Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Holiday Cheers and a Perry WotR Wine Cart

Feeling guilty when ordering just a few plastic WotR spare horses, I added the Water/Wine Cart set to the order. A couple of spare plastic figures to create a vignette - possibly a scene prior to, or after, a battle.
The wooden cup is made from Green Stuff.
Having thrown away the can of dried up Minwax stain, I used some old (almost 10 years old) Pledge Floor Wax mixed with some sepia ink for the wash. It worked okay, but I would definitely get another can of Minwax for larger projects.
I may add something to the rear of the base - maybe a dog or some weapons and/or shields.
Not sure what this piece would be used for in a game; maybe something to capture for victory points.
The pavise is painted up to represent the ragged staff of Warwick.
The barrel is cast from resin.
These are likely the last figures to be painted for 2017. No idea what the next project(s) could be, but don't plan on adding anymore Wars of the Roses stuff as there are enough for the games they're to be used in.

Friday, November 24, 2017

Napoleonic Collection in Review

Decided to dust the cabinet shelves and formed up the remaining Napoleonic figures in my collection for review. Earlier in the year, I sold off over half of my Napoleonic figures to local gamers. I ended up keeping most of the Victrix and Perry figures - mainly plastics. There are still enough figures for smallish games - possibly something along the lines of The Men Who Would Be Kings (although I've yet to get a copy of the rules). Here they are for a photo op, along with 120mm resin figures which were painted years ago (before getting into wargaming). The figures have been posted on this blog before, so pardon my indulgence.
As you can see,  only French and British troops remain, with a few Front Rank Spanish Freedom Fighters. My interest had been mainly Peninisular War - up to the Battle of Toulouse.
British: 5/60th and 95th Rifles (with a few Victrix Cacadores); 42nd and 79th Highlanders; 28th and 3rd Foot; RHA; and 1st KGL Hussars.
Front Rank Spaniards flanking the 95th and 5/60th Rifles; all in front of line battalions.
Command stands are mostly Victrix; the largest stand holds a Front Rank and an old North Star/Copplestone Hussar general. The limbers are Old Glory.
French Ligne and Legere battalions. The command stands are mostly Victrix with a few Front Rank; also a set of Foundry Napoleon and Staff. In the rear of them is a Marshal Ney figure from Gorgon, along with some Perry Retreat from Moscow figs.
Dragoons, 9th Hussars, Cuirassiers and Carabiniers; the cannon and crews are Sash & Saber; limber teams are Old Glory.
Mostly Verlinden 120mm resin figures. Left to right: Line Grenadier; Guard Foot Chasseur Sapper; Lieb Hussar; Guard Chasseur a Cheval; Trumpeter, Guard Artillery Train; Foot Dragoon; 1st Polish Lancers; 4th Swiss; Legere; Guard Grenadier.  An old 54mm Stadden lead figure painted up as a Baden Hussar in front of the Lancer. Apparently, I didn't have an appreciation for British troops at the time. Might've been due to their lack of variety in uniforms.

Anyway, it's a good time to dust the shelves - my significant other is out with her friends doing some Black Friday shopping. Cheers!

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving & a Few Perry WotR Mtd Characters

Here are several Perry Wars of the Roses mounted characters which I picked up from my buddy Ron back in September at a Lion Rampant game day. They consist of figures from the Yorkist and Lancaster packs - only five figures as he must've kept the cool rearing horse "Warwick" figure. He sold them to me without the horses, so I ordered some of the plastic horses from the Perrys' accessories range. The figures were actually painted several weeks ago, but I just received the order of horses a few days ago. Here they are with a previously painted Queen Margaret figure.
Left to right: Herald with a majestic-looking Henry VI; Duke of Somerset with Queen Margaret prior to the Battle of Tewkesbury; Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and his standard bearer at the Battle of Barnet.
The plate barding on Henry VI's and the Earl of Warwick's horses are spare parts from the Mounted Men at Arms box.
How they might have looked if they were victorious over Edward IV at Barnet.
The horses were blocked painted and then given a wash of Minwax Tudor Satin stain. The can of stain was already almost dried and thinner was added to soften it. However, the stain ended up having a bunch of globules which had to be brushed off. The can was thrown away afterwards.
The plate barding for the Kingmaker was cut in half - fore and aft to allow proper seating of the figure.
The cantels of the saddles on the plastic horses were trimmed off as the metal mounted figures have this piece cast as part of the figures. Otherwise, the fit is very good.
 
An earlier painted Henry VI and Duke of Buckingham as they might've appeared at First St Albans are on the far right.
The past few weeks have been quite hectic with heavy winds blowing down our backyard fence (15 years old with rotten posts) and also a minor fender bender to my car - both since repaired (insurance covered most of it), so happy to get this post onto the blog. Holiday cheers to all!