Tuesday 29 December 2015

Last Painting for the Year

With the end of the Wars of the Roses project I thought I had finished painting for the year, but the other day, when cleaning out my study, I came across two boxes of figures that had been sitting there for years. In one contained a bunch of Franco-Prussian figures that I had bought from a departed friend's estate. The other had sixteen one-of-a-kind NZ Wars figures in it. Since painting existing "stock" saves me a bit of cash when we are trying to restrain spending, they have provided a final painting project during these holiday days.

The first batch was twelve Wargames Foundry Imperial Guard infantry. These had been badly stored before I got them - a couple had broken bayonets and others had knocked badly against each other and a few were just bad casts - so there was a bit of repair work required. I had painted (and later sold) a swag of these back in the 1980's, so there was a bit of déjà vu as I worked on them. For now they will sit, painted, in a box until I get around ordering a command group to complete the unit. Six are in bonet de police, as below, and six are in bearskin - yes I know that the bearskins were not worn in 1870, but these were the figures I had...


The second batch are eight dismounted Prussian hussars that I have painted as the 16th Regiment. The third batch, still in progress, is a unit of six Prussian uhlans.


Then there were NZ Wars Maori figures. About twelve years ago I got quite keen on this period and made a selection of 28mm masters with the intention of casting them up. The project went nowhere and the masters just sat there. Looking at them now there are a lot of anatomical problems, but they're OK. A friend, with whom I have gamed with for more than 40 years (and who hosts most of our games), is very keen on this period, so I have painted them up as a gift for him.



Tuesday 22 December 2015

Wars of the Roses Project - Completed!

Sunday saw the completion of the WotR project when I put the last coat of paint on the last two units of archers.

What was intended as a small project -  a retinue of 30 archers, 15 Knights and 15 billmen - has suffered a bit of scope creep and now there are 324 foot and 24 mounted figures. The army might extend a little bit more with the addition of some light cavalry. The whole army is made up from the Perry plastics.

Over the Christmas break I may have have a proper "parade", but for now here are a few shots of the latest unit of knights and billmen.


Henry


Henry and standard bearer


The knights


The billmen

Sunday 13 December 2015

Last Game for the Year

We have just finished playing the last game for the year. It was an early medieval, a Byzantine force against a Frankish force. The scenario was that a rebellious Frankish lord wanted to carve out a fiefdom for himself. The Byzantines objected.


It was quite a short game, starting with a battle between the two opposing heavy cavalry forces, and eventually destroying each other.


Then it continued with the light cavalry skirmising on the opposite flank. 


Finally in the centre the infantry clashed.


A lot of fun was had by all and a good way to finish the gaming year.

The count for the year is 23 games in thirteen different historical periods.