3rd Annual Painting Challenge Has Ended.

Well it ended a little over 24 hours ago but I was worn out with the end run charge that saw me break through my second target of 2000 points. Anyone interested in looking at all the entries can find Curt's blog Analogue Hobbies here.

The great thing is that you can go over there and pick out your favourite submission and vote on it with the submission that gets the largest vote getting a prize. This is no easy task as some of the work is so inspirational and the standard is seriously high. If you have a hour or two to spare to feast your eyes on some of the best painting done in the last three months then I recommend that you click on the link and relax into figure heaven. 

So the numbers I had expected to do more 28mm and 15mm than I actually did but made up for this with a 6mm charge.

Thirty Three 25/28mm Foot

Thirty Three 20mm Cavalry

Three 20mm Elephants

Forty 15mm Cavalry

One Hundred and Thirty Seven 15mm Infantry

Two Hundred and Forty Nine 6mm Cavalry

One Thousand Six Hundred and Six 6mm Infantry

Eighteen 6mm guns each with four crew

Four Limbers

I have now started work on some of the Spanish 6mm buildings for a short break in painting figures but waiting on my desk with the aim to be started before getting deep into next week is the three 15mm ECW foote regiments with their 6mm equivalents. 

To follow these I have the last of the French allied infantry in 6mm and the command I did not finish before. I also in 6mm have all the Prussians I received recently, now all sorted and ready. Waiting prep I have the Roman's that I plan to start sometime very soon as they have been neglected and this needs rectifying. 

The end of the Painting Challenge will herald a return to the more varied mix of posts with Terribly Obscure coming back and a more varied mix of other subjects. Thanks for bearing with this, though I still have quite a few more posts to bring to a close the figures painted to date.

I did finish a few projects. The Numidian Impetus army was finished near the start of the Challenge and then sold at York. Matt's WSS army was pained from start to finish within the challenge as was the 3D sniper project. Though I will probably add the odd figure to the mix I won't do much more on this.

I failed to reach a few targets though. I still have a lot of the Macedonian's left unpainted which would have reduced the lead pile a fair amount. The Spanish Ulcer despite needing just a little effort remains to be finished. I did not even touch some of the prepped figures from the Sniper Reminder box (Partisans)  but none of this is a major issue.

I also got to try out a few new techniques, the basing which will be used on all future projects whilst I will continue basing the rest the same as before. The painting style for Matt's WSS is a lot faster than my normal style and I will continue with this for some of my future projects.

I don't know how Curt did it but he managed to hold the whole thing together. 47 signed up for this with 45 actually sending in submissions with over 400 in total! So hats off and a big thank you.

Hobbit Style Birthday

Well I did want to get this up yesterday but what with all the painting and cake eating and what not I just did not have the time. I have been planning this for the last couple of months as I have always liked the idea from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings where rather than getting presents on your birthday you give them out. I have been working with a few of the hobby suppliers and have come up with a series of giveaways that will start next week. Details of who has agreed at this point below. But before I do I thought it only fair to pimp one of the many giveaways that are going off right now, I am talking in this case of Sippin' On Paint Water which at this point is offering his second Easter Basket giveaway. Head over in a minute to join in but first 'ave at it with mine.

Leven Miniatures has kindly donated a cash sum value of their very nice 6mm Resin Buildings, and me original review right here. If your into 6mm from Medieval through ultra modern you will something you will need so keep an eye out for this.

Rosemary & Co. will be supplying a lucky follower with some of their great Series 33 brushes again reviewed here. Just to add to the review I have painted over 2,000 figures with the same four brushes in the last three months and they are still going strong (well ones tattered but what do you want?)

Red Republic Games have offered a casting of the first figure cast in resin along with a resin base, activation token and 4" x 6" Art Card. See the resent post on these guys here.

Me, myself and I will be offering;-

£20 (or equivalent) gift that can be spent at any online shop you like and I can get to take money off me. 

2 x Sniper Reminders for the ASL fans

3 x 3d Snipers from the Russian, American and German stash I have.

It's possible I will get a few more sorted before this starts rolling next week, but I already have a couple of suppliers who want to get involved later in the year. 

So the rules are the same as always, you have to be a follower and leave a comment on the actual individual post when I post the actual giveaway. You can enter as many as you wish but I just ask that you only go for any you actually would make use of or would love to own. If you run a blog then post a link to any giveaway you put yourself down for. 

And last of all, if you use any of these companies post seeing them on the giveaway please mention it to them, part of the idea is to prove to suppliers that making use of blogs for new product news, promotions and offers is a very cheap and useful tool. As such I would love to get as much feedback to them as possible. Same goes for any post you see here or any other blog, if you see an item on a blog then go on to buy it, mention the blog as the source of your interest. That's how I ended up buying buildings from Leven Miniatures, Phil at The Wargaming Site posted about them.

So come Monday you will be getting some good reasons for popping in for a visit. Feel free to comment here but remember only comments on the actual prize posts will count.

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to Me!

Ah joy of joy's it's that day again. Seems to come round just about once a year if I have worked it out correctly. Most years have seen ASL get the lions share of the stash but this year only one item could be tentatively linked to the game of games. This being Tarawa: A Hell of a Way to Die, recommended to me in relation to a blog post of mine. I've just had time for a brief flick through so far but look forward to immersing myself in this at some point.

1812 was reviewed on another blog (sorry I can't remember who rated this) but looking forward to coming to grips with it. Sticking with the Napoleonic theme I have lots of Caramac, er I mean Adler Prussians and yes I do mean a lot supplied by Gran, Mum and Sister. These will keep me busy till Triples though that won't stop me ordering the new Baccus French way before then, well as soon as they are available which may or may not be in just two weeks.

My Nephew and Niece got me the mug, not sure what they are trying to say. I will use this mug next time I am crushing my Nephew at ASL just to make a point.

My wife though gave me exactly what I wanted, the gift of time. Because she is such a star I have spent most of today at the painting desk and will do the same tomorrow, just so I can get my last entry into the challenge which should tip the 2000 point target I set when I knew I would make my original total. Anyway got to dash, it's really difficult sucking trifle through a straw and painting at the same time but I WILL get the hang of it.

Arena Rex Kickstarter Launched

Yesterday Red Republic Games launched Arena Rex Kickstarter project that has caught my attention. It is based on Gladiatorial combat but mixes a little bit of fantasy with history. This of course will immediately turn away some from the project and for me sends up a few warning flags. Handled right and it's going to add to the game not detract, too heavy and balance and believability can be lost. To this point only the one figure has been sculpted to my knowledge and six have been given away in recent giveaways that Arena Rex have used to try and increase interest in their new venture. Well it seems to have worked given that in about 24 hours they have already secured $26,444 and have a further 36 days to go.

The figures are 35mm and cast in resin, this combination means a higher price than your standard 28mm metal historical figure but the first finished model I can attest to looking gorgeous. Standard figures are expected to retail at $23 but can be bought through pledges at $17 so a fair saving. 218 people obviously think it's a good offer and are already pledged. I am still on the fence a little right now, I need to know that at least one other local opponent will also go for these to make it worth while. The good news is that you don't need many figures to play, indeed I am sure you could just use normal figures but I feel you would loose some of the atmosphere. So far not a great deal has been released about the game but it has a presence on Facebook as well so more should flow as time goes on. What I gather from watching the video is that the actual combat system is as they say streamlined but detailed. 

Not that all you get is a selection of miniatures at $17 each. If for instance you back this at the $55 level you get to pick three mini's from the basic level plus five favour dice, a token per figure, game cards and a printed rule book. But you will also get a PDFS of the Playtest rules allowing you to not only see the rules before release but give feedback. Already someone has suggested a thumbs up/down die for the campaign rules which they have mocked up. They are close to unlocking the next stretch goal, yet another figure and it's for this that they seem to be needing the kickstarter the most. The more money they raise the more of the proposed figures can be sent for sculpting. 

So take a look if this sort of thing interests you and maybe, just maybe meet you in the arena.

The Friday Quiz 7

Answers should be added on Sunday, no slacking this week!
Questions 1-2 are  Ancient to 1600, 3-4 are 1600-1914, 5-6 are Post 1914 and 7 is all my own.

1. Who was Lysander?

2. Who Commanded the English Fleet that fought the Spanish Armada?

3. In the 17th Century, what was King Philips War?

4. Name the commander of Rorke's Drift garrison during the battle?

5. Which two Latin American countries contributed forces to Allied operations in WWII?

6. What was the Argentine flagship in the Falklands War?

7. Parliamentarian troops were scornfully called Roundheads in the ECW but who were the Roundheads that the name was taken from?

OK lets see how many have a go and how you do.

Sir Robert Howard's Dragoons

Sir Robert Howard's Dragoons was never a large regiment consisting of just two troops one commanded by Captain Richard Catesby from Warwickshire and a possible relative to the Gunpowder Plotter whilst the other troop was commanded by Captain Lewknor. The only known recorded engagement for this regiment was the storming of Bristol in 1643 when they were attached to Washington's Regiment but it's a fair bet that they were also involved in the Cropredy. Most Royalist Dragoon Regiments were lacking in men and or mounts so it is not really an issue to base a regiment for the wargames table on such a small regiment as most were just as bad with some even worse!

Over the next month or so I will be painting up a number of Royalist Oxford Army Regiments and I will start here with those poor old boys the Dragoons.

Here we have the mounted 15mm figures, only four as these are for FoG:R and most of the figures will be dismounted. so four bases will have a single mounted figure to show they are indeed Dragoons. However I don't have that problem in 6mm

Here we have one of the two bases of my dismounted dragoons, I got carried away. This is not really a problem as I can change the turnbacks colour on one base and I have yet another dragoon regiment.

Here we have the 15mm dismounted boys in felt hats. Of course in reality very few felt hats were in England at the time and these were rather expensive. However I do feel that some version of brimmed hat would have been worn, possibly leather? To many contemporary images show a brimmed hat exen on some common soldiers. 

Here are the even more historically inaccurate Lobster Pot  helmets. Yes they were worn but they would not have been worn by 50% of a dragoon regiment, only by some of the officers, cornets and maybe the odd rich volunteer though these normally were in the cavalry and a few fought in the infantry. The 15mm are Museum Miniatures and are larger than the typical MM figure which in the case of the mounted is a bit of a shame as the horses are just too large for Dragoons to have a hope of keeping them. They would be mounted on nags IF they were lucky enough to get any at all.

 The flags are pure conjecture as is the green facing. Howard's Dragoons were thought to have worn red which is a good guess given they are part of the Oxford army where red and blue were the main uniform colours throughout the late campaigns.  These are also the first troops I have based up by using Lee's basing system (nothing new as many do it this way) but new to me.

Project Waterloo

Lee was over earlier collecting his part of an order I had placed with Adler, mostly Russians as it happens but still the main influence on this post. Well part of his order was the final bits of his French Guard so that helped.

As has been mentioned Lee and myself are looking to do the Battle of Waterloo on and around the 200th Anniversary of the actual battle. Lets be clear, this will not be a display game nor participation game, no it's going to be a US game. Not that either of us expect or hope that it will just be the pair of us, we want some mates to be involved though the figures in play will be either mine or Lee's unless something changes. Lee is planning on making up some new terrain boards specially for the battle and has already started work on modifying available buildings for some of the key fought over locations and I have to say doing a credible job with the Leven Buildings I have seen so far.

Between us we have a fair amount of French but still need a lot more, especially cavalry. The British are almost done but the allied contingents are very sparse and in some cases none existent at this point but Lee will be sorting these out. As for the Prussians I got that look from him when I showed him the Twelve Battalions in the process of inking, not because these represent a four month target done in the first twelve days but rather the comment I made stating these of course were not at Waterloo but were at the other battles just prior. A mix of sympathy and loathing best describes his look. But when all is said and done I have the flags for these guys  :-)

Well in fact these could be used as any of the regular line regiments if I choose to not worry about the flags though the real reason to do these as the none Waterloo regiments is that I have had the idea that all the Prussians in the battle will be Adler. This is still possible but having now seen the Adler Prussian castings against the painted Baccus I am starting t think I may well just go along with a mix of the two as the Baccus infantry do rather look good, much better than the current French which are the only Baccus Napoleonic figures I have painted to date. What it does do though is really make me excited about the soon to be released Baccus new look French, something of a blessing given the amount I am bound to be painting over the next two years!

Anyway as I was saying, I now have a bunch of Adler Prussians and will be getting these started around the end of March as they have to be handed over to the family who are buying them for me for my Birthday. Usually I get money for me to spend post the day but this year I will be getting to unwrap them. It's one of the Infantry packs and four or five cavalry packs including a number of regiments that were not actually at Waterloo that will still get painted up between now and when I will not need them. Well I have not forgotten about my Borodino project that I will continue to add to as time goes on, nor have I forgotten about the Peninsular even though that has nothing to do with these Prussians.

So expect regular(ish) updates on both Lee's and my progress and how we stand time wise as the months tick by. As yet Lee has no actual plan of what needs doing per month but that will not be an issue as I suspect other than the Guard all his troops will enter his house just needing basing and flagging (cheat!!) my real concern is working out exactly how many French units need to be painted and adding these to my Prussian list. The Prussians will not be an issue as even if we go for the whole campaign I can easily keep ahead of the schedule with one painting session a week. Lee does not as yet have a lot of French so I am expecting a fairly high quantity of units being required. 

Funding has to be the last word, well the first as well. This has been covered rather nicely between Birthday gifts and the sale of my Irregular French and Prussians. The sale alone netted me £350 so my wargames neutral is safe and sound.