Scots and Irish Progress

Have been able to make slow but consistent progress on my Irregular Wars and '45 projects. I try to work on a few projects at once because I can lose interest and develop painter's block of sorts if I am only doing one project...which makes it tedious (and I paint for enjoyment). 

I finished my first three bases for my Irregular Wars' "Mere Irish". These are the D3 optional companies of Bonnachts. In order to differentiate them from the Kern and Gallowglass, I used figures in the leine and armed with axes. Majority are QRF's Bonnacht, with one Corvus Belli kern. I gave him an axe I found in a QRF gallowglass pack. I painted these guys colorful but with the colors toned down to be less bright. I like how they came out, especially the bases.

The Corvus Belli kern is in the rear center without the jacket. The QRF figures are nice, simple sculpts...extremely easy to paint.

Next up are some 15mm Scots. I think the flag depicts an Atholl regiment, but I am not certain. I found some old flags in my flag bin and after mounting it, I painted over it. I still need to find some more flags... The figures are mostly Old Glory with some Roundway mixed in.

Here is a rear view of the regiment. Every figure has at least (and typically only) one plaid article of clothing. Some got multiple plaids. The plaids are typically a black grid on muted red or green background. Some have other grid colors and even dots at line intersection. For any dark grid lines, I use a Micron gel ink pen.

I have completed half of my Royal Ecossais. There seems to be much debate about what the Ecossais wore during the '45. I opted for Old Glory SYW French without turnbacks. The main reason why I chose these figures was because I already owned a pack of these (will also be using them for the Irish Piquets) and because I couldn't find figures in bonnets and short coats that I liked.

 With this Jacobite regiment complete, I figure that I need 5 more regiments of highlanders, the Royal Ecossais, Irish Piquets and maybe a lowland regiment. That would give me 7-8 infantry units, along with one planned cavalry regiment and some artillery. That is a lot of Plaid!

Old and Older Projects

I have tons of 10mm figures from 19th Century Europe: Prussians and Austrians for 1866, Danes and Germans for the First Schleswig War, Papal and Garabaldini for the Risorgimento, and on and on... Unfortunately, most is unpainted. Anyway, here are some 10mm Danes and Schleswig Holstein foot:

Gotta love the pretty "chocolate box" uniforms of these guys. The figures are based for Neil Thomas rules. I need to paint more of these 10mm figures,

I like cast-on flags in 10mm, some of Pendraken's ranges have them, others don't. The Schleswig range doesn't have cast-on flags. I decided to add flags made from the tin seals on coffee cans. It is a thick foil and I am happy with the result.

This is a very old project from a decade ago: 6mm Maxmillian Adventure. Figures are Irregular, I thought of using DBA variant for the Civil War. The guys on the left are Imperial Mexican foot followed by Imperial Lancers, Austrian Legion (maybe Belgian, not sure) and finally Republican Mexicans. Nice little figures. The thing about Irregular 6mm; unpainted they look like little blobs of lead but when painted (and they paint easy) they really give a good depiction of what they are supposed to be.

New Project: 15mm Jacobites

I have a very complicated love/hate affair with Jacobites. Years ago, I collected 28mm Highlanders and ultimately sold them off after painting a few foot units and some horse. After that, I painted a decent amount of 15mm Jacobites for Warfare in the Age of Reason. Those two were sold off in order to finance other projects. There were several packs of Old Glory English and Jacobites in my closet and after years remaining in their original packaging, I decided to paint some using a new technique for me. I primed tan then inked the figures with Vallejo "Sepia" ink. This allows me to see the detail on the sculpts and the inked tan hides any spots that I miss. Thus far I have finished two foot and one dragoon unit, based on 25mm squares for Maurice:

I have yet to add flags for my foot, partly because I haven't found flags I like. Most 15mm flags seem way too small for my taste. I will have to either print my own or use 20mm flags.

I painted the yellow faced unit first and didn't really give grenadiers' mitre caps their appropriate due. I painted the buff-faced unit's grenadiers with a little more love.

I have to say that these Old Glory sculpts are very, very nice. They are also extremely easy to paint.

So, back to the "hate" part of my relationship with the Jacobites...Plaid! In 15mm, plaid can be a pain. I usually paint plaid with a simple pattern and limit the amount of plaid to a minimum. Most of my plaid is on a red or green background. The pattern is "painted" in with a black Micron ink pen. I try to keep non-black patterns to minimum.

This is the only finished base of Highlanders so far. I have half of the Royal Ecossais and some more Highlanders painted but not yet based. I hope to be more regular with my blog updates in the future.

Irregular Wars Update

Its been a while since I posted, although this doesn't mean I haven't been painting and gaming (and of course adding unpainted lead to my collection). A good many games of Irregular Wars have been played by the Dulles Area Historical Gaming Society (DAHGS). My Colonial Spanish:

Crossbow, Militia Shot, Field Gun, Mounted Arqubusier, Rhodeleros, Militia Pike, Conquistadors and Padre. I still need to paint up my Herrereulo, War Dogs and Indian "Allies".

Another shot of the Colonial Spanish, with my "Spanish" villa in the background. The English would love to pay those buildings a visit.

English Adventurers: Gentlemen Pike, Ship's Gun, Billmen (in Tudor green livery), Longbow, Militia Pike, Gentlemen Adventurers, Adventurers. Still need to pick up some Cimmaroons and make a sniper fig. When the Khurasan Elizabethans are released, I will pick up a good amount to make into a continental English army.

I've added to my Indians, more scouts, warriors and noblemen in wooden armor. I also added this shaman. He is a Tinglit (sp?) shaman from Eureka, I made his daggers into rattles and gave him an Iroquois mask and a fur cloak. Some skulls of vanquished enemies in front of him. I hope to paint up my Irish next, and the Scottish/English Borderers after that.

AAR: English vs Iroquois

A member of my gaming group, Alex, agreed to play some Irregular Wars with me at the club. Our first attempt last week was aborted when we started too late and had to end the game a draw. This past Thursday, we started at a proper hour. Alex took control of the English Adventurers and I had control of the fierce Iroquois. Alex's English battle was composed of a company of Gentlemen Adventurers (including his Lord) and 4 companies of Adventurers. For his two optional companies, Alex chose the "Murderer" (ship's gun) and some Gentlemen Pike over D2 Longbow and D2 Militia Pike options. This resulted him in fielding a small compact force with some punch to it. My Iroquois had two Noble Warriors'companies and three Scouts' companies with D6 Warriors and D4 Scouts as options. I rolled for all six Warrior companies and three Scouts. This was a meeting engagement between explorers and "naturals":

I kept my Noble companies (including Lord) in the center with swarms of Scouts and Warriors on the flanks.  The gameplan was to hop into the woods and surge the English. Alex decided to move his Adventurer companies on either flank into the woods and advance the Gentlemen Adventurers & Pike and Murderer through the ground in the center.

Lots of rain allowed my Iroquois to advance without much resistance from English shot and cannon. Additionally, most of my flanks were out of command reach but rolled fortuitously on the "impetuous move" chart. Irregular Wars is an extremely simple rule set, but has lots of nuance and period feel with weather, terrain, disease and command & control issues. 

My Iroquois managed to overwhelm Alex's flanks in the woods and ultimately swarm the English center. Upon reading the rules, we missed some things (Natives reacting to firearms modifier) and some bad turns of events (lots of rain) doomed Alex's intrepid English interlopers. We both had lots of fun regardless and plan to play again. I really enjoy these rules and look forward to painting up some more armies. Next up are some Colonial Spanish to face Drake and his Great Expedition!

English Adventurers!

Just finished some "English Adventurers" for Irregular Wars. The figures are mostly QRF "Tudor Wars", with a mix of QRF "Elizabethan". Khurasan Spanish Conquistadors and Grumpy Colonial Portuguese. They are depicting early English forays into the New World (John Rut, Roanoke and even Jamestowne). The figures are probably more suited for mid 16th century, but I like the sculpts and they can do for later periods, in my opinion.

Above and below: Five stands of "Adventurers", which I depicted with two shot figures and one melee figure. Accompanying those Adventurers is a small artillery piece, a "Murderer" and the command, a base of "Gentlemen". The commander is a QRF figure with a QR miniatures pistol added.

 The English face off against my Iroquois clad in wooden armor.

Hopefully, I will get my first bona-fide battle in at the local gaming club. I plan to paint up some more Iroquois and also some more Adventurer bases as well as some pike elements for the English navigators...

Spray Can Fiasco!

Finished up two bases of Conquistadors (arqubusiers and targeteers) and two bases of English Adventurers, one last step was to dull-coat varnish them....a quick first spray and horror! I had accidentally picked up the Testor's black primer instead of Dullcoat! The cans are very similar:

(The "BLACK" written with a Sharpie after the incident.)

The damage, while it appears minimal at first glance, may require me to strip down the figures and start from scratch. There is black spatter on these three bases, it appears one base of Spanish Targeteers escaped the blast radius:

 (The base in the middle took the most damage.)

 (Alot of the damage isn't really visible, but trust me...it is there.)

(Above and below is the one base that escaped damage.)

Before the spray can incident, I was very happy with how the figures were looking. They are a mix of Khurasan, Naismith and QRF. I am awaiting on some more QRF English. I am trying to motivate getting back on track with my European explorers/adventurers. Wish me luck!

Progress of Sorts

I ordered three Iroquois Longhouses from Acheson Creations. They were about $5 each and when I received them, I could not have been happier. Cast in a grey colored resin, which seemed more durable and more "plastic" than other resin buildings I have. I primed it with black Krylon Fusion and gave it a series of drybrushes of various grey and tan shades. Based on plastic styrene, I flocked my typical manner. I can't recommend these buildings enough and look forward to more orders from Acheson.

They are displayed above with my Iroquois war party. I have been working on my English Adventurers as well as more "Naturals". For inspiration, I started reading Warpaths by Ian K. Steele, which is very good thus far.

Also, have been watching "The New World" for additional inspiration. Wish me luck on more progress...

A Pledge, a Budget and a Plan

My New Year's resolution is to paint more than I purchase on the year, and to try to keep my monthly figure expenditure around $30 per month. That limit doesn't include books, magazines and supplies, but I will also try to keep those purchases to a minimum as well. It will be difficult, but progress and savings need to be made!

My January purchase was geared towards Irregular Wars. February's budget is already earmarked for Irregular Wars as well.

January's Purchase of Freikorps' 15mm Tudor Wars range comprised of:
24 Mid Tudor Arqubusiers
8 Mid Tudor Longbowmen
8 Mid Tudor Pikemen
8 Mid Tudor Foot Command
8 Elzabeth's Wars Sword & BucklerMen
4 Tudor Wars Demi Lancers
2 Frame Guns and 8 Crew

That is 64 Foot, 4 horse and 2 artillery pieces with crew. For a slow painter like me, that will be a tough number to surpass for the month! I went slightly over-budget, but close enough and it is the thought that counts! These figures will go towards my English Adventurer battle. I plan on using them as one of the primary enemies for my 15mm Woodland Indians. Hopefully I can collect some Spanish colonials, French Huguenots and Dutch merchantmen for them to get into scrapes with!

Irregular Wars: Woodland Indians Battle

I have always been interested in the Age of Discovery and the wargaming potential of the conflicts. The Irregular Wars ruleset allows me to recreate these battles. This past October I visited Jamestown, Virginia which rekindled my interest for the period. Unfortunately, there is no dedicated 15mm range of Powhatan Indians. I opted to go with the Khurasan "pre-contact" Iroquois as my generic Eastern Woodlands Indian battle. For Irregular Wars, the Woodland Indians have three primary combatant types: Veteran Warriors, Warriors and Scouts. I decided to use the Khurasan Noble Warriors with armor as my Veterans, a mix of bow, club and shield for my Warriors and lighter equipped Iroquois and allied Indians as my Scouts. Thus far, I have seven bases (or "companies") complete. I will be adding more later.

Veteran Warriors:

Warriors:

Scouts:

Battle:

 
I am awaiting an order of Freikorps Tudor English to start off my English Adventurer Battle. I am also contemplating an order of East Riding Miniatures and Grumpy's to supplement the Freikorps. In the meantime, I will continue to work on the Woodland Indians and some Spanish Conquistadors.

Its been almost a year since I last posted, at the request of a friend and fellow gamer I begin 2013 with a post and a "pledge"; the pledge will be to try my utmost to keep wargaming expenditures around $30 per month (which is a drastic reduction). So,what have I been doing? One is buying a lot and painting a modest amount of 10mm figures for Neil Thomas' 19th Century European Wargaming rules. Specifically, the Risorgimento and the First Schleswig War: