MartinC - More Colonial types (515pts)

For my next trick I've been painting up some more colonial figures. By normal standards this would have been a paint bomb but this year, well there have been some outstanding submissions that have been a joy to behold already. Glad I'm not in charge of the counting. I'll leave that to today's minion.
First up is my prize for coming 2nd in the total points tally for last last year. I was delighted to recieve a £75 gift token from Westfalia, see opposite, which I spent on a lot of Persian and Afghan Napoleon cavalry. The figures are great and a joy to paint. They will find a place in my generic North African and NW Frontier forces.

 8 Persian Lancers

10 Afghan Cavalry

and another 10

Next up some Natal Carabiniers. 3 of these figures started life in a Northstar lucky bag as British troops in home service uniforms. Head swaps and an arm changes gave 3 suitable figures, 2 in rain capes. To complete the unit I bought 2 more mounted figures and 5 dismounted figs from Rapier Miniatures. This was my first time buying from Rapier and the figures are very nice, although the horses heads look a bit like rabbits

5 Mounted Carabiniers

5 dismounted

Next some colonial artillery. The figures are random suppliers with a mountain gun from Col Bill.

Mountain gun and Crew

I bought this Zulu war heliograph from Black Tree Design. The crew are the C section of the Royal Engineers and were the first section of the unit that went on to form the Royal Corps of Signals

 The final Colonial unit for the moment is this rocket section, again from Black Tree. I've always been a fan of their figures but until recently their service has been shocking. That seems to have improved greatly.

Finally something random. These 2 German Robot machine gunners have been in my bits box for ages, again a Northstar lucky bag. With the rise of Konflict 47 it seemed a good time to paint them up

Really finally, a quick splash and dash. I'm playing my first game of Impetus in a couple of weeks. My Republican Romans from last year's challenge are finally getting a run out. However I need a couple of units of Gauls to complete the army list so I painted them on Saturday. These are truly rubbish Wargames Factory Gauls in plastic. They are rubbish poses, fit together badly and were right at the bottom of the lead pile.

16 Gauls based, temporarily for Impetus. I think I've overdone the PVA sticking them to the bases.

So that is 33 cavalry = 330 pts, 31 infantry/ gunners / robots = 155 pts, 2 artillery pieces = 20 points and a heliograph (10pts?). Giving about 515pts

MilesR: BOOM - now that's a points bomb - very well done.  More impressively you've made the Wargame Factory plastic look good - something I've never been able to do myself.  For me the best of the lot are the Persian Lancers but its all very, very good.

6mm Sci Fi Infantry Company ClintB (35 points)

 Today some 1/300th scale (aka 6mm) Brigade Models LINK Science Fiction Chinese troops. Theoretically this is an infantry company but as I only have 4 figures to a base to me it feels more like a platoon.

Total of 9 vehicles and 34 infantry (command stand just has 2 infantry figures. Shown bottom right in first pic))

The Force is the CDSU (Chinese democratic Socialist Union) and as I will be using the Future War Commander rules they have a "Rigid" tactical Doctrine. (Which will make them a little restricting to play I hope).

The vehicles are all "Xie Fang" MICVs one is a specialist command vehicles the other 8 are more hover (craft) battle taxis.

Needles to say the world they will be fighting on will not be blessed with tropical or moderate conditions. I hope the force looks suitable for cold weather as that is my intention. Mostly I went for a frozen setting so I would not need to make any trees and veg when I make the terrain.

A very simple force easy to transport and store and I hope to fit this force and another (yet to be determined) in a single box file along with all the terrain. Just for Pick up and play at the club.

They will also be my first ever army in sci fi 1/300th scale, BUT not my only 1/300th scale army. They were part of my Crimbo Pressie from my sister on the big day and while I did ask for 6mm sci fi I had no idea what I would get if indeed anything so I am delighted to have gotten them finished so fast!

MilesR: Great looking future army there - nice cammo on the MICV's.  The fact that you got these mini's as a present makes them even better. I never get mini's as gifts so color me jealous

These little force will net you 35 points/

From TamsinP - 15mm Nubians (453 points)

With the the Christmas break, I lost about a week of painting, so I've slipped behind my target. To make up for that, I've painted an entire 15mm army for Art de la Guerre (ADLG) - ancient Nubians.

I had at one point thought about doing this army for Field of Glory (FoG), but then realised how many figures I'd need to paint up for a standard army and decided not to (OK, so my Choson Korean army isn't exactly small...and I'm expanding it. That's an exception though...). Now that our club have switched to ADLG, it needs about a quarter of the figures and so was much more manageable so I went for it.

The Archers

"Dum ti-dum ti-dum ti-dum
Dum ti-dum ti-da-da"

No! Not "The Archers" - bowmen!

The mainstay of the Nubian army. You can have gazillions of these. Well, 32 bases anyway. I've got 20 here which is plenty for a 200 point ADLG army.


The Javelinmen

*waits*

Ha! No redio or TV programme by that name you can hum the theme tune for! (of course, having said that someone will decide to prove me wrong)

You can have 6 bases of these as either light infantry or light-medium infantry. I've done 6 light and 3 light-medium.


The Fanatic Warriors

Try finding a theme tune or song called that!

These chappies are the only decent* close combat troops in the army. They are "elite" which means that you add 1 to the die roll if the result is a 1,2 or 3.

*decent being relative. They are medium foot "swordsmen", so vulnerable to mounted in the open and more fragile than heavy foor (3 hit points rather than 4).


The Generals

No theme tune I know of, but there is this song from The Damned's album "Stawberries":

CinC

The Baggage

If anyone finds a theme tune by that name...

This was actually a relatively easy army to paint. The skin tones were achieved by using a 3:1 mix of Vallejo black and umber washes over two different primers (German Red Brown, Leather) which I applied after painting the hair Dark Blue Grey (a few had their hair done with Red Leather or Ochre Brown to represent clay rubbed in to colour it).

The tufts on the bases are home-made using my FlockBox. I made up two sets - one with just 2mm static grass, and another with a mix of 2mm and 4mm static grass. I actually made up blends of the static grasses as none of the packs matched what I was after.

Apart from the slaves (Essex) all the figures are Old Glory 15s. There are 224 figures which at 2 points each gives me 448 points. In case Minion Miles is feeling generous, there are 76 hand-painted animal hide shields!

And the whole army conveniently fits into this A4 file box.

MilesR: Holy crap thats a lot of Nubians and all so very well done - Throw is 76 hand painted shields and home made grass tufts and even a Scrooge like person go my ilk might having a passing thought which resembled generosity (if only for a brief moment).  I think you've earned an extra 5 points for the shields and tufts.  A most impressive army.

From LeeH - Macdonian Elephants (7 Points)

When Pyrrhus of Epirus deployed his Elephants against the Roman Cavalry at Beneventium in 275BCE it came as a terrible shock to the Republicans. The use of Elephants changed the course of the battle and arguably won the day for Pyrrhus. The Romans did eventually adapt to fighting these beasts but the fact that Hannibal was still using them nearly 75 years later showed that they were not entirely the one-use shock weapon that some historians describe them as.

Having painted these I am now convinced that I have used the wrong Elephant models for my Pyrrhic army. The models I have used don't have towers and I think they are actually the type used by earlier Macedonian armies (Poor research strikes again!). By the time of the Successor armies elephant crews rode into war inside wooden Howdahs, much like the later war pachyderms that I painted for my Carthaginians. Its entirely my mistake but these are what I have and these will have to do for now! I have found the right models and have now ordered them, so expect to see even more Elephants at some point later in the Challenge!

I have again resorted to dressmakers pins to make the Sarisa or long spear carried by the crew. Thankfully this time I managed to add them to the models without bloodshed!

Two war elephants and four crew won't earn me a massive amount of points but at least I can get something entered this week while I finish off other larger entries for next week.

MilesR: I always love a good war elephant and with this submission we get 2!  Great painting Lee and I also really like the clean basing and label - this entry will net you seven points (2 each for the Ellies, 2 for the 4 crew and 1 extra from me for the basing(.  I'm really looking forward to a group shot of the entire Pyrrhic army when you're done.

Mondays Minion - I'm Back

Wow - it's yet another Monday and time for me to assume the awesome mantle of control of the Challenge and bring order to our lands.

It's a good thing I don't let this stuff go to my head...

So sit back, grab a cup of coffer and buckle up - there's a fist full of Monday coming at you.

But first, a little musical interlude from one of my favorite performers Jimmy Buffet, performing an appropriately titled track from his album "Living and Dying in 3/4 time.  Some of you may find this ballad a bit on the sedate side but we can't all be glam rockers like Millsy or headbangers like Curt

I was amazed to see how many submission there were for the armor challenge - that bodes very well for the projected point total.  As for this Mondays slate of posts, lets just say it's jumbo sized with over 2,000 total points coming at you like a runaway freight train of painted goodness.

What make this Monday special?
- three posts from one person totaling a staggering 808 points!
- the continent of Africa provides the vast majority of todays pointage cornucopia
- not one, not two but three point bombs of over 450 points each - if that's not paint carpet bombing I don't know what is
- Scales from 6mm to 28mm
- Moderns from the BAOR to near future Chinese
- Pikes, Gnolls and Rats even some Nappies
- A nostalgic thrill form our younger days

Oh yeah, it's Monday baby, the Monster Truck Rally day of the week.  Get ready to have your collective world's rocked.  It's a Thriller my friends.

The 'Armour' Theme is Now Up for Viewing!

 Hello All!

Well, the first Theme Round is now up for viewing!

This fortnight's theme is 'Armour' and we had 57 participants submit entries for your enjoyment. In the gallery you will see tanks, knights, mechs and more. It is a veritable clanking smorgasbord of glasis, turrets, visors and plates. 

Please click on the 'Bonus Theme' link in the navigation bar above and enjoy all the efforts of the participants.

Also, remember to take time to vote for your favourite entries. You can vote for as many as you like. The top three in votes will get additional points added on to their total for the round.

Enjoy!

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As to myself, I've returned to the Italian Wars with a vignette of Francis I of France overseeing the investment of Pavia, October 1524. 

Francis is seen here with his helmet under his arm, discussing the proposed dispositions of the French siege with one of his advisors, Montmorency, Marshal of France. The two men have recently arrived in front of the city and have placed a map of Pavia on a makeshift table made from a wagon wheel set on a tree stump. A pair of Francis' hunting dogs, Alaunts (a breed now sadly extinct), are at his side.  His banner-bearer stands at the rear, holding the Royal Standard. Francis' attendants have brought out a stool with a refreshment of wine in pewter goblets.

Francis' figure is roughly based on a oil on wood painting from an unknown artist which was done within a few years of the battle. He is depicted wearing gold armour with a red surcoat emblazoned with a central cross. 

I kept the red surcoat, but instead painted him in his tournament armour, which is detailed with representations of fleur de lis on the knees, elbows and helmet (which, of course, nobody can see due to the placement of the figures...). Francis' armour can be seen today at the musée de l’Armée, Les Invalides. 

The figures of Francis and his knights are from the very talented Oliver James over at Steel Fist Miniatures.  These were part of a Kickstarter and are now available on his website.

The two Alaunts were sculpted by Steve May as a small commission for Simon over at le Jay Emprins, who kindly provided me with a couple sets (Thanks Simon!).

Alaunts at the kill of a wild boar from The Grimami Breviary 1490

The tree stump, wagon wheel, stool, wine bottle and goblets I printed off on my 3D printer (I LOVE that thing).

Francis' brave banner is from Pete's Flags.

As a historical proscript, the French siege of Pavia went on too long and a Imperialist relief force was dispatched to attempt to raise the siege. After a bold night march, the Spanish Imperial army smashed Francis' forces on 24th February 1525. As the ultimate disgrace, Francis himself was captured and sent to Spain as a prisoner to negotiate his own release.

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Now, please go look at the gallery and enjoy the wonderful entries for our 'Armour' theme!