Bohemian Pike & Shotte for the Thirty Years War

During my last visit to Greg's he showed me his Thirty Years War efforts using Warlord Games' 'Epic' range. As typical, his painting was fabulous, and they really looked the business all ranked up with an impressive hedge of pikes. I was so impressed by them that I wanted to give them a go myself as I was looking for any excuse to collect pike & shotte for this period. As Greg had already started in with the Imperialists, I suggested I give the Protestants a go, starting with the ill-fated Bohemians from the beginnings of the conflict.

I managed to find one of the all-in starter box sets on deep-discount, and so here are my first efforts with an infantry pike & shotte 'frame' from the range.

I like how shoulder-to-shoulder the troops are designed for each strip. I find this makes the painting of them a little easier. That being said, I thought it odd that the front rank of the pike figures are designed with a 45 degree action pose, whereas the shotte has been designed in marching, or at-rest attitudes. 

Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I started pillaging the commanded shotte portion of the frames (which are posed as loading and firing) in order to make the handgunners a little more dynamic, and thereby blending better with their active, pike-armed comrades. As this process was a little fiddly, I'll probably do this just for a few units, maybe to denote veteran status.  

I primed the strips dark brown and then drybrushed them light grey and finally white to help the Contrast paints to do their thing. I then went in with a small brush to pull-out some details and add further highlights. Similar to my other small-scale projects I only paint details on the front rank, keeping the following ranks fairly minimal from the shoulders down. I figure, there's no point painting stuff that nobody sees. I like the more desaturated look to the figures, but we'll see how the process holds up when I get more done down the road. I think I'll want around 10 of these units to make a creditable force.

As to basing, I wanted something a bit more flexible to work with different rulesets.  Warlord has their own 'Pike & Shotte' rules, which are a descendant of Rick Priestly's venerable but still excellent 'Warmaster' system. Those rules have each unit made up of four bases, allowing for various formations to be reflected depending on their arrangement. 

While this is great, our group also enjoys the 'Too the Strongest' rules (the 'For King and Parliament' variant for this period) where we've been having fun making-up single bases to depict units, allowing us to make mini-dioramas to add colour. We also have found that the single-base approach also makes gameplay a little faster, being as players only have to move one thing as opposed to several bits for a unit. Horses for Courses!

Anyhoo, as the bases that come with the box are plastic, I contacted Precision Wargame Supplies to have them cut me steel bases as replacements. I did this as I like the added weight that the steel bases provide, and they also allow me to use magnets (without messing up the polarity) for the large sabot basing I had in mind for the large single bases.

This led me to contact our friendly terrain Minion Byron (also of Northern Lights Terrain) to have him cut me a few bespoke sabot bases as a proof of concept. These sabot bases are 190 x 60, with cutouts for 3mm magnets to keep the steel-shod figures in place. I also put in a cutout for a unit label. I still have a few tweaks I want to do, but I think these will serve nicely.  

One thing about the scale of these figures. They call them 'Epic', intoning that they are around 10-12mm, like their earlier efforts for other periods, but these are actually true 15mm (foot to eye). With that being the case, I think these might mix well with other 15mm ranges such as those from Steel Fist Miniatures, Peter Pig, Naismith, etc. More on that later as I try mixing a few of these ranges in.

Thanks for dropping by!

- Curt

Jean de Vallette, Grand Marshal of the Order of Saint John, Defender of Malta 1565

 

Here is another small addition to my Great Siege of Malta collection. Since I have a command stand for Turgut Reis 'The Drawn Sword of Islam', I thought it only fitting to do-up his arch-adversary, Jean Parisot de Vallette, the Grand Marshal of the Order of Saint John and of the Knights of Malta.

Jean de Vallette was 70 years old at the time of the great siege, and while positively ancient in 16th century terms, there are numerous reports of him in the thick of the fighting at the walls - definitely a tough old bird. His command of the defence of the island is considered today as masterful, but also draconian and merciless. He felt he did what he needed to hold out for reinforcements. He and his Order survived the siege and was instrumental in overseeing the reconstruction of the city and its defences after the battle. The capital Valletta, is named after him.

Sarah and I had the pleasure of visiting Malta a few years ago and were delighted to visit many of the sights of the siege around Valletta. The new military museum is absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone considering a visit to the island. Sarah even visited the Co-Cathedral of St. John where Vallette's crypt resides (being a lazy bugger on holiday, I slept in). 

This is a set from Warlord Games. I'm not 100% sure of the sculptor, but I'm fairly certain it's from the talented hands of Paul Hicks. A lovely trio of models and a wonderful to work on. 

For the brown horses I decided to try something new and did an oil wash of W&N 'VanDyke Brown' with a touch of 'Lamp Black'. It worked fairly well, though I did make a few rookie mistakes here and there. I'd definitely try it again, though with odourless thinner next time - my hobby room still a bit malodorous from this little experiment.

Thanks for dropping in for a look!

- Curt

1/300 Freighter and Explosion Markers

We've been enjoying 'Cruel Seas' and so I thought I'd finally finish the freighter that came with the initial expanded release. So, I give you a poor stricken freighter, with a violent explosion amidships, soon to be added to the tonnage tally of a luck U-Boat captain.

For the water spume effect I used the same 3D fractal model explosion that I used a few years ago for my exploding Star Wars ships. 

I sectioned the fractal model into several pieces, switched them around, affixed the four 'boom bits' to pennies (to add a bit of weight) and was off to the races.

The airbrush made fairly short work of them, with only a few layers of green and white added with the brush. Blamo-Presto: Water Explosions!

The freighter is fairly stock work, but I did drill out the stern deck to provide a magnetised mounting for a deck gun to be swapped in if a scenario required it. Sadly, the painting is a bit uninspired (I blame the rush to finally get it finished) and it frankly shows. Nonetheless, it's done and we have a juicy target for future torpedo/bomb runs.

Thanks for dropping in folks!

The Seven (Female) Samurai' - Onna-Bugeisha

A few months ago I saw these female samurai (Onna-Bugeisha) from Warlord Games and immediately knew I had to pick up a set. Funny enough, there's a bit of synchronicity involved as well as I've had a Samurai-themed game rattling around in my head for a quite some time and these figures fit the bill perfectly. 

I think these are some of the nicest castings that Warlord has produced. They are beautifully crafted, have realistic proportions and are elegantly posed - you almost think they are from a larger-scaled range. Just exquisite.

I have to admit I was a little intimidated when I first set off to paint these figures as I wanted to avoid just knocking them all out in solid colours, instead I wished to try a few patterns that would (very) loosely convey some of the amazing textiles these women would have worn. But, as many of you know, patterns can be tricky, and after a few tests runs on a piece of card, I found that the simple triumphed over the complex (thankfully for me, this is a mantra followed by Lady Sarah in her choice of men). To my eye at least, these fairly straight-forward patterns seem to do the trick in not overpowering or 'muddying' the figures' inherent great lines.

The central figure, about to draw her bow, is my favourite of the set.

The flowers on the bases are perhaps a little excessive, but they were such pretty figures that I thought they deserved the extra bit of ornamentation.

I also managed to get some buildings done for this period as well. These are all from Sarissa Precision. Nice kits and very easy to assemble and paint. Here we have a temple shrine, a modest village house and two rice storage sheds.

I have a few more items for this project to get done but we'll see where the brushes take me.

Thanks for dropping in folks 

...AND a Very Happy New Year to you all!!

Curt

German E-Boats for 'Cruel Seas'

Weirdly, as a prairie boy, I've always had a great fascination for naval warfare, being an enthusiast of the large ship games like 'Wooden Ships and Iron Men', 'Fleet Action Imminent' and 'General Quarters III'. So, when I saw the promo ads for Warlord Games' new 'Cruel Seas' I knew I had to jump in with both feet. 

The WWII coastal war setting really hasn't been done in a comprehensive way, meaning with purpose built rules and a full range of miniatures, so I think Warlord may be onto something really exciting here. As soon as I unpacked my copy of the 'Cruel Seas' I quickly assembled the core set miniatures and tried out the introductory scenarios with The Friday Night Raconteurs. Thankfully the hype for the game is not misplaced. The rules play very well and give a fast, furious, action-filled game without being too ponderous or 'crunchy'.

This past Friday, I hosted another 'Cruel Seas' game for the boys and really wanted to get some of the miniatures properly painted for the tabletop. Thankfully I had the day off so I lashed away and managed to get most of the Motor Torpedo Boats and E Boats completed for the night's fun. So, here are four of the German E-Boats ('Enemy Boats' or as the Kriegsmarine classed them Schnellboots), a brace each of the S-38 class and the later S-100 class.

These are 1/300 scale plastic kits (those in the UK will probably have seen them included with the latest Wargames Illustrated). Very easy to put together and a breeze to paint. I like that Warlord included two sheets of ensigns for both the British and the Germans.

I really like the design aesthetic of these boats, with their menacing low, long silhouettes, exposed torpedoes and decks bristling with all forms of automatic weapons. They really look the business.

S-38 Class E-Boats

The two S-100s here have the optional quad 20mm flak gun ('Flakvierling'), which, as you can imagine, would be a pretty ferocious weapon in setting where most of things you were shooting at were constructed of thin wood planking or thin steel.

Later S-100 Class E-Boats with quad 20mm at the stern

The paint scheme I went with is fairly stock to what most vessels in the Kriegsmarine would have sported. I put aside the supplied painting guide and decided instead to keep the colours anachronistically punchy to help them stand out on the tabletop. In the future I'll do up one or two boats in the distinctive (but more rare) splinter pattern camouflage to denote Veteran crews. (BTW, if anyone has a set of the MTBs/EBoats from the recent Wargames Illustrated that they don't want please drop me a note.) 

The British Vosper MTBs will be coming up soon.

Thanks for dropping in folks!

Fernando d'Avalos - Pavia, 1525

Here is another commander for my slowly expanding Italian Wars collection. This time we have a fierce Spaniard, Fernando d'Avalos, the victorious Imperial commander who defeated the French and captured Francis I at the Battle of Pavia, 1525.

The mounted figure is from Warlord Games, and while the casting itself is listed as being from their 'Wars of Religion' range, I thought he serves quite nicely as a early 16th century Spanish commander (I quite like his elegant soft cap, with its jaunty feather).

The dismounted knight at D'Avalos' side is from Steel Fist Miniatures. He is in full harness (probably shedding more than a few pounds, trying to keep up), wearing the distinctive conical 'kettle' helm frequently favoured by Spanish noblemen at the time.

The standard bearer is a venerable Wargames Foundy casting, holding a banner from Pete's Flags.

The two Alaunt pups dashing past D'Avalos's steed (and last seen listening at Francis' command post) were sourced from a private commission, sculpted by the very talented Steve May.

Now, I just need some more Spanish troops for Fernando to command. Yes, yes, I'm on it!  :)

In the meantime: Something Lovecraftian

28mm Landsknecht Command

Just a short post today. This time out we have a Landsknecht command stand to add to my slooowly growing Italian Wars collection.

The mounted Oberste is from Wargames Foundry. He's casually draping an Imperial banner over his shoulder while haranguing one of his doppelsöldners ('double-pay' men) who, in turn, is traipsing alongside him with an imposing Zweihänder sword. The swordsman is from Warlord, previously of Pro Gloria Miniatures.

Banner is from Pete' Flags. 

This last shot is of the Landsknecht commander following behind some Swiss Reisläufer from Bern with their evidently peckish 'mascot'. 

Thanks for dropping by folks. Have a great week!

Italian Wars Landsknecht Pikeblock - My Last Entry to the 6th Painting Challenge

This past week saw the conclusion of the Painting Challenge and I knew I'd be knackered wrapping things up, but I also knew I wanted to get in one last 'charge of pike' in my 'Renaissance Men' duel with Peter before the Painting Challenge ended, so here it is.

This is an Italian Wars period Landsknecht pike block. It's composed of 33 figures and one casualty.  These are 28mm models sourced from Foundry, Pro Gloria (now Warlord) and Artizan. 

I've painted a lot of models in my time; Napoleonics, ECW, Fantasy, Imperial Space Marines, Samurai, the works, but I tell you, Landsknechts are probably the hardest figures I've ever tackled. Historically they had  no real uniform, but their clothes were incredibly complex, with multiple layers, puff and slash sleeves, ornate codpieces (!), stripes, AND on top of this, were seen in a veritable rainbow of colours. In painting terms, every figure should be unique, without a design being repeated. So basically a huge gong show for a painter. Nevertheless, one-by-one I pecked away, took my sweet time and ground ahead - there are no shortcuts with these guys.

The irregular shaped bases seen here I designed myself and had sourced from the good folks over at Warbases. The banners are from Pete's Flags, depicting an Imperial colour (in yellow) and another that is conjectured to be of 'The Black Band' or 'Black Legion' (basically a bunch of German hooligans who holidayed in Italy until they were pointedly told to leave (i.e. virtually killed to a man at Pavia)). 

Addendum: Yes, yes, I understand that these flags may be 'incorrect' in their combination, but this is what I have come up with to date, and I simply liked the look of them together (the two flags can be separated from one another to mix and match with other bases).   

What you see here is two thirds of what the final unit will look like. I have a central portion of bases that will add another 16 or so figures to the unit, so it can be fielded as larger pike block if the scenario requires it. The trick was to have a few flags on the flanking bases in order to allow me to scale the unit up or down as needed, while still having some banners for the smaller unit size. I think it worked out okay, but I think it will be even better with the central section done with another two or three banners crammed in there.

One troop type prevalent amongst the Landsknechte were the Doppelsöldner or 'double-pay men'. Often these loons would be tasked to fight in front of the forward rank, wielding two-handed swords, halberds or an arquebus. Their job was to get in tight and disrupt the opposing infantry pikemen. Either by sweeping aside their pikes and/or disrupting their lines in close combat. If the accounts are true then they must have been the badasses of an organization of badasses and so I imagine they earned every florin they received.  

I have placed two Doppelsöldners ahead of the pike block, one is armed with a halberd, going in hard, and the other is giving fire with his arquebus, hoping for the best. 

I also have a couple of Italian mercenary crossbowmen about to come out of the rear ranks (From what I've read, 'military subcontracting' was fairly common during the period). As I understand it, missile troops would typically lurk in among the pikeblock until an opportunity developed for them to come out and wreak a bit of havoc. 

I was hoping to get the whole unit completed but, hey, you know the story - work, life, blah-de-blah. I'm just happy to have completed these lads in time for the close of the Challenge. I'll fill in the rest of the ranks in the coming weeks.

But what they really need now is a bit of fire support. On it!

Thanks for visiting!