AHPC X - From MikeW: 18 x 28mm Dark Ages Archers (90 Points)

A cheeky, quick submission here that sees me complete 18 Dark Age Archers, these little guys were found in the same box in the Lead and Plastic mountain that my last submission of Norman Foot Soldiers were packed away in.

Figures ready to be built, earlier this week

As ever I have other batches on the go as well - specifically 4 new Dragoons to join my recently painted late 17th Century Dragoons see <here> and a full Tercio of late 17th Century Spanish infantry - The Tercio os Blancos - who are proving to be a real challenge as they are in mostly white uniforms and I'm not good with white!!

The finished Archers

Anyway these Dark Ages guys are  undercoating in white - by hand this time as spray can has run out - and painted in a variety of muted colours to reflect their lowly status.

Close-up of six of the little fellas

Thinned down, Army Painter Dark wash wash applied and Matt varnish was used before basing to my usual method.

Another six, on left a handy axe to protect himself,

right of centre arrows ready to fire in the ground

I added a few bits and pieces to the bases,a couple have axes in the ground - placed there by the archers, in case of needing a handy weapon in a hurry and a couple have arrows stuck in the ground - maybe more familiar in medieval times but my guess if it worked then it would have worked before as well.

Final Six, on left arrows in ground, ready to fire

POINTS
18 x 28mm Foot Figures @ 5 Points ea = 90 Points

AHPC X - From GrahameH - Second Entry - More Bits of the 21st Panzer Division (514 points)

Just finishing the last few parts of the 21st Panzer Div.

These are the transports for my German Infantry Battalion featured in my first entry. They are supposed to be P 107, but no one seems to make them in 15mm. So I have tried to convert some French half-tracks by QRF. Not great but they will do.

Two 15mm SdKfz 7 (Battlefront)

U304(f) 2cm Flak (Battlefront)

Captured Somua S-35 (Skytrek)

A bit more for my German Cavalry Battalion (15mm)

A SdKfz 253 (StuG) not part of the Battlion but I had some
grey paint left over and a SdKfz 221  (Both Battlefront)

Krupp Kfz 70 Truck (Battlefront)

15cm IG33 auf Panzer 1 (Battlefront) again not part of the Battalion
but I did mange to use the Grey paint up. 

Romans (15mm Essex 48 figures)

At last I decided to finish of my Early Roman Army,  so I ordered some figures from Essex. The Legionaries were fine but it seems they have change the Auxiliary javelin figures. The new ones are  much smaller than the ones I have and don't mix very well (I suppose I could but the size is very noticeable - so no i can't) Therefore finishing the Romans is on hold again until some old Essex Auxiliary come up on Ebay. :(

15mm Essex Ancient British (93 Figures)

Going through my lead mounting I found I had these, and as I had no auxiliary to paint I painted these instead.

Finally - Khurasan (15mm Late 16th Cent) Landsknecht (80 Figures)

These are for my French Wars of Religion armies. Two units (one smaller than the other but reinforcements are on order)

Hopefully I will finish off the German Cavalry Battalion by the next post and maybe the Numidian army. Which probably means I won't, and will paint something entirely different. I know, just can't help being a wargames butterfly.

AHPC X - From MikeW: 23* x 28mm Norman Foot Soldiers (113 Points)

Well the last few days has seen a stutter in my painted output, with work commitments getting in the way and time taken over the weekend with family commitments. The former are frustrating but it pays my wages, the later are much more welcome and fun to be involved with!

Conquest plastic Normans, built and

undercoated with white matt primer.

So knowing that I was going to get fragmented time to concentrate on anything, I dug out half a box of Conquest Games Norman Infantry, totalling 23 figures, including a casualty figure. Like so many wargamers I have a number of armies that I like to keep adding to – The Normans being one that I want to get to a size that I can run a linked series of 1066 Campaign Games at some stage.

Five mail clad Normans

Once I had built these little guys, I started basing them on 2 pence pieces as normal but soon found that I’d run out of loose change in my pocket and in the ‘piggy bank’ in the kitchen! Luckily is sorting through the drawers that contain my lead mountain a few weeks ago,  I had stumbled upon a pack of MDF round bases, sized the same as a 2 pence piece, so I pressed these into service. Usually I prefer the weight of a metal 2 pence piece as a base to a plastic figure, seems to add gravitas etc. But in this case I through caution to the wind and put plastic on MDF!

Four Normans in Leather Armour

I also took a short cut with the undercoating by venturing outside, between rain showers, to spray paint the figures with white undercoat, I use a cheap matte white spray sold by a leading Car Repair & Spares shop here in the UK! This dried very quickly and I was able to start painting a variety of muted and some not-so-muted colours for clothing on these figures. Some had leather coats, which I did in a rich tan colour and some had full mail coats for which I used my favourite colour Vallijho’s ‘Oily Steel’. This was also used on all steel parts on these figures – such as helmets, swords and spear tips.

Five unarmoured Normans, including as standard bearer

Once main colours were blocked in , I painted the spear shafts, all leather work – including shoes, belts and shield backings, before add in in flesh to complete the figures. I say complete but really mean – before going over each figure and carefully fixing my painting mistakes to complete them!

Five more unarmoured Normans

I used Army Painter Dark Tone on the figures to give definition and shading and then added decal shield patterns to each before I applied a matte varnish to each figure to protect and seal the wash and shield patterns.

Final four unarmoured Normans, including the casualty figure

Bases were done in my usual manner with sand and electrostatic grass, then adding a few tufts to taste. Finally I painted the edge of each base black – which is my preference.

Hopefully I now have a week where I can plough into a couple of large 28-figure ‘Floppy Hatted’ regiments, one Spanish – using the new North Star 1672 Spanish Range and the other an Imperial (Holy Roman Empire / Austrian) German Regiment…

So I seem to remember that casualty figures count as ½ Points, as you only need to paint half the figure – assuming that they are lying down. So I have counted the Norman casualty as 2 Points, instead of 2.5 – I’m sure no one can be bothered with 0.5 of a point complicating everything. As a result my points calculation is, as below.

POINTS
22 x 28mm Foot Figures @ 5 Points ea = 110 Points
1 x 28mm Casualty Figure @ 2.5points = 2 Points
TOTAL  110+2 = 112 points

AHPC X - From Grahame H: German, Moguls and Lombards (600 points)

Painting at Last

I have spent the last year and a half re-basing my Napoleonic armies and I am now about a quarter of the way through. Having got this far I have discovered I actually dislike re-basing. So I entered the challenge this year to ensure I painted something other than Napoleonics, and to see if I could at least attempt to lessen the metal mountain.

So first up is....

German Infantry guns 15mm by PSC

These 3 15mm infantry guns and 2 MGs are all from the PSC. Not my favourite figures but a lot cheaper than buying them from Battlefront, and at a distance you can’t tell anyhow.

Next. Well I couldn’t just stop painting Napoleonics. Two Swiss officers. I have just re-based four infantry battalions of Swiss and brought then up to 36 figure battalions, from 24. The two commanders complete that unit. 15mm AB figures.

Swiss officers - I do like Napoleonics

Unable to decide what else to paint I just open a draw and pulled out a bag. Actually two bags that were stuck together. The first was the figures left over from my mongol horde, the other was a Lombard army I purchased cheaply. I have no idea why a bought a Lombard army but I think it is the
Law that if you bought them you have to paint them.

So first up the Mongolian horde, or rather two units of cavalry. To finish this army I need to paint one more cavalry unit and a camp. Well I don’t need too but as I have already bought them.

18 x 15mm mongols

Finally some Lombards. All 15mm Essex. I have two more units of archers and a camp to paint to finish these which I will hopefully do tomorrow.

36 Lombard archers

The Lombards wore tunics with broad bands and white wrappings around their legs and were know to the Gepid as “white-legged hacks”, so these were a little bit different to paint.

Most of the Lombard army, or rather the period I decided upon, were cavalry. I Hate painting horse. I gave each man a coloured shield, much like the vikings and then found they would have probably been leather with bronze studs. So I had to repaint them. However, as the opposing army is likely to me made up with some of the same figures it will at least allow be to identify the difference sides.

36 Noble Cavalry

27 er! Non-Noble cavalry

And another 27

The General 7 figures

That’s it hopefully I should get the last bits done for these armies to tomorrow.

POINTS

Germans:
15 x 15mm crew figures @ 2 = 30 points
2 x 15mm MGs (I'll treat each MG as a foot figure) = 4 points
3 x infantry gun @ 4 =12 points
Subtotal = 46 points

Swiss Napoleonics:
2 x 20mm mounted @ 8 = 16 points (AB figures get scored as 20mm for some historical reason)
Subtotal = 16 points

Mongols:
18 x 15mm mounted @ 4 = 72 points

Lombards:
36 x 15mm foot @ 2 = 72 points
97 x 15mm mounted @ 4 = 388 points
Subtotal = 460 points

Total = 594 points

AHPC X - From Mike W - 17th Century French Dragoons (40 Points)

For this post I have also dug into the recesses of my workbench and pulled out 8 x Front Rank Late 17th Century French Dismounted Dragoons.

Raw figures awaiting painting

I had these waiting to be painted so opted to do these as members of the La Bretesche Regiment that was raised in 1675 by Joussaume the Marquis de La Breesche.

As can be seen - I need to find some Command figures for this Regiment - ideally an Officer, Standard Bearer and a Drummer, as well as another Dragoon, so I can expand the unit to 2 x Squadrons each of 6 figures. Then I'll need to get the mounted version - but I'll cross that bridge later!

Finished Dismounted Dragoons

The figures are straight forward to paint, a white undercoat followed by the yellow hats, breaches, fs and coat linings, followed by red coats.

I base Dragoons in 'Half-Stands' to allow for a

Skirmish line to be created if required

Details were added including white shirts and neckties, dark brown boots and scabbards, muskets and metal work etc.

A bit more of a close-up

Again I used Army Painter Dark Tone dip to add shading and when dry I based and varnished.

AHPC X - MIke W - US Mexican War - Indiana Volunteers (75 Points)

I had these figures at the back of my workbench since this time last year, so I thought it was time to paint them up and press them into service!

Undercoated & Based figures.

They will fit in with the rest of my US-Mexican / Texas-Mexican Wars collection, these guys are US Army figures, from Old Glory - I believe - and I have opted to paint them up as Indiana Volunteers, who were kitted out by their state in pretty much regulation US Army uniforms of sky blue trousers and shell jacket, dark blue cap and white belts and straps etc.

Finished Volunteer Company of 15 figures.

The figures were undercoated in white and then painted all over in sky blue - I used Vallejo paint as this is form an old set of ACW colours that I have and I assumed that the colour would not be too off for the earlier period.

Another view

I have done the officer and NCO / Standard Bearer in a dark Blue Shell Jacket, really just to make them different and this kit was available during the period. Also - to break-up the uniform feel of the unit - I added a couple pairs of White, grey and brown trousers into the mix.

Close-up of Officer and flag.

Once completed, I painted the figures with Army Painter Dark Tone to add shading and once dried, I worked on the bases, which I left based with sand and added a few 'dried grass' tufts of grass, to give an impression of the Mexican landscape.

The flag was taken from an online image of a flag presented to the 33rd Indiana Volunteers in the Civil War. Obviously not very accurate for the US Mexican War - but I will need to do some more research to get the right flag in place here. The flag is removable - so will not go to waste.

Another close-up showing basing finish with dried grasses

I base these figures individually on round bases and on the tabletop these 15 guys will represent a fairly strong company of 12 Other Ranks, an officer, standard bearer and drummer.

AHPC X - From Grahame H: German, Moguls and Lombards (600 points)

GrahameH Painting at Last

I have spent the last year and a half re-basing my Napoleonic armies and I am now about a quarter of the way through. Having got this far I have discovered I actually dislike re-basing. So I entered the challenge this year to ensure I painted something other than Napoleonics, and to see if I could at least attempt to lessen the metal mountain.

So first up is....

German Infantry guns 15mm by PSC

These 3 15mm infantry guns and 2 MGs are all from the PSC. Not my favourite figures but a lot cheaper than buying them from Battlefront, and at a distance you can’t tell anyhow.

Next. Well I couldn’t just stop painting Napoleonics. Two Swiss officers. I have just re-based four infantry battalions of Swiss and brought then up to 36 figure battalions, from 24. The two commanders complete that unit. 15mm AB figures.

Swiss officers - I do like Napoleonics

Unable to decide what else to paint I just open a draw and pulled out a bag. Actually two bags that were stuck together. The first was the figures left over from my mongol horde, the other was a Lombard army I purchased cheaply. I have no idea why a bought a Lombard army but I think it is the
Law that if you bought them you have to paint them.

So first up the Mongolian horde, or rather two units of cavalry. To finish this army I need to paint one more cavalry unit and a camp. Well I don’t need too but as I have already bought them.

18 x 15mm Mongols

Finally some Lombards. All 15mm Essex. I have two more units of archers and a camp to paint to finish these which I will hopefully do tomorrow.

36 Lombard archers

The Lombards wore tunics with broad bands and white wrappings around their legs and were know to the Gepid as “white-legged hacks”, so these were a little bit different to paint.

Most of the Lombard army, or rather the period I decided upon, were cavalry. I Hate painting horse. I gave each man a coloured shield, much like the vikings and then found they would have probably been leather with bronze studs. So I had to repaint them. However, as the opposing army is likely to me made up with some of the same figures it will at least allow be to identify the difference sides.

36 Noble Cavalry

27 er! Non-Noble cavalry

And another 27

The General 7 figures

That’s it hopefully I should get the last bits done for these armies to tomorrow.

Germans:
15 x 15mm crew figures @ 2 = 30 points
2 x 15mm MGs (I'll treat each MG as a foot figure) = 4 points
3 x infantry gun @ 4 =12 points
Subtotal = 46 points

Swiss Napoleonics:
2 x 20mm mounted @ 8 = 16 points (AB figures get scored as 20mm for some historical reason)
Subtotal = 16 points

Mongols:
18 x 15mm mounted @ 4 = 72 points

Lombards:
36 x 15mm foot @ 2 = 72 points
97 x 15mm mounted @ 4 = 388 points
Subtotal = 460 points

Total = 594 points

AHPC X, - From MikeW: 5 x 1/144 (10mm) Israeli Super Sherman Tanks (15 Points)

A cheeky group of Israeli Super Shermans.

Extracted from my Lead Mountain were these 5 Sherman M4A4 tanks that where the basis for the Israeli M50/51 Super Shermans that paid an important role in both the 1967 and 1973 Wars.

Undercoated and awaiting attention!

I think these models were from Minifgs - though I may well be wrong!

So very quick job to build and to undercoat in white before leaving to dry overnight.

I've always had problems getting the correct shade for my Israeli vehicles - it seems to range from too brown to too green, too light to too dark. These were no exception!

I guess it would be easiest to go and buy a pot of paint that is the right colour - but as I do these figures in such a sporadic manner - I have never done that. So this time I painted a base colour of mid brown and then mixed a greenish, greyish colour to use to wash over.

Not overly happy with final colours

Unfortunately the paint dried very quickly and the wash became pretty much another coat - it seems about right when I added the white combat markings.

I usually get all OCD about having straight lines when doing vehicle markings - until I found out that the Israelis actually painted these markings on by hand and literally scrubbed them off and repainted on a fairly regular basis to keep everyone guessing what they meant. Clever!

Lots of stowage on each tank

So I use a white pen to literally draw on the markings and then I outline with an ultra-fine black pen, before varnishing the markings to keep them in place.


I then gave the models a wash of Dark tone - which was a bit of a mistake, as they got - well - very much darker!

I had to go in and do some dry brushing to lighten the models up again, end result is passable but probably not very Israeli looking - too grey and dark.

When mixed with other Shermans in my collection - they will stand out. Maybe I'll say that they are brand new off the production line and haven't had time to fade yet....

POINTS
5 x 10mm Vehicles @ 3 Points each = 15 Points