From RaulM: Black Seas Cutter and Schooner (20 points)

Life has been particularly busy for me as I just became a new dad, so this will more than likely be my last post for this year's hobby challenge. I was working on a Battle of Lake Erie project, and as part of that I have these two vessels: a cutter and a schooner. 

Both are metal models from Warlord Games Black Seas, although I do think that the schooner comes with resin hulls nowadays. They're fairly simple to build and paint as the sails are sculpted onto the masts, which eliminates a step when compared to the standard Black Seas models. 

The cutter comes in two varieties, an armed and unarmed version. I used the unarmed version, but added a 12-pdr gun to the fore and aft, run out on opposite sides. I based the look off of the HMS Little Belt, that itself was actually the Friends Good Will, of which a replica can be found at the Michigan Maritime Museum. It was fun to use some different colors than yellow and black. 

The schooner got the standard US Navy colours that I've established thus far. It has a little bit of stern detailing, that I embellished with a metallic gold paint. 

These are both planned for a Battle of Lake Erie scenario at some future time. 

As for points, they're both quite small, so I'm taking 5 points each for a total of 10 points. 

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I must admit to getting a bit excited each week when I see that Raul has a post ready for Minioning :-)

And this week's entry is no disappointment either! Two more lovely additions to your Fleets and the great lakes are a wonderful place to sail the lighter hulls. I really like the darker stains on the canvas on the Yankee Schooner too - reminds me of the effect sails get when furled not quite dry.

Lovely work as ever on all the details - worth 10 points each at least!

Most importantly though - hearty congratulations on becoming a Father!!! I'm thrilled for you, as I'm sure everyone else here is too. And you thought Wargaming was expensive.... :-)

- Paul

From RaulM: Black Seas USS Constellation, Sloop-of-War, and Bomb Ketch (80 Points)

Yup, you guessed it. More Black Seas. I've got another 3 ships done. The USS Constellation from 1854, a British ship-rigged sloop-of-war, and finally a a generic bomb ketch. 

The USS Constellation is one of the named ships that comes in the US Navy starter fleet from Warlord Games. The intent was for it to be one of the original six frigates of the US Navy, but the supplied bits were for the later version from 1854. I did a fair amount of conversion work to the stern to integrate that piece, as Warlord does not make a frigate with a rounded stern. 

This Sloop-of-war is an even heavier conversion, albeit a common one in the Black Seas space. I fused two of the smaller brigs together to make this 3-mast ship. I also took a plastic stern plate from the frigate, and molded it to the back. Finally, I raised the stern deck to create a raised quarterdeck. I did all of this conversion work a long time ago, and I finally decided to paint it so that'll be my exit from Limbo and into the larger world of Dante's Inferno. 

Finally, the Bomb Ketch. Nothing special was done to this vessel, other than that I didn't give it a nationality. I only have 3 of these, and instead of limiting each one to a nation, I decided to keep it generic so I can use it with any fleet in any scenario. 

 For the final points tally, I have:

USS Constellation: 15 points

Sloop-of-War: 15 points + Limbo 20 points

Bomb Ketch: 10 points

For a total of 60 points. 

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What a treat you've sailed in again Raul! You are really doing some fantastic work with these Black Sea ships. The rigging, rat lines, sails and pennants really are top notch. Please take a bunch of bonus points for the great eye for detail in your modelling

I'm hoping you do a USS Constitution during the challenge too: I've been aboard 'Old Ironsides' on three occasions including being "rung aboard" formally, and my name is inscribed on the protective copper hull sheeting under the waterline :-)

- Paul

From RaulM: Black Seas Speedy and Hermione (25 points)

This is my first time posting to the Challenge, so I'm excited to dive on in. With a lull in the action between Christmas and New Years, I had some time to get some hobbying done. My first offerings for the challenge are two vessels from Warlord Games Black Seas: the HMS Speedy and L'Hermione. 

Speedy is an English 14-gun brig-sloop, famous for her action against the Spanish xebec-frigate El Gamo. The hull and masts are metal, and she's painted in the typical Royal Navy fashion with a yellow stripe on a black hull. 

The Hermione is a French frigate, which I based off the current replica of the ship. This is the standard plastic 32-gun frigate model with bespoke metal sternplate and figurehead from the French starter navy.  

Based on some past posts of Black Seas ships, I scored the brig at 10 points and the frigate at 15, for a total of 25. 

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First, welcome to the Challenge Raul! Every year we have new faces in the ranks which I always enjoy to see.

These two tall ships look absolutely tremendous Raul. I'm especially impressed with your shading on the sails, the pennants and flags and the tidy (and painstaking) job on the rigging. Bravo! A great opening broadside for your Challenge debut!

- Curt

From AdamC: Black Seas Overdue (134 points)

Here is a Black Seas offering Three English Frigates and and Six Brigs, three Royal Navy and three Spanish.  These are for my friend Frank Shephard in exchange for several 1/2400 ships he gave me last year.  I asked him what you want for payment and he asked me to paint is Black Seas Starter set.  I told him sure as long as you don't need them in a hurry.  Well a year later is longer than I expected so these are overdue. 

HMS Squirrle  a 6th Rate Frigate the served in the Seven Years War and American Revolution.  I have told Frank he needs to pair ith with a Canadian Privateer named the Moose... a possible future project. 

HMS Enterprize another AWI era 6th Rate and yes historicly the ship's name was spelt with a "z" her service was extensive but fairly unremarkable. 

HMS Serapis  a famous 5th rate Frigate of the AWI period here I think Frank just likes the name as the historic Serapis was a two decked ship of 44 guns something that isn't modeled by Warlord Games at this time. 

Three English brigs HMS Teaser, HMS Sparkler, HMS Fearless done in the 10 a penney fassion of the 18 gun Royal Navy hard working smallships with weather stained sails. 

Three Spanish Brigs: Destructor, Furor, and Mistral probably privateers or smugglers possibly auxiliaries of the Spanish navy, ready to play cat and mouse with the Royal Navy ships above. 

This is my fist real broadside of the challenge.  Based on past scoring each brig should be 10 points each for 60, and the Frigates 15 points each for another 45 and Overdue gets me up to 125 a solid step toward my goal of 500.   I'll leave it to Sylvain to handle any extra points for rigging, flags etc. and hopefully Frank will like them. 

 

Sylvain: I especially like how you shaded your sails to create volume. It really gives a realistic feel to your miniatures. The extensive use of flags is not only a cool addition, it helps to instantly identify the nation of each of your ships. Well done!

As suggested, I will throw in 1 point per ship for the extra bits and details, bringing  the total to 134 points. Voguent les bateaux!

If you could provide a map of the Analogueville Library showing your progress, that would be appreciated.

 

 

From PaulSS - Men-at-Arms In The Service of Lord Camoys (61 Points)

I'm back from my vacation and am cracking on with the Hundred Years War project with another unit of Men at Arms joining the forces of King Henry V.

The plastic figures are from the Agincourt Foot Knights set with a few components from the Agincourt Mounted Knights set to add some variety to the mix. The metal figures are from the Foot command advancing set.

The banner is from Battleflag and is that of Lord Camoys who commanded the left wing at Agincourt.

The sabot was a special order from those nice chaps at Warbases.

The colour scheme on these is rather 'samey' as I painted these in batches of four with a common palette for that group, but they will be added to the rest of the force and end up in more mixed units.

Twelve 28mm foot with a banner should be 61 points to add to my total.

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Great work Paul.  The Hundred Years War always looks so breathtaking on a wargaming table, and I have great respect for those who can even figure out where to start on projects like this.  Very nice for us to be able to enjoy it vicariously through skilled hobbyists like yourself! Another 61 points for these fine men-at-arms. 

GregB

From PaulSS: Hundred Years War French Knights (60 points)

More work on the Hundred Years War French this time with a half dozen mounted men at arms from the Perry Miniatures Agincourt Mounted Knights 1415-29 box.

The figures are a delight to assemble and paint, plus the frame comes with loads of useful extras, so much that you can get an extra sex figures out of the set if you order a couple of these.

The movement trays were a custom order from Warbases and have three 20mm x 45mm cutouts for the bases.

A few close ups of the six individual knights showing some of the poses that can be made from the set,

Six 28mm mounted should add a tidy 60 points to my total.




Excellent! I get to minion some of Paul's lovely 100 Years War figures. Smashing work as ever!

TamsinP

From PaulSS - Men at Arms in the service of Baron Talbot

This post sees the return of the Hundred Years War project that I spent a lot of time on during Painting Challenge IX.

I've collected more than enough figures to do a good sized re-fight of Agincourt using either To The Strongest! or Hail Caesar, but why stop there, so I've picked up three more boxes of the Perry Miniatures plastics plus half a dozen packs of the metals, so it's off I go again.

These figures represent a contingent of English Men at Arms in the service of Baron Talbot. The banner is from Battleflag

The Men at Arms are all from the Agincourt Foot Knights set while the banner bearer and musician are from the Foot command advancing set.

As usual the plastics are a delight to assemble, although that war-hammer snaps every time, and the metals are a bugger to clean up, but all take paint really well.

I did my usual basecoat, wash, three highlights method that gives a result on these that I'm very happy with.

The sabot bases were a custom order from Warbases.

I've a last few ACW figures to paint then the rest of the challenge should see more of these.

A dozen 28mm foot plus a banner should add me 61pts to my total.



It's great to see some more of your lovely 100 Years War figures. I do hope there will be some more this year.

TamsinP

From PaulSS: Hundred Years War end-game and game (100 Points)

So, here are the last few Hundred Years War figures for the Painting Challenge. Over the weekend I managed to splash some paint on fifteen more English archers in a mix of different livery designs.

Also, while painting the archers I used the same palette on a group of five French infantry armed with a mix of swords, falcions and axes.

I was rather hoping to get more done, but these last twenty figures shall have to suffice. I still have many more to paint and you shall be able to watch this project grow over on Scrivsland. This week I plan to finish off these units and then make a start on more Men at Arms, I have loads more to paint.

One of the reasons I did not get more done is that last night chum Drew and I managed to get the entire collection out and play a game of Hail Caesar with them. Here are a few shots from the game.

The French arrayed

The English arrayed 

French Men at Arms and supporting foot

English war-bow

More English war-bow

The Priest at his church

This shall likely not end well

The French Knights stalled and were eventually repulsed

French Men at Arms strike home on the English left

The 'Jolly Fisherman' disorder marker

The French came on and were driven back again and again

Under weight of numbers the English left is eventually broken.

The English right holds firm.

Fin!

Hopefully I'll get a little more ACW finished in the next 24 hours for my final post of the challenge.

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Ahh, it's wonderful to see the fruits of this Challenge paraded out on the field of honour - Bravo! This score of archers and French infantry will put you nicely over double your original target estimate of 750 points. Well done Paul! 

- Curt