From MartijnN: A very mixed bag (86 points)

This may well be my last post for this Challenge, and it is definitely my last regular Thursday post. It is a bit of a mixed bag. 

First, for my ongoing 1866 project I have two Austrian light cavalry brigades of the 1st Light Cavalry Division of the Reserve Cavalry.  Brigade Appel, consisting of the 9th hussars and 2nd dragoons, and Brigade Wallis made up of the 10th hussars and the 1st dragoons. At this point, all German cavalry wore white, dragoons as well as cuirassiers, but 1st and 2nd dragoons had been converted from cheveaux-légers en had retained their old green uniforms. 6mm Baccus figures, as usual.

Then I have painted up some more real estate, again mostly by Leven and Battlescale I think.

And some hedges, you can never have enough of those. These work equally well for 6mm and 10mm I reckon.

Finally, some more Iain Lovecraft pirates and/or general 17th-18th century types. And a beggar.

As I really had not realized we are already that close to the end, I did not really plan for another library theme. So no map.

However, I won't let you go without a final book recommendation. This is just a book that I read recently and enjoyed. It is Never Greater Slaughter. Brunanburh and the Birth of England,  by Michael Livingston.

Livingston is a well-known medieval scholar with many titles to his name, among them books on Agincourt and Crecy. This volume is on the Battle of Brunanburh in 937. Quite an achievement to write a book on a battle about which hardly anything can be said for certain. However, the book is very well written and argues convincingly for the location of the battle in the Wirral, while also painting a very vivid picture of medieval battle and the situation in England at the beginning of the 10th century. Much recommended. 

Michael Livingston and Kelly Devries also do a very interesting and also much recommended podcast, Bow and Blade. A must listen for anyone remotely interested in medieval military history. Battles from Thermopylae to the Fall of Rhodes by two military historians who know their stuff and also share the problems and dilemmas facing the historian confronted by few or unreliable sources. Great fun as well.

Scoring:

6x 28mm/32mm foot @ 5 = 30

36x 6mm horse @ 1 = 36

8x 6mm buildings and 17x 6mm/10mm hedges = 20?

For a total of 86, which should take me past my updated goal.

Thanks to all for stopping by, and in particular a very big thank you to Teemu for some great minioning!

TeemuL: A mixed bag indeed, I guess that's common at the end of the Challenge, when all the almost-dones projects are hurriedly finished instead of starting another project. At least that happens to me. Those pirates and their companions look terrific, I think I need to buy some of them myself. And the hedges are handy, like you said, can be used in different scales. 6mm cavalry and buildings are nice additions to your project, too. Well done achieving your target!

From MartijnN: Red Lancers and Real Estate [Local History] (102 points)

As a Dutchman living in Belgium I realized a had a lot of local history to choose from. Waterloo is only one hour's drive away, and of course Belgium is sadly riddled with battlefields from conflicts ranging from ancient times to the Second World War. However, I ended up choosing a different subject: the 2me cheveau-légers lanciers de la Garde Imperiale, the famous red lancers. In 6mm, no less.

In 1810, Napoleon finally had enough of his brother Louis playing the independent King of Holland. Louis Napoléon, or Lodewijk as he was called in Holland, had proven surprisingly popular with his new subjects, even trying to learn the language (not always successfully though; he has been recorded talking about himself as "uw Konijn", Your Rabbit, in stead of "uw Koning", your King) and trying to spare his people the burden constant French demands for more and more goods and troops put upon them, as well as turning a blind eye towards the blatant smuggling and trading with England that was the backbone of the Dutch economy. However, in 1810 Holland was formally annexed by France, and the Dutch army was integrated in the French. Napoleon was, however, sufficiently impressed by his brother's Royal Guard to incorporate some units into the Imperial Guard. Thus, the 2nd (Dutch) regiment of light lancers of the Guard was born.

Now of course, the regiment was recruited in The Netherlands, and famously fought its last battle at Waterloo, but I am also claiming the Local History bonus because I have a family connection with it. Two members of my family served in the regiment, both named Jacob Nicasie, cousins. According to the French military archives, both were killed during the campaign (tersely recorded as "resté en Russie"), although at least one of them actually may have returned after all. 

I did put a little more effort into them than I would normally do in this scale, and I like how they came out. The regiment, almost 900 strong, formed its own brigade during the Russian campaign so I made a whole Blücher base out of them.

I also painted up one more French brigade of infantry for Blücher.

Finally, I painted up some real estate , mostly in 6mm scale. I think all buildings are either Leven Miniatures or Battlescale.

As a book recommendation, I will give you two titles as the first will not be of much use to most of you. However, Naar Moskou, naar Moskou! by Willem Oosterbeek is well worth reading.

These are the memoirs of a Dutch officer of the Russian Campaign, Jean Francois Dumonceau (I know, not a very Dutch name). He was a captain in the 2nd Lancers, and I suppose he must have been near my relatives pretty much all of the time. His memoirs were previously published in French, those might be worth looking up for those of you who don't read Dutch.

For all you exclusively Anglophones out there I have Alexander Mikaberidze's The Battle of Borodino. Napoleon against Kutuzov. A good, solid and clear account of the climactic battle on the road to Moscow, which is very much based on the Russian point of view.

I must say that I find Mikaberidze's style a bit of heavy going now and then, and not all of his arguments and numbers are entirely convincing, but he has a good command of his sources and makes full use of them. Perhaps a little too revisionist for my taste, but still a healthy counter to the almost exclusively French view on the battle most of us are familiar with, and I have no hesitation in recommending it.. 

That brings us to the map:

And scoring. Now the figures are easy, but the buildings less so. In proportion to the standard 6x6x6" cube they are practically worthless, but I hope that each building may be at least worth as much as a 6mm infantry figure, so 5 points for the nine perhaps? It's for our minion to decide, I'm happy with whatever I get.

So:

- 34x 6mm cavalry @ 1 = 34

- 56 6mm infantry @ 0.5 = 28

- 9x 6mm/ 10mm buildings = 20

- Local History Bonus = 20

Total of 87 points

TeemuL: Very nice entry and local history indeed is different depending where you are located. While I was in Northern Finland I had quick chat with a local and we discussed about buildings. He said, they don't have any old buildings, since Germans "cleaned" everything 70 years ago while retreating to Norway. And here in the South we have churches, castles and houses dating almost 800 years. And if you are from Belgium, you get Waterloo in your backyard.

While the 6mm forces look great and your extra effort shows, I still like your 6mm buildings a lot. The terrain cubes are not working on this scale and while Curt says "it is what we got" he also says "use your brain", so I'm giving full 20 points for them. And it is still less than a 6mm base. You have made great process on your Library map and you have already achieved your points target.

From PaulSS: More WWII US Infantry and supports -- 113pts

 

Following on from last weeks "Under Construction" post, work on the US Infantry Battalion for O Group continues, with the next two infantry companies finished and more supports added.

Second company

The second and third companies both are made up from the Victrix US Infantry set and will complete the line infantry component of the force.

Third company

I've also added a trio of .30cal and Bazooka teams to support the infantry. This group also includes a couple of extra patrol markets and an artillery observer.

Battalion supports

Heavier support weapons options are not available from Victrix, so I purchased a couple of jeeps and 57mm anti-tank guns from Pendraken to see how they fit in.

Anti-tank

Although the Pendraken stuff is nominally 10mm it seems to match height wise well with the Victrix stuff although the figures are noticeably more bulky.

Victrix and Pendraken comparison

Some close-ups of the recent additions.

Infantry section

Infantry section

Jeeps

Bazooka team

57mm anti-tank gun

Artillery observer

.30cal section

I also took the opportunity to paint up a bridge from Battlescale to go with these. I purchased it with all the other buildings I did but it never got painted at the time. I forgot to add a ruler to the photo but at 6" long it's easily a quarter cube.

There are only a few 60mm mortars and a handful of infantry sections left to paint for the Americans. I have placed another order on Pendraken for some more tanks and support vehicles, so this week I plan to be either be working more on the Americans or making a start on some Germans to oppose them.

102 12mm infantry, 2 guns, two vehicles and a 5pt claim for the bridge will add another 113 points to my tally so far.

Squirrel Duel Tally: 3 (40K Kroot, Gaslands, WW2 US)

First I had some aging academic moments with Paul's post on Sunday and hope that I sorted things out properly in the end.

Move great US WW2 stuff Paul, this is a great project to see unfold.  I agree that the Pendraken and Victris buts mix well.  As always your basing is top notch.

Richard P - 10mm Battlescale Buildings, Walls and Hedges (30 Points)

So the mad dash begins to get things finished before the 21st. Unfortunately I will get nowhere near my original points target due to illness and other real life issues but I hope to complete a big chunk of stuff over the next couple of days.

First up is a collection of 10mm Battlescale buildings, walls and hedges for use in various parts of the world and in various periods.

Total: 16 x Buildings, 36 x Wall Sections, 12 Vineyard Sections and 40 x Hedge Sections

3 x timber framed buildings including Merchants house and Gatehouse

2 x Timber framed buildings plus Covered Well

2 x European houses

2 x European houses

3 x timber buildings

Bridge and Church

Mill

20 x straight wall sections, 8 x corner wall sections, 4 x gate wall sections and 4 x collapsed wall sections

12 x vineyard sections

24 x straight hedge sections

8 x corner hedge sections, 4 x T hedge sections, 4 x gate hedge sections

Theres a lot of stuff hear that is superbly painted - I'm going with 30 points!

Miles