From BrendonW: 28mm Dark Age Noble, Hound, Banner Bearer, Peasant & Cart (45 points)

More Dark Age goodness (?) from Brendon:

Here is another group I finished very recently.

28mm Dark Ages. Mounted Noble with a dismounted version is Crusader, Dog is Foundry, Flag Waver, Horn Blower and peasant and cart are Gripping Beast as is the big flag. Decal on the Shield is LBM. 

I didn't feel the need to keep the dismounted figure the same colours as the mounted version. I am really happy to get the baggage cart completed as that means in this challenge I have three larger bases of figures for the Saga escort mission. The big green flag will be a talking point in games for years to come I think.

Wonderful collection of figures Brendon. And, really, who can deny a faithful Irish Wolfhound? Your flag is brilliant! It reminds me of 'The Fighting Man' banner described in Julian Rathbone's excellent  novel 'The Last English King' (highly recommended to any interested in the battles of 1066).

This group will give Brendon 45 points. Very nice!

From ChristopherS: 28mm Dark Age Early Saxon Gedriht (37 points)

Here is another wonderful unit of Dark Age Early Saxons from Christopher.

Here is my second unit of those elite Early Saxon Gedriht who look like ZZ top on steroids who are just as proficient with their weapons as the others are with their guitars. It's what I think of when I look at them and partly why I like them so much. 

Bill(the sculptor) just made these guys look cool and are a must for any painter interested in early Saxons imho. I added a banner to these guys even though in Dux Brittani rum they have no effect, because I think banners add a bit extra in terms of looks to an army. 

These superb figures are again Musketeer with the equally superb LBM for the shields and banner. The weathering on the rocks and shields is done with MIG pigments which I really enjoy using.

Lovely work once again, Christopher. I agree with you in that these fellows absolutely demand a banner as they're such hard-asses. 

These six warriors will give Christopher a base of 30 points but I'm adding a few more for the excellent banner, shields and groundwork. Well done! (But you're still behind me. Y'know, just sayin'.)  ;-P

From ChristopherS: 28mm Dark Age Saxon Gedriht Warriors (35 points)

Christopher sends in this beautiful unit of Dark Age Saxons.

From Christopher:

My next entry is Saxon Gedriht which are elite fighters typically members of a Warlords family, close retainers and household guard (Huscarls) and are professional warriors armed with the best armour and weapons in the army. 

When I first saw these on the Musketeer web site I knew I had to have them as they looked seriously hard and fearsome. 

They are based on individual bases mounted on a sabot movement tray. The shields are LBM with some MIG pigments I added to give a more used effect. 

They are mostly painted with Foundry paints which are my personal favorites and some Vallejo.

I always really enjoy your Dark Age work Christopher, and these lads certainly don't disappoint. You're right they do look suitably ferocious and hard-bitten, especially with their motley assortment of armour and well-used shields.

These six Saxons will give Christopher a base of 30 points, but I'm adding another 5 for the great basing and weathered shields. This will give Christopher enough to pip past me and Martin into first place in our private duel to 500 points. Well done but this lead won't last for too long... ;->

From ChristopherS: 28mm Successor Pikemen (120 points)

Like Brer Rabbit meeting the Tar Baby Christopher has been stuck with this unit since the Challenge started. Nonetheless he is finally free of them so we can now admire his efforts and he can get on to his next project.

From Christopher:

I've finally finished my first unit for the competition! I didn't think it would take so long, but somebody should have smacked me with a reality stick before I started! These gentlemen took me the better part of my vacation to do which doesn't help when trying to rack up some points! Anyways enough of my moaning and on to the unit.

The figures are from Aventine which I personally believe are hands down among the best you can buy for this period. The shields are from the wonderful LBM and the bases are from Warbases. The unit is based for Impetus which in addition to the game I like both the look of the bases and that they give good protection to the figures as you primarily handle the base and not the figures. Also, I can use the units for Hail Caesar which is another game I quite like.

I saw in the new Successor osprey book they showed guard infantry pike in purple helms and I quite liked it  and so decided I would use that as the theme to the unit. The armour is fuchsia which is a mix of pink and purple and so goes with the helm and shield I think. I kept feathers and such all white to give a nice contrast to the purple. Except for the clothes I kept them uniform in appearance as I feel it gives them a more elite feel. I should also add the front rankers are deliberately more elaborate as they had the best gear in every formation.

Beautiful work, Christopher! I love that hedge of pikes. You can't argue with a wargames unit that can actually draw blood on the table. :) I also really like the eggplant-purple of their uniforms and I agree that the uniformity gives them a more elite bearing.

These twenty-four pikemen will give Christopher 120 points.

From Curt: 28mm Anglo-Dane Warlord, Hrolf Heldrid (20 points)

I thought that since I'm the host I should set a good example and get something done early.  I burned a bit of midnight oil yesterday to get my first entry in for The Challenge. (My wife awoke in the middle of the night with me still beavering away at the hobby desk to which she just shook her head, made a barely audible harrumphing sound, and tottered back to bed.) 

This stand will serve as the warlord to my Anglo-Dane warband for SAGA. I'm calling him Hrolf Heldrid. I dunno why. Just liking the letter 'H' it seems.

In SAGA the warlords are particularly badass so I thought I'd accompany him with a few additional figures to better portray this. The main lad with the long axe is a recent Gripping Beast casting.  The one filleting his foe in a rather brutal fashion is an Old Glory figure. The wounded fellow holding his leg is also an Old Glory casting to which I did a  simple conversion. (Cut away his original spear, drilled out his hand and swapped in a steel rod with a spare Draco from my parts bin.)

Like a complete git I thought that since I'm already bleary-eyed, working under the gun with a high-profile character stand, that this would be the PERFECT occasion to try my hand with my first LBMS shield transfers. As you can imagine this could have gone very, very poorly, but lucky for me they worked like a charm. Highly recommended.

Anyway, there you have it. Hrolf Heldrid, ready to cut cards with any Norman or Viking that cares to come his way (or go down swinging).

These boys will give me 20 points to put on the board. Now I have to get to work on some Normans...