From TeemuL: All the rest Circles [The Contemplatives] [The Fixed Stars of Faith, Hope and Love] (100 points)

Here I am again with my dictionary, it might be complicated when English is not the first language, but on the other hand it opens the door of possible misunderstandings - accidental or not. :) The Contemplatives - probably a word I have never heard or at least used - means "the reasonable thinking person" in the Challenge description.

I'll quote Wikipedia page of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington:

"In late 1814, the Prime Minister wanted him to take command in Canada with the assignment of winning the War of 1812 against the United States. Wellesley replied that he would go to America, but he believed that he was needed more in Europe. He stated:

I think you have no right, from the state of war, to demand any concession of territory from America... You have not been able to carry it into the enemy's territory, notwithstanding your military success, and now undoubted military superiority, and have not even cleared your own territory on the point of attack. You cannot on any principle of equality in negotiation claim a cession of territory except in exchange for other advantages which you have in your power... Then if this reasoning be true, why stipulate for the uti possidetis? You can get no territory: indeed, the state of your military operations, however creditable, does not entitle you to demand any."

Sounds like a reasonable thinker to me, some might agree even without that quote. For my slow growing Peninsular War project I needed some commanders and Perry Miniatures have a set with couple of persons involved there, one being Duke of Wellington. I guess I'm not able to use him in the "real historical games", since the mini is from Waterloo era and most likely very different to what Wellington was like in Peninsular War, but at least it gives me a possibility to practice. He is on a round base with two Victrix plastic minis.

He is accompanied by Earl of Uxbridge, Henry William Paget, from the same Perry set. Unfortunately I have mounted him on Picton's horse, which has a tiger pelt... More historical errors from me. :) Picton didn't participate in Peninsular campaign, but was part of Waterloo. I guess I'll paint him a bit later and use as a nameless commander. I don't know about the story of tiger pelt or the umbrella, but I guess I'll find some information later on, when I research more. Uxbridge is on oval base with one Victrix officer.

After all these historical errors I can't declare myself as a contemplative, but I claim the bonus points from Duke Wellington. And yes, the Victrix minis on these command stands are painted to match my existing units for British. But no flags yet.

That was fifth Circle in Paradise and enough to complete the Theme Challenge, but since I happened to have this Pawnee set from Black Sheep Miniatures by Warbases, I painted them and move to the next Circle, "The Fixed Stars of Faith, Hope and Love." I'm not sure if Pawnees really had any hope, but that was all they had and they did fight for that. I believe my claim is valid.

I painted them with old "Tanned Flesh" paint from Coat d'Arms which I found quite nice. The leather parts are Flames of War Khaki 988 and then all over Reikland Flesh Shade. Mohawks are black Contrast paints. I guess I'm used to using mixed supply of paints? :)

These 5 Native Americans will meet the previously painted 7th Cavalry in several skirmish games - I hope, may be Sarah the Shootist will appear with other gunslingers, too. I think I need some pioneers, gold diggers and wagons. And those tumbleweed balls going here and there with the wind!

And the points then. All minis are 28mm, 2 mounted and 8 on foot, that is a total of 60 points. Two locations for additional 40 points and we have another 100 points. I wish I had this productive days and weeks in December, January and February...

 

 

Sylvain: I hear your pain when it comes to express yourself in a second (or third) language. But even if it's "imperfect", the act of communicating is always beautiful and worthy. Your (last?) entries are very colorful, literally and figuratively. And congratulations on completing so many levels in both the abyss and paradise! 

From TeemuL: Parade in Paradise [The Ambitious] [The Lovers] [The Just Rulers] (100 points)

So I have been stuck in Paradise for some time now after clearing the First Circle: The Inconstant. Since that I have been painting everything else, searched for female miniatures and browsed dictionaries to figure out what all those fancy words mean and how I can twist them to fit my minis.

I was planning to use my Ambition entry for Wise, but lacking the females and time I had to make some changes. But I guess Gandalf is considered wise, but also ambitious: "A figure that is as keen as mustard, an overachiever".

I'll kill the Balrog, resurrect myself, replace the head of my order, be a kingmaker, ride couple of days and nights, make vaque promises and keep them and so on.

Does that sound an overachiever? It does to me. And this mini is Gandalf the White version by Games Workshop, a nice metal model, which I tried to paint white. Yes, lots of whites and shades of white, but I think it is ok.

Assuming my reasoning is valid I can move to the third circle and present The Lovers. Yes, Lannisters in paradise... Not the most usual love story, brother and sister loving each other and their common son. Jaime and Cersei Lannister with Tommen. There were some lust, some other strong feelings, too, but definitely some love. And at least Jaime and Cersei both loved Tommen, so that is my backup plan for Lovers.

These are from CMON box Lannister Heroes 3 and are plastic as the previous ones. Not that many details, but that makes them fast to paint. I'm happy with Jaime, but I guess Cersei would have liked more royal outfit, I don't know. I gave Jaime the white cloak of King's guard, I believe he was part of that even after losing his hand.

I'm not familiar with the game A Song of Ice and Fire where these belong, but these look quite strange heroes for a wargame. Queen (regent?) in a dress with his young son and a knight on his knees with a bandaged hand. Not may be the types you expect to see in the first line, but Seven Kingdoms is an interesting place.

Next stop is The Just Rulers. I'll present King Aragorn before he was wise and just king. Yes, I was planning to use Gandalf as Wise, but my female transportation options were scarce. Aragorn was very clever even before he was crowned king. Here he is from the "Two Towers era", where he was told "When last I looked, Théoden, not Aragorn, was king of Rohan." and kept his mouth wisely shut and later became king of Gondor.

He reigned long and died peacefully, made clever pacts and bowed to hobbits. In general considered as a good guy, I think I could have used him as the Ambitious one, too... But yes, he was just ruler, lived a long life and learnt a lot from elfs and men and even something from dwarfs and hobbits and ents. I think I could have used him as the Wise one, too? Tells something about the works of Tolkien, that his characters are definitely not one dimensional.

I've been talking about the female minis here and there and you might realize, that one must use a female or angel mini to jump over circles and I have just come from 3rd to 6th circle and I can't use Cersei for transport so I need to present something else.

Let me present you Bertha the Bear, the famous female bear!

This is a metal bear from Warbases, I ordered her at the same time I ordered the bases for Napoleonics. I know there has been some strong rulings in the past regarding female bears, but I believe they are all sorted out now?

But if I'm mistaken and Bertha is not counted, I have another classic from Challenge Wednesdays, Dorothy Dromedar!

She is from Warbases, too. She has quite a strong mould line on her back, looks good from one angle, but terrible from other. Both Bertha and Dorothy are mainly painted using Contrast paints with some details added and especially the underbellies and legs drybrushed.

Sarah the Shootist is the last and third female of this post and she makes it sure that I can pass.

She is a plastic from Great Escape Games Gunfighters II box and painted mostly with traditional acrylics. Green and brown sounded like practical colours, violet scarf gives a hinf of her feminity. Little bit dusted clothes to match my other Old West minis.

With these I have gone through 4 circles in Paradise and can either pick The Warriors of Faith or The Contemplatives next. I need to browse through the dictionary again...

I'd say this is 8 (6 humans and 2 animals of different sizes) 28mm minis in total for 40 points and then three locations for total of 100 points! I have more to come before the Challenge ends!

Wow Teemu, you've pulled out all the stops with this entry! I really like your interpretation of The Ambitious, The Lovers, and The Just Ruler - each one a terrific example of those themes. Bertha the Bear made me laugh aloud (and I'm sure Ray will do the same) and Sarah the Shootist looks truly formidable, ready to draw her long-barrelled Colt if the need arrises. Brilliant work, sir!

- Curt

From RobH (HerrRobert/RobertH): Señor Oliverios' Retainers (50 points)

Señor Oliveros crouched down in the scrub, waiting. El Borracho sat nearby, drinking straight from a green bottle with one hand, checking the cylinder of his revolver with the other. In all the years he'd known El Borracho, Oliverios had never seen the man without either whiskey or weapons to hand. His pet iguana, El Guapo, crouched on his shoulder. Men from his hacienda dotted the rough ground nearby, ready for the signal.

Señor Oliverios' Retainers

So begins my second entry into the 15th Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Señor Teodoro Oliveros leads the men from around his hacienda to confront someone, be they the French, the Yankees, banditos, Villistas, Federales or perhaps even Spaniards or Cuban revolutionaries:

• Teodoro Guerra, Raúl Luna, Luis Aguirre and Loco Sanchez (remember him?) have armed themselves with machetes
• Martin Reyes carries a large scattergun or blunderbuss
• Octavio Montoya and Luciano Peña have muskets
• Javier Solis carries a repeating rifle, perhaps a Winchester
• El Borracho and El Guapo have a six gun

Señor Oliverios leads from the front

Eight of the ten figures (all but Solis and El Borracho) are Wargames Foundry figures from the Old West pack OW161 - Mexican Peons. I'd bought them years ago off ebay, and they'd been sitting cleaned, washed and ready to paint for at least two years now. After our last Legends of the Old West game of the exchange, they called out to paint.

El Borracho is a Reaper Chronoscape figure marketed as Lobo Sanchez, Bandito. My figure's package came with a smudged label which read more "Loco Sanchez." Since I already had Loco Sanchez, I needed a new name. Given that the figure is carrying a hefty bottle of something alcoholic, El Borracho, The Drunkard, seemed appropriate.

The figures weren't too bad to paint up, although the sandals and El Borracho's serape and inner thigh had some trouble spots, as did his hair and Señor Oliverios' cummerbund - the red kept bleeing onto his white shirt.

Three of the figures were painted to test a khaki color combination for the Spanish-American War: Delta Ceramcoat Terretorial Beige for shadow, Khaki for main, and then a wash down with Army Painter Soft Tone. It works for rough cloth, but is too dark for a khaki. I will probably try using a pale gray wash next time, and see if that is lighter.

Rear view of the party

The rest of the figures had the same white I did for Loco Sanchez as a prisoner in my previous entry. Señor Oliverios' pants and hat, along with El Borracho's hat and serape, were both done with Territorial Beige as main and Vallejo Cork Brown as a highlight, then washed down with Strong Tone. It makes for a good medium brown. I switched up my straw hat mixture, highlighting with Reaper Buckskin Pale after the Soft Tone wash, instead of before. It worked much better than doing the Soft Tone wash last, so I went back and touched up the prisoner's straw hat from my last entry.

Before and after capture, showing the touchup on the hat

I label all of my 19th Century colonial figures on the bases, with the yellow, green, blue, red or black of the label indicating skill. It's something I picked up playing a homebrew set of rules for gaming the Indian Wars in my teens/early twenties, and since I started basing my figures for that rule set, it has persisted. Figure names are written in with either white gel pen (0.3mm tip, brand new for the challenge) or 0.005mm artist marker.

The band from overhead, showing the labels

I'm a little more satisfied with the photos this go around. I got a slightly better camera app for my phone, which allows me to control the focus point, exposure and light balance better than the usual point and click of an iPhone. I also bought an attachment for my tripod, so I can use it with the phone. They're not as crisp as the black background photos Curt shoots, but they look better. I may switch to a white background though.

Springing the ambush on some French invaders (the French I bought at a con and need to rebase)

Scoring this entry is:

• 10 28mm foot figures @ 5 points per figure = 50 points.

That's also my first Squirrel Point, and 50 more points in the Colonials duel.

 

 

Sylvain: Not only are your miniatures very colorful, the characters you depict are also very colorful. I like how you add stories to your post,as it makes looking at your figurines a lot more interesting. I also find inspiring the way you coded your bases. All in all a great entry. Excellent work!

 

 

From Rob H (HerrRobert): The Border Exchange (5 points)

April 1898: The Trans-Pecos of Texas is a land of extremes, hot days, cold nights, desolate terrain, sparse population and barely suppressed lawlessness far from everywhere. American and Mexican garrisons soak in the beaching sun, attempting to maintain order as bandidos and Comanches cross the border as suits their own nefarious purposes. Those caught on the wrong, side of the border may yet still face what passed for justice in these parts - or be used as coin to trade for those caught on the other side. 

The prisoner waiting to be exchanged

So begins the setting for today's game of (heavily) modified Legends of the Old West. When I first began wargaming, about thirty years ago in the late 1990s, blogging was the province of self-created websites. Ian Croxhall's The Amazing Adventures of the Red Shadow was one of the sites I had bookmarked and routinely read through for new games featuring the Algerian Goumiere scout and the various misadventures of the French, Germans and Italians across the North African littoral. One of my favorite scenarios was The Red Shadow and the Salami Exchange, which featured the French and Italians attempting to exchange prisoners and the Mujahidine crash the party. Hilarity ensues, naturally.

Side profile, perhaps as a mug shot?

I've always wanted to adapt that to a setting that suits my collections, and the US/Mexico border was the best fit. However, the setting required an unarmed figure to serve as one of the prisoners being exchanged. Fortunately, I had just the figure, already mounted on the base and just needing primed, flocked and painted.

He's a 28mm Wargames Foundry figure from the Old West pack OW166 - Mexican Villagers (2nd from the right above), painted in about 2 hours Friday night after work. I went a bit lighter for his clothes, using Delta Ceramcoat Antique White and then Reaper Linen White, washed with grey and then rehighlighted. His straw hat was a Reaper triad (Chestnut Gold, Palomino Gold and Buckskin Pale), which I washed with Army Painter Soft Tone to bring out the details. He was the first figure I had painted since the last Challenge, and having caught Bargain Bob's Basement Bunker version of the various diseases circulating around California for Christmas and New Years, getting started painting anything was a real effort. It's not efficient by any means, but it was fun just working on a single figure.

I love how sullen his expression came out

Despite lint-rolling my photobooth to remove all stray flock and static grass and making sure my miniatures were well lit, the photos turned out rather disappointing, especially compared to shots from today's game. They have a yellow tone and colors are washed out, which does not usually happen when taking gaming photos using the exact same iPhone. The edge of the base in the photo above should be jet black, and so should his hair. Upon reflection, I suspect the problem may be that the black background and high lighting overwhelm the iPhone camera at standard settings and wash things out. 

F Troop, 7th Cavalry escorting the prisoner to the exchange on the bridge over the Rio Grande

For those interested in his fate, Loco Sanchez was duly handed over to the Mexicans, put in the prisoner wagon, and taken to the jail in El Paso del Norte. However, when negotiating the narrow streets, the wagon bucked dodging a small child. Gunfire from the Mexican garrison killed the wagon driver guarding the prisoner, probably by mistake. Sanchez jumped down from the wagon, made a run for it, and was then shot while attempting escape, bleeding out in a dark alley. 

He's making a run for it!

Life is cheap in the Trans-Pecos.

Scoring:

• 1 28mm foot figure @ 5 points per figure = 5 points

And 5 points on my side for the Colonials duel with DaveD! Yes, Mexico and the Old West counts as colonial, especially Mexico because of the Maximillian Adventure.

On the plus side, this is probably the earliest I've posted anything for the Challenge, so every modest bit helps. And we had a wild, freewheeling 6-player, 5-sided game, which is always good!

Sylvain: Great figurine! White clothes are always tricky to paint and you nailed it. The background story adds a lot of character to a humble model, he's not just a villager, he's "Loco Sanchez who was shot during a prisoner exchange". Thanks for the pictures of your game, it looks great with the scenery and people typical of the old Far West.

From PaulSS: Let's get this wagon rolling! (60 points)

I've been a slacker this challenge, I usually try to get something posted on day one, and here we are on day eleven with my first submission!

This year has been the year for me mainly of What a Cowboy! and General D'Armee 2, so I open my account with some more figures for the Old West collection.

First up a group of four gunfighters from the Western Characters II set from Brigade Games, shameful admission, these were prepared and primed ready for Challenge XIV and have languished in the "I'll make a start on them pile" for over a year now.

Lively characterful figures sculpted by Hicksy and based on the Deadwood TV series. These four are Calamity Jane, Silas Adams, Wild Bill Hickok and Tom Nutall. Seth Bullock is hopefully going to be painted for a upcoming post!

While visiting the UK in May I attended the Partizan Show and picked up a load of goodies from Great Escape Games, the gunfighters I bought are all painted earlier this year, but the General Purpose Wagon was saved for the challenge.

It's a characterful addition to the collection.

Six 28 mm figures, plus two horses and a vehicle should kick off my challenge with 60pts.

From TeemuL: Very nice minis Paul and welcome back to the Challenge. You have achieved a very nice and dusty look on your Old West characters, they really look like they fit the period. And the wagon is excellent mini, probably sees lots of action. I hope to paint some Gunfighters from Great Escape Games later in the Challenge, but let's see how it turns out.