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.

La Milice Canadienne

 These are intended for the French and Indian Wars. There are 29 figures in all. First three groups of eight.

And now some leaders and musicians.

Now, the sharp-eyed amongst you will note that they aren't really very accurate for the period, and that is because they are really Warlord Games plastic American Militia for the War of Independence and their clothing isn't really right at all, assuming that they should be wearing the items that French regulations mandated. My only defence here is that they are a bunch of rapidly-raised militiamen who are just wearing whatever was available.

These are going to be used for FIW Sharp Practice games at BIG this coming weekend, using David Hunter's Saindoux Campaign troop rosters, which allows for Milice Canadienne in line groups of eight figures.

These took me ages to get finished, mainly because I fell out of love with the figures while I was painting them. They were all from the free sprues that Wargames Illustrated gave away ages ago and I really didn't much like the poses of some of them, nor the fact that too many are equipped with Pennsylvania "long rifles" rather than standard muskets. I think that they have turned out OK, but at some point I think I'll replace them with some more appropriately-equipped metal versions.

A bit of background on Orangenland, my 17th century imagi-nation.

In a previous post, I introduced Orangenland, a minor North German state of the 17th century. In this post, I will be describing the place in a bit more detail.

The origins of Orangenland lie in the early mediaeval Kingdom of Lotharingia, created out of the protracted period following the end of Charlemagne's Frankish Empire. Little is known about the early histories of the three component territories of Orangenstadt, Orangenwald and Orangenburg, although it is clear that the origins of Orangenstadt lie in the building of the Abbey of Saint Octavius the Martyr in the 12th century and the development of the town that grew up around the abbey. This town, originally known as Octadorf, grew in importance until it was recognised as the seat of the Prince-Bishop of Sankt Octavius in 1312. When the House of Chalon-Arnay acquired the three territories through marriage, they were known as Bisschoppenstadt, Osterwald and Nordburg. They were renamed following the acquisition of the Principality of Orange by the House of Chalon-Arnay. Bisschoppenstadt was renamed as Orangenstadt in 1473 when it was rebuilt following a disastrous fire in 1469 that destroyed much of the older city.

The population of Orangenland is split between Limburgish and Brabantian Dutch speakers in the east, speakers of the Rhenish Franconian dialect of German in the west and some Picard French speakers in the south.

The seat of the House of Orangen is the city of Orangenstadt, which is dominated by the late mediaeval Chalonerschloss and the Cathedral of Sankt Octav, which was rebuilt on the ruins of the earlier Abbey, destroyed in the Great Fire of 1469.

Other prominent towns and cities are Nordenstadt, Catieau-Arnay, Wijndorp, Druckerburg and Salzfischstadt.

The flag of Orangenland is a golden Lion Rampant bearing a sword, on a field of red, although a standard showing a red cross on a yellow field is also carried by some troops.

The House of Orangen has long maintained friendly relations with a number of other small dukedoms and counties in the region, most prominently the County of Pirlouit, whose ruling family, the House of Schtroumpf is related to the House of Orangen by marriage. Indeed, one member of the Schtroumpf family, Armin von Schtroumpf currently serves in the Orangenland army. Although he is young and a relatively junior officer, he has gained a reputation of being a brave, if occasionally hot-headed leader, who is loved by his troops, many of whom were recruited in his homeland. Troops under his command usually wear a blue sash and occasionally blue and white plumes on their hats and helmets, these being the colours of the House of Schtroumpf.

In other news, I have acquired enough figures now to create a variety of units for my Orangenland army for The Pikeman's Lament. These are all from Warlord Games and consist of;

From these boxes I will be able to build one unit of 12 Pikemen, two units of 12 Musketeers, a unit of six Gallopers, a unit of six Trotters and two elite units of Gallopers and Trotters in cuirassier three-quarter armour. I will also be able to build units representing a Forlorn Hope and Commanded Shot, so there will be plenty of variations for the troops that Armin von Schtroumpf will be able to call upon in his battles.

There will probably be a few spare figures that I can use for other things that I currently haven't even thought about, although I am definitely planning to do Armin von Schtroumpf in both mounted and foot versions.

Orangenland - a 17th century imagi-nation

 A couple of years ago, I received The Pikeman's Lament rules as a Christmas present. I liked the idea of using the rules for a Thirty Years' War project, originally planning to use the really nice Peter Pig ECW 15mm figures, with multiple figures on bases to make each unit look bigger, but I later thought about doing it in 28mm instead. I like the look of the Warlord Pike and Shotte figures, especially the plastic boxed sets. I worked out that I could probably put a nice starter army together from a single box of infantry and one of cavalry.

Anyway, to do a project, I would need some context, a backstory for the troops. So, I invented a North-western German state, the Duchy of Orangenland.

Orangenland is made up of three separate territories which were once feudal possessions of the House of Chalon-Arnay, which acquired the title to the Principality of Orange in the late 14th century. Sometime after 1500, the lands passed into the hands of an illegitimate son of the House of Chalon-Arnay. This son, Philibert of Orangenstadt, became a soldier of fortune in the armies of Emperor Charles V, who ennobled him as Herzog von Orangen, uniting the three Kreise of Orangenstadt, Orangenwald and Orangenburg into the Duchy of Orangenland.

Although Philibert was a Catholic, his son  Karl Adolph adopted the Lutheran religion in the 1540s, and the Duchy adopted Lutheranism following the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. Herzog Karl I died in 1584, leaving his son Karl Christoph as Herzog.

Orangenland remained a minor North German state, known mainly for brewing and pork products. Orangen Weissbier was and still is famous as far away as Ruritania The local wine made from the Elbling grape variety is, occasionally, drinkable.

The wine of Orangenland is the main reason why the ruling House of Orangen was an early investor in distilling. Orangenweinbrand is a much more popular drink than most of the wine produced in the Duchy, and is even exported to places as far away as Syldavia and the Duchy of Strackenz.

So, in 1618 on the eve of the terrible Thirty Years' War. Orangenland was a peaceful backwater, but Karl Christoph, Herzog von Orangen had grand expansionist designs and aspired to military glory. Unfortunately, his ambitions were greater than his Treasury permitted and he soon became heavily in debt and became unable to pay off his mercenary general, Willem van Metwoorst, who refused to leave the Duchy with his army unless the money he was owed was forthcoming. Karl Christoph's unscrupulous younger brother Georg Wilhelm had long harboured designs to replace his brother, and to that end began negotiations with several banking houses so that he could borrow enough money to buy the loyalty of Captain van Metwoorst for himself, and then arrange an accident for Karl.

Following the unfortunate hunting accident, Herzog Georg Wilhelm gained an alliance with the United Provinces, claiming an almost completely non-existent but artfully constructed familial relationship between the House of Orange-Nassau and the House of Orangen. This helped smooth the path between the Orangenland Treasury and the banking houses of Antwerp and Amsterdam.

Willem van Metwoorst, was granted the title of Captain General of Orangenland and the army became organised along Dutch lines. From the late 1620s onwards, the Swedish King, Gustavus sent military aides to the Duchy and Scottish recruits began to swell the ranks of the army. A stout defender of the Protestant religion, Georg Wilhelm deftly managed to steer a path between his somewhat dissolute and murky private life and the sterner demands of his professed faith.

So, there is the introduction to Orangenland, its ambitious Herzog and his hard-bitten Captain General Willem van Metwoorst. I shall return to the Duchy again in the future.

Face to face in the village - a Sharp Practice AAR

Yesterday was my first chance to play Sharp Practice for months, for obvious reasons.  It was also my first opportunity to get my recently painted 61st Foot Flank Company skirmishers on the table. 

The game would be an encounter between an Anglo-Portuguese force and a small column of French Infanterie Légère, supported by a medium gun.

Both sides would be trying to secure the village of San Jorge con Pantalones.

The British were first to arrive, with Lt Barnaby Thorne and a single group of the famous 95th Foot. They took up position behind a low wall surrounding a small plantation of fruit trees. Unfortunately, I then pushed them up across the road into danger and they were heavily defeated in Fistucuffs, forcing them back into the fruit trees. Luckily, the gallant Barnaby Thorne lived to fight another day.

They were soon joined by some skirmishing flank company troops from the 61st Foot, led by veteran sergeant Harry Stottle, who was soon wounded by accurate fire from a group of Légère Voltigeurs, leaving him in a dazed state and unable to exercise any command for the rest of the game.

The French were also beginning to arrive, as two groups, led by Lt Poulidor managed to seize control of a cottage on the main road through the village.

The Portuguese component of my force soon put in an appearance; three groups of Fuzilieiros from the 20th Regiment, led by Capt. Horacio Cataplana. You can see them here, flanked by the rest of the 61st' Light Bobs, led by Lt. Archibald Leach.

Volley fire from the Portuguese, supported by the 61st, soon took their toll on the French, who were forced back to hide behind one of the village houses.

The rest of the 61st Foot arrived, led by the estimable Maj. Molesworth, forming a second line behind the 20th. Slowly, the British began to advance into San Jorge. My plan had originally been to bring both formations up to the main road and use the skirmishing light infantry to protect their flanks, but the mauling given to the 95th, meant that the Portuguese would have to move obliquely into the trees by the road.

Elsewhere, the French began to advance around the far side of the village.

The French cannon was soon deployed. I knew that I had to eliminate this threat to my line troops, and I pushed the flank company skirmishers around the house on my left flank, even though it was occupied by French skirmishers. I judged it a risk worth taking.

 

Taking up position near a boggy patch of ground, I was able to use four command flags to give the Light Bobs an extra free round of firing before also activating Lt Leach. This proved devastating and wiped out the crew of the French gun, and also giving its supporting infantry a hard beating. The tide was turning my way.

The Portuguese moved up to take up position along the road, while the 61st moved up on their left.

The French charged through the small coppice into my line, but only one group made contact. Even so, they fought well, killing the Portuguese leader, Capt. Cataplana and three of his men. However, I killed six of them and inflicted considerable shock on them too, forcing them to flee.

So, the village ended the day in Anglo-Portuguese hands, with very few casualties on the winning side, apart from the unfortunate Portuguese officer, whose demise will have to be revenged at at future date.

My first completed painting of 2020

I really had to get these done as my first painting task this year, because I need them for a weekend of 28mm Peninsular War Sharp Practice at the beginning of February.

First, 16 Portuguese Fuzileiros, in two groups of eight, with an Officer and a Drummer, representing troops of the 20th Regiment of Foot;

Accompanied by a group of eight Grenadieros, with an officer and a standard bearer.

The second officer is actually supposed to be a second standard bearer, but I really didn't need two of them and he looks fine as a junior officer. The reason that I have done a single group of grenadiers is that I have eight figures with short swords (four from the Warlord box and the four Front Rank ones), and these were only carried by flank company troops.

The figures are all from the Warlord plastic Portuguese Infantry box, bulked out with four additional metal figures from Front Rank, these are the rear four figures in the grenadier group.

People who know me generally know that I do not like painting Napoleonic uniforms very much, and these were no exception to that rule, but despite my mental moaning and groaning, these have come out OK, but I have noticed now, after varnishing that I forgot to put a small dab of blue on their shako cockades, but I can live with that.

I am also always unhappy while I am painting plastic figures, because they never really look any good until I get an ink wash on them and I've done some dry-brushing to bring out the details and textures of the figures.

Anyway, although these are unlikely to ever win any prizes for painting, they will look pretty good on the table as a useful addition to my Anglo-Portuguese army.

Warfare 2019

Last Saturday, I headed east from Bristol to Reading for Warfare 2019. This year I had a specific list of things I wanted to buy and, amazingly I bought all but one of them.

I also had a chance to meet up with lots of nice people, including a few who I'd not met before, having only engaged with them online. It was nice to meet Andy from Gripping Beast and also to meet Rob Avery, of Vis Lardica fame, who I regularly bombard with photos of my figures as entries to the annual TooFatLardies Painting Challenge. This provides me with a regular reminder to Paint More Stuff! While I'm discussing Matters Lard, I also bumped into Lardmeister Richard Clarke and the famous Sidney Roundwood, whose blog is a source of inspiration for anyone who likes a well-painted miniature. Sidney deserves special thanks, because he spotted lots of packs of Victrix Roman Auxiliaries hanging up on a display, because we had just been discussing that I was at the show with a list, and Roman Auxiliaries were top of it. Thanks, Sidney! 

And here they are;

They will form the infantry component for my Roman Cohors Equitata for Infamy, Infamy, the Lardies' Ancient rules, which are currently being playtested.

I also stopped off at Warlord to buy some 28mm Late War Germans, for a project I will be starting early in the New Year.

Of course, I had to visit Bad Squiddo and have a nice chat with Annie and Bruce. I also met another of Annie's friends, the lovely and very funny Anjuli, who I'd not met before. I also had a chat with Guy Bowers of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy magazine at the same time, because he had also dropped in to see Annie. Of course, I couldn't visit the Lair of the Squid without buying something. I came away with three Amazons who were still being packaged up as well as another group of Japanese warrior women. (note to self - get on and start painting the ones you've already got!)

I also finally got round to buying some heavy cavalry for Syldavia and Borduria, my 18th century Imagi-nations, from Essex Miniatures. These will give me enough figures to field two groups of eight Heavies for both armies, plus a couple of leaders apiece.

I met lots of other people too, too many to mention, but I must single out Colin Farrant from Charlie Foxtrot, who has the most amazing new French church model, which you can see on the CF blog. To be honest, the word "amazing" doesn't really do the thing justice. It is pretty a lovely thing to see in real life. 

The final items for my FIW French

Here are the final pieces in my French and Indian War jigsaw puzzle. The wagon has been sitting around, half-finished for ages, mainly because I hadn't got round to undercoating the horses.

The wagon and horses are from Warbases, and the wagon is really a Gribeauval wagon limber, at least, that is what it said on the MDF sheet. However, I think it will be fine as a support option in lots of different guises, because I am not going to get all nitpicky about whether it is the right sort of wagon or not. Life is too short ..............

The figure with the barrel is a from a pack of Perry AWI metal civilians, so he fits in pretty well. I've painted him so that he looks like he might be a member of the French infantry without his uniform coat. The wagon and horses are from Warbases, who have some rather nice carts specifically for Sharp Practice that I will probably buy at some point. I've got another one of these wagons still not made up. I will probably modify it in some way and not use the cover.

Finally, here is the last part of my Régiment de Guyenne, a Colour Party. These are from the Warlord box set, including the flags, which are on the leaflet in the box. I've got a few figures left over, so I'll hang on to them in case I suddenly have a need for some more 18th century French characters.

So, I am now all ready for the monumental clash of French and British in the great North American wilderness at the end of january. 

Now, on to my next project, which I shall get started on next week, probably.

More from my French and Indian War project for Sharp Practice

I began this project towards the end of 2018, and I wrote about it here. Since then, with a few distractions onto other things, I've finally finished off the rest of my forces for the Sharp Practice day at Bristol Independent Gaming at the end of January.

Here are three groups of fusiliers from the Régiment de Guyenne, accompanied by a Senior Leader, Capitaine Philippe Au Brion (drawing his sword), a Junior Leader , Lieutenant Pierre Lardon (armed with a musket and a sword) and a Musician (drummer).

First, here they are in line, ready to fire;

And here they are in a marching column;

These are all Warlord 28mm metal figures, based on 25mm circular bases and mounted on Warbases movement trays. I chose to paint them in pale grey rather than pure white, because there was considerable variation in the actual colour of the cloth used for French uniforms in this period, and a pale grey-white seems entirely appropriate to me. Indeed, in many paintings you will see that the uniform coats were not actually pure white, and the terms "off-white" and "white-grey" are often used to describe the actual colour. I think that the cloth used was actually made from undyed wool, and you never see pure white sheep.

I am reasonably happy with how they have turned out, eventually, and I will explain why. Now, I don't like to say bad things about manufacturers generally, and this is really a rare gripe from me. However, I bought two boxes of these French infantry at Colours last year and while I have no issues at all with the sculpts, which are great, one box was considerably worse than the other one from a castings perspective. It wasn't just flash, the issue was quite large blobs of superfluous metal on a number of the figures, requiring a lot of work with a knife and a file to get the figures in a fit state to paint. In a couple of cases, the cleaning up was pretty extensive, requiring the use of metal snips to cut off the worst of the extra "growths".

Anyway, moan over. I still have a couple of odds and ends to finish off, including a Colour Party, which I hope to get finished next week.

Colours 2018

So, last Saturday morning, up bright and early, fried egg sandwich and coffee for breakfast and then off up the M4 to Newbury for Colours.

The journey was uneventful and I got to the carpark with about 20 minutes to spare before the doors opened. Once inside, I made a beeline for the Bad Squiddo stand where I had a nice chat with Annie and Bruce, before picking up my pre-ordered Pulp Explorers and also some additions for my Swordmaidens.

After that, the world was my mollusc, but I knew that I needed to visit the Warlord stand early to buy stuff for a Sharp Practice FIW project I need to get finished before next January.

These will give me enough figures for three groups of skirmishers and at least three groups of line infantry, plus leaders, a musician (drummer) and a colour party. Any left over figures might end up as vignettes to be used as deployment points.

I also visited the Crooked Dice stand for some extra figures for two of my 7TV casts. Actually, I currently only have two casts, but I am planning a couple more, not sure what they will be yet, though.

I spent a lot of time wandering around, looking at the various stands and seeing what was available. Unfortunately, Wargames Foundry weren't at the show, so that meant I wasn't able to pick up any figures for a project I've had in my mind for ages now, so I won't go into that yet.

I did look at the range of 15mm figures and chat to a helpful chap on the Essex stand, which helped me to firm up ideas for an extra force for my 15mm Sharp Practice 18th century Syldavia and Borduria imagi-nations project. That is now looking like a distinct starter for 2019. I also had a helpful chat with a nice man on the Warbases stand about custom bases for my Sword and Spear 28mm Late Roman army, allowing me to reuse my Saga Romans on movement trays. While I was there, I also bought two carts and draft horses which will be useful for my 28mm Peninsular War Sharp Practice troops, together with some single and double dice frames and 7mm dice for shock recording (for both SP and CoC).

After that I visited the Coritani stand for more magnetic discs, some resin bits and textured paint. There is a nice 15mm gate and wall set, which will be useful for lots of things and a  couple of 28mm tree stumps which I think will make nice deployment point markers for Sharp Practice.

I bought two useful-looking MDF trays which fit inside Really Useful 4L boxes. I am hoping that these will make transporting my 15mm ACW and imaginations forces easier.

I couldn't go to Colours and not see Ground Zero Games. I've not really been doing a lot of 15mm Sci Fi stuff recently, but I've always like the Ixx figures, so I bought some, together with a few Darghaur. My plan here is another army for Alien Squad Leader, probably a Children Of The Gods one.

I am a big fan of the resin pieces made by The Square and these thatched buildings caught my eye. I can see them working for 15mm Sharp Practice, but also for CoC, especially Eastern Front. The oil drums piece is also going to be hugely useful for WW2 games.

Last, but most definitely not least, I bought this lovely collapsible dice tray from Saddle Goose Designs, which is run by Deborah, the wife of painting expert Matt Slade of Glenbrook Games.

It was nice to catch up with various people, Matt and Deborah, Jon Tuffley of GZG, Geoff of Ham and Jam, Annie and various others.

The club also had a presence at Colours, in the shape of Alex, Nick, Owen and Richard who were running a game of Alien Squad Leader, 100pts each of Human Cultists and Biker Gangs.