Friday Night Games: Ancient Naval

Friday, 10th January saw Mat put on an ancient naval game at Mike N's gaff. Models are from Mat's collection.

The game saw John and Dave, controlling the Persians and their allies, whilst Nigel did Stirling work for the Athenians.

Game was completed in one night with a win for eth Athenians.

AHPC XV: From MikeW - 21 x 28mm Tomb King Guards, 3 x Savage Orcs & 9 x More Arthurian Foot

 By way of a change  I have just completed a unit of Tomb King , Tomb Guards - these little guys are in 28mm and are by Highland Minatures and printed by Mini Print Factory.

21 x Tomb King Guardsmen

These guys have been painted to follow the colour scheme I have used on the rest of my Tomb Kings Army

Figures are Highland Miniatures 3D Prints

The figures came in grey resin and are great value for money, the Highland Miniatures team really do some outstandingly good designs in my opinion and Mini Print Factory supplied these quickly and perfectly formed!

Three Guardsmen

Three more Guardsmen

All I had to do was glue figures to bases and then undercoating in a suitable 'Ivory' paint. (Shields got the same treatment but were glued to figures after paiting, before varnishing).

Weapons and armour painted with Hoplite Gold Speed Paint, then highlighted with Vallejo Brass and the weapon edges lined with a Metalic Silver Sharpie pen! 

More Guardsmen

GW Skeleton Horde is my 'go to' for skeletons, so this was applied and then when dry the figures were dry brushed with Ivory paint again to pull out highlights. See rest of my collection <here>

Shields and weapon staffs washed with a watered down mix of blue andblack ink to give definition and aging effect

Next I added Army Painter Speed Paint Hoplite Gold to all halberds, armour and helmets before applying GW blue to loin cloths, jewels an shoulder armour panels.

The command group

Sky Blue was used for halberd shafts & shields, in keeping with other figures in my army, whilst shield reverses were painted with GW Gore Grunta Fur.

All bandages were picked out in Vallejo Light Sand before highlighting the gold with Vallejo Brass.

I'm claiming Skullz Points for these guys as well - 21 x Skeletons plus a drummer and standard bear with an addition 3 skulls between them (See Photos!)

Next up are some more 28m Arthurian foot...

Nine Arthurian Foot figures

In this post I have 9 new foot figures to 'show & tell!', 4 x Artizan Metal figures, a Warlord Games Metal figure and 4 x Victrix plastic Medium (Unarmoured) infantry.

Four Victrix, unarmoured Medium Infantry. Again, shields and heads have been swapped to give unit variation

.

Another view, showing the interesting cloak provided with the Victrix figures

The Warlords Games figure came free when I pre-ordered their 'Once and Future King', Hail Caesar supplement - which spurred me on to do these Arthurian figures. This figure depicts Agravain, Arthur's nephew, he is holding his sword and helmet aloft in a dramatic pose.

Agravain, by Warlord Games. A lovely little figure. Described as tall, dark & handsome but a unargumentative so and so!

The four Victrix figures have been painted in my usual manner with light grey tunics and a red & white shield theme. They are designed to be representing Loose Order Medium Infantry and are thus on 22mm bases.

Artizan mage, painted up as Merlin

Artizan mage, painted up as Merlin

Artizan Standard Bearer, note the full face mask,

early Christian icons added by hand to the shield

The Artizan Minatures metal figures are a Noble, a musician and a Standard Bearer as well as a figure that I take to be representing Merlin.

Artizan Musician

Finally on this post, I have three Savage Orcs and a related terrain piece that were originally going to be my entry for Dante's Limbo, until I stumbled upon those long lost Elves.

Three Savage Orc Blood Bowl figures to be pressed into Warhammer Fantasy service!

These guys were the last three of  set of Savage Blood Bowl figures that I was working on earlier in the year - but somehow they got left behind unpainted. That's all resolved now! Two of the three figures are actually pretty big, suitable for Bosses, the third is to be used as a Shaman - just because he has a funny looking mask.

Shaman, from the rear, note skull on his belt

Same figure from the front, with Shaman mask and a ring of seven small bird skulls around his left knee.

Again there are Skullz points to be had on these guys - by my count 12 in total - see photos for details!

This guy has a fighting fist, incorporating a blade plus the had of a Reptilian foe on his left shoulder!

Another view, showing two skulls hanging form his loincloth.

The terrain piece is actually some kind of game marker for Blood Bowl that came wit the Savage Orc set, but it also will work well as a Tomb Kings piece and is a great big SKULLZ point!

The Skull Terrain piece, with two small skulls tucked in by the right hand tusk

The terrain skull, next to the Shaman to show scale.

That's it for now, coming soon are more Arthurians, Necrons and some Elves.... 

SKULLZ                                                               39 Skulls

SQUIRRELS           Arthurians & Tomb Kings      2 Squirrels                                       

POINTS

21 x 28mm Skeletons @ 5 Pts ea                        105 Points

3 x 28mm Savage Orcs @ 5Pts ea                        15 Points

1 x Skull Terrain Piece                                            1 Point

10 x 28mm Arthurians @ 5 Pts ea                        50 Points

TOTAL                                                                171  172 Points 

Wow, you have been quite productive! The Highlands Miniatures are great; although I have a lot of their STL's, I have not yet printed any of them and it's great to see them in the flesh. You have done a fine job on them! I always have a soft spot for Arthurian figures, and yours presented here look great too! Love the hand-painted details on the shields. And the orcs are... well, very orky I guess .  Good job!

Now it is just one of those days, and I have again to be strict: no terrain in this Challenge, except for Limbo. So I'll deduce your skull terrain piece point from the total, but then throw in 2 extra points for the shields. So 172 is the final count!

Martijn

Sunday, 29 December 2024

From Mike W: More 28mm Arthurians (65 Points)

Following on from my first post if this challenge is a group of 4 x Mounted and 5 x Infantry figures, all to be used to build up my new Arthurian collection.

Arthurian Heavy Cavalry man, armed with spear

And the other side's view! More to come for this unit!

The mounted figures represent 3 x Heavy Knights and 1 x Heavy Cavalryman whilst the foot figures are all Medium Infantry. 

So a word of explanation - the Heavy Knights (Cataphracts) are to be the mounted versions of the Close Order Heavy Infantry units as shown in my first post, in my head the rules for use will require commander to opt for mounted of foot deployment at beginning of each game.

Arthurian Knights, these guys will have individual shield patterns to reflect the uniqueness and privilege of their positions.

Anther view of the knights

Infantry can be Heavy, Medium or Light and the Heavy and Mediums can be classed as Close or Loose order, all Light Infantry are Loose Order. Anyway the two Archer figures are Light Infantry (unarmoured) whilst the remaining three infantry figures will be classed as Medium (Loose Order, Partially Armoured) Infantry.

Archers - with a Victrix head swap on the right

Another view of the Archers

The mounted figures are all Gripping Beast Cataphracts, the three Heavy Knights have all had head swaps from Gripping Beast or Victrix Late Roman sets plus a couple of shield swaps. The Heavy Cavalryman is pretty much straight form the box.

Three Medium infantrymen, the final unit will be 16 figures,
including Standard Bearer and possibly a musician

Close-up of the Medium Infantry

For the infantry one of the archers has had a Victrix head swap, otherwise both are straight from the box. The spearmen are also straight from the box, as is the Lesser Knight leader, except that he has had a Wargames Atlantic helmet crest added.

Painting wise, I followed the steps described in my first post, the infantry having a light grey tunic with blue trim for this unit and red / white shield iconography. The mounted figures were done along similar lines but with a lot of metalics on the horse armour!

POINTS

5 x 28mm Infantry   @ 5 Pts each        25 Points

4 x 28mm Cavalry @ 10 Pts each        40 Points

TOTAL                                                  65 Points

_________________________________________

Another great Arthurian post Mike. The noble cavalry would be the Tiger tanks of the period with their cataphract barding - wow. They along with the infantry and archers will give a cold welcome to the invading Saxons. Great work.

- Curt

Thursday, 26 December 2024

From Mike W - 28mm High Elves (30 Points)

A quickie post to kick off my quest on Dante's Devine Comedy.

These two GW High Elves were in my bits box for nearly 33 years - what kind of horrendous limbo could that be!

GW High Elf Spearman and Archer, from an early 1990s Boxed Set 

I saw them there the other day and I thought I'd liberate them and give them a new lease of life...

They were so much fun to paint that I'm  now seriously thinking about collecting a small High Elf Amy to go with them.

I liked doing these guys so much I'm looking for more to do - but even on eBay they are now quite expensive!

As ever these guys were undercoated white and then 'dressed' with paint! GW Leadbelcher for chainmail and spear points.

Light Yellow for spear shafts  a bright blue speed paint for robes on the archer and a lighter sky blue on the Spearman's robes, with an old gold trim on each and a dash of brass to add much needed bling!

And a final view, I went for red jewels to offset the silver and blue overall look.

I spent some time on the shields and adding a the red jewels to their bow / costumes.

All finished with a fine sand and electrostatic grass vase with a black edge.

POINTS

2 × 28mm Infantry Figures  @ 5 Pts each          10 Points

Dante's Divine Comedy - Limbo                        20 Points 

TOTAL                                                                30 Points

LInk to original APHC XV post <here>

AHPC XV: From Grahame H - 15mm Dixon Samurai and 15mm Essex Babylonian Chariots (900 points)

 I decided this year that I would try and paint my 15mm Dixon Samurai. I purchased these when Dixon Miniatures used to attend shows in the UK so I have probably had these sitting in a box for more than 20 years. I have purchased a few new ones to complete units, but decided just to split what I had in two to try and make 2 armies. 

Each army is made up of three commands of six units. This leaves a few extra units which I will paint when the armies are finished. The army is based for Impetus. I find this basing can be used for multiple rule sets. Each infantry unit is made up of 16 figures and the cavalry units are 10 mounted figures. As you will see there are more units of Teppo (Arquebus) than there should be, but I went with what I had. 

Painting so many dots of colour on the armour in seven days took its toll. It greatly reduced my enthusiasm, as well as giving me back and neck ache. I won't be doing that again. You will see in the end I went for a lot of black armour to avoid some many dots.

The first command

Sub General (8pts)

The Ashigaru 

There are four units 2 with Yari (spear) and 2 with Arquebus (128 pts)

The Samurai (72 pts)

16 figure foot Samurai and 10 mounted 

Second Command 

Sub General (10 Pts)

Ashigaru Teppo Unit (32pts)

 

Ashigaru Yari Unit (32pts)

A Samurai Unit (32pts)

Two Ashigaru Units (64 pts)

A Samurai Unit (32pts)

Third Command

The General (24pts)

10 Mounted Samurai (40pts) 

16 Ashigaru Bowmen (32pts)

Artillery Stand (6 Crew and 2 Guns = 16pts)

Two units of Ashigaru Teppo Skirmishers each of 5 figures (20pts)

Ashigaru Teppo Unit (32pts)

Ashigaru Yari Naginata Unit (32pts)

Another Ashigaru Yari Unit (32 pts)

Ashigaru Teppo Unit (32pts)

Samurai Unit (32pts)

So that is the first Samurai Army finished totalling 702 pts. 

3 Generals

2 Mounted Units 

18 Infantry Units

1 Artillery Unit

2 Skirmisher Units 

I think that can be considered an army. The next one is made up of the same, which I am half way through. 

Just for a break between armies I also painted some Babylonian Chariots which have been outstanding for a year. These are 15mm Essex figures. 

Again based for Impetus. There are three Chariot units, 2 Sub Generals and 1 General. A total of 9 chariots Each chariot is made up of 4 hourse, 3 crew and a Chariot (16pts each) Total 144 points.

The Chariot Bases (2 chariots on a single base)

The Generals

Closer image of a chariot unit

Total Points (I think) 

Samurai Army = 702

Babylonians = 144 

Total 846pts 

Link to original AHPC XV Post <here>