From MattT: First Volunteers - VBCW

Small update this week with the first volunteers attending muster for the newly formed East Riding Peoples Column.

Figures are a mix of Footsore interwar types and some more of the Sloppy Jaloppy miners set. More lined up on the painting table.

Stay Safe Matt

From TeemuL: Barrel at Piper's Peak (35 points)

"I thought we got off from this bloody Island already!"

"What nightmare is this? And THAT?"

"We planned to have a nice pique-nique around that barrel of Bunnahabhain, but it seems to have other ideas. A fit of pique? Or is it taking a peek on that cheeky airline stewardess."

So, we are travelling on the Challenge Island again. This is something for Piper's Peak. It is a barrel mimic by Toad King Castings. I had never heard of the company until I got my monthly miniature mystery box from Your Model Box couple of months ago. They seem to create all kinds of nice and strange miniatures.

This one goes on my W list for being a wacky idea, which I got on the last moments on the Challenge X. I will score this as a single 28mm miniature. Noel had very nice idea of lists as well, I might join him, since most likely I'll be squirreling through this Challenge. There is not that much need to paint any miniature, since there won't be any games, so I can paint what I like.

U: 0 (total 3)
N: 0 (total 1)

W: 1 (total 1)
Points:
5 points for the miniature
30 bonus points for the Challenge Island Location
35 points total (total 50)

From Minion Teemu:

I really like how you achieved such a good looking tongue for that barrel just using a single layer of contrast paint. And in general, that barrel looks exactly like all the barrels I have finished on the following morning...

AdamC: ACW Regiment and Evil Wizard

 Last week was my final week of fulltime employment.  So, I may have more painting time coming up then again maybe not with Evelyn to keep entertained.

 First up some left over ACW figures from a project form a few years that would have new life if John and I could get together to game.

 The figures I believe are Essex 15mm clearly men in a close-range fire fight as the officer taking careful aim with his pistol indicates.

 Finally, an evil wizard or warlock in the best tradition of 80s sword and sorcery films.

 He’ll be a good addition to the Frostgrave stable of wizards for gaming with the local cub scout pack.    

Next entry with be Black Seas related as I continue to work on stuff for the that game.

From Barks: Giant scorpions

These are Reaper Bones figures on 25mm Renedra bases. I started them during the Challenge but lost my way. Quick paintjob later and they're ready for use.

I've been more productive than just these two scorpions- I've been doing a bit of prep behind the scenes on some wonderfully silly 40K terrain for later this Challenge.

From GregB: 10mm Bavarians and Prussians for Franco-Prussian War

10mm Bavarians and Prussians for the Franco-Prussian War. Figures from Pendraken.

In this entry I return to a project that was the subject of one of my final entries to AHPC X - some more 10mm castings for the Franco-Prussian War.  Here we have an assortment of Bavarians - infantry, officers and artillery, and some Prussian Dragoons.  These 10mm figures are all from Pendraken, purveyor of the finest 10mm figures I have ever come across!

Bavarian infantry regiment - I went with yellow facings on these fellows.

Pendraken sculpts are fun to paint.

View from the rear of the line...

When I love a period or a setting, I am apt to start painting it in multiple scales. Yes, I know this is bonkers...but what can I say? I love the 28mm figures because you can enjoy the many fine details on the lovely uniforms of the period.  But there are limits to 28mm when it comes to playing out the battles of the period - they were large, corps-level battles and I'll never have enough 28mm figures, table space or time to run something like Spicheren, Froschwiller or Gravelotte-St. Privat in large scales. To play even portions of those engagements, I'll need smaller figures.

Bavarian artillery - Krupp 4-pounders, steel breech-loading pieces that greatly outgunned the French artillery.

Another view of the gunners.

Different rules can give you different options in terms of table representation. For the "1871" rules, this would be equal one regiment of Bavarian infantry (with each stand representing a battalion), four batteries of Bavarian Krupp 4-pound guns, a Bavarian brigade commander (single mounted officer on a base), a Bavarian division commander (two mounted offers on single base) and a Prussian dragoon regiment (each base representing about two squadrons of cavalry).

Prussian dragoons.

Even in 10mm, the Hussars are the glamour-boys of the cavalry arm, with their lovely finery and silk-bagged head gear.

I struggle with artillery in any scale, it's always a big stumbling block for me, so it's particularly great to get this group of batteries out of the way.  These four batteries will provide a divisions' worth of guns to my initial Bavarian contingent.

Bavarian command bases.

The single officer will lead a brigade, while the stand with two figures will serve as a division commander.

I started messing around with Pendraken's 10mm range a couple of years ago, and I was blown away by the quality and completeness of their offering.  I've been puttering away at a 10mm collection ever since! I have one specific battle in mind to start - the Battle of Wissembourg.  Using the level of representation described above, I have calculated I will need 88 different bases all in, including all of the infantry, cavalry, artillery and officers.  This is for one of the smallest battles of the war (at least for the "Imperial Phase") - and still that's a fair amount of kit to get painted.

I just need to paint these figures, and I can run my first 10mm battle...hoping to get through these during the Quarantine Challenge.

Those kinds of goals can seem so far away. And yet...progress has been made over time! In fact, I'm almost sort-of within striking distance - when Curt told us he was going to do the "Quarantine Challenge" I thought completing the necessary 10mm figures would be a worthy goal. So I am going to try to do just that...as you can see, I'll be my own worst enemy as I will suddenly feel like painting Titans or panzers or FPW stuff in another scale or who-knows-what else at any given moment...but hopefully I'll be able to stage the Battle of Wissembourg in 10mm by June.

Thanks for looking and visiting - hope you are having a good, safe and healthy day, wherever you are!

KenR - 28mm Italian Renaissance Town

Well here it is, my Renaissance Town, it was going to be a village but you know how it goes 😂

Like many out there I have had to cancel plans and my holiday in May is off, being an honorary Yarkshire Man the brass was still in my account so it needed "investing" elsewhere and these buildings came into the crosshairs at the right time.

I am dreadfully lazy when it comes to terrain, I can spend hours sorting out detail on figures and flags but when it comes down to buildings and the like I just can't get the enthusiasm.

The buildings are from a Company called Empires at War, I have never heard of them until a few weeks ago. I saw a nice building on eBay, took a punt, it was lovely and I ordered a "few" more.

The buildings are avaliable in plain mdf or for a couple of quid more, painted. The lazy terrain builder in me got painted obviously. I have done nothing to these models apart from build them, and I think they look rather nice.

In fact I sat down with my son over a couple of afternoons to build these, it was really nice to spend some quality family time together, even if the reason for it is a worldwide pandemic.

I would be grateful if one of the Minions or even the Snowlord himself could give me a guide on what points these 11 28mm buildings would bring in the challenge as I have no idea, just for my personal total so it doesn't have to be too accurate.

I will do a much bigger post on Yarkshire Gamer in the next couple of days with a video and lots more pics so drop by if you can.

Now on table are a unit of Italian Wars Gendarme which got prepared for AHPC X but never got started.

From PeterD Anglo Dutch Wars Squadron c1666

I am a bit late off the starting gun with my first post but here goes.  I've got some Tumbling Dice 1/2400 scale ships from their Anglo Dutch Wars range.  This project was meant to be one of my big focuses for the regular challenge but I had issues gluing sails to masts and then got distracted by other projects that weren't as fiddly to assemble.  I think I finally figured out how to assemble these little ships reasonably and hopefully will have more to come in the Quarantine Challenge.

Assembly issues aside (all of which lie between the seat pad and the cutting mat) these are lovely little ships with a nice amount of detail and paint up nicely with a gentle hand.  You can get away with more basic modelling skills vis a vis larger scales and don't need to rigging if you don't want to.  I've been inspired by Barry Hilton's work over at his blog (oh sod that I flat out blame Barry for getting me interested in this period).  Go get lost there to see ships with very nice paint work and rigging.

First up a set of English ships.  Two of these appeared in my later flurry on the last day of the regular challenge, but they've been touched up a bit and given names and flags.

• On the far right leading the line is the second rate Royal Oak, named for Charles II's place of refuge after the battle of Worcester.   She was completed in 1665, heavily engaged as a flagship during the three major battles of the Second Dutch War and then burnt by the Dutch at the Medway fiasco in 1667.
• Next in line is the third rate Monck one of the last tips built under the Commonwealth.  She was named for Cromwell's General at Sea George Monck who basically handed Charles II his throne and become Duke of Albemarle as a result.  Albemarle tag teamed command of the fleet through most of the Second Dutch war with Prince Rupert.  Monck the ship served through the Second and Third Dutch Wars, the Nine Years war and part of the War of Spanish Succession before being rebuilt in 1707.
• Next is the fourth rate Ruby built in 1651 under the Commonwealth to a design that was resumed many times in the English navy.  She served 50 years and fought in 16 major fleet actions.
• Behind Ruby is the fifth rate Colchestor built in 1654 and lost in 1667 fighting the French in Martinique.
• There are also two ketches Nonsuch and Lizard.  Nonsuch is a famous ship in Canada as in 1668 she was sold to Prince Rupert for the expedition that created the Hudson's Bay Company.  Lizard was used a fireship in the action known as Holmes' Bonfire.

Stern view.  I tried to show the detailed galleries but it's a bad photo and angle.

Sailing off to adventure and battle.

I played a little loose with flags on these ships trying to balance historical accuracy, game play and my limited  fine motor skills.  These larger ships were all in the Red Squadron so where red ensigns at the stern, if somewhat oversized.  (My dad could tell you the arcane rules of using of red/blue/white ensigns in modern times but in 1666 it was much easier!)  I've added a Union Jack (again oversize) at the main, apparently this was first used in Charles II reign.  Royal Oak gets an additional red ensign to denote her flag role at her foremast.  The labels include the ship's name, a Union Jack to show nationality and red ensign to show that they are part of the red squadron.