From MikeW - Onto the Snowlord's Peak with 17th Century Saxon Infantry (155 Points)

It was with some trepidation that I awaited the challenge to be thrown down at my door by the Snowlord after I dared to say I was ready to climb his snowy peak! After deliberation he got back to me to say I had to pick one of the following...


1) Another unit for your spiffing Siege of Vienna collection;
2) Something for your VBCW project you dabbled with a year or so back;
3) or, some more Bretons to be poor cousins to the Normans.

What a choice I had to make, as I said to the Snowlord - 'Its like having to pick my favourite child' - but secretly I knew it would be another unit for the Siege of Vienna!

The unit awaiting preparation and undercoating,
they came so close to getting a Primrose Yellow finish!

I have been wanting to complete my Saxon Infantry Brigade by adding a third unit....

White Gloss Skirting Boards, Window & Door Frame
and a Primrose Yellow Emulsion on the walls...

... However, before I could start this challenge item - I had to overcome a home challenge that we'd been putting off for too long, which delayed me even getting to base camp for this AHPC final summit attempt. I had to do another painting - arguably the wrong kind of painting - that's right I had to paint the spare room, this took most of last weekend!

Back to painting figures...

The whole unit

The vision was to represent a hastily recruited Saxon unit, who had been issued some coats and equipment but maybe not quite enough of each to go around for everyone. Hence you'll spot that some of the little fellas are still wearing civilian coats and most wear their own hats. What ties the unit together is the all red coats on most the figures - no contrasting cuffs and linings to emphasis the hasty issue of these coats, plus red hat bands and knee ties for their breeches.

Close-up of unit's left flank, pikemen stands are aligned behind command elements

Close-up of unit's right flank

The unit is 24 x 28mm figures, with one prone, wounded musketeer - it is based upon 4, 40mm x 40mm bases for the musketeers plus 4, 40mm x 20mm bases for the pikemen and command figures.

Two Pikemen Stands

Figures are by Front Rank and I will not bore you all with how I painted these - as it is the same as with all others that I have submitted to the challenge. Flags are from Warfare Miniatures, bases have electrostatic  grass added and lashings of grass and wild flower tufts..

The Command Stand split into two - to help with storage of units
when not in use - you can lie them down better!

Only exception to the above is the prone figure - a lone Ebor figure, that was left over from another unit in the collection, I picked this one as it is moulded somewhat flatter than the Front Rank figures and thus would look more convincing lying down.

Musketeer Stand with casualty

The 4 x Musketeer Stands

I cut off his musket and tricorne, replacing his hat with a floppy hat from the Warlord Games ECW plastics box and added a new musket from the Warlord Games WSS Infantry box, lying across the body. I reworked his hands to look like he was clutching a rag or cloth to his wound, the results seem OK to me.

Completed Unit

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Wow, Mike, very impressive. This is not only lovely work, but done so quickly as well! So much to admire here, from the brave banner to the great groundwork. I like the thought and care you put into the unit's colour selection, reinforcing that it has been scraped together from recent recruits. I'm also really impressed with the casualty figure mod, with the hat and weapon swap - very effective.

As to points, I'm going to award you a few more for the banners and bespoke casualty figure which will put you at a very tidy 155 for this unit. I also notice that this entry will put you over-the-top for your personal points challenge as well. Well done and congratulations!

For your prize, I'm happy to award you Ken's wonderful Zweihander Landsknecht, which will give you a nice start to a First Siege of Vienna project. ;)

Thanks again Mike for taking up the SLP challenge!

-Curt