TFL Painting Challenge: Fat Wally's Return

An absolutely humungous update today aided by the return of that Lardy stalwart, Fat Wally.

Kev has obviously been storing up his entries all year, and submitted about thirty 15mm SYW units and over fifty 10mm houses. Lucky I had a free evening to upload them all!

So, in no particular order, we have:

•  The aforementioned Fat Wally with some 28mm animals and gladiators, more SYW figures than even he could ever need, and enough 10mm buildings to solve the country's housing crisis once and for all
• Mr Luther with more 6mm 'planes
• Owen with...no, not just more Napoleonics, but some pirates. Ah hah, me hearties!
• Derek Hodge continues his Blucher-driven re-basing drive, and adds some skeletons to the mix. Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones!
• Matt Slade goes ninja
• Mr Bowler slides in some more WOTR infantry: Percy's lot this time
• Richard Naylor submits a few more Afghan police
• Leif is getting ready for the new Star Wars film
• and Mr Davies gets confused about the size of his infantry. Oo, er, madam!

Today's picture is, of course, from Kev. Just look at these Cossacks!

TFL Painting Challenge: Three Newcomers Update

It's another big update tonight...made even bigger by the fact that we have not one, not two, but three new participants parading their pretties for the first time tonight.

So, as always in no particular order, we have:

• Newcomer Pedivere with an amazing collection of French Foreign Legion troops from the early to mid-twentieth century
• Steve Miller also breaks his duck with some very large and very nicely painted soldiers: our first 54mm entries IIRC
• Mr Douglas submits three different entries, all ancient
• Keith Davies, newcomer number three, pops in a platoon of British infantry for CoC
• Mr Naylor turns to the Afghans, and an interpreter with seemingly very large hands
• Mr Burt sends in some Napoleonics...some French
• Thomas is obviously working at a frenzied pace: another entry and its only July
• and, finally, Sapper submits some Samurai and some US troops

As I'm sure you all know by now, it's traditional to feature some of the newbie entries as 'pic of the post'. Today's pictures therefore come from Messrs Miller and Pedivere.

First up are some of Steve's absolutely cracking 54mm Victrix French:

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Then we have the group shot of Pedivere's French Foreign Legion: amazing!

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TFL Painting Challenge: Big Tuesday Update

My very quick round-up of where we are after six months certainly seems to have galvinised you all into action!

Lots of entries today, including one newbie. In no particular order we have:

• Mr Douglas reverts to his Greeks
• Andrew Helliwell submits another two battalions of AWI infantry
• Richard Naylor sends in some more US Marines for Fighting Season
• Mr Yuengling makes a welcome return with some LDV types (Home Guard precursors)
• Thomas stuns us all by popping in some fences...and not a glued-on finger in sight. Most disappointing!
• Benito Vera is also preparing for fighting season: some lovely Brits.
• Matt Slade makes his customary appearance: three beautifully painted minis
• Today's newbie, who seems to have christened himself Mr Nouveau, explodes onto the challenge with a huge mass of 20mm WW2 figurs and terrain (presumably for playing some Operation Compass scenarios)
• and finally Derek Hodge is still stuck in re-basing hell (you don't think...you don't think he actually likes it do you?)

What an awful lot of submissions and points!

Today's pictures? Well one, as is traditional, is from Mr Nouveau. The other? Some of Benito's Brits I think:

20mm WW2 terrain and figures from Mr Nouveau

The command section of Benito's 'fighting season' brits

TFL Painting Challenge: Is It Really Saturday Again Already?

Morning all, here's another update for the painting challenge.

Quite a big one today as I've had lots of other things to bang up on this site during the week. So, in no particular order, we have:

• A triple entry from Steve Burt: guns, limbers, entrenchments
• Some 15mm WW2 figures from Mr McCarthy
• Sapper sends in a Soviet battlegroup, also in 15mm
• Paul Blankenship sends in another huge batch of 6mm WW2 vehicles and infantry
• Mr Douglas goes Persian
• Mark Luther has more 'planes for us: loving those Ju88s
• Mr Slade has more minions of the non-yellow lozenge type

Today's pictures are one of Andrew's Forged in Battle 88s, and Sapper's Soviet battlegroup:

TFL Painting Challenge: Saturday Morning

Just a quick update today as I'm gaming tonight and want to keep on top of things.

Today we have achievements from:

• Matt Slade with his Minions and Gunfighters
• Leif with a couple of wookies
• Mr Ralls with his usual cornucopia of 15mm delight: houses (those gardens!), French tanks, German tanks and infantry...loads!
• and Lloyd Bowler with another unit of War of the Roses types

Pictures? One from Mr Ralls and one from Mr Slade: lovely!

Just some of Mr Slade's Minions (now we know who really does his painting!)

Some French armour from Mr Ralls

TFL Painting Challenge: Monday Night Update

Just a small update tonight, probably as I did one on Thursday night as well. Some nice kit though.

• Carole goes back to the simple life: nice, plain Allied tanks!
• Mr Douglas sends in some Roman Auxiliary Cavalry
• Mr Duffell completes four very nice 28mm vehicles
• Derek Hodge, lately of Deep Fried Lard, pops in some sabot bases
• Thomas, dear Thomas, builds and paints a house for his Paras to rest in
• Paul Baldwin builds and paints some rocky outcrops

Today's picture is from Andy Duffell: a very nice Daimler Dingo...and there's more on show in his gallery.

Do feel free to comment on the achievements you see displayed both here and in the galleries. Obviously I'll remove any out and out nasty ones, but otherwise I'm sure feedback of any sort would be much appreciated!

TFL Painting Challenge: Mid Week Round Up

Thought I'd better get a quick round-up in now before the weekend rush.

Today we have:

• Thomas with some French Paras
• Vidal makes a welcome return with a sizeable entry but no pics
• Doug's Samurai finally get onto his scorecard
• Carole finally finishes her German zug: no more camouflaged zeltbahn for a bit
• Mr Naylor submits some more 20mm US Marines
• The Mad Padre sends in a whole vilage of 6mm buildings plus a few choice 28s to tempt us

Today's pictures are from Doug (as his samurai have been waiting for so long) and a 6mm church from, of course, the Padre.

TFL Painting Challenge: Humongous Update

Sunday morning after the Market Larden gaming day, so I'm feeling a little jaded even tho' I wasn't drinking! A great day's wargaming, and good banter (as my daughter would say) with many friends. 

More on that later, once I've had a chance to sort all the pictures etc. For the moment, here's the latest installment in the painting challenge: as the title says, a truly humongous update!

Lots of 6mm figures this time. What is it with 6mm? Nothing for ages and then almost 2,000 come along at once!

• Mr Hodge adds some more to his forces for Dux, along with some 15mm houses...
• ...but also earns himself a whole extra line for huge amounts of re-basing of 6mm Napoleonics
• Fred Bloggs posts his usual eclectic collection of 28s, but adds some WSS 18mm figures as well
• Carole has had enough of camouflaged smocks, so paints some camouflaged tank-killers instead
• Leif Eriksson submits lots of 28mm Afrika Korps, including two lovely vehicles
• Mr Luther is back to the 'planes: 14 of them to be exact
• Matt Slade goes Greek, with Jason and the Argonauts and friends in 28mm
• Paul Blankenship drops in with over 800 6mm figures from WW2 and later
• Stumpy goes colonial
• Mr Treadhead paints some Romans in 6mm
• Dick Bax adds some more Dux
• And finally Mr Helliwell goes all AWI

As I said, a truly humongous update...but what to do about pictures. Here are some that caught my eye, but I cannot but recommend the full galleries: loads of inspiring work!

A DAK kubelwagon from Leif

Argonauts from Matt Slade

Romans from Treadhead

TFL Painting Challenge: Sunday Update

Another very big update today, with two people submitting their first entries for the year.

In no particular order, we have:

• Chris Stoesen, with his first entry of the year, pops in some US Cold War infantry
• Carole submits another PSC German Panzergrenadier platoon. Obviously enjoying those camouflaged smocks!
• Mr Hodge sends in more figures for Dux Raiders
• Jason Ralls sends in another ginormous entry: two 28mm infantry platoon and enough 15mm houses to solve the nation's current crisis. This takes Jason past the 3,000 point mark (well past it) so congrats for that!
• Mr Hat, I mean Bowler, enters some more WOTR figures
• Geoff "Bond, Geoff Bond" Bond also appears for the first time this year, with a mamoth entry. Not prehistoric elephant-types, but sixty-seven 28mm chaps for Chain of Command. Has already beaten his score for last year by an impressive margin.
• Richard Naylor submits some more modern-day USMC
• And finally Mr Plowman has two orcs and two elves to add to his collection

Pictures? I don't need to ponder here: as is traditional, we'll feature the two returnees with their first entries for the year.

First up, Mr Stoesen's Cold War figures:

And here are Mr Bond's sixty-seven CoC-ists:

Is that a towel they're guarding? Must be for a 1940 scenario!

And finally I'm going to sneak in a quick pick of Mr Ralls' street. Lovely!

TFL Painting Challenge: Monster Update!

A truly vast number of figures submitted for this update...and I mean vast!

In no particular order, we have:

• Joakim Strom with twenty 28mm figures and a couple of 28mm vehicles
• Mr Bax with ten more 28s for Dux
• Stumpy submits a mixture of newly painted and re-based (half points) figures: a total of about 280 infantry, 48 cavalry, a couple of guns and ten jump-off points!
• Steve Burt pops in some more command figures to fill his gaps
• Mr Stappells achieves an entire French 15mm WW2 platoon plus supports: 82 infantry, two guns and three tanks. Tres bien, monsieur!
• Paul Baldwin adds thirty-one 28mm foot to his collection
• Mr Helliwell adds another twenty-four 15mm foot to his
• And finally Owen, who has obviously been painting in another dimension, where time passes more slowly than for the rest of us, achieves thirty-six (yes: 36) 15mm houses and 233 15mm infantry 

That's almost 350 28mm foot and another 350 15mm infantry plus an assortment of vehicles, guns and the odd horseman too. A most impressive achievement all round!

Today's pictures are from Tony Stappells, Stumpy and Mr Strom:

Tony Stappells' French supports

French Dragoons in 28mm from Stumpy

Joakim's Italian priest with Tommy gun!

TFL Painting Challenge: Mid Week Update

A very quick mid-week update mainly to celebrate Carole's return to form and Koen's first entry of the year.

In no particular order, we have:

• Mr Luther adds an impressive sixteen 1/285 planes to his already impressive collection
• Carole returns to form with a whole zug of 15mm Panzergrenadiers and supports...and I feel your pain over those camouflage smocks!
• Sapper slips in a Sherman, a very nice Sherman
• and finally Koen makes his first appearance of the year with an impressive number of 28mm WW2 figures, vehicles and even an oasis

So, as is traditional, we'll have a pic of one of Koen's entries: British supports, including an MMG, company officer and radioman, FOO team, medic and an extra officer

TFL Painting Challenge: Sunday Night Update

Nice to see a change from the regulars in this update, with some entrants who haven't sent anything in for some time.

Even more astonishing is that Thomas has actually finished some figures: racking up quite an acceptable total as well. If this doesn't make every Penguin worth his salt reach for the paintbrush, then I don't know what will!

So, in no particular order, we have:

• Richard Naylor with some 20mm modern-day US Marines
• Thomas with some highland cattle, some martians and some desert rats. An eclectic mix, n'est-ce pas?
• Andrew McCarthy achieves a 15mm WW2 German platoon and supports, and some nice looking 28mm steampunk types
• Sapper sends in some SYW figures and terrain
• Mr Duffell enters some very nice WW2 Germans in 28mm
• Then there's Owen and his Austrians, lots of Austrians
• and finally Mr Helliwell with a few AWI command stands and two medievals rescued from the bottom of the lead mountain

Two pictures today. First up are Thomas' Martians: loving those figures...

And secondly we have Mr Duffell's 28mm half-track:

Keep them coming, people: almost half way through the year now...

TFL Painting Challenge: Pre-GoT Update!

Just got time to squeeze in another update before plunging back into Game of Thrones!

A huge update tonight:  loads of models, loads of points!

In no particular order we have:

• Mr Luther adds an outpost and fills in a lot of his missing pictures. Only two to go in fact!
• Mr Bax adds some Romano-Brits for Dux
• Owen adds another two regiments of Austrians
• WillieB joins Dick in Dux: lots of 28mm DB infantry
• Mr Helliwell pops in a loyalist regiment for the American War of Independence
• Mr Ralls smashes in figures in two different scales and tops off his entry with some buildings to die for
• Mr Slade has some lovely looking Dark Age Warriors
• AJH emerges from the Nordic darkness accompanied by some SYW Austrians and goes over 500 points. Huzzah!
• Steve Burt consolidates and adds some command stand for his Napoleonics...and just hits his half century as well: huzzah!
• Finally Lloyd Bowler includes the mandatory (and very nice looking) WOTR regiment

Today's pics are Jason Ralls' buildings and gardens...and just look at those gardens! I want, I want, I want!

TFL Painting Challenge: A Mid-Week Post

Lots of really beautifully painted entries today. In no particular order, we have:

• Treadhead and his gladiators
• Paul Baldwin with some more WOTR foot and a load of 6mm re-basing
• Mr Helliwell gives his Germans some wheels
• Benito gives us a 28mm Panzer and more Moors
• Carole gives us a recce zug to look out for
• Mr Naylor pops in a couple of entrenchments
• Mark Luther has built lots of jungle terrain (I mean lots) and also painted up six aeroplanes (yes, I had to look up what a "Nate" was)
• Mr Plowman (lovely boy, lovely boy) enters some more lovely sci-fi figures, these painted a la Argyles if I'm not mistaken
• And Mr Douglas achieves his usual LOTR entry, but adds some smaller horse archers as a cherry on the cake

Now, pictures...lots to choose from. Here are three that particularly caught my eye:

Treadhead's Gladiators

Some of Mr Baldwin's re-based 6mm Austrians

Mr Plowman's sci-fi Argyle's

Check out all the entries in their respective galleries...and keep the e-mails coming!

TFL Painting Challenge: Saturday Morning Update

As I think I'm going to be busy for the rest of the weekend (including painting some more Paras and a game of Q13 tonight) I thought I'd better get in an update now .

Today we have:

• Some home-made swamp from Mt Plowman
• Sixteen beautifully painted 15mm WW2 BEF vehicles from Egg
• Some more Perry WOTR figures from Lloyd 'The Hat' Bowler
• Eighty 6mm ACW infantry from AJH
• Lots of Napoleonics from Owen
• And an impressive one hundred sabot bases (plus some other bits and bobs) from Mr Hodge

Today's pictures are two in number. First, and obviously, Egg's vehicles, which I covet enormously:

And secondly, AJH's 6mm ACW entry. Very nice for things so small!

US Paras from Forged in Battle

As some of you may know, I have started putting together a company of US Paras, plus supports, in 15mm.

The MMG Platoon proved a successful test paint, so I decided to bite the bullet and get on with the first of the big paints, the first platoon.

Being a bit sick of painting Battlefront figures, and wanting to spread my cash between manufacturers, I decided to get my first Airborne platoon from Forged in Battle. I like their vehicles, their infantry is metal, and some of the poses I'd seen in various images looked very good.

Well that platoon is now finished, and very pleased I am too. The poses proved excellent, the castings were almost totally flash free, and there wasn't a dud figure in the pack (Battlefront take note!). Here they are:

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As you can see, they have taken the paint very well indeed.

For those interested, my painting method was as follows:

1. Undercoat (spray) in white
2. Two (2) coats of GW Agrax Earthshade brown wash to bring up the detail (so that I could see it) and provide creases. When painting, try to leave as many creases in place as possible i.e. every step is effectively a kind of highlight.
3. Highlight face and hands with GW Dwarf Flesh
4. Top highlight face and hands with GW Kislev Flesh
5. Paint the helmet straps (one set) GW Balor Brown (leather colour)
6. Base coat the uniform Foundry Drab Shade
7. Highlight the uniform in Foundry Drab
8. Top highlight the uniform in Foundry Drab Light
9. Base coat the helmet in Vallejo Extra Dark Green
10. Paint the boots GW Mournfang Brown. Brush from back to front as this leaves just the suggestion of wash colour where the laces would be. Didn't work on all of them, but looks like laces on enough of them to be worthwhile.
11. Highlight the helmet with flecks of  Vallejo US Dark Green.
12. Base coat any rucksacks in Vallejo US Dark Green.
13. Base coast the wooden bits of the guns in GW Rhinox Hide
14. Highlight any rucksacks in GW Loren Green
15. Paint all webbing and the second helmet strap in Vallejo Green Grey
16. Highlight any helmet-strapped medipacks in Foundry Moss Light by painting three vertical lines on them
17. Paint the metal bits of any guns in GW Abaddon Black.
18. Paint a square of GW Abaddon Black on the left upper arm as the basis of the Screaming Eagle patch
19. Highlight the wooden bits of the rifles in GW Skrag Brown
20. Very lightly highlight (barely at all) the metal bits of the guns in GW Leadbelcher
21. Paint a triangle of GW Ceramite White on the black patch to represent the eagle's head
22. Paint a dot on GW Sunburst Yellow at the tip of the triangle to represent the eagle's beak
23. Glue to 5p pieces as bases: I like to mount my figures individually and use squad sized movement trays
24. Glue coarse sand onto the bases. Undercoat in a thick coast of GW Rhinox Hide. Highlight with GW Balor Brown. Paint the edge in GW Castellan Green. Add GW Glade Grass flock.
25. Seal with Army Painter anti-shine.

Phew! That's twenty-five steps for each of the 32 men (three squads of ten and two Big Men), but worth it as I'm very pleased with the results. Here's my favourite figure:

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Now onto to platoon two, for which I have figures from Battlefront.

TFL Painting Challenge: Monday Night Update

The post-weekend rush is in, and a good excuse for a Monday Night Update.

Today we have entries from:

• Owen, who submits loads of Austrians
• Mr Yuengling with a few Home Guard
  • Incidentally, I was listening to Dad's Army in the car on the way home: Radio 4 Extra has an episode every Monday night at 7pm. Still very, very funny!
• Treadhead with some more of his lovely US WW2 troops in 28mm
• Mr Bax returns with some sci-fi figures. No photos yet, unfortunately.
• Mr Stapells submits a hodge-podge: a 2mm city, some 15mm artillery, and four 15mm vehicles from Gaming Models
• And Lloyd Bowler gives us the first installment of some Perry 28mm WOTR figures...a period that seems very popular at the moment...and probably will be until someone discovers that it was the Perry Twins who buried a  Richard III corpse-a-like under the carpark in order to boost sales

Today's picture is more of Mr Treadhead's Americans...Bazooka Teams:

TFL Painting Challenge: Post Salute Update

No, not another Salute blog post: an update to the painting challenge that I'm adding the evening after I got back from Salute.

But whilst we're on the topic, a great show this year. Top game was obviously the debut of the TFL Chain of Command variant Fighting Season, which takes the platoon level WW2 game and adapts it for ultramodern warfare in Afghanistan. Nice to see a properly asymmetrical platoon-level game instead of just something where the westerners just shoot anything that moves!

The show itself, I thought, was the best for some years...certainly in terms of organisation. I arrived at 10.25 and walked straight in: no queue. There was plenty of space between each, er, installation, and not too many people playing fancy dress, although I did spot a very miserable looking Napoleonic British rifleman, an enormous American GI (wouldn't have fitted in a half-track, perhaps not even a full-track), and a girl wearing fox ears and a foxes tail! Oh, and there was someone in a giant cardboard space marine suit as well, accompanied by a decidedly un-lethal looking gun woman!

I spent far too much: two boxes of the new PSC SdKfz 250 half-tracks; quite a few half-price FOW blisters that I didn't really need but, come on, they were half price; a few full-price FOW blisters that I did need; some more Sarissa laser-cut buildings; and then some odd bits and pieces that just caught my eye.

Excel was packed (I had real difficulty finding somewhere to have a sarnie and a cup of coffee) mainly because in addition to the Marathon people (loving the contrast: wargamers vs marathon runners) there was also a convention celebrating the Sherlock TV series. I enjoyed Sherlock very much, but not perhaps enough to go to a convention about it, but it did increase the babe-count in general. A sexist comment, I know and apologise for, but I'm with Holden Caulfield on that one.

Anyhoo, on to the painting challenge entries...

• Mervyn adds some more LOTR figures
• Steve Burt adds some more Napoleonics
• Carole is awaiting a package, but has just squeezed in a couple of 28s
• Fred Bloggs adds more dwarves and witches and things
• Mr Plowman has some 15mm sci fi painted samples for a forthcoming Kickstarter. Very nice indeed.
• Mr Naylor pops in some 20mm WW2 Germans
• Mr Ralls slams back into action with a massive entry that takes him over his last year's entry already. Top pick was the 98 Mighty Empires terrain tiles: 588 points on their own.
• And Wulf adds a few more 28s to his gallery

Today's picture is from Mr Burt: his British 7th Hussars...

TFL Painting Challenge: A Moderate Update

Just a moderate update today. Quite lucky, as I'm exhausted after a week travelling around England's green and pleasant land on business.

Today's entries are:

• Obviously Matt Slade, with a giant entry
• Mr Helliwell roars back with a mix of scales and periods
• Leif is back! Okay, so it's just one 28mm tank, but he's definitely back
• Carole pops in some more half-tracks, but is running out of things to paint. Salute, dearie, Salute: my shopping list already extends a great deal further than my wallet!
• Not only is Leif back, but Wulf returns as well.  Four figures from him.
• Mr Luther submits some 20mm Japanese tanks, and pimps up a load of 6mm armour as well

Today's picture? Well it has to be Leif's tank, doesn't it?

TFL Painting Challenge: Enormous Update

An enormous update today: lots of people submitting lots of entries. Has taken me almost two hours to update the site!

In no particular order we have:

• Matt Slade with a huge number of 15mm sci-fi miniatures from Khurasan. Of particular note is the sci-fi Foreign Legion: twenty-one figures from the same unit, but each from a different alien race. Kinda hard to get into a painting rhythm there: I know, mine are still languishing in the lead mountain!
• Mr Plowman makes a welcome return: very busy, but not busy enough not to fit in painting four random fantasy figures
• Mr Baldwin submits his usual large melange of figures and scales
• Carole has built and painted a couple of lovely camps
• A first entry this year from Pingu, who promptly pops in some perfectly painted Paras
• Sapper achieves some Seleucids
• Egg just about completes his British forces for Sealion
• Mr Burt submits some Hussars, and another cat photo...
• Stumpy sends in some great 28mm modern Russians, and some 15mm WW2 Germans as well
• Mr Naylor builds some rather nice looking minefields
• and finally Mervyn paints some more LOTR figures

Phew!

I'm thinking that a large number of entries deserves a large number of pictures, so again in no particular order we have: 

Egg's Brits for Sealion

Carole's Camps

Ralph Plowman's entry: four random fantasy figures

And finally, Mr Burt's other cat!

I would have included Matt Slade's sci-fi Foreign legion, but as they are split between about six pics, you'll have to go to his gallery and see them there.