From MartijnN: The Enlightenment and Romance [Romance] (78 points)

As the Enlightment was followed by the Romance period, it seemed fitting to combine the two in today's entry. So, first I have the second batch of vessels for my Dystopian Wars Enlightenment fleet: three Lovelace Class cruisers and three more Merian Class frigates:

I stuck with my recipe, even though it is rather much work for the effect. I am, however, fairly happy how they came out eventually, and at least they stand out relatively well on the seascape.

Just to prove that I did paint three more frigates here's a picture of the fleet so far. Only the two large battleships to go, and then I can start on the Commonwealth (Russian) fleet.

For last year's Challenge I prepped some figures but did not get around painting them. However, I think they fit admirably into the Romance section of the Library. Here is a romantic couple, perhaps dancing at a Ball at Versailles during Louis XVI's reign, or going out for a stroll in the gardens. They are 3d printed Iain Lovelace figures. I do not really have any purpose for them, but they were nice to paint. Perhaps they will come in handy for a Pirate game or suchlike.

And just to show our Minion that I do in fact paint the backs of my figures:

I struggled a bit with this week's book recommendation, for war is seldom romantic. However, at the very end of the Romance Period there was a war that definitely had some romantic overtones to it. The French call it the Guerre d'Orient, but most people know it as the Crimean War. Fighting the Russians in the mysterious East, on behalf of the Turks, which were still ruled by an Ottoman Sultan with a harem, with soldiers wearing gorgeous colourful uniforms inspired by  Arabian dress, it definitely struck a romantic chord in Britain and France. It is a special interest of mine, but information was hard to come by in the days before the Internet. I was thus very pleased to discover this book in a branch of a now nearly defunct chain of second-hand and clearance books, De Slegte, as a schoolboy back in the 80's. It's Lawrence James' Crimea 1854-1855. The War with Russia from contemporary photographs.

There is something fascinating and melancholy about these early photos of war, even though for the most part they are very posed. In this book, James collected photographs mainly by Fenton and Robertson. Most are readily available on the Internet today, but is still nice to have some background information. There is also a very brief outline of the war itself, and of the history of photography up to that point (when it was of course a relatively new technology). I would not go out looking for this book, it will be long out of print I guess, but if you can pick it up on Ebay or in a second-hand bookshop for a good price it still is a nice addition to your library.

Time for the map:

As for points, the previous frigates scored 6. I have no idea about the cruisers, 10 perhaps? I'll be happy with whatever our minion decides.

2 x 28mm foot @ 5 = 10

3 x Merian frigates @ 6 = 18

3 x Lovelace cruisers @ 10 = 30

Romance library bonus = 20

Total of 78

TeemuL: I was about to my hair when I started reading this entry: first Bruce trying to get Romance bonus for guys in red and now Martijn claiming Romance points for "Lovelace class" cruisers... Well, I soon got corrected, and the Dystopian War was not connected to Romance at all. Martijn nicely shows, that he is not trying to claim points for the same ships again and even shows, that he has painted the backsides, too. The couple fits the Romance section perfectly, no questions asked. I'll score the cruisers as "frigates and other" category, which is exactly 10 points as you hoped for.

The Crimean War is almost local history here in Finland, even though it mainly happened elsewhere. But there was Åland War, which was linked to the action on Crimea: Åland War in Wikipedia. Finland was part of Russia back then (although autonomic country) and those pesky British decided to bombard Finnish islands and coast trying to destroy Russian ships located here and convince Sweden to join their alliance. Interesting side story (from my point of view) and perhaps not that common knowledge to all.

From BruceR: Library stack Romance, Duelist, Zulu leaders [Famous Person] (70 points)

Venturing once again into the library I was not certain I could find a reasonable model or models to represent the Romance Stack.  Maybe pushing the limits, with this stretch, yet they wear appropriate dress.  I give you Father Guido Sarduchi (old SNL skit if not mistaken) and his side kicks, Alphonse and Pedro.  In defense of my submission they wear appropriate valentines day garb, for males anyway, and have what might be seen as an unhealthy “love” of their beliefs.  Hopefully no offense taken.

These are Trench Worx I picked up at Acon last year.  I’d seen them on somebody’s blog in a scenario and new I needed them.  I’m an avid reader and listener, with the Sharpes’ books giving me many ideas for SP2 scenarios in the Peninsular war.  There just happens to be a book with some surviving inquisitionists still lurking about Spain. 

So, here they are using a simple contrast red highlighted with a British uniform orange.  Faces done with a couple of highlights.  They will be great villains in any scenario, sans the googles on the punk helmet. 

My next model was to be a famous person and than I looked more closely at the library map and the stack was a statue of a famous person.  Strike the room bonus.  Here is a famous person to me.  Here again I was in search of a certain model, a female hussar, someone had posted on there blog.  I found her at Gringo 40s.  If I’m paying shipping a few more are needed so I purchased a few others as extra.  As a famous person, I give you General Fournier-Sarloveze, the officer that Harvey Keitel played in "The Duelist".  He was real person with an amazing story, a 'rabid' duelist' who fought 30 duels with Dupont over 19 years.  So, a Napoleonic General with a movie to his credit and a very enjoyable movie, in my opinion. 

He will do nicely as some dandy in scenarios, of course challenging all comers to a duel.

Staying on movies, I'm back to Zulu after my ACW distraction.  Warrior leaders this time.  15 pack of old glory and again my version of the 3' rule.  Adding some highlights and relying on the shields to make them pop.

Total:

The Love Story stack                20 pts

4 28mm @5                              20 pts

15 15mm @2                            30 pts

Total                                            70 pts

Keep at it all and enjoy everybody's work.

Bruce

TeemuL: Navigating through the Library is not an easy task, topic name and description might have some controversies and then it is down to the minions to sort everything out. :) But no worries, I can handle this. As a rule of thumb, if the challenger admits that he might be stretching a bit, then he usually is, and even though it was Valentine's Day yesterday, I won't pass your Romance. However, the Famous Person is not that clear either and during the Challenge we have seen both famous persons and statues on this topic, and because it was Valentine's Day yesterday (Friend Day in Finland) I'll give you the Famous Person location bonus. Your point total is the same, you have two ready topics on the section and it makes me sleep better. :)

But after the calculations, semantics, mathemagicks and bureacracy, let's take a look at those minis. The red garbs are stunning, very bright and eye catching. Fournier-Sarloveze is equally stunning, very nice and bright green for example. Excellent! The Zulu warrios have nice shields, but don't let that fool you, they are finely painted all together.

From MartinC: Sing When you are Winning (570 points)

Evening all. Tonight's match is brought to you by D Hudson Dry Stone Walling and Centre Barks Kennels. As previously mentioned, and posted, by brother in law has taken a shine for the game subbuteo, so as it's his birthday next week and I built him a grandstand

The Martin Adams Stand will house all 87 of his fans and is scratch built by me for the DIY section

The fans were originally unpainted model train passengers, which explains the 1950s dress code and the lack of enthusiasm, although that could be due to the match.

There were some seated figures, so I made subs benches

I've also painted a few other things

This is a resin fawn, or maybe a centaur. 

He is from sundered studios

Finally a box of Gripping Beast plastic Arab light cavalry

These have nice horses and fairly dull figures

But they will do fine as light cavalry

There are also some mtd archers

Scores on the doors

1 football stand = 3.5x12x5 = 20pts

DIY section = 20pts

87 x 20mm fans = 348pts

2 subs benchs = 2pts

12 subs = 48pts

28mm fawn = 10 pts

12 x 28mm arab cavalry = 120

total = 568

TeemuL: What a gift! Naturally I'd like to know more about the construction process, is that mainly foamcore, mdf, plastic etc? I painted some railway model passangers some time ago, and they are quite simple, but I guess they are more realistic in their poses, details and propotonions than some fantasy minis or even historicals. Anyway, that's lots of painted minis, 99 football related in total. Did you paint all you got from boxes or did you a cunning plan to paint exactly 99? The fawn looks good, too, may be a bit blurred, but good. I'll add couple of points for the scratch building for a nice round value.

Thor's Day Breakdown

Last week I tried to explain the Finnish sauna habits and got a feeling, that some of you just didn't believe it was true. Well, this time I'm showing something, that most of you based on your expected age will *know* is true. The unbreakable Nokia 3310. The thing you might not knew, is that Nokia is a Finnish brand and nowadays still exists, but focusing on network systems, not phones anymore. And do you know what? There was even a protective case for this phone model - useless, maybe?

 :unbreakable:

UNBREAKABLE

The ‘unbreakable’ feeling.

Finns are tough, almost unbreakable. Finland has produced quite a bunch of unbreakable and long-lasting items such as the old Nokia 3310 phone which is famous for being, well, unbreakable.

----- End of Finn talking about Finland -----

What shall we have in the menu today. Let's see...

• ArthurS time travelled to Monday and reached his target, well done!
• MartinC and football fans - and a fawn!
• BruceR is investigating the Library acceptance criterias
• MartijnN has made some vague promises, let's see what we get

From Curt - Jan Zizka as a young mercenary (History) - (32 Points)

For my entry to the Historical theme I have Jan Zizka, who was the military leader of the Hussites during their struggles against, well, everyone in Europe it seems. 

As a short backgrounder, the Hussites were a 15th century proto Protestant sect that adhered to the theological arguments of Jan Hus who preached that fundamental reforms were needed within the Catholic Church to bring it in line with the religion's preachings of humility and simplicity. As one can imagine, Rome had a very dim view on this kind of thing and after promising Hus safe passage to explain himself, took the opportunity to summarily burn him at the stake (as the Inquisition was often wont to do). Not surprisingly, Hus' followers in Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic) took a rather dim view of this and so an armed revolt soon broke out.

Jan Zizka, previously outlaw and mercenary, was an ardent supporter of Hus and became the military leader of the Hussites. Zizka is considered by many military historians as one of the most gifted commanders of the late medieval period. He trained and galvanized Hus' peasant followers, utilized heavily armed wagon lagers as strongpoints, and defeated not one, but three holy crusades sent to eradicate them. He also quelled civil war within Bohemia and prosecuted a war against Hungary. He never lost a battle, even when he was made completely blind by mid life. It is recorded that on his deathbed he desired his body to be flayed and his skin used to furnish drums so he could continue to lead his people into battle. So. Damn. Hardcore. My grandpa was Czech and enjoyed telling me about Zizka's exploits, so I've done this entry in fond memory of him.

I found a great figure of Zizka by Northern Crusades Miniatures. He's depicted here as a young man, still with one eye in the game, being all medieval and badass. 

I imagine him at the titanic battle of Grunnewald in 1410 (which saw the collapse of the Teutonic Order), so I've set him against a knight who is rising from his downed mount, ready to carry the fight on foot. Great minis and real joy to paint. Gosh, who knows, maybe there will be more Hussites down the road. Wagons Ho!!

For points, I'll ask for 10 for Zizka and the knight, 2 for the downed mount and 20 for the History bonus. So, 32 in total.

Thanks for dropping in for a look. I hope you have a great day!

- Curt

****

Dude, some brilliant painting here, and some brilliant history too! I was so pumped when I saw the title of this post. Not only was the painting and story excellent, as expected, but my immediate thought was "oh F*CK YEAH, CURT'S GONNA HAVE TO DO WAR WAGONS NOW!" You will now have this figure of Zizka on your shelf, telling you to paint some up...having the Hussite leader with no war wagons would just be an un-earned victory for the empty Catholics in Rome, right?

Maybe you could start in 10mm? Just saying...

Asking to have your skin flayed to make drums...sounds like something out of a Siege of Terra novel!  

Wonderful submission as ever dude, thanks so much. 

GregB

From GrahameH - More 15mm Cold War Battlegroups (746 points)

In a previous post I showed my US Cold War Battlegroup (BG) which I had finished and was then hoping to get some other non-completed NATO BGs completed without getting distracted. So in order to give myself a little encouragement I listened to the "Team Yankee" book. All was going well until they described the attempt by a US Armoured Cavalry Squadron to act as a speed bump in the face of the Warsaw Pact armoured advance. Spoiler - it didn't go very well for the US. Then the troubled started. "I'd like a Armoured Cavalry Squadron" I said even though it not on my list to do. However, I summoned up all my will power to keep to my original plan, failed and here it is. 

 Its not to big as I left out the artillery battery as it the same as the other US BG. The figures etc are all 15mm Battlefront. 

The HQ - MG, Stinger, CO and a M113 (20pts)

Armoured Cavalry Troop

There are 2 of these each consisting of 8 men and a M113 ACAV. (24pts x 2 = 48pts)

Support

M113 ACAV for the Recce Unit and 1 M106 with a 120mm mortar. (16pts and 4 for the mortar crew (20pts)

Two Armoured Cavalry Tank Troops (Each of 2 M60s) (32pts)

So the US Armoured Cavalry Squadron = 120pts 

Then I thought I wonder if I could add a US Air Assault BG. I have a Russian one and a British one. 

Never really sticking to a painting plan due to my butterfly issues, here is my US Air Assault BG.

A A10 Warthog, a AH-1 Cobra and 2 Chinooks (32pts) (the Cobra is Battlefront, the Chinooks are 3D printed and I have no idea where the A10 came from. 

The Ground Forces 

HQ and the 3 Infantry Companies 

This was before the entry of the Humvees so most of the transport is Mutt 151 jeeps (From Army Bits) 

(2 vehicles and 34 figures, including crew for the jeeps) = 84pts

Support Company - M151 with TOW (2 vehicles and 6 crew) = 28pts

Recce Platoon - M151 and 7 figures (22 pts)

Airborne Tank Sqn - 3 X M551 Sheridans (Army Bits). Apparently the 82nd kept their Sheridans during this time period. (24Pts)

The Artillery Battery (2 Guns, 3Vehicles and 12 figures) = 56pts (all Army Bits who make some wonderful US Infantry) I think the guns are a bit late for 1984 but they will do. 

So that the US Airborne BG at 246 Pts. 

Right back to the Plan

West German BG 

West German BG (most of the infantry was already painted so just the vehicles)

HQ and two Sqns of Leopards (7 vehicles) 56pts - Battlefront

Leopard Recovery Vehicle (8pts) (Army Bits)

4 Marder 1s for the HQ, if not an armoured BG and three Infantry Coys (Battlefront) (32pts)

Second Part of the West German BG.

The Artillery Battery - 2 X M109s and a M113 FO (Battlefront) (24pts)

Support Company - 2 M113 (for the Milan Teams) and a M106 with 120mm Mortar - 2 crew. (28pts)

AA Platoon - a Roland (this was suppose to be a Gepard, but that model has been drafted into the Dutch BG) (8pts)

Recce Plt - a Luchs (8pts)

Any then the Butterfly Syndrome hit again 😒

West German Fallschirmjager BG

AT Company - 2 Wiesels with TOW and 2 with 20mm *Butler 3d printing) (32pts)

Pts = 112pts

I need 5 KraKa transport for this unit. These are little go-kart things but I can't find any in 15mm. Anyone know of anyone who produces these please let me know?

So the Grand Total 

61 Vehicles

123 Figures

3 Served Guns 

Grand Total = 746

***

Did the Painting Challenge start much earlier than I realized? On days like this, it seems so, as with today's posts, Grahame has surpassed what most Challengers manage in an entire AHPC. 

However it happens, that is another 746 points. 

GregB