Red and Black variety of troops

A mixed bag of Perry Plastics to bolster the ranks of my Red and Black army. 

12 foot sloggers and 1 Knight on a horse. The Knight is an officer type no doubt with his gold detail on the horse armour. The two infantry with wind instruments have parts from other kits. The halberd men have had some customisation as well.

 

Not much to say really but I am happy to have worked my way through a lot of double ups for this force recently. I actually assembled most of them before project Goblin Army last year so it's been a long while in the making. It's great to see the initial vision painted now. I won't be posting much new painted from this force in the future as I only have a very few infantry left unpainted.

Cheers from Brendon

Arab Archers, Dark Age Archers and 3 others

This week is a variety of 28mm plastics with one having a rest.

Mounted on a 25x50mm base makes for a great filler on a Cavalry unit. Perhaps he fell off his horse?
I didn't paint any blood or indication of a reason for his little lie down. Maybe he got knocked unconscious or perhaps he has crippling belly ache. Too much food in foreign lands.

Next is 3 double ups and a single. Plastic Arabs from Gripping beast. Sword waving dudes are traditional unit officers. The Shields are hand painted designs. I had a great time painting them and painting shields becomes a project within itself. I felt I had finally found my groove again. It's taken a while to get my eye back in but finding some painting Mojo is great. Variety really helps.

Below is another bossy looking boss for a Red and Black unit. His companion on his base was painted a while back but was torn asunder from his previously completed base. Re-basing is a pain but I am determined to create more double ups. This one is destined for a Pike unit and as I already have Flag waving dudes he will not be getting one though he looks like he should.

More plastic Dark Age Archers from Gripping Beast.
One of these was a carry over from my previous weeks painting who needed a base buddy.
Devoid of armour and not having a uniform colour these take more painting than higher value troops.
Helmets can make painting heads easier. Chain mail means less choices for colours.

 


Below I thought I would show you why I double base. This universal unit tray is for a 'Troop' infantry size in 'Kings of War'. That originates from 10 in 2 ranks of 5 on 20mm square bases. As you can see 4 on a tray looks great for a skirmish unit but the double bases thicken the unit.

Cheers from Brendon

Red and the Black Infantry and Cavalry

These Perry Miniatures plastics are finely detailed so it was a hard re-introduction to painting after many months of no activity with a brush. I built these before the last painting challenge but it seems the Goblin army project took over. Overall despite it feeling like a long time to get them completed I am satisfied with them. Among the double ups below are some options that do not come straight off the sprue. Getting different weapons glued onto cut down Pikes I found to be frustrating but worth it in the end. Some hands have been cut off and replaced and some cases I had to rebuild or gap fill wrists. Probably why I put them to one side for so long.

These Pikemen will help bulk up the figure count on my universal Kings of War unit bases. Doubling them up 25mm round bases requires painting one of them before adding them to the base. It's a bit more work compared to single basing with the base material all completed before painting (apart from the flock of course). For Kings of War I aim to have options for regular Pike and  Heavy Pike. The one musician was painted and based a long time back but I hacked him off the base to rebase him in the double up way. I seem to have a few more that this will happen to in the future.

Four light lancers with 2 on 50x50mm bases to help with base filling a unit tray. Some standard brown horses for these. Nothing fancy.

More double ups for Billmen/Halberds and Black Powder shooters.

I have a few more in the production pipeline.

The photos don't really capture them but you get the general idea. For some reason the Helmets have a reddish reflection on them. It's not some sort of cool burnish wash on them at all.

Cheers from Brendon and may your Bacon be salty and your Beer dark.

Two Mounted Knights

These two 28mm Plastic Perry Miniatures Mounted Knights are Hero types for my Kings of War Historical or Fantasy army.
Lord Golden Helmet with all his additional colour will no doubt attract a lot of attention on the Battlefield. Perhaps his confidence makes him want to stand out in the crowd and his colour is way of saying "comes at me fool!"
I prepped a lot more of these Knight before the challenge and perhaps I should get back to them but for now project Goblin Army seems to be in front even though the Goblins had no prep work done prior to the challenge.

Cheers from Brendon

Long time between posts

Recently I have been building some Perry plastics for my Red & Black army. I managed to get a good deal via facebook from someones collection which included a box of Infantry. I was mostly after the stack of mounted Knights in the deal. I put the infantry to one side for a long time until I decided I can use them to make some 'double ups'. 'Double ups' help make my unit trays look a little more fuller.

I have not been very active in the wargaming hobby for a while. The lack of posts here is a reflection of that. I have been active in the physical sense though. During late September 2016 I decided to join the Gym life again. At various times in my life I have joined Gyms.
I found myself getting more and more uncomfortable with weight gain and after a holiday which saw me active in the outback I decided I wasn't fit enough to enjoy it as much as I could. A year on and September 2017 sees me signing on for another years membership. My weight has declined from around 126kgs to 91kgs and I feel so much better for it. Of course it meant cutting back on hobby time but I have a few projects planned so watch this space.

Cheers and thanks for stopping by.
Brendon

Six Red and Black Light Cavalry

New recruits for the nation that values Beer and Bacon above all that glitters. Light Cavalry from Perry Miniatures to defend the kingdoms high carb virtues.

These detailed figures take me longer than most at the same scale to complete but I was lucky enough to find some more time available to me the past week. Time seems to be in short supply for this hobby for me at the moment. But that's the way it rolls sometimes. 

Hope it's all been good in your part of the world. Here we saw a cyclone form nearby but only got to Category 1 and passed us by. Cyclone Blanche which had people humming the 'Golden Girls' theme. Those old enough to remember anyway.

Anyway cheers from here and I hope my dodgy photos look OK on whatever device you are viewing them on.

Mounted Mongols and Knights

Mounted mayhem in this post with 4 Perry Miniatures Knights and 5 FireForge Mongols. All plastic and all 28mm. These earned me 90 points in the Painting Challenge.

The Mongols feature 4 armoured torsos from Gripping Beast Arab Cavalry. The Mongol on the square base will have a rider swap for a Bow shooting dude. It's an idea for skirmish units to make them have less figures per unit. I will eventually show what that looks like at some stage.

The Knights have two leader types with extra gold to make them stand out in a unit. I plan to do a few more of these types as my Knights have increased considerably. 

Cheers and enjoy your painting from Brendon.

More Knights

Seven more Knights to defend the Kingdom renown for it's quality Beer and Bacon exports.
Perry Miniatures Plastic 28mm. Bases are standard 25 x 50mm.
One of these was a left over from the Horde unit. In the future I plan to do more but not so many with lances. A few colourful heroic characters are required I think. A mounted standard would be a sensible addition as well.

One day I will actually play a game again and with these I can use them for Lion Rampant, Kings of War, Kings of War Historical. No doubt even more games/rules could have these Knights see some action.

Cheers from Brendon

Knights Horde

My first submission for this years Painting Challenge and a bonus Theme round at that.
The Theme was 'Armour'.

1 x Horde of Perry Miniatures Knights. 17 all up but I painted 18. I decided that 18 wasn't required after gluing them on one by one on the Mantic plastic tray.  I did some base filling gradually from the center out after I glued in 3 or 4. It wasn't without challenge trying to get between horses with flock and paint but I managed not to bend/break and lances or have any disasters.

Lances may have only been painted for tournaments but that's how I have painted all previous Knights for this army of Beer and Bacon defenders.

I may add a banner to the rear rank in the future. At writing this I have a lot more in the production line but I will need to do something different as painting endless armour is getting a bit same, same.

Cheers from Brendon

Painting started & Curts Light Cav based.

The brush work after a long period of building miniatures has begun for the Painting Challenge at long last but I got an email that has made my day so this is just a small post to make you go look at the final result of a project I worked on for the Snowlord Curt in Canada.
Remember back here...

Well Curt has completed his unit and now they look amazing on his very cool basing style.
Go have a look here.

What a great project to be involved with. I love the way the white feathers pop. That was definitely the right choice in feather colour I think. The shields Curt added match perfectly. Top job!

Cheers from Brendon