Finishing up Before the Challenge, pt.2

More accurately, finishing up during the challenge. 

Aye, more Spanish Civil War to show you, that I didn't quite manage to finish for the Wyvern all-day game, but worked on slowly this month. With two sections pretty much done, I'm working on support options at the moment and this Army Hotchkiss machine gun team should do the job nicely. From Empress, fine sculpts with a head swap to give both helmets, if a bit fiddly to assemble the gun. 

Also this Bilbao armoured car to support my Carabineros. A fine resin model, also from Empress miniatures. This featured in the all-dayer, though true to form for freshly painted miniatures, didn't really achieve much. 

As Gharak pointed out, it did need some weathering. I think I got a bit carried away. 

This served as a test piece for a pot of pigment fixer from Vallejo that I picked up. Previously, I was happy with the subtle effects that I could get, but unfortunately they were rubbed or blown off when dullcoting. The fixer seems to work well at what it should do, but instead I struggled to get the same subtlety of effect with it: it tended to clump where the fixer was placed. I think I need a lot more practice, and looking back at the result, it does need a bit of tidying up and re-application.  

Finally and belatedly, a shot of this year's box of miniatures prepared for the painting challenge:

A whole range of stuff to get me to my modest target of 300 points: plenty of SCW, a bit of Sudan, some Pulp single miniatures, 15mm WWII Germans leftover from last year's challenge, 28mm Napoleonic Cacadores that have featured in at least three (!) previous challenge boxes (and still not even started!) and a couple of surprise entries. 

Now, what to paint next? 

The Challenge Box

Slightly belatedly, this is what my 'Challenge box' looks like after what seemed like an eternity of prep work. I had to raid last years challenge leftovers to make it up to the ambitious target I set myself: 700 points. If I get all of this done I'll be very chuffed, though doubtless I'll get diverted by something new mid-way through (including my Secret Santa, no doubt...)

Some pointers to what will be coming:
-unsurprisingly, 'quite a bit' of Sudan, both Mahdist and British
-my Bloggers for Charity offering
-a last, long neglected unit of Bondi for my Saga Vikings
-some Portuguese Cacadores for Sharpe Practice
-many odds and sods, of course

I did fail miserably at clearing the half finished bits from the queue, annoying as that included a whole unit of Egyptian infantry. They've been moved to another box to be contemplated either after the challenge of after I've hit the big 700!

Oh, nearly forgot the overflow tray of 15mm US Paras:



Right, that's reminded me how much I've got to do, I must get back to the painting table

I am Ronin number 33...

...and I am not fully prepared

So, with the Challenge starting in a few short hours, below is what my box of goodies looks like. A motley collection, totalling 50-odd 28mm miniatures, 10 cavalry and umpteen odds and sods. A quick count suggests this is around 400 points worth.

I will confess that a good few were actually left over from last year's Challenge and I'm not sure I'll muster the enthusiasm to get them done this time around either. That includes a unit of plastic Perry British Hussars, I'm dreading those. 

I should get a few more bits to assemble over Christmas and I've yet to convert up the rest of my Spanish Cavalry, which I'll be keen to get painted. No doubt I'll also find some new tangents over the course of the next three months! So I'm fairly confident my target if 550 is achievable. 

Best wishes and good fortune to all of my fellow Ronin as well as no-participants and well-wishers. Wishing you all a very Merry Festive season. 

Challenge Accepted; The Great Assemble

Curt at Analogue Hobbies is running his Painting Challenge again this winter and I'm delighted to enter once more.

My target is to beat my score of last year, 519 points, just over one hundred 28mm miniatures. That's a fair amount for me to put out over three months. 

With that in mind, I ransacked my hobby boxes. This is what I came up with:

It's amazing what you have stashed away...

I will hopefully get a few more bits around Christmas, including perhaps some miniatures from my Secret Santa. In the meantime, the Great Assemble is now on - I can hopefully get this lot built over the next fortnight!