From MichaelP: Vendel Fantasy Barbarians (20 Points)

I get on the AHPC scoreboard with some 28mm fantasy barbarians from Vendel, which are now carried by Sgt. Major Miniatures.

While I would like to claim all twelve, the truth is that I started 8 of these figures before the beginning of the Challenge, so I can only count four, but I've forgotten which four they are.  Thus, you get to see them all.  My friend James and I have both been working on Lord of the Rings armies for some time, and we recently decided on Vendel as a cheap way of fleshing out our forces in addition to the pricier (and sometimes OOP Games Workshop LOTR line).

These figures, which Vendel calls "Hillmen", will stand in for the human enemies of Rohan, the wild men of Dunland: "All Isengard must be emptied; and Saruman has armed the wild hillmen and herd-folk of Dunland beyond the rivand these also he loosed upon us" (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers).

With their fur capes and clothes, the Vendel figures seem ideal for the Dunlendings, who are clearly far below the Rohirrim in terms of civilization.

The Vendel figures are clunky and fairly simple sculpts, but they do paint up quickly and with some simple shading look good en masse.  Here their boss Saruman looks on in approval as they march on Helm's Deep.

Using Dragon Rampant, the fantasy rules of choice for my gaming group, these can either be a 12 man unit of light archers, or two 6 man units - in DR I would give the Dunlendings the ability to skirmish and evade and treat them as rangers in terms of moving through rough terrain without penalty.  I wouldn't rate them very highly otherwise - their main use for Isengard will be to locate, fix and harass the enemy while the Uruk Hai move into position for the kill.

Four 28mm figures gets me 20 points to get me on the scoreboard.
Thanks for looking and blessings to your brushes!

Michael the Mad Padre

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Great to have you aboard with us again, Padre! 

These are excellent proxies for Dunlendings. Their fur cloaks (and the odd plain helm) really make them fit the part. I like that last shot of Saruman sending them off to steal lunches and push other kids into puddles. 

20 points to mark your entry on the points roster, Michael. Well done.