From Kerry T - All on the table - AHPC XV round up

 Morning, afternoon & evening all

Its been a more relaxed week this week because I haven't frantically been trying to get things on the table and though I've still had the brushes out, they're working at a more leisurely pace. I'm certainly not missing the rushed weekly basing sessions and am looking forward to returning to my habit of basing en masse when I run out of room on the desktop!

First things first and most importantly a big thank you to Curt & Sarah for organising the challenge once again and allowing me to take part in this, my fourth challenge. What a fantastic concept this is and I so wish I had discovered it years ago. I'm envious of those of you who've been in all the way through. Secondly a huge thank you to the minions, especially the awesome articulate Aussie Millsy for his diligence and kindness in minioning my work and coordinating our twice weekly chats where as many as 5 or 6 of us down-underers have chewed the fat. It has really added something special this year. Last but not least, my fellow challengers for their unwavering support and encouragement. Very many thanks to you all, the camaraderie is fantastic, its what makes the challenge

I set myself a target of 2,500 points with the aim of reaching 10,000 career points and am pleased to say I made it and though my score was higher with bonuses I actually managed to knock off 2,500 points worth of figures.

The completed host with 2 extras!

I'm embarrassed to confess that I dropped a clanger this year at the end and miscalculated the time that the challenge finished here in NZ. Rushing home late on Thursday night I thought I had a few hours left and put up a post only to have missed the deadline! Curt there's a draft post sitting in the queue which needs to be deleted please. If only I'd tried to tackle 6 not twelve hobilars I would have finished in plenty of time!

Here they are -zero points but they want their moment of fame!

See the red thing in the distance not quite finished, I needed another 20 minutes - sniff!

I just had to dry brush its spines and claws - another sniff!

I've always used the challenge to beef up my Italian Wars collection. No Gendarmes this year but some Landsknecht pike, characters, command and artillery. The intended Milanese units got bumped down the queue

The Emperor Maximillian

Warlord Games looters

Foundry big guns

Artizan pike to complete an already painted pike block

Over the Christmas holiday I painted up a load of horses and quietly drove myself bonkers churning out cavalry in the early part of the challenge but I put a big dent in the ECW leadpile

A mix of Empress and Bicorne horse

I should get around to playing FKP rules now

The other main theme for me this year having bought a resin printer, was printing, prepping and painting some of Medbury Miniatures STLs for the Scottish wars of Independence and 100YW 

Victrix knights with LBSM transfers

Medbury Miniatures, Footsore and Antediluvian Scottish pike /spear here

Then there were a few other odds and ends along the way

Little man with a big banner

Artizan Black Guard Moorish infantry and horse

Finally TAG Polish Hussars because I'm a butterfly

With very many thanks for your encouragement and support again this year, I've had a great time and hope to see you next year again

Valleyboy

From KerryT: A Douglas, a Douglas, a Douglas... Scottish Schiltron (270 points)

Morning, afternoon and evening all

Just like many others, I find myself wondering where the time has gone with just 3 and a half days left of the challenge.  Thank you all for your kind comments and support throughout this years challenge and especially to Millsy my long suffering minion. 

Not only have I been privileged to see and be inspired by so many wonderful entries over the 13 weeks but I have really enjoyed and benefitted from the twice weekly paint & chat in the company of some terrific guys in the Monday group. We've covered a range of topics and chatted about them, shared tips and ideas, talked about life and even told the odd bad joke.

So its with some sadness that I present my last Monday entry (Though I hope to get one more submission in before Thursday). More Scottish I'm afraid though a  mix of manufacturers this time

James Douglas and the Earl of Carrick in the left hand unit

Alexander Fraser of Touchfraser & Cowie with Earl Gordon of Howie

As I've previously mentioned I've been wandering somewhat aimlessly through the Medieval period so far. Just recently I decided I'd try and build an initial Scottish contingent for around the time of Bannockburn. Why? Well its the flags you see, most of my Scottish flags (Flags of war) are for Bannockburn (1314) while inexplicably my English are those for Otterburn (1388). Never mind, I'll be more careful with my next project! 

To think that it all started with Footsore and the Baron's war (1215-17)! Moral of the story, never fall for a Kickstarter!

With that in mind and not having done my research adequately (oh look shiny..) I had this notion of making at least a portion of the Scots look impoverished and dated. Consequently in Sir James Douglas' unit below you'll find Footsore Barons war, Footsore Medieval Welsh knights, Wargames Atlantic knights and the odd Medbury Miniatures figures. 

I started and finished  Douglas' unit in a mad rush I'd add, started painting yesterday and painted all day and managed to base them today

When it came to shiels and livery I had a wander around the Wappen Wiki site and picked out shield designs I fancied and also made a few up. One chap on the LAF forum put a post up and added near relatives of James Douglas which he's carefully researched. I've taken the liberty of copying some of those.

 I figured that a lord would fight with his retainers, many of which would include family though I  have no historical knowledge or evidence on which to base this though! Hence the reason for having the banner of the Earl of Carrick in the same unit. 

That's a pretty awful attempt at a fleur de lys - that's why he's in the back!

Nom matter how hard you try hand painted flags area poor substitute compared to FOW

The Earl of Carrick - Medbury Miniatures STL

A mix of figures but they all run away

The second unit are all Medbury Miniatures from STL's that I printed and from the Scottish Wars of Independence range and 100YW range. I think I added the odd Perry head here and there

A mix of painted shields and flags

For this unit I decided on the long bases to protect the pike but this time added knights and men at arms at the front to give more depth and variation

Knights and men at arms duck under the spears

A bag of pipes

I like the Medbury Men at arms in gambeson

These run away as well

Finally having painted a few Scottish over the course of the challenge I thought I'd put them all together

I clearly need another 48 spearmen/ infantry to fill the back ranks on some units

Thank you all once again for looking, with any luck I might get a chance to complete a few command figures in the next 3 days.

For now

54 x 28mm Foot figures  @ 5 points = 270 points

No bonuses or squirrels

28 x 5 = 140 Can opener side challenge

With many thanks and best wishes

Valleyboy

From Millsy:

As a Douglas myself I can't think of a more fitting way to close out your Challenge Kerry! Your army shots are truly something special.

These are absolutely superb and I think you've exceeded even your usual high standards with this entry. The brushwork is so well executed and the way you've built out the schiltrons is utterly convincing, each stand is like a mini diorama packed with story telling. I can almost hear the shouts, curses and the clash of steel.

As to being a long suffering minion, I think you have the wrong end of the stick mate. It's been a joy to minion your works again and to be the first to drool over your work. Thanks for sharing with us again this year.

270 brilliant points and what a way to finish!

Cheers,

Millsy

From AdamW: Love is all around us (Faith, hope and Love) (30 points)

 My hat trick of Sphere entries this week is for the Fixed Stars of Faith, Hope and Love.

This 15mm scene is made up of figures I had bought a while ago from Donnington miniatures at Ancient and Modern Army supplies. So, again, it is another mini-project ticked off.

The scene fits the sphere in a few ways, but I see the loyal servant having 'Faith' his master will return safely from battle, The Knight having 'hope' that he will overcome the odds and win, and his faithful Irish Wolfhound 'loves' his master and awaits his return.

Points - As the hound is a part of the story I felt he must contribute a point, then we have the falcon with his hood on, so I thought I could combine the two to make one figure?

2 x15mm foot@2pts = 4pts

1 x 15mm mounted@4pts = 4pts

The Fixed stars bonus = 20pts

Total 28pts 30 points

Out with a bang, I say! Your final Friday circle is once again a gem, Adam. A lovely scene, well painted, and a nice explanatory story. I really hope to see more of these little vignettes next Challenge! Thanks for entertaining us with them, much appreciated.  I'll make it 30 points again.

Martijn

From AdamW: What did I do wrong? What do I see in him? (The contemplatives) (30 points)

 My second sphere entry this week is for the Contemplatives.  This one I, Ironically, spent a lot of time contemplating.  Until recently I was going to use one of the ACW general groups stood around the table contemplating the battle ahead.

I looked at the Sphere and found that it is 'Associated with contemplation and the souls of those who were contemplative in their earthly lives'.

So an alternative idea came to mind.  The below vignette features the unlucky(?) chap in the stocks contemplating what he has done wrong in life.

Whilst the two chaps pelt him with whatever they have in their hands, a lone female stands by watching. Maybe she is the wife of the man in the stocks, stood quietly contemplating what she did to deserve such an unlucky husband.

The chap in the stocks is from Donnington miniatures at Ancient and Modern Army supplies. The lady is a Peter pig model.  I think the other two are ships crew from Capitan Miniatures at Stonewall Figures.

Points

4 x 15mm foot@2pts = 8pts

The contemplatives bonus = 20pts

Total 28pts 30 points

The Challenge theme this year has definitely inspired you, Adam! Another fabulous interpretation, a fun idea well executed. I really have loved your contributions, and this one is no exception. Let's round it off to 30 in honour of your creativity. Very well done!

Martijn

From KerryT: "Oh what a night"....Victrix Medieval Knights (180 points)

Morning, afternoon & evening all

Well, with the sun shining late this afternoon there's a chance that the PVA will dry and allow me to finish this entry.

I've tried to stay on track this week by completing more cavalry, this time Medieval but somewhat generic.

Victrix Knights

I've mentioned in a previous post that I've wandered somewhat aimlessly through the Medieval period, starting off by painting figures for the Barons War and will end up eventually with the War of the Roses.

Along the way there'll be Welsh and Scottish units to battle the English who'll also scrap with the French. I suppose the main focus will on the Hundred Years War, particularly early on.

Therefore needing a quantity of mounted knights and well before I bought my resin printer I bought some of the plastic medieval knights sold by Victrix. At the time I really wasn't sure what I was going to do with them and also bought the available shield transfers.

The figures really are very nice and give a good sense of the movement in a charge and there are lots of variations with 6 charging horse types

I put them together ages ago, well before the challenge and had undercoated them black as I would normally do. The shield transfers though need a white background and a subsequent second undercoat in white followed. Unfortunately this needed to be repeated in several coats and has left me with the feeling that I have spent ages painting these.

Not being a great modeler I found the process of cutting and applying the transfers a little difficult and tedious which took away some enjoyment of completing these figures

This coupled with the need to match the horse type to the individual matching transfers and also to the horses' caparison further constrained the freedom to do what I had wanted

There's a nice mix of heraldry in the designs

On reflection now I think if I bought more I'd probably paint the riders before mounting them and probably also paint the underside of the horses and the inside of the caparisons before mounting them on bottle tops for ease of access.

Unfortunately some of the gloss on the transfers shines through, I'll have to do something about that

Attempting to ride down some Scottish painted earlier in the challenge

Hold, hold, hold

That all sounds more negative that I indented it to sound, don't get me wrong these are lovely figures and superb value for a box of 18. Because they're a tiny bit bigger than other ranges I felt it best to mount 3 of them on bases with a depth of 8cms rather than my usual 6 x6. This is something I would certainly consider again as it does give them a better line of charge effect.

Here are a few pictures that show the various transfers and unfortunately in these pictures you can see the hurried paint jobs on some of these!

I'm not sure that I'll buy any more of these even though I do like them, I'll see how I get on with - I think the rush of painting and basing them has detracted a little from the usual enjoyment. Perhaps I should give them another try, without rushing this time and maybe aim for particular individual or named heraldic shields

Thank you once again for looking

In Summary then

18 x 28mm mounted knights @ 10 points -= 180 points

1 Squirrel

90 can opener side challenge points

Valleyboy

From Millsy:

Brilliant work Kerry!

There's something so very engaging about a group of charging knights, especially when they are each painted differently. It accentuates the sense of dynamism when you can pick out each miniature so clearly and see the flowing caparisons on the horses and the matching tabards on the knights.

No wonder your were wondering at the effort required last week when you mentioned these were undercoated black. The brightness of the colours must have taken a LOT of work but the results speak for themselves.

180 points added to your tally mate.

Cheers,

Millsy