From AaronP: Back home means I have basing material, another ECW project is done (400 pts)

 Hello again,

So one of the projects I was working on while I was away was an ECW (WTK) project for a game called ADLG-R. Its one of those fast play historical games like DBA or MEG (I am sure that comment will upset someone).

Anyway, I was waiting to post these until I sorted out their bases and I was going to wait till I had all the banners done, but I waited too long to order the banners. So I got impatient and here they are.

So first up are the armies commanders. Up the top you have Prince Rupert of the Rhine. I have been reading a lot about him and he is such an interesting dude. I highly recommend a book you can get for free online from the 19th Century called Rupert of the Rhine; A Biographical sketch of the life of Prince Rupert, Prince Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland ETC. It is so incredibly embellished it reads like the Grandpa from The Princess Bride is reciting it to you. So much of it is clearly made up, but man is it an entertaining read.

For prince Rupert I painted him up as he is depicted in a lot of contemporary paintings and of course is his dog boye. 

Next is Lord John Byron, who will be leading the horse. I also used some paintings of him to base his colour scheme.

Finally is Henry Tiller, who from memory I couldn't find much about so painted him how I wanted.

 Next is Prince Rupert's Blewcoats. I read that sometimes a group of musketeers would operate separately as a Forlorn Hope, so I included a seperate unit to represent that.

Three random units, two pike and shotte and one musket. These are not based on any unit in particular. I picked the flags cause I liked them.

Some Dragoons and a large gun.

Medium cav, with Prince Rupert's Regiment at the front, and then some heavy cav with the prince's Lifeguard there in red.

Overall I am really happy with the outcome. I am keen to get some banners on the cav and Prince Rupert himself. 

OK so in terms of points. I am not sure how this will work. These are all Warlords Epic scale ECW which Google tells me are 13.5mm. I am not sure how you will want to point this. Here are the figure counts.

Infantry: 119

Cavalry: 37

Horse: 2

Dog: 1

Cannon: 1

Thanks and thanks

P.S please forgive the chaos that is my painting desk

From Millsy:

Any post that contains Prince Rupert and Boye gets my seal of approval right off the bat! Good to see a fellow loyal subject of the rightful King keeping the fight alive.

Lovely work with the brush mate. I have Talbot's and Rupert's regiments in my collection too and you have pulled off the look and feel of a worn but experienced body of troops really well.

These are scored as 15mm based on previous posts so it'll add a very tidy 400 points to you tally. Nice work.

Cheers,
Millsy

From Curt - Thirty Years War Bohemian Pike & Shotte (168 Points)

During my last visit to Greg's he showed me his Thirty Years War efforts from Warlord Games' 'Epic' range. As typical, his painting was fabulous, and they really looked the business all ranked up with an impressive hedge of pikes. I was so impressed by them that I wanted to give them a go myself as I was looking for any excuse to collect pike & shotte for this period. As Greg had already started in with the Imperialists, I suggested I give the Protestants a go, starting with the ill-fated Bohemians from the beginnings of the conflict.

I managed to find one of the all-in starter box sets on deep-discount, and so here are my first efforts with an infantry pike & shotte 'frame' from the range.

I like how shoulder-to-shoulder the troops are designed for each strip. I find this makes the painting of them a little easier. That being said, I thought it odd that the front rank of the pike figures are designed with a 45 degree action pose, whereas the shotte has been designed in marching, or at-rest attitudes. 

Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I started pillaging the commanded shotte portion of the frames (which are posed as loading and firing) in order to make the handgunners a little more dynamic, and thereby blending better with their active, pike-armed comrades. As this process was a little fiddly, I'll probably do this just for a few units, maybe to denote veteran status.  

I primed the strips dark brown and then drybrushed them light grey and finally white to help the Contrast paints to do their thing. I then went in with a small brush to pull-out some details and add further highlights. Similar to my other small-scale projects I only paint details on the front rank, keeping the following ranks fairly minimal from the shoulders down. I figure, there's no point painting stuff that nobody sees. I like the more desaturated look to the figures, but we'll see how the process holds up when I get more done down the road. I think I'll want around 10 of these units to make a creditable force.

As to basing, I wanted something a bit more flexible to work with different rulesets.  Warlord has their own 'Pike & Shotte' rules, which are a descendant of Rick Priestly's venerable but still excellent 'Warmaster' system. Those rules have each unit made up of four bases, allowing for various formations to be reflected depending on their arrangement. 

While this is great, our group also enjoys the 'Too the Strongest' rules (the 'For King and Parliament' variant for this period) where we've been having fun making-up single bases to depict units, allowing us to make mini-dioramas to add colour. We also have found that the single-base approach also makes gameplay a little faster, being as players only have to move one thing as opposed to several bits for a unit. Horses for Courses!

Anyhoo, as the bases that come with the box are plastic, I contacted Precision Wargame Supplies to have them cut me steel bases as replacements. I did this as I like the added weight that the steel bases provide, and they also allow me to use magnets (without messing up the polarity) for the large sabot basing I had in mind for the large single bases.

This led me to contact our friendly terrain Minion Byron (also of Northern Lights Terrain) to have him cut me a few bespoke sabot bases as a proof of concept. These sabot bases are 190 x 60, with cutouts for 3mm magnets to keep the steel-shod figures in place. I also put in a cutout for a unit label. I still have a few tweaks I want to do, but I think these will serve nicely.  

One thing about the scale of these figures. They call them 'Epic', intoning that they are around 10-12mm, like their earlier efforts, but these are actually true 15mm (foot to eye). So, with that being the case there are 80 foot figures in this formation, plus two mounted officers, which should put total points to 168. If our minion is good with this then we'll need to update Greg's previous work on these to bring his into alignment (I can do that). :) Also, this will allow me to hit my points target and also give me another Squirrel Point for the roster.

Thanks Dallas for letting me roll with the Thursday crew!

- Curt

This is indeed a Bohemian Rhapsody Curt! The Warlord Epic stuff is so great and your brushwork really makes it come alive. I like the conversions you've done to make the "shotte" a bit more dynamic too. I'm not surprised that Greg's been able to suck you into a new scale and period, he's very good at that isn't he... 

That's 168 for your tally!

Dallas

From Graham B - Covenanter Horse (80 points)

My first figures posted for the challenge is a bit later than I intended due to me being away working for half of every week since December, impacting upon my hobby time.  Here we have a unit of 8 Warlord Games English Civil War Scottish Covenanter Horse.  Like many of my figures I was able to use my most often used miniatures paint which is Dulux Earth Glaze 1. Approx 4 quid for 250ml which lasts me bout a year and about 2000 figures.  This brown is my go to brown paint which was used over a white spray undercoat to paint the horses. It can be varied by adding water to the mix.  It was then used as a base for the uniform and buff coats which were worked up to a buff with various other shades of brown and buff.   I was short of metal bonnets for the riders so these ones were made from greenstuff.  The brown was Lao used on the bases before dry brushing, flocking and various tufts.

8 x 28mm mounted figures @ 10 points = 80 points.

***

Welcome to this edition of AHPC! These fine mounted fellows make for an excellent opening entry. The Scots do love themselves a "Covenant", don't they? 

Also enjoyed the reference to a well-used, well-loved basic paint. For all of the variety of paints available, it is comforting to have those few colours that are just "go-to" and seem to find their way on to nearly every miniature. Mine is "Burnt Umber", an Americana-brand craft paint that is relatively cheap and available in large amounts!

Looking forward to more from you - hope work doesn't interfere too much (although it does pay for miniatures, so...)

GregB

From Aaron P: Surprise! Its the War of the Three Kingdoms! (275 pts)

Hello Hello!

The High Elves get some reinforcements and those hidden minis get revealed.

Its ECW/WTK, put your hands up if you guessed. 

Musketeers! Not much swashbuckling though.

These are the sleeves for an upcoming pike block. I based them in a Swedish Salve on two bases per sleeve. The kneeing and crouching fellas are on the front base and the standing fellas on the back with a couple of ranks lined up behind them for good measure. My thought was that I split the bases up and can place them around the pike block for some Hedgehog action and each side has a line of guns aiming. See below:

Ready for pikemen 

Unfortunately I was a little ambitious with the number of soldiers I could fit on these bases so I have another 8 ready for when I paint up the next battalion.

I am pretty happy with how the bases look. I wanted them to look full and I wanted them to have some animation. I think I achieved what I was after.

Next was the High Elf reinforcements. a Noble on Chariot and the Royal Guard.

These two round out the army a little more, giving me some smaller sized bases with some punch, but also something a bit different to paint. I only have one more unit (Silver Helms) left to fill out 1000 points for my High Elves, which is all I currently have printed. Unfortunately I am not sure when I will receive those reinforcements, my printer is currently dead. Hopefully those replacement  parts arrive soon. 

Prepare for lazy photo spam!

Ok so, 

40 x 28mm Musketeers (200pts)

9 x 28mm Royal Guard (45pts)

1 x 28mmChariot (30pts - yes, it's a vehicle + two infantry - Millsy) Does a chariot count as a vehicle?

So 275 points.

I need to make a start on the pikemen while I have this momentum. I am not sure I can sustain this for the full three months.

From Millsy:

Lovely brushwork Aaron!

Are those the Warlord Games ECW minis? I think so but I always thought they were a bit weedy and lifeless so if they are you've managed to add a level of animation I didn't think was there.

The Elf Chariot is a cracker and I live the teal/red combo, really striking mate. It is definitely a vehicle to worth 30 shekels when you include the crew.

Cracking work all round and 275 points well earned.

Cheers,
Millsy

From PeterA - 28mm ECW (25 points)

Hello all!

For my first entry into this year's Challenge, I present a party of Bloody Miniatures Dragoons for the English Civil War/British Civil Wars/Wars of Three Kingdoms (delete as the fancy takes you!). I love Bloody Miniatures' sculpts, not only are they metal casts, they are full of character and animation, and although nicely detailed are not overly fussy with too much detail. They are perfect for small-scale skirmishes, which are more reflective of the majority of encounters during the ECW than the better known battles such as Marston Moor or Naseby.

Four of these are from the BM Dragoons pack. The chap on the left of the picture is from their Casualty pack and the fellow in the buff coat is from their Dismounted Troopers pack. They are pictured in front of a backdrop from John Hodgson's range of Backdrop Books.

I am no expert in the uniforms of the ECW, but there is a very handy painting guide on the Bloody miniatures website which is available as a free download, which I have used when getting these done. Basically, it argues that whilst there were attempts at uniformity, they were of varying effectiveness and longevity. It also makes the point that therefore it is quite hard to get it 'wrong', and that each gamer will have to decide for themselves what they are trying to represent. For me, I have given every Dragoon a matching coat of 'blew', with a couple in matching trousers, and have gone for quite bright colours as that's what I like to look at on the gaming table (and I was captivated by the pictures of painted models on the Bloody Minatures website)!

 

The issue of what colour uniforms specific regiments is also quite a thorny one. For example, these figures represent Dragoons from Sir Henry Washington's regiment, who may have worn red or blue coats! As red is quite a popular colour choice for coats in the ECW I have gone for blue; I have plans to do a red-coated regiment of foote . 

I had actually painted the Dragoon in the buff coat before the Challenge, and just re-painted his coat sleeves blue to fit in with the rest of his troop, so he doesn't count for Challenge scoring purposes. I have more Bloody Miniatures in the queue, so hopefully these will be the first of many. 

5x 28mm foot figures to get me going = 25 points

___________________________________

Welcome back to the Challenge, Peter!

These ECW Dragoons look terrific! Like you, I really like the stuff from Bloody Miniatures and coincidentally have a few on painting sticks as I type this. I really like your clean brushwork on these fellas and the basing look great. More please!

- Curt

From Kerry T - All on the table - AHPC XV round up

 Morning, afternoon & evening all

Its been a more relaxed week this week because I haven't frantically been trying to get things on the table and though I've still had the brushes out, they're working at a more leisurely pace. I'm certainly not missing the rushed weekly basing sessions and am looking forward to returning to my habit of basing en masse when I run out of room on the desktop!

First things first and most importantly a big thank you to Curt & Sarah for organising the challenge once again and allowing me to take part in this, my fourth challenge. What a fantastic concept this is and I so wish I had discovered it years ago. I'm envious of those of you who've been in all the way through. Secondly a huge thank you to the minions, especially the awesome articulate Aussie Millsy for his diligence and kindness in minioning my work and coordinating our twice weekly chats where as many as 5 or 6 of us down-underers have chewed the fat. It has really added something special this year. Last but not least, my fellow challengers for their unwavering support and encouragement. Very many thanks to you all, the camaraderie is fantastic, its what makes the challenge

I set myself a target of 2,500 points with the aim of reaching 10,000 career points and am pleased to say I made it and though my score was higher with bonuses I actually managed to knock off 2,500 points worth of figures.

The completed host with 2 extras!

I'm embarrassed to confess that I dropped a clanger this year at the end and miscalculated the time that the challenge finished here in NZ. Rushing home late on Thursday night I thought I had a few hours left and put up a post only to have missed the deadline! Curt there's a draft post sitting in the queue which needs to be deleted please. If only I'd tried to tackle 6 not twelve hobilars I would have finished in plenty of time!

Here they are -zero points but they want their moment of fame!

See the red thing in the distance not quite finished, I needed another 20 minutes - sniff!

I just had to dry brush its spines and claws - another sniff!

I've always used the challenge to beef up my Italian Wars collection. No Gendarmes this year but some Landsknecht pike, characters, command and artillery. The intended Milanese units got bumped down the queue

The Emperor Maximillian

Warlord Games looters

Foundry big guns

Artizan pike to complete an already painted pike block

Over the Christmas holiday I painted up a load of horses and quietly drove myself bonkers churning out cavalry in the early part of the challenge but I put a big dent in the ECW leadpile

A mix of Empress and Bicorne horse

I should get around to playing FKP rules now

The other main theme for me this year having bought a resin printer, was printing, prepping and painting some of Medbury Miniatures STLs for the Scottish wars of Independence and 100YW 

Victrix knights with LBSM transfers

Medbury Miniatures, Footsore and Antediluvian Scottish pike /spear here

Then there were a few other odds and ends along the way

Little man with a big banner

Artizan Black Guard Moorish infantry and horse

Finally TAG Polish Hussars because I'm a butterfly

With very many thanks for your encouragement and support again this year, I've had a great time and hope to see you next year again

Valleyboy