From JohnB: The clatter of hooves - HAT 1/72 Fauxterre Lancers (64 points) and a squirrel

OK so this might be my last post as the deadline looms. Therefore a big thankyou to Curt and the gang, my Minion Peter and the Tuesday Terrors team. Its been great fun and this year I actually did a lot of painting - the two previous AHPC's I have entered resulted me in doing a lot of scratch building - something I had not signed up for. Anyway this year its different and I have painted all I prepped so actually I have just one unit left to paint - of course with a giant pile of "half paints" left untouched since December.... I have enjoyed seeing every ones submissions and I have learnt quite a bit more about painting models figures - even after half a century at it: new tricks and old dogs saying does NOT apply here. So back to my last but one post - hopefully......... Having spent some time building up sinews of war for my fantasy historical Fauxterre Wars I have finished up getting some pointy end forces done.

Being interwar/nearly mechanised in theme it's no surprise that Cavalry units might have some new armoured kit but also still rely on the horse.

Normally I steer clear of static grass but on this occasion succumbed and I quite like the result. The horses were burnt sienna over white primer with gore grunta fur citadel contrast wash over the top - nice and speedy. belatedly I noticed I had only painted yellow metal buttons on the front facing ammo pouches for which I seek forgiveness.

This is a unit of World War One British Lancers now appearing as Fauxterre Cavalry of a number of countries at war with each other. The equipment and uniforms except perhaps the Lances were to be seen in the real world war two. Italian Cavalry (Savoia Cavalleria) fought on the Russian Front charging the Russians at Izbushensky in 1942 albeit armed with sabres and grenades. I think the lances look better for the gaming table. Thats Fauxterre for you.

Total Points 8 x 8 points for 1/72 cavalry = 64 points one squirrel I believe?

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Sylvain: That you have painted all of what you have prepped (or almost) is a sentence that is great to read in the final stage of the Challenge. And the cavalry you are showing us today is a great way to conclude a stunning production. Bravissimo!

 

 

From PeteB - Hat Roman Hastati - 40 Points

Finally I got them finished. These were also ment for the "Empire" bonus round but I was to busy with other things that I couldn't finish them on time. Like the Velites they painted very nice. Pity of the mould lines in the faces but I didn't want to ruin the figures. 

Here are the pictures and I'm off working on my "toy story figures" for the next theme round. I hope you like these.

Thanks for watching!

Points: 4 x 54 mm Foot Figures = 40 Points

Oh my Pete, you have really made these golden oldies shine! One doesn't often see these rare HäT 54mm releases and it's great to see them pop up here in the hallowed halls of the Challenge. I am a bit of a HäT fanboy what with some of the boxes carryng my likeness, and these are great. I do have their 1:72 little brethren kicking around in a box somewhere. must look them up one day and hope to paint them just as well as you did these. 

 Cheers Sander 

From AlanD - More Landwehr! (180 points)

This week's entry is a repeat of last week - a battalion of Prussian Landwehr. Millsy, feel free to cut and paste your previous comment! Like the last lot, they are a mix of Warlord, including a nice command vignette, and some of the new 28mm figures from HaT. These are the 4th battalion of the 1st Silesian Landwehr.

I had a very odd experience painting these. Have any of you painted in your sleep? One evening I was painting while very overtired, nodded off, and woke up with a start. The next day, when I looked at the figures, I found I had weirdly daubed yellow paint on the hands of a whole bunch of them. Strange. Hands were duly repainted the more traditional flesh colour.

So that's another 180 points, and definitely time to take a break from painting Landwehr. Here's a final shot of the two battalions together.

From Millsy:

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Very nice indeed Alan! I've been waiting to see these for a while after hearing you talk about them on our paint and chat sessions. They certainly don't disappoint mate.

The yellow cap bands and the variations in coat colour really make these look the part of better quality troops as they were in the later war. No ragtag mob this!

180 points added to your tally and I can't wait to see them in person.
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Thanks mate, that saved me 10 mins :-P

Cheers,

Millsy

From Iain W - 28mm Late Roman skirmishers (30 points)

I give you six Late Roman skirmishers for my Dux Bellorum army that will in all probability become a Midgard army. I've been chipping away at this army for a while, most of the infantry are Black Tree design with some plastic Gripping Beast figures. 

  

 

These though are Hat dark age figures with Gripping Beast plastic heads added as a previous post of Hat dark age slingers without head swaps got a comment asking if they were zombies, super cheap figures who are a rather slight 28mm. I don't think they're too bad, pretty simple paint job, primed in Halfords khaki spray, agrax earthshade wash, tiny bit of colour. We aim for adequate and sometimes achieve it but at least I'm up and running with 6 x 5 points 30 points. Makes a nice change from Napoleonics which has been my primary focus for the last few years.

All the best

Iain 

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I love Romans! Early Romans! Late Romans! I am forever threatening to paint Romans myself and...never getting around to it. Thus I enjoy the Roman efforts of other Challengers with that extra vicarious thrill! And so it is here - well done Iain.

Ah Midgard! I do hear so many good things about this game that I look into it, and then toss the rules the moment I see they are yet another set of rules that uses alternate terms for distances...sigh...maybe one day...

We'll be watching for more! 30 points for you!

GregB

From AlanD - Prussian Landwehr (180 points)

Seeking to bulk up my 1813 Prussian army for Leipzig in 1813, I needed some Landwehr. The best figures are undoubtedly Calpe, but they are very expensive. The Warlord figures are disappointing, particularly with their comically enlarged hands. HaT figures have recently started a new foray into 28mm with a rerelease of Landwehr, Their previous attempt to get into the market suffered from figures that were underscale compared to most of the other manufacturers out there, but a couple of months ago they released two boxes of Landwehr marching and Landwehr skirmishing, and they have managed to match the scale of Warlord almost perfectly.

For this entry, I have painted the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Silesian Landwehr Regiment, using a mix of Warlord plastics, Warlord metals (the command figures) and the new HaT offerings. I think they mix pretty well. The HaT figures suffer from soft detail, and the muskets in particular are fairly dreadful. On the upside, they now release these in hard plastic, and en masse they will do the job. They are also extremely cheap!

I cut off the most egregiously overscale hands from the Warlord figures, replacing them with bits of leftover dark ages figures, which makes them less upsetting to look at.

I quite enjoyed painting these, which is lucky as I have another battalion on the way. Beautiful they are not, but with a game of Soldiers of Napoleon coming up in a couple of weeks I'm sure they will do their duty.

36 figures adds 180 points to the total thanks Millsy!

From Millsy:

Very nice indeed Alan! I've been waiting to see these for a while after hearing you talk about them on our paint and chat sessions. They certainly don't disappoint mate.

The yellow cap bands and the variations in coat colour really make these look the part of better quality troops as they were in the later war. No ragtag mob this!

180 points added to your tally and I can't wait to see them in person.

Cheers,
Millsy

From SanderS: Saxons and Stompy Robots! (330 points)

Hoi,

Last week I missed my posting window because I was busy painting up this lot! We'll start off with some more Big Stompy Robots for the Side Duel okay? As I really love Battletech I have quite a few different factions. One of those is my FedCom Aragon Borderers regiment. The colour scheme for these involves a lot of blue and to make it a bit more interesting I included some white panels. 

Next up are some of my 1:72 plastics. These are early Napoleonic Saxons in their spiffing white uniforms. I painted up a brigade as that's pretty much all the Saxon infantry I have to compliment my early war Prussian army. 

Points wise this is rather a nice amount for the leaderboard: there's the 8 mechs at 5 points each counting up to 40 points. The 3 regiments of 24 figures each in 20mm/ 1:72 is 288 points unless I am mistaken, which makes the total a whopping 328 points this week. Pretty much the closest I will be getting to a points bomb this Challenge I guess. Off to painting contributions for the circles of Hell now!

Cheers everyone!

________________________

Holy smokes, this is quite the bomb, Sander! I always enjoy your Battletech entries as they are so wonderfully clean and colourful. I really like the saturated blue you've used and I think your choice of a few white contrasting armoured panels is spot-on. They look terrific. The same goes for your Napoleonic  Saxons. Very spiffing and tidy work here. I love the early war uniforms with the bicorne - everything is better with a bicorne, I say. The only thing better is a czapska, but I digress.

328 points? Lets round it up to 330 to include the brave banners (and because it rolls off the tongue better).

- Curt & Huck

From Lorenzo: 1848 Danish Rifleman (32pts)

This is my second submission and it is another special unit for my First Schlieswig Holstein Wars (1848-1851). In this case we have some rifleman or light infantry from the Royal Danish Army.

This first photo shows these are conversions and not just repaints like the Guards were. I started this unit by first hunting down suitable head gear. The reality is this war has no ranges available in any scale except Pendrakens 10mm.

The great thing about 1/72 or 20-25mm is it is small enough to skip detail and large enough to consider each figure indidviually.

If I did want divisions and corps I would be at Pendrakens door or down to 6mm etc. But I want individual figures and 20mm is where that starts for me. I tried 15mm Ancients and again found it fell between two stools too big for big battles and too small for details to be appreciated. Injection Plastic ranges permit multiple purchases because of price and therefore also modificiation.

So I ended up with World War One British in this case because their flat caps in 1914 were the nearest match for my Danish.

The 1914 tunics can just about do for the frock coat although the rifles and ammo belts are wrong - but in 1/72 plastic land you can tolerate that. The puttees are another problem though - so out comes the toilet roll and glue. Long trousers with turnups and spats were quite the thing in 1848.

All in all I am pleased with the outcome. At three feet on the warboard they will work.

Basing wise although most rules show light infantry multibased I have gone for individuals on one penny pieces which are cheaper than buying mdf circles. I dug out some ancient GW basing stones and then added some javis fine green turf.

I reckon its just 8 x 4 pts as they are another "new aquisition" so thats 32 points I believe.

Sylvain: A very nice submission about an army rarely seen in gaming. All this is new knowledge to me. I hope more will come in the next few weeks.

 

From HowardT: Later Achaemenid Persian 1/72 20mm (163 points)

Submission for the second half of the Later Achaemenid Persian army.    This submission includes Kardaka, Horde, Cavalry and Chariot.  Will now be moving on to some terrain.

Scale 1 /72 (20 mm). All HAT plastic figures except the Chariot which are Zvezda.

For DBA purposes this army is now complete.

 Points breakdown:

Kardakes,  four stands of 4 figures each.           Points = 4 x 16 = 64.

Horde,   1 stand of 7 figures.             Points = 4 x   7 = 28.

Heavy Cavalry, two stands  of 3 figures each.    Points = 8 x  6  = 48.

Chariot   one stand  with 2 figures.                    Points =  1 x 15 = 15.

Total of points is  (64+28+48+15) = 155 points.

Based for DBA, 8 Stands of Achaemenid Persians of Darius III, 330BC ish. Kardaka to the front Horde to the left, followed by the scythed chariot and heavy cavalry.

Based for DBA, 8 Stands of Achaemenid Persians of Darius III, 330BC ish.
 Kardaka to the front, Horde to the rear left, followed by the scythed chariot and heavy cavalry.

Left side profile.

The Scythed Chariot

Cheers

Howard  2lk

Nice work, Howard. You've pulled out some fine patterns on the shields and armour. Well done on finishing a DBA army! I've added some well-earned points for the chariot crew.

Barks