From AlanD: Thracians and Teensie Huns (130 points)

I can't match Paul O'G's Skulltacular skull overload, but at least I can offer a severed head.

It has been a pleasure this week starting on a little project painting Thracians for Mortal Gods, a game I have very much enjoyed playing with the said Paul. The real appeal of Thracians is partly the opportunity to paint these beautiful figures from Wargames Foundry, but mostly because they will annoy the hell out of Paul as they run around throwing javelins at his hoplites. It will be like playing Welsh against him in SAGA all over again.

In all seriousness though, these Foundry figures are just lovely, and worth the nightmare that is painting Thracian cloaks.

This week also saw the end of my 6mm Late Roman project, with a bunch of Huns and subject infantry skirmishers from Baccus. 

As far as points go, that should give me 45 points for the Thracians, then 48 cavalry and 48 infantry in 6mm (72 points), for a total of 117. Thanks!

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Lovely work, Dux. I have been a long admirer of the Foundry Thracian range and using Mortal Gods as the vehicle in which to stick one's toe is genius. As usual I'm impressed with your freehand brushwork with the patterns and shield devices - really lovely stuff. This extends to your 6mm Huns where the time you've spent on the details really do pay off in the end product.

I'm going to give a few extra points for the patterning on the Thracians to pop this up to 130 points. Again, wonderful stuff Alan!

-Curt

From DaveD: 15mm Normandy building (40 points)

The latest work has been adding more of the superb 15mm Tiger Terrain building to the collection.

I have in my head a Normandy town that i want to create - its called St Martin (although MartinC of this parish for who its named is no saint!)  .

   

The "Marie" - or "Hotel de ville"

the town hall building is modelled from the actual one at St Marie du Mont its is a cracking piece - it also has a swappable damaged roof



they all have removable roofs and floors . i have magnetised all of that as well

the out houses are another nice touch i think

with my other already completed bits 

These are brilliantly cast in resin by Stephen for who these are a work of love. No warping , no bubbles etc. I really enjoyed bringing them to life .

I plan to pick up another set of these later this year - as they are available with variable roof, dormer, and shutter options that give a lot of variety. 

Altogether - they are just about 40 points worth

right then - what next - maybe Old Blue might expecting something on his throne ? or is it a peak

Those buildings look great Dave - you've got quite the village now.

TamsinP

From MIkeW, 22 x 17th Century Balkan Infantry (115 Points)

So into the last week of the Challenge and although the deadline has been extended - I have a 'hard stop' the 19th March, as the following day we're away to attend a family wedding.

Undercoated figures

That said I'm hoping to finish on a high with this the first of two batches of figures that I have got ready and here's hoping I can get a third batch done in time for the big stop!

Unit's Left Flank, with drummer in right of picture

Anyway this post is regarding a second batch of 17th Century Balkan Infantry that I have been able to complete this weekend. First batch was posted as part of this challenge <here>.

Centre of unit, to left of picture is the unit's Officer

This batch of figures consisted of 22 x 28mm Perry plastic ACW Zouaves, converted much the same way as the first batch, substituting heads from Gripping Beasts' Arab Light Cavalry and Infantry packs and converting a couple of the figures into a Turkish musicians, one with drum and the other with a  horn

Focus on the command stand, flag is home made

A third figure was converted into an officer and an officer to lead the unit, he ha a shield and sword arm added from eth Gripping Beast Arab Light Cavalry box and a feather from the Warlord Games Landsknecht box.

Typically I would do a unit of 20 or 24, but with only 22 figures renaming from the pack I allowed each flank stand to be of only three figures, giving the front rank, 12 figures and the rear rank just 10

Unit's Right Flank

POINTS
22 x 28mm Infantry Figures @ 5 Points ea = 110 Points


From Daved - and still they come, MikeW gives us another entry today - its another fine one , netting 115 for the extra conversion stuff.  ,  maybe we might make this points target ? 1341 so far today - huzzah!

right thats me out of here - i have some painting to finish don't ya know..

From SidneyR: Regiment de Varennes, Flemish Stragglers and Enfants Perdus, 1688 (140 points)

More French cavalry for this post, this time being the regiment of Varennes.  Again I used 28mm figures from the older Wargames Foundry range.  Each of them comes with a couple of sword arms, allowing you to chose the pose of the arm, hand and sword. I swapped the Officer’s arm for a sword, which always - for French cavalry - seems a bit more formidable than waving a soft-leather gloved hand in the Flemish air.  

I added a fair amount of green-stuff for feathers, knots of ribbons on shoulders, cravats and some extra hat lace.  I've been enjoying doing this for the French cavalry, and foot.  Trying to make the army stand out, by the addition of unique features, is something which is always fun to do. The standard finial is from Bicorne and the lovely flag is from GMB Designs.  I thought that you can get quite a nice effect on the flag by painting the edging along the flag, including making sure the tasseled edge looks the part.

I kept the horses the same as before, with the Regiment de Luxembourg.  I tried an experiment with using inks on the horses, but this didn't really work well.  So I was back to a quick base paint on the horses and two layers of highlighting.  

Then, for my next "destination", I chose Benito's Brook.  Benito had asked for "A figure or vignette related to some brave feat of arms, almost hopeless against impossible odds".  I chose the defiant, but defeated, stragglers from a glorious Flemish defeat for the army of the (fictional) city of Laarden in 1688, trudging along the dusty summer roads of the Spanish Netherlands away from chasing French cavalry, dragoons and hussars.  

I had fun assembling the figures from a variety of manufacturers.  There's a mix of Dixons, Perry Miniatures, Wargames Foundry, and Colonel Bills - a variety of defiant, wounded, straggling and fallen figures.  I made the battle-ragged standard out of some art paper, suitably cut with a scalpel, glued in place with Bostik, and fixed in place with a PVA wash.  A defiant task, taking the regimental flag away to be repaired and re-embroidered by a Laarden seamstress.

I also wanted to enter the stragglers into my very self-indulgent "Characters of Laarden" collection.  Here's their collectible card.

And finally, one of the things I like about the Challenge is the chance to finish off older figures which have been lingering in a box for years.  These figures are from Reiver Castings, and I've wanted to do something with them for some time.  I had the idea of cutting them in half and painting them up as making a river crossing - or, in the case of the Laarden campaign of 1688, wading through a flooded inundation created by the increasingly desperate Laarden high command.

I painted them up as French enfants perdus, leading the line against the obdurate, stubborn Flemish defenders.  The Reiver castings looked slightly rough when I got them out of the packet.  The metal was fairly shiny, and they looked to be overly-lumpy.   However, once undercoated, painted and inked, they started to look hugely better.  Their slightly exaggerated style of casting takes paint very nicely indeed, and they look rather good from a distance, I felt!   They were also very reasonably priced - so a good result all round - perhaps the rest of the 15 figures I bought might find their way into a future Challenge.

But, before anything else, I also created a "Characters of Laarden" card - although identifying them more as a 'Nemesis of Laarden' might be more appropriate.  Here's their collectible card:

So, on to the points. 

= For the Regiment de Varennes, six figures, at 10 points each, adds 60 points to the total.

= For the Flemish Stragglers, six more figures, at 5 points each will add another 30 points, with an additional 30 for the "Benito's Brook" destination - so 60 points to the total.

= And for the Enfants Perdus, I want to request 5 points each - but, hang on Sidney, the guys' legs are missing.  So, perhaps 10 points for the three is reasonable?

And, overall,   (60+60+10) gives another 130 points for my total.

From DaveD -aah young Sid my lad.. thats a fine bit of painters fancy alright..i love the look of whole ensemble - so let call this 140 !

From NoelW: The Road Twice Travelled : Douglas’ Shallows: (18 points)

There

and Back Again

At last, the beginning is in sight. Douglas' Shallows. Straight across the straits sits our little fleet, bobbling on the waves like foam on a cappacino*

We ourselves also wave excitedly and in virtually no time at all we’re back in the welcoming arms of our comrades, though they become surprisingly less welcome when they learn we’re almost lootless. However, we introduce them to the courtesies of Tiddles and in two shakes of a warg’s tail, our anchors are upped and our little expedition is heading home.

Ah! Home – free from badgers, balloons and Snowlords, replete with sunshine, the kisses of our loved ones and perhaps also our partners and a decent lager at last. We simply can’t wait.

Full sail ahead, matey, that away – straight for those enticing black clouds on the horizon.

---

*(Possibly a small monkey wearing jeans)

The ship is a Black Seas US frigate, the Chesapeake. 

I like the frigate models, and they don't take too much effort to paint or to rig, as long as I can find enough patience for the more fiddly aspects of the job.

A couple more details:

With this post I finish my return trip. I’ve visited every location on this island twice (and had the pleasure of Lady Sarah’s company six times en route). In a total of 40 posts, I’ve written 23,000 words, which is about a third of a novel. Tiring, or what?

Meanwhile, I’ve also been sporadically working on non-island-relevant figures, unsystematically (there’s a surprise!) and hope to complete as many as possible of them in the remaining days of the Challenge, if for no other reason than to give Martin a run for his money. They’re mainly additions to projects I’ve already written about, though there might be the odd surprise, too.

Scoring: 18 points for a single frigate

(No bonus for location, as this is my second visit here.)

From DaveD - Boing , bounce .. etc as Noel continues his revisit - or is it just emptying a very random lead mountain -lovely job lets call that 20 . 

right we are now 1076 for the day -- better ... but  must try harder come on slackers! .. 

Paul O'G Ascends the Snowlord's Peak! (475 Points!)

Followed by his goatlike sherpas, a sweating Paul reaches the plateau and calls out in a loud and mildly intoxicated voice:

"OI! Hear me oh Mighty Snowlord! I approach your mighty kingdom bearing gifts to honour your Majesty"

A mighty voice bellows back from the distance

"Oh Yeah? Go on..."

Paul empties the last dregs from his ale horn before continuing:

"Yes oh Mighty One, thrice you challenged me and thrice I answer the call!

First - your challenge to build a unit for my Mortal Gods collection. May I present a Musician with taste far gentler than my own - with his double barrelled Aulos he can inspire those who fight in your name!

Presenting a Musician who as a seperate unit in Mortal Gods provides buffing bonuses to Phalanx and Light troops alike. More importantly, last year Reilly and I had an amazing tour of ancient Greece together - we had daily competitions to be the first one to find an "Aulos dude" amongst the various friezes and artwork. So this guy is fun for me because of those memories.

-------
A voice from atop the mountain yells down:
"Well thats OK I guess, but not very inspiring and not a skull to be seen - what else have you got?"

Paul opens the next bag:
"Next I bring as thee Commanded - heavily armed beastmen - they do smell a bit gamey mind, but they will fight fiercely for you my Lord!"

Presenting an elite unit of Bestigors - heavily armoured and wielding powerful double-handed weapons.  They promise to chop their opponents to bits before lashing the bloody remnants to the herdstone.  10 Warriors and a Champion to lead them.

The Snowlord declares: "Thats more like it! And a few skulls too I see - how many?"

Paul: "A mere 20 my Lord, but there is more"

Snowlord: "More? This is indeed a bountiful offering - bring forward the last"

Paul: "I have saved the best til last your magnificence. I have slaved hard at the painting bench with these, crafting them to the best of my ability. May I present:

Kharn and the Kharnivores!

This is my new World Eaters Kill Team - long range firepower is not their speciality!

I did a lot of conversions on these boys, to give me all sorts of weapon options - from double chainswords, double chain axes, combos of both and lighting claws

And to lead them the anti-hero: infamous Kharn the Betrayer!

Snowlord: Very nice - and 64 skulls between them too! Whats that they are standing on?

Paul: That is part of my offering of Lord, the Throne of Skulls!

It boasts an impressive 226 skulls. (amusingly, I had just bought this when I ran into Barks at CanCon - it was hard to keep the inner smile from my face knowing I had this secret weapon for our side duel)

To summarise my offerings Lord, it is 23 x 28mm infantry models, one standard terrain cube, points for the map location and I do believe, My Lord, you said something about a skull bonus?

Skull-o-meter Overload: 310 Skulls!!!
(This brings my total skull count to 543 metric noggins!)

I hope that these offerings please and amuse you oh mighty Snowlord, and I await your judgement.

______________________________________________

Haha! This is just brilliant Paul - truly in the spirit of the Snow Lord's Peak Challenge!

My pocketbook had a bit of a twinge when seeing the Greek musician as I think I'm about to fall hard for this Mortal Gods malarkey, and this small chap may just be enough to finally push me over the precipice. 

Those Bestigors (as opposed to the much maligned 'Crappigors') look magnificent in all their choppy, horny, smelly glory. I anticipate many skulls will be harvested from this lot.

Finally, your oh-so-nuanced World Eaters kill team look to be the absolute bomb, erm, absolute axe? absolute Chainsword? Well, you know what I mean. And that Throne of Skulls is completely ridiculous, in a wonderful, gory sort of way. I have a sneaking suspicion that you may have humbugged poor Barks and myself with this whole Skulley McSkullface Challenge. I can only hope he'll be producing something like a Ziggurat of Skulls as a suitable response. :)

Nonetheless, I am a man of my word, so the grand total for this excellent submission, with the noggin-shattering skull bonus, will be a stonking 475 points. Geez! That's one of our larger points bomb on record and blasts you past your personal goal for this year. Methinks that with me at the helm, tossing out points like a drunken sailor, Tamsin can rest a little easier about our overall target...

As to your treasure, Paul, I'm delighted to present you with this plucky pulp adventuress painted by your good mate, the talented AlanD. 

Well done Paul you've done the Peak proud!

-Curt Actual Out