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:

My Fenian Project

After years on the backburner, I have finally decided to embark on my 15mm Fenian project. One of the problems, is that there isn't a dedicated range for the Fenian Invasions. The good news is that you can use some Maori Wars ranges, the bad news is that Maori ranges won't provide everything and there aren't many 15mm Maori ranges (maybe two). These are BattleLines 15mm painted up as the 13th Hamilton Militia (present at the Battle of Ridgeway).


The bulk of the Canadian force present at Ridgeway were the 2nd Battalion, Queens Own Rifles (QoR). The QoR were essentially uniformed and equipped the same as the 13th Hamilton, but in Rifle Green as opposed to the Redcoat of infantry. The Battle Lines range are all in the pillbox cap, while probably worn at Ridgeway, the official headgear was the quilted shako. I plan to find some figures with a suitable shako and then conduct some head swaps.



These chaps are the Welland Canal Field Battery. So, where are the guns? Apparently due to haphazard care and security of their Armstrong guns, the British military took them from them as punishment. They continued their duties as infantry. These figures were a small challenge. I couldn't find figures in busbies wearing 1860s British uniform. I took Battle Lines infantry and conducted a head swap with 18mm Crimean War Royal Horse Artillery (Eureka). Maybe not perfect, but I am pleased with the results. While not present at Ridgeway, the Welland Canal Field Battery were closeby, and the Canadians will need all the help they can get to have a chance at the refight of Ridgeway!

Here we have members of the Dunneville Naval Brigade. They were assigned to the tug WT Robb. The Naval Brigade was with the Welland Canal Field Battery at Fort Erie and will serve as reinforcements for Ridgeway.









Hopefully I will have some more Canadians converted and painted up soon. If anyone knows a good source for 15mm/18mm quilted shako proxies, let me know. Thanks!

10mm Yankees

I just finished this Old Glory 10mm Union Regiment. These guys are based om 1"x3/4" bases, so they can be used for Fire & Fury, Piquet: Field of Battle or Too Fat Lardies" They Couldn't Hit an Elephant.