It's been a very long time ....... but I've got something finished!

I've not posted anything since mid-June, because I've been away on holiday and also because I had no urge to paint things. Still, I did pick up a brush again and I've finished off a nice command base for my 28mm Warhammer Fantasy-themed army for Midgard. Here it is;

Hopefully, people will remember that I posted the idea for this ages ago (it seems) and here are the results. He is very much based on the Elector Count of Averland, Marius Leitdorf and he will be my army commander and chief hero for my Averland-styled Midgard army, so it seemed a good idea to base him up with the army's battle standard. The standard bearer is a Wargames Atlantic renaissance armoured cavalryman mounted on a plastic Perry barded horse from the WotR mounted men-at-arms box.

I'm reasonably happy with the outcome, they definitely pass the  "one metre away" test, i.e. they'll look fine on the table.

I posed the figures in front of a Jon Hodgson Handiwork Games background.

Now, having got my painting mojo working, I really need to get on with some troops for Count Marius to lead.
 

I don't usually do WIP posts but here is one today

I'm working on a fantasy army for Midgard using Wargames Atlantic Conquistadors. 

This chap below will be its general.

He is kitbashed from a Perry War of the Roses horse and horse armour, a Wargames Atlantic Renaissance mounted body and arms and a Warlord Games Landsknecht head. Since taking this picture, I have cleaned up the blemishes from where things were attached to sprues and he's ready for undercoating.

The fantasy army in question will be based upon a Warhammer Empire Averland force, so I think that the inspiration for the general is fairly obvious. In case you aren't familiar with Warhammer Fantasy, the original is this guy below;

He is the Elector Count of Averland, Marius Leitdorf. My figure is going to keep the black armour and red and yellow sleeves and also the metallic blue horse armour, but I'm definitely not painting suns on it.

I'm hoping he will look pretty good once completed. I'll probably undercoat him later today.

I'm still painting up the first few groups of his infantry, but none are near completion yet.

An Outlaw band plus a Big Surprise (at the end of the post)

I've been working on these, on and off for the last couple of weeks. The figures are from the Oathmark Human Light Infantry box but I've used them to create a band of outlaws to use in Never Mind The Ruckus games.

First; two groups of bowmen;

Next, a group of men with spears and staves;

And next, two leaders and a mysterious Black Knight (don't Outlaw legends always have one of these?);

As I said above, these are all Oathmark figures, except the Black Knight who is from the Perry Men-at-arms on Foot plastic set.

I like the figures, even though they don't look particularly historically accurate. They definitely look like something from a film.

So, as legendary screen outlaws living in the woods, green has to dominate their wardrobe choices and therefore these are the Men of the Holly Wood (and they are all wearing tights too), in which case, the Black Knight has to be Sir Antony Courtois of Falworth (even though he isn't carrying his black shield.

I could easily use these guys as Rangers of the Dunedain too or for Rangers of Shadowdeep. There are plenty more of these in the box to be made up, so I have lots of options here. I think more Dunedain might be a small project, but probably not in green.

Now, for the Big Surprise;

Yes, it is the last Giant Spider from the Wargames Atlantic box set. I had thought I'd lost the head and thorax but I was tidying up all my computer and other cables and found it on the floor under my desk. I decided to paint this one in a completely different colour scheme, and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Here is Big Spidey with an outlaw for scale;

All of the pictures feature a backdrop from one of my Handiwork Games Jon Hodgson backdrop books.

Even more Austrians; extra fusiliers and lots of Landwehr.

I've been working away on my Napoleonic Austrians over the last few weeks, and now, I have finished all the infantry.

The photo above is a final group of eight fusiliers from the 57th Regiment, this time wearing forage caps, with an NCO as part of the group, rather than a separate leader figure. I decided to make them look different in case I needed a group of sentries or a small garrison for a specific scenario.

The next three photos are all Landwehr;

The Landwehr were militia, raised by the various provinces of the Austrian empire (apart from in Hungary, where different rules applied). In Sharp Practice, militia are represented in groups of 10 figures and are generally not particularly good troops, which certainly sums up the Austrian Landwehr in the period after 1808 when they were first raised. They were poorly equipped, poorly trained and led mainly by retired officers called back to the colours. This is represented in SP by having them cheap and without any special qualities when it comes to shooting. They are also disadvantaged in fisticuffs.

However, the Landwehr was reconstituted in 1813 and made up the fourth battalion of regular infantry regiments. This meant, in theory at least, that they would get at least some military training.

You will note that the drummer and standard bearer in the first picture are on 2cm square bases. This is to allow me to field 32 Landwehr infantry in four groups of eight, representing the 1813 establishment or three groups of ten with a separate drummer and standard for the earlier period.

I pained these in a kind of generic Landwehr uniform with green facings. They don't represent any particular historical formation. I also decided that the NCOs would have white belts rather than black, to make them stand out more, and the senior NCO also has white breeches.

Once again, all these figures are Perry Plastics in 28mm.

Lots more (18) Perry plastic men-at-arms on foot

I actually painted these a fair while ago but never got round to finishing off their bases. Then, when I did get the basing done, the atmosphere was damp, so I was worried that the varnish would go all foggy. Here are the first group;

Their flag, according to the Perry insert in the box is a French one, but it doesn't really matter what it represents. I chose it because I think the dark colours on the flag suits their dark armour quite nicely.

Here are the other half-dozen I finished off;

I now have a ridiculously large number of heavily-armoured dismounted men-at-arms, easily enough for several retinues for Lion Rampant, but it does mean that my 15th century army looks pretty impressive in overall terms, and it also means that I can field forces for very large games, probably enough for both sides!

Carts!

I have had these two carts for ages. I bought them from Warbases at Colours back in 2019. I thought it was time to finish them off.

 

As you can see, one is a water cart and the other is for ammunition. As I said, I bought them from Warbases, who also provided the horses, but you need to buy them separately, they don't come as a kit. I've got another cart from Warbases somewhere, which I'll make sometime but I don't currently have any draft animals for it. The tufts are from Gamer's Grass and the base texturing is AK Terrains Dark Earth gunk.

I decided to make the bases look like a spot of rough going, because it adds interest, hence the luxuriant grass and foliage.

I've posed them with Austrian pioneers here, but they will be useful for lots of different 28mm armies. Ammunition and water carts are useful support options in Sharp Practice.

The rest of my Austrian Fusiliers

Here are the last three groups of my Austrian Napoleonic Fusiliers;

So, I now have six groups of eight figures, which is a pretty large force in Sharp Practice terms once you have added in Leaders, skirmishers and possible support options.

Obviously I don't have to use them all in a game, but it does give me various options. For example, I could field two equal commands of three groups with a couple of leaders each and bulk things out up to around 85 points with different additions, perhaps some Grenzer skirmisher groups of six, or maybe Landwehr militia groups of ten. Cavalry would also be an option. It all depends on the scenario.

I am pretty pleased with how they look and that is it as far as like troops goes, but I've just started work on three groups of Grenzer.

 

More Austrians

Here are some more Austrians for my Sharp Practice project;

 

These are three NCOs, who will be Status I leaders in Sharp Practice and below are the three Pioneer figures I mentioned previously.

As I said before I'll have to find a use for these. I suppose I could use them as part of a work party for specific tasks, maybe just escorting wagons or as characters in a scenario. 

Finally, below is a third group of eight Fusiliers;

A note here about how I painted the white uniforms. The figures were all undercoated with Tamiya pale grey spray. The uniforms were painted in with slightly-diluted Vellejo ivory and once the figures were painted given a wash with Army Painter Quickshade acrylic Soft Tone, the stuff in the dropper bottles not the tinned one. This took the bright edge off of the ivory white and added depth around the belts and straps on the figures. I think it worked out pretty well.

A new project! 28mm Napoleonic Austrians

I first had the idea of an Austrian force for Sharp Practice ages ago, back in 2019 but I didn't do anything about it until 2021, once I'd got round to buying an initial tranche of Perry figures. Even then, they sat around in a pile of other boxes until this summer. Here are my first completed figures;

I like to start off with leaders when I am working on a Sharp Practice project, so here are two company officers, the Hauptmann on a larger base with a standard bearer so he sticks out, an Oberleutnant, a separate Fähnrich (standard bearer) and a drummer.

Next, two groups of German Fusiliers (Perry doesn't do plastic Hungarian troops) so I was denied the chance to paint Fusiliers wearing nice sky blue Hungarian trousers.

My project will have a total of six groups of eight Fusiliers, officers and NCOs, all from the 57th Regiment, which had mauve (officially described as "pale red") facings and yellow metal buttons. I've been working on these solidly for two weeks now and are all painted. I'll do another couple of posts about them soon.

I actually bought two boxes of infantry and an extra command sprue, which gave me enough bodies to do a separate unit of Landwehr in four groups of ten if I field them as Militia or five groups of eight if I want to use them as an 1813-15 regimental fourth battalion, which was comprised of Landwehr. There will also be leaders, obviously. These are undercoated so I'll get round to them soon.

The command sprues also contain pioneers with aprons, so I have three of these too. I don't really have any specific use for these, but each company had one pioneer. I've painted them up and I'm sure I'll find a use for them, maybe in specific scenarios. 

I also bought some metal Grenzers to use as skirmishing troops. I have enough of those for three groups of six plus a couple of leaders. These are also undercoated and will be my priority now that all the Fusiliers are done.

In addition I have a box of Chevaulegers, which are glued together but not yet undercoated and another of Hussars (so pretty, I just had to get some). To round things off I bought some Eagle Miniatures Jägers which I will probably use as rifle-armed Landwehr Schützen. The figures aren't strictly accurate for Austria as they aren't wearing gaiters, but they will look fine when painted.

This has turned into a much bigger project than originally planned, but that is always the way, isn't it?

Another two dozen halberdiers finished!

Thanks to a dry morning today, I've managed to varnish my remaining 24 halberdiers;

Once again, these are all Perry plastic figures and the first dozen represent a well-equipped group of heavily-armoured halberdiers, probably a retinue force belonging to an important military leader or maybe a group of professionals from a condottiere's company.

I was originally going to give them a simple red/white livery but decided to add some blue to the palette to brighten them up a bit.

One of the things I really like about these Perry figures is the wide range of variations you can get from a single box, and the even more wide range of figures you can get when you add in bits and pieces from the other box sets.

I've given the final twelve a red/black colour scheme. 

I've decided to call them the Rossoneri (look it up if you don't understand this). Perhaps they might be a group of well-equipped mercenaries from Milan? I've given them a standard-bearer, too. I think it adds a nice variation. The banner is plain red. I was going to give it black stripes but forgot to do it. I might go back and add them in because I think it would be more striking.

So. I have almost finished my project. All that I have left to finish off are the men-at-arms on foot I mentioned previously. I think I'll do something else in between working on them as a break from all that plate armour.

Twelve Canton of Uri halberdiers

I've been working on lots more Perry plastics for my Renaissance project.

These are Swiss halberdiers, once again painted in the yellow and black of the Canton of Uri, led by a fully-armoured chap with a standard who is accompanied by a herald with a brass horn.

These figures are from the War of The Roses Infantry box, as were the longbows I've posted previously. I have another 24 halberdiers/billmen to finish off and then all that I have left are more dismounted Men-at-Arms. To be honest, I think that my army has too many of those and not enough cheaper troops, but the Perry Foot Knights box contains a large number of figures (38 to be precise).

Once again, these are going to be useful for Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant, Saga AoM and Never Mind The Billhooks.

Two dozen more 15th century longbowmen

 I finished these off yesterday evening. 24 more Perry plastic longbowmen;

I hadn't planned on getting these all finished yesterday, but I ended up with some free time yesterday evening and got them based and varnished.

Once again I haven't followed any specific historically-accurate colours for their livery, preferring to go with what I thought would look good on the table. I've also gone for some slight variations in the actual reds and greens chosen on both sets so that although there is a unifying theme, neither set looks like they are wearing identical "uniforms". I have given them all crosses on their liveries again, in case I want to link them to my condottiere's Papal force.

As with the previous set, these have lots of possibilities; Never Mind The Billhooks, Lion Rampant, Saga: Age of Magic etc.

I am really pleased how this renaissance project is shaping up. Now on with the halberdiers. One group of 12 will be in the black and yellow of Uri, but I'm not sure what colour I'll paint the other 24.

15th century longbowmen

These are more Perry plastics, from the WoTR Infantry box.

I bought two boxes of these, so that I could have three groups of 12 bowmen and the same of billmen/halberdiers. This was to enable me to field forces for the Never Mind The Billhooks rules, as well as for Lion Rampant and also as a Great Kingdoms force for Saga: Age of Magic.

I wasn't too concerned about the livery here. I decided to use a colour palette that pleased me rather than something historically accurate. I think that green and yellow look good together.

I am hoping that they might find a space in my 15th century Italian condottiere's band. I think that bows were used in the Italian states in the period, as well as in France and Burgundy too.

I have two more sets of archers to complete, with different liveries, and then I'll move on to the guys with sharp things on sticks.

I also have 18 more dismounted men-at-arms to paint too, but all that plain metal armour is quite boring to paint.

 

More renaissance infantry - mercenary men-at-arms on foot

More Perry plastics, this time a mixture of armoured types mostly from the Foot Men-at-arms box, but with a few from the European Mercenaries set to bulk it out.

As you can see, they aren't all fully armoured and they are equipped with a mixture of weapons, mostly with swords. I wanted to give them the appearance of a hard-bitten bunch of experienced mercenaries who might not be from the upper echelons of society but who can be relied upon to do the dirty work for whoever pays them the most.

Their standard is a Burgundian one, so perhaps they might be a remnant of the army of Charles the Bold that was destroyed by the Swiss at the Battle of Morat in 1476. I like the blue and yellow colour scheme I've chosen, which sets off the red crosses rather well, I think. 

I am pretty happy that I have got this 15th century project back on the rails. My next step will be to create another, final group of dismounted men-at-arms and then create a number of groups of billmen/halberdiers and archers using the Perry Wars of the Roses Infantry boxes. There will be a lot of glueing involved, but I have made a start on it already.

More renaissance troops have arrived

Twelve more crossbowmen, to be precise, again all Perry plastics.

I decided to give these a blue and white colour scheme, with red crosses to denote that they were working for the Papal army. Of course, blue and white was also a colour scheme associated with the Duchy of Burgundy, so maybe they could be Burgundian mercenaries recruited to serve in my condottieri's band? 

In any case, it doesn't really matter, it is just nice to see a few more troops finished for the project.

I now also have three groups of twelve missile troops who could be an interesting component of a Saga: AoM Great Kingdoms army.

Back to an old project - my Renaissance Condottieri

It has been ages since I've worked on this project, but I really wanted to get back to it.

My first finished figures are six more Swiss handgunners from the Canton of Uri, which gives me a total of 12 now. You can see the original six here, but you'll have to scroll down to find them.

Clearly these are more Perry plastic figures from the European Mercenaries 1450-1500 box set.

These can fit in easily as troops for Lion and Dragon Rampant, Saga Age of Magic (in a Great Kingdoms force) and also Never Mind The Billhooks, which wasn't part of my plans back in 2019 but most certainly is now.

Renaissance mounted men-at-arms

I had two Perry plastic 28mm men-at-arms bodies and horses left over from my Condottieri project and, as I want to be able to use my Papal mercenary band as a Great Kingdoms force for Saga: Age of Magic, I decided to make the figures up and use them as Paladins, a kind of Hero with enhanced abilities when fighting Monsters and units of Creatures. However, I also wanted to keep them looking realistic, so that I might be able to use them in more conventional settings, and here they are.

As you can see, I have chosen a simple blue and yellow colour palette for the two figures, allowing them to stand out against the red/white and yellow/black appearance of the rest of the Condottieri/Great Kingdoms army. I've also given them grey horses and blue steel and brass finished armour. They are far from outlandish-looking, so they won't be out of place in a historical game, but they are still quite distinctive and will look "special" on the table.

Papal crossbowmen

Here are the next results of my 2020 painting campaign. At the moment, I am still clearing the decks of things I started last year, before starting on my projects for the next twelve months.

These crossbowmen are the last of the figures I'd made up for my long-running Papal Condottiere company. That isn't to say I have no more of these excellent Perry plastic figures, just that the rest are still attached to their sprues (except for a final two mounted figures who I will be revealing in the near future).

I chose, once again, to use  a red and white livery to keep the theme going and these will be useful for my planned Saga: Age of Magic Great Kingdoms army, as well as for Lion Rampant etc.

I'll be giving the Italian 15th century a rest for a while, but I will revisit it later this year, not least because I want to do six more Swiss handgunners (in black and yellow) and a dozen more crossbowmen, the latter with pavises. I'll probably do some more pikes as well. These latter two may well be in another colour scheme, to suggest a different contingent of the Papal army. At the moment, I am considering blue and yellow, but I'll probably change my mind at some point before I start on them.

My Condottiere (plus a few more Swiss)

At long last, I have finally finished off the commander of my Renaissance Papal band, the condottiere himself, accompanied by his gonfaloniere, or standard bearer with the Papal banner, blessed by His Holiness himself, no doubt.

I've also got around to finishing off six handgunners for the band, who are wearing the livery of the Canton of Uri, as are some of the band's pikemen and halberdiers.

If I deploy these guys in Lion Rampant, I will just use them as bidowers, because that will keep things nice and simple. I have six more handgunner bodies that aren't made up yet, so this also gives me the opportunity of filling their number out to make a larger 12-man unit, which means I could use them are firearm levies for a Great Kingdoms warband for Saga: Age of Magic.

I am still looking at the 12 undercoated crossbowmen, thinking that I really should get working on them, but I also have a load of 28mm Napoleonic Portuguese line infantry to get done before hte beginning of February. I cannot decide on the colour scheme for the crossbowmen, though, but I think they need to be red and white really.

At last! Back to the Condotta.

I haven't posted anything about my Papal Condottieri force since the end of May, which is half a year ago, and far too long. What can I say though? Other things jumped the queue and took up all the space on my painting list.

Anyway, I have now finished off a group of twelve Romagnol pikemen, including a leader with a banner and a musician.

The Romagna is a region of Italy to the north of Rome and was in the later mediaeval and renaissance periods usually under Papal rule as part of the Papal States. the name Romagna is derived from the Latin Romania, meaning "land ruled by Romans".

The region was almost constantly at war and parts of the Romagna were at various times ruled by Venice and Florence. It is often claimed the the best Italian pike-armed troops came from the Romagna. Cesare Borgia carved out his short-lived Duchy of Romagna in around 1500, but it didn't survive his downfall in 1504 and the Duchy was reabsorbed into the Papal States.

I have obviously chosen to paint these troops in the red and white livery that the majority of my Condotta troops, apart from the Swiss contingent are wearing.

Once again, these are all Perry plastic 28mm figures, which I really love to work with. They are nice sculpts, with plenty of variations and they paint up really well. In the pictures above, I have chosen to show them in a loose formation of two ranks and also in a tighter column.

I'll obviously be using these for Lion Rampant, but once again, they will also be suitable for Dragon Rampant and Saga: Age of Magic games.