From PaulO'G: Jeanne d'Arc (35 points)

Contemporary illustration of the Maid of Orleans

My submission this week is both a foray into a new period for me, the Hundred Years War, and my first ever submission for Sarah's Choice.

Jeanne d'Arc is an amazing historical female personality, and the ultimate glass ceiling breaker of the Medieval age.

From a humble French peasant background, Jeanne believed that she was chosen by God to free France from the Anglo-Burgundian invaders.  At 16 she persuaded a judge to nullify the arranged marriage her father had brokered for her.  At the age of 17 she petitioned and amazingly gained an audience with the Crown Prince.  Despite all advice to the contrary, he agreed to place her in Command of an Armed force to help relieve the besieged city of Orleans, which she forsaw would result in him being crowned King.  While the exact nature of her position remains unconfirmed (not well documented and the story has grown in legend through the centuries), her presence and the inferred divine inspiration definitely had an effect. The enemy was defeated and the siege lifted, though Jeanne was wounded by an arrow in the process.  The Dauphin was subsequently crowned King Charles VII in Reims, as Jeanne had promised.

Romantic period depiction

Jeanne was subsequently sent to Campiegne to attack the Allied forces there but her force was ambushed and she was captured.  The English moved her to their Headquarters in Rouen where they tried her for a range of crimes including heresy, witchcraft and dressing like a man (!) in order to discredit both her and Charles VII.  In 1421 she was found guilty of Heresy and burned at the stake in the town square, aged just 19.  A memorial and Church in her name stand there today and I had the opportunity to visit a few years back.  20 years after her death the Pope overturned the Heresy ruling and she was eventually cannonised as a Saint in 1920.  But long before that her martyrdom and reputation had been well established and she has represented French Unity and Freedom for centuries. Her annual feast is held on 30 May.

This model is a 28mm dioramic figure by Baueda Wargames and is a great tribute to this amazing Lady.  The figure herself is metal while the wood piles are two piece resin. I really enjoyed painting her and used a heavy black outlining technique so she would stand out more dramatically in her white gown.

I kept the pyre sections seperate so that I can also put her on the table in a less dramatic fashion

When assembled the two tiered pyre and figure stand at 75mm in height - I'll leave that to Curt to decide how many points that is worth.
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Well that's just great - Curt is off somewhere plotting mischief, and I must now make some sort of points decision...hmmm, we have one 28mm figure for sure, but then all of that firewood...I shall declare that this equates to another six 28mm figures' worth of painting, for a total of 35 points. Hopefully no martyrdom will be required...

Great work Paul on a very interesting piece - and truly, what an amazing character from history. This was a great read for me, as I must admit I had only the haziest understanding of the story itself, so this is much appreciated.

Well done Paul! As you continue into this new period, I'm sure this piece will inspire you to keep going!

Greg

From Curt - 15mm LRDG Raiders and Afrika Korps Targets of Opportunity (63 Points)

Here is another submission from me this weekend. This time it’s a North African LRDG raiding patrol along with some Stukas, supply dumps and fuel depots to serve as appropriate targets.

When I first saw these 15mm models come out from Battlefront a few years ago I knew I needed to get some to do up some sort of airfield raid scenario. 

I don’t know about you but as soon as I look at a Chevy 30 cwt, festooned with its gear, automatic weapons, and packed with bearded maniacs it just screams for sh*t to blow up. 

'Yoo Halloo! Lock and load the Twin-Ks lads, we're going to partaaay!'

So, with that in mind I’ve been picking up assorted ammo dumps fuel depots, etc from Battlefront and Baueda for the raiders to mess with.  (Thanks to Nick for the tips on crate/drum colours.) I hope to make up around a dozen of these as targets for the LRDG raiders.

The fabulous desert mat is from Alf over at Barrage Miniatures. It’s roughly 8x5 feet and will serve admirably for our future North Africa raiding game (and I imagine for any post apoc games). 

Alf's (from Barrage Miniatures) desert mat

The Stukas are 1:100 scale diecast models I picked up cheap-as-couscous on eBay. I’ve dorked around a bit to dirty them up with some sand erosion and exhaust staining but otherwise they are pretty much stock. Again, they exist purely to sit on the airfield and get blown to smithereens. (I'm on the search for a 1:100 scale Ju-52 to serve as another juicy target...)

I’m thinking of either modifying ‘Formula De’ or ‘Chain of Command’ for the core rules (who knows, maybe I’ll mash them together). It will be a quasi-cooperative game where each player will command a single vehicle along with 2-3 LRDG raiders - the winner being the team who amasses the most damage points, while still managing to stay alive and escape.

I need to find some sort of tents or Quonset huts for the aircrews and airfield staff. If anyone has ideas I’m all ears. I’m also working on some Afrika Korps personnel and assorted vehicles and equipment but that will be covered in a later submission.

As for points, we have 24 for the twelve dismounted raiders, 36 for the six LRDG vehicles and I'm going to give myself 3 points for tarting up the Stukas. So that makes 63 points. 

Next up will probably be some more Russian Civil War stuff in an endeavour to crush Phil in our 'civil war' side challenge (no pressure Phil).  ;P