Verlinden 120mm Napoleonic Figures

Added the scabbard and sabretache straps to the Chasseur and Hussar. I made the round wooden bases at the post woodshop when I was stationed in Korea many years ago. I used scrap wood, so it was quite a bargain. :)

I used paper for the straps and glued the ends to the resin buckle attachments. The kits come with thin lead to use for the straps, but paper is easier to use.

The Hussar's sabretache is sculpted with the regiments design.

Here's the collection of 120mm Napoleonics to date. All are Verlinden figures except for the 4th Swiss officer with colors - can't recall who the maker was, but he fits in well with the others. A 28mm and 54mm figure for size/scale reference.

I still have the General Bonaparte figure to work on, but should be getting the Landsknecht artillery guys in the mail tomorrow, and might start on them instead. Thanks for stopping in, and wishing you all the best.

Verlinden 120mm Fusilier Chasseur Junior Officer

I suppose the term would be Subaltern - a second or first lieutenant. A fairly simple, but elegant uniform. The blue coat is darker in-person, as the lighting washed it out a bit.

Starting on the General Bonaparte figure next; the 3D print Landsknecht artillery crewmen should be here in a couple of days. Those should be enough for a trial Pike & Shotte game - hopefully, our bathroom will be completed in a week or so. Until next time, wishing you all the best!

Verlinden 120mm Hussar, 4th Regiment

Here's the Captain of the 4th Hussars. Still need to do his sword/scabbard and sabretache, as well as the straps for those.

The Fusilier-Chasseur officer is next; saving Le Petit Caporal for last. As for gaming projects, I should be getting the 3D print landsknecht artillery crew in the mail later this week. I ended up cancelling the order from the seller in Poland, and found a seller in the US. Hopefully, our bathroom will be finished soon so I can host a Pike & Shotte game. Haven't had anyone over for months due to the renovation work. Otherwise, thanks again for stopping in, and hope you all are doing well.

Verlinden 120mm Chasseurs à Cheval

Finished most of the chasseur - still need to add straps for his scabbard. The yellow facings could represent a number of regiments, as it was a common facing color. Base coated the uniforms for the other figures.

I worked on this figure last night and this evening - mainly to distract me from our bathroom rebuild/renovation issues. It's almost done, but if it ain't one thing it's another. Only after the plumbers left, we discovered the sinks have small leaks. Being Friday evening, and Monday being a holiday here in the US - the earliest they'll be back would be next Tuesday. The drain in our bathtub was also damaged - either when it was removed or installed today, so they'll need to replace that too. Anyway, everything will eventually get resolved - the insurance check the contractor has needs my signature for them to cash it :) Thanks for stopping by and hope you all are doing well.

Verlinden 120mm Napoleonic Figures - Update

Painted the faces and headgear (less plumes). May go back over some areas, but pretty much done with these areas. In the distant pass, I used to paint the pupils and iris of the eyes separately in different colors. Now, I can barely put a dot of paint for the entire eye - not only harder to see, but don't have that kind of patience/skill anymore. Speaking of eyes, I read that Napoleon's eyes were grey, or grey-blue, from firsthand witness accounts. His hair was described as chestnut, also. Here's a link to the firsthand accounts of Napoleon.

Just a quick update - still waiting for the remodelers to finish our bathroom. One guy is scraping off caulking from the sinks that were removed from the counter top - which apparently the demo guys should've left attached. I'm learning a lot of things about home construction and remodeling - not by choice, but interesting to know. Thanks again for visiting and wishing you all the best.

Blog Update - Nothing Gaming-Related

Just wanted wanted to post an update to keep the blog alive. Managed to get my cheap airbrush to work long enough to prime the Verlinden resin figures. I cleaned the needle and tip several times during the process. I also picked up another figure since the earlier post - a General Bonaparte figure. For the record, these figures are sold at widely varying  prices on ebay. I stay within the $20-$30 range, and get lucky from time to time. I'm still waiting for a French Seaman of the Guard to go down in price, but no luck to date.

As for gaming, I'm still waiting on the 3D print Landsknecht artillery crew figures from Etsy. I only saw after I ordered them that the seller is in  Poland and the projected arrival date is 2 September. I messaged him last week to see if I could get it it sooner, but haven't received a reply back. That all said, I'm not really ready to host a game at my place yet as our master bathroom is still not finished. As mentioned previously, we discovered water damage to the subfloor several months ago. The house is only 6 years old, and we're the first occupants, so it was quite a shock. The shower floor pan was the culprit - either defective or improperly installed. Thankfully, the insurance covered it, but it's been a long and slow process to have the contractors finish it. They just installed the tiles last week, and we should have the cabinets, sinks, tub, and toilet put back in this coming week. The stuff has been sitting in our back porch since they took them out months ago. Here are some pictures of the repair work - they had to replace several of the joists and a good portion of the subfloor and insulation.

Below is the tiling being done. The guys who did the tiles are Ukrainian and although expert at their work, couldn't speak much English - actually some none at all. Just a bunch of nods and hand gestures. I mentioned it to the project director, and he was surprised too.

Another thing keeping me occupied was the removal of bamboo from our backyard. This was a self-inflicted wound as I was the one who planted the bamboo when we moved in. My wife and I just got the last of the rhizone out (I hope). It had not only spread in our yard, but also under our paver stones. We amazingly were able to get the stones back in pretty nicely. I did manage to hit my thumb with the mallet while lining up the stones - I used my trusty hobby drill to let the pooled blood out to relieve the pressure.

That's some of the rhizone we dug up - about half of what we ended up later.

Anyway, sorry for the long, non-hobby-related post, but wanted to post an update to let you all know what I've been up to. Not giving up on the hobby, but just preoccupied with other stuff lately. Once the bathroom is done, I'll be hosting a game - probably a Pike & Shotte Italian Wars game, even if I don't have crewmen for the guns. Until next time, thanks for the indulgence and wishing you all the best!

Construction Projects - Black Site Studio Flemish-Baroque Buildings

I've been in more of a building/constructing mood than painting recently. Might have something to do with the contractors working in our bathroom. Anyway, these are the three Black Site Studio prepainted, laser cut kits I picked up at a bring and buy a few months ago. They looked just the part for my 1813 Campaign project that has been put on the back burner for awhile. Lovely kits, and reminiscent of the 4-Ground kits I put together years ago.

28mm figures shown for scale - the buildings are quite substantial in size. I believe they're intended primarily for skirmish gaming. 

Left to right in the photo above: Flemish-Baroque Townhouse A, Flemish-Baroque Townhouse B, and Townhouse Corner A. 

Rear of the buildings. All doors can be swung open or closed. The kits come with stairs for each floor, but I was too lazy to put them together.

The building floors are sectional, which is not only good for skirmish gaming, but also for storage and transport. All the sections have tongue and groove fittings for secure placement.

The instructions were online, and there were some discrepanies like not identifying some pieces, but I was able to figure it out. Another thing to note is the laser cutting leaves a lot of black charring which gets onto your hands and onto the pieces themselves. I used a moistened paper towel to clean off my fingers periodically, and also wiped down areas that got smudged.

I also put together several 120mm Verlinden resin kits for future painting. I'd like to give my cheap airbrush another try; at least for basecoating. The problem I've had is constant clogging of the tip. I watched some YouTube videos which might prevent this issue. If not, back to rattle can spray for undercoating.

I used brass rods for the larger separate pieces for a more secure fit; and also for the plumes so they can be removed in case I have to store or move the figures.

EDIT: These garden walls and outhouses were thrown in as freebies along with the buildings - also Black Site Studio kits.

Just a short post to show you what I've been up to recently. Basically staying at home while the contractors work on our bathroom. They "should" be done this coming week - I hope! Then I can get back to "normal" and start hosting games again. Thanks for your visit and wishing you the best.

Warlord Games Landsknecht Looting Party

Here are the rest of the Warlord Games Landsknecht Looting Party figures. The one other figure from this set is the kneeling guy with bag of loot used in the earlier gambling vignette. They're mounted in pairs (well, one has a reluctant fräulein also) on 50mm round bases. They can be used as bling on the battlefield if nothing else.

Very nice figures which I'd put on the same level as Perrys.

I also painted up several 3D resin print Landsknecht/Italian Wars cannon. These are from a seller on Etsy, and I initially had planned to use Steel Fist crew, but they've been shown as "out of stock" for awhile, and they may not be making them separately anymore. I ended up ordering crewmen from Etsy that could've been ordered along with the cannon before.

I used illustrations from the Triumphs of Maximilian manuscript as painting guides. Of course, they could be used for WHFB Empire too!

EDIT: added a comparison shot of the 3D cannon between an old metal GW Great Cannon and also a Perry WotR field piece.

Anyway, so much for now. Still waiting on our bathroom to be finished. They replaced the damaged subfloor and joists, and are working on the tiling and shower pan this week. Can't wait until it's done - hopefully in another week - so I can finally host a game - I'm thinking of trying out the Battle of Bicocca scenario from the new supplement. Until next time, wishing you all the best!

Wargames Atlantic Conquistador Cavalry

These will be proxy light cavalry jinetes for the Italian Wars project. They're painted in a red and yellow color combination to simplify the process. Used the usual block painting, followed by Minwax staining, and a final highlighting of the metal parts, face, and folds of cloth.

I used a spare body from the Heavy cavalry set for the leader. The Conquistador set has riders in quilted armor, but the same heads as the Heavy cav set. The horses are the same too, but don't come with the additional armor barding pieces in the Heavy cav set.

Here are some pictures of the Wargames Atlantic Conquistador/Renaissance sets - 3 boxes of infantry, and a box each of Conquistador and Heavy Cavalry. The flags are from the Warlord Games Landsknecht Starter Army set.

They're painted more uniformly in red and yellow than they likely were historically. They could also be used for a WHFB Estalian army as well.

The arquebusiers are in battleline, but can also be used as smaller sections for the Colunela formation rule.

Still need some artillery crewmen to get a playtest of the Death and The Landsknecht Pike & Shotte game, but as our bathroom in the process of "remodelling" I can't really host a game at my place yet. I use quotes for remodelling because it isn't by choice, but due to water damage from an improperly (or defective) shower pan. It had been leaking water onto the subfloor for the 6 years we've been living here. Thankfully it's finally getting fixed and covered by our insurance. Here's a quick picture of what it looked like when they first started demoing it. They'll started repairing the subfloor and drywall tomorrow - they demo'd the entire tiled floor and shower wall. Our bathtub, toilet, shower glass, and cabinets are on my back porch and in the garage. Thankfully we have two other bathrooms while awaiting this to be resolved. 

Well, so much for now - thanks for visiting the blog and wishing you all the best!

Warlord Games Landsknecht Guard Duty

Added another figure (the one kneeling with the loot bag) from their Looting Party set. Also added a dog (colored as a Rottweiler), and a couple of resin halberds.

I had wanted to get the Guard Duty and Looting Party sets for awhile, so added them to the Death and The Landsknecht supplement order to get the free shipping.

It's hard to make out, but the guy with the light blue hat has a pair of dice in his right hand, as well as cradling a dice cup (I think) - pictured below.

Next up are the remaining figures from the Looting Party set. I also, have another box of Wargames Atlantic Renaissance cavalry to paint up as Jinetes.

The Thunderbolt of Italy and the White Rose

These are Warlord Games Italian Wars personality figures. The mounted figure is Gaston de Foix and the one on foot, Richard de la Pole - the latter came with the Death and The Landsknecht supplement as a "freebie."

De Foix, Duke of Nemours, was a celebrated French commander who was killed leading a cavalry charge at Ravenna - he was only 22 years old. De la Pole, a maternal nephew of Edward IV and Richard III, was the last Yorkist claimant to the English throne. He was killed leading the Black Band at Pavia. Both kind of tragic figures from the Italian Wars.

Both figures are resin, and sort of "bendy", and not fragile at all for gaming. The horse looked rather small for the rider, but after flocking the base with a lot of foilage looks okay. For the record, the horse and rider are cast in one-piece. I recall having a mounted Celtic chieftain that was another Warlord Games resin figure, and the horse was too small for the rider. Luckily the rider and horse were cast separately, and I was able to use a Victrix EIR horse for the rider.

I may rebase the De la Pole figure with some other figures - maybe his halbedier guards - sometime later.

Next in the paint queue are more Warlord Games Landsknechts - a set each of Looting Party and Guard Duty. Until next time, thanks for stopping in, and wishing you all the best.

Quetzalcoatl Rampant

Had a great time today at a monthly game day at Wizards Keep up in Auburn (WA State). I got to play in a Lion Rampant based game run by Kevin Smyth (A Gamer's Tale blog) using figures and rules modified by him and the late David Sullivan (I Live With Cats blog). The rules are still on David's blog somewhere. It's pretty much Lion Rampant, but with flavor for the period. The scenario was the Spanish along with their native allies attempting to take over the Aztec possessed areas, including crops of corn. I ran a "retinue" of Aztecs which included a couple of units of "knights" and other warriors (pictured below). The guy with the big blue hat was my overall leader - he looked like a Japanese Yokai.

Here are some other pictures from the game. We played about 5 or 6 turns, with the Spanish being declared the winner. It was hard to take out their armored swordsmen having Armour 3. The Aztec were given a special rule of blood sacrifice if passing a separate Courage test after inflicting casualties. We were awarded little hearts to signify this.

The Spanish and allied native left flank - which my units faced.

My skirmishing troops sceening "knights" behind them.

The GM brief prior to the start of the game. The store's gaming area is pretty large with our table located about midway.

These are the retinues at the start of the game - that is, one less which was the one I brought on at the end of the first turn.

Some of the figures are based as suggested by the author of Lion Rampant - that is, in multiples of 3, 2, or singly, for easier movement and casualty removal.

The Spanish center with light cannon, swordsmen, arquebusiers, cavalry, and native allies.

Next are a few pictures of another game going on during our game. It was an Ottoman vs. Polish game which the GM was trying out his own rules. Not quite sure how it played out as I as busy with the game I was in, but the figures looked beautiful.

Well, glad to have attended and participated in this monthly game day. I hadn't been to the even since last year - in fact, I think it was when I played in a Tribal game run by David Sullivan. So much for now - thanks again for visiting, and wishing you all well.