From Curt: 'Gloria Invicta' Renaissance Cavalry Casualty (10 Points)

Just a single figure from me today. This time it's an another casualty stand for my Italian Wars collection, a cavalry figure which I've sourced from Gamezone Miniatures. 

Gamezone has obviously marketed itself as an alternative source for Warhammer Fantasy figures. While most are very fantasy oriented, there are many of the 'Empire' themed figures which will stand-in very nicely for the Renaissance period, particularly for Spanish soldiers of Charles V's reign.

This figure is titled 'Gloria Invicta' and is probably one of the best sculpted 28mm figures that I've had the pleasure to work with. The sense of movement, how both figures' anatomy has been rendered, and the overall feeling of pathos conveyed by the pair is amazing.

Out of the pack the rider is bare handed, which is absolutely fine, but I decided to drill-out his hand and give him a shivered lance modelled from a piece of plastic rod, shaved back at the tip. I think this helps make the scene a little more dynamic - giving the impression that they have just staggered away from a ferocious melee.

As a little experiment I applied several thin coats of Formula P3 Armour Wash mixed with blue ink on his plate harness to give the impression of the blued armour which was common during this period.

I've mounted the figure on one of the D-shaped bases that I've come up with for this project. The flat side fits snug against my transparent unit platters, helping to identify which unit it belongs to.

Similar to Byron and Greg, my supply of Tajima tufts has rapidly dwindled over the course of the Challenge. Time for a resupply!

Thanks for dropping in folks - keep warm and have a good day!

From Ray

My my that's a beautiful figure Curt. The figure is so full of life, even though the rider has seen better days. Love the addition of the lance, that adds a little more life to the figure, he's clinging on to the lance as he's clinging on to life. Good idea on the D shaped base too. Top marks ol chap!

10 well deserved points!

From DaveD - Camels and Bridges..- 50 points?

As with a number of other challengers its been a busy few weeks - but i think i am back in the saddle again for the run in.

I picked up some more (or is that yet more?) camels to add to the overall Sudan baggage caravan. This time it is newly released set from Iron Duke Miniatures from their Indian Mutiny range - but I figure once a baggage camel , always a baggage camel.

So here are the completed camels , laden down with various goods.

8 camles = 40 points - the handlers were already compelted

And this is what the full baggage set looks like now..

There will be more shots of the column on my own blog shortly. 

For the 6mm modern I wanted to get some better looking bridges and went off hunting for model railway suppliers and found a couple of MDF N Gauge girder bridge kits that look just the job . The are by In The Greenwood Laser.  There is one short and one longer one (short is  45mm wide, 97mm long , 47mm high, the longer one is 45mm wide, 145mm long, 47mm high) . I have scratch built some supports and ramps for each end of them. The bridge and ramps have magnets inserted so they are interchangeable , and for easier storage.

Funny thing is that I found myself humming the tune from "A Bridge Too Far" while doing them. 

 Artist : The Coldstream Guards Band

Song - A Bridge Too Far

From Ray

What can I say about the camels......utterly crackers is one thing, but boy do they look cool! Just how many Camels do you actually have now?

Love the bridges, they both look well cool Dave, I'm sure they'll have many a dangerous crossing and be blown up too!

Excellent brushwork on all figures

40 points for the Camels and 10 for the bridges

Total 50 points.

  

From JamesM: (Yet!) More Terrain 50 points

Hi folks,

Target achieved for this challenge, and while I'll still be working on models through March, the foot is off the pedal a little bit!

Last week, I was prepping for a big game I was putting on for the lads at the club. You can read about the game here. As part of that prep, I was finishing off some terrain. I did paint one figure, but he was a tank commander I hadn't mounted in one of my Churchills... I've not included him as he would be worth half a 15mm figure!

Instead, I have some tree's, buildings and orchards:

The buildings I've included two pictures of. The first picture is the parts together, the second is to show that I cut the models in half before assembling and painting them. This allows me to put extensions on my other MDF buildings, changing the shapes slightly and increasing their footprint on the table. And, if not required, I can place them together and they will pass as outbuildings.

Orchards are small fruit trees from Ebay, which I mounted on some longer strip bases I had spare. The smaller individual and clumped trees are from Busch (ha!) and will do for both my 15mm and my 6mm models.

I'll let Ray come up with numbers (ha!) *Groooaaann! - I would suggest the smaller 15mm buildings would count for 7 or 8 each (if a full sized building is worth 15).

Sorry Ray - potentially the last terrain of the challenge for me though!

From Ray

Sigh, lucky I took some Paracetamol before opening your post James. Well it all looks excellent, love the Orchard, I'm sure you'll get a lot of use on the battlefield with these. The building look cool as well.
Hhmm? The points, I would guess by the pics that all this terrain would fill 2.5 6x6x6 boxes, which gives you a round 50 points

From PeterD 23rd Foot and Minden Roses 85 pts

Royal Welsh advance!

A slight change in direction from French SYW to their Anglo-Allied opponents.  I had planned to submit the last members of the Diesbach regiment, but these guys were closer to being ready so decided to focus on them to keep the ball rolling.  So we have 16 members of HM 23rd Foot, better known as the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.  These are all Front Rank figures and mighty fine figures they are indeed, I just wish they did more variation in poses like the Perry's variations on a common theme.

The term Fusilier was used differently by various nations in the Black Powder era.  In the French army, a fusilier is a regular GI Jean while in the Prussian army and minor German states a fusilier regiment was a second rate infantry regiment later converted to a light infantry role.  But it the British Army it was used as a mark of distinction, originally used to denote the three regiments used to guard the artillery train.  Back in the matchlock era they were armed with flintlocks or fusils as waving lit slow match around loose powder was unsafe even by 17th century OHS standards.  The also got to wear spiffy fusilier caps instead of the bog standard tricorn.

The quality of British Infantry was iffy during the WAS and '45, with some good regiments and some poor freshly raised units.  But during the SYW, most of the units that saw action were first rate (except a couple sent off to New England early in the FIW).  And they made a mark for them selves in their first big battle on the Continent - Minden in 1759.  

To me Minden is the start of the thin red line.  Six British battalions (including the 23rd) and the Hanoverian foot guards plus some supporting artillery ended up advancing on the main French cavalry formation due to a misunderstanding.  It was a classic case of an "Unauthorised advance" or blunder roll.  A few battalions of redcoats facing the mass of the French cavalry - who charged them in 3 waves (kind of like Agincourt) and got shot down by close ranged musketry for their pains.  None of this namby pamby hide behind a ridge in square like their grand kids at Waterloo either.  This was advance in line with drums beating and flags flying proudly.  Stirring stuff.

I quite like the officer with the fusil on the left and the sergeant on the right.

Oh yes and they did it with roses in their hair - the tradition has it that the redcoats picked wild roses from the hedgerows and put them in their hair before battle.  This is still commemorated in regimental Minden Days by the successor units to the regiments involved.  I tried to add autumn foliage to represent the roses but this turned into an epic fail.

Painting wise this was pretty much a standard 18th C paint by numbers job- scarlet coat, blue facings, white lace etc.  The Front Rank figures were very nice to paint, with the lace and belts standing out well.  The fusilier caps had a the Welsh trio of Ostrich feathers surrounded by golden branches - I applied a two foot standard to get a reasonable on table facsimile of this.  There are another 8 fusiliers to come but these include command figures which are a little more involved.

  So that is 16 28mm figures for a total of 80 points this week.

From Ray

Oh yes! One of my fav regts for the 7YW. T'was the first unit I ever painted in 15mm, many moons ago. A beautiful paint job on some beautiful figures. I do like Front Rank, but like you (and many others I bet) wish they had a variety on their poses. Sigh!! There'd be a lot more in my collection of they did that.

80 points for the figures and an extra 5 for luck!!!

From AdamC - Small Wizard 5 points

 While painting my main projects I tend to have some 2-3 extra bones figures on my table at the same time.  I use whatever paint is left on the palate when I'm done with that color for the main project on these figures.  It's helps keep me from wasting paint and helps dig into the Bones III pile.

 This Halfling or Gnome (I forget which) is a case in point.  A great action pose that has been picking upon color here.. another color there since December. Well he's done now with a little snow flock he'll make a great addition to the stable of spell casters for games of Frostgrave.

 I added some embossing powder to the magic effect leaping from hand to dagger and I am quite pleased with the look. This fellow (and my monstrous entry) are all I have had time to get done this week thanks to a busy schedule and my daughter being sick (now me too) don't worry she is well recovered (I'm doing OK too thanks for asking).  I suspect I'll be doing mostly small entries the rest of the challenge as the schedule is getting busier and busier . Any way this 25mm scale figure should result in 5 more points.


From Ray

5 points it is Adam. And 5 points very well deserved too!
A great frolicking figure painted very nicely. I often do the same thing, having the odd figure that gets a lick of leftover paint, its quite surprising what you can get done that way!

From LeeH umHlanga Regiment (48 Points)

I was planning on ending the painting challenge with the much larger Zulu uVe regiment but I had a 'mishap' with my can of primer that left them looking like I'd painted with brown Semolina! My own fault, I used a new can that had been stored in a cold place for several weeks and didn't shake it enough before use (Numpty!). I have given the models a scrub but so much detail is obscured I may have to resort to drastic cleaning measures... but not before the challenge has ended. Thankfully some figures escaped the can-of-death and I had just enough to paint this small regiment. 

The umHlanga Regiment

Raised in 1867 the umHlanga (meaning “Reeds”) was part of the Chest at Isandlwana. These were young warriors with an average age about 28 and they fought not just at Isandlwana but also at Khambula. 

From behind showing the base label

From the front showing the shileds

Once again I used a white wash to bring out the detail of the shield straps and I'm really pleased with how these look. 

Both units seen from behind

My umHlanga Regiment are the last of the Zulu's to feature in this years challenge and I'll just have to tackle the remaining units in coming months. Given my normal painting speed I'll probably still be painting Zulu's in Challenge 9! Still 96 figures will earn me another 48 points and continue to take me beyond my target.

From Ray

Well I for one have enjoyed your foray into Zululand Lee. What a shame about Semolina spray, I'd be gutted as I expect you are?
Great brushwork and the white wash is a touch of class! What a great timesaver!

48 points spaying its way to Essex!

From Barks: Better to be fyrd than loved (42 points)

I’ve neglected my Dark Age forces, and they have been balefully staring at me for years. These Anglo-Danes were prepped for AHPC VII but didn’t get a guernsey.

The figures are Gripping Beast plastics. I had to regress my painting style a few years so they would match their already painted brothers-in-arms.* Some of the paints I originally used had dried up, so I had to work out equivalents. I’m not unhappy with the outcome, and I’ve got more to go to polish off this project for The Challenge. All the shields are hand-painted.

This should give me a push into exploring SAGA v2.

8x28mm Gripping Beast figures = 40 points.

*Holy smokes! Just shy of five years...

From Ray

You should be mighty pleased with yourself with these 8 figures Barks, I know I would be if they were mine. Infact they'd look good in my collection, shall I send you my address??? Let's hope the next lot of figures take less than 5 years!
Excellent brushwork, lovin' those shields too!

40 points are on there way!
With an extra 2 for the shields!

From ScottM: 54mm War of 1812 US Infantry (260 pts)

My contribution this week is toward a project I've been working on for a few years, War of 1812 in 54mm. This set of metal figures (like the vast majority of my figures) are from All The King's Men Toy Soldiers. This large group is of U.S. infantry.

So that should be 26 - 54mm infantry for 260 points.

From Ray

Now this is a little different from the norm Scott? Great looking figures from an exciting period of history. I do like the way you've painted these, especially the different colour trousers.
I've gotta admit, I've never heard of All the King's Men figures before, they 're really nice looking figures!
I agree with your points, so that's a mighty 260 points!

From JohnM: French Napoleonic Artillery (82 points)

These troops have been sitting primed on the painting table for over 2 years, time to get them done. Aside from a unit of British Foot Artillery this is it for the AB Miniatures' lead pile. They are nice to paint but it is always a challenge I think to do less than 28mm Napoleonics. I like how they came out. I have 3 batteries of French Artillery that should be enough to play games at the scale I am interested. These chappies will be fielded as Artillerie à Pied although I have to say that the differentiation between French foot and horse artillery uniforms sometimes escapes me.

If I have it right, AB Miniatures are scored as 20 mm so this would be 80 points. I am hoping to have a little something more interesting to present soon.

From Ray

Ooooo I like these John! I think AB make THE best 15-18mm figures for Napoleonic's. I had some French myself many moons ago, they've all been swallowed up in Posties collection now. Love how you've painted these and the basing is tops as well!

I'm not sure if AB should be classed as 15mm or 20mm, as they are infact 18mm, so as it nearly Christmas (well actually 9 months away) we'll go with 20mm :0)

12 x 20mm figures = 48 points

 4 x 20mm guns = 32 points

Plus an extra 2 points for the excellent painting and basing!

So a grand total of 82 points

From TomM: Peter Minuit and the Rapiers (135 points)

Okay, so that might sound like some 80s coverband if I look back at the title...

Actually, it`s the combination of two sorts of entries I have been focusing on this week, namely trying to include one Crisis wargame show entry figure every time, as well as expanding my 40k force...

Peter Minuit was a son of Walloon parents and went on to become the director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland between 1626 and 1631, and founded the Swedish colony of New Sweden on the Delaware Peninsula in 1636.

But perhaps the biggest achievement of this Belgian born merchant was that he is credited with the purchase of the Manhattan island from the Lenape Native Americans, for what legend tells the price of 24 USD worth of trinkets (actually, it was 60 guilders of goods, which still only amounts to around 1050 USD these days).

Like all but two of our entry figures we made, this model has once again been sculpted by Paul Hicks, and was handed out to attendees of the Crisis wargame show in 2012.

The second part of the entry is one of those "essential" units for my Emperor's Children force, in the form of 2 more Rapier guns for my artillery support.  The models themselves are from Kromlech (waaaay cheaper then Forge World) and come with a Heavy Bolter and with a Laser Destroyer set up.  The crew are regular Space Marines, as I mix and match pre heresy and post heresy colour schemes in my force, to add some purple islands in my ocean of pinkiness...

Now, apart from the band members of the above titled coverband, I painted up a few bits and bobs as well this week.

The first of these is a base of 28mm Shang Dynasty Chinese spearmen.  Again like the chariot from the beginning of the challenge, this is a Curteys  Miniatures set of figures.

Of course, no-one can ever have enough spears, so another unit of spear armed Warriors join my ranks of the Irish for gaming in the Dark Ages...

The final part of this weeks entry are the first Mutant Rabble troops for the Renegades detachment of Astra Militarum, a small side force that will be part of my Emperor's Children legion.

 


So this weeks tally would come to:
Peter Minuit 1 x 28mm = 5 points
4 crew men 4 x 28mm = 20 points
2 gun served weapons 2 x 28mm = 30 points
Shang Chinese spearmen 4 x 28mm = 20 points
Dark Age spearmen 8 x 28mm = 40 points
Mutant Rabble 4 x 28mm = 20 points

For a total of 135 points for this weeks heap of various stuff...

From Ray

Wow!! Have you had any sleep this week Tom? That's a massive collection of figures entered this week.
I do like the first figure, Peter Minuit, what a great caste and top paintjob! I've loved everyone of these figures you've painted. I wish I had all these figures myself, guess I'll have to get over to Crisis this year and grab a handful for myself????
Very nice purple, makes a change from the pink!

Great all round work Tom!

I too make that 135 worth of purple goodness!!