HYW Spearmen - 16 Strong!

Here they are, all 16 Perry HYW French Spearmen, that I am going to use as a Mercenaries pike block for God of Battles - but of course also for other purposes, such as SAGA/AFS - I have decided to get SAGA 2nd Ed. when the fantasy rules come out, and I expect Studio Tomahawk to also cover the HYW with a 'worldbook' at some point, but in the meantime I could them for the AFS Empire faction.

I gave them the CBLPCF-treatment today, and they are now drying wit the study window open, as the poly cement is giving out a lot of fumes that I do not want to inhale.

As soon as I have finished assembling/building the two command models for my Greek archers, I shall prime them along with these, as I do not want to pull the spray can out for two models.

Almost There!

Tomorrow, I shall bring out the first eight I finished for this unit, and they shall all receive the Captain Blood Liquid Poly Cement Filler treatment at the shoulder joints.

After that, they will have to wait for the Greek archer command models to be finished, before they all can be primed in one go.

HYW Spearmen, One Step Closer to Painting

I have greenstuffed the shoulder-gaps, and put the first helping of filler on the bases. I think I shall apply the Captain Blood Liquid Poly Cement filler method to these and the first eight I finished building and basing a LONG time ago, and then the unit will be ready for primer!

French Spearmen WIP

I got the last couple of these assembled, so now I can very soon start putting filler on the bases. I need to fill gaps on the backside of some of the shoulder joints with greenstuff, because it took me a few attempts to figure out the right angle of the spears, but with the whole unit now assembled, I have the necessary motivation to get it done, so that it can be primed and painted!

HYW French Spearmen WIP

I started this project more than a year ago, so getting the first 16-man unit ready for primer is long overdue. Two more sets of arms to attach, then it is time for some greenstuffing and putting filler on the bases. Tomorrow, I may get a lot closer to moving them off the prepping station.

Perry Miniatures HYW French Spearmen, but their main purpose is to stand in for Dol Amroth Men-at-Arms, adding a 'pike' block to my God of Battles Gondor (Mercenaries) army.

Napoleonics: 28mm French

My Victrix order included some nappies, too. I have Sharpe's Chosen Men sitting on cork handles, ready to be painted for my 28mm nappie skirmish project, but I thought I might need some adversaries for solo play, for if and when my opponents are not available. When I have painted three or four Riflemen, I'll turn my attention to the French, and build a similar group to play against by myself.

Victrix Order

I just took advantage of the May2018 Free Worldwide Postage offer from Victrix Ltd.

The Greeks are for my Broken Legions/OGAM/A Fantastic SAGA project, and the French are for some nappies skirmish (Song of Drums and Shakos/Chosen Men/Sharp Practice).

Napoleonics: French 1er Hussards Trooper

I painted this for the Alliance of the Big Battalions Artistry on LAF (posted it earlier today), and I speeded up the process on this single mini to get it done for the Painting Club, so the rest of the unit will follow later (right now I have to get Lea's SS&SS party on tracks).

The basing is an experiment; I glue two 20mm washers under the integral base to add weight, and possibly use magnetic storage, like for my 28mm stuff.

I do not shade and highlight when painting 1:72 minis, as I only play massed battles in this scale, and it is all about recognizable units, and not individual warriors.

Black Powder: Italeri French Hussars WIP

I think my French army needs some hussars - and thus I have started working on some models to represent 1er Hussards.

Obviously, I should not take photos without my reading glasses, but I guess it is reasonably clear what I am doing here, after all.

It is the first time I use steel washers for 1:72, and it is actually an experiment - how these fare will determine whether or not I shall do this with future units, or go back to using cardboard bases.

1:72 Napoleonics - My French

With Black Powder added to my rules collection, I thought it was about time that I dusted off my 1:72 plastic Napoleonic armies.

Back in the seventies, with wargames not nearly as readily available as they are now, I wrote a set of rules for playing with some of my friends, using quite large(ish) battalions of about 20-25 miniatures.

Later, I adopted Warmaster for playng this era, and we started out with units of 12 models, but later reduced the battalions/cavalry regiments to eight soldiers.

I think we can easily adapt those small battalions for Black Powder, counting the shown formations as 'Attack Columns', and forming a single rank for 'Lines' (and two files for 'March Columns').

Eight models is the minimum required for forming a 'Square', so that should work fine. Of course, we can later enlarge infantry unit size by doubling the models, or even more - but we shall have to see about that.

I know Michael has a sizeable Austrian force, and I have  nicely sized French army (although some of the paintjobs are WIP, as it shows in the photos).

French Line and Light Infantry. I shall have to pull out some red and blue, at least.

Fench Line and Old Guard Infantry.
Again, some units are not quite finished...

French Dragoon Regiment, some Line Chasseurs in early (Hussar-style) uniforms,
and a single Italian Infantry Regiment

French Cuirassiers, the Chevaux-Légers de Berg (too many models - I painted them back in the 'big unit' days,
and the Lanciers Hollandais of the Guard

Some Artillery and Staff

I intend to invite Kevin for a scrap, and see if I can get him interested in this scale for Black Powder (honestly, I don't feel like painting an entire Nappie army in 28mm).

Prtofessor Perrywinkle Rebased

I decided to re-base the last minis I originally painted for The Secrets of the Hidden Temple.

Back in 2014/15 I did not intend to rebase slotta minis onto washers, but I have since been swayed completely by the much better looks of minis on washer bases, and, well, consistency is also a big thing for me.

I give you this old Chaos in Cairo mini, which I named Professor Perrywinkle for my Strange Aeons Treshold team (I have forgotten his original, French name).

He is, of course, also going to appear in my Christmas Wars project - and I think I need to get some evil character models ready for that purpose, as I seem to have an overweight of good people reporting for duty, as it stands right now.

Another one of my reasons for revisiting this model is that I am planning to play some Solo Strange Aeons games, as soon as I have made a 2x3' mat out of painter felt (I saw and played on one used for Congo at Horisont VIII), as I think I need some easily transportable playing surfaces (chipboards with saand are fine for playing games at your home, not so much for bringing to other locations). The Professor is the Character/Leader of my Treshold team, which I have just been re-working to fit with the 2nd Ed. rules, so it is now quite ready for some more blood-curdling action in the Mythos universe.

Plastic WIP

This evening, I cleaned up another Gondorian archer, and got him glued to a washer.

Afterwards, I put arms on the designated standard bearer for the men-at-arms unit. As you may be able to see, again I could not get a proper fit for the right arm.

My initial enthusiasm for these models has cooled a bit, as I find it fiddly and often not very rewarding to fit the two-handed arms sets, and I shall have to do quite a bit of work with the greenstuff before I can get any paint on these.

Well, at least I do not have to do all the units right away as I have other armies to use on the table - although it would be nice if I could make a tad faster progress on these, but time and the garden project (and painting some Zulu warriors) does not leave me more than a couple of hours in the evenings for scraping plastic.

Perry Plastics on the Run

I now have a full contingent of 16 advancing bodies cleaned up and based, although a few of them still have no heads. Sorry for the awful photo - my camera decided to focus on the mini furthest away, it seems.

I actually have more bodies assembled (with heads), but they are going to be part of the second unit of spearmen, as they are all standing (as you can see, I also decided to make some advancing command models instead of the more passive ones shown earlier)

Pimping Perry Plastics

Well, maybe not so much pimping, as making some plain builds from the parts provided.

Made some progress with the Perry plastic Frenchies today, though. The trumpeter came out very defiant! He is not quite finished, by the way, as I am going to add a sheathed sword to his left hip. The leader (without arms), will be sporting a sword, so will have to have a scabbard added, and the standard bearer also needs a sword to defend the colours.

I am not quite sure what I did wrong on the first spear/pikeman, but I did not seem to be able to get a good fit for the arms, so a little greenstuff work will be needed before he gets prepped with the rest of the unit.

I can see that I shall also need to give all the minis a good brush-down with the acrylic leather brush to remove plastic dust and the likes, before that so important coat of primer.

I am not sure if I shall have time for further builds today, as I am going to sleep most of the day after working this night, and then am picking up Anna from school on bicycle, to teach her the route from her school in Ringe to Kværndrup - and we might go to the beach for a dip, as Thursday and Friday seem to be the last days of summer this time around.

Perry Agincourt French -> Dol Amroth Men-at-Arms

In my second hobby session today, I cleaned up these four Perry bodies. They are very good castings, and mold lines are almost non-existing, so they clean up quite quickly, and it bodes well for this project which should optimally yield four 16-man spear/pike Dol Amroth men-at-arms units for my Gondor God of Battles army.

In addition, I should be able to to construct the odd Fiefdom Warrior unit, such as Axemen of Lossarnach (with actual axes instead of the halberds carried by the 'official' GW miniatures), and maybe some Clansmen of Lamedon. I shall have to re-read the passage from Return of the King where the Fiefdom companies are seen arrive to Minas Tirith by Pippin and Bergil to see if I can proxy even more Fiefdom Warriors from this set (I may need to get some Perry English Longbowmen to represent the Bowmen of Morthond).

Winter May Come...

...I am ready for it!

Just received my last Wayland order about an hour ago, and I have have already washed and rinsed all the sprues (they are drying in the kitchen as I write this). And, in case you wonder, there is three boxes of Perry Agincourt French Infantry.

Some of the Unmarried Zulus will be used for my IHMN Impi (I can do both Blooded and Unblooded Warriors, and mix and mach parts with the Married Zulus I just recently purchased and have started assembling).

The Perry French are destined for becoming Fiefdom Warriors for my Gondor God of Battles army - mainly Dol Amroth 'pike'-men, but also Axemen of Lossarnach and the likes. I shall start assembling some in between working on my Zulus, but the main effort will have to be postponed until I have finished the Impi for IHMN.

The Arabs will, initially, be used for a Blood Eagle warband, and I shall make a Crusader warband to oppose it. Later, who knows, both may grow into forces for SAGA Crescent and the Cross, but that is beyond the horizon right now.

The Bolt Action rule book was a promotional freebie, and as I have some painted WWII models, I thought it would be nice to have, just in case...