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 MartinN: Sigurd - Fáfnir's Bane (17 Points)

Continuing on from last years theme I'm back, or better still painting away on my Middle Imperial Roman project for Midgard. My Romans are more or less done, so I've to do the opposition now it seems.

Last year I painted Brynhild, so I thought it only sensible to now paint Sigurd (Siegfried for us Germans). While the whole epic cycle around Sigurd probably refers to a later period than what I'm going for with my 3rd Century Romans, we don't really know and that's excuse enough for me.

The figures used are from Footsore Miniatures, Victrix and Armorum & Aquila Miniatures and go together quite well. Converting the chap mockingly holding up the severed head, was fun and indeed the reason to paint this whole little vignette. Sigurd and his banner bearer were collecting dust in my stash for over a decade already, but I couldn't think of a way to tell an interesting story with any of the figures I found. I love the defiant pose of the sculpt, so it had to be something special. And when I happened upon the Dark Age Archers set from Victrix I instantly knew I was on to something. Good thing I'll need archers anyway for this project, eh?

Points wise this will see me enter the roster with 17 points for 3 standing and a prone figure in addition to whatever points our Maximo Lider sees fit to throw in for the hand painted shields.

Cost of Entry

Since the beginning of the full scale invasion of Ukraine, I'm donating monthly to Ukrainian charity Come Back Alive Foundation who provide both lethal and non-lethal aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Also US based Renegade Relief Runners Foundation, who deliver aid to settlements as close and sometimes closer to the frontline as is safe(-ish), gets a monthly donation. Both do sterling work, so go and check them out.

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First, welcome back to the Challenge, Nick!

I love that you've completed the book-end to your Brynhild with this fabulous Siegfried vignette. As usual your brushwork continues to amaze, only to be outdone by your subtle conversions and additions. I find your fleshtones, fabrics and painted shields are simply incredible - a tour de force to be admired. Well done, Nick (and another 5 points I think is warranted for the work)!

Also to be credited is your donations to the two Ukrainian charities you mentioned. Those folks need all the help they can get. Very worthwhile.

- Curt

From BrianC A Roman and a couple royal mice (55pts)

Ok. Here's a very brief entry to get me to my goal of 1000 points. Yay! I have three miniatures from Reaper Bones(Ugh!) plastic miniatures and a Warlord Games Roman miniature. I hope these will qualify for Dante's Paradise Circle. Let's do this!

Here we have Reaper Miniatures Mouslings King and Princess. This will be my entry for The Lovers(platonic) Circle. The bond between a Father and Daughter is very special. I know I have 2 daughters myself. We (Dads) will do anything to protect and guide our girls to become strong,  responsible, independent, and compassionate women.

Next, I have the ambitious Roman soldier, Tiberius, who has risen to the ranks of Pilus prior: A centurion in command of the first-century of the cohort. Now he has his eyes on the First Spear(Primus Pilus). I'm sure he will weasel his way to the top, maybe a drop of poison in a certain person's drink? I know I watch too many movies! Ha! 

 

Alrighty! To the points!

28mm x 3 = 15pts.

2 Dante's Circles (The Lovers & The Ambitious) = 40pts.

TOTAL = 55pts

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Congratulations on getting to the 1000 point mark Brian! A massive undertaking for most humans (not those freaks at the top of the ladder but they are, by their own admission, far from normal!). 

Well done!

- Paul

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!

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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: 3rd Century AD Roman Legionaries/ Limbo (70 points)

This week too I'm running with the Middle Imperial/ Late Roman theme from last week. This time I've brought with me a base of Legionaries, which can clearly be dated to the first half of the 3rd century by their old style semi-cylindrical shield. Also the broad leather balteus, from which the Spatha was suspended, which had by then superseded the earlier Gladius short sword. Most of the Legionaries are sporting the -in my humble opinion- rather fashionable Niederbieber type helmet, also dating to the 2nd to 3rd century. As for armour they're wearing a hodgepodge of Lorica Squamata (scales), Lorica Hamata (chainmail) and the rather famous Lorica Segmental (banded metal strips), that is featured in so many Hollywood movies.

The figures themselves are a mix of Armorum & Aquila Miniatures, which by now are rather dated but almost the only commercially available figures for the 3rd century. Then there's a single Wargames Atlantic miniature from their Late Roman Legionaries set. The set fits the 3rd century almost perfectly with the inclusion of the Niederbieber helmet, but I find the details on the plastic rather soft and the Spathae much too large. That said they paint up OK. Also included are three heavily converted figures from Victrix Limited' Late Romans. To make them suitable I gave them heads from Aventine Miniatures, sculpted on the broader Balteus and designed and 3D printed  Spathae/ appropriate scabbards and Pugiones, the famous Roman daggers. Despite being noticeably larger than the other figures I do think they work together rather well. Shields are a mix of Aventine and A&A.

Painting wise I tried to give them a somewhat uniform appearance by using broadly the same colours, without painting them all the same. Personally I find it highly doubtful that Roman Legionaries ever wore anything approaching a uniform. For the shields I went with free hands and frankly, I had a blast. While at first I found it a rather daunting undertaking, I quickly realized I quite liked the look. So much so that by now I have more of those shields already painted than Legionaries waiting in the painting queue. First world problems I guess.

As some of the figures were already started before the challenge, in fact they had lain partly painted in my cupboard for a few years already, I'm claiming the Limbo bonus for this bunch.

So what do we have here?

Eight 28mm infantry plus the Limbo Bonus should give me 60 points plus whatever our dear minion is prepared to throw in for the hand painted shields and conversions.

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Well Nick, I have no doubt that I speak for all Challengers when I say "holy crap, this looks f**king amazing!" Your brushwork is, as ever, top shelf stuff. The conversions are amazing - and you know this because, absent you telling me/us about the conversions, we would not realize they were present, so seamless and smooth does everything look. 

In particular I am impressed that you managed to squeeze Victrix models in there. While I appreciate the quality of the Victrix sculpts, their giant size has turned me away from making purchases as they seem to loom of every other type of sculpt out there. 

Seeing your Romans always inspires me to say "one, day, I'll paint some Romans!". One day...

I award 10 bonus points for hand painting shields (!!), conversions and general amazing-ness. 

70 points for you in total!

GregB

From MartinN: Burgundians... or was it Romans? (35 points)

I welcome you to my very first scheduled post this year, and yes, I'm a little bit embarrassed myself. But what should I do? I was busy with important things. Like... procrastinating?

Anyway, enough of that inane blubbering, on to the meat of the subject: Burgundians (no, not THOSE Burgundians, but those of the Nibelungen Saga) in 28mm for Midgard! Or was it Romans? A little bit of both I'd say. Knowing I'm unlikely to finish a complete force anyway I decided on adding a few Burgundian foederati to my very fledgling Middle/ Late Imperial Romans.

Midgard makes use of individually based leaders. To easily indicate the level of said heroes I decided on the number of figures per leaders base. Thus today we have Brynhild, a level 2 leader, and her hearthguard. Brynhild is from Footsore Miniatures, while her hearthguard is a converted Late Roman miniature from Victrix. Not liking the overly foldy (that's no word, isn't it?) cloak I sculpted one myself using Green Stuff and let him hold his helmet in his hand. Rather chuffed with the results I have to admit.

Next we have a base of Funditores, staff slingers, that could be Romans but could equally well be Burgundian. Instead of using the recommended 12x6 for the basing I decided on 10x5, primarily because I like the look of the narrower frontage, but equally because it saves me painting figures. For the unlikely case I'm ever fielding these in anger against someone with the bigger bases I can always add a small 2x4 base. 

Figures are Victrix again and despite the overly busy folds in the clothing, were a joy to paint. I really love the character in the faces Victrix do.

So, that's it for today. With six 28mm figures at 5 points each we have a grand total of 30 points, not taking into account any bonus points our gracious minion might deem appropriate for the conversion.

****

Hello Nick! So great to have more of your wonderful brushwork to take in. But it is more than the tremendous painting (although, as usual, it is amazing) - I just love how this post checks so many of the "mental boxes" of the wargaming-hobby-brain. In no particular order we have:

- ode to procrastination (you have come to the right place, my friend)

- ode to a game system that you like, but you are unlikely to paint a complete force for, yet here you are painting more for it...

- ode to a figure maker even as we have our little nits, complete with fun term (i.e. "foldy" - I hereby proclaim that not only to be a proper word, but an appropriate one at that!)

- refusal of a stated basing system in order to revert to a personally preferred basing look (I totally sympathize!)

I love all of it! Plus you sculpted on some bits. That gets extra points in my books - so 40 points for you! I wish you well in your battles against procrastination, and we look forward to more of your stunning brushwork!

GregB

From BrianC: Romans, Survivors, and school boy fantasy (100 points)

 Hello. Life has been happening over here. I don't have much, but it's something! We have some Romans(there will be more), Zombicide survivors(there will be more), and a Reaper Miniature. I will use one of the female survivors as  'Sarah the Succubus' to skip to 2nd Circle(Lust) No nudity, sorry wifey will not allow that. Ha! Here we go!

We have some Romans ready for action!

My Sarah The Succubus substitute: Zombicide Survivor, Maddie

A schoolboy fantasy Reaper Metal Miniature(2nd Circle)

 

Zombicide Survivor, Parker. She's a bad mamma jamma!

Lastly, we have Zombicide Survivor, Joe. He's about to light up our world!

Well, I use only Army Painter Speedpaints for most of my miniatures.

Let's do the very brief scoring...

12 Romans x 28mm = 60pts

1 Sarah The Succubus x 28mm = 5pts

1 Reaper Miniature x 28mm = 5pts

Access to 2nd circle = 20pts

2 Zombicide Survivors x 28mm = 10pts

Total =100 points

Sylvain: Romans are a staple of many collectors of miniatures and yours are neat and colorful. I also like your zombie survivors, very colorful too, and characterful. The jeans on them look very realistic. Nice job!

From Mike W: 28mm Arthurian Cavalry, 15mm Romans and some others! (Wrath) (172 points)

Imagine my surprise as I opened up my long awaited order of 3D printed Elves to fulfil my stated aim to work on a unit of Elven Archers this week only to find that the batch did not contain any bases! 😢

 What it does underline is the importance of reading what the eBay lot you are buying actually contains - my bad - so I am delaying that work for a week until I get some bases delivered.

Three stands of '30' 15mm Roman Soldiers, as supplied by Warlord Games

Instead it gives me an excuse to start work on a batch of the Warlord Games Epic Hail Ceasar miniatures that I have collected off the front of various Wargames Magazines. I have a frame of Romans and a frame each of Cartaginians and their allies.

Close-up of Roman Troop Type #1, armoured with plumes

What is clear to me now is that I have to source a couple more Roman frames to enable me to field 3 units each of three bases, each frame contains one base of three different troop types / styles.

Close-up of Roman Troop Type #2, armoured with crests

The types / styles are bases (unscientifically or for that matter historically) based upon armour worn and crests on their helmets.

Close-up of Roman Troop Type #3, largely unarmoured with plumes

As many of you will know the Roman figures come in a special format such that you can represent a block of 30 figures on one stand, without having to paint all 30 figures! For more info see <here>.

Rear view of the completed stands.

Close-up of Roman Troop Type #3, from the rear showing that they are mosty unarmoured except for a small chest and back plate.

Close-up of Roman Troop Type #2, from the rear showing that they are armoured

Finally a close-up of Roman Troop Type #1, from the rear showing that they are also armoured

Being an honest chap, I have consulted with my desigated minon and confirmed with Martijn that these are the first such figures to be painted in these challenges and we have agreed a scoring regime for such stands. 

It respects the long running 1/2 points rule for prone figures but extends it to cover the front and back ranks of the triple Roman stands - so these each only score half points as the front rank only contains the front of the figures and the rear rank only contains the rear of the figures. One point is awared for each of the head and shoulders of the middle rank giving a base score of  10 + (20 x 3 x 1/2) = 40. 

Side view of the completed stands, showing that each has three ranks represented.

This we agree is a fairer score than the potential 90 points for 30 x 15mm figures when over half are not really painted! Hope everyone is happy with this.

Anyway on to how these were painted. The figures were left on their frames and undercoated in white. The base of relatively unarmoured figures were then given a coat of GS Skeleton Horde to give the appearance of a light brown tunic. Other Armoured figures were given a coat of GW Leadbelcher. Heads, arms and legs where painted with GW Darkoath Flesh. Once dry spear shafts were done in light yellow and shields in GW Mephiston Red.

Army Painter Hopilite Gold was used on helmets and the small square armour plates on the otherwise unarmoured figures. Plumes were painted with GW Black Templar, before all pieces were being removed from frames, touched up and then glued together, before a final wash of Army Painter Strong & Dark wash mixed 50/50 and then watered down.

After a matt varnish, the bases were painted with a cream hobby paints mixed with PVA glue and fine sand added.

Five Arthurian Heavy Horse, all Gripping Beast figures out of the box.

The mounted Arthurians are again from the Gripping Beast Heavy Cavalry set and painted in much the same way as those posted earlier in the challenge.

Unit leader, standard bearer and warrior

Two more Arthurian mounted warriors

With the figures completed earlier in the challenge this makes six such figures, I'm in two minds if the mounted units should be 6 or 12 strong. Likely I'll initially settle for 6, but part of me wants to have equal numbers in the mounted and dismounted versions of a unit, in which case I can add more in the future.

Another view of the five completed figures

This ECW Halberdier is a one off, Lowland Scot, with a very simple paint job but nonetheless effective in my opinion.

Covenanter Marker, with simple Hodden Grey uniform

And another view

This guy had been lying around my worktop for ages, having been missed at the time I was building my Covenanter Army. I'm pleased to finally get him done, now he'll be used as a marker of some description.

Now for something completely different....

A very spikey and angry looking mutant to my eye!

This Zombicide Mutant  is a big old monster for a 28mm figure, standing nearly 5cm tall, I am taking the liberty of claiming Dante's Wrath Bonus for this guy. He looks pretty bad tempered and angry to me. He will join my other Zombicide figures and I'll have to work out a scenario to get them all on the table.

Rear view of the Zombie Mutant, showing his puss filled boils ncely!

He came undercoated in white and I mostly used Speed Paints and Washes on him to get him done. The skin was basically GW Death Guard Green with sections done in Army Painter Algae / Gillie Green and then washed with AP Military Green. Pants are AP Rune Grey and the ripped shirt is white, washed in light grey an then highlighted again. 

Another view

A fun miniature to paint even though the subject is quite grim! Spikes are white, washed with GW Skeleton Horde and then dry prushed with Ivory. Boils are white, then highlighted yellow and then a red in wash is used to circle each to give a livid sore look. Blood is Red ink and GW Vampire Red.

Stop Press, my bases arrived yesterday so hopefully I'll get back to the Elves this week, but I also feel the urge to do more 15mm Carthaginians...

SQUIRELL     15mm Romans                                +1 Point

POINTS

3 x 15mm Triple Bases     @ 40  30 Pts ea                120  90 Points

5 x 28mm Arthurian Cavalry @ 10 Pts ea           100  50 Points

1 x 28mm ECW Foot                                               5 Points

1 x 28mm Zombieside Mutant                                 5 7 Points

Dante's Wrath Bonus                                              20 Points

TOTAL                                                                  250  172 Points

A nice ecletic mix today, Mike! I particularly like the "epic" 15mm bases. You have done a good job on them, and they look fairly impressive! The zombie mutant is also a great piece of work. Zombies always give me the creeps, but this one is particularly scary. The boils and sores came out very well I think. Now, your calculations are a bit off. As you say the zombie is almost 50mm tall, I will score it as a 40mm figure. On the other hand, 5 Arthurian cavalrymen, glorious as they are, will not get you 100 points... I think we must settle for the customary 50. Also, a 15mm figure is 2 points, not 3, so your epic bases will gain you 10 + (20x2x0.5) = 30 points each (let's just them call 30 half figures; I might have thought of this sooner perhaps ;-)). This still gains you a healthy 172 points, though. Well done!

Martijn