'Characters/Scene from' Curt: Gabriel Feraud & Armand d'Huber, Augsburg 1801

A favourite movie in our household is Ridley Scott's debut film 'The Duellists', which was based on a Joseph Conrad short story and starred Kieth Carradine and Harvey Keitel. 

To those who've not had the pleasure of seeing the film, it charts the quarrel and careers of two French cavalry officers, Gabriel Feraud and Armand d'Huber, serving in Napoleon's Grande Armee. The two men fight a long succession of duels that span almost two decades, ending in 1816 with the return of the Bourbon monarchy. 'The Duellists' is beautifully filmed, elegantly written and well acted - a real treat to any historical movie buff. We love the film so much that during a past trip to France, Sarah and I purposefully detoured to stay in beautiful Sarlat-la-Canéda, to visit many of the locations which were used in the film (along with its great food and wine!).

 

Keith Carradin (d'Hubert), Harvey Keitel (Feraud) and film director Ridley Scott on set in Sarlat, France.

The film (and Conrad's short story) are actually based on true events which are more incredible than its adaptations. The characters of d'Hubert and Feraud's were actually Dupont and Fournier-Sarlovèze, whom Conrad disguised slightly, but otherwise the overall story follows a sketch of actual events.

François Fournier-Sarlovèze the true inspiration of Keitel's 'Feraud'

 In 'The Encyclopedia of the Sword', Nick Evangelista wrote:

As a young officer in Napoleon's Army, Dupont was ordered to deliver a disagreeable message to a fellow officer, Fournier, a rabid duellist. Fournier, taking out his subsequent rage on the messenger, challenged Dupont to a duel. This sparked a succession of encounters, waged with sword and pistol, that spanned decades. The contest was eventually resolved when Dupont was able to overcome Fournier in a pistol duel, forcing him to promise never to bother him again.

They fought their first duel in 1794 from which Fournier demanded a rematch. This rematch resulted in at least another 30 duels over the next 19 years, in which the two officers fought mounted, on foot, with swords, rapiers and sabres.

This 28mm set is from Eureka Miniatures. I've painted them in the colours of the d'Huber's 3rd Hussars and Feraud's 7th. For those who are familiar with the film we can place the figures in the 1801 Augsburg duel (fought in a vaulted cellar) due to the men's junior rank, style of hair (their braided cadenettes are awesome) and the comportment of their uniforms.

Thank you for visiting our last theme round. Please remember to vote for your favourite entries of the round - you can vote for however many strike your fancy. The results of the voting will be announced next Sunday.

Have a great week!

'West' from Curt: 'Herbert West - Reanimator'

Sorry folks, this one is a bit of a cheap shot. 

I didn't think I'd have anything for this round, but inspiration hit me late last night and I cracked this one off before I toodled off for bed.

Between October 1921 and June 1922 H.P. Lovecraft wrote 'Herbert West - Reanimator' as a serialized short story for a New England penny pulp magazine 'Home Brew'. 

It is pretty much acknowledged as Lovecraft's weakest work. He himself hated writing it, but could not turn down the $5 per installment offered by the publisher. 

Nonetheless, 'Reanimator' is notable for being one of the first depictions of zombies, and it has many interesting references to Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', which Lovecraft much admired.

Notwithstanding that the original short story is pretty much crap, it was made into a 1985 film titled 'Re-Animator', starring Bruce Abbott. It retains cult status ('ahem excuse the geek double entendre) amongst Lovecraft dorks like me.

Recently, Peter Rawlik wrote an excellent retelling of Lovecraft's story, taken from the perspective of a rival researcher. If you are a fan of the Cthulhu oeuvre I very much recommend it.

The figure here is from the Strange Aeons' line from Uncle Mike. The figure is cast resin and the detail is a bit soft in places, but it remains suitably disturbing and macabre. I sliced down the base and made up a checked floor for that wonderful Evil Institutional look.

Thanks for looking through the gallery everyone! Please remember to vote for your favourite entries and check back next Saturday to see a recap on the results.

'Home' from Curt: The Home of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru

I was flipping through a book on famous movie sets the other day and came across a section on the Tunisian film location for Luke Skywalker's home on Tatooine. I immediately felt nostalgic on seeing the iconic domed habitat, the moisture vapourators and Luke's battered landspeeder. So I thought I'd create a small vignette depicting the home of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, seen during quieter times, before galactic events changed everything.

I found these models as 3D files on Thingiverse and adapted them to my purposes. They were originally much larger designs but I wanted something compact, so I scaled them down to something approximating a 10mm scale. 

Luke's landspeeder has been fiddled with a bit to make it thinner, elongated and somewhat stylized. I tried to keep to the salmon coloured paint scheme seen in the film.  

Sarah asked whether I was going to put in Luke or perhaps 3PO and R2D2, but I decided not to. To be honest I've always liked set-piece scenes where the characters are not seen. Sometimes the absence of things says more than having them there. It gives the impression that something is happening out of sight, and so your mind naturally starts to question and provide a plausible narrative. Maybe Luke has just come home from checking on the farm's distant moisture condensers? Or maybe he's just said farewell to his friend Biggs and is now home for supper, trying to convince his aunt and uncle to let him join the academy. For me, the absence of characters makes the scene more compelling and interesting.  

 
This entry is also my thank you gift to DaveB for his hard work being our Thursday Minion this year. Dave has always been a great supporter of everybodys' work in the Challenge (and I mean everyone) and I can't tell you how much it's appreciated. I know Dave is an ardent Star Wars fan, so I thought he'd appreciate this token of my appreciation. Thank you very much Dave!

Okay, this is the end of the 'Home' gallery. Please remember to take the time to vote for all your favourite submissions.

Thanks!

'East' from Curt: Viet Mihn, 1954

Last one Folks! 

For my 'East' submission I've returned to a project I started a few years ago: the French war in Indochina. 

From 1945 to 1954 the French fought a bitter struggle to regain control of their colonial possessions in Indochina. During the struggle, the French and their allies lost over 134,000 in dead or missing in battles across Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This sacrifice was for nought as the Vietnamese people had tasted independence and would not be assuaged from it. 

The climatic battle of the period was fought in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, a small mountain valley hamlet, where a large, well-equiped French force was encircled and destroyed by the Viet Mihn. The Vietnamese victory shocked the world and allowed Ho Chi Mihn to negotiate from a position of strength at the Geneva Conference later that year. 

Unfortunately, even though the French were compelled to withdraw from the region, their ally, the United States, refused to allow the Vietnamese their self-determination. American interference escalated to police action and then to undeclared war, plunging Vietnam into another 10 years of conflict which cost billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives. In the end, America withdrew, the Vietnam was united and the Vietnamese achieved what they had set out to do: gain their independence from foreign control.

These 28mm figures were sculpted by Paul Hicks and are excellent models. They are armed in a variety of weapons, reflecting the ad hoc supply structure of the Viet Mihn at that time. Some are armed with Mosin Nagant rifles while others have variants of PPSh and PPS submachine guns

The different shaped bases denote, officers/NCOs, infantrymen and specialists. I do this so we can spot them easier on the tabletop.

This range is available from FNG Miniatures and Empress Miniatures.

Flag from Empress.


Thanks everyone for touring the gallery. Please don't forget to take some time to vote for your favourite entries. The results of the voting will be announced next Sunday.

 

'Armour' from Curt: Francis I at Pavia, 1524

I've returned to the Italian Wars with a vignette of Francis I of France overseeing the investment of Pavia, October 1524. 

Francis is seen here with his helmet under his arm, discussing the proposed dispositions of the French siege with one of his advisors, Montmorency, Marshal of France. The two men have recently arrived in front of the city and have placed a map of Pavia on a makeshift table made from a wagon wheel placed on a tree stump. A pair of Francis' hunting dogs, alaunts (a breed now sadly extinct), are at his side.  His banner-bearer stands at the rear, holding the Royal Standard. Royal attendants have brought out a stool with a refreshment of wine in pewter goblets.

Francis' figure is roughly based on a oil on wood painting from an unknown artist done within a few years of the battle. He is depicted wearing gold armour with a red surcoat emblazoned with a cross. 

I kept the red surcoat but instead painted him in his tournament armour which is detailed with representations of fleur de lis on the knees, elbows and helmet. The armour can be seen today at musée de l’Armée, Les Invalides. 

The figures of Francis and the knights are from the very talented Oliver James at Steel Fist Miniatures.  

The two alaunts were sculpted by Steve May as a small commission to Simon over at le Jay Emprins, who kindly provided me a set (Thanks Simon!).

Alaunts at the kill of a wild boar from The Grimami Breviary 1490

The tree stump, wagon wheel, stool, wine bottle and goblets I printed off my 3D printer (I LOVE that thing).

Francis' brave banner is from Pete's Flags.

As a historical proscript, the French siege of Pavia went on too long and a Imperialist relief force was dispatched to attempt to lift the siege. In a bold night attack, the Spanish Imperial army smashed Francis' forces on 24th February 1525. As the ultimate disgrace, Francis himself was  captured and sent to Spain as a prisoner. 

Thanks for visiting the gallery everyone! Please take time to cast your votes for your favourites.

'Choice of the Challenge' from Curt - Body of Work

'Hot' from Curt - 'Bring up the Guns. The English are Landing.'

Egypt, March 8, 1801.  

General Friant, commanding approximately 2000 French along with 10 guns, obstructed the British amphibious landing at Abukir, near the Nile Delta, causing serious casualties amongst the Redcoats assembling on the beach.

Under the hot Mediterranean sun, enduring a fierce bombardment, the British managed to send men forward with the bayonet and force the French away from the heights commanding the landing site. This campaign ultimately led to the French surrender at Alexandria on September 2nd and their ejection from Egypt. 

This small 28mm vignette is from Brigade Games. The palm tree is home-made: wire wrapped with medical gauze, painted and then topped with hot-glued artificial leaves (thanks for the recipe for this Brian!).

The final images show some mounted troopers from the French Dromedary Corps which I submitted for last year's Challenge. The obelisks are from Scotia Grendel the desert mat from Barrage Miniatures.