From MartijnN: Württembergers, Saracens and Lannisters (140 points)

I have been far less productive than I would have liked this Challenge. However, I have not been completely idle. I finally had the opportunity to finish some models and, equally importantly, take some photographs.

First up are some Saracen infantry. These are from a Saga Warband set from Gripping Beast. They are metal, and the only infantry unit in the warband. I have had these for ages, and finally prepped them for this Challenge.

They came out okay, although they will not win any prizes. I used Quickshade Darktone on them, and as a result they are a bit... well, dark. But they will do. I will probably give them another coat of varnish when the weather improves, because the matt varnish I used (AK ultra matt) is very matt indeed (duh), and for these troops I am not too fond of that. Most of the shields are LBM transfers, but I didn't have enough of those so I painted some by hand. I am sure you won't be able to tell the difference. The rest of the warband are all cavalry, I will try to finish some of those before the end of the Challenge.

Next, the final company of my Württemberg infantry regiment for Sharp Practice. I have put off painting these for a long time, and I am glad they are done. Actually, they are rather a joy to paint. I mostly used contrast paints, like on their comrades done earlier. They are Piano Wargames miniatures that I 3d printed myself, and they are lovely sculpts. I think I have overcured them though, for they are rather brittle. And of course, when I took one of the NCOs off off the painting handle when it was completely finished, I broke off the bayonet...  It went flying through the room and for the life of me I could not find it. By now, it will have vanished into the vacuum cleaner I presume. I may try to replace it with another bayonet, but that is a very fiddly process. At least it broke off rather cleanly, so with a little imagination he is now simply carrying his musket without the bayonet. But a frustrating experience it was!

Finally, I have a regiment of Lannister Guardsmen from the A Song of Ice and Fire starter set. These are rather nice figures. I kept the uniforms "traditional", with lots of red and gold. I spent a little more time on these, using coloured washes and some drybrushing and minor highlighting over mostly contrast paints again, and I am fairly happy with these. 

I have prepared more ASOIAF figures, most of the remainder of the starter set, so I hope to get some of those done as well. We'll see how it goes.

So there we are. Scoring is simple:

28x 28mm foot @5 = 140 points

And 3 squirrels, if I remember to fill out the form!

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Martijn you may have been taking your time but you've done a fabulous job on all three of these sets. Your Saracens look the business (and who doesn't love good old metal minis) - I especially appreciate your freehand work on the shields. I'm often lazy and resort to decals so I applaud your great job! The Wurttembergers are very fine as well and I'm sure a welcome addition to your Sharpe Practice force. The fellow who is sans bayonette is simply a little slow in getting his extracted from his rusted scabbard, nothing to note here, carry on! :) Finally, those nasty Lannisters look wonderfully ostentatious in their red and gold livery. The extra time you put into them really has paid off I think. Very well done my friend!

- Curt & Huck

From TeemuL: The Mountain that Riders [Violence] (42 points)

Now that I have passed to the Circle of Violence I present you The Mountain that Rides. If you know, no explanation is necessary. If you don't know, then there is not enough space to explain. :)

Gregor Clegane also known as The Mountain that Rides comes from G.R.R. Martin's stalled fantasy epic The Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted to the screen couple of years ago by HBO. These miniatures come from the books, not series, and therefore don't look like that actors. Westeros Wiki describes him as "The violent Gregor is a sadistic murderer and rapists", so I believe my claim for bonus points is valid.

Accompanying Gregor is Addam Marbrand, character I don't remember from the series and it has been years since I read the books, so I don't know how violent he is. Probably a lot, considering where he comes from... They both come from Cool Mini Or Not box Lannister Heroes 3, just like the three characters I presented earlier. Quite boring to paint, lots of armour and red cloaks. The size, material and amount of detail makes them resemble more toys than wargame miniatures. May be some freehand somewhere? Addam's shield for example, but since I don't know he is, I left it plain. Gregor's shield had sculpted details.

The armour of Robert Strong got some nice earlier comments, so naturally I decided to paint these guys differently and had lots of troubles. The red plastic still comes through here and there despite several layers of different metallic paints and thin washes. Quite ok, but not good enough for close inspections.

Based on the previous points claimed on similar minis I ask 7 points for 40mm Addam and 20 points for 54mm mounted Gregor. And 20 bonus points for Violence. Total of 47 points.

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Ooh, A Riot of Red Violence! 

The Mountain, Gregor Clegane is definitely destined for this Circle of Hell as could be GRR Martin himself (his "stalled" series has left many a fan with very strong feelings)

Well done on working through the problems of the plastic minis and the results are super.

Sorry, but a 40mm mounted figure is 15 points not 20, so 42 total points to your scoreboard. :)

- Sarah

From PeteF ASOIAF Lannister Halberds (65 points)

Our local wargaming convention Enfilade! has an awesome Bring & Buy.  This year someone brought their A Song Of Ice And Fire (ASOIAF) Miniatures Game Kickstarter that they finally decided wasn't for them.  I've been eyeing up this game for a long time.  I generally prefer miniatures on the sprue rather than limited poses but I do love me some Game of Thrones and rank & flank soo - I bought the lot and now it's time to start chipping away at this new addition to the Pile of Potential.

The core set is Stark vs Lannister and I'll be mainly concentrating on getting my Lannisters painted - first unit on the table are these Halberdiers.  There are 12 footsoldiers - 3 basic poses and a banner bearer - plus an Assault Veteran.  In the game you can spice up your units by adding various leader types by spending some additional points.

The miniatures for this game are a collaboration between Dark Sword - who have the ASOIAF license and have produced a beautiful and expensive line of metals - and CMON.

I've played the game once and it has some interesting mechanics - there's figure removal (and sometimes replacement as a unit heals) and as the number of ranks diminishes it's fighting stats change.  There are also some non combatant slots that can have a great deal of influence on the battlefield.

To prevent the figures getting jostled in the movement tray and for ease of transport I've magnetized them and glued a metal base underneath the plastic movement tray.  

Behold Magnets! (and loose flock)

The non combatants include many of the main characters in  Game of Thrones - who incidentally reflect the vices and virtues of the Divine Comedy - so I'm planning to use them to complete many circles and spheres on route to this Challenge's target.

One of the things I don't like about ASOIAF Miniatures is that they typically come 13 to a box - plays havoc with my triskaidekaphobia. 

13 x 5 = 65 points.

I'm scoring these as 28mm minis - they are 35mm foot to eye (heroic 32mm?)

Wishing Challenges a Happy New Year and all the best for 2025 - see you next year!

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Lovely work on these Lannisters Pete! The red and gold livery is very sharp and besides, who doesn't like a good pike? The fact that you have finished these puts you miles ahead of that tw@t GRR Martin who seems incapable of completing the core storyline. I look forward to see your efforts with the opposing Stark faction.

- Curt

Ready From TeemuL: Lannister Heroes (44 points) [Limbo]

Bit of slow start this time, I was supposed to have plenty of time during the weekend and Christmas week, but I caught a flu and focusing on minis was out of question. Happily these The Song of Ice and Fire minis have been on my desk since October and needed very little work to complete them. Anyway, they qualify for Limbo and now they are done.

These three are from Lannister Heroes 3 set, which I got from a sale. I don't have the game, but they were cheap and I decided to give them a chance. They are one piece plastic minis and rather large. Robert Strong on the left is 60mm to the feathers and the other two are almost 40mm. So they won't mix with my other minis (mostly 28mm), but may be they find some use. I have other half of the box still to do.

The paint job is not extraordinary, I'm not happy with the faces for example and highlights are bit rough, but they are ok if you look from far enough. Robert and Kevan were quite dull, full armour and red cloak, Qyburn was more interesting. There are heavy washes and heavy highlights, as I mentioned earlier. Some sand and tufts on the base.

Robert Strong

Kevan Lannister

Qyburn

After taking the initial shots, I realized I missed the blacks from they eyes, so back to the painting table. Here the horrible close ups, but the eyes are decent - it kinda helps that the models are quite large!

Regarding the scoring these qualify for Limbo (20 points) and I ask for 7 points for Kevan and Qyburn (40mm minis) and 10 for Robert Strong (54mm). Total should be 49 points, if Curt agrees.

What's next? I have been rather busy and my painting motivation has been low and I haven't prepared any females (or deamons), so I guess I need to paint something for Lust. Outside the themes, expect to see some fantasy or another, may be historical or scifi.

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Welcome back to the Challenge Teemu! I'm sorry to hear that you've not been feeling well but it seems you've managed to move from one Limbo to another that is a bit more fun. I virtually know nothing about the The Song of Ice and Fire miniature game though it seems they've produced a lot of product for it.  That aside, you've done very nice work on these Lannisters. I like the armour, your highligting and especially your efforts on their faces. Kudos to you for the eyes - I almost never do as it seems to be a practice of diminishing return on time invested. 

Your scales are right but your math is off, so 44 points it is - well done!

- Curt