Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge VII - Day 27, or Doomed to Repeat the Mistakes of the Past

Yes, it's that time of year again, when painters from the four corners of the circular globe gather together to honour their shadowy master, the Snowlord, who resides in his icy fastness in the Frozen North, awaiting the tribute of his followers. 

Translation; proud Canadian and all-round top bloke Curt Campbell of the Analogue Hobbies blog is once more running the annual Painting Challenge, and both Millsy and myself have thrown our hats into the ring. And naturally, my own output is languishing in the doldrums.

Well, no excuses; I'm on 28 points while others have already passed the 1K mark, so I'll just have to pick up the pace!

First out of his box was this handsome fellow;

This is Scibor Miniatures' Santa Snowman Slayer, a dwarven maniac in festive guise. He will fill the Barbarian slot in my Frostgrave warband led by Vaino the Enchanter (as seen here) and his well-meaning Apprentice Ilmar. So he also counts as a useful start in my Frostgrave Duel with Millsy, though I think I can expect a swift counterattack, since young Michael has never been one to let the grass grow under his feet...

Next up was this little vignette, Delenda Est...

My meditation on the human condition in the form of the ghosts of the past confronting the warriors of the modern age; the spirit of a departed Carthaginian soldier awoken by the tumult of war in 1943.

This was to have been my entry for the first Bonus Round, 'Armour', but exactly as happened last year, the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley. Oh well, live and learn (hopefully).

I've had a lot of encouraging comments on the piece, and as this is the first WWII tank I've painted in over three decades, I'm gratified at the response. I might have to rustle up some more down the track!

So that's the story so far - I've cleared the decks to try and remedy the options paralysis I've been experiencing, and hope that this will enable me to focus properly on the task at hand.

Stay tuned...

Ev

Carthaginians Are Go!

Seems I've found my mojo again now. I've finished my first unit of Carthaginians (Numidian Foot) apart from the basing. Next up is the Numidian Horse x 2 which are already cleaned and assembled. The foot only took about 2 hours to paint so hopefully the horse won't be much beyond that.
Here's a pic of the foot as they stand...



Cheers,
Millsy

Some tents...

Just a quick one about the resin tents I mentioned in an earlier post. They arrived today and are very nice indeed. Baueda do quite a large range with plenty of options. Restricting myself to just 3 was quite a challenge.

The pic shows the two medieval pavilions for my Burgundian Ordonnance and the Roman tent "borrowed" by my Carthaginians.

Cheers,
Millsy

Carthaginian News...

Having 99% finished my Burgundian Ordonnance (just a bit of basing and flags to go) I got my Carthaginians out of the cupboard last night to begin planning the painting process.

Let me just say once again what absolutely lovely scuplts the Corvus Belli miniatures are. There is a certain amount of flash on some of them (mainly in areas where arms cross over the body and create a small "void") but in every other way these are some of the nicest miniatures I have ever purchased. The metal quality is quite good for one thing with a reasonable tin content so the mintaures are strong but not brittle.

The miniatures are well proportioned, nicely animated and the detail in particular is both considerable and clear. That's a pretty general statement so I'll be a bit more descriptiive...

Detail
The detail level may well in part be due to the moulds being relatively "young" and still producing good casts but that isn't the only reason by far. Some ranges replace "crisp" sculpting with "thick" sculpting to produce detail. By that I mean chunky, obvious details to enhance visibility as opposed to clearly defined detail with sharp edges.

The Corvus Belli sculpts are most certainly of the latter variety. The straps, belts, weapons and other thinner items all stand out quite clearly without the miniature looking like he's being crushed slowly to death by a large python. These will paint up well with a minimum of overpainting and inking will help even more.

Animation / Pose
The animation level of the miniatures is excellent. Horse manes flowing, weapons raised or swinging and faces set hard for battle all contribute to making the miniatures look more alive than most. All the various body parts bend at natural angles too which is one of my pet peeves with other ranges. Nobody wants to see their warriors doing backflips or performing in a manner normally reserved for a contortionist.

There is also plenty of variation in poses which you don't often get. I'm not just talking about head or weapon swaps, these are individually different sculpts for each product code, typically up to four or five variants.

Proportion
These are a "proper" 15mm fig and will fit well with other manufacturers like Old Glory or Essex if you want although I suspect they might make the other miniatures look a bit ordinary.

The infantry and the riders are all very well proportioned. In general the miniatures are of a more or less consistent size and neither fat nor thin. Weapons, shields, etc are all correct relative to the wearer as well. This is in part due to the crisp detail I referred to above.

The horses seem a wee bit small - more like ponies. It could just be that they should be smaller considering the period but I'm not sure. Certainly they shouldn't be as big as later breeds used for carrying a fully armoured knight.

So in short...
I don't want to sound like I'm on the payroll but these figs rock. I'm having a hard time convincing myself I don't need the Celts to help my Carthaginians out every once in a while.

I'm going to start with the Numidians just because they are simpler. Then I can work up to the more complicated and detailed troops. They deserve the best paint job and I want to work my way up to the really sweet stuff ;-) I've cleaned and assembled my first BG - Numidian Javelinmen - and they are ready for painting.

Next update - painting progress on the Numidian Javelinmen...

Cheers,
Millsy

Corvus Belli Carthaginian Figures

I did a lot of comparison and research when choosing a manufacturer for my figures. In the end it turned out that Corvus Belli, a Spanish company, is by far the best for 15mm Carthaginians figs IMHO. Quite a few people on the FoG Forum backed this up.

The Corvus Belli range is great. The figs are well proportioned and animated and the sculpting very detailed. Some weapons come loose with an open handed cast so you can change things around for extra variety.

I'm still waiting on a few bags of cavalry but otherwise this is the pile I have to deal with in the near future...

I'm going with an MDF base and then magnets on the underside for ease of travel. There are a couple of guys on eBay who sell pre-cut MDF in appropriate sizes at very reasonable prices and I've picked up a bunch of A4 sheet magnet with a sticky back so assembly should go simply.

One of the other guys in our group has found a supplier of detailed resin tents in 15mm (Baueda) so I've snaffled something Roman (in true Carthaginian style!) to go with some cattle and civilian style Corvus Belli figs for my camp.

That's about all for now. Next up, unbagging and starting work (groan!).

Cheers,

Millsy

Millsy's Carthaginians

First things first, here is my initial 800 point list for Carthaginians (numbers are bases, each line is a Battle Group).

Having only played one game prior to building the list I posted a couple of questions on the FoG official forum and got plenty of great help and advice for which I am very grateful.

Just how well the list plays in the hands of a relative noob remains to be seen once they hit the table...

Command
1 x C-in-C [Inspired Commander] - 80pts
1 x Troop Commander - 35pts
1 x Troop Commander - 35pts

Core Troops
4 x Spanish Cavalry [Cavalry, Armoured, Superior, Undrilled] - 64pts
6 x Spanish Cavalry [Cavalry, Protected, Superior, Undrilled] - 72pts
4 x Numidian Light Cavalry [Light Horse, Unprotected, Average, Undrilled] - 28pts
4 x Numidian Light Cavalry [Light Horse, Unprotected, Average, Undrilled] - 28pts
8 x African Spearmen [Heavy Foot, Protected, Average, Drillled] - 64pts
8 x African Spearmen [Heavy Foot, Protected, Average, Drillled] - 64pts
8 x Numidian Javelinmen [Light Foot, Unprotected, Average, Undrilled] - 32pts
6 x Spanish Javelinmen [Light Foot, Unprotected, Average, Undrilled] - 24pts
6 x Spanish Mercenary Scutarii [Medium Foot, Protected, Average, Undrilled] - 42pts
6 x Balearic Slingers [Light Foot, Unprotected, Superior, Undrilled] - 30pts

Optional Troops
4 x Libyphonecian Cavalry [Cavalry, Armoured, Superior, Drilled] - 68pts
12 x Gallic (Celtiberian) Foot [Heavy Foot, Protected, Average, Undrilled] - 84pts
2 x Elephants - 50pts

Total: 800pts

Next up, a whole great pile of figs...

Cheers,
Millsy