AHPC Post 12 Limo to World Cinema

 First up we I have to take a Limo from Under Construction to World Cinema using this 28mm figure from Bad Squid.  Challenge veterans might remember that I've got a lot of mileage out of a Bad Squiddo Women of WW2 kickstarter that I backed a few years back.  I think that this lady feeding chickens is the last of them.

I've painted her up in standard Women's Land Army kit with shiny wellies suitable for mucking about in the farmyard.  Not the most exciting figure but a lovely sculpt and I have a lot of time and respect for Annie over at  Bad Squiddo for putting this range together.

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As for World Cinema, the blurb says to post something from a different part of the world from where you don't live.  I offer up the Roman trading ship Berenice of Portus Adurni (Portchester Castle).  I can guarantee that there are no sea going merchant ships in my home town of Regina, SK which is about as far from the sea as you can get.  I should note that there is one attempted ship located nearby on the Canadian prairies.  It's a sad story with a Finnish connection.

On a biographical note I should point out that I am the son of a naval officer, was born in England and basically grew up one, in or next to the sea in Halifax Nova Scotia.  Yes, moving to Regina was an odd choice, yes there's a story and yes it's a bit messy.

The ship is 28mm pdf kit from Sarissa Precision. It went together well (even if I messed up a bit at the stern) and painted up nicely.  I have asked my lovely and talented wife to stitch up a sail for her when she has space on her sewing table.  I've named her the Berenice after a trading ship that plays a key role in the Rosemary Sutcliffe novel The Silver Branch.

I did up three crewmen using mostly Victrix plastic bits plus a few Gripping Beast arms. I painted them up in a simple common uniform and left the bases a flat tan to blend into the deck.  During painting I noted that two of them have shoulder belts for swords, but carry no swords.  I guess I call these a late antiquity version of a Sam Brown belt.

A final picture to show that Berenice is not the only vessel to shelter under the walls of  Portus Adurni .  This is a picture of Portchester Castle taken from one of the last sailing trips that I took with my dad before he sold his boat as we sail up to Port Solent Marine.  The keep and church ruins are Norman and there are medieval upgrades other places.  However, the basic walls are from the Roman Saxon Shore fort.

The photo is bit skewiff as the boat rolled as I snapped it.

Points wise I'd count the ship as a 28mm vehicle and there's 3 crew.

Totals

• one vehicle @20
• four foot figures @5=20
• two locations @20 (Limo and World) =40
• Total 80 points.

I will count 35 for the ship and crew towards the SPQR and Carausius Emperor of Britain Side duels.

AHPC Painting Burgermeister and Pig Ladies

First up is a short hop from Coruscant to Vlogsphere.  One of the proposed themes for this planet is Bureaucracy and I present the Burgermeister Ruprecht Von Wichtiguerin, accompanied by his flunky nephew Ernst, the regrettable offspring of his unfortunate sister.  For his part Ernst knows that he should have done better than take the job from Uncle Ruprecht, but law and business are hard work.  Besides it's lazy work that keeps him in bier and Strudel and leaves him his evenings free to moon over the lovely Katja down at the Schnitzel Haus.

 Figures are 28mm from Wizkids and might actually find use in a Seven Years War tabletop.

Hear ye, hear ye to his excellency's decree.

There is quite nice detail on this figure, although the clothing looks way too late for the standard DnD campaign settings.  Ruprecht is looking exceedingly self important here.

My wash gave Ernst a pleasantly grubby face but I'll have to go back and revisit the lacework.

My next stop is Noel's comet, which requires a trip on Lady Sarah's Star Yacht.  I have a couple of Land Army Girls (or land women of a certain age) with piglets as long as Sarah doesn't mind the smell.  Figures are from the Bad Squiddo games Kickstarter that I backed a couple of years back.  Pig farming is not quite as glamorous a role as a lumber jill, but they are very nice figures.  I really cannot say enough about the Women of WW2 range, there was a lot of research, respect and love that went into these figures.

The drab and grubby clothing required fairly heavy handed shading which looks fine a a proper distance.  I did try to give Miss Piper (see below) a pair of shiny black Wellies. 

Miss Piper and her little swine Ray.  The sculpts have mangled to capture a certain pride of accomplishment in the faces.   

I have not named the other lady pig-wrangler on the grounds that the other women in the challenge live locally and therefore can easily track me down and hurt me.

Points wise the base is four 28mm foot figures for 20 points.  I am not sure how to score the pigs (are they animals or equipment?) and two of them would count as prone, but maybe 5 for the set of three.  Plus I am hoping for 20 points for Vlogsphere and the Star Yacht.

AHPC Another ATA Flyer for the Sorceress (25 points)

I need to make my way from the Hall of heroes to the Snowlord's Treasury.  I will enlist the aid of the local Sorceress and this ATA pilot from Bad Squiddo Games.

 I had previously posted the other ATA pilot.  This lady is less glamorous and looks equipped for a long flight, possibly a Trans-Atlantic one.  Another great figure, but differentiating the different earth tones was a challenge for me.  

Bags of character on these figures.  She like she's of a certain vintage and tough as nails.  I expect that she could drink Churchill's gallant few under the table.  The texture on her face looked a bit grainy in some shots.  I suspect that's down to my bad priming rather than casting issues and these packs were very nicely moulded and cast.

That's my first use of the Sorceress' services on the third level so I beehive that makes 25 points (5 for the figure plus 20 for the Sorceress).

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I love all the gear she is lugging - very thematic, and you've done a great job with the appropriately drab palette. Nice one Peter!

Cap'n Wednesday

AHPC Wrens

For the Hall of Heroes I'm going with this set of Signalling Wrens from Bad Squiddo.   I've been mining my pledge figures from Bad Squiddo's Women of WW2 Kickstarter for a lot of my posts this year, and this is one of my favourite packs from the lot.  There's a lot to love in this range and it's given me the push to do some reading into the role of women in WW2.   The Woman's Royal Navy Service (WRNS) did invaluable work in many roles nd they count as heroines in my book.

These figures are very nicely sculpted and lovely to paint, or they would be except for the need to add depth to all navy blue uniforms.  The Wrens are clearly using the signalling equipment here and not just posing with it like some 60s cheesecake calendar you see in your local garage.  There's  lass with semaphore flags, one with an aldiss lamp, one reading signals from another team with her telescope and two scribbling down notes.

A really good read on the WRNS can be found i the book below, which I picked up from my FLBS last year.  It's the story of how the RN used a home brew war-game to develop the ASW tactics that helped win the Battle of the Atlantic.  The WRNS payed a heavy role in developing the game and GMing it while officers from the Western Approaches command came in for training.  Good naval history, good wargaming history, good social history.  A win all around, 

Points wise there are 5 28mm figures plus 20 for the room for a total of 45 points.   These mark two milestones for me the ear.  First I should give me enough points to get over my 500 point target.  Secondly I think that 45 points is a seasonal best post for me this Challenge.  While Miles and MartinC have been gorging themselves on 200+ point displays of gluttony, I've been sedately grazing my way through the treats on the h'or d'oeuvres platters. 

Nice nautical ladies, Peter!

Tamsin

AHPC Adventuress' Landing

Adventurer's Landing and the Blurb references boats but I'm pushing the boundaries on both fronts.  This is a Bad Squiddo figure of a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), female pilots who performed ferry duties bringing warbirds from factory to airfield, who's just come in for a landing.

AHPC Miss Roundwoood and her Prize Laarden Hen at the Hatchery

For my hatchery post I present another of the Landgirls from Bad Squiddo's Women of WW2 range in 28mm.  This is Miss Roundwood and her prize larded hen.  Miss Roundwood is rather eccentric and has developed an interest in the Laarden breed of chickens having rescued a clutch of chicks with the help of a  family of Belgian refugees.  

The Laarden breed is related to the Braekel and noted for it's strong character.  Laarden fowl have played an unusually prominent role in the history of Laarden and its environs, especially during the Wars of the late 17th century.  The birds are nicknamed the De Vichet breed in "honour" of a certain historical character,

This is another great figure from Bad Squiddo, lots of character in both Miss Roundwood and the chicken.  They both seem inordinately round of themselves.  I am reminded of the old joke asking what's the difference between a proud hen and a lawyer.  Well the proud chicken clucks defiant and..

Veterans of previous Challenges will recall that Sydney Roundwood's Laarden vignettes often included local fowl, although strangely not yet this year.  Perhaps the war with France has isolated the town and restricted supplies to the point that anything edible has ended up in the stewpot.   I will say that I never though I'd be googling "Heritage Chickens Breeds of Flanders".

I believe that's 5 points for the figure and 20 for the Chamber please.

AHPC LumberJill Curtgeld

I need to pay off my entry fee, so I am offering up one of Bad Squiddos Lumberjills as my Curtgeld.  I've had two Challengers offer me up reward figures so I better off up one myself.  

As with the rest of this range it's a lovely figure and really nice to paint.  I encourage allChallengers to find something to but on the Bad Squiddo site, Annie does terrific figures and is highly worthy of support.  

I will leave the destination for this year's Curtgeld up to the Snow lord himself as long as he finds her a good home.  Ideally it would be someone who could use the figure on table either in her original homefront role or in a pulp setting.  There has tone a good home for a fine lass with a big heart and trusty axe that she's not afraid to use.

Thats's 5 points for the figure plus 20 for the Curtgeld.  I could also use her to appease the Sorceress and have her teleport me but I'm knee deep in female figures and my next destinations are in easy walking distance.

Annie does sell some lovely female miniatures, and her WW2 home front models are a particularly good range. 25 points it is.

Tamsin

AHPC Lumberjill for the Sorceress

After my most recent trip to the Dungeon I had the Sorceress transport me back to the Aquifer so that I might take the water route to the lower level.  With my normal level of focus i've now decided that I should go to the Gallery of Ancestors on the second level.  To that end I have a single Lumberjill from Bad Squiddo Games Women of WW2 range in 28mm.  No need for any magic, I think that this strapping lass can chuck me over her shoulders and cart me there like a sack of potatoes. 

Not a lot to say about this figure that I didn't say about my earlier Lumberjill posts.  it's a lovely figure, paints up a charm and a really interesting bit of history.

Points wise that is 5 for the young lady plus potentially another 20 for the Sorceress' bonus.  This will be my third time with the Sorceress and I don't know if this counts against my 1st or 2nd level usage of the weird sisters' services.  I'll let the Cap'n work that out.  Seems to me that those in command never have enough paperwork to keep them busy.

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The Cap'n hates paperwork Peter... :-(

AHPC Lumberjills

Another pair of Lumberjills from Bad Squiddo.  Lovely sculpts in 28mm they were a joy to pose and paint and very realistically done.  This is a three part casting, with the two lumberjills and the the log each being separate.  The hand of one Jill is cast on the saw and fits nicely into a socket on her arm so easily that even I couldn't mess it up. 

This set, like many of the figures in the range. is based on a wartime photo as shown below.  It's an obviously posed phot for propaganda purposes but the overall effect is good.  

 Points wise that's two 28mm figures for 10 points plus I believe 20 points for the Sorceress plus a teleportation back to the Aquifer please.