PioneerPainting

New Year same projects

2012-01-05T02:01:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a good time and Santa was good to them.
I'll be trying to finish off a few projects this year.
SYW, some hussars for my Austrians and some Von Kleist cavalry for my Prussians.
WW2, finish my 10mm Belgians.
Saga, must get these Conquest cavalry finished, I've put GB viking heads on them and shaved down the leggings for Scots.

Saga hits home

2011-12-16T02:08:00.000-08:00

Saga has fired up a few ex WABers at the club to dust off some of their Shieldwall minis. Great fun to be had with these rules. The Welsh faction are well and truly hated by the Viking players now that we are getting to grips with the rules/boards. So I've moved on to Normans as a faction. The Saga forum is advertising the new factions for early next year and Scots will be included as well as Bretons. So it's goodbye to the Welsh and my Scots will finally be used as Scots.

These Normans are all plastic conversions, bodies are GB Vikings, heads and shields Conquest, xbow and arms from Perry War of the Roses mercenary set, transfers by LBMS. Note to self add static grass soon!!!!
Pictures are a bit off as my camera has gone to meet it's maker and I'm using her ladyship's one and have yet to find the best settings.
All the best for Xmas and Happy Hogmany.

Osaka game

2011-10-17T04:29:00.000-07:00

Some of you will have seen that the "Anything but a 1" lads had a big Samurai bash this weekend.
14 clans took to the table and there were still some in the boxes for reinforcements.
I spent some time making up walls for the castle that Ken provided, as it turned out we only used the castle and walls for a scenic backdrop. My camera played up a bit so there are not that many pics. Suffice to say that SaxonDog, JP and myself held off the Imperialist attack on our table on day one but our allies were beaten on the other table. Some fun moments by all. Night fell and off to the bar and restaurant we went. Afterwards a few SAGA games were held with more fun and ale.
Next morning JP,Ikko Ikki, SaxonDog, Kikawa, and myself, Konishi, were pitted against 3 other Imperialists, Ishida, Ii and Oda. JP deployed my Ikko Ikki promptly rolled a blunder and went off the table. SaxonDog and I were under the cosh at this point but failed command rolls by Ishida, who had changed sides overnight, meant that his cavalry were unable to exploit our weakness. Our opponents Ii and Oda were reinforced by another Oda clan, then SaxonDog went mad and attacked. The day started to get better when the Ikko Ikki returned and more reinforcements, Fujiwara, sallied from the castle. However all was really lost when out commander blundered and changed sides in the middle of the battle. His face turned as bright as his red dice. Despite being offered a spoon to commit Seppuku he disengaged from the Tokugawa clan and turned on the Mori and Satsuma clans on his right. This left Tokugawa free to support the remnants of 2 Oda clans against my Konishi. Kikawa and Ikko Ikki had been fought to a standstill against Ishida and Ii, and the Fujiwara were still moving into position, but were now also threatened by Tokugawa's cavalry.
Rules were Black Powder with the Gleaming Katana add-on by Rich Jones, BP Forum files section, We have made some additions to make them more clan specific. Each player had a 25 point clan to start with.
Most of the minis were Perry. A standard unit was an Impetus base, but 60mm deep for the infantry. Large units made by adding on a half size base.

Castle walls made from 50mm insulation board covered in embossed doll's house wallpaper. Firing port section laser cut for me by Warbases, 240mm long 40mm high and 3mm deep, thanks Martin. Tiles just some corrugated card I had.

Day 1 deployment on our table.

Quite a bit later

2011-09-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

Had not realized that it's been over 6 months since my last post. Not painted a lot either, mostly 28mm ACW for a mate and some more Samurai for a big wekend game next month.. However the release of SAGA spurred me on to rebase some of my WAB minis. Also to buy some more cos you can never have enough toys.
Anyway, the Scots first, all the minis I want to use have been done in time for a game this week, 7points in all.
Then I got some plastic Normans from Conquest. Great service 2 days from ordering to arrival. Nice minis as well. Used the 3 in cloth tunics to supplement the metals I have so now there are 3pts of Norman cavalry ready. Will get some plastic inf when they are released approx Dec to make up the full 6 pts.
Lastly the Vikings. Saxondog is bringing me a box of the GB plastic Hirdmen and I'll get some Bondir when they are released. They will be the main force with the Foundry females I have being used as levy. Well artistic license dictates that they are settlers in Britain and are defending their homes/selves from raiders.

Very Civile Actions rules for large games

2011-02-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

These are additions that have been made to "The Perfect Captain" rules for Engilsh Civil War games.
Download here http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/request.html for the main rules.
I have also done a Quick Reference sheet and made some changes/additions to the rules to make them clearer. If anyone want them, contact me and I'll email you a copy.

D) Fighting Large Battles

These rules have been added to cover battles involving more than about half a dozen companies a side. Where whole foot "regiments" or even small brigades would be deployed as cohesive battlefield formations.

We needn't apply the same rules to cavalry, as most of the time they fought in groups of troops – which fits in pretty neatly with the maximum company size of 6 stands – or 12 mounted figures.

What is a regiment?

Historically a foot regiment consisted of a unit of pikemen and one or usually two "sleeves" of shot. Normally these were deployed on either side of the pike unit. In game terms a group of up to one pikeman and two musketeer companies can be designated as a "regiment". In order to benefit from the support rules at least two of the companies of a regiment need to be supporting each other –with the units no less than 3" apart.

How does regimental support work?

Its quite simple. If a company belonging to the regiment is charged, the chargers have to fight a melee with both the company being charged, and any other part of the regiment within supporting range of it. Up to three units can be combined in this manner. In effect this is a variation of the rules about fighting a H-H combat against more than one opponent (outlined in the H-H rules).

Example: A company of six stands of Royalist cavaliers want to come into H-H combat with a four stand New Model musketeer company within movement range. The unit passes its charge test, and moves into contact. The musketeers fire at the cavalry, but don't hit anything. Normally the melee between cavaliers (fight 8) x 6 stands = 48 and the musketeers (fight 2) x 4 stands = 8 would be a pretty one-sided affair – well past the 4:1 maximum on the H-H chart. However, as the musket company is within 3" of their regimental pike company, and the cavalry are charging them to their front, then these four stands of Pikemen join the combat. The pikemen (fight 6) x 4 stands = 24 add their factor to that of the musket company, raising the Parliamentarian total to 30. This means the cavalry attack at 3:2odds.

If, say the remaining musket company of the same New Model regiment was deployed within 3" of the either the other two companies, then its factors would be added in too. In this case this would increase the Parliamentarian total to 36 – enough to force the cavaliers to fight on the Advantage column of the H-H chart.

Can a unit shoot in support?

Yes a “sleeve” of shot can fire in support of another company in it’s regiment that is within 3” and is being charged if;

1) the musketeers have not fired already this turn.

2) the chargers are in arc of fire and line of sight of the musketeers.

The musketeers may not add to the combat if they fire.

Are there any circumstances when regimental support doesn't apply?

Yes. If the charging unit attacks its chosen target company in the flank or the rear, then that company fights on its own, regardless of how close it is to the rest of its regiment.

What happens with terror markers and other adverse combat results?

If the reinforced unit is forced to retire, then ALL the units in the regiment which were involved in the combat retire as well. All other results - the gaining of terror markers, the losing of stands or routing are all piled on the original unit which cried wolf and asked for help in the first place.

What is a regimental Colonel, and what does he do?

One of the three officers of a "regiment" is considered to be the Regimental Colonel. Usually this officer is attached to the pike company. One way of distinguishing Regimental Colonel figures from ordinary foot officers is to include an ensign on his command stand.

The Regimental Colonel has two advantages over a regular officer. First, just as if he was the commanding Colonel or General, two officer counters are drawn at random. One is chosen, the other is put back. Secondly, if for some reason the Regimental Colonel wishes to take command of another company within his own regiment, and the two

companies are within supporting distance (3") of each other, then the Regimental Colonel become the Captain of both companies while the two units remain within range of each other. The original Captain remains with the unit, and takes over again when the Regimental Colonel and his company moves away. Note: Unlike Colonels and Generals, regimental Colonels are always attached to the unit they are with.

In very large games it is easier to only allocate 1 officer counter per Regiment.

War of the Roses revisited

2011-02-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

I thought I was finished with this army till the Perry Mercenary box came out just had to have a couple. Scots Men at Arms and pike seemed a good fit and some skirmish Xbow and handgun. The skirmish units can also be used in a Florentine army for the later Italian Wars that I have been planning for a while, actually over a year now. I have all the minis but very little spare time.
Scots flags taken from http://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/ although these are for Flodden, I think they are suitable for the WotRoses and they look great. Many thanks for posting them Ray.
The Currours are for a mate. They are GW Bretonian mounted archers and could be used as they are for Hundred Years War. I removed the quiver and bow replacing them with a purse and spear also added scabbards, a quick repaint of the jack in livery colours.

War of the Roses finished

2010-11-09T08:05:00.000-08:00

Men at Arms

Militia Bill

Militia bow

Conversions

Well that is the last of my War of the Roses force for Impetus. The Men at Arms and one of the Militia bow units have a couple of conversions. All bar one of the minis are Perry, the free Salute give away, holding the sallet helmet. The conversions are for a chap at the club who has started building up a force for Impetus so I'll have at least 2 opponents to play. The first outing is in 2 weeks when I take on Saxon Dog.

Last of the Brit Napoleonics

2010-10-08T04:09:00.000-07:00

The title says it all. Only 4 more German Battalions and 1 Cavalry unit to finish the whole project.
The cavalry are Front Rank painted as the 3rd Dragoon Guards and 4th Dragoons.
The Brits are the 1st and 2nd Provisional Battalions short lived units that were a mix from different Regts. Made up of stragglers and men retuning to duty after being wounded. I found differing accounts of the units that provided men so facing colours may be wrong according to some sources. There should have been some Highlanders in the1st Batt but I did not have any minis to include them. The minis are a mix of Victrix and Perry. Most of the flank companies have the Perry rifleman head as I assume that as Lt Inf Regt were represented they would have perfomed the duties of the light company.
The Brunswickers are again a mix of Victrix and Perry but with Victrix French shakos with the plate removed and Perry French backpacks. All lacing on the cuffs, shoulder tufts and turnbacks were cut away.

Army painter experiment

2010-09-15T04:56:00.000-07:00

Some Peninsula Brits I have been working on for a while now. Victrix with some Perry heads.
The artillery are Perry with some Victrix heads and Generals are Perry.
I'll try and post better pics soon. These are block painted and treated with Army Painter soft tone. Not really my style but you have to try these things out.

Samurai 3

2010-08-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

Fujiwara Samurai from my second Clan rush to the aid of some Kikkawa, a tad late oops. Minis from Perry ambushed by sneaky Citadel Ninja. I did these right after a certain blogger chose his Clan and was going to save these pics for a later post, but changed my mind. Why, well we have a 6 player Samurai Impetus game coming up this Thursday so any surprise in posting them after that will be wasted.
The horse is a LotR plastic with the chamfron and saddlecloth removed. The saddle and harness added with green stuff.
Building from Oshiro Model Terrain, bases by Warbases.
Below is a Clan with Minamoto designs on the Sashimono, a bit outdated but some of them must have survived. The half base Samurai, front rank center, can be used for Hatamoto bases for BP. The Ronin base in the second rank is made up from Ashigaru command and Samurai without Sashimono.

Samurai Impetus/BP

2010-08-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

The Konishi Clan ready for battle. The Taiko and 3 castings are by Museum Miniatures, this will be used as my Generals base in "Gleaming Katanas" games. The base on the left is the Hatamoto unit and has 1 Citadel mini, it combines with the Diamyo base on the right to form an Impetus base.
All other castings are Perry.

The Ikko Ikki force, only 6 Sohei Teppo to add to it (I got the minis at Claymore so hope to complete it soon). The Banners are taken from various places on the net and are the proper Buddhist slogans for Ikko Ikki. This force is a bit of a mix casting wise.

Sohei 2 bases of Perry and The Assault Group and the base at the rear is 1st Corps with 1 Scheltrum. Standard bearers are Perry conversions.

The Peasants, a real mix of castings here. Perry mainly but Old Glory, Amazon, EM4, Museum, Kingsford, Black Hat, Eureka and TAG are mixed in.

Samurai minis comparison

2010-08-09T02:11:00.000-07:00

A while ago I posted these pics from various Companies on the WAB forum. About 12 SESWC members have now got the Samuria bug after I ran a couple of Black Powder games using the add on by Rich Jones.
"Gleaming Katanas" is available from the Black Powder forum file section. Of course we have made a few changes, mainly to include some Clan variants. Our version may appear there in the future.
Some of us are into Impetus in a big way and thought why not base the minis for that rule set then we could them for BP. Neither rule set uses casualty removal and as long as everyone is using the same base sizes we have the best of both worlds. You can even use the minis for WAB but would have to have some recording system for casualties.

The lines are marked at 25mm and 30mm to show sizes.

Fire and Fury

2010-07-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

I just had an email regarding base sizes we use for 28mm Fire and Fury ACW rules. Most of us at SESWC use 40 x 40mm bases for infantry with 3 - 4 minis per base, as shown here. These minis are all Perry, with the exception of the wounded minis they are all plastics. There are several conversions though, both standard bearers, the Officers coat, 44th New York, being shortened and the stocking caps, 4th Michigan, made from green stuff. The round bases are 2p peices and denote "Disorder" and "Out of Ammo".

We tried a varient of the Chris Peers "EVA" then moved on to a "F&F" regimental varient but went back to basic F&F rules as they work so well without any tinkering. We just moved it down a level so that folk could do their favourite regiments instead of just a base or 2 of them as in the brigade level game. Unit strengths as at Gettysburg, 1:40 scale.

So far I have the 5th Corps 1st Division, and part of the 2nd Division, 4 brigades in all plus artillery. All painted and based but I still have to do the static grass on them. Yet another project that needs a litle bit of time spent on it to finish the job, but they are playable as they are.

Crusader knights

2010-07-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

Here is an image of what will be 5 bases of "CP" Knights for the Crusade project. This image is really to spur on another blogger.

Mostly Perry with a few GB and 1 or 2 Foundry/Citadel.
The wounded horse in the row of Knights of Jerusalem was a casting that arrived with only 3 legs so was put to good use.

The first and 4th flag from the left shows the arms of some Glanvilles, a theme perhaps.
Records show that one Randulph de Glanville, Chief Justicar of England, took the cross and was at Acre 1191, it is not know if he fell in battle or died from an illness.

Vikings for hire

2010-07-10T04:48:00.000-07:00

As an incentive to another blogger I built these GB plastic Vikings for an new Impetus army. He knows who he is and he is not getting them until another Impetus project is finished. Deus Voult

The minis are very nice but I found that certain arms fit a lot better on some bodies than others, especially when the shields are fitted.
There are lots of spare weapons, some modelled with hands so you can change weapons about, a nice touch, and plenty of different heads. You can't model them all with spears though as there are not enough spear arms for every model, same for sword scabbards. The horns are on the large side for me and I would trim them down to the top of the bracket holding the rope. 4 very nice flags are provided but no dedicated standard bearer, so you have to do a bit of cutting and drilling of spearmen hands if you want taller flag poles.

Still a very nice offering IMO and I may even get a box or 2.

Crusader Knights

2010-07-01T03:55:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of Seljuks, however I also have some minis for the forces of Christianity.
I'm in the process of finishing some spearmen and will post pics later. These Gripping Beast knights are on Arab horses so thanks to GB for that. They'll be based up once I buy more bases from Warbases at Claymore in August.

Everything for this period is being converted to Impetus basing, a long process when I have a lot of other things to do. The Seljuk/Arabs are almost done but all the Chistian cavalry need started.

War of the Roses 2

2010-06-24T05:04:00.000-07:00

The Impetus,WotR, project has kind of stalled as my partner's training for the Moon Walk has taken over these last few weeks. Now that it has finished perhaps I can get on with some painting. She finished in 4 hours for the 13 miles, a bit slower that the last 2 times, but there were a lot more hills in this years course.

Here is the first of 2 Livery Bill units, the Griffen image is nicked off the net and used with one set of Glanville colours. I could find no evidence for the family being involved in the WotR but why let that spoil a nice colour scheme. I'm using 2 Glanville,with a Granville, as the basis for the army Coat of Arms and Standards.

All three livery Archers are done.

Bases by Warbases and grass tufts by miniNatur, long tufts early fall, available from Mutineer Miniatures.

I really hope that the Perrys get the metal foot Men at Arms done soon.

New Project

2010-05-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

Another month and time for the first of a new project. A small Impetus army using Perry plastic War of the Roses. A couple of boxes gets you nearly 200pts, but there is one drawback not enough Men at Arms to do 2 units. So I was really cheered up to hear that Perry are releasing some foot Men at Arms soon, 2 packs will do me fine.
The base is just card and although is was done in stages it is still a bit warped so I am using "Warbases" for the rest of the force.
The Livery colours are from one of the Glanville coat of arms, that way I can use them for any of the protagonists.

Hastenbeck 3

2010-04-20T01:34:00.000-07:00

Austrians surround the British held redoubt and break through in several places, some Austrians about face to see off a massive Prussian counterattack from recycled Prussians. Seeing all hope of relief snuffed out the British surrendered on mass.

The Center attacks and eventually takes the town and holds on till the Prussians quit the field.

My Hungarians with their new linen flags advancing to support their colleagues on the right and the Reichsarmee on the left.

Hastenbeck 2

2010-04-20T01:17:00.000-07:00

Despite lovingly painted up 7 Hungarian battalions I took up the mantle of the Reichsarmee commander.
8 battalions, 4 Grenadier de France battalions in support and 4 cavalry regt on the flank.

Now supported by the tardy Austrians my force sweeps on towards the link in the Prussian line held by Prussian Guard and Grenadier battalions.

Crunch time as the Prussians feel the full force of the Reichsarmee and Grenadiers.

The Prussian brigade is so beaten up that my Hungarians under the command of "Von Noggen" swing round to join up with the main Austrian attack on the British held redoubt.

Hastenbeck

2010-04-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

Well the game has come and gone with a win for the Franco-Austrain alliance over the Prussian-British-Hessians.
A brilliant weekend of playing toy soldiers in great company.
We used Black Powder and they worked well for such a big game. Rules are never going to cover all events and I had my doubts but they gave us a fast fun game which is what you want with 13 players and 97 infantry battalions (1619 minis), 24 cavalry regiments (302) minis, 25 guns with 100 crew and the odd General figure or two.
We used 66% for range and movement, the Reliable rule for Prussian foot, all commanders were 7 rating, we changed the staff rating roll to 3 under for 2 moves and 4 under for 3 moves. However we think this may have changed the dynamic a bit to much and are considering changing it back for the next game which will be Penninsula Naps.
First 2 pics table layout, next 2 the French deploy.
More pics available on
http://dereksweetoys.com/
http://saxondog.blogspot.com/

Jason and the Arogonauts

2010-04-08T05:32:00.000-07:00

With the approach of the release of the redone Clash of the Titans I thought I may as well put up some pics of Jason and his boys. The "historical" minis are Foundry with a couple of GW Harpies. I bought these unpainted from a club member except for a couple he had painted to get a feel for the minis. I liked the blue armour and decided to use it on a few of the minis although the rest were done in more historical colours taken from Duncan Head's book, Armies of Macedon and Punic Wars. The flesh was redone by me.

The trumpet is home made. These are based up for WAB as part of a Carthaginian army. The movement tray is by Oshiro Model terrain. Pillars are plactic cake decorations cut up and filled with tissue. The cobble effect on the temple floor is embossed wallpaper, my stock of said paper is fast running out.

PS many thanks for the comments on the other posts, I sometimes forget to check if there are any, so replies can be a little late, sorry folks.

Finished artillery

2010-04-05T05:46:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the 2 Polish batteries for R2E. I got the last couple of guns as a Christmas present, so thanks a lot.

Still have this lot to do before I finish the Napoleonic project.
2 Batt of Berg, 24 each, 2 of Frankfurt again 24 each, some more Poles to allow me to increase the strength of the existing 6 Batt, if I want to. I also need to do a wee bit of rebasing to the Poles as I am adding 2 marching Woltizer in greatcoat to each Batt and these will be based with 2 skirmishing minis on a 30x60 base. This will give me 12 spare skirmishing minis which will be based singly on hex bases that I got from Warbases.

Weekend game approaching fast

2010-04-01T03:39:00.000-07:00

Well only 2 weeks to go till our big SYW game. This one seems to be jinxed a bit as a few chaps have dropped out and several are doubtfulnow. Must be the work of the resident ghost and honorary Head Housekeeper, who featured in a recent TV news programme. We were told about her before the last event but nothing untoward happened. Still you never know.

All the toys I am providing are done apart from the flags, I'm hoping to get some printed off on linen paper that one of the chaps has got hold of.

Here are my Command bases, Generals and troopers from the Stabsdragoner Regt.

Slavonier Brooder Regt.

Grand Duke Ferdinand.

1st and 2nd Battalions of J Esterhazy Regt. Battalions have different stock colours, one red and one black.

1st and 2nd Battalions N Esterhazy Regt.Combined Grenadiers, don't think the Esterhazy regt were actually brigaded together but it looks good to me.

Next big game

2010-03-17T05:38:00.000-07:00

Our next big game is set in the European theatre of the SYW. Five of us went for Austrians just to be different I went for the Hungarians as I think they are more colourful.
Here is a pic of some nearly finished. The 2 bases on the left are for a client and the 2 on the right are mine.
After all the talk about Army Painter I thought I'd give it a try. I was lent a tin of Soft Tone by a mate and started off by spraying and undercoating white. For the basic job I blocked in the minis instead of drybrushing as I normally would but found that I had to go over the black a couple of times and any areas that were to be gunmetal had to be painted black first, while gold/brass were best painted Vallejo flat brown.
then a coat of AP was applied before varnishing.
For my Hungarians I followed the same procedure but used a base colour with Devlan Mud over the flesh then AP then a drybrush of the final highlight before varnishing.
While others may find AP quicker I think the basic paint job lacks some of the depth a black undercoat would have acheived. Also it took me longer especially over the Hungarians. Not sure if I'll try it again but it may be that my technique does not suit AP.
When all the boys are finished I'll post more pics.
The minis are from Crusader and lovely they are too. Thanks to Nick at North Star for the speedy delivery.

Marston Moor 2010

2010-01-25T07:04:00.000-08:00

Well the 2 day game has come and gone with a

historicaly accurate Allied success.

Cromwell was even carted off injured and appeared

later in the game, although not as good as he was before. Unhistorically Rupert was skewered by one of Leslie's Scots lancers while leading a do or die charge in an atempt to stave off the collapse of his cavalry wing.

We used Very Civile Actions by The Perfect Captain a free set of rules that some of us have played before. VCA is probably best described as a large skirmish set as you do everything by sub units. A sleeve of shot, pike stand or cavalry unit carries out an action then your opponent does the same until all the troops have gone,

each also has an Officer card that can affect the troops abilities. However with 41 Infantry regt, 36 Cavalry regt, 8 Dragoon regt and 13 guns, that would be 178 actions.

To speed things up we had a regimental rule

that was used at SESWC and had all the players moving 2-3 infantry or cav regts at a time.

Only the players had officer traits.

VCA casualties work by using odds to get results and a roll of 1 can mean a Humiliation result which affects the unit from that time on.

Needless to say the amount of 1's rolled produced

hoots of laughter throught the weekend and

1 cavalry unit ended up with 3 of them.

Serves the player right for calling them Lifeguard when they were supposed to be Cavaliers.

Approx 2,500 miniatures on a 20x6 table with 12 players and 1 umpire.

All in all a Fantastic weekend and a great game.

Samurai

2010-01-22T04:04:00.000-08:00

Just been asked to paint some Dixon minis for a SESWC chap. He is doing some skirmish games, so individual bases but also using Warbases sabot trays for Impetus.
Anyway thought I would put up some of my painted stuff. The minis are mostly based individually for skirmish games and WAB. However I've ordered some sabot bases myself and am going to use Impetus as I really like the rules, but with the option of WAB if v2 ever appears. The Monks (Sohei) are on a perspex movement tray from Oshiro Model Terrain. They are TAG and Perry with 1 1st Corps in the second rank (left).

The Diorama Taiko base is Museum Miniatures the other 2 are Perry.

The Peasant unit is from Scheltrum but I used Perry weapons for them. These are on the bulky side and would fit in well with Dixon Miniatures. I have a lot more peasants to do, Old Glory and Perry mostly as I planned to have Ikko Ikki allies.

The Peasant's revenge are all Perry but with some conversions.

The first of the cavalry from the Konishi clan.

Covenanters

2009-12-24T05:56:00.000-08:00

Virtually all my Covenanter forces, only a few command bases missing from the pics. Majority on minis are from the fantastic Bicorne range, some Renegade. One inf regt has the freebie Montrose from Targe and some converted Warlord with Vicrtix Brit arms and pikes. The Saltire flag for this regt was obtained from the www.auldearn1645.blogspot.com/, thanks Roy and a guid new year when it comes. I'll be changing it when I get my sheet of Scottish ECW flags back from a certain Fifer. Military Modelling had series of articles on ECW flags way back in 1977, which I kept and vey useful they are especially with a lot of SESWC getting into ECW just now.

Warlord Games ECW

2009-12-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

Some of their new ECW cavalry for a client. I think these are very nice minis. 4 different bodies, and lots of spares for you to design your own units, unlike the other Warlord boxes that I have seen or bought.

The flags are a bit small for my taste but if you want bigger ones then you will have to cut the cords on the flagpole, as I have done here.

More Pertrix

2009-12-16T08:23:00.000-08:00

Two more battalions for my R2E Penninsula force. This time Dutch.

Cuffs have had the flap removed, added Bearskins for the Grenadiers and Horn arm for theVoltiguers bugler, Drummers arms , and one Officer arm also replaced.

Sabot bases

2009-11-25T02:22:00.000-08:00

I was talking to Martin of Warbases at the Kirriemuir show and asked if he had thought about sabot bases for WAB 20x20 to Impetus. He sent me this pic of the prototype. It is 120x60mm so is suitable for FP or FL infantry in the Impetus system. Cost approx £1.20 per base plus postage.

http://www.warbases.co.uk/

Chaps at SESWC use his bases for WotR and jolly good they look to, far better than the ones produced by GW.

Wurtzburg

2009-11-20T14:35:00.000-08:00

Well finished the first units of Pertrix conversions and a better pic this time.
A lot of head swops and some new backpacks as shown on the left of the pic.
Lapels and cuff flaps removed.
Flags by Warflag.com

Who dun in Arfur

2009-11-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

Some pics questioning who was actually responsible
for Arthur's death.

Picts by Foundry and GB with IIRC Alternative Armies dogs do in Arthur and Mordred.

Saxons by Musketeer Miniatures and GB backed up by Foundry roll over Arthur and some followers.

Shield transfers where applicable LBM.

The 2 Arthur and the Mordred minis are from Salute and converted by me.

All the minis are based on 120mm wide bases for the excellent Impetus rules, some are on half bases so I can playtest 180mm frontage units.

Some SYW stuff

2009-11-04T04:20:00.000-08:00

A few pics of some SYW minis I did for a customer, years ago.
The infantryman on the far left is the sample sent to me, done by K Dallimore, I was told.

More Perry/Victrix conversions

2009-10-21T01:07:00.000-07:00

Thought I would post some more pics of what are now being called Pertrix. I am doing 2 battalions each of Berg, Dutch, Frankfurt and Wurtzburg troops for the Penninsula.

Wurtzburg probably the most difficult. Changed to a shako in the Penninsula so head swops as the plate is the rhombic style. Remove the lapel, buttons and cuff flaps from the jacket and you have the uniform often worn in the field.

Frankfurt Victrix minis using Perry heads. The French shako plate is similar in this scale.

Dutch remove the pompom and cuff flap. Grenadiers are given Victrix bearskins.

Berg have crossbelts so I used Perry skirmishers and removed the epaulettes or added Victrix arms for the center companies. Grenadiers will eventually be given Victrix bearskins.

I've also done some backpack swops but these involve cutting and repositioning Perry ammo pouches and reshaping the packs. Some cutting work is needed on Victrix packs to fit on the Perry minis. Bugle and sword arms have also been added to some minis.

Perry/Victrix

2009-10-06T06:30:00.001-07:00

Lot's of folk have been asking how these two makes compare. Well now you can see. The Officer is a Victrix, heavily converted and with a Perry head. The Bugler is a Perry rifleman with an ACW bugle arm and his rifle slung over the left shoulder.

Grey Knights

2009-03-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a Grey Knight squad done for a client. The colour scheme was chosen to match his Terminators and Sisters of Battle who have white armour with blue trim and Yellow weapons.

The base coat is chainmail with a blue wash and silver highlights.

R2E again

2009-03-18T04:54:00.000-07:00

Having been invited to a few playtest games of Bary Hilton's new rules I though that I would do up a few units. Well "a few" is not really in any wargamers vocabulary. So after 6 battalions of Poles, 2 of Vistula what else could I do? As we are doing the Penninsula at SESWC I thought that some more of the "German Division" would be OK.I got 40 Bavarians from David Imrie in return for some plastic conversions, all but 3 unpainted. Light bulb flashes and I think they could be used for Baden troops, Bavarians had slightly higher Kusket and more buttons on the cuff but what the hey. The result, 2 battalions of the 4th Regt. One source shows that this regt was in fact 1 batt of the 4th and 1 of the 2nd, but others do not mention this difference so I went with 2 of the 4th.The other infantry are the 1st and 2nd battalions Hesse Darmstadt Erbprinz Regt.

All flags taken from warflag.com and painted over as I have a rubbish printer. Many thanks to the chaps there.

Lastly here is the Polish artillery so far. I am waiting to get another 6dr and some helpers for the caisson bases. No howitzers and only 6 guns per battery, think I might have to look for some Baden artillery as they had 8 guns and 2 of them were howitzers. However the thought of more caissons more limbers etc is putting me off for now.

Perry plastic conversions

2009-01-17T09:03:00.001-08:00

What do you do if you have plastic miniatures for your Napoleonic army and want some cavalry. Well the only option at the moment is buy metal ones. But then nobody does Polish lancers in the bearskin or colpack that most of the elite companies wore and I desperately wanted some of them in my collection. However I had a some ACW cavalry made up and decided that I would have a go at converting them as I probably won't need the for our ACW games. Still what about the lapels and epaulettes? After reading Rawkin's book again and leafing through von Pifka's book I came across the answer, stable dress.

First off get some Perry Napoleonic heads, plenty of them spare after building up my infantry units. Square off the shako top this give you a diamond shape and build up with green stuff to make a chapka add a pom pom and you are ok for the main troops wearing covers like the infantry. For the Bearskin you have to shape the shako and build up with green stuff, add green stuff plume and bag.
Get a Dremmel type drill and burr down the saddle bags, blanket and shape the saddle cloth. On the riders burr down the stirrup boot. Gently remove the strap on the right shoulder, the ammo box from the waist belt, the carbine hook, all holsters and the heads. File or scrap the tunic till it looks right, do the same with those riders that have boots as you need full length overall trousers. Some riders need shoulder belts added and you have to add plastic card ammo pouches to all the riders, these need to be on the shoulder belt.

Result the 3rd Polish Lancers in stable dress. Perfect for campaigns in hot weather.

Perry Plastic Napoleonics

2008-11-13T06:38:00.001-08:00

Just finished a couple of battalions of the new Perry plastic Napoleonics and some guns. I intend to finish the bases once I have painted another gun and crew with 4 Polish, 2 Vistula, and 2 French battalions plus generals. These are to be used with the rules Barry Hilton is going to produce, Republic to Empire. I've had a few playtests and like them very much.

I have done these up as 4th Polish regt. Dont be confused by the shako as the 3 Polish regiments (4th, 7th, 9th) sent to Spain used a lot of French equipment from 1810 onwards and by 1812 most wore the shako instead of the czapka. The artillery (Perry French metal) changed completely in 1809 and they provided a battery in Spain.

The plastics can even be used as Vistula Legion with a little work on the cuff and shako plate.

I'd really like to do some lancers but my favourites Front Rank dont do the elite companies in bearskin or colpack which most of the 15 lancer regiments wore. But the lancers did not go to Spain which is the theatre of choice for my WAB buddies at SESWC. So I guess I'll go with Perry chasseurs a cheval instead.

The guns need limbers and caissons but I am going to wait till Barry has decided on base sizes. Bicorne do some nice ones and I will probably shop there.

Beneath the Lily Banners

2008-08-28T05:45:00.001-07:00

These are a couple of units I've done for BLB. A mix of Foundry and Dixon. I had originally intended the infantry to be used for the War of Jenkin's Ear after visiting the site of one of the battles in South Carolina. However Barry's rules cried out for a couple of units so they were done for BLB instead and cavalry added. One of the Dixon horses is marketed as large and it is. I had to cut off almost all of the metal base. I left 3 longish bits on the other hooves and sunk them into the card base. It looks just the same height now as the other Dixon horse and the Foundry ones.

Customer pics

2008-08-28T05:23:00.000-07:00

Some Peter Pig 15mm ACW officers.

Gripping Beast Numidians 28mm and Crusader Norman and ElCid 28mm.

The Crusader cavalry have long hair and beards added with green stuff. Also some spare Foundry shields. These changes make them look like Scots exiles and they will be used as such in a client's Viking army. He is a Dunfermline supporter hence the black and white shield colours.

Commanche

2008-05-19T08:00:00.001-07:00

Some Foundry 28mm Wild West I did for one of the League of Augsburg chaps. They are to used for Legends of the Old West.

Sorry Salar but I can't open your comments on the Newline pics.

Jack

Chariot War

2008-05-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some Newline Designs Israelite range 28mm. Except for the armoured infantry all of the range is shown. I used some of the skirmishers shields as bucklers for the Benjaminite archers. Under WAB rules the Issachar don't use shields anyway.

Disposable Heroes

2008-04-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

Despite telling myself I should post more often life gets in the way.

Anyway here are some Artizan DAK for a client. We are using Disposable Heroes for our WW11 games. Setting most of the games in Sicily, that way we can use a variety of forces from US, Brits, Germans, French, Paras from all nations and Commandos.

These DAK have been painted in a mix of uniforms to reflect the "chaotic supply situation".

There are bits of Italian and German cammo, Rush green uniform on the officer, Balkan, Desert and European items make up the rest.

Even longer

2008-01-16T06:57:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking it's been a while and logged in. What a surprise, 9 months gone past already.

Been busy painting away as usual. Here are pics of some of the miniatures from the last 2 jobs I've done.

GB Crusaders and 1st Corps Republican Roman cavalry.

Client is basing up the Repos himself.

It's been a while

2007-04-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Well the title says it all really. Nearly 4 months since the last entry. Some of my own stuff again. This is part of my Seljuk army. This collection started in 2004 at the Partizan show and is still not completely painted.

On the left is the Ghulam regt with General and ASB. All the miniatures are Gripping Beast on GB half barded horses.

On the right is an Arab regt the miniatures are a mix of Perry, Musketeer, Navigator and Griping Beast

The figures on the left are one of the Seljuks regts. The figures are Perry and GB.

All the shields are transfers by Little Big Men and while they look great they are very difficult to fit onto the GB and Musketeer shields. This is due to the curve of the shields.
I have mixed horses and riders from different makes and they all look right. Some needed a bit of filling between the leg and saddle but a bit of Blutack and superglue fixed that.
So far I have 60 cavalry done and 100 infantry but have 30 light cavalry to finish off.

For rules I use WAB but a few other guys at SESWC are into the early Crusades so we are going to try Ironbow 11 and Shattered Lance. Ironbow by Perfect Captain was fearured in Wargames Ill 234 and should give a good game if their ECW and RCW rules are anything to go by.

Apache

2006-12-15T03:51:00.000-08:00

It's some time since I last posted, so busy painting for other people and holidays of course. We @ SESWC have started a LoTOW campaign, nothing regular just when we feel like it. My posse was done several years ago but I think it still looks good.

Bannockburn

2006-08-31T06:46:00.000-07:00

Some pics of 15mm Essex and Feudal Casting figures for a client. Thankfully he is doing all the research into the heraldry, so all I have to do is paint the miniatures.
Those knights who played a prominent part in the battle are based singly while retinues are based to DBA sizes.

Covenanters

2006-08-02T03:02:00.000-07:00

Pics of my Covenanter regiments, these units will be taking part in the SESWC display at Claymore this Saturday. The battle is Inverkeithing 1651. A disaster for the Scots this one. The terrain for the display has been made by Dave Imrie and looks fantastic. Hope these figures do it justice. The rules being used are "Very Civile Actions" a free download set from the Perfect Captain.
The regular foot are a mix of Bicorne Miniatures and Renegade, however the cavalry are all Bicorne. Although both sell miniatures in packs of 8 the Bicorne ones are all different so you get a real feel of campaign shortages, ripped and patched jackets and trousers. Bicorne have a good website with lots of pics of the pack make up. I can also say that their mail order service is fantastic.
The Highland unit has goodness knows how many different makes in it. I am quite pleased with the way they turned out. The spelling on the motto however should have been in the style of the period so I will have to do a few changes.

WW11

2006-06-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

Some WW11 Germans from Stronghold that I did a while ago. They are 28mm and painted up as Luftwaffe ground troops. These ones mix well with my collection of Battle Honours and Foundry. My mates from SESWC plan on some skirmish level games once we agree on a set of rules that we all like. I have 40+ figures finished now and hope to paint up a platoon of Black Tree British for oppposition. I have the metal but not the time. Same old story.

Time for another one.

2006-05-23T01:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post. Too busy on 2 huge orders, recovering from the WAB weekend at GW and Cannonade in Falkirk. So I thought an old pic of some 15mm AB and Essex Napoleonics would do instead.
From L-R British Lt Dragoons in the old uniform, KGL Hussars, Royal Scots Greys, Carabiniers, Grenadiers a Cheval de la Garde, ADC. Foot figures are French Garde foot artillery, Grenadier de la Garde and line Horse artillery.

Seven Years War French

2006-04-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

Well that's another order finished. This time SYW French, mostly Freikorps with a few Essex.
All the infantry need flags but I could not find any commercial flags for the Gardes, Grenadier of France or Royal Grenadiers. There are some free ones on the web but they are of various sizes. I need to do some work to fit them to 15mm miniatures. As I also have some SYW French, 15mm Minifigs, it's an excuse to do some flags for myself. That way I dont charge for someone else's work.

15mm WW1 Serbian

2006-04-12T04:05:00.000-07:00

Just finished a basing job. Most of them are Alphacast Metal Miniatures with some Minifigs. The Alphacast figures were supplied painted and a nice job too. It is the first time I have seen Alhpacast and quite like them. Only reservation is that I think the head is a bit big in relation to the rest of the miniature.
The Saxons were also supplied painted.

Hinton Hunt

2006-04-10T04:20:00.000-07:00

In all years as a wargamer and pro painter I had never actually seen a Hinton Hunt figure. Now I've just finished an order for some. The infantry are actually all 1815 Belgian flank company figures. You can tell by the shoulder wings, cuff flaps and lack of jacket lace. However the client wanted them painted up as British and Belgian and I was happy to oblige. The figures really show their age compared to new ones. The detail is not as good and the mould lines are really bad. They painted up quite well though.

Norman hunting

2006-04-07T02:53:00.000-07:00

Played Darrell's Normans last night.
What a game, first one side had the upper hand then the other.
Early on lot's of warband tests being failed by the Scots led to little movement as the units ran into the back of screening skirmishers. A sweeping move round my right by a Stipendarii unit was supported by some Doer-chele. Darrell countered by advancing with his whole line. I failed a few more warband tests but forgot the shieldwall for my stationary units and continued the flanking manouvre. Darrell then failed a warband for a Viking unit and had to wheel to face my nearest unit, some poor Doer-chele, he moved some Liberi skirmishers to cover the flank of the Vikings. The rest of his force advanced. I charged some Coloni on the right flank with a unit of Doer-chele,beat them and did not catch them. They rallied next turn and were charged again beaten again and run down. Back in the center I went for it and charged the Liberi with a Soer-chele unit, beat them, didn't run them down and wacked into the flank of the Vikings. I also charged the unit of Doer-chele into the Vikings but they were too scared of those Northmen. They ran for it but later rallied, right in front of a Soer-chele unit that failed it's warband test twice but could not move because of the Doer-chele in front of it. His Liberi ended up partially screening my pursuing unit. He charged his general's Milites into my flank and declared a supporting charge with the other Milites unit which was blocked by his Liberi. I prayed they would rally and stop the second charge but no luck there. Both his units hit me luckily only the ASB and 3 figures, with those blasted warhorses, I then hit his Vikings and then the survivors hit back. Well I lost and broke causing another Soer-chele unit to run too. They rallied later in the game. He did did not catch me with the Vikings and held his 2 Milites units. There was anther melee between the third Milites unit and a Soer-chele unit but it was a draw even after the roll off. This melee lasted for 2 turns before I got a really good hit in with my troops and left him with only 2 figures.
Back in the centre His General's unit charged some Doer-chele archers but they did not flee far enough and the cavalry were left about an inch from my Red ShieldsToisech. Well I charged them in and Darrell fled. 3 dice later he moved 6" and I ran him down. My Stipendarii on the left mowed down some Coloni skirmishers and pursued into the flank of the second Viking unit, these were run down after one round of combat. The right flank Stipendarii had moved through the wood and linked up with the victorious Soer-chele unit, both hit his last Milites unit which had moved over from the centre. Well I won the combat not by much but the milites were so scared of these raving Scotsmen they broke off the table. Game over but not forgotten.
I'm sure Darrell will get his revenge sometime but for the moment I'm glad to be playing David Imrie next week.

Post disaster

2006-04-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

The miniatures pictured were to sent to me for rebasing. Unfortunately the Post Office did not take care of them. These have now been fixed and they will be winging their way to the owner when the rest of the order is ready.
Jack

Cold and wet Thursday

2006-03-30T02:40:00.000-08:00

It's a cold and wet Thursday here in Edinburgh.
I'm trying to set up this newfangled thing called a blog. Not easy for someone the wrong side of 50 and limited PC experience. All this in between redecorating the kitchen, working on 5 different orders for clients and getting my miniatures ready of tonight's game.
Such is life, never enough time for the fun things.