More Renaissance, and a Tournament's Results

   Work continues on my Thirty Years War army for Field of Glory Renaissance. The army is technically "Early German Catholic," but could be most any except for the banners. All of the figures are Old Glory.

Two field guns. Notice Zed in the background?

   I also took part in my first Field of Glory Ancients tournament. This was at Comicpalooza, here in Houston - a few pictures of which will be on my other blog, Victoria's Boys in Red, as they are mostly steampunk in nature. Anyway, I spent all day Saturday playing three games, using my friend Gerald's Komenan Byzantine army. My record was 1 - 2, for a 7th place finish out of eight players.

   I'll never play in another tournament. I hate the way people play in them. "I don't want to do this, but I'm going to anyway." I must have heard that a half dozen times. What a crock. If you don't want to do it, don't. If you are going to do something brutal, just do it and don't think you are going to excuse it with some meaningless words. Just like "In all due respect..." right before you say something incredibly disrespectful.

One Regiment of Foote Down.

   Only about four more to go. Plus dragoons, and artillery. I may do the artillery bases next (only have four of those), just for a change. Could use some limbers to go with, as well. Need to check and see if there is one available.

   I also have some cavalry done, but I didn't do the painting on them. My friend Tom did the honors. I just based them up. There is a BG of 4 bases of Croat light horse and one of 4 bases of bandellier reiters. Tom has two BGs of kurrassiers in his clutches as well. Nice work, what?

Croat Command (Tom)

Bandellier Reiter Command (Tom)

Bandellier Reiter BG (Tom)

Closeup of a stand of muskets (mine)

 

   All figures are Old Glory 15s. We took advantage of the army deals, and I got a few extras.

"Germans Mister Rico! Zillions of 'em!"

   I've been working on a lot of stuff for the last few days. Strangely, a lot of it is Germans, in two different scales and in two different genres. There's also one other thing at the end. But no spoilers. You want to know what it is, you have to work your way down. All part of my sinister plan. Muah ha ha!

   Let's start with my very first base of FoG Renaissance troops. It is a command stand of Thirty Years War Catholic Germans. I'll let him be Johann Tserclaes, Count Tilly when I am using a Catholic League army, and the Tilly's Veterans regiments that come with them. Figures are 15mm Old Glory. I used GW's Devlan Mud wash for shading. Very happy with the results.

Banner is from warflag.com - an excellent resource

    This next batch is all of the 15mm Imperial German line infantry I have right now. I plan to get another twenty in the future, but this, plus the twenty Aetherbattalion (Seebattalion) I already have. In the background is a stone outcropping I have set up for the jungles of Venus.

 Figures are Black Hat Prussian Line Infantry

   A stealthy assault rises up in the midst of a strong fortification! 6mm VSF German tunneling vehicle which can carry a company of infantry (1 base). The wily Hun attacks from below! I only have one for now, but I want more (three more would be great so that I can transport a full battalion).

Figure is GW Epic 40K

   Finally, what you have all been waiting for: the secret surprise! My as-yet-incomplete Martian two-man skiff. Again, 15mm. The crew are about half-done. The motor needs to be finished as well. I have it mounted on a short brass rod and then into a base I built from three steel washers and some putty.

Skiff by Black Hat Miniatures

The Hun is Reinforced

More Atherbattalion Troops Arrive on Venus.

What is their plan? Designs on Planetary Domination?

Events on Venus have taken a dramatic turn for the worse. As you can plainly see in the photostat included below, more of the Kaiser's white devils have landed on Venus. Our intrepid photostatic artist barely escaped with his life and this single still. It shows the Hun's new troops advancing across one of the few open areas on the Veiled Planet. The officer has seen Mister Flannery, and is giving orders to arrest him for espionage. Not wanting to endhis trip a head shorter, Mr. Flannery departed the scene immediately and made his way back to the British outpost.

[Editor's Notes: These figures are the first ones started and finished in the new year. I have a few other projects in the works that I am truly hopeful will be done by Sunday night. The figures are Old Glory 15mm German Seebattalion from the Boxer range.]

Monthly Goal Update

Greetings, Ladies and Gents...

Felt like I ought to update my progress for the month. So first, the stuff that is being painted:

• 40x 15mm Zulus [Stone Mountain]: Mailed to painter. I realized I want the troops, but I don't want to paint them. New painter this time; I'll review the work when I receive the minis.
• 20x 15mm Luftschiffetruppen [Old Glory]: 80% done. Touchup, basing, and clear coat.
• 10x 25mm Feral Martians [RAFM]: 40% done.
• Aeronef Papal Fleet [Brigade Models]: Total of six ships. About 60% done. I made some alterations to the fleet paint scheme that need to be redone on several ships.

Regarding new purchases, I have been a busy boy, on TMP, eBay and company websites. Also, I have discovered the joy of Bartertown (http://www.bartertown.com), and that has been time consuming. The 'take' so far:

• GW Mordian Lascannon and crew. No gunshield. Repaint and fit with 19th C. field gun wheels.
• Parroom Station Clockwork Soldier (NIB). New 'recruit' for Maton.
• Armorcast Gothic Laboratory Power Generator. Power for the Lascannon.
• 20x Copplestone Castings German Colonial Marines. Destined to be Luftschiffetruppen.
• Wyrd Miniatures's Malifaux Brass Arachnid. Nice and big, suitably menacing for Dr. Maton.
• 16x 25mm Japanese cavalry (Russo-Japanese), painted
• 17x 25mm Japanese infantry (Russo-Japanese), painted
• 2x 25mm Japanese artillery, w/ 4 crew (RJW), painted
• GW WFB Lizardmen Stegadon (5 ed.) - only $10! Gex in the howdah... a fearsome weapon on Venus!

And there are still some things I am trying to find at a reasonable price or trade.

• 3x GW Imperial Guard Praetorians with lasguns. Most poses would be okay.
• 1x GW Imperial Guard Praetorian Sergeant, with the powersword.
• 2x GW Imperial Guard Praetorian missile loaders
• GW Imperial Guard Praetorian heavy weapons (especially heavy bolter and autocannon)
• Wargames Foundry Victorian Special "Dr. Jekyll". I will probably order today from Foundry, but at $10.50 for one figure, it hurts!
• A boat to convert to a Martian 'kite'
• And more... always more... *sigh*

So... plenty to keep me busy for the next nine or ten years, at any rate...

Painted Minis Arrive, Part 4: 17th Lancers

This is the last installment of the series of reviews for the minis I sent to White Ape Painting Studio to have painted. It was a first for me, and I sent Cathy a small batch of minis that had been sitting for years waiting to be painted, as new purchases kept getting placed in front of them. Eventually, I realized that while I did want - heck, I needed! - these minis for the gaming table, I just was not going to ever paint them myself.

This last batch was twelve 15mm British colonial lancers, from Old Glory, IIRC. I asked that they be painted as the 17th Lancers, circa 1870-1880. Cathy doesn't paint a lot of historicals, she tells me, so I sent along a few pictures as references for her. Here's what I got back:

Not a bad looking unit, all told.

The rough coat on the horses is actually my fault. I had primed them already when I sent them to be painted, and the spray I used left a bad grainy finish on parts of the horses. you can kind of see it in this photo. I am happy with the face and details on this particular lancer.My only real disappointment with Cathy's figures were the three light-colored horses in the lancers. All of them are going to need touching up, as you can see in the photo below. The riders are fine, but the shading got a bit out of hand on the horses and I think in her hurry to get the minis returned to me in time for Historicon next month, she just missed neatening them up. I could send them back to her - she guarantees her work - but for this little bit of fix-it, I don't think the wait and the postage would be worth the trouble.

Overall, I was pleased with Cathy's service. She kept in touch and responded pretty quickly to my emails. She sent plenty of pictures and fixed a few details on the lancers when I pointed them out (example: she had painted the sabre scabbards white instead of bright steel - difficult to tell from the pictures I sent, and white matched the belts and such). For $2 per 15mm cavalry, I think it was a good deal.

So, if you are thinking about sending some of your massive lead pile out to be whittled down, I would say give Cathy at White Ape a try. I will be sending her some more business in the future, after all my Historicon spending is done and I get back to a 'normal' gaming budget.

[Post Script Added 06.10.09: Cathy has offered to refund my money on the three cavalry figures I am not satisfied with. Sounds more than fair to me. I like doing business with folks like this, who stand behind their work.]