Challenge X Entry #24 Rousell's Sandhill Border Reivers (145 Points)

Here is what will probably be my last entry of the challenge a unit of Boarder Revers for the Huzzah Convention's featured game. Each year the hosting club ask clubs and individuals to paint figures and bring them to the convention for the big game. Sometimes you command your figures or they might go to someone else. The rules they planned to use are Donnybrook (hope the game happens).

My force includes five long bowmen probably English mercenary as the Boarder Revers included both English and Scots

They look like they probably got their gear form one location I tried to make socks and shirts look a little.

The commander of the unit an old warriors with fine armor and weapons.

I felt he had an old face, so I made him gray haired with just a bit of yellow brown from the wash. I like the effect.

Clearly another man of means I went with green for his quilted armor as such a dye would have been expensive.

It makes him stand out almost as much as his bosses' armor.

The idea was to have a mounted figure for each footman the Maine War Gamers Association did their best but they are not a perfect match

I tried to match the figures up as best I could.

There are 11 figures on foot and 6 mounted figures they are 25mm (I believe they are Old Glory’s but I am not sure) so they should be worth 115 Points.

I hope that Scottish bonnets count as floppy hats adding another 30.

It’s been a great challenge I have netted more than 1000 points and hit 15 of their Island locations including 4 trips on Sarah Balloon.

---Marvellous. This is a great force you have assembled. 1000 points is a superb effort and what a journey you have been on

Martin

Challenge X Entry #23: Hammer Sisters calling Sarah's balloon (10 points)

Hammer Sisters calling Sarah's balloon (10 points)

Next up are two Bones Miniatures both are Female Dwarves I've dubbed them the Hammer Sisters for obvious reasons. 

I'm thinking I will use these as a Wizard and apprentice for Frostgrave they should do well for this. They would naturally be enchanters with a band of dwarven warriors and constructs to smash bad guys and grab treasure. 

Fully armored and dule wielding hammers this is a lady the kicks buts and takes names on top of that she has an anvil in back pack and some strange aperatus that must be used for magic of some kind. 

This lady looks a bit like a cross between a black smith and a lady who want a night on the town. She'll make a great apprentice Enchanter. Points 5 points each for the 25mm figures so 10 in total. 

Lady Sarah I have some Boarder Revers I need to drop off at Russell’s Sandhill. 

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Nice figures there Adam. Up, up and away to Rousell's Sandhill!

TamsinP

(yes, I'm stepping in again as Martin is busy at work with pandemic planning)

Challenge X Entry #22 Sanders Sand Dunes Irish Piquettes (72 points)

Just in time (or perhaps a little late) for Saint Patrick’s Day the Irish Piquet’s arrive at Sanders’ Sand Dune. In 1745 the French king send a force of troops from the Irish brigade to aid the Bonnie Prince Charles. Rather than risk any full regiment on this endeavor a selection of volunteers from each regiment to form a single force (each regiment sending the equivalent of a company). These volunteers were known as Piquets and was typical French approach to providing troops for risky operations. All of the Irish Regiments provided volunteers but only three made it to Scotland in the initial wave.

Regiment Dillon

Regiment Lally

Regiment Rooth.

The extra flags help indicate it’s a mix of units it’s a little bigger then works but will in most cases probably operate as three small units.

Points should be 36 for the figures at 2 points per 15mm man the three units come to 18 figures. There might possibly be some additional points for the hand painted flags Sanders Sand Dunes adds another 30 Points for 66 points.

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Loving the flags Adam, worth a bonus I think

Martin

Challenge X Entry #21: Princess reluctant to take a balloon ride. (23 points)

The HMS Unicorn ran around on a sand bar, Captain Pullings assures me he’ll be able to get her floated on the next spring tide but for now I need a ride to Sander's Sand Dunes.

This “figure” is from an Old Glory set of Medieval peasants a princess being carried off (against her will it seems) by some plunderer. I did the plunderer in no descript colors so he can be from several back grounds.

The Lady is done up in a reddish purple that makes a great color for royalty and her clothing is set off by gold bands at the edge of the material.

Now once we can get the young lady off the ship and on to the balloon, we can load the troops for Sanders Sand Dunes…

Then it will be time for St Patricks day Beer (for latter its before noon right now). 

Ok off to the Sand Dunes. Points I am not sure if this figure should be counted as one or two 25 mm figures so I am going to say 9 point. This is my 3rd balloon ride so that’s 10 more points plus another 5? for the picture of the bubbly beverage that comes to 23 points but adjust as apropatre.

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As DaveD is up to his neck with CV19 planning at work, this is a free-fire minioning day, so I'll be looking after things for a few posts.

Those figures (that figure?) will certainly make for some nice mobile scenery in games. As for scoring, I think what you've suggested is quite fair and I'll even allow for a Paddy's Day beer to be counted as "bubbly".

TamsinP

Senior Flight Attendant

Challenge X Entry #20 Fran’s Fjord; The Snow Lord's Own and HMS Unicorn (68 Points)

So as you may recall from past challenges I have an Imagi-nation called the Grand Duchy of D’Argent and their traditional foe the Draconian Empire. I like to give wargamer friends regiments in the service of the Draconian Empire. 

Given the task for the location I decided to honor our fearless organizer with a regiment of his own.

The Figurers are Essex Miniatures I went with blue and white in honor of our leaders snow capped peak and blue monster manifestation.

The Flag is purely out of my head but inspired by some French and German flags of the period.

HMS Unicorn is the last of my initial purchase for Black Seas. I decided to do a Royal Navy frigate because I wanted one to add an extra dynamic to a convention game I am working on.

A convention that will probably be cancelled out of an abundance or caution to use the fashionable phrase (figures crossed this will blow over by May).

I went with buff instead of yellow for the stripe along the gun ports. I added a bit of gold-leaf showing our frigate captain was lucking in prize money or has private means.

I’m very pleased with how the ship came out. OK points. Fran’s Fjord give 30 points, the ten 15mm figures provide 20 and HMS Unicorn will provide me with another 18. That give me 68 more points for pile.

HMS Unicorn will now take me along the coast to Saunders Sand Dunes (if that’s allowed).

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Fine work here Adam. I'm sure I join many Challengers in expressing sheer horror at the idea of the Snow Lord having his own Regiment of Foot to unleash upon unwary travellers, but I have no doubt the Lord himself will be thrilled!

And it has been a lot of fun watching your "Black Seas" project(s) come together so nicely. This is another great-looking ship...I wish I could offer more intelligent commentary, but I'm the age-of-sail gamer who says things like "I'll take the one with the cannons!" so I'm not much help there. But damn, it looks cool! 

In terms of your Challenge Island routing proposal...I'll leave that to higher powers, but it may be that one requires a balloon ride to make the trip you propose... 

That will be another 68 points for you. Here's hoping your event goes ahead...

GregB

Challenge X: Entry #19 Bromley's Butte Scotish Hussars

So, I had a plan for this challenge to finally get my Scottish Army finished so I could do games set in the Jacobite rising. This plan has not survived contact with Black Seas for a lot of reason but now that my ships are mostly done, you'll get to see a little of that project 

Contemporary scetch of a Scotch Hussar

Brumley’s Butte is all about those troops that handle scouting and reconnaissance duties and in the 18th century this was one of the chief rolls of light cavalry. 

For Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 Scotch Hussars: A single troop of 50 men raised in Edinburgh by John Murray of Broughton and officered by a group of Lothian gentry. It is unclear why they were designated as hussars, a role until then unknown in Britain; their clothing included a fur-trimmed hussar cap of obsolete French pattern.[85] As Murray of Broughton served on Charles' staff, the Hussars were led by Captain George Hamilton of Redhouse until his capture at Clifton, and then by an Irish professional, Major John Bagot of the French Regiment Roth. Bagot recognized that the unit would be ineffective in open battle and instead trained them to operate as light cavalry in the continental manner.[90]

It says something for military fashion that the Scottish had troops they call Hussars a troop type that originated in Hungary. Maybe it was the French influence.

Originally, I had gone a more muted brown and yellow plaid for their jackets but it just looked brown so the yellow became red which gives you a better view of the pattern. 15mm Mounted figures are 4 points each this formation had 4 figures so 16 points. 

Bromley's Butte contributes another 30 to the pile taking me safely past my goal for this challenge. As to the Jacobite project you will see a little more but maybe that will be for my showcase for challenge XI. 

The '45 certainly had its share of odd units, especially on the side of the Rightful Prince of Wales. As for the name Hussards were all the rage on the Continent and expect Charlie just wanted to keep up with the styles. Using them as scouts was certainly the way to go, although at times I think that any clod on a nag could see off Hanoverian Dragoons.

Nice work on the subtle plaids in 15mm Adam and yet another Island Location checked off. You may be in the running for first around the Island.

PeterD

Black Seas: Catch the Prize x2

Friday John and I met at the Hobby Bunker.  Despite his eagerness to get on with our ACW campaign John agreed to play Black Seas so I could be sure I had a handle on the rules before running the game I have planned for the 28th of March.  We used the "Catch the Prize" with the US navy acting as defender and the French navy acting as attacker.  I was very focused on the rules, so I didn't remember to take pictures every turn. 

The Merchant is in the lower corner it has turned away from John's French ships long range shots do minor damage to the French brig. 

As the ships close the US frigate hits the French Brig hard causing a crew hit and a fire (a bad combination) 

 John's Brig crashes into mine both ships take collision damage and are now on fire, I forgot the fire markers so we used the hot shot marker. 

The French brig did manage to put out its fire but then struck its colors rather and face fire form both my ships.  The American's closed on the French Frigate and both side took some hits but the merchant schooner made good its escape.  

 For our second game we switched sides.  I put a ship on each side of the Americans.  John did a good job using his frigate to hold off my brig as both ships traded blows.  My brig held its own until it was able to get out of John's arc of fire (trading boardsideds with a ship twice your size isn't a good idea). 

 My Frigate had a chance to cut inside John's brig but in the interest of learning the game I decided to grapple the American Brig.  The Boarding rules were quite clear and easy to understand the larger ship eventually forced the smaller one to break. 

 Meanwhile my Brig managed to get its gun on the Merchant Schooner.  I hit it fairly hard over two or three turns but never got a critical that would slow it and it slipped away. I could have tried boarding, but the American Frigate would probably have joined, and two ships overwhelmed my one.  The rules played well, much smoother than Trafalgar and more Realistic than the Osprey rules where ships "blew up" in a single broadside. There were lots of additional and advanced rules we could have used but we both enjoyed the game at this level of complexity.  Also, this is probably the first time John and I have played a rule set without having any disagreements about how a rule should be interpreted.  This is a tribute to the clarity of language and the good illustration of the rules (and a decent index) used by the Author and publisher.  I'm not generally a fan of Warlord Game's rules but this one is a new favorite; I hope they will continue to support it.