From AdamW: Get orf My Laaaand (15mm Boers) (Violence) (432pts)

My third and final entry for this week has taken me all week and the paint is barely dry :)

As Curt has said the Violence circle of hell is perfect for wargamers.  I have chosen a project I planned to get done for the challenge, rather than being taken off track by some new fun figures.

My take on the violence theme is farmers taking to arms to defend their lands.

These 15mm Boers were part of a job lot of figures I bought at a bargain price on ebay a while ago. They are to bolster the number of Boers we have in our group already, and will probably double as ACW confederates at some point.

As they were from a bulk purchase they are not a  balanced force, with more dismounted than mounted.  It also contains some prone chaps, which I have learned is not so good for the points score!

I have made up some horse holders with some odd altered figures and a load of horses that are a bit small and thin. Surprisingly those horses are actually nicely detailed.

I also have a few wagons, but they will have to wait for another time before they join the army.

The majority of models are old minifigs with a few odd figures from unknown manufacturers thrown in. I was pleasantly surprised how nicely the minifigs turned out with their limited poses in an irregular army.

I am claiming the following points:

30 x mounted 15mm @ 4pts = 120pts

12 x horse holders 15mm@ 2 pts = 24pts

24 x horses 15mm @ 2pts = 48pts

20 x prone 15mm@ 1pt = 20pts

100 x foot 15mm@2pts = 200pts

Violence bonus = 20pts

Total = 432pts.

Not only three posts today from you, but a veritable points bomb at the very end! If you had given me notice beforehand, I would have brought the sandbags out! It is good to see, however, that your quality does not suffer from your quantity. These Boers look the part, and I can see how they might double up as Confederates too. The horse holders are a nice touch. I like Minifigs, they have a distinct quality of their own, and though they might be rather simple figures, in large numbers they are very effective. Well done Adam, 432 points added to your score!

Martijn

From PeteF: Le Petit Caporal - My First Minifg of Challenge XIV - Famous Person (25 points)

 

Halfway through January and I'd not removed a single Minifig from Lead Mountain.  Time to fix that and at the same time honour our good friend Ridley Scott. I'm not sure that the director fully captured the complexities of the life of the Corsican Fiend/Colossus of the Nineteenth Century - depending on your point of view.

This sculpt is an old rendering of "Jupiter Scapin" (look it up) from the 1980s. It is in God's True Scale - 25mm.  It depicts the The Corsican Ogre standing in his greatcoat - a garment that earned him the soubriquet "Redingote Gris" because he was always seen wearing it on campaign. 

This depicts Boney before he became Fleshy.  I do wonder what The Man of Destiny would have made of Ridley "fast-and-loose" Scott's rendering of his life.  Based on comments in Napoleonic Wargaming Facebook Groups (and those people know things), The Devil's Favourite would likely think the film somewhat inaccurate - At least The Monster would  have a good answer to Scott's "Were you there?" question.

My white cat has been using the light box for napping (geddit?). Apologies for the less than professional hairs that keep making it into my pictures.  

This is one single 25mm figure for 5 points and for a shameless points grab, the library section bonus of 20 points for a total of 25 points.

If you have any other names for The Tiny Tyrant - please include in the comments section.

Great work here Pete, and your cat is not the only one to enjoy the spotlight treatment... at least thats what I assume my cat is doing as she tries to jump up whenever I prep my photo area! 

Wonderful work on Le Petit Caporal, and a great entry for the section. Well done!

25 pts added!

Kyle

From PeteF: Minifigs! French Line Infantry for Historical Drama (140 points)

If you've read my previous Minifigs posts - apologies if there's some repetition here!  This battalion of fine French fellows is one of the last units I need to complete my Quatres Bras project.  It has been a journey - one started by my Dad in the 1980s when he embarked on a project to paint Wellington's 100 Days army on a ratio of 25:1.  I haven't yet counted all of them but I think it's around 3 thousand meticulously painted Anglo Allied Minifigs.

He also painted  few French for me when I was a kid - these joined my Airfix on the wargaming "table" - a whole lot of big boards balanced together in the dining room - sometimes for a couple of days, which mum didn't love.  

My brother introduced me to wargaming - and he inherited the Minifigs army, adding French units to try and achieve some balance with Wellington's masses.  He even repatriated some of the soldiers I brought across the Atlantic.  Sadly he passed away in 2016 before we could play Waterloo in his English garage and all the Minifigs came to me here in the States - it took several trips.

The Waterloo French army seems a bit of a stretch - the 100 Days even more so - but Quatres Bras is within reach at this scale: 33 battalions and around 10 cavalry regiments.  I did a bunch two Challenges ago but in the interim have been distracted by other projects.  With this battalion I'm nearly there - 2 more infantry units, 1 big cavalry unit, completing 2 other halfway finished cavalry units, plus some command and work on the bases.

Then I'll have to see if any of my friends want to come and play! These Minifigs will represent the 3rd battalion of the 1st Light Infantry.  I always enjoy painting Minifigs with their distinctive chunky sculpts.  It takes me back to wargames of yore.  Good times. 

24x25mm figures plus a studio for a total of 140 points.

 

It's a treat to see more of this ongoing project of yours, Pete. Those French chaps look great. Just a reminder - if you are doing the studio tour, please include a progress map in your posts (see my admin post from yesterday).

Tamsin

From RossM: 15mm Hoplites and 10mm AFV (106 points)

Another Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is ending soon and here are my last entries. 

Before the pictures I'd like to thank Curt and all the minions for making this possible. It is a great idea to bring people together through their passion for painting "wee men" - and ladies of course. Hat off to you all and many, many thanks for doing this over the last twelve years.

Whilst this year, I didn't achieve as much as I would have liked too I did realise that people say one thing at a time for a reason: it lets you finish things off! I have something like 400 points of primed, partially painted figures and vehicles that I just didn't have the time to complete. Plenty to keep me going as spring starts to blossom and the light returns to northern hemisphere. 

Now onto the figures and the first set are of a very old Hoplite army that was gifted to me just before the end of 2021. The figures are mostly from minifigs and are chunky and poorly sculpted in comparison to many of their modern counterparts. However, they take paint, will create either an allied force in ADLG or a DBA army with several different options due to the range of figures for this army. 

The first rank consists of two stands of light infantry archers (Ps) and two of archers (3Bw). 

Behind the first rank there are two stand of slingers and javelinmen (Ps) which are better seen in the pic below. 

The final rank holds a stand of auxiliaries (3Ax), four stands of hoplites (4Sp), one heavy and one light cavalry. 

There are another six stands of hoplites, four of peltasts and two light cavalry still to be completed for this army. 

Next,  the start of a small force for the Afrika Korp to be used in Big Chain of Command in 10mm.

The vehicles are digital printed and include a Pz MkIII J and three SdKfz 251/1 in glorious 10mm. 

This is a new scale for myself and involved working out a way to paint the vehicles that is catches the eye and reflects the style of painting used on the vehicles themselves. You can see how I did this here

The infantry and other vehicles for this are a part of the almost finished figures mentioned above. 

In terms of points, this takes the scores on the doors to:

37 x 15mm infantry - 74 points

5 x 15mm cavalry - 20 points

4 x 10mm vehicles - 12 points

For a subtotal of 106 and final total of 253 which just passes my revised Challenge score.  (1% over my revised Challenge Total and 34% of my original 750 points total)

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing the remaining posts for this year and starting to plan for AHPC XIII!

Cheers, Ross

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What a wonderful mix of figures from two eras. While I always like seeing hoplites, I have to say I particularly like those 10mm DAK vehicles for Big Chain of Command. I'll be checking out your link for sure. Well done Ross! I know what you say about best laid plans, but I think you did a great job with what you got completed.  Just think, you now have a few hundred point ready to go for Challenge XIII ! :)

- Curt

From PeteF: Old School Minifigs at The Center of the Universe (140 points)

 

Challenge XII has taken me in a lot of different directions, distracting from my Quatres Bras project. For people that do not know the story of my 25mm Napoleonic Minifig collection - my Dad painted most of Wellington's Anglo Allied Army on a scale of 25:1 - around 2 or 3 thousand models - not yet counted. My brother and I had a few French units and my brother inherited the army. When he passed away it unexpectedly came to me and I've been adding to the French contingent (as well as starting on the Prussians) ever since. In Challenge XI I finished several units - leaving only a handful to complete to be able to host Quatres Bras.

These are classic Minifigs from the late 1970s and 1980s. I keep an eye on E-Bay and Facebook market place in case anyone is selling them cheap and top up units with orders from Calivers Books. For Quatres Bras all I need to buy are a few French Lancers - other than the Lancers all that is left to paint are three infantry battalions. The end is in sight. Sort of - after Quatres Bras I'll get started on D'Erlons Corps and add to the Imperial Guard!

The old school look of these sculpts speaks to me and reminds me of wargaming in my teens with my brother and best friend. It's always a pleasure to paint (or sometimes repaint) these warriors from a bygone age.

Even more fun will be getting them all together for a bloody big battle in the garage - or the barn.

My nephew is visiting from the UK this weekend. The downside is that this will be my last post of the Challenge and a little shy of my 1,000 point target. The upside is that he's bringing the last third of Wellington's army that has spent the COVID years in shoe boxes waiting for a chance to cross the herring pond.

24 x 25mm figures for 120 points + 20 points for the final challenge = 140 points

+1 Squirrel (Total 8 - with another 6 partially completed squirrel points, which feels like it's in the spirit of squirrel chasing)

+0 Skulz (Total 3 - Underperformed here - I have 2 walls of skulls and a regiment of skellies on the bench. Oh well - there's always Challenge XIII?)

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Ahhh, I was wondering when we'd see your return to this project, Pete. I'm glad that I get to shepherd this post through in our final hours of the Challenge. I've always had a soft spot for the project not only because that the figures, period and painting are wonderful, but also because I appreciate the history and sentiment behind the endeavour as well. I look forward to the day when you can treat us all to photos of the epic game, where all of the collection is arrayed for battle - it will be epic!

You shorted yourself a few points for reaching the Center of the Universe, and in fact, with the little-known 'Minifig Napoleonic Bonus' this post should just put you over your target. Congratulations, sir! :)

Until next year, Mr. Fry. 

- Curt

From MartijnN: Cruisers and Cossacks (Perelandra and back to Corsucant) (78 points)

Having left Corsucant we make our way to Perelandra. Its Oceanic theme gave me the perfect excuse to paint some of my backlog of WW1 1/3000 ships by Navwar (actually, there are not very many left now). Here are 8 Royal Navy destroyers. Six are M class (Magic, Marne, Minion (!), Mystic, Nestor, and Obdurate), one is I (or Acheron) class (Badger), and one K (or Acasta) class (Owl). All saw service at Jutland.

Magic, Marne, Minion, Mystic, Nestor and Obdurate

Badger and Owl

HMS Badger picked survivors from HMS Invincible when she exploded after a direct hit from the German Battlecruisers Lützow and Derfflinger.

Next there are five German Light Cruisers. These are Augsburg, Kolberg, Karlsruhe, Rostock and Regensburg. Two of the Kolberg class (Cöln and Mainz) were sunk at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1914, where the British destroyers also served, while Kolberg took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915. Karlsruhe was in the Carribean when the war broke out and did some raiding, causing quite some concern, if not actual damage, before being destroyed by an accidental internal explosion. Rostock and Regensburg saw heavy action at Jutland, where they were leader of torpedo boats; Rostock was scuttled by her crew after the battle to avoid capture. 

Regensburg, Karlsruhe, Rostock, Kolberg, Augsburg

After exploring Perelandra we return to Corsucant, in order to proceed to Vogsphere next week. For Corsucant I offer these Imperal Russian soldiers. They are 15mm Minifigs and have that special toy soldier feel to them. They were (and are) sold as Caucasian Lancers. The Minifigs Crimean War range is not very accurate historically, and whether these lancers even existed I don't know; I decided to paint them up as cossacks. The details of their dress are rather obscure, but they are good enough for me.

So there we are.

Points:

13 hulls @ 2 points = 26 points

8 15mm horse @ 4 points = 32 points

Perelandra planet bonus = 20 points

Total: 78 points. And two squirrels!

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Lovely work Martijn, and what a wonderful juxtaposition in both scale, warfare and period. I quite like your Minifig 'theoretical Cossacks'. They certainly look the business to me, and I quite like the large basing you've used. What system are they set-up for? Of the two groups, my favourites have to be your WWI ships.  I have a real soft-spot for this coal-driven period ever since reading Massie's 'Castles of Steel' years ago.  You've given them such nice definition with your brushwork and, similar to your cossacks, I really admire your basing for these. 

78 points it is, but please remember to label your squirrel submissions. This will avoid the embarrassing scene of Stuart gleefully flashing you a yellow card as he did to me! :)

- Curt

From PeteF: Napoleon's Chasseurs a Cheval de la Garde for the Guard Room (140 points)

What better way to finish Challenge XI than with more Minifigs*? My dad started this unit in the mid 80s with 6 assorted Chasseurs a Cheval de la Garde Imperiale including a Marmeluke. I intended to bring the unit up to a full strength of 30 figures (including 3 additional Marmelukes) by the end of the Challenge but unfortunately ran out of time - should have them all done by the end of this month.

These fine fellows have one of the most colourful uniforms of the Napoleonic wars - with the pizzazz of the scarlet pelisse, a furry hat and a lot of yellow/gold lace they must have been an impressive sight. They were also Napoleon's personal guard.

The Marmelukes rode with them - there were something between 26 and 135 (depending on which source you believe) of these Egyptian cavalry in the Waterloo campaign. The regiment was big with around 1,200 men in the Quatres Bras Order of Battle - although my understanding is that they didn't really see any action that day.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing pictures of the Minifigs as much as I have painting them. The Bloody Little Soldiers as my mum christened them are a family tradition and I finally have a nice big French army to face off against Old Nosey. I added 3 infantry battalions and 4 cavalry regiments so I don't have much more to paint for Quatres Bras - all I'll need then is a bit more terrain and some takers for a days long game in our barn.

The original plan was to visit every room in the dungeon and I did line up something for all of them - but the clock will run out* leaving five chambers unexplored - maybe next time.

12x25mm cavalry and a room bonus for 140 points.

*probably