of Vallejo acrylics suggested by the Artizan Designs painting guide for the 8th Army in North Africa. I also used some GW washes, specifically Reikland Fleshshade on all the skin areas, and Agrax Earthshade on the uniforms and weapons. All in all, I am pretty happy with the way things turned out.

Two sections of No. 11 (Scottish) Commando

No. 1 Section commanded by an officer

 

Close up of the officer with two supporting riflemen

No. 2 Section commanded by a sergeant

Close up of the sergeant with his kilt and kilt apron

 Thanks for reading.

Challenge Submission #9 - Soviet WW2 Infantry in Summer Uniform

 

This is the last batch of my Plastic Soldier Company World War 2 Soviets, a box of Russian Infantry in Summer Uniform. The box consists of three identical sprues, each consisting of 19 miniatures. Most are one piece moldings, but others have separate heads and/or arms. There is very limited scope to do any variation, but not even close to the multi-part sets from other manufacturers. As with the previous set I have posted, the sculpting lacks a bit in the third dimension, but you can't argue with the price. One can also see where some sculpts were reused with a change of head or switching from a standing to a kneeling position. Also the light machine gun figures were repurposed to become the anti-tank rifle team in the heavy weapons box.

With the exception of the prone figures, I mounted all the miniatures on slotted bases from Games Workshop that I had in my hobby supplies. In a few cases, I had to trim the molded base on the figure a bit smaller so that it would fit the dimensions of the GW bases. (The prone figures were mounted on bases cut from plastic card, but only after they had been painted.) Everything was then primed black with a rattle can. They were painted using Vallejo acrylics from the Army Painter Soviet Paint Set followed by a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. When it comes to mass armies, this really works for me, as it quickly brings the figures up a notch in terms of appearance.

In each sprue you get 1 senior officer, 1 junior officer, 1 female medic, 7 soldiers armed with rifles, 5 soldiers armed with sub-machine guns, 1 prone light machine gun team, and 1 light machine gun team on the move. The total count is 57 Soviet infantry ready to repel the Fascist invaders

Смерть немецко-фашистским захватчикам (Death to the Fascist-German Invaders)

The four figures below show the limited 'mix and match' ability of the box of figures. You get three minis wearing a pilotka, and three wearing a helmet, along with three pairs of arms holding a rifle, and three pairs holding a sub-machine gun.

 

 

Thanks for reading. More Soviets coming soon.

Challenge Submission #8 - T'rana from Strike Team Alpha

 

This submission is a batch of 'old school' Ral Partha miniatures from their Galactic Grenadiers range from the late 1970s. These figures were sculpted to go with the Strike Team Alpha rules that came out at the same time. 

 

Front cover of the Strike Team Alpha rules set

One of the three types of aliens in the rules is the T'rana, a reptilian race that makes me think of what might have happened to the genus of velociraptors had dinosaurs not gone extinct.  I have a large collection of the various human figures in the range, all of which were painted many years ago. For some reason, I never finished the T'rana. They had been primed grey, and a base of dark green had been applied to the bodies, but then they languished in a drawer for decades until now. (The Challenge Quadrant has certainly proved its worth in inspiring me to get some of the deadwood completed and ready for the tabletop)

To complete these miniatures, I mounted them on 1" fender washers and glued on sand and a few pebbles to blend everything together. The earlier dark green I had used wasn't working for me, so I repainted the figures using Vallejo Lime Green for the bodies and Gunship Green for the crest along the spine and tail. Gunmetal and Black were used for weapons and equipment respectively. When that was all done, they all got a treatment of Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. Eventually I will hit them with some matte spray when it's warm enough to use it outside. I was thinking 'Jungle' with these minis, but the bases ended up more like 'Desert'. Still I am happy to transfer these to the 'Out' basket.

 

Lizards, Mr. Frederico! Zillions of them!

T'rana (Reptilian)w/Hand Weapon

T'rana (Reptilian) Advancing

 Thanks for reading.

Challenge Submission #7 - WW2 Soviet Anti-Tank Guns and Heavy Weapons

In my post from last week, we saw a major buildup of my Bolt Action Soviet tank forces. This week we are looking at giving the Soviet infantry some much needed firepower. All of the figures and weapons in this post are from the Plastic Soldier Company's 28mm range, specifically their boxes of 'Russian 45mm Anti-Tank Gun' and 'Russian Heavy Weapons'. 

The Plastic Soldier Company's range are an inexpensive alternative to metal, or even multi-pose plastic figures, although I do find some of the poses remind me of the cheap toy soldiers I owned as a young boy, especially those cast as a single piece. They are fine in length and width, but a bit lacking in depth. All of the figures were assembled, mounted on bases (with the exception of the anti-tank gun crews) and primed black using a rattle can. I painted them using acrylics from the Vallejo Soviet Paint Set. Finally everything was hit with Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. The Quick Shade leaves everything with a glossy finish, so when the weather is warmer I will be taking these outside to give them a coat of matte spray to dull them down a bit.

 

The Russian 45mm Anti-Tank Gun box contains 2 guns and 8 crew figures. Each gun sprue has different barrel options to allow you to build any of the following: 45mm M1937 anti tank gun, 45mm M1942 anti tank gun or 76mm M1943 infantry gun. Since I am current working on an early Operation Barbarossa theme, I built my guns as the M1937 version. The set also contains ammo boxes, both live shells and spent casings, as well as a rifle and sub-machine gun to add to the ambience. Since the bases I used for my guns were getting a bit crowded, I shifted some of the ammo boxes to the medium mortar bases, and the rifles to the machine gun bases.

 

 

The Russian Heavy Weapons box provides you enough sprues to build 26 miniatures and 8 models depicting WW2 Russian infantry heavy weapons as follows: 2 x 3 man Pulemyot Maxima PM1910 machine gun teams firing, 2 x 2 man machine gun teams moving, 2 x 2 man RM-38 50mm light mortar teams, 2 x 3 man M-37 82mm medium mortar teams, 2 x 2 man firing PTRS-41 anti -tank rifles, and 2 moving PTRS anti-tank rifles.

Pulemyot Maxima PM1910 machine gun teams

M-37 82mm medium mortar and RM-38 50mm light mortar teams

PTRS-41 anti -tank rifle teams

 За Родину (For the Homeland) Thanks for reading.