AHPC XIV Post 12 Pict Chariots and The Library Cart (85 points)

 Second post this week and it includes figures that I've been working on intermittently since December, a unit of 2 Pict chariots.  These are Crusader figures although the chariots themselves are 4Ground mdf kits.

The rider in red is comes from the Irish Warriors pack, note the base under his feet.

Back last summer NorthStar had a sale on these and I picked up 4 blister packs of Celtic chariots.  Although clearly modeled for Caesar's Gallic Wars or the Claudian invasion of Britain, I figured a Celtic chariot is a Celtic chariot.  I tried to stick handle around most of the anachronism with paint work (taking away trousers and adding beards) and subbed in an Irish warrior in one case.  I also made a lot of mistakes early on and got myself tied in knots a couple of times.  Finally after a couple of rebuilds and being put aside for other pieces a number of times, I've got these completed.

  

Next up is a solitary Bad Squiddo figure of Noor Inayat Khan to let me take Sarah's Library Cart to the Biography Section.  Khan was an SOE operative in France during the Second World War who was best known as a radio operator.  She was a very brave woman who deserved a much better fate than being betrayed, tortured and executed.  She would make a fine Biography topic herself, but she happened to be the female figure that I had ready on the day. 

I have acquired a number of Bad Squiddos Women of WW2 range.  I don't plan on doing any gaming with Landgirls, Lumberjills or Spies.  I just like the figures and want to support Annie for developing the range.   They are universally well researched, sculpted and posed and have bags of character.  they are also a joy to paint.  IN this case Door's "briefcase" holds her radio equipment.

I kept the colour scheme to follow the example on the Bad Squiddo web store, because I know that they've done the research.  I am pretty happy with the folds in her outfit but no sure about the skin tones.

Photographic evidence of me taking the Library Cart.

I believe that these chariots don't count as vehicles (I least my Pict general's didn't last year).  The point tally goes like this

• 4 horses and 4 chariot crew in 28mm @ 5 pts/each =40 + chariots = 60
• I female spy in 28mm =5
• Library Cart bonus =20
• Total 65 85

My challenge map now looks like this...

AHPC XIV Post 10 With View Halloo Pursue the Gnu (70 Points)

 Second post from me today.  First up is a straightforward points grab for the nature shelves in the form of a 28mm Gnu (ok it's a wildebeest but Gnus are way more fun) from Ray Partha. This figure has been kicking around my spares bin for 20+ years and was picked up for a potential Southern African colonial project.

I think this needs a Wild Kingdom vignette with Marlin Perkins safely in the Landrover while his sacrificial offering assistant attempts to hog tie the gnu.  Sadly this was beyond my resources.

While others may look to use the Gnu as the basis for cheap puns, I instead will use it to reference a much higher art form, that of Poetry.  I present Good Gnu (A Vignette in Verse) by P.G Wodehouse.   This poem comes from the story Unpleasantness at Bludleigh Court in which Mr Mulliner's nice Charlotte (an animal loving poet) comes under a blood lust spell while visiting family friends.  She is most put out when Animal-Lovers' Gazette rejects this poem as seen at 18:00 of this clip Wodehouse Playhouse.

When cares attack and life seems black,

How sweet it is to pot a yak,

      Or puncture hares and grizzly bears,

        And others I could mention;

But in my Animals "Who's Who"

No name stands higher than the Gnu;

      And each new gnu that comes in view

        Receives my prompt attention.

 

When Afric's sun is sinking low,

And shadows wander to and fro,

      And everywhere there's in the air

        A hush that's deep and solemn;

Then is the time good men and true

With View Halloo pursue the gnu;

      (The safest spot to put your shot

        is through the spinal column).

 

To take the creature by surprise

We must adopt some rude disguise,

      Although deceit is never sweet,

        And falsehoods don't attract us;

So, as with gun in hand you wait,

Remember to impersonate

      A tuft of grass, a mountain-pass,

        A kopje or a cactus.

 

A brief suspense, and then at last

The waiting's o'er, the vigil past;

      A careful aim. A spurt of flame.

        It's done. You've pulled the trigger,

And one more gnu, so fair and frail,

Has handed in its dinner-pail;

      (The females all are rather small,

        The males are somewhat bigger).

In other gnus, I have another unit of 4 Pict Light Cavalry.  These are 28mm figures kit bashed from three Gripping Beast plastic kits. They are pretty much the same as the last two units that I have previously posted.

Note to self - I need to fix the labels which got lifted up during posing.

I think it's 5 points for the Gnu, 10 each for the cavalry and 20 for the Nature topic for a total of 65 points.

With two rooms ticked off today, my updated may looks like this.

AHPC XIV Post 8 Pict Light Cavalry

I am catching up on some posts from the last two weeks.  February is now over and the end of term is in sight.

Another small post from me as I crawl towards my goal.  It's February, we've had mostly sucky weather recently (grey and sloppy underfoot), I've got a heavy teaching load and a ton of February blahs....   

I've got another unit of 4 Pict Light Cavalry based for my To The Strongest Late Roman Britain project. Figures are mostly a mix of two Gripping Beast plastic kits,  Late Roman Light Cavalry and Dark age Cavalry.  Heads, shields and weapons are from the GB Pict infantry kit and the rolled cloaks came from a Victrix Roman infantry kit.

These were in the queue since last May.  After priming I found that I'd made the Proverbial Porcine Posterior on assembly (I like alliteration a lot!).  Eventually I filled the most glaring errors and decided to ignore the rest.  They look ok when one applies the two foot rule.

Four cavalry in 28mm is 40 points with no bonus rooms.

  

Painting Challange Post 2 Pict Light Cavalry

 For the History section I've got a unit of four Pict Light Cavalry in 28mm, using Gripping Beast plastics.

These are based for my Late Roman Britain project using the To The Strongest ruleset.  There was some whinging from the Snowlord during a recent game that the Picts needed to up their mounted arm and I will endeavour to do this over the Challenge.  

The shields are freehanded.  Way faster, easier and more enjoyable that transfers.

Unlike a lot of Challenge painters I really like painting horses.  I can't be arsed to use oils, so use layers of acrylics with washes.

Lock up your sheep and your daughters!

These use bits from three Gripping Beast box sets.  The horses and torsos are from the Light Cavalry and Dark Age Cavalry sets, while the heads, shields and weapons come from the Pict Warrior sets.  These GB kits are good value for money, and you can mix and match quite easily,  

Four cavalry in 28mm is 40 points plus the History bonus gets me 60 points, and I'm heading out of Section 1 on the ground floor and up the stairs to Section 2.

Late Romans vs Barbarians AAR

 I knew it had been a while since I posted anything, but didn't think it had been as long as five months.  I had a busy end of term (176 students in a first year calculus class with many suspected cheating incidents) and then a busy spring with Garden prep and travel.

A week or so back I ran a To The Strongest game over at Curt's clubhouse feature my late Roman era British toys.  Player numbers were down due to stomach issues (must find a better place for the latrine) but we had Curt running a conspiracy of Scots-Irish, Picts and Attacotti vs Sylvain's Romans.  it was a straight up class with roughly equal armies and no particular scenario objectives.

After deployment.  The mass of barbarians to the left, the defenders of Britannia to the right.

Close up as the Roman cavalry commander gives a pep talk.

The Irish on Curt's right.  We had to adjust things a bit as his war bands are deep and he couldn't fit two of them in the same box. 

Sylvain ponders his moves.  The hills were gentle but the woods were rough terrain, as was the stone circle.  Note the cup with the victory medals.

Sylvain pushed his luck and advanced his cavalry.  We pull numbered chits from a bag rather than roll dice but the gods were definitely with Sylvain this game.  Note the blue marker marking the edge of the world which Sylvain is using to advantage - I'll be making the battlefield wider and deployment areas narrower to counter this cheesiness in future.

The Pict commander rides past the stone circle in his chariot along side accompanying a unit of light cavalry.  This warlord had disastrously bad luck.  Kudos to terraformer Sylvain who sculpted the neolithic monuments for me.

Another shot as the cavalry ride along the edge of the world.  Sylvain sculpted the dolmen too, which we also classified as difficult.

Things were looking good for Curt here, he swung a war band into the side of the cavalry before they could turn.  The cavalry were disordered but Curt missed several chances for the kill thanks to Sylvain's saving rolls.

The Picts advance.  Sylvain refused his right flank ala Freddie the Great.

The Atacotti charge the fortified Roman camp.  They took out the original ballista crew defenders but by that time Sylvain moved some veteran Auxiliaries in behind.  Again Curt was inches from glory but couldn't quite get the kill.  Note that the camp should have been back a grid row on Sytlvain's baseline. 

Curt's javelin men occupy the dolmen as the cavalry rushes by,

The melee with the Cavalry wing gets messier.  Having held on the lead unit turns, and the following unit advanced up to take one Irish unit after another in the flank, taking down Curt's senior general in the end.

More glory for the Attoctti who have eliminated some archers and are coming on the flank of an Auxiliary unit.

I somehow managed to miss the key moment, the end of which can be seen behind the camp in the last photo.

Curt brought the Pict Light Cavalry up with their attached general to skirmish with and threaten the Roman missle troops to the right of the camp. Unfortunately they halted just short of caring, but had time next turn unless Sylvain achieved a miracle.  He made two difficult maneuvers running to charge the lights with an infantry unit.  Curt failed to evade (needing 3+ out of 10) and then doubled down by failing the reroll afforded by his general.  Sylvain hit and Curt missed his save, killing the unit.  He then had to roll for the general needed a 3+ to survive, and if course failing that two.   

There was lots of drama and it was at times a close run thing, but in the end Curt couldn't overcome the loss of two generals on top of his other unit losses.  A victory to Sylvain who best not push his luck with the dice gods (or his GM) next game. 

AHPC Post 11 Cat People

It will be a multi post day for me this week.  I had my University break last week and in between marking calculus midterms and avoiding my wife's hubby-do list I got some painting in.  Rather than try and stuff it all into one long boring post, I went for three medium boring posts... 

For what ever weird reason, the seriously creepy and noire 1942 original Cat People (along with the Creature from the Black Lagoon) seemed to be on local TV an awful lot when I was a kid.  However, unfortunately this post has nothing to do with Simone Simon, Natassjia Kinski or David Bowie.

I have a unit of 12 more Picts, Gripping Beast figures mostly plastics with two metal figures.   In keeping with my Pict naming protocols involving animal tribes these come from the Cat People.  They are named for the Scottish wildcat, which appears to be both seriously cute as a kitten and seriously bad tempered as an adult.  I had originally planned to avoid the whole Cat people tribe but eventually succumbed to the madness.  I blame a surplus of turnip in my blogging diet.

I only caught this now but I'll need to reprint the label, it should be pale blue to match my other Pict units.

Nothing more to add except to note the combinations of bad plaids, reasonable free hand shields and child like freehand flag.  The latter is based on a cat from the book of Kells, which is Irish not Pictish but that's close enough for government work to my eyes.  

That is 12 28mm foot figures for 60 point. These count towards the Carausius Emperor of Britain Side duel which appears to be a complete dud at this point, since I'm the only one posting points.  This also takes me over my target of 500 points for this years' Challenge.

Ok it turns out that I can't leave the title with out linking to one of my favourite Bowie songs from the 80s.  There are two versions of the song with the film version generally seen as being superior to the Let's Dance version.

 

AHPCXIII Post 2 :Pict Hunters (30 Points)

  I have a small unit of Pict Hunters with bows.

Figures came from a bag of (IIRC) Old Glory 28mm Welsh Archers that I acquired 15-20 years ago.  While packaged as Welsh I figure that they are hairy, badly dressed and generically Celtic enough to work as Picts.  Being Old Glory, posing and anatomy is um... interesting at times.  Also it wasn't until I had these guys primed and ready to paint that I realized that two were wearing the Late Antiquity version of Ray's Budgie Smugglers.

According to Ancient Wargamer cannon (book of WRG) Picts differed from other hairy barbarians by using longer spears and more bows (including Crossbows).  It's all pretty circumstantial based mainly on 1500 year old rock carvings, but it means that a Pict war band has a different feel than a Scot-Irish warband or Saxon raiders.

I tried free handing plaids on a couple of figures but gave it up as a bad job after the first two.  I've left a clear space at the back of the bases for unit tables but I'm still playing around with the fonts that I want to use for Picts.

In terraforming my bases I tried to make these look like rougher terrain than typical with lots of rocks and low bushes. In his comments on my Intro post, Martijn noted that I had primed these figures on their bases and asked if it was something I often did.  It was a short lived experiment and after a single session they were pried off, put onto pennies for painting and then returned to their bases when ready.

Points wise I make this 6 28mm figures for 30 points and and no theme bonus.  But I can apply the points to the Carausius Emperor of Britain side Duel.