From MartijnN: Finally some Enlightenment [Sarah's Library Cart, Maritime] (81 points)

I really am a sucker for sales. And a hobby butterfly. So when, some time ago, one of our local online shops ran a sale on the VSF game Dystopian Wars from Warcradle I could once again not resist the temptation and simply had to get the Hunt for Prometheus Starter Set. I really had planned to start working on this sooner, but I was put off a little bit by the fact that a) the models had to be built, which I am not a great fan of, and b) I had no idea on how to paint them. However, a few months ago I visited the open day of a fairly local wargames club, and there was a very enthusiastic player demonstrating the game. I had watched several Youtube videos, but seeing the game played out before me made me decide I really had to start building my fleets. For now, they are still fairly manageable, and knowing myself I may well be having a far too large unpainted collection before long. So here are the first of  the Enlightenment Fleet.

These are six Meridian class frigates. Three more, as well as three cruisers and two battleships, are to follow, but I could not get those ready in time for this week. I still struggled a bit to get them right. I primed them in black, then a zenithal spray from above because I wanted to use Contrast paints. I then base-coated them in Apothecary White, but white remains a problem with contrast(-like) paints, at least for me. They turned out a light grey. I then painted on the camo, and applied a wash of Nuln Oil, which of course brought out the details (they are really nice models), but left them even darker. Then I painted all the brassy bits and washed those with Reikland Fleshshade. I then painted all the laser cannon thingies and finished with an overall light drybrush of necron compound. I am fairly happy with the end result, but I am not sure that a very similar effect could not have been reached with much less effort by simply coating them in Leadbelcher or light grey and then drybrush. Oh well, we live and learn.

Now these are fitting for the Maritime section of the Library, but once again I discovered that there is no direct route there from Famous Person. So I will have to call on the Lady Sarah again with the help of this 3D printed Evan Carothers figure of an elven lady:

Not much else to tell about her really.

Back to business. I am hard pressed to come up with a Victorian Sci-Fi book recommendation, so a general maritime title will have to do. Inspired by one of the comments on a recent post in this Challenge, it is Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought. Britain, Germany and the coming of the Great War.

This is a brilliant book on the Naval Arms race at the beginning of the twentieth century, although Massie takes the story back deep into the Victorian era. It is very well written. I know I say that all the time, but I would not soon recommend a book that isn't, and I really like narrative history. This one is a bit traditional, in that it focuses very much on individuals and their stories, but as someone once said "biography is the purest from of history", and Massie does it very well. Did I already say I really like narrative history? It is a massive volume, clocking in at more than 1,000 pages, but well worth the read. It put me on the road (or down the river rather) to WWI naval wargaming long ago (it's from 1992).

Then, the map:

Scoring: 

When submitted previously in the Challenge, I see that Dystopian Wars frigates were scored at 5 points each, so I propose to apply that to these as well. If the minion agrees, we have:

- 6 Dystopian Wars frigates @5 = 30

- 1 28mm foot @ 5 = 5

- Sarah's Library Cart Bonus = 20

- Maritime Section Bonus = 20

For a total of 75 points, which quite surprisingly takes me past my target. I'll take that up to 900.

TeemuL: Very sneaky to use an old entry minioned by the minion and claim points based on that, very sneaky. However, times change, just like the spreadsheet and my memory. There is no clear category for the Dystopian War ships, the common problem with huge spaceships, but I have scored them as 10mm vehicles, 6 points a piece, so you get a bit more than you asked for. I really like the colours on the elven lady, but I do wonder, if you have only painted the frontside? :)