From StuartL: Arabssss (50 Points)

    Hi all, well, we are coming to the end of the challenge, and I still have a small way to go to reach my target. Work has been incredibly busy this year, but I have managed to do a bit of painting here and there.

    Today, I have two small groups of models to post. First of all, some Arabs for Saga.

    These are a mix of plastic and metal miniatures. The plastic figures are from Gripping Beast, but I can't remember where the metal figures came from as I tend to order from a variety of makers when doing historical projects.

    

    The figures were all easy to paint up with just base coats, washes and highlights. 

    The next set of figures are some 3D printed Snake Folk.

    These models are from Artisan Guild on MyMini Factory. They were fun to paint and I have a bunch more of them in my to-do pile. I have no idea what I will use them for, but the models are cool even if I don't have a plan yet.

    So, that gives me 10x 28mm minis for a total of 50 Points, plus two extra Squirrels for my tally. (Apologies to all Squirrel Duelists, I haven't had time to do another update, so we'll have to wait for the Challenge to finish to see the final totals.)

    Hopefully I can get some more minis done before the end of the Challenge.

    My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 239 (+0)
BSRoD - 17 (+0)
Squirrels - 18 (+2) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French, Daemons of Khorne, Modern Vehicles, Turnip28, Space Wolves, Free French, Arabs, Snake Folks

From Millsy:

I recongnise those Arabs. I painted a whole pile of them last Challenge and that was just my most recent batch. You've done a sterling job on them Stuart and they look a lot better than the "serviceable" description I would normally apply.

Your Snake Folk are definitely cool. I'm 100% in agreement you don't need to have a specific use for something just to buy and paint them. It's one of the joys of a hobby, just do it because it makes you happy. My problem is that then leads to ideas on HOW I could use them, then needing MORE, and then... I'm willing to bet you suffer from a little of that too :-P

Great stuff and another 50 points banked. Nice one.

Cheers,

Millsy

From StuartL - Poles with Poles - 80 Points

Hi all,

    This week I have been painting up a few things, and the first minis to come off my painting desk are some medieval Polish foot serjeants with polearms.

    These figures are 3D prints from a company called Black Knight Miniatures on MyMiniFactory. I have no idea how historically accurate they are, but I think they look fine. These figures are going to be used for the Northern Crusades through the Baltic countries. 

    I got the colour scheme from an Osprey book on Medieval Polish Armies, and it showed a diamond pattern being used, so I tried to replicate it on some of the models. It came out okay-ish, but was a pain to do, so I only did a couple of minis. When painting the yellow, I covered the area with a bright neon pink first, and then painted the yellow over that, and it really pops. If you dread painting yellow, I really recommend a pink undercoat first. For these figures, I had a black undercoat, Vallejo Squid Pink, Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown and then a 50:50 highlight of Heavy Goldbrown and Vallejo Golden Yellow. The banner, shield and surcoat emblems are a part of the figures and are just painted in black, no fancy free-handing for those.

    The unit will see play using the Hail Caesar rules. For HC, the units are usually based on identical sized bases, so for a 16 man unit, you'd expect 4 bases of 4 figures. But here I went with slightly narrower bases on the flanks, and made all of the bases a bit deeper, getting a 5-6-5 pattern. This is primarily to narrow the frontage, so units have more room to move around. Too often, when I have played Warlord's historical games, both armies just line up and have no room to maneuver. I can also make a smaller unit by removing the middle command base. 

    Unfortunately, the STL files for these models were set at a slightly larger scale, so these chaps tower over the Fireforge minis I plan on using for other parts of the project. Still, they are all based together, so the difference in height shouldn't be too obvious.

So, 16x 28mm models should net me a nice 80 points for my tally, and another squirrel.

My ongoing duels information:
Skulls - 141 (+0)
BSRoD - 5 (+0)
Squirrels - 7 (+1) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish

From Millsy:

Yikes! These guys really look like they mean business. That's some serious hardware they are rocking and combined with the yellow and black theme these look absolutely fearsome.

I've had similar scale issues with various units but I can usually ignore it when not mixing minis in units. They must be pretty chunky though as Fireforge are no minnows either.

80 amazing points it is for you tally mate.

Cheers,
Millsy

KenR - 28mm Arab Crusades Cavalry - 121 points

A bit of a surprise entry for me as although I had prepped some Crusades stuff it was way down my list but not having the right bases for my first Artillery entry made me grab the nearest thing, which was these.

12 x 28mm Gripping Beast Arab Heavy Cavalry with LBMS shield transfers, 50 x 60 bases with 2 figs per base and a flag made from another LBMS transfer. Nice and easy to score at 10 points each, chuck in a point for the banner and it's a 121 finish (sorry been watching the World Darts 😁)

A lot less complicated than the Napoleonic and Italian Wars stuff I have been doing I rattled through these in no time at all. They look a lot better than they should when the effort is taken into account !

I've also remembered to include a picture of my rear (ohhhh matron) in the post. We always neglect to back of our units but on the table it's the bit we see the most. When we finally settle on a rule set for the Crusades I'll decide on unit sizes but the 6 bases works pretty well for most sets, in fact it's an entire army in some 😆

Next up the first Canton of Swiss Pike Block number 1, have a great New Year everyone!

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Wonderful work Ken! These Warriors of the Faith look fabulous all ranked-up. I love their varied shield designs and devises. As you say, we often paint for our opponents as we frequently are looking at their backsides (except when they are retreating, but we're usually too annoyed to notice the paintjobs at that point). :)

I look forward to seeing your first Swiss Canton!

- Curt

From Millsy: Back in Black... More 28mm Arabs (90 points)

G'day All,

Apparently a week off from painting black was enough and I'm back with more Arabs. This time it's another ten infantry (Gripping Beast with Fireforge Games upgrades), two cavalry (again Gripping Beast with Fireforge Games upgrades) and the last four miniatures from the Reaper Miniatures Legends of the Sands box set.

A mate pointed out if you are doing Mutatawwi'a for SAGA you are better off leaning hard into either mounted or foot troops so I added another unit to the foot collection. Simple enough to assemble, paint and base, and although they are different style minis they mix well enough with the upgrades.

The two mounted miniatures upgrade one of my earlier units to five miniatures, plus add a mounted warlord for SAGA that'll do nicely until I either buy something fancier or just stop caring this isn't a fancier figure and forget all about it.

Finally, there's four more cracking character Reaper sculpts... two rather flexible ladies (I mean they are limber, NOT from a morals POV!), a wizardy vizier type and his lovely apprentice. The latter two will also do very nicely for Frostgrave which is a nice unexpected bonus.

Points wise...

• 14 x 28mm infantry = 70 points
• 2  x 28mm cavalry = 20 points

Total: 90 points

Next up, yet more Kruleboyz. Thanks for looking!

Artist: Adani & Wolf

Album: The Irresistible Dust on the Floor

Artist: Overcoats

Album: The Fight

Artist: The Mission UK

Album: Carved in Sand

Cheers,

Millsy

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Wonderful work on these black-clad Mutatawwi'a. The little punch of colour really adds the chef's kiss to these guys, especially the shields on the mounted fellas. Your stuff really makes me want to get back to my Siege of Malta project. Inspiring stuff! I also really like your 'local colour' with the Reaper models. The vizier and the red-robed dancer are my personal faves. Well done Mr. Mills!

- Curt & Huck

From GregB - Hospitaller Banner Bearers & Infantry (44 points)

Some 28mm Hospitaller knights - figures from Footsore, sculpted by Paul Hicks.

For my first submission today I have some figures which have been sitting in the queue for over a year...here we have some members of the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem - the Hospitaller Knights. These are 28mm metal castings from Footsore Miniatures, received from a Kickstarter I backed a few years ago. The figures were sculpted by the amazing Paul Hicks, and the flags are from Little Big Man Studios (now available through Victrix). 

Banner man and fellow warrior - I particularly enjoy the Knights who have some mix of cloth in their headgear...really sets the "period" for me. 

The Crusades are a period of history that has fascinated me for years. I love reading about this era of history, and as you might expect this interest has naturally merged with my hobby mania such that I am keen to run games set during the period. So you would think I probably have a well-organized collection for the setting, right? LOL. 

"Prepare to believe!"

My intense interest in the Crusades has often floundered on the kinds of mental rocks that often wreak havoc and limit or stop any useful progress among wargamers. Mostly I have waffled between hoping to play skirmish games like "Saga" and then suddenly wanting to do larger games like "Hail Caesar", and then struggling with how to base the figures...inducing paralysis via analysis and causing me to go paint some more 30k stuff instead :) Over the years I have managed to paint what amounts to a pair of large war bands that would work for "Saga" - not nothing, but hardly great progress.

More awesome poses from Paul Hicks...man I love his stuff...

These Footsore figures were meant to jolt me out of this stasis, but instead have been a prime example of this unfortunate tendency...at first I was using the round bases to paint them - you can see some of the initial figures back in Challenge XIII. Since that time, I have come to my senses and re-based those original figures on more traditional square bases to allow for their deployment in a game like "Warhammer Ancient Battles" or "Hail Caesar". Moving houses last year didn't help with progress on this effort, but in the summer I did get a second bunch of Hospitallers based up and primed and...well, you know how the rest goes...

Love how his hood hangs over his brow...adds to a menacing air...

Another view of the mounted banner man.

But here we are in AHPC XV, and I can make a bit more progress again! These sculpts are just amazing to paint - beautiful, proper metal sculpts created by the talented hand of Paul Hicks...what else could a hobby squirrel want?? The colour palette for these warriors is fairly basic and muted, but still fun to work with. The shields are hand-painted, not my preference, but it didn't turn out too badly. 

For scoring purposes we have six 28mm foot figures and a single mounted 28mm figure, which should account for 40 points. Hopefully some more Crusades-era figures will join this lot on the painted shelves before this edition of the Challenge concludes. 

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One of my favourite periods also Greg, and lovely Hospitallers they are too! If you want to play some smaller scale games with them, check out the rules "Outremer" in the Osprey Blue Book series. Lots of fun, RPGlite skirmish level gaming fun to be had, and you've got all you need already painted in this submission. Take a few bonus points for the banners too :-)

- Paul

From Millsy: 28mm Arab Horsey Boys (160 points)

G'day All,

I'm back for a third time with another lot of 28mm Arabs for my SAGA / Oathmark project. This time it's fourteen cavalry, kitbashed from the Gripping Beast Arab Heavy Cavalry and Fireforge Games Black Guard / Berber Infantry kits.

As mentioned previously the Gripping Beast Arab Heavy Cavalry horses were a real PITA with the neck joints being very poorly aligned. Despite my best efforts to fill and hide the issues I am still unhappy with them. They'll do I guess, if I squint and kinda look at them out of the corner of my eye...

The riders on the other hand, I am very happy with. The banner bearers were all upgraded to give them longer poles and flags made from heavy art paper to match the infantry. I've also swapped all the heads (which required some careful shaving), the arms (which were an easy like-for-like swap) and some of the shields.

I'll need one more to fill out three units of five so will try and pick up a sprue at CANCON on the weekend. The amazing KerryT also sent me a care package of 10 camelry and another 5 cavalry which he'd 3D printed so I hope to have those painted sometime soon as well. 

Scoring:

14 x 28mm cavalry = 140 points

1 x cheeky "money for jam" bonus for the Seventh Circle: Violence = 20 points

Total = 160 points

Artist: Agnes Obel

Album: Citizens of Glass

Artist: The Offspring

Album: Americana

Artist: Massive Attack

Album: Mezzanine

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
Millsy

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Hi Millsy

Great musical selections .. I'm particularly keen on  Massive Attack and Mezzanine is classic :)

Well, these 'horsey boys' look super, I really like your customization of the banners and the head/arm swaps. To my (very) untrained eye, the horses themselves look  great.  Can't wait to see all the Arabs in a group shot!

140 points for the figures and 20 for the Location bonus points

Looking forward to your next post

- Sarah

From Millsy: More 28mm Arabs (60 points)

G'day All,

It's been an odd couple of weeks with a lot of stop-start stuff going on. Back to work after a month off meant the backlog was bigger than normal, and then there was commission work to knock off also taking up free time.

That meant I started but didn't finish several things. This was compounded by having real issues with a box of Gripping Beast Arab Heavy Cavalry which were really poorly made. I think the die is getting old and tired as it's the only thing that would explain the amount of flash, misfits and gaps in this kit. I've built several before and never had so much trouble with it.

First world problems aside, today I present...

Reaper Miniatures - Legends of the Sands

The Reaper Miniatures' Legends of the Sands box set is something I bought a looong time ago with this project in mind and its great to finally be getting some paint on the minis. In total there are 12 in the set and I've painted 2/3 of them for this submission.

Leading my force on foot is Sultan Suleimillsy the Ambivalent, who judging by the rather camp nature of the sculpt has more interest in things artistic than militaristic. At least he has nice threads. Stylin!

Each to their own as they say and he has plenty of well oiled muscle to do the rough stuff on his behalf, plus an evil wizard/vizier type for the ad hoc genie summoning and general magical misbehaviour.

Finally, there's a "hashashin" assassin who does the dirty work behind closed doors and stands for the Ninth Circle: Treachery bonus.

Total: 8 x 28mm minis + bonus = 60 points.

Artist: The Presets
Album: Apocalyso

Artist: Lichtmond

Album: The Journey

Artist: Sunlounger

Album: Armada Collected: Roger Shah presents...

Thanks everyone for looking and Sarah for minioning my stuff!

Cheers,

Millsy

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Hi Millsy .. or rather Suliemillsy :)

I am unfamiliar with your musical selections, but I will definitly fall down that rabbit hole tomorrow!

These Arabs are great, the colours super vibrant, especially the purple and that floral pattern has a certain whimsy which is appealing.

I can envision these characters in many game settings, from pulp to historical.

 Using the Hashashin to reach the 9th circle Treachery bonus is a great interpretation. 

Another 60 points to your score, Well done Sir!

Sarah 

From Millsy: 28mm Arab Infantry (341 points)

G'day All!

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you've been well and had a great break over Christmas!

I've used my break to plough through a fair chunk of a new project - an Arab force for SAGA and Oathmark. These are primarily Fireforge Games Black Guard and Berber Infantry kits, with the ogres by Shieldwolf Miniatures.  For SAGA I'll be fielding them as Mutatawii'a (minus the ogres) and for Oathmark as standard humans plus allies.

From a total of 60 human miniatures I have 2 x 10 man units of archers, 2 x 10 man units of swordsmen and 1 x 20 man unit of spearmen. For SAGA I'll drop a couple of men from each unit and use as warriors, or divide in two for hearth guards. For Oathmark they'll be fielded as is.

The Black Guard look is amazing and I've wanted a force of them for a long time (here's the lust angle). I've tried to keep the colour palette really tight and highlighted them hard to give them a bold look. 

The ogres are resin miniatures are an absolute joy to assemble and paint. Really clean sculpts with loads of weapon options and the price is great to boot. Sheildwolf Miniatures are highly recommended! There's a definite "similar to but legally distinguishable from" Warhammer Ogor Martribes vibe but I'm fine with that.

The nearly 40 shields took nearly 2 hours alone to paint with all the fine lines in multiple layers for a scuffed look. Happy with the outcome but it did try my patience towards the end. I've used Gripping Beast shields for the non spear units here as I'm not a fan of the Fireforge Games round ones.

Still haven't decided on the banners. I'm tempted to leave them blank to reinforce the starkness but they would look neat with some script on them. For now that's a Future Millsy problem.

One of the things that attracted me to the Fireforge Games kit is the bamboo spears. With the large shields it's a really iconic look and I love it.

And finally some glamour shots of the command stands...

Now do the math please Millsy...

60 x 28mm infantry = 300 points

3 x 40mm infantry = 21 points

Dante's Divine Comedy - Second Circle: Lust = 20 points

Total: 341 points

There are camel and horse cavalry coming later in the Challenge along with a pile of characters from Reaper Miniatures amongst others. For now this is a solid chunk of points to kick me off and I can switch to something else for a while. Thanks for looking!

Artist: Portishead

Album: Dummy, Roseland NYC Live

Artist: Schiller

Album: Illuminate

Artist: Faithless

Album: Forever Faithless (Greatest Hits)

Artist: Thievery Corporation

Album: Saudade

Cheers,

Millsy

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Hello Millsy!

Great musical selections. I think I'll listen to some Thievery Corp too!

Wow, thats quite the variety of minis .. and awesome work on the shields ... I'm sure such detail was frustrating but worth the results. I like the pops of colour .. turquoise, purples, blues and reds on the infantry - really effective!

341points for you!

- Sarah