From NoelW: Napoleonics, Zulu war and some buildings

For my third quarantine post I decided to concentrate on buildings more than figures, though there’s a few figures here, too.

Firstly, a Sarissa bandstand. This is a lovely model and paints up nicely. It will take pride of place in my Walmington on Sea setup although, sadly, there’s no band to play there. Probably their instruments have been melted down to make Spitfires.

Next one of the Perry/Renedra plastic American farmsteads. This is likely to be used in several different contexts, so I’ve not based it or adorned it with fences, barrels etc (even though the kit contains a few of these which I'll probably use for scatter terrain, including a chair for the front porch.) I’ll count it against my AWI target, though it will certainly appear on ACW battlefields and in a small recently settled Western town, as yet unnamed, but which is gradually growing as new settlers drift in. I guess it might work in other colonial contexts, too. (Was Manifest Destiny colonialism? Discuss)

Third in this offering are four adobe buildings. These are my first stab at a collection my son bought from a Bring and Buy ten or more years ago, with the plan of using them for Somalia (to game Black Hawk Down). Unfortunately, the game never took place, as his interest in figure gaming was usurped by board and online games (I know! How could this happen?) so I’m intending to use them in the Sudan (they’ll become Khartoum rather than Mogadishu) and probably Egypt and Afghanistan, too.

A detailed inspection of the models suggests they’re actually intended for a context something like ancient Troy, as there’s a crescent shield hanging on one wall, and the pottery definitely is amphora-esque. I’ve not been able to discover their manufacturer, however. Possibly Grand Manner (they’re big heavy resin buildings, very much like those they produce, but not in their catalogue as far as I can see), possibly Ainsty, possibly Village Green. But probably not any of these.

As you can see, they’re painted simply, with a sprayed base and then “detailed” (I use that word incorrectly) with contrast paints and washes. The overall effect is pleasing enough and, as roofs and upper floors come apart, I can see the potential for a really big skirmish (is that an oxymoron?) game when I’ve managed to finish the lot.

Now, for those of you who’ve been patient enough to read this far, here are a few figures. They're from two projects started long ago, but still ticking over. Two of my favourites, in fact. I mentioned in my previous post Islandwana and the Zulu War more generally. So, speaking of generals, here’s Lord Chelmsford himself, arrogantly on his way to Ulundi whilst his army is savaged behind him.

And here’s one of his subcommanders, Colonel Charles Pearson, who led number 1 column in the invasion of Zululand. He’s depicted here being surprised by news of Islandwana. Or perhaps he’s just arguing with a subordinate about the exact location of the Zulus.

Pearson and Chelmsford come from the Perrys’ Victoria’s Little Wars range, whilst the officer Pearson is arguing with is from their plastic British Infantry Zulu Wars set. I do love the Perrys’ plastics. They’re the nearest thing to the youthful thrill of discovering a new Airfix boxed set.

Finally, three long-languishing elements of my British-against-the-French-in-Egypt project. Here’s Major General John Moore and companion, apparently having a discussion not unlike that conducted by Pearson. This is the John Moore of Corunna fame, not the owner of the Littlewoods chain of shops, the man behind Liverpool’s university of that name (that’s actually, John Moores, but who’s counting?) In 1801 in Egypt he was one of the most trusted of Abercromby’s subordinates.

Here’s one of his a colonels, of an indeterminate regiment with black facings (I’ve not painted one yet).

And finally, de Rolls’ regiment. This was composed of Swiss and Germans in British Service. As with several of the foreign regiments in British service, it’s hard to find the correct flags. The late Terry Wise’s Osprey on Napoleonic Flags contains a flag of 1805 for De Rolls, but it carries "Egypt" and the sphinx as battle honours. It’s also yellow, though the regiments’ facings are sky blue. Lacking any other info, removing the honours from the Wise flag seems the best option.

I award myself the imaginary points of 20 for all the buildings, 25 for the Zulu wars commanders, and 90 for the British generals and regiment.

Project	New Task	‘Points’	Old Task	‘Points’
Agincourt
AWI	Farmstead	3
Black Seas (1/700th)
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
Frostgrave/fantasy	3 Treemen	24	Frankie	5
Italian Wars
Lord of the Rings
Minden (15mm)
Ottoman
Peninsular War			12 Spanish	60
Republican Romans
Sikh/Afghan Wars
1860s British IF
1880s, the Sudan	Buildings	15
Walmington/Sealion			3 Civvies 6 zombies Bandstand	15 30 2
Waterloo
WW2 Desert
Zulu War	NNI	30	Pearson and Chelmsford	25
TOTAL		152		227

From NoelW: Post 1: Zulus, crusaders, civvies and Frank

So here we go again!

As the idea for this Challenge is to finish hobby projects, Curt’s ruling that we can submit figures that have already been started is great for me, as much of my lead pile is half-finished. I’ve this horrible habit of priming new figures, painting their flesh and a colour or two, then putting them in a drawer and moving on to another shiny prospect. As a result, I’ve probably hundreds of figures begun but sadly languishing, which couldn’t be used in the Painting Challenge. So I’m going to use this opportunity to complete some of these guilty secrets.

However, that also feels a bit like cheating. Some of the languishing figures only need shields, so they'll only take a couple of hours. In fact, I could probably spend the whole Quarantine Challenge just doing such things. But that feels like setting the bar too low. Curt, in his (what-might-perhaps-be-called-by-some,-especially-Curt), "infinite wisdom" suggested that I should set myself a personal challenge to make Quarantine more interesting for me and my posts potentially more interesting for you. What a sensible guy!

So I thought again about returning to Challenge Island, and travelling it for a third time, but there are four or five locations that I’d find very difficult to complete a third time, and several of them would shift me a long way from my work in progress, so that feels overall too much like hard work. So I thought again about returning to Challenge Island.

Instead I’ve decided on my own “Challenge Island”: a series of tasks that have to be executed by June 20th. My plan is not as interesting as Curt’s, but, as Curt’s did, it will both challenge and motivate me. It consists of one “location” for each of the projects I’d like to see progress. And, as with that fabulous Island now of legendary status alongside Ultima Thule and Atlantis, I aim to visit each location twice. 

When I listed them, I found I'd quite a lot of projects. What a surprise! 23, in fact. So my personal Quarantine Challenge is now to complete (at least) one “new” and one “old” task for one or more of these projects each week. And, as the Challenge lasts 12 weeks, and I'm challenging myself to complete 46 tasks altogether, that means ideally 4 tasks a week, leaving a couple to spare. An "old" task is one that I’ve already started, but never completed. A "new" task is one that has gone no further than the preparation stage, i.e. it follows the same rules as for the Painting Challenge.  I’ll aim to have both a new and an old task completed each week of the Challenge, at the very least, though not necessarily both from the same project. Ideally there'll be two of each, each week. Exceptionally, perhaps, more.

In this way, I hope that the variety will, like the Squirrel side challenge in Challenge IX, and Challenge Island in Challenge X, keep me on my toes and lead to at least some of the posts that will interest you. Most of the tasks have to be small, of course, just a few figures here and there, but in some cases I've quite a few figures just waiting for relatively simple work.

Some of the new tasks will also fit a couple of the side challenges: Benito’s “Infamy! Infamy!” ancients challenge and StuartL’s “Bolt Action Brush Battle” (is that happening, Stuart?). For these, of course, I’ll only be submitting new tasks, I’ve minis currently unbegun.

So here are my two old tasks for this week. Firstly, Frankie goes to Frostgrave:

He's a Wargames Foundry figure, whom I began for Challenge IX, but didn't quite finish. Now he's done:

He's intended for general fantasy use, though he's most likely to appear first in Frostgrave.

And here are three civilians for him to irritate, though I intend them for my Walmington-on-Sea/Sealion project.

These are Footsore Miniatures, from their inter-war VBCW range. I'd progressed these quite far during Challenge X, but failed to highlight, base, varnish etc  And the little girl doing her "we're off to see the wizard" act, I found particularly hard to get right, as her expression is quite peculiar. I repainted aspects of her three times before deciding enough was enough. I think she's probably simply possessed.

For my "new" work, here's six Natal Native Infantry for the Zulu Wars. Perry Figures, relatively simple painting, apart from shields with a life of their own. 

My main projects here are, of course, Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift. One of the things that interests me is the "what if"s of these battles. What if Chelmsford hadn't split his force, for example, or had returned to Isandlwana before the zulus had overrun the field?

And finally a command base for the Crusades. I'm sticking with my desire to create as many vignettes/command bases as I can, to enhance my battlefields because I love to see them, even if they have no game function, and they potentially make more interesting viewing for you, too.

They are manufactured by Crusader Miniatures but, perversely, are not intended for the Crusades but the Reconquista, being Pedro Bermudez and King Alfonso from their El Cid range. I'm using them as "generic" Frankish/Crusader leaders, so have not painted any particular livery and the flag, which is currently a Templar one (hand painted) is detachable, so I can have a range of different commanders. (I've documented the detachable flag mechanism in a previous challenge.)

I'm rather pleased with these figures, but I have to acknowledge the influence of DarellH's Reconquista project in Challenge X. Whilst I'm not able to replicate the stunning quality of his figures, I was definitely painting with them in mind, and consequently very happy with the results. Thanks, Darell.

So what are my 23 projects, I don’t hear you cry? Here you go, you not very curious people, you:

Project	New Task	‘Points’	Old Task	‘Points’
Agincourt
AWI
Black Seas (1/700th)
British in Egypt: 1801
Cape Wars
Carthaginians
Crusades	Command group	20
ECW
French in Egypt: 1801
Frostgrave/fantasy			Frankie	5
Italian Wars
Lord of the Rings
Minden (15mm)
Ottoman
Peninsular War
Republican Romans
Sikh/Afghan Wars
1860s British IF
1880s, the Sudan
Walmington/Sealion			Civvies	15
Waterloo
WW2 Desert
Zulu War	NNI	30

I'll update that table each week, as I'm going to keep a note of the notional points for my own gratification. I'm going to guess that most tasks will probably be under 50 points, so my target would be 2400 for the 12 weeks, 1200 each for "old" and "new" tasks. As always, I'd hope to exceed this, but we'll see. Only 70 pts this week, so already I'm slipping!

BTW: if anyone wants to adopt a similar approach so we can compare notes, it might be an interesting exercise. On the other hand, most people have more worthwhile things to do with their time!