GNW Swedes IX

So after painting some Russians and Ottomans it's back to the Swedes.  These guys have sat on the painting table for a few months now. I always seemed to find something else to paint. Now that the lead pile is much reduced it was time to get them completed.

I chose to paint them up as the Livonian Adelsfan. I like their early war uniform of grey coats and yellow facings. I did make an error on the figure count. I could have gotten away with just 12 but painted up all 18. Unfortunately the standard bearer had a miscast leg and has been replaced by a spare dragoon figure. The figures are all from the excellent Dixon's range.

The benefits of the extra figures will allow me to field them as any other Tremmaning regiment in grey coats.

I'm now just awaiting an order from Roundway to get some crew for a light artillery battery and some extra Russian Dragoons.

GNW Russians and Turks

Finally got the basing done on these units. The first are 2 units of Jannisarries from Friekorps. I went for the more traditional blue coats on these. The figures are pretty basic and I've had them in the lead pile for years. Still they painted up okay.

Next up was 2 battalions of the Russian infantry regiment Belgorodski. The figures are from Dixons.

Now I can get back to completing the next Swedish cavalry regiment, 6 squadrons of the Livonian Adelsfana.

GNW Russians on Parade

While I'm waiting for the first stage of some basing to dry, I decided to get the rest of the army out of there boxes for a little photo shoot.

So far the army consists of 30 battalions of infantry, 27 squadrons of Dragoons, 15 squadrons of Horse Grenadiers and 9 artillery pieces. Not quite enough to 're fight Poltava, but I cannot be that far off.

Dragon Rampant

Over the last few weeks at the club we have fought a number of games using the Dragon Rampant rules. They are quick to play, fun and perfect for a club night.

Now my goblins of the Crooked Moon tribe are building a nice little reputation. We've ran rings around Elves and stood up to giant bears. We usually play 30 point games which on average will give 6 or 7 units. However my Goblins with their cowardly trait allows me about 10 units depending on which options I take. Quantity has a quality of its own.

Last week's army was composed of the following
2 units wolfriders (light riders)
1 unit of Trolls (heavy foot - offensive)
3 units of  light missiles (cowardly)
3 units of light foot (cowardly)
1 unit of light foot (wizardling)
1 unit of half orcs (bellicose foot)

All with a point to spare which could get me another unit of light foot.

With the addition of my new Troll war leader and a few orcs and wolf riders to paint I need to somehow convince the others to move up to 40 point games.

GNW Russians XVI

Well in between painting orks I did manage to add a few extra figures to my GNW Russians. First up is a command base yo lead the army. The figures are all from Essex miniatures.

Next was a light artillery battery. I'll need these mainly in the historical refights as they are quite common. The figures for these all from Roundway miniatures.

I also decided to add to my Russian infantry with two battalions from the Troitski regiment. Like the artillery they are from Roundway.

I've got 2 more battalions on the painting table, not sure which regiment to pick yet. I'll then probably try and complete the last of my Swedish cavalry.

Orktober II

Well I managed to squeeze in a second Orktober post. 2 more Ork Mobs and a couple of gretchin hanger ons. These guys are all plastic figures.

Quite pleased with how these guys turned out. Really help fill out the Nobz mob. The gretchin will always be useful as a screen to shield these guys before they can get into combat.

Do here is the mob in all its glory. A mix of metal and plastic models. Still got 2 more to complete.

Now not strictly Ork related, but close enough. I also completed a Mordor troll to lead my rather numerous orc and goblin army in games of Dragon Rampant. I picture him as Gothmog.

Not bad for a bit of an interlude to the Great Northern War project, more of which shortly.

October or Orktober??

Well for the first time I've managed to actually paint a handful of orks in Orktober. I'll be adding these to my growing horde.

First up are a couple of plastic Nobz from the Black reach boxed set. Quite quick and easy to paint these guys up. I'll add the 4 later this month. There is also a plastic gretchin added to the mix.

Now compared with more modern sculpts these aren't too bad. Much better than the boyz. I still prefer the original Rogue trader era figures and here are 2 more from the Space Ork Raiders boxed set.

Well better get back to some historical figures.

Ottoman Delli light cavalry

Sometimes you get some figures and when you take a good look at the detail they fill you with trepidation. How can you do justice to them. The Delli light cavalry from Legio Heroica are just such models. I picked them up as part of an EBay deal. They already had a black undercoat. Now it's a long time since I used a black undercoat so these guys have sat at the end of the painting queue while I concentrated on the Sipahi and Jannisarries.

I did look a some of these images on the internet and my heart sank. These guys are colourful with the furs and feathers. Now I've never been able to get feathers right, especially on eagles and such like for fantasy games.

So this last week I took the plunge and started to paint the first 6 figures and then quickly moved onto the other 6. These guys were actually a joy to paint. Wish I'd done them sooner.

First 3 squadrons

Rear view

2nd 3 squadrons

Rear view

So that's 2 More regiments of light cavalry for my Ottoman army. I do have 2 regiments of Akinja to add to bring the light cavalry up to 6 regiments. Still not enough when I've got 9 heavy regiments with 2 more to paint. Think some Tartars might be useful additions.

Painting update

Following my battlefield trip I haven't been able to settle in to any particular project. Instead I've been finishing off some odds 'n' sods. First up is some Rogue trader era space orks with a couple of gretchin. I've tried to keep them in the style of the rest of the army.

I was pleased to get a hold of the 2 squad leaders as that gives me 2 complete sets of the Space Ork Raiders boxed set. I just need them again along with the Thrugg bullneck figure and that's 3 complete sets.

Next up was some GNW Russian Dragoons. These were 3 additional squadrons for the Permski regiment, bringing them up to full strength of 6 squadrons. The figures are all from Warrior miniatures.

This is brings me close to the end of stage 1 for the Russians. Just a light artillery battery to do. I then need to decide if I want to expand them to refight battles like Poltava. That would be a lot of work and not sure I can justify it.

Lastly at the club a couple of the guys picked up the WW2 fighter aircraft game Blood Red skies. Already played a couple of games and really enjoyed them, so decided to pick up some Yak1s. I did commit that war gaming sin of fielding them unpainted as they had just arrived in the post. So last night I did a quick paint job on them. Serviceable for the table top.

I might picked up the game itself just for the Spitfires and 109s.

Battlefields trip part 2

The second visitor centre I visited was at Alesia. The scene of Julius Caesar and his seige of Vercingetorix. I did take a couple of pictures of the hill at Alesia where the hill fort would have been located. It is massive and gives you an idea of the efforts the Romans made to beseige it.

Inside there were some great exhibits from replica weapons to even using miniatures to depict the Siege (I picked out Minifigs, Essex and donnington). Outside the had built a replica of the Roman seige lines, with lots, stakes etc. Not bad for 8 Euros.

I'll probably do another post(s) of the battlefields once I sort the pictures out.