From EricM: I Traded Pikes for Plia (220 Points)

This week I made the switch to Mithridates VI Roman opponents.  I had anticipated they would paint quickly and easily but boy was I wrong.  There is a lot more detail on the figures that I had not planned on.    And then there is the shields!  I was considering using shield transfers but I felt a little uncomfortable using them.   I have always painted shields before and I figured what the heck.  How bad could it be.    Well let me tell you.. its bad... buy the transfers!

I am organizing the army in 16 figure cohorts with a 24 figure first cohort.

Here is the basic 16 figure cohort.  The figures are all Wargames Foundry



Here they are off the movement base and deployed in a 2 rank line.


 
And here is the 24 figure First Cohort.  

I love the scornful look on this officers face.   So I had to show him off.



This week I finished a total of 40 28mm foot.   Next week I hope to finish off 3 more 16 figure cohorts.   Then on to the next "legion"  which I WILL be using transfers on!

We kicked off Friday with EricM, and here we are closing this week's Friday crew with some more excellent Ancients. Those shields look amazing Eric, really nicely done and I have great respect for your diligence in doing them all without cracking and resorting to transfers. Really impressive to get 40 of these done in just a week. These Wargames Foundry sculpts look excellent too, with well-defined detail.

40 miniatures, 200 points, plus an extra 20 for all those hand painted shields. See, there is an upside to hand-painting them! 

Phil

From JamesonP: Wargs and Fyrd and French, Oh My! (25 Points)

The mixed bag grows bigger and even more mixed this week!

First off is a Games Workshop Wild Warg. This nasty fellow is from the original Games Workshop The Lord of the Rings box which I much prefer to The Hobbit Fell Wargs box. That seems to correspond to how I feel about the film trilogies. Anyhow, this warg will definitely give those Dwarves I painted up something to do with their axes. Hopefully the dice come up in their favor.

Next are two Saxon Fyrd from Wargames Factory. I like the options the Wargames Factory boxes create, but I do find these figures to be a bit flat and doughy. You really need to pay attention to detail to have these come out alright. That said they're great for Saga and general purpose fantasy.

Finally, here are a couple more French and Indian War French Regulars from Conquest Miniatures. My next batch of these will sport shoulder arms or be command so you won't have to watch me eek these exact same figures out two at a time from week to week.

In addition to more French, I have a Wild Warg Chieftain and some metal Dwarves on deck. Until next time... keep on painting!

Nice contribution to the Friday crew here Jameson. What is it with you guys and mixed bags of minis though - that sure is an inefficient way to rack up the points ;-) 

The warg looks mean with his ruddy brown coar. I know what you mean about the WF plastics, but the price is right, they're straightforward to paint up, and they'll do just fine on the battlefield. I look forward to seeing more of those FIW French, as the Conquest Games minis are quite popular, and I bet the regulars look excellent in good sized units. 

Phil 

 

From KeithS: Friday Grab Bag (75 points)

This week I've been working on clearing out some of the miscellaneous back log that seems to have clogged up my work area.  There's not much rhyme or reason to it.


First up are a trio of old Heritage Orcs in 25mm.  I got them with the Asian Orcs I got from the guy who owns the original molds - sadly, he was missing the Samurai Orc archer so I got these ones instead.  They're...ok.  Nothing special.  But, as they did not fit for the East theme, they go here even though I painted them with the others.  Like those other ones, they're based for outdoors, obviously.

Rear angle.  There is really not much to them.  Simple robes, bows, quivers, and really ratty clothing.

We turn now to Elves.  I did seven of them in a batch with some other figures.  They're a mix of brands - Ral Partha, Grenadier, GW, and maybe some others.  Most are 25mm though the GW chap is a bit more towards 28mm.

From there rear. Nothing special, though I did like how the green and blue cloaks turned out, as well as the fancy GW Elf (2nd from Right). I made an error and did not photograph the shield I did for Mr. Blue Cloak...it is a weird turquoise-aqua with a silver dragon.  Oh well!

Here's a pair of Ral Partha and GW elves up close.  I rather like both styles for High Elves and will probably do a lot more of them (since I have a pile of both waiting to be done!).

And some sword elves.

As part of that batch (as I like doing things in even dozens) was a lone human, a trio of dwarves, and a Halfling.  Again, these are a mix of brands - I picked them to do as they were mainly demihumans.

A few of them from the back.

I decided this guy wins the awkward weapon pose of the week award.  I am not quite sure what he doing with the axe, or his left arm for that matter.  Kind of odd.

Fifteen mixed figures was all I could manage this week.  I have a dozen halflings half finished but won't make it by tomorrow, so they will be next week, along with whatever else I decide to do this weekend.  It occurs to me I am procrastinating on the 50 or so 28mm Scots for Saga that are staring at me right now.

Oh yes that pose is not right at all - almost like his arm has twisted 180 degrees. Still, hopefully he'll come in useful, waving that axe about merrily. Fine work once again on this mixed bag of fantasy minis Keith. My favourite of this batch is the second dwarf in from the right, with his unusual armour, sensible sized axe and badass pose. 

Oh, and a turquoise/aqua with a silver dragon shield design - we're missing out! 

Phil

From Ian: SYW French Infantry (74 Points)

Another SYW entry for me but swapping sides to my son's French army. These are again Lancashire Games 15mm figures and again were straightforward to paint. Prep was a little bit heavy on some of the figures and similar to their turnbacked friends have a slightly miss aligned rear of figure making the tricorne a little lopsided and the cartridge box looking a bit odd. Nothing too terrible but annoying. I also did not do the best cleanup job possible on these guys which was more annoying as I missed a mouldline on about six figures.

The Boy choose the regiments to be represented, mostly based on their flags and when he realised these had no turnbacks and the cuffs were also white he asked me if I could add extra colour. I convinced him to let me paint them up as is and if he still wished for me to make a change then I could. In the end he kept with the historical versions.

The first battalion is from regiment 2 Champagne which had a total of four battalions and on 26th July 1757 fought in it's first battle of the SYW at Hastenbeck where it assaulted a redoubt containing 8 guns and 2 howitzers losing 63 men but the battle was a French victory.

Regiment 3 Navarre was his second choice, these also fought at Hastenbeck as part of a flanking force that assaulted the Hanoverian left wing positioned in a woods. No casualties are listed so it's possible it did not actually come to grips with the enemy.

Both the above regiments were raised along with Regiment 3 Piemont and all three regiments squabbled over which should have preference in the numbering system causing Louis in 1666 to order that each would take turns being numbered 2, 3 and 4 on a yearly basis. This has to have been a real headache for army headquarters.

I was concerned about how the white would come out as I have little experience of full white uniforms and when I added a Nuln Oil wash my fears seemed justified as they went a rather dark shade of grey. Quick overpaint and seemed ok and on to the second battalion I watered down the wash which worked better then like the first I brought the white back in selected areas to give the shadow effect I was looking for. 

Very happy how they turned out and will be doing more hopefully to be ready in two weeks, before that it's back to 6mm Napoleonic's but something a little different. So two units of 18 figures makes me 72 points not too shabby.

Fine upstanding Frenchmen here Ian, your son will be delighted I've no doubt. It tickles me that he appreciates the relevance of historical accuracy over sartorial choices, too. There's something terrifically impractical about all-white uniforms for traipsing about and fighting in.  

Oh, its 74 points with the ever-popular flag bonus. 

Phil

From KenR : 28mm AWI British 17th Lt Dragoons (120 Points)

Finished at last !

I have to say these things have been a right royal pain to get done. I set off with these like a scolded cat at the start of the challenge and then ground to a halt after I had finished the horses and two figures.

These are 28mm AWI figures from Perry Miniatures and excellent figures they are, they are not even that complicated (it's mostly red and white after all) however for some reason we just didn't gel and I really had to push to get to the end.

I am happy with the final unit and at 10 points a pop these twelve figures should net a handy 120 points towards my total. I've spent a bit of time this week getting some horses done (I use oil paints and they take days to dry) so I have a small unit of 28mm AWI Queens Hussars and a couple of 15mm SYW units worth of horses ready to go.

These are great Ken, well worth all of that toil I feel. Simple uniforms indeed, but very eyecatching and in red and white, you can't mistake them for anything but some fine upstanding British cavalry British. The oil-painted horses came out great, not a technique I've used myself but people seem to get great results with it. How did you find the casting on these Perrys? I've found some of the ranges I've bought can be a nightmare to clean up, but these castings look good. 

These have been such a drag and you've more cavalry coming up? Now that's dedication. 

Phil

From GrahameH: Some more armies finished - hopefully! (264 Points)

I thought I had finished my armies for the Crusades apart from a set of club men I found last week. However, having gone through my lead pile I found a load more of figures I couldn't remember buying !!!

Oh well they all needed painting if I was to finish my Crusade armies. So having done so hopefully I have at last finished it (although you can never be certain).

All the Crusade Figures are 15mm from Legio Herocia

Muslim Army (66pts)

A General Base (had some figures left over)

18 Lutat Macemen

 

12 Sudanese Archers

 Armenians (144Pts)

Two Cavalry and two infantry units

One of the Armenian Infantry Units (each of 18 figures)

 

One of the two Cavalry units (each of 9 figures)

Pilgrims (36Pts)


Had some more figures left over so made up a Pilgrim unit with improvised weapons (18 figs).

Finally just because I found them unpainted some Cold War Russian Paras with AA
6 Figures (all Battlefront - 12pts)

No idea what to paint next. Time to dig through the lead pile (and hopefully I won't find anymore unpainted Crusades)

Wow, what a treat Grahame! Your Muslims and Armenians for the Crusades look great,very colourful without being garish. The pilgrims look suitably dour in comparison. And even more Cold War Russians sneaking in at the end.  

93 infantry by my count, and 18 cavalry, plus six flags. A respectable 264 points for you this week!

Phil 

From EricM: Finally Done with Pike! (390 points)

  This week I was able to finish the last of the six pike blocks for Mithridates VI army.  Its a bit silly that I painted them for his army, since he only used them in the first Mithridatic war.  On top of that, they where they were consistently crushed by Sulla.

   While it is not the most robust force I do like Mithridates early efforts building a Roman beater.  He was willing to experiment and adapt.  Following his defeat by Sulla he went home to lick his wounds and raised another army.   The second time around he abandoned the pike block and built an army based on imitation legionaries, if you cant beat them join them.

  There are 32 Wargames Foundry figures that makeup this block. Learning my lesson from the earlier 5 the pikes went on, After, the painting was done.  I am proud to report no injury this time around.  This unit was a little trickier, it did not have the shields with cast on designs so I had to wing it. 

Here's a view from from the side and rear. 





 And the obligitory close up




The second unit I was able to complete this week is a unit of 12 Companion style heavy cavalry.

I saved the easiest for last.  I was also able to knock out a unit of 10 Greek light cavalry.  There is really not much to these guys so it was a nice break from the more detailed figures.

I think this week I have 32 foot and 22 horse.  Next week things will slow down as I am switching gears and moving to Romans.  Looking back over the last 30 days I was able to stay more focused than last year.  If I can keep up the pace I think I am on track to meet my challenge goal.

First up, apologies that I didn't get this posted up last week Eric. Your're setting a great pace with all of these Mithridatean warriors. The pike look excellent once again, but won't you take a photo of all six units together in all their glory? Those companion cavalry look great too - yellow can be such an awkward colour to work with.    

32 foot and 22 horse, plus I'll top it up with 20 bonus points for all the handpainted shields on the pike block. Only about 1000 points to go to your 2500 target, you can make that surely?

Phil 

Friday Minion Is On Shift

Welcome to Friday everyone! Just a short day's work until the weekend, and and all the hours at the brushes that offers. Except I'm not working Fridays at the moment, which is pretty convenient, because I need to get on and post up all of the Friday crew's fine work.

First up is some more fine massed Pike and cavalry courtesy of EricM, that just missed being posted last week. Some very fine AWI British cavalry by KenR, yet more medievals and Russkis from Grahame, more SYW French from Ian, the usual varied spread of fantasy minis from Keith, and another mixed bag from Jameson. And perhaps a few more to surprise us during the day?