Wrapping it up for Lorenzo - AHPC14 - a great challenge!

Well back in December 2023 as I mulled over whether to join some online painting sessions I went and joined two at the same time, having never done these before. No regrets though. My painting capacity was stretched so that was a good thing and in more ways than I thought - I had assumed it would be just volume or rate. First up - the other event - Dave Stones "Paint what you've got" was meant for my existing paint queue. Well I managed just two lots - for 1848 - Pickelhaube Prussians and some Danish Volunteer Kepi Cavalry. I have been a bit naughty and slipped the Volunteer Cavalry into the "Final Collection picture". Its just a shameless plug for the the First Schlieswig Holstein War (which started on 24th March 1848). Hopefully Curt and my minion Sylvain will forgive me. Turning to Sylvain I must say a big thank you for his Musee des Fossilles backdrop to our Monday Crew. And I have really enjoyed discovering AHPC. Thanks to the Monday crew and all the comments people kindly left for me. The big story for my AHPC14 was I encountered the library challenge. This completely derailed my 1848 army painting plan. So the Lancers, Hussars, Cuirassiars, Dragoons, and more Artillery remained in the paint queue. In the event I managed..... 8 Danish Riflemen 8 Schlieswig Holstein Chassuers 12 Danish Guard Infantry 1 Danish Artillery piece I am happy with that, not to mention that at least another 5 units have now been started. Now back to the library challenge - this was fascinating - I got lost there. Which is at it should be. I then descended into fantasy courtesy of Doncaster Christmas Toy Fair. A venerable 1980's Games Workshop Cyclops was found hiding unloved at the back of one trade stand, who along with a Partizan freebie Empress Matilda 1140's era, made up my first non 1848 entries. Second up was a reconnaisance Spitfire from 1939 in "Camo Mint". A five quid snip at the same toy fair. I had then envisaged doing pink and then blue versions but I simply took too long on other entries that now demanded my attention. Suddenly Nissen Huts invaded my mind - apparently my first library trip was to one in a Nissen Hut. So this hut took a lot of time as it was built from scratch including the whole idea generation - Truly out of the blue: However it was the "more satisfying" for that creativity moment. Then another Partizan Freebie took my eye in the great figure heap - General Sikorski. He was duly painted up and some more DIY gave him a suitable plinth. Then it was back to 1848 with some Schlieswig Holstein Chasseurs. To complete the challenge I offered up a "figure bashed" sci fi character (magazine freebie ww2 german + bits and bobs) plus another toy fair bargain (1/32 ww2 soldier) who morphed into a cute monster - idea courtesy of the Wargaming Pastor. And last but not least was Noggin the Nog in 28mm from the little soldier company. Next here are some pictures.

As you can see a nice varied collection and Noggin the Nog sends his apologies but he is already gifted to my friend who suffers from dementia and was just delighted with him. It simply remains for me to thank everyone from Curt, organisers and minions right down to anyone who painted and presented - I really enjoyed this challenge both through my contribution and seeing what others created. thank you!

From SteveA: Gaslands, KoW, Terrain (121 points)

Heya painting peoples!

I am chasing challenges with this post,  going for 3 Library Challenges as I wander thru the AHPC library seeking to slay the gray...and chip away the pile of unpainted shame...

Ever since ByronM got me hooked on the table top visuals that 3D printing can bestow upon a Kings of War  table scape where upon the minis were shrunk to 10mm scale so more minis fit within the units bases, thereby making the battlefield appear more epic....I have continued to add more units to my Army and craft more terrain for the KPW 10mm battle field.

A unit of 10mm Trolls will now bolster my KoW army building options, and and a dollar store Halloween Skeleton-snake decoration converted into an "ancient bones within the hill" terrain piece will now provide an obstacle for unit movement and block line of sight  for some upcoming KoW battles

To further complement my "scrubland"  terrain for 10mm KoW battles, I also crafted and painted up a couple hills and some smaller clusters of trees.

If you were pondering over ideas about how to create some variety of scatter terrain with some low-profile base that were both cheap and not a collection of square corners.. I can suggest trying an idea I found when viewing war game hobby yootoob videos - use old CDs as bases for some of your custom terrain pieces.

Hills, Trees and old bones are rather Nature-ish. . so these pieces I think will enable me to check out a "Nature" book from the AHPC challenge library.

Shifting creative gears and jumping across genres......

Music is Art, Art is Music...the creative forces cannot be stopped, nor can they be 'shushed' into quiet submission by beleaguered AHPC  librarians. .. Thereby the risen dead Bone Heads band rocked out in the AHPC Library and grabbed me an "Art" book from the shelf  .  

The Bone Heads are 4 minis created by Ral Partha waaaay back in 1985 as part of there Imports line..  These guys are from the same blister pack of  2 skeletons on guitar, 1 Skeleton drummer, and 1 skeleton dood strapped into the drum kit to hold all the drums together.

The Gaslands car is a converted toy matchbox car - a $2 child's toy reimagined via the power of DYI mini-craft--  with some parts from NorthstarFigures 'Implements of Carnage' bitz sprues and a healthy application of trash bashing with plastic I saved from the recycling bin and reworked with files, knives and glue...

Also painted up for this week is a smattering of scatter terrain - piles of oil barrels and car tires that can used to pretty-up a Gaslands table, and can also to suggest where car lanes exist before collisions and weapons fire alters the flow of game traffic.... and I suppose these barrels an tires could also lend well to other games where there was still shooty-shooty-bang-bang, but less vehicular explosions ..

Considering all the  Terrain I painted for this post simply as a pile of terrain stuff to store between days when the dice are not rolling,  and imagining  if converted it all into a liquid, this assortment of terrain could fill a 6x6x6 inch cube cup..  Hmm ..  not a brew I'd drink nor a cup shape I'd recommend as best design to avoid chin drenching spills...  so I will leave these terrain items intact and ready for game, and give into my feeling there are 20 points of terrain here.

So here on my last proper Thor'sday post before the AHPC Library closing time.. I run a  few more zig-zags around the map so I may ring more challenge bells, and (elder thing powers be willing)  I will have a few more items painted and posted before the  Free-Fire days within the AHPS library  shoots out all the important structural parts of the library walls and it all comes crashing down in a heap of well painted minie among bookish ruination wrought of the next few chaotic days that will conclude this fun challenge.

121 Total Points

15 pts = x1    Gaslands Car, Vehicle 20mm
10 pts = x10  Trolls(KoW), Foot Figure, 10mm (10x1pt)
16 pts = x4   Undead Skeleton Metal Band, Foot Figure 20mm (4x4pts)
20 Pts = x1 cube, 6x6x6 inch of Terrain cube
Challenge Library 
20 pts = S3 "Art" (Undead Metal)
20 pts = S3 "Nature" (scrubland terrain)
20 pts= S4 "DII"  (MatchBox toy car converted to Gaslands battle car)

TeemuL: Yes, old CD, a tried and tested method to have non-warped and rather strong terrain base. All those Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedias and installation CDs from the 90s have a new life! The second mixed of the day, let's see...

Terrain looks good, I like the snake skeleton and the skeleton band, too. I can imagine a skeleton band playing in the background of a Gaslands race. I guess all the terrain here could be used with Gaslands? The red car, nicely built, and probably very fast. Good job Steve! I hope you reach your target during the Free Fire time.

From FrederickC - One Last Visit to the Library [Sarah's Library Cart][Travel][Rare & Antique Book] (127 points)

It has been two weeks since my last submission, and there is now only a week to go. Things got rather hectic around here, and painting time has been at a premium. It hasn't helped that my PC decided to pack it in. 😒 I still have a larger project that I hope to finish before the clock runs out, but I thought I would complete the last of my library challenges first.

First up are two female troopers from the Eurasian Solar Union by Ground Zero Games. I picked these up off eBay years ago with plans to add them to the mix of various manufactures that I painted up as my planetary militia. I have done of few of these for a previous challenge, and I used the same colour scheme using Vallejo acrylics and Citadel washes. I will use these two to buy a quick round trip to the upper level of the rotunda.

 While on the rotunda's upper level I will complete the 'Travel' challenge with a 54mm figure of a Seven Year's War Prussian Musketeer. This was a gift from a friend back in the 90s who had started casting his own figures and gave me one. It came in five pieces - head, hands holding his musket, remainder of body, sword, and base. After assembly the figure was primed grey using a rattle can, and then painted with Vallejo acrylics and Citadel washes.  The travel connection is to a trip I took with my father and two brothers to Potsdam in 2001 as part of what I like to call the "In the Footsteps of the Ancestors" Pilgrimage. My father had been working on a definitive family history since his retirement, and I felt it was important to actually visit some of the places where my forefathers had lived. One of them had been Chaplain-General of the Prussian Army under 'The Soldier King' and 'Frederick the Great'. He was also the Garrison Preacher in Potsdam, and Chaplain to Infantry Regiment von Glasenapp. I painted up the figure as a musketeer of that regiment.

Sanssouci Palace

Frederick the Great's grave marker

Statue of Frederick the Great in Potsdam

 

Back on the ground level again, my final stop is the 'Rare & Antique Books' section. I presented a trio of possible projects to the Snow Lord, and while he thought the first two appealed to him more on a personal level, all were considered appropriate. So what I have is a 40mm flat made of some silver coloured plastic of a German soldier on parade that was part of a group of toy soldiers that my father had as a boy prior to the Second World War. I have vague memories of a group of marching soldiers, a band, and a Panzer I tank. I don't know what became of these figures in the end, but at some point they were no more. All that remained in my possession was one marching soldier that had broken off its base. I drilled holes in the bottoms of the feet, mounted it on a wooden base, and built up the missing parts of his boots with epoxy putty. As with the other figures in this submission, it was painted with Vallejo acrylics and Citadel washes.

 

Thus concludes my peregrination through the Challenge Library - nineteen sections and two library carts. Now to see if I can complete my last big project in time.

 "People were stupid, sometimes. They thought the Library was a dangerous place because of all the magical books, which was true enough, but what made it really one of the most dangerous places there could ever be was that simple fact that it was a library."

 - Terry Pratchett, "Guards! Guards!'

 

The points being claimed are as follows

 

2 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points each = 10 points

 

1 x 40mm foot figure @ 7 points each = 7 points

 

1 x 54mm foot figure @ 10 points each = 10 points

 

1 x Library 'Travel' section @ 20 points = 20 points

 

2 x Sarah's Library Cart @ 20 points each = 40 points

 

1 x 'Rare & Antique Books' @ 40 points = 40 points 

Sylvain: Your posts are always very informative to read. Your brush work on these miniatures is "upper class" if I may say so. I'm sure a few strikes with a hammer will convince your computer to behave. Great submission!

From LeeH: Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois (Challenge Library: Local History) (30 Points)

England has a bloody and often complicated history. In the last year, I have focused on the Wars of the Roses but I could easily have looked for civil conflict on these shores back to the 12th Century and a period known as The Anarchy. Empress Matilda (also known as Empress Maude) was one of many claimants to the English Throne, although her claim was strong, as daughter and heir to the anglo-norman King, Henry I. She spent much of her early life in Germany and was married to the future Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. 

Henry I’s succession had been secure, but the future was thrown into doubt when his only legitimate son, and heir to the throne, William was drowned in the White Ship disaster in 1120. When Henry died in 1135, despite being named his heir, Matilda faced opposition from the barons. Instead, the crown was claimed by her male cousin Stephen of Blois. He was the Duke of Normandy and had inherited extensive lands in both France and England. Upon the death of the King, Stephen was quick to cross the English Channel and, with the help of his Brother the Bishop of Windsor, took the throne for himself. 

The conflict between Matilda and Stephen saw the widespread breakdown in law and order in England in a period that became known as The Anarchy. These two models were the freebies from the two Partizan shows in 2022. I largely painted these with contrast paints but I have also used some of the Vallejo Express paints, in particular Dwarf Flesh which I think is my new favourite flesh wash. 

2x28mm = 10 Points plus the 'Local History' bonus from the Challenge Library. 

Now I need to put my thinking cap on because I have no idea where to go from here in the Library. Whatever I do I had better do it quick! 

Always a lovely painting from you Lee, and more so with the history lessons behind the models/genre! 

As for next spots, perhaps a trip to literature there. Am sure there are a few books on the War of the Roses that can be used as reference? 

30 pts for now Lee
Kyle

From LeeH: General George S Patton (Library: Statue of a Famous Person) (25 Points)

The painting Mojo has been a bit limited recently, and it's entirely my own fault. I’ve managed to pile project on top of project until finding time to paint has become a bit limited. That is not necessarily a negative, because I have played far more games - both in person and remotely via Zoom - than I usually would. And I have been working on my YouTube channel and writing some articles, so it's not like I have been idle. Add on top of this a work schedule that has doubled my workload and finding time to even think about painting has been difficult. 

I have been trying to work my way through the Challenge Library but have reached an impasse. Eventually, I decided to do the ‘Statue of a Famous Person’ and I found this model of General Patton, but I didn’t want to just paint it as bronze or stone. So my ‘Statue’ is one of two options: either a waxwork statue of the man, or my 28mm model is in effect a miniature statue?? Ok, I’m stretching the definition for this section but you get where I am coming from. 

General Patton is one of those characters who seem to stride across the pages of the history books. He certainly had a talent for war and an ego to match, so powerful that it easily reached across the intervening 79 years since his death. Reading anything about this man's life and ambitions one has to ask how different the world would have been had he lived? 

1 x 28mm Foot = 5points + Challenge bonus = 25 Points. 

Lee.. love the painting of old Patton here.. and well it doesn't have to be a statue itself so to speak, so I think this works well for the context of a Famous person. Great job, and 25 pts added for you!
Kyle

From SteveA: Grabbing 3 Challenge books and putting them on the book cart! (108 points)

Heya there,   for my post this week I want to take a bite out of my painting backlog shaped by the  very kinds of themed painting challenges that first drew my attention to the AHPC.  Also I want to over come some slack in my points progress as end of the this year's AHPC draws near.  Thus my model count here is few, but each parcel of panting  does ding its own challenge point check box..

I delved into my blues, greens and brown colors to paint up a Troll (akin to the Trolls of children's stories such as The Three Billy Goats Gruff ) to serve as wandering monster in future games of Frost Grave, and to enable me to  pull a  "Children's Book" for Library Challenge.

The female Wizards apprentice I painted up for my FrostGrave Warband - will spin the wheels  of Lady Sarah’s Library Cart  to carry me to a new section in the Library.

I jumped off  of Lady Sarah’s Library  Cart to meet the Maritime challenge with a Star-Spawn of Cthulhu mini that Wizkids Games put out for Pathfinder a few years back.  According to the pathfinderwiki.com, the smallest Star-Spawn stands nearly 30 feet in height, (cited from "Wake of the Watcher," a Pathfinder RPG adventure) Thus, I am assuming this elder thing bursting up from deep waters can be scored as a 54 mm mini and also ding me a check box for the Maritime Library challenge   ( or if not the Maritime Challenge, then I submit this old one mini for consideration under the Romance Novel challenge... after all who  among us does not  harbor a mad dark love within their spoiled hearts for the remorseless cosmic might of Cthulhu and his spawn)

The tank may at first seem a little out of place between an aegis of cosmic horror and a couple figures for frozen fantasy, but for me to meet the challenge for Local History, this Sherman Tank M4 model  (2002, ArmourFast, 1/72 plastic kit,  No 99001)  is very similar to the Sherman M4 Tank War Memorial  that still stands proudly in my old  childhood neighborhood.

I aim to be somewhat brief and concise with my posts, so rather than recount the Local Tank War Memorial's history, I will instead provide link to a site describing the real M4 Tank of my childhood memories.

The Sherman Tank Memorial: https://www.rclwinnipeg100.ca/2010/03/06/80/

Thus with a load of  3 Library Challenge books pulled from shelves and placed upon the Lady Sarah’s Library  Cart, I believe I have made some overdue progress to paint me up some challenge points.

 5 pts  x1 Troll Foot Figure 28mm

20 pts Challenge Library: Children's Books

 5 pts x1 Wizard Apprentice (Female) Foot Figure 28mm

20 pts Lady Sarah’s Book Cart

10 pts x1 Star Born Foot Figure 54mm

20 pts Challenge Library: Maritime

 8 pts x1 Sherman M4  Tank 1/72 Scale, (score as Vehicle 15mm) 

20 pts Challenge Library: Local History

Total = 108 points

TeemuL: No worries, Cthulhu is a well known maritime entity. In fact he could easily be pretty much anything he wants... Iä, Iä! (Yes, I have nice Finnish keyboard, where there actually is a key for "ä"). And like Cthulhu embraces everything in the end, you grab quite a lot of Library locations and thus points. I guess the troll is an old WHFB troll? And your local Sherman looks business, but in the end doesn't have a chance against Cthulhu. Or Wizard... May be a small change against a troll. :)

From SarahHC: Sarah presents Local History and the return of Elfio with more Book Stacks (50 points)

Hello Everybody!

Today I present Lady Francis Simpson, star of my very favourite animated Canadian Vignette. 

'Canadian Vignettes' were a series of short animated history clips, along with the nature shorts 'Who's Who of the Hinterland' and the live action re-creations of 'Heritage Moments' which were staples of Canadian TV in the '70s & '80s. 

Watching these short documentaries (most around a minute, perfect Canadian Content to include within TV commercial breaks) as a kid growing up these were really fundamental to a whole generation's sense of Canadian identity. Grab your popcorn, enjoy the film! 

But back to Lady Francis ... Francis Simpson of London, England was married at 18 to her older (cousin??) husband Lord Simpson, Governor of the Hudson Bay Company. In 1830, the couple and entourage traveled from London to Montreal, then an arduous journey by canoe and portage from Montreal to the Red River Settlement in what is now Winnipeg, Manitoba. Lady Francis and her travelling companion Miss Reid were the first European women to have travelled. 

What is really remarkable, is that Lady Simpson brought her PIANO from London to Fort Garry ...the first piano in the territory! I believe the piano is on display at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg and Lady Simpson's journals are at the Hudson Bay Company Archives/Manitoba Archives (where Curt worked as a young archivist many moons ago).

I struggled to find a suitable a suitable figure for Lady Francis. The figure I selected does not have the correct style of dress for the 1830s, the skirt should be puffier with hoops, and larger sleeves. For the sake of comfort on her long journey in canoe, I assume she will have foregone with the hoop skirts as a space-saving measure .. haha! However, head wear was large, feathered and elaborate...so this figure was promptly downloaded from MyMiniFactory. 

I choose pink as homage to the short film and pink in 1830s was a highly fashionable colour for day dresses. (Wow! Pink is a hard colour to paint, and the dress is bit of a mess, I used Vallejo Rosa Pink as the base colour and then Citadel contrast Volupus Pink) The piano, another 3D print from MyMiniFactory, was fun to paint, except for the sloppy black keys (don't look too close). The piano is a simple print, I tried to add some design flair by attempting to paint trompe l'oeil flowers on the front and added a brass rail to hold sheet music.

Elfio (previously scored) has become something of a pet amongst the Librarians (he’s verrrry fit and does like to work out) … he has begun to organize the back log of books, unfortunately Elfio is now sorting by colour …. all ready to be loaded on to a book cart (that's coming soon)!

Five more stacks of mysterious books, (possibly aesthetically dangerous books for Elfio) books to be used as scatter/decor.


Points tally:

Lady Simpson (54mm) & Piano (local history location): 20 + 20 = 40 Points

some more book stacks: say 3 points? 

Total = 43 points

Thanks for coming in for a visit!

- Sarah

Excellent work, Sarah! Now that's a lady worthy of milady in her resplendent pink dress. A very interesting backstory too, I really don't envy those porters lugging a piano along. Let's hope Lady Francis had a repertoire sufficient to while away the arduous long hours in that canoe! Trying not to be the proverbial thrifty Dutchman here too much, while obviously still keeping up our national reputation (if not that for consistency), I'll score the stacks of books at 2 points each, so rounding up the total for today to 50.

Martijn

From SanderS and ArthurS: Fantasy in the Library, Dungeons and Dragons! (50 and 35 points)

 Hoi,

You might have noticed Arthur and myself have been lacking in posts lately.  We were both down with a serious flu for a couple of weeks but are doing fine now. Since we are also having a holiday at the moment we partook in a little "Father and Son"project.  As Arthur is heavily involved in Dungeons and Dragons lately, we thought that would be a great subject for the Fantasy Department in the Library. Arthur has decided he will not be entering the Library this Challenge but agreed to tag along on my journey along its long and bookfilled corridors.

These figures have been in my collection for quite some time, I can't remember the producer but they are adult versions of the kids that accidentally enter the World of Dungeons and Dragons in the 80's cartoon. Said cartoon is my only real link with DnD apart from playing 2 games with Arthur, but he is now re-watching it and I decided to buy him a 3D printed set of the actually cartoon characters from Etsy.

And so we decided to paint up two versions of the fellowship, one of the young kids painted up by the Young One himself and one of the grown-up fellowship painted by the Old Fart himself.

My grown up version of the team:

Arthur's young/ original; version, Arthur's fellowship also includes Uni the unicorn.:

A series of comparison shots:

Pointswise, Arthur has painted up 7 miniatures in 28mm so he should be getting 35 points added to his tally.

Now I have painted a miniature less, since Uni is depicted on the shoulder of Bobby in my grown-up version, but I do get the Library bonus of 20 points along with the 30 for 6 miniatures in 28mm. 

Cheers Sander

Sylvain: What a great "Young One" - "Old Fart" project! This is so well thought of with the two identical-except-for-the-age felloewships. Both participants are demonstrating a complete mastery of their brush work. Three thumbs up! (Wait, where does that third one comes from...)

Note for TeemuL: I took care of entering ArthurS' points on 2/12/24.