From PeterD SYW Light Dragoons (40 points)

So this will be my last regular Thursday post, and possibly my final post for the Challenge.  After a clear out week last week (3 posts), real life has slowed me down big time.  Most notably a four day trip across Canada for a family funeral.  But I have finally finished my 15th Light Dragoons for my SYW Sharp Practice project. 

Figures are of course 28mm from the Perry AWI Range- the whole range is gold, go look at  them!

I came into the Challenge with two main goals - a 21 man Light Dragoon Unit and a 30-man Highlander Unit.  While the highlanders are only about 2/3rds done, these four lads make up the last of the 15th Light Dragoons

Oops I need to straighten out some sabres down the line.

This unit started out fast with 8 troopers plus officer, but slowed down over the challenge, being released in drips and drabs as I found other distractions.  However, this is it for the Light Dragoons. 

Just in case anyone suspects me of recycling the same figures week after week, I present to full regiment (for my purposes).  That's two squadrons of 8 troopers, each with an officer.  In addition there is a bugler and two pickets with pistols out.

This week that's 4 mounted 28mm figures for 40 points, bringing me to 699 points YTD.  I need another 101 points to hit my target.  There's an outside possibility of that happening but what's next on the workbench includes more lace wars stuff. I've really enjoyed returning the the Lace Wars but they these units require that you pack a lunch and make it a full day's outing, so I'm not holding my breath on hitting my 800 pt target


This is a splendid unit, Peter! They are really impressive when ranked up! I like the addition of the outriders for the utility in gaming too. It has been a treat minioning your collection of 7YW stuff. Most of my research is in the fighting around the Great Lakes which is mainly Marines, Rangers, and the Tribes. I know little of the European side save that some of the nations wore wigs and hats with metal inserts! ;)
Still you have amassed quite the collection for Sharp Practice and this force of dragoons is one of my favorites of the lot!
Keep your powder dry and perhaps you will get another volley off before challenge end....or at least a snap fire! ;)

Jez Todd - Goth Scouts -(25 points)

Hi All

Only a small cavalry base so just 20 points to add. This base will be used in the Basic Impetus 2 army options which for the Goths have a cavalry scout unit option. Just did these up quickly and they are two Wargames Foundry figures. Did an arm swap to create the pointing figure and a hand swap  for the other figure just to add variety.

That looks like it will be it for me ... possibly a few extra cavalry and our "Curtgeld" (Matt and I working as team) to post on the weekend.

Thanks to all as really enjoyed being part of the group - time to start playing more games now!

Cheers Jez

Nicely done, Jez! You are not far off in your calculations, but I'm the gleeful fellow that appreciates free hand shields and banners. Plus you performed conversions which my favorites are ones that I can't find ! ;)

Since I am going to be fired in the morning, I'll summon the last bit of minion powers granted by the Snowlord and pip this entry 5 points for shield work and appenadge swap...just don't tell Curt about the side points!

It has been great fun getting to preview your work, The best part of minioning IS the backstage pass for previewing the work. It is supposed to be work, but it seems more like guarding a candy shop!

I do hope you get a few more completed, and do enjoy your game time. Perhaps these freshly painted fellows will avoid the curse and perform exceedingly well...or at least last beyond turn 1! ;)

From AaronH - A variety of things to wrap up(198 points)

This is my last post. The boys are on Spring Break and we are off to sunny California, where it will not be quite as nice as it is here in Colorado, oddly.

This post is all over the place as it's made up of stuff that I've been tinkering with since the challenge started.

First up to bat is a unit of 24 28mm Celts from Warlord Games, Black Tree Designs and Wargames Factory (yuck).

This unit is on four 60mm x 60mm bases from Litko. I put the BTD guys up front and the Wargames Factory in the back and fill out the unit with Warlord. The Wargames Factory Celts are soooo bad. They are just soul crushing to paint. BTD on the other hand makes some really nice sculpts. I'm looking forward to checking out Victrix's new plastics as I'm sort of over the Warlord kits at this point.

The rear view. Lots of clunky, non-natural looking dudes visible here.

Next up is an ECW command stand. With this I have enough for a Bde so I can actually play. These guys are all Warlord Games.

These are both nice models, especially the general waiving his flash purple hat. The flag is out of the box set for the plastics. I had to add my own wire spear.

The next figure is a single EIR command model that I didn't have done in time for the last post. This one is an Aquilifer. I put him on a low profile base since I plan on having him on a larger command base and don't want it to stick out above the ground work.

This is another Warlord Games model. He's very nice, one of their better sculpts in the range I think.

The next three are more RPG models. The two swordsmen are from North Star miniatures and are part of the Frostgrave line. Very nice models. Clean, well sculpted casts but not too much detail.

The wizard is a bones model. He was supposed to be Solistarian, the elvish Wizard in our group. Sadly, Sully's player lives on the East coast and dials in to the games. He bought his own model for Sully and it ended up being GW's High Elf Arch Mage. Very much an over the top model. As I have the same model, already painted, this one will be going onto the bench.

Next up are three Star Wars Armada X-Wings from Fantasy Flight games.

These photos really didn't come out well. They are from yellow squadron. I'm not thrilled with the job I did on them, which is why they are not red squadron. I did learn some things about painting models this small which should make the rest go better. These are probably 3mm models.

Last, but certainly not least, are two GW Lord of the Rings Mordor trolls. These can also serve as ogres for D&D.

These are really great models. I'm building an army just around them, I like them so much.

These guys are all metal. You can see just how huge they are in the group shot at the top of the page. They dwarf the ECW commanders on horses.

Since I'm throwing this post together as we are packing (much to the pleasure of my wife as I'm sure you can imagine), I didn't have time for close ups. I came in below my score this year. D&D ended up taking a lot of my painting time.

As always, this was a great experience and something I feel quite privileged to be a part of. I'm also relieved it's over.


Well that is certainly an eclectic points bomb! I'm kinda gobsmacked on where to start!
The Celts are certainly colorful, and I do commiserate over the WGF stuff, you certainly do get what you pay for. They are an ok filler though and their lack of detail and awkward animation does add to the group...most especially when regulated to the back ranks. ;)
Congrats on getting a brigade of ECW, hopefully you'll get lucky in finding an opponent as it would be a shame for that punchy officer to command from a display shelf.  The Aquilifier is indeed a very fine model and his dynamic pose is matched well with your brush. The dungeon party is a very sweet morsel too, I quite like the fellow going Babe Ruth with the sword.
Your fighters for the Star Wars Armada game came out well too for the wee scale. I think they are a touch tiny for yellow to work well. Although wife-y approved, I haven't gone Armada yet as I'm still snatching x-wing and Imperial Assualt goodies before they vanish. Still I have seen the fighter squadrons and these are nicer than the stock ones.
And finally the Isengard Trolls. GW LotR are what pulled me back into fantasy. Ihave friends who swear by the Mitril miniature line, but I prefer the Perry sculpts. The line has great animation and a consistant scale and the detail blows the Mitril line away IMHO. These trolls are very well done and whether you use them to crush Gondor men-at-arms or as proxy Ogres in D&D, that is a wonderful paintjob you gave them.
Have fun on your vacation and it has been a pleasure to perform editorial duties for your posts.
I'm still wishing for a few more weeks of AHPC, but the season has to move on. At least Adepticon is next week! ;)

From BenitoM - First French Hussars Regiment(80 points)

My (likely) last contribution to the Challenge this year is an additional and full completed Hussars unit (it seems I like to self-retribute me painting difficult uniforms). This time in the unfiorm of the First Hussars Regiment a.k.a.  "Le Bleus".

As in my other units, this comprises 8 models including trumpeter and officer.

The models are all Perry Miniatures,  5 from the plastic box and three (the command group) from a metal blister.

With this unit I bag an additional 80 points to my score, totalling now 400. I'm 100 short of my target (500) and I don't think I shall be able catch-up before the weekend. It is true that I'm working on a command base for my cavalry division (2 x Hussars, 2 x Dragoons, 2 x Cuirassiers and 1 x Chasseurs) but it would be difficult to finish it before the end of the Challenge.

In any case I'd like to show here a sneak peek of the WIP in the command base (you're so vain, I hear Carly Simon singing while writing this), but I don't want to be scoring any points until finished.. if on time!.

Another really beatiful sculpture of the Perry bros., a blister with thre models inspired in the cavalry charge paint at La Rotonde in the Waterloo site.

Benito, those Hussars of the first are just plain gorgeous! that blue is very striking and I can easily understand their moniker! I really like the color you teased out of them too. If it wasn't for the Perrys and the plastic kits, I probably wouldn't have aqquired any 28mm Napoleonics, but seeing our command group...maybe a few extra bucks could be found to spruce up the regiments!

It has been a pleasure to get first look at your Napoleonics this year, The Cav are hotly contesting the right's to being labeled favorite, but the Portuguese were not lacking and foot-sloggers are near and dear to my heart.

I do hope you are able to complete the Division Command, you are off to a grand start with it! The gold trim is excellent on the Commander! You have every right to be vain as it is work like yours that makes the Napoleonics look so cool. Of course, it also makes me a touch leery of my own skills trying to match the standard! ;)

Thursday and the Final Four!

Yes, that may be confusing for the basketball fans as everyone( except I) in the States are doing the final tweaks to their March Madness NCAA basketball brackets.

I'm busy trying to crest 1000 PTs and sort what I'm taking to Adepticon!

So far Aaron and Benito have some posts ready for my last day Minioning. I'm sure the rest will be along shortly. If they don't I will have to fill Thursday with a selection of 80's Metal and Punk just to fill! ;)

It will be odd to roll through a Thursday without Undead, LotR, Napoleonics, Romans, 7YW, and WW2 goodies; however, my wife sez she has a lengthy Honey-do list to occupy my white space in time hacks. 

I keep wondering how the AHPC could get any better, but it does. It is the highlight of my winter months and I've been blown away by the volume of miniature eyecandy once again. 

Every year is filled with wargaming goodness and my wish list grows yet again!  Although circumstances diminished my output and commentary, it has been a very enjoyable year.

 I've even enjoyed my kids striving to complete their models and frequent questions on "How do I..." Although Nina broke the ice, they are frantic in trying to make their stuff "perfect". They are in a panic to complete them before Sunday too! ;)

So, the end is nigh...get those brushes working! Let's see if Thursday crew can keep me busy! 

Hopefully this will get the blood pumping! ;) 

Tribute to Byron: Robert Combe, VC in Greyscale

For my Tribute for Byron I decided to do a figure for him that also marks the upcoming centenary of the Canadian Corps' attack on Vimy Ridge. 

My work has had me and my team creating a series of five documentary videos featuring Saskatchewan's involvement in the Great War. It showcases our archival collections and allows us to provide a focused perspective on the war as seen from the Canadian prairies.

We started out back in 2014 to mark the outbreak of the war, and next month, on April 12th, we will be screening the fourth video, focusing on 1917, at a gala event here in Regina. The work (and politics) surrounding this project is is one of the reasons why I've not been as active during this Challenge, but it's been very worthwhile and I'd be lying if I said I didn't love the work. If you're interested in seeing them, here is a link to the first three in the series.

One of the historical figures in our 1917 documentary is Lt. Robert Grierson Combe of the 27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion. Combe was a pharmacist from Melville Saskatchewan who volunteered as part of the first Canadian Contingent to go to France. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant, served in the 2nd Division, and saw action at St. Elois, Mount Sorrel, The Somme,  and the battle of Vimy Ridge. He was killed leading his men near Acheville in an action for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. 

From the London Gazette:

On 3 May 1917, south of Acheville, France, Lieutenant Combe steadied his company under intense fire and leading them through the enemy barrage reached the objective with only five men. He proceeded to bomb the enemy, inflicting heavy casualties and then, collecting small groups of men, succeeded in capturing the objective, together with 80 prisoners. He repeatedly charged the enemy, driving them before him, but while personally leading his bombers he was killed by a sniper.

The Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan holds Robert Combe's personal papers along with his Victoria Cross.

For this figure I eschewed using colour entirely and returned to the familiar ground of my WWI greyscale project.

This 28mm figure is from the excellent Great War miniatures range. It's of a Commonwealth officer firing a signal flare. He is wearing an officers' cut uniform, but with covered steel helmet. I dug out my old recipe of greyscale paints, painting him in a variety of warm and cool greys.

It was nice to come back and tuck into the old technique again, and it made me look wistfully at the stacks of WWI figures I still have to complete for this project.  Ah well, that's why we call it a hobby, eh? ;)

There you go Byron, I hope you like him. Thanks so much for all your help with the Wednesday crew and for all the wonderful figures you treated us with during the Challenge.

ByronM: Thank you very much Curt!  Not really sure what to say beyond that, I never expected anything for helping, I just wanted to help out in this cool event you started.  Thank you for having me and thank you again for the very cool figure it will go with my WW1 collection nicely.  It is very nice to have a grey scale figure from the person who started me painting grey scale.

SCW - Surprising Curt on Wednesday, Group Curtgeld Entry

When the Challenge was about to start, I started wondering what to have as a Curtgeld. Then one sleepness night the idea hit me: What if all the participants of the Challenge would create one huge collaboration entry (like a Space Marine Chapter or a Napoleonic Battalion) instead of working as pairs or small teams. Of course that was impossible, because at that time many of us had already agreed with someone else to paint something else. There was also a lengthy discussion about the subject. In the end some Spanish Militia was decided to be the one, it would allow several different painting styles and color choices and it would also give something Curt could use on his own games - he seems to distract quite a lot, so if we could give him a full squad, it would help him.

Because getting everyone involved was impossible, I turned my attention to our wonderful Wednesday Group. We soon picked up some Tuesday and Thursday guys as well, some Friday people were also interested in an so on. At some point we had, I think, 10 members, but not all of us managed to finish the painting for this Wednesday. I hope they can post their own entries on the final days.

Nevertheless, here are all the miniatures from our group, which were finished by today. Not as massed entry as I hoped in the start, but something to show our comradeship.

TeemuL - Empress Miniatures Spanish Civil War Militia

I had never painted this kind of historical miniatures before, so I had to paint couple of training pieces first (check my earlier posts). These were very nice and quick to paint and I hope I managed to represent the worn out look of poor militia man quite well.

BillA - Empress Miniatures Spanish Civil War Militia

I don't know that I have a whole lot to say about this figure, although it was eye-opening to go back to closer to true 25mm after painting so many "Heroic Scale 28mm" figures. I would like to thank TeemuL, as in the spirit of camaraderie he sent me this figure to paint at a time when almost the entirety of my "play" funds were going to pay veterinary bills. If the theme of this year's Challenge was the bonds of fellowship, then TeemuL more than exemplified that theme. 

PaulS - Empress Miniatures Spanish Civil War Militia

As part of the group I was intending to do a banner, but Curt beat me to painting the exact same model, so I figured I would go for soething a little bit more useful instead. The same pack of figures included an LMG, a lady with some ammo and another with a pistol. All three are generic enough to be useful in multiples, so what the heck. I know the Curtgeld is only supposed to be one figure, but I was on a roll, so there are now three... two have been formed into an MG team with a little bit of terrain and the third is ready to join the rest of the group entry to flesh out the rifles. Curt, they should pop off the bases easily enough if you decide you need to rebase them. I won't be too offended (much) ;)

From GuyB - Polybian Romans taking shape...(280 Points)

With the clock ticking ever closer to the end of the Analogue Painting Challenge, I thought I'd best post up my Polybian Romans. One base of the Hastati you've seen before, all the rest are new.

I did have some Celtic command I painted up for Poldercon, but I didn't do the basing for them (Jasper did), so they don't count. I also rebased 120 Celtic infantry and some 20 cavalry - but they don't count either!

Principes with Lorica Hamata

Hastati with Pectorale plate

Triarii with Lorica Hamata

The models are mostly Victrix with some Agema and Warlord mixed in for variety and the odd metal miniature. The transfers are LBMS/Victrix with the odd hand painted shield.

Points wise, there's 14 bases of 4. So that's 56 models or 280 points in total. Still shy of my 400 points target...

I've still got a few more of these to paint before the army is finished, including some command for the Hastati, but I'm out of time for this challenge. It's been fun!

ByronM: Thank you Guy for some excellent looking Romans and for being involved in the challenge.  These look really good and I like all the weathering on them it makes them look more real than being perfectly clean.  I would have liked to see some pictures from the side or rear though for full effect.