From PeterD Yet More SYW Figures (60 points)

This time around I've started a new regiment of Hanoverians and completed another French command stand.  Figures are all 28mm Front Rank.

Napoleonic gamers know Hanoverian troops either as unwilling members of the French Army in the Peninsula War or as more willing but not very well trained members of Wellington's army in the 100 Days.  Back in the SYW, they were a more formidable military presence and formed the bulk of His Britannic Majesty's Army in Germany.  More to the point, fighting in their own turf and under their own officers they were much better troops.  

Here are the first 8 members of Hanoverian Battalion 4B known by the inhaber's name in this case Marschalk until the end of 1760 and Crashaur after that.  They served in all of the key campaigns and in many actions.  The Hanoverian army wore red like the British army, but I've used a more classic red instead of British Scarlet.  The Front Rank castings are very nice and have "germanic" looking features including moustaches, which will help me keep them straight from the British (or Swiss in the French army for that matter).

My french command stand uses the Front Rank personality figure for Charles de Rohan, Prince de Soubise.  Soubise was prominent in the French army during the SYW for mostly not very good reasons.  We was in command at the French and Empire's epic fail at Rossbach in 1757, yet managed to find commands up to  the end of the war. He had considerable pull at Versailles including the ear of Mme. de Pompadour.  He also has a cooking sauce named after him.  Hopefully the model does better than his namesake!  I did read of one set of SYW gamers who presented their opponents with the worst generals from each army - including a Soubise figure presented to a gamer with a French army.

Soubise is accompanied by an officer of the Cuirassiers du Roi, the only French cavalry regiment to wear breast and back plates.  His uniform looks an awful lot like Napoleon's Cuirassiers, but with a hat and his coat has a much fuller cut.

Points wise that's 8 foot and 2 mounted figures for a total of 60 points, all of them counting on the BP duel.

Nice germanic redcoats and a lovely French command base, 60 points it is!

All the best Iain 

From NoelW for Thursday: A touch of the Napoleonic (45 points)

In my second post this week, I’ve nine Napoleonic figures. There are three Ottoman figures from the Perrys for Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt. These go with the trio in my Fellowship post.

The two standing figures are camel drivers, so should have their accompanying camels, one a camel limber and the other a camel ambulance, but I decided I probably wouldn’t get them assembled before the end of the Challenge, so they’re currently leading thin air.

The other six are officer figures from Foundry’s Casting Room ranges, some of which were being sold for an irresistible half price at Hammerhead. The blister labelled them as “British officers”, though the website calls them “Rebellious Gentlemen”, leaders in their Rebels and Rioters lists. I’m really pleased with these, because I’ve been looking for figures to act as French scientists in the Egyptian expedition, and I’ve also wanted figures I could use for Spanish in the Peninsular War. Because these figures don’t map precisely onto any particular uniforms, gamers like me who are not always too concerned with exactness can use these for a wide range of contexts.

The first I’ve painted as a generic British office. His hair style puts him easily in as late C18th as much as early C19th, so could probably serve in the AWI, though I’m thinking he might easily serve in the Indies.  

I’ve painted one in a version of Rifles uniform, thinking he could also be used as an officer of the Chasseurs Britanniques or Corsican Rangers, who both served in Egypt.

A third is simply given a black jacket, to go with his civilian hat. He will be a French scientist.

I’ve painted one as a generic naval officer, though they generally did not wear waist sashes, and instead had them across the shoulder.

The guy with a cloak is a close match for a Spanish Generalissimo.

And the final figure has been given a sky blue sash, which makes him potentially a Spanish general or a French General de Brigade.

Almost of these figures, of course, could also stand as guerrilla leaders in the Peninsular.

So, nine figures: 45 points (and 1 Squirrel point)

Only one squirrel point this week? Are you well? Love the Ottomans, waiting patiently for their camels.
Your multi purpose chaps are great, I'm sure they will make excellent guerilla leaders although you could probably need a man of the cloth too?
Spot on with the numbers 45 points it is!

All the best Iain 

From NoelW for Thursday: Miscellaneoisity (145 points)

My third and final post this week is a miscellany, so a little longer. It contains Crusader Arabs, Renaissance Irish and a zoo's-worth of animals.

Firstly, the Arabs. These are Gripping Beast figures. We’ve already seen several of them during the Challenge. They’re quite simple. Unremarkable, in fact. I think the relatively flat surfaces of their robes might make them good candidates for elaborate decoration, but I’ve not attempted that. Instead, I’ve gone for a combination of white robes and bright colours.

The Irish you might think you’ve seen before, as I made twenty nine of them the subject of my Mercenaries submission. However, I was missing one set of six at that time, which I bought on Saturday, so here they are. Six kerns with pole arms:

Finally, the animals. EMP miniatures asked me to paint up a family of penguins:

And a dinosaur:

Not one to squander a squirrel opportunity, I cast around to see what other animals I had awaiting the brush. I thought the variety would make a nice change from all those uniforms and shields. In fact, I found over thirty different animals in the collection, awaiting attention, but I’ve not attempted them all, as yet. Here's the work in progress. 

To start with, I found I had a goat (no idea of manufacturer):

A snow leopard (Reaper):

A bear (from a cheap set of toys, but in reasonable 28mm scale):

A gorilla (same set of toys, but way out of scale, so really a “monster”):

An Indian elephant (an ornament from a Charity shop, but a good match for scale):

And an African elephant (another toy. It’s like a Britains model, but there’s no copyright message, so it’s probably a clone).

Scoring:

The 9 Arabs and 6 Irish are easy: 75 points

But I’m not really sure of the best way to score the animals. The penguin chick is 14mm (2 pts?) and its parents 20mm, (presumably 4 pts each). The goat, bear and leopard are pretty standard 25/28mm figs and the gorilla is 30mm, so 5 pts each, making 30 pts.

The elephants are both 60mm which would make them each 10pts+. But I see in previous posts they’ve been counted as “vehicles”, which would make them 20 pts each.

Oh, I almost forgot: plus two invisible Squirrels.


Well that's a relief, I thought you were going all samey on us! Nice useful Arabs and I really like your Kern, I would really like to get some but I must reduce the mountain first! All the animals are rather sweet but I'm impressed with your elephants especially as they are toys! So to points 145 to add to your total!

All the best Iain 

From PeterD House Renos Challenge Edition (20 points )

Earlier this year, Curt presented me with two 28mm Normandy Farmhouses from Northern Lights Terrain, run by ByronM.  This was meant to be a trade, and I'm still waiting to hear who the player to be named later will turn out to be.  Hopefully my end of the trade won't be a Dark Pact of a Live Liver Donation ala Monty Python's Meaning of Life.

While Byron makes terrific buildings, his farmhouses were considerably bigger than the 28mm houses I already had from Sarissa.  So I decided that I could upscale their occupants to better fit their larger size.  Here's the end result for the first of these building, intended to be a home of a family of the lesser nobility.

Original vs modified Northern Lights buildings vs Sarissa.

Modifications were as follows.

1. I took took the interior floor out and glued the upper and lower stories together.   Actually, it fell out on its own, but having the solid walls made the detailing easier.
2. I added timber framing to the upper story and stone work corner details to the lower story using heavy bond paper from Michael's.
3. I covered over the gaps in the masonry showing brickwork underneath.  Again I used the same paper, adding the impression of more stonework on the lower level.
4. I removed the existing front door and replaced it with a more substantial stonework door from Wizkids.  The Wizkids door had a gargoyle head over the arch and I removed this leaving a space for a family crest.  I also had to trim the back half of the sill to make it sit flush on the wall.
5. I added a backdoor using a piece from a Terrain Crates kit, again trimming the sill to make it go flush.
6. Then I painted it up representing stone work lower story with timber framed upper story.  The wife thought the roof needed moss so I added that too, along with a trailing rose bush up the back wall.

   

My attempt at a lion rampant looks more like a T-Rex rampant over the door.

This model pretty much fills a 6" cube so that's 20 points by my count.

What a splendid building! It's certainly substantial! Nice shutters and additional details, this imposing edifice earns you 20 points!

All the best Iain 

Thursday From RossM Ancients, Undead, Fantasy Hero and Crusaders (88 points)

Struggling to believe that the Challenge is nearly ending and this is only my second post; this was not the plan...

So, rather than wax lyrical about the whys and why nots of this years' challenge here are the next set of pictures.


First up are six Late Romans from Gripping Beast. Yes there are more than six here, however only six where painted for this year's Challenge. The six figures make up three quarters of the back ranks of these two stands.

The last two figures on the right as viewed are the original rear rank figures. The others the new additions to fill the gaps caused by rebasing for ADLG.

Matching in six figures to a unit that was painted approximately 15 years ago was an interesting experience. The colours where easy enough as the paints used haven't changed significantly in that time. The shield transfers from Little Big Man are still in production. These were the easy parts; the harder parts came in terms of changes to how I paint.

Fundamentally, nothing has changed with this, I still layer colours as per the Foundry Triads, however, there was no Agrax Earthshade or Nuln Oil then, both of which I used extensively now. The wash used for the armour and helmets was a black ink wash on the originals, Nuln oil on the additions. The difference is very subtle and may not show on these pictures, however I can see it at painting level. In reality you'll never notice at table level.

In terms of layering, the final highlight tends to be more muted now. This could be a change in how I view colours, a change in my eyesight, a change in table lighting since the originals were painted. This wasn't noticed until the basing was started and by then there was no changing anything.

Another difference was the varnishing, then spray satin or matt varnish, now brushed only matt acrylic. Again a subtle difference however noticeable in hand. Overall, they match in pretty well in my opinion.

Next, there are some classic Undead figures from Mithril Miniatures (Left) and Citadel (Centre and Right). All three figures have been a pleasure to paint and have been based for use in a current GURPs campaign I am involved in.

I collect and paint retro figures from the hay days of Citadel Miniatures; that period in time circa 1983-84 and the next figure is a classic C01 fighter from this period.

Purchased over 35 years ago now, the figure is starting to show his age with some wear from painting and stripping showing on the face. Not to worry as there is another one in the lead mountain in better condition as you wouldn't want to lose the first 25mm figure you bought and painted; would you?

Next is the start of two armies from Gladiator Miniatures in 15mm. The armies will be Late Crusaders for both DAB and ADLG, two very different games with very different ways of playing. Thankfully, they both use the same basing and as such the figures will be interchangeable between both systems.

First up are two stands of spearmen; one knights the other sargeants from the Knights of St John. The knights are in their red tabards which dates them between 1259 and 1273 as the distinction between brother-knights and brother-sergeants was not popular.

The shield transfers are from VVV and are to fit 15mm figures, those used on the back of the tunic are for 10mm figures. Its strange going back to using water slide transfers for figures instead of vehicles.

Next there are three stands of missile troops, two with crossbows and one with bows. These again are painted as sergeants. The crosses again from VVV

The crossbowmen shown as they will appear in ADLG.

The spearmen shown as they will appear in ADLG.

This second entry will take my total beyond the 20% mark for this year's challenge and is broken down below:

6 x 28mm Late Romans: 30 points
3 x 28mm Undead wights: 15 points
1 x 28mm Fighter: 5 points
19 x 15mm Crusader Infantry: 38 points

The total is 88 points.

Thanks for looking and any comments are appreciated.

Cheers, Ross

Welcome back Ross! As you say on your blog deciding to rebase masses of figures is going to impact on your challenge time but this is a lovely post! I can't see the join between the old and the new figures, they both look great the old school wrights and fighter is a particular feature of your work and they have come out really well! I think your Crusaders are a joy, showing a mastery of  teeny tiny transfers! I agree with your figures 88 points it is!

All the best Iain