From JonathanO: The SAGAS of Noggin the Nog - At various locations of the Chambers of Challenge XI (150 points)

 I did not intend to do a really late post, but I realised that I still had time to make my points target.  I finished off a few figures that were in progress and completed a few more.  This is a bit of fun to finish off with and I hope you won't mind if I visit 5 additional locations in the one post.

I present some miniatures from the Little Soldier Company that were based on the characters from the children's books and TV series "The SAGAS of Noggin the Nog".

At the Hall of Heroes we have Noggin and queen Nooka:

Retracing my steps through rooms already visited, I get to the Hatchery.  Here we find Nogbad the Bad and his crows hatching a plan:

At the Armoury there are two Nog soldiers:

The Gallery of Ancestors features Noggin's parents King Knut and Queen Grunhilda:

Finally in the Guardroom, NOT keeping a close eye on the treasures of the Nogs are these two sleeping Nog sentries:

The whole group:

I had planned to complete all the figures during the challenge, but plans change!  At least I got most done for this final entry.

So 10 x 28mm figures = 50 points , plus 5 x 20 for new locations visited = 100 bonus points.  For a grand total of 150 points to take me comfortably over my target.  Hurrah!

Thanks to Curt for allowing me to participate in another enjoyable Painting Challenge.  Thanks to Sarah for continuing to support this madness!  This could not be so awesome and big without the wonderful Minions - thanks to you all.  Finally well done all participants and thanks for sharing your superb painting, interesting and amusing stories as well as for supporting each other on this journey through the Chambers of Challenge XI.  

Cheers,

Jonathan

From SidneyR: The Guild of Metal Founders, Laarden 1688, for the "Gallery of the Ancestors" (68 points)

 

"Old halberds, if well cleaned, never rust.  For our past is our future, and our future is our past".

Captain Conelis van Blom, Captain of the Guild of Metal Founders,

Laarden, 1688

In my last post, the painted Banshee transported me back to "The Gallery of the Ancestors", which I had skipped over in February.  In that Chamber, we find a small company of militia from the "Guild of Metal Founders", one of the oldest guilds in my (very self-indulgent) fictional Flemish Free-City of Laarden, in 1688.

The Company of Metal Founders uses older weapons from the City arsenal, many of them old enough to have been wielded by the Company's grandfathers in their struggles with the Spanish and French in the early seventeenth century (...an, as yet, unpublished campaign in the annals of the Laarden civic archives, dear Challengers).  So we have guildsmen armed with halberds (always a popular choice), arquebuses, partizans, pikes, and armoured with steel breastplates.  

The antique weapons jostle for attention alongside late seventeenth century fashions, such as an officer's elaborate periwig, French-style coats and the huge embroidered standard of the Guild.  

Completed by the Laarden School of Seamstresses (....and yes, that's another future vignette, one day!), the Guild's standard depicts the Angel Gabriel and a terrifying Demon, both claiming patrimony over the founding of one of the great cannons of the Free City of Laarden.  

What the cryptic meaning of the standard precisely means is unknown, except perhaps to the Guild Elders - and the Elders are as tight lipped about that hidden meaning as they are about their near-alchemical methods of iron and steel founding. 

The clothing worn by the guild militia is not uniformed.  Perhaps, dear Challengers, this is a respectful glance back to the days of the early seventeenth century before military uniforms were common.  A degree of unity is created by some fancy red feathers in the hats of the company which - no doubt - have been paid for by the Guild's funds at the start of the campaign.  

I had a lot of fun painting the guildsmen, but also experienced a couple of disasters as well.  The figures are a mixture of Dixon Miniatures and Wargames Foundry, with some conversion work to get a couple of pikemen to wield halberds instead.  I added bunches of lace and feathers onto  the figures with greenstuff to create some form of uniformity among the figures.  I also tried to bring the figures together by panting them all with a base of either dark red (Vallejo Red) or dark brown (Vallejo Flat Brown), and then varying the colours of the Company's stockings, cuffs and hats to match the main colour.

The standard was half painted before the Challenge, during last summer, but for some reason I'd only done half (one side).  So I finished the standard, trying to match the painting on the new second half to the completed first half.  I found this much tricker than expected, mainly because I could not remember the shade of red on the plump demon which I had used last year!

The disaster happened when I varnished these figures.  My usually trusty varnishing methods went wrong, leaving a thin 'dusting' on the figures.  No doubt some of you might have had this depressing experience over the years.  It was, I admit, pretty soul-destroying, but I was cheered up very considerably by fellow Challenger, Mark Backhouse, who encouraged me to re-varnish in gloss, and then to start varnishing again.  Which was a great tip - thanks, Mark!

The second time of matt varnishing seems to have done the trick.  No doubt the influence of the Angel Gabriel balanced up the impact of the mischievous Demon from the Guild's standard at the second time of asking!

I finished off the base with some tufts, which i dusted with a 'paint & PVA' mix for some rigidity and toughness.  Ideally, I'd like to do more figures from the Guilds of Laarden in the future - but they'll need to wait for another Challenge as I'm running out of time in this one!

So, on to the points - I painted 9 figures in 28mm, and half a standard, with some conversion work on the figures.  So the main question is.... how many points for half the standard?  Is a couple of points OK? And a point for the greenstuff-ing?  That would be 48 points, with 20 for the "Gallery of the Ancestors", totalling 68 points (if that's OK).

If it's not acceptable, communication to the Guild of Metal Founders can be established through your usual Angelic or Demonic representative.... 

And, because this is Laarden 1688, here's the hugely self-indulgent Collectible Character Card for the Guild of Metal Founders in the "Enemies and Allies of Laarden, 1688" Collection for Challenge XI.

******* 

From SanderS: The Gallery of Ancestors. (116 points)

 Hoi,

As with all the entries in this specific locale, I could have chosen quite a lot of stories about family members mostly from the WW2 era (my mother's Dad was a local mayor and had to go in hiding because he didn't want to collaborate with the Germans and my other Grandfather was a coalminer back then, but both of them passed before I was born. Something that has influinced my whole look upon painting figures and has a strong link to my hometown was a good subject for a project at least that's what I think.

At the time of writing I live in the utmost South of the Netherlands where indeed I was born, but for 7 years I lived and worked in the most Northern part as well, in the city of Groningen there were lots of bookshops and being a big city there were lots of people with different interests and when they pass on or move to a different interest they (or their family) sell their stuff to secondhand bookshops. At the time I was deep into Battletech (duhuh), 40K and Napoleonics but if I'd find a book that had nice uniform plates, I would buy that most likely as well. Now my main interest in historic gaming has ever been the British Redcoat and therefore I bought the book below without a second thought upon seeing it. 

It took me a while before I actually read it and then it happened: one of the first things I check in a new Osprey buy are of course the colourplates. This book being no exception, I noticed a familiar church tower in the background of this plate: 

I tried to find a better image:

Finally I read the caption to the plate:

As you can guess Roermond is the town I was born in... The cathedral church tower looks completely different now, being blown up by US forces in '44-'45, but the British had been here in my backyard in 1748! In the years between buying this book and now I have found the British army camped at and conquered the city several times during the conflict and when I retire I am going to research their stay and write a book about it. It appears the King of England at the time tasked his court painter with painting soldiers from most of the regiments camped here and that's the origin of the plate above. 

That plate has also been the cause for me doing a 7YW Minden-project in 1:72 and so I thought it would be nice to include the 21st Regiment of Foot (for Minden I actually need the 23rd Foot, but both of these regiments had blue facings and were Fusilier regiments so no worries!).

Miles wanted more 20mm figures and I guess 1:72 is close enough I gather. There's 24 figures in that scale  which is good for 96 points an together with the bonus that would be 116 for my total.

Cheers Sander

And another 100-points-plus entry today! Lovely troops and a great back-story for why you painted them.

Tamsin

From TeemuL: Who is your father, the Gallery of Ancestors (40 points)

"The Gallery of Ancestors" reads Shellington from the sign. "At last, something which makes sense in this part of the university", he thought relieved. But what was that noise, low grunting and shouting, cling of metal and some stomping. "Some youngsters who don't know how to behave", thought Uggla on took a tighter grip of his bottle. "I'm not a beardling!" "We have never heard of Gloin, young one." "You are imposters, the dwarf lords with rings died ages ago!" "Do you think this Mithril axe is false, do you?!?" T.S. Owl-Ord easily bypassed this group of apparent relatives, who seemed to be even more lost than him. And they were those short ones as well, the same as the 3 in the previous room. Hopefully this was last of them, he hoped quietly while continuing his walk.

The Gallery of Ancestors, I present you Gimli, son of Gloin, and three ancient Dwarf Lords, at least one of them most likely an ancestor of him. These are 3 of 4 different Dwarf King sculpts who were given the rings of power in the past.

I continued with bright Contrast colors, making some generic heroes for my very small MESBG Dwarf army. I painted the hair/beard and cloak in different colors for them, making it easier to recognize them on the table.

They were nice to paint, enough details and small enough for quick finish. I have the fourth one coming, but I made an error earlier, when I split the order of our group made and I had one of kings as duplicate. The process to get him back is in progress, remembering the covid-19 instructions, of course.

The kings are of course the older people here, some bizarre event has dropped Gimli in front of them. This is a metal sculpt with Elven Cloak, but I haven't had time to find out from which box he is coming from. He was part of a second hand box I bought some time ago.

Gimli is not as bright colored as the kings, but painted with Contrasts. I just wanted him to have basically the same colors as other miniatures I have. The bright green cloak means Elven Cloak on my gaming table.

That should be 4 28mm miniatures, 20 points (also for GW side duel).

Then 20 points from the room, making it total of 40 (no skulls).

Is this the last Shellington sees of dwarfs when he continues towards The Guardroom...?

From BenitoM: Gallery of Ancestors - Spanish Republican Fighter 1936-39 (25 points)

This is a somewhat emotional post, as it links directly with a personal situation but also the not so far away history of Spain. First, I must confess that I envy the tales that many of you have posted about your ancestors, fighting a war to liberate Europe from the yoke fascism: British, Americans, Canadians, Australians... voluntary or conscripted, at least they fought for the good cause, the good fight

Unfortunately I can't  tell the same tale. This is the story of my grandfather (abuelo) Paco or at least the little I know about him. Abuelo Paco was born in Peñarroya, a small village near Cordoba and worked in the mine that supplied coal to the local power plant.

In July 1936 a military uprising led by a group of army generals resulted in a 3 year bloody civil war. What I know is that abuelo Paco joined the loyalist army of the Republic, but voluntary or conscripted, it's a mystery to me. 

My grad mum, my father (then 6 years old) and my then two very young aunts (babies actually) left the village in haste and arrived after several weeks (or months?) to Valencia, the seat of the Republican government after leaving Madrid and many-many hundreds miles away from my father's birthplace... undoubtedly a terrifying experience.

Next thing I know, all the family is reunited in Valencia, where my two surviving aunts still live. Abuelo Paco started working in a local shipbuilding company where my father (a boy 10-11 years old) also worked. However around 1945, abuelo Paco died from silicosis, a frequent illness among miners and my father still a teenager had to become the earner for the family.

Where did he fight? In which units? How (or if!) he was able to avoid the detention camp that demobilized Republican army soldiers had to go for "re-education"? We have no idea. No papers from my grandfather were found when my grandmother died. And she never wanted to speak about the war... the pact of oblivion... I don't even have a photograph of him to show here.

This model presented is therefore an idealistic representation of my ancestor. A fighter for the doomed Spanish Republic, abandoned by the Western democracies, abused by the Soviets and against all the power of the professional African army supported by the fascist European powers.... and going through the ordeal of a dictatorship until the mid 70s because of Cold War international geopolitics convenience.

The model is from Empress superb Republican army range, expensive but worth every penny given the outstanding suclpting and poses.This from an unfinished project of 8 yeas ago, when we played a long and intense campaign with Chain of Comand SCW rules variant. I bought several blisters of Republican and Nationalists, but never completed the project as my gaming group shift thie sights into other period.

This post therefore adds 25 point to my Challenge scoring: 5 points for the 28mm model + 20 bonus points

Gallery of ancestors- Mark Backhouse (25 points)

 

The Gallery of Ancestors has been a really tricky one for some time and forced me to scratch my head a fair bit. I’ve plenty of ancestors with a military background, but getting somebody appropriate seemed a real challenge. 

In the end I went for one of my grandfathers who fought in WW1 with the Lancashire Regiment. He didn’t talk about the war afterwards and I suspect had a pretty awful time of it. After WW1 he was sent to the Russian Civil War. As a committed Socialist I think he was fairly sympathetic with the Reds and certainly not keen on the Tsarist cause that he was sent to support. After the war he became a headteacher and ran a school in Sussex. 

I wanted to capture the thoughts he may have felt about the War and a moment of peace in the conflict. This figure was from a show I went to commemorating WW1 - was it Partizan? I think so? It has a wonderful exhausted figure that I thought was really evocative. 

The cat is an old Ral Parthia sculpt. The rat is a plastic model from a GW Skaven box.  

A bit of fun to paint and a nice change from 2mm Romans!

Challenge completed = 20 points

1 x 28mm figure = 5 points

Total = 25 points

AdamC: Gallery of Ancestors USS Constitution (35 Points)

I asked before if a ship can be a hero now here are two more questions can a ship be an ancestor? A further question can an ancestor still be around?

USS Constitution is undoubtedly my favorite ship of the age of the sail(I suspect she's at the top of a lot of people's list). One of the original six American Frigates that in a very real way got US Navy going. 

Here you can see the details of her stern. Constitution's career began in the Quasi-War and then Barbary war she gave good if unremarkable service in both. 

Then came the War of 1812. Constitution started the war by escaping a British squadron on her first cruise. On her next cruise she encountered HMS Guerriere and battered her into a wreck. She went on to defeat HMS Java and then HMS Cyane and HMS Levant.  Other ships did good service in the War of 1812 but none had a record like Constitution. That record became the foundation for the United States Navy we know she's the spiritual ancestor of every ship in that fleet today and she's still afloat you can visit her in Boston and I have many times. 

Points Constitution is classes a frigate so 15 points plus another 20 for the room.  The minions can add any additional points for the rigging and flags.