From TeemuL: Cirdan the Shipwright [Maritime] (25 points)

A quick post this week, because I was travelling last week. Happily I was a bit prepared and had this Cirdan half painted when I got home and finished him during the lunch break. He is a metal mini from GW for their Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. A very small role in the movies, seen getting the ring Narya and then in the Grey Havens. Painted mostly with Contrast paints, seemed to work very well on all the elven robes, cloaks and other elven clothes.

Cirdan, or Cirdan the Shipwrigth, is my entry for the Maritime section. He was also the Lord of the Harbours of Falas and later Guardian of the Grey Havens.

In the book he has a beard, but in the movie he has not, and the mini is based on the movie, so no beard. I have not read his rules recently, but I have played against him once and if I remember correctly he was a powerful support hero when used correctly. I don't know if I field him, since he is not really a warrior and was not mentioned to take part in the wars in the books or movies. Might be nice to try in one scenario or other.

A simple entry, 5 points for a single mini and 20 points for the Library section. I think I visit couple of the finished sections next week before heading to the final section.

 Sylvain: You are just motoring through the library sections! Your justification for "Maritime" is well argued, so you can bag that extra 20 points. I like the effect you obtained with the contrast paint on the clothes of your figurine. I have not tried such a technique yet, but I'm getting more and more tempted. Nice entry for Monday.

From PeterB - Yet more Spam and some bouncing Squigs - Nature - 145 points

 The 2nd edition project goes on. Another delve into the box of history and five more Space Marines have been stripped and re-painted. Not much to tell about these, they are mostly metal. I once again tried to keep the arms and backpacks as original as possible even if it means the poses look a little stiff.

The chap second to the left is a little stocky too. I like that though, a bit of character.

Next up some squigs. Specifically Cave Squigs being ridden by Night Goblins. At our local club we have been looking at the new Warhammer the Old World rules. So, I thought I would finish off my Night Goblin army. The one thing they were missing was some fun cavalry. What do Night Goblins like to ride? Cave Squigs. Big red balls of gnashing teeth found deep in the caves of the Old World. Night Goblins grow weird, exotic, hallucinogenic mushrooms in caves that also attract these Squigs. Hunting them is difficult due to the fact that most of the Squig is made up of teeth. If they do manage to net one, some Goblins like to try the dangerous pastime of riding these Squigs into battle. When the riders manage to catch a Squig without being eaten themselves by the creature, they can then climb on top and cling on for dear life. As long as they keep their toes clear of the mouth of the Squig behind and point their own mount in the right direction, they can be a dangerous foe on the battlefield.

These forces of nature are fed gassy fungus to enable them to leap high across the battlefield. Young Squig Hopper riders in training very quickly learn to not try and ride their mount whilst still within the caves. After witnessing the most enthusiastic rider of their group being crushed against the cave ceiling (or skewered on a stalactite) and then promptly eaten by their mount, the rest soon decide to lead their Squigs outside before climbing aboard. Note the lack of any tack or harness. A Goblin has to just grab a flap of skin and pray to Gork or Mork that their grip will hold.

On to the map and the scores.

5 Space Marines. 5 x 5 points = 25

10 Squigs, 10 x 5 10 points = 50 100

Location Bonus = 20

Total = 95 145 points

Sylvain: Your description of the daily work life of a squig rider is very funny. Their "occupational health & safety" regulations are still quite crude, but progress is made. Nice work on re-painting these old school metal space marines. And fabulous job on these bouncing squigs. 

As for points, the justification for "Nature" ("The great outdoors, or perhaps underground. Maybe outer space!") is a little stretched, but the mushrooms you added on your bases helped you win the argument. I also re-calculated your squigs as "mounted". Great result fr you this week!  

 

From FrederickC - "Avanti Italia!" - Italian Army in North Africa (515 points)

 This week's submission is a force of the Regio Esercito or Royal Italian Army in North Africa consisting of a mix of Perry and Warlord Games miniatures, tanks and assault guns from Blitzkrieg Miniatures, an armoured car from Tamiya, and five 'toy soldier' trucks. While the North African campaign has always interested me, I didn't think I could justify painting up more Germans and Brits since I already had a sizeable force of each of those for Northwest Europe. Then fellow Fawcett Avenue Conscript, Dallas E, painted up some DAK and 8th Army, which was the tipping point. However, not wanting to just duplicate armies he had, I opted for Italians. I now have a force of a 43 man platoon of four sections and a platoon headquarters, a company headquarters, two machine gun teams, two mortar teams, an anti-tank gun, two tanks, two assault guns, an armoured car, and five trucks.

First up are the tanks and armoured cars. The armoured car is a 1/48 scale Tamiya kit, and the rest are from Blitzkrieg Miniatures. The M13/40 is a resin casting, while the rest of the tracked vehicles are 3D prints. The latter are much crisper in terms of the detail compared to the resin casting, but they had a lot of supports to clean away, especially around the road wheels. After all the vehicles had been assembled, they were primed with Army Painter Desert Yellow from a rattle can. They were then painted with various sand coloured acrylics and given a wash of Citadel Seraphim Sepia. Tracks were painted using Vallejo German Camo Black Brown, followed by a dry brush of Gun Metal. Finally everything got liberal washes of Vallejo Wash FX Desert Dust.

 

 

Built on the chassis developed for the L6/40, the Semovente 47/32 was an easy-to-produce tank hunter built as a stopgap measure to combat enemy armour. Mounting the excellent Elefantino anti-tank gun in an open-topped chassis gave the Italian forces some much-needed mobility in their anti-tank assets. The tank hunter initially fared well in the western desert, but lack of an armoured crew compartment became a glaring drawback in the system's design.

 

After witnessing the success of the German StuG in Europe, the Italians decided a tank of comparable design was needed. By 1942, the Semovente 75/18 was fighting for the Italians in North Africa, where it would distinguish itself as one of the nation's best tank designs. The 75/18 had a relatively modern gun, thicker armour than any of the M-series tanks, and it proved quite successful in service, capable of destroying all but the heaviest Allied armoured vehicles.

 

Italy's AB41 was the most-produced armoured car of the Italian armed forces. The Autoblindo 41 was produced by Fiat-Ansldo and saw service in several theatres, most notably in Africa. It was armed with a 20 mm Breda 35 autocannon and a coaxial 8 mm machine gun in a turret similar to the one fitted to the Fiat L6/40, and another hull mounted rear-facing 8 mm machine gun. It also featured two driving positions, allowing the vehicle to travel effectively in either direction.

 

The Carro Armato M13/40 was designed to replace the M11/39 in the Royal Italian Army at the start of the Second World War. It was the primary tank used by the Italians it their armoured divisions. The design was influenced by the British Vickers 6-Ton and was based on the modified chassis of the earlier M11/39. Its 47mm gun was superior to the British 2-pdr, but easily outmatched with the introduction of heavier tank guns such as the 6-pdr and US 75mm.

 

The L6/40 was a light tank used by the Italian army from 1940 through the Second World War. It was designed by Ansaldo as an export product, and was adopted by the Italian Army when officials learned of the design and expressed interest. It was the main tank employed by the Italian forces fighting on the Eastern Front alongside the L6/40-based Semovente 47/32 self-propelled gun. L6/40s were also used in the North African campaign. Its main armament was the 20 mm Breda 35 autocannon.

 

Next up are five trucks to transport my troops through the desert. These were part of a joint purchase with Dallas E, who found a source of these 'cheap' plastic trucks on line. In the end, they didn't turn out to be as cheap as expected/hoped. I have since found a source for them at Walmart. They are generic 'army trucks' that have a bit of a 'Chevrolet 30cwt' vibe to them. I didn't paint any national markings on them as I thought they could be used for either side in North Africa. They were painted with the same method I used for the armoured vehicles.

Finally we come to the troops. These are primarily Perry Miniatures Italians with sun helmets, plus a Italian Support Group boxed set consisting of a headquarters, machine gun team, and mortar team from Warlord Games. When I ordered the Perry Miniatures I was having some trouble with their website when I wanted to order multiples of the same figure pack. It kept increasing the number of packs of the previous choice. I thought I have corrected everything, but when the shipment arrived, instead of three packs of riflemen and one command pack, I got the reverse. (D'0h!). In addition, the Warlords support group all had steel helmets on, and I wanted all my troops in sun helmets. Dallas E had some left over helmets from his Perry DAK figures, and I had extra arms, pouches, and rifles left over from my Warlord Soviets and Blitzkrieg Germans. A bit of slicing, dicing, and gluing converted extra officers and NCOs to riflemen, and all but three officers to sun helmets. For painting I followed Sonic Sledgehammer's method for desert Italians, with some variation here and there on the order of painting, and the choice of colours. I used a lot of Citadel Seraphim Sepia wash on this project.

Warlord HQ group of two officers, a medic and a radioman

Support Weapons

Perry 47/32 Elefantino anti-tank gun

Perry and Warlords Breda 5C 6.5mm medium machine guns

Perry and Warlords 81/14 Model 35 medium mortars

 Last up is a 43 man platoon consisting of a 3-man headquarters, and four 10-man sections each with a section commander equipped with a Beretta 9mm submachine gun, a two-man team with a Breda 30 6.5mm light machine gun, and seven riflemen with either a Carcano M1891/28 or Carcano M1938 carbine. Some of the riflemen that were converted from officer figures are carrying either Moisin-Nagant carbines or Mauser rifles that were left over from my boxes of Warlord Games Soviet Winter Infantry or German Blitzkrieg Infantry. (See if you can pick out all the conversions in the rifle sections.)

Italian infantry platoon of four sections and a headquarters

Platoon HQ. The man on the right originally had a Beretta SMG

No. 1 Section

No. 2 Section

No. 3 Section

No. 4 Section

The points being claimed are as follows

 

57 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points each = 285 points

 

10 x 28mm vehicles @ 20 points each = 200 points

 

3 x 28mm artillery pieces @ 10 points each = 30 points

 

Sylvain: Another point bomb this week. You just throw them at us and we love them! Again, your description is A+, as well as your miniatures. The army you are presenting this week is so neat and includes all the important equipment for that theater. Another great achievement for you!

From SanderS: Part 2 - The Statue of a Famous Person. The Green Knight (30 points)

 Hoi,

As I said in my other post earlier today, I have a Green Knight figure to paint for Herman (I have one myself) and got it done for today's post. 

He fits this category specially since I think he's one of the most famous characters from the Bretonnian army range as well as a famous figure out of the tales around King Arthur. I read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight during my teens and should really read it again but have such a long "to read pile" I haven't come round to it yet.  

As for the figure, I have painted it as much as possible as per the instructions from Herman, it's actual owner but with a bit of artistic license. To me this is one of the coolest figures in the range still and have loved seeing it used in Battle Reports online. 

Arthur and I played our first game of The Old World last week and his Goblins beat my Dwarfs using their loony fanatics who decimated my blobs of warriors in no time. 

We are pretty heavy involved in TOW at the club as well and I will be playing my next game this Friday. If you are into Bretonnians as much as me, try out the fan-made Moussilon supplement (you can download it through Broheim.net) which has some excellent background stuff and lists for a very tasty "evil-Bretonnian" force. 

Now points are easy 10 for the Green Knight and 20 for the location making another 30 for the list.

Cheers Sander

Sylvain: Your justification for "Famous Person" is well argued and your miniature is brilliantly painted. Two good reasons to add 30 points to your tally. You make me want to visit Bretonnia... Congratulations on Arthur's victory. I'm sure there will be more gaming and painting in The Old World.

 

From SanderS: Part 1 - calling the library cart for a magical journey! (125 points)

 Hoi,

Last week Martijn was of course right; I was interpreting the Naval Theme a bit too broadly and so, in order to not see my library card revoked, I request a trip with Lady Sarah's cart to the Statue of a Famous person room. 

As is usual I am submitting a figure of a female person as payment. It is a rather special one to me and it takes a while to explain as I have mentioned elsewhere. Let me take you back to my late twenties, I had just entered Warhammer Fantasy and 40K in earnest (there weren't many other wargaming systems being played over here) and I had a Dwarf- and Empire army for WFB. When the Bretonnian and Lizardmen boxed set was released I was immediately taken with the Bretonnians, as many people do, because what's not to like about heavy armoured knights thundering on in lance formation? 

I bought a few character blisters and was thinking of really building up the army when price increases and the bigger amount of figures needed to field units, made it neigh on impossible for me to pay for such an army. The Old World came to an end not much later and the figures stood around in my cabinets gathering dust. 

New games emerged on my scope and budget was needed, so with pain in my heart I sold my Empire and Bretonnian figures. The only figure I didn't sell was my Bretonnian Damsel in blue as pictured below. 

I am in a dubio whether I should re-paint her or keep her like this with a new horse...what do you guys think?

Now enter one of my best gaming buddies Mark, he had the larger part of the aforementioned WFB boxed set lying around and gave them to me. I was really happy with the Bretonnian Knights of the Realm and Archers in there and started looking for characters on the secondhand market, scoring a few on and off if they weren't too ridiculously priced. Just a while back Mark rang me up and asked: "Are you still looking for Bretonians?"Yeah sure I answered, why? Mark was with one of his oldest friends (Herman) and Herman had a huge Bretonnian army and was looking to get rid of it. After some discussion we came to an agreement: I would paint some Space Dreadnought 3000 vessels and a Green Knight, Louan Leoncouer and a trebuchet crew for him and he would give me an entire 3000 point Bretonnian army containing pretty much every single character and special unit there ever was... I pinched myself several times to see I wasn't dreaming. 

Most of the Space Dreadnougth stuff is painted (you saw some last week) and I have started on the Bretonnian characters as well as some units I get to keep. So I now had 3 more Damsel figures (the same as my old one) 2 mounted and one dismounted and I decided to put one up on a royal pegasus. The damsel is going to be one of the main characters in my background story for the army and while I will be painting her on horse and foot soon, I also very much wanted her older, more seasoned version on a pagasus as well. Her name is Madeleine de Montelor, the sister of my main character Louis Baron de Montelor. Let's be clear, Louis is me, my second name is Lodewijk (the Dutch equivalent of Louis) and our house is right next to a hill called the "Lorberg" roughly translated into French that could well be Montelor (an abreviation of Mont de Lor = Mountain of Gold) My favourite colours are Black and Dark Blue, see how it all works out? Oh and if I would have been born a girl, my name would have been...can you guess? Yup so Madeleine is me in a way too. I will tell you the largest part of their story when I get to paint up Louis, for now you will have to do with Maddy on Pegasus. 

Maddy is accompanied by a unit of Halbardiers, Herman put them together from the "newer" plastic set and I rather like the old metal ones better. So I decided these were part of the Duke of Brionne's army rather than Louis'. 

A few days ago I was talking to Mark about the figures and mentioned the Halbardeer unit as "Herman's Halbardeers" Mark said that it would be nice if they were to be known as such for the foreseeable future as it hints at their origins. Therefore I translated it into French and now their banner features their unit name as Hallabardier d'Herman. 

I also painted up another metal archer to fill the Brigands of Bergerac out to 10 men.

They are based on old 20mm bases and for the Old World that should be 25mm ones, I found STL files for movement trays that measure up to the required facing of 5x 25mm bases put aside each other and they also have a nice handle at the back that makes it easy to move them along the field. 

You will have noticed the lack of tufts, somehow every Challenge again, I find myself without tufts. One would think I'd learn from that and order some aforehand but sadly no. Now on the (also 3d printed) base of the Pegasus, I won't be using tufts anyway, since I think they do not go well with the printed plants. 

So now we come to the points counting, one mounted and 19 foot figures in 28mm sum up to 105 add to this the location bonus of 20 and it should be 125 points right? 

Cheers Sander

 

Sylvain: In this post, I enjoyed both your pictures and your stories. It's always fun to learn a little about the past life of fellow challengers. the miniatures in this submission are just gorgeous. Nothing says "Eat my dust!" in the fantasy genre like riding a Pegasus. Your hallebardiers are full of nice details that you highlighted very well. Great production this week!