From HerrRobert - Cutting the Camel Budget [Under Construction] - 95 points

 

Warned yet again that the studio executives were meeting to discuss budgets, and rumors that cuts, redundancies and the like were all possible, I rushed to finish yet another under construction project.

With the prospect of a camel corps in the offing, headquarters desperately needed an expert in the ways, care and feeding of camels, and Major Docherty was their man! Along with his trusty batman, Corporal Millsy, the good major booked passage on a fast steamer for Cairo in Egypt. There, he could use his knowledge to ensure the forces of the Queen only received the finest, most biddable, highest quality camelflesh. He found himself dining alongside a passenger returning from Afghanistan, the good Doctor John Watson, late from the battlefields of Maiwand and Kandahar.

Drawing a hard bargain in the streets and souks of the Old Quarter of Cairo, our hero manages to acquire another five camels for the baggage train. Loaded with supplies, goods, chests, and old terracotta amphorae, only the final arrangements with the camel herders must be made, to ensure they make their way to the Nile. 

Escorting the beasts is a detachment of the 2nd Essex Regiment, commanded by the redoubtable Captain Henry Percy, Baronet. Having packed away his purple facings and donned a tunic of less fashionable but more practicable gray serge, the 2nd Essex is mustering to travel to lands south.

It has been a very busy and hectic December/January, what with work, California trying to drown us all, power outages and both plumbing and roof leaks, so I have not had the energy to paint much. Not getting in under the wire was a serious possibility. 

My first entry for Challenge XIII is my own take on the long-running Major Docherty and Corporal Millsy vignettes. I'd planned for this to be my capstone for Challenge XII, but circumstances intervened, and they sat the entire year on the painting bench. Major Docherty is The Professor from North Star's Steampunk line, with a natty dressing gown and fez. Dr. Watson is also from that line, the Medical Officer. Corporal Millsy is a Foundry figure from the Zulu Line that has been sitting in the lead pile for a good twenty years. The camel herders/merchants are MENA Civilians - Foxtrot from Spectre Miniatures. These five figures were complete except for grassing the bases, so I am not claiming any points for these.

The camels are Camel w/ Pack from Reaper Miniatures. While I do like Reaper miniatures and have painted several for the challenge, I'm not terribly thrilled with the material they use for their Bones line. The camels suffer from the usual problems many Bones miniatures do; the legs are thin, and so they bend. The camel miniatures thus sway, as you can see in the photos above. I painted them in Army Painter Skeleton Bone, then washed with Citadel Contrast Aggaros Dunes. To get a lot of variety from the same sculpt, I painted the baggage in different colors.  The camels and the cargo frame was prepped for Challenge XII, and I finished up all of the baggage since.

Captain H. Percy and his detachment are Perry Miniatures. Captain Percy, Sergeant Hoge and Drummer Fred Lamb are from SB4 British Infantry command advancing, while Privates Clovis Goslan and Chris Gibb are from SB7 Infantry advancing. They were originally a much darker gray, but that didn't really fit the descriptions of gray (or is it grey?) serge. So I repainted them using Reaper Miniatures stone triad over Delta Ceramicoat Charcoal and Hippo Gray. Unfortunately, they're washed out in the photos, but it's a nice gray otherwise.

Starting our tour at Under Construction

 

I'm not very happy with the photos, despite a new photo booth, but I was a bit rushed on the photographs, so just used my phone. They don't do the figures justice, the photos are too washed out, but it gets the point across. Photography of my miniatures has always left something to be desired, but hopefully they will improve.

Here's the score:

• 5 x 25mm mounted @ 5 points per (I don't think the baggage counts as a full rider, but won't argue if others do) = 25 points
• 5 x 25mm infantry @ 5 points per = 25 points
• Under Construction (Green Pass) studio bonus = 20 points
• Total = 70 points.

I'm also claiming two squirrel points, one for the camels (since they can be used for almost any period), and one for the infantry. 

Obligatory group overhead shot

 

On to High Adventure!

Great post, and just in time. Generally we give full points for pack animals, so that is 95 in total, and you made the final directors cut