AHPC XIII: Mike W - 28mm Dutch 17th Century Cavalry and whatever I can get done in the next three days!

How time flies, the end of the challenge looms and I have so much to do that I did not get around to even starting! So this is likely the last post that I can make this challenge and this is really a series of items that I have been scrambling to complete over the next few days as the deadline looms.

This weekend I am on Grand parent duty and this unlikely to get time to do anything else. I'd like to take this chance to thank Teemu for his tireless efforts dealing with my posts and also to Curt & all the minions for again making this an enjoyable experience.

So here are my odds and ends and I bid all farewell until next year's challenge?

First of a group of 5 x 28mm Late 17th Century Dutch Cavalry representing Filips Emminghuysen van Eppe's Regiment of Horse, first raised in 1672 and served at the Battle of Seneffe in 1674. Apart from having an extraordinarily long name, they worn grey jackets and trousers, sky Blue cuffs and Horse furniture. I have still to get the officer completed but this is unlikely to be done by the end of the challenge!

Front on view of five troopers,
officer is still being painted at the time the challenge comes to an end!

Side view, I don't usually do casualty figures but the occasional one adds flavour to a unit

And the other side

Next I have managed to complete one of the two remaining 40K Ork Kill Koptas, again it has a scratch built rota blade set but the build and construct are much the same as last week's submission.

Second Kill Kopta completed, with one more to go...

The other side! Extra guns added on the Kopta's front bonnet.

Another view again!

Here are a couple of 15mm project that have been floundering over the last few months, first up is some long overdue American Civil War Coastal Batteries and secondly we have some Russian supplied equipment for the Spanish Civil War Republicans, in the form of tanks and artillery.

On the ACW front we have 7 x Coastal / Siege Batteries, these are in the traditional grey finish with blackened barrels (to protect them form the sea salt). Each is on a fairly elaborate chassis and typically these would be found in long term forts / emplacements. I'm also throwing in 4 x Smoothbore Field guns that I have just completed.

The completed 15mm ACW Coastal Guns

I've had these models for ages, stored in the garage waiting for me to get around to painting and basing them. A potential future game set in the Petersburg Siege lines has prompted me to actually dig them out and get them ready for use.

And four completed ACW Field Guns

These little Field Guns were found along wit the big guns above, so I decided to get them completed at the same time as well. I gave these plain wooden frames, assuming that they would be used as Confederate batteries, I believe these are 6lb Smoothbores. I now need to source crews for each gun.

Close-up on a 8" Columbiad Gun. I have tried to weather the carriage to
represent harsh sea salt air in coastal areas

Another view

This is a close-up of the 10" Columbiad Gun

Again another view

A comparison shot showing just how big these Coastal / Siege
guns were compared to regular Field Artillery

Next we have 3 x T26 tanks and 4 x Artillery pieces all supplied during the Spanish conflict to the Republican army. The equipment is all in traditional Russian Green drab but on the tanks I have added the Republican Tricolour of Nationalist Spanish Flag as these vehicles were prized by both sides.

Three completed T26 tanks, centre & left are Republican vehicles,
right is a captured tank pressed into Nationalist service

I have quite a large SCW Republican Army and a smattering of Nationalists to oppose them, as a club we were heavily into the SCW some time ago and these models were sourced then to 'beef-up' my mostly infantry based forces, they are metal models and I'm afraid I don't remember which company made them.

Another angle on the tanks

I decided to paint one in Nationalist colours, as I saw a nice picture of a Nationalist T26 online recently, I have a fourth T26 model that I'll add to the Republican ranks in due course but at present the model has a missing gun barrel and I have to source one from somewhere.

Four completed Artillery pieces all of Russian origin

Along with the 'lost' tanks, was found some generic Republican Artillery pieces, I believe these are all Russian supplied guns. again I can't remember the manufacturer's name.

Again another view

Following on from the SCW I now switch (almost seamlessly) back to Warhammer 40K and a test Space Marine figure. Last post Iain picked up on a throw away remark that I made about wanting to raise a new 'blue' Space Marine Force but that I was reluctant to commit to Ultra Marines. I just happened to have a marine figure ready build, so I undercoated it in white and decided to use Speed paints to see what type of quick paint job I could do!

So here it is, a Crimson Fist Space Marine with a Heavy Plasma gun, I used Army Painter 'Magic Blue' for the armour with 'Slaughter Red' for the fists. I painted the gun and it's umbilical cord silver and then used 'Graveyard Grey' over the silver to give a rich metallic shading.

The chest eagle was painted with 'Sand Golem' and the various cables were painted in black, or red as I felt appropriate.

The plasma rings on the gun were painted by covering with white paint then putting down a yellow coat alont the spine of the rings before applying a watered down coat of light green paint.

Now 40K purists will note that the figure does not have the correct iconography for a Crimson Fist, but as this is a test figure, I'm not too bothered. That said I'll no doubt be damned as a heretic and sent to some Penal Colony for the rest of my years,...

Next, I managed to finish the Commanding Officer that I had partially painted (and then got distracted from) for the Dutch Regiment Slangenburg - that I posted for this challenge back on the 9th Feb. Fredrik Johan van Baer, Heer van Slangenburg wears a heavily decorated scarlet coat, a cuirass and is mounted upon a sturdy brown horse as he waves his feathered hat!

Fredrik Johan van Baer, Heer van Slangenburg

Another view

The figure is a Front Rank one from their Late 17th Century range and it paints-up really very nicely, in my opinion.

My only regret is not having time to complete a 40k Ork Gargantuan! Well, a McFarlane model substitute for a Gargantuan!

Imagine the size of the finished Ork given the epic scale of his gun next to a regular Ork!

AHPC XIII: From MikeW - 28mm WoR, Specialist 40k Grechin and More (145 Points)

 Last week's posting was a bit of a rushed job, painting 60 odd figures didn't leave me time for much else and I got to Wednesday evening thinking I still have to put a posting together! This week I'm starting early and although I'm not doing so many figures now that I have reached my target - hopefully the variety will continue to interest people...

... This week and next I have to travel for work so my postings will be somewhat limited, so I will post what I can for this Thursday and see what I can do in time for next Thursday before hopefully resuming normal output

Today, I have just completed a number of generic War of Roses figures, 5 x Mounted, plus 12 x Foot. The Mounted figures are all Officer / Character types, whilst the foot are three armoured guy with a poleaxe, spear and warhammer plus a number of figures to be used as markers' such as Heralds and Standard Bearers.

Five mounted War of the Roses figures, all will be officer or aide types
to help with Command Control in these mob on mob engagements!

A non specific aide for a commander on the field

This guy will also be used as an advisor to a commander,
giving him additional command points

Ditto to the above!

Officer figure to command units of horse -
once I get around to painting these!

Again ditto to above - another Officer figure to command units of horse.

A selection of marker figures to help with unit status,
plus four armoured footmen to help fill the ranks

Standard Bearers will be used as a market to indicate the unit is moving to contact, number of addition standards with a unit will indicate how keen they are to get engaged

Another view, concentrating on the Standard Bearers

As a quick interlude, I also completed a Viking Jarl figure! The figure was acquired from eBay and came undercoated but missing his axe, which I was able to quickly add this back from the spares box. See below..

View One

This little guy came with a base that had already had and and small rocks added to it and then undercoated, not what I usually do. So I adapted and having given the base a brown wash I then dry brushed it with 'Desert Sand' to give a nice finish before then adding electrostatic grass - a little different to my usual method but the figure looks fine with other figures in the collection.

View Two

Next up are six 40k Grechin, now I know I said that I'd completed my last batch, last week but the extra figures I'll be doing now are to add flavour to the army and  or to provide some mechanical support! Included in this group is the main man - 'Red Robbo', the rebellious Grot who heads-up the whole army!

A small group of classic/ vintage Grechin this week

I have also included three classic Grechin / Grots from the first ever 40K boxed set era, again these have been given the 'Red Star' treatment and have hopefully been integrated into the army as a whole, these are Robbo's personal bodyguard.

2nd Edition Grechin Bodyguard for Red Robbo

In addition there are two Grechin Mechaniks, both old metal figures from eth spares box, one with a large spanner, the other with a remote control unit. I'm planning to create a Grechin Drone - made form an old Orc Killa Kopta dating back to the 90s.

Two Grechin Mechaiks

Finally we have Red Robbo himself, in a black greatcoat, lined red, carrying a Hand Blasta and a skull busting mace. This is another venerable metal figure that I have had kicking around my spares box for what has to be 20+ years...

Red Robbo

Another view..

Final view

AHPC XIII: From Mike W - More, more more! Dark Ages, Landsckneckts and 40k Orks (397 Points)

 More,  More, More (How do you like it?) sang Andrea True Connection back in 1976, well I'm afrid this week's hurried posting is a repeat of many of my previous weeks with More, more more! Dark Ages, Landsknechts and 40k Orks!

Carrying the big axe

But first off we take another trip on Lady Sarah's Limo to travel from the Fantasy Studios to the Superheroes Studio, this week's fare is another Warlord Games 28mm Female Survivor, this time a motherly figure wielding a rather effective looking axe.

And from another perspective...

The visit to the Superhero Studio now makes it 5 Green and three Blue studios, need to check what I need to visit 'The Director Chair'!

The Superhero figure that I present is that of Captain Scarlett, maybe not so well known in America and the New World but certainly a mainstay of British and many Commonwealth countries in the 60s, 70s & 80s.

Captain Scarlett of to battle the Mysterons

What's his superpower? Well he's indestructible for a start and all the TV episodes were filmed in SuperMarionation, which has to sound pretty cool, find out more <here>. This is a 20mm figure, with Scarlett in his classic Spectre Uniform, I have other figures that I may well look to dig out and paint up as his comrades in arms - Captain Blue, Lieutenant. Green etc.

Series Publicity Poster

They had some pretty cool vehicles as well and I have a couple, somewhere, in Warhammer Epic Scale that I need to dig out and paint!

Back view

So now on to the main subjects of this post. You'll likely be pleased to know that this is the last of my multi figure 40k Ork batches, I certainly am! It gets quite guelling painting so much green & red. Pretty much all of the figures are now done - just a couple of vehicles and a couple of special one-off figures that I hope to get around to in the next few weeks.

This week's 'final' Ork batch

This week there are just 9 x 40k Orks & Grechin, all produced in the same style as I have done since the beginning of this year's challenge. The first two are a couple of additional Grechin Herders, though anyone who has been following the development of this army will be aware that in this army it is the Grechin who are the brains and the Orks the muscle - in this case the Grechin Herders should be thought of as Grechin Minders or Bodyguards

Two Grechin Minders, guy on the right has the
Hyperaemic gun taken from the Pain Boy below.

Next up are two Bosses, one with a pet Squig on his backpole, the other with a Rising Sunz motif

Left A Boss with a pet Squiq, note skull on left shoulder.
To the right is anther Boss with a huge Blasta / Burna Combi Weapon

Another two Bosses, with assorted weaponry

I did a coupe of conversions in this batch, I really didn't want duplicate Grechin Herders - so converted his fella into a Boss with a diabolical prosthetic hand (taken form the Pain Boy model). I added a large Fantasy Goblin head to this figure - to make him appear to be a 'young' Ork that has just stepped up to the Boss role.

The second conversation is that of the Pain Boy, again I wanted to have a different looking second Pain Boy in the Army. Obviously his hand has already been cut off to do the first conversion, so I scoured the bits box and found some ancient 1980s parts for an old Rogue Trader Robots and found a pincer arm from an Ork Killa Can plus a power fist and an other limb.

A converted Grechin Herder, now given a new left arm and a Hand Blaster,
whilst his other hand has been replaced by 'Orky Scissor Hands'!!

Last Grechin in the box plus the new Pain Boy,
 complete with power fist, claw arm and a hydraulic crane.

The power fist nicely replaced the donated arm, I cut off the figure's left arm (a Hyperaemic Gun, which was donated to a Minder seen above)  and replaced this with the claw arm and then fitted the other limb to the Ork's back, so it can be used as a Hydraulic crane or similar - in doing this the Grechin on the Orks back, now uses a hand pump to activate the Hydraulic arm.

Next up we have a mix of Landsknecht foot, 23 in all with 6 x Pikemen, 6 x Crossbow and 11 x Handgunners. All have been painted in the same way as I have described in earlier posts and so I will not repeat again here. I have, however, been experimenting more with Army Paints' Speed Paint and I have used this on a number of figures in this group.

Latest batch of Landscknects, Pikemen, Crossbow men and Handgunners

Focus on the 11 x Handgunners 

And with the rear ran moved forwards for a better view

I have had mixed results with these - some are good, really good, but others have left me cold and so I will not use much more. I see a lot of value in the browns and greens that are available - it would be great to find a speed paint that can be used to paint musket woodwork !

Six Pikemen, the start of a second Landsknecht Pike Block for my collection.

And a front on view.

The Pikemen and Handgunners were pretty much straight out of the Box. To make up a group of six crossbow men, I have had to do a few conversions, taking parts fror the Wargames Atlantic Conquistador set to mash-up with Warlord Games parts to get the figures I wanted.

Focus on Crossbow men, center is a Captain, armed with sword in his right hand and crossbow in his left hand. Right is a musician, blowing trumpet and again crossbow slung on his back. Trumpet arm is from Perry Miniatures War of The Roses Infantry set.

Another view of the crossbowmen

Last but not least are this week's Dark Ages figures, a mix of Normans, Vikings and Anglo-Danes / Saxons. These are almost entirely metal figures and of these I think the majority are Gripping Beast.

This week's group of mostly metal Gripping Beast Dark Ages types

Again these figures will be pressed into the shield walls of my forthcoming 1066 mini campaign.

At time of the photo being taken,
I thought that this was all the Norman types ... 

I opted to paint most of the shields on this group as I struggled to get any transfers to fit the slightly odd shaped shields properly. As these completed figures will be distributed between the existing armies they'll fit in fine.

Rear Rank has moved forwards to get a view of them

Mostly Vikings & Anglo Danes / Saxons.
But as can be seen here, there were a couple of Norman types
that didn't make the original photo shoot. 

Rear ranks move through again, note the casualty marker in the front

Another view, pretty sure all above figures are Gripping Beast

Just behind the casualty marker can be seen
a single plastic Victrix Anglo Dane Huscarl

Three mounted metal Norman figures, left a knight, centre I have made -up to be a Standard Bearer - carrying William's Personal Banner and right is what I seem to remember as being an old Citadel figure, that I have painted up to be Bishop Odo - William's Brother

View from the other side

Finally sorry about the quality of some of the photos, I ran out of time this week and was snapping many of these after dark with eth flash on, always makes the colours much brighter and the photo starker in my opinion, will try and do better next week.