Puss (without boots)

Hello again.

The picture below is of one of my all-time favourite figures.

Now, you may baulk at the cost (but you have to remember that this is a niche genre, that you only need half a dozen figures for a warband, that the "standard" 24 figure French 1812 line battalion would cost you five times as much and take you far longer to paint, etc), but this figure is an absolute champion of the figure sculptor's art for me. Who would not want an Otter Landsknecht Doppelsoldier in heavy armour? He is kknown on the Oathsworn Miniatures website as "Von Wodr" (geddit? "From water"? In a sort of Prusso-Dutch language at any rate).

But he is still somewhat problematic for a guy like me who likes the fluff behind his projects. He could be hired as a bodyguard for some other character I suppose, but why not build a Landsknecht band and go the whole German 16th Century mercenary hog? Well, because Oathsworn only do three figures in this garb...

So I need a leader or some reinforcement to bulk out the trio available of otter, hedgehog and mouse. That is where "Puss" came in, or so I initially thought.

Wildcats ROCK!!!

And two weapons is an absolute killer in "Burrows & Badgers"!

 

I was going to call him "Otto von Pusmarck", but then something struck me. He is simply not a Landsknecht. I also had it in mind that he might do for my Strath Clotans, but probably not in hindsight, especially with "Mad Morag" on the horizon via the latest Kickstarter.

 

He is sporting a scimitar and curved dagger, which surely makes him of eastern origin or someone who perhaps crusaded there...His armour is a mix of Western European plate and Eastern scale.

 

Let's go with the crusader theme perhaps and call him "Jean Pawrisot de la Valette" in honour if the leader of the Knights of Saint John who defended Malta in 1565 from the Turks. "Richard the LIONheart" would be an obvious alternative. Or perhaps just a lowly crusading knight from Northymbra by the name of "Felix of Catterick"? Perhaps he could lead a darker sort of knightly order who learned a few too many secrets during their time in the east...

 

Or how about Byzantine, that curious mix of East and West? How about having him as some dignitary from the Varangian Guard and call him "Harald Pawdrada"??? Yes, I like that one.

 

But, like Von Wodr before him, the range lacks suitably themed accompaniment. I love the figure, had a blast painting him, but may struggle to use him in context for a little while. But wildcats do ROCK and I will get him to the table soon. Woe betide anyone who crosses this black cat's path!!!

 

 

G