From Martijn N: Arabian Nights on Arrakis (69 points)

That's a first for me, two posts on one day. We end today's journey on Arrakis, after a smooth ride aboard lady Sarah's Star Yacht. Now no Challenge can be complete without camels in it, I have gathered, so it is just as good that we immediately encounter this charming little market scene. We have a dwarf merchant showing his fine merchandise to some rather suspicious Arabs, while his camel train stands behind his stall.

Here is the dwarf merchant, a 3d printed figure from Iain Lovecraft. The stall is a 3d print as well but I really cannot remember where I got it.

These lanky Arabs are from Evan Carothers's Empire of the Scorching Sands.

As are these great pack camels.

There is also a little village on Arrakis, it seems. Designed by Evan Carothers too. These houses were printed at 75% of their designed scale, so more or less 20mm I guess. The well is not really Arabian but is a nice little model. Can't remember where I got it I'm afraid.

The houses are once again FDM prints and they suffered a bit from stringing and layer lines. Still, they were too good to toss them in the bin and I think they look sort of ok. 

So, Arrakis should net me 65 points:

- the terrain, the houses, the stall and the well, will fill about half a cube, so 10 points?

- 4 camels and three foot figures (counting them as 28/32mm, although they actually are more like 40mm) for 7x5 = 35 points;

- Arrakis planet bonus for 20 points

- and an Arabian Squirrel!

Middle Ring complete, let's see if there is time for a stop in the Inner Ring!

From DaveD 

Book ending the day with camels - most excellent! I will give an extra bonus for the camels 

DougM: Yellow-Nosed B*st*rds! - Perelandra (60 Points)

The Spitfires need something to keep them amused, so using the finest historical research material, 'Battle of Britain' MGM 1969...  or MCMLXIX or whatever... I present the 'Yellow-Nosed B*st*rds' of the movie. Home 3d printed 1/200 Messerschmitt Me109E (Emil). 

I faffed around for a fair while figuring out what colours to use, and the cockpit framing and camouflage is inconsistent as I experimented with what I thought looked best. But here they are, ready to give 603 and 43 Squadrons a hard time. 

Of course, one of the drawbacks the Luftwaffe faced during the Battle was that they had to travel across water (Oceanic) and face the (Temptation) to linger too long in combat, risking running out of fuel on the return leg...  so pretty please a planet bonus.. 

Squirrel Points - these add another 12 x 3 = 36 points to 1/200 Luftwaffe to add to the 7 Heinkels, so enough to bring them up to Squirrel status. A grand total of 9 Squirrel points so far... 

From Dave D 

I Wondered when these might be along - another grand addition

From JasperO: Convoy through the smoke (45 points)

I’ve had this resin Maultier sitting around for years - I believe it’s an Anyscale Model, but it’s a one-piece casting whereas the model Anyscale currently offers consists of three pieces, plus the tilt. Anyhoo… I’m still working on that some trucks for WSS and this qualifies. I filled it up with various bits and pieces from many sets, and added a Perry sitting German from their set for the SdKfz 7 for some extra interest. 

I have built a Rubicon and a Warlord Games Opel Blitz as well, which left me with an extra towing hitch, which this model was lacking. So I added that, and I figured, since the triangular marker is up, it needed to have a trailer as well. As it happens, the Rubicon Flak30 comes with an optional ammunition trailer, so I suppose this Maultier belongs to a Flak Abteilung.

Finally, and unrelated to the above, I have some nicely 3D-printed smoke markers from Sabotag3D. I just based them and airbrushed them from dark grey to light grey. I suppose that, like trees, you never have enough smoke markers, so I’ll need more, but this seems like a good start.

Bit of a rambling blog… The deadlines are coming thick and fast these weeks, trying to catch up with Covid-related delays. The Maultier should be 25 points (including the passenger). Five more for the trailer? The smoke markers fill about a 3x3x3” box, so that’s 1/8th of 20 points? I’ll leave it up to the gentle mercies of the Minions…

From DaveD - Well who doesn't appreciate a half track truck . The trailor is a nice extra piece , and the smoke works well - i will make this a 45 pointer

From DougM: Noel's Comment and a Story - Noel's Comet 190 pts

So: many many years, ago, when I was living in Australia, I used to play DBA regularly. There was a local group in Canberra who used to get together to play one day tournaments - always in licensed premises, and part of my fun was to crack the first beer with the first game. I usually found that a winning smile would get me an early brew from the staff while everyone else was making do with takeaway coffee. And the additional challenge was playing the later games after the first few. After all, DBA is just a dice throwing contest isn't it? :)

So one day, there was this other guy there, watched me belly up to the bar, and followed suit. At the time, I was still smoking, so; although he didn't smoke, he and I got chatting out the back in breaks between games, as both of us played fast... Turns out, he had a blog, which I already followed, knew most of the Aussie players I knew, and was great company. Thomo the Lost - Ian Thomson. 

At the time, he was working in South East Asia, and was back in Australia for his mum, but from then on, whenever he visited Oz, he and his partner would come and stay at Chez Doug. The dogs loved him, and in between beer and gaming we had great fun. We would plan new forces, egg on each other to more and better painting efforts, and agree joint projects. 

We also went to the annual Cancon, and played  The one thing we never got to do was some aerial wargaming.. he wanted Khalkin Ghol, I wanted Battle of Britain, so instead we just got more megalomaniac, larger and larger pre-dreadnought fleets, more and more WW2 6mm, till I swear he had an entire Guards Armoured Division at 1:1. but still no aerial wargaming. 

We played off at Cancon, for the National DBA Title, (he kept claiming my Teutonic Knights were illegally based for the terrain, with snow, when I won..) Still no aerial wargaming.

Thomo was my Best Man when I remarried in Scotland in 2012. But no time for aerial wargaming. He kept on visiting until I moved from Australia n 2016.

And in 2021, he died in the Philippines from Covid. So too late for Aerial Wargaming. 

So these are for him. All home 3d Prints.

Fields of Kent look lovely this time of year... 'Wir fahren gegen Engeland'...

You sure we're heading in the right direction?

Uh-oh... Gruss Gott! Spitfires!

City of Edinburgh Squadron - yes, I know they weren't in Kent, but they could have been ...

And as we all know from the movies, Hurricanes take the bombers out, Spitfires go for fighter cover. This is 43 Squadron.

Run away....!!!

This was a disaster..  codes smudged, and in the wrong place!  The later versions were an improvement thankfully.

And the 'might' of the Royal Flying Corps...   F2b, Brisfits, 'Harry Tates', SE5a and Sopwith Camels

SE5a

RE8 or 'Harry Tates'

F2b

Sopwith Camels... no Snoopy I'm afraid.

Late Breaking..   those Spitfires have something to worry about... 

So that's my Noel's Comet, for Thomo. All the WW2 British are entirely hand painted markings, the WW2 Heinkels are balkankreuze decals as are the Yellow S and the recognition panels on White 1. The WW2 stuff is 1/200, and the WW1 stuff is 1/144.

I guess all these count for 3 points, each, but with all the markings, it feels like a lot of effort for 3 points!  *FROM 

7 Heinkels, 12 x Me 109, 10 Spitfires, and 9 Hurricanes = 38 x 3 = 114 points

16 x RFC x 3 = 48 points

Noel's Comet planet bonus = 20

Oh and Squirrel points..  lets see

1/200 WW2 Japanese Aircraft

1/200 WW2 British Aircraft

1/200 WW2 German Aircraft

1/144 WW1 British Aircraft

not quite enough for WW1 German Aircraft

28mm German Armour

28mm 12th SS Panzer infantry

28mm Indian Mutiny Sepoys

28mm Dr Who

28mm Austrian Napoleonics

So 9 Squirrel points only...  :(    but let's see what next week brings...

From DaveD . Having lost a great friend this year with who i  always ended up planning madness over the many years this hits the spot. So its good to see your tribute . Indeed i recognise the challemge per points efforts on these so I have topped you up 

From SebastianR: Ladies, both vampire and ghoul [Solaris][Star Yacht] (50pts)

This post, and the models featured in it have been a long time coming. The past few months have been dominated by a dying (now dead) cat, a case of covid and a punishing period at work.

But I find whenever I return to put a little bit of paint on a figure, I buy myself some peace.

So lets keep things brief.

A Lahmian vampire, a strip down and repaint of one of my final pre-univercity figures. Definitely a candidate for deception and illusion given their representation as seducers in the warhammer universe and the general portrayal of female vampires in fiction.

I think there's supposed to be some nip on the model, but that's not how we roll at maison du Seb

I dont have a picture of her pre-stripping, but I'm quietly proud of how my painting has evolved.

I mean, it's been over a decade, you'd hope right?

A female ghoul, the last of my ghoul clan, and my ticket onto the Star Yacht.

It's not 100% clear, but the baby seems unfazed, so I've decided it's a ghoul baby

She certainly looks protective (also an easier paint job)

The gang's all here, thanks Heresy

That should be 10 points for 2 28mm figs and 40 bonus points for a total of 50pts

From DaveD  Fine additions to the gang alright - 50 it is 

From BenitoM: Boarding Sarah's Yacht Destination Arda (25 points)

I'm back to my galatic exploration duties and will board Sarah's Yacht for the second time in this year's Challenge. My destination this time:  the misterious World of Arda

I'm paying my ticket today with a second wailing woman model, that will be part of the support option offered in the Infamy Infamy! Germanic lists.

This is a 28mm scale model of the Wargames Foundry Germanic Women blister. Nice sculpting full of character as most of the Foundry's minis.

The entry will add 25 points to my Challnege scoring:

1 x 28mm model @ 5 points + Bonus planet@ 20 points

From DaveD - Another fine addition indeed.

From MikeF - Imperial Arsonist (Sarah's Star Yacht) & Imperial Grey Knight Terminators (Coruscant) - 70 points

 One final Friday post before the mad scramble that usually occurs last week of the challenge! This first entry is bittersweet. The Imperial Arsonist! It was fun to paint and the colors came out better than I had hoped. The bitter part is that the model is from Wargame Exclusive which is a fantastic miniature company based in Ukraine. Hopefully they are all safe and remain so for the duration of the conflict. I won't delve further into this as for some the challenge may be a welcome reprieve from our real world issues. 

The "Imperial Arsonist" is for Sarah's Star Yacht for transport to Coruscant.

I included this picture to prove she is in fact, a female figure!

For Coruscant I painted 5 Grey Knight Terminators. They represent both Imperial and good vs evil. I know it's the wrong "Imperial", but I've developed a strong disinterest in Star Wars over the years (I've probably just earned -200 points for that. Thank God DaveV isn't a minion!). These Grey Knights are the original metal from the early 2000's. I've had them about the same amount of time. The challenge is always a good excuse for tackling these old miniatures.

6 28mm figures + yacht and planet = 70 points

Thanks for visiting.

From DaveD - I am not unsympathetic no interest in Star Wars - tried it - does'nt do it. Always good to clear out the lead - good stuff !

From RossM 28mm Undead and Livestock - 90 points

Ten days to go and only my second entry to this year's AHPC; hangs head in shame. It has been a hectic first few months in 2022 and the result of this is real life has overtaken hobby time. So now that the excuses are over with here are the first few pictures for this week's entry:

Three different sets of Undead figures from three different periods of gaming, starting with the retro figures from Citadel and Marauder Miniatures back in the late 80's or early 90's.

The shields are from more recent plastic Games Workshop figures sourced from a rummage on the internet for bits and bobs. 

Next are six archers from Oathmark's plastic skeletons including one metal Champion figure. Easy to assembly, paint well and look the part as individual figures for skirmish games or ranked up for larger type games. The recommended base size of 25 x 25mm just didn't look right, the figures don't have the heft for my eye on this base size. 

Another hero and musician are next to me on the painting tray just now and looking to see these done before the finish line. 

The last Undead for this entry are from Northstar Figures Rangers of Shadow Deep range and won't be the last from this line to be painted here. 

The central figure is a Shadow Knight, and in game terms I have no idea what this means. However, as a

figure for tabletop gaming, the miniature rocks. Great sculpt with a sense of power in it; you wouldn't want to meet this on a dark night on your own. 

The Shadow Knight's armour was a bit of an experiment in using Contrast Paints over metallics; in this case Aggaros Dune over Army Painter Plate Mail. To bring the highlights out on the armour the same colours were used mixed to layer upto Plate Mail on its own as the final highlight. 

With the skeleton's either side of the Shadow Knight, they could easily be seen crossing the fields surrounding the Barrow Downs in a mist shrouded, haunted landscape. 

Lastly, are the Mouflon Sheep from Warbases. These are for general use in both fantasy and historical skirmish games regardless of period. 

So, in terms of points this gives the following:

Retro Undead - 2 x 28mm infantry - 10 points

Oathmark archers - 6 x 28mm infantry - 30 points

Shadow Knight and followers - 3 x 28mm infantry - 15 points

Arda bonus for Shadow Knight and followers - 20 points

Livestock - 3 x 28mm figures - 15 points

Sub total - 90 points

Running total - 120 points from 750 (16%)

Being realistic at this point I have about another 140 points worth of figures nearing completion that can be finished by the end of this Challenge. A bit disappointed, however, I have enjoyed painting the miniatures that I have and that is what this is really about. 

Cheers for now. 

From DaveD, Good to see you again. life gets in the way of important things sometimes . nice skellies indeed