The First Cossacks Assembled

I managed to assemble, base and prime the first three Cossacks out of the dozen originally intended. The master is in the center, with a bardiche in hand (a Bloody Miniatures metal Lochaber axe with the hook trimmed off); a pikeman in helmet (with a Bloody Miniatures head swap) is on the left, and a sergeant in a large fur hat, a partisan (Bloody again) and a drawn saber (sculpted along the scabbard) on the right.

The loss of detail with the press mould is minimal now that I cast the lower arms separately, and as you can see with a small variation in weaponry, headgear and/or hand positioning I can avoid all of them looking the same. 

Cossack Test Casting #1

Join me today as I create a two-piece press mould for the Cossack pikeman from the previous post, using Blue Stuff. 

First thing to do is The Coffin. It might look a bit creepy for the poor sod, but the point is to have the two parts of the mould fit as snugly as possible. Press moulds are going to have a lot of flash no matter what, as the material has to go somewhere, so we do this to prevent any excess.

Many people use Lego bricks for The Coffin, but I just superglue this hard foamboard, using the original dimensions of the master as a guide, to a sort of brick shape, with the top open. I also cut a piece that is the size of the aperture, to apply pressure later when both sides of the mould are set in place.

Cossack Pikeman Master Sculpt

 

Here's a short WIP post to show what I'm working on. This is the master for a Cossack warrior, intended to hold a pole weapon, which I will replicate using a two-piece press mould, something I'm quite proficient at by now.

The figure itself uses the body of a Warlord WSS artillerist, and head and arms from the Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago plastic crewmen set. The rest (including moustache and hair) I sculpted with Magic Sculpt, making the original torso a bit bulkier and lengthening the bottom of the overcoat. 

TYW Cuirassiers

Here are a few snapshots of four recently completed 28mm scale mounted figures, two Empress lobsters and two Warlord plastic demi-cuirassiers. I mixed them up to make a three-figure unit in Pikeman's Lament, with one extra rider. I have six more Warlord plastic riders, three of which will be mounted Mousquetaires and three Finnish/Swedish galloper cavalry.

Light conditions aren't optimal for photography right now, but I tried my best.

Floyet House WIP #1

On my 'auxiliary' Battle Campaigns blog I hinted at a mini-campaign, comprising five scenarios, which would culminate in the siege of a fortified house. 

Thus I've started building the house in question, a distant relative of the Hungarian hussar fort, the Romanian cula and the English/Scottish borderland bastle house. This will be the most ambitious of my cardboard buildings so far, being quite large in 28mm scale, with a playable interior, LED lights, and many other features.

Flossian Union Foot Battalions

The lesson of this post is that the most important thing about painting miniatures is not to stress oneself out over the matter. It is a leisure activity after all, and the great majority of us don't paint for a living. 

I found out that I still had more than five hundred(!) 1/72 eighteenth century figures from various produce, and since I sort of hit a painter's block with my TYW/ECW collection, these came in handy for a change. Some were painted and needed touching up only, some were primed and some just bare plastic. 

I did not really have a plan for them, until I made the mental connection with my Schultze-Böhnstadt Imagi-Nations setting, so here they are, three dozen figures in three battalions of the Flossian Union: a regular fusilier, a mercenary Glambrian and a local militia unit.

The Tiny Monkey Inn

I have a terrain-heavy seventeenth century 28mm skirmish project in mind, titled "Dark Nights in Trashburgh." It is mainly inspired by the Alatriste and Fortune de France books, and centers on urban combat, a sort of baddies vs. catchpoles/upright civilians type of game.

(The project title derives, obviously and sort of unintentionally, from Strasbourg, but it's also a sort of ironic reflection that most things we use for scratchbuilding would otherwise usually end up in the litter.)

For this, obviously, I need more buildings than the single guardhouse I built before, so I planned a few: an enlarged version of the old gatehouse I started in 1/72 scale, a multi-storeyed rich citizen's estate and a wattle and daub style inn, with accomodations on the upper floor(s). Some of these would have internal lighting and games could be played at night or dusk, using the light from the windows, bonfires, tokens with built-in LED torches etc. This is the first installment of the series.

As with most scratchbuilds, doing the inn was an on and off type of thing, with large intervals waiting for the glue and primer to dry, then shelving it for something else, all the while contemplating the next thing to do, but finally it turned out to be a rather handsome building. The most interesting and at the same time tiring part of such builds is to think well ahead about the construction process.

I started this project with my wife and the tiny monkey is sort of a catchphrase between us, hence the name plate of the establishment.

Bloody Pike and Shot

I was very excited when Bloody Miniatures announced their rank and file figures. Don't get me wrong, I really like the Warlord plastic foot figures, but they just lack variability. Larger pike and shot regiments are economically feasible by using plastics, that's for sure.

Anyway, here's the first dozen painted of that line, with a few Looters and Pikemen en Mélée mixed between them. Some have Empress wire pikes. There is an experimental casualty marker included, which I produced by taking a press mould copy of one of the figure's backs, its front side is entirely featureless. The base accepts a 14mm six-sided die to show the casualty score.

Saker and Artillery Crew

This is a scratchbuilt medium-sized cannon, with a long barrel made from the mizzen mast of the Zvezda 1/100 scale Nina sailing ship, wheels of a keychain souvenir cannon and a carriage made of balsa and coffe stirrers. The trunnions and ironings are made of green stuff.

It is crewed by four Empress (ex Bohemian Miniatures) early TYW gunners in tall hats, a group of splendid figures.

Since then I've managed to buy a plastic WSS era gun from Warlord, so my artillery for the period is steadily increasing.