1st Corps Successors

Hi guys here are some of the new Successor pikemen from 1st Corps (they have no photos, prices or lists on their site yet). Kevin Jowett who is their Australian distributor brought these over the other day, I am impressed and will be getting a fair few (these are eastern style in trouser and later Macedonian/Ptolemaic).

Murphy's law

I haven't posted for ages so when I finally decided to pull my finger out and get some photos up on the Blog the damn computer crashes. It has taken me a week to get it sorted so I hope everything goes well (so Steve if you are reading this I am very interested in Gilder's rules, email me at aydenrobert@hotmail.com). Here are some photos of the Sudan figures I am busy basing for our first game in 3 weeks. I have taken over the dining room table this last week but the missus has given them their marching orders before they have all been finished. Enjoy

Painting update

Little to report these last few weeks as I have been busy trying to get loads of figures done for the Easter Weekend convention here in Brisbane put on by Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts. I have been painting Fuzzy Wuzzy figures for the Sudan game that I will be running but I will have to recycle them as they die. Leroy Simpson has been kind enough to do a British regiment in red for me as well as a Egyptian battalion (he will do a much better job than I would). I will be using the rules 'Science versus Pluck' where everyone plays on the side of the Imperial forces and I as the umpire run the Dervish forces (and try my hardest to kill them off). The emphasis is on fun and I have been waiting 15 years to finally get the early Sudan up and running ever since I saw the campaigns of Peter Gilder (great to see his old collection having an outing on the Der Alt Fritz blog site, seriously recommended). So come have a look and join in over the Saturday and Sunday of the Easter weekend if you are in Brisbane. Finally I leave you a photo of some of my Muscovite figures as Muscovites seem to be getting popular (see the fantastic link by Nigel http://nigbilpainter.blogspot.com/

Cheers Scott

Cossack wagon tabor and Easter Weekend

Here are some photos of my Cossack wagon tabor that I finish a few weeks ago. I meant to put these up a few weeks ago but the batteries in my camera were dead so this post has had to wait until I got new ones. In the next 2 months I will only be painting bits and pieces for my Deluge collection as I am busy painting several hundred figures for an early Sudan participation game Nathan Vinson and I will be putting on at the Brisbane Easter convention. The convention is a great and relaxed 2 days of gaming in the heart of the CBD in Brisbane organised by Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts. If you are in Queensland come along and join in the games and sample the growing range of figures and terrain now available from Queensland companies. Gerry will have his large range of 25mm figues (Castaway Arts), Matthew will have his 15, 20 and 25mm ranges (Battlescape), Nathan Vinson will have a sample of his extensive 25mm range (Elite Miniatures), Kevin Jowett will have his new 25mm ACW range and extensive and excellent range of painted and unpainted building in 15mm, 20mm and 25mm from Hudson and Allen, Scenic Effects and Historical Building Authority. Check the Castaway Arts site for more details of the weekend. Come along and have great day of gaming in the airconditioned rooms of Chiffley of the Mall. See you all there, Scott.

50mm x 50mm basing

Some guys have been asking why and how I base my figures on 50mm x 50mm GW bases. The main reason was because I felt they looked good and the larger base gave me more room to add terrain and other bits to the base. Another important factor is transport, these figures are protected on the larger base and as a gamer who has brought back to Australia large collections by sea and air from several years in the UK and Norway they do work. The 50mm base with 5 foot figures does upset some because the frontage is not right (20mm per figure), as we started off playing WECW. However the photo here shows how a unit of 20, 40 or 60 would have a frontage of 20mm each and keeps the Warhammer crowd happy. Basically you alternate 2,3,2,3 on you base (1st and second rank), couldn't be easier.

Austrian and Brandenburg Command stands

I thought I might post photos of two command stands that I painted as Christmas presents for Kevin and James Jowett as I didn't have time to photograph them before they came over for Christmas dinner (Austrian stand with yellow and orange flag). Kevin has a very large Austrian army for the TYW and Deluge period (Old Glory which you will see later) so I thought a command stand would be a good present (bit more personal). The figures for the Austrian stand are all Essex Miniatures and the flag was a black and white printout/photocopy which I then outlined with a good black pen and then painted. The outline with a good soft point pen helps the paint stay within the lines and is much easier than the handdrawn masterpieces of the League of Augsburg (they draw and paint on cloth which is beyond my skills).

James who is Kevin's 15 year old son (and also an ex history student of mine) is a very keen historical gamer who has a large painted Brandenburg army (mostly Renegade and Bicorne). The Brandenburg stand used Essex Miniatures for the cavalry escort but the Brandenburg Elector is a Redoubt figure. The figures all have had head swops and the head of the Elector was modelled with green stuff to look like engravings and paintings from the period.

More Polish units

Here is the second Polish Haiduk unit.

Polish army at the present

Here are all of the Polish units that I have to managed to finish so far. I have loads more units waiting in the cupboard to do, Old Glory mounted Dragoons (24), TAG Pancerni (24), Redoubt Pancerni (12), Redoubt unarmoured Hussars (12), Old Glory Haiduks (20), TAG Noble Levy (32).

Muscovites

Just to ensure people that I am still working on finishing the Muscovites here is a photo of some of the cavalry.

Muscovites

New Reiter Regiment and Muscovite cavalry brigade

New unit of Muscovite Reiters in green with the rest of the new regiments I have painted so far. I still have 3 more units of reiters to do and then the Muscovite cavalry are done, remember to have a look at the 5 units of 12 Muscovite Boyar cavalry that I have already done. The unit in green was finished nearly 3 weeks ago but as I had just bought a new house I had to move everything etc. and have had little time for anything else. Those people out there who have spotted the later GNW style flag I apologise but as there is little available information in English I wanted to make them usable for both periods (early GNW). I didn't feel like handpainting the flags from Dan Schoor's excellent site but I might do later after I have had a few games (keep those people happy). For those with more information on Muscovite uniforms, flags and organisation during the Deluge period I say "please share it". There is nothing more frustrating then getting corrected on uniform points etc. (best guess many times) when nothing else is offered up. I read Swedish and some German but no Polish or Russian so would really appreciate some information from those better informed, please. Anyway for those after the 1644 Muscovite army lists I will post them and the Ottoman list some time in the near future, somehow they got left off the last last but there is nothing stopping people from creating their own using my WECW or own research. Until next time when I will talk about how the free ruleset "Father Tilly 3" plays (I am rather excited by these and have been reading them carefully). Cheers Scott

Muscovite Reiters

I finally finished the first of my five Reiter units for my Muscovite armies. The uniform style and equipment are based upon the painting from the Russian historical magazine Zeughus and the Osprey book on the cavalry of Peter of Great. See older posts for the illustration of the Reiter in green. I have used Old Glory Cossack miniatures to represent the units, the figures are great and have seperate hands with pistols, swords, carbines and lance. I intend to paint the units in Brown, Green, Blue, Grey and Dark Red.

heavy Hussars new pictures

Here are more of the new hussars that I have painted. The figures are the new Polish Winged Hussar figures from Essex Miniatures which have had the wings removed and green stuff added to represent the fur cape worn by the hussars. The figures are on Elite Miniature horses with saddle cloth and saddle added with green stuff and pistol holsters from Redoubt miniatures. The photos are not the best because I took them at night and did not have enough life but I hope you get the idea.