KenR - 28mm "Spanish" Heavy Cavalry Dos (62 pts)

 

Here is the 2nd of 6 Heavy Cavalry units I have prepped for the Challenge and a nice little Palette cleanser after the Pike guys I did last week.

The figures are 28mm Spanish from TAG (The Assault Group) with flags from Petes Flags, these are banners for Neopolitan Condottieri so the figures will have a dual use as and when required. Figures are based 2 per base on a 50 x 60 base which is my standard for the period. 

As always I've used the colours and designs in the flags as a guide to my Palette and look to the riders, 6 x 10 points for 28mm Cavalry plus a couple for the flags nets me 62 more points.

I've got some French Command Stands on the go (which may be a late entry this week) being finished off before I do the third unit of these and then its back to some Pike.

Below is a picture of the growing Spanish Gent'd'Arms (12 done pre challenge) so you can see how the group looks.

Wonderful stuff Ken, I just can't say enough about your units.  The full array is awe inspiring.  

From HarryV: 28mm Hannibal's Veteran Carthaginian Spearmen (380 pts)

 Hi everybody, for my second post I have four units of Veteran Carthaginian Spearmen 

Across the units are 76 figures in 28mm scale at 5 pts each, coming to a total of 380 pts. The figures are a mix of multiple manufacturers. The largest part are from aventine miniatures, but there are victrix, agama, lucid eye, and warlord games all present as well. 

These figures represent Hannibal's veterans over the course of their 10 years saga in Southern Italy, along with their return to Africa for Zama. They are for the "To the Strongest Ruleset". 

The first unit is the most aggressive, and has the biggest concentration of victrix figures. All the veterans are rated as Veteran Legionaries in standard sized units for the To the Strongest Ruleset. 

I chose figures mainly in standing poses as I was envisioning them at the Battle of Zama where they formed Hannibal's third line. They are surveying the battlefield, watching the first lines in action and determinedly awaiting the battle's conclusion. 

In terms of equipment I wanted a diverse, yet cohesive look to the units. I tried to tie the units together with the mostly scutum shields and Carthaginian shield designs. However, I wanted the figures to have a wide variety of equipment. 

The eagle eyed will notice Gallic figures mixed in. This is taking from a lecture by Adrian Goldsworthy, who describes how while initially fighting in their ethnic contingents, over time Hannibal's troops converged together into mixed units over their many years fighting together.

"You might fancy that the Africans were for the most part a body of Romans from the way they were armed, they were so completely equipped with the arms, some of which they had taken at the Trebia..."

Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 22.46

As well as figures marketed as Carthaginians, I used a lot of Roman figures in these units to simulate the looting of Roman equipment. I think given that Livy describes them as looking very Roman, this points to the use of the scutum. Over many years of campaigning, cut off from supply, I imaged the veterans would be using what they could find locally in Italy.

In terms of painting and modeling, this was more on the speed painted side of the spectrum. I wanted to use a lot of white cloth and shields to give them a Carthage look. Carthaginians are described with white shields in the Sicilian Wars, but mainly this choice is from playing too much Rome: Total War. There is light conversion work throughout, mainly on the plastic figures - lots of kit bashing. I am not a huge fan of the agema plastics, mainly the heads look weird on the bodies.

Thats it from me this week. Next week I will have my Libyan Skirmishers completed. 

More lovely looking ancients Harry.  Love the mix of figure manufacturers and the varried equipment within the units.   They look fantastic all lined up too.  We've had good luck with TtS using my Late Romans vs Picts etc collections. 

 

From SylvainR: Tray 03, Luchs and Jagdpanzer IVs (70 points)

 In this week's tray are some late war German tanks.

 

First, seven patrols of three Panzer II Luchs, with their company HQ. Only 100 were produced by the end of the war, so it's not a very common vehicle. I decided to go with the camouflage pattern found on the Luchs displayed at the Tank Museum in Bovington. With its overlapping wheels, the Luchs somehow looks like a baby Tiger 1 to me.

Next are three platoons of four Jagdpanzer IV.  I like the ominous shape of this tank, so low and so square. Because of their long gun sticking out at the front, I had to position the miniatures at the back of the base, otherwise the weapon would be bent every time I store these minis in their tray. There are variants in the lot: some have schützen and some are equipped with the short barrel 75mm gun.

Points claimed: 

35x 6mm vehicles at 2 points each = 70 points

Total = 70 points

 Thanks for reading! 

It's Tuesday morning so time for our weekly shot of mcro-armour from Sylvain.   You gone for the smaller and bigger ends of the scale this time around, but they are looking might fine.  I love that you've recreated nearly 1/4 of the entire production of the Luchs.  Everything's up top your regular fantastic standard mon ami.

From RaulM: Black Seas HMS Indefatigable (25 points)

Hello and welcome to my first post of the challenge! It's a little later than I had hoped, but I've had a lot going on behind the scenes. You're not here for excuses though, you're here for some painted minis. I'm continuing last year's adventure with Black Seas, Warlord Games's foray into Age of Sail miniatures. The scale is 1/700 (although sticklers would point out that it's on a sliding scale and not all of them are true 1/700 and so on and so on...). The first miniature I have this year is the HMS Indefatigable, a rather famous ship in Napoleonic naval circles.

This is a resin, metal, and plastic model. The metal stern and figurehead are technically meant for one of the plastic 5th rate frigates in the Royal Navy starter box, but the Indefatigable is not a standard 5th rate, but instead a razee, which is a larger ship, like a 3rd or 2nd rate, who's upper gun deck has been cut away. So instead I used the small 4th rate razee model, which is made of resin. I also took the masts from a plastic 3rd rate as I thought the 5th rate masts were a touch too small. 

I used my standard Royal Navy colors here, which is an amber yellow with black. The figurehead was a fun little challenge, and is practically a miniature on a miniature. My photography isn't great, but that's a Greek warrior with sword and shield. 

And for those of you that can't really picture what 1/700 scale means, here's the ship next to a Blood & Plunder 28 mm pirate on a 20 mm base. 

As for points, I've scored this at 20 points based on previous challenges, particularly my USS Constitution from last year. 

Welcome back Raul and what an absolutely smashing first post!  A famous ship indeed, now you just need the Droits de L'Hommes for her to fight in a gale.   Just lovely work on the painting and rigging.  Speaking of rigging, I fully support the idea of using the bigger masts, as Captain fellow specifically kept her original masts on conversion from a 3rd rate.  I'm adding in a few points for the flag and the fine work.

Open Mike Night Tuesday January 20th

 

Don't know if it's good news or bad, but I am back on my theme after a week off due to extreme grumpiness.  But...

This week we have the following acts appearing on stage.

• Raul brings us some sea shanties
• Sylvain will tell us of troubles with Lili Marlene
• Ken strums his Lute for some Renaissance favourites
• Martin will have us scratching our heads with his absurdist comedy routine (really, you try classifying MartinC)
• Jez will bring in a some sort of musical automaton
• Plus who ever else shows up or comes back for an encore.

The photo up top is why I'm not building any new projects this year.  Back in the fall my guitar teacher noticed some cracks in my 50 year old classical guitar. The years and low humidity had taken a toll and it was time to retire the old one and look for a new one.  Guitars aren't cheap so domestic negotiations were required and it became my combined Christmas, anniversary and birthday present.  I got to try out the model that I researched (it's a Cordoba C7 if anyone cares) on a work trip to Vancouver and had the shop ship it to me since I figured they'd know how better than I do, and because United breaks guitars. 

Alright my first week's music pick went over well, so let's see if the trend continues butI'm old and have quirky tastes.  The idea I'm running with is to find videos of live performances with a stripped down feel to them.  This week it's the Cowboy Junkies (who like the Holy Roman Empire are neither cowboys or junkies), a Canadian alt-country band from the 80s featuring three Timmins siblings.  Back in the day I had a huge crush on Margot.   This is the song that they're best know for, and it's from the Trinity Sessions album recorded mostly in one day in a church with a single microphone, giving a really old timey stripped down feel.  Supposedly they told the church that the Timmins family band wanted to record Christmas music.