From PaulOG: Last Hurrah Legionaries (118.5 points)

I'm away for work and wont be back until after the Challenge. I'll complete my Duel Wallah duties from afar but this is my last submission for AHPC 14.

Despite having planned (and acquired models) for tribal warband allies for Caesar, I recently discovered that in fact... I cant under the army lists! Oops. An emergency resupply of legionaries was required.

So here are two more Legionary units, using 1st Corps models and taking me to a total of 10. Frustratingly, these are smaller sculpts to the rest of my army, more true 25s really. That said, they look good on their own bases and their poses give them a different look to my other troops. Shield decals by LMB Studios, and 2 fancier ones were hand painted for the Centurion and his Signifer to mix things up.

Another Command Figure to take charge on the wing, a Warlord sculpt this time. Nicely detailed but  more statuesque and fancy in style, as befitting his rank. Maybe a wealthy Senator's son spending time with the Legions to further his political career back in Rome after the campaigning season.

Ave Caesar!

Next a pair of Lictors, destined to accompany Caesar on my army's command base. I got the General's famous white charger done but sadly ran out of time for the man himself and really didn't want to rush such an iconic figure. So here they are, albeit unbased - mea culpa!

Their broad flat features and big noses are very Wallacus and Gromitus!

And finally a Hoplomachus for my gladiator ludus, filling a gap in my retinue. This style of fighter was modelled on the Greek Hoplite and was distinguishable by his spear, small shield and greaves. Traditionally, a Hoplomachus would be paired to fight either a Threax or Murmillo.

I've gone all-in with the Hoplite style and am very happy with how he turned out with the matched red and white apparel.

That's 22 completed figures @ 5 points each (110) and 2 more unbased @-25% (7.5 points) for a total of 117.5 points. Added to my tally of 882 gets me to...999.5 points for the challenge. So I've hoping my hand painted shields are worth a bonus point between them to squeak me over the 1k milestone, and I throw myself at the mercy of the Minion :-)

From Millsy: Ave dudorum! Very nice indeed Paul and despite the difference in size I'm sure these will fit very well alongside your other units in the army. Wallacus and Gromitus made me laugh out loud, so I feel I must respond by asking "Plus caseus Gromitus?" Your efforts will be missed for the remainder of AHPC 14 but with a bonus point you at least sneak over the line and hit your target for the year. Safe travels and hurry home mate, my Numidians are keen for a fight!

From AndrewB: Gladiators and Scratchbuilds, Oh My! [Oversized Books, DIY, Lady Sarah's Cart] (180pts)

Ladies and gentlemen! Last week, we ended my post with True Crime!  This week, I’m hitting Oversized Books with some wildly giant 54mm gladiators from Irregular Miniatures!   These five I originally purchased just to see if they were something I’d enjoy painting, and could use for virtual games so players could more easily see who their figure was vs others (plus, I hear folks like gladiator movies).  They were quite fun to paint, had lots of room to try out some highlighting, which promptly disappeared under a wash(gonna have to change something next time).   In any case, I’ve ordered several more, which you may see before the end of the challenge!

The sculpts aren’t the most modern or absurdly detailed, but they lead to a good clean figure that I really enjoy. Oversized Books places me with two items from Section 6 complete, so that lovely lady gladiator’s gonna hop on Lady Sarah’s Book Cart and take me over to the lower rotunda, for a delightful crack at the DIY room!   

Oh boy, did I DIY my face off with these!   I have a bunch of the anthropomorphized rabbits made by Thomas Foss over at Skull and Crown Strategems, which are delightful to paint up, and supremely fun models to boot!  They needed a place to live, however, and simple holes in the ground for warrens wouldn’t do at all for such sophisticated and warlike creatures.  I decided to make them a few semi buried warrens, which you can see here!

As you can see, the rabbits enjoy the finer things, with little porches and back walks   Three of them likewise stack quite well into a 6x6x6 shipping box, so I’m in luck for both transport and scoring!  

Next up, the rabbits need some sort of communal buildings for governance and defense!   So I put these together!  

These guys are also entirely assembled from cut up cereal boxes, and should provide some semblance of security for the rabbit village from marauding humans, etc.  these were a bit more challenging than the warrens obviously, but were a fun break, and turned out better than anticipated!  I’m still debating what to put on the floors of the towers, maybe you all can provide some suggestions!  I believe I’ll probably add a few clumps of brush, and maybe some flowers, but at least the flowers will have to wait to see how the figures all turn out first   These are oddly shaped, but surely fill a box and maybe two thirds to a half of another, so we’ll go with that.  

As always, the basing materials come from Geek Gaming.  I can’t get enough of these things!

In terms of scoring, we have the five 54mm figures for 50pts (hot dang!), as well as three and a half cubes of terrain for 70pts!  We hit the Oversized Book section, as well as Lady Sarah’s Book Cart, and DIY, for another 60pts, for a total of 180pts this week!  Can’t slow down! 

Also, finally remembered to add my progress picture!  Gonna be a long slog to hit every section. 

 

 Hi Andrew, it's Assistant Junior Library Assistant Martijn stepping in here, as Greg has unfortunately been detained elsewhere. Some great gladiators you have brought us! They really look the part. I suppose "Oversized" is relative, but hey, I'll grant you your bonus. "For those things that are better when bigger", it seems like you intend to use them that way. However, your DIY project is awesome! Very creative and well executed. I must confess I had to look up the word "warren", so I did learn something today. You have not provided measurements, but I'll trust you on you word so 180 points it is.

From ScottC: Westerns & Swords and Sandals (240 points)

 

I painted up my Knuckleduster miniatures mounted Jesse James faction. I have a lot of their miniatures and they always seem to get better and better!

I also painted up 2 horses for my 4ground prepainted wagon and the driver.

Next up:

I painted my Crusader Gladiator miniatures that I have always dreamed of painting. Gladiator was my favorite movie growing up and holds a very high nostalgic factor for me. It was an absolutely blast to paint these guys up.

Total:

26x 28mm infantry (25 gladiators + driver) = 130 pts

7x 28mm cavalry (6 jesse james + 0.5 per horse) = 70 pts

 Bonus Challenge points x2 = 40 pts 

Total: 240 pts

Let's see if I can make it to the Directors Chair...!

What great sets of figures, Scott! 

Tamsin

From Barks: Gladiators (Swords & Sandals)(56 points)

I'm taking the studios very literally this year. Nine arena combatants that I got to experiment with Jugula- I've yet to play a game. Fortunately for my wallet, these are soft plastic 1:72 from Italeri. They took Contrast and Speedpaint quite well. If I was to go further, I'd shade and highlight the metal.

9x 20mm figures (36 points)

Swords & Sandals set (20 points)

Another great entry, Barks. Jugula sounds like an interesting game, so hopefully these figures will give you a chance to try it out. The figures look nicely detailed for soft plastic, though I must say that the bear looks tiny.