The Final Post for Challenge X: Maltese Militia, 1565 (120 points)

Okay folks, bushes down - Time to relax. 

I'll close out the Challenge with our final entry, returning to my Great Siege of Malta project which I kicked off earlier in the winter.

The 1565 siege of Malta is often seen as a contest purely between the Turkish Ottomans and the Knights of St. John. Nonetheless, the realities of the campaign were in fact much more complex, diverse and interesting. 

For example, the 40,000 man Ottoman host was not only composed of Turks, but also drew upon the many ethnicities from its sprawling empire. Greeks, Bulgarians, Algerians, Libyans, all along with a smattering of coastal corsairs and assorted religious fanatics were allied with the Turks laying siege to the island. This provides a veritable feast of character and colour for hobbyists to represent on the gaming table. 

Also surprising (well, to me anyway), of the 6,000 defenders, the Knights themselves only made up about 500. Another 2000 were composed of marooned Spanish sailors, along with varied companies of 'Gentlemen Adventurers' from Italy, Spain and Greece. The largest contingent of defenders (at least half of the total number) was made up of the humble Maltese themselves. 

A very small number of the Maltese would have been previously trained as militia, whereas the vast majority were simple island folk, rising in defense of their homeland. A few of them would have had the means to possess a studded shirt and a morion helmet, but a large proportion would have fought in their civilian garb, bare limbed, indifferently armed and reduced to mere rags by the end of the siege.

The histories indicate that the Maltese were often organized into large units with a Knight or soldier of fortune acting as their leader. Several accounts depict their local priests and women sharing the risks with them.

Gaming wise, one can find many suitable figures for the Knights and gentleman adventurers, but no one that I know of that has a range of figures which specifically depict the Maltese militia. Nonetheless, like the brave Maltese themselves, there are good proxies out there that can be pressed into service. The best figures that I've come across are the Portuguese Conquistador range from Eureka Miniatures. They are wonderfully sculpted and hit the highlights of what I think a Maltese fighter would look like: bare legged, lightly armed, scruffy and most importantly: scrappy.

Eureka Conquistadores

Common weapons amongst the Maltese would have been half pikes, short swords, long knives with maybe a smattering of firearms, bows and crossbows.

A couple other figures I pressed into service (a Foundry German barbarian on the left)

Undoubtedly the most powerful weapons in their arsenal would have been the incendiary devices which they created in an attempt to fend off the large masses of Ottoman infantry. 

One of these were the use of pimkins, basically earthenware jars filled with an incendiary concoction (some sources say Greek Fire) with a simple fabric fuse. A rudimentary grenadoe, these pimkins would be thrown into the Ottoman ranks in the hope that they would shatter and catch fire upon impact. 

Another weapon, quite ingenious in its brutally effective design, were reed hoops which were coated with an incendiary paste. The hoops would be lit and then, using long tongs, would be thrown or rolled towards the Ottoman formations. This weapon was  particularly nasty as it would entangle the legs and long robes of the Ottomans during their advance, causing havoc in the ranks.

I made a rendition of the burning hoops by coating a circle of florist wire with texture gel and teasing it to look, well, sorta flame-like. I made a set of them laying flat on the ground and another set with them rolling along like demonic hula-hoops, which while neat looking is probably a bit fanciful. 

Finally,  the Maltese also employed what was called a 'Trump' (I know, really...). Not much is definitively recorded on these, but it is understood that they were hollow tubes filled with incendiary fluid mounted on half pikes. 

When lit, they would gout flames out for 2-3 meters, like a crude short-burn flamethrower. Unreliable and incredibly dangerous to friend and foe alike (and so quite appropriately named). :) These would be used to block off weak points in the fortifications, or in point defence to help turn back Ottoman assaults. 

Flame effect made from a 3D print.

I also picked up a couple of wall sections from Vatican Enterprises to represent the walls of the various Maltese strongpoints. 

Though they are not a perfect match to the Hospitalier designs (which were more blunt and angular) I think they do a great job in conveying the sense of the fortifications of the island, and could be used for other historical periods as well (Constantinople, Vienna, Badajoz, etc.).

I especially like the damaged sections as I think they will provide great set-dressing for a a wide assortment of breaching/sally scenarios.

So there you have the beginnings of my Maltese militia, along with a bit of terrain for them to defend.

So with this final entry we conclude Challenge X! 

I want to thank all the participants for making this, our 10th edition, such a wonderful and memorable event. The Painting Challenge would be nothing without your participation, your sense of humour and most importantly your good will. I humbly doff my cap to you all.

Last but not least, I wish thank our intrepid, long-suffering minions (Greg, Paul, Dave, Martin, Tamsin, Byron, Miles and Peter), without whose diligence and hard work I could not hope to host such an event. Thank you my friends for your unhesitating help, helpful suggestions and unflagging support.

Edit by TamsinP - It appears that our intrepid Snowlord forgot to claim any points for this, so I'm stepping in to do a final piece of minioning. That should be 75 points for the fifteen foot figures, 5 points for the fiery bits and the flag and I'm estimating the wall pieces as being two terrain cubes for another 40 points, bringing his total for this entry to 120 points.

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Okay, on to the administrative stuff.

Over the next couple of weeks I'd like everyone to submit a group shot of themselves and everything they got done over the past three months of the Challenge. I'll kick this off in the next day or so with a shot featuring my smiling mug with the stuff I managed to get done this winter.

The announcement on the various prizes will be in a little over two weeks time (Sunday, April 5th).

These will be:

- Challenger's Choice (chosen by you lot!)

- Judges Choice (chosen by me)

- Sarah's Choice (chosen by Lady Sarah)

For Challenger's choice we're going to do it similar to previous years. I'd like all the participants to send me their top three favourite entries from this Challenge. The deadline is next Sunday (the 29th). It doesn't have to be in any particular order as I will post a big gallery of all the nominations from which we can vote. It will be a nice way of reminding ourselves of all the excellent work that was produced during the Challenge.

Finally, due to the Covid-19 situation affecting the world, I will be creating another page to this blog for the upcoming ...

The Analogue Hobbies Quarantine Challenge

Basically it will be a stripped-down version of the Painting Challenge where people can continue to post their work and enjoy each other's company during the next few months. I'll get some more information to you all in a few days laying out how it will work. So stay tuned for that.

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There it is: The Tenth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has concluded.

Thanks again everyone, and remember the wise words of Bill and Ted:

'Be Excellent to Each Other'

Warm Regards,

Curt