Colore ton Monde: Avril/April Cleaning up the Clutter.

The results from March's painting challenge are now online (post of my entry here), and can be found here.  Also, this is a call out to anyone who wants to participate. The Club Chaos blog and Colore ton Monde challenge may be based in Montreal, but they are open to anyone who wants to enter. So, if you want to join in, please do!

This month's Colore ton Monde is a play on the spring clean from a year ago:

C'est le printemps, on fait le ménage dans nos vieilles traîneries

Pour le mois d'avril, nous vous invitons à peindre un VIEUX modèle. Fouillez vos tiroirs pour la figurine la plus ancienne de votre collection, ou à défaut, au moins celle que vous possédez depuis le plus longtemps.

It's spring time, time to clean out the clutter.

For the month of April, we invite you to paint an OLD model. Rake around in your drawers for the oldest figure in your collection, or at least one you have had for a long time.

The oldest figures I have in my current collection would be those I brought over with me. These include the starter box for Khador, and Eiryss, which I bought at Claymore a long time ago. Of those, Sorcsha and Eiryss are only half painted. Otherwise, on the same outing, I bought these Samurai. Don't ask me why, I have no gaming use for them, and I didn't the either. It's just an era I'm interested in.

They came as a box of 6, and I don't remember what company made them, but of the 6, 3 are undercoated, and at least one will be painted this month.

So, here we go...

Old Stuff Day

I really like the idea of Old Stuff Day.  Originally the idea of Warhammer 39,999, March the 2nd is a chance to go through the back catalogue of your blog, find a post you feel is under appreciated, for what ever reason, brush it off, and bring it to the attention of your current readership.

Unfortunately, I was not able to blog yesterday, so I'm 1 day out, so sue me!

Ideas for posts that could be used are:

• Posts that you considered special that didn’t receive as much attention as you thought they deserved
• Content that people liked in the past, but haven’t seen recently
• Posts you might have created before your site received much traffic, and now deserve to be reshown
• Or any content you’re particularly proud of!

I think this year, I'll bring to the fore a collection of posts, on the free army I received from a very generous gamer in town. A 25mm army for the Italian Wars. If there are any of the readers who have joined since I first posted these, I'd be very happy if you had any information on the figures or the army.

Infantry 1
Infantry 2
Mounted
Personalities
 
I hope you enjoy this little blast from the past.

As an update to these minis from my end, no, I have not yet managed to game with them, but I have been in touch with some local historical gamers, so it's not impossible that it will come to pass.

Shopping spree

I had a long lunch today, and walked that little bit further out of town than my usual gaming store to the hobby store (Udisco). This is the warehouse sized place that sells all the other modelling stuff, whether it's model trains, planes. boats, RC cars, airplanes, helicopters, the works. They have a large (and I mean huge) selection of miniature soldiers in 1:72 and 1:35 scale. Up until my recent foray into historical minis, I have always gave this section a miss, but I decided to give this section a good browse.

In the end, I spent too much money in the place (I always do, but what they have is so reasonably priced compared to hobby stores), and came out with the following:

The Haul

Dead Trees

• box of dead trees
• box of 1:35 NATO tank ammo and boxes
• 2 packs of tree foliage (3 colours total)
• scenic long grass
• Bone saw with 2 blades (called a razor saw here)
• Water effect (same price as a small bottle in the games store for x10 the volume) this time it's the sculptable water effect rather than still water.
• 1 box 1/72 scale Mounted Samurai
• 1 box 1/72 Ashigaru-Yari

This may seem like completely random purchasing, but there's method to my madness, hear me out.

1/35 NATO 105mm shells

The dead trees are perfect for 28mm scenery and or bases, and the foliage will do them proud. Dead trees will go especially well on the kind of trench bases my current Khador seem to be based on. Go look at any WWI photography, dead trees everywhere in the trenches. The grass is great stuff, I already have some in a different colour, and going with the trench bases/scenery, the shell cases and boxes will fit right in. They did have some metal casings, but they seemed kind of skinny for what I wanted, and expensive (the sealed box meant I wasn't sure what the ones I bought were made from till I got them home. The razor saw was a bit of an extravagance. In theory, this will allow for better cleaner cutting for conversions. In practice, I'm a ways away from doing the kind of conversion that requires a razor saw.

Ok, so what are these made of?

 And the 1/72 Samurai? Yeah, that one is harder to justify, but I'll give them a post of their own to explain, and to showcase them.

Other freebies.

Some few of the miniatures I was given do not belong to the Italian wars army. As the gentleman told me, there were indeed some 25mm Saxons, and one solitary 15mm figure. There was also the intriguing gentleman shown to the left. My instinct is to suggest he is of Eastern extraction, but further than that I am loathe to call. Any ideas?

The Saxons may well be a start for a warband for Saga.

Renaissance Army: Personalities

Some of the miniatures were obviously command types. Like the guy to the left, he's surely the general. the others are there to add moral support, or just to bring the music.

Renaissance Army: Mounted

 Mounted figures. Mostly landsknechts I assume. I'm impressed by the painting of the barding. Each is individual.

Renaissance Army: Infantry II

The pikemen.  Lots of.

Renaissance army: Infantry I

Here's a picture of the box (click to enlarge), as it was handed to me. I went through it all last night, trying to put it into some kind of order, and figure out what went with what. It was mostly in order in terms of units, with some small number of individual figures left at the end that I'm unsure where to put. Thankfully, these have the look of leader types, and drummers/standard bearers, so I don't think it'll be too hard to put them somewhere useful.

Like I said, I went through them photographing what I have gained, and will stick them up here for 2 reasons. Firstly, that those in the know may tell me what I have got my grubby hands on (in terms of the units they represent, and possibly even the manufacturer), and secondly that I myself may have a record (as these have all been re boxed and put away at the back of the cupboard till I find a rule set, and more importantly, an opponent.

In general, they were all in good condition. Only a few pikes had fallen off, and from what I can tell only one or two are missing (and these are the smaller ones from the mounted javeliners). The painting was well done, for the most part to good tabletop standard, with a couple of flourishes here and there which raise the bar. The consistency of the painting, especially the stripes impressed me. I doubt I'll ever finish an army to this standard for sure.

Anyway, on to the pictures, the first batch at least (as always, click for larger pics).

25mm Renaissance Army

Here I have some more info, from the kind gentleman who gave me the minis, in response to some questions I sent him (links my own addition):

  

  "The army represents a European army of about 1525. This was the time of the Italian wars of which the Battle of Pavia is perhaps the best known engagement.

    The army consists of Spanish Tercios, which is basically pike blocks with sword and buckler infantry and some crossbow men or arquebusiers (early muskets). There are small mercenary units particularly Swiss pikemen and Landsknechts similar to the well known 'Black Band'. There are also some Italian state infantry.

    In the cavalry there are of course heavy knights and some special light Spanish cavalry carrying javelins.

    The War Games Research Group, Tercio rules were what I used to use but this was many years ago. I have not used them or played wargames for many years so I'm not much use for any contacts.

    The figures are all made of some kind of metal alloy. It's not lead it may in fact be some sort of pewter. I think you will find some odd Saxon figures in the box and even a couple of 15mm size figures. Oh and there is a mounted Bishop who used to go to battle particularly with Italian troops giving them a morale boost when nearby."

I can find no reference online to the Wargames Research Group 'Tercio' rules. As it is, their web presence is minimal (not a modern setup by any means). This means I may have to look into getting a copy of Pike & Shotte to run these guys with, as this seems to fall under the wars of the Tudors, which looks like the start of the period covered by these rules.


Quite a trove all in all.

(Links and pictures courtesy of Wikipedia)

Free 25mm Army/Armee 25mm a Donner

I got a message on a local forum a couple of weeks ago, asking if I was interested in a free 25mm army. I said yes, and was put in touch with a nice English chap, who had a 25mm renaissance army to give away. I jumped at the chance and after some to-ing and fro-ing about collecting them, I went over this afternoon to get them. I haven't had the chance to de-box them yet, but what I saw looked good.
The minor inconveniences of lack of space and time to play, lack of opponents, no previous knowledge of renaissance gaming (except for once having an Imperial army for warhammer Fantasy) will not be again mentioned.

Pics to follow, as I intend to give the box a good rummage this evening once the kids are abed.

All those with knowledge of the era, be ready to tell me what it is I have gotten into.

95th Rifles Tutorial

 As an additional post, mostly for me, as I currently have my paint scheme jotted down on a scrap of paper, that is sure to disappear the next time I'm looking for it. Here is a tutorial on how these guys are put together.

My first dilemma was how to base them. Most larger scale games require riflemen to be paired up at least. I was looking to be able to skirmish with them in battles of less than 10 men per side, at least to start, but I wanted the option of putting them together on a larger base in the future if need be. This is more so the case the for French Infantry I got to fight against them.
 I solved this by getting the smallest bases I could get my hands on for a reasonable fee. 1c each to be precise, as they are based on pennies. On top of this, I have a mix of sand and Polyfilla. Simple, cheap, and I think very effective.

 Next, the paint scheme. I undercoated in grey, as I didn't want to go to black, in case it was too hard to see the dark green on top. Next, I do my base colours, let them dry, give a lavish coating of inks, then highlight to taste.

Colour choice as follows:

95th Rifles

1993. I had just started university. I had been into role-playing for a very long time, and had done my share of wargaming, mostly fantasy/sci-fi, but I hadn't touched on the historical stuff. I had yet to try fencing, but to be sure, the swashbuckling gene was there. I had a very faint Idea who Wellington and Napoleon were, but my interest in the Napoleonic era was faint to non-existant.

Me and my Brother sat down to flick through the channels on the TV one evening, to see what we could find to hold our interest, not holding our breath. Then we saw Sean Bean swagger on screen, and were totally fixated for the next 2 hours (2 hours!).

The historical drama series 'Sharpe' was likely a gateway to many of my generation of historical gamers, and as such, you'll be hard pushed to find a painting blog that doesn't contain at least a few minis from the 95th rifles hidden in their galleries. Why shoudl this one be any different?

As I previously mentioned, I picked up a couple of Perry riflemen free with a magazine, then went online to buy a few more. Of course I had to find a range that would supply a version of the man himself. I though Front rank's range was consistently of good quality, and although their Rilfeman Captain with Rifle (not standard issue, for swashbuckers only) may not be in the most dynamic pose (and not carrying a heavy cavalry sabre), he fits the bill.

I went on to find myself a skirmish rules set, and settled on Ganesha Games 'Songs of Drums and Shakoes'. This seemed to have the right mix of RPG elemets and Skirmishing rules, that can easily be adapted for a more swashbuckling feel. To act as the dastardly French in my scenarios, I picked up a box of Perry Miniatures French Line infantry. As is par for the course, I have yet to play a game.

Onwards to the pictures.

Napoleon WIP

As part of my recent painting stint, I chose a bunch of Napoleonic minis I had kicking around in the old pile of metal for quite some time. I've mostly been doing my riflemen for use in a skirmishing game, but to give me a break from the green, I picked up a little vignette of Napoleon. This mini was released as part of the Wargames Illustrated 'Moments in History' vingettes, but my FLGS had one of each in stock. I figured this one was one that fitted an era I was likely to play, and even if I never used him in a big battle as a commander, I could always use him as an objective marker in a smaller game.

Furthermore, as it's the 200th anniversary of the battle of Borodino, a painting by Vasily Vershchagin's of which the little big man's pose is taken from (see above). I figured it was a timely mini to paint. As always, click for bigger pictures.

Sneak Peak: 95th Rifles

I've been getting down to some proper painting over the last few weeks, at least an hour or two every week! Yes, I am fully aware this is not very much, but I've been trying to speed up my painting by going for what is essentially a dip style. Base coat - Devlan Mud - Highlight. I'm actually quite impressed with the results. A teaser of which is posted here. I'll for sure be going back to many of my uncompleted units for various games to get them completed much faster than I previously would have.

The models I chose to go with are the ubiquitous 95th. A couple of years back, Wargames Illustrated gave away a free pair of perry Riflemen with the magazine, which in turn prompted me to go online and get them some company. I chose Fronk Rank Miniatures, partly because of the figure in the centre of this picture, but more on him later.

I don't have access to all the pics I took, but I think this one's a good start to show them off. I'm particularly proud of the numbering on the back of the pack. I'll update with the rest shortly.

Caledonian Highlander Army WIP

Here's the WIP shot of the Caledonian Highlander Army I'm working on. The SAS  has been quickly finished to less than table- top, but is the most complete. Next up is my piper/medic for my Caledonian Volunteers. The mini is Piper Bill Millin, from the Warlord Bolt Action range, but he fits in perfectly with the scale. I would have prefered if he were wearing a glengarry, like the rest of his squadmates, but I can live with the beret as I have yet to source heads wearing glengarries. I'd also like to add a rifle, like his comrades, just to bring the mini up to the same tach level as the rest of the group, but I don't really think it'll be an issue, afterall, the Highlanders in this game seem a little behind the times technologically speaking. Also, from my limited exposure to the game, the mini doesn't have to replicate exactly the arms he is allegedly equiped with in game. A red cross on one of his packs and we're good to go.

You can see I've started to try the tartan on the volunteer on the far right of the threesome. They'll be wearing government issue, or Black Watch tartan. I found a neat little tutorial on how to paint it and other tartans here. I think I'll be using my fine point marker for the black lines, to tidy up the join between blue and greed, and also to keep the line uniform. However, there's a sheen to the marker pen from some angles I'll have to work around. Maybe a layer of matt varnish at the end to tone it down.

 

Hawk of the Flame

Here are some old pics of a conversion I was rather happy with. I took a Daughter of the Flame body, a sculpt I was always happy with, and added Hawks arms. The Hawk mini always left me a little cold. She was this kick ass swords-mistress, and yet her guard always seemed off. I think sticking her arms on this body works well to fix this.

The conversion isn't so much a conversion as an arm swap. but I think it works.

She's painted up to fit in with my Amon Idrian list. Not that I felt Hawk would ever fit in this list, but that was the only Menoth I had when I decided to make this conversion. I don't think she's ever seen the table.

I was never convinced by the MKI rules for the daughters. I hear MKII did them proud, but I haven't yet got round to trying them out. With the new Caster, solo, and even a character jack, I'd love to run a Daughters list. Maybe, this version of Hawk would even see the table in that army. Then again, maybe not.

Rourke's Drift

Don't throw those bloody spears at me!

It may be a bit of a pipe dream, but wargaming Rourke's drift has always been something I've hankered after. That dream has come one step closer now, due to the magnificent Warlord Games, in conjunction with Empress Miniatures. They have released 2 affordable box sets of Rourke's Drift. One basic, and one deluxe. The recent increase in availability of plastic minis making this whole thing possible. Packs like this one even maye the running of the Battle of Isandlwana withing the budget of even a small gaming group.

Of course, that still leaves the current lack of people to play against, but like I say, one step closer