From MikeW: Warhammer Fantasy Goblin Wolf Riders and 28mm Arthurians Skullz Squirrell (150 Points)

When your Greenskin army already has 40 or so Goblin Wolf Riders the question is do you need another 10 of the little guys!

Completed unit, wolves were undercoated grey, drybrushed white and then give a coat of Army Painter Rune Grey to give them some depth.

The answer is No! I don't need them but I do want them! And I have more to get painted...

Another view of the unit focusing on the command group, in my opinion focusing painting time on some obvous details such as the wolves' mouths, teeth and tongues distracts the viewers eyes away form the less detailed parts!

Over the last few months I have been pulling together Goblin and Wolf parts from eBay and combined with old spares sprues in the loft and garage  I have been able to put together a new unit for the Wolf Rider wing of my army.

And another view, note two skulls on the banner.

Here is that new unit, 10 x Wolf Riders, in the past I have armed my Wolf Rider units with spear and shield and shunned their lighter bow armed brethren. This unit has been given a bow as well as spear and shield, so I can field them as either type. 

The Command group - musician, standard bearer and boss.

Three of the unit, close up

I'm also looking to raise a purely bow armed unit as well if the spare parts allow me to put enough suitable figures together but at present I'm short of what is needed.

The remaining four goblins, you can clearly see they are armed with both Spear and Bow.

Next up is a unit of 10 x 28mm Arthurian Archers, constructed from the Gripping Beast Late Roman Infantry kit.

The completed group of 10 figures

Another view, from the left

And from the right!

I have fixed things up by swapping out some of the Gripping Beast Heads for Victrix counterparts as well as adding a couple of shields to vary the look and feel.

I'm not sure if it is accurate to show the archers placing arrows in the ground ready to fire, but I had some of the Perry arrows in my bits box - so used them

Another close up of three archers.

And the last four.

I painted these figures in grey tunics with blue trim to allow me to add a couple of figures I had painted earlier in this Challenge to give a tabletop strength of 12. Next week more Arthurian Infantry and more Greenskin Odds & Ends and maybe a surprise item, if I have time.

I'm claiming A Squirrell Point for the Goblins and 2 Skullz for the Goblin banner

POINTS

10 x 28mm Goblin Wolf Riders   @10 Pts ea      100 Points

10 x 28mm Arthurian Archers  @5 Pts ea             50 Points

TOTAL                                                                  150 Points

A fine addition to your armies, Mike! I do not think you can ever have too many wolf riders, and they look terrifying! The extra attention you paid to their mouths and tongues definitely paid off. The Arthurian archers are also great, the extra arrows are a nice detail. Good job, 150 well-earned points!

Martijn

From JP: Early Germans - big on Wrath and Violence! Abetted by stout lady hobbits... (100 points)

My Foundry Early Germans continue to fill my thoughts and my painting table and brought out an intensive effort this week. I suspect that by the end of the exercise I will have way more figs than I can use or need...  These are more of the character figures supplemented by war hounds to keep them company. It includes a foray into striped trousers, which I rarely try, but I had better get used to as Gauls will be the next project...

As I am running out of time , I dug into my trunk of unpainted figures and came up with this adventuring party of female hobbits, who should be enough to frighten off any troll... sadly, I can no longer recall the manufacturer. The firm started off in Germany and moved to Montreal. I bought a lovely 100 Years War Hobbit army from them and these were extra figures. They will get me into Violence and Wrath for my Teutonic Thunderers.

So, my tally is :

    6 x Germanic Warriors 25mm        30 points

    4 x War Dogs 25 mm                      10 points    (I have counted each as half a fig)

    4 Adventuring hobbit ladies           20 points

    Violence                                          20 points

    Wrath                                              20 points

    Total:                                             100 points

As ever, thank you for looking!         

  

Another great entry, JP! I absolutely love your meticulous painting and your choice of colours. The Germans are great, the striped trousers are very nicely done indeed and the complete base looks interesting and varied. A great addition to your army. The hobbits are little gems too, they sure are fantastic little models and another fabulous paint job. 100 points it is, then!

Martijn        

From JohnB: Sir John Oldcastle a Lollard: 1/72 (Heresy) (55 points)

This years challenge is proving to be a challenge. I scooted round last years library and seemed to easily tie in the theme with my various project figures and new buys. This year it has been a mental slog. Quite simply I had left all my medieval stuff behind at the end of AHPC14 and there it has stayed - It missed AHPC14 too :).

All this mental wrestling has had me pestering my minion on ABYSS interpretations. Sorry Martijn. Hopefully I am now a bit sorted and usefully I have dug into that medieval primed heap that is my abandoned/shelved Shrewsbury 1403 project.

Having no easy solution to Sarah's Succubus, I was stumped by heresy although I did run a train of thought past Martijn (sorry it's an in joke). And then I simply looked in my display cabinet and saw some 100 years war figures staring at me.

So I punched the computer with heresy and voila - Sir John Oldcastle pops up. What a story - super side kick to Henry V - he also happened to be into Lollarding and decided his values were more important than power and prestige. He was put to death at the flaming stake.

John Wycliffe was a Catholic Theologian dismissed from Oxford University in England in 1381 for heresy. By 1395 his teachings had been incorporated into the 12 conclusions of the Lollards. In essence they were............... 1 - the church had toó much temporal power 2 - too much ritual without scriptural basis 3 - clerical celibacy had simply encouraged sodomy 4 - transubstantiation - e.g. communion bread promotes idolatry 5 - exorcisms and hallowings carried out by priests are a practice of necromancy/shamanism 6 - clerics in secular office - far too much pride on show - excuse clerics from these roles 7 - prayers for specific dead people is selfish and paid prayers is a form of bribery - it has become an industry and is simony and idleness. 8 - pilgrimages, images, crucifixes and veneration of relics approach idolatry and offerings for these instead should simply be given directly to the poor/needy 9 - confession - is a blasphemous act as only god can forgive us our sins 10 - war, battle, crusade - christians should refrain from battle except for certin reasons. Crusades are blasphemous; likewise slaying heathens for glory. Lords who purchase indulgences for their armies actions are actually stealing from funds for the poor. 11 - female vows - nuns should be allowed to marry instead of needing abortions if they become pregnant to conceal breaking their vows 12 - arts and crafts - the multitude of crafts used by the church cause waste - only those crafts for simple living are necessary.

Being essentially a form of regime change - it was associated with uprisings and assassinations of government offcials. It was brutally suppressed. Between 1409 and 1413 in the reign of Henry IV, Sir John Oldcastle was summoned to Parliament as a Lollard leader but evaded prosecution - being a friend of Henry V. Sir John was eventually convicted but escaped from prison in the tower of london in 1413 and then led a rebellion against the King - now Henry V. Eventually he was captured in 1417. The records are not clear if he was hung drawn and quartered first - for high treason and only then burnt as a heretic. Plenty of wikipedia information is available - it was my source.

I have painted one gaming base using my chosen medieval gaming element - Basic Impetus switched me from DBA and given my 1/72 scale preference as per the guidance in the 1st Edition rulebook I opted for 80mm frontage (for 15mm) and reduced the figure count. It just so happens a previous dabbling with Shreswbury 1403 had already seen me abandon the traditional figure counts which crammed figures onto bases.

My standard medieval set up is 80x60mm bases with 8 foot figures per base - sometimes I do 10 or 6. Here the "Accurate Models" 1/72 sculpting slenderness mean you can see the individual figures and given poses are very variable its more "Diorama" and less "serried ranks" - all thanks to Impetus. I am experimenting with contrasts and ordinary paints - here my only failure was the vallejo contrast mystic blue bleeding out when I varnished the figures - I had allowed 24 hours drying time before varnishing. The shield design is based on what I could find online - plenty of pics of Sir John burning - not so many of his Oldcastle brand! I opted to hand apply the castle and used some permanent black drawing pens. Not sure I would do it again. They crazed but ironically some created minute white lines that look like the stone mortar joints in the online images! Others make it look a bit messy. ho hum.

My bases are done with a 3 colour - burnt sienna/ochre/white yellow dry brush of budgie grit then finished here with gamers grass light green 6mm tufts. Points tally 1/72 figures being nearer 20mm = 8x4 = 32 points. And also 20pts for the heresy level in the Abyss. Grand Total = 52pts

Yes, I was expecting you to steam along happily. However, I must say that you came up with quite a heretical story in the end, well done indeed! I do have Basic Impetus (of course), but I have never played it (of course). But if this base is anything to go by, it will provide a nice spectacle! I do hope it will inspire you to get on with your abandoned Shrewsbury project. Great work, John, they came out very nice and I love the shields. I'll throw you some points for those, to round it off to 55 points.

Martijn

From AdamW: A nasty habit (The Warriors of Faith) (50pts)

 My second Sphere of heaven entry this week is for the Warriors of Faith. This is a nice straightforward one with no stretching of the imagination needed.

I suddenly realised I needed to crack on with the Heaven entries as the end of the challenge looms at speed.

As with most of these entries they are being done for fun to meet the challenge, but with the intention of using them in a game somewhere along the line.

With that in mind I have pulled together a unit of 15mm monks of various denominations, shapes and sizes. The figures are a mainly Peter Pig, with a few spear armed monks from Ancient and Modern army supplies, and some old minifigs(?) shoved in to make up the numbers. A couple of them have muskets so are ideal for 18th century, but if you look the other way they could be spears and usable for medieval or dark ages.

Points

15 x 15mm foot@2pts = 30 pts

Warriors of faith bonus = 20pts

Total = 50pts

As sou say, a fairly straihgtforward one, Adam. Nicely done, they are lovely figures and they take the paint very well. They look more than ready and willing to knock some Faith into anyone! Well done, 50 points for you.

Martijn

From PeterB : Faith Hope and Love (125 points)

Well, the plan to visit every stop in the Abyss and Paradise is nearly at an end. Last stop was the Contemplatives, so now we have the Fixed stars of Faith, Hope and Love. I was really struggling with this category, it being quite vague. I asked my 10 year old son what he thought and he immediately mentioned Hope. "Surely, you need to paint some revolutionaries or citizen fighters, they fight because of Hope." Well, the kid wasn't wrong there. 

Coincidently, a unit I didn't have for my new Empire army was some free company militia. 

Well, I do now.

A box of plastic frostgrave pirate crew are perfect for this. A few arm and head swaps and I am super happy. I used every different shade of brown I had painting them, then each chap has found some blue cloth to tie on so that in the frenzy of battle they know who not to clobber over the head with a billhook or club. (Although in our club games it's easy to identify the enemy, it's normally a slavering servant of Chaos or a raging greenskin.)

The unit has the ability to use thrown weapons, so to represent this I have given a couple some missile weapons. The models are also diverse enough I could probably use them for a Mordheim gang.

Additionally I have been saving this next model in case I needed to skip a stage of the challenge. As this has not been necessary I am just going to claim the five points now for this raging barbarian from Bad Squiddo Games.

The Points.

One location = 20 points

20 x 28mm @ 5 points = 100 points

Another single 28mm model = 5 points

Total = 125 points

Children and drunkards speak the truth, as we say, so I can't argue with that. Where there is hope, there is life, although when these brutes come storming in it might be a short one. The blue accents tie them together nicely, and the variety of browns has a very pleasing effect. Your barbarian lady is my favourite though, the metals look very good. Well done, Peter, another 125 points for you!

Martijn

From LeeH: Cossack Opolchiene & Leader (90 Points)

I need to add more cavalry to my army so when I purchased the Gun and Limber that I painted last week, I also bought this unit of mounted Opolchiene from Perry Miniatures. The set comes with lances for all, however, there are also several muskets/carbines in the pack, so I decided to give a couple of them firearms instead of lances. These are militia after all, and uniformity is not a word I would usually associate with a unit of this type. 

I’ve already painted a couple of units of foot Opolchiene, but there were also a series of short-lived cavalry formations. These were formed in July 1812 as ‘Cossack’ (ie mounted) militia regiments. The Moscow militia had two regiments, but other regions were able to raise considerably more. All were disbanded in 1813-14 once the crisis of Napoleon's invasion had been defeated. 

I probably won’t have time for more cavalry before the Challenge ends, but I am carefully considering adding a few units of Uhlans to my army to give it more mobility and lethality. Let's see if I have the energy (and the money) once the challenge ends!

Scoring: 9x28mm Cavalry = 90 Points

Great work again, Lee! Nice figures, and a fine paint job as always. You are definitely ending up with a very varied and versatile force! I like it very much that you are mixing in some of the more unusual troop types, and these mounted militiamen are a great example. I am very much looking forward to whatever you may have in store for us next, and yes, of course no Russian army can do without some Uhlans!

That's 90 points added to your tally.

Martijn

From AdamW: Up the Tigris (other rivers are available) (90 points)

 Similarly to the junks these are some old projects that I have had in boxes for some time.

These two 15mm gunboats will be employed in some Mesopotamia games, but hopefully will be employed in other theatres as well.

The first is a rear paddle steamer that I scratch built probably about twenty years ago. I decided to upgrade it a bit with some decking and rails and a few hasty repairs, before completely repainting it and adding some new crew.  It has plenty of flaws and is a bit childlike/amateur, but so am I :)

The second is a resin  model my friend gave me to revamp. I did have a search but couldn't find out who manufactured it. Some railings added and repairs also needed on this one before painting.

The photos definitely show up plenty of flaws, but it's two more pieces completed and ready for the table. The crew are a mixture of figures. mostly Peter Pig and QRF with a few odd minifigs and other unknown ones.

Points

Hopefully straightforward as the crew are all from a large batch of sailors I had already painted, so I am only claiming for the ships. On is 11" long and the other 10".

2 x 15mm gunboats @40pts = 80pts.

More great riverine goodies! I like these a lot Adam, you may think them an little toyish, but for me they perfectly represent the image of colonial gunboats! The little paddle steamer is especially nice. Yes, 40 points each seems about right, but I'll give you 10 extra for scratchbuilding, renovation and general coolness. So 90 points it will be. Now go find yourself a nice river to steam up!

Martijn

Another glorious Friday!

 Goood morning all!

Yet another Friday comes around, and it is a glorious one. Not only is the weather quite nice here in Belgium, but the Challenge  draws inevitably to its close, and the Friday Crew have upped their game. For today, we have at least the following for you:

- AdamW is steaming up the Tigris, or any other river;

- LeeH has recruited more militia;

- PeterB has Faith, Hope and Love, but mostly Hope;

- JohnB puts me on the back foot and goes heretic;

- JP paints some stripes;

- AdamW tries to knock in inspire some Faith;

- and then becomes wiser;

- MikeW goes wolfriding and brings more Arthurian goodness;

- and MattT suffers from heartburn.

And who knows, there may be even more! Grab a coffee and enjoy!

Martijn