AHPC X - From MikeW - Odds and Ends #2 (91 Points)

I can't believe its the 10th March already and if I remember correctly the challenge ends on 21st March, Yikes!

Luckily I have just met my target but I am presenting today a number of figures that I have been working on over the last couple of weeks that do not really fit into any other posting - really because they were left overs that needed re-modelling, that I found after the main post was done or simply I fancied painting a piece that I found in the bottom of my spares boxes or at the foot of the lead / plastic mountains....

28mm Medieval Foot Knight

So to start off we have a 28mm Medieval foot knight, I believe the figure was given away with entrance to the 2003 Salute event (at least that's what I says on the base), I don't ever remember being given it, so assume that was why it was in the bottom of the spares box on its wrapper still...

A view of the shield

A nice little figure, I undercoated in black and dry-brushed it with steel paint to get the chain mail effect, then added deep red robes and other details. I used an old Warhammer Bretonnian transfer on the shield and based the figure in my normal manner.

4 x Stirland Militiamen

Next is a group of Warhammer Empire Stirland Militia and another mounted Knight, there are a whole bunch of these Militiamen in my plastic pile, looking at another 10 on my workbench - which may or may not get done next week.

Focus on Swordsman and Musketeer

Focus on standard bearer and crossbowman

I can't take any credit for the flag, the basic design was taken from the internet and I made it into a flag using Microsoft Paint. The knight, was a bit of a challenge and I had to change heads and find a new tail for the horse, but it has turned out good in the end.

Stirland Mounted Knight

And another view...

Sticking with Warhammer Fantasy, next I have a group of seven giant spiders, to go with the spider Riders I did in the last AHPC Challenge. These little plastic guys are really, really old - originally  believe I had 10 of them, acquired in a bring and buy sale at a Wargames Show, maybe 20 years or more ago. I've painted them green and individually based them - with a view that they would generally accompany the Spider Rider units whenever they are fielded.

Mysterious Plastic Spiders, anyone recognise where they came form?

I've always assumed that they are Games Workshop but they didn't get used as they never seemed to be part of any Army Lists - these days I don't care so much about official lists - they look good so I'll use them!

Moving on to Warhammer 40k, I found a couple of partial frames of plastic Space Marines, I fancied doing a paint job on them and here we are. Over the years I have had 2 or 3 Space marine armies, all but the first Ultramarines, each army has been spirited away via eBay - except the first which was so bad I binned them!

Three 'Blue' marines from a yet to be named Spacemarine chapter, from the front

And from the other side

What can I say, I like Space Marines and I like them in blue. this time I have left off the Ultramarine iconography, if I do more, I may create new chapter with its own background - some sort of sons of Ultramarines but different!

Senior Cadian Officer

Finally I have a metal Imperial Guard Officer to go with the Cadian unit I have been adding to during this Challenge. I really like the pose on this figure, portraying an arrogance of a senior Officer and just wanting his men to get the job done. I particularly like the riding crop behind his back!

Rear View

The Great Coat is piped and lined with Red and he wears a gold breast plate - befitting such a noble officer.

What next? I have some more Balkan 17th Century infantry nearly ready to base and complete and then the last stretch will be a new project that I'm excited about - 28mm Elizabethan Skirmishes - something that the club I belong to is dabbling in. Hopefully some of these at the end of next week!

POINTS
1 x 28mm, Imperial Guard Officer @ 5 Points = 5 Points
3 x 28mm, Space Marines @ 5 Points = 15 Points
7 x 28mm, Giant Spiders @ 5 Points = 35 Points
4 x 28mm, Empire Foot Soldiers @ 5 Points = 20 Points
1 x 28mm, Empire Mounted Knight @ 10 Points = 10 Points
1 x 28mm, Medieval Foot Knight @ 5 Points = 5 Points
TOTAL POINTS 5 + 15 + 35 + 20 + 5 = 90 Points

AHPC X - From MikeW - Various Warhammer Empire Miniatures (260 Points)

Following on from my last post I emptied out my bags of old Warhammer Empire figures on the workbench and was determined to work out how to add these in to my recently expanded Stirland State Army.

Undercoated Empire figures, Eagle-eyed readers will see one of the original figures

I did some 10 years ago being used as a reference!

Many of these figures are from the 'Classic Empire' era, but the rest are '2nd Edition'  Empire figures albeit with many of them missing arms and heads!

I spent some time building a number of new troop types, utilising parts from the spares box to achieve the results I was looking for.

First I'll cover the standard types that came to hand, there are 6 x 'Classic' Spearmen, converted to Halbardiers, as per the bulk of the figures I did in the last post, these all needed to have the halbard heads re-fixed to their poles, or new ones found.

'Classic' Empire troops with Spears replaced by Halbards, Billhooks

and sundry other unpleasant weapons!

Next are 13 x '2nd Edition' Halbardiers, from a Games Workshop boxed set that never got completed, today they are! Nothing special with these little guys, painted in Green and Yellow as per other Stirland Regiments. As previously stated I still prefer the Classic' figures, even though these came in a limited number of poses.

'2nd Edition' Halbardiers, almost straight form the box,

albeit 10-15 years late!

Returning to 'Classic' figures there are 5 x Spearmen straight out the box. You'll have noticed by now, that I do not use the shields on my Empire Figures, no real reason other than I like them better without shields.

'Classic' Empire Spearmen

Now on to the new troop types I have created - first 6 x Pikemen, built from the torso and heads form '2nd Edition' figures but with arms supplied from the recent Warlord Games Landsknecht boxed set. I purchased the Warlord set last year but floundered badly when trying to paint 'real' Landsknecht figures! However I really like the way these figures have turned out...

'2nd Edition' Pikemen, I have loads of pike arms in the spare box now

and no torsos to join them to, I feel an eBay trip coming on!

Next are 8 x Crossbowmen, five of which are built using '2nd Edition' torsos and the other three with torsos from the Warlord Games set - these are a little small and slender compared to their Games Workshop counterparts but not so bad to be a problem, especially if placed in back ranks. To each of these torsos were added crossbow arms from my spares box, these originated from an old Empire Militia boxed set or the '2nd Edition' boxed set.

Crossbowmen - it's pretty easy to spot the Warlord Games figures

There were two random Musketeers - one 'Classic' and one built in a similar manner to the Crossbowmen but using the musketeer arms from the Warlord Games set, on a '2nd Edition' torso.

'Classic' left and '2nd Edition' with Warlord arms right.

Here are 3 x Archers, one a classic figure that was missing a spear, - so bow and arrow hands were added from the Empire Militia box. The other two are in very similar poses both have Empire Militia Bow and Arrow arms - one has a '2nd Edition' torso the other has a Militia torso.

Archers - Militia figure left, '2nd Edition' right and 'Classic' in centre

.

Finally on the infantry side are three special figures, all converted from 'Classic' models with missing arms and weapons - an Officer, Drummer and Great Sword.

Converted 'Classic' Spearman - Officer with Pistol

Converted 'Classic' Musketeer- Drummer

Converted 'Classic' Spearman - Great sword man

The Officer has a pistol hand from the Militia box and a random spare left hand grafted on. The Drummer has a drum and drumstick hands from the Warlord Games set and the detail of the powder charges on the shoulder belt has been cut off, a couple of pouches and a dagger were added. Then the Great Sword has a weapon from the Militia box and another random left hand substituted for the originals - the Great Sword has had the second hand carved away.

Sneaking in at the end are three Empire Mounted Knights, these are all on barded horses and the knights are all in plate armour with a random selection of heads added to the figures. A Yellow and green pennant ties them together as Stirland Knights and one guy carries a Yellow and Green Banner.

Three Stirland Knights

So that's pretty much it on the Stirland front, I have an Army Commander in progress - so hopefully he'll see the light of day as a completed model, now that he's been brought in form the cold, dark garage!

Only danger now is I'll go and buy more figures to make more pikemen....

POINTS

6 x Pikemen @ 5 Points ea = 30 Points

3 x Archers @ 5 Points ea = 15 Points

2 x Musketeers @ 5 Points ea = 10 Points

8 x Crossbows @ 5 Points ea = 40 Points

5 x Spearmen @ 5 Points ea = 25 Points

19 x Halbardiers @ 5 Points ea = 95 Points

3 x Special Figures @ 5 Points ea = 15 Points

3 x Mounted Knights @ 10 Points ea = 30 Points

TOTAL POINTS 30 + 15 +10 + 40 +25 + 95 +15 + 30 = 260 Points

AHPC X - From MikeW - 33 x Classic Warhammer Empire Stirland Halbardiers, Spearmen & Musketeers (167 Points)

In Challenge IX, I tackled my Warhammer Green-skin plastic mountain, it seemed logical that this time around I would shift focus to address the Empire troops that I've have lying around in various bags and boxes for too many years!

Contents of an Empire bag emptied on my workbench...

.. three knights will be the subject of a later post

When I say 'Classic' Warhammer Empire, I am of course, in this case, talking about the original Empire troops, Spearmen and Musketeers that came with what I think was the 3rd Edition Boxed Set in the early 1990s.

At the time, I was taken by the Landsknecht visual references and enjoyed the whole 'warring states' environment set-up in the Empire world. I plumped for the Stirland forces for two reasons - their ongoing fight against the Undead and their colour scheme - Green and Yellow - this matched the colours of my local football club and Manchester United's original club colours way back when!

Officer and Standard Bearer, need to sort out a musician and another

standard bearer to get things just right for this regiment.

So these particular models I got from eBay as a job lot some years back but I never got round to doing anything with them. I'd painted up a Regiment of Stirland Spearmen about 10 years ago and these models were obtained to boost their numbers.

What I hadn't realised is that they had been converted to Halbardiers by their former enterprising owner, so they didn't didn't in with the existing spearmen models - so I stopped that project...

... fast forward and I have them out of their bag, fixed a few halbards back on their poles and started painting.

16 Halbardier Figures and one guy with a spear - can you see him?

White undercoat, followed by random, halves or quarters in yellow, followed by green, with a few white leggings and blue or lack hats where required. Most of the musketeers have a leather jack and all the halbardiers have armour.

Figures were shaded with Army Painter dip and then finished with matt varnish before the bases were worked on, in my usual manner.

The central Halbardier Block with Command Figures

To meet my OCD cravings on unit organisation, the regiments are supposed to be a central block of halbardiers, spearmen etc - including command, flanked by two wings of musketeers, archers or crossbowmen.

The 14 Musketeers, in a variety of Green and Yellow

The observant of you out there may notice there is not quite enough figures to achieve this in this batch - but when combined with some more figures I have found then the optimal 8 musketeers per wing can be achieved! Hopefully subject of a future post here.

The completed Regiment of 30 figures plus 3 spares for an existing Regiment

Which reminds me the flag was taken from the internet, each regiment should have two flags (in my world), one the Stirland State flag as shown here and the second a Colonel's flag, typically green and yellow with a family or town crest.

POINTS
2 x 28mm Command Figures@ 5 Points each = 10 Points
14 x 28mm Musketeers @ 5 Points each = 70 Points
17 x 28mm Halbardiers @ 5 Points each = 85 Points
TOTAL POINTS 10 + 70 + 85 = 165 Points