ScottR 28mm Selucid Phalanx for ADLG or Hail Caesar 24 figures (120 points)

Hi All,

Several years ago I started to amass a collection of Greek figures from Victrix.  Mainly because of a kickstarter for a skirmish game called Mortal Gods.  The game and all the miniatures have sat on my shelf for a couple of years now.  The exception was a greek Phalanx which i planned to build an actual Selucid Army from.  Thinking at the time it would be Hail Caesar.

I got as far as building the figures, and then undercoating them with wraithbone with the intent to try the new GW contrast colours.  I did a couple of test figures and was a bit mixed about the outcome.  

Now a couple of years have passed and I am a bit more used to playing around with the contrast paints.  Talking with my good friend Dennis Campbell aka 'Matt varnish'  we discussed playing Hail Caesar.  Now I have my Celts but as I was searching around for the extra chariots I found this unit all ready to go.

So this was a start yesterday at around 10 am to paint and base the unit before I go away on a weeks holiday.

Mission accomplished. 30 hours plus sleep and house chores and the unit is done.  I would be interested in peoples thoughts on the results of using just contrast paints.  Oh except the leather strap across the chest for the shields.

Sorry about the pics as well.  I have a new light box and trying to work out the best background for pictures.  Black next or any recommendations.  I can go back to pictures on the gaming mat if this is better.  please let me know.

The unit is two stands.  Each stand is a 60 x 60mm.  One stand represents one unit in Art de La Guerre (ADLG).  Both stands would be used for one unit in Hail Caesar.  We use a standard of 60mm frontages for Hail caesar so we can also do ADLG.  The total is 24 figures with 12 figures in 4 man frontage and 3 deep per base.

Pictures using gaming mat background.

24 x 28mm figures for 120 points.

Happy New Year everyone and may our brushes be ever busy and your miniature pile ever diminishing!  See you in a week.

______________________

Oh wow, this beefy pike block looks fantastic, Scott! The blue tunics and shields are very eye-catching, and I really like the wood effect on the pikes.  Very impressive. As to photos, I'm always partial to a homogenous background so the subject stands out, but that is just my preference. The shots of them on terrain look excellent too.

Looking forward to your next entry!

- Curt

From MichaelD: More Renaissance Infantry (210 pts)

 Over the past few weeks I can't count the number of times I thought to myself that I should have my head examined for doing Landsknechts for a painting challenge. Next time I swear it's all going to be Republican Romans. Lay on top of it what the winter quarantine blahs have done to my attention span, and I have to admit it's a wonder I've gotten these done. And each one as much of a special snowflake as I could make them.

It's the last of my Steel Fist figures and a box of Warlord Landsknechts. The Steel Fist figures are justly ubiquitous on here, but here's my take:

Some shooters:

And then I have some Warlord pikes. While not as characterful perhaps as the Steel Fist they have the great advantage of being less cumbersome then metal figures presenting their points forward.

All told there are 42 figures (there's one odd SteelFist pikeman, you can see in the group shot above)

War of the Roses Knights and Pike Matthew Williamson 90 points

 A bit of stuff coming over the next few days as I complete a painting commission of Perry 28mm War of the Roses and flock some of my own Canton of Saint Gall Pike in French service for the Guerre Folle. 

Four plastic WOTR cavalry figures, 28mm Perry Miniatures

10 Swiss Pikemen Canton of Saint Gall, 28mm Perry Miniatures

4 cavalry = 40 points

10 Infantry = 50 points

total 90 points

cheers

Matt

From BrendonW - Arabs, Arrows, Dark Ages and more (97 points)

This post contains 18 x 28mm and 1 x 28mm Casualty and all of them are Plastic.
I missed last weeks deadline but fear not I am unlikely to miss next week. No doubt most of us have overlapping projects on our painting tables happening and sometimes time just runs out.

This Conquest Games Norman is having a bad time of it. He has become crippled by being on campaign in foreign lands and overindulging in local food. You can tell by the way he is clutching his stomach that he is in a lot of pain from gut bacteria. An Army marches on it's stomach indeed.

These Gripping Beast Arabs have 4 hand painted shields. At the time of creating them I was really starting to feel a good flow with my painting. Very happy how they turned out and more will be on show next week so stay tuned.

A pike unit boss and a previously painted drummer from Perry Miniatures. Only one of these Red and Black hard drinkers counts for points. The drummer was torn asunder from his base and re-based. A delicate yet brutal task. I have a few flag wavers already so I won't be attaching a flag to this bossy dude. He can boss around a pike unit me thinks.

I am sure he is just trying to boost morale by yelling into his helmet and waving his sword.

He will put it away and join the fight as soon as his hangover lifts a little.

Gripping Beast Dark Age Archers. After painting armoured miniatures these none uniformed humans actually take longer even though in almost every game system they are cheaper. One below was a carry over from the previous batch of completed figures but was waiting for a partner to join him.

Cheers from Brendon

________________________________________________________________

And now to M. Brendon, an exciting chef from the Australian Tropics, whose work with diverse ingredients places him firmly in the ModOz tradition.

A base of dead Norman is surrounded by Dark Age Archers and a layer of beautifully-decorated Arab Infantry, The entire ensemble is garnished with a touch of M. Brendon's signature Beer and Bacon. 

This course nets the lucky chef 90 points, plus 4 for the decoration on the shields and 3 for Le Normand Mort.

Ev

AdamC: Armored Pikemen (71 Points)

 I picked these guys up on Ebay some time in the early 2000s I have no idea who made them.  I had painted up a few and sold them off.  These guys lingered because they just weren't that fun to paint and I didn't have a need for them.

 Now with Pikeman's lament coming out I now have the opportunity to use them.  The Flag is a Spanish one from the 17th century it's associated with the battle of Ricroi

  I did the armor in plate armor gray-black the helmets and chain are in sliver I did the ther clothing items in various browns grays and blacks.  Note one fellow has a halbard.

 Another guy has this odd polearm? perhaps a mace or maybe its a some jangly musical instrument

The armor also has some trim in bronze that shows up better on the backs than the fronts.  I have 14 figures here and they are 25mm figures for 70 Points with a possible 71 with the flag.


MilesR: It's not a possible +1 for the flag, it's a definite.  Although I see you're back to you multiple posts thing per Monday.  With mini's this nice I shall choose to overlook your transgression.  Nicely done.

From Micheal D -- 28 Burgundian Pike (145 Points)

This time last year I was finishing up a Burgundian Ordinance army for use in Warhammer Ancient Battles. (Yes, I still play WAB!) I had been inspired for years by the work over at Je Lay Emprins and the excellent Perry minis for the range. So, I painted up some pike, longbow, knights and retainers and took them off to Cold Wars where they performed up to their historical reputation as perhaps the most overpaid/under performing army in European history. This past November I brought pretty much same army to Fall In where they fared equally badly. As anybody who runs a pike army on the tabletop will tell you, when it comes to tweaking your list the answer is always "Needs More Pike" So I cut back on the fancy Gendarmes, got rid of back rank longbow men, and put the points into more bigger blocks of pointed sticks. So here are the new recruits.

So there are a total of 28 figures here for 140 points. 

ByronM: Thanks for the awesome entry Micheal, and yes I agree, "I feel the need, the need for more Pike" <said in a Christopher Walken voice>.  No matter how they perform on the table, these figs look good on the table and that is far more important!  There is nothing worse than wargaming with unpainted or poorly painted figures, you miss at least 80% of the joy of the game! These are lovely looking pikemen, and I like the guys done in quarters, they look great.  

As for WAB, it's a great little system, certainly better than were GW has been going lately!  It has all the best parts of Warhammer, and drops all the worst bits (crazy insane heroes that are better than whole units, and magic that destroys whole units for 1/10th the units cost), I call that pure win, and is the reason there are large groups that still play it.

I would have liked to hear a bit about the banners though, where are they from and could we get a side shot? Be nice to see them.  I may have even been able to grant a few bonus points, but I have no idea if you made them or bought them, or anything, which is a shame, as they look good from what I can see...

EDITED: Home made banners (and nice ones at that) give you a bonus 5 points.

MONDAY AdamC- Pike and Shotte Blue Regiment (85 Points)

 Blue Regiment isn't terribly original name in fact I this is the second blue regiment to appear in this challenge.  These are war lor plastic sculpts and I have to say they are easy to work with.  I plan to use these for Pikeman's Lament when it comes out latter in the month.  Units are supposed to be of either 6 or 12 figures so I fixed this unit at 12 I many need to do some modification once I get the rules.

 The Pike men they have blue coats but they are largely covered by their buff coats I tried to find buff coats that had been painted or dyed but they all seem to be of the same "buff" color though the exact shade does seem to vary some

 One of the up right pike men has lost his helmet and wears a knitted scull cap of some sort.

 These are the core of the regiment, veterans all.

 The true hitting power of the regiment is in its Musketeers.  All dressed in Blue coats with red cuffs.

 Many other uniform details are unique.  I tried to vary head gear, pant color and some of the equipment colors

 I'm very happy with the way the piping on the cap on the left came out, French troops had such hats in to the Napoleonic wars but mostly they were used on work detail (from the 18th century on ward at least).

 I did my standard simple basing which many of you are familiar with by now.  I mount the figures on 1" washers so I can use magnetic sheets to hold them in storage or magnetic movement trays.

 Not much more to say about the 4 second rank musketeers.  Again I tried to strike a balance between uniformity and individuality.

 As you can see some of the musketeers have their own buff coats.

 I did an additional 4 man "Command Stand"  I don't know if a command stand is needed in Pikeman's Lament but having the figures it seemed silly not to use them.

 First up is the sargent a heavily armed combatant with sword, halberd and buckler.  The buckler is actually from the frostgrave Cultist set an excellent source for bitz.

 He's very ready for action in either Pikeman's Lament and will certainly see some action in En Garde! too.

 I cut down one of the pikes to make an ensigne to carry the regiment's colors

 he may well tag along with the regiment as an extra figure some.

 No flag has been selected yet.

 The music.  I love that the set lets you build a fifer a musician who is underrepresented in miniature.  Readers of my blog will recall my lamentations over not finding a suitable 18th century example to give the best man at my wedding as a groomsman gift.

 I liked the style of hat this fellow had I kept his livery simple

 The Man in charge.  The commander of the Blue regiment is a handsome soldier with ish stylish slashed sleeves, white collar and feathered hat.

 Despite being a bit of a dandy he is ready for action with both his sword and pistol.

 I'm very pleased with how the gold on the tassel of his sash came out and it took several photos to get a clear look at it.

 Finally we have the last clubman.  A farmer or herdsman with a matchlock.

 His sky blue coat and firearm speak of some wealth but both are simple and unadorned indicating he's of the middling sort.

He gives Bess and her friends some long rang hitting power.  All and all there are 17 figures here 12 Foot soldiers, 4 command and one armed civilian.  That should come to 85 points if my math is correct I think that will give me a total of 115 points, a respectable start on my 1500 goal.

MilesR: Wonderful job with these 17 stout fellows and your maths are, indeed, correct.  I really don't know much about the Pike and Shot period so will try not to show my ignorance.  I do like the commander with the pistol and saber - from some reason he makes me think of the 1970's Three Musketeer Movies directed by Richard Lester - those were really fun and I think I'll watch while painting today (they're available on Amazon video).  Nicely done.