The Last Post of Challenge XV - From Curt: 10mm Dogs of War - The Alcatani Fellowship and The Birdmen of Catrazza (106 Points)

Brushes down everyone!

It's a wrap! With 638 entires spread over 13 weeks of furious hobbying we are now at the end of Challenge XV.  

For my final entry I return to my 10mm Warhammer Fantasy project. Over the past few years I've had a lot of fun creating massed bases of 10mm fantasy units for the Empire, Wood Elves, Tomb Kings, Beastmen and Orc & Goblins. Nonetheless, my favourite force has to be 'The Dogs of War'. 

Now, anyone who's been following the Challenge will have noticed that the Dogs of War have been getting a lot of great press from several talented participants this year (I'm looking at you Greg and Sander), so I thought I'd shamelessly ride on their coattails and put forward my small offering (literally).

First up are 'The Alcatani Fellowship'. 

Pikemen in Warhammer Fantasy are quite rare, in fact they only can be found as mercenary troops hailing from the city states of Tilea. 

Though vulnerable on their flanks, pike formations can be rather nasty when faced frontally. Many a cavalry commander has rued the day when they charged head-on into a well prepared pike phalanx. 

The Alcatani Fellowship are unique in that they don't always take up arms for filthy lucre, but will offer their services to aid the disadvantaged in their fight against injustice and tyranny. Essentially Warhammer's version of social justice warriors. (Trump would have them all deported in a heartbeat.) :)

These 10mm fellas are 3d prints from MiniRat Studios. Great little models which printed-up a treat. They have quite a lot going on with them, so not really a quick paint, but they look good all ranked up (there are 85 figures in this unit).

Next are the Birdmen of Catrazza. One thing I really enjoyed about GW's 'Dogs of War' was their sly nod to all sorts of Renaissance Italy ephemera such as Lucrezia Borgia's poisonings, mercenary pikemen and Leonardo Da Vinci's whacky inventions. The Birdmen of Catrazza are very much along this vein and remain as a much-loved unit from the original range. 

These are 10mm renditions of the Birdmen from Varus Miniatures. Beautiful models and a joy to paint. 

For their basing I decided to try a forced perspective with a tiny windmill on a range of treed hills.

And for a final shot, here are my Dogs of War to-date, with the Alcatani Fellowship and the Birdmen of Catrazza joining Bronzino's Galloper Guns and Braganza's Besiegers. Hmm, getting closer to a playable force. I need more pikemen, its always the pikemen...

As to points there are 85 10mm foot in the pike unit and 7 10mm mounted from the Birdmen, giving a total of 106 points. Close to my target, but a bit shy. Oh well, I'll try to do better next time out. It's not called a 'Challenge' for no reason. :) 

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In closing I wish to give a deep bow to our marvellous Minions: Millsy, Paul, Greg, Teemu, Martijn, Sylvain and Sarah, along with Miles who wrangled the Spreadsheet-of-Doom, and our Duels Wallah Peter. To all of you, thank you so much for keeping this crazy, careening wagon-of-hobby-madness on the road - It goes without saying (but I will) that I could not have done it without you. 

Finally my heartfelt thanks to all our participants. This event would be nothing without your participation, kindness and good humour. It was a pleasure to spend the winter with you all painting figures and admiring each others' work.

I ask all participants to email me their three nominations for Challengers' Choice (deadline 11pm March 30th). From that list I'll post a voting poll and on April 20th we'll make the announcements for Challenger's Choice, Sarah's Choice and Snowlord's Choice. 

Finally, I invite our Challengers to post a final round-up shot of what they managed to achieve this year. Don't be shy in your genius and magnificence!

Until next time.

- Curt