From MartijnN: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson [Famous Person] (86 points)

Having completed Section 1 of the Library we move on to Section 2 and ask Lady Sarah to drop us off at the Statue of a Famous person. Two, actually.

Once again two figures I bought on a whim and do not expect to use anytime soon. I was browsing the site of CP models because I wanted to buy some spears, saw that they also produce figures and threw some in that I fancied, mainly to beef up  the order a little. And once again the Challenge came to the rescue. Thus, I have for you Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.

They are nice, simple figures that were fun to paint, again using mainly contrast paints.

And then I have a follow on of last week's post. I really thought I had completed the Union forces for Champion Hill, and only when drawing them all up for the post did I realize that I was a Union unit short. So, I started digging through my stash of opportunity and unearthed enough Perrin figures for not one, but even two units. So here they are.

For some reason my bases always show up very yellow, but they are a lot greener in real life. I prefer these rather simple bases for small scale figures. They are  a bit old-fashioned perhaps, but effective. The flags are from Pendraken and from the Warflag.com website. And yes, I have been cutting corners here. I consider painting black belts on dark blue coats at this scale a waste of time, and you really don't see it on the table. I did paint them on officers and drummers, but even in the close up photo's that's hard to discern. 

I had also not yet painted a figure to represent General Grant. Turner Miniatures produce numerous STL files for the ACW that I had purchased long ago, and I had printed some generals in 10mm. So here we have Grant with some staff officers, ready to take on Pemberton at Champion Hill.

I also found a covered ox-drawn wagon, which I painted at the same time. I have added some crates and sacks from Perfect Six Miniatures. They are formally 6mm, but I thought they complemented the wagon nicely.

That means that I can now play the Altar of Freedom Champion Hill scenario. I do have some odds and ends left, I found another Confederate unit, I have some casualty markers and the like, but nothing really essential. Actually quite unusual for me (being the proverbial butterfly), and rather a nice feeling, to finish a project!

As for books (apart from the obvious recommendation to read all  Sherlock Holmes stories. Twice at least). Dr. Watson suffered his wound during the Second Afghan War, but honestly I have never read a book about that one (yet). So something else suitably Victorian will have to do. That is A Tidy Little War by William Wright, about the British invasion of Egypt in 1882. I have this as an e-book, so here's a random stock photo:

I enjoyed reading this. The conflict is, as might be imagined, not very well known over here (if at all), so I knew next to nothing about it. Wright writes a good overview of the war, with ample attention to the Egyptian side, and a healthy criticism of British colonial policy which blatantly disregarded any rights the Egyptians thought they might have had, without going all woke about it. A very balanced book I thought, with the right level of detail. Combine it with the Osprey Campaign about Tel El-Kebir and you have a nice summary of the conflict.

The map:

Score:

2x 25mm foot @ 5 = 10

40x 10mm foot @ 1 = 40

3x 10mm horse @ 2 = 6

1x 10mm vehicle = 6

2x 10mm crew at 0,5 (50%, as they are only half painted) =1

Famous Person bonus = 20

Total of 83 points

TeemuL: Isn't it nice to add something to a finished army? :) Good work finding those missing minis and some extras from your archives of unpainted minis. And the command stand is excellent, the blues and browns work well together here, good job. Two units, a command and a wagon to your Union forces, to finish a project again! I hope they do well in their first and following battles.

And 10mm cavalry is 3 points, so couple of points added to the total.