From SimonG: Death to George Clooney -- the Revenge of the Goats (36.5 points)

For our final stop in the AHPC XIII Challenge Studios we're stopping off at tha Art House for a remake/revision of George Clooney's 2009 black comedy "The Men Who Stare at Goats" -- but this time it's "The Goats Who Stare at Men"!

The Stars of this epic are six thespian bovidae who in real life will be populating the slopes of the temple mount when I finish my Jewish Wars monster scenery (which should be with you next week). So in the mean time to fill things in I’m submitting these six 28mm Eureka miniatures goats -- which are really nice figures.

They are very well sculpted with individual character in each face -- well deserving a bit of time and attention with my new OptiVISOR offering a great close up view for detail work (going all the way with the 3.5x magnification)

However the goats need something to eat (while they're waiting for the arrival of all the promised turnips) so what better then some nice pear trees?

These are MP pear trees in IronGate scenery 3D printed planters. While the trees are lovely I'm no great fan of 3D printing -- the layer marks to me are unsightly and the way they take paint is peculiar -- still at a distance they work out pretty well.

Also from IronGate are a couple of Roman braziers -- again 3D and the bowl really shows the limitations of this approach. Apologies for the poor effort at a marble finish 🤪.

The braziers are actually wired for LED candle lights so I of course had to install that! Not sure how often this will get used -- maybe for the interior of my Roman temple?

The final piece you might have seen in the background is a small water feature I made out of remnants from the eight Sarissa aqueducts I had to purchase to construct two large walkways as part of the temple complex (which you'll see next week). The trailing flower detailing is again from MP (and is a bear to work with) and I also experimented with resin water effects for the first time -- although kicking myself for not including a mosaic underneath the water, I'll do that on another water feature when I make it.

And to give a feel for it all together here they are along with some of my 28mm Jewish fighters

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Points wise my reckoning is 36.5 points

• 6 goats at 2 points each (they're about 10mm tall and 15mm long) - 12 points
• 4.5 points for terrain -- 48.7 cubic inches or 22.5% of a cube
• Water feature is 12"x1.5"x1.75" for 31.5 cubic inches
• Small planters are 0.75"x0.75"x2" for 1.125 each or 4.5 for four
• Large planters are 1.6" diameter by 4" tall or 8.0 cubic inches for two
• Braziers at 1.25" square by 1.5" tall or 4.7 cubic inches for two
• 20 points for the Art House bonus

And with this being my third location on the Blue Sector I have completed enough to ask for the Snow Lord's suggestion -- although given where we are on time not sure I'll get to it!

I look forward to giving you 16 square feet of terrain across multiple levels next week -- so until then happy painting!

Those goats are so cute, I'm going to let you shoehorn them in for "Arthouse". Nice work on the terrain.
Quick tip that I've recently discovered for hiding layer lines on 3D prints - apply a coat or two of matt Mod Podge before priming; it's self-leveling so will fill the recesses on its own. This tip can also be used for filling gaps in models - much cheaper and easier than using greenstuff and its ilk.

Tamsin

From RossM -28mm SAGA: Age of Magic - 30 points

 A month in and here is the first post from my 11th Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

After a great start on the preparation front for this year's challenge the painting mojo left for a couple of weeks after the new year. Reason: too many too on the painting table:

• 28mm Skeletons for Age of Magic and Dragon Rampant
• 28mm Carthaginians for SAGA
• 28mm Fallschirmjager for Chain of Command
• 15mm Assyrians for DBA and ADLG
• 15mm Crusaders for DBA
• 15mm Early Imperial Romans for ADLG
• plus a few other odds and sods here and there

So, after some deliberation and a prompt from Curt, I made a conscious effort to put my mark on the Challenge roster before the end of this week. 

First up, there are four retro skeletons from Citadel and / or Marauder Miniatures. These have been painted to match in with a group previously painted in AHPC IX and were probably bought at the same time. 

The intention with these was to capture the detailing on the skeleton with as little work as possible. So, out with the rattlecan of Skeleton Bone from Army painter, contrast paint Skeleton Horde and Vallejo Ivory with a dry brush. 

Next a related pair of sheep from sources unknown. These will appear in future games of SAGA along with several other prize items of livestock still to be completed. 

Painted very quickly using block colours then washes and dry brushing; nothing fancy or time consuming and yet here we are at the last call for entries to remain in the challenge and they are part of my first post. 

In terms of points all six figures are 28mm in scale so this will be 30 points towards my total or 4 %. 

Looking forward to a very busy painting February to catch up and get some points marked on the roster!

Cheers for now. 

From DaveD

Welcome to the right side of the cut Ross. Ah the old too busy a paint table problem - we know it so well!  Grand Skele's and prize sheep will as you say kick you off and over the line - Huzzah!

From IainW: Livestock, militant cattle and the "Man of Blood" (110 points)

Finally, a first post, some livestock to go with my wagon train and also to be objectives.

One group of pigs based on Tamworth pigs which are the nearest breed to the medieval British hogs . The other group of pigs are based on the medieval Italian breed cinta senese, the chicken colours are based on medieval illustrations. The sheep are predominantly all white in the illustrations. The cattle are like the long dark cattle refered to in Irish /Scottish cattle raids and the like. These are all from a pegasus hobbies 1/48 plastic farm animals kit.

Next up is the man of blood, also known as King Charles the First, largely responsible for the war's in all three kingdoms.  You'd have to agree with Cromwell about that unless you're an Anglican as they made him a saint, well I guess it was his church!  I've shown him as per the Van Dyke equestrian portrait in the National Gallery and next to him is the royal standard.  Hopefully he won't drop it as happened at Nottingham at the start of the war. Charles is a Foundry figure and the standard bearer is an Essex figure, both in 25mm. 

And finally , cattle militant? A minotaur for my Curtgeld, he's an old Marauder games figure a subsidiary of GW back in the last century.  He's wielding a large lead spike. Under his left foot, he would have been based on those large square plastic bases GW used to make. 

Alternatively I could base him on a round MDF comsheep base and finish as per my Italian wars, which do you fancy Curt? 

An odd mixed bag, I've been rotten since before Christmas so it's surprising I've got anything done! I'm hoping to finish a unit of horse and some more command stands soon. 

Points wise 15 for Charles and standard ( also counting towards the renaissance duel ), 20 bonus points for Curtgeld  (I think),  30 for the cattle, 10 for the sheep and 5 each for adult pigs (totaling 10 points), and maybe 15 for the piglets and 6 for the chickens?  Which makes 106 points which seems a lot so happy to have any adjustments, otherwise I'll have to work fast to get off Nelson! 

All the best, Iain !

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Welcome to the Challenge, Iain!  That's quite a fantastic haul of plump livestock, poultry and cattle which would have any self-respecting Border Reiver, tartar, cossack, croat or 'Neer-do-well' excited from Hawick to Mohacs!  And all accompanied by an ill-fated King, and a Minotaur.... I feel this is almost a heraldic puzzle going on here!

They're a wonderful collection of figures.  I particularly like the way you've depicted Charles I with the Royal Standard.  When one is a King (and a King of England at that), one really should not be out and about on a battlefield without a Royal Standard and a trusty retainer.

I also really like the way you've collected the plunder - ooops, my apologies - "livestock animals" on bases which should make their theft - oops, sorry again - dispersion on the field easier. And that's a fantastic Minotaur, in really lovely natural colours.  

Great work, Sir.  I make that 110 points in total (adding a couple for the lovely standard, and for your erudite description of Italian pigs).  Bellisima!!

Sheep! (Clint B) 28mm Livestock MONDAY

A small flock of sheep. 2 Adults and 4 lambs. The breed is "Mouflon" and I will be using them as objectives in some border reivers games. yes there will be other live stock my troops are not all sheep bothereers! The figures are made by Warbases Link and have many uses including scene dressing. I will be painting some more in the challenge as well. It is just that these are finished today and today is my posting day. And to be brutally honest they were a nice distraction from painting little Zulus!

I probably could have taken a better picture but they kept wandering off!












This is a real one

MilesR: Clint these are some mighty fine sheep and probably about as far away from Zulus as you can get.  The Warbases website lists them as 28mm so why don't we go with that.  This small but attractive flock will net you a tidy 30 points - well done!