Unexpected

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, but I was at a tournament in France and when I got home I got the phone call everyone dreads and heard that my loving and kind father who I loved very much had unexpectedly passed away which pretty much left me shattered for a few days. I've managed to start keeping myself busy in order to stop myself sinking into a black hole of depression. I can't paint yet, but I have started work on my hobby room which is busy work that's helps me not to think too much. I know the grief will lessen in time, but will never completely go away. I'll miss him very much.
I thought I would show the mess that is my hobby room to show you I'll have plenty to do with cleaning up, replacing shelves, new lighting and repainting walls. I'll take some more pictures when I'm done.
I also have some pics of the event in France and will post them tonight or in the next day or two.

Caballeros Attacking

The last unit finished for the event!!!!! (pant, gasp,.......I made it!) This last instalment for the event project is a another unit of Caballeros who have now thrown their throwing spears and have drawn their swords for close work to finish the attack.

Again, like the other unit of Caballeros they have a smaller standard compared to the Caballeros Hidalgos whose role is pure shock troops. The smaller standard allows them to move quicker as they try to break up enemy formations with javelins and then when the enemy is disorganized they launch their assaults which is more in the traditional method of Iberian fighting rather then Caballeros Hidalgos adopted Frankish style of fighting.

As with the rest of the army I mixed Christian and Moorish looks together to give that Iberian feel to them. I continued using AP with highlights and hand painting shields and banner.

Completing this army was much tougher then I thought it would be, but I'm happy I pushed through and finished. I thought painting cavalry would be less models to do, but in reality it's really two models which doubles the figure count. I'll eventually add more to the army, but it will be infantry!! After now painting 64 cavalry models I won't be painting any more 28mm horses for a little bit and that's for sure! I'll do a full army picture when I get some time.
As always thank you for viewing.:-)
Miniature Company- Artizan, Perry, Conquest Miniatures

Caballeros Hidalgos on the charge

This is my latest instalment of Caballeros Hidalgos for my El Cid army with some more of the noble sons of Spain now pictured here on a full tilt charge led by an inspirational cantador featured on the black stallion with a small guitar strapped to his back.
A cantador was a form of bard that would sing stories of knightly adventures and virtues which was to help inspire the knights to exert themselves to feats of valour.......and sometimes it worked and sometimes not.
Again the models are done with AP with extra highlights added except shields and banner which are completely hand painted from start to finish.
Just one more unit of Caballeros to go and that will complete the army for the event. I'm struggling to get it done, but I think I'll make it.
In 2 weeks I get to start back on my ACW! Today is my birthday I enjoying looking at my new mini's and to try out the Foundry ACW new paint range I got!
Thank you for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Perry, Artizan and Conquest Games

Ironclads

As some of you readers might know the American Civil War is my favourite period not only in land warfare, but navel as well. Basically I think Ironclads are just flat out cool! The steam powered engines combined with bolt on plates just looks great. Really love the atmosphere it gives off.
I would like to collect a few in 28mm, but the only ones I know are Redoubt which are a bit pricey and most without pictures. However, the ones I did see did look really nice.Does anyone have pics of the Redoubt Ironclads not shown on their web page?  I'm also wondering do any of you know where I could view some other companies 28mm Ironclads. I'm looking for rules at this scale as well to use them with and would appreciate any pointers in that direction.:-)
I should add that I will use scaled down models like almost everything is done in 25mm or it would be far too big! Most ships will measure between 20in and 30in long and 5in to 10in wide.
I really and I mean really would like to get back to painting my ACW material, but my current El Cid project has me tied down until mid September as that's the deadline for an event. To be honest I'm finding it tough going painting this project as my heart just isn't in it right now and it feels more like a job then a hobby at the moment.:-( Of course I'll be happy when I'm done and did it, but still......... Anybody out there in or been in the same situation to commiserate with?

More Jinetes

Just finished up this new unit of Jinetes. Just like the other unit of Jinetes I kept the clothes simple and the shields as well to show their status as a rung less then the Caballeros. As with the other units I continued to Mix in Moors and Christians to maintain the theme.
Now going back on to some Caballeros again which in total gives me two units to go and a month to finish. It's going to be tight, but I think I'll make it.
I still want to drift back into other projects, but I've managed to remain focused so far.
Thanks for viewing as always.:-)
Minature Company-Crusader, Artizan, Conquest Miniatures

British Grenadier Deluxe Edition by Eclaireur

I've finally got my hands on it and to say I'm impressed with the new deluxe edition of  British Grenadier would be a huge understatement! In my opinion it's the most beautifully made wargames book I've seen to date and the one I just bought isn't even the gentlemen's edition! I felt I didn't deserve that as I tend to not treat my wargames books with the best of care. However, had I known just how nice this was going to be I might have reconsidered and gone for the gentlemen's edition in spite of my dodgy handling of books.

On to a little description. The cover is hardback made in a lovely glossy deep brown with a fine cursive script featuring the now famous British Grenadier of the previous rule set. The inside jacket and  pages use an aged Betsy Ross Star Spangled banner as the background rather then just plain white. The pages are of high quality and superb binding from what I can observe.

The book is lavishly illustrated with inspiring full coloured pictures of figures, battle scenes, drawing and painting. Many fine figure painters work is featured in the book , but a large percentage of them are by Giles Allison whom I consider to be the foremost figure painter of this period and who's body of work in terms of scope and standard of excellence sets the bar. He's the main reason I started the period and blogging a few years back and I strongly recommend visiting his blog at
 http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/
Basically, the format and presentation of the entire book just exudes period feel like nothing I've seen and makes you feel like humming Yankee Doodle as you read it!

British Grenadier is set in the American War of Independence and can be played in several scales from 6mm to 40mm with 28mm and 15mm being the most common.  Basing is generally multi-figure with an average of 4-6 infantry per base and 2 cavalry if at all present as this war was dominated by infantry with cavalry being a pretty small percentage.

The rules themselves are simulation in nature and quite sophisticated where the author tries to present you with the difficulties of commanding troops in North America and does an excellent job of doing so. They deny you full command of each troop forcing you to use well thought out battle plans and making you judge when to use your limited command options to achieve the best effect. Moving formed bodies of troops was difficult in this theatre and the rules reflect this very well indeed.

This isn't a beer and pretzel type of game as it takes time to develop, but still isn't overly burdensome in record keeping and charts either where a few tokens will cover most of what you need, because of this the game flows very nicely once you have the feel for the rules. It's also not a tournament type of game and is best suited for club play and Demo's as it's mainly centred around historical engagements where scenario conditions decide the victor. British Grenadier already has 3 published scenario books and includes 4 scenario's in the rules themselves to keep you busy a plenty, however if there is something you wish to do not already covered the author gives a guideline on how to do so.

If your looking to get into AWI wargaming then I can think of no other rule set better for this period and I strongly recommend that you should pick up a copy. You can get a copy from Caliver Books http://www.caliverbooks.com/

British Grenadier has a forum that is well supported by a great bunch of  knowledgeable and nice group of gentlemen that will answer most any question you have. They helped me a great deal when I got started(and still do!). The forum can be found here http://generaldebrigade.greatboard.com/viewforum.php?f=13

For those who already own a copy of the previous British Grenadier and don't think they need the deluxe version then think again!! The new version has some new rule changes that reduce arty effect and improve the chance of a successful bayonet assault and a few others, but mainly it's just so well done it's worth it!!!!

I wish I had time to work on some more AWI as I'm now chomping at the bit to do so, but I have a priority project I must complete first. Five star inspiring stuff folks! 





  

Added a page to my blog

I've added a new page to my blog which can be found underneath the heading picture titled Project status for 2011.
I added this so that interested viewers can see what my various projects are that I'm doing for the year and how far along I am in each one which is usually in over my head!!
I think these page additions are pretty nice and quite useful useful. I'll probably add a few more in the future.
Still working on my next unit so no pics yet.

Since posting some have asked after the link to do this. For those interested it can be found here:


http://buzz.blogger.com/2010/02/create-pages-in-blogger.html

Thank you for checking in.:-)