From MartinN: Middle Imperial Roman Lanciarii & the joys of rebasing [30pts]

The challenge is drawing to a close and neither have I been as productive as I had planned -not that I was expecting much, mind- nor have I been as active on here as I had intended. While I'm sitting here at my desk I can gaze upon all the figures that I set out to paint this year and it's a bit of a sobering sight. But you're not here to see me dwell on my failures, are you?

Over the last three weeks I managed to convert and paint 5 more Middle Imperial Romans for my fledgling Midgard force. This time it wasn't the heavy infantry type Legionary, but my interpretation of the somewhat enigmatic Lanciarii. We're not really certain as to how these troops fought, or indeed how they were equipped. Rather than regurgitate arguments of men far more knowledgeable as I, I simply present you with my representation of these enigmatic troops, as I’m sure you can use google just as well as I if you’re curious. I for one settled on elite light infantry, armed with short throwing spears for harrassing enemy troops, as well as large oval shields and the Spatha, making them capapble of facing an enemy head on if need be. I was undecided if I should give them helmets, but in the end decided against for no other reason than the rule of cool.

The figures are a mix of A&A and converted Victrix and again I'm rather pleased how they work together. I also used parts of the different Victrix sets to convert some of the A&A figures as frankly I find them a little dated by now. To reinforce the elite status they were all painted wearing the same clothes, very much opposed to my usual view on uniformity in the pre-modern era, with purple ornamental stripes. Rather eye catching I think. Shields are again painted by hand.

So, why then do I just claim 5 figures when clearly there are 10 on the photos? Well, I had already painted a brace of 5 figures a while ago and having had to rebase them anyway for use with Midgard, I decided to intermix them with their newer counterparts. Seems like not much has changed in my painting approach over the last couple of years.

Anyway, 5 figures á 5 points each is 25 points in total. Hurrah!

--------

What a treat these are Martin! I would be looking at the untouched minis as a "pile of potential" if these are anything to go by!

I know all too well the 'fun' of rebasing having done it last year with my Caesarian Romans, but if it brings a new lease of life for them then its worth it. They look wonderfully dynamic like that too.

...and take a few bonus points to the crisp details and lovely hand painted shields!

- Paul

From MartinN: 15mm Caesarian Roman Heavy Cavalry (32 Points)

Once again work got in the way of enjoyable and civilized pastime. Nonetheless I thought it appropriate to show a sign of life, no matter how small. Thus I present to you eight 15mm Caesarian Romans from Forged in Battle/ Westwind Miniatures. The miniatures are based for use as heavy cavalry in Impetus.

Except for some minor casting issues (the feet on some of the riders were not fully cast) these, once again were a blast to paint. I think I even enjoyed painting horses for the first time in my hobby career.

A few years back I started a Caesarian Roman project in 28mm, which, due to various reasons, never got off the ground. As mentioned in my last post I'm planning to go 15mm for some of my future projects, so I thought it might be the right time to revive this old favourite of mine only in a smaller scale. And no Curt, 20mm is no option ;-) While the AB figures are certainly nice, I simply can't get to grips with that particular scale painting wise. Don't want to rant again about the subject, but 20mm to me is quite a half-assed thing. Somewhere in between the pro's and con's of 28mm and 15mm. I'll stick with 20mm for my modern stuff, as decent Bundeswehr is hard to find in both the other scales, but nothing else... as of yet ;-)

As I want my force to be based on Legio X Equestris I went for a heavily stylized bull on the signum. Thinking about how unwilling I normally am to do free hands I'm actually quite chuffed with how it turned out. The shields only got a basic geometrical design copied from Heresy Brush's take on the very same figures (sorry can't find an image for illustration).

This should give me another 32 points to add to my total. This also helps me to cement (well, 'cement' might be a bit over enthusiastic) my lead in the 'Bavarian challenge' with 287 (Having already added the 20 points from the bonus round entry) straight points vs. ChristopherS's 244 points.

Wow, these are gorgeous Nick! When I first looked at the images I thought, 'Gee, he must be using giant bases for these 28s.' Then I read the post and was floored by the realization that they are 15s! 

Your work on the signum is excellent, both crisp and clear and the shields are wonderful as well. You have a lot of russets and reds going on in this group, and so the grey-blue of the horse harness really helps to define the individual figures. Top-shelf work here, Nick - well done!

'Alea Iacta Est - The Die is Cast' - The 6th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Begins

Whoa, am I ever beat!

This working through the night is a young man's business. It serves me right though - doing a mounted command stand for the opening entry was definitely a little too ambitious, but, what can I say, I simply couldn't resist. :)

Welcome everyone, to the sixth edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge! 

We have 88 participants this year from all over the globe, and with that we're going to treat our visitors with a wonderful display of our hobby all the while having a great time doing it. I'm really looking forward to the next three months!

For my first entry I thought I'd follow this year's theme of 'Gambler/Risk-Taker', by creating a command stand depicting Julius Caesar as he is about to cross the Rubicon River, thereby inciting civil war within Rome. These 28mm models are from 1st Corps. A bit lumpy and somewhat rough around the edges, but they have great character and get the primary elements right.

I also managed to scare up a rather grotty replica of a Roman die and created a socket on the base to accommodate it - this way we can count down to when Ceasar gets stabbed in the back, poor lad.
 

The Aquilifer is supposed to have a shield on his left arm, but at 5am I couldn't face either a decal or hand painting the design. So here we see him sporting a brand new Apple Watch on his wrist (as we all know, those Romans were trend-setters).

'Lucius, what time is it?'  

'Umm, it's 6am, sir, ...your stocks are bullish and Reuters would like an interview with you later today.'

With this opening entry I'm also delighted to announce that Simon Miller (aka BigRedBat), creator of the excellent ancients-to-medieval ruleset 'To the Strongest', has kindly offered prize sponsorship for the Challenge. Thank you so much Simon for your generosity!

Okay, now for points (pulls off mittens and socks). Hmm, two mounted figures with a minion carrying firewood... 25 points for me - WooHoo! 

Now, just 975 points to go...