From Mike W: 28mm Arthurian Horse and Epic 15mm Carthaginian Horse (170 Points)

 At last I have got all my outstanding Arthurian cavalry completed! This week I have finished off 9 x 28mm horsemen, to join the other guys I completed earlier in the challenge. Next week I hope to get the outstanding foot figures completed as well.

9 x 28mm Gripping Beast Cavalrymen

My painting technique was the same as previous figures for this period, so I will not repeat myself here, 3 of these figures are on armoured horses whilst the rest are on their unarmoured counterparts. As before all these figures are Gripping Beast and I purchased myself a box of Late Roman Heavy Cavalry and Goth Elite Cavalry, in both boxes the torsos are exactly the same moulds, I have just Anglo-Romanised the Goths with head and shield swaps.

Another view of the mounted men in line...

... and from the other side, better showing shield art!

This time around I had planned to give the armoured guys red shields and the others predominantly white shields, however as I was basing these up I realised that I'd accidently applied one of  the red shield patterns to an unarmoured horseman and a corresponding white one to one of the armoured figures! Oh well, I'll just have to get some more figures, to even up the numbers again....

Close-up of three of the little guys, with the accidental red shield on the left!

The three fully armoured cavalrymen, again with accidental white shield on the left!

The unshielded side of the above mounted men

Last three mounted figures, all witht he right shield art!

Final shot of the 28mm horsemen

Continuing the Cavalry theme but going down in scale, I have also completed the outstanding Warlord Epic 15mm Carthaginians that I ran out of time for last week - namely 10 Lybian Heavy Cavalry on two stands accompanied by 10 x Spanish Cavalry on another two bases.

The completed 15mm cavalry bases.

As above but with the rear rank to the front

Again the painting method has been outlined in previous post, this brings my immediate splurge on this Carthaginian Army to a close - apart form when I can source some Celts and some Elephants!

The Lybian Heavy Cavalry bases

The Spanish Cavalry bases.

POINTS

9 x 28mm Arthurian Horse @ 10 Pts ea         90 Points

20 x 15mm Carthaginian Horse @ 4 Pts ea    80 Points

TOTAL                                                            170 Points

Very nice again, Mike! I always love your Arthurian figures, and these look great. The Epic figures are a good unit too, I hope to see a picture of all your epic miniatures together sometime! Nothing wrong with your calculations, so 170 points will be added to your total. Good job!

Martijn

From AdamW: Music maestro please (The Lovers) (30pts)

 Well I had an hour to spare before heading out for this weeks game, so thought I'd squeeze in an entry for Paradise. Short and to the point, like a good dagger,

My entry for the lovers sphere is this 15mm Medieval band. My reasoning is that if music is the food of love, then these hipsters perfectly encapsulate 'The Lovers' sphere.

They are fronted by a Jester, so....Ladies and gentlemen I present to you ....'The Fool Fighters'.....

I've forgotten the make of these and am pushed for time to try and find it. If I can find it I'll add as a comment.

Points..nice an straight forward for a change :)

5 x 15mm foot@2pts = 10pts

Lovers Bonus            =20pts

Total 30pts

Well, that is a, let's say,  interesting take on the lovers theme. However, these music lovers look very nice in their gaudy clothes, and the jester is a little gem of a figure. As Procol Harum sang, "if music is the food of love, laughter is it's key"', so we're all set. Well done Adam, 30 more points.

Martijn

From LeeH: Opolchiene 3 Pounder Gun & Limber (82 Points)

A few weeks ago I completed a couple of units of the Opolchiene Militia and enjoyed them so much I decided to expand this section of my growing army. I was immediately tempted by the options offered by Perry Miniatures and decided a small artillery piece would be good with the foot troops. So I purchased the 3 Pounder Gun with its associated Limber. 

I haven’t been able to find out much about the use of artillery with the Opolchiene so I have had to ‘fill in the gaps’ a little. Some sources mention that Cossak Opolchiene used captured Turkish guns dating from the 18th Century and I guess that makes sense. Modern artillery pieces would be used by the regular army, but these older, supposedly obsolete weapons, would be ideal for the Militia. 

The sculpting on this model is really nice but my one criticism of the set is that none of the ropes between the draft horses and the limber are included. I couldn’t reconcile myself to the omission so I made the ropes using a few metal spears that were left over from an earlier project. A little bit of texture was added using a file and then the new ropes were pinned to the horses and cut to the right length to attach to the limber. It is surprisingly difficult to find pictures of how these were harnessed but I think I eventually worked it out (via a bit of head scratching and swearing) and I’m pretty happy with this modest bit of conversion work. 

I also had time to work on a wagon and some casualties this week. I found this model, painted but seriously battered, in a box of terrain that I used to use for face-to-face roleplaying games. It's made of resin and had taken a lot of damage with a lot of the paint chipped off. So I cleaned it up and gave it a new coat of primer before repainting it. I also made a pile of grain sacks from greenstuff to partially fill the back of the waggon and left just enough room for one lucky passenger. This guy may survive the battle simply because he has been able to get up off the ground, unlike his companion who has succumbed to wounds and the cold down on the ground. Both figures are Perry Miniatures and are painted as Jagers, with green uniforms and black leather belts and straps. 

Scoring:

1x28mm Gun = 10 Points
1x28mm Limber = 10 Points
4x28mm crew on foot = 20 Points
1x28mm Mounted Crewman = 10 Points
1x28mm draft horse = 5 Points
1x28mm wagon (vehicle) = 20 Points
2x28mm prone = 5 Points

Total: 80 Points (plus anything the umpire feels fitting for the little bit of conversion work 😉)

It has been said before, but it remains a pleasure to see this project progressing at a steady pace, Lee! I like these figures as much as those in your previous contributions, and the more so because of the a little more unusual subject. I did not even know that there was Opolchenie artillery! Somewhat surprising, as the artillery was always regarded as the most "scientific" branch of the service. The more power to them, a very nice addition to your growing force. In honour of the head scratching and swearing, and since you asked nicely 😉,  I'll throw in a couple of bonus points. 82 points then!

Martijn

From AdamW: 15mm Boer war British and some more junk (244 points)

A couple of bits completed this week, 

I know one of the key principles of this challenge is to get thing painted and based ready for the table.  This first entry doesn't quite meet that as I won't be basing them, but I have painted them after extracting them from the lead pile.

My friend, whose place we game in, picked up some khaki clad colonial British on a bring and buy stall at the recent Plymouth wargames show.  He already has a lot, but was going to rebase them all to match.  

I remembered I had a few unpainted ones that came in the same bargain box as the Boers I painted up earlier in the challenge.  So I've painted these up to give to him, so he can rebase them all in the same way.

The figures are, I believe, mainly Old glory 15mm, with a few minifigs and a couple of essex thrown in.

These are painted in my traditional method, rather than speedpaints. That is to say, I block paint in a lighter shade of the end colours I want, followed by a brown wash.  That is all I normally do, but as they are for my friend I have then given them a quick drybush to match his style of painting.

Points.

Well it was suggested a point less per figure is reasonable due to no basing (Seems harsh as the basing takes way less time, but I've been told that one shouldn't question the points system).

I'm happy to get these done and for them to be used in the near future.

116 x 15mm foot@1 pts = 116 @2 -25%  for unbased = 174

8 x 15mm prone@0.5pts = 4 pts  @1 -25% for unbased = 6

Total 120pts 180 points

The second entry is a couple of small junks/Sampans. 

These are couple of old resin models that I got from 'The Scene' miniatures back in 2013. I don't think the company is still around.  They came as just a hull, so I added a sail, and a covered bit to one of them. A bit of customisation, some baskets and crew added and some paint and here we are. The crew are Peter pig villagers from their vietnam range.

Points.

Here is my best guess, but feel free to adjust away. I'm happy with anything :)

8x 15mm sitting crew@1pt? = 8 pts  @2 points -25% = 12

1x artillery piece @ 4pts  = 4pts

2 x small ships (just over 5inches)@20pts? = 40pts 48

Total 54pts 84

======================

Grand Total  174pts ? 244 points

Ha, more junk! I think these look great again, Adam, and just to get you on the wrong foot I'll score them as the equivalent of three 15 mm vehicles at 24 points each. The 15mm figures look very fine also, and here too, I think you have been a little too modest. We seem to have a bit of a theme going on here, as this is the second post today with unbased figures. Now just like Edward you have sound reasons for it, so I'll accept them, but some deduction will still be necessary. Not half though, that would indeed be too harsh (though for me basing my figures always seems to take ages, I must say). In line with established custom for unbased 15mm figures I'll take off 25%. You certainly make me work for my money, but I think all this leaves you with 244 points. Not bad! 

Martijn

From EdwardG - More SAGA minis (170 points)

 Hej hej all!

Yikes!!! A whole month, I didn't realise I'd been silent for so long. It's been a very busy/ sickly February sadly. The whole family caught the flu and work decided we should do our yearly target setting in Feb and not June as we normally do. Crazy times. 

But I'm happy to say, while I've been silent, I've not been idle. 

I have gotten caught up in the 28mm bug, despite my plan for this challenge. I had thought to paint the Swiss and then switch to my 6mm projects. But those have stayed in the tin and instead I've built more minis for SAGA and large scale DBA. I'm still basing the DBA troops, so they'll have to wait for next week. But here are the SAGA minis.

They're a mix of plastic Perry minis and Claymore miniatures (I think!). All painted to be reasonably generic for any faction. The ones that are un-based, are painted for a friend who will be basing them to match his other minis. They'll only be delivered after the challenge, so i hope it's OK to post them here in their current state. Their colour scheme is inspired by some minis by Capt. Blood on the LAF. 

Points totals:

34 x 28mm foot figures = 34 x 5pts (-12 points) = 170 158 pts

Keep up the amazing painting! And see you all sooner than 4 weeks! 

Best, 

Ed

P.s. people were very kind in wishing me luck in the SAGA competition. I can report that the Swiss are more paper than tiger, at least in my ham-fisted hands. I lost all 3 games, vs a French and two Scottish warbands. I'm certain better players can do well with them, and I am really looking forward to getting them on the table again to trial a few different permutations. Here are some photos of the Swiss in action.

Good to see you back to the fray, Edward! These saga minis look great, and I like how you gave each unit different colours to distinguish them. It's always very good to have some versatile troop types at hand to be employed in whichever role or nationality you need them! I am sorry to hear that your Swiss did not acquit themselves too well in the tournament, but at least they made it safely through airport security and back, and as long as you had fun playing losing is not too bad, surely. Judging from the photos it was a great event, so let's take an optimistic view and say that there is room for improvement!  As for your unbased figures, in se it is okay to post them, but I am afraid that the Challenge Rules dictate that they cannot count at full value. Traditionally, unbased 28mm figures have had a point deducted if unbased, so I'll shave off 12 points to still leave you with a healthy total of 158. Well done!

Martijn

It's Friday once again!

 

Good morning all! Having completed our Belgian beer tour of the Circles of Hell, I think it is time to stop bothering you with the fabulous products of Belgian beer culture. Be sure to try some whenever you may find yourself in the Low Countries though! However, I am pleased to say that Spring is in the air, the sun is out, and spirits are up. The Friday Crew seem to have succesfully navigated Dry February, and we have a nice menu for you today:

- EdwardG continues his Saga;

- AdamW provides yet more junk;

- LeeH further advances his retreat from Moscow:

- AdamW plays a different tune;

- and MikeW writes another Epic Arthurian chapter.

And who knows what else may come up? Enjoy!

Martijn