AdamC: Lafayette's frigate Hermione

 My next ships the odd lady out of the French Navy Box. The reason is she's the only one of the named ships to miss the Napoleonic Wars. 

Hermione is famous as the ship that brought Lafayette to America the second time. It also brought news of the impending departure of the Expedition Particular in which my own regiment Saintonge took part. She was the third ship in the French Navy to receive a copper bottom.

Warlord probably couldn't resist the opportunity to do a ship that it had a live model for.

Hermione had an active career with several captures to her name and credible combat record including a draw against a British Frigate. apparently she also sighted the USS Bonhomme Richard... But both ships decided to "Avoid action."

I've seen to it that she sails here under her proper Bourbon colors.  An error we in the reenacting community noted with modern ship when she visited. I wanted to show her next to l'Orient so you can get a sense of the difference in size. For points frigates have been set as 18 I'll ask 5 more for rigging and maybe 2 more for sales and flags making this an even 25 points. 

StuartL suggested a comparison with another miniature so here is the ship next to a 15mm figure. Warlord calls there scale 1/700 though some say the smaller ships are in a larger scale (perhaps as high as 1/500) 15mm is about 1/100 if my memory is correct.

From PeteF: Minifigs Cantiniere At the Larder (25 points)

Back in the day Minifigs came out with a set of four camp followers (Set10) in their Napoleonics range. I remember my dad painting them and still have his set. I never considered buying them but was very happy to find two sets in a lot of French Minifigs I was lucky enough to get last year. 

One of the ladies is a cantiniere - these women went along with the troops on campaign and even into battle - doling out brandy from a shoulder slung spirit barrel. They made up their own uniforms - Osprey provided the inspiration for this 15th legere cantiniere.

She has a basket of bread in her other hand - ready to feed the growing army of Frenchies on this year's shelf. She is my entry for the larder, the fifth room explored on the 1st level.

I'll probably use her - and her friends - in games as some sort of marker or at least to liven up the table.

One 25mm figure and a room bonus for 25 points.

From MikeF - The Guardroom - Inquisitor bodyguards - 30 points

 For The Guardroom I have two bodyguards for my Inquisitor. They're meant to represent the lower ranked members of her warband and are responsible for watching the Inquisitors back and providing fire support when needed. They rank slightly higher than the previously mentioned servo-skulls, but haven't quite graduated to full Acolyte.

The models are Genestealer Cult Hybrid warriors from Games Workshop and the helmets are from Pig Iron Miniatures. I actually wish you got more "normal" arm options in the Hybrid box because these would make great Horus Heresy troops.

From MikeF - The Gallery of Ancestors -Warhammer 40K Servo-skulls - 23 points

 This entire level of the challenge I'll be painting models for a Kill Team Inquisitor warband. I wasn't sure how to incorporate  models from the far future into ancestry at first, but while rummaging through my bits box, I managed to find some servo-skulls! These are from Games Workshops Inquisitor game. The models are larger scale (I think 54mm), but the servo-skulls actually look pretty good for 28mm. In the fluff, the servo-skull contains the brain of a person. It is then equipped with some kind of engine or anti-grav unit and finally has all kinds of useful tools/weapons bolted on to it. I suppose it's the 40k equivalent of a predator drone, but without the abomination of slaving a human consciousness to it.

I imagine that all kinds of people can be turned into servo skulls, but most are probably heretics and criminals. My Inquisitor uses several in her warband and they're primarily derived form her...warband. When one of her Acolytes die, they are interred in servo skull so they can continue the honor of serving their lord. The Inquisitor maintains close ties to the families of her Acolytes as a means of establishing loyalty to her. As such, many of the skulls she uses may be relatives of her current Acolytes. 

From left to right: Great grandpa George, first cousin Marty and creepy uncle Steve.

I love the flying gun!

The models are pretty basic so scored them at 1 point each for a total of 23 points.

From GeorgeS - LOTR Morannon Orcs - 20 points

           Hi everyone, just some points for today. No challenge room again..

   Games Workshop " Morannon Orcs" finished yesterday. No much words needed for them :)

 

 

 

 

   Keep Up The Brushes!!

 

From PeterD K Class Destroyers (8 points)

 

On my dungeon crawl I used two Lumberjills to transport me back to the Aquifer so that I could take the water route to level 2.  I'm not sure if it's required but here's a naval themed post to mark my second trip to the Aquifer.  I have 4 1/2400 models for my ongoing WW2 Naval project - three British K class destroyers and another dummy radar blip in greyscale.  The K class models are GHQ and the other is by CinC.

Group Sot.  Still working out how to use my lightbox so not the best photo.

HMS Kelvin, Kimberley and Kipling (the K class had the most Victorian Imperial names possible)were all heavily engaged in the Med all served in the Med.  Kipling was sunk by the Luftwaffe off Mersa Matruh in May 1942 but the other two were the sole survivors (of a class of 8) on VJ Day.  I picked up a copy of Mal Wright's book on WW2 British Destroyer Camouflage and had some fun putting some of the patterns on 1/2400 models. 

I couldn't find a mid war pattern for HMS Kelvin so used a typical Med pattern based on that worn by HMS Javelin.  These close ups show the fine detail on these 1/2400 scale models, which come up nicely with some washes and dry brushing.

HMS Kimberley sports a 1940 era pattern.  Mal notes that this was unofficial and created by the crew using what ever paints were available in the lockers.

HMS Kipling wears a 1942 Admiralty scheme with a typical mix of colours.

CinC sold this as a L class AA destroyer which it most certainly isn't.  So it's become another  radar blip.

As I get ready to post I've noted that I need to go back and add Pennant numbers on the hulls.  (G37 for Kelvin, G50 for Kimberley and G91 for Kipling).  In past posts people seem to like my basing so I thought I'd share my recipe.  I should note that it carries by batch of ships and also I use different base colours for different projects (i.e. a much greener tint for my Dutch Wars ships).

1. I base the ships prior to priming on 2mm pdf  60mm by 20mm in this case.  The corners are rounded for my own protection.
2. A base coat of ultramarine blue.  I think that the Med needs bright Azure tones even if it could often be an ugly grey.   I try to get close to the hull edges but would rather leave an outline of primed base than paint the hull blue and have to fix it up.
3. An overcoat of Payne's Grey thinned down so that the base coat shows through.  If one was being really correct you could paint bands of the deeper colour to indicate mid-Ocean rollers, but that's too much bother most times.
4. Typically I do the base edges in Payne's Grey at the same time as the overcoat.
5. Wave highlights using a mix of Payne's Grey (or ultramarine blue depending on what's on the palette) freehanded resemble bow waves, wake and Ocean waves.  Typically I'll use a mid blue mix followed by something close to white for the crests.  At this stage I try and fill in any gaps around the waterline left in step 2.
6. Glue the label down with PVA.  Labels are banged together in word using text boxes with  pictures inserted representing the naval ensigns.
7. Give the sea a coat of Acrylic Gloss medium to get a shine.  This can be unnerving at first as the medium goes on milky white but dries clear.

That's 4 hulls at 2 points a pop (compared to Adam's 30 points for one hull earlier today).  

From DrQ: a Famous Brewer in the Gallery of Ancestors (25 points)

From the time the map was revealed there was no doubt in my mind as to the entry for the Gallery of Ancestors: Jakkob Bugmansson XI.

GW's fluff for this 2020 limited release reads:

The duardin. The myth. The legend. In times long past, the name of Bugman was a byword for quality amongst the people of the world-that-was, a brewsmith capable of producing the very best beverages the dwarves had to offer. Now, in the Age of Sigmar, another has risen to take his mantle – the Kharadron known as Jakkob Bugmansson XI!

Joseph Bugman was of course the legendary brewmaster in the old Warhammer Fantasy game—one of the first named sculpts in all of GW. As such distant descendent in Age of Sigmar seemed a fitting entry.

I tried to paint Jakkob in a similar style to my Kharadron Overlords, though with more silver and brass and less of the blue. There was an option to have him without helmet, but to be honest I don't particularly like the sculpt of his face (not a long enough beard for my taste). 

I plan on running our beloved brewer as an Aetheric-Navigator hero in my Khardron army. While some may argue that he would make more sense as an Aether-Khemist, I think that his upturned tankard is clearly pointing the way to victory. 

As far as points: five for the model and another twenty for the area bonus comes to a total of 25. 

On to the Armoury where we will inevitably find that a good offense is the best defense (and has a lot of dakka dakka). 

From Mike W [Chamber of Darkness] Grey Scale Night Goblin (25 Points)

 Another day, another challenge!

What I like about this Challenge is that it... well challenges you! I would never have attempted a grey scale figure but to complete the First Level of the Dungeon here is one I did earlier!

First ever grey scale figure - A Night Goblin

A single Night Goblin Archer, undercoated black, dry brushed with a couple shades of grey and then details highlighted in more solid grey.

Arrow feathers are white!

Another view - slight hint of green on skin?!

All muted down with diluted black ink washes the only controversial area being that I washed the skin areas with a green ink over black to give a slightest hint of the underlying Goblin flesh tones, it hardly shows....

Base was flocked with a grey ash coloured flock I've had for some time but on the photos this looks a light brown - oh well!

Rear view, where the flock looks brown, not grey!

POINTS

1 x 28mm figure                         5 Pts

Chamber of Darkness Bonus    20 Pts

TOTAL                                     25 Pts

AlanD - Caesarian Legionaries (80 points)

 Having just finished one Roman army project, the obvious thing to do is to start another.

A few of us in our gaming group have fallen hard for the Infamy! Infamy! rules from Too Fat Lardies. They really are great, and I've had some fantastic games as a Roman Imperial player getting completely smashed by hairy Germans.

Paul O'Grady has been super keen to have a little Roman civil war, and after twisting my arm for a nanosecond or so, I agreed to join him in painting a Roman force for the civil wars of the late Republic. The Caesarian Starter Army box from Warlord Games was great for this project, with Paul chucking me a bunch of sprues and telling me to get cracking.

So here are the first two units of legionaries complete. It has been a nice change painting them after the more complex legionaries of the third century AD, and especially since I'm (ahem) ... using shield decals....  

From Barks: The pinnacles of pain (40 points)

Harvard intellectual Steven Pinker pulls no punches in his examination of torture in his tome The better angels of our nature (2011). He quotes a Scot tortured on the rack by the Spanish in the early seventeenth century:

As the levers bent forwards, the main force of my knees against the two planks burst asunder the sinews of my hams, and the lids of my knees were crushed. My eyes began to startle, my mouth to foam and froth, and my teeth to chatter like the doubling of a drummer's sticks. My lips were shivering, my groans were vehement, and blood sprang from my arms, broken sinews, hands, and knees. Being loosed from these pinnacles of pain, I was hand-fast set on the floor, with this incessant imploration: 'Confess! Confess!'

Pinker describes in horrifying detail how medieval Europe was a culture of cruelty with institutionalised violence and systemic sadism. Thankfully, "the Humanitarian Revolution initiated the abolition of many barbaric practices that had been unexceptional features of life for most of human history."

It all makes me squeamish, but I quickly printed and painted some nasty implements from Printable Scenery. The guillotine blade failed and was replaced with plasticard. If I was to base the guillotine, I would add a bucket or basket for collecting the heads...

Scoring based on precedent: 20 points

Pit of the Pendulum bonus: 20 points

Skull-o-meter™: 1