'Fellowship' from AdamC: Fellowship Lions of Al-Rassan

I present the principle Male characters Guy Kay's The Lions of Al-Rassan. At First Glance two men about to engage in single combat for the honor of their respective armies and gods may seem an add choice for the Theme of Fellowship.

They are in many ways a study in contrast.

Rodrigo Belmonte "The Captain" a renowned  Soldier, a Rancher, commander of the most celebrated company of horse soldiers in Esperana and beyond. A family man with a beautiful wife (to whom he is loyal) and two son

 Ammar ibn Khairan Poet, Councillor, swordsman, diplomat and the assassin who killed the last Caliph of Al-Rassan.  A man with few close friends and associates and string of lovers (of both sexes).

Still when they are both exiled and meet in the City of Ragosa they become fast fiends. Indeed their meeting could almost be described as "love at first sight" as many in the crowed sense the silent interaction between the two men.  On the day they meet they fight a tournament of two men against five and emerge victorious taking down five capable veteran soldiers with ease.  Ammar reflects that it was like their two bodies where commanded by a single mind.

The best showing of my poor attempt at Rodrigo's Eagle helm. 

Over the next few months the two men engage in a number of adventures working together.  They swap lead position back and forth without any difficulty or rancour.   As event move in the wider world it becomes clear that the Jaddites (Christians) of Esperana and the Asharites (Muslims) of Al-Rassan are on a collision course.  Both men choose to deffer the decision even as they discuss there limited choices in what Rodrigo describes as a war in which most of the combatants will be "Driven by hatred and holiness."  Rodrigo asks the question: "what shall do men do in such a war, Ammar?  Ammar's bleak answerer: "Kill each other, until something ends in the world."

I think this shield and the matching head band are some of my strongest free hand work. 

Shortly after this exchange comes one final adventure as they rescue the family of the mutual friend (and Ammar's final lover) Jahane bet Ishak from the path of the invasion.  There they are met by the army of Valledo (Rodrigo's home) and the king of that country a man of culture who while bent on conquest would prefer not to wage holly war offers Rodrigo the postion of Constable and Rodrigo offers to share that position and power with Ammar so that together perhaps they can keep the war from being "worse than ugliness."

Ammar cannot accept because of loyally to his own people, heritage and religion but manly because he Killed that last Caliph of Al-Rassan and now it is he who carries the burden of defending that land.

And so the war begins each leading the principle army of there respective side until a challenge to single combat is offered and accepted as it must be.  And so two men meet at sunset to do battle, two men who would rather set aside their arms and be friends but who cannot because of the obligations their place in society puts on them. So they battle a battle that on lookers say resembles a dance as at first they prove a match for each other until the final brutal exchange of blows where one is wounded and the other kill and the survivor weeps over the body of the man he has killed.
<SPOILER ALERT>


Ammar who survives writes this of Rodrigo the epitaph the will stand over his grave

Know, all who see these lines,

That this man, By his appetite for honor,

By his steadfastness, 

By his love for his country,

By his Courage, 

Was one of the Miracles of the god. 

The moment I have chose to depict is the pause in their single combat that happens after the first exchange of blows and parries they are sizing each other up again and perhaps they are each dealing with the realisation that this battle is actually happening and that only one of them will survive (and what survival will cost). Guy Kay is limited in his description saying only that Rodrigos helmet has an Eagle and Ammar's has a pattern of vines. I put the vines on Ammar's shield as well as his head band. I also dressed him in a red cloak since the city who's army he lead was famous for its red dyes. Rodrigo bears a shield with the emblem of the sun and I tried to suggest the eagle on his helmet. His cloak is yellow as that color is sacred to the sun worshipping Jaddites and he stands as the champion of that faith. Both Figures are 28mm the Rodrigo figure is from Crusader miniatures El Cid collection and is in fact the dismounted el Cid on whom Rodrigo is partly based. For Ammar is from the Andalusian command set that are part of the Artizan collection. So with the bonus these should add 60 points to the pile.

'Water Feature' from AdamC: Island Battery

When I saw this bonus round I was at a loss until I remembered I had a pair of 1/2400 scale 8" turrets thus this harbour island battery was born. Its all scratch built with pieces form my bits box.

The Island rises two levels of press board above the thin plywood base.  The Turrets are from my HMS Exeter model I built over the summer the rest of the bits are left over from 15mm tanks.

I've very proud of this details the jetty, dock and the path that leads up toe the armoured door leading to the under ground facilities for the fort. One small pill box over looks the entrance and a second one over looks the dock just in case someone should try some commando raid.  Getting supplies to and from an Island Fort is a key consideration and I am glad I thought to include this detail on the model.

The Turrets are magnetised but the are a bit too firmly attached to rotate easily still it can be done if I need to.  There is a small hatch in the upper left corner as a secondary access if there should be a need to get out the underground portions of the fort in a hurry.

The the upper right is a the main observation tower its the most visible portion of the fort and will probably draw lots of fire, there is a secondary command post at ground level in the centre.  To the lower left is another small pill box to guard the beach (though the beach has some nasty surf so an assault that way is probably a bad idea anyway.)

The rear of the island is a cliff or it could be the edge of the map since I think in most cases this will appear on the edge of the table. OK terrain points

Its 6.5 x 4 x 1 inch in area that 26 Cubic inches.

So that would be 4 points on top of the bonus points.

'Mercenary' from AdamC: Flemish Mercenaries

This entry is inspired by Saga.  The Flemish Mercenaries are tough infantry unit that can work with a number of Dark Age armies in Saga (not my beloved Irish but you can't have everything). They fight shoulder to shoulder and while they are slow moving their armour and close ranked formation make them very hard to kill.

I did their shields in yellow and black because those colors are associated with Count of Flanders coat of arms. The Flemish had a reputation a capable soldiers that has carried down through the ages. There have been Flemish units serving with the French, Spanish, and Germans Armies through the ages often in specific national units.

I consider using this but decided it was too specific since I might want to use these as some other unit of infantry.  Also this heraldry dates to the 12th century so it might be a bit Anachronistic in a Dark Age army.

I used the scale armour bodies from Fireforged Games they give them the heavily armoured look I wanted and all but one is armed with a spear since this is probably the dark age weapon best suited to fighting in tight formation. There are 8 figures here so 40 points (plus the bonus)

'Sport' from AdamC: Tourney Knights

I found these two in the clearance/yards sale section of the Hobby Bunker.  They were made by Falcon Miniatures a Company I was not able to find much about them but they were a local Massachusetts company: Falcon Miniatures these are clearly miniatures form the 80s or early 90s but more than that I can't say.

They were fairly rough with a lot of flash that needed to be cleaned up but once that was done they painted up very nicely.

 I kept the livery simple Purple and Red for the Dragon Knight

Yellow and Blue for the Swan Knight.

 I came up with this tourney field it was a pretty simple build.

Its a 6" x 8" area the bar in the middle is about 1" high.

So 20 points for the Figures, 50 points for the bonus round and whatever Curt judges is right for the Tourney field.   If he's especially generous and gives me 5 points I would call this a squirrel point for a tournament set but that's probably not going to happen.

'Reconnaissance' from AdamC: Invisible Adventuring Party

Welcome to my more or less blatant point grab for 50 points.  A crew of 5 invisible adventures, this would be a typical game scenario back in the day. King such and such is worried about a "situation" you guys go check it out.  So the Party would memorize spells or grab potions of Invisibility and off we would got to do some recon on said situation.

The figures are form Bones III and are done in clear resin.  I didn't really like this look so I tried to you a blue ink wash to give them some definition (and so I could say I had "painted" them)

IN some cases it work out nicely like the wizard here who has exactly the sort of look I wanted.

You can see the details fo the figure but it still looks mostly clear.

Other just look... messy I've tried cleaning and redoing these but got the same results (more or less). Any way I present them to you.  At lese the Wizard figure looks nice. I'll take what ever points Curt wants to give for the figures (I would give myself 1 or 0 for the lot) and just take my 50 Bonus points.  Suggestions on how to fix these guys are welcome.

'Monstrous' from AdamC: Corps Caterpillar

This fellow is from the Bones III Graveyard expansion and I felt it would be perfect for the this bonus round. I'm not sure if the minatures has a name (most Reaper miniatures do) but I'm thinking of it as the Corps Caterpillar.  With those teeth it can make corpes if doesn't find nough.

I opted for bright clolors becasue many times catapillars are brightly colored to tell preditors they are poinsons and... of course this is also true of venimous cretures too. 

I plan using this fellow in Frostgrave and for Dragon Rampant.

I would have liked  little more texture on the skin, but its hard to paint that when its not there on the figure.

Its a big nasty baddy that I shall enjoy using in my games. .   Its a 25-28mm scale figure actually bit bigger but with the limited details I don't think it worthy of any more that standard points.

'Childhood' from AdamC: The Girl from Kansas

This young lady is form the The Bones III set it has a old Wizard of Oz Wild West collection.  I felt they would be perfect for the child hood round.  Sadly I was only able to complete Dorothy and Toto. 

I used  blue in to get the dark part of the dress done and I am very pleased with the effect I might have to get more inks.  Toto was done with a grey bases, a black wash, then a lighter grey dry brush.

Clearly with that  sixshooter she's not a quite as innocent as she looks, in fact I hear she killed a woman to get those red shoes. :)  Dorothy is 5 points as a 25mm figure.  Toto maybe 1 point?  With this bonus entry I will push past my 500 point goal.  I'll set a new goal of 750. 

'Music/Musician' from AdamC: Four Guys Fiddling Around

I would like to present my Music bonus entry four 28mm Miniatures from Eureka.

At first glance the costumes appear identical but each has unique details on their coats and waistcoats.

Some like the base fiddle are fairly plain.

Others like this violinist have fancy embellishments. Such as hus red gold and black waist coat.

I should really have done individual photos before basing but time was limited.

I did another rug printout base (you may recall these from last year. I have music stands but couldn't get them done in rime (I forgot about them.) The result is this looks more like a jam session than a concert and that's not a bad thing.

So i should get 20 point for four 25mm figures plus the bonus. Hope you like these.  There is a harpsichordist from the same set but his harpsichord isn't ready.

'Flight' from AdamC: Odin with Hugiin and Muninn

I had something in mind for this round but it hasn't really come out the way I liked it so I'm calling an audible and using another miniature that might fit the theme.

This is Odin form Footsore Miniatures a bonus mini they threw in with all orders over a certain amount in December (extended to January if you like him).

Odin himself can fly with the help of an 8 legged horse but that's obviously not here. His Ravens "Hugiin and Muninn" are and they are  my connection to the theme.  These Ravens (or all Ravens) were said to fly over the earth bring back tidings of what passes in the mortal realm to Odin.

I went with a reddish coat in part because I saw this article about Santa and Odin being the same guy so the color seemed seasonally appropriate but still with in the reach of period dyes (and I like the color) I gave him a purple hood since to indicate this is a someone special (if the eye patch and two pet ravens don't give it away).  I'll probably use this figure as a War Band leader for a Viking force though he would make a great Frostgrave wizard too.