Long time waiting

Okay, I know its been over a month since my last entry but I now understand why ancient armies didn't have many elephants, I mean have you ever tried painting the bl**dy things? You would have thought big, grey and thats it... er no. They are all that and a darn sight more, especially if you have men on top and castles, shields and standards and everything else to paint in as many different colours as possible for effect.  But I did them...all 3 of them. Have a look at the pics and you will see what I mean. 

The commanders hand painted standard and side panels are made from thick tissue paper with a couple of coats of PVA to harden it a bit; poles from brass wire; sisal rope on poles and the golden decorations are from a child's plastic bracelet superglued in place.

The Byz skatties have hardly any convertions exept for one archer chappie who now has a leather skull cap cos he lost his helmet. 'Put that man on a charge, sarn't major!'

Quite chuffed with the paint jobs on both. Now, honestly there are the first dozen of the Sass clibs undercoated and ready to go...after I have finished another seven Hunnic Mongols of course.

Don't know whether you've noticed that there is a strong Hammers connection with this World Cup squad. Green and Upson still play, Defoe, Carrick, Joe Cole, Johnstone, Lampard and Ferdinand (if he was fit) have all played for the Irons at some stage. In the original 30 you could add Parker to the list as well. Not bad eh? Speaks volumes for the Academy.

Finally, got some pics for your delictation

Long time since my last post; things been moving along apace. Triples was good, spread out over a few halls but good nonetheless. My only beef was the positioning of the Bring and Buy, caused a lot of congestion as it was in a sort of funnel type corridor.

We arrived at Sheffield station with no problems and while waiting for YO to arrive in her nice new jam I took some pics of the nice water feature just outside, then put camera in coat pocket. Dozy ar*e that I am, I took my coat off in the car and bloody well left it there...didn't realise until halfway around the show that I'd left the sodding thing behind, so sorry no pics of Triples from yours truly this year. 

More pics of the boys as you can see...3rd and 4th LC and first LI units for the Sassy's all finished  and  the 1st unit of Byz Skutatoi finished, just need the base material done. Not only that but also, I have included some terrain bits wot I have made, namely a few bits of rocky broken ground, a little generic village for the Middle East and a few casualty markers. There are also a few pics of the whole of the Sassy force to date; next up will be the two units of clibs. I have some buildings done but not enough for a second base yet.

Oh, Hunnic Mongols figure total stands at 14 finished, another 7 undercoated. Worked out that if I get another 60 odd cavalry, I will have a couple of tumen. Its a start.

Mine are damp, are yours?

Mick

Full of anticipation -just like a runtling at Crimble

Looking forward to Triples this weekend -never been before. Nearly went back in the 70's when I was actually working in Sheffield but traveled all the way back to north Essex for a Sealed Knot muster instead. Should be a good do if the tinterweb spiel is anything to go by.

Nearly finished the Sassanid LI; after that the first ten of the Byzantine Skutoutai are primed and raring to go.

Already put in my order for the rest of the Sassy's and the Byz; picking them up at the show. Still unsure about what to do next but having some really worrying radical ideas at the mo. Might get temporarily sidetracked, don't know for sure. Watch this space for further updates.

  Also I want to see what period buildings are out there in the market place. I will be checking them out and thinking as to whether I can make my own. Might have a problem with the domes on the mosques though, so I could buy a few of them just for variety. I have some ideas about conurbation which I shall share at a later date, all being well. 

Second 7 of the Hunnic Mongols are almost finished.

I'll give you my reflections on the show as well, hopefully along with some piccys.

Don't let your paint dry on the brushes,

Mick

Not much left

Finally, after a lot of faffing around with the Great Demon WORK I have managed to finish the other two Sassy LC units. In reality they would have been finished a lot sooner if I had remembered that I had not painted a standard bearer for the first unit so I had to hold the basing until that particular chap was done. So what is left, you ask? Well not much now. I have a unit of 12 LI javelin types half done and then it's just the other unit of levy  and that's all folks...until after Triples of course. For the Byz it's a bit different. I have a unit of 30 Skoutati to paint and that's it for them. Again, the rest are coming from Triples. Eventually I will have about 15 units a side. (Currently I have 6 Sass and 1 Byz unit painted). Next day off is Sunday so I'm hoping it will be a little brighter than of late so I can get some piccys done -including the casualty markers.

Keep yer bristles damp

Mick 

Casualty Markers

Now I don't know if you are like me, but I don't spend ages painting the little chaps just to take them off the table as 'casualties' within minutes of starting a battle. Seeing as I am only having 3 bases to a unit it seems a tad visually imperfect...hence the casualty markers. 

I actually 'borrowed the basic idea from another blog (the name and author of which completely escapes me), but the fella wanted some period specific bases to represent a given number of casualties for the unit. He had even gone as far as painting numbers around the edge to show how many casualties said unit had lost. 

All I did was to 'dumb-down' the idea and make the bases more generic. So, on the way home from work the other evening I 'found' some more pieces of ornamental slate just lying around; luckily I had a plastic bag in my pocket and promptly picked them up. 

The basic idea is that each little textured 30 x 40 base has either one or two pieces of slate on it to represent a like number of bases 'missing'. Problem solved, job done, balls in the net etc. Now I have some nice little markers that fit in with the terrain as well as serving a very useful purpose.

Next time I will try to take some pics to give you an idea of the visual aspect. 

Sweet

Mick

Persians coming out of our ears

Pleased to say that another unit of Persian light cavalry is nearly finished. I use the term nearly because I painted necessary figures, based them up and everything, then noticed that I hadn't sorted out a standard bearer for them; so now I have to paint the final light cavalry unit including two standard bearers and can't do the bases until they are done as well. Both units are from Lancky Games and true to form I have had to make some spear changes because of excessive bendiness and breakages. None the less they aren't looking too bad at the mo.

As Youngest Offspring is at Uni, I have convinced the missus that a weekend visit to Sheffield is a good idea...somewhere around the middle of April perhaps...maybe even the same weekend of Triples -what an amazing coincidence. So now I can get the rest of the Sassys and the Byz units that I am missing. (Probably end up getting other stuff as well.) I have already been in contact with that nice Mr Kay at Irregular to prepare him.

Thinking ahead to Derby this year and the start of next year's project, I am not sure whether to get 13th Century Russians/Poles/generic Europeans or Sung Chinese. I can use the Sassys as Khwarizmians so that's one army I don't need to get. I might even get some more Mongols to complete the second tumen. Currently, I have 4 x 15 figure units heavies and 8 x 9 figure light cavalry units. This translates into a full strength tumen of 3 HC and 7 LC units and one of each left over for the second. The jury is still out on that one.

Keep em wet

Mick

Finally, the weather has broken

Sun came out today so I dashed into the grounds for some picture taking. Here are the results.

The command element for the levy infantry; the second unit of light cavalry and the first unit of Byz cavalry. (See what I mean about the colour combo?)

Hope you like 'em.

Mick   

PS If you are into the number crunching aspect of wargaming, since early October last year when I bought this lot, the running total of painted figures now stands at 31 infantry and 46 cavalry  -1 infantry and four cavalry units. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not exactly speed painting but so what, I'm doing it for my own enjoyment and there isn't really any rush on; not yet anyway. I set myself a target of next October to 'finish' both armies and it still looks good...even including the Hunnic Mongols.

PPS The 'rocks' I use on my bases were appropriated from a garden up the road. It's the ornamental bits of slate that people use because they are too posh to use wood chippings like me. All I do is give them a couple of increasing lighter grey dry-brushes and then a thin wash of Vallejo Smoke just to take the starkness off of the grey.

PPPS The first 7 Hunnic Mongols are nearly done. Obviously no pics of them yet because I have to paint another 56 of them first!

Diversification (already)

In the last post I just happened to mention that the next unit for the Byz army was going to be some Mongols disguised as Huns.

Now, in 15mm I have the equivalent of 4 x 15 Mongol heavy cavalry, 7 x 9 light cavalry and 1.5 infantry archer units. All have been de-based, stripped of old paint -I wasn't overly happy with the paint scheme anyway- and are ready for re-painting. There are at least 4 different manufacturers represented -Irregular, Museum, Mikes Models (pre Essex) and another couple who I can't remember the names of. But...the problem is that I have decided on a different painting approach to these; for unit variety, by painting one figure from each of the 7 light cavalry units the same, each unit will all be different. The downside to this is that I can't base them until all 63 are painted. So, at any given time on the painting table there will be  a unit of either Sass or Byz plus 7 Mongols. Of course, after that there is the heavy cavalry and the keshig  -that reminds me, I haven't got them yet.

Piece of P*ss, course it is. 

Still no piccys, weather has been sh*te. Had a nice sunny day on Monday but had to work so that killed that. No peace for the wicked. Been overcast in the Midlands ever since, clouds look like they are full of snow but luckily, they've hung on to it...so far. (And they can keep it as far as I'm concerned.)

Keep em clean 

Mick

Swinea*sing Weather

Can't believe the wossnaming white stuff everywhere...pretty at first but annoying now. Had enough, want it to go away. Looks good on postcards...of Canada or the Alps or somewhere else but not here where I am! 

Kills photography stone dead. I've no doubt that somewhere within both the Sassanid and Byzantine Empires there must have been snow, but I bet no-one tried to take any photos at the time. I feel their pain.

All I can do is give you a quick verbal update.

The first unit of Maurikian Byzantine  Kavallarioi Lancers and archers (Irregular) are done in a nice red, green and orange combo -works, trust me, wait till you see the pics. I know that according to the Ancients Bible -Arms and Enemas of Imperial Mints and Rome- Byz cavalry had a single uniform colour but hey ho, the reissue of shields got mixed up with another unit, didnt it? Logistics eh, who'd have em?

Second unit of Sassanid light cavalry (Irregular) -8 cav and 2 infantry skirmishers (Lancs Games) is nigh on completely painted.

Next I think I will do some Huns for the Byzantines. (In actual fact they are going to be the start of my resurrected 15mm Mongol Army which has all been stripped and ready to rock & roll.)

Pictures Galore!

Well, we have had a reasonably sunny day so I have been in the grounds snapping away like a Bailey possessed.  All of the first unit of Irregular cattyfracts are finished as is the first unit of Lancyshire light cavalry. The chap on the grey had the  horses front legs cut away from the base and superglued to a twig I found outside somewhere. Simples! The three pics of the levy by Irregular are just a mouth-waterer -just got the shading to do on the last lot. 

Any comments on the use of floral displays as a unit recognition system?

I have the first unit of Byzantine cattyfracts prepped, undercoated and awaiting the addition of some colouration. Watch this space! 

Keep your brushes pointed.

Mick 

Keeping 'em going

Two complete units done now -a unit of Light Cavalry to go with the cattyphracts. A third unit, that of Irregular Mini's levy infantry has one base of 10 figures completed and another ten have all the base colours blocked on. The last ten are undercoated with the shield fronts blocked on. Rather than make them disheveled and levy-looking, I have gone for a nice and clean, straight from the tumble-dryer look -although the colours are definitely light and washed out looking.  Following this I don't know as yet...might even make a start on the Byzantines just for some variety. Looking well good, even if I say so myself. Raining again on and off today and we have had new central heating fitted so painting time has been severely limited. (Hot water on tap again at last is something you people that have it do not understand the luxury of. [After that last sentence, my old English Language teacher is probably turning in his grave as I write.]  Bring forth la belle winter weather, cold, rain, snow sleet et al, I don't care a jot, my life is now complete.

Mick

Hoping for some shiny thing in the sky to show itself soon so that I can take some photo's...you never know, it might happen.

Unit the Second

The cataphract unit is now completed (with its nice floral base effect), and I have finished the first group of 4 Skirmishing cavalry from Lancs Games; the rest of the unit -another 5 figures -has been started. Next I have undercoated the first 10 of the Irregular levy infantry unit.

Chiz 

Mick

Unit 1 Complete

Not long finished the last base of the Cataphracts; made a slight change in the bases in that on the small bits of foliage stuff I have dabbed little drops of paint to represent some kind of flower. Had a St Paul's Moment...use this method to differentiate between units. So there will be some quite colourful unit bases in the table when they are all done. Spotting them shouldn't be difficult, after all a base of red flowered levy infantry are hardly likely to line up with two bases of likewise be-flowered cataphracts now are they?

Next up is a unit of Skirmishing Cavalry of a nomadic persuasion, (Picture F1 in the Osprey book), faithfully reproduced in miniature by Lancs Games. Nice little chaps but the horses have a tendency to have slightly bendy rear legs if one is not careful. Four of them half done as of this moment in time.

What to do after these, I don't know, see what happens.

S'nuff for now.

Mick

First Offerings

Da! Da! The first piccies of the Sassanids. Only two bases done so far; the Rupert and his bannerman are still half done, but hopefully you can get an idea of what they look like.

I intend to do the bases slightly different for thses armies. Usually, I give the whole base a generous covering of filler then dip it into sand but this time I just coated the base with wood glue and used the Sahara sand that I have. Then I painted usual light earth emulsion all over and when that was dry gave some areas a dark wash of acrylic Burnt Umber. On top of this I dry-brushed some Antique Gold followed by a highlight of Cream. (All three are Anitas plastic bottles bought from The Works in Brum some years ago for 99p a throw.)  Static grass and a few clumps of foliage gubbins finished them off.

Running Totals

At Derby there were some figures missing from the Irregular Battlepacks so now that nice Mr  Kay has sent them on with his usual alacrity, I have the current total of figures for the two armies. All figures are Irregular unlesss stated otherwise.

Sassanids

14 x Cataphracts

10 x Clibanarii

40 x Light Cavalry (Lancashire Games)

10 x Light Cavalry

30 x Levy Infantry

100 x Levy & Light Infantry (Lancashire Games)

2 Elephants

Maurikian Byzantine

15 x Heavy Cavalry Archers   

14 x Cataphracts

4 x Heavy Cavalry

27 x Heavy Infantry Spear

6 x Heavy Infantry Bow

12x Light Infantry 

General & Standard Bearer (Museum Miniatures)

As you can see, there are a few gaps to be filled to increase all troops to 3 base units, especially for the Byzantines. (I mean 4 heavy cavalry??? At least another 10 needed fot this lot alone.) 

Oh, by the way, current painted total is 12 Sassanid Cataphracts -work keeps breaking into my painting time.