More Ancients From GrahamB ( 390 points)

 More ancients from the stash this week.  Firstly a unit of 32 Macedonian Pike Phalanx. The figures are Warlord plastics, including an officer and standard bearer from a box of Greek Hoplites.  The colour scheme is inspired by a unit in the Phyrric Wars Hail Caesar supplement.  I don’t know how accurate it is but looks quite striking to me.

Next are two units each of 8 Triari to boost my Republican Romans.  The front rank kneeling figures are 2nd hand from Renegade miniatures with the standing guys at the back from Aventine Miniatures.  These figures are destined to serve double duty as spear armed Italian allies to support my Republican Romans and Phyrric army’s.

Thirdly are a unit of 16 Foundry Spartan Hoplites.  Their spears are made from broom bristles.

Next is a small unit of 4 Tarentine light cavalry.  They were favoured as mercenaries and fought for several armies of the period.  The only thing that I can find to distinguish them from other Greco/Roman light cavalry is that they were early adopters of shields.

Finally 6 skirmishers from Victrix Republican Romans, in generic tunics making them suitable for use in several armys.

Totalling up there are 32 phalangites, 16 principe, 16 Spartans, 6 skirmishers making a total of 70 foot @ 5 points each and 4 cavalry @ 10 points each giving a total of 390 points.

I've been enjoying your ancients over the challenge Graham, and these ones are quite a treat.  That pike phalanx is lovely, I like the colour scheme and it looks right to me.  I also like how you've built your units to morph into other armies as needed.  IIRC, fighting in the Tarentine style came to mean carrying a shield while mounted and not all "Tarentine" cavalry came from southern Italy.  Bravo on this lot.  

 

PeterD

From RossM: Romans, Spartans and a Skeleton (60 points)

 It's getting late for scribbling and scratching on the paper, not long to go now so time to show some more painted figures. 

This entry, my fifth in this Challenge,  has more Romans from Corvus Belli and Essex, Spartan cavalry from Xyston and a retro Citadel skeleton. 

In reverse order then, the skeleton from the Second Citadel Compendium in 1984, this was one of the first miniatures that I bought back in the day. This is the same figure, cleaned down to the base metal using cellulose thinners and repainted for your viewing today. 

If you follow the link above you will see the others of this motley crue. Over this year I hope to paint them all again and the release them to a gaming table at some point after all they can only die again.  

Next are the Spartan cavalry from Xyston. Never the strong point of a Spartan army, cavalry does however have it's uses so here they are. The slight shine is due the picture being sans matte varnish; a school boy error that will be rectified shortly. 

As always with Xyston figures, very nicely sculpted and cleanly cast. 

Lastly, for this post are a few more Early Imperial Romans. The legionnaires from Corvus Belli - the original metal casts - and supporting saggitarii from Essex Miniatures. 

The shield transfers are from Little Big Men and really bring the unit together. 

The double depth basing on a 40mm front is for use in ADLG and works well aesthetically as well as providing a more realistic look that the standard single rank on 40 x 15mm. 

There will be Romans in the next two weeks with the last legionnaires, auxilia and cavalry alea joining the finishing line for the 19th. 

So, how does this tally for the Challenge? 

1 x 28mm infantry figure: 5 points

3 x 15mm cavalry figures: 12 points

20 x 15mm infantry figures: 40 points

For a total of 57 points, taking the Challenge total so far to 118 (23.6%) with another 110 points nearing completion. Not the full amount however, it will see the Romans finished for now. 

Cheers for now

Cool mix of figures Ross.  Really like seeing the veteran Skelly come back to life (sort of).  Fine work on the ancients too.  Spartan overly does have it uses, scouting, flank protection, being something to thow away so as to give the phalanx another turn.  According to Xenophon, they hired Mercenary Cavalry which could be of better quality than the citizen cavalry.

I am rounding you up to 60 points.

From FrederickC - A Phalanx of Hoplites, A Gunslinger, and a File of Riflemen [Swords & Sandals] [Westerns] [Books] (176 points)

  From our last stop at the Fantasy studio, we are going to continue along the Blue pathway to the Swords and Sandals studio for the production of '300' with a 15mm Spartan De Bellis Antiquitatis army consisting of 12 stands of Spear and an optional stand of Psiloi. If I recall correctly these are from Falcon Miniatures that are now no longer in production. They were cleaned up and primed a quarter century ago, and have been sitting in the pending box ever since. Once again, the Special Challenges has cleared a project from the 'To Do' list. They were painted using Army Painter Warpaints Tannned Flesh for all the skin areas, Partha Paints Bronze Metallic for the helmets, greaves, and shields, and Vallejo acrylics for everything else. They were mounted on metal bases of the appropriate DBA dimensions that I still have in my storage boxes, and the groundwork completed. The temple in the background is one I built for a scenario that Curt hosted back in the early days of the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts. 

 

'300' from 2006

 

This is Sparta!

 

Spartan hoplites

Shields emblazoned with Lambdas

The General's stand

The lone stand of Psiloi

 

  Before carrying on, we will make a quick stop at the studio cafeteria for some refreshments in the form of a tall glass of Spartan Brewery 'Swords & Sandals' Session IPA. 😁

 

 Moving further along the Blue pathway we arrive at Westerns for the production of 'The Quick and the Dead'. Okay, it's not Sharon Stone as 'The Lady', but Alex Kingston as 'River Song' in the Doctor Who episode called 'The Impossible Astronaut', but she's wearing jeans and packing a big iron on her hip. That says Gunslinger to me. This figure was a freebie that came with my order from Warlord Games back in December. Just the thing for the Westerns studio.

 

The Quick and the Dead from 1995

 

River Song, Gunslinger (front view)

River Song, Gunslinger (rear view)

  

 And now we arrive at the fourth stop on the Blue pathway, the Books studio. If my wearing of a British uniform at Waterloo 200 raised Minion Miles's ire, my book choice will really be twisting the Minion's tail. Nearly 50 years before Bernard Cornwell wrote the first Sharpe novel, C.S. Forester wrote 'Death to the French' (also known as 'Rifleman Dodd'), one of two stories he wrote taking place during the Peninsular War. His second book was 'The Gun', that was made into a movie in 1957 called 'The Pride and the Passion', but we had to wait until the 'Sharpe' TV series to see riflemen on the small screen. Cornwell gave a shout out to Forester's character by naming one of Sharpe's men Matthew Dodd. 

 The figures I have are two Perry Miniatures plastic 95th Riflemen that were another freebie with an issue of Wargames Illustrated that sat in storage until now. They are very nice minis with lots of detail, easy to assemble with minimal cleaning of mold lines. Their rifle green uniforms were painted using Vallejo Luftwaffe Camouflage Green, followed by a wash of Citadel Nuln Oil. 

 

'Death to the French' from 1932

 

Riflemen Dodd and Harris (front view)

Riflemen Dodd and Harris (3/4 Profile view)

Riflemen Dodd and Harris (rear view)

The points being claimed are as follows:

50 x 15mm foot figures @ 2 points = 100 points 

2 x 28mm foot figure @ 5 points = 10 points 

1 x 34mm foot figure @ 6 points = 6 points

3 x Studio lots @ 20 points = 60 points

(Since the 34mm figure is halfway between 28mm and 40mm, I split the difference between 5 points and 7 points)

 

We are ready to try the Director's Chair on for size

Minion Miles:  Mr Fredrick - Another wonderful submission but there really isn't a 34mm category so its 28mm - I'm just too lazy to adjust the spreadsheet :). I do like the rocks on the Riflemen so a bonus point for that but this is probably the last time

Greetings, Minion Miles. I did some further research into the Warlord Games Doctor Who range of minis to try and determine their scale. Obviously it was not possible to make that assessment from just one figure, especially given a shorter than average character. It appears that they are 1/48 scale. The Star Wars Legion minis are apparently 1/47 scale and are rated as 40mm figures. Just sayin'.  ;^)

(From RossM) Go tell them in Sparta - 15mm Spartans (180 points)

 The third post of five and this time its Spartans.

This is the second Spartan army that I have painted, the first was in 28mm originally based for Impetus and is currently being rebased on 60mm fronts.

The figures here are for an ADLG list and will also cover DBA with options as well. 

Slingers, archers, javelins and Skirati 

The command stands

The full phalanx, well almost as there are another 16 figures part painted for this and they won't make the challenge I'm afraid. Yes, I am a slacker!

There is an image online showing a Spartan King carrying a shield with red, black and white crescents on it. Little Big Men carry this as a rub down decals and the other decals are from VVV.  Will be ordering more in the future to complete the Lambdas on shields. 

Close up of the phalanx

The extra stands in the rear where painted before the challenge started. 

The solitary unit of cavalry.

180 points

The subtotal so far is 489 points (82% completed to date)

Stay safe and thanks for looking