From AndrewS: 20mm Nubian Archers (128 points)

Andrew rallies from being tipped out of the leading position and submits these excellent Nubian archers to regain his standing.

From Andrew:

Knowing my good buddy and rival in this years madness Kevin has snuck up behind me like a stealth bomber and dropped a large payload of very nice Vikings, its serves to keep on my toes and stay focussed on the task in hand. So, I have managed to complete the last 4 units of Nubian Skirmish Archers for the Nubian Army. This army is huge but I am almost half way through on presentation of these.

As with the previous submission each unit comprises eight figures for a total of 32 (20mm) all from the Hat range. These represent the skirmish elements for the 3rd and 4th divisions of the Nubian army I am building. As the Mad Padre described the distinguishing of the units wonderfully these guys come equipped with colour coded “Willie Whackers”!! this really raised a smile when I read it and it has stuck since.

The bases are the same larger ones as before so removing the need to split bases and have gaps I used the wider bases. These are in two sections as when they form part of the later Egyptian army they are half the size in Hail Caesar. I continued with the informality and added some rocks to these bases so as to be depicted in the rough terrain areas these types excel in and ensuring they match with the existing forces.

Wonderful stuff Andrew. I'm delighted to see that the Challenge is prompting the completion of not only beautiful single figures and vignettes (i.e. Anne & Sidney) but also of full armies (i.e. Millsy, Kev and yourself). Warms the cockles of my heart, it does!

These archers will give Andrew 128 points which will indeed give him enough to pop him back into 1st place in the points standings. Nicely done LOKI!

From AndrewS: 20mm Nubian Infantry (200 points)

In an effort not to let Kent rest on his heels Andrew comes in with this great entry featuring Nubian infantry for his Hail Caesar collection.

From Andrew:

These were given to me as part of my Christmas Present from my boys. This year I want to build Several biblical period armies for myself and KevH to play with Hail Caesar. I decided to start with the Nubians as a long time adversary of Egypt, they were top of my wish list this year.

These 48 figures are all Hat 1/72 Nubian Infantry, and these have been split up to make three light infantry warbands. I have had do some conversion work to a few of the figures as the box sets lack enough spear/javelin-men in the boxes. A relatively straightforward task of taking a sharp scalpel and removing the clubs before drilling the hands and replacing with a blunted dressmakers pins. These 3 warbands took 8 hours to paint from scratch and I spent another 2 hours on the bases. 

I have kept the painting too a base colour and highlight over the primer. At this scale two colours can often be more effective than full 3 colour work and certainly at gaming distance there is no significant difference.

These 3 units will form part of the 1st Division so I have colour coded the loin protectors, in this case they are all green, however each unit has its own pattern, one with plain another with a stripe and the third with a series of dots so as to be able to distinguish them apart.

I have also given each units shields a different set of colours, one is plain hide another is brown and cream and the third brown and white as further definition. As with the Skraelings I decided to use the stipple effect to represent the hides, I was quite pleased with the final results. 

The hardest choice too make was for the bases something I do like to have just right as they can make or break the look of any army. With these being a step down from my usual painting style also a little bit of extra work on the bases give a better overall finish to the whole army, also I have been researching and at the time of the conflicts Nubia was a very fertile land, so I did not want to have the bases feel too arid.

So I raided my supply cupboard and mixed a blend of three various coloured flocks, to give a look of sun bleached grassland and a dryer feel as they will be played with on a desert table. I also scattered patches of rocky ground throughout the bases, painting them as bits of sandstone so in brown shades rather than the black and grey usually seen. They were then finished with a few tufts used sparingly.

What a great gift from your boys, Andrew! They look fabulous and I really like the basework you've gone with as the colour-tone works well with the figures.

These three units of Nubian infantry will give Andrew a cool 200 points, with a few points added for his conversion work for the spearmen and the great hide shields. After a little over two weeks into the Challenge he is less than 100 points away from his initial target. Well done Loki!

From AaronH: 28mm Roman Auxiliary Infantry (40 points)

Aaron sends in this excellent group of Early Imperial Roman auxiliaries.

From Aaron:

These models are Warlord auxiliary infantry for my EIR army.   The figures are Warlord games plastic box.  They are nice but very samey.  I’ve bought two boxes of these models, giving me 48 total.  I had to buy some extra command to give me three units of 16, the standard size for my Hail Caesar Romans, since they are single based for skirmishing, and stuck in GW War of the Ring bases. 

The box comes with one set of decals which I have used on both of my units so far, and the third coming up.  These decals are clear, so they will show a base colour painted underneath, (unlike the Legionary decals which are opaque).   I’ve painted each unit’s shields a different colour.  If I buy more of this set I’ll have to pick up some of their decal sheets to mix things up a bit more.

If you are paying attention you’ll notice that six of these have yellow shields and two have green shields.  I’m an idiot.  What can I say.  I’m painting these to complete a half cohort that is already done.  The Warlord box comes with four command models, so the eight that were already completed had a commander already.  This batch should have been six troopers and the signifier and cornicen.  While not a problem, they are in the next group to get painted, poor attention to detail like that can cause me problems as I try to make my goal.

These are painted to my usual tabletop standard.  The only difference being a bit of highlighting on the faces which I don’t normally do, but will after this as I like the change it brings.  I really like the red, bronze and steel together.

Great work Aaron! Our group quite likes the 'Hail Caesar' system but we have not yet delved into the EIR period. Your stuff makes me seriously think about digging out my unpainted Foundry stuff and getting started.

These eight auxilaries will give Aaron 40 points. Nice job!

From JuanM: 28mm Late Roman / Byzantine Infantry Command Stand (20 points)

Juan sends in this very nice 4th century Late Roman / Byzantine command stand to represent the beginnings of his Legio V Macedonia.

Great basework and I really like the Draco standard.

These castings are from the excellent 28mm Musketeer Miniatures range of models.

Juan will be using these for future games of 'Hail Caesar'. 

Nice effect on the commander's scale-mail.

These four lads will give him 20 points. Great stuff, Juan!


Next up from Juan will be 16th century peasants, Swiss and Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr.