Purchase history, April+May

While I'm still spending lots of resources on driving lessons, I still had a lot of extra income, so I went on quite a spending spree.

Figures:

• A small order from Steel Fist Miniatures
• A large order of Landsknechts from Warlord (got a promotion code)
• Vallejo paints (still to be collected)

Misc.:

• wooden poles to make practice poleaxes
• textile paint, shield boss and glue to make a small shield
• new pommels and basket hilt for our practice swords

I hope I can photograph some of the output soon, as I've been making steady progress on the Warlord and Perry figures.

Perry Men-at-Arms

I could only get one good photo, so here it is. Three Perry mounted fighting men, one with a Pro Gloria head swap. 

I mixed the two right arms on two riders, but it's not very noticeable. They were a bit difficult, but fun to paint. The rest of the set will not have such heavily armored horses.

Victorious Eagle Warfare - 1809 Italian Theatre Solo Campaign Rules

As promised, I'll be conducting a small campaign using my homemade rules in the following days. Before I post the AAR of the first encounter, I thought I could share the rules so everything would be clear later on.

Humble Napoleonic Ottoman beginnings

I don't know much about the Ottoman army in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, I only have one Osprey and Rothenberg's book on the complete history of the age, plus the bits of information gathered here and there. 

What I do know is that it was still a rather exotic-looking army, which is always good compared to the sometimes boring European forces, and that they could fight the Russians, Austrians and obviously the French. 

So here's my list of purchases so far, which will trickle in the coming weeks as the great army gathers:

Italeri Mamelukes- got a bunch of them for 4 Euros. From a complete set, I can make two 6-figure units and a smaller one (I think I have a spare mameluke somewhere, so make it 3). The horse furniture is not entirely OK, but can be overlooked.

HäT Union Zouaves - an older set I got for 8 Euros from Italy, they are good for light infantry "as is", or with minor conversion work they can easily become Nizam i Cedid infantry. 48 figures, three units' worth.

HäT Taaishi Camelry - these are originally meant for the Mahdist rebellion a century later, but the dress does not look out of place, and they have weapon options (as far as I can tell from PSR, they have jezails and not modern rifles, so I can even use those). 12 figures, worth two units of "horse".

RedBox Eyalet infantry - for the more irregular parts of the army. I checked the Mars Tufekci as well, but found them lacking. 34 figures, two or three units (I can add command figures from elsewhere and make groups of 12 in skirmish order).

RedBox Akinci - for the irregular cavalry. 12 figures, two units.

This is the stuff bought so far. I'll get the Zvezda Janissaries, which look a bit archaic for the 19th century with their hats and matchlocks, but at least they will increase the ranks nicely. I'm not sure about artillery, perhaps I'll get the RedBox set, or simply convert some Janissaries (I'll use only 36 figures out of 43) and use some older 17th century artillery pieces with them.

I have the Esci Muslim Warriors set, and while I mostly used them for skirmish games, I won't need all fifty on single bases, so I might just update their paintjob and use them as irregulars (although some clearly have bolt action rifles, which is not that good).

I'm also eyeing the Hagen Miniatures line of 1/72 metallic figures, perhaps later in the month (or after I find out that I have enough money for a car).

Plans and more plans

Hey everyone, just a quick post and no pictures today. 

As you may have been aware, my painting output has decreased somewhat recently, which is due to the fact that 28mm figures require a lot more work to do, and also I'm well on my way for finally obtaining a driver's licence, as I both have the time and the money for it. This means that I'm practicing almost everyday, which obviously has an effect on how much I can paint. This will continue for about two more weeks if I don't fail the road exam.

For the Easter holiday, I'm working on a small Napoleonic solo campaign, and if it works, I'll post updates about it.

After Easter (if and when the initial package from an Italian wargame store arrives) I'll start building a Napoleonic era Ottoman army (yes, with camels). I though this would be a pleasant diversion from all the uniformised European powers.

Dreadnought Arms Race

With two German battlecruisers completed recently, I turned to capital ships. These are three Bellerophon class dreadnoughts, basically an updated version of the original HMS Dreadnought. I had lots of fun assembling these ships, and I think the new paint scheme also works well. The hull is 2mm and 3mm balsa, the rest of the superstructure is from various pieces of plastic spears, broom bristles, bamboo tooth picks etc.

More Perry light horse

So these were originally mounted on 1,5mm plasticard bases, and when I tried to remove them, there was a danger of the horses' legs bending and breaking, therefore I just cut them off from the plastic bit on their mould and glued them on new bases. These are the last three from the box, with the mounted men-at-arms already being shipped.

I used a simple black and white paint scheme, a black wash and extra highlight on the metal pieces and a brown wash on the rest.

SMS Goeben and Moltke

As I was getting tired of Landsknecht and read some navy-related stuff, I thought I could do something very different, and built this pair of German battlecruisers. The hull is from balsa, the rest is various pieces of wood and a Perry spear shaft.

6mm Gothic/Renaissance Castle - Completed

Perhaps I should add some static grass, but otherwise this castle is ready to go. I used the same painting method as on other 6mm buildings - it's not the best on the walls, but the contrast on the other elements goes nicely with that.