Friday, April 17, 2020

From Millsy: Even More Italian Condotierri

Hi All,

As promised I've finished my my first batch of Italian Condotierri. Of the four units I have planned these are the two heavier armoured "first rankers" with the remaining two units to be on less heavily armoured horses. All Perry Miniatures kit this time with a couple of metal commanders in the centre to represent attached generals.





I've yet to purchase banners for these so the look a little less flashy than they will in future but there is still plenty of colour as they stand.





The second batch along with my commander are already undercoated and ready. When those are complete that will finish the initial push for the army and I can move onto the Burgundian Ordonnance I have planned as opposition.

Cheers,
Millsy

From DaveD . Mine rollers and utility poles 10 pts

I am still clearing out odds and sods that didn’t get through challenge X . So here are 3 Aunt Jemima mine rollers and 9 French style utility poles for a bit of table dressing








215 points so far 







From ClarenceH: The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders WiP

Ok, I've finally made some progress with my Sudan project toward actually getting models on the table!


Almost one section (half a unit in The Sword and the Flame) of 1st Company, A Platoon. These Sons of Mars at led by the very keen Lieutenant Henry Hatwaver and kept on the hop by the relentless Sergeant Charger. These are 28mm Perry Miniatures (a beautiful range and one of the reasons I started the project in the first place) painted with Games Workshop paints - I'll have a full list of colors on my blog at some point if anyone wants the recipes.

These have taken slightly longer than they should have to get on because I created extra work for myself. Originally I was planning on painting the Black Watch rather than Cameron's and my initial figure order was for those. The main difference between the two sculpts was the pattern of five tassels on the Black Watch sporran verse two on the Queen's Own. Two days after placing the order, I stumbled on the orbat from Kosha, fell in love with the idea of setting my campaign there, made the change, and placed a second order.

But I already had forty Black Watch on the way.


Sigh.. well, eventually I DO want a whole company of the kilted gentlemen and the charging figures do look splendid (there are no charging two-tassel sculpts.. tsk, tsk). So I've been trimming away the detail from sporrans and sculpting a pair of tassels in their place. They've gotten better with each attempt and the paint hides some of the poor work, but I think they'll do nicely.

I've decided to add a musician (a piper in the case of the Highlanders) to each platoon. There were optional rules for these in TSATF Scenario folder that was published in 2000. Basically the presence of a musician adds +1 to any rolls to rally shaken figures. There are rules for standard bearers as well, though only one per company is allowed. A standard bearer adds +1 to close combat rolls for the unit to which he is attached. Both types of figures are treated as 'special characters' and may be wounded or killed on a face card like other officers.

I'm hoping to have the whole 20-model unit finished by NEXT weekend and I'll try to set up some pics on terrain.

From TamsinP: 28mm Wars of the Roses Archers


Following on from the men at arms I posted last week, this week I am adding the archers. In Art de la Guerre you can have up to eight bases of "retinue" longbowmen and four bases of "Northern Border/Militia" longbowmen. Of course, despite the fact that it is highly unlikely that I will ever be able to field twelve bases in one army, I had to paint enough for all twelve bases.

The figures are all Perry plastics.


Retinue Archers:










I should point out that I'm not basing the livery on any particular historical retinues...



Northern border/Militia Archers:






I think seventy-two 28mm foot figures painted and based in just over a week isn't too bad going.

Next up will be the billmen.


28mm Iain W Napoleonic French dragoons ( 120 points)

These are 12 Perry plastic French dragoons which have taken a long time to complete.  I've just called them done ,they're okay but I'm going to have to adjust my technique a bit to get a nicer finish on future napoleonic cavalry, what I  normally do worked on the line infantry but doesn't quite for cavalry.
They're in the 1812 onwards uniform but I'll be using them for the 1809 campaign as no one else was making plastic French dragoons for the earlier period and the overall silhouette says French dragoons to me!
No flag until after lockdown.  I wasn't going to do flags for the light cavalry, having looked at French cavalry on Chasseur's splendid blog I will follow his example and not give flags to any of the cavalry units in the future, it will only be this unit that has them!
I'll probably also use them against nephew 1s Brits in Spain and nephew 2s Russians, hes painted his Russians and is breathing down my neck so there should be more Napoleonic French, cavalry and infantry down the line.




So another 120 points to add to my total, bringing me to 295. More Napoleonic troops in the que but they will be a while, probably more Dux Bellorum up next!
All the best Iain 

From DaveD - 15mm Beach assault 110 Pts

I have finished up the last two platoon (for now) of my US army Utah Beach assault force (4th Div , 8th Regt).








JTinQT Week Three - Italian Wars Characters

Hi All,

Not much again for week three - slight digression from my Swiss pike project but some Italian Wars Characters. First up is an Imperial herald from Warlord Games. Basically copied the colours from the old Osprey Landsknecht book illustration  - looks like the model style was from there to.The second picture is him placed in my card model town square with another character I did for this years challenge.



Next is from the same Warlord pack and a priest I have painted as Cardinal Schiner, specifically so he can lead my Swis armies based for the Battle of Marignano 1515. Made a little change to convert the goblet to a bible - not sure why now. Perhaps thought the original figure looked too "Catholic"? However the final figure is painted as a Papal Cardinal ... anyway done now. In the battle the sources say he was was accompanied by a monk bearing a cross so will have to look out for a suitable figure.




Last up are another two casualty disorder markers for my Swiss army when I finally get the third pike block done .... just building the suspense for you all.



Cheers Jez

From NoelW: Napoleonics, Zulu war and some buildings


For my third quarantine post I decided to concentrate on buildings more than figures, though there’s a few figures here, too.

Firstly, a Sarissa bandstand. This is a lovely model and paints up nicely. It will take pride of place in my Walmington on Sea setup although, sadly, there’s no band to play there. Probably their instruments have been melted down to make Spitfires.




Next one of the Perry/Renedra plastic American farmsteads. This is likely to be used in several different contexts, so I’ve not based it or adorned it with fences, barrels etc (even though the kit contains a few of these which I'll probably use for scatter terrain, including a chair for the front porch.) I’ll count it against my AWI target, though it will certainly appear on ACW battlefields and in a small recently settled Western town, as yet unnamed, but which is gradually growing as new settlers drift in. I guess it might work in other colonial contexts, too. (Was Manifest Destiny colonialism? Discuss)




Third in this offering are four adobe buildings. These are my first stab at a collection my son bought from a Bring and Buy ten or more years ago, with the plan of using them for Somalia (to game Black Hawk Down). Unfortunately, the game never took place, as his interest in figure gaming was usurped by board and online games (I know! How could this happen?) so I’m intending to use them in the Sudan (they’ll become Khartoum rather than Mogadishu) and probably Egypt and Afghanistan, too.




A detailed inspection of the models suggests they’re actually intended for a context something like ancient Troy, as there’s a crescent shield hanging on one wall, and the pottery definitely is amphora-esque. I’ve not been able to discover their manufacturer, however. Possibly Grand Manner (they’re big heavy resin buildings, very much like those they produce, but not in their catalogue as far as I can see), possibly Ainsty, possibly Village Green. But probably not any of these.

As you can see, they’re painted simply, with a sprayed base and then “detailed” (I use that word incorrectly) with contrast paints and washes. The overall effect is pleasing enough and, as roofs and upper floors come apart, I can see the potential for a really big skirmish (is that an oxymoron?) game when I’ve managed to finish the lot.

Now, for those of you who’ve been patient enough to read this far, here are a few figures. They're from two projects started long ago, but still ticking over. Two of my favourites, in fact. I mentioned in my previous post Islandwana and the Zulu War more generally. So, speaking of generals, here’s Lord Chelmsford himself, arrogantly on his way to Ulundi whilst his army is savaged behind him.




And here’s one of his subcommanders, Colonel Charles Pearson, who led number 1 column in the invasion of Zululand. He’s depicted here being surprised by news of Islandwana. Or perhaps he’s just arguing with a subordinate about the exact location of the Zulus.




Pearson and Chelmsford come from the Perrys’ Victoria’s Little Wars range, whilst the officer Pearson is arguing with is from their plastic British Infantry Zulu Wars set. I do love the Perrys’ plastics. They’re the nearest thing to the youthful thrill of discovering a new Airfix boxed set.

Finally, three long-languishing elements of my British-against-the-French-in-Egypt project. Here’s Major General John Moore and companion, apparently having a discussion not unlike that conducted by Pearson. This is the John Moore of Corunna fame, not the owner of the Littlewoods chain of shops, the man behind Liverpool’s university of that name (that’s actually, John Moores, but who’s counting?) In 1801 in Egypt he was one of the most trusted of Abercromby’s subordinates.




Here’s one of his a colonels, of an indeterminate regiment with black facings (I’ve not painted one yet).




And finally, de Rolls’ regiment. This was composed of Swiss and Germans in British Service. As with several of the foreign regiments in British service, it’s hard to find the correct flags. The late Terry Wise’s Osprey on Napoleonic Flags contains a flag of 1805 for De Rolls, but it carries "Egypt" and the sphinx as battle honours. It’s also yellow, though the regiments’ facings are sky blue. Lacking any other info, removing the honours from the Wise flag seems the best option.




I award myself the imaginary points of 20 for all the buildings, 25 for the Zulu wars commanders, and 90 for the British generals and regiment.

Project
New Task
‘Points’
Old Task
‘Points’
Agincourt




AWI
Farmstead
3


Black Seas (1/700th)




British in Egypt: 1801


Generals
de Rolls’ regiment
30
60
Cape Wars
12 infantry
60


Carthaginians




Crusades
Command group
20


ECW




French in Egypt: 1801




Frostgrave/fantasy
3 Treemen
24
Frankie
5
Italian Wars




Lord of the Rings




Minden (15mm)




Ottoman




Peninsular War


12 Spanish
60
Republican Romans




Sikh/Afghan Wars




1860s British IF




1880s, the Sudan
Buildings
15


Walmington/Sealion


3 Civvies
6 zombies
Bandstand
15
30
2
Waterloo




WW2 Desert




Zulu War
NNI
30
Pearson and Chelmsford
25
TOTAL

152

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