From MattW - Napoleonic, ACW, Roman’s and Aliens oh my! (140 points)

 Napoleonic, ACW, Roman’s and Aliens 

Finally back from our 10 week vacation in Australia, I was keen to hit the painting desk and have been really productive over the last 14 days getting a lot painted. I missed last Friday’s  deadline as I went to wargames and forgot to take photos…..

First up eight Perry Plastic dismounted Dragoons, these have been in my stash for over 10 years now, great to finally get them completed. 

8 Napoleonic figures @ 5 points = 40 points 

I also painted some  ACW bits, a Confederate band and a farrier from Dixon minatures range. 

9 ACW figures @5 points  = 45

Back to my neglected Roman’s for my Gangs of Rome project, I still have a lot more to do with this collection, including buildings. The figure will be able to be a civilian, slaver or a gang member, and two camels. 

Three 28mm figures @ 5 points = 15 poinrs

Finally for Christmas I received the Aliens another glorious day for the corps board-game, I decided to paint the Xenomorph’s first, I elected for a green blue colour on my first batch, quite happy with the result. 

8 x 28mm figures  @ 5 points = 40 points

Totals 

Twenty eight 28mm foot figures @5 points  = 140 points 

Squirrel 4 points 

Napoleonic 

ACW

Roman’s 

Aliens 

Cheers

MattW

From Millsy:

In a rush with real life so I don't have the time to say something pertinent I'm afraid! Nice work mate, especially the dismounted dragoons.

Cheers,

Millsy

From SidneyR: Lord Ghoda's Limbo of Sorcery (37 points)

 

Shinkurō, the former ronin, had never heard of "toad magic" until the moment that Lord Ghoda mentioned it. The ancient sorcery that Lord Ghoda said he had been studying sounded to Shinkurō like the ramblings of a drunk, at best. Or the ravings of a mad man at worst. 

Sorcery and spells to turn a magician into a toad, and to enable to the spell-caster to weave magic and enchantments?  It sounded almost heretical to voice the thoughts in his own head, Shinkurō warned himself.  What nonsense!

But then, the demon had appeared. A powerful Dai-Oni, armed with a huge war-mallet, javelins and a famous sword stolen many decades before from Lord Ghoda’s grandfather. Against such an adversary, both Shinkurō and his Lord would be helpless. It was just a matter of time before the demon would overwhelm them both.

At least it had all seemed gloomily inevitable until the moment that the magic transformation which had been promised by Lord Ghoda, actually worked. 

It was beyond Shinkurō's belief, but.....it was happening before his eyes.  Lord Ghoda’s webbed feet were starting to cast the spell to banish their adversary. 

Shinkurō just hoped that the incantation didn’t require fingers.

********

A small posting to start my entry for Challenge XV. I had a busy December, and was going to paint more figures, but an unpleasant virus ended up with me missing out on bits of Christmas - and as a result, I've only got three figures for this submission.

All that being said, these figures were a lot of fun to do. The demon and rōnin are both Dixon Miniatures sculpts. They’re quite venerable, being first produced in 1984, although I bought them both earlier this year. The gigantic toad is from Crooked Dice, one of a couple of large specimens I purchased last year and hadn’t yet used.

I added some of the GW “Barbed Bracken” to the base of Shinkurō. I admit the spikey leaves do look, if you're a fan of manga, a lot more “Wicked City”, rather than strict Edō-period Japan. But I’ve enjoyed using these plants on various terrain bases, and hopefully I can use more of them as the Challenge progresses. 

They paint up very well, even though they are quite “flexible” (a.k.a. “bendy). I coated the plastic with PVA-glue beforehand, to add a little stability.  But so far, in the games we have played with terrain and bases featuring barded-bracken, the paint hasn’t flaked off the razor-sharp thorns. A minor miracle worthy of Lord Ghoda himself (in toad-form).

I painted the submission as my entry for "Limbo". How else can one describe an indefinite transition to gigantic toad-form? Knowing this is Limbo also allows me to add a totally indulgent in-game character card for Lord Ghoda in his mythical-Japanese fauna-form, with two slightly more sensible cards for Shinkurō and the demon. If, of course, one can ever claim anything to do with demons is ever sensible or simple.

And for the Challenge XV points:  5 points for Shinkurō, 7 points for the demon (who checks in at a dramatic 40mm), and I think 3 points for Lord Ghoda**.   And 20 points for visiting Limbo itself.

Total: 35 points.

** (I had a lengthy debate with myself about the points for Lord Ghoda in toad-form.  Is he prone, or not?  Do we count his toad-form, or the fact he is, in essence, human? I suggest 3 points is sort of right, as it is a “prone figure” - although, I admit, toads are usually on all fours. Who knows? Maybe Lord Ghoda can provide more answers when he returns to his former form.)

********

First, welcome back to the Challenge Sidney! I'm sorry to hear of your illness over the holidays but am delighted to see that you've bounced back and have this wonderful opening post featuring another set of characters from your 'Until the Last Sword is Drawn'. What a treat! 

As is usual, your brushwork is absolutely exquisite with all the precision and vibrant colours that expect from you. I also really like your use of the GW 'Barbed Bracken' to further accent your basework. I'll have to pick some of those up after seeing your work here. And the bespoke game cards. Wow. They look tremendous and packed with character.

It would be churlish not to give the brave Lord Ghoda his full 5 points so we'll go with that. 37 points for your Challenge opener, Sid. Again, welcome back!

- Curt

From RayR - Donnybrook - Austrian Infantry regt Lothringen, Vienna 1683. 125pts

 

Its 23.54 in England, I've gotta get up at 5.45, so I should be tucked up in bed at my age???

Instead I've just finished basing these figures up and taking some pics.

Here we have a few more figures for my Donnybrook, Vienna 1683 project

These 2 x 8 figure units represent the Austrian Infantry regt of Leopold von Herzog Lothringen

I did want to paint up a different regt but this one only needed red stockings, so would be quicker.

In addition to the infantry, we also have 4 Sergeants

Most of the figures are from Dixon minis, with a smattering of Wargames Foundry in the Sergeants and Officers.

Also Officers in blue coats and a drummer in red.

Rear view!

The flag was a copy of one from Warflag, which I then changed the colours to match the units differing colours and added the orb in the centre of the double headed eagle.

So all in all 25 x 25mm figures making a total of  125 points!

I do have 1 last post, but I don't know the figures are gonna dry in time???

_____________________________________

Now, this is the Ray that I know and love. Donnybrook AND Lacewars. All is right with the world.  Lovely brushwork Ray. I really like those light grey coats with the red stockings - they cut quite the dash. Well done.

- Curt

From RayR - Austrian Artillery 1683 (60 points)

More artillery, this time its for the Austrian's defending Vienna.

There are 6 Austrian artillerymen, I will paint a few more later.

They are all Essex Miniatures apart from the chap on the left who's from Dixon Miniatures.

These two artillery pieces are painted up in Austrian colours. I'm not sure what make the one on the left is. The larger gun is from Warlord.

What a boring uniform all dark grey, shouldn't grumble though, they were a doddle to paint!

I was going to paint this small gun in the yellow of Austria, but decided to go for a beige colour.

Then it could be used anywhere in my Donnybrook collection.

But here it is with the Austrians anyway.

6 figures @ 5pts each = 30pts

3 artillery pieces @10pts 30pts

Total 60 pts

 

***

 

Nice to see the defenders of Vienna getting some artillery support, especially after you were adding to the Ottoman artillery park the other week. I agree the grey isn't perhaps the most inspiring uniform colour for the artillery crew, but it does set off the snappy yellow of the Hapsburg gun carriages quite well in my opinion - although perhaps I am just biased in favour of Austrians :) 

 

Nice work Ray!

 

GregB

from RayR - Donnybrook - Imperialist Infantry Baden Baden c1683 105pts

 

I thought I'd try and squeeze in 1 last post before the end of the Challenge and after painting all those lovely Warfare Miniatures Ottomans, I thought I'd start an Austrian/ Imperialist force for them to battle against.

Now a lot of this force will probably consist of Poles, but I thought I'd start with an Imperialist foot regiment as I haven't any Poles!

I hadn't planned on painting this unit up during the Challenge, so a quick look in the League of Augsberg's book "With Talon and Claw" and I decided on regt Baden Baden.

You may notice they're missing their flag. Apparently Warfare Miniatures will be releasing some Austrian flags shortly, So the unit will have to wait to be flagged.

All but 1 of the figures are from Dixon Miniatures, the other being from Foundry. 

There are 21 figures in this regiment so they will add 105 points to my total! 

From SidneyR: The Last Stand of the Regiment de Louvigny for "The Altar of the Snowlord" (66 points)

 

"Sound trumpets!  Let our Bloody colours wave!

And either victory, or else a grave!"

Henry VI, Part 3 (Act 2, scene 2)

And so, after three months, I've finally arrived at the Snowlord's Altar, bearing - as requested by Curt - a submission featuring casualties and a dramatic final stand for Challenge XI.  

To meet that challenge, I've painted the valiant last stand of the French Regiment be Louvigny, from 1688 - a suitably terminal, but hopefully honourable, end to a great Challenge.

Challenge accepted and - I hope - completed, dear Snowlord!

I have to admit, that when I planned out what I wanted to do, I did wonder if it would work.  What I had in mind was a centrepiece for a large skirmish in which the "shipwrack" of a French battalion could (possibly) be rescued from Flemish and Spanish enemy forces by a relieving French brigade.  It would suit an evening's wargaming, or perhaps be a smaller table in a day's gaming.

The small "slots" for two micro-dice are there to record casualties and cohesion.  As the regiment in its battered state is not really functioning as a working formation, there's no need to identify the pike and shot separately in any normal basing formation.  That's the plan, anyway.  

So, rather than just a 'casualty base', I could use the Last Stand as a half-way house between functioning battalion and a mere marker for routed troops.

After deciding on the type of base I wanted, it was really just a case of deciding which figures I wanted.  I chose a blend of of pike and shot, officers and soldiers, a drummer, and a blend of dead, wounded and still-healthy troops.  

I perhaps could have done better in painting the standard, which looks a little too pristine for any 'last stand'.  And maybe the casualties could have been a bit more numerous.  But, on the whole, given a day or so to prepare it, I thought it should hopefully pass muster on most tabletops.  

The perfect is, of course dear friends, the enemy of the tabletop-standard.

The Regiment de Louvingy is for my late seventeenth century 1688 Flanders collection, so I tried to make the figures fit with the other units and formations by adding green-stuff feathers, lace, ribbons and swapping the Officer's right arm from carrying a standard to more nobly raising his sword towards the Flemish and Spanish enemies-of-his-blood.  

I took the uniform of the Regiment de Louvigny from Mark Allen's fine book "Armies & Enemies of Louis XIV: Volume 1 - Western Europe 1688-1714" (published by Helion).  The real Regiment de Louvigny is a rather forgotten, anonymous regiment - so I felt it was time to bring its soldiers back to the grand stage of European warfare on the wargames table.

The figures are a mix of Dixon Miniatures and Wargames Foundry, with a Colonel Bill's casualty figure added at the front.  The splendid, and very versatile, gabions are from Frontline Wargaming.  The base is  a terrain base from Warbases, who also made the micro-dice slots.  The tufts are from WSS Scenics.

No one makes the standard for the Regiment de Louvigny - so I painted it myself.  I wish I had battered it about a little more - ah well, next time, I'll know better!

So for the points - there are eight standing and two prone figures on the base, with the standing being 5 points each (totally 40 points) and the prone figures being half-points (total of 5 points) - totalling 45 points for the figures (and can I maybe add an extra one point for the hand-painted flag?), bringing that to 46 Points.  With adding the 20 for the final "Altar of the Snowlord", that's a total of 66 Points.

And because this is a submission featuring the ludicrousness of my fictional campaign for the Free-City of Laarden, in 1688, here's the Challenge XI Collectible Card for the "Last Stand of the Regiment de Louvigny" - the last of the eleven cards for Challenge XI.  

Did you collect the full set, dear Challengers?

*******