The Painting Challenge Progress Report (1)

As many of you know, the ninth edition of the Annual Painting Challenge started with a Bang! last 21^st December, extending until the end of the winter season in March this year. My project for the current edition (also explained in previous posts) is to complete a British Airborne platoon with supports to play with Chain of Command.

The platoon OB is as follows:

·       Platoon HQ: 2 x senior leaders, PIAT Team, 2” Mortar Team and Sniper Team

·       Section one and two each with 1 Junior Leader, Rifle team (5 men armed with lee Enfields and one with Sten) and a LMG Team (Bren Gun with 3 crew)

·       Section Three: 2 LMG teams as above plus 2 Stens and a Sniper Team

How is it going so far? Not bad at all considering that only two weeks has passed since the start of the event. I have managed to maintain a good momentum, undoubtedly helped by the Christmas holidays; I have invested many hours day and night to paint during the break.

My first entry (click in the links for more details) was a cadre of senior leaders, including some well Hollywoodian characters easily recognisable if you have watched A Bridge Too Far.

So here we have Major General “Roy” Urquhart, Lt Colonel Frost and major Digby Tahtam-Warter

This was followed a day later by an additional cadre of commanders andHQ characters, including the radio operator and the medic.

The third entry dealt with the first of the support weapon teams, in this case a flamethrower and the ubiquitous British PIAT.

The fourth entry included additional support weapons, another PIAT team (prone firing) 
and the ubiquitous British 2-inch mortar (used even today by the British armed forces)

 

Finally my fifth and most recent entry are the components of Section One, with both the rifle and LMG teams.

Based on the current Challenge rules, I’ve been awarded a total of 125 points (5 points er each of the 28 mm models painted), or 17% of my 750 points target for this year. My painting process as described in a previous post is showing to be very efficient, notably reducing the complexity (and time) of painting camo schemes.

Looking forward the next milestone is the first Bonus Round generically termed “Reconnaissance”. These Bonus Rounds are some special entries of the Challenge scheduled every 15 days which awards an additional 50 points to the entrants on tip of the normal points for models or vehciles.

The first Bonus Round is due this Saturday 5^th January and I have worked on some special treats related to my project. If you are curious to know stay tuned to the Challenge blog on Sunday, when all entries will be released.

I´ll post additional progress reports every two or three weeks.