From SamuliS: Captain Aubrey making landfall at Reidy's Reef 60 points

Time to get myself started on the adventure at challenge island! Being the efficient engineer that I am I'm aiming to get two birds with one stone by submitting him as the prize miniature as well. Crafty isn't it!

The marine theme and the Royal Navy focus is actually pretty relevant for me personally as I work in shipbuilding on a large systems supplier. For the last 4 months or so I've spent most of my working time in France at the Saint-Nazaire dock which was the target off quite a famous British Commando and Navy operation targeted at destroying the Normandie drydock to deny the Germans access to the largest drydock at the time and forcing Tirpitz out of the Atlantic by denying her a place for repairs. Whoever dreamed up the idea of filling an old destroyer with explosives and ramming it into the drydock before setting of a timed fuse must have been mad, but it was ultimate a successful even if a costly operation for the British. Saint-Nazaire is also the home to large U-Boat pens which are still standing as destroying them would be too difficult and costly. So even though spending much time away from home isn't always nice at least I have some interesting wargames related sights that I can look at from our site office window and from the deck of the ship we're working on.

The subject itself is the fictional Captain Aubrey and based on his depiction in the Master and Commander film starring Russell Crowe. He came with the Black Powder 2 rulebook. While I never really had a use for him the challenge proved a perfect opportunity to get the miniature painted up and now as a prize hopefully going to some appreciative naval enthusiast :)

My DSLR is still in service so having to stick to the mobile phone camera. With a white background it seems to be performing much better even if personally I prefer the black background, but I guess I'll have to stick to this until I can get the camera fixed.

With the challenge island and challenge prize bonus points this entry should net me 60 points. 5 points for the miniature itself, 25 points for the prize entry and then 30 points for completing the island task.

From DaveD - Thats another challenger across the entry fee line. I really like him . With that i will hand the reins , or is rocks to Dr Cooke for tomorrow - he will know doubt threaten you with a test ...

From MartinC - Seven Year's War Austrian Cuirassiers (250pts)

Towards the end of last year me and Matt (not of this Parish) started building 7YW armies in 10mm to fight massive scale battles as opposed to our usual massive scale 28mm battles. I have a Brunswick force - well all the Brunswick army. Which is very nice and when I finished them I realised they were not fighting in our planned theatre of Prussia vs Austria.
Undaunted I assembled all the Austria troops needed from Pendraken to fight the 1st major battle of the war the Battle of Lobositz, the Kronoskaf pages are truly amazing.
One of the reasons to do this was the colourful uniforms with reds, blues and pinks on the cuffs and hussars in trippy greens.
I am about 1/2 way through the armya nd at the weekend I started the Austrian Cuirassiers - all 8 regiments. As I read through the uniform guides for the Cuirassiers i with struck with 1 shocking and unpalatable fact. In 10mm all the uniforms are the same, the bloody same! White coats, red saddles with a white stripe, black breastplate and black hat with no trim. Even the information on the flags is very sketchy.

The standard bearers all come with flags attached and the designs on the flags would be impossible to paint. So I cut the flag away and replaced it with a rod and made flags using my best Googlefu

The list of the units can be found on the battle link above, I'm not listing them all and close up they look like this

the next unit looks like this

no wait that the same unit.

This has made me grumpy but all the cavalry are now done, only 10 foot regiments and about 15 artillery pieces to do and I have the army done. All I have to do then is the Prussians.

Scores on the doors

120 10mm cavalry = 240pts plus any flag bonus and pity points

From DaveD. Well you are indeed barking ... that's a lot of white uniformed cavalry ...I feel your pain  lets call that 250 points for flags n stuff. 

Snow Lord's Peak FAQ

Hi All!

Now that we've broken our duck with an ascent to Snow Lord's Peak I thought it good to go over a few details to how it all works.

1) Once you're ready to ascend to Snow Lord's Peak just send me an email and I'll dream up three options for you to choose one for your challenge. I will then post the challenge on the blog. 

2) When you're finished drafting your submission for the Peak's challenge send me an email and I'll score and post it. 

3) Once the Peak's challenge is completed I will make arrangements to connect the provider of the prize figure with the Challenger so they can coordinate shipment of the prize.

Also, here are a couple more clarifications for travel on the Island.

1) You can take Sarah's Balloon to Snow Lord's Peak. Apparently, it's rigged for high altitude flight with all the comforts (scarves, mittens, hot chocolate, etc.). This means you can challenge the peak from any location on the island once you have your five locations done, OR if you've not traveled on Sarah's Balloon on one of your first four locations, you can count the balloon ride as your fifth location as you travel up to the summit. 

2). You can still adventure on Challenge Island after challenging Snow Lord's Peak, in fact I wholeheartedly encourage it!

Okay, you can go back to your sherpas and pack mules now. I look forward to seeing you all on the Peak!

-Curt

From TamsinP: Flapp(er)ing My Way Onto Sarah's Balloon (60 points)

Continuing my jaunt around Challenge Island, I realise that I need to hop to a distant location. The quickest way, of course, is to take a trip in Lady Sarah's Balloon. As it is now the Twenties (we shall wait to see if they are Roaring or Whimpering), what better fee could there be than these four young ladies:

Yes, some flappers, out on the town!

And this is where I realise I forgot to paint the redhead's earrings

These girls are the "Gangsters Molls" pack from Dixon Miniatures. The one in the magenta outfit does look rather tall and heavily built for a moll - maybe a musician who witnessed a hit and is now in disguise and hiding out from the mob?


for scoring:

4 x 28mm foot @ 5 = 20 points
Sarah's Balloon (first trip) @ 30 points
Total = 50 points

What's that? There's something you can see part of in the first photo?

Only a half-bottle, but it's just for me

Ah, yes - champagne! That's another 5 points, taking my total to 55. Unless there's a further bonus for being on my second glass at 3pm on a weekday? No? Thought not! - (ed oh go on then! - extra for doing in dry January)

The obligatory Challenge Island progress map:

My next stop, courtesy of Lady Sarah, will be Awdry's Atoll.


From DaveD - lovely job Tamsin - they are a fine addition , and even better some bubbly too! - lets call it 60 points!

From RayR - Cooke's Crevasse - Geology Theme 35pts

Its Challenge Island time again, I've taken the next step down the Path of the Forgotten to

Cooke's Crevice.

Entries must have a geology theme. This can be any figure armed with a rock or rock throwing device, any miner or engineer type, or any figure on a rock and (not just soil, grass or sand base). Will also accept dinosaurs and stone Golems.

 I had this little fellow sitting in my rather large box of Civilian's for my Donnybrook force. There I've gone and mentioned it! Donnybrook!!!

He's from Warlord Games' Clubman Militia pack his only weapon being the rock he has in his hand.

 He's painted to boring drab colours being from the poorer side of town and wears his Grandad's rusty helmet from the ECW, for protection.

He should earn me 5 points for the figure plus another 30 for the Challenge Island entry.

So 35 pts in all!

From DaveD - YAY Donnybrook - but wot.. i say wot! where are the floppy hats? Dr Cooke will be happy you have been banging the rocks together! 

From JezT - Challenge First Entry Sarah's Ballon and Prize 75 points

Dear All

Late entry for the challenge. I like the Path of the Imagination but as I dont have any 15mm will do a first Sarah's Balloon to skip the Fjord and land at Bromley's Butte. For the Balloon ride I have a couple of female "household domestic"staff  25mm from Ironclad Miniatures. These are from their Victorian era pack, but I am going to use them as characters for my AVBCW (A Very British Civil War) campaign which am setting in the 1930's.

For the prize I have selected a figure from the same pack by Ironclad - this was designed as a Victorian butler, but I have painted it more as a modern Father of the Bride type figure - obviously going for the "Shotgun Wedding"  theme.

Please do check out Ironclad Miniatures if you are looking for some cheap quirky 25mm figures.

Points wise think that is ........
2 foot figures and 30 points for Sarah's Balloon - 40 points
1 foot figure and 25 points for prize - 30 points

Cheers Jez

From DaveD - Another challenger over the entry fee line - huzzah! 75 points it is.

From MikeW - Rousell's Sandhill - 20 x 28mm Vienna Militia, Siege of Vienna 1683. (133 Points)

My Grand Tour of the island has brought me to Rousell's Sandhill, where I can go into 'Floppy Hat' mode again - I have some more Floppy Hatted silliness in the pipeline but this is the first instalment! Sorry no badgers or sandbags...

These guys will go towards my Siege of Vienna project but I wanted to make sure that they could also be used as generic militia for any nation through-out the period.

As such I have ensured that the rank and file have plain grey coats and a variety of trouser and hat colours to give the look of the period where uniforms were only just coming into fashion. They represent citizen volunteers who joined the colours to help defend their city.

20 x 28mm Vienna Militia Unit

The figures are from the 'North Star' 1672 range and I have painted up a command stand and four musketeer bases. At some point I really need to add another 8, possibly 12 pikemen to give other options to configure such a generic militia unit, by varing proportion of pike to musket.

 I realised after starting this group I did not have sufficient pikemen in my lead mountain to cover this at this time.

Focus on the Command team and their colourful dress code!

The figures were undercoated in white and then I painted flesh first - really, only because it was a sunny morning and I wanted to do something bright!

I moved on to the gun stocks - done with a faithful old pot of Bestial Brown, followed by the musketeer's coats using an even more faithful and even older pot of Army Painter 'Ash Grey' which expired on me as I was completing this unit. I will have to get some more.

Ash Grey is one of those shades that I find can be used for many armies and when used with 'dip', shading, the effect works really well. Hats, breaches, socks and hair were all done in a variety of colours before the steel work was painted in.

I used Army Painter 'Dark Tone' dip and then varnished with my current favourite matt varnish, available in the UK as part of the Windsor and Newton range - 'Galeria Matt Varnish'. See right.

So much for the men and NCOs, the officers are much more flamboyant and this is where the silliness kicks in...

Another close-up on the officers

As per the period, officers were not obligated to where uniforms and they supplied their own wardrobe for field service.

As you can see these guys have various interpretations of what is practical wear for on the field.

Fashion for the period was lead by the French and although these officers could represent any nationality, I have tried to show that they are followers (or victims) the current French fashions!


To tie the unit together I have given all the figures yellow ribbons on their hats, yellow ties on their socks and where appropriate yellow sashes and boot laces.

Another view - flags are swap-able,
so unit can be used for other nationalities

I constructed the flags myself using Microsoft Paint Software, and share here. It seems that Vienna region had a simple red over white flag - similar to today's Polish flag (albeit upside down) the city its-self had a coat of arms consisting of a white cross on a red shield.

So I have incorporated these to make two speculative flags that can be used for the period, see below - feel free to use - as I made them from scratch - there is no copyright etc on the flags!

Free to use, speculative Vienna Militia Flags

POINTS
20 x 28mm Infantry Figures @ 5 Points each = 100 Points
Rousell's Sandhill = 30 Points
TOTAL  100 + 30 = 130 Points

From DaveD - looking good i must say - and with floppy hats i think Ray will also be impressed! - lets go with extra 3 for the flag

From JohnS - A is for Assassin at Millsy's Millpond 55pts

I really thought that this entry would be called "T is for Thief" as this figure came from a packet of three figures I bought back in 1986/87 to get one to use for my thief character in AD&D. It wasn't until I dug it out for Millsy's brilliant challenge idea that I realised that it was marked as an Assassin.

From TSR ( I think that these were actually made by Citadel as TSR licenced minis) I remember visiting my parents for Christmas in 1986 and travelling by train up to Newcastle, NSW to Colin at Frontline Hobbies to get them. I painted up the one miniature and then put the others into the "cigar box of maybe painting later" which has grown over the years to become the "Room of Shame". Time and money well spent.

Once I realised that he was an Assassin I was inspired paint him in muted colours so he is good at hiding in the shadows. The strange shield design reflects the generic "filthy dungeon floor" that I have painted the base. I envisage him tucked into a corner, mottled cloak wrapped around him, any bits of shield exposed are the same colour as the floor and walls so they don't stand out. The first and last thing you see are those piercing blue eyes.

I painted the short sword like a Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife, dulled blued steel with the silver gleam of razor sharp edges...great for cutting fruit.

I used those fandangly Citadel Contrast paints on the cloak, good for getting the mottled effect I was hoping for. I actually splashed a couple of other colours on first to give it a multi-coloured undercoat which worked quite well.

I find it quite amusing that a sneaky assassin would have jangly bits on his boots. I guess that they are Magical Boots of Stealth or similar so maybe those bits don't make any noise. It wasn't until I started painting that I even noticed that he has a small crossbow tucked behind his back.

Overall this has been a fond trip down memory lane painting this chap. It has been years sinced I played AD&D but I think this stabby fellow will get some work in Frostgrave which I have played a couple of times with Odin's Night Club and would like to play some more.

If I have worked this out correctly; 5 points for the figure, 30 points for meeting Millsy's Challenge, plus 10 bonus points for a pre-90 figure and 10 points for remembering the origin story. 55 in total.

A little back-up crossbow is always handy

From DaveD - a classic from Millsy's millpond alright!

From TomM: Roussel's Sandhill: Regiment 1er Picardie (42 pts)

And so I arrive at the last obstacle on the Path of the New Shiney, the Sandhill of Roussel.

For this hobby challenge, one needs to paint up a model with an unformed tricorne... I went for two dozen of them.

As part of my reformation to the scale of 6mm for home games, I bought these 6mm Baccus musketeers for the "Wars of the Sun King" era of gaming, and they are just perfect for this challenge project.  All unformed tricornes as far as the eye can see!  Okay, well, perhaps that is exaggerated unless you have very poor eyesight, but heck...

But based and ready for battle, the 1st Picardie regiment, one of the oldest of lil' Louis's armies, they have a long and glorious history on the battlefield and now march on the field of battle of the AHPC, in a bit to conquer the island in the name of the Roi Soleil!

And adds a nice 24x0.5 points, or 12 in simpler terms, to my tally apart from the location bonus of 30 points, totalling 42 points.

And now the way is open to the Snow Lord's Peak, all that remains to be done now is travel the island by balloon and get the five objectives!

From DaveD - its another fine entry on the road the peak . Ray will be please! 42 it is

AdamC: Lady "Monk" Sarah's Balloon (35 points)

 Having reached the Snow Lord's Peak I have I need a good way to get down so I have called on Sarah's balloon.  This is a Reaper Bones miniature one their "Pathfinder" miniatures.

 I like this one because she's not over burdened by extra gear.  She does have a couple of pouches and flask of for water or maybe a potion. I kept the colors simple various shades of brown it looks like some sort of simple uniform like school of Martial arts or Monastery might use.

Most Monks wouldn't show midriff like this but one but well that's sort of how miniatures like this are made.  I'll probably give this one to my friend Mike Paine who has a neat Chinese city that always need durable miniatures for the kids to use at conventions.  Points should be 5 for a 25mm figures and 30 for the Map spot.  Sadly I don't have a bottle of Champange handy. Requesting transport to Reidy's Reef Lady Sarah


From DaveD. Well you are certainly moving around at a a fair old rate Adam! Off you go!

from RayR - 10mm Trojan Chariots - For Joshua 60 pts

I picked these figures up at Warfare in Reading from Newline Designs. These Trojan Chariots

will be posted on to James at Mad Tin Hatter Blog, to add to his For Joshua project. They will make up part of the Human army in his epic Fantasy v Human project. They are not painted up historically and I chose to make them quite colourful unlike the usual cow hide chariots.

And no Dave, they're not on giant bases either!
I've left them unbased as per James' request. Yes they were a bugger to set up, as they're not glued down, my fat sausage fingers kept knocking them over time and time again!!!!

I'm not actually sure of their points value I think its......
8 Chariots, = 24 points
16 Horses = 16 points
16 riders - 16 points

So that should be 56 points......i think?

From DaveD . Thats great Ray . They will be a great addition to the force ? We hope to have these alk out at the Hammerhead show in March. I think the basing is getting even thicker! - a tally of 60 points for you !

From ByronM - Curtgeld / Hawkins Hill and more Star Wars (140 Points)

Since it is getting close to the deadline for getting our entry fee completed for the challenge, I figured it was about time I get mine in!  HINT for anyone else that is slacking, the deadline is 30 days after the challenge started, so you have less than 1 week left!

I didn't really have a plan for anything specific for the entry fee since there was no real theme set for it this year.  So I started digging through my pile-o-shame looking for something that would be recognizable by challenge members as mine.  I came across a bunch of Great War figures left over from the first challenge that I entered which was in 2014, so #5 I believe?  Has it really been that long?

Worse yet, I got this all ready to go a few days ago and almost had it put live!  Then realized, that I would need something that was older than challenge #7 for my next map space!  See, I really am just winging it as I go... I really should have planned ahead!

So, here is a great war Canadian soldier that I am submitting as my entry fee.  He is waiting to be shipped off to a new home someplace.

Also this weekend, I worked on finishing up some more Star Wars: Legion figures.  These make up the last things I really need done to be able to play a game, so I will be trying to get one in this coming weekend with friends.  They are 4 speeder bikes with scout riders.

I am sure since the Imperial force can aim so well, they should have no issue missing obstacles as they speed along.  What could go wrong!

The only things I have left to paint up now for Star Wars are a few characters (which will get some more time spent on them) and some objective markers for missions.   Watch for them, coming soon(ish).

This should provide me with a little bit of a points boost.  I believe 5 base points and 25 bonus points for the Curtgeld plus 30 points for it being for Hawkins' Hill, and then 60 points (4 x 15) for the 40mm speeder bikes for a total of 120 points.


From DaveD. Thats a fine Curtgeld entry - i love the war weary look on his face.  Your Star wars stuff continues to inspire i must say. I am going with 140 points for this for you for the speeders