From RhysH - Basileans and Werewolves

 Rhys' entry this week is more troops for his Mantic Basileans and two Wargames Atlantic Werewolves.

First up are three Elohi, monstrous infantry for the Basileans.

These are big models, 54mm. That's a 28mm Wargames Atlantic werewolf next to him.

Kings of War has a lot of options for unit sizes but three is a normal size for these guys.

Their wings are quite nice, even if the rest of them is a little bit bendy.

Next up are two battle cats for the Basileans. It's really one and a mount with no rider, but who's really counting.

The one on the right is from Vanguard and is noticeably better than the older one.

You can really see the armor from this angle.

They are both very dynamic poses.

Continuing the theme are nine panther riders. In the Basilean army the light troops are female and their fast cavalry are riding these big cats.

Lances and shields, but light armor.

Rhys followed the colors of the studio army with blue and white tabards.

Again, you can see the dynamism of the poses of these models. They are soft PVC plastic, but if they get re-done in hard plastic they will be pretty amazing.

The last entry is two Wargames Atlantic werewolves. I bought this box for Silver Bayonet and Rhys managed to talk me out of two of them for LotR/MESBG.

These are a new release, perfectly timed for The Silver Bayonet. They are a very nice modular kit with lots of options for posing.

Rhys went for a darker, grassier base on these than he normally chooses.

These stand the same height as a 28mm figure. Many werewolves are significantly bigger than the humans they turned out of. Rhys and I like the size on these.

This entry is: 

Two 28mm infantry x 5pts = 10pts

Two 28mm cats x 5pts = 10pts

Nine 28mm cavalry x 10pts = 90pts

Three 54mm Infantry x 10pts = 30pts

Total = 140pts

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Oh what a bunch of nasty beasties! Well done!

You must have had alot of fun with these bad boyz ... I particularly like the wings on the Elohi Infantry. and werewolves are always scary, especially giant ones!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you next paint

Cheers

Sarah

From RhysH - Basileans for Kings of War Vanguard (100 Points)

 This week's entry from Rhys is 19 Basileans from Mantic Games. Rhys doesn't like/remember that name and just calls them "The Paladins" He has recently become enamored of the skirmish level Vanguard rules, having already been a fan of Kings of War.

This first entry is three heroes and an Elohi, without wings.

 These are the heroes for Rhys' warband. The large fellow is 50mm tall but the rest are standard 28mm.

The guy second from the right is a spell caster of some sort.

It's easier to see just how big the angel is in this shot.

Next up are several Men-at-Arms.

Three crossbows and two melee dudes. The Sergeant with the sword doesn't actually have special rules, Rhys just wanted a leader.

These guys are hard plastic and meet all the normal standards. Many of Mantic's legacy models are PVC and are pretty terrible to assemble.

Next up are two of the Sisters. These are the light troops for Basilea. They provide light shock infantry, rangers and panther riding light cavalry.

Shock infantry with a flail on the left and ranger on the right.

Last up are eight of the standard rank and file troops for Basilea. They are the terrible PVC plastic and were both no fun to assemble and lack the finer detail of the newer Mantic hard plastic sculpts. I got these as part of a mystery box or kickstarter, or something. They sat in a bin until Rhys unearthed them, at which point I gifted them to him.

Soft faces, weird poses. They're just bad models.

Back when I still painted Rhys' models for him I used his school colors for his Abyssal Dwarfs (Chaos Dwarfs). He's continuing that on these models. I'm not sure the Paladins would approve of sharing their insignia with creatures from the Abyss.

This entry is:

18 x 28mm x 5pts = 90 pts

1 x 50mm x 10 pts (9?) = 10 pts

Total = 100 pts

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More fantasy models for us to enjoy! The heroes look the stuff (I especially like the crossbowmen) but I can understand the struggle with the PVC figures. I've only ran across a few of them myself and agree that they are often quite a struggle to work with. I like you use your school colours for the agents of Chaos (seems perfectly fitting really). Good work Rhys!

- Curt

From TomG - Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - Guardroom - 34 points

Hello everyone! 

Once more we plough on through the Chambers of Challenge, and today that takes us to the Guardroom, where we find two trigger happy chappies, but what are they guarding? 

All of the elements used for this vignette are from Mantic Games, with the weapon rack from their Dungeon Saga game, the two guards are "Basilean" crossbow men and the chest are from their Vanguard skirmish game.

I struggled to get this mini to a point where I was happy with the colours, so I asked my wife for advice and she pointed out that I had no spot colour that would stand out. So she recommended red, and was totally right, as it brought the whole scene to life. 

And here we see the great booty that is being guarded, although with the amount of gold that has fallen out, I wonder if it's not the guards themselves that need... guarding. 

Points - 

2x 28mm Infantry = 10pts

Challenge Entry = 20pts

Total = 30pts

From TomG - An Epic Climax and Something's Hatching!!! — (145 points)

All good things must come to an end, and for me that is completing my first set of Warlord Games scale ACW Confederates. 

They've been a joy to paint, and I am looking forward to when the product is fully released. Although I appreciate the controversy they have caused, I fortunately had nothing between 28mm and 6mm for ACW, and so was able to go all in and preorder a fair amount.

Each stand is 20 figures produced in rows of 10 figures sculpted together, I presume, to offer a closed ranks feel. By the end of painting them I had really sped up the process without sacrificing much in the way of detail.

And with that, the family photo is complete. 100 men all ranked up ready to defend the South, or at least the South end of the gaming table.

Next up I continue my adventures in to the Chambers of Challenge, this time delving down to level 2, starting with the Hatchery.

This little number is from Mantic Games as part of their Vanguard game, namely a scenario objective called, The Dragons Egg. It's a fun scenario where, once you have captured the egg you have to contend with, not only your opponent, but also an angry mummy dragon trying to burn you to death!

I added a 28mm model to show the size of the egg, which was a nice little painting project, that neatly fitted between finishing the ACW guys and moving on to my next planned project for AHPC-XI. 

Points were scored as follows - 

60 x "15mm" infantry = 120pts

1 x 28mm infantry sized challenge entry = 25pts

Total = 145pts

My, my, my! My first victim of AHPC XI...*evil grin*

You've done a great job on those 13.5mm strips. I must confess to being a little bit confused by Warlord's thinking behind the 100-figure regiments given that their stated intention is to allow people to play out epic ACW battles - it seems to me that you could barely get a division a side on a standard 6x4 table, although the long, thin lines of infantry does look better than 24 x28mm figures.

I do like that "egg" as well. Cracking stuff and 145 points it is.

Tamsin

From AlexandroL: Dwarf & Treasure Mimic (15 Points)

These little Dwarf from Mantic games It’s a part of my new Warband(Northern Alliance) to play Vanguard, Skirmish fantasy game. We are looking for a fantasy game with few figures, fun and easy to play.

We are very surprised with this game, it's a lot of fun scenarios with interesting missions that go beyond killing each other. And the most interesting thing is that it has a campaign mode where you are gaining experience and money to buy new equipment or hire new mercenaries.

The marker (Treasure Mimic) is one of the first files I have printed on my 3D printer. My wife gave me this Christmas and it has certainly been great. I bought the file on the page of my mini Factory, where there are hundreds of fantasy miniatures of all prices.

I think that in five years almost everyone will have their own printer at home, design their own minis or pay for them. The consequence is that everyone can have the minis they want or have always wanted. A dream for me.

From DaveD - might nice Dwarves you have there . I think the 3d printing as you say will really change things over the next few years for sure.