18mm ECW King's Lifeguard of Foot Regiment

While I was awaiting the arrival of an order to complete my medieval German army I decided to make a start on some Eureka Miniatures English Civil War miniatures which have been sitting primed for the best part of twelve months. The first regiment to be completed is the King's Lifeguard of Foot:

I decided to do each regiment with four elements of pike (including the command) and eight of musketeers, with four to a base for each element so 48 figures in total. I was originally planning on putting just three figures on each musketeer base but, at this scale, quite liked the look of four so went with that:

The figures are sold as 18mm which they most certainly are, but are no larger than some other manufacturers' figures marketed as 15mm.  The flag is from Maverick Models who do a nice range of Civil War flags:

The King's Lifeguards were noted as having red coats, breeches and montero caps, into which I mixed some variation. The red could perhaps have been a little darker given the photos of some re-enactors I viewed online, but there seems to be a lot of speculation over what was actually worn and I felt more comfortable using the Foundry British Redcoat red at this scale:

I went with armoured pikemen for this regiment. The figures were not supplied with pikes but I had purchased extra from Xyston Miniatures for this purpose and was pleasantly surprised how easily they fit the models with no need to drill hands:

It is always enjoyable starting a new project and I managed to paint this unit in less than a week:

 

The Khurasan order has now arrived, but I will try to get a few more Royalist units completed before getting stuck back into the Germans. I know I had better not leave them too long however, before I disappear down the ECW rabbit hole.

15mm Medieval German Infantry

It is nearly the end of January and I am just getting around to my first post for the year, which is much later than I intended. I essentially lost a week due to my brush with COVID, and then we have been battling with a sick dog for the past two weeks which has necessitated one visit to the vet followed by six trips to the specialist hospital. Close to ten thousand dollars in veterinary bills later (with 80% thankfully covered by insurance) and I am hopeful we may finally have turned a corner with him, but know we have a few more visits to go yet.

In spite of this I have managed to disappear downstairs on a few occasions and to my surprise managed to get a bit done, with the first off the rank being twelve elements Khurasan Miniatures German infantry armed with axes, halberds, swords and falchions:

These are quite deadly against knights in DBMM, rated as Blade(X) for 'Exception' in that if they win in melee they automatically kill knight elements. Given that they start on the same melee factor as the knights they should prove quite useful:

There are four poses in each pack of eight, one with each type of armament:

Along with three elements of crossbow and the figures already completed, this was originally all I had intended for this army:

However I found I had glossed over a couple of troop types in the list which might also come in useful at some stage, so placed an additional order with Khurasan. Another sixty figures or so should see this army completed which will be the third Medieval army in just over six months. I still have the bulk of the Hundred Years War French and English plus an Italian army in the pile to be done, but will put them on hold for while.

To mix things up a little then, and while I was awaiting the arrival of the additional figures from Khurasan, I made a start on some Eureka Miniatures 15mm (actually more like 18mm) English Civil War figures. I am completing the basing on these now and hope to have the first of these up before the end of the week.

15mm Medieval German Knights and Spearmen

After having completed the Teutonic army, the next project in line is a 15mm German army. There is some crossover here in that the German knights can act as allies for Teutonic forces and vice versa, so it made sense to me to complete these next. First up, 20 elements of German knights:

The figures are again from Khurasan, with some shield designs, lance pennons and barding transfers from Little Big Men studios:

I find it difficult to come up with fresh livery ideas especially where sixty figures are involved, but the LBMS decals certainly helped and thankfully I have managed to make each figure look somewhat individual. I much prefer painting unformed troops however:

I also managed to compete sixteen elements of German spearmen. Given that these were raised as militia and fielded as a single force by particular cities I allowed myself the luxury of giving them all the same simple shield design:

These two completed units should now go a long way toward the completion of the German army:

I am still quite annoyed that I lost four what would have been completely uninterrupted days, which I had carefully engineered and which would have allowed me to make even more progress than this. It is nice however to return to the brushes and actually want to paint again, as I now hopefully overcome the last of COVID.

The final figure count for 2022 is 1099 foot and mounted figures with 243 horses, to give a total of 1342 figures in all. Probably not a bad result particularly as the year started with the completion of  a hundred and fifty or so 28mm French Napoleonic cavalry which were quite fiddly. I have still got just over a week of holidays left as well, in which I am hoping I'll be able to make up more ground.

All the best to everyone for a happy, safe and productive 2023.

Christmas Roundup

This post may be a little self-indulgent, so to those averse to self-indulgency read no further.

I always look forward to a couple of weeks off at year's end as a time to unwind, relax and shed the latent stress that seems to build up over the course of a working year. Christmas Day is a highlight with children, and now grandchildren, dropping in, accompanied by the usual panic from the wife as to whether we have enough food only to find, as usual, we could have easily fed three times as many. 

Christmas was a lovely day and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. However, as the day wore on I began to feel increasingly "off". The catered food which I had criss-crossed Brisbane to collect the day before and which had looked so good when I picked it up now began to look unattractive. At around 2pm Tracey looked at me and suggested I have a lie down, which I thought was particularly generous as it left her being the single hostess for around the fifteen remaining people. Around 4pm I did the test and, of course, on Christmas Day of all days, my first dose of COVID was officially confirmed. Thank you, Universe.

Now, as much as I like Christmas and my wife's supreme efforts to make it as enjoyable for everyone concerned, I always look forward to some downtime on boxing day in the form of an extended painting session while listening to the Australian cricket team take on the current year's touring side. This year I woke up to a mass evacuation as Tracey and the kids decided to hightail it out of here to holiday in Noosa, citing health reasons as they exited. To be fair, we had all planned to go, but of course the most sensible course of action was for them to avoid the current infection. That said, I'm not sure I would want to be caught on a desert island with that lot if there was no obvious food source.

Speaking of food, my wife pointed out how well provisioned I would be. Which is quite correct although as most reading this would know COVID has a way of destroying the appetite. I have just cleared out the fridge and tipped the equivalent of a Perry 28mm Napoleonic Danish eight battalion and three cavalry regiment army in the bin. I suspect the profiteroles and left-over croissants which I will round up tomorrow will be enough to cover the artillery.

Not that the last few weeks have been bad. Quite the opposite. I finally managed to complete the law degree I have been chipping away at over the past seven years and achieved a decent Honours result (an upper second to those familiar with the English system). I have attended two previous ceremonies in the form of a BComm at the University of Auckland and an MBA at the University of Queensland, but I ended up asking QUT to just post my degree out, not wanting to be the old bugger that stumbled up on stage to grab his piece of paper among a crowd of twenty-somethings. 

Aside from the above, I have managed to complete 20 elements of German Knights and sixteen elements of German spearmen. I'm hoping to photograph these before the year is out. Until then, take care all.

15mm Teutonic Army Completed

Due to its small size the medieval Teutonic army is one of the quickest projects I have managed to complete, taking just under six weeks. There is something quite satisfying about embarking upon small projects like this when the end is already in sight. Even though it has been well documented over my previous four posts I thought I'd assemble the completed force for the sake of posterity:

A preponderance of white with the occasional splash of colour, but it looks quite effective to my eye:

As with most medieval armies, not much in the way of auxiliary troops with the main strike force being the knights. It will be interesting to see how they fare in their first outing which I am hoping should be January when our gaming resumes. Given the small size of the army to most opponents the tactic will be to strike fast and try to break through quickly before they become overwhelmed.

The total figure count for the project is 186 foot and mounted figures and 72 horses, for a total of 258 figures:

I am keen to get back to some 28mm Napoleonics but will run with the medieval theme for a bit longer and have a German army undercoated and on the painting table at the moment. There is an option to field German allies in the Teutonic list and, as they are cheaper troops, this will make sense for certain scenarios. I'm hoping I'll be able to complete this next army over the next six weeks but will see how that plays out given the usual run of Christmas functions which always seem to emerge this time of year.

15mm Livonian Foot and Prussian Levy Infantry

As with many medieval armies a paucity of infantry can make them vulnerable against opponents who are better served in that department, so it is usually a good idea to take up all available options. In the case of the Teutonic list there is provision for eight elements of Livonian Foot, and up to ten elements of Prussian levy infantry:

The Livonian foot are divided into four elements each of auxiliary infantry and lighter psiloi-type troops:

The Prussian levy infantry are potentially less useful being rated as 'horde', which means they will act as speed bumps or spend most of their time guarding baggage. I found I only had enough figures for nine elements but, in the unlikely event I choose to field all ten elements I'll no doubt borrow one from the recently completed Spanish army:

That is the Teutonic army essentially finished. Only a small army but I was quite pleased that I managed to plow through it in just over a month.

There is an option for some German allied knights which will be useful but which I will complete as part of a medieval German army next in the queue. I am planning to get stuck into it over the next few weeks before my motivation for 15mm medieval armies wanes, and in the meantime I'll assemble the Teutonic army for a group photo before they get stored away.

15mm Teutonic Turkopolen and Knechte Cavalry

 One of the problems with many medieval armies is the lack of cavalry. Plenty of knights, but generally not much of the lighter mounted troops. The Teutonic army list has an option for up to nine elements of Turkopolen light cavalry and four of knechte or "servant' cavalry, all of which I have completed to give myself a few more options:

The knechte are crossbow-armed, with a couple armed with lances for variety. I'm not sure how effective just four elements will be especially as they are rated inferior, but am hopeful they will be useful in guarding flanks and plugging the odd gap if required:

The Turkopolen are light horse and based with two per element, and will no doubt perform a similar function as the knechte albeit with a slightly reduced combat factor:

There is now just some Livonian foot and Prussian levy infantry to go and this small army will be completed:

With any luck I should have them completed over the weekend, and then might assemble them for a quick parade.