From Curt - Some Villains for 'Devilry Afoot' (42 Points)

Continuing on with my 'Devilry Afoot' dalliance, here are a few Villains and Monsters for our brave heroes to face and overcome (or get made into wet bits scattered about the moors).

First up we have the Count along with three of his brides. These are from Crooked Dice, through their MyMiniFactory store. Lovely models and a joy to paint.

One thing you gotta say about Dracula, the dude's always been solid with the ladies. Look here, three wives! Wow, right?! All at the same time and not at each other's throats... Well, yeah, anyway. Now, I figure you either have to be French, Mormon, or the Prince of the Undead to pull that one off.

The slightly yellow-greenish cast of his skin is on purpose to drive home that he's not entirely human.

Devilry Afoot has a profile for 'Bogeymen' with a relatively open interpretation describing them. So, I decided to go with two variations, one a good ole scarecrow (from Reconquer Designs) and the other a creepy AF harlequin/jester (from Bestarium Miniatures). 

The scarecrow was fairly straightforward, but I took a little bit more time with the harlequin as I wanted a more desaturated look to him. He was great fun to work on.

All of these models are quite 'heroic', tipping in at 40mm and higher, so I'll claim 7 for each making it 42. This will also give me another Squirrel Point (tm)! Sadly there are no skulls for Barks... Maybe next submission.

Thanks for dropping in!

- Curt

From Millsy:

Crikey, this is some proper nightmare fuel and no mistake.

That jester has a horrible Slenderman vibe and is a perfect example of why clowns scare people. His scarecrow friend is equally unnerving. They look like they were a blast to paint too and I particularly like your colour choices on the jester.

Despite how much I like those two, the vampire and his three ladies of the night are my favourite from this crop. They perfectly capture the feel of the vampire ladies from the Reeves/Oldman movie version - at once both terrifying and Phwoar! Bananarama with teeth. If I had to guess I'd go with him being a French Vampire. You can't pull off that hairstyle as either of the other two I don't think. His right hand looks like it should be holding a Gitane and I can see him delivering a dismissive shrug when threatened with a crucifix.

Cracking work all round mate. Love em!

Cheers,
Millsy

From JohnS - I'm Frank, This is My Brother Carol and My Other Brother Carol (90 points)

One of my stated goals for this AHPC was to get some of my Carolingians and Carthaginian armies painted. I have made a start!

First up is a half unit of Frankish Heerbann militia. These are from the assortment of dark age figures I have been collecting for years so I am not sure of all of the makers but there are a couple of Crusader in there I believe.

Some of the figures are a bit rough but that just adds to their "peasanty charm". You can practically smell the pig slop on them...

I decided that their shields should be either monochrome or simple designs to reflect the availability of pigments and the skills of the painters, plus in a variety of shapes and sizes because some shields were older, captured or made quickly.

 My second group are Medbury Miniatures Carolingian Archers, cast in metal.

 These are beautiful sculpts that take paint very well, despite a few issues with casting.

I bought a large quantity of Carolingians from Medbury and I am looking forward to painting more.

With my Carolingian Frankish army finally started I am happy to be back on track and to claim:

28mm Infantry x 18 @ 5pts ea = 90 points

From Millsy:

I always enjoy seeing the finished products from our Antipodean paint and chat sessions. It's like putting a face to a name, or finally seeing a movie you've heard loads about but not seen. It scratches an itch.

These are very fine indeed John. I think you have perfectly captured the look you were going for with the shields and the overall style of the Franks. They're a nice deep base which makes me think these are one of several intended for To the Strongest! Is that right?

Your Carolingians are tempting me to dip my toe into the Medbury Miniatures pool. They definitely look like they'd be fun to paint and you have absolutely done them justice.

90 points added to your tally mate. I look forward to facing off against these fine fellow at some point.

Cheers,
Millsy

From GeoffT: A mixed bag (75 points)

Hello Challengers, 

Today I present a mixed bag of miniatures.

There are two Grunch Warriors, I don’t know what an Grunch is, but they look like Blemmaye with birds feet.  I have four Napoleonic undead, two skeletons and two vampires for “The Silver Bayonet” an Oriental Ogre,  four British Paratroopers and Harry Flashman himself.

In total there is 11 x 28mm infantry, one 54mm figure and a 28mm scale gun.  That is a total of 75 points.

Kind Regards,

Geoff.

From Millsy:

I love a good eclectic collection of miniatures and this is the perfect specimen! I'm intrigued by the Grunch which I've not come across before. A quick bit ot Google Foo has properly educated my on them and I agree they have a definite blemaye feel to them.

Very nice work all around Geoff. Rich reds, saturated blues and bright whites. What's not to like?

75 Challenge shekels for you mate.

Cheers,
Millsy

From SteveG: Ancient Germanic Cavalry (70 points)

German Cavalry 28mm metal mostly by Warlord Games.   Love the riders.  Chock full of personality.  Sadly their horses are emaciated nags, so I’ve swapped a few out for the excellent plastic “light horses” by Wargames Atlantic.   Much better proportioned and lively looking steeds!

Warlord Rider, Wargames Atlantic horse 

OG Warlord Games 

 Also shown below is a very much inferior plastic old Wargames Factory Germanic Cavalry. To be avoided unless you’re paid to take them  IMHO  😊.    

Wargames Factory

Victrix- slightly modded

Warlord Rider, WA horse

Steve G 
7 x 28mm cavalry = ? 70 points 

From Millsy:

I'm so glad you've joined us this year Steve and that I have the privilege of minioning your posts. I find myself looking for them each Friday when I start processing posts. There's just something about your style that really floats my hobby boat.

Maybe it's your choice of subject matter, or your brushwork, or your amazing basing. Ultimately I think it's a mix of all of them and a bunch of other stuff too.

Good call swapping out some of the horses. Such brave looking warriors deserve a mount of equal robustness.

70 more points added to your tally mate. Can't wait for next week!

Cheers,

Millsy

From RichardM - Peninsula Swiss Napoleonics and more Portuguese (202 points)

This will be the second last post with Portuguese Infantry and to spice it up a bit I have included some Swiss Napoleonics.  As with all of the other posts, these are all Adler Miniatures 6mm Napoleonics.

I'll do the Swiss first.  There are four Swiss Regiments that I will eventually paint (12 battalions).  These will also be used for the other campaigns where the Swiss supported Napoleon - notably in Russia at Polotsk.  

I have painted the 4th Swiss Regiment this week, elements of which fought at Rolica and Bailen in the Peninsular.  I will follow with the 2nd and 3rd Regiments in subsequent weeks - I don't believe the 1st Regiment were in the Peninsular.  

Next up are the prodigal 11th and 12th Cacadores who went missing when called on for the first weeks basing and photos.  That brings me to a total of 10 battalions of Cacadores which are all I am doing.

Then we have the 1st, 6th, 13th and 23rd Portuguese Line Regiments - each of two battalions.  I think this leaves me three regiments still to paint, which I hope to get finished next week.  

And lastly there is the final Portuguese cavalry regiment - the 1st Regiment with their white facings.  These cavalry have been pretty boring to paint - being blue and a facing colour - and from what I have read they should perform poorly on the tabletop.

Next week should be the last of the Portuguese Line and the beginnings of the German troops that fought for Napoleon in the Peninsular.

Points:

Swiss

- 3 battalions of 36 figures @ 0.5 points per figure = 56 points

- Regimental commander with 2 mounted figures @ 1 point per figure - 2 points

Cacadores - 2 battalions of 24 figures each @ 0.5 points per figure = 24 points

Line battalions - 8 battalions of 24 figures each @ 0.5 points per figures = 96 points

Cavalry regiment of 24 mounted figures @ 1 point per figure = 24 points

Total = 202 points

From Millsy:

Another monumental effort to paint wee men Richard! By my count that's 352 infantry just this week.

I'm not sure what I find more impressive, your ability to grind away without losing focus or the consistently high quality of the effort whilst doing so. I wasn't aware there WAS as many as battalions of Cacadores, never mind committing to painting them all.

Very much looking forward to the KGL. Some of my favourite troops on the allied side.

Great work again mate. 202 points for you tally.

Cheers,
Millsy