From JP - ACW Naval 1/1200 ships (55 Points)

I'm delighted to be back for my second competition. Thank you Curt for organising this. I am also delighted to learn that Martijn is only 30-45 minutes drive from me here in soggy Belgium! My painting continues to outstrip my actual gaming, though that was not the intent when I set out in the hobby over 50 years ago... on the other hand, I prefer my current paint jobs to what I produced back then...

Apologies for the haste of the entry - the photography is not great. I wanted something in for Christmas and time was running out. 

I call this my Limbo post, if Curt allows it. I have some 120+ ACW naval vessels and some 60 to paint still. Most models occupy a base of 50-75mm in length but the small vessels, which were numerous in the conflict, keep getting pushed to the back of the to do list in favour of the better known beasts. These vessels were often converted tugs or similar with a smoothbore plonked at each end.

And so I present the North Carolina Mosquito fleet of the Confederate States Navy - lovely models producedby Pithead Miniatures. Three of the vessels are 'normal' in size, while eight are on 35mm long bases. Assembly is fiddly at this scale and the bases need work, not to mention the name tags. The main challenge remains, as I posted last year, I think, in bringing them to life with enough detail and weathering to please the eye.

So, there are eleven Pithead 1/600 scale vessels:

3 x normal size      15 points

8 x small size         20 points

Limbo entry           20 points

Sub Total               55 points

Curt - please adjust as you see fit!

A closer up shot.

Thanks for taking a peek and now back to Christmas preparations!

Cheers,

JP

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First welcome back to the Challenge JP!

These are some great looking river craft. I especially like how you've done up the bases and provided the neat labeling - very trim and clean. I can't imagine how terrifying it would have been to be in these relatively light craft and having rifled artillery shooting at me. Yikes! 

55 points for your climb up the points ladder JP. Well done!

- Curt

From PeterA - 28mm Star Wars Shoretroopers, Limbo (55 points)

Hello to all Challenge Participants from a wet and (very) windy UK! I haven't taken part in the Challenge for a few years, so I am looking forward to seeing what everyone produces and what I can complete over the coming months. 

For my first AHPC XV entry I have a small squad of Shoretroopers for the Star Wars Legion game. I got these figures a couple of years ago when FFG did a bundle deal for their Star Wars Legion game, but I didn't really enjoy the rules, so the figures languished at the bottom of the lead pile, primed but nothing more. Then, about a month ago I came across 5 Parsecs from Home by Ivan Sorenson, a solo sci-fi skirmish game with some RPG-lite elements, and this inspired me to dig out the Star Wars figures to build some small forces for games set in a galaxy far, far away. Having not done anything with these figures for two years, this also seems like a good way to start the Divine Comedy, and so this is also an entry for The First Circle: Limbo!

I loved the look of the Shoretroopers in Rogue One, and so have adopted a broadly similar colour scheme, mostly using various Contrast paints over an Army Painter Skeleton Bone basecoat. The benefit of this is that they were quite quick to paint to a 'table ready' standard. They all have a squad marking in red on their right arm and the squad leader has light blue markings on his chest and left arm. 

So 7x28mm figures plus the Limbo bonus should net me 55 points (I know SWL figures are bigger than 28mm, but this seems the best fit in terms of scoring). The backdrop in the photos is by John Hodgson from his Sci-Fi backdrops book - thoroughly recommended.

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Welcome back to the Challenge Peter - it's great to have you in the scrum again! 

These Shoretroopers look terrific in all their Light Armour Club Med glory. Great brushwork and wonderful terrain too! I remember first seeing the Shoretroopers in 'Rogue One' and thinking that they guys must come from influential Imperial families. Who else would get posted to a tropical paradise guarding an archive. Tough gig! They must have been sooo p*ssed when the Rebels dropped in with the Deathstar in tow. 'The scheduled beachside evening Mai Tais have been cancelled due to orbital turbolaser bombardment...'

Great idea to repurpose these minis for 'Five Parsecs From Home' (great rules) and as an added bonus it allows you to snag another 20 theme points. Great stuff!

Also, thanks for the tip on the John Hodgson backdrops. I'm now just plotting which ones I want to get for myself. Cheers!

- Curt