The seventh round was the quarter finals, featuring just the top 8 on the leaderboard after round 6. I was chuffed to be one of the quarterfinalists. This round had a compulsory Historical theme,

“Round 7 – Explorers, settlers and pioneers.
A team comprising a party of historical explorers, settlers or pioneers.  From Conquistadors to the scramble for Africa, the far-flung outposts of the Roman, British or other Empire.  Paint a team of at least 5 that may include figures, beasts of burden or means of transport.

Historical entries only for this compulsory theme quarter-final round.”

 

This was a bit of a problem for me, as I do not really have any historical miniatures to speak of, and certainly nothing fitting the theme. Luckily, I had ordered in some minis that would work (you know, just in case) right before the league started. I did not expect to get this far, but I am a better safe than sorry kinda guy. And I love buying miniatures. These were different and fun, and I was looking forward to painting them anyhow.

I called this team “What did we drink last night?”

As I do not have a background in historical miniatures, I was a bit apprehensive going into this. I would not like to offend any history buffs with a historically inaccurate team with e.g. the wrong uniform colour or inappropriate equipment, people from different places or times in the same team, stuff that leaps out to the knowledgable by just being wrong and that I am unaware of. I do not know where the bar is set for this sort of thing, or if this even is an issue at all, if you catch my drift.

So I opted for the humourous approach instead, hoping such things might not be too noticable by making a scene without any specifics at all. Judging by the comments, many people loved it!

 

   

Figures are from NSA4001 – Hunters and Explorers.

The great white hunter miniatures are IRL supposed to represent (description from the North Star figures webshop )

“Reginald ‘Reggie’ Bunter, one of the most unlikely and ill-prepared explorers to enter the Dark Continent. Disappeared in the Congo, his surviving porter reported he last saw him surrounded by cries from the jungle, ‘Niam Niam’.

Freddie Seelow, famed Elephant hunter and friend to Africans. His favoured garb when in the bush was just his shirt and a pair of soft shoes, with his treasured and trusty Elephant gun. Unhindered with pants, Freddie could race after his wounded prey through the bush for miles to administer the final shot.
(You could also use Freddie as an explorer defending his camp at night, dressed in his night-shirt after leaping straight out of bed.)”

 

 

        

and NSA4003 – Native Porters. Both in metal by North Star Military Figures. I based them on 3D printed 25mm round lipped bases.

 

   

The Elephant is a plastic toy by Sleich, repainted and based by me.

 

This marked the end of my participation in the league, as I did not go forward to the semifinals. …and a good thing it was, because my tendonitis set in something fierce in both arms shortly after. I never managed to finish the next team I started work on. I will show if off here when I do finish it.

 

To sum up, I enjoyed participating in the league, and have painted many miniatures for this that I otherwise might not have even started work on for a very long time, if ever. I placed much higher on the leaderboard than I thought would be possible, and even got into the quarterfinals! Many comments praised my painting and my ideas, which certainly is a boost to my painting confidence.

I am looking forward to next years league, and will try to do better next time, and maybe even plan what to paint some time in advance and not do the one team – one week approach, which in truth was a bit stressful as real life gnawed at my available time and I barely just made the deadline more than once.

Now, one thing I will definately be looking into before next years’ league, is background scenery. I do not really have anything consistent enough to speak of (that is not packed away somewhere inaccessible and probably worse for wear). Many of the other participants made good use of scenery to set a scene and tell a story with their wonderful entries, and all the other quarter finalists did so. Maybe, if I had done the same, I might have scored higher? I felt the lack of scenery strongly here and even though I try to tell a story just by the title and placement of the minis it was not enough. Of course, my competitor’s entry was truly brilliant, so it might not have helped all that much anyhow.

 

 

This was painted in June.

 

The Tally so far:

Finished from the Bobby Box: 99  / 126   (+10 / 13 casualties, small animals etc)

Just 27 left to do! (plus some small bits like casualties and the half skeleton . I think I might have counted those wrong, as I seem to have 4 of those left, not three)

Finished from the stash: 117

Finished minis in total this year: 216 / 365 (target one for each day on average)

 

 

January: 59

February: 24

March: 62

April: 34

May: 25

June: 12