Down On The Farm With Bloody Miniatures

Four of these figures are farm labourers and the fifth (smoking a pipe and holding a blunderbuss) is from the BM Militant Tendency quartet;

I am sure that figures like these will find a place in all sorts of scenarios, possibly ones involving allegations of Witchcraft and consorting with Dark Spirits, as well as more mundane affairs. I think that the chap with the pipe looks like a farmer accompanied by four of his workers confronting a bunch of marauders or looters or maybe even just a group of passing dragoons who may or may not be up to No Good. You can just hear him; "Oi! You! Get orf moi land!"

Five more Bloody Miniatures - Flashing Blades and more

First, the three Flashing Blades and then two figures who could be leaders;

These three are from a group of four who are described as The King's Men, but I think that they look great as the kind of men who will willingly solve their problems with the point of a sword. I chose a predominantly blue palette for them as a change from all the buff coats, armour and uniforms I've mostly been using so far. Swashes are definitely going to be buckled, or maybe buckles will be swashed? Who knows?

The next two are less flamboyant but equally businesslike;

The figure on the left could quite easily be another Flashing Blade, except he looks a lot less flashy and somewhat more unforgiving. He has a definite tough officer look about him. I've painted the inside of his hat with a dark metallic colour, so that his hat looks like it is lined with a "secret", a head-protecting iron cap.

The guy on the right is a mysterious and sinister character, a spy or intelligencer, someone without scruples and an unswerving loyalty to The Cause, whatever it might be.

Bloody miniatures Looters and Ranters

My next four figures from Bloody Miniatures are two staples of the ECW (and other 17th century wars). First two looters;

There are actually four figures in the Looters set, but I am using the other two for something else. I've gone back to a green uniform and buff coat colour scheme that I've used on other figures previously, so they will fit in nicely.

The next two are from a set BM calls The Militant Tendency, but once again, I have other plans for the remaining two figures. I've chosen to call them Ranters after the English anti-Church and anti-State sectarians of the Commonwealth period. The Ranters denied the authority of churches, of scripture, of the current ministry and of services, instead calling on men to listen to the divine within them. (thanks, Wikipedia). I'm not intending to use them as Ranters, just as nice characterful additions to whatever forces I put together.

With the guy on the right, brandishing his bible I've gone with the green uniform again. The one on the left could quite easily be an officer urging his troops forward into the attack.

As ever, these are a joy to paint and I really cannot praise the qiality of both sculpts and casts highly enough.

Finally, I'm getting back to painting my Bloody Miniatures backlog

I am a huge fan of Bloody Miniatures small, but growing range of 17th century characters. I've already completed their first two sets of figures and now I am working on the third and fourth sets. Here are the first four;

As you can see these are four dismounted cuirassiers in their distinctive three-quarter armour. I think that these are terrific figures and I've painted them to be four troopers from a single regiment. I've given them "blackened" armour, because a) I like the look of it and b) it seems to have been a pretty common thing in the 17th century, supposedly to rustproof the steel plate. I chose blue sashes and red breeches because I think that the colours really help set off the armour nicely.

I've based them up with some Gamer's Grass tufts and my usual mix of grassy flock.

It is about a year since I last painted any of these lovely figures and it has been really enjoyable getting back to them. I've got another 28 to complete and them I will be up to date with all the ones I've bought. There is another set of 16 figures available on the Bloody Miniatures website. They are all Scots, lovely figures again, but I'm very worried about painting all that plaid! I will probably buy them, though. I'll just have to work on my painting technique. After that, there is another set in the pipeline which I really want to get my hands on. You can see them here.

Fifteen more Xenos Rampant figures completed

And these fifteen will be the last ones for a while. I need a change from sci fi so I can paint something different.

These were made using the 15 Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago plastic crew bodies I had left with Stargrave weapons and a few Stargrave headswaps.

I was originally going to paint them up as warriors from some kind of hot and sandy planet but I changed my mind because I wanted to paint something more colourful. Their baggy trousers suggested French 19th century Zouaves, so I went with a colour palette that would give them a Zouaves or Turcos/ Tirailleurs Algériens sort of vibe.

I'm not sure what they will end up being used as in gaming terms. Maybe they could be Xenos Rampant Light Infantry or even just Militia Rabble? I think they look to nice to be a Rabble, so perhaps they could be Pirates or Raiders of some kind, classed as Lights but with some buffing up.

Anyway, I like how they have turned out, so that is really all that matters.

Twenty Planetary Defence Force troops for Xenos Rampant

These 20 figures are all based on the Stargrave Mercenaries plastic box. I split them into four fire teams;

The first two fire teams will make one Increased Size squad and the next two will be another one.

Although I've given these a standard colour scheme, because they are supposed to be regular troops, you can see that they aren't all identically equipped. They have a variety of helmet types and also different styles of body armour. I think that this gives the impression of a kind of second division force, equipped as Heavy Infantry, but lacking the most up to date equipment.

I think that for Xenos Rampant I will use these as squads of 10 troopers but not give them refinements like Heavy Weapons or Armour Piercing ammunition. Therefore, they will be tough troops but lacking the punch of their better equipped equivalents in the front line units that can be deployed anywhere a threat emerges.

I am now getting quite close to finishing off all the plastic Stargrave figures I've stuck together, but I still have the Crew I and Crew II sets to work on at some point in the future. These are definitely not military types but will still be useful as some of the lesser troop classes in the Xenos Rampant rules.