From KristoferD: Mission Accomplished

Well that was an eventful three months to say the least. Thank you for this amazing experience, Curt and Sanders in particular, but also all the rest of you who have contributed in some way or form.

As we were getting close to the end of February I was very confindent in meeting my target and then as usual, life happened. Workload, a 1:1 painting project in one of the childrens' rooms and other topics conspired to keep me away from the brushes. Such plans I had for Cossacks and terrain, but it had to go in favour of finishing the Swedes for the Krakow tournament. Despite having started in December I was still doing bases last Thursday night before getting on the plane in the morning. I had intended to make a final post, since I managed to finish a few more pieces to a reasonable standard (some bases still need dandelions), but then I realized that I hadn't planned how to pack everything and that stole away the last moments of time I had before leaving. In the end everything worked out very well, and I could simply put the miniatures back in the original packaging. Excellent work there Wargamer Poland!

The tournament was an absolute blast! And I say this despite the fact that I finished third to last. I was placed just over two players who lost all their games since I at least managed one draw. I have much to learn, but I will point out that I took out a unit of Winged Hussars by charging them in the flank in one game, so at least there is that. You have to take the small victories when you get them. My opponent advised me that it would have been better to withdraw a unit later in the game to preserve it, and then added: "But you're [clearly] a cossack." I will bear that as a badge of honour coming from a Pole.

The game has a very vibrant scene in Poland, and everybody I talked to was extremely friendly and welcoming. The terrain was amazing and the support from sponsors and the community is mindblowing. Everybody in attendance got a fan list for Polish volunteers with historical background and rules. It looks like it plays great. I had more luck than in my games in the raffle at end of it and won unit of Musketeers. If you ever have the chance to go to Poland and play By Fire and Sword, take it! 10 out of 10 kopis.

One of the friends I travelled with has family in the area so we spent a lazy Monday strolling around Krakow and getting showed the sites including Wavel Castle with a beautiful collection of weapons and armour from the appropriate period. A perfect ending to a perfect trip. Sadly most of my pictures are zoomed in on details for later reference or contain people whose consent I don't have to post online, but here is at least a picture of the city gate in Krakow. I hope I made sure the driver is not identifiable by blacking out them and the plates.

So, onto achievements. Below you'll find a group picture of my official tally. It might be slightly of the mark, but I'm still very happy with the achievement, safe in the knowledge that it still worked out to go to Poland. It's been a wild ride to partake in the challenge and try to have something to show every week until I got derailed, but the end result is definitely worth it.

I also realize that I forgot to mention my charity contribution. I have made monthly contributions to Oxfam to help them with their work to fight world hunger. With that being said I think we have covered it all and I will leave you with a picture of my semi-completed stuff and a solemn promise that they'll have flowers added so they're finished imminently. There's a unit of Swedish National cavalry, a unit of National infantry with a regimental gun, and a new command stand featuring field marshal Douglas, a Scotsman in Swedish service. I hope to be back for more in the future. Until next time, thanks for reading.

From RossM:10 & 15mm AFV Vehicles (86 Points)

Another AHPC draws to a close; a small dent in the piles of shame made and a final post for this year. 

First up are a small selection of armour cars for the D.A.K in World War 2. These are from Pendraken Miniatures and are 10mm in scale. 

The front row shows two Sd.Kfz. 221 (MG) armoured cars with the rear row showing three Sd.KFz. 222 armoured cars. When painting these models the undercoat has been Panzer grey to darken down the final colour and also to reflect the process of how the vehicles were originally over painted in desert colours. 

Washes and subtle dry brushing have been used to bring the overpainted colours together. 

Next up are two set of vehicles from the ongoing Bundeswehr project for Team Yankee. The first set of pics shows a zug of M109 Self propelled artillery pieces with a M113 OP in tow.  These have been painted using the same process as previous 

Next up is a zug of Marder I, sadly without their supporting Panzer Grenadiers who are currently sitting in the butterfly offerings of started but not finished models for this year's Challenge.  

The NATO Camo Vehicle wash from AK has been a great find and has really set the tone for this project.

Apologies on the lighting for the Bundeswehr vehicles, struggled to get a decent set up this evening for this.  

So, another challenge finishes and the action of painting across the darker months of the year has given motivation to continue with several projects as well as some bits just for the fun of it. It is a hobby after all. 

In terms of points, the following can be added to the tally

10mm vehicles x 5 equaling 30 points

15mm vehicles x 7 equalling 56 points

I have made donations to Cancer Research UK and Diabetes UK Charities as my contribution for taking part. 

 

Thanks for looking and a huge thank you to you all for AHPC XVI

Cheers for now

___________________________

Great looking vehicles, Ross. The WWII German recce are excellent but I especially like the NATO camo. Well done! 

I look forward to seeing you with us next year!

- Curt 

EdwardG: Sprint finish points bomb (376pts)

Hej hej all,

Thank you all for the kind comments on my previous post. Having been languishing in the doldrums for this Challenge I resolved to at least have a go at attacking my points target in the final week and a bit. 

Thanks to some long work meetings and a kind wife who indulged a few later nights of me painting. I think, if my maths is correct, that I've made it, and a little over. Be that as it may I'm slightly sad I wasn't on this kind of form for more of the challenge! The dent into the 28mm lead/plastic pile is noticeable, but there are still nearly 5x really useful boxes full to go! 😀 

But, enough waffle. I concentrated on first getting my basic English Saga force painted and then branched out to the Scots, via some mercenary troops. I managed the English and a fair number of Scots (32 remaining for the full schilitron!)

First up on the photos is Sir Thomas Grey, English Captain and all around sold soldiery chap (with a nice and simple heraldry, and a flag from Flags of War!). The Grey family had a handy run of about 4 generations of solid soldiers, fighting in all the wars versus Scots and Frenchmen in the period. They eventually made it to the ranks of the Earls under Henry V, with a large number of French estates, but seem to have lost it all in the 1450s and 60s.

Supported by his tried and true men-at-arms, and household knights.

And supporting him are his band of merry Archers. All of whom are wearing an unnatural uniform coat...but give me a chance, I painted them all in about 6hrs! 

His opponent from over the Wall, a place they call Scotland... is a deer stalking highlander with a mixture of close combat clansmen and pike armed yeomen. All energised into a combat frenzy by the sweet melody of the pipes! 

And then supporting whomever has just promised the larger pay packet, a bunch of axe happy Irish mercenaries. They began the challenge being painted yellow, but I lost the will to continue after base coating them. Coming back to them a few months later I went to recover the paint job and "start" with a black undercoat. I liked the under coat much more than the original paint scheme, so they became black coated Irish, rather than the "traditional" mustard yellow that is shown in the pictures of Irish of the period. 

A final addition were finished at lunchtime today. I found these chaps, undercoated from a previous Challenge, in a misc minis box and felt inspired having painted their 28mm Irish cousins. I belive they are Essex minis of a generic axemen/halbardier type. 

All of this effort equals points...at least that's the hope! 

English = 42 x 28mm foot = 42 x 5pts = 210pts

Scottish = 22 x 28mm foot = 22 x 5pts = 110pts

Irish = 8 x 28mm foot = 8 x 5pts = 40pts

15mm axemen = 8 x 15mm foot = 8 x 2pts = 16pts

Total = 376pts

Grand total = 74 + 376 = 450pts!! Phew! 

So long all and thanks for all the fish! Looking forward to seeing you all next year! 

Best, 

Ed 😀

What a paint bomb Edward, loving this.  Lord Grey is wonderful and I live his huge retinue of archers in their red livery.  It may not be strictly historical but it works and gives unit cohesion.  But most of all I love those Scots with their wild Irish merch.  Well done all around.

PeterD 

From AdamW. A last huzzah! (272 PTS)

 I'm pleased to squeeze these in before the end of the challenge.  After doubling my original goal, I gave myself the luxury of prepping some figures, so didn't think I'd get these finished, so a nice little bonus.

My last entry is some 15mm American Civil War Cavalry, mounted and dismounted.  

I already have a pile of these on bases that just need flocking, and these lot needed painting up to join them.

There are four units of mounted and four dismounted in this batch, with a mixture of figures. There are minifigs,  a load of Essex, a couple of Peter pig and a load I don't recognise at all.

It does add another Squirrel, although my first attempt at Squirreling is poor.  That is also a good thing as I remained focused and painted what I needed to paint, rather than paint a whole load of odd bits just to increase my count of the fluffy tailed chaps.

My second AHPC and another successful one.  Having a dedicated painting station makes life so much easier, meaning I can dip in for the odd five minutes while the kettle is boiling.

Hope to see you all again next year, where I will either be deep in the middle of my first proper 25mm project, or knocking out some old 15mm bits to have a break. Thanks to the Overlord and all the minions for their hard work.

Four of the mounted cavalry where old, bashed about but painted, so just needed touching up, so I haven't counted them in my points total.

15mm Cavalry x 44 @4pts = 176

15mm foot       x 48 @2pts = 96

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

Total                                      272 pts  + 1 Squirrel

From DaveD . Well done Adam thatsa lot of blue! Great to see them both mounted and dismounted too. Is there a Custer in there somewhere? This takes you over 2500 points a fine tally indeed well done.

From Mike W - A mixed bag of Genres & Scales (324 Points)

Just when you thought it was safe to avoid Orcs in my posts, I present a batch of 20 x Orc Bowmen, although many would say no ewal Orc would consider using a bow... 

These guys are 3D Prints from Highland Miniatures, via eBay and I although they do not match the look and feel of my existing collection  I just liked the sculpts and wanted to paint them!

Batch of 20 x 28mm Orc Bowmen

Closer view of the right flank of the Orc Bowmen

And the left flank, featuring the banner

In my head, I'll use them as 'civilised' Orcs that have taken to dressing like humans, albeit, some strange Orcish cult (Gorka or Morka or both!) with their deep red cowls and forgoing the traditional choppas and spears for bows.

The command group

Three Bowmen

Three more...

Another three, although I like these guys as a one off, I don't think I'll get any more as they are so different from the others in my collection

Four Bowmen

And the last four!

This really is the end of my Orcs for this year but don't worry I'm sure I'll not be able to resist more eBay bargains in the next few months!

Next I have some 100 x Warlord Games Epic ACW 15mm infantry, painted as the 10th Tennessee 'Sons of Erin' Volunteer Infantry, an Irish unit featured on the cover of an Osprey Men-at-Arms book I have.

The full unit

These were painted in much the same way as the AWI infantry I submitte din a previous post this year, being grey clad rebels these guys were pretty straight forward to do and the use of a watered down black ink wash helped pull th edetail out of the figures.

First of five bases!

Second....

The command base, flags printed out and attached.
Unfortunately the 'Sons of Erin' green harp flag is not really that visible.

Fourth base!

And finally.

THe artillery base and teh mounted commander were painted up - really as they were part of eth figure sprue, they will be deployed somewhere in my Rebet army!

The rest of this week's post is taken with a couple of odds and ends thtat have come off my workbench....

A 28mm Skeletons armed with sword and shield.

This guy is wearing a Bedouin head wrap sourced from a Gripping Beast Arab Infantry set.
His original skull is at his feet!

Another view

Finally a Chaos cultist who has stumbled upon a couple of unfortunate travellers, I can't remember where the figure came from but it was for a long forgotten project.

Chaos Cultist with his victims

His nasty looking weapon

A rear shot

---

SKULL POINTS

+1 Skeleton

+6 Recount on previously submitted Chariot! If allowable...

POINTS

20 X 28mm Orc Archers @ 5 Pts ea.                    100 Points

100 x 15mm ACW Infantry @ 2 Pts ea.                200 Points

1 x 15mm ACW Cannon & 4 crew                         12 Points

1 x 15mm Mounted ACW Officer                             4 Points

1 x 28mm Skeleton                                                    5 Points

1 x 28mm Chaos Cultist                                            5 Points

TOTAL                                                                  326 Points

From DaveD. Well that is a decent output indeed . More Orcs indeed  , what’s not to like , but civilised ones He he . The Epic ACW is of course epic . Plus odds and sods - cracking .