From Kerry T: More Scottish spears (225 points)

Morning, afternoon and evening all

Last week I mentioned the problem of staying on track and not wandering off on a hobby tangent and starting something else. Hurray  - somehow I've managed it this week with more Scottish  for my 100YW/Scottish wars of independence project

Another Scottish schiltron

These, the first unit are more Antediluvian Miniatures Scottish spears.  from the "Wars of the Bruce Range"

Flags of war standards- Walter Stewart High Steward of Scotland

The spearmen in this unit look a little more poorly armoured than last week's entry and are mainly depicted in the padded gambeson.

Picture caption...

Answers on the back of a Warbases 120 x 60 base please...

I can't look...

Who farted?..

I told you not to eat that....

Be more careful, you could have had my eye out with that...

Look where you're going you wee Jessie...

No knights with these

Adding figures with an upright spear allows a unit with more depth

Most spearmen have a saltire badge sewed on the Gambeson

This second unit is from Medbury Miniatures, this is a superb range and these are from STL files that I printed. They really are lovely figures to paint, with easy to paint detail and folds. Thy weigh nothing and as a tribe follower their cost is minimal compared to their metal brethren and I can print so many!

There is such a variety of pose with these

The spears are printed plastic, they look good but may not be robust enough

Sir Gilbert de la Hay's banner

Never take a sword to a pike fight or a set of bagpipes for that matter

These really do need long bases to prevent breakage

I love these figures, there is so much variety but the downside is that all the pike are in this attacking pose, I'd love to see some with pike that are more upright and therefore allow me to build deeper units without resorting to other figure ranges

They seem to fit well with the Anrediluvian range, maybe a s little smaller. This is probably because they come without bases so I stuck them to some plastic bases to add to their height before the final basing on MDF.

What really surprised me is how easy these were to prepare compared to metal figures and even other plastic ranges, unfortunately though they still seem to run away

Once again thank you for looking, I hope to have more Medbury Miniatures from this range and the 100YW range soon

In summary

21 x 28mm Antediluvian Miniatures foot @ 5 points = 105 points

24 x 28mm Medbury Miniatures Foot @ 5 points = 120 points

Total 225 points

For the can opener side challenge

8 armoured figures @ 5 points = 40 points

many thanks

Valleyboy

From Millsy:

Honestly Kerry, if you posted nothing else for the rest of the Challenge but more of these I'd be a happy camper indeed. They are just wonderful once again.

I can see why you enjoy these so much. The faces are so characterful and their kit is spot on. Painted up to your usual quality they are fit to grace any table and are a wonderful advert for Antediluvian and Miniatures.

Brilliant stuff mate. Keep 'em coming!

Cheers,
Millsy

From Kerry T: Hold, hold, hold - Scottish foot (100 points)

Morning, afternoon & evening all

I've often made comments in the past about what I call my wandering ill-disciplined brush. Today's entry is an example This leaves me to wonder how the mind works, or perhaps more specifically how the mind of a wargamer works (or doesn't). 

I raise the subject really because I find myself now  having completed  a unit of Scottish spearmen from the "Wars of the Bruce" range from the  Antediluvian Miniatures range. What's so special about that? Err, well the project actually started with a plan to do the Wars of the Roses (1455 to 1487). So how come I find myself offering an entry from the Scottish Wars of Independence (1296 to 1328 & 1332 to 1357).

It all started a few years ago when "Never Mind the Billhooks" was gaining in popularity, when seeing other gamers' efforts, I felt the attraction and bought a load of Perry plastic and metal figures for the period. Now there is an overlay between the WOTR and the Hundred Years War  (1337- 1543) and my mind suggested that with a switching  I could do both, perhaps using many of the same figures.

How did I get here though? - well I think its a combination of factors really

1 The joy of painting and staying productive by flitting between periods - what I mean by my ill-disciplined brush

2 The inevitable cry of " Oh look shiny". Thus the siren call of miniature figure ranges as you browse the net. This time it was the Antediluvian Miniatures range,  Claymore Castings, Perry Miniatures Agincourt range, Footsore Miniatures Baron's war range and lastly the Medbury Miniatures STL range. Oh yes and flags the twin calling of Flags Of War and GMB flags, I've always been a sucker for flags. In the main though I blame the figures, hence in the past seeing Artizan Landsknechts and Artizan Moors along with the Arab irregular cavalry in the WW1 range have led to a weakening of the will and thus new projects

3 A degree of megalomania... I started off intending to paint some English and French, then thought oh I could add some Scottish, Welsh and Irish.....

4 Media -In the past films like Lawrence of Arabia, The Last Samurai, and Kingdom of Heaven have led to the start of new projects. Then there are books or more recently audiobooks, essentially historical fiction (I listen while I paint) - Griff Hosker, Harry Sidebottom, David Gillman, SJ Turney & Christian Cameron whose words have filled my imagination with visual images of tabletop figures and before I know it my wallet's been opened and my brush is off on another wander!

I suppose a medieval purist will be having kittens now, figures from the Baron's war through to early/mid 100 years war are likely to come together to form my intended armies.

I could go on I know but this is by way of explanation of how I find myself here, with these....

Antediluvian Miniatures Wars of the Bruce range spearmen and knights

Based in 5s on 120 x 60 mm Warbases 2mm bases

I just love the action in these figures and was astonished by how good the  painted examples on the Antediluvian site look and so I was hooked. 

Spearmen on this base with a figure from the command pack at the back

They need something behind them I think though, more depth

Aonghus Og Mac Dohmnaill of Islay"s banner

Wasn't sure how many figures to add per base, 6 might have been better

Flags of War banner - a Scottish Saltire

The nearest base shows the knights rather than spearmen

My troops always run away

Used army painter on these, they're a bit shiny though

Well there we are, I'm not sure where I'm going with this project, all over the place as usual. When collecting I didn't really plan the units but I think in the long run I'll try and mix different figures into each unit using a mix of Claymore, Antediluvian, Footsore, Perry and Medbury. The Front Rank I have I think will have to be kept separate. There's an inspirational thread on the Lead Adventure Forum by Gareth Lane or Lord Raglan https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=135278.0 that I've followed

I'm not sure what I'll do for rules yet and a measure of my flutterbyness is that I've bought flags for 100YW French, English and Scottish along with flags for Bannockburn (1314) and Otterburn (1388). I'll just have to see where the butterfly takes me! I think WOTR is going to have to wait

So in summary

20 x 28mm Foot figures @5 points = 100 points

1 Squirrel

9 x 5 - 45 Can opener points

With many thanks

Valleyboy

From Millsy,

I was hoping to see these after you mentioned them on our regular paint and chat sessions!

They are absolutely smashing and the large bases to the front make them both safer for opponent's minis but also add a real sense of theatre. The fact enemies will be pushed back away from the pikemen reflects the way the weapon works and I love it.

The basing itself is great too and has a really compliments the colours of the padded jacks and surcoats. Lovely work mate and another well deserved 100 points.

Cheers,
Millsy

From Guy B: [Hall of the Ancestors] Bidets and Bowmen [80 points]

 

With a surname like Bowers, my ancestors were bow makers. So it is only apt that for my trip into the hall of the ancestors, I should use bow armed miniatures.

The miniatures are mostly from the excellent Antediluvian miniatures range, with some Footsore and the odd Crusader. 

I've used my usual 'go to' - contrast paints with highlights. I have tried mixing the contrasts together to make more variety in colours. I'm still perfecting the technique.

These will be bidowers and bowmen for my Lion Rampant games, and if I can get more painted, they might just see the odd game of Hail Caesar or WAB.  

So I make that twelve bowmen and the bonus means this little lot is worth 80 points. I hope you like them. I have some Knights next, but for that, I need to make it to the Knight Solar. Best get a move on!

From MartinC Some Randoms and a Proof of Concept (95 pts)

 Some i've been clearing some space for the home run. WW1 finished (that's lie), Vietnam finished (also a lie), ACW (spot a trend here).

So these are a few randoms that were cluttering up the desk

3 mid medieval longbow men (Crusader from a lucky bag)

Nice to paint and will add to my Templar collection

One of the 1st films I ever saw on the cinema was "At the Earth's Core" in about 1976. Proper old school romp. These 3 figs from Antediluvian Miniatures and are Peter Cushing, Doug McClure (you will know him from such films as.....) and the pneumatic Caroline Munroe - a go to damsel if the main acting role was being barely dressed (see also The Golden Voyage of Sinbad).

Next up some Chinese civilians, these are great figures from Tsuba miniatures and will be useful from Boxer rebellion to Chinatown gangster games

I particularly like the guy selling pushalong toys

And now to the next part. We all have collection of buildings that occupy more space than our soldiers. They fall into 2 categories. Beautiful and massive set piece buildings, see Miles' Stalingrad posts. THen are are houses, they look nice, provide scenery and obstacles. But we often don't fight in them and they are the backdrop. I have loads of these and they occupy tonnes of space. I need the space back so I had an idea

So I made a standard 2 storey building, think brownstone or Uk terraced house

THis one has a flat roof and pasted on brick with doors and windows made from mdf bases. Instead of glueing it all together the roof is slot in and the walls are joined with gaffer tape. Which means

If you take the roof off it folds flat! I can now fit every basic building I need into a tiny space. I added corner stones to obscure the corners If you want sloping roof then simple add gable ends. Make it posh with cut out windows and doors, a much better paint job and even annexes.

I think I've invented a thing.

Scores

16 x 28mm figs = 85

2 x hand carts = 5pts (not hard to do)

1 pop up building = 1/4 cube when erected = 5pts.

Right off to make a better house

From MartinC "She sells seashells on the seashore" Sarah's Sorceress (27pts)

Mary Anning lived in Lyme Regis at the start of the 19th Century. Her family was extremely poor so Mary made a lving collecting and selling the huge numbers of fossils to be found in Lyme Regis sea cliffs and beaches. 

She became very famous and although always poor people travelled to buy her seashells, to the point that the tongue twister in the title was written to celebrate her.

She has recently been rediscovered and lauded, to be honest she was famous in her day and was awarded a pension by her clients, but there are no famous geologists (name one without refering to Google I dare you ) so her fame slipped. There is a Hollywood film coming out about her called Ammonite but I'm not optimistic.

I am a fan and I found this figure from Antediluvian Minitatures of her and her dog Tray so I just had to paint them up.

The figure is modelled on the famous picture of her, see link above

The best thing is that she is mounted on a piece of mudstone full of ammonite and brachiopod fossils that I collected from Lyme Regis a few years ago.

So 5 points for Mary and a couple for Tray and 20 points for the to teleport to Knights Solar.

This is going to go on my desk at work.