I am of course late out of the gate on this one. But here are my wrap up photos.
Naval Stuff
All the ships were from WW2. I had planned to add some Anglo Dutch Wars ships which only got part painted and some from the War of the Pacific which only got primer. I gave Adam a reasonable chase in the early going of there Naval Duel but got left in everyone's wake at the end. For some reason I decided that I needed every destroyer that fought in the Med in 1941-2, but I had fun researching the various classes, modifications and camouflage patterns applied.
Land based stuff
A true variety pack - a new 10mm NYW project, Dorky Orky tanks, Women of WW2 and Beowulf!
Dooffus in charge with my Meadhall background from our Beowulf DnD sessions
January through March is a busy time for me. I basically end up working 60% of each of two jobs so the challenge is a sanity break for me. It's great to see everyone work and looking forward to next year.
Here's my response to the challnge issued by Curt. I'll have posts about our Beowulf games shortly.
My last post and it's my two figures to lay at the Snowlord's feet. I present two 28mm figures of the Heroes Ham Anfeald and Ibn Uthman from Handiwork Games Beowulf RPG. These were 3D printed by Curt for me.
A bit of background. I'm am not an RPG nerd and I am way more of a historical gamer than anything else. But I was given inspiration by former Challenger Edwin to investigate the Kickstarter for this game. I liked what I saw, story based adventures focused on a specific era and location and really honouring the source materials. So I jumped on and the Kickstarted hit tons of goals and is delivering the goods.
Ibn Uthman, Warroir poet of Baghdad is Curt's character. He's been exiled for too clever word play and is fairly clearly modelled on Ahmad ibn Fadlan(as was Antonio Banderas' character in 13th Warrior). I've tired to match the illustration below the Beowulf materials (the artwork in these is lovely).
Gamewise Beowulf is best described as a dnd hack. They took the base mechanisms from 5e DnD and took out the character classes (everyone PC is a hero) , PC magic use, alignment and races. They then added in their own versions to suit the era and setting. It's designed for GM and one player, but we've played it with a group and it worked well. I'll need to brush up on my rules and GM skills and also I need to make the masters tougher, but game play was good IMHO.
The setting is the misty historical era between the fall of Rome and the rise of Charlemagne and there are terrific opportunities there. This is the era of Beowulf, Arthur, the Irish Saints and the Sutton Hoo king where history and myth blend together. I'm a sucker for a historical link so I did my fall gardening chores listening to Seamus Heaney reading Beowulf, dusty o my histories of Sub-Roman Britain and am trying to figure out which translation fo the Venerable Bede I should pick up..
I hand painted the shield using my "looks good from 3 feet" standard based on historical arab designs.
Ham Anfeald is Stacy's character and is a merchant ship captain looking for more lucrative opportunities. Again I've tried to match the illustration below. Dark age colours are muted which requires a level of subtlety that eludes me but I'm fairly happy with the results. the forges themselves are nicely posed with good features. Metal versions are available as well.
It's been a good challenge. I hit my points target, made it to the Snowlord's altar in time and got the coveted Skull of the Week award. I didn't paint everything that I planned to but isn't that the way things go...
Second last day of the challenge and second last post fro me, the Italian cruiser Trieste from GHQ in 1/2400. I had the model primed in one of the first batches of work for this year's challenge but she's been kicking around the work table semi finished since December.
Trieste and her sisters were armed with 8" guns but only lightly armoured. Her sparse superstructure are typical of e 1920s era designs, The float plane on the foc'sle seems precariously perched and required that she steam into the wind to launch it.
I've painted her in a camouflage scheme that she wore in 1942 even though it comes from a later date than the era that I'm focusing on. She had a busy war attacking and escorting convoys. She was torpedoed and damaged by HMS/M Utmost in late 1941 and sunk by US bombers in port in 1943.
There's some interesting history in the naming of Italian 8" gunned cruisers of this era, all seven were na med for former Habsburg territories taken over by Italy after WW1. The three name sake territories for the Trento class (Trento, Trieste and half sister Bolzano) all remain Italian. But three of the four Zara class (Zara, Pola and Fiume) were named for territories that are now Croatian (and renamed) with Gorizia being the sole exception. None of the seven ships survived the war.
As Trieste sails off so do my entries in the Naval Side Duel. That's another hull and another two points and a tip of my hat to Adam and the other participants in that challenge.
It's St Patrick's Day, I have an Irish wife and I'm woking on a project based in Ireland.
This is the Earl of Antrim's Regiment in 10mm for the William War in Ireland 1688-91. Figures are by Pendraken. Antrim formed the unit in Ulster for King James' Army largely from Catholics. However, there were supposedly a lot of Scots in the mix and the Williamites referred to it a Redshanks in reference to kilts. Later in the war Antrim's got kitted out with French equipments and that's how I've represented them here. At some point maybe I'll get an earlier version done with some highland dress added in,
This regiment has a unique place in Ulster's history, basically triggering the whole war! In December 1688 James' lieutenant in Ireland order them to take over garrison duty in Derry to replace a regiment that was possibly disloyal. A group of Apprentice Boys locked the gates in their face setting up the Siege of Derry. You google to go down your own rabbit hole on that one, but I can certainly remember the Aprrentice Boys taking part in Orange Order marches during the troubles.
I've based the unit for BLB, in three stands including a pike continent in the centre stand. The late 17th century was a period of transition and under BLB units can range from All Pike to All Musket, with most having a mix. I've interned tis regiment to count as "Regulation" meaning that with mostly matchlock muskets and a small pike company to fend off cavalry.
Flags were home prints. The Colonel's Colour (white with the cross of St George) came from Warflag. The King's colour I cut and pasted together using partial images in League of Augsburg Guides to the War. In 10mm you can get away with a fair bit.
I've gone with my colour coded unit tables, Jacobite Green in this case.
To get the Orange side of things on the score sheet I also have a Dutch light artillery piece.
Points wise there are 33 men in Antrim's Regiment and 3 gunners at 1 point a piece plus 2 points for the gun making 35 points total.
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play some Derry music. The Undertones were a bunch of Catholic lads from Bogside in Ulster in the 1970s. With future prospects being limited to joining the IRA or emigrating they did the natural teenage thing and formed a rock and roll band. They cut a demo and mailed it to the legendary DJ John Peel in London, who called it the best thing he'd ever heard and away they went...
I do love a themed submission, and dropping an Irish Williamite War Regiment of St Pat's day is a real treat Peter! Take a few bonus points to celebrate :-)
Like many Challengers I am busy clearing stuff out of the 99% done pile before this week end's deadline while trying to get my submission for the Snowlord ready. This is another Gretchin tank 3D printed by gaming buddy JeremyM. It's of suitably unknown providence for an Orky vehicle. I've continued mostly with my Maserati red with steampunk bronze fittings colour scheme mostly because I can't be ar*ed to come up with another. You may however note hints of other colours on the current flanks.
Profile views show that the Maserati red is in this case Claret with Amber stripes on the turret. Challengers or those with a Yorkshire connection may recognize these as the home colours for KenR's beloved/cursed Bradford City Football Club. I reckon this tank has about as much chance on the pitch as BCFC.
That should be 20 points for the 28mm vehicle and I'm off to work on my submission for the Snowlord's altar.
Orks for the Dorklord! That tank is most certainly red.
I'm still going through ny backlog from the challenge, but it's getting near then end.
AHPC: The Altar of the SnowLord
Altar of the SnowLord (brought to you by the kids of Kinsmen Park South)
Congratulations Peter on making your way down to the SnowLord's Altar!
You recently ran a great little RPG adventure set in the age of Beowulf, and I know that you sourced a few 3D prints depicting characters from the scenario. So let's see a couple of those painted up in anticipation of future sagas. Once done, you can claim your prize.
Petes' Prize: Iain's brilliant Italian Wars Landsknecht Commander
CHallenge was accepterd and completd. Iain's wonderful figure arrived at my house in the last couple of weeks. he's a wonderful peice with a lot of heft in the casting.
