Mama Bear and Cub. 1st Post for th AHPC IX.

My first offering for the 9th Analog Hobbies Painting Challenge is a Christmas Ornament I made for my wife. We have a tradition of exchanging ornaments and I try to make mine each year.

The miniature is from Bad Squiddo and was part of Kickstarter earlier this year.  Annie produces excellent miniatures as I'm sure you all know.

The idea for this ornament came to me as soon as I spotted this piece. I added the cubs's hat for a holiday touch.  I just need to add the string to hang it from the tree (I drilled a hole between the mother and cub).

I think the fur came out well I find fur a challenge but I think I'm getting better at it. For points I think it's fair to call this a 25mm cavalry figure netting me 10 points.

Ornaments for the Grandparents

I did these up for Evelyn's grandparents as Christmas gifts.   They are laser cut wood from AC Moore. I'm pleased with the results and hope that they will be as well. The photo is from last year since we haven't gotten any proper Christmas photos of Evelyn this year. The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge starts today go check out the first entry here: AHPC: IX

Masumi, Demon Hunter

Another example Bones miniature I'm finally getting off by table.  I'm very happy with the shading on her skin but the cloth came out less well.

The Flash washes out some of the dept especially on the yellow.

The more distant shot doesn't look as washed out. I need to find a new place to get photos as the lighting here seems to washout the miniatures some.

AHPC IX

This year Curt is holding the Winter Painting contest again.  I'm mostly doing 25mm stuff this year. The plan is to build a more or less complete Saga/Lion Rampant army that can serve as either Normans or as Crusaders.  I'm also looking flesh out a long held off program of building a Late Roman or Romano-Briton using a box of miniatures I got using a gift card my old roommate Rob got me my Birthday.

I've entered a Lion Rampant side duel.  I'll be using the Norman/Crusader troops for this.  I'm aiming for 750 point and if I get everything painted that I have planned I should be able to get something like 850 points.

There are several Bonus rounds.

• Reconnaissance' (submission deadline Saturday, January 5th / displayed January 6th / voting results January 13th) 
• 'Sport' (submission deadline Saturday, January 19th / displayed January 20th / voting results 27th) 
• 'Mercenary' (submission deadline Saturday, Feb 2nd / displayed Feb 3rd / voting results 
• Feb 10th) 
• 'Water Feature' (submission deadline Saturday, Feb 16th / displayed Feb 17th / voting results Feb 24th) 
• 'Fellowship' (submission deadline Saturday, March 2nd / displayed March 3rd / voting results March 10th)

My concern for the Side duel is I was planning to use figures from my Norman/Crusader program for three of the six the.  I'll have to see how quickly my opponent Bill and any one who joins is proceeding. I've got an alternative for one of the Bonus rounds so we shall see. 

Clash of Warlords Irish vs. Ragnar's Vikings

John and I met at Hobby Bunker for another game of Saga.  John's copy of Book of battles is still in the mail so we did the Clash of Warlords game. We did a standard game but rolled deployment C. This meant our troops had to be deployed at least M (6") form each other.   John used the same list as last game.   I had two Champions and a Personal Champion.  Two points of Warriors, 1 point of Shield Maidens, and a unit of Sling armed levys (women) I think of this as a 7 Samurai list the heroes helping defend a village from raiders.

I lead with my slingers moving them up into cover to hit the Vikings as the cam forward.

Here's a Ragnar's eye view of the village laddies.

Viking Levies came up and killed one of the women... then the Hearthguard came up and killed all but two of the ladies.  I'm pretty sure the game designers said this was a contemptible move...

John got one of my warriors with arrows from his Steppe Warriors allies.

My larger group of warriors came crashing into one unit of Viking Levies killing 7 of them and depriving John of one of his Saga Dice.

I brought in multiple javelin units and turned John's Hearthgard into a pin cushion.  I got lucky and John didn't make a single save.

John Decided that Berserkers would clearly view Shield maidens as an insult to their man hood. They charged, but  with the powerful combination of closed ranks and the "shield maiden's pride" they wiped out the Berskerkers for the loss of one of their own.

One of my Champions charged the levies but only killed one.  Sill they were driven back. 

Ragnar is now fairly isolated and after trying to wear him down with Javelins my warlord engages him for the first time.  I had both Blood of Kings and Ireland's heart in effect.  The result is..

A draw Ragnar is very hard to kill.  Ragnar kills one of my champions and then holds off the attack of a second.

My warlord reengaged again I have both Blood of Kings and Ireland's heart and Ragnar falls to my blade.  The end result when the massacre points are totaled are 10 for John and 23 for me probably our most lopsided battle since the new saga rules came out.  I think John might have been able to keep Ragnar alive had he "closed ranks"  he would have been harder to hit (6 rather than 5) and he would have been able to cancel more hits.  That said he had a better chance of killing my warlord by throwing all 8 dice in each of our combats... I did well on my saves to cancel hits and my Saga Abilities made my heroes very hard to kill. As the game wrapped up John got a call from his wife who must have asked if he had won his response: "No Adam beat me rather badly and about half his little men were women so I'm not sure how to take that. "  LOL

A Few Random Bones Minatures.

First up an archer or perhaps a ranger.  Not a historical out fit but not too far off (at least as good as some popular TV shows) So I might use her with some of the Bad Squiddo archers.

I think the fur lined cloak came out fairly well.

I am very happy with how the colors for this lady worked out.  Clearly a well born woman (or a successful one).  She seems to either be in the act of raising or lowering her hood.

She could work as a wizard or cleric and she's another good candidate for a woman who needs to be rescued or escorted in a scenario.

This miniature will be handy for Frostgrave or other fantasy games.  I suspect it will see some play in an undead army for Dragon Rampant (or Fantasy Saga)

I tried to shade the black and I think I did OK though it is hard to see in this picture.  I'm not sure how I feel about the scythe it seems to solid for to be this aperitions weapon... any Ideas how to fix that?

Bones Hobgoblins

These guys were a lot of fun to paint 4 Hobgoblins done in the Early monster manual "Asian" style. a

I wanted these gusy to look like a unit of elite soldiers. I'll use these for Dragon Rampant.  These will make a fine unit of Elite Unit of Infantry.  The three on the left will stand for the first three hits and the big fellow on the left will stand in for the last three hits.

Dark Age Home defence

All figures are from Bad Squiddo: 8 are from her Freyja's Wrath kick starter and 4 are from a set that predates that Kick starter.

My plan is to us them mixed together they will either be bow or sling armed levies for Saga(depending on the "faction") or mixed weapon light infantry in Dragon Rampant.

Four sling armed women I've already featured the on the

Up first we have a woman in the act of readying her sling.  I kept her in muted tones except for the gold chains at her throat and...

The bright blue of the scarf she has tied above her head.  Her belt is done in purple a rare and expensive color.

This next lady in the act of firing her sling is a very eye catching lady.  With her red robe/cloak the dress underneath is an yellow with purple trim.

The head scarf is a muted orange.  She's a very snappy dresser.

Another lady dressed in eye catching fashion. I used yellow brown and contrasted it with a light blue.

The darker red brown over tunic/vest I imagine to be a sort of leather armor.  Next up are the Archers I didn't get a group shot (I may add one latter). One of these was posted earlier the other three are below.  These all look more like "professional" female warriors rather than ladies rallying to defend hearth and home.

Since these have a more war like appearances I went with more muted colors.  This lady could be a Noble woman but the leather armor suggest a more professional warrior.  

The Skirt suggest she is perhaps more a noble lady who is enthusiastic about hunting and sword play rather that a professional warrior.

This next lady is clearly a professional warrior.  She wears trousers, a short leather tunic and is alert and balanced.

She also has a sword and keeps her hair short (for a woman) a wise precaution for anyone who might have to fight at close quarters.

Another professional armed with bow and a sax dagger (I wish a few of these had appeared on more of the laddies).

Her hair is on the long side but clearly this is a woman who fights close in only as a last resort. You can see the other archer here.

These are clearly laddies who have rallied to defend the village or family farm

First up a broad shouldered lady with a pitchfork I feel like she looks tough enough that even a Berserker should think twice about sacking her house.

I her colors are of a muted type except for the blue edging on the apron

I person this lady is a lot more eye catching the orange that makes the band of the apron/over tunic and scarf is very muted in the picture.

The scythes is a potentially deadly weapon though and unwieldy one.

Next is a older woman.  These colors really are this muted she's not interested in catching the eye.

Her rake isn't much of a weapon I see her using it to fend off an attack hopping some one else will take him now.

My favorite of the set a girl who isn't will to just run for the hills she has a "sling" of rocks for the slingers but she's throwing those rocks at the on coming foe.

I put the girl in very rare color indicating a wealthy background.  In addition to acting as part of this unit I figure she can also make a good "princess" for rescue in scenarios. I wish we had some more options showing "children" taking part in combat like this as I think it happened frequently.   I'm very impressed with what Annie (or Badd Squiddo) did with this set of miniatures.  I hope she will do more these ladies are on the whole excellent uppper class women I would like to see more women of the middling and lower sort with less jewelry ad maybe some patches on their dresses and tunics.