C'mon, Let's Go Faster!

Illustration by Matt Haley

Hi All!

Saturday is finally here - Wooo! 

Before we start into today's submissions I have a few administrative announcements:

1) As a reminder, today is the last day for voting for the 'Armour' Round, so if you haven't done so already, please take some time to peruse the gallery and cast your votes for your favourite entries.

2) Related to the above, tomorrow (Sunday) I will announce the winners for the top three voted submission for the 'Armour' theme round.

3) Next Sunday will be the 'East' Theme Round, so please make sure to submit your entries before midnight next Saturday (the 21st).

4) A Heretical Typo Has Been Discovered! In the Challenge Welcome PDF that I sent out to all the participants, I mistakenly said that there will be a 'Defensive Terrain' round on January 31st - that was in error. There is no such theme this year. My apologies for the mix-up.

5) Next Saturday (the 21st) is the Challenge Cut. If you do not have an entry in by midnight of the 21st you will be dropped from the Challenge roster. As of today we have 80 participants on the board, so we just need another 20 to have a clean sweep, so get your entry in this upcoming week.

That's it! We will return to our regular programing. 

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Curt

From IanW: 15mm Lancashire games SYW Prussian Dragoons (114 Points)

Back with my 15mm Prussians again. This time two regiments of Dragoons. This reinforcement will give me three Dragoon, three Cuirassier and two Hussar regiments. I still have a further three dragoon regiments in hand to paint up. Possibly towards the back end of the challenge.

Regiment 1 von Norman again was part of the army that invaded Saxony and saw quite a bit of action in the battle of Reichenberg where it won it's first tussle with the Austrian cavalry but on becoming disordered from heavy infantry fire were driven back by the now rallied Austrians. Timely intervention by a regiment of Hussars charging the Austrian rear allowed them to retake the advantage but the battle cost them dear.

I originally selected this regiment as the images attached showed a brown lining of the coats but this turned out to be black. Still it worked well enough for me.

My second regiment is Number 5 Markgraf Friendrich von Bayreuth somewhat more colourful with the red lining. This regiment also took part in the battle fighting in the same series of melee's as Norman. Hopefully these regiments in miniature will be able to give as good account of themselves when they get on the table.

The flags are again from Cadogan Hobbies that I have painted the edges of to make them nice and neat. Two regiments each of 14 figures should supply me with 112 points, all of which will be very welcome for one of my side duels. Next up some alternative material 6mm cavalry. 

15mm? What madness is this? Where are the teensy ones this week? 

SYW isn't something I've ever been able to muster much interest in. Yes, that probably makes me a wargames heathen, as I know it's otherwise quite popular. But these Prussian gents look fine in their lined blue coats and tricornes. What's the manufacturer on these? 

Your maths is right, but two bonus points granted for flagging.

Phil 

 

From EricM: A Break from the Pike Blocks (240 Points)

As a change of pace this week I started work on Mithridates VI light troops and cavalry.  The grind of painting large blocks of pike was starting to get to me.  I still have at least one more pike unit to go, which I hope to complete this weekend.  I will be glad to get these done and move on.

Speaking of hold your nose and paint it style units,  I finished up 24 Greek bow this week.   I am not sure why but I have never enjoyed painting bow units.  I guess its weird but I always feel like they are just filler for an army.   (speaking of weirdness I also hate painting shoes)

While in the picture they are ranked up I plan to used them as 2-12 figure skirmish units.  All the bow are Wargames Foundry, collected during my misspent youth. 

I took the photography advice offered last week and went with a solid back drop and lots of light.  I think I may have too much light as it appears to have some glare on the pictures.  Sorry about that.  .



Heres a close up of the boys.




I was also able to finish one unit of 12 Greek style cavalry.   The figures are Wargames Foundry's Macedonian Companion's but I shortened the Xyston a bit so they look a little more generic.   Mithridates VI had large quantities of high quality cavalry. I plan for a least a couple units of Greek style heavy cavalry with some Persian or Armenian style cavalry to give it more of an eastern look.

Here's a close up



and like all good runway models they turn with attitude to give you the view from the rear.




24 foot at 5 points each is 120 points.  12 cavalry at 10 points each is also 120 points.  For a total of 240 points.  I will not admit to using a calculator in that story problem!

A break from pike blocks, but still Wargames Foundry Ancients Eric. Will we see anything else from you this year? You might consider the archers filler, but they look fine, and I like that you've spent the time edging the tunics. And those cavalrymen in their mustard cloaks with purple edging, a colour combination that's so in fashion this year! They look the business, and /I'm sure will do good work running down Mithridates' enemies. 

I like your photos on this entry, good use of the 'Snowlord black' backdrop. 

Your maths is spot on, a neat 240 points to edge you to the top of the roster. Until Miles submits an entry, of course... 

Phil 

From JamesonP: Branching Paths (15 points)

I jumped the gun earlier this week with my first entry into the challenge for fear of missing next week's deadline. Now, that I'm more in the swing of things, I wanted to try to get a few more figures in this week.

First up is Snorri the smith, leader of our traveling trio of itinerant craftsdwarves.

Next up is Hár the stone mason. Both he and Snorri are from the same Games Workshop Dwarf Rangers box set from which their friend Borri hailed. I love the cloaks and the poses of these sculpts. My only complaint is, as they're one piece figures, it's difficult to field more than one box on the table and not have things look redundant.

Finally, here's a French Regular from Conquest Miniatures. I've been slowly working on my Canadian wilderness force for Muskets & Tomahawks, but it's been slow going. I think I first got started on a militia unit in August of last year. Well, I just found out that my friend Brian is moving back to the UK soon and that we'll be sending him off with a big game of M&T at the club, so there's no time like the present to get these Canadians done.

My previous experience painting uniformed troops involved ACW Confederates and WWII U.S. Paratroopers - i.e. lots of butternut and olive drab respectively. Eighteenth century regular units are an entirely different challenge. I can't wait to see a finished unit in formation!

Next week will be more of the same branched paths with dwarves, wargs and Dark Ages/fantasy warriors on one hand and French regulars on the other.

Those GW Lord of the Rings dwarves are such good minis, very nice to see ranging dwarves rather than the usual armoured dwarves. Lovely blue colour on Hár's cloak there too.

And very nice to see some Muskets and Tomahawks in the challenge, not an era of mine but I gather it wa sa popular ruleset a couple of years ago. I think you're right, seeing those white-coated regulars en masse will be great.  

15 Points to you! 

Phil

From GrahameH: More of the same: Light Horse and Cold War (220 Points)

Saracens - Turkomen Light Horse 15mm

Thought I'd completed this army having done these but then found a unit of infantry. No idea that I had bought them, so will now have to paint them next week. Oh well!

Anyhow 24 Light Horse - all Legio Heroica 15mm Figures

24 Turkomen Light Horse

One Unit of 6 Turkomen

And Another

Cold War Soviets (Again) 

Round bases arrived at last, so the support weapons got based.

Again 15mm Battlefront and Army Armies- 15mm

10 Regular Russian Infantry Figures (including 2 prone)

Soviet Support Weapons

 

Anti-Tank Crews - Battlefront

Mortar Crews - Army Armies

Russian Paras - 15 Figures and one truck with 4 crew

Russian Paras

One Squad or Platoon or Company - depending on rules - Battlefront

Para Mortar Crew - Army Armies

A Russian Truck. I think its QRF - Crew in back Army Armies. 

I like the Army Armies figures and just when I thought I was getting the lead pile down they advertise they they intend to do Cold War Canadians!!!!!!

Tanks (15mm) - Guess who forgot the deadline for the armour entry. Never mind just pleased to get theses done. Three T-60 and Six T-35

3  X T-60 Tank (or tanklets) Zvezda 15mm - Battlefront Crewman

Side View

The Command Tank

6 X 15mm Zvezda T-35s - Crewmen Batttlefront

Side View (in case you didn't guess)

Command Tank

That's it for this week. No idea what to do next week apart from the newly found Saracen Infantry.

Anyone need a painting partner for Curts figure - I live in the UK and will try my hand at painting anything (although might not be as good as what has been posted by others on this blog).

GrahameH

More of the same is fine by me Grahame, these are all fantastic. Those T-35s are hulking beasts, and nice touches on the slogans - are they decals with the kits? Pity you missed the Bonus points, but I'm glad to see them all the same. Your Russian infantry look great, particularly the paras, and the Turkomen are very dapper in their colourful robes and moustaches. 

By my count, that's twenty four 15mm horse, ten 15mm vehicles, three crewed weapons, and twenty six other crew/infantrymen. I'm counting the mortars as a crewed weapons +2 extra crewmen each, and the anti-tank weapons as a pair of infantrymen, which seems fair to me.  

A very respectable 220 points!

From VictorK: Gallic allies in 15mm (105 Points)

Ok, shifting from both sci-fi and 28mm to 15mm Antique, I've painted 50 Gauls. These figures are from Old Glory 15s, and are a mixture from 3 different packs - armoured, with tunics and in trousers only (haven't purchased fully naked, these are too barbaric for roman allied group)
Having about 20 different variants of miniatures was even more worsened (complicated) by the wish to paint them as unique as possible.

I have a camera with a very low focal distance, so the photos are too blurry =(

The bases were covered with white quartz sand, washed with Vallejo Sepia Wash and then covered with flock grass. Simple it is.

There are about 70 more Gallic warriors to go, including commanders (chieftans?), banners and musicians, but my next post will be about Iberians and, maybe, some more sci-fi for our RPG.

Also, mentioning weather in my first post was a mistake, I've said that it's not a winter in Saint-Petersburg. Now -20C are encouraging to be at home all the time and never leave it, but the session of our RPG doesn't depends on weather.

I know you had some trouble with your camera with these Victor, but these shots are great. A brilliant, riotous bunch of Gauls here. The shield designs really make the unit pop, and I imagine these colourful warriors will look great on the table alongside the uniform Roman legions.

-20, wow! we just had the first a flurry of snow in the UK and its set off the annual winter panic. Still, sounds like and ideal time to stay indoors, paint and game 

I'm going to add a few extra points for your painted shield designs Victor, as I'm always impressed by painters that can make that work so well in the smaller scales. So 105 points! 

Phil

From KeithS: Orcs (64 points)

I delved deep into the nostalgia this week and painted a dozen 25mm Orcs from Heritage.  Shortly after starting to play D&D in 1980, my dad bought and painted a number of miniatures, including a set of these Orcs, which were based on the Orcs from Ralph Bakshi's animated Lord of the Rings movie.  I've always loved this look for Orcs and managed to track down newly made sets last year.


Here's the visual inspiration:

Here's the group shot. There's a mix of poses and weapons but they're all pretty similar in style (there are different critters on their helmets, though).  For the shields, I needed something not too taxing for my meager free-hand skills, so squiggly orange wyverns it was.

There are four different poses.  I don't have a particular favorite, though -- they have their charm.  I did NOT do red eyes - I tried it on one or two but they just did not look right.

And the reverse.  In addition to Bakshi's vision, I stuck with Gygax's Monster Manual descriptions for Orcs with regards to their preferred colors and what not, especially since Bakshi's are so dark which just would not do for miniatures.  These are not the best quality sculpts I've ever seen, but I really like the finished product nonetheless.

And, just for nostalgia's sake, here are three survivors my dad painted circa 1981 in all their much-worn enamel glory.

I don't expect to get my current pile of figures finished before tomorrow, so this will have to do for the week!

Keith kicks us off with two posts. and wow these are fantastic! I loved that animated LOTR movie as a child, and was gutted they never finished it. So great choice for inspiration, and you've really nailed that look on these classic sculpts. I'll sprinkle a few bonus points for those shields too - gotta love some freehand designs and the touch of red really lifts the figures.

Phil

From KeithS: Wererat postscript (15 points)

After finishing up my last post, I decided to do a little organizing of my figures and, to my dismay, found three more Wererats.  Very irritating, so I figured I ought to paint them while the color palette from the last batch was fresh in my mind.


These three are all metal and of good quality, the same as the last ones (which means I don't recall who made them).  Anyway, I like how they turned out -- here's the three rats tardy to the muster.

I really like this guy because he's bossy (look at how he's pointing and yelling) AND he is carrying a flintlock.  Now, I would never tarnish my D&D with firearms, but this is cool.

The other two lads have polearms, while one has another very large crossbow over his back.

That's all - just a quick 15 points but enough to get me over 400, my goal for the day.

These Wererats just missed me signing off last week, but make a nice little appetizer for the rest of the day's offerings. The swanky one with the firearm looks like the leader of the lot Cheers Keith!  

Phil

Friday Minion Up

Good morning, good morning! Worry not, your Friday minion is here tanked up on caffeine and no sleep to keep you up to date with what's come off the Friday crew's brushes this week.

But which one am I?

Coming up, some lovely Gauls from Victor, more Light Horse and Cold War goodness from Grahame, some vicious looking Orcs from Keith and all sorts of other bits and bobs.And no doubt more to come as the day rolls on!

Even More Sertorian Romans - Ethan M(175 points)

Hello all. This week's offering includes two additional cohorts of Sertorian Romans, leaving just one more to finish before Legio IX shall be fully assembled and prepared to challenge Rome. In regards to questions from the previous post, the First Cohort and its wingman were comprised of figures from Old Glory's Caesarian Gallic Campaign. Today's figures are actually plastic, and from Wargames Factory.

A shot of the first cohort completed this week. (3/5)

While I do appreciate the ability to customize the Wargames Factory figures and their poses, as well as a conglomeration of gladii and pila, the details on the plastics can be very shallow. I ended up following the recommendation that I go four to a base, which will somewhat restrict their usefulness in smaller skirmish games. Overall, though, I'm content with the result. The deserter Romans fighting for the rebels rarely defected en masse, and so often were in either poor supply or organized together in rather hodge-podge units of irregular armament. To this end, the blend of Old Glory and Wargames Factory figures works for me.

A shot of the second cohort. (4/5)

And here is a shot of the two of them together.

And that's all for this week. A total of 32 figures, 16 Romans per cohort. With any luck, next week will see the last of the Romans finished, and a good start made into some of the native Lusitanian and Spanish troops.

Until next time!

Very fine work, Ethan! Doubly so for the wargames factory kit, I've the zombies and Colonial British and can attest that the detail is very soft on the earlier plastic sets. The zombies are okay, but the other earlier kits are best used as filler. Still these look magnificent ranked up in blocks and you did a fine job of making them look brilliant. I really like the extra litle details like the script on the shields, very fine stuff!