From BobV: The Last Napoleonic Brigade and an Origin Story [Biography] (229 points)

Hello all!

I cannot believe I am at the end of the Challenge and my Napoleonic project! I have successfully eliminated the mountain of 18mm Napoleonic lead. Other mountains remain of course, but those are left for another challenge. This week’s post includes a final four squadrons of cavalry and a self-portrait in miniature. In this entry I will also utilize Miss Sarah’s library cart to access the biography section of the library. I’m calling this an auto-biography although it’s really just a small origin story of my entry into the hobby. We’ll see if the judges award the points.

In the mid 70’s I was an avid board wargamer and a faithful subscriber to Strategy & Tactics Magazine. Our library was far too small to carry anything written by Charles Grant or Donald Featherstone so other than collecting an occasional box of 1/32 Airfix figures, I had never seen historical miniatures. I then came across an advertisement for Heritage Models in a copy of S&T. The ad hyped a couple of Napoleonic games that included a box of metal 15mm miniatures. I was beyond intrigued and promptly ordered the set for the Battle of Nations. 

I used the figures exactly as shown in the advertisement. I loved the three-dimensional nature of the miniatures but didn’t like the idea of a single figure representing a Brigade or Division. With no access to any further miniatures, I could not figure out how to solve that problem and soon lost interest.

A couple of years later I started a job in a hobby shop after school. It was a typical shop of the time with about half the store displaying model trains and the other half plastic model kits. There was a small section of board wargames and Dungeons and Dragons material. My boss who owned the store was a giant, gruff old gentleman. He could often be heard at our high school football games loudly voicing his displeasure at the talent of our play.

One afternoon in the back of the store, I came across a catalog offering ranges of both fantasy and historical miniatures. The list included many choices of Napoleonic miniatures in blister packs from both Minifigs and Battle Honors. Here was a solution to my problem, with just a few packs I could create brigades of miniatures!

Swallowing my fear and using my best 16-year-old business acumen, I approached the boss with an argument of how much money he could make selling fantasy and historical figures. To my surprise he agreed to place an order to see how they would do. The D&D figures sold out in days. The boss was very pleased but he couldn’t figure out why the historical miniatures didn’t sell as fast. It took a few months to sell those out.

I never told him the reason it took months to sell out the historical minis.  You see that’s how long it took me to save enough money to buy every single pack that I had safely hidden in the shop’s storage room. 

And that was the start of a 40+ year obsession with miniature wargaming.

As for today’s entry, there are two squadrons of British Light Dragoons, one squadron of French Dragoons and one squadron of Chasseurs a Cheval. The figures are 18mm from AB Miniatures. These do not represent any particular squadron or regiment as I took some license in painting the uniforms. The paints are typically Vallejo or Citadel, washed with contrast paints. That works better on some colors than others and I’m considering it a method in progress.

Here are the British Light Dragoons in Tarletons:

And another squadron of British Light Dragoons in Shakos:

Here is a squadron of French Dragoons:

And a squadron of Chasseurs a Cheval to round out a brigade's worth of cavalry:

The artist figure is a 28mm miniature from Foundry. I received him years ago when purchasing a set of Foundry paints. The paint is long since gone but I finally got around to painting the artist as a self portrait.

For points I am claiming the following:

51 x 15mm Mounted @ 4pts = 204 points

1 x 28mm foot @ 5pts = 5 points

Library Bonus for Biography Section = 20 points

Grand total = 229 points

As this is my final entry for this year’s challenge, I think some thanks are in order. First to Curt and Sylvain, thank you very much for the opportunity to participate in the challenge. It is exactly the impetus I needed to complete a project that required painting of something just shy of 600 miniatures. Your hard work is very much appreciated and made this the most fun I’ve ever had in meeting a deadline. Next, thank you to all my Monday team members and all the participants and commentors. This has been a great collegial experience. Your amazing talent and commentary are both inspirational and motivating. Lastly, thanks to the Yarkshire Gamer. I found the Challenge via Ken's podcast and I greatly enjoy listening in to his interviews.

Challenge Complete!

From Millsy: My eyes lit up when I saw this sitting ready for posting Bob. So many memories for me in this post... exact same minis I've owned, S&T mag and both Charles Grant or Donald Featherstone whose books grace my collection in serious numbers. Your story about hiding minis so you could buy them is pure gold and despite slowing down sales in that dept you were clearly adding value elsewhere! You've done a wonderful job on the AB15s which are such a joy to paint, especially the dragoons with their glorious red facings. Congrats on a wonderful challenge mate and what a cracking wrap up photo at the end.

From SylvainR: D&D - 28mm Demonettes, Angels and Dragons (80 points)

This will be the last submission for my D&D collection. All these vinyl miniatures are from Reaper and were donated by JeremyM.

Before I present some close-ups of the painted models, I want to show how I dealt with some issues inherent to vinyl casts. Below is a typical example: a badly bent main body for the green dragon.

With a heat gun set on the table, nozzle facing upward, I gently expose the legs to the hot air, gradually raising the temperature until the legs can be bent into the desired position. You can see a happier green dragon below.

Since vinyl parts rarely fit well, I extensively use Tamiya putty to fill in the ugly gaps.

Now to the first four models, a quatuor of demonettes. I painted the bases terracotta with dark grey rocks and it nicely ties them together.

For the quatuor of angels, I did four different skin tones. Since the "red" angel was bald, I thought I should paint her like a woman warrior of Wakanda, as seen in Marvel's "Black Panther" movie. The bases were painted blue to create a visual contrast with the orange bases for the demonettes.

Empress Maria Theresa, from a previous post, is seen here introducing a blue dragon and a white dragon. There were a total of ten dragons in my pile of unpainted miniatures and the four presented here are the smallest ones. Now I feel ready to handle the bigger ones, maybe for next year's challenge? For the bases, I tried to simulate scorched ash land.

Finally, a green dragon and a red dragon. The green one is seen here with his legs position mended by the heat gun. I think the four dragons are big enough to qualify as "mounted" figures.

Points claimed:

8 x 28mm foot figurines at 5 points each = 40 points

4 x 28mm mounted figurines at 10 points each = 40 points

Total = 80 points 

Thanks for reading!

And well deserved thanks to Curt and Sarah for organizing (and cheering for) the Challenge, to Dallas for minioning on Saturdays, and to all the challengers for making the activity of painting miniatures a non-solitary hobby!

From Millsy: Oh man, that's some serious bendiness Sylvain even for Reaper Bones! Interesting technique for straightening them out and I applaud your bravery, that's a touch and go thing not melting the plastic. The demonettes are the standout for me, with the variety of wonderful skin tones especially that green! Lovely work all around mate.

From Iain W: 28mm Late Roman cataphracts (50 points)

Here are five Foundry 28mm cataphracts, lovely figures if a little on the small side by today's standards. They are the start of a Dux Bellorum army to go with my Picts, Irish and pagan Saxons, they're on a 120mm sabot base so I can use them for Impetus, Hail Caesar, To the Strongest or Lion Rampant, each one is individually based on a Perry plastic base that fits in my homemade balsa and mdf sabot base which unlike the individual bases needs a few more processes! 

At least I got one Late Roman unit done, so I hope that keeps Peter happy?! I've got a few units semi finished but they will get done post challenge together with a Caterina Sforza command stand that's just a bit too late, I might get one more post in but it will be a last minute visit to the  library on Monday when I get back from the principality as I'm up here for my daughter's twenty first birthday on Sunday, so no painting this weekend! 

Scores 5 x 10 28mm mounted 

Total 50 points

All the best 

Iain

From Millsy: Time for a bit of free fire minioning and being first to get stuck in that means I get to pick stuff I'm interested in! Love what you have done with these Ian, particularly the variation in armour colours whilst maintaining a cohesive look. The red dragon banner really sets them off too. Are these Steve Saleh sculpts? His stuff is just beautiful and they have that look from my POV. Nice work!

From Curt: 10mm Nasty Baddies for Warhammer Fantasy (618 Points)

 

Hi There!

I've been plugging away at these since the start of the Challenge and am sort of glad to see them finally off the desk and in the cabinet. While I was wanting to get a few command stands done I thought it best not to rush things and just post what was ready to go.

The vanguard of my Great Herd.

First up are two herds of Beastmen Gors. As these are supposed to reflect massed formations I've put them on deeper bases than standard. I also popped in a few trees and a burned out cottage to give the bases a bit of variation amongst these horny (ahem, horned) lads.

Supporting the Gor foot are two herds of Centigors. After painting these I thought I had ran out of skirmishing bases, thus the two sizes shown. Of course, I finished these only to find some proper sized bases tucked away in the Dork Shed. *facepalm* Whatever. I'll rebase the offending unit later... 

Next up are two units of Cairn Wraiths. These are a COMPLETE points steal as they were a ridiculously simple paintjob (Contrast 'Aethermatic Blue' on the upper torso and 'Plaguebearer Flesh' below the waist). Nevertheless I like the overall effect and am happy to have a few more of these to cause ghostly mayhem on the tabletop. They'll also give me a nice bump on the Skull-o-Meter(tm).

Finally are two units of Khorne Bloodletters to add to my Daemonic host. What to say: just a passel of nasty, angry, pointy-spikey fellas. Again, a pretty straightforward paint recipe of reds, orange and yellow, but they look the part when all ranked up on their bases.

The points tally on all this is kind of silly, but not so silly that I won't take it and run. :)

The two Beastherds come in at 218 infantry and two Centigor outriders for 224 points total.

The Centigor herds are 28 mounted figures for 84 points.

The Cairn Wraiths are 156 figures for a blushing 156 points.

The Bloodletters are 144 foot for 144 points.

All totalled up = 608 points. Woo.

As to the precious skullz, we have 156 for the wraiths and another 36 decorating various standards. That makes 192 bony noggins in total. This should please Skully McSkullface, bless his cranium.

Thank you Millsy for not only minioning my entries this season, but also for all your wonderful work with the Friday Follies. 

Have a great weekend everyone! Remember that Saturday to midnight Monday is 'Free Fire', so make sure to pop in some more work over the next few days if you can manage it!

Cheers!

Curt

From Millsy: BOOM! What a way to close out your efforts for the year Curt. I've really enjoyed your 10mm fantasy stuff, especially how you turn many of the bases into small dioramas with structures, terrain or other elements (+10 points for that). The Beastherds are probably my favourite mainly because there's a lot of variety in the colours used but even so they all come together so well and look like a proper horde. You're most welcome re the minion duties, it's a priviledge and I've had a great crew to look after... talented, funny, friendly and just a bit weird like me.

From Paul OG: Roman Baggage elements (33 points)

Yes I know I said I had submitted my last post but I got home from my travels early enough to get these baggage elements finished before I departed again.

First up is this Centurion's Tent by Debris of War. A lovely one piece resin model, it really sets the Camp scene well. The design is of leather panels stitched together with goat skin reinforcing over the seams

And if you are setting up the Centurion's tent, then it needs supplies- in this case a wine cart! This is by War Bases and comprises a mdf wagon, metal oxen and a resin insert for the wine amphorae. I added the grass to give the impression of straw packing around them

Points wise:

• the tent has the volume of approx 1/8 of a standard terrain cube, being 2.5 points
• for the cart I propose 12 points, being 2 x 28mm Oxen and 2 points for the cart & wine jars

How thematic that my last post is dated on the Ides of March!

From Millsy: Good to see you safely home from your travels Paul. Clearly the lack of brush time has been playing on your mind if you jumped straight back onto the tools on your return! I've always found these Roman tents a weird affair, so overengineered with all the ropework on the outside but they're certainly iconic for the same reason. Nice work on the oxen and cart, I like the way you've represented the straw packing. I've scored the cart as a vehicle which means your total is 33 points for your final(?!?) entry mate.