AHPC9: Recon Kradschutzen and Dark Age dwellings

A couple of Painting Challenge entries this week, lead by my Kradschutzen Platoon entry for the first of this year's Bonus Round, themed for Reconnaissance.


The Motorcycle borne troops of the German Army were critical to the effective implementation of Blitzkrieg doctrine - searching out the enemy, seizing opportunities and using their mobility to conduct wide flanking manoeuvres. They are the essence of a force purpose built for this Reconnaissance Bonus round.



In the desert they came into their own, so naturally I need some in my 15mm DAK force for use with Battlegroup Tobruk and Torch!

Presenting my 15mm Reconnaissance Platoon, comprising:
- 3 Kradschutzen rifle groups of 6 men each,
- 3 Kradshutzen LMG teams,
- Kradschutzen ATR section,
- Kradschutzen 81mm mortar team,
- Motorcycle borne medic,
- Pak 36 AT gun and Kfz70 tow, and
- 75mm Infantry Gun and Kfz 70 tow
(Not shown: Plt HQ which will be mounted in a a Horsch Heavy car that I completed last challenge)

While I am really happy with how this force came out, I had a real love-hate relationship with these follows from assembly onwards, including the myriad of wonderful detail that I felt obligated to give due attention. Glad I persisted, as these will give me a great flanking force with infantry to seize objectives and with some punch to keep away those pesky Armoured Cars and Bren Gun Carriers of Dux's 8th Army.

Overall that is 12 motorcycles, 11 sidecars, 2 tow vehicles, 2 crewed guns, and 42 figs, all in 15mm and posted here:
http://analogue-hobbies-theme-rounds.blogspot.com/2019/01/reconnaissance-from-paulog-dak.html


EDIT: The voting results are in and my entry came equal 4th for an Honourable Mention - a nice way to start the AHPC IX Bonus Rounds!
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-votes-are-in-for-reconnaissance.html


Separately, for my routine weekly entry I continued my theme of distracting side projects with some Dark Age buildings I have been meaning to get to for a few years. I have a large village worth now and should probably stop, but I do love building them so I wont...

They are lovely resin casts by Gripping Beast, sold as Large and Medium sized Wattle and Daub Buildings, but the cute elevated storage building seems to be no longer available.  All were given to me by Slowpainter John, painted up in multiple washes and dry-brushes in various acrylics.

Together in a block these three buildings occupy the table area of two imperial terrain blocks (noting they are measured in anachronistic, non-metric units!) (Figures for scale only, not for scoring)
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2019/01/from-paulog-dark-age-dwellings-40-points.html

Points wise I am now on track for my target of 1000 points and my achieved 'run rate' is better than previous challenges (just got to keep it up!)