I Still Don't Know What These Are Called

The 1:1 pike:musket ratio is just about accurate for some units early in the early Civil War.

 

I have seen this assembly of troops referred to by many names: regiment, battalia, brigade, tercio even. The only thing I'm certain of is that "regiment" is more of an administrative term and that in battle, regiments were split up/combined to make formations of approximately equal size. The Seventeenth Century was often frustratingly vague in its use of technical language.

Oliver's Army

 

"And how much did your father spend on those models?"

Something New: Battlefleet Gothic

Carrion Squadron, ready to harry the lapdogs of the false emperor

 One of the many Games Workshop Specialist Games I dallied with in my youth was Battlefleet Gothic, the game of heavily armed gothic space cathedrals in the grimdark future. I recently got in touch with someone online who re-ignited my interest in the game and agreed to make a pilgrimage to Warhammer World in Nottingham to get some action in. Watch this space...

Waltzing Matilda (2)

 

It's been a while, certainly. Rather than dwell on that though, I have a new model for you: the Airfix Matilda 2 kit from the 70s in its original packaging. A wonderful Christmas present, thank you, family.

I was a little tempted to leave it pristine in its packaging, but the entire purpose of a toy is to be played with.

The Clan Invasion

 

You remember the '60s, right? (the 3060s...) When a wave of Skiffle bands swept over the Inner Sphere with their mop-top hairdos and Burrock and roll music: The Rolling Stone Lions, the Jyde Falcyns, The Totem Animals, the list goes on. What I'm trying to say is that I've finally painted some more Clan 'mechs and wanted to make an extremely strained pun. I've also got a new SAD lamp for Christmas and while no mental health benefits have yet been observed it does improve my lighting setup a lot.

Mist Lynx (left) and Timberwolf (right). Or Koshi and Madcat if you swing that way.

Lockdown Labours

"Oh yes," I thought, "spending all my free time indoors I'll get plenty of painting and blogging done!" Har har har. Not only have I been dabbling in the videoed-games, the family clear-out of the lego (it's not like there's much else to do round here...) has occupied rather a lot of "model time". 

About half the lego in our mysterious boxes is now clogging up the dining room table. We didn't originally own the pirate ship, it came in bits in a box of lego some acquaintances were giving away.

How not to be seen

Private N. E. Seagoon of the 4th Armoured Thunderboxes has presented us with a poser: we do not know which tree he is behind, but we can soon find out.

Yes, it was the middle one.

Tank Politics

Local miniature painter saves £££ time with this one simple trick! Don't bother painting camouflage on tanks, just do one colour. In all seriousness though, the Caunter Stuart has been in the "to do" draw for months and I've only just finished it, but the Valentines I bought last month have had the final layer of varnish on within weeks.

Non-binary pride Stuart (left, Plastic Soldier Company) and asexual pride Valentine (Right, Armourfast).

Werewolves of London

I've not got a full army photo yet as I spent this evening wrestling my 40mm x 40mm based figures into my new carrying case inserts. I absolutely refuse to attempt that feat again without good reason so you'll have to wait until after this weekend's tournament.

Mierce Miniatures werewolves. Gorgeous models, but at £15 apiece only for special occasions.

A Quick One Before 2019

Merry Christmas, Happy new something etc. Have a blog post for Christmas. I've got plenty of things 'almost done' so I thought it would be nice to show some works-in-progress for a change as I haven't done that for a bit.

I'd also like to mention the recent Meeples and Miniatures podcast where they are brave enough to discuss their mental health issues in detail. I thought this would be worth a mention as I've mentioned my (still ongoing) mental health stuff before and men need to talk about it more.

Peltasts almost finished, including two spare bases to fill out a 100 mm x 40 mm unit for Kings of War. Lovely uncomplicated miniatures from 1st Corps.

'Mechs 'Mechs 'Mechs

Exciting news in Kings of War, the long prophesied Global Campaign started last weekend, so I've been celebrating celebrated by painting my 'Mechs.

I'm not sure whether the indistinctness of the Wolverine (left) is due to my excellent camouflage painting skills or rubbish photography skills. Also Shadow Hawk (centre) and Locust (right).

Lawyers, 'Mechs and Money

Remember that lawsuit I mentioned in the last post? Well it turns out that some 'Mech designs and art have been creeping a little too close to the original designs, and Harmony Gold are suing again. A very appropriate time to talk about my latest (and hopefully final mech-related) buy.

The 3rd edition, chock full of 80's art and bad casting.

Not Even Justice, I Want to Get Truth!

Today's title comes from Fang of the Sun Dougram, and the link between an influential giant robot anime and toy soldiers will be made clear later in this post. 

Wolverine (left) and Shadow Hawk (right) from Fang of the Sun Dougram, Phoenix Hawk (centre) from Super Dimensional Fortress Macross

The Bishop! (part two)

Today's update features some almost-but-not-quite-finished models. I'll be varnishing them tomorrow, but I thought some work in progress stuff was overdue.

Ok Devious, don't move!

Back to the 1,200 Point Challenge

Yet again Mantic have dangled the possibility of a big global participation campaign in front of me, so I decided to count up my Normans to see if I had enough. After 30 minutes ranking everyone up in the movement trays (I probably should have provided a picture...) I discovered I was 4 crossbowmen and a few licks of paint shy of 1,500 points!

Impulse buys from my local gaming shop/cafe. Lovely figures though.

Honour the Dragon

Well, the models that I posted as works-in-progress have now been finished, based and varnished. Here they are for your dubious pleasure.

A 'Lance' (squad) of House Kurita Battle'Mechs

Now (partly) Finished

Well, after a long time I've at last finished the basing on the latest batch of Anglo-Normans, plus made progress on the 'Mechs. I leave work for two months tomorrow, so hopefully updates will become more frequent (some hope).

Archers in a variety of postures, featuring the last of the Wargames Factory torsos.

Merry War (Christmas is over)

In a herculean feat of modelling endurance, I have managed to paint the 27 models I received for Christmas in only 4 months!. To celebrate this enormous achievement, I present to you a group shot for your viewing pleasure. 

Models more or less grouped by manufacturer, Perry knights, spearmen and command, Gripping Beast crossbowmen, and crusader spearmen make up the centre.

I Ate'nt Dead

Seeing as I haven't updated in a while (work, socialising, all that stuff) I thought it might be worth showing you a size comparison pic of the Bear Mystic from DGS games via Dice Bag Lady. She's a bit big, 32mm rather than 28mm, but one assumes that a shamanistic bear-hugger would be pretty well built. That's my excuse anyway...

Left to right: Crusader, DGS, Perry, and Conquest. Sorry about the lighting. 

Mission Creep

I know that I do *technically* have enough models, painted and unpainted, for a reasonably sized Anglo-Norman army. Unfortunately the lure of Reasonable Female Miniatures (buy some!) plus the Dice Bag Lady's new selection of heads, with more medieval-friendly hairdos, has led me to spend worrying sums on new stuff. What makes things worse is that at some point I'm going to want a camp element, which will no doubt involve expenditure on tents, camp followers (ooh Matron!) etc.

 

So, the following post, as well as containing the latest finished efforts, will showcase some of my most adventurous conversions yet, using actual modelling putty.

All but the one on the left are finished, she needs a sling in her hand.