The "Undiscovered Country"...

At the risk of sounding too morose, I titled this post with a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet. It's a favored phrase of mine; I believe it's a reference to the afterlife however I use "undiscovered country" for anything that I (or others) have yet to explore. 

For the purposes of this post, I want to discuss what my next project will be. I still have some 10mm Macedonian cavalry to finish so that I can complete my Successors army for ato The Strongest. But what will be after that?

As I was putting some of my recently painted figures away in storage, I saw my 10mm forced of 1973 Egyptians, Korean War Chinese and 1940s Viet Minh. None of these "armies" have an opponent painted to game against. They were all initially painted up for the Pendraken painting competition but I never got around to painting their opponents. Those are all strong candidates for what will end up on the painting table next. There is also the Fenian Invasion project that is nearly finished and very much languishing. 

I'm also anticipating the purchase of the 10mm plastic Azincourt army sets whenever Wargames Atlantic decides to release them (if you can't tell I have been eagerly and impatiently waiting for their arrival). The plan there is to base them up for Test of Resolve's Hundred Years War variant. 

Only time will tell what I decide to slap some paint on next...

Pillow Punching Pachyderms

Another item that had been languishing for quite some time were the final batch of Macedonian/Successor elephants. The three elephants had been painted but the crews had laid in primer only for months. I decided to finish them off once and for all on my day off from work. 

With them complete, it brings my total number of "elephant screen" bases to six. While not quite rated as steamrollers in To The Strongest, perhaps they can anchor a flank or cause some horses to get a bit uneasy. 

As previously mentioned, towers would probably be more accurate than the riders I have crewing these elephants. I would have enjoyed the visual spectacle of the towers but they and their crews would have created headaches for storage. I opted for the riders instead. These little buggers are pinned to their pachyderm mounts and, as you can see, I have some archers, javelin throwers and quite a few sarissa-armed crew. 

With the completion of the elephant screens, I only have two units remaining to paint for my Macedonian/Successor army: mounted bases of Companions and Thessalians. 

Muscovite Mission Accomplished!

Making progress with the painting queue has been a challenge for most of 2025, but especially so this last month or so. I finally managed to finish up my 17th century Russian army in 6mm. 

The army is comprised of three "western" pike and shot units, two streltsy units, one "western" reiter unit, two dragoon detachments, a Cossack detachment, two artillery pieces and two commanders. 

Here is the third and final pike and shot unit showing off their red and blue uniforms. I found the red company flag online and the regimental flag is courtesy of Baccus. 

And here are the western reiters, the only full sized cavalry unit in the Russian army. They are loosely based on a color plate I can across showing a green-clad member Colonel Wormser's reiter formation. 

And lastly a closeup look at the detachment of cossacks. They will probably be of dubious battlefield effectiveness but they might be able to secure an objective or something where mobility is needed. 

I will be using the army with the Liner Militum: Tercios rules and the Kingdoms expansion (which covers the ECW and Deluge armies). Here's a look at the points breakdown:

• 2 Streltsy bases (large sotnia): 100 points each (200 points total)
• 3 Pike & Shot bases ("modernized" streltsy, large sotnia, muskets, pikes): 115 points each (345 points total)
• 1 Reiter base (large unit, arquebus): 100 points each (100 points total)
• 2 Light Artillery bases: 70 points each (140 points total)
• 2 Dragoon detachments (small unit): 60 points each (120 points total)
• 1 Cossack detachment (harasser rule)" 65 points 
• Potyomkin (Passionate trait)
• Pushkin (Will trait)

970 total army points (if my fuzzy math is accurate).

I will tackle some Ottoman and Polish armies to.do battle with the Russian host, however in the interim they will be facing off with my 17th century Swedes in a few hypothetical battles.