AHPC Submission #9 - Hospitaller Banner Bearers

Some 28mm Hospitaller knights - figures from Footsore, sculpted by Paul Hicks.

It can be so easy to stop doing something and...then not get back to it! At least with posting on the blog! The 15th edition of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has wrapped up, but I am well behind on my posts, so I hope to rip through several of them and get caught up in short order. Up first is my ninth submission, some members of the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem - the Hospitaller Knights. These are 28mm metal castings from Footsore Miniatures, received from a Kickstarter I backed a few years ago. The figures were sculpted by the amazing Paul Hicks, and the flags are from Little Big Man Studios (now available through Victrix). 

Banner man and fellow warrior - I particularly enjoy the Knights who have some mix of cloth in their headgear...really sets the "period" for me. 

The Crusades are a period that has fascinated me for years. I love reading about this era of history, and as you might expect this interest has naturally merged with my hobby mania such that I am keen to run games set during the period. So you would think I probably have a well-organized collection for the setting, right? LOL. 

"Prepare to believe!"

Translation of my intense interest in the Crusades into hobby output has often floundered on the kinds of mental rocks that I feel would be familiar to many wargamers. Mostly I have waffled between hoping to play skirmish games like "Saga" and then suddenly wanting to do larger games like "Hail Caesar", and then struggling with how to base the figures...inducing paralysis via analysis and causing me to go paint some more 30k stuff instead :) Over the years I have managed to paint what amounts to a pair of large war bands that would work for "Saga" - not nothing, but hardly great progress.

More awesome poses from Paul Hicks...man I love his stuff...

These Footsore figures were meant to jolt me out of this stasis, but instead have been a prime example of this unfortunate tendency to revert to stasis...at first I was using the round bases to paint them - you can see some of the initial figures back in Challenge XIII. Since that time, I have come to my senses and re-based those original figures on more traditional square bases to allow for their deployment in a game like "Warhammer Ancient Battles" or "Hail Caesar". Moving houses last year didn't help with progress on this effort, but in the summer I did get a second bunch of Hospitallers based up and primed and...well, you know how the rest goes...

Love how his hood hangs over his brow...adds to a menacing air...

Another view of the mounted banner man.

But here we with AHPC XV, and I managed to make a bit more progress again! These sculpts are just amazing to paint - beautiful, proper metal sculpts created by the talented hand of Paul Hicks...what else could a hobby squirrel want?? The colour palette for these warriors is fairly basic and muted, but still fun to work with. The shields are hand-painted, not my preference, but it didn't turn out too badly. 

Stay tuned for a flurry of further Painting Challenge submissions as we head into the spring - thanks for reading!

Painting Challenge Submission #19 - Hospitaller Knights for Baron's War - Outremer

Figures for "Barons War: Outremer" - 28mm castings sculpted by the incredible Paul Hicks.

My nineteenth - and as it turned out, final, submission to the 13th Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge turned away from the 30th millenium and on to some historical subjects. Here we have a group of Knights from the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem - the Hospitallers. They are accompanied by a priest and a Turcopole scout. These 28mm metal figures were sculpted by the incredible and prolific Paul Hicks, and were released via the "Barons War: Outremer" Kickstarter run by Hicks and Andy Hobday.

Mounted Hospitaller Master, accompanied by two Knights.

I wish I ordered more mounted figures. Or, just, more of everything, from this Kickstarter.

For 98.8% of hobby participants, the arrival of figures from a Kickstarter is hardly remarkable. However, my close friends will surely laugh, having endured endless rants over many years about how much I hate Kickstarter. With this in mind, let us imagine this group of figures represents a patrol on the highway to Damascus, escorting a Priest on his way to oversee a conversion...

Another amazing sculpt. A veteran commander - wise, and dangerous...

The prospect of acquiring figures for the Crusades sculpted by Paul Hicks was enough make my concerns over Kickstarter participation evaporate faster than Tony Blair's ethics around a 20 pound note. While the process certainly took a while, I can report that Andy and Paul ran a solid process. I did start to wonder a little bit as time went on whether the figures would ever arrive, but Paul and Andy kept in touch with the backers, and delivered 100% in the end. I also have to thank Byron for entertaining my multiple stupid questions regarding the general Kickstarter process throughout.

A look at some of the foot knights...great sculpting!!

When the box arrived, I handled it with my usual 10-year-old-on-Christmas-morning approach and was soon bothering Curt, Dallas, Byron and Jamie with pictures of this latest batch of toys. While my views of Kickstarter remain largely unchanged, the fact is that my only regret is that I did not order more stuff - or score one of the models of the Hospital in Jerusalem that were available to early backers! I invite all here to point, laugh, and take the piss at your leisure in the comments below.

You would need faith to fight in the heat wearing this get-up!

The sculpting of the figures is just...awesome. I love Paul Hicks' work, and wow did he deliver here! I thought I would start simple, working on some of the Hospitallers first, before moving on to the Saracen figures later on. I paused a little while to consider how I would base these, but in the end opted for the round bases for the foot models and pill-shaped bases for the cavalry. They came with the figures anyway, after all, and I have been inspired to at least give Andy Hobday's "Barons War" rules a shot using these figures, and those rules seem to work better with these bases.

Armed to the teeth and ready for battle in the Holy Land.

Painting was a lot of fun - sure, black is tricky, but the fact is that these figures are just SO nice, they are a joy to paint. Fortunately the symbols of the Hospitallers is pretty straightforward (although that did not always translate into "straight lines" on the shields...oh well) so all of the shields could be hand-painted with minimal trouble. 

Priest and Turcopole guide.

Tried to be a bit fancier with his shield.

The priest and turcopole guide offered a chance to use some different colours, and it was fun to have a go at a fancier design for the shield the guide has strapped to his back. That said, the search will be on for decals that work on the shields of the Saracen warriors to come...

Onward along the road to Damascus...

This submission provided enough points to put me past my goal of 800, which was nice. It was not intended to be the final submission to this edition of the Challenge, but that is how it worked out due to the timing of my recent visit to Winnipeg, and the issues which can arise when one decides to drive on Canadian highways in March...anyway, it was a thrill to have these guys finished, and I'm pleased to have at least exceeded my goal of 800 "points" worth of painting for the Challenge.

Also, it seems Paul Hicks has another Kickstarter brewing...hmmm...just saying...anyway, thanks for reading, and congratulations to all Conscripts for knocking it out of the park during another Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge!