Picking up the tomahawk or so finally begins my FIW project

The French and Indian War skirmish element has been a dream project of mine for many years, but until now I wasn't quite sure how to start and so after spending far too long procrastinating I decided to get on with it and jump in! What better way to start the project off then with the iconic Indians who add so much colour and give that special look we all have come to associate with the period.

These Indians are from Redoubt and I just really like them! The figures are quite large with a lot of character which is a big plus for me. Most of their packs are very good indeed, with a few not of the same quality so check before buying.

I'm playing around with backgrounds as I need the practice and the period really just asks for that so I hope you like it! I also included white background close ups pics for those wanting to seeing the figures in more clear light. They are on a scouting mission looking for an good point of ambush is the storyline behind the photo.

The rules I have in mind are Muskets and Tomahawks and This Very Ground. I don't like square bases for my skirmish figures so I'll simply state the middle of a figures chest is his facing which comes into play in the former rule set.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Redoubt Miniatures

I also want to give a special thanks to Ray for sending me the very cool and prized Posties rejects dice I won in a draw on his super blog which I of course suggest you visit.

Some more Fallschirmjäger

Operation Squad is running very hot these days within my gaming circle(I'll give a review of the rules one day time permitting). In summation we love the rules!!
I noticed that I had too few Fallschirmjäger to play them properly the way I wanted so I've painted up a few more.
What I had forgotten was how darn hard they are to paint with several hours at least for each figure! However, I'm pleased with results and looking forward to adding them in my next game.
All are armed with Kar98's and in jump uniform.

From left to right:
FJ in Sumpmuster 44' smock, FJ in Sumpmuster 43' smock, FJ in Splinter smock
Miniature Company-Artizan
Thanks for viewing!:-)

What a commander really does most of the time

Ever seen a model and knew you had to have it? well this was one of those times. I just really like the look of it as one can see what a commander is often really doing and not always charging with sword drawn down the glory road(which I like too). It's probably my favourite ECW figure and comes from Redoubt.

I was very excited when it came in the mail......until I saw all the clean up on it which was nasty indeed! However. after that was finished I was quite pleased with how he turned out.

For now he will be the commander for my Irish Brigade, but I'm not sure if he will remain so as I have the actual figure for that. Good chance he will as I like miniature so much.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Redoubt Miniatures

More Montrose Irish

Here is my second regiment of Montrose Irish this time advancing and loading. The figures are once again the fantastic Bicorne ECW range. The flag is from Flags of War where the generous Ian sent me free enlarged ones to replace the smaller ones I had. The old ones were very nice, but the new ones are even better both in quality and size. Thanks again Ian if your reading!!

The principle behind this regiment is the same as the other one I did in that I took quite a few liberties in my impression of the hard fighting Irish Brigade and thus is not an attempt on a direct reflection of what they looked like, but I still hope it comes off looking if not exact then somewhat believable.

I'm looking to shift into the Scottish portion of the army soon with Renegade and Redoubt figures making up the lion share of those regiments, but I probably will come back and do a third Irish regiment at some point. I'm not sure if I want to paint tartans on my Scots as that's horribly time consuming!
Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Bicorne

Bruges Tower

What it's already October?? My gosh how time just flies! I've been painting, but just not fast enough it would appear. I have about three units on my desk in various stages of completion so I will have some more material soon.

This piece is a Hovel 25mm Bruges Tower. They say it's 25mm, but I think it's more between 20mm and 25mm. I love Hovel terrain for it's quaintness, style and feel of the them in spite of the sculpts not being the best and the tremendous amount of clean up needed on them.

I wish I could paint faster as there are so many things I want to do!!:-(

Photobucket is still all screwed up! Once you have sized a pic you can't even change it any more! They used to be great, but their new system is a colossal failure! I'm so frustrated with them! I hope they go back to their old system or at least try and fix the new one at the very least.

Thanks for viewing.:-)

Miniature Company- Hovels

Flags of War a kind gesture

Hi folks if you remember I liked Flags of War ECW flags which I found very lovely, but too small for me. Ian from Flags of War got wind of this and since he is resizing his ECW and TYW range to a larger sized flag has very kindly offered to replace my flags free of charge which I of course duly accepted with gratitude!

Ian makes flags that he thinks best fits a period in size and so I'm sure he will happily give you the size of flag of any range he offers to help you decide if it's right for you. The graphics are beautiful that much I'm positive you will be happy with!

I'm pretty darn happy as I have GMB and Flags of War to cover most things I need which is great as it's a pain making your own!

Montrose Irish Brigade

This is part of a project I've started with a friend based around the Scottish campaigns in the English Civil War. I've decided to build the forces of that wily commander Montrose and my friend is building the Covenanter's.

My Montrose(ish) army isn't an attempt to exactly replicate what the forces of Montrose looked like, but rather a melding of Scottish and English together so I can use it as both a Scottish Royalist army and a Northern English Royalist army. I like the history of Montrose and Rupert so I'd like to use it for both. Basically it will be my own impression with quite a few liberties taken. Hopefully the end result will still be convincing enough to not totally offend the purists out there.

I'm starting off with a regiment from the rock hard Irish brigade in which I mixed Bicorne's Irish and English together which gives them a mixed and slightly ragged appearance (except the officers) which I feel they probably looked something like that. The Irish were noted for using a half pike, but I prefer the full pike and so went with that. They also wore a greyish top and white leggings(many did any ways) of which I included in the mix, but I changed the top to mostly green for two reasons. The first is I'll have plenty of grey to do when I do the regular Scot units and well......they are Irish and green just darn well belongs!:-)

The figures are from Bicorne and the English figures are simply superb(best ECW around IMHO) and the Irish figures are pretty good too if not quite as good as the English figures. I painted them using AP with highlights added. The Flag is from Flags of War and while it looks wonderful it's a little small for me, however I heard he's now making them bigger and so I probably replace it with a bigger one. Once again I was painting in comfort zone of earth colours so I had a lot of fun painting the figures and they are large and the detail raised just added to the fun.

I also found out it's pretty difficult photographing such a wide regiment . They are mounted on 3 bases 80mm x 60mm each giving a total of 240mm wide. I hope I succeeded in getting a clear enough view. Click on the pics for larger photo's.

I'll probably do my second Irish regiment next if I don't get distracted first. The rules we have in mind are Black Powder's Pike and Shotte.

Yet another time for me to complain about the new and improved worthless photobucket. Why did they try to fix something that wasn't broke!!

God save the king!
Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Bicorne Miniatures