Painting update.

I decided a couple of weeks ago that for our game at Carronade in May,we needed more Moorish Black Guard,to make a bigger impact,so I ordered some figures from Warrior Miniatures of Glasgow.They duly arrived in double quick time,and I set about painting them in double quick time!!-As they were all going to be black,painting was very simple(even by my standards!) and very fast-it has taken me two weeks to paint all of them,plus some very nice casualties and stretcher bearers from Irregular Miniatures,which Paul got me at Vapnartak.

This is the lot!-64 infantry,8 cavalry,8 archers and some casualties,fully finished and awaiting their bases(from Pendraken) being flocked.As usual the standards are from foil from wine bottles!

Shield detail,showing my take on a Koranic verse-obviously not authentic,but I try!

The Irregular casualties and stretcher bearers-very well detailed(maybe too well detailed if you look closely!!)

Another 16 archers-because I had miscalculated on my original order!-Ordered on Monday,delivered on Wednesday(!!) and painted on Thursday-it's good being retired!!-but what are they going to be used for???

Figures all flocked and "on parade"

They do look as though they've had a bit of a night!

In line and looking good-I already have two units,so with this lot that will be six units,forming the Moorish front line-should be okay(?)

The cavalry(or half of them!)

Back in the box!-what's next? Wait and see!!!

Club Painting Update/Health Warning!!

As I am near to "death's door" with a most horrid cold(can't be flu because I've had the jab!) and can't be bothered to do much at the moment,I thought I would update what we are doing at the moment,as far as painting etc. goes.

I finished these two Mameluke,and two Saracen units before I started to drown in a "tsunami" of mucus!!-I have one more unit of horse archers to finish,and then it's" look out you Crusaders!"

Graham has been painting furiously over the past few weeks-these are his Perry Napoleonic Hanoverians and Dutch/Belgians-nice job,but when are we going to see them on the board??
The figures are a mixture of plastics and metals(the cavalry are plastics I think!) and hopefully he will be liaising with Dave to set up a game soon.

I got these paints as a gift at Xmas,and I have used them to paint my Roman Warship,and a unit of Saracen horse archers,and I am impressed by the quality/coverability(?) at £7.50 for twelve colours you can't be robbed!!
Well, I'm off to dose myself up with a new medicine I have discovered,called "Captain Morgan's cold and chesty cough lincture"-a bit of a mouthful,but good for the soul!!
Roll on Sunday,we'll be playing the battle of Leignitz 1241-Russians/Poles/Lithuanians vs Mongols.

Look out you Mongols!!

I ordered (!) Russian/Polish/Lithuanian etc. cavalry from Warrior Miniatures last week,and they arrived in "super-duper" time,as usual,and,as usual, I am over the moon with them,in fact I phoned John Holt and told him I couldn't have been happier if I'd fallen into a vat of Rum!!

100 all bagged and ready to paint!!-the knights have different helms,ie.winged,barrel kettle etc. so I decided to mix them up for historical effect-apart from the "typical" Russian pointed helm,western european influences had taken effect on the Russians,so a mix is acceptable.

Three shots of the first unit,painted and based,awaiting flock-you can see the mix of helms and horses.

Flocked and in situ!-I will keep the Polish winged helm figures separate,because they are distinctly Polish,but will paint the rest in a variety of colours,and shield patterns.
The Russian Princes not only fought against the invading Mongols,but against the Catholic Teutonic knights,who were "crusading" against them and their allies,who included pagan Swedes,Norwegians,Estonians-in fact everyone who wasn't under the control of the Pope in Rome!!!-this is a fascinating period,and a revelation to me,as I thought the only "crusades" were in the "Holy Land"-you live and learn!

Enough is Enough!!

Enough, is enough,is enough!!-I can't face up to painting any more black crosses onto white barded horses,white shields or white cloaks!!!,so having finished 4 units of Teutonic Knights,I am switching to other Templar knights-mainly red with white crosses and black with white crosses-see my future blogs!!

Whilst they may look terrifying and nice(at the same time?) they will not be repeated!!

This is the next unit,ready to go-they will have red barding,shields and cloaks,with white crosses-see background home-made banners,and the last will be black barding shields and cloaks with white crosses.
I am a great fan of battlefield "ephemera",and find that Irregular Miniatures do a good range of this sort of thing,so I sent for some dis-mounted knights and "wounded" Teutonic knights,to scatter around the board when my Mongols eventually face the Teutonics and Russians.Well,they arrived this morning,and quite frankly I was hugely dis-appointed with the "wounded" figures,although the others were quite superb!!

The "wounded" figures are at the top-at first glance you would say they had Napoleonic shakos on!!-but the designer has tilted the helm backwards on the head,giving the figure a most peculiar look!

See what I mean?-the arrow sticking out of his neck is a nice touch,but the face is indistinct,and the axe he is holding is badly molded-ho hum!-It's a pity really because the other dis-mounted figures are lovely...............

Enough "whingeing" from me,next blog will be on Monday,after our Macedonian and Persian game planned for Sunday,then it will be packing figures,terrain etc etc for Falkirk show on the 13th.
I had my old mate Charlie Wesencraft up to see me for a discussion of all things wargaming on Wednesday,and I showed him the latest Wargames Illustrated magazine,with the Perry's Travel Wargame in it-imagine my,and Charlie's, surprise when he announced that he'd been working on a similar project for years!!!-you've got to be quick off the mark these days!!!
Roll on Sunday.

Club Painting Update.

Last night saw a100% turnout for a trial run through of the game we are putting on at Carronade on the 13th May 2017.I had put all the figures and terrain onto the board,and asked for advice and guidance(and criticism!) from the rest of the "boys"-all agreed that the "WOW" factor was there and that, as a spectacle,we couldn't do better!! so fingers crossed for the day.
I deliberately didn't take any photo's so we didn't lessen the impact we hope to achieve at Falkirk,but I asked Graham and Dave to bring along any "projects" or work in progress they had to put onto the blog..........................

Graham is busy painting Perry Napoleonics at the moment-these are Hanoverian Landwher,awaiting their flags and then the bases will be given the "Graham Treatment"

Command groups from Perry,one is the Prince of Orange(hiss boo!!) -again the bases just need finishing off,and then onto the table(??)
Dave has also been very busy..........................

Marlburian "Maison du Roi" by Front Rank-very nice!

Russian Hussars by Elite Miniatures-look at the movement!

Then there was this enormous figure(with an enormous price tag-£6.50!) which Dave has just under-coated,of a Camel Rocketeer-poor camel!!-I think he said it was from Elite as well.
Well done lads keep painting and showing my poor efforts up!!!!
We will be playing a regular game next Sunday-probably Marlburian,so Dave can get his "Maison du Roi" on the table!

Mongol Army,Painting Update.

I am getting on quite well with painting my Mongols,and have just ordered another 50 bow-armed cavalry,which should be with me early next week(or sooner!) so I thought I might share my efforts so far............................

A box full always looks good-progress being made,7 units so far.

Some action shots now-lance armed cavalry fronted by bow armed cavalry.

Even more!! I think that they'll look good "en masse".

They will be a formidable army to fight against,having done a fair bit of research on their tactics and weapon capabilities,I am more than impressed by their organisation and planning!

On the painting table-Korean spear and bow armed infantry,or,as the Mongols called them in times of hardship,FOOD!!!-yes,food!!
These shouldn't take me too long to paint,and then onto the next batch of cavalry.

Painting update-Roman Casualties and Generals.

Brian,Graham and I had a little "knock-a-bout" game last night with the plastic tanks,testing a couple of new rules for my "Solo" games,so didn't take any photo's,but had a good laugh and general discuss of wargaming,York,politics etc.etc.
My Roman Casualty figures have taken a bit of a back seat lately,due to D.I.Y. shelf making!!
However I have finished half of them and the four Roman Generals I bought from Lancashire games a couple of weeks ago.

This is the first lot ready to be under-coated-I have added "gruesome" spears and swords for effect!! I was a bit disappointed at the figures,mainly because there were so many "Eagle-Bearers,and the Legionaries were all standing up!! however I chopped the bases off and bent the figures to the poses I wanted,and when based properly they will look okay(?)

Almost complete,just a brown wash,and they will be ready to base,probably in two's with maybe a couple of singles!

The Roman Generals! I will take further photo's when they are "flocked " and based and have had their flesh added.
One final photo,taken from one of the thousands of catalogues my wife gets,this one is from a company called Danbury Mint,and purports to be a sculpture of Achilles-the purists out there will no doubt spot a couple(or more?) glaring errors,but I suppose it doesn't matter,it only costs £100!!!