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[Image] A unit of Empire handgunners for "Warmaster"
I was away last week, so could not get very much painting done for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I did get home in time over the weekend to crank out one more unit for my Warmaster Empire forces.  This is a unit of handgunners, very useful "missile" troops in the game for the Empire player in the Warmaster game.  Their shooting is harder to stop, and any wounds you can stick to the charging units of your enemy will really come in handy.

[Image] Astonishing variety and character in these small sculpts - incredible stuff. The colours are really loud as before, and they are from the province of Hochland, red and green.  Once again I went with brighter colours to really make them "pop" (I hope).  And although they are of course imaginary, these troops are clearly inspired by the forces of Renaissance Europe, and I believe some rather bright colours were often employed in that era.  So the province of Hochland may have to deal with dark, brooding forests and the scary Middle Mountains, but dammit, their contingent in the army will look bright and fun when they march forth!

[Image] GW's Warmaster figures are a joy to paint, these were no exception. In an ideal world I would include several of these units in my Empire force, as the stopping power of the handgunners is very useful, particularly when confronting cheese-bag overpowered forces such as those marshaled in the name of Chaos (*cough* Chaos Knights *cough*).  The Warmaster game, however, is long-cancelled, and the figures are found only in online aftermarkets.  Handgunners in particular figures seldom appear on Ebay, so this unit will remain a little lonely for now, although fellow Challengers have suggested several alternate sources for 10mm troops which might be useful, so I will check those out.

[Image] The yellow feathers...maybe too yellow? Oh well.
Once again I must rave at just how awesome these sculpts are from GW.  Just frigging brilliant, a true joy to paint.  Man, I can't wait to get a game in again with this stuff...haven't played Warmaster in like eight years or something...

[Image] The handgunners take their place in the ranks...not to worry gents, I'm sure those Knights behind you will hold off and not trample you or anything like that. Of course I have to include the obligatory progress shot of the overall force, which has grown from a neglected little smattering to a healthy-sized, full force ready for a game! I'm fortunate enough to have a few more units to add (included some nice recent Ebay scores, even if I can't find many handgunners) but I think, for now, this will bring my recent Warmaster painting run to an end, although with my butterfly attention span, who knows what next week might bring?



[Image] The Empire forces for Warmaster! They even have  house to defend now! I wonder if Byron could be convinced to 3D print more of that village stuff...
I'll conclude with a photo from our visit to California last week.  We visited the Palm Springs area, and while much of the trip was taken up with important activities like relaxing by a pool, sipping drinks and shopping, we also went hiking in Joshua Tree National Park, home to a surreal and mesmerizing landscape.  What an amazing place...can't wait to visit again next year.


[Image] The Barker Dam at Joshua Tree National Park in the USA...there had been some rain two weeks prior, so there was water behind the dam...it was a peaceful and beautiful place to visit, and a lovely hike...
There 24 castings 10mm in size for this submission, so this should get me 24 points.  Trudging toward the goal of 1000 - still a ways to go, but the goal is in sight. Stay tuned for more next week (I hope).  It's another "theme round" weekend and those can be a little dodgy for me...

Be sure to check out the ongoing excellent entries at the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, including more stuff from Byron, who is apparently running a painting factory...