Monday, 4 March 2024

From SimonG: Vague History and Dodgy Heraldry - 15mm Crusaders (45 points)

Continuing my 15mm Khurasan Miniatures Cathar Crusade project my submission this week is three Impetus bases for the Crusader side -- one of mounted knights and two of skirmisher crossbowmen.




One of the nice things with working at 15mm is that you still have the larger Impetus bases on which you can get a good number of figures, but the overal size of the bases is more manageable (in this case all on an 80mm frontage, with depth between 30 and 60mm)






The crossbow figures came without strings so despite already having cleaned up and undercoated them I decided at the last minute that I had to add them -- not too much work as the bows are small and quite easy to work with but a delay I could have done without. I painted the two units in rather generic livery, one of course with crusader crosses (the white is a base coat of Corax White, then a coat of Apothecary White Contrast, then layer white scar). 





With only four poses it takes some work to try and manage variation but I think these came out nicely.







The second unit in a simple green and red with crusader badges on the left chest.









My mounted unit was supposed to be Vicomte Bertrand, illegitimate son of Raymond VI of Toulouse and hence half brother of our Cathar hero Raymond VII -- unfortunately I discovered the problems of relying on the first internet source you come to for history -- as I've researched further (at least par Sumption) Vicomte Bertrand defended Toulouse in 1211 for his father and was ransomed by Simon de Montfort -- as many switched sides perhaps at some later point he allied with the Crusaders but for the moment I may have him on the wrong side (I could simply have swapped the base edging from Blue to Red to change him back to the defenders but then am left with the problem of the two obvious crusaders with him, doh!)





A bigger problem is with the heraldry as the Cathar cross on the flag should be gules and or not sable -- my bad as after printing this I forgot to overpaint and then took the figure reference from the flag -- oh the errors we make when rushing for the challenge!)







The heraldry on the other figures is all made up so luckily there cannot be too many errors there as long as I follow heraldric rules! Anyway, despite all these snafus I'm still pleased with the unit and with the dappled grey in particular -- hope you like them too!








No bonus points claimed this week so a simple 12x 15mm infantry and five mounted for another 44 points. See you again next week with some more legionaries!


Sylvain: You continue to impress me week after week with your amazing brush work at this small but mighty 15mm scale. I also like the ground work on your bases, it looks very realistic. The games you are preparing will certainly be spectacular. I will add 1 point for the banner to round up your points to 45. Nicely executed!




From AdamC: Bear Cub - Nature (25 points)

Family health issues (nothing serious just persistent and annoying) have limited my painting but I have been making progress and did finish this little fellows.
He's the last of a set of a mother bear and cubs the others have been made into Christmas ornaments for my wife (these have appeared in other challenges). They are some of Annie at Bad Squiddo games excellent collection of 25 mm animal miniatures. 
This fellow is a bit cheeky with his tongue sticking out. 
My daughter Evie is starting an RPG with me, and another adult and their children. The Game is called "Perils & Princess" and the character has an animal companion and I hope this fellow might work.  For points, it's a 25 mm figure so typically 5 points it's a bit small so a reduction may be appropriate. Nature should get another 20 for 25 in total.

Sylvain: This week, you bring a cute little fella to the Challenge. It's an easy pun, but the animal and your name remind me of "Grizzly Adams". I am sure the games you will play with your daughter will be lasting memories. Nice work! 


From Mike W: Lizardmen, 15mm Fenians, Rogue Trader Marines, 10mm Flodden, plus more... Squirrell (370 Points)

I'll open this week's post with my long overdue Warhammer Fantasy Lizardmen Cavalry, how much better can it get than big lizards riding even bigger lizards!

Finally! The completed Mounted Lizardmen

These guys have been hard work, as there is so much detail on them and it takes time to do them justice, that and given that as ever, I sourced them from eBay and this meant that they arrived pre-assembled and thus much harder to get in to all the nooks and crannies to cover all the detail that is found on them.

Another view of the Lizardmen

This is a unit of 8 x Lizardmen, riding Cold Ones, I did a similar unit for an AHPC XIII Challenge last year and these were the older sculpts and as such were simpler to paint - according to my memory at least! After applying a cream coloured undercoat, I decided to make the riders green with a brownish yellow underbelly, the Cold Ones would be blue with a similar but lighter yellowish brown underbelly.

Lizardmen in column with a good view of the banner

I used GW Algae Green for the riders scaly upper surfaces and a mix of watered down GW Nazdreg Yellow and Bad Moon Yellow for the underbellies etc. On the Cold Ones I used the same mix as on the riders.though I tried to keep these lighter. I used Army Painter Magic Blue for their scales, all horns, teeth and claws were treated as if they were bones and as such got a wash of GW Skeleton Horde and then a drybrush of 'Linen' then White to draw out the highlights.

Close-up of two Lizardmen Riders

All straps were painted with GW Snakebite Leather and saddlery and shields were painted with AP Vampire Red before being washed with AP Soft Tone for shading and depth. There are lavish amounts of gold on these figures and this was done with Valeijo Brass and washed with AP Light Tone ink.

Two more Lizardmen riders

Then it was on to endless details of feathers, skulls, banners and then retouching other areas as I managed to splash / mark already completed areas as I did the details! For the record these figures contain 8 skulls!

Right Lizardmen Rider Champion and a companion

Standard Bearer and Musician, if you look closely you'll see the musician does not have a drum to bang!
 An unfortunate side effect for getting  figures from eBay,
I'll have to source a suitable drum to correct this on when I can....

I took another sprue for Warlord Games Epic 15mm ACW Confederates and decided to paint them up as Fenians for a potential 1866 Fenian Raid of Canada scenario. Now I'm no expert on those period but it has always plucked at my imagination - I'm a big ACW fan - and ways to use my ACW collection in different ways is always of an interest to me.

Completed Fenian Regiment, in epic 15mm

Unit in column of march heading to the right!

I think in reality these Fenian units were largely in Union Army surplus gear - so mostly blue - but also I'd expect a lot of civilian homespun materials as well. Looking for inspiration on Google turns up a few images but one of the most interesting one I found is below.

Image found here: https://heritagearmssa.com/2017/09/29/the-fenian-raids-1866-70/


I particularly liked this as it seems to show an interpretation of a Fenian unit in Green, so I decided to base my test unit on this image.

Marching to the left, the classic Harp insired, green flag is clearly visible. The other flag is green with yellow stars, both sourced from Google

Close-up of a couple of the bases,I could have used a union sprue to get most figures in kepis, but I liked the irregular feel of the confederate sprue with a lot of blanket rolls in the mix

Figures were undercoated in light grey and then GW Russ Grey (which is quite blue) was used to paint the trousers whist I used a mix of GW Algae Green & Orc Skin to do their jackets. Boots & straps were black and weapons, skin and hair was done in natural colours. All got a watered down Dark Tone wash before varnishing. Flags sourced from Google!

Another close-up 

A better view of the star covered flag

Final couple of bases

Next I have a small group of 3D printed Rogue Trader Space Marines, now sadly I'm old enough to remember when the original guys came out (maybe around 1985 at a guess) and I have a couple of these in my collection somewhere. One has gone astray over the years but I know have the other somewhere, I saw it a couple months back, I just don't know where at this exact time!

I'm pleased with how these guys came out

I had painted the originals in white armour, but having just done so many Tau in white, I wanted to have a break, so instead I have done them in a deep red with bright green eyes, lenses & laser sights. Belts were done in black and weapons in silver (as per my originals) with a few added details of red and blue wires.

Weapons are a far cry from the ubiquitous Marine Bolter on modern figures


Another view, showing the eys and helmet sensors

As with my originals I have given them a big 'M' as their unit badge - back in the day I called these my McMarines for hopefully obvious reasons!

This is pretty much the pose of one of the old metal figures I know I have somewhere

Final shot of the Marines

Next is another Flodden Scots unit, this time spearmen, so I assume these to be men supplied by a 'less well schooled' noble, rather than the fashionable pike block that I recently completed. I think in reality the move to pikes from spears was a contributory factor in the Scots loosing the battle, so I may be perverse in any scenario that I put together and give these guys better morale than the pike blocks as the spear had been a weapon of choice in Scotland for centuries - as opposed to the new fangled pike!

Scots Spear block for Flodden.

With a selection of flags to divert the eye!

The pointy end of the unit, again 2 ranks of three bases.

Anyway for painting purposes these guys were tackled in exactly the same manner as the pike block, as was their basing and organisation into a 3 x 2 base unit, again with lots of flags to distract the eye!

The unit marching to the left

and to the right!

Finally to get up to date with the bonuses and shelves that I have visited here is my Library Map, I forget to post this last week!

Points

8 x Lizardmen Cavalry @ 10 Points ea                                80 Points

100 x 15mm Fenian Infantry @ 2 Points ea                          200 Points

60 x 10mm Scots Spearmen @ 1 Points ea                             60 Points

5 x Rogue Trader Marines @ 5 Points ea                             25 Points

TOTAL                                                             365 Points

+8 Skulls

+3 Squirrels (Lizardmen, Fenians & Rogue Trader Space Marines)

 

Sylvain: Each week, it's always a pleasure to discover a new post from you. It's always a suprise and I'm never disappointed. Your lizardmen look both colorful and redoutable. Your Fenian and Scot units, well painted, are full of promises for great games. And you Rogue trader marines bring a touch of nostalgia to a very impressive post. I will add 5 points for the banners and flags, as it is customary to reward these bits. Well done!

MONDAY'S MUSÉE DES FOSSILES

 

 

Always eager to increase the number of our visitors to our institution, Le Musée des Fossiles brings you "Fossils, The Musical", on tour from North Korea, in our main theater.


 

Our mug of the week, for our French visitors.

 PROGRAM OF OUR SPECIAL EXHIBITS FOR TODAY  

■ ROOM “A” ■ 07:00 AM ■ We got 10mm, 15mm, 28mm. Curated by Mr. MikeW.
■ ROOM “B” ■ 08:00 AM ■ We got 28mm. It’s cute. Curated by Mr. AdamC.
■ ROOM “C” ■ 09:00 AM ■ We got 15mm. Curated by Mr. SimonG.
■ ROOM “D” ■ 10:00 AM ■ We got a Polish 28mm. Curated by Mr. Lorenzo.
■ ROOM “E” ■ 11:00 AM ■ We got 18mm Napoleonics (lots!). Curated by Mr. BobV
■ ROOM “F” ■ 12:00 PM ■ We got robotic 28mm. Curated by Mr. SanderS.
■ ROOM “G” ■ 01:00 PM ■ We got romantic 28mm. Curated by Mr. SanderS.
■ ROOM “H” ■ 02:00 PM ■ We got 20mm. Curated by Mr. Lorenzo.
■ ROOM “I” ■ 03:00 PM ■ We got 6, 20, 28mm. Curated by Mr. PeterB.
■ ROOM “J” ■ 04:00 PM ■ We got 15mm & 28mm. Curated by Mr. TeemuL.