I've finished up most of the remaining minis for the first two Swiss keils- adding a highlight and matt ink wash over Shaun's painting. I now just need the final 2 dozen pikes, the flags and some new bases that I've had designed for the project. In the meanwhile, I will base the 18 skirmishing arquebusiers and a command stand, which will help clear some space for the expected reinforcements, and I'll prep some more minis for the remaining 2 (or 3?) keils.
Tuesday, 14 July 2020
Thursday, 9 July 2020
Switzers I
Here are my first two Swiss pike keils, forming up. All the minis are Perrys, painted by Shaun McTague, and highlighted and inked by me. They are mounted in threes on temporary painting blocks (magnetised Jenga blocks).
Here's the Berne phalanx, and mascot. The spare painting blocks are for the balance of the minis- Shaun has painted most of these and I'm filling in the gaps at the rate of 15 minis per day.
...and here's Uri.
I plan to have 4 keils of pike (possibly 5). When completed, each keil will have 96 minis- mostly pike with a few halberdiers and command minis. Several will also have an attached unit of skirmishing arquebusiers, and there will be a handful of light cavalry. I'll also have the option of fielding a keil of pure halberdiers, for the early period, and I will be able to swap out some of the central pike, for halberdiers, in the transitional period. I'll describe the basing system in a later post.
Here's a close-up- I'm using the metal Perry Swiss heads on plastic bodies, with some metals mixed in, and some conversions. The chap in the middle, Lofty, is a cut'n'shut (WotR torso, Swiss legs) who came out on the tall side. Shaun, who painted him, calls him "the man with the two bums". :)
It's a big project- 500++ minis- but with Shaun doing the heavy lifting, it's going rather swiftly. I'd like to think I'll have the first two keils based in around a month's time.
PS If you fancy a Swiss army of your own, have a look at the Swiss army list for TtS!, and also the special rule for "field squares."
Sunday, 5 July 2020
Weekly catch-up
This week I received some much-needed reinforcements from the Perrys. I must have already gone through at least 20 boxes of their Wars of the Roses plastics, and here are almost as many, again. They got the order out really quickly; kudos to them, great customer service. I also bought some metals, not shown.
On Wednesday we had a power cut, and I took this atmospheric shadow photo of my current painting project, by torchlight, silhouetted against a sofa in the background. It looks very much like a grainy 1930's movie. I'll take a proper pic of the minis, next week.
The weather round here has alternatively been rainy and sunny, and consequently the plants are doing really, really well. Above, red cabbages forming nice heads; below, the potato (5' high) and spinach bed. This gardening lark is very rewarding; who knew?
This is our first cauliflower- with Perry mini for scale purposes! Consumed, yesterday night, in a cauliflower cheese (the cauli, that it, not the Perry).
Finally, here's a better shot of the winner's trophy from the recent online tournament- now flocked and in the post to Andy Lyons. It's on a Warbases counter, so super as a victory medal counter.
Thursday, 25 June 2020
TtS! 1066 Online Tournament- the Final Results!
Congratulations to Andy Lyon, our new Bretwalda, who won the TtS! 1066 online tournament, and commiserations to Antony Spencer, who came second, after a very closely fought battle last night.
Here's a shot from late in the game (above). Antony subsequently broke Andy's centre, but the heavy casualties he took doing so, and Andy's mercenary Normans taking his camp, led to a Scottish victory (below).
Andy wins the Harald Hardrada victor's trophy. I think the mini was painted by James Morris- I still need to flock the base. There will be modest prizes for the runners-up, including Wyatt Traina who came fourth (I came third)- I'll post them out tomorrow.
Thanks very much to everyone who participated in the tournament!. It's been great fun meeting new players, and all very good-natured. I've played way more games than I expected I would, this year! We played 59 games, in total- almost as many as are played at the TtS! Worlds in Chalgrove.
There will be another tournament starting in 3-4 weeks time- on the theme of the Italian Wars. It'll run for a longer duration, but with people playing a single game (or at most two) per week, which I hope will benefit those players who have busy jobs. It will also have what I hope will be an interesting campaign background, running in parallel with the tournament. I'll let you know more about it as we get closer to starting.
In other news, we are in the last few days of my current sale and I have rules, bases and even some mats marked down. Parcel postage prices to the USA will increase from Sunday, so it's a particularly good time to buy if you are American.
Thursday, 11 June 2020
Coustilliers II
Last night, I couldn't resist starting to base most of the finished coustilliers up with their knights. Here are a couple of quickly snatched photos. In the front are two units of 18 Venetian knights/coustillers, each, and, at the back is the front rank of a unit of Florentine knights, as yet lacking supports. Hopefully, when I add my Milanese, I'll eventually be able to form seven units of 18 knights, and four units of light cavalry.
I'm mounting most of the minis for these armies on the FK&P6 base (my personal favourite). I can fit all 15 bases into a single 7L Really Useful Box.
I'm mounting most of the minis for these armies on the FK&P6 base (my personal favourite). I can fit all 15 bases into a single 7L Really Useful Box.
Wednesday, 10 June 2020
Coustilliers
I've not been painting much, recently, but am just getting back in the saddle. Here are some minis painted my chum Shaun McTague for me, that I've just done a wee bit of additional highlighting, and inked. Most will serve as the coustilliers (rear ranks) of my Venetian knights, and the rump will be join my projected Florentine army. They are mostly Perry WOTR light cavalry; superb little models. The mounted crossbows are Perry metals on plastic horses; they work better than the plastic crossbowmen, I think, because the plastic crossbows look too large for mounted use.
In other news.... the Midsummer Madness online tournament is going from strength to strength! So far we've played over 40 games, and will likely have played over 60 by the 24th, when it ends with a Grand Final. It's probably the only big battle tournament running in the World, just now.
Here's a shot from the end of my last battle with Simon Purchon, which I narrowly won when my brave Anglo-Saxons braved the Welsh arrow-storm to chop up his Combrogi with their Dane-axes. It's been a lot of fun, and a great success- so I very much hope we'll run another tournament, later in the summer.
Friday, 29 May 2020
Everything coming up (bar) roses
A brief digression from wargaming. The garden has been a rare beneficiary of lock down. This new bed has cabbages, red cabbages, green beans, broccoli cauliflower and a solitary courgette plant. It had previously been an abandoned play area, for at least ten years, and it's great to see it in use. The scarecrow is there because pigeons have been at the caulis.
Broad beans and rhubarb.
I am really chuffed with these- first crop potatoes in pots, improvised planters and a grow bag. We put a lot of potatoes in because of the food scarcities back in March.
Little gem lettuces in £1 plastic planters.
This was our original raised bed- peas, spring onions, spinach, rocket and onions.
And finally the big new raised bed. This has been really exciting- I was worried that it might prove too shady, but the main crop potatoes are coming through big-time, also the carrots and spinach.
We have been assiduously watering everything every day- ten watering cans, or so. This year it's all been about vegetables, on account of the crisis, but next year we'll plant some flowers and possibly put in a small pond for wildlife. It's been a whole lot of fun!
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