From SidneyR: Le marquis de Lunéville, Lorrainer Horse, 1688 (125 points)

After missing a submission last week, I'm hopefully a little more on track with this squadron of Horse from the Duchy of Lorraine.  

The Dukes of Lorraine had a complicated and difficult relationship with the Kings of France in the 17th Century, culminating in the French invasion of the Duchy in 1670.  Stripped of his hereditary lands and titles, Charles V of Lorraine (confusingly also sometimes called Charles IV) served with the Imperial armies of the Hapsburgs in the 1680s and 1690s.  One thing which the Dukes of Lorraine were well known for in the mid- and late- 17th Century was the good quality of their cavalry, and the Hapsburgs made good use of that advantage. 

Whereas the Governors of the Spanish Netherlands recruited cavalry on a campaign-by-campaign basis, the Lorrainer Horse was maintained on a more continual basis, mirroring what was becoming the practice in the mid- and late-17th Century French armies.  This allowed for greater cohesion in the field, and made the recruitment by Imperial armies of Lorrainer (and Alsatian and Burgundian horse) a common feature through the 1640s to the 1690s.

You can trace regiments of Lorrainer Horse, serving with Imperial and Spanish forces, through the campaigns in Flanders in the 1640s (at Rocroi and Lens), through the Franco-Dutch Wars to the Nine Years War, making them suitable for my army of the Spanish Netherlands based around my fictional Flemish Free City of Laarden.

I've also reasoned that, whereas Flemish horse may have preferred to use pistol firearms as a primary weapon for more recently raised cavalry, the Lorrainer horse would have been more inclined, with better training, to use cold steel.  In that regard, there's a reasonable chance that makes them closer to French Cheveau-légers than Spanish or Flemish cavalry of the period.

I chose some 25-28mm Dixon Miniatures 'Grand Alliance' figures for the squadron.  I went with the backplate and breastplate versions; one source I looked at suggested that the Imperial horse tended to still use heavier armour than the French horse in the 1670s.  

I added some extra greenstuff frills to the officer and the kettedrummer, such as monogrammed pistol holsters, extra lace ribbons and bows on the horses and additional lace cravats. There are also some greenstuff feathers on the hats of the troopers.  This was really to try and make the regiment a little more 'French', despite their presence in the Imperial and Spanish forces allying with the Flemish forces in the field.

The squadron shown in the photographs is identified in the order of battle I've been using just as "Lunéville".  It's a complete guess, but I'm assuming that it might have been raised near the current town of Lunéville in the commune of Meurthe-et-Moselle in Lorraine, close to the current German border.  

The flag is frankly a bit of a fudge. It's a lovely standard from Flags of War, but I drew a blank in trying to locate standards of the squadron.  However, as the troops would have been in Hapsburg service, I can't see any reason why their standard would not have reflected their new allegiance.

Bases by Warbases and tufts by Mini-natur and WW Scenics.  Points wise: 12 cavalry figures in 25mm for 120 points.

I make this my twelfth submission to this year's Challenge, which is a bit of a milestone for me. I never thought I'd get this far, and certainly would not have done without all the encouragements from other Challengers, Minions, Tamsin and Curt himself. So thanks everyone!  Now, into the final furlong to try and finish everything else off!

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From Minion Tamsin:
How wonderful - I get to minion some of Sidney's lovely work. I was a bit disappointed when I hadn't seen any in the draft queue last night, but was pleased to see this post appear there this morning.
These are simply splendid, as always, and an excellent 12th submission. There are a couple of weeks left, so hopefully we'll get to see even more of your gorgeous figures.
The twelve horsemen do give you a base of 120 points and I'm going to add a few more for the flag and greenstuff work.

From Millsy: 28mm Warhammer Empire (72 points)

This post is a bit of a tale of things that almost were but not quite. The halberdiers were almost ready last week but just missed my posting day. The Empire mascot was almost ready for the Music bonus round, but again just wasn't quite ready in time. Anyway, they're done now!

The Empire halberdiers are painted up in the Carroburg colour scheme I've been working with a bit of late. I absolutely love red and black, it just works.

The miniatures themselves are from the "plug and play" series where the weapons were interchangeable - either a halberd, sword/shield combo or a crossbow. Great in theory but they are a pretty rubbish outcome in terms of ranking up. A dozen of these is all I'll ever want I reckon.

The Empire Mascot is one of those real character pieces that really make the army. He has no special rules or character stats so I'll likely use him just for decoration or as a unit filler to bulk something out. I'm reasonably confident he's a recast given he was too cheap by half on fleaBay but I can't say for certain and to be honest I'm not losing sleep over it. Ironic really considering I'm a chronic insomniac :-)

I've always admired the sculpt and wanted one in the collection despite the uncomfortable feeling I get with the bear being chained, forced to act against his true nature and presumably blinded in the line of duty.

So that's another 70 points for the total, getting me within sight of my target with a week or two to go.

Artist: Stabbing Westward
Album: Darkest Days, Wither Blister Burn & Peel










Cheers,
Millsy


From Minion tamsin:
Fabulous work as ever Millsy. The halberdiers look great, but it's the bear that steals the show. He's a big beastie, so I'll give you a couple of extra points for him.

From RayR: All For One! (20 points)

Well how about this then. 25mm figures from me that aren't for Donnybrook or the NYW?

I do plan to have another few reads of the Osprey Rules En Garde!

They may well be the rules I'll be using....of course I could always use Donnybrook??

The figures are from Redoubt Enterprises, which have recently been bought by 

Andy from Grubby Tanks!
I did order some transfers for their tabards for Redoubt, but got 3 figures in the post instead?
Not sure what happened there??
So I had to paint the design myself.

Hopefully I'll be able to paint up some rotters for the chaps to skewer before the Challenge ends?
4 x 28mm figures should earn me 20 point!

Athos

Aramis

Porthos

d'Artagnan

From Minion Tamsin:
Hmmmm. Those floppy hats, baggy trousers and tabards would probably be perfect for smuggling budgerigars - I wonder what attracted Ray to these figures? 
Very nice brushwork ray - a well deserved 20 points.

From VictorC: 10mm WSS Spanish Battalion Zamora Arrives! (61 points)

After a week of being sick and then a cold snap prevented me from painting and priming any figures.  I was able to get this one unit done.  The Spanish Battalion Zamora has arrived!  As with all of the Spanish units for the Battle of Almanza the flags are speculative.

From Minion Tamsin:
Another great 10mm WSS entry from Victor. I'm glad you're feeling better now. Very nice painting indeed on the little chaps. That's 60 points and another point for the flag.

From MilesR: Pirates and other Stuff (325 Points)

 This post is a bit on the "variable side".  It has been a while since I submitted a regular post but work has been a bit of a bother.

First up is one of the funnest things I've painted in a long time - a French faction for Firelock Games  "Blood and Plunder" - with ride, of course.  This is the starter set and provides 24 figures and a Captain.  All in glorious 28mm scale.

First up are 8 Flibustiers.  I decided to use the cast "ship deck" bases for these figures and was please with the result.  It did take some work to flatten out the bases.

 8 Milices de Caribes - primarily a second line type of unit

4 Marins or French Sailors - these guys are the point for ones boarding party.

 4 Boucaniers - sharp shooters to some extent.

And, finally, the Captain complete with flouncy yet stylish hat.

 Now no Pirate faction would really be complete without a sweet ride and these French "gentlemen" have a very sweet one indeed - a Brigantine, which is the next step up in ships from the Sloop I finished earlier in the Challenge.

 While ornate in design, she is fast, draws little water and packs 8 guns.

The model is a cast resin hull with metal and laser cut detail parts and was a blast to put together.  The flag was downloaded from the Firelock Games website.

 Here she is loaded up with French crewman

 Another shot - can't wait to get these guys on the table for a game.

Next up are 8 28mm Taliban figures from Empress miniatures - I was a few short for what I really needed for last year's "SOCOM and Sorcery" game and wanted to fill out the roster.

As with all Empress figures these are superb.

I thought these lads might need a place to stay so I built them a house.  This model is the "mud-brick house" plastic kit from Renedra.  Usually I really like the products from Renedra, especially their bases, but I found this kit both hard to assemble and difficult to paint - I just couldn't get a good texture.

 Still, it's a very sturdy terrain piece and I can use it as a guide to build other types of buildings.

 Also from Empress is a standard 28mm HUMVEE with a .50 cal machine gun.

A very nice model that was a snap to paint up.

 Lastly there are 4 Dire Wolves from Acheson Creations.  Very nice models.

Who doesn't need more Dire Wolves in their collection?

So here's the tally

37 28mm figures/wolves = 185 points
1 Vehicle = 15 points
1 terrain pieces which filled 75% of the 6" cube = 15 points
1 Ship = I'll leave that the Curts discretion

Curt:
The ship is a good bit bigger than the Sloop which weighed in at a fair 85 points - perhaps something in the 100-125 point range?

From Minion Tamsin:
What a fantastic entry Miles. That brigantine is the dog's! Or should that be "le chien's" as it's a Frenchie?
If Curt gave you 85 points for the sloop, I reckon 110 points for this somewhat larger ship. Which takes your total for this submission to a stonking 325 points.

From Millsy: 10mm Scots Royalist Horse (54 points)

Two posts in one week! It's almost like I've got some time to myself. In fact that's the truth with Simon Miller's cracking new For King and Parliament variant of his To the Strongest! rules all finished design-wise and ready for print. Given I've spent a fair bit of time with FKaP recently you can probably imagine where in the inspiration for this submission comes from. :-)

I've long been a fan of the Project Auldearn website and wanted to replicate Montrose's greatest victory for myself. Given that large project costs and associated storage are all considerations for me these days I decided to have a stab at the project in 10mm scale.

This week I've made a start on the Royalists forces under Montrose and finished all three cavalry units. All the miniatures are from Pendraken and very fine indeed they are too. Painted over a black undercoat they reward a high-contrast style and really pop when viewed from a couple of feet away, perfect for table-top viewing.

First up is Lord Gordon's Horse, a single base of 9 miniatures, mixing regular "English" horse with Scots to give the impression of a better equipped unit which would fight in the "Swedish" style, charging into the enemy before discharging their pistols in the melee.

You can see at the rear of the base room left for the unit name and dice holders for indicating hits, ammo and dash values under the FKaP rules. I'm going to have to do my own flags so I've left those for now to do in a batch once a few more units are complete.

Next up is Aboyne's Horse, a more typical Scots horse unit. There was roughly twice the number of these as Gordon Horse at Auldearn so I've chosen to do two bases, effectively two units in FKaP.

As you can see with the basing I've attempted to replicate the highlands in thick heather, gorse and grasses. Martin from Tajima1 very kindly knocked out a custom order of heather tufts in short order. They really look the business and I'm thrilled with the effect.

All up that's 27 wee horsemen for a total of 54 points.

Cheers,

Millsy

From Minion Tamsin:
A short and sweet submission of short and sweet Scots. Great painting on the wee chaps and the basing looks sweet. That's another 54 points for you Mr Mills.