From DaveD: Viet Cong (52 points)

Fortunately following my little escapade last week I had some part completed VC for the Nam project that didn't need too much work or any fine motor finger work with my dodgy painting hand. 

So here we have 10 foot and one prone firing the PRD. These are by Gringo's40 as are most of the figure collection. Ged from Gringos has a whole host of other releases due this year to relieve me of my hobby cash -LeeH also has to answer for the fort that has been ordered - but hey. I have gone for the fairly simple and perhaps traditional dark look for the VC. I have another 20 in the wings that will more variety hence they didn't get done this week. 

Total 10x28mm foot = 50

1 x28mm prone = 2

____________________________

These VC are excellent Dave, especially considering your recent unplanned flight attempt. :) I like the iconic look of their 'black pajamas', especially amongst your excellent jungle terrain. 

- Curt

From MilesR: A World Wind Tour of the Galaxy (932 Points)

 

OK, its been awhile since I made a post for Challenge XII.  In fact this is just my second post.  I could hide behind the excuse of complications from my knee replacement surgery, which is true but dealt with.  The real culprit is the gentlemen in the picture, Impawator Augustus the First, who demands attention and is a lot of fun to play with - who am I to deny the Impawator his wishes.

Anyway, I have been at the painting bench when both my knee and Gus allow and some progress has been made.  I'm also not unaware of the "Quadrant Challenge" and hope this post puts me back on the path of the pious as we visit a "few" planets.  Few as in more than 1 or 10.

Buckle up baby, this is going to be a long post.  I'm working on 2 big projects during this Challenge.  The first, Manzikert, was revealed in my last post with about 1/3rd of the Byzantines painted up.  This post will see about 1/3rd of their Seljuk opponents, all in glorious 10mm scale.  Have you heard of our lord and savior, 10mm scale?  Please let me help you on your path to righteous.

I present to you 1/3rd of Alp Arslan Seljuk's from Mazikert.  All of these figures are 10mm Magister Militum figures and are great figures.

The first Seljuk contingent comes to us by way of the planet CAPRICA and are mounted archers - just the perfect tool for executing a wiley ambush.  These troops might be Seljuks, they could be Pecheneg or Cuman mercenaries - it's kind of hard to tell.  All I know is that they do run circles around slow moving Cataphracts.

Next up are some more heavily armored Medium Cavalry.  These were typically also armed with bows and proved to be very flexible on the battle field.

The last Seljuk cavalry contingent are the heavies - one unit of Persian cataphracts in the front and 2 units of Faris household cavalry.

Finally some infantry.  The actual accounts for Mazikert are unclear if Alp Arslan had any infantry there but as this army will be used for other battles (can anyone say Crusades?) painting up some medium infantry and arab archers is never a bad idea.

Some extra command stands with pretty banners in the back.

Well it's time to move on from CAPRICA and onto the DEATH STAR (Planet count 2), where we can visit a ship of very questionable design - the USS Dunderberg / French Romchabeau.

This is a 1/600 scale model of this ill-fated ship that I 3D printed.  The files are from a company called East Coast Ironclads.

The Dunderberg was laid down in 1862 as a ocean going Ironclad but due to both design flaws and resources was not completed until after the civil war was over.

She was then bought by Napoleon III and patrolled the North Sea during the Franco Prussian War.  Her war cruise was cut short when the French admiralty ordered her to port so her crew could be sent to defend Paris.  I think she is a neat looking ship and you nay see some more British and French Ironclads in 1/600 scale over the course of this Challenge.  This is a big model at over 7 inches long.  I suggest scoring her like a 28mm vehicle for 20 points but leave that up to the discretion of my minion, Curt.

Next on our little sojourn through the stars is SKARA (Planet Count 3), where we meet up with some rather strange Dr's in the form of 2 10mm Orc Shaman and their assistants, all based up for Warmaster.

There will be some other Orc minis in this post which are test paints for my planned ORC Warmaster army in glorious 10mm scale.  Is this the other big project I spoke about earlier?  Nope just a bit of diversion before diving back into Mazikert.  All of the Orc figures are from Magister Millitum.

As we bid farewell to SKARA (dont drink the potions the Orcs gave you) we now travel onto the dark and forboding world of KLENDATHU (Planet Count 4),   The planets topic of "Invasion gone bad" is best represented by this Marine Battalion from the battle of Peleliu in teeny tiny 3mm scale using Pico Miniatures.  The Marines and their LVTP's are on the right (just wait a bit about the other guys).  Is this the other big project?  Yes it is - I'm working on staging the battle of Peleliu with each base being a company - hopefully it will be ready to play at Fall-in this coming November.

Next door to Klendathu, is the much more welcoming planet of GLORANTHA (Planet Count 5), Whose theme of hero is best represented by this ORC hero riding a Yak in stunning and majestic 10mm scale.

Yes, that's right, Nothing says hero more than riding a damn Yak into battle.  This Orc may not be all that smart, but man does he have some style.

Let's move on from Glorantha and onto the neighboring ISTAVAN V (Planet Count 6), and the very definition of loyalty at Manzikert - the Varangian Guard who never deserted the emperor despite a hopeless situation.  I've finished five bases and will need another 3 but ran out of Vikings.  Don't worry, more have been ordered. 

The next planet in out little journey is BABYLON V (Planet Count 7).  Hey wait a minute, you've seen this picture before!  Yeas you have but we really didn't discuss the Japanese battalion with some artillery and adorable Ha-Go tanks.  

3mm is becoming the go-to scale at the club for ww2 as as you can field entire divisions and corps for a very limited investment of both capital and time.  In fact, it the the very definition of high quality but LOW BUDGET FUN.  

Next in the planet rotation is Vulcan, but I don't have anything ready for that so lets go the other way around.

On the Other side of Caprica is ARDA (Planet Count 8), which is oftern referred to the Middle Earth of the galaxy given its Tolkenian theme.  What better fits a Tolkien themed than some more 10mm scale Orcs?  Really nothing.  There are some misc command stands and a single 24 figure Orc regiment.

Our last stop in the outer ring is SOLARIS (Planet Count 9) and it's an illusionary theme we're going for.  By the time of the Battle of Manzikert, imperial neglect and mismanagement had rendered the once imposing Tagmata or regular portion of the Byzantine army a hollow shell, as represented by this Tagmata regiment of fully armored cataphracts.  While fearsome in look and reputation, the moral and staying power of these formations was very poor, as the emperor discovered to his shock on that fateful day.

These figures are 10mm Pendrakken ones, which I like better than the Magister Millitum counter parts.

Well we seem to have flown by every planet in the outer ring, surely this insufferable post must be drawing to a close. Nope, suck it up, theres more.

Lets go the the secondary ring and visit the planet LV 426 (Planet Count 10).  It might be a really bad idea to do so, but I don't care.  You know what would have been a really bad idea - a British Intervention in the US Civil War as represented by this British Intervention Force in 6mm (Baccus figures).

These figures are based where 1 stand equals 1 brigade and will be used with the Altar of Freedom ruleset for a campaign I will be running up at the club.

It's super silly campaign idea but should be a lot of fun!

You know what's next door to LV 426? NOEL's COMET (Planet Count 11) and this will be our final stop for this post.  I know we all miss noel and this theme of friendship is a wonderful one.  I built this 28mm scale Spanish Villa for a friend who is getting into Napoleonic skirmish gaming

The Sarissa precision kit is very nice but I tarted it up a bit by adding texture to all the walls and little bit of ground foam.

and the doors open!

The ivy is some old HO-scale ivy I had hanging around the shop.

Well that's it for this post - its a bit of a handful to score but I'll try to summarize below

11 Planets: 220 Points

10mm Seljuk Turks

- 116 Mounted @ 2 pts/each = 232

- 133 foot @ 1 pt/each = 138

10mm Byzantines

- 15 Armored Cataphracts = 30 

- 42 Varangian Guards = 42

10mm Orcs

 - 4 mounted = 8

 - 42 foot = 42

1/600 Scale Ironclad

- Dunderberg / Rochambeau = 20 points ?

6mm British Intervention Force 

- 36 mounted figures = 36 points

- 156 infantry figures @0.5/each = 78

- 4 Artillery Guns + crew = 12

Villa

Overall dimensions 4"x 14" x 12" = 672 cubic inches, 216 per scoring cube so that is 3.1 or 60 points, lets round that down to 50 points

3mm ww2 

13 15x40mm bases, current scoring is 12 points for a 60x30mm base.  3 15x40 bases fit within 60x30 so that would equate to 4 60x30 bases or 48 points - that feels really high so lets cut that in half and go with 24 points

Grand Total: 932 points

It feels good to have another submission and finally knock a little of the rust off the painting machine.  I think the next few weeks might be even more productive - well assuming the Impawator concurs.

_________________________________________

Okaaay, wow. That is a heap of stuff. Great work Miles.

- Curt

IanS: 15mm Ancients and Napoleonics (412 Points)

 Dear All

Due to a family illness I have not posted for a couple of weeks and although I have painted a few figures I had not based any.  So this week I have been frantically basing figures.

First up Ancients, this post is just Ancient British.  The wonders of this challenge is that every time I go to my spares/eBay box I find more figures to paint.  So last weeks dip into the box for a spare wheel for a chariot uncovered two bags of Celts I had won on eBay.  This means that I have enough for another clan, 5 warbands, 2 light infantry and a light cavalry unit.

So first Up are 4 warbands, I recognise some of the figures as being Donnington have no idea on the rest.

Here we have 2 light infantry units again a mixture of manufacturers mostly unknown.

The mounted arm for this army, a unit of light cavalry and a chariot unit.  

So only have 4 warband, a slinger, Light Cavalry and General and then the army will be finished, may be for this Friday as there is an ancient game at the club.

Total Army will be 30 warband, 12 Light infantry, 6 Light Cavalry, 3 Chariot units and 3 generals.  The last unit to be done for this army is a suggestion of a band, the singing slingers which are being converted as we speak.

So points 

Warband 48 x 15mm figures = 96pts

Light Infantry 16 x 15mm figures = 32pts

Light Cavalry  8 x 15mm figures = 32pts

Chariots 8 x 15mm figures plus 4 chariots (4pts each) = 32pts

Total I would like to claim - 192pts

In addition I would like to claim a Squirrel pt for the warband. 

Napoleonic

In the continuation of finding units that are not French to use the Epic Waterloo figures acquired through Wargames Illustrated we have a Westphalian Cuirassier Brigade consisting of two Cuirassier regiments, and two gun horse artillery battery.  One of my many pet hates is white uniforms i just cannot get it right, so when the option of what uniform to use for the 1st regiment, my son said white, oh happy days.

Now i did say on my last post that i would put some comparison shots of these figures against other makes.  I only have two makes of Napoleonic cavalry, Lancashire Games and Minifigs.  Left is Minifigs centre Epic and right Lancashire games .

As you can see there is not a lot of difference between them.  The big difference is cost with metal figures ranging from 80 -100p these come in circa 22p.  

Next up more Wurttembergers, two line battalions and a brigadier figures are from Warrior Miniatures

 

Points

Westphalian Cu - 24 x 15mm Figures = 96pts

Westphalian Art - 8 x 15mm figures and two guns = 24pts

Wurttemberg Inf - 48 x 15mm figures = 96pts

Wurttemberg Brigadier - 1 x 15mm figure = 4pts

Total to be claimed - 220pts

Plus Two Squirrel points 1 for Westphalian and the other for the Wurttembergers

So for this post

Ancients  - 192 

Napoleonic - 220

Total - 412pts

Squirrel - 3

A couple of questions curt 

1. For squirrel pts can I get one for 24 Wurttemberg line infantry and another for 24 Wurttemberg light infantry?

2. Do all figures have to be based to collect pts?

____________________________

Very fine work Ian and quite the points bomb as well. Well done!

As to your questions: 

Squirrel Points. Stuart is the SquirrelFinder General so I defer to his ruling, BUT as I understand it, you would get one point for your Wurttembergers entire, not for each troop type within the nationality. The Squirrel Points are 'awarded' for each entirely unique theme/period/force. I think that if you did French Napoleonics you could claim a Squirrel for that as they themeatically different from the Wurttembergers. Again, I defer to Stuart to adjudicate.

Unbased Figures. Figures can still be scored if they are unbased, but should have 20% deducted from their total. So a 28mm figure will be scored as 4 points instead of 5.

- Curt

From GregB: 28mm Prussian Dragoons for Franco-Prussian War of 1870 (120 points)

28mm Prussian Dragoons, ready to advance into France in 1870!

One of the great recurring themes of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is tackling overdue projects. Sure - we are constantly distracted by new things, or starting new projects (or maybe just me?) - but those figures you had purchased, set up and primed, but, for whatever reason, just couldn't get under the brush...this Painting Challenge is a prime time to tackle those dormant, stranded projects. In this spirit, I present these 12 Prussian Dragoons for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. These are 28mm figures from Wargames Foundry.

Red facings on this lot...

I started doing the Franco-Prussian War back in...2017, I think? Something like that - the "before times", at any rate. I so love the setting, I do it in different scales! In 28mm, I have been using the Wargames Foundry range for my "Black Powder" efforts in this setting. At the outset, for Prussian cavalry, I wanted a unit of Dragoons, as there was often a Dragoon regiment joined to the Prussian infantry units. I ordered some Dragoons from Wargames Foundry, enough for one unit - 12 figures. 

Painting horses is a drag, but I do love cavalry...

Yet when I finally got round to painting them in the summer of 2018, I saw there had been a mistake (either by me, or by Foundry - both are possible, although the former is more likely). I had two command packs, instead of one. This should not have been any kind of issue, but I have OCD-adjacent hobby quirks...I could not mentally resolve having two command figures within one regiment, even though the odds that anyone would besides me would ever notice were  vanishingly small. I sorted this by painting up two half-regiments...two units of six figures each...and told myself I would just order more regular Dragoon troopers to finish out the units. I noted to myself at the time that I would do this "very soon". 

So...fast-forward to 2021...lots of stuff going on, I was moving house...and as the 2021 Painting Challenge came about, I told myself "I am so damn tired of looking at those half-units of Dragoons on my display shelf downstairs! THIS year, I will get them finished up." I duly ordered the requisite figures from Wargames Foundry...I even built them and primed them...and...well, got distracted by other stuff, insert excuses here, etc. etc.

Dragoons were often attached to Prussian infantry divisions - this is why there were my first selection for 28mm cavalry for my Franco-Prussian War project

In the interim, the Perry brothers released their own new sculpts for the Franco-Prussian War in 28mm. This included brand new - and arguably, much, much nicer - sculpts for Prussian Dragoons. But I was committed to the Foundry range, at least for these figures. Having started with Foundry, I wanted to finish with Foundry (which, of course, are also sculpted by the Perry twins..but anyway)...nonetheless, such useless contemplation on whether to switch over to Perry Dragoons fuelled further procrastination on this specific aspect of this project...

Fast-forward to 2022, the Painting Challenge looming...THIS TIME I MEAN IT, I'M GOING TO FINISH THOSE DRAGOONS, FOR F*CK SAKES! IF I HAVE TO LOOK AT THOSE HALF-UNITS ON THE DISPLAY SHELF EVEN ONE MORE TIME...and I am so pleased to report success! So you see 12 troopers here...six with yellow facings, and six with red facings. They will be joining their previously-painted fellows in my display! I now have two full units of Prussian Dragoons in 28mm! 

While I would expect the newer Perry sculpts would look better, the Foundry ones are still classics - like painting up old friends. Yes, they are monopose...and the molds are getting old. But I just loved painting these up. It was fun! Why did I wait, anyway? Ah, the hobby squirrels in my brain...

I was pleased to be able to pretty-much match the paints and colours after a four-year gap in completing these units. It's not perfect...in this interim, f*cking Liquitex stopped making their "natural sand" product that I used for my basing, so they don't match perfectly, but I applied a liberal dose of grass tufts, and it looks more than good enough for me. 

Finally! Two full, proper units on the display table!! About damn time!!!

The best part is now looking at my shelf, and seeing all of the units in the collection at full strength! About bloody time!

For points, we have 12 mounted 28mm troopers - should be good for 120 points. Thanks for reading - and I hope you all have a chance to savour that moment when you knock off a long-overdue project! Now...what distraction will take my brushes?

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Ahh, it's wonderful to see you back revisiting your Franco-Prussian War project, Greg. While perhaps becoming a little long in the tooth, these dragoons look fabulous, especially under your talented brush. I expect you will find MANY sympathetic ears with you describing half-finished units and best intentions (I have run out of fingers and toes with my quick calculations). Anyway, they look great and will look even better when we get them on the tabletop for a game. 

Great work dude!

- Curt