From NoelW for Thursday: The frantic stumble to the finish post 1: (150 points)

I began the Challenge with so many  dreams and fantasies. So many new armies to explore. So many old ones to complete. And the Squirrel challenge played right into my hands, making a virtue of my low boredom threshold and miserable stick-at-it-ability.

And therefore, dear reader, I’ve still about a dozen plans I started since December which are clamouring like neglected children for some sort of parental attention. How many will now get a brush on them and how many the brush off? The tension of not knowing is almost unbearable.

But here’s one that’s made it. Romans!

Are you sick of Romans yet? This is only my fifth post on Romans, after all. However, after today you'll no longer need worry whether it’s safe to log on the Analogue Challenge Painting Competition, as these are the last Romans you’ll see from me.

Probably.

I was lucky enough to stumble across a box of 20 Praetorians already assembled and, unusually, perfectly intact. Sweet! Of all the Warlord Romans I’ve so far tinkered with, these are by far the ones I  like best, and they paint up well.

A close-up of the command trumvirate:

It seems daft to have an elite guard without an Emperor to guard. So here’s Warlord's Marcus Aurelius to give them a raison d’etre (which is, I think, a sort of dried grape with an existential crisis).

And finally. Yes, I did say “finally” - here’s a scorpio*.

And here’s another one.

And now both in conjunction:

*(Scorpio was, I believe, an Al Pacino crime film from the 1970s).

Well, that's it for the Romans. Ave.

However, this is not my last post, not by a long chalk. I've not even picked up the bugle (last post - geddit?) There should be two more today - if you're really unlucky, perhaps three.

And then, the race to the finish, arms full of half full paintpots, a dried up paintbrush behind my ear and the faint sounds of voices in the distance. Someone calling? Someone claiming to be -what? My family? Did I have one? Oh, yes, that's right, I did have a family of some kind when I started this thing three months ago. I even had a couple of friends, if I remember rightly. I'm sure I left them around here somewhere...  

24 foot x 5, 1 mounted fig x 10 and 2 war machines x 10 = 150 points

So just a small post Noel? Lovely Praetorians all ready to sell the Empire to the highest bidder, you could do with some ramparts? Marcus Aurelius is splendid and the pair of scorpios are excellent and I apologise for not knowing the plural of scorpio, Latin classes were such a long time ago!
 Agreed 150 points it is!

All the best Iain