AHPC X - From MikeW - 32 x 28mm Late 17th Century Figures (160 Points)

This submission is in two parts, the first and biggest part is the representation of the Spanish Tercio 'Los Blancos', officially known as the 'Tercio Provincial de Segovia'. The second part of the post is a follow on from my earlier post where I did 8 x French Dragoons of  'La Bretesche Regiment', see original post <here>.

The 'Los Blancos'

I originally got these figures from North Star Miniatures sometime in the late summer last year, I have already painted-up one 24 figure Tercio of little guys but wanted to complete a second Tercio, to join my other Spanish tabletop forces.

Spanish Tercio in waiting, figures based, awaiting undercoat

For, anyone that is interested, these are relatively new additions to the North Star 1672 range, they replace similar figures that North Star were stocking up to about 18 months ago, that were based upon the original Copplestone Casting figures that are the basis of this range. As such some are a little smaller than the old range, which makes up the majority of my Spanish Army.

Pike stands formed up around the central with

Command stand, OCD at work here!

As you may know Spanish Tercios of the period tended to adopt distinctive colours to distinguish them selves form other Tercio units. This was the beginnings of the move towards regimental uniforms - in the Spanish world each unit picked a coat and facing colour. It wasn't until the early 1700s that coat colours became standardised and the distinguishing feature was the facings colour!


So for the challenge I decided to do a unit based primarily in white with red facings. I had seen pictures on the internet of a couple of Tercios that had these colours - the 'Los Blancos' and an enigmatic 'Tercio Alemana' or German Tercio, for which I could only find an illustration of an officer. I opted for the former with the option of changing unit flags to allow for the later if scenarios required.

Another view of the Pike Block

Well I have always struggled with White uniforms - especially getting the shading right, and this unit was no different!

As usual I undercoated in white, before doing a top coat in white, then adding in deep red facing colours. I then built up the other required colours - browns for musket and darker brown for shoes and scabbard. Tan leather was added for the straps, gloves and boot laces and then flesh, steel etc.

4 x Musketeer Stands

I then went to fix all the mistakes and in doing so ran into the challenge with white - most colours show through it - and with reds the colour seems to bleed into the white paint and stain it pink. I had to leave the figures to dry for a couple days, when I returned to them the bleeding issue was solved!

In the meantime I started work on the French dragoons - see below...

When ready I used Army Painter dip to add shading, I deliberately left the tin unshaken so that the level of pigment in the dip was as low as possible, nevertheless for a number of the figures the white uniforms ended up being over-stained and looking rather grey and dull.

The command stands, featuring the speculative flags I made

So after applying matt varnish, I over painted the white coats with white paint again - using a semi-dry-brush method, really just to emphasise the highlights and lightening up the coat colours.

Completed Tecio lined up just as I like them!

I based the figures as per other units, on 40 x 40mm bases, Pikemen and command stands on 40 x 20mm half-stands to enable my OCD tastes in figure placement within the units - i.e. A central block of 8 Pikemen, surrounding the command stand , flanked by two musketeer stands on each side....

Final touch was to make two speculative flags for the unit, if finding info about uniforms is hard for the period it's even harder finding info on Tercio flags - plenty of pictures but no one seems to know which units they belonged to!

So I kept it simple a couple of Burgundy crosses on white backgrounds, they came out a little small for my liking so may have to redo them a bit bigger!

The 'La Bretesche' Dragons

These four guys were painted to add to the 8 other Dragoons that I recently painted - enabling me to bring the unit up to two dismounted squadrons of 6 figures each. I still need to do the mounted versions at some point!

Completed - Additional French Dragoons before integrated with existing figures

These also enabled me to continue being productive whilst pulling out what little hair I have left waiting for the Spanish figures to thoroughly dry!

And the figures integrated into the existing unit.

I have also re-worked the bases of the original 8 figures to integrate the new figures into the stands.

POINTS
28 x 28mm Spanish Infantry @ 5 Points ea = 140 Points
4 x 28mm French Infantry @ 5 Points ea = 20 Points
Total Points 140 + 20 = 160 Points

AHPC X - From MikeW: 18 x 28mm Dark Ages Archers (90 Points)

A cheeky, quick submission here that sees me complete 18 Dark Age Archers, these little guys were found in the same box in the Lead and Plastic mountain that my last submission of Norman Foot Soldiers were packed away in.

Figures ready to be built, earlier this week

As ever I have other batches on the go as well - specifically 4 new Dragoons to join my recently painted late 17th Century Dragoons see <here> and a full Tercio of late 17th Century Spanish infantry - The Tercio os Blancos - who are proving to be a real challenge as they are in mostly white uniforms and I'm not good with white!!

The finished Archers

Anyway these Dark Ages guys are  undercoating in white - by hand this time as spray can has run out - and painted in a variety of muted colours to reflect their lowly status.

Close-up of six of the little fellas

Thinned down, Army Painter Dark wash wash applied and Matt varnish was used before basing to my usual method.

Another six, on left a handy axe to protect himself,

right of centre arrows ready to fire in the ground

I added a few bits and pieces to the bases,a couple have axes in the ground - placed there by the archers, in case of needing a handy weapon in a hurry and a couple have arrows stuck in the ground - maybe more familiar in medieval times but my guess if it worked then it would have worked before as well.

Final Six, on left arrows in ground, ready to fire

POINTS
18 x 28mm Foot Figures @ 5 Points ea = 90 Points

AHPC X - From GrahameH - Second Entry - More Bits of the 21st Panzer Division (514 points)

Just finishing the last few parts of the 21st Panzer Div.

These are the transports for my German Infantry Battalion featured in my first entry. They are supposed to be P 107, but no one seems to make them in 15mm. So I have tried to convert some French half-tracks by QRF. Not great but they will do.

Two 15mm SdKfz 7 (Battlefront)

U304(f) 2cm Flak (Battlefront)

Captured Somua S-35 (Skytrek)

A bit more for my German Cavalry Battalion (15mm)

A SdKfz 253 (StuG) not part of the Battlion but I had some
grey paint left over and a SdKfz 221  (Both Battlefront)

Krupp Kfz 70 Truck (Battlefront)

15cm IG33 auf Panzer 1 (Battlefront) again not part of the Battalion
but I did mange to use the Grey paint up. 

Romans (15mm Essex 48 figures)

At last I decided to finish of my Early Roman Army,  so I ordered some figures from Essex. The Legionaries were fine but it seems they have change the Auxiliary javelin figures. The new ones are  much smaller than the ones I have and don't mix very well (I suppose I could but the size is very noticeable - so no i can't) Therefore finishing the Romans is on hold again until some old Essex Auxiliary come up on Ebay. :(

15mm Essex Ancient British (93 Figures)

Going through my lead mounting I found I had these, and as I had no auxiliary to paint I painted these instead.

Finally - Khurasan (15mm Late 16th Cent) Landsknecht (80 Figures)

These are for my French Wars of Religion armies. Two units (one smaller than the other but reinforcements are on order)

Hopefully I will finish off the German Cavalry Battalion by the next post and maybe the Numidian army. Which probably means I won't, and will paint something entirely different. I know, just can't help being a wargames butterfly.

AHPC X - From MikeW: 23* x 28mm Norman Foot Soldiers (113 Points)

Well the last few days has seen a stutter in my painted output, with work commitments getting in the way and time taken over the weekend with family commitments. The former are frustrating but it pays my wages, the later are much more welcome and fun to be involved with!

Conquest plastic Normans, built and

undercoated with white matt primer.

So knowing that I was going to get fragmented time to concentrate on anything, I dug out half a box of Conquest Games Norman Infantry, totalling 23 figures, including a casualty figure. Like so many wargamers I have a number of armies that I like to keep adding to – The Normans being one that I want to get to a size that I can run a linked series of 1066 Campaign Games at some stage.

Five mail clad Normans

Once I had built these little guys, I started basing them on 2 pence pieces as normal but soon found that I’d run out of loose change in my pocket and in the ‘piggy bank’ in the kitchen! Luckily is sorting through the drawers that contain my lead mountain a few weeks ago,  I had stumbled upon a pack of MDF round bases, sized the same as a 2 pence piece, so I pressed these into service. Usually I prefer the weight of a metal 2 pence piece as a base to a plastic figure, seems to add gravitas etc. But in this case I through caution to the wind and put plastic on MDF!

Four Normans in Leather Armour

I also took a short cut with the undercoating by venturing outside, between rain showers, to spray paint the figures with white undercoat, I use a cheap matte white spray sold by a leading Car Repair & Spares shop here in the UK! This dried very quickly and I was able to start painting a variety of muted and some not-so-muted colours for clothing on these figures. Some had leather coats, which I did in a rich tan colour and some had full mail coats for which I used my favourite colour Vallijho’s ‘Oily Steel’. This was also used on all steel parts on these figures – such as helmets, swords and spear tips.

Five unarmoured Normans, including as standard bearer

Once main colours were blocked in , I painted the spear shafts, all leather work – including shoes, belts and shield backings, before add in in flesh to complete the figures. I say complete but really mean – before going over each figure and carefully fixing my painting mistakes to complete them!

Five more unarmoured Normans

I used Army Painter Dark Tone on the figures to give definition and shading and then added decal shield patterns to each before I applied a matte varnish to each figure to protect and seal the wash and shield patterns.

Final four unarmoured Normans, including the casualty figure

Bases were done in my usual manner with sand and electrostatic grass, then adding a few tufts to taste. Finally I painted the edge of each base black – which is my preference.

Hopefully I now have a week where I can plough into a couple of large 28-figure ‘Floppy Hatted’ regiments, one Spanish – using the new North Star 1672 Spanish Range and the other an Imperial (Holy Roman Empire / Austrian) German Regiment…

So I seem to remember that casualty figures count as ½ Points, as you only need to paint half the figure – assuming that they are lying down. So I have counted the Norman casualty as 2 Points, instead of 2.5 – I’m sure no one can be bothered with 0.5 of a point complicating everything. As a result my points calculation is, as below.

POINTS
22 x 28mm Foot Figures @ 5 Points ea = 110 Points
1 x 28mm Casualty Figure @ 2.5points = 2 Points
TOTAL  110+2 = 112 points

AHPC X - From Grahame H: German, Moguls and Lombards (600 points)

Painting at Last

I have spent the last year and a half re-basing my Napoleonic armies and I am now about a quarter of the way through. Having got this far I have discovered I actually dislike re-basing. So I entered the challenge this year to ensure I painted something other than Napoleonics, and to see if I could at least attempt to lessen the metal mountain.

So first up is....

German Infantry guns 15mm by PSC

These 3 15mm infantry guns and 2 MGs are all from the PSC. Not my favourite figures but a lot cheaper than buying them from Battlefront, and at a distance you can’t tell anyhow.

Next. Well I couldn’t just stop painting Napoleonics. Two Swiss officers. I have just re-based four infantry battalions of Swiss and brought then up to 36 figure battalions, from 24. The two commanders complete that unit. 15mm AB figures.

Swiss officers - I do like Napoleonics

Unable to decide what else to paint I just open a draw and pulled out a bag. Actually two bags that were stuck together. The first was the figures left over from my mongol horde, the other was a Lombard army I purchased cheaply. I have no idea why a bought a Lombard army but I think it is the
Law that if you bought them you have to paint them.

So first up the Mongolian horde, or rather two units of cavalry. To finish this army I need to paint one more cavalry unit and a camp. Well I don’t need too but as I have already bought them.

18 x 15mm mongols

Finally some Lombards. All 15mm Essex. I have two more units of archers and a camp to paint to finish these which I will hopefully do tomorrow.

36 Lombard archers

The Lombards wore tunics with broad bands and white wrappings around their legs and were know to the Gepid as “white-legged hacks”, so these were a little bit different to paint.

Most of the Lombard army, or rather the period I decided upon, were cavalry. I Hate painting horse. I gave each man a coloured shield, much like the vikings and then found they would have probably been leather with bronze studs. So I had to repaint them. However, as the opposing army is likely to me made up with some of the same figures it will at least allow be to identify the difference sides.

36 Noble Cavalry

27 er! Non-Noble cavalry

And another 27

The General 7 figures

That’s it hopefully I should get the last bits done for these armies to tomorrow.

POINTS

Germans:
15 x 15mm crew figures @ 2 = 30 points
2 x 15mm MGs (I'll treat each MG as a foot figure) = 4 points
3 x infantry gun @ 4 =12 points
Subtotal = 46 points

Swiss Napoleonics:
2 x 20mm mounted @ 8 = 16 points (AB figures get scored as 20mm for some historical reason)
Subtotal = 16 points

Mongols:
18 x 15mm mounted @ 4 = 72 points

Lombards:
36 x 15mm foot @ 2 = 72 points
97 x 15mm mounted @ 4 = 388 points
Subtotal = 460 points

Total = 594 points

AHPC X - From Mike W - 17th Century French Dragoons (40 Points)

For this post I have also dug into the recesses of my workbench and pulled out 8 x Front Rank Late 17th Century French Dismounted Dragoons.

Raw figures awaiting painting

I had these waiting to be painted so opted to do these as members of the La Bretesche Regiment that was raised in 1675 by Joussaume the Marquis de La Breesche.

As can be seen - I need to find some Command figures for this Regiment - ideally an Officer, Standard Bearer and a Drummer, as well as another Dragoon, so I can expand the unit to 2 x Squadrons each of 6 figures. Then I'll need to get the mounted version - but I'll cross that bridge later!

Finished Dismounted Dragoons

The figures are straight forward to paint, a white undercoat followed by the yellow hats, breaches, fs and coat linings, followed by red coats.

I base Dragoons in 'Half-Stands' to allow for a

Skirmish line to be created if required

Details were added including white shirts and neckties, dark brown boots and scabbards, muskets and metal work etc.

A bit more of a close-up

Again I used Army Painter Dark Tone dip to add shading and when dry I based and varnished.