The Third Fortnight Theme Bonus Round - 'Vehicle(s)'

This fortnight's theme, our third, is 'Vehicle(s)'. As with the past weeks' matchups I've found it quite interesting to see the Challengers' interpretation of the stated theme. So, from gypsy caravans to space ships, I think you will be very entertained with both the wonderful creativity and the wide assortment of vehicles on display below. 

Enjoy the gallery and please remember to take time to vote for your favourites on the right sidebar (you can vote for as many as you like).

AlanD

After a few days away with the family I managed to get this entry for the Vehicle bonus round finished in the nick of time. I present a farm cart delivering some firewood to Hurricane, driven apparently by Stinky Pete from Toy Story 2.

The cart model is a very nice MDF kit from 4-Ground, boxed up with a metal figure and horses by Great Escape Games as part of their Dead Man's Hand range. I did have some problems trying to work out the location of part of the harness, which is supplied in white metal, and an enquiry to the DMH forum was only moderately helpful. So don't look too closely at the harness. The reins are dodgy as well, but better than nothing, right?!

The firewood of course was some twigs from the garden chopped up, but I left a space just large enough to hold a single figure at the back of the cart. The (previously painted) figure in the last photo shows the conversion of this harmless looking cart into a lethal self-propelled armoured vehicle. Hurricane better get ready for a spate of drive-by shootings.

AndrewS

“Fortune Favours the Brave”

Knowing this round would contain a lot of tanks, planes and items of transport I thought I would use a completely different definition of the word for this entry.

This is one of the biggest projects I have undertaken and it has consumed many hours in the making, in fact it nearly did not make it at all after a rather unfortunate incident saw it broken and me spending a whole night making good and repairing it.

One definition of vehicle is “ a thing used to express, embody or fulfill something” – so I have taken this and interpreted it as I use miniatures and paint as a vehicle for me to express my creativity.

The spider is part of a Games workshop Arachnarok spider kit, and took just under 4 hours to assemble and over 10 hours to paint up it has received 5 layers of blended blues over a black undercoat, I wanted it to retain a dark menacing appearance, but have a distinct blue tinge so I used and edge dry brush and pin lines in a brighter blue to emphasize the detail.

The under belly was done in grey to provide a contrast and as can be seen is littered with no less than 8 spiderlings in various recesses of its underbelly.

The figure on the base is part of the Salute 2006 “Arthur and Mordred” something resurrected from deep within the lead mountain, I had not painted it till now as although I loved the sculpt of Mordred the depiction of Arthur was not how my eye sees him, Mordred however sprang to mind instantly when I started this as being suitably posed as well as suitable prey for the spider. The boss on the shield was large enough for me to free hand a spiders image from.

The base itself is also part of the games workshop kit for the spider, but needed a little bit added to again I plucked a pile of treasure from the bits boxes and added this at the bottom of the trees to give the spider something to be protecting. the trees contain two hapless goblins, who make a lovely breakfast and are obviously far to dumb to actually steal the treasure and therefore are entangled in webs. the trees are festooned with spiders, webs, skulls and mushrooms all of which allowed me to go wild with the paint colours.

The base has been finished in a woodland effect with leaves, shrubs, bushes and flowers. This has been an absolute joy to paint and I certainly had a lot of fun expressing my creativity on this piece.

AnneO’L

At first I didn't think I would participate in this Bonus Round. I have no tanks, no jeeps, no plane, no limbers, no chariots and no wagons. Then I began to mentally go through my lead pile. And then I remembered a Kickstarter I'd gotten into with Alien Dungeons for the game Fanticide. It was then that I realized that I do have a vehicle. A flying carpet! And to make it even more fun, I had a winged monkey to put on that carpet.

These are 25mm figures and were originally sculpted and cast at Eureka Miniatures.  I did the design on the carpet by free hand and I made the mushrooms myself by molding green stuff over the top of straight pins.  The plant you see in the back I made from the dried stems of grapes.  

I'm sure this monkey will bring to mind "The Wizard of Oz" However, in the film, the monkeys were done all in grey, even the clothing. I chose to use colour to tie the monkey into the carpet.

BrendonW

 

I haven't played Dystopian Wars in a while but I did get a second Empire of the Blazing Sun Battleship for my collection. It sat in the horde for a while but this challenge has seen me poking around in the stash for interesting things to paint. I had to recall the method I used previously and that was not a problem.

I decided to make a lot more brass features on this one compared to the one I painted previously. I decided to have a peek at the Dystopian web store after completion and discovered a few more new releases to add to my stash. 

So more money will be parted from me soon. They are very collectable models and the scale is interesting (1:1200). This model also sees me tick the box for a Naval ship in a side challenge.

BurkhardS

So something different this time. These four models are Purple Sharks for Warzone Resurrection. I got pretty exited last year when news about a Kickstarter surfaced that would revive the old Warzone game. I have always held a soft spot for Warzone, since it had been the first tabletop I got myself into that was not played on a board, map or hex grid. What drew me in back then was that a good many of the factions had some historical looks. Bauhaus was inspired by WWI Germans, Imperial by WWI British and Mishima by Ancient Japan. There were the other factions that catered more for a SciFi background and then there was Capitol. While clearly inspired by the United States, it always felt they had a hard time finding historical analogies. The 1st Edition of the game displayed them in football gear. The 2nd Edition got them a bit more historical by giving some minis a Wild West feel and others a WWI feel as well. Now that did not go down too well with the fans (I liked it) and I was looking forward what this new edition would do with them. 

Now they did give all the factions more of a modern SciFi´sh look, while still retaining the steampunk feel. But With Capitol they still seemed to be struggling with a historical feel. So one can find some elements of modern soldiers in them, but also some WWII elements.

Now to cut things short, I feel the Purple Sharks, which are some light attack fighter craft, there were some strong WWII looks and I tried to capture that. So for their basic colors I went for a plain metal look like seen on some P-38 Lighting and P-51 Mustangs during WWII. I gave it some staining to make them fit the gritty feel of the setting. Now with the before mentioned fighter craft, they usually painted the propeller cone, intakes and rudders in bright colors. I decided to pick that up here too  and painted some parts in purple to fit the crafts name. And last but not least they got some nose art (or in this case body art) depicting scarcely clad women to round off the world war feel. 

The first of them ”Martin Belle” is a homage to the "Memphis Belle” given the fact that the Capitol Corporation is based on Mars. The second one ”Iron Irene” refers to the code word that started the fateful operation by US Special Forces in Somlia in 1993. It does not fit the general WWII idea, but for some reason I felt it would fit. The other two names contain references to regions on Mars. "Hellas Hellen” to Hellas Planitia and ”Ausonia Angel” to Ausonia. 

The colors for the Uniforms were again inspired by WWII Americans, going for mostly tans and greens. This fits my other ideas for Capitol troops quiet well. While the background for the game always depicted Mars as featuring red deserts, I want to give the planet more of the loo that can be seen on the pictures transmitted by the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. They show a landscape dominated by tans and browns and this is what I want myself (plus it will fit the desert table mat I want to build later this year). I went that way with the based as well… tans and browns plus some dry grass to show that while Mars was terraformed, it is still hot and barren.

ByronM

I had plans for this weeks challenge piece, I really did, I even got it assembled, primed, and base coated.  My plan was the Dystopian Wars French the Vauban class HQ sky fortress which is essentially a flying aircraft carrier.  However, last Friday my plans got changed by typical gamer ADD!  Friday one of the Kickstarters that I bought into last year arrived and in typical gamer fashion I got distracted by something shiny and new. 

The Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/rivet-wars) in question was for a game called Rivet Wars.  While I will probably get laughed at by any serious gamer, I don’t care, I fell in love with the look of the figs.  They remind me or Lego men crossed with Chibi figures crossed with a steampunk look.  Looking like lego men is cool, since I am sure I am not the only geeky gamer that made up their own war rules for lego stuff as a kid.  I figured it was worth giving the kickstarter a shot even just for the figures.  I didn’t care about the rules at all, so it was a really happy surprise that the rules are in fact an excellent fast play RTS style board game where each unit matches up in a rock paper scissors type system against the other factions units.  Example: The Blight (german) infantry have rockets and are awesome against mechanized units but suck agains infantry, while the Allies (British) infantry are amazing against infantry but can’t hurt mechanized at all.

Anyway, for my challenge I decided to paint up the Blightun Empire (German) Sturmpanzer and the Allies (British) MT-1 Ostrich tanks.  Both of these vehicles are supposed to be WW1 type era combined with a steam punk look.  Also included are an alternate turret for each, the “der cyclops” turret for the Blight and the Hacksaw turret for the Allies.  These pop in and out of their plug system.  I have characters that can pop into the plugs as well, but did not get them done yet.

I chose to do both in the “official” colour scheme with matches a real world WWII early war German look and a WWII American / British look.

As the Rivet War is supposed to be a long gruelling slugfest typical of the Great War, I decided to use a lot of weathering, chipping, and rust to make them look used and abused.  While the figured come based, with slots for wound counters, and look like metal platforms with rivets around the top, I covered it all up with goop and stuck metal sheets, wood, girders, rocks, bricks, and barb wire on them to make them look more like a battlefield.  I also “borrowed” Sidney’s red brick colouring idea to add some pop to the base.  Thanks Sidney :-)

While the figures may not be to everyones taste, being a bit cartoony, I hope you enjoy the paint job. I know I sure had a blast painting them and will be doing up some of the infantry and the mono-wheels shortly.  If you like the look, I strongly suggest checking out the Rivet Wars game, there is a lot of info on their site and Ted (the designer) was an awesome guy listening to feedback and making changes throughout the Kickstarter.

ChristopherS

This entry is a return to one of my favourite periods the French and Indian Wars. There is just something about the atmosphere of the period that just sets it apart from others that's hard to explain. The combination of European and Indian societies blending together in a backdrop of dark woods and running valleys gives it attraction I find irresistible. Not to mention every time I think about it the theme for Last of the Mohicans starts running through my head (my all time favorite movie btw).

In the French and Indian Wars the prime mode of travel was rivers as fully developed road systems were few and were quite limited in scope except for a certain few main ones. This was even more true for the native Indians so I decided this would by my entry as a vehicle choice for this current theme.

The picture is of a small Indian War party returning from some raiding up river carrying their canoe to be placed next to their wig wam. The figures are from Redoubt which I personally think are just great. Redoubt Indians just look so dangerous! This Indian/Canoe packet was a must buy, but I haven't had a chance to paint it up as I was thinking how I wanted to do it. When I saw the theme for this round  I knew this was the time to do it. 

ClintB

There is a limited range of vehicles used in the Arab Revolt of 1916-18. However Laurence of Arabia (Larry of the Sands) did have a squadron of armoured cars, both Talbot Armoured Cars and Rolls Royce Armoured Cars. He Asserted that they were 'more valuable than rubies' and indeed used a Rolls Royce armoured car himself. Therefore today. for the vehicle bonus round, I have submitted a 1928 Pattern Armoured Car (From Frontline Wargaming) as well as both a foot and mounted version of Laurence (all the figures from IT Miniatures). 

I had to do a couple of minor conversions to get Laurence wielding a revolver on the camel and the standard bearer, but really minimal conversions (hand and arm swaps) I wanted Laurence to be handling a revolver as there was an occasion where in a battle he managed to shoot his own camel in the head twice with his own pistol by accident whereupon it died and he was dismounted. (See even Laurence of Arabia makes bad dice rolls sometimes.) The Flag bearer carries the Flag of the Arab revolt as opposed to a tribal banner. Both were used but this one is just so much easier to paint and I struggled to find a good image of the tribal banners used at Aqaba.

DallasE

1/48 M1A2 Abrams... one of the notorious motorized "Academy/Kitech" plastic kits, obtained from "South Korea Store" on eBay along with some other misc. modern stuff. 

Figures are 28mm Eureka MOPP suit guys sculpted by Kosta Herastinides.

DaveD

Here we have a nice loose definition I hope. After having an email discussion with Mr Awdry that involved the use of the word "Caravan" ( now I do hope he has done the "Victorian Gypsy Caravan" ) - something clicked about some lads lazing around in the lead pile - so here we have the desert caravan - or perhaps "ships" of the desert if you prefer. 

Some of these lads started out painted and have been reworked and rebased etc so I am only claiming fully for 6 of the camels and two handlers. I picked them up second hand so for provenance I think they are a mix of Brittania and Bicorne/Connoissuer. These will go towarsds making the logistical support elements for my Sudan revisited Desert Column. I have also left them generic enough that can be used in some other Pulp, Darkest Africa, Beau Geste type scenarios.

There will be a few more Mahdists along shortly to "trouble" them.

EdwinK

There's not a lot to say about this.  It's a Lledo Promotional Model repainted as a safari vehicle for my dinosaur hunters (hunter for scale only).

The inspiration are the wonderful pictures of Roy Chapman Andrew's 1920s expeditions in the Gobi Desert, though I wanted something a little earlier.

FranL

Now the vehicle class entry: this 15mm Scud B launcher from QRF was a bollox to make and didn't go together right and the painting of it was not a work of love (there are far better painted versions out there and good ideas like filling the cab in with green stuff).

Nevertheless it will be an objective in a game and may receive camouflage netting in it's future like the amount of repaints it's received but hey ho what can you do?

GregB

Continuing with my sci-fi groove, here is my theme submission - a Predator tank from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40k universe, accompanied by some "beakie" Space Marines.  I am an avid collector/painted of Rogue Trader figures, but I have to hand it to GW that their current lineup of Space Marine vehicles is really top notch.  In a nod to the Rogue Trader era, its weapon load is configured to match that of the original Predator tank - an auto cannon in the turret and two laser cannons on the sponsons.  

The Predator is contemporary, but the Marines are old-school, RTB01 Rogue Trader plastic marines! Acquired from eBay when our gaming group set out to recreate the classic "Battle At The Farm" from the original rulebook (see here for the game), I have been gradually expanding on the original group of 15 Crimson Fist marines.  The "Fist" icon on the shoulder plates is freehand painted - which is why some of them look more like the "Crimson Blobs" or "Crimson Paws"…unfortunately the decals don't fit on the old shoulder plates, so it's the only way!

The Predator tank and troops will be handy reinforcements for Pedro Cantor and his band of survivors as they continue to hold out against the Ork invasion of Rynn's World…

IanW

For the vehicle round I was a little stumped and thought I would have to go out and buy something. Lucky for me then that my mate Lee stepped up and lent me these three StuG's to paint. They are from the Battlefront Open Fire boxed set and are plastic.

The detail is good enough and was easy to pick out. I was more than a little worried regards the paint scheme Lee had given me as these are the first tanks I have painted up in more than thirty years and the first as an adult!!!

In the end I think they came out OK, the one StuG with the foliage on it has so curtsey of Army Painter Poison Ivy though I now need to do the other two the same as Lee likes the look.

JaccoK

These are 2 US airborne jeeps from Warlord Miniatures and 3 figures are also form Warlord. The other figures are from Offensive Miniatures.

This is a project to paint the 82nd All American for TFL Chain of Command. More will follow.

I was inspired by the 82nd during my visit to Normandy two years ago. A couple of months ago I read a book book about lt-col. Vandervoort who commanded this unit on d-day (jJohn Wayne in the movie).

JamesL

This Horsch Heavy Field car is part of my German Bolt Action tournament army which is about to get a run at Cancon ib Canberra Australia. The Horsch carries 6 men and I will use it to carry my flame thrower team into battle.  

I've tried a window painting technique I picked up painting 15mm vehicles for Flames of War, and had to adapt for 28mm here...Vallejo paints and GW Agrax Earthshade wash , over a base coat of Army painter spray, served on a latex road from Miniature World Maker. JamesL 

JeremyM

For this fortnight challenge I finished up some 15mm Battlefront Russian ba-6 armoured cars. I was able to paint most of them using my airbrush and managed to find a few of badger's miniature paints that seem to work alright for Russian green. 

I put a bit of secret weapon snow on the base, some of which got on one of the wheels which actually looks okay. I have a number of other Russian figs and vehicles and some Finns from Battlefront I'm hoping to put together for some winter war skirmishes.

JohnM

Panzertruppen, June 1944

Here are a few more vehicles for my Normandy campaign. First up is a StuH 42. It comes from Armourfast. This vehicle had a 104mm howitzer, rather then the 75 mm cannon and was used more in an anti-infantry role then an anti-tank weapon. Next up is a squad of panzergrenadiers in two Kfz70 trucks. Five soldiers in each truck armed with a LMG, from SHQ miniatures, definitely rough models which require a bit of work. Finally we have a Kfz15 car, I plan to use this as a senior leader vehicle, I am looking for a seated gestapo officer in 20mm, have yet to find one, but the search continues. I like the use of a commissar in the CoC Soviet list and hop to do something similar with a Gestapo officer.

I have put together the vehicles painted during the last two weeks of the contest into what I hope is a coherent series of photos. The vehicles and troops represent the German forces advancing in order to evict the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion from Le Mesnil crossroads. The Canadians seized and were able to hold this position despite multiple German counterattacks. The junction was critical as it enabled the allies uninterrupted views of the German positions to the north, south and east.

Here we see the Panzertruppen advancing through the bocage, lead by a motorcycle reconnaissance team. A 20mm PaK 30 as taken up position at a turn to protect the advance. In the column are a pioneer section in kubelwagons, followed by a team of Panzerjaegers in a captured Bren carrier and two squads of Panzergrenadiers, one in a Sd.Kfz251/1 and the other in Kfz70 trucks with a StuH42 trailing. Command is being transported in Kfz15 cars.

The real work here is the terrain, I am planning using a 4x6' piece of 2" styrofoam as the base and have been working on the bocage and the fields. I really enjoy this side of scenario design and have been somewhat distracted from painting. I have enjoyed painting these vehicles, I like how the camouflage has come out.

JuanM

This is an Offensive Miniatures German Kubel in 28mm, crammed with three DAK members. This is a very nice model, a bit small in my opinion, but really a pleasure to paint. 

I have used some AK Interactive pigments for the weathering effect.

KevH

Here is my rather macabre Bonus round entry for the Vehicle round.

Once again this is based on my Crusades theme and will be part of the baggage element for the Crusader army. The vehicle is a Plague cart with victim. once again this is 1/72 Plastics from Strelets. I couldn't resist this as part of the transport set from Strelets. The Plaguebearer at the front has had his beaked mask removed and a simple skull mask created.

Their is evidence of this and may be where the Grim reaper image came from. A mounted Monk waving his Cross as he shouts out lamentations (urg! spelling?) adds to the scene and a gent leading the cart who is very well wrapped up to hopefully protect himself.

LeeH

This is a Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf.E of the 504th German heavy tank battalion in April 1943 just before it's capture and transfer to England. Today Tiger 131 is probably the most famous exhibit in the Tank Museum at Bovington Dorset and remains (after extensive restoration work) the worlds only running example of this iconic weapon of war. When I learnt there would be a Vehicle Bonus Round in the Painting Challenge there was little doubt in my mind what I wanted to paint as my entry.

I have had a long relationship with the real Tiger 131, from my earliest visit to the Museum aged about 7, through dozens of subseqent trips over the years until its final restoration and unveiling in March 2012 when I spent a day with other enthusiasts getting up close and personal with this incredible machine. It is a fearsome beast and when you stand next to it (and compare it to Allied tanks like the Sherman) its easy to understand why it instilled such fear in the men that had to face it.

Despite its thick armour and huge 88mm gun the real Tiger 131 was disabled in the end by a very lucky shot fired from a 6pdr in a British Churchill tank from the 48th Royal Tank Regiment. The Solid shot ricocheted off the underside of the gun barrel and wedged itself in the turret ring, meaning the crew could not traverse their gun. Whether this is what caused the crew to abandon their vehicle is unknown but luckily for historians and military vehicle enthusiasts alike, the crew of the tank failed to set off the self destruct charges, and thus the tank fell into British hands almost entirely intact.

Shortly after capture the tank was whisked away for evaluation and was repainted and shown off to Churchill and King George before being transferred back to England. It eventually found its way into the collection at the Tank Museum at Bovington where it has been a star attraction ever since. The tank has been repainted again several times but it wasn't until the recent restoration that the original colour scheme was rediscovered - RAL800 (Gelbbraun) with a one third camo pattern in RAL7008 (Graugrrun) - and these are the colours I have used here.

LordH

Unlike the French and some other nations, the British army had no ambulance service and instead commandeered local carts and wagons into service. These were often highly unsuitable and men complained of feeling every jolt and every pothole - hardly comforting for men often already suffering agonizing wounds.  

My Waterloo 1:1 project cheats a little bit by representing the 18th June (when many British units had been reduced to over half their number after the heavy casualties of Quatre Bras), so I thought I'd try to make amends by filling a hay wagon full of wounded from the 16th June!

I scratch built this using matchsticks and card (Perry boxes actually!) with some leftover wheels and horses. The figures are all Victrix conversions with a few Perry bits, the driver is Foundry with a Victrix head.

The "hay" is scenic grass, cut roughly and washed with a more dirty yellow colour. I'll be putting details up on my blog of who these 8 unfortunate chaps are and what happened to them all!

MarkG

So for my next entry I've stuck with the theme of the Chaco War. Below are two Carden Lloyd Tankettes which I finished just before the Vehicle Theme deadline. These were developed by Vickers in the late 1920's and were the fore-runner of many inter-war tanks, the gearing and chassis being extensively copied by several countries including the Soviet Union, Japan, Italy and Czechoslovakia who then developed their own versions. Of course in Britain it was the forerunner of the Universal or Bren Carrier.

In 1931, Bolivia bought several of these which then saw action at the start of the Chaco War. They were used in the frontal assaults on the trench lines at the Battle of Nanawa, where most were put out of action. To represent these I have used two models from Warlord Games, and adapted them with Bolivian crew heads taken from my Chaco War figures. Now in size they are accurate for what was used in the Chaco War, though the actual export versions used by the Bolivians differed a good bit in that they had a shorter cabin and sloping armour (see attached image). These are the closest model one can get in 28mm at the moment, so we can just say they are "inspired " by the Chaco War.

I've used the new pigments/washes from Citiadel Paints technical range to weather the appearance of the models. I'm still trying to get the hang of them, but I think they work well. I hope a better effort with some practise will appear with the next vehicle submission.

MartinN

Originally I wanted to submit a Churchill AVRE as my entry for the Vehicle bonus round but decided it's a bit big a tank for my Red Devils paras. So after a short visit at my local gaming store I decided to give the Daimler MK1 armoured car a go. Maybe I'll bolster my force with some jeeps or more likely a Tetrarch Light Tank in the future. 

This time I wanted to use some new techniques and went for the AK line of weathering products. Stupidly the AK 'Worn Effects Acrylic Fluid' didn't work as I hoped and so I ended up with a vehicle looking like somebody has used it for paintball targeting practice. So I had to paint it a second time.

Now I was really pleased with the outcome... until I reached for the pigments. Originally I wanted to do a slightly less worn look than my usual AFV's... well, I was carried away again.

As I haven't had the time to do it again I had to life with it. But for future AFV's I think I've developed a cunning plan so the vehicles hopefully won't look like fresh out of the mud pit again.

MichaelA

In a bid to try and make a submission for each of  the bonus rounds, I'm offering up this splendid 'Victorian era' Gypsy caravan for the 'Vehicle' category.  From the outset, I think that it is important to stress that this is in fact a 'Sarrissa Precision' MDF model from their Gaslamp Alley, Victorian Science Fiction range, scaled to meet the needs of the 28mm scale gamer, and not some scandalous attempt to amass additional points to add to my other side challenge!  

This is the first time that, I've done something like this and was initially quite daunted, after all how was this scorched piece of 2mm MDF going to transform into something even remotely resembling the accompanying diagram?  My fears regarding the construction soon evaporated as the pieces, once delicately prised from the sprue, slotted together perfectly requiring only the smallest amount of PVA glue.  

The painting was kept deliberately simple, I did indulge in a little decorative work, but most effort seemed to go into the base that included the gypsy cat tormenting a hedgehog (both Reaper 'Familiars') at the rear of the caravan.  I have to say that I really enjoyed working on this, the quality of the design is just superb and even allows you to have the top lift off to place miniatures inside.  With removable steps and even a work front mechanism it is an absolute joy and makes a great terrain piece.  Possibly one day, I might get round to creating a Gypsy faction for 'In Her Majesty's Name'!

MilesR

It’s a German Panzer III J straight from the Western Desert.  The model is 28mm scale (1/56th) and is a resin model from Blitzkrieg Miniatures.  The resin casting is some of the finest I’ve ever seen and the model was a real joy to paint.  

I painted the tank Vallejo German Camo Orange and then gave the model several coats of the new (at least to me) Vallejo Desert sand wash.  

A little dry brushing of rust and the model’s done.  The arial is just a length of brass rod.

Millsy

Now that I've finished my undead (including having submitted a chariot) I went to my alternative model for this bonus round - a Space Marine vehicle for Warhammer 40K. Just the ticket for ferrying some grunts about and shooting up nasty stuff. 

As my Space Marine force is a divergent chapter based on the Adeptus Mechanicus it was important to include some themed detailing to maintain cohesion across all the vehicles. Consequently she sports some metallic reinforced cog-themed armour and a nice big Mechanicus crest on one of the side doors. 

The skull is an undead shield motif I had left over and the surrounding cogs cut from plasticard. I've made the top hatch / weapon mount removable so I can use her as either a Razorback or a straight Rhino.

PaulJ

This is the land ship HMS FEARNOUGHT.  It is a small, three wheeled steam contraption which can be landed to support Royal Navy's Armoured Landing parties ashore.

It has variable armament with either a water cooled machine gun or, as shown here, a light field gun which increases the weight of the vehicle overall.

The model is by Ironclad Miniatures with a resin hull and turret, and white metal cast wheels and gun. I have remodelled the back end with a stratch built funnel and support struts. The figure has been added to show scale and was scored in my previous entry, so no points for him.

PaulS

Today we have one of the German Lugwig walkers from Dust Tactics. I've got a couple of the original starter sets, which left me with multiples of the characters Joe and Sigrid, so I decided to convert this Ludwig into Sigrid's own personal walker which involved carefully cutting out the top hatch  and fitting her in place.

Much as I like the Dust models, they have one flaw. For some reason they decided to make the models in 1:48 scale, rather than 1:56 which is standard for 28mm. 

This is a problem with the infantry, but gives the walkers a nice large presence amongst Bolt Action models as you can see from the last photo. You really wouldn't want to mess

PhilH

For this theme round, my original planned submission has been held up in a delayed Wayland Games order, so I had to raid the prepped lead pile and draft this in at short notice. It is a motorcycle-mounted hero for Pulpy adventures. He is from 1st Corps WWI range.

Gharak and I wrangled our pulp ruleset of choice, Pulp Alley, into a 'rolling road' variant which was a lot of fun. I picked up this chap to represent one of the heroes in a pursuit scenario with the antagonists being Nazi motorcycle teams. I'm sure we can arrange a chaotic pursuit in proper Indiana Jones style. The rest of the heroes can travel in their usual van!

The German motorcycles are languishing in the unpainted lead pile, naturally. 

RayR

For my vehicle bonus round I was really struggling for ideas, as most of my periods don't really involve any vehicles, but, before Christmas I entered into blogger Ian's Secret Santa Giveaway and was sent these two beauties in the post. Thank You to my Secret Santa, who can be named as Dave D. He even bought figures from my beloved 15mm Essex, what a star!!

These will obviously be added into my NYW collection, I deliberately painted them in natural wood colours as they can be used for either side owing to the fact that most wagoneers in the period were civilian contractors.

SamuliS

Rumbling out to reinforce my US paras are two platoons of Grenadier Guards Shermans and Fireflys. I decided to weather them heavily to add a bit of color to the normally dull British tank coloring. A combination of oil and enamel washes with mud effects did the trick. Probably not the most historic set up as I have a feeling that this kind of neglect for your equipment wouldn't be tolerated by any Sergeant, especially on the Guards :) 

The minis are from Battlefronts Open Fire box. Pretty decent castings even though they didn't go together all that well. I also used their decals to add all the unit insignia etc. Good quality decals that go on well, but the whole process was still bit of a pain in the butt, due to there being a bit over 70 of them for 8 tanks. Took me nearly as long as all of the rest even after I skipped a few recognition stars.

ScottB

For my vehicle submission round I offer a set 5 Panzer IV Ausf F1's. These are 15mm scale from Plastic Soldier Company. 

Painted in my usual three colour camo pattern style.

The F1 model featured the short stubby 7.5cm KwK37 Gun, capable of firing High Explosive, Armour piercing (Panzergranate) and smoke rounds. It was protected my 50mm of armour to the front and 30mm at the sides.

A total of 471 Ausf. F (later temporary called F1) tanks were produced from April 1941 to March 1942.

SeanS

While most clung to the dying husk of the the old world, others became nomads scrapping for fuel to take them away from the chaos. One such vehicle was the V-8 interceptor.

For the vehicle round I had been keen to finish the Maxwell car from Aberrant Games. I bought it awhile back when I was thinking a lot about post apocalyptic games and hope to also use it in an upcoming game about P-A car racing.

As usual, I spent a lot more time hand wringing than actually painting. In the main I like how it turned out although I was concerned that it was starting to look overworked. I tried to use ground up pastels to weather it, but they essentially washed off when I tried to fix the dry powder on. So I stippled paint. The rusty fuel tank in the back was also a first. Anne really got me thinking about rust, so I figured I had to try. I also tried to mimic an oxidized paint look on the hood and roof of the car. It doesn't show in the photos because of the angle I took. I included the gun because it came with the kit and because my conception of a Post Apocalyptic Deth-Mö-Beel™ is bristling with armaments.

Those of you with delicate constitutions may wish to brace yourselves, but I have a second (GASP) set of vehicles to add to this entry.

These are two Studio Bergstrom Sing-On Pocket Destroyers. Again, I would have a whole fleet of these painted if I would just knuckle down and decide on a color scheme. These painted up quick once I decided.

SebG

Right, this is ridiculous! Only a feeble biblical chariot to enter this round? While I'm sure many entrants will surpass themselves?

Well.... Real life and gaming life (yes, that one too!) struk together, almost at the same time. I intented to present not one, but five chariots, for a big hawl of points, but first came the Longstreet campaign. I'll play my first game in about two weeks, so I have to finish painting my Union units first. And then, since yesterday, I'm afflicted by the flu, with aches and fever, so no painting for me. Fortunately, this chariot was already finished. it was a test for the basing I will apply to the rest of the unit.

So, it's an Essex 15mm Late Egyptian chariot, carrying someone who will be one general in one of my upcoming small projects (yes, small). I used my usual light blue which I like, and also went for a scarab design in the front. After all, it's a general. I tried at first to paint it, to no avail. So I downloaded one, played a bit with the Gimp, a bit of paint, and voila! An easy to spot (but not to kill!) general.

StefanK

For this bonus round I painted a British Horsa. This glider was used by British and allied airborne troops to be carried into combat during Word War II. Its most famous employments were the invasion of Sicily, the airborne landings prior to D-Day and Operation Market Garden in September 1944. The Airspeed Horsa glider measured a length of 20 metres and wingspan of 27 metres. It had no engine and was drawn into the air by a larger towing aircraft like the Handley Page Halifax or the Douglas DC-3. It was capable to carry 25 fully equipped soldiers, a jeep or a 6pdr antitank gun. 

The actual model I'm presenting here is a 28mm Horsa by Grand Manner. It's a hugh model. A solid blog of resin from Dave Bodley's gifted hands. It shows all important characteristics and was assembled very quickly. For painting I used an airbrush and Vallejo Model Colours with suitable thinner. All in all it was an interesting experience to paint such a great model. Merely the tail seems to be a bit too short. Although I didn't paint the white and black stripes too broad I wasn't able to attach the transfers on the side correctly. Therefore I attached them slightly forward.

TamsinP

Subsector 029/16, ESU Core SystemsCommand Bridge, Battleship Gagarin (Flag, 3rd Core Defense Fleet, Eurasian Solar Union)

"Admiral, sensors report ships have jumped in-system at 340 fore, 28 declination"

"Identify"

"Admiral, sensors report NSL ships in large numbers"

"How many? What are they doing here?"

"Identified as elements of 5th Battle Fleet. Sensors confirming types and numbers"

"The 5th? Elements? Not the whole fleet?"

"No sir. Initial tactical analysis reports 2 large and 2 small carriers, 4 ships of the line, 4 large cruisers, 6 medium and 6 light cruisers, 10 destroyers, 5 small escorts and large numbers of fighters deployed. Also some fleet auxiliaries."

"How did they get past our border defense fleets?"

"Admiral, detailed analysis incoming. 1 heavy carrier, 1 light carrier, 2 escort carriers, 1 battle dreadnought, 1 heavy battleship, 1 battleship, 1 battle cruiser, 2 heavy cruisers, 2 attack cruisers, 6 escort cruisers - 2 Frankfurt class and 4 Danzig class, 6 light cruisers - 2 Kiel class and 4 Emden class, 2 heavy destroyers, 4 missile destroyers, 4 fast destroyers, 2 frigates, 3 corvettes, 2 fleet tenders, 1 fleet tanker. They have launched 4 full wings of light fighters. Tactics advise that they have at least one more wing available, probably heavy fighters."

"Comrades, we are a little outnumbered but at least it isn't their whole 5th fleet and most of their ships of the line aren't with them. We can stop this incursion. Set course for intercept."

"Admiral, sensors report two more groups of contacts emerging from jump at 190 aft, 45 inclination and 100 starboard, 05 declination. Sir....I think it's the rest of their fleet."

"Holy Mother Russia! Comrades - say your prayers."

A rather large fleet of spaceship here for you folks - why go for one vehicle when you can have an armada of them? This is my Neu Swabian League fleet from Ground Zero Games. Some of these ships had been languishing in my lead pile for over 2 years, some since Salute 2012 and the rest were acquired just before Christmas. I've had good fun painting these up and look forward to getting them on the table for some games of Full Thrust in the coming year. Not all at once, obviously - each turn would take a couple of hours! Besides, I don't think any of my potential opponents is stupid enough to will have a fleet large enough to match this one.

I will be adding some more ships to the fleet (in fact, I've ordered them this week, along with some more ships for my NAC and FSE fleets, some civilian ships and a ESU fleet) but they are unlikely to be painted during the Challenge. 

TimB 

This model is from Baker Company's 28mm Vietnam line. 

A bit of a departure from my current focus on Feudal Japan - but at least it's still "asian" - though the wheels and jerry can's firmly place it in the modern era... 

…and Curt

I'll keep this brief as I've prattled on about these guys on the main page.  

These are snow sledges that were used by Colonel Marbot's 23rd Chasseurs during their retreat from Russia in 1812. He found the use of the sledges saved more men as they did not have to walk, were easier to defend and required half the horses per man. 

At night the sledges would be drawn up, circling the campfires, like makeshift forts.

The Russian horsemen are a mixture of Don and Ataman Cossacks. Their red lances seem a bit fanciful but they are often featured in the art of the period and I thought they added a nice touch of colour in what is otherwise an primarily earth-tone palette. 

These are all 28mm figures from Perry Miniatures.