1st Corps Imitation Legion - WIP

Just need to finish their shields, as well as flocking the bases. Painted their standard with the symbol for Tanit since I plan to use them as Veterans in a Carthaginian army. Although they shouldn't have pila, they looked to nice to leave off.

Still looking for appropriate transfers/decals for their shields. As the shields could be formerly owned by Republican Romans, maybe something along those lines may work too. I'll likely add another pack of these guys, the ones throwing their pila, to bring the unit up to 20-figures.

Current Projects - 7/28/11

While still waiting for the OG Ashigaru Teppo and Spearmen to arrive from Warweb.com; another order came in today - this one from Architects of War. I just placed the order this past Sunday - outstanding service! The order included three Perry foot Samurai packs (SAM19, 20 & 22) and one mounted pack (SAM18). Here is what the mounted figures look like next to a painted OG model. They should fit in fine leading the OG Samurai; both rider and horses look about the same size. The pack is SAM 18.

Here are the three packs of foot Samurai; they are all spearmen. As with the mounted pack, each comes with a back banner, or sashimono; of which there are several variations. The spearmen packs come with spears - five regular bladed yari and one with cross-blades; I plan to replace them with brass rod.

All of the Perry Samurai are in modern-type armor; several in each pack come with unique helmet crests too.

I'm also morphing some of the Macedonian/Successor units into a Carthaginian army using the 2nd Punic War in Italy list from the WAB supplement. The Greek/Mercenary Hoplites will double as Trained Africans; Samnite light infantry and Tarentine cav as Campanians. The Gallic warband infantry and cavalry as is. Plan to add a unit of Spanish Scutarii.

These 1st Corps Imitation Legionaries came along with the 1st Corps Hypaspists that I won of off ebay a few weeks ago. They will be a unit of Veterans for the Carthaginian army. Plan to use the pila that came with them, although they probably should have regular looking throwing spears. They look too nice and I don't want to bang out more brass spears right now; I already prepared 30 for the Ashigaru.

OG Ashigaru Bowmen Based

Decided to mount these guys in fours on 40X40mm bases; with several singles for casualty removal.

Although arquebusiers can be in combined units with either spear or bow,
at least for now they'll be in three separate units of bow, spear, and arquebusiers. If the arquebusiers are in two formed ranks, they can fire every turn without movement - with the second rank suffering a -1 to Hit for changing ranks.

Unfortunately the Divine Wind supplement will likely never appear. However, there is nice Samurai army list, as well as an Imjin War "supplement" posted on the WAB Forum. It is very nicely done, IMO.

1st Corps Hypaspist - Finished

Very nice figures overall; I do have an issue with their shields, though. The shields are very shallow; almost flat. They also don't attach to the figure very well. At least the way I wanted them placed. The left arm is sculpted onto the body, so to have the grip held as it should, the shield would be right against the figure. To me, this doesn't look particularly good, as the shield is so flat. Anyway, I don't plan on replacing the shields anytime soon.

I'm not really sure if the Seleucid anchor emblem is correctly positioned on the standard. From some coinage I've seen, it appears the emblem could be upside down. Again, don't plan on changing it for the time being.

Here's a comparison shot of 1st Corps and Foundry Hypaspists. The figures themselves size up pretty well. However, as you may be able to tell, the 1st Corps shields are close in diameter, but quite flat. The Foundry actually have Aventine shields; which I like the best of all the Hoplite type shields in 28mm.

1st Corps Hypaspist - WIP +1

Just need to add their shields and flock their bases. I used an old Veni Vidi Vici waterslide decal that was left over from some 1/72nd figures I had some time ago.

Since the command pack came with two leaders, I'll be able to use one in each unit of Hypaspists of 10 figures. I like using them as potent skirmishers.

1st Corps Hypaspists - WIP

Won these, along with some 1st Corps Imitation Legionaries off of ebay recently. Figured I needed to beef up the Foundry Hypaspists unit anyway. These guys are really cleanly sculpted with nice details. Their lower legs, actually shod with greaves, are a bit chunky compared to Foundry, but match the overall style of the figures. So far, I've painted up most of the armor - still need to paint the leaders' greaves and helmet with silver.

I started with a white basecoat. The armored areas were given a dark wash. I find this works best when adding metallic colors. This also helps define the perturges.

Anyway, figured I'd post something before we head out for some sightseeing. My mom's visiting from Hawaii and we're going down to Mount St. Helens today.

Old Glory Ashigaru Bowmen

Managed to finish these today. Here they are after a quick basic paint job over a black undercoat, and then given the Miniwax Tudor Stain "dip" - actually brushed on. There are five poses of six figures each; I really like the ones with the straw raincoats.

They've been sprayed with Krylon Matte, but they still have a little bit of sheen. Maybe it's because the stain wasn't completely dried.

This is how they looked with the basic colors before the stain. The armor lacing, straw raincoats and arrows were dry-brushed. I used an equal ratio of blue, red & green for the lacing. I also gave them leggings; basically just left that area primed black and gave it a bit of highlights. The bows were left black and only their bindings painted.

And stained - prior to a matte coating.

These are really nice figures and look great for the period. Now I feel confident in ordering the other OG Ashigaru packs; although the Arquebuses look a little short. I'm debating to have the Arbuebusiers in mixed order with Spearmen and Bowmen or kept as a separate unit.

Old Glory Mounted Samurai

Painted these guys pretty quickly - a fews hours last night and a few today. I wanted to try to speed paint them using only basic colors and then a "dip" in Miniwax Tudor Stain. Well I had worked on their spears earlier - hammered some brass rod and then shaping the heads.

These aren't bad, but in no way as good as Perrys. However, I won these and some OG Ashigaru bowmen off a ebay for really cheap, so I'm content. In fact, I preferred OG as I didn't want to spend too much time painting them up; and I would feel guilty giving Perrys a Miniwax "dip." The sculpting of the armor allows for dry-brushing of the lacing; quite painless.

They can work for Sengoku period, but their armor looks old-fashioned; mostly o-yoroi type armor. I did drill holes in their back to accept sashimono though. I may add some later.

In fact, these could be used (without sashimono) alongside the TAG, 1st Corps and Curteys I already have which are for the earlier period. Alternatively, they could work well for the Onin War in 15th Century.

Here are shots of the samurai and horses before their "dip" in (actually brushed on) Miniwax:

You may notice bulbous knobs around the saddle area; I added some Green Stuff there to help the riders sit more securely - it worked.

The League of Extraordinary Truants 2011 - First Game Day

Thanks to Mark & Joe W., we held our first Truants game of the season. Last week Bruce M. was willing to host the first game at this place, but not enough players could make it so it was called off. Today's game was at The Game Matrix and besides Mark & Joe, attended by myself, Kevin S. and Joe's buddy Mike (who's leaving the area next week).

I actually wasn't sure if anyone was going to show up to game, but I headed for TGM anyway since I needed to pick up some paint. I had boxed up and brought my WW2 stuff for a Disposable Heroes game if anyone showed up empty-handed.

Mark's game was a Vietnam 1:1 skirmish play-test since he's trying out with his own rules. It is a mixture of existing stuff, some of it very much like Sharp Practice (or TFL's stuff anyway). He also incorporated the use of a Huey Gunship and Medevac Chopper. All in all, a pretty neat scenario for a play-test.

Here's a pic of some of the 400-odd US and NVA/VC troops he's painted up recently. All to his high-standard of painting - very beautiful to behold.

After Spotting a unit in Blind, I got to call in air support and decided to use all of my allocated rounds of rockets for a straffing run, as I had to leave the game early. With 30 to hit rolls, I only ended up with several wounds and some Suppression points on the enemy. I'd say the killing should be a bit "bloodier," even considering my so-so rolls.

Not sure what next week's game will be, but if Joe can make it we can host a Disposable Heroes game together.

Dixon's Kuroda Nagamasa - Finished

Decided to use the Dixon horse that came with the figure. The Old Glory ones had heads that looked too small when compared to Nagamasa's. The only reason I considered the OG ones was that they had tassels on the horse furniture and the Dixon one doesn't.

With the Army General and field gun done, I need to work on the OG Samurai cav; followed by OG Ashigaru bowmen, spearmen and arquebusiers. The last group will likely be some Perry foot and mounted Samurai.

Dixon's Samurai Light Field Gun - Finished

Since Divine Wind will likely never appear - plan to use the artillery rules from Armies of Chivalry for this piece.

Dixon's Samurai Light Field Gun - WIP +1

Finished the crew; the sculpting where the lacing goes is raised so dry-brushing really sped things up.

The backs of these guys have holes for attaching sashimono; which I may add once I order some from Perry. Although I wonder if a gun crew would wear these with the type of duty they had to perform.

Here are a couple more photos from different angles. Not sure how many folks have seen Dixon Samurai in person, so maybe this will help assess how they look. I think their cartoonishly wide faces are the main drawback for them fitting in with other lines.

The Old Glory Mounted Samurai I won off of ebay arrived today too. Although the horses look really good, I think I'm going to go with the Dixon horse for Nagamasa. His wide faces makes the OG horses head look odd; the Dixon horse also has a fairly wide face!

Dixon's Samurai Light Field Gun - WIP

Just a quite post showing the trial fitting of the figures and gun. Looks pretty decent. This was also given to me by Bob H. of Oregon (aka Old Bob on TMP).

Haven't done much research on this subject yet; however, the two-wheeled box support for the gun looks a bit awkward or unbalanced.

Also, the samurai leader for this crew has a saihai which I thought only the leading commander or general would have. More to follow.