AHPC VIII Reflections - Part 2: the Pics

I've been all at sea lately (quite literally) but I've finally gotten to photographing my AHPC VIII totality.  Like many I suspect, it seems more when under the brush than when tallied, but regardless it is a satisfying chunk of hobby happiness.

 As you can see I embraced the new terrain category, finishing off a 15mm Russian village, a 6mm ECW castle and a 28mm bridge.  I got a good portion of my new DAK Army finished and managed to complete entries for all bonus rounds.  I started with a 500 point goal, extended it to 600 and finished up with 679pts - which I was very happy with noting that I was travelling for about 4 weeks of the challenge.

Last year I was thrilled to get a Bonus Round Runner Up spot - this year I managed to jag two!  The first was this really wonderfully sculpted One Man Dirigible which I had sitting around for about 4 years and which I entered for the Flight Round

My Second Runner Up placement was for my FIW Royal Artillery Piece in the BFG Round.  I really enjoyed building this small vignette for the FIW Army I built last year during AHPC VII.

Perhaps my favourite piece to work on this challenge was my Friekorps PanzerAuto (Armoured Car), which I did in January:

The Challenge was, once again, a tonne of fun for a LOT of fun amongst wonderfully productive and encouraging hobbyists. 
I hope to be back for AHPC IX!

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com.au/2018/04/paul-ogs-ahpc-viii-wrap-up.html

SAGA Redux

Its been some time since I opened my Dark Ages collection but the new edition of SAGA has piqued some interest at the club. Sufficiently so for me to get out my Irish Warband and finished them off.  They hit the table at Club night last week - I was frankly overwhelmed by trying to remember the game, understand the new game, and try to use a new warband.  I was also against my old Nemesis Alan who masterfully carved me into small parcels with his Scots without loosing a SAGA dice worth of casualties in return!

Alan's beautifully painted Scots

Alan's beautifully painted Scots repel yet another charge by the Irish!

Then on Good Friday, Slowpainter John treated us to a SAGA Bash at his place where 8 of us pushed lead around and got into the new rules with a "learn together" type approach.  There are lots of reviews on the net but suffice to say that the system is now more granular and I think has added tactical depth without significant complication.  Good stuff.

Pagan Russ arrayed for Battle 

Mounted Hearthguard secure the left flank of Izzie's Welsh battle line

Marty's Anglo-Danes and Aled's Anglo-Saxons clash

Alan's Russ Warlord seeks out a worthy opponent on the field of battle

I played my Irish again, this time against Aled who was using Alan's gorgeous Pagan Russ for the first time and took the mercenary Steppe Horseman too.  With some coaching assistance from the Dux I managed to pull off a win with my Warhounds being best on ground after they mauled the Steppe Nomans and then dragged down the Russ Warlord (reminiscent of Thulsa Doom's village attack in the opening scene of the original Conan the Barbarian!)

The Puppies in action, harrying and mauling the Horse Archers from the Steppe 

The dogs of war were indeed slipped - the enemy warlord was tasty!

I'll post up some pics of my Irish separately.