From AdamC - 3 Frosgrave Crossbowmen (15 Points)

 My last entry for the day three kitbashed crossbowmen for Frosgrave.  They have Wargames factory bodies, arms and crossbows form the Cultist box from Frosgrave.  The Center has a Frosgrave head the the others have heads from Wargames facttory

 The extras, quiver, bags and daggers are from the Frograve soldier spruce or Cultist spruce.

 Here is the group shot that was requested its hard to get them all in frame...

 So here are two closer in photos...

Enjoy and I will do another full group shot at the end of the challenge. This is three more 25mm figures for another 15 points.

Great job kit bashing these three Adam, the pieces go together nicely.  And I do like the Family reunion style photos in the end.  The big blue spider is perfect as the centrepiece.

From EdwinK - Nosferatu (15 points)

Nosferatu can be best described as NOT-Dracula.  When the film was made (1921) a few details were changed to make it different from Bram Stoker's story - not enough though!  In a very early example of intellectual property rights being applied to the cinema, Stoker's estate sued.  The studio went bankrupt and all prints of the film were ordered to be destroyed.   Fortunately some survived, and the film is now recognised as a masterpiece of German Expressionism as well as having provided some genre-defining images.

Max Schreck, 1921

Kinski, 1979

The film was remade by Werner Herzog in 1979 as Nosferatu the Vampyre, with Klaus Kinksi in the title role and there was even a very funny 'making-of' film Shadow of the Vampire made in 2000, featuring Jonn Makovich, Willem Dafoe and Eddie Izzard.

Defoe, 2000

These three films are among my wife's favourites, so when I spotted a pack of Nosferatu at a recent show I snapped it up.  They're 28mm from West Wind and come as a pack of four (I've just realised that, and need to find the fourth!).

So, in true genre fashion, I've left the big reveal until quite late...

Bonus Edwin, we get minis and film history.  I'll have to check out the Dafoe/Izzard film.  Those are some creepy looking Nosferatus (Nosferatii?) but nothing is as creepy as the first still that you posted.  

I always look forward to your posts, they are so varied and interesting.  Well done with these fellas and I like the use of sepia tones.

From AdamC- Green and White Knights (93 points)

 These are Mounted Sergeants from Fireforge Games.  A friend of mine and I split them as part of a trade.  He only need three so I got nine or them.

 I gave each of these guys a different cloak. They could make one large unit or three units of three figures each. I have them based with six on two horse bases and three on single bases for easy of marking casualties

 I did the shields in green and white with gold to tie them together as a unit and with the rest of the army that I am building for Dragon Rampant.

 I made most of the horses dapple gray to indicate the guys in charge of this unit tried for uniformity.. but we have a few alternative colouring horses to simulate remounts

 This group of three has all hand weapons, you can see the flail and Sword you get lots of weapon option for your sergeants and to restock your bits box with this set.  Looks like I need to touch up that bridal. (opus)

 The third fellow has a mace.

 The command group lances including one with the unit banner a gold St. Andrews cross with white "stars" in the quarters and white lace on the edges

 Our commander with his Mace held high to encourage the troops or to bring it down on a foe.

The figures have great facial details my limited skill doesn't show what you could to with them.  There was a circlet around his head that I made into a bit of crown, the sort a prince of the blood might wear to highlight his importance. 28mm horsemen are 10 points there 9 hear so that's 90 points the hand painted banner and shields have traditionally been an extra point each (at the judges discretion) for a total of 100 points.  Editor's note:   You're a bit to hasty on this one Adam!  My understandings is 1 point for a flag and a few bonus bonus points for shields as a whole.  Consider than Ian just dropped 48 Hoplites with hand painted shields!

Great unit of Horsemen Adam.  I've not had hands-on experience with the Fireforge plastics but I like what I see.  I do have a hard time with anyone using a two headed morning star flail on horseback, it sounds like a receipt for disaster.  It is great that you can trade figures and share box sets with a fellow gamer, Curt and I have been trading shields, figures and various body parts with our Italian Wars projects.  Your idea of the unit favouring a certain colour of horse certainly has historical precedents in the Horse and Musket era so why not in the Medieval era!  

Nice work of the shields and basing.  And I beg to differ on the facial close up, I  think that's one of your best faces - you've captured the shading and beard nicely.

So points wise I make it 90 for the figures, 1 for the flag and 2 for the shields for the unit. 

From MilesR: Fallschirmjager Heavy Mortars in 15mm Scale (70 Points)

 Another quick unit as I only had a few hours to paint on Saturday.  A German Fallschirmjager heavy mortar unit plus a Panzer IV/70 tank.  All of the miniatures are from Battlefront and are 15mm scale metals.

 This pretty much clears out the 15mm German FOW lead pile save for a few vehicles.  I really like to use mortars in FOW of games - very accurate and can switch from indirect to direct firing.

The Panzer IV/70 is a lone model that I can't even remember picking up.  I'll need to add at least two more before being able to field the tank but it was fun and easy to paint up.

Lets see there are 24 crew/command figures for 48 points plus 4 guns for 16 and the tank for 6 which yields a total of 70 points

I leave tomorrow morning for my companies annual offsite and will not be back until late Thursday night - so not a lot of painting this week either.

I'd feel sorry for you Miles, except that your slow weeks out do my good weeks. Anyway a solid FoW entry.  Good work on the basing and the camo on the vehicle.  Speaking of the vehicle, can I get a price check on this one?  It looks to me to be a Panzerjager or similar tank destroyer, not a turreted Panzer IV.  But my late war armour can be sketchy, and it's hard to tell from the photo.  And I say no need to wait to get 2 more of them, that's army list rules lawyer talk Miles.  Eff the lists and go with what feels right, and to me late war Germans should be able to dole out their limited armour support as they like, and a singleton AFV supporting infantry works for me.

Diversion from PeterD

IanW had me going back to my college days with his lovely hoplite unit.  He reminded me of this link which I thought I would share.  The Linothorax project was the brainchild of some Classicists who wanted to test the effectiveness of ancient linen armour.  They did this by recreated the armour, and shooting arrows at each other while wearing the armour.

Academic research at its best.  This also illustrates the correct way to treat one's grad students!

We saw the book from this in a bookstore a few years back and I still kick myself for not buying it at the time.  My wife is a quilter and I think I could convince her to make me one!

From IanW 6mm Hoplites To Peninsular Brits 71 Points

I have leapt back into 6mm for this weeks post and will probably continue as I have received 700 more 6mm figures from Baccus, mostly Persians.

These are to go against my Macedonian army and originally the Hoplites below were for them but I will have them defect over to the Persians, well they are mercenaries. 

I painted the one base in last years Challenge so I finally finish off the pack. These are Baccus and needed little work to get them ready for painting,  The rear shields are a sod to get at as they are on strips four deep. The pack I received for the Persians are the more traditional four wide making the shields easy to get at.

As with my ancients it's a basic paint job with the mass effect being the main effect. What detail painting there is I did as simple as possible so it would not become a time sucker.

I went with brown leather armour and this makes them look quite a bit darker than I originally had in mind but the end result works for me so no complaints.

Three Battalions of Peninsular British for my sons army, again these came out darker as I was aiming for faded uniforms, I will have to go a few shades lighter next time. This gives him five British line infantry battalions and two rifle battalions. He gets to pick what's painted next for these guys.

We have the 9th East Norfolk, the 10th North Lincolnshire and 11th North Devonshire the first battalion of each regiment. Next time I do some of his infantry I will go deeper into the list to spread them out a bit. The flags should have been Baccus but I have used up two flag sheets worth of the light yellow ones so have had to use some of a bunch I got off e-bay way back. They are very nice but a little bit bigger than the Baccus ones.

I like to have my flags look like they have a bit of wind in them so tweezers in hand they get a bit of a wave thing going on. It's a bit fiddly but once you have done a few it gets a lot easier. I am no fan of the bed sheet look that others favour. Last thing to do is to paint the edges of the flags to cover up the white edges, oh I am so glad I have the Union flag to edge, what fun.

So 48 hoplites and 84 scum of the earth earns me a respectable 66 points, with 44 going to the Ancients side challenge and the lot to our 6mm challenge, I bet Tamsin responds double quick ;-)

Wow Ian, you've done it again.  My first army was that of the Spartan King Agesilaus and I'm a sucker for rows of bronze hoplons and crested Corinthian helmets.    And these lads look like they are all set to loot the cities of Ionia!  I agree that the brown armour might be a little dark but the end effect works well. next time why not try the brilliant white linothorax to see how that works.  

I am afraid that I am going to be the annoying War-games Fashion Police and point out a problem with your planned use of these figures.  The Lambda shield   blazon (which you've aced) was the state symbol for Sparta and thus wouldn't be worn by a unit of mercenaries unless serving in a Spartan army.  So I suggest that you build a Spartan army that can fight either your Persians or your Macedonians, and then build units of Hoplites with varied shield designs who can serve under any of the three armies.  Honest it's a win-win situation, at least for those of us fortunate to watch it unfold!

And those Redcoats are wonderful I do hope that your son appreciates them.  The way you turn the bases into battalion sized vignettes really sells me on 6mm as a scale.  I've added 5 points to your score for the hand painted shields on the hoplites and the basing on the whole bunch

Ian mentions the 6mm Side Duel, and it's a three way battle between Ian, Tamsin and MarkO with 34 points between them at start of play today. 

From AdamC 4 Barrow-wights/Frostwraiths Frosgrave (20 Points)

 These Four came from the same box as Tom and Goldbrerry

 They are truly scary and cool looking Wights in antique armour.  They will make great  Frotswraiths for litch king scenarios in Frostgrave.

 I think that they have the great detail we expect from Games Workshop and these weren't as pricey as some.

There are enough hear that I can get double use out of them in Dragon Rampant as a unit of undead.

It wouldn't be a Monday without a Frostgrave post from AdamC, and it's a damn fine one to start Monday.  There is some very good movement on these figures which you've nicely captured Adam.  And I like the way that the bronze scale armour came out.   

I've been looking at the Side Duel scores and there is a terrific scrap going on between Adam and PaulS with less than 50 points between them at daybreak, now just shy of 70pts.    Something tells me that Adam's not done for the day either.

Monday Morning

Well it's Monday morning after the bonus theme round, and we're in the mid-Challenge doldrums.  I am certainly suffered from this syndrome.  I didn't have a regular post set to go for Saturday and I've had two epic failures in a row on the bonus themes.  I got the wrong type of foam for the Rock of Gibraltar (Defensive Terrain) and had a primer fail on my Mouslings (L'amour).

Fortunately we have some good stuff in this week's instalments from Team Monday as shown below.

My iPod gets in themes at times, and lately its been on a bit of an Alt-Country roll. So we'll end off with this bit of Can-Con from Kathleen Edwards.

The 'L'amour' Theme Round is Now Online!

Happy Valentine's Day Folks!

Sorry for the delay with posting the theme round, but Lady Sarah and I were enjoying a nice, lazy day off together.

To celebrate Valentines we have 'L'amour' as our bonus theme this week. I think you'll get a chuckle when you view the gallery as we have many great interpretations of the topic of 'Love'. I'll say no more, so you can enjoy without any spoilers.

As to myself, it was a tad rushed but I give you 'Prendre la Température / To Test the Waters' (I think). 

It's 1795, and we see a French Chasseur a Cheval watering some of his troop's horses in a small village. He is knocking out his pipe on his boot, admiring the local scenery. A fetching young lady, who is washing some of the regiment's laundry, has caught his eye and he thinks he might test the waters.

Nonetheless, the young miss has two chaperons nearby who are definitely wise to the scenario. One is an old crone, smoking a pipe and keeping an eye on the dashing cavalryman. In fact, she can clearly remember that warm spring day in 1745, when those handsome hussars came swaggering into town (where do you think she got the pipe?). She know's what's afoot...

The other overseer is the girl's faithful dog, who can smell trouble a mile away, and is letting everyone know it (those who know our 'Felix' will see a certain resemblance).

This charming 28mm vignette is offered by Eureka Miniatures (minus the pooch who is from Westfalia).

Okay, as with all of our theme rounds, please remember to cast your votes for your favorite entries. Voting will be open until next 11:45 pm next Saturday. 

Enjoy the gallery and have a great week everyone!

From GregB - Curtgeld - Trooper Cally Samstag, Activated 26, Orestean PDF (60 Points)

Cally Samstag (centre), Golla Uldana (left) and Janny Wirmac (right)

Unlike prior Painting Challenges, this year I wanted to actually be on top of my Curtgeld obligations.  The Curtgeld theme this years is a figure characterized as a "risk-taker, daredevil or gambler." I spent a while trying to come up with something Curt might find interesting, and I settled on these three figures.  They are meant to represent Cally Samstag, member of Activated 26, from the Tertiary Reserve of the Oreastean Planetary Defence Force.  She is joined by two fellow members of Activated 26 - Golla Uldana, and Janny Wirmac. Who are these folks? Why would Curt care?  Here is the background...sorry about all the blather...

If you enjoy 40k, you need to read this book

These are all characters from Dan Abnett's novel "Titanicus".  This is one of my favourite novels, and I think Curt really enjoys it as well. To understand why I thought these characters would be good Curtgeld, I need to share a bit about the novel and its story.

I imagine this figure as Cally Samstag

She is equipped with basic kit, and a MK2 lasrifle.  Use against enemy titans? Zero.

"Titanicus" is set in Games Workshop's 40k universe, and features an "engine war", an invasion of the Forge World of Orestes by the forces of the Archenemy - a traitor Titan Legion. In GW's 40k setting, Forge Worlds are planets given over almost completely to the manufacture of arms and equipment to supply the Imperium's never-ending wars.

The Forge Worlds are run by the Mechanicum, a sort of dark, dystopian sect of machine-worshipping types. Imagine the worst facets of every IT department you have heard of or experienced, combine them with the post-human fantasies of the douchebag entrepreneurs who dominate Silicon Valley, and put them in charge of a whole planet, and you pretty much have the Mechanicum and a Forge World...   

Golla Uldana, a delivery nurse from Orestes, called out to join the fighting as a member of the reserves

Anyway, in "Titanicus", the Forge World of Orestes comes under assault.  Normally, such worlds are well-defended - Forges have their own Titan Legions, and Titans kick ass. Who worries about invasion when a huge force of 100-foot walkers, 200-foot walkers and 300-foot walkers, together with assorted support elements, are handy. But in "Titanicus", most of the Orestean Titan Legion has been sent elsewhere, and the skeleton force left behind is falling rapidly in battle.  The Imperium has messed up, and Orestes is vulnerable. The situation is so desperate the Imperial Governor calls out the tertiary reserves of the Oresetean Planetary Defence Force.

Janny Wirmac, young daughter of a high-born family in Orestes

The Victoria Lamb sculpts are incredible

An "engine war" in 40k is the worst kind of battle - Titans vs. Titans, laying waste to everything in sight.  The scale of destruction is enormous, and victory in this context is pyrrhic at best. In such a war, even elite heavy infantry can do little but pray to survive.  The tertiary reserves, the very last line of defence, have even less of a chance.  Cally Samstag, Golla Uldana and Janny Wirmac are members of that reserve, and they go to battle in "Titanicus"...

For a 40k setting fan like me, this "engine war" as related by Abnett is, of course, the coolest! Big machines! The Mechanicum! The Archenemy! Massive Titans beating each other to bits! Entire hive cities in ruins! Awesome! But what Dan Abnett does so well as an author, in my opinion, is that he calibrates the context properly.  Through the eyes of Cally Samstag, you see the Titan war not as a fan boy of the genre and setting, but as a real "civilian" might.  Not the vista of heroic, genetically modified soldier, or configured mechanicum engine god, but a regular person, who had been living a regular life, called forth to face terrors you mostly read and heard about, but never thought were real.  It is terrifying - and so well done in the hands and mind of a gifted writer like Abnett.

So why is Cally a "risk-taker, a daredevil or gambler"? Cally and her husband Stefan had relocated to Orestes from a different Imperial world in the hopes of a better life.  Stefan is a skilled labourer, in high demand on Orestes, but Cally is a junior clerk.  To get the permission needed for relocation from the Imperium's Maoist-style government, Cally had to agree to serve with the Tertiary Reserve of the Orestean PDF.

"No," he whispered.
"It was always a possiblity."
"I can't believe it."
"It was always a possibility Stef." she repeated

Cally Samstag took a risk of agreeing to join the PDF so she and her husband might have a better life.  When war found them, the gamble catches up with Cally and other members of the reserve...

Three members of "Activated 26"

These figures are 28mm female Arcadian Guard from the excellent Victoria Lamb.  I have to say I was a little disappointed at the amount of flash on the figures - lots and lots of prep needed - but overall, they are just tremendous sculpts, and it is great to see a line of figures which includes female sci-fi troops without having them appear to be complete dork fantasies or BDSM play acting rejects.  The Victoria Lamb sculpts are everything the plastic GW Imperial Guardsmen might have been, and her range of figures affords Imperial Guard fans a whole new outlet to collect for the setting without having to use the roid-addled and overly round plastic Cadians from GW's current line of figures.

I used a colour scheme that would match my other, older, GW Imperial Guard collection.  I don't recall any specifics about colours of the Orestean PDF in the "Titanicus" book, so I thought the colours would work OK...hope you like them dude! 

Ahh, Greg, this is just brilliant! As you know I'm a huge fan of Abnett and loved 'Titanicus'. He has that wonderful talent to be able to communicate the 40K universe beyond the 'pew, pew' dorkfest to a manner that adults may actually appreciate. The Cally storyline was one of my favourites from the book as it brought the 'mega-ness' of the situation down to a human level.  Anyway, these are brilliant and I'm very keen to see examples of Victoria Lamb sculpts as I hear that they are magnificent.

Thanks so much Greg!!