'Choice of the Challenge' from MarkO - 'Middle Guard'

'Risk Taker' from MarkO - 'Dwarf Rogue'

Not something I'd normally paint, but the bonus rounds are sometimes an opportunity to try such a thing. I decided to hunt through Reaper's list of Rogue type characters and settled on this one. 

I like the fact this Dwarf Rogue is a more plausibly attired than many female characters that are made, and moving along in a serious posture like she means business too. I painted her in relatively subdued colours. She'll be sneaking aboard a plane and on her way to the other side of the world to Curt shortly. :)

'Nautical' from MarkO - 'Artillerie de la Marine'

Marine artillery infantry formations were an important part of the French army at Leipzig. Created from previously sedentary naval artillery formations, they fought hard and suffered more losses than just about any other units of the French army. At the start of the campaign they numbered 17,338 men, and at the end just 3,661 were still fit for duty, plus 1700 who had been transferred to other units like the Guard Artillery. At Leipzig their dark blue uniforms and great coats caused the Prussians to mistake them for the Imperial Guard.

In the Order of Battle I have planned for Leipzig, these four regiments will represent the 4 Brigades of the 20th and 21st Division of Marmont's Corp, which were composed predominantly of these troops.

The figures are Victrix Middle Guard figures (with converted plumes as detailed at bottom of this post).

Uniforms were painted with Vallejo Prussian Dark Blue, highlighted with Vallejo Dark Blue.

Here's a picture without the flash, to show the colour of the uniforms in more natural light!

There are lots of grey areas about details of these troops uniform. Possibly they had a mix of Shakos and Bicornes but I left the Bicornes for the officers for my regiments, as I had few spare. Apparently one distinctive feature was that the Shako featured a carrot shaped plume, as shown in the pictures below. 

I decided to do a simple conversion to get the carrot shaped plume, so out came the craft knife and putty. I chopped down the top tassel of the pom pom to make a spike, and then used some Tamiya Putty to make the overall piece into a rough carrot shape. Didn't take too long!

96 figures = 480 points. That should help the points along! I'll reset my points target for 1500.

'L'amour' from MarkO - 'French Cantinière'

The L'amour round was a good excuse to start on some of the 'civilian' elements for my Napoleonics. Beginning with this Cantiniere figure from Westfalia Miniatures. Cantineires were not exactly civilians of course, but rather auxilairies to French combat units working to supply them with drink and food, and also helping to nurse the wounded. Quite a few were killed or injured on the battlefield in these roles as a result. If things got desperate they would sometimes fight too, as this lady is getting ready to do loading her musket. There's some great information about Cantinieres at www.cantinieres.com.

This Westfalia figure is wearing a military jacket, which she may have picked up or made somehow, as early Cantineirie of the First Empire did not have official uniforms. Typical clothing would probably be more like the following pictures. Over time military uniforms in schemes complementing the unit they were attached to became standard though, typically including a braided Pelisse jacket, and large hat to protect from the sun.

Here she is next to a Perry Voltigeur. Theoretically Cantinieres had to be the wife of a man in unit they were attached to, though actual enforcement of this varied. And L'amour required no such formalities for many French post revolution I'm sure!

 

'Defensive Terrain' from MarkO - 'Epic Bunkers'

I didn't think I had an entry for this round, but at the last minute I remembered I had these 6mm gothic bunkers and landing pad from the Wasteland Studios kickstarter. Great quality polyurethane resin, and with some nice detail, including obligatory skulls either side of the door. A quick lick of paint and they were ready.

See more of the Wasteland range here: http://www.wastelandgamestudio.com/

I see they have just released some fantastic looking industrial pumpjacks too, I'll have to get some of them at some stage! Would make great objectives for Epic.

Having just painted these bunkers my wife asked, "what are these, high tech igloos?" :)

'Epic Fail' from MarkO - Vanguard Tramplers

Painted up for my Epic Orks, and also something that struck me as an "Epic Fail" when I saw them are these Skinner/Orc Tramplers. A fearsome mechanical clawed suit, with the Ork pilot exposed right in the centre as a perfect target!

However after painting these for this round I noticed the newer background and I saw this: 

"Their pilots are protected by personal force shields that deflect incoming weapons fire so long as their engines provide enough power." 

So believe that if you will, and yes I admit in the background for Epic Orks have long had arcane Powerfield technology. But for now I'll say they just rely on Orky thick skulls and thus claim the legitimacy of my entry... ;)

These Tramplers are available from Vanguard Miniatures.

'Nostalgia' from MarkO - Epic Eldar 40K

Who remembers these? Epic 40'000 Eldar from Games Workshop. Eldar Revenant Titans, Eldar Warwalkers and Eldar Wraithlords.

In front are the first edition "eggs on legs" Eldar Warwalkers. Not the greatest models ever produced, a friend gave them to me rather than throwing them out and I just had to paint them up!

The Eldar Wraithlords are a better model, and the Revenants are quite a beautiful design. They will all take an honoured place in my large Epic Armageddon Eldar Army!

So 6mm Scifi 8x2 points for vehicles =16. Plus I guess the Scout Titans count as 3 vehicles each given their size and comparison to other scale models, so 12 points for the two of them. Total guesstimate = 28 points. For both the overall challenge and the 6mm Scifi sub-challenge!

'Antihero' from MarkO - 'Fleeing Franz'

Fleeing Franz!

After several abortive efforts to pick a figure I decided there was really only one choice given my other entries into this Challenge. 

Another Perry figure, here's Franz who refuses to form up nicely with the rest of my Austrians. He's dropped his musket and is off running. He has a long way to travel too, from New Zealand to Canada! Hopefully he'll find the situation there more conducive to his anti-heroic inclinations, and also act as a reminder of my Austrian onslaught!

Kind regards,
Mark

'Comedic' form MarkO - 'Tricycles of Chaos!'

These turned out a bit grimmer than I thought they would when I purchased them(!), but maybe they can still be classed as 'black comedy'!
 

They are of course Chaos spiky steamroller halftrack daemonic engines. They look a bit like an angry tricycle.

In 2004 when Epic Armageddon was published, the Chaos list included something called the "Deathwheel", the central feature of which was a big spiky wheel, with guns. Games Workshop never made the models in the end, but many fans did. This is a variant that has been produced within the last year and is also on sale via e-bay.

I always found the Chaos models for Epic to be rather over the top and comedic, so this new variant fits with that theme (to me anyway!).

They are available here as resin models and casting quality is very good.

Kind regards,
Mark

'Hot' from MarkO - 'Moghul Grenadiers'

Two elements of Moghul Grendiers in 15mm, from Essex Miniatures.

 

 

'Myth' from MarkO - 'Pestigor Champion'

Out of production Pestigor champion from GW. Rather disgusting, but fun to paint!