Blog Giveaway News and my Villain Themed Entry

First up The Miniatures Man is celebrating 50K hits and hoping a few more bloggers will discover his rather excellent blog. You get a real nice mix of subjects and it's a fun read but don't just take my word for it, go and have a look and maybe go after some of the prizes on offer.

The second themed round was villains and whilst on the search for a suitable figure found this one on the Black Tree Design website. Well I thought he is certainly one of the biggest villains to plague the earth and as I was actually buying some figures for Sniper Reminders decided to base him on one of the reminder bases.

Talking of Black Tree, they have a 50% off sale at the moment that finishes Friday I believe so it's a great time to buy their figures which on the whole are an excellent range.

I did not realise until I had painted the uniform that were he tended to wear the armband was instead an eagle. If I had realised before I would have filed it off and painted the armband on in it's stead but having mixed the coat colour I was not brave enough to go down that route.

Being a fairly plain uniform I changed my style to a little bolder for the shading which whilst I like it won't replace my current look. Mostly it was a good figure to work with though a few details like the badges and medals on his chest were not crisp making it hard to do a good job on them.

So it's another entry in the challenge and I am very confident I will not be painting this figure again as I was a little uncomfortable at the time even if he felt right for the theme.

Chatter Behind the Bike Shed - Competitive Edge

One of the things I like about basing up figures and the like is that it leaves the mind to wander off where ever it wants. Whilst mine was doing so I fetched up on the memory of a post by Tamsin regarding here recent performance at the World Wargames Championships and then turned to the looming Analogue Painting Challenge possibly because we are running partners as last year we raced each other to the finish line where I just pipped Tamsin through not having to get up the next morning for work  ;-)

Anyway back to Tamsin and that run of play at the Worlds. Seems Tamsin had a great time and she certainly looked the part when I met her at the show. Well she had a great time apart from ONE opponent. From reading her posts I would say anyone she played after the joker would have seemed a true sport. What grabbed my attention at the time and what I was thinking as I scattered sand onto my base was that Tamsin suspected the guy of out and out cheating. Even having different measure sticks that would measure long or short dependant on the need of the time. Whilst almost all wargamers I am sure would never do such a thing I wonder if the one's doing so think about what they are doing and how do they rationalise it? For instance did that turd think it was up to his opponent to check out his measuring sticks so it's their fault if he used these? Or is it simply a competitive edge in his warped mind? 

ASL is an amazingly complex set of rules that in reality you do not need to know that many rules to play but greater knowledge certainly gives you an advantage. I think it's a fair comment that if your opponent fails to take advantage of a rule you should not feel the need to inform them of said rule, especially in a competitive game. However I often do so as to increase both sides enjoyment of the game and to hopefully help to make future games that much better. However I have witnessed players allowing someone to use a rule wrongly (firing main armament whilst crew exposed with one man turret) whilst it suited them (opponent keeps missing) but once they get a hit inform them they can't fire the gun as crew exposed. On the first attempt at firing the more knowledgeable player should explain you can't fire whilst the commander is up in the cupola and that he needs to get back inside the turret and load the bloody thing.

Again you can excuse your actions citing in this case A0.2 which states mistakes in the past have to stand. Mistakes yes, but when you know your opponent is using a rule incorrectly and you don't point it out your cheating mate.

Most games rely on a honour system between opponents and lets face it often you know your opponent so it's got to be a fairly low act to cheat yourself to a win. Another wargames related pastime is the soon to start Painting Challenge. Curt has always insisted we Police ourselves and whilst this is the only way to do it, it's ore than a little possible to cheat your way to victory by wheeling out fully painted units left right and archive but really why would you? Recent sledging had the very accidental upsetting of one of our fair crowd about his style of priming with lavish jokes about using many colours of primer that resulted in a finished figure. Of course this was supposed to just be good natured leg pulling but it was ironically the upset parties high level of fairness and good play that made the fun into a group of rather abashed boys (and odd girl). If last year is anything to go by this is one event that is more about the journey than the finish line, the friendly banter and support we all get and give really makes the event a joy to belong to.

Well these last few units are not going to finish themselves and I still have a few evenings of prep left in me so until tomorrow, have fun.

Baccus and Blacktree Delivery

I actually got the Baccus late last week and the Blacktree on Saturday but other posts were more urgent so have been pushed down the list.

Of course the Baccus figures would have come all that bit sooner if I had, errm paid for them!  Ooops sorry Peter. It's a good job my e-mail enquiry regarding an update on my order was polite given as usual it was my fault the figures were yet to be sent. Dosh sent and here they are, two packs each of French and Prussian guns.

The new French 12pdr's on the left and the old style Prussian guns. You can see the attraction of one cast guns but I am not so convinced we can really appreciate how clever it is. These may get across my desk during the painting contest but if not they will get done sometime over the next twelve months as I don't actually need them till 2015 but well you know....

The Blacktree figures on the other hand are expected to feature somewhat heavily in my Challenge points haul as I need to paint these up to pay for some of the toys I hope to get next year and bring me back into the black for this year. The figures arrived eight days after ordering so rather impressed as the Black Friday sale was on.

Above we have the eight basic Russian figures from the mixed lot you get when ordering riflemen. I did however request no figures lying down in this batch and was happy to see this request fulfilled. I have already had a couple of these figures when I have ordered before but no problem as they are rather good figures.

Four Russian snipers finish off the set and these I have also painted a couple from though previously you got two upright and two lying down, for me this is a better set. 

I also went for 2 packs of Germans and I have to say several of these have really got me wanting to paint them as they are just great looking figures. None of the figures have me wanting to pass them buy and I can even see me getting a small force of several nations to add to the Fins and Early Russians that I will end up keeping to play against Lee and of course include my Son and Daughter in if they want to try something different to the cowboys.

Last up is the German special packet that includes the Sniper I had to repaint. It will be interesting how I fair painting him for the third time. I do like this pack and I may actually keep the rifle grenade guy for myself this time.

So that makes another 24 Blacktree WWII to go with the 40 odd others I have in a stash, some prepped BEFORE last years Challenge so I hope to get those done as well. All are now cleaned up and primed in white and ready to go. I am almost ready for the Challenge to start right now but want to get what I have on the table finished and have four clear evenings to do this before being out on Friday for a game.

I still have some prep work to do though. The last stand all needs cleaning, some conversion fork and undercoating then that's ready for the last two weeks of the challenge. I still would like to get more of the Roman's cleaned up and undercoated but that may be wishful thinking from a painting point of view. Not that it matters as I will just continue to paint them post challenge anyway. 

Other than that I think I won't do much more prep, maybe some more 6mm but they are quick to do so not really a time saver but I will get some of those Finns and Russians primed if they arrive before Sunday as I really want to get some of these all painted just as soon as I get them as they are such new castings.

Prepping and a Visit to Caliver Books

Just like oh so many of the Fourth Annual Painting Challenger participants I have been stepping up the preparation but unlike last year I am covering all the bases as I have now in my possession new brushes and as of yesterday five cans of primer and three of Varnish not mentioning the part used cans of both types. Now it's a dream of mine to use them all up in the next three months!

Yesterday is was a pleasure to visit Caliver as the fairly young member of staff was just great. I took my son along, dropping the wife and daughter off at Ikea on the way in (It's just up the road from the Eastwood store). We had been in the store awhile and I gave the three cans I had picked up on top of my order to this gent and asked about a few paints not in the racks that he immediately went looking for but alas without success. 

On his return he asked my Son (age 7) if he liked tanks, he said he did so the gent asked which was his favourite. After due consideration he replied not sure, I just like them all (he has yet to really get into the names etc). Five minutes later the gent came back with a small model and asked my Son if he wanted it, which after getting over the idea that yes this was happening said yes please so he came home with this....

Here we have a rather nice Sherman Firefly, which I am sure most of you will have already guessed from a quick look at the image. What is not so obvious from that glance is the scale.

Those lolly sticks look a bit big in the background, could it really be that small? Well yes it can, this is a 10mm scale model with revolving turret. 

It's also a kit of only two pieces, yes it's one of those 3D printed models you will have heard so much about and the detail is just mind glowingly good.

Told you it was a wee thing. It really does sell me to the idea of this material for a number of future products and it blows open the possibilities. Another thing to excite is as the cost drops for the hardware it's even possible we will get one at work at some point, do you think I could convince them that it's OK for me to have a play?  :-)

Anyway it worked out to be quite a good day for all concerned and I was able to concentrate today on painting up a few figures to almost finished stage which will allow me to finish off more of the recently bought painted units for both the French and the Prussians.

I also have done a lot more prep work today and have well over one hundred 15mm Roman's ready for the challenge and nearly three hundred 6mm Napoleonic's all ready for the off. 

Add the twenty plus 28mm's ready from last year and expectation of a few hundred Winter War 28mm's arriving between now and the end of March it's fair to say that I will not run out of figures before I run out of time.

I also have a few idea's for the various themes some will need purchasing whilst others I have in hand and I also bought the Last Stand figures yesterday but still need to clean them up, make a few conversions and then spray them ready for that round.

Yes I think I am all ready for the Challenge kick off

Three For One Post

First up a big shout for Dave at One Man And His Brushes who hit 100,000 hits recently and is having a give away to celebrate. If you have not visited Dave's blog then your missing a real treat that goes way beyond serious eye candy so take this excuse to go see what you have been missing.

Keeping on the subject of Dave, I got home today to find a package from him with more of the 6mm I had bought off his mate. These are a few more of the Brunswick troops that have been painted up by no less a man than Dave himself (do you love the bridge eh?)

These chaps double the lance armed cavalry I received at Blog-Con and completes the regiment rather nicely.

I single base of eight infantry that will be added to the others allowing me now to field four Battalions if I add the skirmish elements to them. I really like what Dave achieved when painting up these guys.

Five command figures which now gives me seven command figures which means three command bases so a big smile as I tick that box.

And this curious base with the three guns and a limber with a few dead crew. I already had a base of these but with four guns on it, I can only assume they were for a set of rules to show a gun position that had been overrun? Well like all the other figures they are excellently painted.

So thank you Dave for sending the extra bit's and sending them on to me. I was talking to Lee on Wednesday and he has now sanded all his painted bases and just needs to drybrush them and tuft, some how I feel inadequate  :-)

Not that these were the only items to land on the doorstep as I also have reinforced the brushes ready for the challenge as some of the larger brushes were getting to the past it stage and given I am planning on painting more of the larger figures in this challenge I thought it an idea to be ready, though Rosemary & Co are so fast at turning orders round I would not have been without long at all.

Keeping on the subject of gathering forces for the Challenge I am off to Caliver Books on Saturday to pick up more primers as I am down to the last two cans an well if I see something that looks right for one or more of the themes I will be grabbing some more lead, well it would be rude not too after all.

I also have been cleaning up figures and have added three Legions in 15mm that will be ready to roll on day one and I expect any day my Winter War package, oh it's sure exciting.

4th Annual Painting Challenge and 200+ Followers

So Curt over at Analogue Hobbies has thrown down the gauntlet for another three months of fun and banter that is known as the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Those who have followed this blog for a year or more will already be aware of the fun and productivity this challenge supplies to the hobby in general and the painting divas in particular. Last year I was about to start work but managed to start just after the challenge so as to make maximum gains in the closing stages. This year will not see any where near the production of last year.

This year the challenge has again been expanded to allow even more entrants with the figure standing at 50 this time around. All the past entrants received an invitation to join in again but now space is being offered to will in the remaining slots on a first come basis so if you want in, get over to Curt's excellent blog via the link above and register your interest. A few new wrinkles have been added to make it more fun with a number of fortnightly challengers based on themes that you are free to enter or not as you feel (but look a lot of fun) and the usual entrance fee of a single figure, this time based on a certain film director. 

I urge you to be quick if your into this as the spare slots will go very quickly.

On the subject of numbers I have managed to reach the lofty goal of 200 followers over the last week and now sit on 201 which has really made my week. I had noticed the 200 bench mark though had not mentioned it as was trying to focus on the other posts but a big thank you to all that follow and especially to those that comment as this really fuels the interest in keeping the blog going. I know with the challenge soon to start we will see even more painting orientated posts but fear not other inane ramblings are contractually obliged.

Given the recent blog giveaway I do not plan to mark this event with any prizes, after all I still have two lots of prizes to paint, though Tamsin was reporting bruised ribs earlier from a subtle elbow poke  ;-) As for the buildings they finally are at the head of the queue and I hope to get them all finished within the week.

In fact the next 20 odd days will be about finishing as many things as possible ready for guns blazing. Anyway I am off to work out what I plan to do for the various challengers Curt has planned.

3rd Annual Painting Challenge Has Ended.

Well it ended a little over 24 hours ago but I was worn out with the end run charge that saw me break through my second target of 2000 points. Anyone interested in looking at all the entries can find Curt's blog Analogue Hobbies here.

The great thing is that you can go over there and pick out your favourite submission and vote on it with the submission that gets the largest vote getting a prize. This is no easy task as some of the work is so inspirational and the standard is seriously high. If you have a hour or two to spare to feast your eyes on some of the best painting done in the last three months then I recommend that you click on the link and relax into figure heaven. 

So the numbers I had expected to do more 28mm and 15mm than I actually did but made up for this with a 6mm charge.

Thirty Three 25/28mm Foot

Thirty Three 20mm Cavalry

Three 20mm Elephants

Forty 15mm Cavalry

One Hundred and Thirty Seven 15mm Infantry

Two Hundred and Forty Nine 6mm Cavalry

One Thousand Six Hundred and Six 6mm Infantry

Eighteen 6mm guns each with four crew

Four Limbers

I have now started work on some of the Spanish 6mm buildings for a short break in painting figures but waiting on my desk with the aim to be started before getting deep into next week is the three 15mm ECW foote regiments with their 6mm equivalents. 

To follow these I have the last of the French allied infantry in 6mm and the command I did not finish before. I also in 6mm have all the Prussians I received recently, now all sorted and ready. Waiting prep I have the Roman's that I plan to start sometime very soon as they have been neglected and this needs rectifying. 

The end of the Painting Challenge will herald a return to the more varied mix of posts with Terribly Obscure coming back and a more varied mix of other subjects. Thanks for bearing with this, though I still have quite a few more posts to bring to a close the figures painted to date.

I did finish a few projects. The Numidian Impetus army was finished near the start of the Challenge and then sold at York. Matt's WSS army was pained from start to finish within the challenge as was the 3D sniper project. Though I will probably add the odd figure to the mix I won't do much more on this.

I failed to reach a few targets though. I still have a lot of the Macedonian's left unpainted which would have reduced the lead pile a fair amount. The Spanish Ulcer despite needing just a little effort remains to be finished. I did not even touch some of the prepped figures from the Sniper Reminder box (Partisans)  but none of this is a major issue.

I also got to try out a few new techniques, the basing which will be used on all future projects whilst I will continue basing the rest the same as before. The painting style for Matt's WSS is a lot faster than my normal style and I will continue with this for some of my future projects.

I don't know how Curt did it but he managed to hold the whole thing together. 47 signed up for this with 45 actually sending in submissions with over 400 in total! So hats off and a big thank you.

Third Annual Painting Challenge Painting Fee

I've finally got round to paying the fee to enter the Challenge for this year. I've had the figure since about two weeks into the Challenge but waited till  had the urge to paint it up. I have to admit that I copied the overall theme from the web site selling the figure but the pattern on that figure was kind of no how so went with a fairly simple design but tried to replicate throughout. Not too ashamed of the end result though some of the other Samurai I have seen makes it look like I used crayons!

The figure is more like a true 25mm than 28mm though it should fit in with the others Curt will be receiving. At this point I did not have the sand and paint's for basing so went with the ballast I bought for the Deluxe Snipers a month or so back. 

This is my first attempt with static grass and I quite like the result though I had another go yesterday and like the result a lot more with sand and warmer paint colours for the ground.

Cath was not at all impressed with the Pampas Grass saying it added nothing to the figure so on sending images to Curt asked him if he wanted to keep or have removed the long grass stating Cath's opinion. Being a gentleman he wanted to keep it as shown. Of course this does not mean Cath was wrong, but I do prefer the added detail if only because that hand sticking out just needed a thumb adding to make like he is hitching for a lift!

6mm Baccus Cuirassiers

I have finally got round to painting the French Cuirassiers and thus finishing the army pack I bought at the last Derby Uni show. Though I have painted up plenty more of that army that did not come in the pack as well. Two reasons for the delay with the heavy boys. First up I like to get the bread and butter troops all painted before doing the cream. But secondly with the diversion to the Spanish Ulcer and the almost lack of Cuirassiers I changed tack and painted up Dragoons and recently Neapolitans. Now I am looking at the Italians and a feast of other forces for this area. Lee and myself tough really need to look at where we plan to go first as I may have to divert again to 1815 or maybe back to Russia as originally planned. But then again anything is possible!

 

Onto the subject in hand, I have painted up the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th Cuirassiers and the reason I picked these out was that they are the first listed of each colour change of collars and turnbacks (not that I did the turnbacks).

 

 Until I get and paint up the Guard these will be the best troops on the table. It's been less than a week since I painted them and they get used today. Better than that I painted up five regiments of Chasseurs which I finished yesterday and those are also in action later.

Here we have the 1st Cuirassiers. The donkey like horses really comes to the fore with these heavies, I wonder how well they will sit next to the Adler when I get them?

4th Cuirassiers, whilst a large percentage of the horses are the same two colours I have mixed in a few white and black (white for all the trumpeters) and the blaze and socks help break this up so they do not look carbon copies of each other.

As always I have the figures staggered so that they are not in a perfect line, though these are standing still so I may as well had them in almost perfect lines. This is the 7th.

Finally the 10th. Reasonably quick to do but with the mix of colours such as the helmet getting three different colours (brass, silver and black) it ha it's moments. Still lots of fun to paint.

So I'm off now so wish me luck, which I may well need as this game will be larger than the last one as we try and break the rules a bit.

Numidian Light Cavalry Explosion

Wanting to get a good start to this years Painting Challenge I purposely had planned the Numidian Elephants and this offering, lots of Numidian Cavalry. These are fairly quick and easy as the horses themselves only have a rope around the neck. So none of the usual tack etc. that many (me included) don't really enjoy painting.

 

I still put a reasonable amount of time into the horses though. All the dark horses were sprayed purple as a base colour. This gives more depth to the actual colour chosen for the horse with a layer of ink over the top to seal the deal. I also attempted my firs grey speckled scheme. I also at the same time used the colours I already had mixed on my 6mm figures so as to use up the paint and steal a bit more time when it came round to painting them.

 

It was doing the original Numidian light cavalry that I devised the goat/cow skin method for the shields but this was the first time I put it in practise with so many figures (flirty three!!) but it was just a case of having all three colours mixed up and doing a shield at a time.

 

This brings to an end the Numidian side of the project, that is unless I still do the skirmish bases which I have figures for but they are fairly awful so may not bother. That leaves me with a couple of Roman cavalry options to do and then it would be all done and dusted.

 

Once finished I plan to sell them as I don't think they will get used now. Not that I expect much for them being plastic. Now I have moved back to metal and my 6mm Napoleonic which will be shown in the next few days. 28mm WWII have now been added to the table but they will be fighting for position with my secret santa though I need a couple of WWII done for a prize for the PBeM ASL contest I have been involved in this year which is about to end.

Numidian 20mm Nellies

You can't beat a few nellies and given my Numidian has so little punch they need the single elephant base allowed for them. I also used one of the spare elephants to make up a command base. OK not normal under Impetus but it was a wrinkle Barry wanted and something I was happy to include as all other systems have commanders moving around the battlefield.

The command Elephant is on a circular base as per the previous command stands. Still really needs work on the base as I am short of tufts etc at the moment. Given that I plan to sell the army come Triples it really is not that important. Meanwhile I still need to paint up the Roman cavalry and have just finished the light cavalry you can see in the background.

Not a great shot of the unit of two elephants. The flash was bleaching he pictures a little. The runners with the elephants were done at the same time as all the other foot way back. It felt good to finally get them on a base at last. I plan to get the whole army finished in the next few months but after the Numidian Light cavalry I will spend some time on the other scales. Whilst I enjoyed the Napoleonic 20mm plastics the only other 20mm that have been nearly as much fun was the Roman infantry. At least once these are done and sold I will have more space for my other projects. The irony though, finally get it painted and then I sell it.

And We Have Liftoff

 

 

Well after nine months of waiting finally we have the start of the Painting Challenge. Today should have been a day that had more stops than starts with a appointment at the Doc's at 7.20am followed by treatment at the hospital at 12.00 and around that two trips to school to take/fetch the kids. All that changed when I got a call Tuesday asking if I could go on Wednesday as they had a slack day against Thursday which was busy. Sounds good to me as it cuts me some slack.

I knew I was wargameing later but no matter, I would be OK. Except I did not factor a couple of things into the equation. First it rained none stop all afternoon and evening and second I was at Lee's till gone 9pm. I got home a little worse for wear and ready to zed but had not yet taken my painkillers which need a two hour kick in before I go to bed. Shame then that I forgot to take them!!

 

4am and I could not stand it anymore, I just had to give up and get up. On the bright side after some immediate relief types I was able to sit at my desk and start painting. Nett result is a unit and a command base all painted and sent off to Clint. I also have a lot more 20mm well under way and even a few 6mm cavalry as I had the paints out. It's fair to say I have got off to a flying start, OK I may have to tape the brush to my hand to finish them but that's OK isn't it? I also was suitably bolluxed that my Doctor gave me another six month sick note for the DHSS to ignore and the offer of Valium to help me on treatment day!! Er I said no thanks I think I'll do. Anyways I did get out of taking the kids to school but was a good boy and brought them home.

 

As for the game yesterday, well it was a cracker and I will do the report very soon, just as soon that is as I can type with both hands LOL

Prep work and Painting Progress

With the Painting Challenge now only ten days away I am glad to say that I have the first few units all prepped and ready to be pulled out. Looking at the photo of them it suddenly looks not that big of a pile. It won't get much bigger either as I intend to continue painting right up to the start.

 

I tried purple undercoat for some figures and have been rather happy with the results for things like horses that seem to benefit from the purple. White and light coloured horses not included. These get the traditional whit undercoat. Also in the box are a few elephants and crew. Back on the painting desk is the infantry that will be added to the elephant bases. These are fully painted so will not count towards the Challenge. Also included is the 28mm WWII figures, two have had their bases removed as they will be pinned in place. I have cast the pavement and walls but that is as far as this project as got so far.

 

Curt wants us to set personal targets for the contest. Well I wanted to beat last year so decided to add 20% to last years figure. That was without checking what was last years end figure!! Well after checking and finding it was 900 points I started to sweat a little. Oh well I am tidying the figure up a bit and going for 1200 points as 1080 is a bit odd and 1100 seems a silly number. Given that most of the figures will be 6mm and 15mm I have a lot of painting to get that target reached, but it would not be a challenge without stretching oneself would it? I also want to finish in the top ten and to do that I think I will have to knock out far more than 1200 so lets see if I get either of the self imposed targets.

 

I also have got much of the basics done on my sons figure. The kilt and shield being the two most detailed parts to yet be painted. This will be done in the next few days as I also need to get on with the older sisters giraffes which at this moment only have a base coat and some very ugly English uniform brown for the patches. The good news is this gets mostly painted over!!

 

As you can see plenty of work to be done but I hope to get some quality time on the figures later in the week.

Curt is at it again.

Curt over at Analogue Hobbies is running the Third Annual Painting Challenge. We have a good number of new contestants and a really wide range of topics. Even for those who are not joining in it's good fun to watch. Last year every day saw multiple posts of painted units and figures. Curt somehow manages to keep the finished work posted and get still paint to his own excellent standard.

 

 

My personal aim is to beat last years total which was a fairly hefty sum but I have a better more dedicated painting area that should help, though I have not lifted a brush in the last few days. Funny thing is that I still have some of the same subjects on the go as last year but I also have a couple of new ones.

 

It's a good time to look at what I have lined up figure wise and set some targets (just for fun).

 

20mm Numidian Impetus Army. I have eight light cavalry units, a medium Roman Cavalry unit and a unit of elephants to paint. I aim to get all these done and plan to prep the light cavalry before the challenge begins.

 

15mm Seleucid army. I still need to paint up 48 medium bow figures, the Galatian Cavalry, about 50 Thracian foot, 25 hoplites and some light cavalry. These all I hope to get finished if possible.

 

15mm odds and ends. Two Persian Cavalry units to finish off my Persian army, a bunch of cataphracts that are really crap castings just to get them done. Over 100 more pike which will be towards the back of the line and I don't expect to get these finished.

 

15mm Principate Roman army. I don't expect to get deep into this army but with the help of the challenge I hope to get a good start on it.

 

15mm ECW camp and foot regiment. I want to get these done for my FoG:R army and hope to get them on the table at some point to try out the rules.

 

6mm French Naps. I still have about 15 regiments of foot to paint up and about 10 of cavalry. The foot will be various allies whilst the horses is a number of light cavalry and a couple of heavies that I have yet to get round to. I hope to get most if not all of these painted up before the end of the challenge.

 

6mm ECW, I have just under two armies worth of these to paint so will make some inroads to them but for the most part these will play second fiddle to the Naps, that is unless Lee suddenly gets into high gear with his at which point I will push these forward.

 

28mm WWII, got plenty of these to be getting on with. Some will be hitting the table before the challenge starts but most will wait on the 20th. I will get all I have on board painted before the end of the challenge and hope to get some more in the meantime and paint them as well.

 

So rather a ambitious goal but I think it's possible. I just need to get my head down and go for it. I also have loads of buildings to paint and whilst they are not part of the challenge I don't plan on waiting till the end of March to get them done so expect these being inserted every now and again for a change of pace.