Welcome to the Painting Challenge. Here you will find the fabulous, fevered work of miniature painters from around the world. While participants come from every every possible demographic, they have three things in common: they love miniatures, they enjoy a supportive community, and they want to set themselves against the Challenge.
This site features the current year's event along with the archives of past Painting Challenges.
Enjoy your visit and remember to come back soon.
The last day of this year's AHPC is here and I have a final offering for you. As the title suggests it has two different themes in two different scales.
Firstly, here are the Romano Brits from Forged in Battle miniatures and these are the start of an ADLG army for this period.
A simple start with a command stand consisting of a general and Christian priest. Don't worry there is a Pagan stand planned for balance.
Whilst there will be colour across the army I will be using a lot of muted colours for a Dark Age feel and the general's cloak will carry across some cavalry stands in the future. At my current pace of painting this may well be in next year's AHPC.
Next up are the only light cavalry in the army, all two stands of them; unlike the hedge of spearmen that makes the army's backbone.
The muted colours making another appearance here along with a simple hand painted shield design across the units. It's just enough to catch the eye on the table.
Now the last figure from me for AHPC XV, a retro Citadel Dwarf from the haydays of the early 1980's. Still on his original pre-slotta base:
This figure has been stripped down and painted for the last time, roughly forty years after first buying him in my FLGS (now long gone).
Opting for a simple colour scheme to let the armour do its job of impressing everyone around it. Not to mention the longsword.,,
Started as a central figure for a regiment of Shieldbreakers in Kings of War that sadly has stalled for now.
So, there ends AHPC for this year a few things moved on, a few things stalled and a few that just didn't start for varying.
The points for these few figures tally as:
15mm cavalry x 5 @ 4 points each = 20
15mm infantry x 1 @ 2 points each = 2
25mm infantry x 1 @ 5 points = 5
Totalling 27 points.
Looking forward to seeing the last entries over the next day or so and seeing you all again in the darker nights.
A huge thank you to the Snowlord for organising this again and to everyone who helped as a minion and as a participant. A great body of work you have all contributed!
Cheers for now!
----------
Love the 15mm Dark Ages stuff Ross - its a great scale for getting a good feel of massed forces, and your muted colours give them an appropriately dreary pre-colourfast dye look to them :-) I hope we get to see more next Challenge.
The Dwarf is a true relic - great sculpt full of nostalgic goodness! What a cracking fellow to close out on. Congratulations for completing your Challenge this year - go celebrate with a couple of bonus points for resurrecting a figure you've had for 40 years!
The challenge is drawing to a close and neither have I been as productive as I had planned -not that I was expecting much, mind- nor have I been as active on here as I had intended. While I'm sitting here at my desk I can gaze upon all the figures that I set out to paint this year and it's a bit of a sobering sight. But you're not here to see me dwell on my failures, are you?
Over the last three weeks I managed to convert and paint 5 more Middle Imperial Romans for my fledgling Midgard force. This time it wasn't the heavy infantry type Legionary, but my interpretation of the somewhat enigmatic Lanciarii. We're not really certain as to how these troops fought, or indeed how they were equipped. Rather than regurgitate arguments of men far more knowledgeable as I, I simply present you with my representation of these enigmatic troops, as I’m sure you can use google just as well as I if you’re curious. I for one settled on elite light infantry, armed with short throwing spears for harrassing enemy troops, as well as large oval shields and the Spatha, making them capapble of facing an enemy head on if need be. I was undecided if I should give them helmets, but in the end decided against for no other reason than the rule of cool.
The figures are a mix of A&A and converted Victrix and again I'm rather pleased how they work together. I also used parts of the different Victrix sets to convert some of the A&A figures as frankly I find them a little dated by now. To reinforce the elite status they were all painted wearing the same clothes, very much opposed to my usual view on uniformity in the pre-modern era, with purple ornamental stripes. Rather eye catching I think. Shields are again painted by hand.
So, why then do I just claim 5 figures when clearly there are 10 on the photos? Well, I had already painted a brace of 5 figures a while ago and having had to rebase them anyway for use with Midgard, I decided to intermix them with their newer counterparts. Seems like not much has changed in my painting approach over the last couple of years.
Anyway, 5 figures á 5 points each is 25 points in total. Hurrah!
--------
What a treat these are Martin! I would be looking at the untouched minis as a "pile of potential" if these are anything to go by!
I know all too well the 'fun' of rebasing having done it last year with my Caesarian Romans, but if it brings a new lease of life for them then its worth it. They look wonderfully dynamic like that too.
...and take a few bonus points to the crisp details and lovely hand painted shields!
After a few week's absence from posting I am finally back with my centrepiece for this challenge, a pair of 28mm vignettes based on the song "The Witch of the Westmorland"(1).
This song made a great impression on me the first time I heard it off Kate Rusby's 2016 album "Life in a Paper Boat". It is highly evocative of time (I'd say 500-600CE), and place -- Rheged, what is now Cumbria and the Lake District.
Having spent several months selecting and sourcing miniatures I created two vignettes on live edge Yew plinths. I've included two short videos so you can get a sense of the full vignette in each case.
The male mounted and dismounted figures are Victrix late Roman unarmoured cavalry and Romano British infantry, with some kit bashing to match the heads and arms and add the bandaging. The female figures are both 3D prints from the designer M3DM, her Goddess of Virtue and her Druid Centaur. The hounds are from CheckPoint Miniatures and the hawk is from Reaper.
For a closer look at these pieces it makes sense to follow the song.
"Pale was the wounded night that bore the Roman Shield" (2)
Don't look too closely as the leatherwork and boots on the two figures are different!
"Turn, turn your stallions head til his red mane flies in the wind"
Red is strictly speaking not a particularly realistic horse mane colour and usually is sun bleaching on a chestnut or sorrel, anyway I had fun trying to get this effect but it's hard to photograph as the bright light masks the shades!
"And he said, lie down my brindled hound and rest ye my good grey hawk"
Brindling isn't too hard to replicate, not sure if wolfhounds can be brindled however, usually applies to a shorter haired breed I think. As there are no grey hawks specifically native to the UK (as far as I am aware) I chose to make this one a peregrine falcon -- that's quite a bird to have at your beck and call!
"And it's down to the water's brim he'd borne the Roman shield"
Modelling water is where most of the effort in this job has been, and I've still got a lot to learn. I did like sourcing a bunch of neat photo etched reeds and some lovely paper water flowers. The main water is done using Aqua Magic which I discovered doesn't like to set when constrained as I had to do using a jerry rigged dam as shown in the picture above. I also hoped to get some good reflections off the water surface but didn't realise that this would need a darker shade underneath than the light stones I selected -- oh well, lessons learned.
"And wet rose she from the lake and fast and fleet went she.
One half the form of a maiden fair and a jet black mare's body"
Lucky to have found that M3DM sculpt -- it's exactly as the source for the song suggests -- tales of antlered women with bodies of deer, perhaps based on sightings of red deer in the lakes. There is an inordinate amount of fine detail on these figures including one braid which had snapped, I patched in a spare from the back up figure I purchased and it's at least something (it's her left side braid). I also only discovered in photographing the figure that's she's wearing more of a bra top than a vest -- at least my styling keeps her respectable!
"For I see by the briny blood that flows you're wounded in the field"
Basic green stuff bandage and some subtle blood work!
"She stood in a gown of velvet blue bound round with a silver chain"
One of the best sculpted female faces I've seen, albeit a rather static pose, but being from the same designer the look of both faces is similar. For hair I tried for a Yffing (3) chestnut :-) There's some wonderful fine hair detail about the face that was a pleasure to paint.
* * * * * * * * * * *
So hopefully by now you've had a chance to listen to the song and follow along with the models. I certainly had fun planning and executing this project and I hope the results do justice to the source material
For points I am claiming two mounted 28mm figures (20 points), two foot (10 points) and four creatures (20 points) plus a 20 point bonus for love in paradise -- the song does after all say that "she's kissed his pale lips once and twice and three times round again" -- I think that's a worshipful, healing sort of kiss as befits paradise! I also relied on the female centaur druid to fly us straight to the third sphere! So with that bonus, if permitted, i get my hard earned 70 points!
Hopefully you enjoy these pieces as much as I do. Now what shall I plan next?
(1) The song is by Archie Fisher from 1976, it's been covered by many others, there are quite a few variants on the words but I'm using Kate's version, and even that has differences in what folks claim to hear!
(2) One of the specific differences being that the original and most versions sing "Rowan Shield". I've got problems with this. Why make a shield of Rowan, it is very hard and lighter than oak but not as common and I've not found evidence of this as a shield material. Or why have a Rowan sigil on your shield? Kate's singing "Roman shield"(i.e. a shield in the style of or dating to Romano-British times) makes perfect sense to me and that is how I modelled it (although an infantry shield when mounted is a little impractical!)
(3) This is of course a reference to Nicola Griffith's Menewood, which I cannot recommend too highly, although an interest in the specific details of seventh century life and warfare is a pre-requisite!
TeemuL: I'm not sure what all this is, this entry is just staggering! May be it is the flu or the excellent entry, all the backstory, sourcing the minis, but I feel a bit light headed... I guess it is better, if you just read, watch and listen, my words are unnecessary. :) Take 5 bonus points for the dioramas!
This week too I'm running with the Middle Imperial/ Late Roman theme from last week. This time I've brought with me a base of Legionaries, which can clearly be dated to the first half of the 3rd century by their old style semi-cylindrical shield. Also the broad leather balteus, from which the Spatha was suspended, which had by then superseded the earlier Gladius short sword. Most of the Legionaries are sporting the -in my humble opinion- rather fashionable Niederbieber type helmet, also dating to the 2nd to 3rd century. As for armour they're wearing a hodgepodge of Lorica Squamata (scales), Lorica Hamata (chainmail) and the rather famous Lorica Segmental (banded metal strips), that is featured in so many Hollywood movies.
The figures themselves are a mix of Armorum & Aquila Miniatures, which by now are rather dated but almost the only commercially available figures for the 3rd century. Then there's a single Wargames Atlantic miniature from their Late Roman Legionaries set. The set fits the 3rd century almost perfectly with the inclusion of the Niederbieber helmet, but I find the details on the plastic rather soft and the Spathae much too large. That said they paint up OK. Also included are three heavily converted figures from Victrix Limited' Late Romans. To make them suitable I gave them heads from Aventine Miniatures, sculpted on the broader Balteus and designed and 3D printed Spathae/ appropriate scabbards and Pugiones, the famous Roman daggers. Despite being noticeably larger than the other figures I do think they work together rather well. Shields are a mix of Aventine and A&A.
Painting wise I tried to give them a somewhat uniform appearance by using broadly the same colours, without painting them all the same. Personally I find it highly doubtful that Roman Legionaries ever wore anything approaching a uniform. For the shields I went with free hands and frankly, I had a blast. While at first I found it a rather daunting undertaking, I quickly realized I quite liked the look. So much so that by now I have more of those shields already painted than Legionaries waiting in the painting queue. First world problems I guess.
As some of the figures were already started before the challenge, in fact they had lain partly painted in my cupboard for a few years already, I'm claiming the Limbo bonus for this bunch.
So what do we have here?
Eight 28mm infantry plus the Limbo Bonus should give me 60 points plus whatever our dear minion is prepared to throw in for the hand painted shields and conversions.
***
Well Nick, I have no doubt that I speak for all Challengers when I say "holy crap, this looks f**king amazing!" Your brushwork is, as ever, top shelf stuff. The conversions are amazing - and you know this because, absent you telling me/us about the conversions, we would not realize they were present, so seamless and smooth does everything look.
In particular I am impressed that you managed to squeeze Victrix models in there. While I appreciate the quality of the Victrix sculpts, their giant size has turned me away from making purchases as they seem to loom of every other type of sculpt out there.
Seeing your Romans always inspires me to say "one, day, I'll paint some Romans!". One day...
I award 10 bonus points for hand painting shields (!!), conversions and general amazing-ness.
I welcome you to my very first scheduled post this year, and yes, I'm a little bit embarrassed myself. But what should I do? I was busy with important things. Like... procrastinating?
Anyway, enough of that inane blubbering, on to the meat of the subject: Burgundians (no, not THOSE Burgundians, but those of the Nibelungen Saga) in 28mm for Midgard! Or was it Romans? A little bit of both I'd say. Knowing I'm unlikely to finish a complete force anyway I decided on adding a few Burgundian foederati to my very fledgling Middle/ Late Imperial Romans.
Midgard makes use of individually based leaders. To easily indicate the level of said heroes I decided on the number of figures per leaders base. Thus today we have Brynhild, a level 2 leader, and her hearthguard. Brynhild is from Footsore Miniatures, while her hearthguard is a converted Late Roman miniature from Victrix. Not liking the overly foldy (that's no word, isn't it?) cloak I sculpted one myself using Green Stuff and let him hold his helmet in his hand. Rather chuffed with the results I have to admit.
Next we have a base of Funditores, staff slingers, that could be Romans but could equally well be Burgundian. Instead of using the recommended 12x6 for the basing I decided on 10x5, primarily because I like the look of the narrower frontage, but equally because it saves me painting figures. For the unlikely case I'm ever fielding these in anger against someone with the bigger bases I can always add a small 2x4 base.
Figures are Victrix again and despite the overly busy folds in the clothing, were a joy to paint. I really love the character in the faces Victrix do.
So, that's it for today. With six 28mm figures at 5 points each we have a grand total of 30 points, not taking into account any bonus points our gracious minion might deem appropriate for the conversion.
****
Hello Nick! So great to have more of your wonderful brushwork to take in. But it is more than the tremendous painting (although, as usual, it is amazing) - I just love how this post checks so many of the "mental boxes" of the wargaming-hobby-brain. In no particular order we have:
- ode to procrastination (you have come to the right place, my friend)
- ode to a game system that you like, but you are unlikely to paint a complete force for, yet here you are painting more for it...
- ode to a figure maker even as we have our little nits, complete with fun term (i.e. "foldy" - I hereby proclaim that not only to be a proper word, but an appropriate one at that!)
- refusal of a stated basing system in order to revert to a personally preferred basing look (I totally sympathize!)
I love all of it! Plus you sculpted on some bits. That gets extra points in my books - so 40 points for you! I wish you well in your battles against procrastination, and we look forward to more of your stunning brushwork!
Following on from my first post if this challenge is a group of 4 x Mounted and 5 x Infantry figures, all to be used to build up my new Arthurian collection.
Arthurian Heavy Cavalry man, armed with spear
And the other side's view! More to come for this unit!
The mounted figures represent 3 x Heavy Knights and 1 x Heavy Cavalryman whilst the foot figures are all Medium Infantry.
So a word of explanation - the Heavy Knights (Cataphracts) are to be the mounted versions of the Close Order Heavy Infantry units as shown in my first post, in my head the rules for use will require commander to opt for mounted of foot deployment at beginning of each game.
Arthurian Knights, these guys will have individual shield patterns to reflect the uniqueness and privilege of their positions.
Anther view of the knights
Infantry can be Heavy, Medium or Light and the Heavy and Mediums can be classed as Close or Loose order, all Light Infantry are Loose Order. Anyway the two Archer figures are Light Infantry (unarmoured) whilst the remaining three infantry figures will be classed as Medium (Loose Order, Partially Armoured) Infantry.
Archers - with a Victrix head swap on the right
Another view of the Archers
The mounted figures are all Gripping Beast Cataphracts, the three Heavy Knights have all had head swaps from Gripping Beast or Victrix Late Roman sets plus a couple of shield swaps. The Heavy Cavalryman is pretty much straight form the box.
Three Medium infantrymen, the final unit will be 16 figures, including Standard Bearer and possibly a musician
Close-up of the Medium Infantry
For the infantry one of the archers has had a Victrix head swap, otherwise both are straight from the box. The spearmen are also straight from the box, as is the Lesser Knight leader, except that he has had a Wargames Atlantic helmet crest added.
Painting wise, I followed the steps described in my first post, the infantry having a light grey tunic with blue trim for this unit and red / white shield iconography. The mounted figures were done along similar lines but with a lot of metalics on the horse armour!
POINTS
5 x 28mm Infantry @ 5 Pts each 25 Points
4 x 28mm Cavalry @ 10 Pts each 40 Points
TOTAL 65 Points
_________________________________________
Another great Arthurian post Mike. The noble cavalry would be the Tiger tanks of the period with their cataphract barding - wow. They along with the infantry and archers will give a cold welcome to the invading Saxons. Great work.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
