February 18, 2016

TFL Painting Challenge: Thursday Update

February 18, 2016/ Robert Avery

Lots of entries in this week: the challenge is really hotting up already this year.

In no particular order, we have:

Stumpy with a fistful of re-basing
Matt Slade with a huge weed monster!
Andrew Helliwell with some more Soviets in 15mm
Andy Duffell pops in a Kiwi or eleven
It's all Andrews today, as Mr McCarthy sends in some nice looking late war British tanks and a handful of Germans
Derek Hodge submits some more for Dux and Sharp Practice 2.
Mr Clarke has gone painting mad this year: this week sees 64 newly painted and 48 re-based 28mm troops hitting his score
Mervyn adds some skeletons and an awful lot of stone wall
Mr Gatzemeyer builds a Saxon village
Chris Stoesen cuts and pastes some paper terrain buildings
And finally Kev, of course Kev, has painted some more X-Wing ships

Today's pics?

Well, let's have a pic of some of Stumpy's later Romans, a pic of Rich's von Schtabbin, Mr Gatzemeyer's village, and a Brucie-bonus pic of Mr Helliwell's Soviets:

Baron von Schtabbin's Regiment by Mr Clarke

Mr Gatzemeyer's rather nice Saxon village

February 12, 2016

TFL Painting Challenge: Pre-Weekend Update

February 12, 2016/ Robert Avery

A cheeky Friday update to clear the decks before a busy weekend. Today, in no paticular order, we have:

Chris Stoesen with a selection of paper buildings in 15mm
Steve Burt with a fleet of ships
Our glorious leader, Mr Clarke, with some more infantry and artillery
Mervyn switches back to 15mm with some ancient and then colonial Brits
Mr Plowman paints a single sci-fi tank...but then he does paint them so well!
Carole also goes sci-fi, with some scout vehicles and scenery
And finally Kev is still on his X-Wing kick: loads more ships

Today's pictures are from Steve, his ships; and Carole's sci-fi kit...

Some nice kit from Critical Mass Games via Carole

Points will be added to the scorecard tonight or tomorrow.

February 07, 2016

TFL Painting Challenge: Entries Flooding In!

February 07, 2016/ Robert Avery

Loads of entries again today: excellent work everybody!

In no particular order, we have:

Stumpy with a teeny bit of re-basing and a very nice Rourke's Drift lavatory
Chris Stoesen makes a welcome return with a building in 15mm
Ms Flint adds some bugs. I rather like them, and might get some myself
Mervyn goes up a couple of sizes with some Riders of Rohan
Mr Clarke, the man himself, pops in more than a handful of 28mm figures
Matt Slade makes his usual modest entry: 52 goblins and (in a Sheffield accent) a cave troll
Richard Naylor finishes his Egyptians and adds their mummy...I mean, adds a mummy
Mr Helliwell turns Russian, with a Soviet infantry platoon and supporting SU-122
And Mr Ralls proves he is still with us for this year's challenge with a mighty entry of various 28s

Today's pictures are one from Mr Clarke (I know which side my bread is buttered) and one from Mr Ralls:

He didn't say who they were, but here are some nice 28s from Mr Clarke

And here are Jason Ralls' Teutonic Knights. I do love a bit of Teutonic Knight!

February 03, 2016

TFL Painting Challenge: Big Update

February 03, 2016/ Robert Avery

It seems like the end of January has driven you all out of hibernation: lots of entries submitted over the last few days.

In no particular order, we have:

Mr Naylor, with some Fez-wearing Egyptians
Mr Duffell joins us again with some In-juns and a few WW2 chaps as well
As does Keith Davies, but with some little buildings and some considerably bigger Napoleonics
Mark Luther takes a break from playing fantastic-looking Chain of Command games to submit some more micro-aircraft (click here to see his flickr album: very much worthwhile)
Treadhead also returns, also with some Napoleonics
Derek Hodge is another come-back king: with some nice looking guerillos and a host of re-based fantasy stuff
Sapper pops in some more Ancients
Mr Plowman sends in some great-looking sci-fi figures from Shapeways
And finally Kev continues his crusade to field every possible X-Wing spacecraft possible with another fleet's worth of entries

As usual, Scorecard will be updated tonight.

Today's pics? Treadhead's Napoleonics, Mr Luther's 'planes (well, some of them); and Derek's Guerillos:

Napoleonic British infantry from Treadhead

Continuing the Napoleonic theme, Derek Hodge's Spanish guerillos

And just a few of Mr Luther's 1/285 aircraft

January 24, 2016

TFL Painting Challenge: Sunday Update

January 24, 2016/ Robert Avery

Entries have been slowing down lately: but then there's lots of people still to make their first submission of the year.

Today, in no particular order, we have:

Mr Douglas with three separate entries in the same week, including some re-basing
Andrew Helliwell sends in another platoon of WW2 Germans
Matt Slade submits for the first time in 2016: slamming in sixty-five beautifully painted 28s
Carole completes her 15mm sci-fi infantry company with a platoon and some support weapons
Kev's entry is a toy re-painted for use with X-Wing: looks fantastic
Jon Yuengling sends in his first submission of the year...very welcome, even if I had to guess what it was!
And finally Richard Naylor sends in some more terrain: rocks and a yards worth of graves.

Three pics today as I can't decide between them:

Some of Matt Slade's baddies from Crooked Dice

January 17, 2016

TFL Painting Challenge: Quick Sunday Update

January 17, 2016/ Robert Avery

Many of you are still very slow off the mark this year...unlike some of the below, who seem positively prolific!

So, today, in no particular order, we have:

New entrant, Oracle, with a couple of 28s and some re-based 6s
More X-Wing craft from Kev
Some drones from Carole
Continuing the sci-fi theme, four beautifully painted 15mm infantry from Mr Plowman
Lots of 28s from Mr Davenport who, for a new entrant, is already piling on the points
And finally Stumpy makes a return with a mix of new painting and re-basing

Today's pics are, unusually for me, both examples of re-basing: first up Oracle's 6mm WSS French, then Stumpy's Napoleonic Brits...

January 12, 2016

TFL Painting Challenge: Weekly Update

January 12, 2016/ Robert Avery

Things are starting to motor along nicely now, with twelve people (including me) now having sent in their first or even second and, in one case, third, entries for the year.

Today, in no particular order, we have:

Paul Blankenship with his first entry of the year, and it's a monster one comprising lots of tanks a a few bits of terrain
Carole also sends in her first entry: some nicely done 15mm sic-fi infantry
Sapper has painted some more Egyptians
New entrant Jon Davenport makes his first appearance: some Hessians in 28mm (don't worry about the cat hair on the table!)
Mr Naylor sends in his first three entries for the year: sic fi again, but different scales
Mark Luther adds to his already gigantic collection with some more 6mm tanks and 'planes...and, no, Mark, there is no such thing as "enough"!
Our own favourite Fat Wally adds some more Star Wars kit to his gallery
and, finally, Mr Helliwell pops in his second entry of the year: more Germans

Today's pictures are some of Mark's tanks, some of Mr Helliwell's Germans and Jon Davenport's Hessians:

Some of Mark Luther's Jagdpanzer IV 70s in action

Andrew Helliwell's command post/objective marker

New entrant Jon Davenport's Hessians in 28mm

As always, you can see everyone's full roster of submissions in their galleries, and the Scorecard will be updated tonight from my home PC.

January 07, 2016

TFL Painting Challenge: First Entries for 2016

January 07, 2016/ Robert Avery

There are some of you obviously determined to start the TFL Painting Challenge 2016 off with a bang!

Already we have entries from:

Sapper, with four (yes, four) submissions already
Mervyn Douglas, with more for his Sudan collection ("they don't like it up 'em!")
Andrew Helliwell, who continues the post-Xmas theme with a platoon of late war Germans put together from the leftovers
Ralph Plowman, with some rather nice new figures from the new Moongrunt range from GZG
Doug Melville, with some Aeroneuf ships
and last, but by no means least, Kev "Fat Wally" Lowth with some lovely X-Wing Star Wars ships

Today's pictures will, I think, all have a sci-fi theme. Here are Ralph, Doug and some of Kev's entries:

Ralph Plowman's figures from the new moongrunt range from gzg

Remember that you can see all the entries in the various people's galleries.

NB The scorecard will be updated tonight, once I can load the numbers onto my home PC

December 31, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: Huge 31st December Update!

December 31, 2015/ Robert Avery

Looks like everyone has made a huge effort to get their last minute entries in under the wire.

In no particular order we have:

Doug Melville with a couple of Cold War vehicles
Koen with some Frostgrave figures
Mr Helliwell with some more of his late war Germans
Mr Hodge makes a welcome last minute re-appearance with some Spanish Guerillos
Jim Catchpole sends in a huge multi-scale submission: his first and his last for 2015!
Mervyn Douglas has moved to the Sudan
Joakim whacks in a quick witch
Sapper also makes a welcome reappearance with loads of 28mm figures
The Mad Padre also adds vast numbers of figures to his collection
Matt Slade sneaks in another couple of submissions
Paul Blankenship pops in another of his huge micro-army entries
Paul Baldwin slides in with loads of 28mm figures
Nils Hedglin with some dwarfs and halflings (not half points though)
and finally Leif (spelt correctly!) isn't left out, with some fine 28s and a few bigger still

Pictures for what may be the final post of this year's challenge? A mixed bag...

Mr Hodge's rather fine Spanish Guerillos

The Mad Padre's 20mm Revel Krupp Protze truck with AT Gun

December 28, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: Bank Holiday Update

December 28, 2015/ Robert Avery

Huge numbers of figures have obviously been painted over the Christmas break. Here are today's submissions in the run-up to the end of this year's challenge:

Joakim with some pulp and nativity figures (yup, I did say nativity)
Andy Duffell adds some very nice terrain to his collection
Jason Ralls just manages to finish twenty-four 28s and a host of little Gauls
Matt Slade has obviosuly had a busman's holiday, submitting tons of new painting: most of it pulp and VSF
Geoff Bond adds some cowboys and priests
Dave Humm adds some fantasy figures
The Bowler Hat finally finishes his WOTR collection and previews his next project again: the Romans
and finally Pedivere sends in some more of his excellent Foreign Legion

I was tempted to have today's picture being Joakim's nativity figures, but it's the 28th and the moment has passed. Here are Pedivere's resting legionaires, Jason's Gauls, and Matt's Amazons.

Still a few days to get your entries in!

December 22, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: 22nd December

December 22, 2015/ Robert Avery

I'm settling nicely into my Christmas holiday now: no work until the new year!

Here's today's patch of painting challenge entries:

Mr Slade sends in a pic of some very familiar looking figures
Lloyd 'the hat' Bowler finishes off his WOTR collection with a couple of command stands, and starts up the Ancients with a unit of Romans.
Carole pops in a couple of hover tanks
Mr Plowman also adds some sci-fi goodness, with some Clear Horizon robots
and, finally, Mr Helliwell manages another 30 Panzergrenadiers

Today's pic has to be Matt's familiar, but unavailable, figures:

Well, there is one more entry to come. Treadhead has submitted a picture of his brand spanking new games room. I can't score this for the challenge, but I can include the pic here:

Very nice!

Still plenty of time to get your entries in for the challenge. Doors don't shut until midnight on the 31st!

December 05, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: Quick Update

December 05, 2015/ Robert Avery

Things are certainly hotting up as we draw to the end of another year's challenge.

Today's entries are from:

A first entry of the year from Mr Skelton, proving that it is never too late to enter!
Now under full steam, Koen smashes in another series of submissions
Messrs Yuengling and Luther fill in a few gaps in their galleries
Lloyd adds in some more WOTR figures and teases us with a test figure for his next project
and finally Mr Duffell sends in some more WW2 28's

Today's pics? As it's almost Christmas, you get three today: it's got to be the Hat's command stand with hand-painted banner, and then Andy's 28's, and then one of Koen's entries.

Plenty of time for everyone to get their entries in BTW. This year's challenge doesn't end until midnight on the 31st. Come on! Get to it!

November 30, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: Last Update in November

November 30, 2015/ Robert Avery

How time flies when you're having fun! One moment we're all talking about the 2015 new year, and the next it's the end of November already!

Still plenty of time to get your entries into this year's painting challenge. Here are some that other people have submitted:

Mr Bowler is back with some more 28mm WOTR figures. Given everything that Hat has completed this year, his table must be quite impressive when a game is on.
Steve Burt adds more Zulu War figures
Mervyn pops in some Ancient Brits
Mr Helliwell has foolishly let work get in the way of his painting lately...but has still found time to knock up 24 Confederate skirmishers
Mr Luther fills in a few gaps in his gallery
And Pedevere sends in more French types: lots of what I think are Legion Etrangere.

Today's pics are from Pedevere: his staff car and Dodge truck...very tasty!

November 17, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: a post-Warfare Update

November 17, 2015/ Robert Avery

Plenty of tip-top submissions this week. In no particular order we have:

Mr Helliwell, with another regiment of ACW foot plus command and supporting artillery
Joakim goes large with a goodly number of figures for Dust, including two very nice looking walkers
Mr Luther adds another eleven 'planes to hi collection
Dave Humm adds his usual eclectic mix, with figure for Frostgrave, Flintloque, and a very early example of a war photographer!
Mr Ralls makes a welcome return with huge numbers of 28mm figures. Nice to see you back at the painting table, Jason.
Jon Yuengling also makes a welcome return, with a submission consisting of trees, lots of trees
Doug Melville is also back, with some lovely Medieval Scots and three bits of modern Soviet armour
and last, but by no mens least, Kev (Fat Wally) has gone Star Wars crazy, with two ships and a quite frankly huge-looking asteroid base

Today's pics are from Doug, his Medieval Scots; and from Joakim, one of his walkers. Lovely!

PS Scorecard will be updated tonight, when I'm at home. Too difficult to do at work without the right software!

November 08, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: A Dark November Afternoon's Update

November 08, 2015/ Robert Avery

Well it's just about half three and already almost dark: just the setting for a painting challenge update.

Not many entries this week: must be the calm before the end-of-year storm. If you are sitting on entries, do please submit them in a timely fashion: I was doing more than one update a day last year between Christmas and New Year!

Anyhoo, here are today's:

Joakim pops in some pulp figures, including an eclectic looking WW2 Italian truck
Mervyn has been away, but manages to squeeze in two units of cavalry
Matt Slade submits his regular entry: some rather good looking special forces types from Crooked Dice
Mr Luther doesn't add to his total, but does send in a pic of his Mathildas. Very nice, Mark, but I think the field gun went astray.
Mr Naylor continues with his late war Soviets
And Treadhead sends in yet more Taliban

As I said, a short update today...and thus just the one pic: Mr Luther's Mathildas:

As for my own efforts, I am now ahead of last year and closing in on my target of 1,000 points. It's only early November, under 100 points to go, so I should be able to make it. Exciting stuff!

October 31, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: A Pre-Rugby World Cup Final Update

October 31, 2015/ Robert Avery

Just time for a quick pre-rugby update before rushing through the chores before settling down in front of the box for New Zealand vs Australia. If the All Blacks can keep their discipline and play like they did against the Boks (I was there!), then the trophy should be theirs.

Anyway, onto the update. In no particular order we have:

Keith Davies with some late war Brits and Germans
Chris Gilbride with some late war Brits
Mr Naylor finishes off his, wait for it, late war Germans
Mr Luther with some Matildas and Japanese
Joakim goes fantasy in 28mm
and Mr Helliwell pops in huge numbers of ACW Rebs

Today's pic is of some of Chris' Brits, the heavy weapons:

October 24, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: A "Clocks Go Back" Update

October 24, 2015/ Robert Avery

It's been a bit of a tough week this week, with real world events meaning I haven't been feeling it.

However, as I'm home alone on Saturday night now after being lucky enough to get to the SA vs All Blacks game, I've had a sudden surge of enthusiasm, so have caught up with all the outstanding painting challenge entries.

So this is a bit of a whopping update.

In no particular order, we have:

Steve Burt with the last of his Napoleonics...even 'though I'm sure you said that last time
Mr Ralls adds some more Germans to his WW2 collection
Andy Duffell also goes WW2: Kiwis in Italy or Poles in Europe plus some nice terrain
Benito returns to the fray with some nice French Dragoons
Matt Slade sends in his usual bumper entry: Rebs, shieldmaidens, Boudiccas, Zulus, British to fight them
Mr Miller is having to slow down a bit due to his robotics (no, he isn't building Thomas a painting engine) but still manages to send in a Polish king and entourage
Speaking of Thomas: some DAK, some Desert Rats, and a carrier
Andrew Helliwell sends in another batch of ACW infantry: two regiments
It really is very WW2 and very desert today as Koen sends in some DAK and a couple of guns. Perhaps you could send your entry here next time, Koen, rather than to my work. Lucky it wasn't those "gentlemen's miniatures" I asked you to paint!
Not wanting to add to the innuendo, but Sapper has a big entry this time: some Samurai-period bushi and a mob, some limbers, a SYW battalion, and some Americans with bazookas
Mr Luther sends in a cluster of 6mm equipment: planes, no trains, but automobiles
And last, but by no means least, AJH submits lots of lovely SYW figures

We'll finish, as always, with a few piccies.

Here are Benito's Dragoons:

Here's a bit of detail on Andy Duffell's farmhouse...he's painted the inside too:

Finally, here are AJH's SYW Austrians: very nice:

October 12, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: This Week's Update

October 12, 2015/ Robert Avery

Lots to post about today: not a huge amount of submissions, but a lot in those submissions.

First up, Joakim sends in pictures of his amazing Soerabaja Harbour in the Dutch East Indies in 28mm. This is an incredible piece of work, and there are more pics on his blog, which can be reached by clicking here.

Secondly, Mr Hooge sends in a suitably hooge entry (did you see what I did there!) culminating in a couple of snaps of his games room. They didn't make his gallery, but appear below: a man cave of astounding astounding-ness:

Next three of the regulars send in their latest work:

Mr Bowler has three ships a-sailing
Mr Luther has some more 20mm Aussies and a fistful of 1/285 tanks
and Mr Helliwell has some more AWI and ACW 15's

Finally, Treadhead sends in another ten Taliban, almost the last in his lead mountain, which gives us our final picture with which to finish things off for today:

Keep those entries coming: it will be the end of the year and too late before you know it!

October 05, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: Monday Night Update

October 05, 2015/ Robert Avery

Some very nice submissions this week. In no particular order, we have:

Keith Davies with some 20mm figures for CoC
Mervyn Douglas gets some Afghans in
Steve Burt finishes off his Napoleonics
Koen sends in a host of Desert Rats and DAK
Kev pops in another twenty Gladiators
Mr Ralls posts from sunny Devon with some 15mm armour and some bigger zombies
Stephen Miller make a welcome return with some exquisitely painted figures
and Sapper submits his new 10thC Western Turk army

A couple of pictures from Mr Miller:

Renaissance Gun Emplacement for French Italian Wars

And the next submission will be mine: a host of Egyptian Army T-55s for my Six Day War project...once I've finished basing them!

September 29, 2015

TFL Painting Challenge: A Tuesday Update

September 29, 2015/ Robert Avery

Evening all.

So here's this week's post-weekend update:

Matt Slade adds to his already incredible total with loads more 28mm figures. How does he do it?
Mr Davies bangs in a ton of 6mm vehicles
Leif adds a lovely DAK Panzer IV in 28mm
Kev moves away from his usual scale and period with some 28mm Gladiators...and a bridge
Mr 'Hat' Bowler adds to his impressive collection of WOTR Perry figures with another two batches of thirty each, and adds a couple of 1/285th ships as well
Paul Baldwin has some nice Greeks and Undead, along with a couple of houses
and Mr Luther takes a break from extending his AAR lead over me with eleven more 1/285 vehicles

Today's pics are from Leif, his Panzer; and from Matt, his Ancient Britons; and from Kev, his Gladiators:

As for me, I've now dived into my Six Day War project and am busy building and painting T-55s...lots of T-55s. Must hit the 1,000 points total this year!