From LeeH - AHPC X Body of Work - Best Challenge ever!

The Tenth Painting Challenge is over and I don't know about anyone else but I'm all brushed out for the time being. I need to clean up my Operations Room and find a home for the massive amount of stuff I painted! I've only had this hobby room for a few months and it's already FULL! I'm not complaining though, it has been a fantastic challenge and I've been more productive than at any time before. So time for my 'Body of Work' picture.

So what's in that mess-o-models? Quite a bit for me, I'm used to a smaller collection of work by the end of the Challenge. So here's a brief picture review of everything I managed to get done.

I think it must be obvious from these pictures that my work hasn't been dominated by 6mm this year. I had a quick look at my own personal 'Spreadsheet of doom' (yes I have my own!) and it turns out that 880 points from my 1400 total came from other scales. And worse still (according to RayR) nearly half my points were earned from work on a particular ice-bound Fantasy game. At this rate, I'm likely to have my membership of the Rejects revoked! Certainly, my reputation as 'the 6mm historical guy' is in doubt.

As already mentioned, I always keep a tally of my planned projects during the Challenge, tracking my progress as the week's tick past. I'm rather chuffed to say that I've outperformed myself at every stage of the competition. I've achieved a new 'personal best' and by every measure that I count, this has been my best Challenge ever. 

I'm already looking forward to the next Challenge and have started giving some thought as to what I want to paint. Alexanders army to face off against my Indians is a strong contender, but who knows. I look forward to seeing some of you in the recently announced Quarantine Challenge and hope to see many of you in December for Challenge XI.

LeeH (aka BigLee)

From LeeH - Frost Witch and Ice Worm at the Snow Lords Peak (70 Points)

The air crackles with magical energy and distant flashes of lightning foreshadow the wrath of an imminent storm as it approaches the Snow Lords Peak. Arcane words can barely be heard above the building winds. The Thunder booms and rumbles across the landscape and for a moment it sounds as if there is an unseen avalanche about to sweep the mountainside. The moment passes and more flashes can be seen, closer now. A figure approaches, skimming above the fresh snow and radiating an ethereal glow. The woman appears to be whispering but her words build and echo across the landscape until they drown out the next rumble of Thunder. Then the earth bursts open sending rocks and snow cascading down the slope. A monstrous Ice Worm rears up from the ground and gives out an ear-shattering shriek. The beast has answered its summons and is ready to serve its bitter mistress. 

The Snow Lord issued me a challenge to find and paint a figure that was bigger than my normal fare. I put on my climbing gear and started up the Lead Mountain. By the time I reached the snowline I was worried I wouldn't find anything, having climbed across a scree slope of unpainted 6mm figures on the way up. And then I saw her! I found a figure in my lead mountain that I have absolutely no recognition of buying! It must have been another "ooo-shiney!" moment at some past show but I genuinely don't remember. 

The Frost Witch figure is from Crocodile Games and is laughably described as Heroic 28mm which means next to nothing really. The witch is 40mm foot to eye and 44mm overall, without taking into account the cape which brings the height of the whole model to well over 50mm tall. Just for good measure, I mounted it on a 'rock' outcrop that stands a further 50mm tall, so overall this figure is pretty big compared to my normal work. But I had this nagging feeling I could do better... I tightened my crampons and proceeded higher up the Lead Mountain...

Towards the top of the mountain, I found a weird mixture not only of lead but plastic figures from over 30 years of gaming. And then I saw the perfect accompaniment to my witch, a giant Purple Worm. This is an old plastic figure that was originally bought pre-painted but had seen better days. It's an old Wizards of the Coast DnD figure that I used in RPG's probably 10 or fifteen years ago.  It was looking a bit worse for wear having been bashed around in various boxes over the years so I decided it was worth giving it a brand new coat of paint. The Snow Lord wanted bigger than 6mm, well this beastie comes in at a cool 120mm tall. A bit bigger than my normal fare!

To paint this I made a few repairs filled in some mould lines with liquid plastic and then gave the whole thing a thorough new base coat of grey before starting the new paint job. Instead of repainting it as a Purple Worm I have changed the colour scheme so it is now a huge Ice Worm.

Right, points...huh? No clue. The witch is 40mm so I guess 7 points for her but I have no idea what arcane mathemagical calculations need to be made to score the Worm. At 120mm it's not exactly standard-sized! I'll leave that decision in the hands of the Snow Lord. Whatever it is, combined with the usual points for the challenge location, will give my tally one final boost before everything comes to an end. I'm happy with whatever points I get as this has already been my most productive Challenge to date and I'm just happy to have taken part.

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Holy smokes! These are some pretty cool (and BIG) figures Lee. Your brushwork on both are just magnificent, especially the eyes on the Frost Witch and the subtle metallic scales on the Worm. Beautiful work mate. I also tip my hat to your basing and photography - they both set the stage and feature your work wonderfully. Well done Lee!

I think the Frost Witch, including her base, is worth an easy 10 points and we'll peg the Purple Worm as a 28mm vehicle. With a few extras added in for your story and the risks of mountaineering up your lead mountain this gives you a total of 70 points. 

For your prize I award you Tamsin's wonderful Aviator (Flashheart?) Santa. Why, you ask? Well Lee has a history of weird Santas so I thought it appropriate to get him another to add to his collection. :)

Terrific work Lee and thanks for taking the Snow Lord's Peak Challenge!

-Curt

From LeeH: Ogg make FIRE! (27 Points)

A few weeks ago I received a very nice parcel in the post. All parcels are actually nice but this particular one was very nice because I didn't buy it, it was sent to me as a present. Inside were five perfectly cast Neanderthals sent to me by Alex from Russia. He was a member of my Tuesday crew when I was a minion in last years Challenge and I think this was a reward for the odd bonus point I might have put in his direction back then! 😉

These are 28mm, cast in white metal and other than a little bit of filing to be done on the base completely free of any caste lines or flash. The sculpture is fairly basic but actually, they painted up really well. I'm not really sure where I'm going to use them, but I did promise Alex I'd try and get them painted by the end of the Challenge, so here they are.

Actually come to think of it I could probably use these some pulp role-playing games that I have. Have an excellent little RPG we called Hollow Earth Expedition which is a proper 'land of the lost' type setting, and these guys would fit in their perfectly.

Pointwise these are relatively simple. 5x28mm figures and the fire which I suppose should be a couple of points. If my math is correct these should take me to my target! Wo-hoo! Now I really, really, really need to get on with my Snow Lords Challenge!!!

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Great work Lee.  Alex is indeed a fine fellow of the hobby - I have my own set of these figures, waiting for the attention of my brushes.  It's great to see some of the products from Russia's leading producer of prehistoric metal figures painted up for the Challenge :) 

Two points for the fire seems about right to me - so 27 points it is! Well done Lee - and a big thank you to Alex! 

GregB

From LeeH - Tombstones, columns and a Mausoleum - 25 pts

I didn't think I'd have time to paint these but I'm glad I did. Most of this stuff is resin terrain that I bought from Debris of War although there are a few other items that I managed to buy online. Some of this was pre-painted (badly!) so I gave them a new base coat and started again. I've gone with the simple paint scheme that I've been using on all my Frostgrave terrain with drybrushing in various shades of grey and with homemade winter tufts.

The two metal dungeon covers are also from debris of War and after painting the iron work metal I applied some special rust wash that I bought ages ago. It looks a bit orange in this photo but it's better in real life I promise! 

All these items are what I would class as scatter terrain and can be used with some of the buildings that have already painted or stand-alone items in them in the case of the tombstones and so on.

No idea how they should be scored as far as points are concerned. The whole lot would probably make up about 1 terrain Square but I'm not sure if it's worth 20 points so I'll take whatever today's minion deems worthy for this lot.

From DaveD - more terrain goodness from Lee - i will run with 25 pts for the variety as much as the volume

From LeeH - Normandy Farmhouse (5 Points)

Another day another unplanned entry. Actually, that's not strictly true this building was on my original challenge painting plan but I decided not to do it because I had plenty of other things to paint. However, with the upcoming Normandy demo game I'm going to be running this weekend I couldn't resist. This building is from Peter Pig and was part of a set of 3 buildings that I bought at Salute last year.

As far as possible I have tried to copy the painting style of the Landmark buildings I bought last year. Hopefully, this will mean all my buildings all have a similar feel about them and won't look incongruous when used next to each other. The building is cast in some sort of resin and was quite easy to base coat and paint. I block painted the majority of the model then gave the whole thing a wash with army painter soft tone and then dry brushed.

The pictures include one of my tiger tanks and a 15mm infantry figure just to show scale. I have a second farmhouse and a barn from the same manufacturer but these will definitely not be done during this challenge (I'm running out of time now!).

Points wise this isn't going to earn me loads. Its dimensions are 4"x5"x3" so the whole thing comes out at a little over a quarter of a terrain cube, so about five points worth. I'm happy with that and it's one more incremental step towards my target... Now I really really must get on with my snow lord's challenge!!


Nice little farmhouse Lee. And you've even included the farm's puddy-cat in the photos to show the scale! 

TamsinP

From LeeH - Churchill MK VII (8 points)

As with my last entry, I wasn't planning on painting this model, indeed I didn't even realise I had it in my lead mountain! I'm running a demo game at a small local show this weekend using the What a Tanker rules and set in Normandy 1944. I already have everything I need but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a Churchill in the field.

The Churchill Mark VII was the final production model of the Churchill infantry tank and was substantially up-armoured, from a maximum armour thickness of 102 mm to 152mm. This meant the Churchill VII was one of the few Allied tanks that could go 'toe to toe' with the Tiger and have a reasonable chance of survival.

The MK VII  had an improved composite cast/welded turret which had an angled lip running around the bottom to reduce shot trap. The layout of the turret was improved for easier access and it was fitted with a raised Coppola to give the commander better vision during combat.

Many Churchill sevens became crocodile flamethrower tanks and some the basic gun versions were issued to normal infantry tank units as replacement vehicles, so they could be found almost anywhere, not just with Churchill equipped units. 

A single tank will earn me a modest 8 Points but I am now just a whisker away from my target..so I'd better crack on and get my Snowlords Challenge started!

MilesR - A very nice Churchill to rumble across the tabletop - nicely done.  I believe the vast majority of us has something in our respective leadpiles where the phrase "indeed I didn't even realise I had it it" would be appropriate.  Not me, of course, but the rest of you lot for sure.  That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

From LeeH - Treasure! (24 Points)

Just a small entry today as I have a ton of things keeping me busy (and not all Challenge related, unfortunately!). Following my big building I have a few more Forstgrave goodies, but this time not terrain and not figures, but Treasure Tokens. I bought these from Debris-of-War recently. They are resin and half of them came pre-cast with the base included. The others were free-standing treasure items and I found some nice resin bases in my bits box to mount them on. 

They are scaled for 28mm and are perfect for games of frostgrave or for use in roleplaying games. I'm sure they will be useful, wherever I use them. 

As for points...no idea. They are 28mm in scale but half the size of a full figure so maybe 2 points a pop? I'll leave that particular conundrum up to the unlucky minion of the day!

You must give us a picture of your finished terrain. these are great and worth fighting over, i do like a closed box

Martin

From LeeH - Normandy Utility Poles (32pts)

So these were not on my original plan for the painting challenge, and it's all Ray's fault! Ray suggested our group, Posties Rejects, run a demo game at a very small show called Skirmish based in Sidcup. We routinely go to this show, and we are always saying we should run a demo game there and so when Ray suggested it I blithely said, "yeh I'll throw something together"...not realising I had just three weeks to do it in! In the end, we have decided to run a Normandy/Bocage game of What a Tanker, primarily because I have all the terrain and tanks ready. All except these utility poles; hence their unexpected appearance on the Painting Challenge.  

Now I can't remember where I bought these. I got them last year, but try as I might I can't remember where I got them, which is a shame because they are nicely cast in white metal and pretty good quality. They are suitable for 15mm of course and will fit in nicely with the rest of my Normandy terrain. 

Right, as usual, the thorny issue of points? I haven't a scooby-doo! I guess they will be treated as terrain and they take up about a quarter of a cube in space (they are 3" tall) so about 5 points in total? I'll leave that decision in the hands of the excellent and most learned minion of the day! ;)

You can never have too many all pieces of terrain to snag on jumpers etc. I reckon they are worth 2 pts each so 32 points.

Martin

From LeeH - The Hall of Heros (50 Points)

It probably hasn't gone unnoticed that I have been building a lot of terrain this Challenge for a Frostgrave tabletop. Most of the buildings are resin pieces that I have mounted on card, or simple foam buildings I constructed with a range of techniques. I have enough now to cover a reasonably-sized table but I wanted one more large building to top off the set. I didn't really have a clear plan of what I wanted, just a vague idea I didn't want it to be square like all the others. It also needed to be generic enough to serve as a range of possible building types. I've named it The Hall of Heroes but with the addition of some movable terrain items, it could be made to look like a wizards laboratory; a chapel or a mausoleum.

I started off simply by making a big bag of stone blocks, enough to give the building some height. This was a laborious task as I had to make sure they were as close as possible to being consistently sized, so some precision knife work and a lot of patience were required. These blocks then needed to be rolled (to round off the edges) and pressed with stones to give the otherwise perfectly flat surfaces some dimpled stone-like character. This step alone took a whole evening and resulted in a lot of foam dust - be warned, a mask is essential unless you want to breathe this nasty stuff in!

I used a large dinner plate as the template for the circular base, with the additional vestry/corridor added on one side. Then I scored the floor tiles, cracks etc using a pencil and a range of plastic sculpting tools. With the floor, layout sorted I started to build, again without any clear design in mind, and just let the muse take me as I built upwards! I tended to lay a course of bricks, pin them in place and then add another layer the following day when the first lot had died. All very time-consuming but it meant I was able to keep the walls relatively verticle and solid.

Initially, I was considering buying window frames from a dolls house specialist but I couldn't find what I wanted. They were either the wrong shape or just looked too perfect, so in the end, I tried making some myself. It took a few attempts to get a consistent result using the foam, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I'm glad I went with this option as I think windows that were too perfect would not fit with the rest of the building, which purposefully looks like the ravages of time and ice have bowed the walls, worn the stonework and of course collapsed the roof.

I found a couple of small items in my bits box to add to the scratch-built model. First off I added a shrine showing what is presumably a grieving wizard slumped over a great tome. It's suitably melancholic and fitted the 'theme' I had in mind. This model was part of a set bought from Debris of War. The dead tree that had burst through the floor and up the wall is part of a set from Games Workshop that I bought years ago. And the shields on the walls are from Colonel Bill's dark ages set.

As for size here's where it gets mathemagical... The main circular part of the building is 11 inches across with an average height of 5 inches. By the alchemy of Pi that gives an internal volume of this cylinder as 475 cubic inches. The little antechamber or vestry is 2 inches wide, 4.5 inches tall and 9 inches long (as an arc average) giving that a volume of 81 cubic inches giving a total for the whole building of 556 cubic inches. Divide that by 216 (a 6x6x6 cube) gives 2.57, call it 2.5 terrain cubes, which should earn me a tidy 50 points. Phew, all that maths has made my head hurt. That should conclude my Frostgrave Terrain for now, although I do have some other resin items I may work on if I find the time.

MilesR: What is this? Superb Terrain?, Arcane Calculations?, Pi? am I in heaven?  Oh Lee, you handsome rascal, I love it when you create both wonderful terrain and "do the math".  Welcome to the club, old boy.  The Tower ruin is simply superb and will definitely be a show piece on any table.  Not that've you've entered the glamorous world of mathmagical terrain making, what's next?  TV, Movies, maybe even the runways of Paris or Milan?  OK lets skip the Milan fashion shows for awhile....

From LeeH - Frostgrave Witches (40 Points)

I'm back from a very windswept and stormy holiday in Sussex and at last, have something new to enter into the Challenge. While I was away I spent a fair bit of time assembling some multi-part plastic figures for Frostgrave. I got most of these for Christmas so they weren't assembled and primed before the Challenged started like most of my other entries. Rather than lose a whole week of work I took a box of tools and my figures away with me and worked on them as an when time allowed. I got a lot done, especially as we were 'storm bound' for the first day of the holiday (crazy brits, holidaying in winter!). Now that I'm home I'm hoping to get a lot of these painted and first off the workbench are these female Wizards. 

As previously mentioned I'm going to be playing a lot of Frostgrave soon, in a vain attempt to keep my daughter (aka The Young Padawan) playing games with me. She's agreed to continue playing ancients with me if I played some fantasy games with her. A fair bargain I think, and it's given me a chance to return to my roots and paint something a little more colourful. These models by Northstar are excellent and fill a gap in my collection with some female wizards. 

I kept the paint job on these fairly simple but I think they work well. 

Ah, and here's some proof I was working while on holiday... I've already posted this picture on Facebook and it garnered some envious comments from wargamers who declared my wife a saint (which she is of course) for letting me get away with this on a family holiday. 

Eight 28mm figures should net me a modest 40 points but creeps me a little closer to my target.

Sussex in February, you are brave or reckless. Nice work on these wizardesses (think I've just invented a word). Big fan of keeping the Young Padowan on the light side of the force.

From LeeH - Spanish Cavalry (36 Points)

Having completed my Classical Indian army I thought I'd revisit one of my existing 6mm collections. I've been giving some thought to enhancing the cavalry forces that formed part of Hannibal's army in the 2nd Punic War. It soon became clear that there was a gap in my army list that needed to be filled in the shape of some Spanish Cavalry. Various estimates suggest that after Hannibal descended the Alps into Italy he had about 6000 cavalry in his army, approximately 2000 of which were Spanish. These troops, along with about 8000 infantry, would have been recruited from areas directly under the control of the Barcids in their territories in the Iberian Peninsular. 

Despite being sometimes described as Heavy Cavalry they were typically fairly lightly armoured, similar to the infantry. The standard 'uniform' for the Spanish was a white tunic sometimes trimmed with red cloth. Most infantry wore sinew caps but these were gradually replaced by bronze Montefortino (conical helmets with cheek plates and neck guards) either taken from defeated Romans or forged by their own blacksmiths. All troops, foot and mounted, were armed with javelins or spears and the curved Falcata sword. Small round shields called caetra completed their equipment.

Polybius does describe some Spanish Cavalry being used as shock troops. These wore scale cuirasses and carried the larger oval Scutum shield and a single long thrusting spear. I have also read about extra men being carried on the horse, who would then dismount and fight on foot. I'm not sure if this sounds like a viable tactic as surely the newly deposited foot troops would be outnumbered by any infantry they engaged and would have run the risk of being trampled by their own cavalry. I'll have to read a bit more about this, although at the moment there are no rules that I am aware of in To the Strongest that would replicate this tactic.

Incidentally, my main reference source for this article is as always the excellent Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars by Duncan Head. I bought this some time ago and it cost a pretty penny but has been an invaluable reference source ever since. I constantly find myself diving into its pages for detailed information and is always a good place to start before widening the search for information.

The sharp-eyed will note I haven't labelled the bases as is my normal practice. No arcane reasoning for this, my printer is just out of colour ink! I'll add the labels when the cartridges arrive. So that's 36 mounted troops for a modest 36 points. I'm hoping to get one more entry in this week then I'm taking a week off from the brushes for a short holiday with the family. Hopefully, by the time I get back, my batteries will be recharged and I can make my final push towards my target and the Snow Lords Peak.

From DaveD - more loveliness from Lee - 36 pts it is.

From LeeH - Classical Indian Elephants - (120 Points)

I have been looking forward to painting these for a long time. The massed elephants of Poros' army is such an evocative image, I couldn't resist buying this army. Everything I have painted up to now has effectively been painted to justify painting these beasts of war.

The Elephant could perform a number of useful military functions (clearing obstacles, fording rivers and battering down the walls of strongpoints) but it was its prowess and the phycological impact of these massive animals that saw them favoured as beasts of war. In Ancient India the army was divided into four types; Infantry, Cavalry, Chariots and Elephants. As I mentioned in my post about the Chariots these had once been the prestige weapon of war but had started to be replaced by the Elephant as the dominant wing of most armies. Magadha (mid-4th century BCE - 321 BCE) had about 3,000 elephants while the Mauryan and Gupta empires with figures of anything up to 9,000 animals in its command. King Poros, at the Battle of Hydaspes (326 BCE) faced Alexander with a mere 200 Elephants but this still sounds like a terrifying sight. It's possible that facing these animals, and knowing that larger armies lay ahead, was partly responsible for the army eventually refusing to continue with Alexanders invasion of India.

The Arthashastra of Kautilya (c. 4th century BCE), gives a lot of information on different kinds of elephants, their training, and their conduct in war. Their main use in battle was their ability to crush enemy foot soldiers, scare away horses, and trample chariots. The psychological impact of these creatures cannot be underestimated, however, their practical success has been hotly debated for centuries. Wounded or dying elephants could as easily trample their own troops as enemies. And an elephant running amok is as uncontrollable as it is unpredictable. Royal elephants were specially trained and prized for control but if the beast decided to run away it's riders - including any commanders - would be carried away with them, come what may. Despite these risks, the Elephant was still a prized weapon of war and at the Hydaspes, King Poros fought bravely from the back of his mount, even after the defeat of his army was inevitable.

Elephants could be provided with armour but by the 4th Century BC they were often covered in massive rugs called hatthatthara which would provide quite effective protection from arrows. As Poros would find, these were less effective against 18 foot Sarisa pikes and well-disciplined troops. From about this period the Mauryan kingdoms used three riders, all archers, with two shooting.

Points wise these should net me about a hundred and six points - 26 Elephants, 77 Crew and 32 foot troops as escorts. With the Elephants finished I have completed everything I had planned for this army, so I guess a picture of the whole lot is in order? Here's my Army of Poros at the Hydaspes. They don't currently have anyone to fight as I haven't started collecting the figures I need for the corresponding Macedonian army... maybe something to consider for Challenge XI ?!?

It seems a shame to put these away in a drawer so I think I'll buy myself a special display case and get these fella's out where I can enjoy them.

Holy heck that's a lot of Heffalumps Lee, excellently painted.  This Classical Indian Army and been a favourite of mine through the challenge and I'm thrilled to minion this post.  Excellent work again, love the bright colours and the painted shields on the accompanying infantry.  And the close ups show just how tiny and delicately done the details are, especially  on the pachyderm riders

Your full army looks the bomb all lined up, far too good to lock away in a drawer.  My eyes are too old to do a head count on this horde Lee, so I'll go with your figures.  But I'm rounding it up to 120 for all the details.