From NoelW: Penultimate pot pourri of painted pieces

As we’re nearing the end of the Quarantine Challenge (but not necessarily nearing the end of lockdown as, as far as I can see, little has changed for people like my family) I decided it was time to review my plan, as it was certainly “ganging agle-y”. I'd originally planned for 23 projects, each of which I wanted to touch twice (once to complete something already begun, once to do something new). By last week, I’d touched 14 of the 23 projects, addressing only 22 of the hoped-for 46 “slots” – not even half!

So, with time trickling out through the plughole of existence, I decided I’d aim to use the last couple of weeks to gesture in the direction of as many of the remaining projects as possible. This is a bit of a cheat, really, as I’d intended much more than this, but other things have eroded my time, so this is simply a way of making me feel a bit better about myself, as well as getting a few more projects chugging infinitely slowly forwards.

Here, then, is my penultimate post of smallish offerings, from several projects. 

First off, the American War of Independence. This has long been a conflict I’ve been interested in (since the days of O level history, in fact), but a project I’ve constantly failed to get back to. So, with a concerted effort, here’s a contribution for both sides.

For the Americans, a “butterfly”:

And for the Brits, the 45^th, Nottinghamshire, regiment:

Next, a Congreve Rocket for my Waterloo setup. I try to add something each year to the Waterloo collection around the time of the anniversary. This is a Warlord model. I find their offerings quite varied in quality, perhaps because they tend to buy up other smaller firms, but this model I really like, as it gives an unusual dynamism to the Napoleonic battlefield.

I’ll finish with a couple of Lord of the Rings characters. Hama, who is definitely one of the good guys, swallowed, according to Peter Jackson, by a warg en route to Helm’s Deep:

And Denethor, Steward of Gondor. Now, is he Good or Evil? He’s wearing black, so that seems definitive. Except pretty much everyone in Gondor wears black, so that’s not much help. As the faithful steward who turns out to be faithless, and the loving father who sets his son on fire, perhaps neither Good nor Bad, just slightly conflicted.

(Apologies for the overexposed photos, BTW.)

That’s 26 foot (130 pts) and 2 war machines (20 pts) = 150 pts. Cumulative total for the challenge: 1494

And the state of play of my projects, with less than a week to go, 26 of my hoped for 46. Can I complete another 20 projects in 5 days?

Project	New Task	‘Points’	Old Task	‘Points’
Agincourt
AWI	Farmstead	3	US Butterfly British 16 foot	30 80
Black Seas (1/700th)	2 merchants	20
British in Egypt: 1801			Generals de Rolls’ regiment	30 60
Cape Wars	12 infantry	60
Carthaginians
Crusades	Command group	20
ECW
French in Egypt: 1801	Guns	50	Command Gun crew	75
Frostgrave/fantasy	3 Treemen	24	Frankie	5
Italian Wars
Lord of the Rings	Swan Knights Denethor Hama	60 5 5	Harad cavalry Harad infantry	60 45
Minden (15mm)
Ottoman
Peninsular War			12 Spanish	60
Republican Romans
Sikh/Afghan Wars	Command stand 8 Irregulars	15 40	11 irregulars	55
1860s British IF	Command base	15	Union rebasing	0
1880s, the Sudan	Buildings	15	18 British	90
Walmington/Sealion	6 landing craft	30	3 Civvies 6 zombies Bandstand	15 30 2
Waterloo			Congreve rocket	20
WW2 Desert	3 trucks 39 Afrika Korps	30 195	15 Italians	65
Zulu War	NNI Frontier Horse Natal Carbineers	30 60 50	Pearson & Chelmsford 4 foot	25 20
TOTAL		727		767