Last orders from High Command - 10th Painting Challenge Entry

The latest Fortnight Theme Bonus Round of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge was entitled "Favourite Characters" Many participants not only submitted stunningly awesome painted figures but also told interesting stories about why it's their favourite character. The poll is still open so feel free to pop over and nominate your most favourites of all these fabulous entries.

Finding a suitable set of figures for this themed bonus round proofed to be quite a challenge for me. I simply had no idea what figures to use as 'character' is quite open to interpretation.

Inspired by some wonderful entries using old/ older Citadel figures I initially wanted to go for the infamous"Schaeffer's last Chancers" from said company. After a quick search I found out they were already painted (unfortunately not to my standard nowadays) and I had run out of Turpentine. So I was in desperate need of an other idea. So it was already Wednesday evening when Inspiration finally struck and I found these three superb figures in my lead pile.

 So you may ask what kind of character do they represent? To me there are two interpretations of the scene. First they're intended to represent the HQ for my German Great War army and therefore represent a kind of character figures of their own. And secondly I really like the effort Aly Morrison has put into these figures to give them character. The Ulan lieutenant in the back therefore is my favorite miniature of the whole range. His posture and gesture holding helmet and cigarette to me really reflects the spirit of the aristocratic Prussian officer corps.

With my German Army I decided to put a little more effort into the basing for the first time. As I previously didn't think the basing to be so important I was really surprised how much a well composed basing improves the overall look of the figures. Therefore I opted to recreate a little story with my command stand. I call this little vignette "Last orders from High Command" and imagine it to represent a despatch runner on the eve of "Operation Michael" delivering the latest orders to the frontline officers before the offensive commences . On the crates in the background you can see a map of the own and the enemy trenches as well as hand grenades already prepped for action. While photographing I discovered my cam having serious difficulties with black backgrounds.For the first time I intended to use a black cloth as background having seen the results some of you achieved.

Thanks for viewing and I hope you enjoyed!