From Kerry T - A home from home (60 points)

Morning afternoon & evening all 

I've printed off a lot of terrain in the past 18 months and just stored it under the gaming table. Last week when I put a castle together I rediscovered something I'd printed off but forgotten about and thought it would be good get finished.

Its from the Printable Scenery King & Country range and is labelled as a Norman Garrison. I think I know who Norman was but I believe this garrison/fort will suffice for earlier periods including the Viking  & Saxon era and perhaps even a home for a Romano-British warband as its effectively a walled palisade

This is intended to sit on the table edge so there are no back walls

None of the figures or thatched houses were painted for this and have just been included for the setting and the pictures were taken quickly outside on a cloudy day

Can you see the block of wood holding up the backdrop? (doh)

The gateway

The STL files come with straight sections, inward and outward curves, a gateway and raised 2 story section. Ruined versions are also included allowing great overall variation and good value for money. I've only printed off a few pieces

This was a quick and simple paint job using my usual terrain recipe of Black undercoat, then Vallejo Flat Earth dry brushed with Iraqui sand then Pale sand and then flocked to match my terrain boards. The wooden bits were painted in various browns from Vallejo and dry brushed

Dimensions are 100cms in total length, 10cms wide and 7cms high

Many thanks and best wishes

Valleyboy

 

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What a great looking piece here that can be used for so many different games. The effect you got on the wood and the ground work are both great and very effective. I am going to guess it would take about 4-6 hours per strip here and I count 5 strips, with the middle one with the gate taking longer to paint.  With that I am going to award 60 points and say great work the final result looks really great!

 

- Byron 

From: JP Yawn, more Early Germans (50 points)

Don't say I didn't warn you folks! I am hell bent determined to chew through these, though I still want to do some other periods! Pinning the shields remains a annoying process.

Another warband of angry Teutonic Terrors. These are dedicated to a very dear friend of 50 years whose paintbrush is currently convalescing! Get well soon!!

I hope my opponent doesn't see this angle too often!

So: 10 x 28mm = 50 points

As always, thanks for looking!

Now now JP, nothing to yawn at in your post mate, these are still brilliant to goggle at!  Most of us Challengers are hobby-butterflies and flutter from the one project to the other, mostly always before finishing what we started. You are one of those rare stalwarts that soldiers on (see what I did there?) and tries to finish his projects and I think we all admire that quality a lot! And it also really helps that you have painted these Germans up in the same consistently great level of painting as the rest of your work. So keep it up and let us see you finish this project!

Cheers Sander  

From JezT - First Post Gripping Beast 28 mm Dark Age Infantry (20 points)

Hi All, 

Happy to make my first post this Monday 12 January and looking back my first ever post to the Challenge was on 12 January 2017 - at that time it was some 28mm Goth Archers. It seems a long time ago now. I think Curt "won" that Challenge year with his brilliant Battle of Pavia diorama. 

Anyway my wargaming interests have pretty much remained the same. I like painting 28mm Ancient to Renaissance figures and mainly play games using Basic Impetus rules. I especially enjoy the speed of the rules, so a game is usually over in a couple of hours. Most recently I have really enjoyed using the new "scenario" options for the game set up's. 

My first post is just a simple 20 points for 4 x Gripping Beast Dark Age figures. These are based individually so when I use them in Basic Impetus I fit them into sabot bases. These figures will boost up and be used when I am playing Picts or Welsh armies as Light Infantry with Long Spear. The pointing figure might also find his way into the back rank of a Heavy Infantry Romano British "Arthurian" army. 

I am based in Kenilworth UK and these are Gripping Beast figures from just down the road in Evesham. They are great fun and easy to paint. I just use simple Games Workshop paints.

Thanks all and hopefully will be something different ready for next Monday. 

Cheers Jez

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Hi Jez - GregB here, acting as temporary Minion for Dallas while he enjoys a well-earned break in a place where the January weather is much more tolerable than the Canadian prairies :)

First off, welcome back once again to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge! We are thrilled to have you with us.

I will always love me some Gripping Beast castings! So beefy and full of character. Some of the molds on their classic ranges are starting to show their age, but damn they still look great. As you say, great fun to paint! And you have done them fine service here. 

That is 20 points to get you on the board. 

GregB

From JP: Early Saxon raiders (60 points)

  

I have always been fascinated by the Dark Ages, be it Tolkien's works and Farmer Giles of Ham or  Franz Bengstonn's The Long Ships (the book, not the movie) or later inspirations driven by Sub-Roman Britain. Along the way I have read some fascinating books like Marc Moris' The Anglo-Saxons and Thomas Williams' Lost Realms. 

Of course Bran Mak Morn and Worms of the Earth have also fed into my mind emporium... 

Anyways, that's my excuse for this distraction from Marians and Cimbrians... Victrix put out a set of rules called Pillage (not sure about their playability yet) but I am hooked on Midgard Heroic Battles. The Victrix Early Saxon and Sub-Roman Britons Pillage forces have been irresistable purchases in spite of my love for metal. As I assembled them in December, the need to apply brush to figures was overwhelming and I have interwoven them into my other projects. I will doubtlessly buy Picts and Scots as they come out (yawn, bloody typical gamer I hear you all say).

I started with the easiest chaps, skirmishers:

Then some basic Fyrd - using the small shield as they are still 'warband' in orientation rather than 'shieldwall'.

Points:

12 28mm foot x 5 points  = 60 points

Thanks for looking folks!

JP

A great Dark Age entry JP, I do like the gritty rough and ready look of these early Saxons. Your choice of natural colours is inspiring as it gives these miniatures real historical credibility. Another 60 points for the tally for you.

Cheers Sander 

From AdamW: Vikings horny, but not on their helmets. Lust (58 points)

Dante's Divine Comedy : Lust

 This is my entry for the Lust circle of hell. No explanation or justification really needed to explain this one, as it's pretty clear why the Viking victors are taking their female captives.

The figures are 15mm from Peter Pig, painted using mainly Army Painter speedpaints (not a gimmick KenR ;) ).

I didn't really have anything suitable for this and some others sections so I had to temporarily increase the lead pile. My initial overall plan was to concentrate on painting up projects, but as a newbie I wanted to take part in the Divine Comedy Challenge for fun.  Obviously I could have just painted individual figures, but these sorts of mini-vignettes can be used on the table.

As an historical gamer it's probably the first time I've painted a female chest, but as the intro by Curt says, the figures could be titillating..........

Points

 20  19x 15mm Vikings/prisoners @2pts  = 40  38pts

Lust Bonus = 20 pts

Total 60 58 pts

There are two Vikings carrying their victims on their shoulder. I have counted each at two figures, as although they are one casting, they were sold as two figures and took as long to paint. Hope that's ok?

(phew that was close...got distracted and almost hit that tempting little Publish button)

An excellent contribution for the Lust theme, Adam, very creative! You put those speedpaints to good use, and I agree that they are certainly not a gimmick. 

As for your points, I am going to be a litte strict here though. Partial  figures, such as prone figures for instance, are only gaining you half the points value. I think it is fair to treat the carried models the same way.  So, 58 points for you! 

Martijn

From JezT: 25 mm Footsore Dark Age Archers and Crusader (25 points)

Hi all 

Jez here and great to be participating again in this years challenge and part of the Thursday crew!

I remember my first ever post to the Challenge a few years ago now was some Goth archers and this first post for this year is again some archers. These are part of the Footsore Welsh range and are very dynamic, I already had some javelin men and wanted to match in the archers. I will use them in several generic Dark Age armies for my preferred Basic Impetus army games using sabot basing. This gives me the option to also use them in skirmish games.

I haven't painted much since the last Challenge so this was a nice group to get back into the flow with. 

Next I also completed another Footsore medieval Bishop Knight character that I painted up as a Teutonic Crusader. This was an odd figure left over from a past project but especially wanted to finish so I have a mounted and unmounted combination.

The mounted figure is from Gripping Beast and aimed to copy uniform

So in all just 5 foot figures to start - 25 points. 

All the best Jez

From TeemuL: Feeling a bit nostalgic, Jez? :) And why not, Challenge is a great way to look back, do some retrospective work and find inspiration for painting and modelling. I have always liked your colour choices, and here again they are very natural and fitting. Let's see what you shall paint next.

From PeterD: Picts [40 points]

 A second post from me today with some Picts.

A unit of 6 light infantry javelin men, from the Gripping Beast plastic kit.  These would be drawn from the poorest and or youngest warriors in the tribes, those lacking the equipment to serve in the main war band or with the archers.  I kept the colours very drab and basic.  I had meant to drill out the hands to hold spare javelins but forgot to do so.  Therefore I added some spare ammo to the bases.

A warlord plus retainer with horn, metal figures from Gripping Beast.  These castings have the gritty look of experienced warriors and raiders who acquired some serious kit over the years.

That's eight 28mm foot figures for 40 points with no bonus points.

The javelinmen are always a useful addition to any army, and I in fact like the drab and muted colours you have chosen, Peter. The command base is looking good also, the chieftain with his red manes looks suitably impressive. It has been very nice to see the various additions to your Pictish forces during this Challenge! 40 points it is.

Martijn

From RayR: Famous Person/Statue - El Cid 25mm (35 points)

 

For this post I'm dipping my toes into Section 2 of the Challenge Library and landing on........

Famous Person: The plaque says it all.

I searched through my unloved leadpile to see what I could use for a statue and found a few suitable figures, but needed some kind of plinth. Then at Cavalier last Sunday I saw some for sale from Iron Gate Studios, a swift purchase was made! 

Irongate also sell a range of  very nice looking figures El Cid and the Reconquista. So another purchase was made, and the unloved figures from my pile of shame were put back in the box! 

If you're gonna paint of figures for the Reconquista, why not go straight to the man of the hour Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, himself!! Of course otherwise known as El Cid.

Iron Gate's version of El Cid

Not really sure on the points for this one?

Its definitely 20 Bonus points and 10 for 1 x 25mm mounted figure

then its whatever Teemu wants to give me for the plinth?

TeemuL: Excellent statue, Ray! I really like the patina effect you achieved on the statue. I agree your definitions on the points, they are definitely correct. I think I'll give you 5 points more for the plinth and the very nice effect (including the hand painted shield). I have been quite strict with bonus points this Challenge, so I have plenty of them left. :)

From PeterD Scots-Irish Slingers in 28mm (30 points)

A small post from me this week.  I was out of town at a actuarial exam meeting in Charlotte NC this weekend and I'm still struggling to keep up on my extra teaching load.

This is a unit of 6 Irish slingers for my Late Roman Britain project, based for To The Strongest.  I did some kit bashing using plastics here.  The torsos and heads are all from the Gripping Beast Irish set and the arms come from the Victrix Late Roman Archers and Slingers set.  The two kits mesh reasonably well and I was able to get a good mix of loading and firing figures.  As noted in my last post, the Victrix pack has more archers than slingers and many of the sling options are staff slings, which is a higher level of tech than would be seen in 4th Century Ireland.

Slingers are the only long range missile troops available to the Scots-Irish in TTS. They would typically be the fellows who lacked the minimum equipment (shield and spear) to form up in the war band.  Often they would be beardless yutes, as Cousin Vinnie would say. However, I prefer the GB heads with beards to the clean shaven heads.  I painted them in basic tunics with no decorations.  I left room for a lable, but I am overthinking tribal names for my Scots-Irish and haven't decided which ones to use.

Like the tunics, this is a basic minimalist post.  Six 28mm foot figures for 30 points and no room bonus.

 

The British from Wales, the Scots from Ireland, the Picts from Scotland and the Irish from, well, dunno, Ireland?  always bewilder me. Like the Asterix and the Germans, where our heroes are completely dumbfounded by the multitude of different Germans coming from all directions. However, there is nothing dumbfounding about these very useful slingers, Peter. Simple, yes, but effective, a fine job and some good kit bashing too. 30 points for you added to the spreadsheet ;-)

From Codsticker: By The Skin Of My Teeth... (40pts0

 So, another mad scramble to get my final entry in before the challenge ends; 2 hours, 7 minutes and counting as I type this. As I live on Vancouver Island I may be the latest posting challenger by time zone (not sure if our antipodean friends are ahead of me or behind me time-wise). I close this edition of the challenge with 8 Dark Ages warriors from Victirx.

These are actually the result of combining two kits: Anglo-Danes and Dark Ages Archers.

I wanted the majority of my warriors without armour but armed with spears, carrying shields and wearing helmets.

As has been reported elsewhere, the plastic weapons are a tad fragile on these Victrix figures; I broke the sword (you can see the seam in the weapon above) and two spears.

Easy enough to drill out the hands and replace with metal spears but the heads of the plastic ones are so nice.

Such beautiful sculpting on these figures; wonderful hands and faces, hardly a mould line to be seen and great value on top of that. 

8 28mm figures @ 5pts each= 40 pts.

This has been another great challenge even though I am falling short of my 500pt goal this year. I attribute that to the Khand figures taking more time to paint than I anticipated; loving the Dark Ages figures so much I spent a bit more time on them than I normally would; and I only hit one stop on the Studio tour so not many bonus points collected. Thank you all for all the wonderful support and comments and I apologise for not commenting this year as much as I have in the past. I look forward to seeing your work again next year.

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Wonderful work on these fine figures, Rob! I especially like the abstract raven shield device and lush groundwork. Well done, and thank you for participating in the Challenge.

- Curt