AHPC XI: GrahameH: 15mm Brunswick at Waterloo and a few Confederates

So this will be my last post for this years challenge, although looking back there wasn’t many. I did do better than I expected.  Hopefully this post won’t have so many spelling mistakes as the last one, although I was in a rush to post something last time.

First up is the two Milan Teams I missed when completing my Cold War British. Battlefront Miniatures (8pts)

The Brunswick Army at Waterloo

I seem to paint Brunswick figures a lot then sell them on, but I will endeavour to keep these. All are 18mm AB figures. I got the figures last Saturday. As all they were all black thought I’d see if I could paint them before the end of the challenge. It wasn’t that hard in the end to paint them and I feel a bit of a cheat. I did try and paint them dark grey and then paint the straps black, but on 15mm figures it did really work, they still all looked black (see the jägers). So I didn’t waste the time.

The Duke of Brunswick (12pts)

 d’ Avant-Garde 

Light Companies (21 figures = 42pts)

The Jägers Companies  (21 figures = 42 pts)

Light Brigade

1st, 2nd & 3rd Battalions ( 35 figures per battalion, 2 mounted officers - Total 109 figures 218pts)

Line Battalions (Each battalion 32 figures and 2 mounted officers total 100 figures = 200 pts)

Horse Artillery Battery (one gun and four crew x 4  = 48pts)

Foot Artillery  (4 crew and one gun each x 4 = 48pts - limber 22 pts)

The cavalry and one limber were painted before the challenge. So that army is complete.

Now the challenge is over I have decided to revamp my Confederate Army. As I still had some time left, I looked through the mountain and found I had enough unpainted ACW figures (Essex) to make up 2 Regts

Each of 30 figures (60pts) and 2 mounted officers (8pts).

That’s it Total = 708 pts

I have really enjoyed the challenge this year and have managed to get three (all be it small) armies completed. Thank you to everyone one who made the challenge happen and all the kind comments. 

AHPC XI; From Mike W, 28mm Late 17th Century Infantry Regiment

 So I'm definitely thinking that this will be my last post for this challenge, and it's getting over the line, just in the nick of time! I'm busy with household jobs tomorrow - so no time for painting...

The completed unit: Regiment Monferrato

I present the Regiment Monferrato, circa 1688 and one of the oldest regiments in the Piedmont Army. Piedmont was one of those European states that were initially allied (some say under duress) to France but later switched sides to join the Grand Alliance and fight against France.

From the left side

I'd found an illustration of the regiment in Helion & Co - Century of the Soldier series - William III's Italian Ally, which centres on the Piedmont army in the War of the League of Augsburg 1683-1697. Having seen eth picture, it inspired me to do a tabletop unit.

And from the Right side. Note NCO extreme end of line with Halberd

As with many armies of the time, the Monferrato Regiment wore grey jackets with blue cuffs, they had red hose and pants and a black hat, trimmed yellow. In 1688 they were issued Flintlock Muskets and still retained their Pikemen, however, these were dropped from their organisation in 1690.

And as they were on the evening of Monday, 15th March!

These figures are probably unrealistically uniform in look, as at the time uniforms were still in development across Europe. 

Central Pike and Command block

The flags are basis this unit being part of a second field battalion of the regiment, each Piedmontese regiment carried an Ordinaza Flag - Blue or Red with a white cross - and a Colonel's Flag, which reflected the Colonel's own livery and / or coat of arms. Second or Third Battalions carried two Ordinaza flags, as here. I do not have any firm information on whet the Colonel's flag would have looked like at this time for the Regiment Monferrato.

Just the Pikemen, this regiment had brass buttons

The flags are not glued to the poles, so when I find more information, I can swap one out for the Colonel's Flag and promote this unit to being eth First Battalion!

Two Musketeer Stands, note the Light Blue Piedmont ribbons.

So there are 28 figures in this Regiment, four bases of four Musketeers plus four half bases of two Pikemen each and a Command base of four figures.

The other two Musketeer stands, I use Barry Hilton's Beneath the Lilly Banner Rules,
but base the figures on 40,40mm stands,
just because that was how my collection was based when I started to use them!

These figures were undercoated in white and then coat, hat and pants colours were blocked in as per my usual method. I opted for a bright blue finish to pikes and pole arms in the unit and officer sashes and unit ribbons reflected the Piedmont army officer preference for sky blue.

Close up of the Command Stands

Figures had a watered down Army Painter Dark Wash applied and when dry were given a coat of matt varnish, before being glued to their bases. Fin sand was added along with electrostatic grass and tufts to taste.

AHPC XI: From Mike W, 28mm Undead Egyptians

 So this is possibly my last Egyptian Undead posting of the current challenge, a group of 24 x Skeleton Spearmen including Standard Bearer, Musician and a Champion.

Finished Unit of 25 Skeleton Spearmen

I said possibly - as I have a unit of skeleton swordsmen to complete but with only two days to go and a Late 17th Century Piedmont Infantry Regiment already on the go and nearing completion, I can't be certain!

Unit form the Left Flank

I ran out of proper GW Tomb Kings Shields after my early postings for this army so I have had to resort to scratch building shields for this unit, that  and the fact that these figures are from the original release of plastic skeleton figures from back in the 1990s and slightly smaller than the more modern Tomb Kings figures, means I am using these to represent the earthly remains of a line unit, rather than guardsmen in my other recent submissions.

And from the Right Flank

The shields are cut from cardboard and then adjusted to give them some character. Some have had studs attached, others have had papyrus scrolls added and a couple have simulated damage added.

Six of the Skeleton Spearmen, with ragged shields
and attached Papyrus scrolls & studs.

Additionally, I added a few papyrus scrolls to about four of the spear staffs to again give the unit a slightly different look and feel to the guardsmen skeletons previously done.

Anther batch of skeletons

The shield finish is not so smooth as the finish as you'd get from the plastic GW shields, this due to the porous nature of the cardboard but after a coat of varnish and wash I have deliberately left them looking more ragged to emphasise their peasant roots.

Third group, the studs are sliced spear staffs, super glued to the shields

The figures were purchased as a bulk lot from eBay some time ago and were a bit of a disappointment at the time, being the older style figures and may undercoated in red and pink for some strange reason. I undercoated all these guts with Citadel Screaming Skull, when dry I washed with Army Painter Strong Tone and then again waited until dry before dry brushing with a mix of light sand and Screaming Skull paints.

The Command group from the unit, the Musician has a drum set
 made out of three hollowed out skulls 

Shields were painted light blue and the backs a Khaki/Earth, spear shafts were painted black, Weapons were finished off with Brass, as were the Standard and Shield studs. Papyrus was painted a Linen colour and then various writings were added.

The bases were finished with fine sand.

AHPC XI: From Mike W, 28mm Ottoman Gun Crew Late 17th Century

 Second post of the day and hopefully a bit of a surge for the end of the challenge!

Right at the start of this year's challenge I did a model of a captured Ottoman gun with an Imperial crew, see <here>, now that we are getting near to the end of the challenge, I was keen to get the second of the two guns I obtained from Trent Miniatures fielded.

To which ends - here we are! An Ottoman Gun with a Turkish crew at the Siege of Vienna.

The finished Ottoman Gun Emplacement

I have scratch built the Ottoman crew from Gripping Beast Arab Infantry and Wargames Atlantic Afghan Warriors - both plastic 28mm kits. The rammers are spear arms with the spear shafts cut down and a suitable head attached, one figure has a powder horn to prime the cannon, modelled from a Wargames Atlantic Irish War Horn!

The new addition to my previous such efforts is the inclusion of resin 3D printed Ottoman heads, in the Janissary style - which I think gives the figures a much more tangible Ottoman feel.

The heads were from eBay and I got them for 25p each, though it looks like the price has now doubled but not a deal breaker in my view...

Figures were painted in light coloured clothes, two in longer robes and two in leggings with jackets, I gave the head dresses a red band, simply to make it look good, I doubt this is historically accurate!

I placed the gun behind two earth filled gabions to hint at the siege conditions that they were operating under.

Another view of the finished gun , crew and scenery

The figures were undercoated white and then colour added before washing with watered down Army Painter inks. They were all matt varnished and the base built-up in the usual way with Fine sand and electrostatic grass.

And finally the two batteries side by side
- really just to show that these are two separate guns!

AHPC XI, From Mike W, 28mm Mexican Cavalry [Altar of the Snow Lord]

 I'm really pleased to get this post completed, after a challenge from Curt to get some of this Mexican cavalry completed - I had forgotten what a joy these Boot Hill Miniatures figures were to paint.

Completed Troop of Mexican Active Militia Cavalry 

And the same troop - Dismounted

And sitting in their boxes at the start of last week!

The challenge was to complete 6 mounted figures but as luck would have it I also had the corresponding dismounted figures for these guys in my metal pile, so I have done both to complete this challenge.

A Mounted and dismounted version of one of the troopers

In the home brew rule set that I use for fighting these games these six figures will represent a troop of cavalry, with an officer and bugler incorporated in the group. 

Another Mounted and Dismounted pair

If anyone knows much about the Texas War of Independence and the whole Alamo saga then they will be familiar with the classic Mexican Regular Cavalry Uniforms - red with green trim. I already have a couple of troops of these guys so I decided to paint these up as the less well known Active Militia Cavalry, which were distinguished from the Regulars by having reverse coloured uniforms - hence green jackets with red trim.

Third Trooper in the group

So at the risk of repeating myself for the umpteenth time I used a white undercoat on  the figures and then blocked in the main colours, I kept the mounted figures separate form the horses until nearly completed so that they were easier to paint.

Final Trooper pairing

I particularly like the trousers on these guys, grey overalls but lined with leather for hard wear when riding, when shaded they look particularly nice on these figures. The Boot Hill Miniatures figures have such well moulded detail that they were very easy to paint and add complete, I used a flesh wash on the skin areas and Citadel  'Nuln Oil' on the grey helmet crests to give a dark finish.

Hard to see on the photos but the red trouser stripes were done with a red Sharpie pen with an appropriately fine nib, they use an oil based 'ink' and so do not run when applying acrylic varnish over the top.

Mounted and Dismounted Bugler

The rest of the figure was washed with a watered down Army Painter Dark Tone before applying a matt varnish. The bases were given a chocolate brown emulsion / PVA glue mix covering to allow fine sand to adhere to. I then used a variety of dried grass tufts to add sparse vegetation to give a classic 'Hollywood' Texas feel.

Finally the Officer pair of figures

AHPC XI: From Mike W, Clearing the Decks!

 Having just received my final challenge from the Snow Lord himself - I thought it was time to clear some space form on the workbench to get these Mexican Cavalrymen done. Truth is they are already started but space is required to get them properly finished.

The finished unit of Arrow Boyz with protective Grottling Shield Holderz in front!

The right of the line

One of the biggest units nearing completion is a group of 16 x Orc Arrow Boyz, the second half of the batch that I completed the other week. As such there are no command figures just a whole bunch of Orcs with bows.

The left of the line

To fun it up a little I have included a small unit of Grottling Shield Holderz...

.. Whilst the Orcs are totally Warhammer legal, the Grottling Shield Holderz are a 'House' unit that makes the whole thing even more fun. Basically its a group of Goblin who's only job is to hold shields in front of a unit that normally wouldn't be allowed to get the benefits of such cover, such as Arrow Boyz or units with two hand weapons etc..

Close-up of four of the Orc archers

Points wise we charge the cost of a shield for the protected unit plus 1 point for each unarmoured, near naked Goblin. When shot at the protected unit gains the benefit of shield protection and for each hit inflicted, on a die roll of 4, 5 or 6 the hit takes out one of the unlucky goblins, rather than the targeted unit.

For such house units each benefit must have an equal and opposite negative so if the Shield Boyz take casualties, the unit throws a die and if they score less than the number of casualties lost, the unit runs away.

Four more Orcs, the second from left is a Goth, hence the blue hair...

Also as with any Greenskin unit they are subject to animosity - so the unit they are protecting may just get annoyed with  them and kill them as well!

The orcs were all already undercoated in black and so it was a matter of blocking in colour, in this case grey, brown or black and then adding distinctive variants to add flavour to the unit. In this case I did one Orc with a Red kilt and a couple with maroon shirts and different coloured hair.

Penultimate group of four, I gave one guy red hair, just to be different

Skin was washed with green ink and then detail added around mouth with reddish gums and off white teeth. A watered down Army Painter Dark Wash was used to add tone to the clothing.

Last Four Orcs, the one on the extreme left has the kilt, although it is hard to see.
All the studs are a pain to do, I use a silver Sharpie pen and then fix overspill with thinned black paint.

Bases were covered in a sand and electrostatic grass mix and the figures given a matt varnish finish. 

The Grottling Shield Holderz, were old HeroQuest?? figures that I found in the bits box, undercoated white and painted a lighter green, given a light green wash and then highlighted by again dry brushing the base light green. Each was given a light brown loin cloth and shields were sourced form the Orc Box. I gave each a small round base to highlight their non standard function and added fine sand and electrostatic grass mix to finish. Shields were washed in Nun Oil.

The Grottling Shield Holderz, I'll have to make some more of these at some point!

It seemed grossly unfair to award myself the same points for a Grottling as an Orc - given their size difference, so going for 3 Points each on these little fellows.