From Mark B: Dwarfs on Glorianthra (185 Points)

For my first challenge I wanted to land on the planet of Glorianthra on the outer rim. The challenge involved runes, heroes and quests… the answer had to be Dwarfs!

What better way than with some Oldhammer Dwarfs! These are Bugman’s Dwarf Rangers. The second incarnation of the regiment of renown (and in my opinion the best - but possibly that just reflects my age!) These are great characters with wonderful faces and proud beards. The runes are all the letter ‘B’ for Bugman’s a potent Dwarf brew created by the unit leader Josef Bugman.  The shields are hand painted with the foaming brew emblazoned on each shield.

Along with the 17 Dwarf rangers I added 9 Dwarf crossbows. I already had a small unit of these but these are the rest of the old school figures I had managed to pick up over the last few years on eBay and bring and buy sales at shows. Mostly Citadel miniatures with a couple of the slightly later Marauder sculpts.

 

Now to finish this planet I really needed a quest. What better quest than a death quest by a group of Troll and Giant slayers? 4 more crazed warriors hoping for a heroic death at the hands of a far larger beast! Mostly Marauder Miniatures with a rather ugly more recent Citadel figure with two axes, who frankly looks daft! The others in contrast are wonderful sculpts, especially the slayer with the eye patch and huge hammer!

So that’s 30 28mm figures = 150 points

The planet completed = 20 points

Grand total = 170 points

Something even smaller next time I think!

Cheers

Mark B

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Ahhh, like the saying goes: There's no school like old school. These are wonderful, Mark. I'm not a huge fan of Dwarfs by any stretch ('Dogs of War' all the way), but I still get a little misty seeing all these venerable models. I agree, the newer sculpts aren't nearly as characterful as the crazy-looking originals (love the eyepatch guy as well), so all the hunting and gathering has been more than worth it. 

I'm giving you 15 extra points for the hand painted Bugman shields. Lovely work that.

Welcome back to the Challenge, Mark!

- Curt

From IanS: First post of Challenge XII - Ancients, and Napoleonic's all 15mm

This will be only my second year on the challenge, and I have been looking forward to this all year.  This time around the majority of the figures will be for myself with some for my son.

The projects for this year are:

Napoleonic:  15mm

Wurttemberg army for 1809

Danish army for 1813

Foreign Cavalry for the French army – This has come about due to the release of the Warlord Games waterloo epic range and Wargames Illustrated free sprue on December’s issue.  Due to the generosity of the members of the Farnbourgh wargaming club and extra sprues from Wargaming Illustrated I have ended up with 6 French and 6 British Heavy cavalry sprues -240 figures and 12 guns.  My son has set me a challenge to use them to make units that are not French or British so over the next few months there will be numerous conversions of these figures.

Ancients:  15mm

Ancient British – My first 15mm army which has been stripped and is undergoing repainting

Seleucid – Due to points system for local rules being changed I find that I need more units for this army, what a shame.

Ptolemaic – My sons Christmas present 

Naval:

Italian per dreadnoughts 1/3000 all ships will be scratched built

Last year I had a frozen left shoulder which did not hinder my painting but this year I have a frozen right shoulder which causes my hand to tremble after about 15 minutes painting as well as not allowing me to sleep longer than and hour and a half.  Put the combination does seem to work for the challenge, wake with pain paint for 15 mins try to sleep repeat till need to go to work.

My first entries are in the ancients with a Ptolemaic Phalanx.  Figures are from Outpost Wargaming Services

Next up an Ancient British warband figures from ebay but I recognise some Donnington’s in the mix.

Lastly in the ancient’s category is a unit of Seleucid Cataphracts again figures from the Outpost Wargaming Services.

Napoleonic Entries

These are Wurttemberg units for my 8^th Corps 1809.

2^nd Chevauleger all figures from Warlord Games Epic French Heavy cavalry Sprue.  In true Christmas tradition the printer packed up so I was unable to print standards for units.

Horse artillery a 2 gun battery again using the figures from the Warlord Games Epic sprues.  This time I have used the Royal Horse Artillery figures from the British sprue and combined them with the French gun carriage.

And finally, some infantry, unfortunately I have no idea what the make is as again an ebay purchase.

So, points I would like to claim:

Ptolemaic Phalanx - 16  x 15mm figures = 32

Ancient British warband – 12 x 15mm figures = 24

 Seleucid Cataphracts – 11 x 15mm figures = 44

(Yes I know there are 12 in pictures, but one was a test run done before the challenge started)

 

Wurttemberg Cavalry – 12 x 15mm figures = 48

Wurttemberg Infantry – 22 x 15mm figures – 44

(Again 2 test figures)

Wurttemberg Artillery – 8 x 15mm figures – 16

                                            2 x 15mm guns – 8

 

Total claimed – 216 points.

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Fantastic stuff with this crashing opening volley, Ian!  Wow, incredible output. You've been very industrious over the holidays. I like that you have your projects all lined-up and organized for the Challenge. I wish I had such discipline, but I seem to be happiest when I'm pinwheeling all over the place. 

So much to like here, but I have to say that my favourites are the colourful warband warriors and the Seleucid Cataphracts with their red lances. Lovely stuff. This entry will pop you quite high in the points standings. Terrific work, Ian!

- Curt

From PeterD: 8mm Dark Age Terrain (5 points)

I wasn't supposed to be posting today.  I was supposed to be in Halifax, NS staying with my mother in law and doing Christmas with family.  However, we cancelled our tip based on COVID numbers and so here I am.

First up for me is a couple of terrain items in 28mm.  These are 28mm scale and MDF kits from Sarissa.  I've had good experience with Sarissa and these were no exception.  The main piece is a barn or forge.  It is sold in their dark age range but I figure that I can use it for my Beowulf themed RPG games, my El Cid era games and my SYW games plus others.

The other bit is a piece of dock that should have been painted a while back.  I finished up some similar docks and a Viking town for a tabletop RPG game featuring Thigmund the Thea Therpent, but somehow missed this one.

Points wise these measure out to be about 1/4 a of terrain cube so that's 5 points to erase my duck.

We are in the midst of a Prairie cold snap so I'll be hunkered down like this fellow who took up temporary residence in our snow bank

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Be careful Peter, it may look cute, but I hear those have nasty, big, pointy... well, you know the rest.

Nice work on these mate! Sarissa makes great stuff, and these two pieces will be very nice additions to your picturesque seaside Dark Age village.

Well done and welcome back to the Challenge!

And stay warm!

- Curt

From Pete F: Stargrave Crew land on Babylon 5 (65 points)

 

Babylon 5 is Operatic and/or Low Budget Fun - a perfect planet for a Stargrave Crew. Crews for this "Frostgrave In Space" game are 10 strong - but you only see 9 here. That's because I started the crew in the summer, completing only one of its members. To comply with the rules of Challenge I re-primed the remaining crew members before starting over.

The idea was to have a uniform colour scheme but individualize each crew member - I think it looks OK from 2 feet away! The clear bases have magnets in them so the crew can be easily transported - drilling a hole and gluing the figures without ruining the bases was, er, challenging for one of my skill level - thumbs seem to have become fatter in the last 12 months. Again, looking at them from 2 feet away and taking my glasses off seems to solve any problems.

I thought about saving the hacker and the assassin for when I need to use the Star Yacht - but they wanted to stay with their crew.

I'm really looking forward to finally playing a game of Stargrave - I went all in with the Nickstarter and got boxes of crew, mercenaries an troopers with a pile of other Northstar sprues as well as some nice metal minis. Several of my gaming friends are already playing it and like the game. One of them has a printer and a bunch of sci fi terrain so we'll be set for monsters and playing fields. Ten minis is a nice, low budget threshold to get into the game - any old sci fi stuff can work - I'm eying up the Wargames Atlantic lizardmen (Lizards. In. Spaaaaace!) and I've put together a few of their spiders holding laser/blasters (Spiders. In. Spaaaace!) to oppose this crew - going to have to start thinking about their background, the name of their spaceship and all that.

Nine 28mm figures and a new planet

9x5 = 45 plus 20 = 65 points

Squirrel:1 (Total:2)

Skullz:0 (Total:0)

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A great looking band of interstellar miscreants. I especially like that hacker-type with the pink hair and dataslate. Tip on the clear bases. If you use superglue they have to be completely dry and you should be wearing nitrile gloves. Reason being that ANY moisture (even wicked from your fingertips) can cause the glue to frost. The less crazy-making method is to use this stuff:

https://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/instant-glue/646-e600-adhesive-for-acrylic-plastics-9ml.html?search_query=glue&results=310

Apparently made from the tears of orphans mixed with the saliva of West African newts. I dunno, but it works.

Again, a wonderful looking crew for your adventures in... Spaaaace!

- Curt

From ScottM: 54mm War of 1812 U.S. Units (220 pts)

Merry Christmas all! My first entry for this years' challenge is a pair of 54mm War of 1812 units. These two units are the last unpainted units for this project. These figs are 54mm metal figs from the sadly now-closed All The King's Men. Both units are done up for the U.S. side. First up is a unit of infantry.

Next is an artillery unit with a small gun.

As this completes my War of 1812 project, I thought I'd post up a group photo of the whole lot. First pic is the U.S. forces and the second is the British/Canadian/First Nation forces.

So that should be:

20 - 54mm foot figs = 200 points

1 - 54mm artillery piece = 20 points

Total = 220 points

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Wow! Here we're treated to a wonderful paint bomb, for sure! You've been a busy lad, Scott!

I love the old school toy-soldier look to these. Our local sculptor/caster JohnB will be quite chuffed to see these. I particularly like the group shot with all the forces arrayed on the tabletop. Fantastic stuff Scott - you streak to the top of the roster with this group, well done!

- Curt

From BruceR: The Silver Bayonet - 28mm Spanish Hunters - Istvann V (55 Points)

This my second Challenge and my first post, I'm excited to once again share in the hobby with all who pick up the gauntlet as it were.  Without saying, thanks to Curt and Sarah, as well as the Minions, making this all possible.  

As a typical gamer I have many projects and interests.  When Joe McCollough hinted at Napoleonic Gothic Horror release, I bit.  Preordered the book and all the forces.  Yes, another lead junkie.  The few gamers I regularly play with do many types of games, and we had great fun with Frostgrave as it took all of us back to our origin with D&D as our first foray into games and allowed small games with 4-6 players.  I love historical and Napoleonic is tops.  I have large forces in 15mm and gradually expanding to 28mm.  So, I felt confident my group would like The Silver Bayonet for multi-player type games.  

Last challenge the "Chamber" had me break out some Alternative Army Flintlouqe figures for one of the rooms.  Well, before I received The Silver Bayonet I went to the lead bin and dug out more Flintlouqe miniatures, which were perfect for this game.  With a games weekend planned with buddies before X-mas and one of our expatriate gamers coming back for the games I decided we needed to give it a try.  So, a few figures painted (ghast) prior to the challenge I made up 6 forces with already painted Napoleonics and new painted Flintlouqe French elves we had a smashing time. (the book arrives 1 week prior, thanks, Lon, Brigade Games).   

The game is great and maybe it is my age, but these figures will be on the board for TSB and Sharp's Practice.  Dual purpose.  Yes, I'm a firmly converted Lardy.

I intend to paint all three forces I have received as they are great figures and wonderful for both TSB and Sharpes Practice.  Woe is me as I see three new forces will be released in January.  More lead for the lead box.

Up first the Spanish Hunters.  These figures are fabulous and I have painted them using the box art for inspiration.  I'm sure this says something about my side of brain thinking, I paint more efficiently with a guide (thus historical preferred) The Hunters are loaded with rosary beads and crosses, giving them the true Spanish guerrilla effect based in religion.  Who could not love a monster hunter in a top hat.  

I freely admit I'm a 3 foot detail painter.  No museum pieces here, I propose they look good on the table (at 3 feet) and I can crank out more even with character pieces.  Hope you enjoy.   

ISTVAAN V: BETRAYAL; HERETICAL/HERETICS; With war raging in Iberia these hunters take missions both, to hunt down all types of horrors loosed upon their lands and any backstabbing French forces they may meet in their travels.  The French coming to their lands initially as friends and ending up betraying all Spanish and overthrowing the God faring royalty.

   Basecoat applied.

Spanish Hunters minus one, who has been tasked with finding alternate transportation. (I'm taking the Snow Lords advice of last year and not posting all my female figures at once and using them to jet around the galaxy)

I present VEGA'S VENGENCE (all names shamelessly

stolen from TV and/or movies)

Admiral Don Diego de la Vega

Veteran Hunter Ricky Ricardo

Pvt Victor Sifuentes

Artillerist William Adama Consuela

Champion of Faith father Pedro Sanchez 

CPL Frederick Lebre Diaz

Guardsman Sapper PVT Danniel Trejo "the AXE"

There is my first submission.   Slowly worked on them using the hour a day method and pecked away at the posting during the holiday.  Two days away to celebrate with family and now poised to hit "Ready" if I read Tamsin's instructions correctly.  I hope to start on the British force today.  Happy Christmas, Stay safe and Healthy and below zero in the Dakotas for the next week so lots of painting might get done.   

7 28mm infantry @5     = 35pts

Istvaan V outer rim        = 20

Total                               = 55pts

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Welcome back Bruce! Fantastic post. It seems that 'Silver Bayonet' is the new shiny this season. Of course, I am more susceptible than most, so I quickly nabbed a Kindle copy, AND ordered a book as well.  Yep. No. Will. Whatsoever.  :) 

I like that your 'team' is made up of Spanish hunters. Very characterful! I especially like Ricky Ricardo (boo!), with his cuirass, blunderbuss and crucifix. In fact, if you look at his pack of tricks you can clearly see that this el luchador is ready for anything!

Terrific work Bruce!

- Curt