Fireforge Hospitallers

I've assembled and painted loads of these now, and the novelty has not worn off!  I've raved about these kits in previous posts, but it's still worth saying.  If you go anywhere near 28mm medieval or fantasy gaming, then you should be able to find a place in your heart for Fireforge.  

I have so many spares from the sergeants / Templars kits, that it's easy to give even more variety when assembling a unit.  The models above are basically sergeants, but with some arms taken from the Templar infantry kit, and the Templar Knights kit. 

This particular commission required 8 crossbowmen, so again the arms from two kits were employed (the mail-armed ones come from the Templar infantry kit) to ensure enough variety.  I don't often employ the 'hooded' heads, but the white one in the upper picture relly stands out when the unit are ranked up, and ties in nicely with the white crosses on the tunics.

You get four different shield types in the kit, plus some extra choices in the Templar Knights kit too, so your unit of spearmen need never look too uniform.  If you need even more choice, try flattening-off the top of the kite shields (the kind used on the centre two spearmen).  This happened in real life too, as the shields evolved.  You can also chop the top off a spare domed or conical helmet (like the chap on the left, here) and add it to the shield as a boss - these were gradually disappearing as shields changed, but I'm sure some were still in employment at this time.

I've just noticed that I took this picture before adding the flag to the standard bearer's pole - a-pole-ogies all round. 

More Perry Wars of the Roses foot knights

Here's another 18-man unit of Perry's new WoTR foot knights.  If you haven't built / painted / acquired any yet, you must!  They're superb.  And very adaptable too - Burgundian Wars, Italian Wars, Fantasy gaming.  Not as many spares as in the other Perry plastic sets for the medieval period, but more than enough to give you plenty of variety.

Those familiar with Perry kits will notice I've blended-in a few components from the European Mercenaries and WoTR foot kits.  The war-coated knight in the centre front is from the Mercenaries kit, as is the wonderful deep sallet on the figure at front left.

By contrast, this base is all white-armoured men - and apart from one fancy chap showing off his Thalhoffer technique, they're armed with the popular and vicious array of two-handed polearms which were common in 15th century England.

Another splash of colour from the liveried chaps in the front row.  I've kept these liveries badge-free and varied, hinting at the minor knights and famous mercenaries who might pepper the ranks of a noble's retinue.  I think of these as being akin to the first footballers to wear brightly-coloured boots.  It's a sort of 'look at me, come and have a go if you're hard enough' statement.

And here's what they look like all ranked-up.  If I had this lot bearing down on my scrubby unit of militia archers, I don't think I'd even bother reaching for the dice; in the words of Python's King Arthur "Run away!  Run away!"

Fireforge Steppe Warriors

These are always a pleasure to assemble and paint, like all Fireforge products.  I know some say the poses are a bit 'extreme', and that the weapons in some cases are Warhammer-like and overlarge, but I love them.  They have real character, and every frame comes with masses of spare parts - which is a real bonus to someone like me who is always look for bits and pieces for customisation. 

For those who don't know the kit, you get 24 pairings of torso / leg mouldings, in four styles.  This gives you 16 basic options before posing, but unlike many kits which allow you to build this-many archers or that-many spearmen, with this kit you get enough weapon options to make all archers, all spearmen, or all with hand weapons.  And 8 shields to every 4 miniatures!

The heads add even more variety, especially when (as with this commission) I had 12 archers to produce and wanted them each to look a little different.  You get enough 'cap and hood' heads (the two outer figures in the picture above) to do every miniature; but also enough gloriously bald heads too.  And the bald heads can have separate hats / helmets added (again, enough for every miniature to be thus equipped).  And then you can add topknots / ponytails too.

Of course, you've always got the option to go a bit crackers with the colours too, in these pre-uniform days.  Unlike the painted examples on the box, I didn't go too bright or luxurious with the colours - with a lot of grey and muted greens in there.  But the Chinese were very advanced when it came to dyes and cloth, and these chaps would have had centuries of contact with China (not to mention some of those '100% discount at sword point' moments), so the odd mint green and deep red is in there too.

The hand weapon selection is great, though one of the sword arms is a bit long (to my eye), and lends the wielder a bit of a chimp-like proportion.  That's a minor niggle though, as you get axe and mace options too.  I've seen the round shields (and indeed the helmets) done with part-metal bosses / domes, but the ones I've seen in museums appear to be all-leather.  Again, these are options!

The large rectangular woven shields are easily my favourite part of the kit, and seem to go naturally with the spears.  Note the variety of facial hair too - huge moustaches are moulded on to some heads, and it's easy to add a beard or 'tache with just a flick of the brush tip, if you find you've made two miniatures look a bit similar otherwise.

The bases are circular MDF ones I got from eBay in a variety of sizes (I use them for my WW2 miniatures).  They're easy to pick up (and so avoid the temptation to pick them up by the paintwork!), and the laser-cutting gives them a ready made black edge - which I paint onto all my miniatures anyway.  Unlike the tapered Games Workshop bases, these have vertical sides, giving a slightly larger scenic area, and making it less likely that something (like a honking great rectangular shield, for instance...) will overlap and project off the edge of the base.

... and here they all are, banded together.  Rubbish photo, but gives you some idea of how varied the unit looks.

These two archers have taken up residence in the doorway of a part-ruined Romanesque building.  I have a collection of these which I made from foamboard and cereal packet - dead cheap, dead quick!  They've seen service in Middle Earth too.

These intrepid guys have clambered to the top of the building, taking advantage of the fact that (for once...) I actually thought about gaming when making a model building, so all the doorways permit a 25mm base, and so do most of the ledges / remaining bits of floor.  A future posting will show how I make these buildings, and maybe show some in-action shots of them being used.

Zombicide Zombies - brains... braaaaaiiiinnnnnssss...

This is a companion post to the previous one, and I'm guessing anyone who is interested will look at both - so I won't repeat the blurb about Guillotine Games excellent Zombicide board game.  Straight to images of the brain-chewing dead guys;

The game splits the zombies into three basic types - walker, runner, and 'fattie' (not my terminology, I've no wish to offend those with larger frames).  This is one of the basic walkers, painted as a sort of shirtless yokel version of David Byrne from the Talking Heads.  Psycho-killer... Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Another walker, whose ragged appearance and slack-jawed expression will be familiar to anyone who works in Information Technology.  I've painted him as a balding lower-tier manager, who (after the onset of undeath), continues to exploit the intellectual capacities of his staff by eating their brains.

Yes, the sculptor plays to the crowds once again, and comes up with what must qualify as the most blatant attempt to capture the 'teenage boy' market since Lara Croft.  Our well-dressed country-club lady has, during the course of her transformation into the cannibal undead, unfortunately (but strategically) torn the lower half of her Chanel suit; exposing rather more grey flesh than the Bridge Circle ladies would have expected.  Her underwear appears to have been looted from Rihanna's stage wardrobe.  Yet another new painting challenge though - trying to keep your brush steady while painting red thongs...

Another classy-dressing zombie lady, who looks quite decent from the front.  But as I turned the miniature, there it was.... yet another exposed flash of underwear.  I've chosen the front view to show off how great blonde hair looks on zombies - just because your skin is grey doesn't mean your roots have to be.  You're worth it.

Got your number, 118! (Joke for U.K. readers).  The second type of zombie is the runner, and I couldn't resist this 70s-retro-style chap.  No doubt listening to Kool and the Gang as he rushes toward his next meal of human cerebral tissue.

Last but not least, one of the (ahem) 'fatties'.  They are dressed in generic 'work overalls', so mine will eventually be painted up as a decorator (white overalls), an undead gardener (green overalls), a maniac mechanic (blue overalls), and this chap - a brain-chewing bin-man.  It an excuse to paint something orange, which is one of my favourite colours.  The vest is modelled on my own appearance after eating curry.  For those outside the U.K., a 'bin man' is a hard-working local authority employee who takes away trash.

Zombicide Survivors

Change of pace from the historical miniatures!  I purchased the Guillotine Games board game 'Zombicide' a short while ago, and painted-up a few of the miniatures you get with the game (three uses of 'game' in the same sentence... bit clumsy). 

For those who don't know, Zombicide is a collaborative board game where players co-operate to overcome attacks by zombies in order to achieve objectives, all set in a nicely bloodstained post-apocalypse type setting.  The quality of the game contents is amazing - the board composed of beautifully printed street and building plans (liberally soaked in gore and brains), with decks of cards for all your player equipment etc..  The real gem for me, though, was the huge number of miniatures included.  Zombies, survivors, and a huge monstrosity aptly named an 'abomination'.

Modelled to a slightly larger scale than most of the historical 28mm that I do, but more realistically-proportioned than a typical Warhammer miniature, they were an interesting diversion from my usual painting habits.  For a start, I must say now that the quality of sculpting (detail, pose, proportion, animation) is faultless.  These are great models.  The only downside is that (of course) they have to be moulded in one piece, and in 'forgiving' plastic - because they are meant to be plying pieces.  This meant that some of my usual way of working had to change; no leaving off the arms and weapons and painting them separately for a start, and definitely no speeding-up the drying time with a hairdryer!

The first two I've shown here were the most fun to paint of the survivors.  The survivors are not generic, they have back-stories, and appear in the artwork etc., so I didn't want to just splash any old scheme on them.  The 'hobo' guy is more-or-less taken directly from the rule booklet art; and the skater-dude doesn't deviate much either (I liked his Guillotine Games hoodie, so I copied those and gave him straight-edge tattoos).

The 'cop' figure is a sort of sheriff (apologies to citizens of the U.S. for my limited knowledge of your great nation's law-enforcement agencies), and reminds me of tough-guy actor Michael Madsen.

The office worker tips a wink to Michael Douglas in 'Falling Down', and I loved the nerdy pens clipped neatly into his shirt pocket...  I've worked in offices for two decades now, and I've never seen a single employee ever clip a pen in his shirt pocket - but it remains an iconic badge!  As with the hobo, I used a two-tone blue solution for the spectacle glass (like some Far East cartoon artists do).

Not sure this is the best photograph I've ever taken... but the katana-wielding Goth / Emo girl survivor is the best clue so far to the gender of the sculptor.  Personally, I've never fought any zombies - but I'm pretty sure that miniskirt / stockings / nu-rock boots is not the most practical outfit for such activities.  On the subject of stockings, I was going for a semi-opaque effect here - modelled on a friend of mine who dresses in a not-dissimilar fashion.  I've since seen the same thing done but with rips and ladders included - wish I'd thought of doing that!

Wars of the Roses Perry Foot Knights

Ahhhh... at last!  Hard plastic 28mm scale 15th century foot knights.  I've wanted these to exist since I first saw John Boorman's 'Excalibur' - and now I have them... hoo hoo har har haaaarrrr...

Ahem.

Actually, I don't have them - a client has them :) but once I have time, I'll be purchasing sets of my own to model Boorman's Knights of the Round Table.  The commission is for something considerably more historically-accurate than the aforementioned Arthurian epic.  In all, I'll be putting together 8 units (each of 18 men) so I'll be thoroughly-familiar with the kit by the end of the exercise;

Just look at them!  What a great kit.  Minor quibble over the proportions of some of the heads (they look small to me, but then my head is quite large...), but the weapons and bodies are superb!  And they look very menacing in such large numbers.  I can't wait to see what all 144 look like on the table top.

The keen-eyed will notice I've blended some command-frame components from the WOTR and European mercenaries kits.  The Thalhoffer swordsman and war-coated chap on the right of the picture are examples. 

As these are largelt white-armoured, I've tried to add a splash of colour where I can.  Fabric livery surcoats are obvious places, but more subtly I've used colours on the armour leatherwork (rather than painting it all mid-brown).  I noticed some reenactors have brightly tanned sword belts etc, and reasoned that the more extrovert men-at-arms might spend the extra shillings to get more colourful strap work too.

I've gone for mostly closed helmets, or just the odd strip of visible skin.  I think this adds to the menace.  With future units, I'll chop the head off the polearm seen at right front of the picture, so that some of the knights are 'hammering' rather than 'chopping'.

Wars of the Roses Militia Spearmen

A while back, I posted a single 'Welsh' spearman to show something I was trying in order to capture a suitable look for militia in a WOTR force.  This needed to make them look less well-equipped than household troops, and maybe a little more 'bumpkin' than regular troops.  Those of us in the North and West of England are often thought of in such fashion even nowadays... wild savages from the hill country, haha.  So, having offended everyone, here's some pictures;

Above is the unit, 21 miniatures strong.  The majority of the components are Perry WOTR / European Mercenary - but the keen-eyed will spot elements from a number of kits.  The colours were kept varied, though yellow and green are predominant.  I've also stuck in some red, black, and white.

So, in keeping with the 'Dad's Army' approach, I've chosen mostly hats (rather than helmets) and added bare heads (Warlord Games WW2 British Infantry) for further variety.  The chap centre-front was also given a little goatee beard, as otherwise he looks too 20th century to me.  Actually, he looks a lot like Dick Strawbridge, which is the image the sculptor was going for I'm sure.  And no bad thing - Mr S is a TV legend.

Bearded Dick makes a second appearance, alongside fellow-celebrity Brian Blessed.  The latter is actually a Wargames Factory Viking head - and while he lacks Mr Blessed's awesome acting skills, I think the look adds to the militia feel.  Almost like the village has already given up its supply of farmers / carters / weavers, and now they've had to rope in the crazy mountain-man to boost the numbers.

Odd camera angle makes them look like they're leaning into a force six wind.  Note the shields - these were well out of fashion by the late 1500s, but clung on anachronistically in the less sophisticated parts of the world.  Border Reivers were still carrying them well into the sixteenth century up here in Northern England; and they died out very slowly in Eastern Europe too.  Shields are a mix of Warlord Games Romans, and the bucklers supplied with the Perrys European Mercenaries kit.  The spears are a mix of the Boar Spear from the Perrys WOTR set, and some taken from Gripping Beast Arab troops. One or two have been butchered from Fireforge hands / weapons, mated to Perry arms.

Perry Wars of the Roses Foot Knights and billmen

Wars of the Roses - familiar ground for me :) but an unfamiliar way of working with this commission.  Normally, I paint plastics almost exclusively - and usually source / assemble the miniatures myself.  These, though, are a mix of metal and plastic, and were supplied ready-assembled for me to paint;

 The billmen are a little trickier to paint with the arms already in place, but the client didn't want badges or livery, so there was nothing unreachable in the chest region.  The client also wanted less uniformity than I normally apply - so they're a mix of white, black, blue, red, green, brown; in all sorts of combinations.  Drives my OCD crazy.  Looking at them now, I wish I'd done a few fabric-covered helmets to make them even less uniform...

The foot knights are half metal and half plastic.  It's a testimony to the skill of the sculptor that this mini-unit blends so well.  Again, as little uniformity as possible was specified - though with 'white' armour, there's only so much you can do.

Stradiotti - Perry Miniatures

Another departure from my usual field.  These were a request from a client who is putting together some very interesting Louis XII era Italian Wars forces.  I've done fifteen in total, and these first six are the 'Westernised' versions;

Three archers, and three lancers (one of whom stabbed me before throwing his lance down in token of surrender).  These fascinating mercenaries featured quite heavily in the Italian Wars, and influenced the local light cavalry to the extent that many native Italians adopted a version of the Stradiot 'look'.  These Westernised chaps represent just that - Italians dressed up as East Europeans.  Their dress and equipment varies quite a bit, so I went with an overall 'tricolore' colour scheme to tie them back together.

Even more Fireforge Hospitallers - huzzah again!

Yes, even more Hospitallers - this time foot sergeants.  Socially inferior to the knights, so they've been shuffled onto a separate post...

If you've seen my previous postings of Hospitaller sergeants, you'll know I like to mix-and-match the foot sergeant and Templar infantry kits.  In the case of the above quartet, I've also added a heavy-duty crozier (from the Templar Knights kit) and a bare head from the Warlord Games WW2 British Infantry kit.

This grouping shows some of the variety you can get by mixing these excellent sets - mostly sergeants and Templar Infantry kit parts here, but with the chain-flail arm from the Knights kit.

Crossbowmen - I've managed to photograph all of them with their chest devices obscured or hidden, haha.  Apart from the leather scale-armoured guys, they all have a chest cross in white.  gain, a mix of regular Sergeant and Templar Infantry kit parts.