Thursday 21 February 2013

RP No 123 Crusader - El Cid, Spanish archers


 Since I'm getting a massive drubbing at the hands of the 25mm Monster Machine painters over at Curt's Analogue Painting Challenge, I thought I better drop the 15mm for a while and get a little 25mm figures painted myself, just to try and catch up a little. I opened my unloved lead draw and out popped, these 16 Spanish archers by Crusader. Now these have been in the unloved forgotten about lead draw for most probably 10 years, (sad I know). But this is one of the great thing about the challenge, for me anyway. Not only does my painting rate go up but I also get some old stuff finally finished. These will be staying in my collection of El Cid figures and one day we may even get a game with them??? If I remember rightly we've only played one game, that was a looooong time ago using WAB rules. Not sure what I'd use now though?? Any suggestions?
These earned me 80 points in the Challenge,  I did go up to 5th after posting these but I'm currently in 7th, but at least I've finally broken the 1000 point barrier.........at last!!!







52 comments:

  1. They look good! Glad you found them. After ten years, I'm sure those figures had lost all hope...

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  2. Look great Ray! Maybe Saga or Hail Caesar?

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    1. I've got Saga, just need to read the bloody thing!

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  3. This may be a daft suggestion, but.. :D WAB2's still a pretty decent system, and there's usually a couple of tournaments a year where you can play El Cid era Spanish. (Quite possible we'll be hosting one.)

    Nice looking figures, too :D

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  4. These look nice and the backdrop is spiffing.

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  5. Good find, gooder paint job!

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  6. These are really killer! Admittedly I have a bias toward things medieval, but even with that aside, they're great!

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    1. I've got stacks more of the buggers unpainted......

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  7. I'm glad to see they received the proper TLC from you - they look great and the poses are dynamic and purposeful. Love the backdrop too. Best, Dean

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  8. Great job Ray, love the palette you've used on these, very Mediterranean.

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    1. Yep, I deliberately chose, dull sun bleached colours.

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  9. Good army! I like the figures and your painting work! Bravo!

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  10. Hi Ray,
    A wise moe to give your 15mm figs The Spanish Archer for a bit (el Bow) to get some more points on the board! ;0)

    Nice figures by the way!!!

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    1. Dropping the 15mm pints in the challenge has killed me this year, at least its making me get some of the old lead finally finished.

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  11. Now you have a castle? I love it :-)

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  12. Great work Ray. Very nie visuals wit the castle backdrop, well done.

    As for a game, well WAB is still out there as a game though not supported anymore by Warhammer Historical (now defunct).

    Depending on the number of models in your army, I'd go with Hail Caesar if you have plenty for a big game, or maybe Impetus (that I havent played) for a smaller one, as its seems popular at the moment.

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    1. I've not played either game, I think Posties got Hail Caesar, I'll have to have a read of them.

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  13. Great bunch Ray and a very nice Dark Ages palette! When you pulled them out, did they sing Tom Petty's "The Waiting" or perhaps the Pretenders "The Wait?"

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    1. I think it was more like Buddy Holly's Crying, waiting, hoping!

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  14. great use of color! They look fantastic!

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  15. I like these figures Ray. And the different colours you used on the tunics=excellent. You did set yourself a very high goal. I did notice that Fran has achieved and exceeded his goal (not that I'm rubbing it in, but yeah, I kind of am).

    Hey, Lord Ray is done and he's photographed. He is a lovely figure and I think you will be pleased with how he looks. I don't know when you boys will be in so I don't know when to post. Either Saturday or Monday is good for me. Let me know.

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    1. My original goal was 2000, but Curt wouldn't let me go so low and put at 3k!! Looking forward to the Lord Ray figure, hope he hasn't got brown trousers????
      We're on day until Monday, but we're off on Sunday to go to the show. So either day should be fine.

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    2. I think I'll go with Monday then. The figure of Lord Ray Himself isn't at all insulting. It's a really nice sculpt and painted meticulously. Now the baby Ray figure-that one just might have poopy nappies.

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  16. Great job Ray. Well chosen colours.

    John

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  17. They look very nice Ray! I recommend Impetus which just released a new supplement covering the period and the lists look good! Hail Caesar is another very nice option.

    Christopher

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  18. They look tough. Congrats on beating the 1000 points! And keeping your place is better than going down isn't it?

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  19. Looking good Ray !!!

    Best regards Michael

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  20. Great looking Spanish archers Ray. I reckon some of them are Crusader rather than GB.

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    1. They're all Crusader, just shows how long the buggers have been in the draw!! All amended now Cheers Cyrus!

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  21. They did actually jump out the draw begging to be painted!

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  22. They came up real nice with your painting Ray, well done.

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  23. They look great, I doubt i'd be able to find them after ten years, I have some HLBS co SAS somewhere abouts.....

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  24. Nice painting Ray, the Crusader range produces some nice El Cid figures. Got plenty in my collection.

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  25. Great looking archers, I really like them!
    Phil.

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  26. Lovely subdued paintjob. Realy like the basework, adds alot the overall look of the figures.

    regards,
    Matt

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  27. Great!!
    Finally you´ve seen the light and gone ever more deeply into medievals :-D.more my son!!!!

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  28. Nice one Ray, I nearly missed this post!!! Which would have been a shame as I really like them.

    Take care see you Sunday.

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  29. Good to see you painting 28mm figures and very nicely done.
    Pat.

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  30. Really nice figures, Ray. You need to paint a lot of them for The Challenge!

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  31. Grand looking archers Ray. Nice!

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  32. Looking lovely! I like the muted tones... muted but not earthy like you usually see! Good one!

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  33. They are very nice.
    Must get me some.
    And like several others in this thread I'm in the "just play WAB" camp. It's still my go to for mid sized gaming (i.e. bigger than skirmishing, not big enough to need Hail Caesar) and the El Cid supplement is a thing of beauty.
    That said I'm playing a large Hail Cid game at the end of the month at the Cannon show in Retford.
    Tom

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