Oops and general botheration

What kind of numpty starts a new blog about his various "non-historical" leanings, posts the address on his normal blog and the promptly gets thatnew blog's address wrong???

Er.......that would be me.....

Let's try again.......

http://kragskronickle.blogspot.co.uk/

I think that is it.................

G

New Kid on the Blog!!!

Some may call it "Heresy".

Some may see it as further sign of a slow descent into madness.

Some may even be pleased?

As a long time reader, collector, player and, on occasion, writer of material of the fantasy and sci-fi ilk, it was perhaps inevitable that I would have to either:

a) show more such material here, or,
b) show it somewhere else!

Well, a certain "Krag" has sprung back into life. Not as famous as Nog and Zog (twin Night Goblin shamen, no less) to those who know me, Krag first appeared in a short story written for a nephew many years ago, when he appeared as something of a spy/scout/politico/ assassin. In my own head at least, he has come long way since then. He seems to have almost gone "legit".

Thus, you will see no more sci-fi, no more K'Hiff, no more bits of any non-historical matter at all here, but "Krag's Kronickles" will expand that part of my wargaming alter-ego.

For anyone interested (and anyone who isn't but has some time to kill), check out:

http://kragskronickles.blogspot.com

With such stuff as the latest 40K already with us and delights such as "Dropzone Commander" due very soon, it would be a shame for a true wargames junkie not to do a line or two in this area........

Er, that's line or two of type, not some other rubbish.

G (K)

Clifford Done and Dusted

To finish off the first couple of samples of my Bannockburn-era proposal, I finally got around to basing the (almost late) Lord Clifford and his (still active) companion, Sir Nicholas Stapleton.

The good (?) news is that I have started to thresh out the retinue a little, so more pics soon for those who like this stuff or are, at least, keen enough to look.

This proposal seems to be progressing rather better than my Arthurian one (see very early post). The few samples I photographed and posted for that era are still just that, a few unbased samples. However, the article in "Battlegames" issue 30 on the forthcoming "Dux Bellorum" rules by Daniel Mersey, published by Osprey, my well kick-start something......

G

Having crossed the whatever burn (there were so many at Bannockburn), Clifford promptly gets thrown in the boggy ground.

Another view of the same.

Catholic League Regiment, 1631

One whole base of figures does not a regiment make (unless you are playing one of the Polemos variants or similar perhaps), but one base of figures enabled me to finally stop mixing Jung-Tilly and some Catholic League troops and give the latter their own identity at last.

That one base, of just four figures, formed the second command element and is made up of a couple of Warlord plastics, a Renegade Scots pikeman masquerading as an Irish mercenary and an Assault Group officer. The rest of the regiment is made up of Renegade figures.

I still have a good six (at least) regiments of foot figures available to paint for this era, along with some more cavalry, some dragoons, artillery, generals and sundry bits and pieces.

I "need" some Protestant Germans, a Spanish regiment or two (for Nordlingen???)................

I will get around to some of this sooner or later and post some pics.

G

The base in question.

The left flank of the regiment, preparing to give fire.

The original command element that shared duties with the Jung-Tilly one in the original hybrid regiment.

The right flank, with more muskets preparing to give fire.

A closer view of the Warlord ensign with (overly small) furled standard and Assault Group officer.

A Long Time Coming

Yet another unit that has taken me a while to get around to basing is this one, Jung-Tilly, circa 1631. I did the bases at pretty much the same time as I did Montpuillan's and Sarsfield's horse regiments (see previous posts earlier this month), as I tend to - batch base that is.

One of the main reasons for the length of time taken over finishing this pike block is the considerable annoyance I felt when the Leibfahne flag I painted up earlier this year flaked and was ruined (see much earlier post). Thus, I had to paint another, settling on something a little simpler for ease.....and promptly wishing I had just done the Leibfahne again, because that is the one I really wanted!!!

I also fell away from the Thirty Years' War. I have certainly not fallen out of love with it, but since the "Pike & Shotte" game at Stafford Games a couple of months ago, have been doing other stuff.

This regiment is not finished, however. I have no distinct musketeers for it as yet. I can also build it as a large unit a la P&S, so might get that Leibfahne after all. Up to now, the white flag in the unit has partnered a Catholic League one in a sort of generic unit. Alongside Jung-Tilly, I have also painted up a separate command stand to flesh that regiment out into a separate entity too, and the original, shared pikemen and musketeers went with that stand, allowing me to create Jung-Tilly anew, a sort of Junger-Tilly. I will photograph and post on the Catholic League regiment soon, but, for now, meet the meat in the JungTilly sandwich.

G

My usual (for this period) mix of Renegade and Redoubt figures. The original flag I painted when the unit was a hybrid Jung-Tilly/ Catholic League one is the white one. The Virgin Mary icon is almost visible.

Head on view. I prefer more active poses, with pikes levelled in the front ranks, but they are a total b**ger to store!

The blue flag is identical on both sides. This view shows the motto on the white flag, which reads "Jesu Deus" vertically and "Maria" horizontally. How much more Catholic a regiment does one want, especially with the Virgin mary on the other side of the flag?

Stoutly defending a hummock.

My usual ill-advised close up....

Montpuillan Horse (1st Sqdn) - Finished At Last

Just like the proverbial buses, you wait a while and then two show up at once. In my case, it was Sarsfield's Horse and now Montpuillan's. Not quite buses, but they do at least carry passengers.....

Sarsfield's were Reiver figures, Montpuillan's are Wargames Factory plastics.

The flag is entirely conjectural, based on French imagery of the time (white cross and fleur-de-lys) and an escutheon showing the arms of Aquitaine. Those who read my earlier post on ths regiment may remember that Montpuillan is a place in the Lot-et-Garonde area of Aquitaine in SW France.

Conjectural but, I hope, not entirely unfeasible...

G

The entire regiment as it presently stands, just one squadron strong.

A better view of the flag. I experimented a little with the groundwork. It turned out to be a rather convoluted process  - first brown woodfiller, then an umber wash, then "Stirland Mud" from GW on top, then static grass, then various paint drybrushes with some emulsions and topped off with Army Painter swamp tufts and the odd meadow one for variety.

Sarsfield's Done and Dusted

It has been a while since I posted pics on the blog, and even longer since I showed my first 1690 cavalry in their part-finished state, but here, at long last, are the finished articles. Two squadrons of Sarsfield's Horse for your scrutiny and (hopefully constructive!) criticism.

G

First squadron, with banner

Second squdron, with officer and broken cannon a la Ballyneety raid.

Both squadrons fording a stream on one of my terrain boards.

A better look at the flag. No idea how accurate using the current Royal Standard is, but it was readily available in the flesh during the recent Jubilee celebrations, so I went with what I had.

Weird Challenges

No, not some Viking stood on a bridge on a sunny day in 11th Century Yorkshire, taking on all comers until some part-time sailor assaults him from a boat on the water below.

Not even two sets of three brothers setting to in Ancient Rome or 30 garlic-swillers confronting 30 of God's Own (aka Englishmen, of course) in 1340's France.

I read about this one on Nephew Two's blog (see Beithir in the followers bit).

The brief was to paint up 1000pts (to Warhammer Fantasy) of troops, using a legal list (sic) and write a blurb about them. Take pics at various stages of construction/ completion and show it all on your own blog. Hmmm.

I rarely play fantasy nowadays, but this set the old juices flowing. I have a fair horde of GW and other suitable figures and, given what I have spent this year already, was not in the market for more investment. This is where the Savage Orcs came in. Hyperactive Orc cavemen basically with a passion for venomous creatures and nudity. I have a sizeable Orc army anyway, many figures pre-dating Warhammer, so anything I did paint would simply join them.

I wrote a list and painted up a leader and five associates, all mounted. I will post photos once I have based them. Next up MAY be some spider riding goblins and some infantry. Then again, a mad wizard or two could be in order. Or perhaps some exotic stuff like trolls or a giant.

But fear not as I have not gone sweaty, socially inept (no more than normal), decided that unpainted or just undercoated figures on my games table was the way to go or developed a thing for juvenile rock music (only classic rock for me!). In short, I will not be becoming a full time fantasy freak. I will not be entering the competition, but would love to hear more about any such flights of fancy from historical exponents.

Anyone out there doing this??? I would like to play, I think.

G

Achievement, Astonishment......and Atonement

Six months down and time for new plans.

By the end of June, I had bargained on getting 58 infantry and 24 cavalry painted, all in 28mm, covering such varied stuff as a few 1690-era infantry regiments, cavalry to accompany these and some more TYW musketeers. How did I do?

In no particular order:
1) 14 28mm Burgundian longbowmen...
2) 11 Sarsfield's Horse plus a broken cannon for decoration in 28mm (huzzah for one on target!).
3) 75 sundry War in Afghanistan Taliban and civilians in 20mm. Still don't really know why....
4) 2 28mm English knights from circa 1300, specifically Bannockburn. Samples for the future.
5) 6 Montpuillan Horse in 28mm for 1690 - huzzah again for another in the barrel!!!
6) 10 15mm vehicles for my late war 2nd SS.
7) ...........................and 6 Savage Orc Boar Boyz..................................

Not quite on plan.

14 28mm infantry, 26 28mm cavalry, 75 20mm infantry and 10 15mm vehicles.

The next three months is chocful of the previously planned (and largely ignored) 1690 stuff, following my sundry purchases at Phalanx. We will see.

But atonement.........

I have been tracking exactly how much I have been spending on what I consider to be a fairly cheap hobby. Excluding paint, I have spent over £550 since the start of April on wargames figures, books, etc. And I have only been to one medium-sized show in that time......

I seriously hope my wife never sees this..........She thinks my "little men" are rather a strange attraction at the best of times. I will not go into how much I have spent since February when I started to think about this..................

G