Challenge Day 32 - 2nd Moscowskiy and Apsheronskiy Musketeers

Before I get onto presenting my eighth Challenge entry, I'll give a quick update on my WIPs.

I've finished painting the second batch of musketeers. They've been popped off the sticks and glued to their bases.

I'm debating whether to add the basing gunk tonight, or wait until later in the week when I'll know if the next batch are likely to be completed.

Speaking of which, I've started work on the third (and last) batch.

I should be able to make a bit of progress on these tonight, and I'm still off work tomorrow, so should manage to get them close to finished. With sessions on Wednesday and Friday evening, I might manage to complete them in time for my Saturday posting slot.


Challenge Entry #8 - 2nd Moscowskiy & Apsheronskiy Musketeer Regiments

These netted me a handy 74 points on Saturday, which was quite pleasing as I hadn't expected to finish them in time.

2nd Moscowskiy Regiment

Apsheronskiy Regiment

Close-up of the command groups to show off the flags.

Challenge Day 31 - Blame It On The Bellboy

..it's probably his fault anyway, the stupid boy!

These were posted yesterday and people seem to have liked them. They netted me 10 points in the Challenge, which wasn't bad for an afternoon's work.

Arthur Williamson, Head Doorman of L'Hotel Vosay:

Francisco "Frankie" Sarissa, Head Boy at L'Hotel Vosay

I have written back stories for this pair on the Challenge blog, so you can see the post there for that.



I also had two Russian SYW musketeer regiments posted yesterday. I'll post them here tomorrow or on Tuesday.


Current Workbench Pic:

I've made excellent progress on the next two musketeer regiments. At this rate I should finish painting them tomorrow, meaning I'll be able to start on the last two much earlier than I originally expected. Three of the figures had lost their bayonets so I've drilled into the musket barrels and inserted short lengths of 0.5mm wire.

I also finished priming and assembling the squad car for the Salutesville Police Department.

You might recall that I lost one of the headlamps yesterday. I found it today stuck to a side-seam of a pocket of my tracksuit trousers. Oh well, I'll have a spare if I ever buy another of these Blue Moon vehicles.

Challenge Day 30 - Current WIPs

The two musketeer regiments did get finished today and have been submitted but not yet (at the time of writing) posted. However, a couple of additions to the denizens of Salutesville which I painted up quickly after finishing the grenadiers have been posted. So, for a few hours at least, Ian will still have a lead over me.

But onto the current WIPs. I've started work on the next two musketeer regiments. I've decided to amend the order in which I paint the colours, based on my experience painting the previous two batches. Hopefully it will save on the time I was taking with touching up the figures at the end.

I've also started putting together a second vehicle for the Salutesville Police Department. Unfortunately the metal headlamps are rather fiddly to glue on and one of them slipped and has ended up on the floor somewhere. Having searched unsuccessfully for it, I resorted to making a replacement with green stuff. I might eventually add a limo for the Chief of Police. On top of the empty dice container are 4 Police crew figures to go in the vehicles.

I've started priming them and will finish doing so in the morning and complete the vehicle assembly. I'm leaving the roofs off the vehicles for now so that the interiors can be painted.

The next few days will see me continue with the Russians. I hope to complete these two regiments and make a start on the last two before I return to work.

Challenge Day 29 - Post 2: Plans for 2015 And Stuff

Well, it's still Day 29 somewhere...

So, before I get on to my plans, some pics of the WIPs:

As you can see, I've done a little bit of painting on the fire hydrant and assembled some transportation for Salutesville's Finest ("They're the finest? This city has no hope!"). I'll have to sort out getting some decals for the city's Police Department, but that might take a while so the panel truck will be plain when I submit it.

Now, that's what I call good progress - all varnished and ready to be popped off the sticks and glued to their bases in a few minutes. As I'll be up late watching Godfather II on the TV, I should be able to get the basing gunk on before the end of the film. Even if I don't, I should still be able to finish them in time to submit them tomorrow.

That's another 74 points for me Ian.

And I don't go back to work until Wednesday. That means I've got 3-4 days to get another two regiments painted up.

That'll be 74 more points for me Ian!

Now, the plans for 2015:

Challenge 2014/2015 - place in the top 10. I was initially thinking I'd place much higher but it appears that there were several entrants who had understated their targets.
My aims going in were to paint:
1) Seven Years War Russian army - I'm nearly there, with just four foot regiments left to paint.
2) 6mm ACW armies (or at least a decent portion thereof) - I look set to start on those very soon.
3) ESU space fleet - I may paint these as a break before starting on the teeny-tiny blobs
4) 28mm Wars of the Roses army - if time allows. I haven't even broken out the sprues to start putting figures together yet.

Challenge 2015/2016 - if Curt is fool enough to run it again, I'll probably enter again.


Post-Challenge
1) Finish off the 6mm ACW armies (I have some extra bits and bobs that haven't been prepped yet)
2) Complete the 28mm WotR army
3) Paint up all the various spaceships that are sitting in my lead mountain
4) Make some more headway on my Mob Wars project (paint figures and buildings)
5) Get a load of 15mm SciFi painted up
6) Finally finish the pirates
7) Finally finish the Sarmatians

Gaming

This year I am going to try to reserve Thursday nights for gaming once the Challenge is over, with games on Mondays as well when I can.


Spending

Absolutely no new...oooh shiny, must buy

But seriously, I will avoid buying any new armies. Of course, that doesn't stop me from massively expanding existing armies. After all, I need to buy the figures for 36 bases of Righteous Army!

Challenge Day 29 - Post 1: Russian Grenadiers

I wasn't expecting to be posting pics of these until Sunday, but Curt's fingers slipped and he posted them early. So, here you go - the 1st and 2nd Grenadier regiments for my Russian Seven Years War army.

I completed these two regiments quite quickly, when you consider all the fiddly details that needed to be painted. Like the flags. My dog, they were a complicated design to try to recreate freehand.

So, here you go - the pics:

1st Grenadiers

2nd Grenadiers

 Close-ups of the command stands:

These scored me a handy 74 points.

However, I'm glad I will only ever have to paint two more Russian grenadier regiments (the 3rd and 4th) - those bleedin' backs of the mitres...and the flags...

Challenge Day 28 - Happy 3rd Blogday To Me

That's right, I've managed to survive 3 years of blogging. So, I'd like to thank you all for following me and keeping me relatively insane. I haven't got anything lined up for a giveaway right now, but will try to sort something out in the coming week.

I've made a fine start on painting the first two (of six) regiments of Russian Seven Years War musketeers. These will be the Apsheronskiy and 2nd Moscowskiy regiments.

I should be able to get the hair (and moustaches where appropriate - I concede that upper-lip caterpillars are important!), shoulder belts and musket straps done tonight and maybe the collars, cuffs and turnbacks as well. That will leave the black and metallic bits to do tomorrow, along with the flags, flesh wash and varnishing. I should even be able to get them stuck on bases and add the basing gunk, which of course will mean...





I will be able to submit them on Saturday to gain a temporary lead over Ian!

This morning I also found time to prime the figures I was working on last night. It should be obvious that they are 1920s cops to battle the various gangs in my Mob Wars project. I'll be painting them up as a mental break between musketeer batches. Eight of them are from Pulp Figures; the other four are from Dixon. And, yes, that is a Vickers machine gun you can see at the back - these cops don't intend to take any prisoners!

Tomorrow's post will have my plans for 2015