TFL Painting Challenge: Tuesday Update

A Tuesday update for a change...mainly because I spent all last night watching Band of Brothers!

Today's achievements are from:

• Carole gets his act together and confirms the scale of his Anglo-Scottish Nine Years War Brigade from Lurkio
• Then adds loads of tanks and halftracks...not to the same army, I'm assured
• Mr Helliwell adds a couple of 15mm vehicles
• Benito sends in a lovely picture of an armoured car for the Spanish Civil War
• Mr Douglas adds some more Greeks (I'd love to repeat the joke about the elephants, but I try and keep the site as apolitical as possible!)
• Paul Baldwin, who probably can plow, adds some nice WoR men-at-arms and lots of teeny-tiny chaps from the desert
• Jon Yuengling with a big entry of planes and tanks in 6mm and 15mm
• New entrant "I'm Bruce" pops in a Sidney and a Finnish tank
• and Ashley adds some more sci-fi

Today's official pictures are from Benito (a Union Naval de Levante (UNL-35) armoured car for his Republican Army of the Spanish Civil War); newbie I'm Bruce (a Finnish tank); and Carole (the Anglo-Scottish Brigade).

Finally, one of the list above who shall remain nameless (no, it wasn't Carole) deserves a special mention for his attempts to claim for painting his mother-in-law's bedroom.

I was tempted to give him the points for a "building greater than 28mm", but then I remembered that in the past I've disallowed a greenhouse and a biscuit tin.

I know you all want to see it, so here it is:

Lovely.

TFL Painting Challenge: Saturday Night is the night for an update

Another huge batch of entries this week, from participants both old and new.

Some of the point scores being racked up already are incredible. It both bodes well for the challenge as a whole and inspires me to get my own finger out and finish the ten 15mm tanks sitting on my painting table.

Today's achievements are from:

• Regular Mr Yuengling with three Japanese tanks in 15mm
• Mr Baldwin with some literally small pickings
• The Mad Padre bursts onto the scene with three entries for January
• Matt Slade also adds three entries, including some SYW figures and the Ghostbusters (no controversy here: they are all of the male variety)
• Ralph Plowman plows on with his Fireforge knights (and yes, I'm sure he's heard that one before)
• Doug Melville reappears with a boxful of Wallachians and Hungarians
• Steve Burt adds a few more Makedonians
• Mr Ralls threatens to overwhelm his gallery with three more entries:  Bavarians, Wurttemburgers and a hotel for them to stay in
• Mr Luther adds some more of his lovely Japs and a double handful of 6mm vehicles
• Ashley Pollard also reappears...this time with some starships
• Newbie Andrew McCarthy adds some Italians and a KO'd T-34
• And the rather worryingly named 'Topyob' puts in seven 15mm vehicles and some British Guards.

There's another entry but as they (no names, no pack drill) forgot to let me know what scale the figures are and, unusually, I can't tell, they will have to wait!

Today's picture is from Mr McCarthy...the aforementioned Italians :

TFL Painting Challenge: Huge Update

Demonstrating just how big the painting challenge is getting, here's a huge update that represents under a week's worth of entries...

So, in no particular order, we have:

• Benito breaking his 2015 duck with some El Cid Moors
• Mr Yuengling with some more 15mm WW1 infantry
• Carole with a mixture of entries that include a rather nice scratchbuilt Normandy church and loads of Nine Years War Frenchies
• Mr Plowman adds some beautifully painted knights for his Rampant Lion army
• Fred Bloggs enters his usual mixture of weird figures: witches, dwarves and some figures who shall not be named for copyright reasons!
• Joakim adds some more big Dusters
• AJH eventually manages to submit some Dux B and TCHAE figures
• Mr Douglas adds more Greek cavalry - hope they got their votes in before posing for the photo
• Mr Ralls enters lots of monsters from the Shadows of Brimstone game
• Mr Luther adds more 6mm aeroplanes and some more 20mm Japs
• Mr Bax also appears in the lists for the first time in 2015, with some lovely Fallschirmjaegers and Dutch police
• Mr Blankenship achieves 'fousands of 15mm Japs (well, 157) and a lot of tanks and anti-tank guns
• Steve Burt builds an Airfix cafe
• and finally Mr Helliwell adds more Germans to his autumn collection

That's entries from 14 people this week. Not bad going considering its only January!

Today's pictures? From two people I think. Let's have Carole's scratchbuilt church and Mr Bax's Dutch police:

TFL Painting Challenge: Big Monday

Lots of lovely entries today: everyone's obviously been hard at work over the weekend!

In no particular order, we have:

• Oodles of figures from Jason Ralls
• And from Matt Slade, who also becomes the first person in 2015 to break the 500 point mark
• Treadhead submits a platoon of US infantry for CoC
• Mr Douglas puts in some pikemen
• Mr Helliwell some anti-tank guns
• New entrant Sapper submits loads of stuff
• Mr Luther comes back for more
• Mr Baldwin, of tractor-country fame, submits some very nice 28mm figures for Sharp Practice and Muskets & Tomahawks
• And finally newbie Mr John Michael pops in some nice Westwind figures

There are two pictures today. One is of Mr Baldwin's Companie de la Marine; the other is Treadhead's platoon commander. Lovely work!

TFL Painting Challenge: Quick Update

Great game of IABSM this morning, so to celebrate here's an update on the painting challenge.

Today's achievements are from:

• New recruit Mr Eggman Glass, from Canada, with some Italians for CoC
• Mark Luther makes his first appearance this year with some 20mm Japanese
• Thomas starts his year strongly with a very nice, and very crashed, flying saucer terrain piece
• Another Penguin, Joakim, submits some big figures for Dust
• Carole's second entry of the year is large amounts of 15mm figures for the Anglo-Dutch Nine Years War
• And Mr Slade also sends in his second entry of the year: some 25mm Austrians

Today's photo is from Mr Eggman Glass...it's not that bad a photo!

TFL Painting Challenge: Monster Update

The first really big batch of entries for the new year as people get themselves into the swing of things.

Before I list the achievements, however, thanks to those who sympathised with my toothache. Dentist tomorrow, but the weekend has been...bad!

In fact, if you told me I could make the pain go away by rubbing my forehead with a badger coated in curry sauce, I wouldn't currently be doing this: I'd be out in the undergrowth with a piece of cheese in one hand (do badgers eat cheese?) and a korma in the other!

Anyway, enough of my complaining, onto the achievements:

• new entrant AJH (who's actual name is so splendid I'm tempted to break his anonymity anyway!) has submitted a large 6mm ACW Union army to get himself going for the year
• Mr Plowman returns triumphantly with a very nice unit of crossbowmen
• WillieB also returns, with a massive entry of resting Napoleonic Frenchmen (but not unfortunately featuring the regimental crest of two dead Frenchmen crossed over a pile of dead Frenchmen)
• Mr Naylor enters his second achievement of the year (already) with some WW2 US infantry
• Paul Blankenship breaks his duck both this year and in the challenge as a whole with a massive entry of 6mm Cold War British, Americans and Soviets.
• Treadhead got religion over the holidays and pops back with a beautiful 28mm chapel
• Another newbie submits his second entry: Andrew Helliwell with more autumnal Germans 
• Carole Flint smashes in a very nice late WW2 British anti-tank gun unit and Big Man
• Mr Ralls survives Christmas and submits 28mm Napoelonics and 15mm WW2 figures
• Newbie Tony Stapells sends in his first entry: a Welsh DBA army with Murat in command (must have taken a wrong turn in the Alps (or was that Napoleon)
• And finally Mr Hodge submits his second entry for the year: a scratch built roof that merits being counted as a building in its own right, and two "Diddums Trucks" - don't ask!

That's not bad going for two weeks in!

Today's pictures are one of the shots of WillieB's Frenchmen and a pic of Carole's anti-tank guns:

TFL Painting Challenge: the Toothache Update

I'm up suffering from acute toothache (a traumatised nerve apparently) so thought I might as well update the painting challenge whilst I wait for the painkillers to kick in!

Today's entries are from:

• New entrant Andy Duffell with all sorts of bits and pieces
• New entrant Andy Helliwell with a 15mm mortar unit that is forever autumn
• Mr Hodge with a couple of Churchills and a nice ruined building
• Mr Yuengling with some British and Ottomans for the Great War
• Mr Burt with some Makedonians
• and Mr Douglas with some Illyrians

I'm going to feature both of Mr Hodge's entries as today's pictures: two Battlefront Churchills in 15mm and a ruined house from Goldfinger:

TFL Painting Challenge: First Update of 2015

Here is the first painting challenge update of 2015. I wasn't expecting to post one so soon, but some of you have been so quick off the mark that it seemed churlish to wait.

• First off the blocks was Richard Naylor, with a cheeky 4Ground house. Still waiting for a picture, but logged at 5pm on 1st January: an impressively quick start to the year.
• Next up we have Richard Danziger, with three 15mm tanks.
• Finally we have the first of what I am sure will be many entries from Matt Slade. Obviously working like a demon over Xmas, he has already finished over 200 points worth of achievements for 2015. Looks like he's out to break that 5,000 point barrier whilst us mere mortals can only wonder at how he does it!

Today's pictures are from Mr Slade. One of his dwarf pics, and a couple of bug pics. Wish mine looked as good as that!

TFL Painting Challenge: The Last Day - Fourth and Final Update!

Well that's the end of the 2014 TooFatLardies Painting Challenge!

Fifty-five people entered, and have produced fifty-five galleries full of inspirational miniatures.

I'm not going to list who scored the most points, or who painted more of this type of figure than anyone else: that wasn't the point.

The point was to encourage us all to paint a bit more and, hopefully, improve our painting and photography skills along the way...and it seems to have worked. Lots of you have posted on the TFL Yahoo group about how much this has indeed got you painting more, and the sheer number of last-minute entries proves the point. Thanks, by the way, for all your kind words re me running the challenge: much appreciated.

On a personal note, I managed 898 points...missing out on my target of 1,000. That does, however, give me two numbers to aim for in 2015: beating my score for 2014 and reaching the elusive 'Grand'.

The 2015 TFL Painting Challenge starts now. I'll post the empty scorecard as soon as I have time, and you get a gallery once you've entered something! I have a zug of Gebirgsjaeger heavy mortars on the way, so I'll hopefully lead the way!

Finally, there were a few last minute entries that snuck in just before deadline:

• Mr Ralls with some Austrians and WW2 British
• Mr Hodge with a large Normandy church and some Paras
• and Mr Douglas, with eight minutes to spare, with eight 15mm  horse archers

Here are Mervyn's last minute horse archers:

TFL Painting Challenge: The Last Day - Update 03

More achievements being submitted in a desperate attempt to beat the midnight GMT deadline!

What's good about this lot is that they represent people who have really pushed hard to get their entries in on time...and we even have yet another newcomer.

So, the list...

• Mr Bloggs attempts to catch Thomas with a mixture of fantasy figures
• But Thomas is having none of it with an equally mixed bag of figures seemingly taken from the very bottom of the lead mountain, but giving him a respectable score for the year of just over 300 points
• Mr Plowman sends in his second entry of the day: I think the paint is still wet on these ones
• Stumpy with more re-basing: this time over 250 Soviets (would drive me potty doing all that re-basing)
• Leif with some big figs
• Mr Bax just manages to get himself over the 1,000 point mark with some more of those lovely arctic figures and some CoC jump-off points
• And, literally last but by no means least, Jim Murray pots some beautiful 1/144 aeroplanes and (a man after my own heart) some big 15mm tank units

And to show we have no bad feelings towards Mr Murray for spurning the painting competition until the very last minute, here are his BE-2s:

TFL Painting Challenge: The Last Day - Update 02

Second batch of today's last-minute entries.

In addition to another huge batch from JdTN, we even have a new entrant: Andy Duffell and his Fantasy/CoC figures.

Don't read that last bit aloud! 

So, in this update we have:

• Alexandros and three 28mm vehicles
• Joakim and some Dust-ers
• the aforementioned John de Terre Neuve with another bucketload: taking him up to an impressive 1,300 points or so
• and the tardy Mr Duffell, with 800 points or so's worth of fantasy and Chain of Command figures.

For everyone else, there's still time to get your entries in!

This update's picture is from Alexandros, an internal shot of an SU-76M:

Oh...okay then...and here's shot from one of new-kid-on-the-block Mr Duffell's entries, a rather lovely StuG:

TFL Painting Challenge: The Last Day - Update 01

Some huge entries coming in as people suddenly realise that the deadline is upon them!

In the first of today's updates, we have:

• John de Terre Neuve with an extraordinary catch-up entry, some of which dates back to March, that sends him straight over the 500 point mark with a very nice collection of 20mm and 28mm figures and vehicles
• Proving that anything is possible at the last minute, Kohn submits his first entry for 2014: some 20mm tanks
• Ralph Plowman adds to his total with some mounted sergeants
• And the Mad Padre empties his sleeves with a big 15mm painting entry and a colossal 6mm re-basing project that takes him straight and well over the 1,000 point mark

Ideally I'd like to picture all the entries here, but I'm afraid you'll have to look at the individual galleries as there are just too many pics for a post. Here, however, is one of JdTN's entries, and one (just one!) of the Mad Padre's re-basing shots:

TFL Painting Challenge: The Penultimate Day

Pleased to see that the entries keep coming in for this year's painting challenge.

Just to clarify, the deadline is 12 midnight GMT on the 31st (tomorrow!) with any entries after that counting as in 2015.

Today's achievements are from:

• Egg, with some lovely 15mm buildings. 
• Dave Humm with lots of 20mm WW2 infantry and some fun 28mm Gingerbread men
• Jim Catchpole returns with some more Maurice figures
• Leif also returns with some DAK 20mm figures

And today's picture? I think two, again: Leif's SdKfz 222 and Mr Humm's Gingerbread men

View fullsize

TFL Painting Challenge: The Deadline Approaches

Well it's the 28th of December and the deadline for this year's painting challenge approaches.

Quite a few entries from people squeezing in just one more unit in order to hit a certain points total: Mr Luther, for example, flies through the 3,000 point mark with four 6mm aircraft doubtless pulled from the depths of the lead mountain.

Quite a few entries from people saying "this will be the last one for this year" or "I thought I might hit x points, but now won't". What defeatist talk is this? It is only the 28th: there are still three days to go.

So, come on chaps: one more push...and no saving stuff for next year!

Today's achievements are from:

• Mark Luther hits 3,000 points with four 6mm aircraft
• Dick Bax gets ever closer to the 1,000 mark with some 28mm sci-fi figures and drones
• Jon Yeungling pops in what he claims are the last figures for 2014...
• Mr Danziger and twenty-four US infantry
• And Mr Hodge with loads of re-basing and a couple of AA guns

Just to confirm, the challenge will definitely be running next year.

Today's picture is of Mr Bax's excellent "cold weather troopers":

TFL Painting Challenge: Xmas Eve Update

The TFL Painting Challenge doesn't break for Xmas...and just to prove it, here's a quick Christmas Eve update.

Today's achievements are from:

• The Mad Padre, with some very nice 28mm Commandos that take him to within 70 points of the 1,000 point mark
• Jim Catchpole with some sci-fi terrain that takes him over the 1,000 point mark
• And Jon Yuengling with sixty-four arab infantry. Jon claims to be running out of steam, but is still quite a few locomotives ahead of me!

Pictures wise, I'm going slightly back in time with some hots of Mark Luther's treeline, claimed just the other day. Forget Santa coming down the chimney tomorrow, I want Mark and his terrain collection instead...I'll even leave him a glass of sherry and a mince pie!

View fullsize

View fullsize

TFL Painting Challenge: Catchpole Breaks His Duck!

Not a reference to a dropped resin war-mallard, but the good news that Mr Catchpole has finally got round to submitting some entries for the 2014 painting challenge. Quite a lot of entries actually!

So, today's achievements are:

• Mr Catchpole with a marvelous 990 points worth of painting and rebasing. Just think: if only you could paint another 10 points worth and submit them before the end of the year...
• Carole with miles of bocage and a pond
• Mr Bax with some very nicely painted 28 and 20mm figures
• Mr Luther with even more miles of scruffy treeline. No photo so I had to estimate the points at the equivalent of two 28mm houses. Mark is now only 22 points away from 3,000 points with just eleven days to go.
• Mr Slade with four delightful Minions
• Mr Yuengling with a couple of 15mm buildings

Today's picture? Well, I think we'll do two (it is Xmas after all). Here are Mr Slade's Minions and a nice tow from Mr Bax:

TFL Painting Challenge: colossal Monday Night Update!

Now I understand why the challenge has been a bit quiet of late: you lot were storing them up for me so that I could process them all in one go!

A colossal update tonight, we have:

• Vidal with over 100 Austrians in 15mm. How about some pics, Vidal?
• Mr Yuengling with some 15mm WW1 vehicles from Shapeways (the future of wargaming?)
• The Mad Padre with an eclectic mix of 28mm figures and scenery
• Mr Luther with a collection of odds and sods from the South Pacific (no, not the musical, Sid)
• Steve Burt enters the challenge with a bang, a big bang. Hundreds of 28mm figures that give him an immediate 1,408 points. 
• Mr Hodge with some more Paras and a very nice ruined building
• Mervyn with some more 15mm Ancients that he assures me "that is definitely almost certainly it for the year". Come on, Mervyn, you can manage just one more wafer-thin figure...
• Thomas surprises us all with 40 points worth of Martians
• and, last but by no means least, Leif (can you see what I did there?) with some lovely 20mm figures

Difficult to choose one picture to go with tonight's achievements...but I think it has to be Leif's roadside shrine/CoC jump-off point in 20mm. Lovely.

Painting Challenge: Three New Entries

I'm pleased to announce that we have three new people entering the 2014 painting challenge, all of whom have sent me huge catch-up entries covering the whole year!

First up is Carole, with a massive entry of 15mm World War 2 figures. There's a whole company of German infantry supported by a company of Panzer IVHs and a zug of Tiger I. On top of that, there's a company of British infantry supported by a whole squadron of Cromwells (with a few Fireflies). Finally, there is a selection of houses to dress the table. All very nice, especially the Panzer IV tanks...and a total of 513 points.

Carole's 15mm Panzer IV H

Next up is an extraordinary entry from Ben Fiene consisting of stunningly painted figures in 28mm and 20mm. The 28s are all dark ages types: Romano-Britons, Saxons, Vikings etc. The 20mm figures are all for Chain of Command: French (lovely!); British Paras and German support units. There are also some 15mm Napoleonics claimed, but no photos yet. It's a fantastic entry that garners Ben an incredible 1,474 points.

20mm scale, 25mm French anti-tank gun from Ben Fiene

Last, but by no means least, Ashley Pollard enters her 6mm Ogre-based sci-fi armies. Well over 100 beautifully painted 6mm vehicles, Love 'em. Ashley's entry gets her 354 points.

Some of Ashley's wonderful 6mm Ogre figures

Painting Challenge: Monday Night Update

My words of encouragement seem to have had some effect: enough new achievements sent to me to justify a cheeky Monday night update only a couple of days after the Saturday night one.

Today's achievements are from:

• Egg with lots of terrain, including a beautiful La Haie Sainte
• Jon Yuengling with ten more of his micro-scale ships
• Treadhead storms over the 1,000 point mark with some Finns, some mines and some Martians (must get around to painting mine!)
• And Mr Hodge re-bases some more infantry

Today's picture is, as you might have guessed, Egg's Normandy farmhouse: aka Tiger Terrain's La Haie Sainte in 15mm.

TFL Painting Challenge: 4,000 Points Reached!

It's another quiet week on the challenge, with only a few people able to sustain the effort until the end of the year...but the perseverance of the few has paid off as I'm pleased to announce that Matt Slade has thundered over the 4,000 point mark with a host of War of the Roses painting and re-basing. 

Even though (as he would be the first to mention) Mr Slade has an advantage, being a professional figure painter, this is still a spectacular achievement, as he has only submitted figures painted for himself, not his commissions. Puts my attempts to get to 1,000 points in perspective!

The other submissions this week were from Mr Douglas (a very nice 28mm house) and Mr Hodge, who has submitted a tray of 110 stands of 6mm re-basing that I have awarded 150 points for as I wasn't going to count every single figure with a magnifying glass! Aerial recon or what!

Here are some of the WOR figures Matt submitted this week: