From NoelW: The Strawberry Has Flown: Sander’s Sand Dunes (65 points)

To cheer you up on this dismal Friday (or it may be Saturday where you are, which is never dismal, of course), here’s a joke from my schooldays (yes, I did go to school. Sometimes two or three times a week).

(1)

What’s the difference between an elephant and a strawberry?

I don’t know. What is the difference between an elephant and a strawberry?

Elephants are grey and strawberries are red.

(2)

What did Scipio say when he saw the elephants coming over the hill?

I don’t know.

“Here come the elephants over the hill.”

(3)

What did Hannibal say when he saw the elephants coming over the hill?

Er – “here come the elephants over the hill”?

No. “Here come the strawberries over the hill”.

He was colour blind.

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As we spit sand from our mouths, and drag marram grass from various intimate declivities of our persons, Lady Sarah busies herself rounding up errant geese before the red-garbed soldiers wandering here experiment with goose a l’orange. They seem to be searching the dunes for something. Goose feathers are everywhere.

A bearded soldier approaches me, a puzzled look on his face.

“You’ve not seen my strawberry wandering around here, have you?” he asks.

“Strawberry?”

“Grey* thing. Tail at each end. Ears the size of a carpark. Likes peanuts.”

“I’ve just fallen out of a balloon. I’ve just had an argument with a goose. I’ve just flown a million kilometres in precisely the opposite direction to the one I want to go. I’ve neither time nor inclination to identify wandering fruit.”

“Goosefeathers! The sky! Of course. I’m such a dumbo.”

“ I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“It’s well known that feathers are magical, isn’t it?”

I give him the look I've recently learned from Lady Sarah.

“Oh, yes, I’m sure that’s what some people believe.”

“If my strawberry has got hold of one of those feathers, he could’ve flown away. He could be anywhere.“

“Well, I think I’ve seen about everything if I’ve seen a strawberry fly.” This is getting me nowhere. “I tell you what – why don’t you have a quiet word with that nice lady over there. Maybe in her balloon she’ll help you pursue your missing – er – strawberry.”

“Excellent idea!” He waves his arms excitedly. “Men! Assemble in the basket over there. The beast has flown. We’ll follow in the balloon, catch him and soon we’ll have a basket full of strawberry. Remind me to send you a punnet of elephants when I get home.”

“Yes, of course. But I move around a lot. A great deal, actually. I'm all over the place, in fact. Maybe you should just send me the address of your sanitorium and I’ll be sure to forget all about it.”

[*Or, for our US audience, “Gray”.]

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So my "something red" vignette is Hannibal, to lead my developing Carthaginian army.

I began this army during the Challenge IX, but have not painted a single figure for it since! So I’m hoping that I might finish a few more this time round, perhaps enough to give me a decent fighting force.

The Hannibal figure was the freebie show figure at Salute many years ago. His standard is a Victrix spare, carried by a figure of yet another unknown manufacturer. Supporting him are 11 more of these figures, who’ll be Hannibal’s Companions, his Guard.

I’m not sure whether to leave the shields plain red – I think it will make the unit quite distinctive in the Punic army, but my Roman troopers currently have red shields, too, so this may lead to some confusion on the battlefield. However, I hope to finish a few more figures for both sides before the Challenge is over, so this may change matters overall.

***
Well, these figures may have had to wait a while to get painted, but the wait was worth it.  Cracking job on these Noel.  As for the shields being red, that is entirely your call, but I would maybe try to find something to make them completely separate from your Roman force.  Adding a design may or may not do that though, it may make them blend even more, so up to you.  They look great as is though.

-ByronM