From AndrewG: A Few Pulp Era Bad Guys (25 points)

As we begin to wind down on this year's challenge, I'm now just focused on finishing up whatever is still sitting on my painting desk from the beginning of winter. There's a few small war band bits and bobs to do for various games, including these nefarious looking chaps.

This crew consists of five metal figures from Bob Murch's Pulp Figures - specifically the Weird Menance line (PWM). I first saw these figures way back in 2003 when I attended Historicon. I had signed up for one of Bob's Rugged Adventures games and he was playing a scenario from their China Station campaign. Needless to say the game was great fun and I picked these characters up expecting that I would eventually use them for something. Unfortunately, they went into storage and, well, here we are.

Interestingly, I had originally painted them in red cloaks to stand out, but then changed my mind and repainted them similar to what appears on the Pulp Figures website. As such one might notice a slight red tint in the clothing. Overall, they were a quick job, and they'll do nicely for some interwar skirmish games we have planned for this year.

Very simply, 5x 28mm figures = 25 points

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Great looking cultists, Andrew. These Bob Much sculpts are so wonderfully characterful and your paintwork really does them justice. I think you were right to eschew red and go with purple (Nyarlathotep will be pleased). Well done!

- Curt

From AndrewG: The Last of the cultists and other bits (69 points)

 

To paraphrase a famous oil painter, my Frostgrave Cultist warband project this past winter turned out to be a ‘happy little accident’ of this year’s AHPC. It was never on my deliberate list of things to get through, but after painting the first few over the holidays I was simply hooked on these figures for some reason and really enjoyed getting them all done.

With these ten new additions I have now built the entire box, bolstering them with a necromancer and apprentice from the Frostgrave wizard’s set to give me several options for getting them on the wargames table.

Pretty much everything was built straight out of the Cultists 1 box, with the odd bit from the bits box here and there to give them some variety. The crusty rusty shield on the champion, for example, is a very old plastic Warhammer chaos shield which I augmented with a boss made from greenstuff. After priming I hit it with some AK corrosive texture and Army Painter dark rust effect, then let it dry before adding a wash of Warpaints Verdigris. I was very happy with the final result, and imagine this is some cursed item that has welded itself to its current bearer.

And here is the whole group, 22 baddies ready to spoil some do-gooder adventurer hero’s plans to make the world a better place.

With the Cultists done and dusted, I had just enough time left to finish off a couple of other miniatures for other games. First up, a couple more gunfighters to join the cowboys I had been posting at the beginning of this year’s challenge. These two Vaqueros are Copplestone castings metal miniatures and will eventually be joined by 3-4 others I am halfway through getting done.

Next up, I got roped into playing in a friend’s D&D campaign in which we were to play unconventional characters, so I opted to play a Dwarven Rogue (IYKYK). Thankfully, Reaper miniatures had produced a couple of these in their metal figure line, so I bought one from a second hand dealer and gave it a quick paint job.

Last but not least, I wanted some cool objective markers for my games of Frostgave and Five Leagues from the Borderlands and found these in an old Warhammer Black Skull Pass starter box set I had sitting in storage. If I recall these were originally Troll skull markers for the Goblin army, but they’ll do just fine for any number of fantasy skirmish games. I painted the cloth on each one a different colour so they can be distinct on the table as needed.

All in all, some good progress this week. Thus, we’re looking at:

13x 28mm figures = 65 points

4x 28mm objective markers = 4 points

Great work here Andrew.  Loving those despite desperados and your Dwarves rogue. However, ,my favourite is the Cultist with his book of forbidden lore.  Well done.

From AndrewG: More fantasy town guards and their adversaries (75 points)

 

In between historical figure painting I’ve continued to chip away at various skirmish projects including more town guards and their potential adversaries. This post has a bit of everything in that regard.

We begin with the first half of my second Guards of Traitor's Toll detachment. This patrol is painted in the livery of Lady Merron, but despite its simple appearance, for some reason this batch of figures caused me no end of headaches. The first three went fine, but when I had finished the last two, I realized I had accidentally reversed their livery quarters. Oh well, somewhere in Traitor’s Toll a clothing stores quartermaster is getting jacked up by their superior for choosing a dodgy lowest bidder.

I then decided I wanted to give my crossbowman a pavise shield, which I sourced from a plastic Perry miniatures set. The contours of the shield and back simply wouldn’t match and every time I glued it on, I’d come back a few minutes later to find it had fallen off. Time to use the “special” glue. Needless to say it'll never come off now, unlike the next guy.

 

Having sorted that out, I painted the guy with the torch. Of interest, this is the first time I’ve ever painted flames – I found a tutorial on the interwebs and followed it, and it seemed to come out nicely. Impressed with myself and feeling a false sense of security, while admiring my finished work I dropped the figure and his head snapped off and rolled away somewhere (still yet to be found). So, more repairs...

 

Having had enough of the guards, I flipped over to my Cult of the Double Scar dudes and finished off a leader and a necromancer, thinking that I could also use this growing warband for Frostgrave. Again, some very nice plastic sculpts from Northstar and easily kit bashed together from both the Cultists and Wizards sprues.

A lot of games need peasants or levy troops, so I put together a few of the Wargames Atlantic plastic medieval peasants from their Baron’s War line. Overall, they’re okay, but I’m not sure I like them all that much. The legs and torsos come separate, and the heads are not really universal to all the bodies, certain ones go best with certain torsos. Also, the weapons are oversized and can appear a bit goofy. Nevertheless, they’ll fit into skirmish games well enough.

I've no idea what that is but it looks like it would hurt

Don't get between him and his chickens 

Last but not least, I had this D&D plastic wolf/beast/dog that someone gave to me a while ago just sitting around on the workbench, so I decided to finish it off and add it to my slowly growing collection of Frostgrave adversaries. Nothing fancy, just a few overcoats and dry brushes of greys and some glowing blue eyes.

 

Thus, for this lot I’ll claim:

13x 28mm figures = 65 points

1x 28mm large animal = 10 points

Total: 75 points

I like these guys a lot Andrew.  Your town guard looms very much the part, but maybe avoid that tailor next time.  Your baddies are my faves however, especially the necromancer types.  Well done.

From AndrewG: Wars of the Roses town militia (100 points)

 

Work on my Northampton project continues this week with some more bowmen. Records suggest both sides at the engagement bolstered their main forces with additional call ups from various town militias, so I decided to paint one of Fauconberg’s units to represent these troops. Not much is known about the colours of the liveries worn by them (if any), but some archives indicate red liveries, thus I opted to give the unit a bit of cohesion while still trying to project that these were otherwise just everyday folks whose military kit consisted mainly of a sallet and a bow.

As usual these are all from the Perry plastics Wars of the Roses infantry box, with a few head swaps and some minor kit bashing to give the unit a bit of variety. I stuck a fancy feather helmet on one of the front rank guys so if needed he can be designated as the unit leader. The painted banner in the back rank is simply a repositioned spear arm, green stuff, and some tinfoil, again being militia I imagined them carrying simple identifiers.

And here they are with the other two units I have done so far for this challenge. Just one more to go plus a command stand and Fauconberg's battle will be complete.

For this unit of 20 bowmen we're looking at:

20x 28mm infantry = 100 points

I nice set of militia bowmen Andrew, I am sure that they will provide numbers if not quality.  I like the simple red livery that you used gives the unit coherence.  Your verdant green flocking seems suitable for a rainy summer days in Northants.  The whole deployed battle looks aces. 

From AndrewG: A Head in the Sand and other Desert Terrain (35 points)

 

Our group is planning to run a Pulp era skirmish game set somewhere in Egypt, so I’ve been beetling away at getting some scenery done for the board. I have to say this has been one of the more fun building projects for me lately, as it’s a rich setting with plenty of inspiration in both history and film readily at hand.

Before I bought my own 3D printer I used to shop for pieces on Etsy, and as I’m sure many know the quality on there is sometimes a hit or a miss. When I purchased this half sunken Pharaoh’s head and ruined pillars set for an Ancients battle, I was initially a bit annoyed. It was clearly a rushed print, with striations visible throughout from a job that either didn’t bother using a smaller nozzle or didn’t iron any of the surfaces (both of which add time to the print job). I ended up not using them and put them away.

When I pulled these out of storage for this project, I realized the poor layering could actually work in my favour for a 20^th Century era game – a bit of careful weathering and dry brushing made the pieces look like they’ve suffered a few millennia of getting pelted by sandstorms and baked by the sun. Done and done.

The three rocky formations were simple plastic 3D prints that were then slathered with Vallejo Desert Sand (26.217) diorama FX. I found, however, that this basing material has more of an egg yolk yellow colour about it rather than a more traditional beige look, thus I gave these pieces several overbrushes, washes, and dry brushes to dull it out a bit. Also, of all the Vallejo FX materials this one has to be the messiest to work with, so I’m open to any suggestions for alternates.

A trip to the local dollar store provided ample materials for making all the terrain pieces. The palm trees are cake decoration toppers, while the shrubbery comes from a mix of cut up cheap aquarium plants and a piece of fake golf turf. I printed out a variety of puddle bases in different sizes, then went about making the scatter terrain using Vallejo desert sand, tufts, and small rocks from the driveway. I also made one larger piece as I wanted something that figures could move through.

Overall, an inexpensive but effective project that gives me plenty of terrain options. And while I'm happy with how everything turned out, I may go back and dry brush some of the Vallejo desert basing as it still seems too yellow toned for my liking. 

Thus in this batch (no figures – included just for scale comparison)

1x large Pharaoh’s Head

1x ruins

3x rock formations

8x vegetation pieces

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Some very nice pieces here Andrew, and your description of the issues with the 3d printed head fit my issues with even well printed filament prints, I hate those lines!  However the price difference between filament printing terrain and resin printing terrain is still big enough that my cheap nature wins out most times.  You are also 100% correct in that the lines actually help you in this case as it does look like its wear lines from wind and sand in the great desert.

As for points, I think both the head and the ruins would probably take a few hours each of painting so 10 points each, the hills are super easy to paint up and so are the tree bases as its just the groundwork that looks painted (not the actual trees, although the palm tree trunks maybe drybrushed) so as with past tree bases and hills, just a few points per as there is not much painting to be done on them, however the hills and some bases are bigger so I am going to go with 15 points.  This gives you a grand total of 35 points and a whole pile of great looking terrain.  

As for your comment on the colour being to yellow, I dont think so on most of them, other than the last picture of the tree bases and the first one of the head in the sand.  Maybe its just those pictures? or those pieces?  I know how photos sometimes colour phase things a bit.  If they look like those pictures in real life, I agree with you and would lighten them up, if they look like the hills and ruins, I think those are a perfect desert colour.  Completely up to you though, and very hard to comment for certain without seeing them in real life.

 - Byron  

[From AndrewG: More Folks I Wouldn't Invite to Dinner (25 points)

 

As I blew past my original AHPC project and points objective rather early in the season, I’ve been forced a bit to create a two-track production line going back and forth between historical and other projects while I wait for one or the other to dry or get to its next stage. This week I did do a bit of both; this first entry being more Frostgrave baddies for what I’m now calling the Cult of the Double Scar.

I have to say I really do like these Northstar/Osprey plastic sculpts. They have an old school vibe about them and are nicely detailed without going too overboard. They are also very kit bashable, which is a huge plus for me. This group is made mostly from the Cultist 1 box, with some arm and head swaps from sets 2 and 3. I noted, however, in the Five Leagues from the Borderlands rules the initial enemy encounters often include a couple of slingers - so I incorporated one using some bits from a Wargames Atlantic peasant sprue.

Frostgrave and WGA kits mix well in conversions.

Frostgrave kits offers an excellent selection of belt gear

Apparently evil doers need loose fitting pants

 

I used more or less the same palette as last time and being pretty basic figures, these paint up relatively quickly. The application of some AK corrosive texture effects to the warrior’s shield was something new for me though. I had never tried this product before, and I have to say I really like how it works, especially with a bit of Army painter rust effects added in to give it the final look.

AK corrosive effects with Army Painter rust added in

And here they are with the first five figures I painted. I’ll probably do one more batch and give them a couple of leader/character types to round out the warband, then they’ll be ready to challenge our adventuring heroes in due course.

 

Thus, in this batch:

5x 28mm figures = 25 

Very nice figures Andrew.  They’re a nasty looking bunch and I won’t be sharing a table with them either.

From AndrewG: Saracen Cavalry and Infantry - Some test paints (25 points)

I’ve been interested in the early Crusades period for a long time, but never previously thought of pursuing it as a wargaming project. However, with the recent figure releases from Footsore, Wargames Atlantic, and Victrix covering this era I thought I’d give it another look. I’m glad I did.

Last fall I bought a bag each of the Victrix plastic Islamic cavalry and infantry. Overall, I found the sculpts were fantastic – the infantry went together with almost no effort, and while the cavalry can be a bit more finicky, they looked pretty amazing once assembled. I then left them aside for the time being – likely because some other shiny hobby thing arrived to take my attention away. You know how it goes.

Then a friend told me the week before last that he’s started working on his own Crusader and Saracen forces, so I pulled out a couple of the Victrix figures for a test paint with a view to likewise eventually building the same.

My concept for the Saracens is to paint the rank and file in simpler colours so that the leaders can easily stand out. These figures painted up pretty quickly and a bit of variety will go a long way to making a distinct looking formation. For the shields I opted to use Little Big Men Studios transfers because I like them, but one certainly can go the simpler route of just painting their own designs if preferred.

The cavalryman took me a while longer to complete. I wanted a colourful character, but I didn’t want him looking like a circus rider. So, I did a bit of historical research and settled on a palette that gave me variety but not chaos. As I was making him a bannerman for some future cavalry group, I found it easier to paint the horse and rider separately before assembly. Similarly, I painted his shield, sword, and sword harness separately then glued it on after I had secured the rider to the horse. Again, the shield design and the banner are both LBM Studio transfers. 

Overall, a bit of effort but I think the end result was worth it. Looking forward to making more!

In this small batch:

3x 28mm figures = 15 points 

1x 28 mounted figure = 10 points

Nice work on those Saracens Andrew.  I really like the Dark Age Victoria kits but might have to get some of their Arabs now.  I think we can say that you and your painting aced this test.