From AdamW: A clash of clans (the Just Rulers) (64 points)

 As the challenge gets close to the end I have concentrated on finishing the last few Spheres of Heaven to make a full set. 

This entry is for 'The Just Rulers' sphere.  I tried to think of a just ruler that follows a code and the law, and I thought of the great Samurai leaders. They led by example in combat so, to me, they were 'just'.

One of our group wants to put on some Samurai battles. Luckily I don't have to paint any armies as they are a fiddly bunch.  I had planned to paint a load of 3D printed buildings for the challenge, but now terrain doesn't count I've left that till later.

The 15mm figures here are all bits I had with the aim of making some command groups and some other interesting bits and bobs. So an existing project rather than something new.

My entry is for the two command areas, but I have lumped in the other bits to save putting up another post.

The figures are a mixture of Peter Pig, and Museum miniatures. The latter are a bit bigger so I've kept the two types separate.

1st Command group

If you're not on the list you're not coming in.

2nd Command group

Wishing they had worked harder at school.

Big loud drums and those conch things.

Peter Pigs smaller drum...Although carrying it while its being played doesn't look fun.

Small weapons/camp scene.

Samurai confronts the Amazon delivery man.

Points

9 x Command group figures @2pts = 18pts

The Just Rulers bonus @20pts        = 20pts

13 x other foot @2pts                      = 26pts

Total                                                    64pts

Oh, these are nice Adam! What a lovely bunch of varied figures. I love the command groups (the map is fantastic!), but the odds and ends are very great too. The chaps with the drums and the two porters are very nice indeed! As I love how you set up the figures in their little dioramas (very atmospheric), I'll use my last Friday prerogative and give you something extra for those, so 70 points for you. Good job!

Martijn

From LeeH: 6pdr Gun with crew plus a water wagon (60 Points)

So a few weeks ago, I painted a 12pdr Gun Team, and I mentioned that I also had a 6pdr gun and crew to paint. But you may recall that I had to ‘borrow’ a crewman from the 6pdr team because Sharp Practice has a five-man crew for guns, but the packs only come with four figures. Well, now that it was time to paint the 6pdr, I was two figures down, so I bought a couple of artillery officers from Front Rank to fill the gaps. 

Actually, what I plan to do is swap back the ‘borrowed figure’ from the 12pdr crew and give each set one of the officers (shown below).

As with the earlier gun, this was fun to paint, and I look forward to doing more artillery at a later date. During Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812, the Russian army had a substantial artillery force, with estimates ranging from over 600 guns present at Borodino alone. Some sources indicate the Russians had over 2,000 artillery pieces available during the campaign compared to the French, who had approximately 1400 artillery pieces available. 

I also had time to work on another wagon, this time a 3D-printed one from Iron Gate Scenery. The large barrels are also 3D prints, this time from Debris of War. Lastly, I added a spare horse, which I think I got from Tiger Miniatures. I didn't add in the harness this time because I'm not sure whether I'll use this as shown or separate from the horse. I can always add that detail in later when I have made my mind up!

This is likely my last Friday entry as we move into the final week of the challenge. It won't be my last entry, however, as I already have two more groups of figures on my desk. I have two part-completed units of Carabineers and, if I have time, some rather angry civilians!  

Scoring: 1x28mm Gun = 10pts, 5 Crewmen = 25pts, one vehicle = 20pts and a Horse for another 5 points for a total of 60 Points. 

It has been great fun to see your Retreat from Moscow project rolling along at a steady pace, Lee! I admire your focus and determination. Russian artillery has always been considered one of their main strengths, so it is fitting that you end your regular Friday posts with another glorious gun. I also very much like the wagon! Painting is up to your ususal high standard. I remember you expressing some doubts at the beginning, as you had not been painting 28mm figures for a long time, but all your contributions have been absolutely amazing. I am looking forward to hopefully see some more next week! 

Martijn

From EdwardG: a miniature DBA points bombe (540 points)

 Hej hej all,

As is my standard, I have been working away at painting an army for DBA. This year, I'm back to 28mm (having stayed in 15mm land for the past few challenges). 

These chaps are for all intents and purposes a bit of a clearing project. There are about 6 or more different manufacturers and all of the figures come from left overs of previous projects. They're painted and based to fit a Danish Leidang DBA v3 army from ~1250AD. They have with them some German knights who can join as an ally.

The army will be an interesting one to play, as it has a solid core of very heavy infantry, with the options to have a not insignificant mounted wing. Compared to other armies in the competition which favour one or the other much more. 

Starting with the General's element. These are classed as Knights in the DBA rules. Painted with the Danish Royal family coat of arms (the yellow was a real pain!) 

Next up are the Danish nobility. Unlike other European countries, Denmark had not so much in the way of nobility. The shield patterns are a mixture of known noble families, and the tree commune symbol from Areo island. It's the island where my wife and I were married, so holds a special little place in the heart. They are again classed as Knights under DBA rules.

The German Allied knights round out the mounted that I have painted this challenge. These are possibly the only bases that come from a single manufacturer. All 6 being Fireforge knights. I had given up trying hand painted shields by the time I got to these figures. So the shields and horses are adorned with printed heraldry. A little crude, but the effect isn't bad. 

Now on to the foot. 

The main backbone of the army are 8 bases of Heavy Foot. Each base should have 8 figures, but on one base these wouldn't fit. So it's 7 bases of 8 figures and 1 base of 7 figures. They are a total mix of many different manufacturers, and I won't even try to list them! 

A quirk of the army is the inclusion of "Freelance Vikings". Not sure how many Vikings were still about in the 1250s, but I've made the base as it's in the list! Their black shields denote their lack of allegiance to any lord or commune. They're classed as fast melee foot, so can be very useful in hunting down bowmen or similar lighter troop types. 

Speaking of lighter troop types, the final parts of the army consist of Bowmen and the skirmisher troops. Most of these are a little bit kitbashed, except for the Gallic bowmen who were found at the bottom of a box and have been pressed into service as Finns.

Last but not least, the style of the campaign means that each player needs a figure to represent their location on the map. In the end I have taken the heavy foot figure that didn't fit on to his base and made him that player marker. 

A closing group photo of the army in all its tray based glory! 

I hope that this is not my final post for the challenge. Fingers crossed time allows for a few more figures to make it through the painting queue! 

Points total:

84 x 28mm foot figures = 84 x 5pts = 420pts

12 x 28mm mounted figures = 12 x 10pts = 120pts

Total = 540pts

What a great project, Edward! All these units are very fine, but I like the knights with their hand-painted shields (although I can fully undestand that you gave up on the shields halfway!). And yes, yellow is notoriously hard to get right, but I think you nailed it. I'm not sure what Teemu would think of your Gallic Finns, but they seem to fit the bill rather nicely. As do your slightly outdated vikings. A DBA army to be proud of! I'll throw you some bonus points for the hand-painted shields, so 545 points will be added to your tally. Well done!

Martijn

From JOHN B: ABYSS VIOLENCE: Oi their ours! (75pts)

Some more progress this week sees the culmination of AHPC14 (the idea of spaceships was born and the parts gathered in time to miss the 2023/24 painting window!!!) and AHPC15 actual homebuilds and more miscreants - of the small peoples this time round. It goes something like this...........the Surf Raiders scooted along the beach.

Suddenly they spotted some objects in the sands - LOOT!

Having landed Unbeknownst to them as they scoured the site for said LOOT they were not alone.

The Customs Militia Patrol Unit 404 (geddit!) skimmed the beach hunting for the miscreants better known as Surf Raiders. Finally they catch them.......

Caught red handed.

The Surf Raiders have no idea.........

Then out of the blue (actually - weird sunset) A Deep Mountain Bounty Unit appears - "Oi their ours" declare the DBM Unit.

There is a mutual stand off untill the Customs team agree to take the Bounty guys and the Surf Raiders to the local "Pen" for processing.

The Surf Raiders safely locked up in 404 the enforcement officials and bounty hunters pose for a "success shot".

It appears the Surf Raiders (from AHPC14) had not paid their dues on some dodgey acquisitions whilst having a price on their heads for various thefts. So ends the AHPC15 space adventures. Thats it for SciFi this year Folks! Over to the details. The Space vessel was conceived back during AHPC14! while this years figures have been acquired from magazine covers. One big blue space vehicle - a "Divoc" class unit for patrolling the extensive shorelines of Eraweb - an earthly planet orbiting the giant K2-18b (see the backdrop + see my previous spaceship post).

Needless to say, like the red vessel previously featured, this one started life as a milk bottle until covid spares and some transparent chocolate packaging joined up. Undercarriage are ubiquitous wooden clothes pegs. Lots of Blue Craft quality acrylics in various shades plus window wash of Citadel Nazdreg Contrast Colour.

The Customs Militia are a freebie of hobbits from Miniature Wargames while I think the Dwarves were free with Wargames Illustrated. I opted for bright clothing on the hobbits and used a mix of traditional and contrast painting. I had a bad moment with my current waterbased matt varnish. But then discovered Warhammer stock brush on water based varnish. So they got a coat of that. Still not happy though. I left the dwarves unvarnished and will need to investigate my varnish options again. With the Dwarves painting wise it was a wash of one of my many brown contrasts but diluted over a vallejo yellow ochre, then various odd mixes of which the pinky version I quite like but have no idea how I created it - hilarious. Basing are 1p UK coins with a 20 year batch of GW desert stones dressing. One last shot of the two freebie sets and the homebuilt space patrol vessel!

So although they are all squat they are technically 28mm scale.  Points tally is therefore:

Customs Divoc Class ship = 20pts 

Customs Militia = 4 x 5pts = 20pts 

Deep Mountain Bounty Hunters = 3 x 5pts = 15pts 

Lots of potential violence here - one careless trigger and its a three way blast! ABYSS Violence = 20pts Grand Total = 20+20+15+20pts = 75pts.  

 And still no steamy angles...... sorry Martijn.

I think we can forgive you the lack of steam power, John. These vessels are once again fabulous! I love your creativity in creating great models from "waste". It's been great to see your contributions throughout the Challenge, and I'll give you some scratch-building bonus points to bring you up to 80 points for this post. I hope we will perhaps see even more in the final week!

Martijn

Final Fabulous Friday!

 Good morning all!

It's Friday once again, and it is the final Friday of Challenge XV. I can't fathom it's almost three months already since we started our journey through Dante's Journey through the Abyss and Paradise. It's been great thus far, and I am sure next week will bring even more fantastic contributions of all Challengers. May you all reach your targets and beyond!

For today, we have a fine final array of more great posts from the Friday Crew:

- JohnB has more violent home-build greatness;

- EdwardG drops a DBA points bomb;

- LeeH fires a parting shot;

- IanS returns with some Japanese vengeance;

- AdamW produces his usual hattrick, racing through Paradise;

- MikeW has the last of the Arthurians and still has not got enough wolfriders:

- EdwardG shows he is a man of steel;

- PeterB gives us some Bloody Angels;

- and IanS has also painted some tiny French horsemen.

It's been an honour and a pleasure to assist these gentlemen through Challenge XV. Grab a coffee and enjoy!

Martijn

The Last Week of Challenge XV - Free Fire Starts Sunday

 

Hi All!

With the last week of the Challenge now upon us, starting this Sunday we will welcome 'Free Fire' entries so everyone has an opportunity to make a mad dash to the finish. 

'Free Fire' means that you can draft entries whenever you like and as often as you like for the remaining days of the Challenge. The Marvellous Minions and myself will work as fast as we can to get your work posted in a timely fashion, but please be patient as we're all trying to get stuff done as well. 

So, refresh your paint water and re-point your brushes for our dash to the finish line!

Cheers!

Curt