15mm Sassanid Command Stands

 Another important ingredient missing from the Sassanid army I purchased were command stands. An order from Forged in Battle and some figures I already had in my collection were recruited to do the job.

These are based on 2mm MDF for Field of Glory. I went with different figures per stand for two reasons: I wanted to differentiate between an Inspired Commander (or even just the Army General) from the Field Commander (2 figures) and the Troop Commander (1 figure). Secondly, I couldn't find  a figure suitable to accompany the Troop Commander in my collection. Ideally I think I would like a foot soldier just for variety.

I do not know the manufacturer of the figure above or the figures on the stand below (possibly the extinct Corvus Belli range as I bought a few blisters online ages ago).

The main command stand is comprised of the command figures from Forged in Battle's Cataphracts.

They are wonderful figures; cleaner sculpting and casting than the other 3 miniatures. Very easy to paint, especially with the straight forward iron barding. 

This blog entry comes just a few days before the start of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I have more Sassanids planned as well as some Dark Ages figures, ECW, MESBG Warriors of Khand and (possibly) some Black Templars. 

The League of Augsburg English Civil War Cavalry

 Warfare Miniatures (better known as the League of Augsburg) are primarily known for their late 17th century, early 18th century 28mm figures. There are plenty of awesome photos of their figures in action on the excellent League of Augsburg blog. They do, however, have three blisters of ECW/TYW cavalry in their shop.

I don't recall seeing many of these in the collections of other ECW war gamers and as I really like their other figures (I am desperate for a reason to order some of their Ottoman Sipahis) I ordered one of each blister out of curiosity. The riders have a ton of detail, very well sculpted and cast. I loved the faces.

I painted most of the riders in dark, almost blackened armour. I did try my hand at russeted armour but I think it needs a bit more work..

Although the riders are great the horses were a little rough; lots of pitting and some of the detail of the tack was less crisp than similar detail on the cavaliers. As these are the same mounts for their already existing cavalry ranges I imagine the moulds may be getting a little tired.

Although most of my horse are in pairs on 50mm square bases or singles on 25mm by 50mm bases I chose to do these as triplets on 75mm by 50mm stands since there were 9 figures.

I will cobble together another stand of 3 from other manufacturers, probably TAG or Bicorne so that the unit will be my customary 12 figures.

Bloody Miniatures: The Squire's Men

 Another fantastic pack from Bloody Miniatures: BM006, The Squire's Men. 

On the one hand I see them as loyal, down to earth folk with Parliamentarian leanings...

... on the other hand, rural communities tend to be fairly conservative, suspicious of new ideas...

... so perhaps they don't see the need for change: they have a good life, their employer treats them well.

Then again, maybe their lord, eager to improve his standing, supports Parliament. Otherwise indifferent, their loyalty to him ensures their loyalty to parliament. 

One thing is for sure, they do not appreciate belligerent cavalier types intruding on their lord's property.

New Direction: 15mm Sassanid Army

 Generally I like to paint and collect 28mm miniatures but quite a few of my fellow wargamers collect and game in 15mm. So I decided to branch out and purchased a second hand 15mm Sassanid army a few years ago. I say an army but it was about 22 stands of cavalry- no infantry. So as part of a group order I picked up some levy spearmen and some archers from Old Glory. First off the painting desk are the spearmen.

 I have to say I didn't take my time with these; there was no reason to rush, I just wanted to get them painted (I even shirked on the prep as you can see):

                                                                                  

 

It turns out I had purchased a handful of Sassanid spearmen from a business that was getting out of historical figures; I am not sure what make, possibly the now defunct Corvus Belli historical range.

Here is a shot of the two different manufacturers side by side (Old Glory on your left):

Most of the Sassanid shields I have seen follow Angus Macbrides excellent depiction in Osprey's MAA 175,  Rome's Enemies (3): Parthians and Sassanid Persians, but I chose to mix it up a bit. 

Also in the Old Glory order along with the aforementioned archers were a couple of elephants. I hope to get to them this fall some time. Worst case scenario they will be prepped and primed for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

 

Bloody Miniatures: First Wave Painted

 As my busy work season presses on I continue to pick away at painting figures in what spare time I have, working my way through the Bloody Miniatures catalogue (as there are only 48 figures in the range so far it shouldn't take long...right?). I have completed the first wave of releases from BM; after a brief side track into 15mm ancients, I hope to get started on wave 2 shortly.

As part of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I painted BM 001, The Mortuary Men. Here I have BM002, The Forlorn Hope:

BM003 is The Pistoleers:

BM004 is- my favourite of the first wave- The Dismounted Troopers:

As with the first couple of packs I painted these were a delight, though I still seem to struggle with the faces for some reason; I can't seem to be able paint them to the level they deserve. I love the way the clothing is sculpted and the details are perfect. I look forward to the next batch as there are some fantastic looking figures in it.

ECW Cuirassier

 I picked up some painted Perry Cuirassier off of ebay last month. 

Although not in bad shape, they were sloppily painted. I chose not to strip them but just tidied up the paint job and gave them a standard.

I opted to give them a Prince Rupert's Lifeguard of Horse standard from Wargames Designs. Was Rupert's lifeguard cuirassier? Probably not, but it gives them some distinction on the games table.

Although there are 8 troopers on 4 bases in Pike And Shotte I would only use 3 bases and they would count as Small.

And The Weeks Turned Into Months...

 This past winter, since December 20th I have concentrated on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (for those unfamiliar with it, see here) and the bulk of that time was spent painting my rather excessive collection of GW's LoTR plastic kits (not really historical material...).  However, to give myself a bit of a break from my main drive I did complete a few ECW figures, mainly from the Bloody Miniatures range.

The first group are from blister BM001, The Mortuary Men:

As has been said elsewhere these are wonderful character models.

I did a second blister, BM009 The Moss Troopers from the second wave released last year:

From the BM webstore:

    "A rapacious gang of brigands, freebooters, broken men, or discharged and destitute soldiers turned to banditry and ambuscades."

Perfect for skirmish games; really suitable for low figure count games such as Fistful of Lead or an adaptation of the incredibly flexible Pulp Alley rules.

My final entry of the campaign was a command stand for King Charles I.

I broke what some seem to consider a cardinal rule of building wargaming units and used figures from different manufacturers here (5 in fact!). The sergeant with the halberd is from Avanpost, the Cuirassier with the standard is from Horcata, King Charles is from Warlord Games, the dismounted Cavalry officer from Bicorne Miniatures and the horses by Front Rank.

The Horcata figure comes with a saddle sculpted to the rider as they were designed for the Front Rank horses but I had to sculpt a saddle for King Charles:

Aside from Charles' large head (seems historically appropriate...) all the figures fit together well enough . The King's standard is from Wargames Designs.

I chose to paint Charles' horse as a dun like Van Dyck's 1637/38 portrait of him as opposed to a grey as in the 1633 portrait in part because the grey is an almost exact replica of other mounts in Van Dyck's other portraits of European nobility so was probably his default portrait steed.