From PaulO: Camel Caravan (70 points)

Abdulla musters his caravan and prepares to depart his home (terrain not part of the submission)

My first entry for this year's challenge comprises my first ever Ships of the Desert! I've painted them up for use as a scenario objective or for baggage elements in Crusades era gaming, though they would also work with some Beau Geste type French Foreign Legion gaming in North Africa, or amongst the Redcoats in Afghanistan.

These doughty chaps are also my first step onto Challenge Island. I was hoping to be the first to unload camels onto Docherty's Docks, but instead of being first-est I will content with being the most-est thus far: I hope the harbour master is content with them!

These lovely models are from Castaway Arts in Northern Queensland (http://www.castawayarts.com.au/) - this makes them Australian Camels! Did you know that Australia has approximately half a million feral camels?  Introduced in the 19th Century to support exploratory expeditions, species of Bactrian Camels and Dromedaries now live wild in the Outback. Indeed, Australia now has a thriving live export business selling stock to the Middle East!  Perhaps these are the first Australian camels to be exported to AHPC :-)

Army Painter Desert Yellow undercoat worked well for the camels, followed by a wash and some highlights. This saved quite a bit of time and let me focus on the colours and patterns on the bagge to bring the group to life.

Great to get my first entry in before the Christmas mayhem begins. Points wise I suggest that these count as 4 x mounted figs noting the stowed baggage and rider for 40 points, plus the 30points for a Challenge Island location.

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Haha! This is absolutely brilliant, Paul - love it. Sarah and I just read an article about Austrailian feral camels. Wow, who knew?! And I love that you folks now export them to the Middle East. That's just bonkers.

I really like your colours for these and will be shamelessly stealing your recipe for my upcoming stab at these. I also really enjoy the vibrant colours of their baggage and the the clothes of their drover. Brilliant.

70 points will put you in a nice position for your debut entry. Cracking work, Paul.