From MartinN: A hump for DaveD (12 Points)

At Crisis in November I had the chance to not only meet our honourable host Curt, but also had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of co-challenger, fine fellow and all-round gentleman Dave D. The state of the hobby was discussed, a few beers were had and all in all it was a wonderful time out.

From left to right: DaveD, RobP (behind), ChristopherS, JakeK, Jerry Miller and his wife Christine, myself , Curt and MikeF

Soon after Crisis I received a surprise parcel from Britain, sent by Dave, containing a few treasures from his collection (he himself referring to a ominous mountain of lead), of which I'm hoping to get at least a few done during the challenge.

Of course I had to come up with something to say thank you for such a generous deed. Remembering his soft spot for anything 'camel' I had a rummage through my treasure box and came up with something I thought appropriate.

So, here's my "thank you" to you Dave, a Centurion of the dromedarii:

The dromedarii or "camel riders" were auxiliary troops, reportedly first raised by emperor Trajan to help protect the eastern borders, especially against the Parthians and later Sassanids. We have to assume they were lightly armoured cavalry, probably mostly used for patrolling the dessert.

According to our sources the Parthians made use of cataphract camels, there's no evidence for their use by the Romans though. But as the Romans were never shy to at least try a new way of waging war before dismissing it, I thought it plausible that there could have been a unit at some point.

Evidence or not, It definitely makes for an interesting conversion.

The camel (or to be precise dromedary) was provided by A&A Miniatures and the shield decal is from LBM Studios, whilethe cataphract rider is from Aventine Miniatures. All three are companies I can't recommend highly enough.

It took me some work to make the rider fit properly, but nothing that couldn't be adressed with a sharp knife and some green stuff.

When it came to painting I was aiming for a eastern influenced, thus rather colourful look. In the end I think he might turned out a little too colourful maybe.

Still I hope Dave has some use for the figure. He'll wing his way to the island as soon as the holidays here in Germany are over.

Points wise I think this first entry is worth 10 points.

And now to our new "thing" the Challenge Tunes. A word of caution is necessary though. My taste (my wife denies it could actually be described as such) is rather rough, mostly German Punk and Hardcore as well as some of the harder Punk and Oi! stuff from the states and the island. So probably nothing for the faint hearted ;-)

Artist: Krawallbrüder
Song: Gott mit uns

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The first entry of the season from one of our most gifted brush-jockeys, Nick.

That is a beautiful piece Mr. N. and I know Dave will be delighted to add it to his growing collection of cam, er, dromedaries - lucky man. I really like the white and blue armour along with the matching barber pole lance. The polka-dot saddlecloth is an excellent touch as well. Stunning stuff. I think a few extra points are warranted for this 'hump conversion'. :)

I'm not even going to try to find that tune to listen to - it would only sully my high opinion of you, Nick. ;P

Again, lovely work.