From DaveS: Final units from my Florence Army (105pts)

 So after a few weeks break caused by work, I've finally managed to paint the last 2 units for my Florence army.

First of all, we have the unit of Crossbowmen.  These would be the last unit of troops that were from the districts of the city, and would have again had issues equipment.  They also have a banner, made using printable transfer paper on laminated kitchen foil again.

The other unit is a base of Landsknechts Pikemen.  These form the second base of a massed unit of pikemen for Basic Impetus 2.  Again, these are much more colourful than may have been historical, but they make a nice contrast to the more uniformed troops.

With this, I have finished the army.  This is still one of my favourite parts of the Basic Impetus 2 rules, that they have a fixed army list system which means that it is possible to "complete" an army.

So that is my second army finished during the challenge.  I won't get anywhere close to my target this year, due to other commitments, but with this, My HYW French and almost a Battalion of Battlemechs, I'm happy with what I've achieved.

Congratulations on finishing this army! They look great together. I have given you 500 bonus points for your flag. I have penalised you 500 points for not putting any labels on your post and not stating how many figures- looks like 21?

Barks

From DaveS: Heavy Metal (121 points)

This week has been a week of two halves.  I started with a plan to work lots on my Florence Army, and got started with that.  I managed to turn out a unit of Mounted Crossbowmen, a light cavalry unit, made, as is becomming traditional, from the Perry Plastic sets, with a few bits from the Warlord Landsknechts.  These are in teh same Red and White colour scheme that I have used for all of the regular forces for the army, and are, as usual, based for Basic Impetus II.

While I was waiting for an ebay order to get the Polearms I need to finish the last of the "regular" units that I have to do, I moved onto a unit that both inspired me to choose this project, and scared me a little.  THe Landsknechts.  I decided to start with a small "Skirmish" unit, the Zweihander armed models.  These, I think, are skirmishers only because they roamed in front of the main units.

I knew that I had to make them "colourful" and not uniformed. I think that I might have taken this a little bit too far with this unit, but will jusitfy it to myself by claiming that these are the most flamboyant of their troops.

At this point, my cunningly laid plans were thrown apart.  I love battletech, as may have been obvious from the number of my posts that are about it so far this year.  Unfortunately, it's been quite difficult to get hold of some of the new sets, and some of them have not yet been released.  So when I found out that the local shop had gotten in not a couple, but 5 new sets, I had to go shopping.  They also had the beginner box in.  Now, despite having been playing this game for nearly 30 years, I needed the beginner box simply because it is the only place that you can get the Griffin, a really rather useful medium Mech.  When it turned out that the other FLGS had got in some supplies of some of the models that had previosly been out of stock that I needed, I was like a kid in a candy store.

The goal for me, with Battletech, has always been to try and restrict my choices of mech to the force I am playing.  Rules wise, this is not required, but to me, it seems logical.  To that end, I spent a few hours with a list of models, the rulebooks, and both the "Master Unit List" and "Sarna" websites.  This, plus some planning, has led to me now having plotted out a Battalion of Mechs for the Capellan Confederation.  A lot of these had been painted, but I had 16 to do, to have the whole force painted.

To that end, I now present the first 8 of the "reinforcements" for the Battalion.

Cataphract

Centurion

Cyclops

Griffin

Highlander

King Crab

Of course, one small consequence of the plan to only use time and faction specific mechs, and to build to Battalion size is that it leaves me with left over mechs........Oh well, lookks like I'll have to learn to paint Lyran Alliance and Draconnis Combine as well..... and then there are all the new clan mechs....

Points wise, this is 4 cavalry (10pts), 5 infantry(5pts) and 8 mechs(7pts), for a total of 121 points

I do like your flamboyant swordsmen. The King Crab is a mech I don't think I've seen before and it looks kind of cool. Now you must paint an opposition with the leftovers!

Barks

From DaveS: Forces of Florence (180 points)

After I finished my French force, I promised an early 16th Century Florence army.  I picked this simply because it had Landsknechts in it.  Then I did some reading, and it turns out that Florence of the time was a very interesting place.  As well as the home of Machiavelli, who instituted considerable military reform, it was also a place where there was much more freedom than was customary for women.  It also turns out that it has a pretty flag.

The first 2 bases that I completed were the heavy cavalry.  These are based on the Perry plastic men at arms, and have a flag that is made in the same way as the ones for the French, using layers of foil.  This time, I used a home printed decal to add the device.

Next, I painted some handgunners, who in this system are a skirmish unit.  These were made from a combination of the Warlord Landsknechts and Perry European mercenaries.

Finally in this batch, we have a unit of the citizen militia.  These were part of the reforms that Machiavelli instituted, and were made of men picked from the populace of each district, and then given harness and either halberd or boar spear.  When I first planned this unit, I expected to have to cut down pikes and attach halberd heards to them.  However, I realised that the Landsknecht Zweihander box from warlord also includes parts to make a dozen polearm armed models.  So using selected bits from that kit, the arms, and again parts from the perry kit, I managed to make the unit without too much cutting and gluing.

 This gives me 10 cavalry and 16 infantry, all in 28mm.  This equals 180 points.

Coming up next, I will hopefully finish this army over the next week or so.  There are also a few bits for 15mm chain of command US that I need to finish.  Because I like to ruminate on my projects before starting them, I am also planning an English Civil War royalist army, which I will hopefully get done in this challenge as well.

A simple and effective colour scheme! I'm impressed at how quickly you pivot from project to project.

Barks