Wednesday, April 1, 2020

From PeterA: Ruined Apartment Block and Burnt out Car

First of all a big thank you to Curt for organising the Quarantine Challenge - a splendid opportunity to keep spirits up at this pretty surreal time.

My first submission is a scratch-built apartment block in 20mm for modern wargaming. I have been interested in the first Chechen conflict for a while now and the news that Carl Titterington is planning on releasing a Chechen War supplement for his Contact Front rules got me fired up to add some terrain. It is made out of foamcard and artists mounting board and is meant to survive the rigours of gaming rather than being an architectural masterpiece! So I haven't bothered with doors (might go back and add these later) although I have put in a few shattered panes of glass here and there (made from plastic blister packaging)


Depicting rubble is always a compromise between realism and playability - I have gone firmly for the latter so that I can place figures without precariously balancing them. With my sausage fingers, I need all the help I can get!


To make it a bit  more user friendly in games, the rear wall slides off, making access to the inner floors more straightforward. Again, function over form so no staircases, internal rooms etc. I started painting the internal walls but the card started to warp so I have left the rest. The idea of the removable wall has been pinched from Alan Sherward's utterly brilliant Stalingrad table (featured in Wargames Illustrated a couple of issues ago - you can see it here on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yJsgbZ4wUo).



Finally, a bit of scatter terrain for figures to take cover behind. This is a toy die cast VW which has been weathered using GW rust effect paint. The windows have been damaged and I drilled a few bullet holes as well, but it was basically a very quick and simple job for once.



I hope to add more bits and pieces for this conflict over the course of the Quarantine Challenge, as well as finishing off a few of the things started during the Painting Challenge.


All the best - stay safe and stay healthy.



KenR 28mm Crusades Crossbow


After the tank fest of the main Challenge I was always going to go off at a tangent once it was over. There are still the German 28mm vehicles to do and my 15mm Kursk project to attack but for now it was off the heavy metal and onto the Medieval plastic.


Those familiar with the output from Yarkshire Gamer will be aware of the Crusades Project it's had a couple of false starts but I keep chipping away at the edges of it now and again. I've got plenty of stuff prepped which if I remember correctly I did for Challenge VIII a couple of years ago.


So here we have a unit of 24 Crossbow, the figures coming from the Fireforge Foot Sergeants box, the flag from Flags of War and the shield decals from Battle Flag. We have played a few games with the Deus Vult rules and we are slowly getting used to them, with the inevitable Yarkshire Gamer house rules.


Although it's not a points based challenge I thought I would keep my own personal score so 24 figures at 5 pts each is 120 plus 1 for the flag, 121 towards my personal challenge.

Coming up in the next few weeks will be more Crusades, a large Italian Wars village (ok it's a town), some 7TV figures and if your lucky more Tanks and Italian Wars stuff. Stay safe out there.

From MattT: Workers of the World Unite - VBCW

Over the last painting challenge my brother has been showing his collection of royalist forces for VBCW, and i thought it was time you saw what he is going to be facing.

This first group is a bit of a cheat as i didnt paint them in the time the blog has been live, but they are all post Covid-19 so im counting them and showing them off.

Sailors on the HMS Aurora docked at Hull have mutinied and renamed the ship Unity. They have managed to unearth an old armoured car for moral support and are ready to fight for their freedoms.

Since the challenge began properly i have managed to add a pair of pulp sailors to the crew. Figures from Artizan Designs Thrilling Tales.

The Workers of the East Riding have raised the banner, and men are flocking to the cause as we speak. Figures from Sloppy Jalopy miners set. Banner is a cut and paste job from images off the internet.

All the best, Stay Safe. Matt

From Barks: 40K Chaos Cultists

Like many of you, I'm feeling the post-Challenge slump. I'm going to use the Quarantine Challenge to push myself to get at least one completed model done each week. I've got an embarrassing lot of half completed bits around- including these cultists. I did the skin during the Challenge, but didn't finish them until now. I have reduced the volume of pink, since they're mostly cannon fodder and not worthy of more pink. There's still a lot of detail...


Skull-o-meter™: 0

This means I have finally painted all the figures from the atrociously named Assassinorum: Execution Force!