AHPC X - From MikeW - 'A Fit of Pique' at Pipers Peak - 1 x 28mm HYW Archer (35 Points)

I came by this figure (and a second identical figure) as a freebie given away with entrance to Salute 2015. In actual fact I didn't attend the show but a friend of mine Mike N. from our club had been given a handful of them and passed a couple on to me.

Unmade Figure

Now I painted one of these almost immediately but cannot remember what happened to it, with the need to get something done for Piper's Peak the H.Y.W English Archer giving the two fingered salute to his French adversaries seemed to fit the bill of a 'fit of pique'!!

Now my hope is that I have made a legal move from Benito's Brook to Piper's Peak, there certainly appears to be a the between the two locations.

The figure is plastic and is of course from the Perry Miniatures stable, it assembled very easily and quickly and after an undercoat in white and a couple hours to dry was able to build-up the colour.

A busy workbench is a happy workbench!

So I have been asked how I can 'churn-out' so many figures, the answer is to have several projects on the go at any one time, that means when I do get some spare time I can always get straight in to a painting or modelling job and maximise my time to 'churn-out' figures.

It also helps having a workbench that can be left from day to day without having to pack away  items at the end of the day only to have to get them all out again - next time you have some hobby time.

So in the photo is a glimpse of my workbench, this figure in undercoated stage, next to some 28mm 1672 figures that I'm also working on, above and to left are some Ottoman Balkan infantry nearing completion and basing - so three Challenge items active at the same time! (ignore the 15mm M113s and Chaos Marines - they old and being renovated before dispatching for sale on eBay to fund new projects!)

An Angry English Archer at Agincourt!

Rear View

This time I stared with the flesh then the leather jack, keeping to a muted mix of colours I did most of the archer in various browns with a splash of colour for his faded green undershirt and a red leather for his sword scabbard.

Livery Crest on display

Leggings rolled-up to keep out of the mud

A splash of colour on hi s left breast is a livery shield. Truth be told this was originally meant to be a red cross on a white background but I mad such a hash of the vertical red stripe it immediately took on the form of a white and red halved shield! I added a black emblem and it became a nice livery sign.

This chap seems to be well armed, with sword and buckler as well as his bow an a dagger, if things get rough he has also got his hand axe.

Whole figure was washed in Army Painter Light Tone and then matt varnished before completing base.

POINTS
1 x 28mm Foot Figure = 5 Points
Piper's Peak Bonus = 30 Points
TOTAL 30 + 5 = 35 Points

AHPC X - From MikeW - At Benito's Brook - 12 x 18mm Crimean War British Hussars (126 Points)

This entry is my step into the realms of Benito's Brook, and it was quite some challenge to figure out what from my lead mountain would qualify for this post!

Post Marked 2006!

Eventually I opted for a box of 18mm Eureka Miniatures I'd rather rashly ordered back in 2006, whilst away from home on a business trip, during which time, I was finishing reading the rather good 'Hell Riders' by Terry Brighton.

A few lessons learned by this experience, don't order figures on a whim after reading an inspiring book - by the time these little chaps had landed on my doormat from Australia, my fickle fancy had moved on to other areas of interest!

I did try to paint up some lancers - maybe 5 or 6 years ago but this came to nothing and I'm not even sure where these half painted chaps are now.

Finished 11th Hussar Squadron of 12 x 18mm Eureka Figures

So now for Challenge X - I took 12 troopers from the package and determined to paint these up as a squadron of 11th Hussars - or for those that remember the film - these were Lord Cardigan's 'Cherrybums', on account of their red trousers. It was also the regiment from which the unfortunate Captain Nolan, was detached to HQ duties and led to the late unfortunate mix-up.

For those who are not sure of the story of the Light Brigade - On 25 October 1854, during the Crimean War, the Light Brigade of the British Cavalry Division made the most magnificent and most brutal and pointless charge in military history.

Fantastically detailed book

on the Charge of the Light Brigade

Almost 700 men armed with sabre and lance, charged straight at the muzzles of Russian cannons and massed Russian Cavalry and Cossacks behind. But it was a blunder, they charged down the wrong valley, into the Russian guns instead of scaring off Russian infantry men that were stealing away allied guns in the adjoining valley!

All because Captain Nolan and Lord Cardigan hated each other and could not communicate properly.

As soon as I started painting these guys, I remembered why I'd given up on the lancers, at 18mm scale they have fantastic detail but are so small my ageing eyes really struggle. Difference now is that I've accepted wearing glasses when doing figure painting and results are better.

View from the flank

These Eureka figures are significantly bigger than 15mm counter parts - you do have to get the detail done to make the most of them but they are still smaller than 25/28mm figures that I have been mostly painting recently. I persevered but they were hard work!

A bit more detail

Since my last post - where I detailed how I paint horses - I got some great additional tips on horse colours from Tasmin - so I have tried to incorporate those tips in this batch of horses (See below) - allowing for 'Chestnut' colouring. Thanks for the advice Tasmin! See Chestnut horse below...

Anyway here they are - hope they are presentable as part of the famously futile 'Charge of the Light Brigade' and as such qualify for Benito's Book brief of a Forlorn Hope!

Hopefully a 'Chestnut' horse - without Black fetlocks!

I changed my usual basing technique for these figures, I felt that static grass and flowers would be out of scale and not look right. Instead I found a pot of old 'course scatter' in a light green finish and used static grass very sparingly in clumps. I like the effect at this scale.

Despite my complaining I do like the final result, I did plan to do two squadrons per regiment, plus officers and character figures. Maybe I might take another look and see if I can find those Lancers again!

POINTS (Controversy?)

So The Challenge has points rates for painted 20mm and 15mm figures but not 18mm figures. The gap between the two scales is quite significant for mounted troops - either 4 points for a 15mm figure or 8 points for a 20mm figure.

I have opted for the following scoring system - score them as 20mm figures (nearest scale) but subtract 10% score as 18mm is only 90% of 20mm - Minon of the Day please feel free to adjust according to you r guidelines or Whim - ed - "ah lets confound Miles spreadsheet  I will round these to 20mm "

12 x mounted figures at 8 points each = 96 Points
Bonus Points for Benito's Brook = 30 Points

TOTAL = 96 +30 = 126 Points

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge X - STOP PRESS

Grahame has entered the fray!

No longer will Mike W be the sole bearer of brush and paint in this prestigious competition but Grahame has also thrown his hat in the ring.

Grahame has also set himself a target of 2000 Points for the season, given his preferred scale of 15mm - this will be a truely magnificent achievement if the target is reached....

As ever the competition postings will be submitted here, albeit some 2 weeks after they can be seen on the competition website - which can be reached by clicking <here>.

Then there were Two...

AHPCX - GrahameH : Started at last. My first entry. 15mm ECW - 69 points

Having to work through Christmas and New Year seriously hinder any opportunity in getting some painting done. However I did manage to get this unit completed.

32 x 15mm Essex figures representing Newcastle’s regiment during the English Civil War. I actually painted 42 figures but couldn’t get them to fit on the bases so they will be transferred to my Scots army when I re-base them.

Front view

Right, now I’ve started I have got to try and catch up with Mike W, who is from the same club as me. Can’t have him thinking he hasn’t got a real challenge on his hands can we. Just joking.

Rear view the view my opponent usually sees as my troops bravely runaway

Think that’s 64 points only another 1936 to go.

SAS Movie Club Page Launched

The SAS Wargames Club has launched a Movie Club Page, where members can nominate wargames related films to others for their viewing pleasure!

The SASie

To be nominated a club member should contact Mike W. with the film's title and a brief summary as to why the film should get nominated.

All nominated films will get posted here, films that receive 3 or more nominations will be awarded the prestigious 'SASie' as an indicator of the film's contributions to the Wargaming hobby. See right!

As ever in such award situations there are a number of categories, these will be as follows - people nominating a film should indicate under which category it has been nominated.

Categories are - Pre 1960, 1960s-70s, 1980s-1990s, 2000-2009, 2010-2019, Current Films, Foreign Films.

Anyone can nominate a film - any film - even if it is a real stinker!

SO Steve has submitted a huge list of films, not all are posted on the page yet (lack of time) also some films that do not have a trailer available will be deemed unusable - sorry they will not be included

See Movie Club Page <here>

AHPCX - MikeW - 8 x 17th Century Armoured Cossacks plus 3 x Polish Commanders (110 Points)

Unpainted but mostly constructed figures!

So at the risk of a close repeat of an earlier submission in this year's challenge - I have (maybe) completed my Pancerni units of Polish Armoured Cossacks, plus their commanding officers!

Finished unit of 8 Armoured Cossacks

So this batch of 8 x Pancerni are a mixture of models that I got from eBay in the last couple months, some are Wargames Foundry and others are (I believe) either Redoubt Miniatures or Assault Group minis. Anyway the Wargames Foundry figures are noticeably smaller than the others in the units...

Front on view of Pancerni unit

Mixing the figures together helps disguise some of that size difference - as does swapping horses and bases around to put slightly smaller figures on larger horses. But some do just look smaller - I'll live with that and explain it by saying that these may be young sons and siblings of older warriors in the unit! After all in the 17th Century you could end up in the army at 14 or 15 years old or even younger.

Close-up of the Pancerni Armoured Cossacks

Can't remember if I've talked about how I paint my horses, the method has developed over the past few years and whilst I make no claims for them to be masterpieces - I'm happy with the overall results.

Typically I paint mounted units in batches of 6 figures at a time, I undercoat the horse with white acrylic paint, allow to dry. Then about 4 or 5 of the horses are painted in various shades of brown with the option to do the remainder as either a black horse or a grey.

Black horses are initially painted in a slate grey colour, whilst 'greys' I paint in a mid or light grey.

I then paint on black manes, tails and fetlocks (hoof up to mid shin or 'knees') on each horse - except for greys.

Close up of Officer, Musician and Banner bearer

Potentially for 1 or 2 horses in each batch I will paint the tail & mane of a lighter brown horse in a sandy yellow colour for variety but still do the fetlocks in black.

For greys, I will dry brush the whole horse in light grey and then white - depending on exact tone I'm looking for and then will do the main and tail in a darker grey or white, according to choice.

For black horses, water down some black paint into a 'strong wash' and then paint over the slate grey - this will give a good tonal variance and shading over the horses' body.

Pancerni Commander, on horse

with arguably outdated armour!

Another Pancerni Commander

When all dry I add white socks to the horses, most have some form of white hair around each hoof, even if a thin line, be sparing on this. I also add various sized 'blazes' to horses' heads, again most horses have some sort of 'blaze'.

If you do a large 'blaze' that extends to the horses' muzzle then you should dry brush the muzzle with flesh colour.


Once all done use Army Painter washes or Dips to add shading and tone and shading to the horses.

Horses completed - then add the riders and they're done.

Overall Pancerni Commander

For the commanders I have two on smaller round bases and one on a large round base - you can guess where this is going - I have a total of 5 Pancerni 'Banners' (30 figures) that will be split 2 and 3 between the lesser commanders with the overall Pancerni commander on the large 'winged' horse.

Actually I now have 2 spare Pancerni figures, after doing this batch of eight, I can see my-self doing another 4 figures to give each commander 3 'banners' each!


On the tabletop opponents (and allies) can get confused as to which units are Pancerni and which are Winged Hussars (I now have 4 banners of these) - I like to add to that confusion by using the wings as a badge of rank for Polish commanders.

Another view, note attempt at

leopard skin saddle cloth

Given that no-one really knows how or why  the Winged Hussars used their wings, or how they were attached etc - I'm claiming that they represent a noble rank or office...