From NoelW: Upwardly mobile : Sarah's Balloon (31 points)

Tied off to a knotty thorn, the basket is completely empty, its balloon rocking gently above the spray of the waterfall. I guess we could simply clamber in and sail away, couldn’t we? Just step into the basket and hey presto! untold treasures, here we come! Not that we would, of course, obviously. Of course not. 

For a start, that knot looks fiendishly difficult to untie.

And we’ve no idea how to fly a balloon.

Oh, yes, and it's quite possible that it belongs to Lady Sarah. Didn’t think of that. Silly us.

Over the hedge, there’s the clippity clop sound horses make, Either that, or a lot of champagne bottles being opened. Could be either, really. Two riders come through the greenery: the Lady herself shiningly riding a white palfrey, champagne glass in hand, escorted by her faithful knight, banner in hand. She greets us courteously. He greets us curtly.

“Oh – hi - fancy meeting your here, Lady Sarah - is this, perchance, your balloon?”

“It is.”

“Ah – we thought it – er – must’ve blown away. We were just about to haul it along to the local sheriff.”

She looks pointedly over the edge of the cliff, where the water falls, down, down, down to the jagged rocks below.

“Can we drop you somewhere?” she says, smiling giacondally at her companion.

“Well – if you happen to be passing near Roundwood’s Tower, we could use a lift.

I’m not sure exactly how they get their horses into the basket, but soon we are on our way to our almost final destination.

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One of my objectives for Challenge 10 is to create some command bases and other vignette-like pieces to enhance some of my armies, rather than just build more units. This is the first of my planned pieces: Jean d’Arc, with her banner carried by Guillaume de Trie, Lord of Fontenay. Not knowing who actually carried her banner, I chose him for his simple but attractive heraldry. He may, in fact, have been killed at Agincourt, given that my authority for his shield is from info on that battle, which would make carrying her banner rather difficult, but I've no info either way.

They’re Perry figures, of course, from their Hundred Years War range. The banner is by Ancient and Modern.

Another objective has been to visit every location on Challenge Island before ascending the coveted peak. This seemed a fun idea as it forced me to find quite a few painting tasks that I wouldn’t normally have planned on – but it also meant my original plan more or less went out the window from the start. Also, I couldn’t work out a route which didn’t depend on using Sarah’s balloon. I think, like the seven bridges of Koningsberg problem, there’s no such solution. In the end, I’ve had to call on her Uber-ship three times.

But now, the end is nearly nigh.

Scoring: 2x 28mm cavalry, 1 flag: 21 pts



Another excellent entry on Noel's whistle-stop tour of Challenge Island. Very nice work on this command stand. I've got a funny feeling that you may be missing out on the frequent fliers points. Checking back through the spreadsheet, I see that this is indeed your third flight, so that's an extra 10 points for you!

TamsinP