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| Cavalry |
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| Scottish Axemen |
Monday, 30 November 2015
Quick Update - Todays Painting
Ok, set myself the challenge of doing 6 elements today.. and ta da! Basing obviously to come, but that is now the last Scottish elements for the Franco-Scots, plus two elements of 'Gros Varlets'.
Sunday, 29 November 2015
Belated Hungarians
Just watching the DBMM Yahoo Group, and I see there is some discussion about Hungarian heraldry. I thought I would point people at the ones I did for the Hungarian Ally in my Wallachian army, and realised I hadn't posted any pics of these finished figures. Picture quality not the best, and I see that two lances need a touch up after a tool-box accident turned them into spaghetti.
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| Stephen Bathory |
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| Matthias Corvinus |
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| Matthias again - showing rear caparison |
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| Banderium |
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| Hungarian wedge |
Happy St. Andrew's Day
Yesterday saw another six elements completed for the Franco-Scots, in this case, indentured bowmen, plus some 'wilder' Highland archers.
The target for today (St. Andrew's Day) is to complete another six elements, in this case, four elements of Scottish axemen, and two elements of 'Gros Varlets' which are the sergeants and lesser men at arms detached from the French chivalry to act as cavalry. Under DBMM, the cavalry are very useful as local reserves, or detached from the main body of knights.
I took some liberties with the axemen, and used the Essex 'Galloglaich' figures, which are quite suitable for Islesmen or Highland warriors from areas with a strong Norse influence. There doesn't seem to be any real evidence for how these warriors would have looked in France, but they will be recognisably 'Scottish' and work well with the Highland archers. Once they are done, that will be the entire Scottish contingent for the army completed other than their baggage. A bit of a milestone, and a fitting one for the day of Scotland's patron Saint.
The target for today (St. Andrew's Day) is to complete another six elements, in this case, four elements of Scottish axemen, and two elements of 'Gros Varlets' which are the sergeants and lesser men at arms detached from the French chivalry to act as cavalry. Under DBMM, the cavalry are very useful as local reserves, or detached from the main body of knights.
I took some liberties with the axemen, and used the Essex 'Galloglaich' figures, which are quite suitable for Islesmen or Highland warriors from areas with a strong Norse influence. There doesn't seem to be any real evidence for how these warriors would have looked in France, but they will be recognisably 'Scottish' and work well with the Highland archers. Once they are done, that will be the entire Scottish contingent for the army completed other than their baggage. A bit of a milestone, and a fitting one for the day of Scotland's patron Saint.
Thursday, 26 November 2015
Respect the Psiloi!
Those of you familiar with the Fanaticus Forum (DBA) will probably be familiar with the phrase. I finally added some Psiloi to the Franco-Scots. The DBA list just says 'Psiloi' - and the figures I used for Landwaster last week were just generic peasants.
The DBMM2 list makes some French crossbowmen compulsory, but in keeping with the idea that this is basically a Scots army with a few French along, and that formed crossbowmen didn't seem to have had much of an impact in the battles I am interested in, I decided to do these as skirmishers (Psiloi in DBx terminology).
All Corvus Belli figures, and I still have a load of these unpainted if I elect to change the army composition. Plus I have added another seven Knight elements, three of which will be generals.
Obviously, some basing required, but making steady progress. The whole army only needs another 16 elements completed plus 14 dismounted knight elements. Onwards...
The DBMM2 list makes some French crossbowmen compulsory, but in keeping with the idea that this is basically a Scots army with a few French along, and that formed crossbowmen didn't seem to have had much of an impact in the battles I am interested in, I decided to do these as skirmishers (Psiloi in DBx terminology).
All Corvus Belli figures, and I still have a load of these unpainted if I elect to change the army composition. Plus I have added another seven Knight elements, three of which will be generals.
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| The Psiloi 'en masse' |
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| 'Mr de Mille, I'm ready for my close-up' |
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| Bruce, Fraser & Anderson |
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| Murray, Maxwell & Johnson |
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| French: Culant, Gaucort & Coutes |
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| Scots General: Douglas with Scrymgeour the standard bearer |
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| Scots General: Hay with Graham the standard bearer |
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| French General: Alencon & Giresme the standard bearer |
Obviously, some basing required, but making steady progress. The whole army only needs another 16 elements completed plus 14 dismounted knight elements. Onwards...
Saturday, 21 November 2015
WIP - More 100YW
I managed to source one more pack of Corvus Belli 100 Years War Knights, so together with my command packs, I have enough for another seven elements, three of which will be command stands, two for Scots allies, and one for a French ally.
So I elected to paint up the horse barding first, as this will then let me easily match up the riders, rather than having to continually refer to my chart of shields and names.
The army will eventually represent the Scots forces in France circa 1424 but I have also mixed in some of the companions of Joan of Arc and Scots forces present at Orleans c 1429.
So I elected to paint up the horse barding first, as this will then let me easily match up the riders, rather than having to continually refer to my chart of shields and names.
The army will eventually represent the Scots forces in France circa 1424 but I have also mixed in some of the companions of Joan of Arc and Scots forces present at Orleans c 1429.
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| Speedie, Butchart & Fraser |
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| Johnson, Anderson & Walker |
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| Maxwell, Murray and Bruce |
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| French: Coutes, Culant and Gaucort |
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| French Command: Alencon & Giresme |
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| Scottish Command: Graham & Keith |
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| Scottish Command: Scrymgeour & Douglas |
Monday, 16 November 2015
Cold War - Soviet Armour
Now, it seems to me that I do a lot of WIP posts, but I rarely show the finished product. (This could be a result of the average wargamers 'ohhh shiny' attention span..) I did show some pictures of the S-Model BMD and the Modelcollect T64 under construction, but here they are 'finished'. I still have a Mi 24 Hind E to build, and the Spetsnatz to paint.. but at least there is some progress:
So here are the pride of the Soviet forces, model 1975 T64, and two BMD. I looked in vain for easily available Soviet tank crew, and drew a blank. So these guys are the AB WWII vintage. The padded helmets are very similar, and a black coverall is a black coverall...
So here are the pride of the Soviet forces, model 1975 T64, and two BMD. I looked in vain for easily available Soviet tank crew, and drew a blank. So these guys are the AB WWII vintage. The padded helmets are very similar, and a black coverall is a black coverall...
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
Scots in the 100YW Final
As a couple of people have made some nice comments, and asked to see the finished product - here they are. Only a couple of minor disasters, including discovering that virtually all my bases had been afflicted with the magnetic sheet starting to peel away from the wood - (apparently a bad batch, which the vendor is replacing.. marks for customer service Olympian Games). Superglue to the rescue.. then of course, I managed to flick the command stand off the table with a casually out-flung forearm... more superglue, and re-basing.. Then there was the peculiar smell when I opened up my home-made basing wash, which seems to have fermented or had some other peculiar chemical reaction - hopefully the stench will dissipate before they actually get on the table.
After all that; Melbourne Cup day was not that productive from a betting point of view... (my one day of the year to have a flutter... involving calling the betting agency to re-activate my account, as it gets used only on Melbourne Cup day) - but I took the chance to finish basing, and paint up some banners.
In this case, I elected not to follow my usual practice, which is to do a colour print of a banner and then overpaint. This time I just painted from scratch. Pretty happy with the results, although I have seen no evidence for banners in use by the Scots at this period, so I was forced to get imaginative. I suspect it should be longer, as per the 1388 Otterburn Standard, but this will do.
I wanted something that looked like fertile French meadows - so basing was white-glue and fine sand, wash dark brown, then a whiteglue dab and sprinkle with Baccus 6mm summer turf, with a final touch of Leadbear's tufts and heather bushes.
And the final glamour shots are below:
Still not hugely happy with the bombard, but twill do... Buchanan, Swinton and Stewart of Darnley in front.
Melville, Houston, Chambers La Hire, La Fayette, Dunois, and Carmichael as the Standard Bearer, the dismounted version is behind them.
Lennox, Galloway, Stewart, Hamilton, Norvell, Crighton, Blair, Wishart and Kennedy.
Showing the Commander's (Buchan) Banners again.
Final shot. Calling these done.
After all that; Melbourne Cup day was not that productive from a betting point of view... (my one day of the year to have a flutter... involving calling the betting agency to re-activate my account, as it gets used only on Melbourne Cup day) - but I took the chance to finish basing, and paint up some banners.
In this case, I elected not to follow my usual practice, which is to do a colour print of a banner and then overpaint. This time I just painted from scratch. Pretty happy with the results, although I have seen no evidence for banners in use by the Scots at this period, so I was forced to get imaginative. I suspect it should be longer, as per the 1388 Otterburn Standard, but this will do.
I wanted something that looked like fertile French meadows - so basing was white-glue and fine sand, wash dark brown, then a whiteglue dab and sprinkle with Baccus 6mm summer turf, with a final touch of Leadbear's tufts and heather bushes.
And the final glamour shots are below:
