From Curt - 17th Century Heroes for 'Devilry Afoot' (25 Points)

Hi All!

As a few of you know (or I'm sure can commiserate) I'm a little, um, 'diverse' in my hobby interests. Italian Wars to Forbidden Psalm, Napoleonics to Turnip28, WWII to Burrows & Badgers, I like to cast my net wide and far. The same goes for rules and ideas for games: my mind (and library) are bursting with them, often to the detriment of forgetting other, perhaps more important things.

So in this vein, one new set of rules that has piqued my interest lately is Nic Wright's 'Devilry Afoot'.

This is a very nice, compact set of gothic horror skirmish rules set in the much-troubled 17th century. Similar to 'Hametsu', I really like that it's cooperative and requires a very modest figure count. Each player typically has one Hero and perhaps one or two followers. In 'Devilry Afoot', players are set against classic horrors of the period such as witches, werewolves, vampires, etc. I've not rolled it out to our gaming group yet as I wanted to have a few heroes 'oven ready' for the guys to choose from - and so here we are.

The rule book itself is a wonderful 128 page hardback which contains the rules,  character/beastie profiles and about a dozen scenarios for players to have fun with. I believe these are self-published but I found my copy on Amazon (boo!) and a PDF version is available through DriveThruRPG. Highly recommended.

Here are the first five heroes (all 28mm) I've painted-up for 'Devilry Afoot'. Four of the five models are from Bloody Miniatures. Several worthy Challengers have already featured these figures in their excellent posts, and so here are my efforts.

A cavalry trooper cheering his mates on.

A calm squire, smoking his pipe and waiting with his blunderbuss.

I really enjoyed working on these figures as they have great character and just enough detail not to get you into trouble. I also appreciate that they are cast in metal which appeals to my small, lizard brain on these heady matters.

A soldier from the Continent prepared with his long arm.

A lightly wounded gentleman with his dragoon pistol at the ready.

One of the five figures originates from today's most excellent minion, Sander. Sarah and I met up with Sander and Arthur in Antwerp a year or so ago, and during lunch he gifted me this wonderful figure of a rat catcher that he thought I could make good use of. 

It was a very apropos gift, as rat catchers spark some nostalgia for me. I had just turned 20 when we received Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay at our game store in Winnipeg. At that time (I think around1986), I was very used to fantasy RPGs having the typical wizards, fighters, thieves, etc., but then WFRP introduced totally new characters such as Troll Slayers, Agitators and... Rat Catchers. Mind. Blown. I absolutely loved it, and my first character was a poxed rat catcher with a peg leg, hemp bag and a spade as a weapon. It was brilliant.

Of course, like a dullard, I threw out the figure's packaging before noting the sculptor/manufacture, so if anyone (Sander?) knows the provenance of this mini let me know in the comments. Anyway, its a terrific model with loads of detail (rats galore, as you can imagine) and I had a terrific time painting him up. He'll be a worthy character in our games such as 'Devilry Afoot'. Thank you again, Sander!

These five sturdy adventurers will give me 15 points and another squirrel!

Thanks for dropping in!

- Curt

Curt, we all have those enticing little side projects we love to do and this is one such project. As with all your projects this one is extremely well executed. Your painting and choice of colours are top notch, the basing really fits the secene. The rat catcher is from the same range of figures designed by the Owlhammer Mordheim group. I will check with them who the sculptor is. Monday I will post some figures of that range myself. 

Arthur and myself have really enjoyed our get together in Antwerp and would really love to do this again sometime.  

For now I am very curious as to where this project will take you, thanks for dropping in!     

Cheers Sander 

From PeterA - 28mm ECW (25 points)

Hello all!

For my first entry into this year's Challenge, I present a party of Bloody Miniatures Dragoons for the English Civil War/British Civil Wars/Wars of Three Kingdoms (delete as the fancy takes you!). I love Bloody Miniatures' sculpts, not only are they metal casts, they are full of character and animation, and although nicely detailed are not overly fussy with too much detail. They are perfect for small-scale skirmishes, which are more reflective of the majority of encounters during the ECW than the better known battles such as Marston Moor or Naseby.

Four of these are from the BM Dragoons pack. The chap on the left of the picture is from their Casualty pack and the fellow in the buff coat is from their Dismounted Troopers pack. They are pictured in front of a backdrop from John Hodgson's range of Backdrop Books.

I am no expert in the uniforms of the ECW, but there is a very handy painting guide on the Bloody miniatures website which is available as a free download, which I have used when getting these done. Basically, it argues that whilst there were attempts at uniformity, they were of varying effectiveness and longevity. It also makes the point that therefore it is quite hard to get it 'wrong', and that each gamer will have to decide for themselves what they are trying to represent. For me, I have given every Dragoon a matching coat of 'blew', with a couple in matching trousers, and have gone for quite bright colours as that's what I like to look at on the gaming table (and I was captivated by the pictures of painted models on the Bloody Minatures website)!

 

The issue of what colour uniforms specific regiments is also quite a thorny one. For example, these figures represent Dragoons from Sir Henry Washington's regiment, who may have worn red or blue coats! As red is quite a popular colour choice for coats in the ECW I have gone for blue; I have plans to do a red-coated regiment of foote . 

I had actually painted the Dragoon in the buff coat before the Challenge, and just re-painted his coat sleeves blue to fit in with the rest of his troop, so he doesn't count for Challenge scoring purposes. I have more Bloody Miniatures in the queue, so hopefully these will be the first of many. 

5x 28mm foot figures to get me going = 25 points

___________________________________

Welcome back to the Challenge, Peter!

These ECW Dragoons look terrific! Like you, I really like the stuff from Bloody Miniatures and coincidentally have a few on painting sticks as I type this. I really like your clean brushwork on these fellas and the basing look great. More please!

- Curt

From KentG: 28mm cavalry (320pts)

Well here we are back again, this time it’s all cavalry 

The funny thing is I had said that after the last challenge 

I wouldn’t be doing much cav well you can see how that plan worked 

Out. There’s three different lots of cav, not sure what I was thinking

All those hand painted shields took way to long especially 

The checkered pattern

These first 12 are Spanish Jinetes by Gripping Beast

Not the most detailed figures but they still really nicely

Next up just because who needs more detailed shield yip me

So here Gallic cavalry by Gripping beast again I actually really enjoyed 

These 

 I had a lot of fun painting these next 8 figures by

Bloody miniatures, the detail on these English Civil war minis

Is so really nice and great to paint

Black is always a fun colour to paint

As most if not all of us know, but I’m 

Really pleased with the result on this chap

No flag on the pole here the new owner of

These figures haven’t made up his mind yet.

So let’s total up for the week 

32 x 28mm cavalry @ 10pts each 320pts 

Which means I’ve hit my target for this challenge 

From Millsy:

A wonderful batch of cavalry Kent, all beautifully painted as ever and with a great mix of coats colours on the horses which adds so much interest and variety. 

My initial though was the shield designs were decals and then I read your copy. These are absolutely brilliant mate, particularly the checks which are an absolute bugger to get right regardless of scale.

This 320 point cavalry bomb blasts you through your original 1,500 point total and we're not even halfway! Please let me know your revised total and I will update the roster accordingly.

Cheers,

Millsy

From Codsticker: Bloody Miniatures- The Continental Mercenaries (20 points)

With any luck this will not be my last entry for AHPC XIV! Here we have another pack of 4 figures from Bloody Miniatures, The Continental Mercenaries BM  036:

I feel like I rushed these a bit to get them done for today.

Another wonderful pack though, with very characterful figures.

They could be from anywhere in western or central Europe.

One got a red sash (Royalist) and one an orange sash (Parliamentarian) but, being mercenaries, their loyalties may be... flexible.

I'm no Miles, so just a measly 20 pts for me:

4 x 28mm figures @ 5 pts each= 20 pts

TeemuL: Well, you might have rushed with these, but it is just your opinion. To my eye, they look excellent! Their un-uniformed look (is that a word) fits nice with their mercenary background, but you have still managed to have certain uniformity with them - the basing of course goes a long way to that direction. There is so much to like, painting the lace, all the consistency in the highlights and selection of tones of colours in general. Good job!

From Codsticker: Bloody Miniatures- The Witchfinder General and Pikemen en Melee (40pts)

 Last night I came to the horrible realisation that the latest edition of the AHPC will come to a finale 8 days from now; if I didn't pull my finger out I wouldn't get even close to my target of 350 pts. So, here I am trying to sneak the last two weeks work in under the wire for today. 

First, I have pack BM 034, The Witchfinder General:

The poor victim of his investigation: no doubt a witch as she was found to cohabitate with several cats and- even worse- can read! Impossible for a woman of her lowly status unless acquired through other-worldy means.

Fortunately for the small community, this upstanding puritan investigator has rooted her out:

The evidence against her is weighty. This fellow would know as he is quite smart (you can tell because he wears glasses).

The long arm of the inquisition, this harquebusier was responsible for tracking her down and bringing her to judgement

It doesn't look good for this young woman; surely the pyre is next for her.

With the Pikemen en Melee (BM 035) I chose to give them matching equipment as I figured they probably came from the same regiment.

As I have painted quite a few in blues and reds I went with green (GSW Pickle Green) coats for this group.

I imagined all the buffcoats and harness were all sourced from the same manufacturer.

Just the trousers and socks have some variability.

This man refuses to give up his pike; I may crop that weapon and turn him into an ensign (I couldn't settle on a flag so he got a long stick).

That is 40 pts for this entry:

8 x 28mm miniatures @ 5 pts each + 40

Great work once again Rob. Lovely painting on these sets, and you have really gone through a fair few of them throughout this challenge. I almost see the second set coming to the rescue of the would be witch there... or if not then at least keeping the crowds at bay while she is prepared to burn!

40 pts for you here!
Kyle

From: MarkB: Hunting Monsters -Local History - The Challenge Library (55pts)

 

Hi all,

I am continuing to paint up miniatures to do some monster hunting. These 6 28mm miniatures are from Bloody Miniatures and are very good. I took 3 miniatures from there dismounted dragoons and 3 miniatures from there looting pack to make up this group of Monster Hunters. 

 

These are ECW sculpts but I am using them to represent soldiers from the Kalmar War which took place here in Sweden from 1611-1613, this is the time frame that the Monster Hunting will take place. (Local history)

The War was fought between Sweden and Denmark and was the first war that Gustavus Adolphus fought in and learned from. The colors for the uniforms come from two units of the Swedish Army.

The dragoons are painted to represent the Robert Haswell company. The other miniatures, in brown, are painted to represent members of the Per Måsson's Västergötland Company. 

I also painted up some scatter terrain for the monster hunting game. I have painted up 8 graves that can be placed as needed. I am not sure how many points I will get for them but I am hoping for 5 points.

 

I plan to get back to painting 6mm miniature armies now that I have what I need to start hunting monsters.

For the points I came up with:

6 x 28mm miniatures at 5 points each = 30 points

The Challenge Library entry for local history = 20 points

And the 8 graves scatter terrain = 5 points? 

Total = 55 points

Have a good week. Skål

Great work, Mark! Let's hope your monster hunters will not end up in your graves, nice though they are! I had not heard about the Kalmar War before, you always learn something new during the Challenge. The figures look great, full of character, and I like the grey and brown uniforms with the buff leatherwork. It is nice and sunny here, spring is in the air, and I really don't feel up to doing the complex cubic calculations for the scatter terrain, so I'll take the easy way out and go along with your suggestion;-). Well done, 55 points it is then!

Martijn