TomF - ACW Confederate Infantry - A Flocking Situation

I have enjoyed following the Analogue Hobby Challenge for 5 or 6 years now, always in awe of the productivity and artistic talent of the participants. Three years ago I made an anemic attempt at participating in the annual challenge myself.

When Curt posted the opportunity to participate in this challenge, I decided to sign up in order, in part, to thank all the participants of the annual challenge and hopefully contribute to providing a means of distraction from the depressing news of the pandemic.

For my first post, I have eight American Civil War confederate infantry (Perry Miniatures - plastic).  I painted these in mid-March for a game of Sharpe Practice that, unfortunately, was cancelled once my University colleagues and I were told we had convert all of our face-to-face courses to an online format.

While these figures were painted pre-challenge, they sat on my painting table without flock/vegetation since I had to cancel the game they were to participate in.  As far as the painting of these figures go, I used a gray primer then applied a black wash followed by several rounds of dry brushing with lighter shades of gray.  Quick and easy ... the Perry plastics really lend themselves to this technique.

Over the past weekend, I put static grass and other vegetation on the bases.

Below is a picture of the 28mm ACW figures that I have painted over the last couple of years.  As you can see, I have a bad habit of not finishing the basing of painted figures.

Given how well the 8 figures featured in this post turned out, I may be inspired to finish basing the rest of them over the next month or so.

But up next, I have a batch of AWI figures that I'm hoping to finish painting by the end of the week to share with you.

Thanks for viewing.

TimG in the garage....

 I acquired this mdf kit a couple of years ago and built it over the weekend. I think it’s designed to accompany 28mm toys, so 1/56 scale or thereabouts.  It arrived in my possession without instructions so I blundered my way through assembly. In spite of this it turned out OK and I gave it a basic paint job using emulsion and cheap acrylic paints.
It looks like a lot of old village garages used to - and not just here in the UK. It’s pictured here with a couple of 1/43 scale diecast cars. A side project of mine is an attempt to amass a collection of models of all the cars I’ve owned. At the petrol pumps is a Volvo 850 in more or less the same colour as my 1992 2.0 20V GLT (owned 1998-2000) while lurking inside is a Saab 9-5 standing in for my 2004 Aero (owned 2009-2013).

From TeemuL: Finishing fantasy stuff (15 points)

So, a Challenge after a Challenge. I'm usually quite exhausted after the annual Challenge or at least when the summer really starts. My good start of the year slows down until I again pick up some speed later in the year. Hopefully with this another Challenge, I can keep up running a bit later.

I work in software development industry and we work in an agileish way. Prioritizing is important, making lists and starting from the highest priority. The same applies nicely to the miniature hobby, so I made some lists for myself.

U - Unfinished miniatures. Until couple of years ago, I was quite strict on myself, if I started a miniature or a group of miniatures, I'll finish them before I start painting the next one. That included the primed miniatures. Over the last couple of years, the pile has grown. Items from the U list are these, finishing unfinished miniatures. Suitable for this Challenge, since we are not calculating points (well, yeah).
N - Necessary miniatures. These are the miniatures, that I really need for my next games. This is not that important at the moment, for obvious reasons.
R - Reinforcement miniatures. Army has been started, but not all the purchased miniatures are painted. This is related to N list, but it is a bit different. For example my WH40K Imperial Guard army belongs here, I have never played a game with them and I have not planned one yet. Same applies the Mentor Legion and all the Oldhammer miniatures.
F - Fresh miniatures. Trying to keep the miniature count down, I hope to paint the newly purchased miniatures. Why buy them, if not to paint? The cupboard is full of unpainted miniatures, so just for painting purposes there really is no need to buy anything new.
W - Wacky idea miniatures. Just some crazy idea, that I need to do. Like Sarah's Hot Air Balloon Pumping Station. This usually needs some modelling as well.
S - Space saving miniatures. One way to punish myself is to keep the bought miniatures in their original boxes or packages until I paint them. Kind of a management thing to control buying, if there is no room, why buy it? Sometimes these boxes are quite big compared to what they have inside, especially once assembled. So open a big box, assemble and paint the miniature and you have a whole in your storage. Of course the newly painted miniature needs to be stored somewhere, but it is a different story and a different storage. Actually I don't throw away old boxes, I might use them for storing some other miniatures. Or just keep them, since they are really nice and old. Or at least I cut the front picture away and keep it, so I can remember what I have purchased.

So, with these 6 lists I try to keep myself focused on the important aspects of the miniature painting. In all of the (weekly) posts, I try to list which lists I'm using, some miniatures might fit more than one list. I try to visit the Challenge Island locations as well, but using all kind of travelling possibilities, so not necessarily following the roads. This might cause distractions on the Six Lists, or it might help, I don't know.

Here we go, some unfinished miniatures from the past. The big dragon thing was started last summer and was even used in one campaign while not fully painted, shame on me. I actually bought it as assembled, which made it a bit difficult to paint. Not the dragon, but the rider, Dreadlord called Rinos Wildbringer, used in my Age of Sigmar Anvilgard army, using the rules from the Cities of Sigmar. I'm also using this in our current campaign (5 players, but only 1 play in total before the cancellation of everything). So this one is from U and N lists.

 

Magic horns on the helmet, I hope to find a magic item to match it...

These two Endless Spells were started during the Challenge, but I wasn't able to finish them. I had problems with the "magic effect", since I wanted lava base. All the colors, blue, green and purple, which are usually used as magic, didn't seem right. Then I thought about the magical fire and it was perfect. The cogs look better than the swords (I need to learn their names and rules).

I'm also counting the points for myself, just for fun and statistics, even though I have no training, experience nor knowledge of minioning and no access, superpowers, cats or kittens for any spreadsheets...

U: 3 (total 3)
N: 1 (total 1)
Points:
2x5 points for the spells (they were started during a Challenge so I count them as whole)
5 bonus points for the Dreadlord on the Black Dragon (painted mostly outside of Challenges, so just giving 5 bonus points for the big thing).
15 points total

From GregB: Cerastus Knights for "Adeptus Titanicus"

A banner of Cerastus Knights armed with Shock Lances for GW's re-booted "Adpetus Titanicus".

As the quarantine painting rolls along, I thought it would be good to get back to some sci-fi subjects.  I've been painting a lot of historical stuff lately (and plan to do even more!) but every so often I find I need to apply the brushes to a piece of war machinery from the grim darkness of the far future...here I scratch that itch with a banner of three "Cerastus" type Knights for GW's re-booted "Adeptus Titanicus" game.

These models...the detail is just incredible. Yes, the price is eye-watering...but GW has really hit it out of the park with their new Adpetus Titanicus models, just amazing.

"Titanicus" is a game of giant, city-crushing machines blasting and beating each other until their reactors cook off.  In that environment, the Knights play a supporting role, harassing and flanking the much larger titans like the Reavers and Warlords.  The individual Knights are perhaps not impressive compared to the massive battle titans, but they operate in groups and, used properly, are a real threat to enemy war engines.

Incredible detail on the rear of the Knights' chassis.

These Knights, armed with "Shock Lances", need to get close, very close, to the enemy war engines in order to strike - but their charge can be devastating, and the lances can cause fatal damage to enemy titans. These Knights are organized into "banners", and in the case of these types of Knights they max out at three machines per banner.  I opted to put together a full strength banner, just to maximize their chances of survival on the table.  These Knights are bigger than the other "Questoris" style engines, but thankfully are slightly tougher, and can move very fast on the battlefield. Opposing Princeps will need to be wary!

Power shields can fend off the assaults of other Knights...and in a group, the shields can work together to TRY and hold out under the bombardment of enemy titans...but speed is the better defence there...

Read to move out and spread "hope" - Horus for hope!

I really like the Knight models, but the actual back story of the Knights is pretty lame...best just to think of them as a sort of sub-force for the great Titan Orders.  These fellows are painted int the same teal/green colours I use for the Knights that support my Legio Mortis forces, and they will fight in the name of the Warmaster, Horus Lupercal, and his bold plans to make the Imperium great again...

I try to keep my "Titanicus" collection relatively balanced between rebel and loyalist forces, but as we go through the Quarantine Challenge I'm hoping to add a few more engines to the Warmaster's side of the equation...can always balance that out later :)

"Family photo" of my rebel Adeptus Titanicus forces...the Legio Mortis engines loom in the background...

"Titanicus" is really a great game, yet another example of how GW can crank out fantastic rule sets if they feel like it (as opposed to 8th edition 40k...but anyway).  The advantages of the Knights over the more ponderous and more heavily equipped battle titans are subtle but real, and they add a lot to the game.  The re-booted "Titanicus" is a just superb set of rules overall, and the new range of models that go with them are equally amazing (and expensive...glad I purchased these before the economy collapsed).

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a great day!

GregB

From SimonG: Crossbowmen Comparison

So following up on my last post here are the completed Wargames Foundry Perry sculpts. They turned out really nice despite the limited set of poses and the limitations based on identical sets of crossbows and hands. Quite clever really they made such a good range of poses out of the same hand layout.

Wargames Foundry HYW Crossbowmen Stand

They are much superior to the recent multi part plastic Perry set which seem awkward and clumsy in comparison despite the wider range of poses possible. Apologies for the quality of the painting and assembly here -- this was my second ever set put together some months ago.

Perry Multi Part Plastic (plus one metal casualty in the back row)

A better comparison is with the Front Rank metal HYW crossbowmen. These have some great personality and dynamic poses but are somewhat stylised in body form and as such cannot be mixed on the same stand with the Perry's but on separate stands they look nice. 

Front Rank crossbow men - nice detailed and characterful sculpts

Overall however I'm really pleased with how these came out -- especially the added crossbow strings and bolts (sorry these are rather too long!). At first I thought I could simply paint on fletching but this looked terrible so I ended up with some simple paper fletches like I use when I'm making stand alone arrows. While it's a pain in the but to locate them they came out nicely. All of this will stand me in good stead for the dozens of English archers I will have to string and give arrows too ...

This grizzled veteran is my favourite 

Next up perhaps some skirmishers and a simple house using the Terra Formers terrain system that I've decided to commit too -- just picked up cocktail sticks for my wattle fencing 😖 which I'm planning on weaving with some thick textured paper.