From MartijnN: 10mm ACW and the Four Circles of Hell (Wrath, Heresy, Fraud, Violence) (149 points)

Quite surprisingly, I have painted more or less only 28mm figures during this Challenge, apart from the one 6mm Blucher base of Napoleonic French last week. Obviously, that would not do, so here are some 10mm ACW. I have painted almost all my infantry, but I still have lots of artillery and cavalry lying around. So, I decided to paint up some dismounted skirmishing cavalry for both sides, and some horse holders. I really don’t know why I got those, for they are not necessary for Altar of Freedom, but they look cool anyway I think. I don’t think I will paint up all of them though 😉.

The skirmishing cavalrymen are Perrin figures, the horse holders Magister Militum (basically also Perrin, I think).

Then, this must be almost my last chance to grab some bonus points. I know it is preferable to do separate posts for each location, but in order to ease the workload of Curt and the Minions a bit during the mad dash to the finish I thought I’d better combine them this time.  Last week we were at Greed, so now it is time for Wrath. I present to you the unfortunate but very wrathful Gunnar Dingemansson.

 

He has been confined to a wheelchair ever since a sneaky orc shot him in the backside at the Battle of Grubenhavnor-in-the-Fields-on-the-Garf when he was a wee lad. His brother, who is something of a do-it-yourself guy, made this wheelchair for him. He is still working on a self-propelled version, but has not really got the hang of steam power yet, so in order to keep his remaining limbs intact, Gunnar has to make do with his arms to get up to speed for the time being. As you can see, he is quite capable of doing so, charging filled with wrath and at full speed at any orc that comes into sight. He is, unsurprisingly, a Lovecraft figure, 3d printed.

Next stage is Heresy. This is personified by Brother Johann. Johann was a boy tending his father’s sheep when one night he received a vision. It was revealed to him that the only True God was Baa, the chief sheep. It was his duty to go out in the world with his woolly  Disciples to spread the Word of Baa. Here you see hem reading from the Book of Baa to his flock. 

What is good enough for his sheep, is good enough for Johann. Thus, he dresses in shades of black and grey. 

Johann is again a 3d Lovecraft figure. I think the sheep are from Great Escape Games for Dead Man’s Hand.

Next, we arrive at Violence. According to the famous dictum of the British bard, Hell has no fury than a woman scorned. I do not know if this lady was scorned, but she is clearly prepared to dole out some violence and I would rather stay behind her.

 

She is also a 3d printed figure, this time by Join or Die. She is part of a ladies’ warband for Dead Man’s Hand, but the others will have to wait a while yet.

Finally, we arrive at Fraud with another 3d printed Lovecraft figure. In one of his projects, Iain Lovecraft did a bunch of figures “inspired” by Terry Pratchett characters. This his Cut-my-own-Throat Dibbler, accompanied by the only one who really appreciates his sausages:

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say of him:

Claude Maximillian Overton Transpire Dibbler — usually known by the epithet "Cut-Me-Own-Throat", CMOT Dibbler, or simply Dibbler, or even sometimes as just "Throat" — might be described as the Discworld's most enterprisingly successful unsuccessful entrepreneur, no-one has failed at success more times than Dibbler. A 'merchant venturer' of Ankh-Morpork, and the master of selling the 'sizzle' over the steak, Dibbler is most famous for selling meat by-products to unsuspecting passers-by, and also suspecting passers-by who have gotten sick from his sausages before, thus demonstrating that he is indeed a very good salesman.

So that’s that for now. I hope to finish some 6mm Napoleonics before the Challenge ends, but we will have to wait and see if I succeed in that. As to scoring, I am going to a be a little cheeky here and score the six horse holders as 10mm cavalry @3 points. However, if the Minion of the Moment decides that’s shaving it too closely and scores them as 12 foot figures @1, I think I can survive. I’ll score the sheep and the little dog as 10mm figures to, so 1 point each.

We have then:

24 10mm foot @1 = 24

6 10mm cavalry @3= 18

7 animals as 10mm foot @1=7

4 28mm foot @5= 20

4 Challenge locations @20= 80

For a total of 149 points.

Which sees me shooting past my target after all!

_____________________________________________

Geez, you present to us to a tremendous potpourri of wonderful miniatures Martijn. The 10mm dismounted skirmishers, with their attendant mounts and minders, look excellent. I also really like Gunnar who makes it very clear that it takes all types to make a successful adventuring party (I look forward to the steam-powered version in a future Challenge). I've never been a Terry Pratchett fan, I but like the background story (and hopeful pup). I think my favourite is the sheep and the Prophet of the Book of Baa. Excellent work (and I love the 'Sound of Music' background you used). Well done sir, and congratulations on exceeding your Points Target!

- Curt

 

 

From DaveD - ACW Union Artillery (195 points)

Over this challenge most of my collections will have had some new additions.  This week it is back to 10mm ACW. I am planning a big ACW game later in the year and will be providing a lot of the forces for both sides .  The first top up is for the Union artillery to fill them out my existing ones to full 3 gun model batteries (currently using 2 - with one gun model = 2 real) and take me towards 16 full batteries each complete with a limber. There are a range of different gun types right up to big mortars. 

All figures are 10mm Pendraken and are finished in my usual satin varnish  that i use for small scale to help the colours pop . We have been playing Alter of Freedom from LWTV over the last year - it’s given us some great games . 

2 x Limber and 2x Caisson teams 

Next the 6 large mortars 

The 13 guns that are also completed 

And here is the Union artillery park as it currently stands .

Still another 18 guns to add at some point , but at least the limbers are done in advance.

I checked back on a previous post from 4 years ago when I last did limbers for  scoring these, plus there has been an upgrade in 10mm pts since then,

So here is the tally :-

gunners x 70 , unridden horses x8 = 78

mounted rider & horses x 10 = 30 

guns  x19 = 57

vehicles / limbers/etc x4 = 24

Seated crew on the limbers x12 = 6

 total = 195 to my total, and the little things duel

more next week I think 

 

***

 

Kaboom! That is a serious artillery park Dave, well done. As ever, I have much respect for any hobbyist who would tackle the utterly futile task of painting artillery limbers! That must be a very big game coming up indeed, and I have no doubt that it will look amazing with Pendraken figures - and that the Union commanders will be thrilled to have all of this additional firepower to assist them!

 

195 points of bombardment for you!

 

GregB 

From MartijnN: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson [Famous Person] (86 points)

Having completed Section 1 of the Library we move on to Section 2 and ask Lady Sarah to drop us off at the Statue of a Famous person. Two, actually.

Once again two figures I bought on a whim and do not expect to use anytime soon. I was browsing the site of CP models because I wanted to buy some spears, saw that they also produce figures and threw some in that I fancied, mainly to beef up  the order a little. And once again the Challenge came to the rescue. Thus, I have for you Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.

They are nice, simple figures that were fun to paint, again using mainly contrast paints.

And then I have a follow on of last week's post. I really thought I had completed the Union forces for Champion Hill, and only when drawing them all up for the post did I realize that I was a Union unit short. So, I started digging through my stash of opportunity and unearthed enough Perrin figures for not one, but even two units. So here they are.

For some reason my bases always show up very yellow, but they are a lot greener in real life. I prefer these rather simple bases for small scale figures. They are  a bit old-fashioned perhaps, but effective. The flags are from Pendraken and from the Warflag.com website. And yes, I have been cutting corners here. I consider painting black belts on dark blue coats at this scale a waste of time, and you really don't see it on the table. I did paint them on officers and drummers, but even in the close up photo's that's hard to discern. 

I had also not yet painted a figure to represent General Grant. Turner Miniatures produce numerous STL files for the ACW that I had purchased long ago, and I had printed some generals in 10mm. So here we have Grant with some staff officers, ready to take on Pemberton at Champion Hill.

I also found a covered ox-drawn wagon, which I painted at the same time. I have added some crates and sacks from Perfect Six Miniatures. They are formally 6mm, but I thought they complemented the wagon nicely.

That means that I can now play the Altar of Freedom Champion Hill scenario. I do have some odds and ends left, I found another Confederate unit, I have some casualty markers and the like, but nothing really essential. Actually quite unusual for me (being the proverbial butterfly), and rather a nice feeling, to finish a project!

As for books (apart from the obvious recommendation to read all  Sherlock Holmes stories. Twice at least). Dr. Watson suffered his wound during the Second Afghan War, but honestly I have never read a book about that one (yet). So something else suitably Victorian will have to do. That is A Tidy Little War by William Wright, about the British invasion of Egypt in 1882. I have this as an e-book, so here's a random stock photo:

I enjoyed reading this. The conflict is, as might be imagined, not very well known over here (if at all), so I knew next to nothing about it. Wright writes a good overview of the war, with ample attention to the Egyptian side, and a healthy criticism of British colonial policy which blatantly disregarded any rights the Egyptians thought they might have had, without going all woke about it. A very balanced book I thought, with the right level of detail. Combine it with the Osprey Campaign about Tel El-Kebir and you have a nice summary of the conflict.

The map:

Score:

2x 25mm foot @ 5 = 10

40x 10mm foot @ 1 = 40

3x 10mm horse @ 2 = 6

1x 10mm vehicle = 6

2x 10mm crew at 0,5 (50%, as they are only half painted) =1

Famous Person bonus = 20

Total of 83 points

TeemuL: Isn't it nice to add something to a finished army? :) Good work finding those missing minis and some extras from your archives of unpainted minis. And the command stand is excellent, the blues and browns work well together here, good job. Two units, a command and a wagon to your Union forces, to finish a project again! I hope they do well in their first and following battles.

And 10mm cavalry is 3 points, so couple of points added to the total.

From MartijnN: Champion Hill in 10mm [Overdue and Returns] (100 points)

More than twenty years ago, on a whim as often happens, I took advantage of a sale at a now defunct American shop to buy some 10mm Perrin ACW figures. They were my first 10mm figures ever, and sat in a box for the best of two decades until the first Challenge I took part in, Challenge X. By that time I had come across the Battle of Champion Hill, I don't remember how and when, and also across the inspiring ACW YouTube video's by Little Wars TV, where they showed how you can recreate even large ACW  battles using small scale figures. They also produced a rule set that I found very interesting, Altar of Freedom, so I bought it and the scenario sets and campaigns they published. In this was a scenario for the battle of Champion Hill, one of the smaller scenarios, and I reckoned I had enough figures for it. Now they used 6mm figures, but I could not see no reason why 10mm would not work, so I decided to try and recreate the forces for this scenario with my long neglected Perrin figures. Easier said than done, because I am a slow painter and easily detracted. However, I remained working on them intermittently,  and today I present another four brigades of Union infantry (excuse the rather crappy photos, but at this scale it doesn't really matter). Long overdue, but ready at last. Only one more to go.

I retained the base size recommended in AOF, but used about 20 figures on each base. I think the result does look alright. There are three bases of general infantry and one base of Zouaves, loosely inspired by the 14th Indiana.

In the end, of course, I did not have enough figures. Does that ever happen to you? They are still produced and sold by Noble  Knight in the USA, but the shipping costs and customs duties on full price figures to the EU are rather prohibitive. However, the Perrin figures were now produced and sold by Magister Militum in the UK, and they regularly attended the Crisis show in Antwerp (as well as providing a fast and excellent postal service). Brexit put an end to that of course, but I was just in time to add to my collection before that happened. However, I bought one of their brigade packs because I was lazy and easygoing. Whereas I had bought varied packs before, to get a more diverse and ragged look, I found out that this meant that I now had only a few poses. Therefore, these four brigades have a more formal and regular look, perhaps suiting the Eastern theater a little better. But they came out fine in the end. I ended up one marching figure short, so one of the bases has only 19 figures. I don't think you really notice, though.

The force so far. Nearly done...

As Magister Militum has stopped trading and is looking to sell their ranges the ACW figures are currently unavailable in the UK. But I hope they find a buyer, and I will add to my collection if they do. I think I am still one (1!) Union brigade short, although I have to dig through my pile of opportunity to confirm this; I may be able to scrape one together yet, and I really do want to finish the troops for this scenario.

Okay, that brings us to this week's book recommendation. Of  course, that has to be on Champion Hill: Champion Hill, Decisive Battle for Vicksburg by Timothy B. Smith.

This is a great book. Again, well written narrative and a fine analysis of the events. Smith tells the story of the campaign leading up to the battle in some detail, and has an excellent and detailed account of the battle itself. It was a near-run thing, as someone once said about another battle, and he does a great job of trying to follow the thinking of and the actions taken (or not, as it happened) by both Pemberton and Grant on that fateful day of May 16th, 1863. Also, there are many excellent maps down to the regimental level. The battle may be little known today, perhaps (this is the first full book devoted entirely to it), but one might argue that Grant's victory led directly to the capture of Vicksburg and may have been instrumental in deciding the war. Again, a very fine book.

If you have any interest in the American Civil War I would also recommend two podcasts. The first is the excellent The Civil War, a history podcast. This is a long running series (longer than the war itself, even), generally in fairy strict chronological order. Although military history is a dominant part of it, Rick and Tracy also devote considerable attention to political and socio-economical aspects of the war. Usually relatively short episodes, very well researched and brought in an accessible, informal yet very well informed way. I should issue a "may contain some Dad jokes" disclaimer, but I highly recommend this one.

Also of note is the Battle of Gettysburg podcast by licensed battlefield guides (as they don't tire of reminding you) James Hessler and Eric Lindblade, Obviously very knowledgeable, they tend to treat different aspect of the battle of Gettysburg in a somewhat random order. At times, I find their humour a bit tiring and repetitive, and far too often to my taste they will say something like "people always say/ ask/ assert/ believe this (insert random gratuitous anecdote or would-be event that really probably hasn't been believed by any serious student of the battle for decades) but we will tell you the truth", but they really do know their stuff, have interesting guests, and always cite primary sources. So recommended too.

That brings us to the map:

And this week's tally:

79 x 10mm foot @ 1 = 79 points

Overdue and Returns bonus = 20 points

Total 99 points

TeemuL: A long project, Martijn, but coming to an end? The force does look good and it must be exciting to get a game with these after all those years. I don't know about the flags you used, but 1 extra point for them is reasonable and gives you fine 100 points.

From MartijnN: Fighting Windmills (10mm ACW)(SuperHeroes)(103 points)

I am not really into superheroes. The Marvel universe and all associated superheroes does not, I fear, really appeal to me. What will not have helped is that my dad, the one time I brought home some comics borrowed from a friend, cast one look upon them and said "We don't read that trash in this house" and made me return them the following day...

In all honesty, I don't think I really suffered for it. Yes, I got the occasional glimpse of Superman, or the Hulk (Lou Ferrigno, of course), but it never really struck a cord. So coming up with a suitable hero for the Superheroes Studio was a bit of a struggle.

And then I thought, why not go for the anti-hero. So here he is, my dad would have approved of him, and his heroic struggle against windmills has gone down in languages across Europe: Don Quixote de la Mancha, accompanied by  his faithful servant, Sancho Panza. Surprisingly, I don't think many films have been made about him. This one, from Terry Gilliam, seems to be the most recent one.

And here is my hommage to the heroic hidalgo, on his knightly steed Rocinante, Sancho Panza at his side:

Once again, these are Iain Lovecraft figures, 3D printed.

Certainly no anti-heroes, although in some way, perhaps, fighting windmills nevertheless, are these 10mm Perrin ACW troops. This is the final Confederate brigade for my Champion Hill project; just a couple of Union brigades to go now. There is also an artillery battery and two generals. I will claim a squirrel for these.

For the Union, there are also two generals, Grant is to follow. And three artillery batteries.

Not much, after last week's rather rich harvest, but I'm glad I have kept up the momentum. Also, I passed my target last week, so the pressure (if there was ever any) is off. Here's my map:

Next stop? Don't know yet. I don't think I am quite ready for the Director's Chair yet, so I still have four studios to choose from. Hm....

As for points:

36 x 10mm foot @1 = 36

4 x 10mm artillery piece  @2 = 8

5x 10mm cavalry @3 (per the recent revision) = 15

2x 28mm mounted @ 10 = 20

SuperHeroes Studio bonus = 20

Grand total 99

Some very nice looking minis there, Martijn. The Don and his companions look amazing, and (while I am a big comic book fan), I think your justification of choosing a hero from classic literature rather than Marvel or DC is very appropriate. Well done. 

Also, according to the Spreadsheet of Doom, 10mm Artillery also got bumped up to 3 points from what I can see.

From MartijnN: Saving the Union in 10mm (World Cinema/ Sarah’s Limousine) (125 points)

From the Historical Drama Studio we make our way through the Studio Park to the World Cinema Studio. Now, it may not be known to all of you that there actually are quite some movies made outside of the Netherlands and Belgium (or even AHPC Studios GmbH). Sometimes, these are almost on a level with famous Lowlands epics like Michiel De Ruyter (2015) or Redbad (2018). Surprisingly, then, some quite entertaining movies are made in a small town in the US called Hollywood. One of those is the 1993 drama Gettysburg,  starring young, upcoming and promising actors like Martin Sheen and Tom Berenger, from whom we may hear more in the future.

 

Obviously, the battle of Gettysburg was quite important in the Civil War that raged across the US in the mid-19^th century, between the Union and some breakaway states (which are something like provinces in our area), forming the Confederacy. Although not much of it is known in these parts, it was quite a large thing at the time, even our local press covering it extensively. To honour this period, I present you some Union troops in 10mm scale.

 

All joking aside, one of my many projects is putting together the forces for, not really Gettysburg, but the battle of Champion Hill for Altar of Freedom. AOF was written with 6mm figures in mind, but as they are base-based rules they will work just as well with 10mm. I put 20 10mm figures on a base, so we have 80 10mm figures here. A base represents a brigade, and with these four completed I have five Union and one Confederate brigades to go. However, for now I think I have painted enough little blue-clad soldiers… Perhaps later in the Challenge!

 

I used mainly contrast paints and experimented a bit with the trouser colours, not always successfully. Also, I cut quite some corners here (painting black leather on a dark blue coat on a 10mm figure really isn’t always necessary), but I think the end result looks sort of ok. These are Perrin figures, now sold by Magister Militum. The flags are by Pendraken.

 

As I have not the faintest idea what to paint for the Casting Coach yet, I will ask Lady Sarah to drive me to the Black and White set. As payment I offer this vivandière or cantinière in 28mm. This is one of the very first 3D figures I printed, and as such is it not very crisp or detailed, but it’s a nice figure and she came out nicely all the same.

 

So, there we have it. Progress so far:

 

Scores:

80 10mm foot @ 1 point = 80 points

World Cinema bonus = 20 points

1x 28mm foot @ 5 points = 5 points

1x Lady Sarah’s Limousine bonus = 20 points

Grand total = 125 points

And a squirrel point!

While Hollywood may not have the appeal of mass market European cinema, I am sure that the few movies produced in the US will have their own cult following. One day some of these American actors may well become a household name. Only time will tell. Bravo though, for picking this little known area of history as a topic for wargaming.

Your little brigades look great, and as you say, you don't have to paint in all of the details at this scale. The vivandière looks very bright and cheerful, just the thing to help motivate the men.

From MikeD. 10mm ACW Terrain and Commands (36 pts)

In last year's Challenge I painted some 10mm ACW figures, my first foray into tiny scales. I think I got about 60 foot done. Since then I've gotten up to about 600, which adds up to about 100 bases of each side (I'm intending to use Regimental Fire and Fury). So by the time this years edition kicked off I was focused on trying to get them on the table. I found some scenarios I could actually do with such a paltry few figures and I'm still in the process of getting terrain together. Also going to need some command stands and markers, etc. I've gone with Brigade command with one mounted figure and Division command with two each. This entry is pretty much what I was working on when the Challenge began and were completed during that first week. 

I've just ordered a ludicrously expensive set of Gettysburg buildings in this scale including the Lutheran Seminary so perhaps you'll see those by the end of the Challenge, and I've figured out just the perfect toothpicks to use to make snake rail fencing, so we'll see how that goes too.

For scoring purposes, it's:

• 8 x 10mm Mounted @ 2pts = 16 pts
• 1 x  6'' x 6'' box of terrain = 20 pts

Total = 36 pts

From Millsy:

At first glance I these look like 15mm scale stuff Mike they are painted so well. The farm buildings are particularly impressive, weathered to perfection and painted in just the right mix of earthy tones. It would be great to see some pics of what sounds like quite an impressive collection mate, so if you do any more of these this Challenge can we see some of the rest please?