From JonathanO: Assyrian Cavalry - The Altar of The Snowlord (60 points)

 Well I made it to the Altar of The Snowlord and here is my submission.  Finally some of my old school Assyrian Cavalry have been completed.

These are Lamming miniatures 25mm figures.  The horses are larger that some 28mm figure ranges.  I really like these figures.  The base is a 120mm x 80mm chunky base provided by ScottM.  I added a few tufts to enhance the base and distract from my sloppy painting.

This should give me 60 points (4 cavalry x 10 plus 20 for the location bonus).  It also allows me to claim my prize of the superb ECW gun and crew that Scott has painted for me.  Thanks Scott!

Thank goodness for the bonus points from the various locations of the Chambers of Challenge.  However, I am still 40 points shy of my target of 800 points.  Can I get the figures I am currently working on done and posted before the end of the challenge tonight?  Maybe, but maybe not....

From SidneyR: The Last Stand of the Regiment de Louvigny for "The Altar of the Snowlord" (66 points)

 

"Sound trumpets!  Let our Bloody colours wave!

And either victory, or else a grave!"

Henry VI, Part 3 (Act 2, scene 2)

And so, after three months, I've finally arrived at the Snowlord's Altar, bearing - as requested by Curt - a submission featuring casualties and a dramatic final stand for Challenge XI.  

To meet that challenge, I've painted the valiant last stand of the French Regiment be Louvigny, from 1688 - a suitably terminal, but hopefully honourable, end to a great Challenge.

Challenge accepted and - I hope - completed, dear Snowlord!

I have to admit, that when I planned out what I wanted to do, I did wonder if it would work.  What I had in mind was a centrepiece for a large skirmish in which the "shipwrack" of a French battalion could (possibly) be rescued from Flemish and Spanish enemy forces by a relieving French brigade.  It would suit an evening's wargaming, or perhaps be a smaller table in a day's gaming.

The small "slots" for two micro-dice are there to record casualties and cohesion.  As the regiment in its battered state is not really functioning as a working formation, there's no need to identify the pike and shot separately in any normal basing formation.  That's the plan, anyway.  

So, rather than just a 'casualty base', I could use the Last Stand as a half-way house between functioning battalion and a mere marker for routed troops.

After deciding on the type of base I wanted, it was really just a case of deciding which figures I wanted.  I chose a blend of of pike and shot, officers and soldiers, a drummer, and a blend of dead, wounded and still-healthy troops.  

I perhaps could have done better in painting the standard, which looks a little too pristine for any 'last stand'.  And maybe the casualties could have been a bit more numerous.  But, on the whole, given a day or so to prepare it, I thought it should hopefully pass muster on most tabletops.  

The perfect is, of course dear friends, the enemy of the tabletop-standard.

The Regiment de Louvingy is for my late seventeenth century 1688 Flanders collection, so I tried to make the figures fit with the other units and formations by adding green-stuff feathers, lace, ribbons and swapping the Officer's right arm from carrying a standard to more nobly raising his sword towards the Flemish and Spanish enemies-of-his-blood.  

I took the uniform of the Regiment de Louvigny from Mark Allen's fine book "Armies & Enemies of Louis XIV: Volume 1 - Western Europe 1688-1714" (published by Helion).  The real Regiment de Louvigny is a rather forgotten, anonymous regiment - so I felt it was time to bring its soldiers back to the grand stage of European warfare on the wargames table.

The figures are a mix of Dixon Miniatures and Wargames Foundry, with a Colonel Bill's casualty figure added at the front.  The splendid, and very versatile, gabions are from Frontline Wargaming.  The base is  a terrain base from Warbases, who also made the micro-dice slots.  The tufts are from WSS Scenics.

No one makes the standard for the Regiment de Louvigny - so I painted it myself.  I wish I had battered it about a little more - ah well, next time, I'll know better!

So for the points - there are eight standing and two prone figures on the base, with the standing being 5 points each (totally 40 points) and the prone figures being half-points (total of 5 points) - totalling 45 points for the figures (and can I maybe add an extra one point for the hand-painted flag?), bringing that to 46 Points.  With adding the 20 for the final "Altar of the Snowlord", that's a total of 66 Points.

And because this is a submission featuring the ludicrousness of my fictional campaign for the Free-City of Laarden, in 1688, here's the Challenge XI Collectible Card for the "Last Stand of the Regiment de Louvigny" - the last of the eleven cards for Challenge XI.  

Did you collect the full set, dear Challengers?

******* 

From DrQ: Blood Bowl for the Snowlord's Altar (80 points)

For the Snowlord's Altar I was tasked with finishing my Old World Alliance Blood Bowl team box. I had already painted up the three halflings for the Larder early in the challenge, but that a dozen models to paint this last week—a not impossible task. So, without further ado, here's the rest of the Anvilguard Yellow Jackets:

And one group shot including the three halflings from earlier in the challenge:

As far as points, that's a dozen models for 60 points, plus another 20 points for the challenge bonus, for a total of 80 points. Also, there's another four skulls for my meager skull throne. 

And with that I've finished the challenge locales on the last day of the competition! It's been a blast, folx. Thanks to all who make this possible. 

From LeeH - The Alter of the Snowlord - 17th Lancers in Zululand

With my recent shenanigans with the Royal Mail, I wasn't sure I was even going to finish the Chambers of Challenge, let alone have time to work on the Snowlords final challenge. But a change of plan and a sudden burst of productivity (that surprised even me) meant I completed the chambers a couple of days ago and I was able to get started on my final Challenge. Curts instructions were as follows: 

"For the SnowLord’s Altar let’s look into your collection of unpainted minis (Notice how I just assume that you, like me, have a pile of shame sitting in the wings!) and see if there is anything that you’ve been neglecting or avoiding to do. Maybe it’s because it’s intimidating, or you’ve lost steam on the project, but let’s see if we can use the Altar to create a challenge for you."

In previous challenges, I have painted a lot of 6mm stuff ranging from Alexanders invasion of India, the Pyrrhic and Punic wars and the Anglo Zulu War. This year I haven't painted any 6mm miniatures (apart from some buildings) so I thought it was time I revisited one of my older projects. So I hereby present the 17th Lancers as they were in the latter half of the Anglo Zulu War. Their white plastron tunic front has been turned around to show the darker blue reverse side although they couldn't do the same for the white cuffs on the sleeves. Their helmets have been dyed tan like the infantry to make them less conspicuous. The trousers were dark blue with a double white stripe down the outside and while I didn't do a double line my hand was steady enough to paint in a single stripe... they are 6mm after all! At this scale, the OR's uniform looks very similar to the officers except for the white belts and pouches. On the officers, I have used gold to highlight the pouch belt which crosses the chest and is distinctive from the OR's pouch belt which would have been white.

These were originally primed and mounted on sticks for Challenge VIII when I did the bulk of my AZW stuff, and have been on each Challenge to-do list every year since. So its probably time I got round to them!!

I've been avoiding them because they are tricky to paint at 6mm. The dark uniform and crisp white kit doesn't leave a lot of room for mistakes. To make these look good I would need my steadiest hand and smallest brushes. Now that they are done I'm pretty happy with how they have turned out. I have arranged these in groups of four with a dice holder on the back of the base. I've been playing a lot of solo AZW lately and I'm in the process of altering my older bases to include these dice holders. I have been using TMWWBKs but being flexible with how many figures are in a unit (the rules suggest 8). So these bases could represent three companies of lancers, or I could change the unit sizes to 16 or 24 figures that can take eight casualties before breaking. It depends on the size of the engagement I want to play. I've used TMWWBK's like this for big battles and small skirmishes alike with a lot of success. 

So that's it, my passage through the Chambers of Challenge is complete, and this will also be my last entry for Challenge XI. Its been huge fun as always and well done to all the Challengers that have taken part this year, its an honour to be included in such hallowed company. Congratulations and thanks must of course also go to Curt for running this madness every year and well done also to the minions who help keep this brilliant enterprise going. 

(Scoring: 27x6mm Mounted + Snowlords Bonus = 47 points)

For Jonathan: The Altar of the SnowLord

Altar of the SnowLord (brought to you by the kids of Kinsmen Park South)

 

Sorry folks (and Jonathan), this was supposed to go up yesterday, but life conspired against me. Suffice it to say that Jonathan is busily working on his entry as I publish this.

Jonathan, I understand that you need some old school cavalry for your Ancients collection. Well, let's see if you can show us a few Assyrians before the bell tolls.

Jonathan's Prize: ECW Gun and Crew by ScottM

From TeemuL: Halberdiers, Snow Lord's altar (50 points)

Some Imperial Oldhammer was asked by the mighty Snowlord and these should fill the need. 6 plastic Imperial Halberdiers to boost my Oldhammer forces. These should be an addition to existing unit, and they are, but since I should be moving next weekend, I have packed all the painted miniatures in the big boxes and I can't show them together now. The shield transfers are packed as well. But hey, now they are hand painted shields...

If you wondering what happened to S.N.Owl-Ord, well he fell the stairs after meeting the big Tyranid beast, hit his head and woke up a bit later near the Principal's office, quite disoriented. He didn't remember why he should meet the principal and since it is Friday, he decided to go home after visiting the local liquor store.

And his name? Uggla is Swedish for owl. Ord is Swedish for word. That should help you enough to understand our English Swedish hero.

And points, 30 for the 6 28mm GW miniatures and 20 for the room. No skulls.

From ArthurS and SanderS: Tribute at the Altar of the Snowlord or The Final Post! (330 points? )

 

 Hoi,

It has come at last: The Final Post... and it should be the result of our combined efforts to appease the almighty Lord of Snow. 

As I regaled earlier this Challenge, Arthur has got it stuck in his tenacious little mind that the Challenge equals the Chambers of Challenge and so he really wanted to try and paint something for every chamber. Luckily more sensible voices kicked in (yeah I can be sensible sometimes) and we decided to skip some chambers as time or figures were lacking. But Arthur got stuck in anyway and when Curt tasked him with painting anything if it had but more than 4 colours, he rummaged around, found 2 more Space Marines and finished these for the Lord of Blizzards and Icetea.

 A sergeant and Heavy Weaponstrooper are added to the Powerwing Space Marine Chapter.

As Arthur and myself neared the Chamber of the Altar, travelling along the other Chambers, a plan (cunning or not) started to form in my mind. Before the start of the Challenge I had let Ray persuade me to enter his side duel of painting Napoleonics and I agreed to this because I had a large amount of Napoleonic Peninsular British lying on the Pile of Shame since last year's Challenge. These figures in themselves are a nice tale: some years ago I was trying to complete a boxed set of Warhammer Quest (the old one) and in my search stumbled along an almost compleet exemplary, the only niggle: it was a French Language version. It was cheap so I ordered it over and used all the parts to complement my English version. Now I was left with all the books in French...mais je ne parles pas Francais, parlez vous Anglais, Allemand ou Neerlandais? So What to do with them? At that time I also had a GI Joe side duel with Iannick in the Challenge of that moment and so I had to sent him the figure and if memory serves me right I sent the books along to him, for he surely speaks French. Some time later I received my figure from him and along with that some British Napoleonics marched from the windswept and frozen wastes, loosely called Canada. 

There were enough figures to build 2 regiments if I would but buy some extra officers and musicians, I don't know the source of the miniatures Iannick sent me, but I think they resembled Wargames Foundry's figures, so an order with them was placed.

Up comes last year's Challenge and I thought a smart move to enter them in the Challenge Island location of Tamsin: Piper's Peak. At this location one had to paint something that concerned figures taking a peak, are on the look out etc. Now I had a Wellington figure lying around and we all know he liked to play a game when on the road called: "Guessing what was beyond the next ridge" that should be appropriate enough. Time escaped me and I was never able to compleet or even start any of these figures. 

Therefore I was glad Curt asked me to finish some more Napoleonics because these figures are in fact a Tribute to 3 very important members of our Challenge Comunity: Iannick with whom I share a love for 80 Pulp figures and who is MIA from our ranks this year.Tamsin without whom everything would surely come undone as she keeps both the minions and Ray in line and then there is Ray himself. Not only am I going to ask him to add my 320 points to the Napoleonics Duel but he's actually responsible fo me being here at all since it's his blog that first alerted me to the Challenge's existence. I followed his blog mainly because of the commody factor of Fran and Ray harrassing each other with some awesome gaming goodies mixed in but the Challenge was the best thing our Oneloverray provided for me.

So there we have it some Napoleonics for the Snow Lord but really a tribute to some awesome Challengers that deserve it perhaps even more ;-) 

Now with these figures comes the final points math:

Arthur has painted 2 Space Marineswhich adds 10 points to his total to make 203 for his grande total.

Having painted 56 foot ( i.e. 280 points)  and 4 mounted figures ( i.e.40points) 320 should make me a nice fat 1387 points to finish the Challenge this year. 

We hope to have shown ourselves worthy of receiving those excellent Dwarf adventurers the Lord of Laarden himself kindly provided.

We will not say goodbye or thank you all so very much yet, that will be spared for the traditional  final "Challenge Wrap Up" post!

 

Cheers Sander