From KentG: 40mm Napoleonic French & British cavalry (points 75)

 Had a new commission arrive on Friday, undercoated Saturday, 

painted it Sunday. I had so much fun painting these, 

and I used my time isolating from my wife who had covid. 

what better place to hide than my painting room

The figures are 40mm Perry Miniatures 

I was expecting 40mm to be exceptionally detailed and well made

and if they had been in 28mm the detail would have been amazing

but I had to use quite a bit of green stuff to fix where the horse and heads 

didn't fit properly.

Even with that I loved painting the figures and this 

Hussar was one of my favorites in the end

This chap was the one British Cavalry figure and the first time for me

 painting British Cav really like the way he came out

I struggled a bit with the blue of his uniform as I was missing a color 

I need to get the color right

French infantry officer, the sword on this guy was so thin and 

was scary to work with, I informed the customer that all the swords

were very thin and had been badly bent in transit to me.

This photo above is just such an iconic pose and I really like it

This hussars was another of my favorite figures

maybe it's because I enjoy painting the colorful uniform

Another Hussar, i suppose you just can't get enough of them can you

I forgot to add matt varnish to the rider before the photo

each figure will have two coats of gloss varnish two coats of matt

then a final coat of hand painted ultra matt varnish to finish

                    Points

    

                   5 x 40mm Cavalry 15pts each = 75pts

                                                              Total 75pts

From Millsy: These are just beautiful Kent and really showcase your ability at a larger scale. I suspect you enjoyed these a lot more than the 18mm stuff you've been doing of late. It's a shame you had to do some prep work in order to get them up to scratch although I suppose the larger minis merit that to get results of this quality. Cracking work mate!

From GeoffreyT: Bangarang bot and some old lead (True Crime, Cooking, 70 points)

Hello Challengers,

I have been struggling a bit with some old true scale 25mm figures, they are very fine models, but harder to paint than bigger ones.  So for some relief, here is a much bigger one.

This is scratch build for 'Bill Making Stuff's game 'Bangarang in the Gutterlands' a game designed for scratch built bead bots, as invented by Bill on YouTube.  It is about 54 mm sized.  It reminds me of a Warmahordes Warjack, so seems kind of superfluous as I already have plenty of models from that range that would suit the game.  This is an "upper", you can watch the channel for more lore.  I had a go painting in the style Bill does.  This was my first attempt at use EVA foam sheet for scratch-building, and I must agree it is very good.

Next I have a wee 25mm model for True Crime library section, an old Julie Guthrie “Thief" from Grenadier.  It is very finely detailed and is way beyond my painting skill to work on these days.  But it does jag me some bonus points, even if I cant paint it well.  As said, I struggled with this, but when the painting gets hard, just use a wash and leave the highlighting out I say.

Finally for this week is 3 more very old miniatures, these are bar denizens from Soldiers and Swords miniatures.  Again in a true 25mm scale and too small for me to work on well.  they are very nice models tho, apart from some nasty mould lines and flash.  These will be useful for all games where adventerers start in a tavern.  This should also net me bonus points for Cookery, as ale is really a food, as proven by anyone who has just beer for dinner.

I have now completed all but the final library challenge, for which the Snowlord has set me a task.

For this week I have

4 x 25mm infantry = 20 points

1 x 54mm infantry = 10 points

2 x library shelves = 40 points

Grand Total = 70 points.

Kind Regards

Geoff

From Millsy: There's some lovely old skool lead here Geoff, especially that Grenadier thief which I also have in my collection. Yours is a much nicer paint job though, mine was done 30+ years ago with enamels and gloss varnish! I particularly like the hand painted bases on all the 25s which really make them stand out from most stuff. Bangarang in the Gutterlands looks interesting and I will have to look into it!

From SteveA: Grabbing 3 Challenge books and putting them on the book cart! (108 points)

Heya there,   for my post this week I want to take a bite out of my painting backlog shaped by the  very kinds of themed painting challenges that first drew my attention to the AHPC.  Also I want to over come some slack in my points progress as end of the this year's AHPC draws near.  Thus my model count here is few, but each parcel of panting  does ding its own challenge point check box..

I delved into my blues, greens and brown colors to paint up a Troll (akin to the Trolls of children's stories such as The Three Billy Goats Gruff ) to serve as wandering monster in future games of Frost Grave, and to enable me to  pull a  "Children's Book" for Library Challenge.

The female Wizards apprentice I painted up for my FrostGrave Warband - will spin the wheels  of Lady Sarah’s Library Cart  to carry me to a new section in the Library.

I jumped off  of Lady Sarah’s Library  Cart to meet the Maritime challenge with a Star-Spawn of Cthulhu mini that Wizkids Games put out for Pathfinder a few years back.  According to the pathfinderwiki.com, the smallest Star-Spawn stands nearly 30 feet in height, (cited from "Wake of the Watcher," a Pathfinder RPG adventure) Thus, I am assuming this elder thing bursting up from deep waters can be scored as a 54 mm mini and also ding me a check box for the Maritime Library challenge   ( or if not the Maritime Challenge, then I submit this old one mini for consideration under the Romance Novel challenge... after all who  among us does not  harbor a mad dark love within their spoiled hearts for the remorseless cosmic might of Cthulhu and his spawn)

The tank may at first seem a little out of place between an aegis of cosmic horror and a couple figures for frozen fantasy, but for me to meet the challenge for Local History, this Sherman Tank M4 model  (2002, ArmourFast, 1/72 plastic kit,  No 99001)  is very similar to the Sherman M4 Tank War Memorial  that still stands proudly in my old  childhood neighborhood.

I aim to be somewhat brief and concise with my posts, so rather than recount the Local Tank War Memorial's history, I will instead provide link to a site describing the real M4 Tank of my childhood memories.

The Sherman Tank Memorial: https://www.rclwinnipeg100.ca/2010/03/06/80/

Thus with a load of  3 Library Challenge books pulled from shelves and placed upon the Lady Sarah’s Library  Cart, I believe I have made some overdue progress to paint me up some challenge points.

 5 pts  x1 Troll Foot Figure 28mm

20 pts Challenge Library: Children's Books

 5 pts x1 Wizard Apprentice (Female) Foot Figure 28mm

20 pts Lady Sarah’s Book Cart

10 pts x1 Star Born Foot Figure 54mm

20 pts Challenge Library: Maritime

 8 pts x1 Sherman M4  Tank 1/72 Scale, (score as Vehicle 15mm) 

20 pts Challenge Library: Local History

Total = 108 points

TeemuL: No worries, Cthulhu is a well known maritime entity. In fact he could easily be pretty much anything he wants... Iä, Iä! (Yes, I have nice Finnish keyboard, where there actually is a key for "ä"). And like Cthulhu embraces everything in the end, you grab quite a lot of Library locations and thus points. I guess the troll is an old WHFB troll? And your local Sherman looks business, but in the end doesn't have a chance against Cthulhu. Or Wizard... May be a small change against a troll. :)

From RayR: Hakuna Matata [Children's Book] (30 points)

 

Children’s Books: Something sweet for the kiddies, or perhaps something darker, maybe a little 

Edward Gorey?

Back in the late 90's my daughter Abi was obsessed with The Lion King, she was 3 at the time,  everyday after I picked her up from nursery school, I'd ask her what video she'd like to watch while I'd make her lunch, everyday for what seemed like years she would pick Disney's The Lion King.

This is the film that I've watched the most, honestly I don't know how many times I've seen it, but its got to run into the 300+ mark, easily!

Still to this day, I can resight the script and of course sing all the songs!

Abi wasn't just interested in the Disney film, she had plates, mugs, soft toys, bed covers, bags and everything imaginable, including this book.

Which of course I read and re-read several hundred times! The book came as part of a collection, every month, we'd get 2 different Disney books delivered to our house. The Lion King is the only book we have left from back then. I'll be giving this to Abi soon after I post this, she's 30 this year and I know she's gonna love it!

The figures are all from North Star's African animal's range and are all 25mm.

Link

Obviously they're not all the same size so I'd guess they're worth 10 point as a total?

Simba, Pumba & Timon

So 10 points for the figures

and 20 points for bonus round, making a total of 30 points.

TeemuL: All right, let's sing a song! You can start, Ray! What a fantastic entry for Children's book. I guess I have not seen Lion King, but I have heard a lot of it and I guess your view ratio nicely averages mine. The minis look like made for the movie, very nice brushwork and I like the basing, too. 10 points (28mm cavalry) seems appropriate point amount.

From MartijnN: 32mm Viking Shield-maidens (30 points)

Just a quick post from me today, no library location. I have painted up some darn daunting damsels, who will likely cause a lot more distress than experiencing it. Here are six Viking shield-maidens:

They are 32mm “Heroic”  3D printed figures designed by Iain Lovecraft. He is definitely one of my favourite designers, and I think I have STL files for almost all the figures he has made. Although some of his ranges are now also produced in metal by Sally 4th, all mine are 3D printed. On the one hand 3D sculpting is a blessing, the figures produced today are absolutely fabulous, but on the other hand the painting becomes not really any easier. These Viking ladies, from the Lovecraft Viking Saga series, are fantastic, but there is always one more belt, buckle, strap or bag to paint!

The photos leave something to be desired, I really should try to get a better technique or get more out of my Iphone, but there are only so many hobbies one can get into. Anyway, I again used mostly contrast paints on these and I am happy how they turned out. They will go together nicely with the Vikings I painted during the last Challenge.

No location, so no map, but I do have a book recommendation. The actual historical evidence for the existence of Viking woman warriors seems to be shaky to say the least, but the Vikings are fascinating anyway. You could do worse than reading John Haywood’s Northmen : The Viking Saga, AD 793-1241.

I have read this in the Dutch translation, (which I do not usually do when I can read the original language, but it was a present), so it is harder to comment on the style, but I found it an enjoyable read. Haywood takes us on a journey through time essentially by region, so there are chapters on the viking presence in England, France, the Mediterranean, Russia etc., but in broad chronological order. It focuses on "traditional" history, so no art, customs and the like (although there is a useful introduction on the Viking world view). The book is very much aimed at the general public (surely the popular TV-series had nothing to do with it?), so no footnotes, but there are some useful appendices like a timeline, lists of Kings and of translations of source material. A good read all in all.

Scoring is easy:

6x 28/32mm foot @ 5 = 30 points

Next week we will continue our trek through the Library!

TeemuL: Lovely maidens, Martijn! I was supposed to paint some Vikings during this Challenge, too, but it seems that I have sidetracked... I guess you are true with your 3d printing wisdom, the amount of details could be quite high, but it seems you have picked up at least most of them. Lovely minis and your math is correct, too. See you next week in the Library!

From JamesM: Three Battlefleet Gothic Chaos Fleets [Overdues and Returns] (338 points)

Hi folks,

This weeks entry took me a while to put together, and hadn't really been planned for the challenge. I had hoped to move on to some Necromunda bits before moving back to WW2, but thought some of these models would fit the theme for 'overdue and returns'. These models having been sitting in a '2nd hand' state for a number of years, needing dusting, repairing and painting. Some of them had a basic paintjob already, although that was a paintjob that had been rattling around a shoebox for 15+ years. 

First up, fleet number one and a mini force within a force - a Deathguard Plague Fleet. 

The models I'd picked up over the years included a Nurgle infested blessed Battlebarge and cruiser. I did a bit of work upgrading the paint jobs, replacing missing antena and finding a new bases - then decided a pair of cruisers would be better. I made an attempt to make these ships tarnished and suitably grotty - to best reflect the influence of the god of disease, rot and decay. I used 'dirty down' rust for the first time on these, alongside painting skin tones which were then mucked up.  

This mini fleet consists of a Death Guard Battlebarge - technically the famous 'Terminus Est' model - alongside two 'Murder' class cruisers, a trio of Iconoclast destroyers and six Infidel class raiders. My fluff for these is that this is a detachment of Deathguard Chaos Space Marines supporting my larger Chaos fleet. 

My second force within a force is a small fleet of ships dedicated to the worship of Tzeench. No doubt their presence indicates a wider plot is afoot by the changer of ways. 

Here we have Slaughter and a Devastation class cruisers, backed up by six Idolator class raiders. The Devastator class cruiser has an unusual bridge, which might reflect a possessed ship rather than just fancy ornamentation. Again, I wanted to do something special with the converted ship, and cruisers work best in pairs. 

Lastly, the main fleet - painted in a very 'old school' way, as per White Dwarf battle reports and the origional rule book chaos ships:

Led by a Repulsive class grand cruiser, this monster was placed on a larger base - allowing it to have more shields than a standard grand cruiser. 

The Repulsive is backed up by a gaggle of heavy cruisers:

Two Styx class heavy cruisers (dedicated carriers), a Hades class heavy cruiser and an Archeon class heavy cruiser. These are the same plastic kit as the cruisers, but with additional weapons. I've fighters and bombers for these carriers to do, but they need a bit of work so may not be done this challenge. 

The main force is made up of a fleet of cruisers:

Here we have two Slaughter, one Devastator, two Carnage, one Inferno and one Murder class cruisers. One of these Slaughters needs weapons removed from the dorsal mounts and other bits added, but I'll fix that later. I'll also need to add another cruiser in order to make this a 'legal' fleet without the inclusion of the Tzeench ships. 

Lastly, the ragtag bunch of motely raiders, escorts and transports:

Twelve Infidel class raiders. 

Six Idolator class raiders. 

Six Iconoclast class destroyers and a trio of chaos transport ships. Because someone has to move the slaves, loot and depraved murder cannibal ground forces around. 

Yes, the red tones vary - this was a deliberate thing! I wanted to show a force which was both uniform and individual, in keeping with the chaos theme. My head canon is that the darker ships are older, having had more layers of baked on sacrifice's blood on the hull. Or something equally nasty. 

In total then:

2 large 'Capital' class ships - pointed as per 20mm vehicles (these things are chonky, and bigger than the cruisers) - 30pts

15 cruisers - as per last year, pointed as 15mm vehicles - 120pts

42 escorts - as per last year, pointed as 15mm artillery - 168pts

Lastly, these fall into the 'Overdues and Returns' category. As I may have mentioned last year, back in around 2006-2007 I sold all my Games Workshop collections. However, I had massive buyers regret with my BFG collection. Thus, I began to slowly buy models as I encountered them at decent prices online and at bring and buys. This collection of figures has been in my 'to do' pile for over a decade. I've kept getting them out, looking at them and putting them away as I didn't have the confidence to paint them and was perhaps overly worried about how to transport them. The transport issue remains, but at least I can worry about that with a painted fleet. 

Now I've just the Imperial, Eldar and Ork ships to worry about! And all those sites that produce lovely looking chaos light cruisers...

As an aside, this is the largest single points bomb I've managed so far!

TeemuL: That is a points bomb indeed, well done James! Yes, it would not look too real, if all the ships in the fleet would have exactly the same tone on them, allthough that is something GW seems to think. There are lots of ships there and I'll take your word on the count, I have too tired eyes to calculate them. :) BFG is a game that intrigues me, but so does many other game. To try it, I guess I would need to get the rulebook and paint two armies and then someone to play with me. And I already have the issue with Vikings, Napoleonics and couple of other projects. :) And yes, there is the issue of funding them all, too...

From RayR: Haitian Revolution - Haitian Infantry 25mm (140 points)

 

More figures for my Haitian Revolution project.

These 28 figures are all from Trent Miniatures, now available from Skytrex in the UK.

I've split them into 3 units of 8 plus the 4 command figures. I haven't added the flag yet, as I have a cunning plan in mind.

All the infantry minis come with unattached heads, (Very French Revolution eh?)

So you can add 5 different heads to the same pose and make the figures look very random.

You can see the same pose and a different head in this pic on 3 of the poses.

I think my favourite is the bear headed chap, that's a very useful head. At one time you could buy the bear heads as a separate purchase, but not anymore I'm afraid.

My plan for the flags is this. 

As the troops can be used for either pro French or Anti French, I want to have the flags swapable, so I'm looking for a thin round sleeve to glue the flags to and then they can be removed as and when I need to.

The only problem is, I can't find what I need.......yet!

Love the pose of the leader on the right, his face is so expressive!

Anyway 28 figures x 5pts make me....

140 points!

TeemuL: I like your cunning plan, it is always handy to have both flags with you, when doing the fight - especially if you are not that interested in who wins, but you survive. Of course, it might back fire and you might lose your head...

Very neat brushwork, I assume your recovery is going well? At least the production quality and quantity are what is expected from you. The guys on the hex bases look especially nice.

From BruceR: Epic ACW Warlord Union sprue (216 points)

I bounced back to the 2nd Warlord ACW sprue my fellow gamer presented to me and decided to move forward.  Actually, I've more than decided to move forward as I've purchased a box set at a reasonable price and the project is born.

Painting is a grind with these little fellows, and I continue to try and find short cuts I can live with on the tabletop.  

I used a very light grey spray paint (again sprayed out side in February, the world is on its a-- weather wise).  From there I use contrast paint for the face, blue overcoat, light blue pants, black for the floppy hats.  Brown, metal, brass for the muskets and belt buckles, khaki for the few bedrolls.  Sand applied, painted, and grassed.  I feel the contrast goes on quicker than ordinary paints and leaves a certain highlight.  I'm sure if you look closely, you can see smaller items I've skipped.  Again, not seen on the tabletop and I'm happy with the massed look.  (and the time I am able to paint them in).

So, another set of the wee men to fight my battles.

The figures come with sets of flags from Warlord and I've taken the 20th Maine for this one group.  I will add two command stands to use the excess 4 stands for another two regiments as we are going to use 3 bases per regiment.  I see Little Round Top in our future when we have a few regiments done to give the figures a test run.  

Points:

These were scored as 15mm by my minion and history so I'm using this as my calculations.  If I'm off please adjust.  

104 15mm (13.5mm I'm told) @2        =    208

1 15mm cavalry @3                              =       3

1 15mm artillery @3                             =        3

Total                                                       =    214

Gratuitous photos of another ranch sitting holiday for me with my son off enjoying himself prior to calving season.  To my surprise as well as getting some painting done over the 3 day weekend, I also delivered an early first calve of the season (I watched and crossed my fingers I would not need to jump in as this was not part of the deal).

Plus tired doggos.

Enjoy the weather if you can wherever you are in the world and thanks to Teemu the Thorsday minion for herding us along.

Bruce

TeemuL: 15mm cavalry and guns are 4 points a piece, so two more for you. They look great, Contrast paints on some miniatures make wonders and you have found a good project here. Good looking mass and congratulations on the new born! :)

Thor's Day in Northern Finland

A bit different post this week, because I'm on vacation. I'm spending this week in northern Finland with my son, about 1000 kilometers north where I live, in order to see more snow. Makes sense, right? Here it is easily one meter of snow in the forest or on the hills so we have been using our brand new snowshoes (thanks Santa). Instead of an emoji, here's a photo from Monday when we walked over a small hill on a snow shoe trail. It was sunny day, so the views were great, not too much wind and nice -10 degrees or so. The end of the week should be around zero, so not that nice - snow is nice, but wet snow is not. The downside is that I didn't take any hobby stuff with me, but I guess this is a vacation from both work and hobby, so it is ok. I hope to paint a lot in March after I have been recharging my batteries here. :)

I have been able to do my minion duties and today we have at least three nice (and point heavy) entries from the Thor's Day crew:

• BruceR continues with ACW Epic sprues
• RayR continues with Haitian revolution
• JamesM finishes three BFG fleets

Let's see what more we get, I'll keep you updated! At least we got some "vaque promises" again from MartijnN and SteveA. ;)