Last Entry For The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

 My last entry for the AHPC was my first go at some Victrix Miniatures plastics; some Anglo-Saxon Ceorls.

8 warriors with shields and hand weapons (mostly spears), made using the bodies from the Dark Ages Archers  kit with helmeted heads, weapons and shields from the Anglo/Danes kit. 

I was originally going to base them in multiples but I couldn't decide between 40mm square bases or Impetus basing (120mm by 60mm).

This way they are perfectly usable for Saga, Ravenfeast or Lion Rampant. If needed for a larger battle there is always the movement tray option.

These are great kits and the parts from the two are easily interchangeable. Although in the past I have  not enjoyed painting shields I am starting to enjoy it.

With the AHPC over my and spring hitting this island I expect my production to slow down however I plan to slowly pick away at various ranges; I am currently working on another wave of Bloody Miniatures ECW.

More Dark Ages For The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

 As I continued to trundle through this winter's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I added to my Dark Ages project: I painted some more of the Footsore Miniatures Welsh, as well as some Gripping Beast Scots I bought secondhand off of the Lead Adventure Forum. 

Although I do not have much for Scots figures in my collection, these could double as an Irish chieftain and his  hearthguard.

These are wonderful figures to paint. I tried to mark the warlord out with his white cloak; not sure it was the best choice.

If I add another figure I would have a nice bodyguard for my the warlord for games of Lion Rampant.

These Welsh Knifemen are just as wonderful as the archers. 

Characterful sculpts and lovely clean castings.

I imagine this fellow would fit right in as an assassin or thief in an RPG:

I am not sure how I would fit these knifemen into a unit for Saga or Lion Rampant. With 4 other similar figures I suppose they could be bought as Scouts from the Mercenaries section for Saga or I could throw them into a unit of Bidowers for Lion Rampant, even though they are clearly not armed with bows or slings. 

Footsore Miniatures Welsh Archers

My latest entry in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is 12 early medieval Welsh archers from Footsore Miniatures.

These were part of a Kickstarter they ran in late 2021, with pledges shipped out early this past autumn.

I got 3 packs of 4 archers, 4 different poses, as I was building units with Lion Rampant and Saga in mind.

The minis feature great faces and hands; very easy and enjoyable to paint.

I have a number of other packs as part of my pledge and they all look as great as these bowmen.

Saxons, Sassanids and More Khand For The AHPC

 To a degree, more of the same as my last two entries: 15mm Sassanids and a Charioteer of Khand, and similar to last year, some 28mm Dark Ages figures.

Bit of a mish-mash of subjects but at least they are connected by being mounted. A couple of stands of Sassanid mounted archers.

I cannot recall the manufacturer; I bought them second hand online a year or two ago.

I also got started on my Saxons from Bob Murch's 1066 Kickstarter; two mounted Thegns:

These are wonderful figures; great sculpts, very easy to paint and nice, clean casting.

Being Thegns, I probably should have added a bit more trim to the tunics but I was in a bit of a rush to get them done by Thursday

Finally a chariot for my small band of Khandish mercenaries:

 

Like the previous batch of GW's Warriors of Khand, this unit is a little rough in spots.

As you can see, the whole model almost fits on the base it comes with.

Next on the painting desk are some Welsh archers for the AHPC.

AHPC Final Entry: Dark Ages Irish

 Well, the Analogue Hobbie Painting Challenge XI has come to a close and my final entry is 8 Dark Ages Irish from Crusader Miniatures.

A while ago I picked up about 4 points of Irish for Saga. The minis are a mix of Footsore and Crusader.

I liked the look of the Crusader Irish- the mix of bare chests, cloaks and vests- so I ordered 8 more.

In Saga terms these are warriors, armed with javelins.

Although there are 8 figures, there are only 4 poses, but not a big deal. They were fun to paint and painted up both quickly and well.

I may collect a few more as I have a Anglo-Norman force for Lion Rampant and with a suitable Irish force they could face off against each other in games set in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland.

More Conquest Games Archers

Last week I was able to finish off 6 more Conquest Games' plastic Medieval archers.

After assembling and painting the previous 6 I had a better idea of how to proceed with these ones.

I was able to achieve a more natural posing but the head/torso issues are still there.

Some of the heads are really nice pieces of sculpting. Conquest has managed to get the facial features nicely pronounced without being exaggerated. They are easy to paint; you can achieve a nice result without being Da Vinci.

Here is all 12, equaling 1 point of Levies in Saga:

Flemish Mercenaries for Saga

 Having had these plastic Normans laying around for almost 10 years I figured  the AHPC was a good time to put them together and get them painted.

In Saga, Normans on foot don't get much benefit from the Battleboard abilities unless they are armed with missile weapons. Although they cannot gain advantage from the Battleboard Flemish mercenaries are a solid defensive unit; for those that are interested, their rules can be found here.

Four of the Flemings were constructed straight from the components of the Conquest Games Norman Infantry box set. Very straight forward:

For the other four I used some components from Conquest Games Medieval Archers box set. The two below were made using the bodies in mail from the Archers box. The one on the left also has a head from that kit whereas the one on the right has a head from the Norman Infantry kit.

Arms with spears and shields from the Norman Infantry set.

My preference would have been for all the Flemings to be in mail but I ran out of bodies so attired and had to make use of  two in padded jacks.

Both of these figures have heads from the Medieval Archers kit; arms with weapons and shields from the Norman Infantry set as per usual.

All shields were hand painted. Although most of them turned out OK, a couple of them did not. I think in the future, unless it is a dead simple design, I will be using transfers as I did with my Taifa kingdoms miniatures.