Showing posts with label the guardroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the guardroom. Show all posts

Friday, 19 March 2021

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

Posted by PeteF at 9:16 pm 6 comments
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Friday, 12 March 2021

From PhilH: Witchcraft, "Royalty" at the Guardroom (75 Points)

Deeper into Level 2 of the Chambers, and I'm running out of steam. Time to call upon my first Witch to transport me to my next destination. For Sarah's Boon, the Sith Inquisitor, enigmatically named Second Sister. Not really her cup of tea, I imagine, sorry about Mi'Lady, I once again found myself short on Empress-Josephine-in-the-rosegarden's this year. Kindly whisk me over the Gallery, to The Guardroom, please.
The Second Sister is one of seven (?) "Inquisitors" introduced to the canon in recent years, working to Darth Vader to hunt down the remnants of the Jedi. It's almost like someone realised George Lucas' 'rule of two' Sith had written them into a corner regards cool villains. Anyway, I'm not actually that hot on the Second Sister background, though she features in the recent PS4 game Fallen Order, that I played a few hours of before being drawn back to the brushes.
She's a nice resin 3D print by Skullfoge Studios. She came with some lightsaber blades, comedically bent and useless. I dared nott try to get a pin into her lightsaber handle, so left it unlit. I think it makes her look arrogant and aloof, particularly with her pose. And helpfully on theme to bundle into the same post, my Guardroom entry is also from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
I didn't really want to pick up this set for Legion, I find it a bit daft that Emperor Palpatine and his Royal* Guard would yomping around after Rebel squads. The lore's important, right?
*classic misnomer there
Well, turns out I had to set asid my convictions, and stump up for the Royal Guard. Reason is, the game desingers, in the interests of such nonsense such as "balance", moves across the table like he's using a zimmerframe, all the while being inevitably blasted to heck by every gone in the opposing force. He rarely makes it to get his chance to carve his way through squads (and once he carves his way through the first, he gets shot a bit more...)
Yes, FFG in all their wisdon made Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith, not very scary at all. He needs to bring the emperor's mooks with him, to act as highly effective shiny red meatshields, to deliver him into combat. 'tis a silly game.
I'm not fond of the gloss red helmets think I'll matte those down.
Five 35mm minis at 35 Points, plus Witch and Chamber bonuses for a tidy 75 Points.
Posted by Phyllion at 10:21 pm 10 comments
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Thursday, 11 March 2021

From SidneyR: Gendarmerie de France - for "The Guardroom" (260 points)

 


"Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs in the receiving earth"

Henry V, Act 1, Prologue


"Liberated from the mud and the damp of a Flanders winter, on firm ground and in good weather, His Majesty's cavalry is unsurpassed.  Yet many things can conspire to thwart their time of Glory.  For the true art of fighting with cavaliers is not in using them, as much as deploying them where they cause the most distress to His Majesty's enemies."

From the letters and diaries of the Marquis de Montchevreuil, 
Grand Écuyer to His Highness The King of France, French Flanders, 1688



My submission for "The Guardroom" is two companies of the Gendarmerie de France - the Gendarmes d'Orleans and the Gendarmes de Berry.  The Gendarmerie were the inheritors of the mantle of France's aristocratic noble cavalry of the Hundred Years War and the Italian Wars of the sixteenth century.  By 1688, there were sixteen companies of Gendarmes which could be fielded by Louis XIV, comprising an elite cavalry brigade which could either be attached to the Royal Guard, the Maison du Roi, or deployed in their own right. 


Service as an officer in the Gendarmes was something of a status symbol for young French noblemen.  To have a noble family tree was a condition for all officers, and it was helpful for both sergeants and troopers to posses the sniff of nobility when applying to join a company.  One historian has written that service in the Gendarmerie was a "refuge of that part of the very numerous nobility that did not have enough [financial] means to buy or upkeep a regiment".  In other words, young noblemen, out to prove themselves, desperate for Glory, and prickly about their family provenance and standing.  Oh Lord, what can go wrong?

Oh, and these lads are all French.  

I mean, someone pass me the popcorn and watch the spectacle unfurl...



I can't wait to get the formations here onto the wargames table and watch the, near inevitable,  chaos ensue.  

I painted up the Gendarmes d'Orleans and the Gendarmes de Berry, using the colour prints from Rene Chatrand's volume "The Armies and Wars of the Sun King 1643-1715 (Volume 2: The Cavalry of Louis XIV)".  Rene writes at some length about the Gendarmerie (and his book is generally a great read about the Sun King's cavalry), noting their many battlefield triumphs and exemplary bravery.  Other historians, such as Professor David Parrott give a more prosaic appraisal of how difficult the Gendarmerie could be for any general to control.  



The figures are 28mm cavalry form Wargames Foundry.  I added lots of green-stuff feathers on the hats, and green-stuff lace on almost every shoulder.  I swapped the Officers' arms for rather dashing sword arms and added some longer coats on a couple of the figures.  So, some conversion work, but not too much.

The flags are from GMB Designs, and the nice finials are from Flags of War (in a splendid fleur-de-lis and cravat fashion, as was accurate for 1688).



Painting noble officers for the late seventeenth century is always a challenge (no pun intended!).  I tried not to go over the top, but had some fun trying to paint in the officers' slightly dodgy teeth.  Being a nobleman, even in the Gendarmerie de France, didn't guarantee perfect dentistry, I'm sure!


Of course, being destined for service against the enemies of France in my ludicrously self-indulgent alt-historical campaign for the Free-City of Laarden in 1688, I created a Collectible Character Card for the Gendarmeries to add to the growing set for Challenge XI.



As for the points - there's 24 cavalry, at 10 points each (240 points), and an extra 20 points for "The Guardroom), giving a total of 240 points.  I've not added points for the standards and green stuff, and other stuff, as I am sure the minions would tall me I'm wrong!


******* 

Posted by Sidney Roundwood at 10:13 am 22 comments
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Thursday, 25 February 2021

From ArthurS: Into the Guardroom we go! (25points)

 Hoi,

 Ever since Arthur showed an interest in painting miniatures (and the Challenge has been a great motivation for him to keep going) I have tried to coach him in doing it better every time. Coaching mind you, not pushing because he has a really strong mind of his own (must be he got that from his mum) and has for long discarded the notion of painting in between the lines. So lately I have been tryig to get him to take a bit more care in painting more carefully and taking more notice of the details on the figures. What I mean is that he makes almost no disctinbction between a tunic, the belt over it, the pouches on that belt, and so on and so on: it all gets the same basic colour.

For the Guardroom I gave him an old GW Battlemaster Empire Guardsman with the intention for him to paint one and for me to paint 4 more. But things got in the way and he wants to enter the final Chamber of Challenge so we have to press on.

Therefore we only can provide you Arthur's latest effort in painting between the lines with this guard we will be using in Heroquest from now on. 

 



That makes for an easy points count of 5 + 20 = 25 points to be added to the boys talley!

 

Cheers Sander and Arthur

 

Posted by Sander at 12:12 pm 21 comments
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Friday, 19 February 2021

From BenitoM: Taking a Smoke - The Guardroom (25 points)

Moving from the Gallery of Ancestors, I stepped into The Guardroom. Having finished in the office early this Friday, I had the opportunity to make a quick paint work to this 2WW German model that fits nicely in the room's theme



I have had this model for ages, but I cannot recall when I bought it or even the manufacturer. So, if anyone around can identify the brand, I will really appreciate. The model is interesting in two ways: it wears the Zeltbahn cammo poncho/tent (and I do not know a lot of models wearing this characteristic uniform piece) and he is smoking a cigarette while on guard duty, providing the model some character.

The model is a metal 28mm figure and will make a nice addition to my games attached to some headquarters building or check point position.


With this entry I add another 25 points ( 1 x 28mm @5 points + room bouns 20p) to my Challenge scoring this year and I gets very close now to my 500 points target. We still have one month to go, so I expect to comfortably reach and likely exceed the target (and it will be the first time since I've been participating in the Challenge)


Posted by BenitoM at 1:35 pm 10 comments
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Sunday, 31 January 2021

From MilesR: Chambers Catch Up Submission (359 Points)

 

I've been a little remiss in wandering through the Chambers of Challenge - having posted only a measly 2 chambers to date.  Well this weekend was a catch up weekend for me and now I've got 6 additional rooms to report.


So sit back and prepared to be bored as you follow me on my tortuous logic for meeting the the stated themes of the Challenge.  Where I could, I tried to keep things related to my Stalingrad project.  


Chamber of Darkness:

The first submission is a greyscale version of a ruin for the Stalingrad project.  Now the base isn't fully greyscale as it couldn't use it in the game, but the building is completely greyscale .

The base of the building is a MDF kit from a Polish company called Terrains4Games and I highly recommend them -shipping can take a few weeks but the product is very affordable and of superb quality.  You've seen other versions of this same building and I've got 2 more to build.
It has a dark grey base color and medium grey highlighting for the exterior.  I started with some black paint and just kept adding white to lighten it up as the painting progressed.
The floor is a lighter grey and the ways a white-grey.  Some black and grey weathering powders were added at the end and voila a greyscale building.

The building is a little over 4 inches high so lets go with 10 points plus 20 for the room.



Larder:
Next up is a stroll through the Larder.  Submitted for this room are 2 Soviet Supply Dumps that will be used during the Stalingrad game.  The Soviets were forced to keep stockpiles of ammunition and other supplies along the Volga river banks and these would occasionally blow up due a stray German artillery round - sometimes in spectacular fashion.  The supply dumps are resin casts from JR Miniatures that have been in my lead pile for over 10 years.  These are nice but simple terrain pieces so how about 5 points for the two supply dumps along with the 20 point room bonus.

Hatchery: 
Ok this one is a bit of a stretch - Aviary is pretty close to aviation and these to HS-129's are definitely birds of prey.  These were specialized ground attack aircraft that saw extensive use on the Eastern front.  The model on the right is armed with a 30mm cannon while the one on the left has a 75mm PAK gun.
These models are from Battlefront and, like the supply dumps above, have been in the leadpile for about 10 years.
Technically the one with the 75mm gun was not available until after the Battle of Stalingrad but it was just too cool looking not to build.

Lets score these as 15mm vehicles so 8 points each along with the room bonus.



The Armory:
How about a bunch of 15mm Soviet tanks and rocket truck?  All of the models are from Battlefront
First up 5 KV'1's - these are my favorite tanks from WW2 and I can't wait to see them rumbling through the streets of Stalingrad

4 T-34's to reinforce the 5 I already have painted (pre-Challenge).  These are later model turrest (I messed up) but still will work for the game
4 T-70 light tanks.  Not the most effective of vehicles but they will be useful for searching out spot in the fascist lines.
Lastly 3 BA-10 armored cars and 2 Stalins Organs.

That's a total of 18 Soviet vehicles for the Armory and at 8 points each gets nets 144 points along with the 20 for the room.

Gallery of Ancestors:
How about a break from Stalingrad?  This gallery of ancients submission consists of 14 15mm US Infantry form Vietnam.  My father served in the war along with most of my male relatives of his age.  None of them had a lot of good memories from that conflict and would rarely speak of it.  My father passed at a relatively young age (56) and I always regret not fully understanding what he went through.

It was nice to do something that had a lot of green in the basing.  These miniatures were given to me by Ed from the club and I hope to get them on the table for one of his games soon.  

The Guardroom:
The last stop on my chambers walkabout is the Guardroom and (surprise!) we're going back to Stalingrad with another platoon from the 13th Guards Division.

The basing was done to match the terrain table and I like how it came out.

There are a lot more Soviets to paint up but I could get these 18 chaps done today.  At 2 points each thats 26 points plus another 20 for the room.

Well there you have it.  To help the minions enter all this into the spreadsheet of doom, a summary table of the points is provided below:

Total Number of Chambers: 6 for 120 points

Terrain "Cubes": 0.75 for 15 points

15mm Infantry figures: 32 for 64 points

15mm Vehicles: 20 for 160 points

Total Points: 359

Posted by Miles at 5:01 pm 10 comments
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