Saturday(ish) Paint Table 1-2-14: Future Fifth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Entries

Well, the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is almost a month old, and nothing has officially been submitted. Now, this would be a problem, except for the following:

• I paint rather slowly
• I'm only trying to beat my measley 200 points personal challenge, not win the whole enchilada
• I'm in the Challenge to get back to painting (having not completed anything in MONTHS), so any progress is gravy

 On the debit side:

• I paint rather slowly
• I am easily distracted
• I lost two weeks of December with the Ear Infection from Hell
• I am in a challenge to paint up 250 points of naval items - eep!

So, with the caveats and addendums aside, I have made some spectacular progress at getting things to the 3/4ths done phase:

 Now, not all of this is Challenge eligible (having been started way before the 5th of November). But it does give you a good idea of what I am working on!

At the bottom left, the expansions for my 1/2400 WWI collection:

We have 2 British dreadnoughts (HMS Hercules and HMS Colossus), both of which are 1/2400 GHQs and were started pre-challenge. They're beautiful models, but all that detail can make them a bear to paint. In front of them are 4 Viking Forge German G-101 class destroyers. These are the exact opposite of the GHQs - very little detail, which also makes them a bear to paint, and not much fun. To the right are a happy medium - 3 wtj 1/2400 Braunschweig-class predreadnoughts. wtj does rapid-prototyped plastic, and they are a nice compromise between detail and paintability - even if I did have to scratchbuild masts. There are some problems with the lictgrau I painted the superstructure with, but otherwise I am rather pleased.

Next, more Colonials stuff:

Ignore that mounted man at the far left, he's not Victorian!

 Here we have four West Wind nuns, a Foundry African woman I am painting as a postulant, and three purchases from North Star: their tea time figure for the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War, a Artizan officer from the same time period, and then their Captain Napier of their In Her Majesty's Name steampunk line. The officers will end up on the Brigade Staff (my Victorian Entry), while the other ladies will be the nuns of the Missionnary Sisters of the Precious Blood, a Trappist religious order in South and East Africa in the 1880s. 

The man all in black is North Star's Bishop of Münster, from their 1672 line. More about him below:

I told you I got distracted!

The Bishop is going to be part of my 28mm ECW collection. Specifically, he's going to be General the Bishop Harbottle Y. Grimstone, commander of the forces of Parliament in the County of Scruttockshire. If those names are familiar, they are the Parlimentarian Commander from Charles Grant's Wargame Tactics and the county used for the campaign in Wargames Foundry's 1644 rule set. Despite his episcopal mitre, he's a fire and brimstone Puritan, severe in his faith and dealings with the ungodly and dressed accordingly. His entourage so far, are equally grim - the trooper in back and breastplate and single bar helmet, and trumpeter on foot with his arms crossed in judgment. The other ECW figures will be troopers of Sir William Waller's regiment of dragoons.

Well, the painting counter is a bit of a mess, but there's lots of progress going on!