From EricM: Napoleonic French (245 Points)

Well I am again tardy with my challenge posts.  So this week is a double dose of the Emperors finest.   Its been quite some time since I have painted Napoleonics so I spent quite a bit of time with my nose in Funken, Haythornthwaite and various Opreys.   I will apologize in advance for any inaccuracies.

The first group I painted over a black primer , these were to finish out a few units I had previously completed.  It was a challenge to go back and use an older (abet better) technique than my current block and wash technique.  These guys are a mix of command, elite company and lights to round out previous units.

All the figures are Front Rank 28mm.   These are amazing figures and my painting does not do them justice. They are really really lovely, in my opinion they are some of the nicest out there (minus the Perry brothers artistry)

Here is the group as a whole.

The grenadiers

The lights

Command and center company.

Close up of the flags.  I am getting too old to paint flags.  I think next time I'm printing or calling the Flag Dude.  (sorry for the picture quality)

I love these figures (I know I know, I have said that about 9 times already)  the huge mistake I made, full dress rather than campaign dress.  I blame this on my rookie status.   I have learned a lesson.

So taking the lesson from the full dress I took the easy path this week and painted some French in greatcoats.   I really love the look, still colorful but not as over the top as full dress.

Here's a picture of the whole unit

Grenadier company

Light company

Here's a close up of the command group and flag

I hope to be more consistent with my postings.  A new job and heavier work load have cut in to my time.  But excuses aside I really love the sense of urgency the challenge creates for me.

Total for this post is 46-28mm figures

Thanks for looking!

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Of points, I could tell you much. But the time is not right. I shall only say that the Emperor is close to having power such as never before – power of world-shattering proportions, you could say. Mark my words, never again will a painter of this Challenge watch a points-bomb in quite the same way. He will stare at that entry and remember that the Snowlord is firmly in control.

Not only do we have 46 new fantassins for the Emperor, but a trice of hand-painted flags to go with them. The flags being tricky, I rate them at 5 points each, for a total of 245. Well on your way to 1500!

From AdamC: Bounty Hunter and Hound (10 Points)

Only a small entry today as winter storm over the weekend kept me from getting in as much brush time as I would have liked.  I had thought I might use these two for the Fellowship round but miniatures for a better display came in this week so I am going that way.

Both figures are from Reaper, part of the bones collection.  The hunter reminded me a bit of the "man with no name"  played by Clint Eastwood I think its the cape or poncho.  I didn't try to copy that look but certainly inspired me.

 I wanted the cape/poncho to be colourful but I didn't think I could pull off any complex patter so I opted to just go with alternating lines of color.  Any time I had a color left over from anther project a few lines went on to the cape.  I think it came our really well.

The hound is clearly some sort of mastiff a breed that is built more for fighting and guarding than tracking.  Still most dogs can track by sent so I'm sure he's highly useful to our bounty hunter in this roll.  His real value probably comes in the form of intimidation and power when its time to take the target into custody.  Both figures are 25mm scale so 10 points this week.

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Enough of this. Vader, release him! This bickering is pointless. Now, this bounty hunter will provide us with the location of the hidden painters’ lead piles. We will then earn many points with one swift stroke of the brush.

From JohnS: Astropolis Bots and Aliens (40 points)

Despite a concerted effort by Real Life™ to disrupt my painting progress, I managed to squeeze in a little painting time and finish up a handful of sci-fi figures this week.

All of these are from the Astropolis Kickstarter, full of character, chunky detail and a delight to paint.

I particularly liked this archivist and his two minions laden with dusty tomes. Not exactly a typical subject for a sci-fi wargame, but they'd make a great objective to capture or escort to a waiting escape transport.

I have a host of these hammerheaded kroglogg aliens. Before committing to a color scheme for the others in my lead pile, I wanted to test out a few palettes on this pair. Although most of the aliens are covered in thick hair, a few have a less defined surface pattern, more like the skin of an elephant. I'm not sure if the sculptor just chose to portray their fur in a different style or what, but I decided these "wrinkly" aliens must be wearing skin tight space suits. I gave the gray suit a few emblems, and while I think she's hideous, I'll bet her form fitting coverall drives the kroglogg boys wild.

That's all for this week. I know a few of these figures a bit diminutive, but I'm hoping these eight 28mm figures give me another 40 points.

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Kickstarters must be met with strong, centralized credit. One must seize the moment, and purchase. Forgive the ravings of a lowly guest minion, Supreme Lord of Brushes. Moreover, I realize that it is hardly the Challenge's way to not answer lead and plastic with credits.

I see you paint a small number of figures for certain periods. I once balanced these figures amongst many periods. Lately, my efforts have become a bit more lopsided. Balance is no longer necessary. Some of these periods require an appreciation for fingers or tentacles or palps painting a few figures from a great many stellar soup bowls, testing the temperature to see if they are ripe for the painting.

As they were, for forty points.

From PeteF: Norman Crossbowmen (40 points)

One of the goals for Challenge IX was going to be a Norman SAGA warband. But another of the goals was completing two AWI armies for a Rebels and Patriots convention game in May. And then another of the goals was more Minifigs. And then I wanted to enter all the bonus rounds. And then came the Squirrel! duel.

These are the first but hopefully not the last of the Normans. I mainly wanted to have Normans to try out a mounted faction and I have a bunch primed but for some reason I wasn't feeling like doing horses this week. Normans can have crossbowmen in SAGA - so here they are.

The figures are from Old Glory and were part of a trade I did to unload some excess AWI Continental plastics from the Shelf of Shame. They are quite a bit smaller than and not as well sculpted as my Gripping Beast or Bad Squiddo Dark Ages minis - but Old Glory is great value for money if you like the heft of metal figures - and they can look very good en masse for big battles.

This Sherwin-Williams colour palette serves as inspiration for my Norman faction's main colours. The Powder Blue was a bit of a miss - too much/too dark wash?

Here's a Squirrel! question. I have done some SAGA Vikings and they could end up on the same table as SAGA Normans. However, Dark Age Vikings never fought 1066 Normans - so does the Lord of Brushes (and/or the Duels Wallah) think these Normans should get a Squirrel! point?

8 x 25/28mm foot for 40 points.

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You're far too trusting. Norway is too remote to make an effective demonstration - but don't worry; we will deal with your Viking friends soon enough.  

Clearly, the Normans are not extinct, their fire has not gone out of the Challenge. You, my friend, are the latest to post of their religion and crossbows. Forty points!

From BrettM: Wild West 28mm (130 Points)

Finally have all these finished up. Been working on them off and on since the start of the challenge. 

This is an assortment of figures. Some are Reaper, Badger games, Knuckleduster and Wargames Foundry. 

 Quick close up of some of the figures. A variety of Shooters and Townsfolk

 More wargames foundry figures than anything else for sure. The guy in the middle front I think is actually a Dead mans hand figure. I prefer the rule set Fistful of Lead though. Came first 

 A group of some of my favorite figures

 Bit of a close up.

 Based all the townsfolk figures on square bases and used round bases for the shooters. Some of the figures were a bit small (wargames foundry) So I doubled up the base size on these guys to give them some height. In total we have 26 Figures at 130 points.

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The average citizen deals in symbols, not rational analysis. If we present the citizen with gunslingers so powerful, so immense as to defy all conceivable attack against them, a gunslinger invulnerable and invincible in battle, that shall become the symbol for the West. We may need only a handful, perhaps only one of these shooters to subjugate thousands upon thousands of towns containing millions upon millions of townsfolk.

This assortment of firepower amongst the citizenry will earn you one hundred and thirty points. My, we do have some big entries today.

From PaulSS: French Nobles and English Peasants (108 points)

Both sides of my Hundred Years War project get some attention this week with the French getting three mounted commanders and the English getting another draft of bowmen.

The French commanders are all from the same Perry Miniatures French mounted command at Agincourt set. Three dynamic characters who shall lead the French men at arms in glory against the English usurpers.

The first noble is Waleran de Raineval, Comte de Fauquembergue who led the third French battle at Agincourt and was killed during the battle.

On his jupon he is wearing his heraldry of 'arms or on a cross sable five escallops argent'. The Perry's have very handily sculpted this on the figure so it's more a case of colouring-in than free-hand.

The second noble is Louis,Count of Vendôme who commanded the 1600 mounted men at arms on the left wing at Agincourt and was subsequently captured during the battle but survived the massacre of the prisoners.

This figure took a dive on the floor while I was varnishing. His lance was bent double and I had to do a lot of touching up before the photos. Bugger!

Again the Perry's have sculpted in his heraldic detail of 'arms quarterly 1&4 France Modern on a bent gules three lions rampant argent 2&3 argent a chief gules overall a lion rampant azure armed langued and crowned or' I had to repaint that a few times as I kept getting it wrong.

I added the lance pennant from paper and did a pastiche of the arms in freehand.

The final noble is Anthony Comte de Brabant who let 800 mounted men at arms on the right wing of the first battle at Agincourt and was captured in the battle and executed with many of the other prisoners at the pivotal stage in the fight.

This chap is a lovely clean sculpt and is devoid of heraldry, which was quite a relief especially after painting Vendôme!

On now to the 15 English who are all made of components from the two plastic sets English Army 1415-1429 and Agincourt French Infantry 1415-29

The first set is another block of 15 bowmen deployed behind their row of stakes that were used to disrupt the French attacks and protect these lightly armoured troops.

Like the previous set of English bowmen they are made with a mix of the bodies from the French box so that there are some chaps with heavier armour than those made solely from the English set. The French box also contains a few unarmoured bodies in different poses to the English box to add variety.

I have painted these in a mix of liveries representing archers from several retinues grouped together. The stakes on the base come from the English set and are a useful addition.

Some close-ups of the individual figures. Many are sporting the cross of St. George that was used as a field sign through the campaign of 1415.

All but the central figure in this group were made using French bodies. The one on the right is a very dynamic pose in the French set that adds some action to the group.

Only the first figure in this group uses a body from the French set the remainder are all from English bodies. I like the green & brown livery so much I plan to paint a whole unit in this scheme.

The second group of five archers could either depict a small unit of archers deployed among the men at arms in the centre, or, if deployed in a more open order a unit of bidets skirmishing on the flanks of the line.

Again a mix of English and French bodies painted in a mix of liveries.

Usually my units are in multiples of six, but you'll see that these are in fives, that is because the additional three figures are already painted and entered in the Sport bonus round. So that my movement trays did not have holes in them I made some empty bases, some with stakes, to insert in there so that I can use them when casualties are removed, or, if I just want to make the figures I have stretch further.

Here is the larger unit of archers at their full complement of 12 and the bidets at 6.

 So, with three mounted nobles and fifteen foot that should give me 105 points plus whatever bonus points for the heraldry and fillers.

I'm now out of bowmen so shall have to concentrate on the French again next week. Fortunately, this turned up at the weekend.

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Execute the prisoners? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances!

We need a statement, not a manifesto. One hundred seventeen points will be enough for today.