From Kerry T - "Hi Ho, hi ho its off to war we go"...Westwind Productions - 28mm Dwarves (200 points)

 Morning, afternoon & Evening all

I'm afraid I've been a bit slow off the mark this year (reasons shown below) so this is my first entry.

Its great fun being part of the challenge again this year, this is only my second year and I'd hoped to hit the ground running but I'm trying to remind myself its a marathon and not a sprint and trying not to panic. Already we've seen some fantastic entries and I've no doubt more will follow.

Having thrown down the gauntlet in suggesting a "my codpiece is bigger than yours" side duel I have somehow inexplicably turned my back to my erstwhile fellow Renaissance duelists for the moment and gone and painted something else. Its all down to my oh look shiny genetic defect and butterfly tendencies. Its also not been helped by the non arrival of various orders including figures, shield transfers and bases which seem lost in the post on their journey down under.

So I thought I would start with something small except that actually Westwind Dwarves https://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=192_74_174 don't seem that small when compared to others on the market.

My dwarf army (if I can call it that) started in the early 90's I think when my kids dragged me into a GW store. For some inexplicable reason I got them out of their plastic boxes a few months ago and gave them a wash and a touch up. After that I started adding to them but have not bought any of those lovely characterful old now out of production GW figures that command eye watering prices on eBay. I've made a few small purchases from Blacktree designs to make them into bigger units as they are compatible and now added these from Westwind and also have some Oathmark figures undercoated.

The existing Dwarf army so far

Last year I spent the entire challenge lounging in the bar eating peanuts and drinking beer rather than exploring the planets. This year I think I might as well have a wander around so the studio sets so these are my under construction entry.  Its an army under construction but I really have no idea where I'm going with this project as far as rules, unit sizes etc!

Notwithstanding, we all know that every army needs a Guard regiment and these are mine. The Legionaries of the Kings Guard

Down by the rivers of Babylon.... lah lah lah

These come with a detached right arm and shield allowing a variation in pose. The sculpts needed quite a bit of cleaning up but were easy to put together because of the pre-drilled holes and lugs and are quite sturdy.They come in packs of 10 troopers and a command pack of 4 giving me a large unit of 24 figures.

These are big dwarves if ever there is such a thing!

These are too big to fit on 20mm square slotta bases

The shields are big too, no figures armed with pilum though

So that's the infantry, maybe purists would say that no Dwarve army should contain cavalry and a mate says they're essentially an Hoplite army.

Now we all know that every army by wargamers law should by all account contain at least one unit of Highlanders. Mine is no exception and I therefore offer you the services of the McTartan Highland Ram Raiders. 

Down by the rivers of Babylon lah lah lah

Like the infantry these are lovely figures to paint with detail that stands out. I did however find both a bit of a struggle to finish and ran into 2 problems. The first was that I gave the infantry a wash with Agrax Earthshade and then found they were both horribly sticky and shiny. I doubt I'll do that again!

Bah bah black sheep have you any wool...

When painting the mounted troops I kept rubbing off the paint and after finishing the rams, stuck the riders on with epoxy only to decide that painting tartan would be easier if they were separated. So having separated them again and drilled their bums and superglued them to wire finished the first two. That's when I hit another snag as I could't get the wire out of their backsides and rubbed off the paint again. Back to the epoxy and finally got them finished. This is the first reason for my slow start

The second reason is below - these are not part of my challenge entry but I started these 48 AB French Cuirassiers in early December confident that I would knock them off before the 21st December. I failed so spent the first dew days of the challenge getting them out of the way. They took so long that I'm rethinking my plan to paint up a unit of Young Guard infantry for the challenge.

Not part of my challenge but they took me so long they get a photo 

So in summary

24 x 28mm Foot figures @ 5 points and 6 Mounted figures at 10 points = 180 points

Bonus points for Under Construction studio 20 points - total 200

1 measly squirrel

Many thanks

What a great set of dwarves! I fully appreciate the pain of having to un-glue and then re-glue riders.

Tamsin