AHPC XIII Intro Post

I have re-upped for the Painting Challenge run by regular gaming buddy Curt.  I've had several post up but neglected to put them on my own blog, so I am starting to catch up here.

For the first post, Curt asked us to introduce ourselves before the madness began.  Here's my Intro.

I’m PeterD and I am one of Curt’s regular gaming buddies.  Outside of Gaming I’m a University Instructor in Actuarial Science, which is a pretty sweet gig.  The Oldometer clocked 60 this year but my doctor tells me I’ve never been healthier and keep doing what I’m doing, which is good as my DC pension plan assets tell me not to retire anytime too soon!

Typical action shot, me reading rules while Stacy points.  Curt's man shed and table top with my toys.

The SSOD tells me that this is my 10th Challenge and I am once again a Minion this year.  I run a blog called the Single-Handed Admiral.  The name is a reference to Nelson and also to the fact that I was a solo gamer with interests in Naval Gaming when I set it up in 2011.  Since then, I have used the power of the internet to link up with gamers who live within 2 km of me and pretty much written off Naval Gaming as an epic fail on my part.

I’ve been gaming since about 1974, cutting my teeth on Featherstone rules and Airfix Waterloo sets before moving on to WRG ancients, scratch-built balsa wood pre-dreadnoughts  and 15mm Nappys.  I am pretty much a historical gamer with very occasional forays into Fantasy.  I don’t do much GW stuff as I don’t like their figures, setting, rules or prices.  But mostly historical research has always been the biggest draw for me so Spoon feeding from a Codex doesn’t hold much interest.

This year I am focusing on 28mm Ancients from Late Roman Britain, Romans and barbarians plus appropriate terrain bits. I also have some fantasy bits for my Beowulf DnD campaign and  some 10mm Nine Years War figures which I might get to.

As much as my downstairs workspace as I'm prepared to show.  Various bits and bobs in varrying states of completion or prep.

My tools of the trade in carrier

Mysterious MDFs projects set to be painted

I don’t have a permanent painting desk due a lack of space which isn’t taken up by too much stuff that we need to downsize.  I have some table space downstairs for figure prep and I set up for painting in the living room so as to spend time with family and watch TV etc.  

AHPC XII Discussion in Pictland on Heresy

 I have these two 28mm figures from my Beowulf RPG game having a spirited discussion on the nature of Heresy.  In Beowulf alignments differ from standard D&D, as PCs and NPCs can be aligned with the Book (i.e. Church)  the Old Ways (Pagan religions) or be Neutral (undecided or decided that they are both full of it).  To represent the Book and Old Ways I have an Irish Priest and a Magus.  Both are by Gripping Beast and both come in the same Pictish Command pack.

Padraig is part of the Celtic Church which was very active at the time.  Lots of scope for Adventuring quests here with the likes of Saints Patrick, Columba and Brendan.  They prompted my all time favourite line fro the old WRG army lists:   Saint Columba was given the main credit by contemporaries for the Ui Neill victory over King Diarmait in 561 AD, decisively out-praying Saint Finnian on the other side. It turns out that the battle was sparked by a copywriter dispute between Finnian and Columba.

Clearly Patrick is outspoken on his views and the cast has lots of character.  With his pot belly, bald head and stringy pony tail I am pretty sure that I've been buttonholed by his doppelgängers who needed to tell me about their unbeatable Blood Angels army or the lyrics from some gawdawfull forgotten prog rock band from the 70s.

Oengus on the other hand is clearly of the Old Ways and not having Padraig's BS.  In my adventures he should do as a Pagan holyman, evil sorcerer or lead singer from some gawdawfull forgotten prog rock band from the 70s. He also needs to have that mold line trimmed on his left hand, not sure how I missed that until now. 

I will need official confirmation from a vet or the Skullometer, but I believe that's a horse skull that he's sporting as a hat.

That's two 28mm foot figures plus a Challenge location for 30 points by my math.  I am not sure if fantasy side duel is a go, but if so I'd like to claim the 10 points towards my total in it.  

(The fantasy side duel is a go, but Curt's not having me claim historical figures against it.  Oh well.)

AHPC XII 28mm Terrain

I’m again participating in this years painting challenge  https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/.  Here’s my first post.

I wasn't supposed to be posting today.  I was supposed to be in Halifax, NS staying with my mother in law and doing Christmas with family.  However, we cancelled our tip based on COVID numbers and so here I am.

First up for me is a couple of terrain items in 28mm.  These are 28mm scale and MDF kits from Sarissa.  I've had good experience with Sarissa and these were no exception.  The main piece is a barn or forge.  It is sold in their dark age range but I figure that I can use it for my Beowulf themed RPG games, my El Cid era games and my SYW games plus others.

The other bit is a piece of dock that should have been painted a while back.  I finished up some similar docks and a Viking town for a tabletop RPG game featuring Thigmund the Thea Therpent, but somehow missed this one.

Points wise these measure out to be about 1/4 a of terrain cube so that's 5 points to erase my duck.

We are in the midst of a Prairie cold snap so I'll be hunkered down like this fellow who took up temporary residence in our snow bank

_________________________________________

Be careful Peter, it may look cute, but I hear those have nasty, big, pointy... well, you know the rest.

Nice work on these mate! Sarissa makes great stuff, and these two pieces will be very nice additions to your picturesque seaside Dark Age village.

Well done and welcome back to the Challenge!

And stay warm!

- Curt

AHPC Beowulf Characters for the Snowlord

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...

AHPC Crusier Trieste

 

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.

AHPC: Williamite War in Ireland for St Paddy's Day (40 points)

Still catching up - only 4 monthslate!

 

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 :-)

Cap'n Wednesday

AHPC More Orky Dorky Tanks

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.

Tamsin

AHPC Williamite Wars in Ireland in 10mm

New year, new project, new scale (mostly), new era (mostly).   If the title has left you at se at bit, it's a reference to one of the early challenges.  So far back in the primordial mists of time that it was before I worked out that I lived only 1km away from the Snowlord!  On that particular challenge Ray had a tremendous come from behind victory largely on the strength of pulling a never ending stream of Fresh cavalry regiments from the Nine Years' War out of his backside in the final week.  Fear not perky if un-balanced Stewardess I'm not planning anything like that.

Leveson's Dragoons Dismounted 

This is the first regiment from a new project on the Williamite War in Ireland, aka the Nine Year's War, aka the War of the League of Augsburg, aka the War of British Succession, aka the events that caused all of those divisive Orange Order marches during the Troubles.  I am planning to use the League of Augsburg Beneath the Lily Banners/War of Three Kings Rules using Pendraken's excellent 10mm range.

This was my not first time painting 10mm, but it's been over 20 years and there's a big difference between lace wars and desert rats in this scale!  These are 16 dismounted dragons representing Leveson's Regiment from the the English army (later these became the 3rd Kings Hussars).   In BLB these fight as loss order troops dismounted or as second rate cavalry mounted, and look to be very useful on table top.  I've used a flintlock firing line pack plus a drummer and an officer cribbed from a pikeman figure.

 

I was very impressed with the Quality of the Pendraken figures.  Barry Hilton tells me that there are the same sculpts as the 28mm ones he sells as Warfare Miniatures just shrunk.  Working in a different scale is always a learning experience, but that's what life should be.  It was mostly a matter of working out what worked, what doesn't and what you can cheat on (which in 10mm is a lot).  Overall I'm right chuffed about the results, but I've left myself room for improvement.  I also need to work a bit on basing.  The unit late is colour coded Orange for the Williamite side, but the  photo makes it look too yellow so I'll darken the next set up a bit. 

Points wise I am continuing to erode away at my target at a snail's pace.  This week's death by paper cut damage is 16 figures @1 point a pop for 10mm = 16 points.  Heck that's the same value as 8 1/2400 battleships! 

Not another person infected by Ray...at this rate everyone will be going Donkeybrook! Very nice work on these little chaps.

Tamsin