More Plastic Napoleonics

Here is another of the Victrix 28mm plastic French Napoleonic infantry figures. I have done some work on this fellow to make him look suitably ragged so as to depict a soldier of the early Republic. I like the spoon in his bicorn, a nice touch.

Plastic 28mm Napoleonics

Continuing my introduction to 28mm hard plastic figures I have painted two from Victrix's 1804-1807 French infantry set. I painted them as soldiers from the revolutionary war era, although they could be just as easily be early Napoleonic apart maybe from the officers patriotic sash. I am most impressed with these figures, nicely detailed, well proportioned and they went together without a hitch. You get multiple head and arms choices on each sprue and the figures will be so easy to convert and enhance, which is something I will be doing in future.

Plastic Viking

Here is an image of a 28mm Wargames Factory hard plastic Viking Bondi that I purchased at Cancon 2011. I bought several boxes of these and wanted to paint one up to see what they looked like. As you can see the finished result is quite impressive. These fellows come with a great variety of options on each sprue; lots of different heads, arms and weapons. Quality hard plastic 28mm certainly has arrived on the wargames scene.

I would like to draw to the attention..

of the esteemed members and followers of this quality blog to the  existence of
http://golcondarising.blogspot.com/
.Well worth a visit.. and  GWZ is a blogger based in   Sydney..

Oliver Cromwell and the Saker Gun

Here are some images of my recent ECW efforts.  Below is the magnificently designed Saker cannon from Warlord Games- with an additional Master Gunner - of course! This was a pleasure to paint and I have not seen a gun or crew from this period to rival it.  This is the same as model depicted on the rear cover of the Field of Glory Renaissance rules. 

 Here is Oliver Cromwell in his glory.  Depicted in his earlier days, when he led the fearsome 'Ironsides' before he became "Lord Protector' or just a plain old megalomaniac! Oliver here is showing off his 'secret' or armoured skull cap. Once again, this was made by Warlord Games.  Below he is 'revving' up the troops for the charge- probably quoting revelations or some such! The figures in this lot are a mix of Redoubt and Essex with a couple of conversions and even one chap has a Prince August head!


Let's give those Cavaliers a taste of holy steel!



Chins up lads!

CHAAARGE!

Looking for Bill!

Here is the GW Witch King of Angmar a.k.a the Lord of the Nazgul, not at all a very nice guy. He is no doubt out searching for the freshly painted Bill the Pony as he does not like nice things. I tarted this fellow up by the addition of a base which has two fallen heroes one from Gondor and one from Rohan. The skulls are there to make the big boy feel at home.

Bill and Barney Lead the Baggage Train

Every good army needs a baggage train.  Here is part of a project I have been working on.  The two figures have been in my collection waiting for a paint for almost two decades!

Bill The Pony

Bill the pony is the same one that followed the fellowship of the Lord of the Rings.  He is good friends with Sam and Tom Bombadil  and on occasion will carry baggage for the odd Pike and Shotte army!  He is a two piece casting and comes from the original Citadel miniatures range for the Lord of the Rings way back in 1885/6 when Citadel held the licence.  I'm surprised that I have kept him unpainted for so long!  Upon investigation on the Stuff of Legends site, I found that I have collected most of the figures in the seres and still have them! Here is a link to the  fellowship of the ring boxed set from which Bill came from.

'Barney' the Donkey and cart do not keep the same illustrious company as Bill.  They are about 21 years old. Originally, the cart came with a coachman with some outlandish blunderbuss, whom I still have tucked away in a box somewhere.  It is a great looking cart that can fit many periods.  Barney and the coachman (picture at the bottom of page)

Barney and Cart

As an aside, here is a stand from immortal's plastic Greeks set.  They are a lovely kit and a challenge to paint.  The waterslide transfers are very good.

Immortal Greeks

What does '11 hold for you and the hobby?

a pinched concept .. all the best one are .. I have the Prussian SYW project 28mm , the 900-1101AD project 28mm and I am  awaiting 3 boxes of Normans as I type, anybody after 33 Gripping beast Normans unpainted? ($90); The now grandly titled "The Pike and Shotte" project, 28mm figs and a good fast play rules; The Sylvanan Incident (18th C pulp adventure based on Peckinpah's Major Dundee); revitalise Wings of War..a mini campaign? Complete the Armies of Gluckheinm ,Dachsdortf and Bieberhof.., finish my railway bridge and get in more WWII games; Napoleonics?..think about the Decline of the West Project...look at my boxes of plastic Hoplites;.paint some nice fantasy ..sort out the Dreadnought thing;.contemplate where I am going with life  and...and more TANKS...many more TANKS and ..

http://passageoflines.50.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1788

Zulu Close up

Here is a close up of one of the 28mm hard plastic figures I have done for the Isandlwana game. This is an Induna of the iNolondo regiment. I have done some extra work on this fellow adding body and leg decorations, two feathers for his headdress, leopard skin headdress, beard and opened his mouth. I am certainly not taking this much time with the majority of figures but for specials such as the Indunas I will make an extra effort. I used green stuff for the body and leg decoration, plastic rods for the feathers. I have a pyrogravure which is a hot needle tool for working with plastic. In the past I was a keen maker of Historex figures and used the pyrogravure for super detailing these. I used the pyrogravure to rough up the feathers and add the beard as well as open the mouth.

10,000 Zulus!

Finished the 100th stand of Zulus this evening. At five figures per stand that makes 500 figures or at the scale of 1 figure equals 20 actual men 10,000 Zulus. This is half the number I will need for the Isandlwana game at Cancon 2012. When compared to the 84 British/NNC figures who will oppose them it will certainly be a very visual lesson to anyone who sees the game of just what the lads of the 24th faced that day back in 1879.

Zinnfiguren William Tell

Something a little bit different. Here is a very nice Zinnfiguren 'flat' of William Tell and his son I painted a long time ago. I bought this back in 1989 at the Zinnfiguren Museum in Goslar Germany as an experiment, never having painted a 'flat' before. The figure is about 75mm tall and cast in one piece. I must say that the figure itself is beautiful, the casting faultless and the detail amazing. Painting it was very much an artistic exercise and akin to painting an image onto canvas or paper and I used many of the techniques one uses when doing just that. I must say that I really enjoyed painting this figure and that the end result was a very nice display piece indeed. I am tempted to seek out some more of these Zinnfiguren especially the larger scale ones. By the way if you are ever in Germany and can get to Goslar do so. The Zinnfiguren Museum is an amazing place. They have several floors crammed packed with dioramas with thousands of painted figures. Many of the dioramas depict Frederick the Greats battles and are amazing in their detail and numbers of figures used.

The Master Gunner and the Priest

Below are a few little projects that I have been working on over the last couple of days.  I am currently putting together my artillery and baggage trains for my ECW armies and here is a taste of what is to come!

A Saker Cannon.  This was an Essex Rennaisance Cannon.  I liked the size of it, particularly the barrel, but the wheels were too primitive (4 spoked) for this period.  I replaced teh wheels with some GW ones I had sitting around and it fits the period perfectly! 

The Master Gunner is a superb metal figure from Warlord games. Many of their metal figures from the Pike and Shotte range are exceptional in terms of detail, proportion, accuracy and character.  Master gunners were valued personel, a mix of scientist and artist.  Despite the innacuracy and unpredictable nature of these big guns, the men that oversaw them were highly regarded. One contemporary account declares that in the absence of the high command that the artillery shall assume the role! This guy sits with one knee on the gun as he sights it up to let it go!

This priest is just the man to whip the irish brigade boys into a Papist frenzy!  He is a very old Citadel miniature.  I have added the crook to pull any lost lambs back into the fold!

MORDOR

An earlier pic of some of my Orcs but this time photoshopped to make it look like Mordor ... just to make the lads feel more at home!

The Cardinal's Painting Gallery: Foundry Landsknechts

The Cardinal's Painting Gallery: Foundry Landsknechts

ORCS COME A CALLING

I have been rebasing my Orcs and thought you might like to see some of the lads. One of these days I will just have to let these fellows loose on the table top! Maybe against the Zulus! Some Reaper figures and quite a few Mega Miniatures. MM are not bad figures. Quite well sculpted, not at all cartoonish and very reasonably priced.

ZULUS SIR ... THOUSANDS OF THEM!

A glimpse of my growing horde of Zulus being prepared for the Isandlwana game at Cancon 2012. The figures are all Wargames Factory 28mm hard plastic. There are currently 85 stands each with five figures. At one figure equals twenty this represents 8500 Zulus, about 12,000 short of the number that took part in the battle at Isandlwana. When completed there will be 200 stands of Zulus. If I decide to include the Zulu lads who did not get involved in the fight at Isandlwana and out of frustration went on to annoy the garrison at Rorkes Drift that will be 240 stands.

TRULY 'ANCIENT' GAULS

Now here is a real treasure from the archive's of wargaming's past. These are original old 25mm Ancient Gaul Minifigs ca.1970. They are part of a collection that belonged to an old friend which he had discarded years ago. I found them a few years ago in some disrepair at the bottom of a box full of books and rescued them. There are over 100 infantry, 50 cavalry and 15 Chariots. All are painted in classic wargames style i.e. with Humbrol paint, basic colors and many with gloss paint. 40 years ago these were state of the art in the wargames world and I recall seeing these fellows used many times on the table playing the original WRG Ancient rules - that is before the multitude of mind numbing amendments and WRG Editions began! I recently began to clean up these old fellows and rebase them so I can use them as a "cannon fodder" army for dark age and ancient battles using a set of rules I have written. It is plain to see that Wargames miniatures have come a long way since the days of these figures, but perhaps mostly for nostalgic reasons they still have their own charm. You also have to remember that with a hot dice they fight just as well if not better than the very flashiest of the modern day 28mm-30mm miniatures.

Against all Traitors! - The Strathbogie Regiment, Montrose and the Frame Gun

The Montrose forces were bolstered by the Strathbogie Regiment. At one stage, they were one of the best equipped regiments in Scotland, they began their life on the side of the Covenantors at the beginning of the the war and later joined Montrose to fight the Royalist cause.
Below are figures form the Warlords Games plastic box set painted in the colours of the Strathbogie regiment (which is pretty much hodden grey- the same as everyone else!) They flew a version of the Royal Colours with God save the King and "For God and the King and Against all Traitouris" emblazoned on it.  That would have really got up the nose of the Covenantors!

Here he is! The great Montrose Himself.  A Warlords game lead figure. He was an absolute treat to paint and will lead the army well!

A Scots frame gun.  Complete with leather clad barrels and the tar paint job.  Those Scots were sure big on practicality!