Monday, 30 March 2026

AHPC16 - Russo - Finnish Winter War - Infantry and Machine Gun Bomb!

 


The Challenge ended on the 21st March, I'm still catching up on posts

How are we into the final week of the Challenge? I really wish it would go on for another month or so, I always seem to push myself to get more painting done. When its ended I have a painting lull, I suspect most of you, my fellow challengers are the same?

I am hoping this won't be my last post, but this is a biggy, for me anyway. This last week, I somehow found a lot of time to paint 65.5 figures, all for my and Lee's Russo-Finnish Winter War project. Here's a few photos of what I painted this week.


8 Officers and 1 Suomi KP/31 Sub Machine gunner 


A radio Operator and his lookout


A Lahti-Saloranta M/26 Light Machine Gun firing and 2 x 2 man teams carrying the M/26..


A 10 man Infantry squad


Another 10 man Infantry squad


A third 10 man Infantry squad


A fourth 10 man squad!


And an 8 man Infantry squad



Simo Häyhä , famously known as "The White Death", was a Finnish sniper during the Winter War. He is widely regarded as the deadliest sniper in military history, credited with at least 505 confirmed kills in fewer than 100 days of combat.



What Finnish army would be complete without some soldiers throwing, Molotov Cocktails, Satchel Charges (Kasapanos) and hand grenades.


A close up of the Lahti-Saloranta M/26 Light Machine Gun, I have 1 other that I painted up previously in the Challenge.


And to go with the 2 M/26 machine guns, I have 2 teams carrying the weapons, so on the table you can use these to move the figures around the table, then the others when they set up. (Sad I know)


Close up of some of the infantry, the kneeling figure on the right is an NCO, but I'll probably use him as a normal infantryman.


Officers, the one in the centre is a Russian figure!


And here they all are in their new home.
64 standing or kneeling figures
3 laying down figures.
65.5 figure x 5 points
Makes a nice fat total of 325 points!




Saturday, 28 March 2026

Very handy!

 


I had two great gaming finds last weekend. Firstly in The Range, I found these rubber matts, they're kinda the same ones I bought before.


Which I used to make the snowy roads for my and Lee's Retreat from Moscow shenanigains.
 I was moaning to myself that I originally only bought two and that I should have bought more, mainly because I didn't make a T junction.


Well now I have! I bought myself another two for £3.49 each. Then while queing up at the tills I went back for another two.....just incase!!


Then I picked this up from Lidl. For £7.99


An artificial grass mat.


It measure's out at 1m x 2m.
It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but its not bad for under a tenner

So go get yourselves a bargain!
Ray




 



Friday, 27 March 2026

AHPC 16 - Vienna 1683 - 15mm Ottoman Janissary's

 


!I'm still playing catch up on figures painted for the Challenge, these were originally posted, here, on the 15th March.! Ray

I'm carrying on with my Vienna 1683 shenanigans, but I've shrunk back down to 15mm once again.
For my army list I needed 4 units of the famous Janissary's of the Ottoman army. Two would be Musket armed and two would be Firelock armed.


The Siege of Vienna saw the elite Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire deployed as the main assault troops during the campaign led by Kara Mustafa Pasha. Renowned for their discipline and training, the Janissaries were originally formed through the devshirme system, in which Christian boys from the Balkans were recruited, converted to Islam, and trained for imperial service. During the siege they were heavily involved in the complex engineering work that characterised Ottoman warfare, digging mines and tunnels beneath Vienna’s fortifications in an attempt to collapse the walls, while also carrying out repeated infantry assaults when breaches appeared.


The siege reached its climax on 12 September 1683 during the Battle of Vienna, when a large relief force from the Holy League arrived to break the Ottoman encirclement. The allied army was led by John III Sobieski, whose forces launched a coordinated attack from the hills surrounding the city. The battle is particularly famous for Sobieski’s massive cavalry charge—often regarded as one of the largest in history—by the Polish Winged Hussars, which helped shatter the Ottoman lines. Despite the determination of the Janissaries defending the Ottoman camp, the army was forced into retreat. The defeat marked a major turning point, halting Ottoman expansion into Central Europe and beginning a gradual shift in the balance of power between the Ottoman Empire and the Christian states of Europe.



I've not named any of these units, but will call them by their coats colours.
The Green regt are armed with Firelocks


As are the Red regt


While the Blue are armed with Muskets


As are the Yellow regt

Usually with Beneath the Lily Banners foot regts are 18 figures, but for this specific scenario they are only 12's. I'll have to ask Barry, why he chose to make them that way?

The figures are all from Essex Miniatures, unfortunately in their Janissary Command pack, the standard bearer has a caste on flag, I really didn't want to paint the flags, so the figure went into the unloved pile and I bought some Janissary halberdiers and converted them into new standard bearers. 
The flags are made by my good self, I found an image online, copied it over to Microsoft Paint, where I changed the colours around to suit. I have enough flags to paint another 17 units??? Gulp!

Points mean prizes, or do they?

Each unit had 12 figures, so its 24 points per unit.
4 x 24 makes 96 points!!

Ottoman Army under Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha

1st Line (Independent Commands)
Irregular Tribal Raw 12 figs
Irregular Tribal Raw 12 figs
Irregular Tribal Raw 12 figs
Irregular Tribal Raw 12 figs

2nd Line indie command
Timariot Sipahis Blade, Lance Drilled 6 figs XXX
Timariot Sipahis Tribal, bow/carb drilled 6f XXX
Timariot Sipahis Blade, Lance Drilled 6 figs XXX
Timariot Sipahis Tribal, bow/carb drilled 6f XXX
(Already painted before the Challenge)

3rd Line indie commands 
Sekban musket, loose Raw 12 figs XXX
Tufeckci musket, loose Drilled 12 figs XXX
Sekban musket, loose Raw 12 figs XXX
Tufeckci musket, loose Drilled 12 figs XXX

Janissary Brigade & Brigadier
Janissary Orta All Musket Drilled/Elite 12
Janissary Orta All Musket/Flintlock Drilled/Elite 12
Janissary Orta All Musket/Flintlock Drilled/Elite 12
Janissary Orta All Musket Drilled/Elite 12

Reserve & Brigadier

Sipahis of the Porte Blade, Lance Veteran-Elite 6 figs
Sipahis of the Porte Blade, Lance Veteran-Elite 6 figs
Vizier's Guard All Musket, Flintlock Guard 6 
Great Gun Drilled 1 model 
Great Gun Drilled 1 model 

Holy League under King Jan III Sobieski

Polish Cavalry Brigade
Lipka Tartars Tribal Cav now Raw 6figs
Pancerni Bullet, armour Drilled 6 figs
Pancerni Bullet, Lance, armour Drilled 6 figs
Hussar Banner Blade, Lance, armour Veteran-Elite 6 figs

Polish Cavalry Brigade
Lipka Tartars Tribal Cav now Raw 6figs
Pancerni Bullet, armour Drilled 6 figs
Pancerni Bullet, Lance, armour Drilled 6 figs
Hussar Banner Blade, Lance, armour Veteran-Elite 6 figs

Imperial Cavalry Brigade 
Dragoons Regt Dragoons, Flintlock, Drilled 12 figs
Cuirassier Regt Bullet, Armour Veteran-Elite 12 figs

Bavarian Cav Brig
Dragoons Regt Dragoons, Flintlock, Drilled 12 figs
Cuirassier Regt Bullet, Armour Drilled-Elite 12 figs

Saxons Cav Brigade 
Dragoons Regt Dragoons, Flintlock, Drilled 6 figs
Cuirassier Regt Bullet, Armour Drilled-Elite 18 figs

Field gun 1 model