River Hawks

The American Indian is an iconic symbol of reconnaissance and is the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of the ideal scout. There is no doubt myth and legend are part of it, but with these type things it usually is based on some foundation of truth.  There is enough written testimony of both civilians and military leaders using valuable information gathered from Indians or on the flip side being surprised on their sudden appearance out of nowhere to substantiate this belief.

The scene before you is set in the French and Indian Wars with a couple of Huron warriors allied to the French gliding up the Mohawk river looking for the best location to conduct a raid on the English and their Mohawk allies.

The figures are from Redoubt who have an excellent French and Indian war range with canoes included for Indians, French and the English. I painted the miniatures using a combination of Foundry paints and Vallejo paints.

This is a planned Deployment marker for Sharp Practice from TFL. If you like making deployment markers then French and Indian Wars is excellent period for that as you can make both water and land markers offering lots of creative ways to explore making markers. I plan on making some more.:-)

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company Redoubt Miniatures

Ramshackle Barn and Patrol Markers

My first entry into the challenge this season and putting a few points up. Although I'm not likely to ever have much it's a start! It's also my first post of the new year so once again Happy New Year everyone! Every since I saw this from Renedra Terrain I knew I had to have it. I would say it's probably the best terrain piece they have made. It has excellent character and just checks the boxes for me.

While it fits perfectly for AWI and ACW it's useful for other periods and could be used as early as the French and Indian War right on up to modern times. The composition of the design is excellent and in fact I may get another one and modify it a bit so it's different.

I enjoyed painting the barn very much as you can really "go to town" so to speak on creating effects on old wood. I wanted the barn to look old and dirty with mold and moss beginning to take over. I used mostly craft paints and MIG pigments to get the effects I was after.

The Barn is 28mm in scale and comes in a plastic multi-kit that is very easy to assemble although I recommend using a plastic glue which will glue the pieces together quicker imho.

Next up below are some patrol markers for my American troops to be used for Chain of Command which imho is the best platoon level WWII game ever made or better yet flat out best WWII game period.

The markers were made from bits from the Rubicon Allied Stowage Set 1 and are quite nice! I plan on getting a hold of the German set to make some markers for my Germans as well. They are 28mm or 1/56 scale and I painted them with Vallejo paints and some MIG pigments.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Renedra, Rubicon

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

 

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year! May Santa fill all your stockings with hobby goodness!

Hessian Jägers

Hessian Jagärs for my Sharp Practice AWI project. After American Riflemen I would say Jägers rank second as my favorite units to paint for the AWI period They have a really cool mix of both line uniform and huntsmen clothing that I find very appealing.

Hessian Jägers which translates as "hunter" but better understood as "huntsmen" where German mercenaries that had a reputation as some of the finest light infantry in the war and by definition were elite troops . They typically scouted ahead of the main force dispersing  the enemy's own light infantry and gathering information on the enemy's disposition.  They were all extremely well trained in both marksmanship and woodcraft and because of this received a higher pay then the average Hessian soldier.

I painted them using mostly Foundry colors and some Vallejo with some Mig pigments on the basing. I actually finished these figures awhile ago, but just got around to taking pictures of them. Hopefully my blogging will pick up to it's usual 2 to 3 posts a month.

The figures are from Perry miniatures and as usual are very nice sculpts but the clean up on them is annoying....

I still have more AWI finished figures in the wings to photograph and post, but that will likely have to wait until the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is completed.

That's right folks it's that time of year again with the annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (found here) just a few days away. I've been involved every year since the the 2nd which was when it was first opened to the wargaming blogging community in general which makes me something of a grognard I suppose with this now being the 9th. That said I rarely do very well as I'm slow painter, but I like to take part and keep the tradition. I hope to see all of you there and good luck to those of you who are taking part!

Thanks for Viewing!
Miniature Company- Perry Miniatures

Militia Skirmishers #2

Still trying to come to terms with my new camera(year + old) and still not satisfied, but truth be told I don't like taking the time to learn it as I do not like taking pictures, but still enjoy sharing what I do so something of a pickle. These are some more militia skirmishers for my AWI collection to be used primarily for sharp Practice, but also for other systems I use.

I've had these figures painted for some time now, but just got around to photographing and posting them. In fact I probably have at least 6 posts worth of stuff, but a combination of life, laziness to get off my duff take some pics and do a write up has seen me fall way behind.

These guys have already seen action in our first Sharp Practice II game and we had wonderful time and really look forward to get another game in. Did I take pictures of this you may ask? Why of course I did and of course I've yet to write up the report! Reports like pictures of my figures are also way behind.

Currently working on terrain and more AWI plus I've already started a secret project I'll unveil when I have a bit more finished to show, but enjoying it quite a bit!

They were painted using Foundry and Vallajo paints plus some MIG pigments for a little extra dust on the basing. Hopefully my next post will be a little sooner then the last one coming!

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Foundry and Perry miniatures

Militia Skirmishers #1

Looking to build some forces for AWI Sharp Practice 2. I already have plenty of units based up in formations, but didn't have any single based figures for the skirmish elements or officers on foot. This represents my first set of 6 militia men and an officer(red sash).

I plan on trying out the Sharp Practice supplement The Swamp Fox which takes place in the southern theater. It follows the exploits of Francis Marion "The Swamp Fox" and his efforts to fight the British after the defeat of  of the Americans at Camden until the American army could regroup and reform. This will require quite a bit of militia for both rebels and loyalists so I will need to do some more line units in addition to the skirmishers and cavalry.

AWI has always fascinated me so it's really not a surprise that I decided to play Sharp Practice 2 in addition to Black Powder and British Grenadier for this period. I haven't tried FOB2 with it yet but I plan on doing that as well at some point. The period has a certain atmosphere to it that no other does and I honestly can't exactly say why other then it just does.

The AWI period really does give you a huge diversity of troops types from rebel militia to loyalist militia ,state and regular troops, cavalry, Indians, artillery, Grenadiers, light infantry, riflemen, mercenaries etc involving  Americans, British, Germans and French, Spanish plus more fighting from Canada onto virtually the entire east coast of the US all the way down to the Bahamas and crossing over to Europe! The amount of modeling and army building for this period is staggering imho.

These figures are a mix of Perry and Foundry miniatures. The foundry figures(also by the Perry twins) were given an extra coin to bring them up to the same height as the Perry figures. I have a love/hate relationship with Perry figures as the casting makes cleaning and painting them a right pain in the backside, but once finished they really do look very nice and have excellent proportions.

The figures were painted using mostly Foundry colors with some Vallejo and MIG pigments to round everything off. I already have the second group of militia finished and just waiting on their photography session so stay tuned.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Perry, Foundry

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose

Hello it's been a bit of space since my last post, but not so much because of productivity which I've actually been getting things done in spite of the heat and have several things to post, but rather the fact that with work, heat, family, painting and keeping up with what others have been doing has resulted in one thing having to be neglected and that has been the blog. I enjoy blogging so no worries this blog will stop as I will continue to march on for the foreseeable future as I still think it's the best medium in presenting what you are personally doing be it past, present and future plans without all the noise other mediums usually have.

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose aka "The Great Montrose" is thought by many to be the best commander to come out of the ECW and a tactical genius for his daring surprise attack victories against  forces larger and better equipped then his own. While first supporting the Scots Covenanters for a short period he later switched sides to support King Charles I which eventually cost him his life.

He represented the Royalist cause in Scotland during the reign of King Charles I fielding an army of mostly Irish mercenaries and Scots Highland clansmen vs Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll leader of the Covenanters.While many like to debate if Montrose was a patriot or traitor most agree militarily he was a superb tactician with a string of famous victories in 1644 - 1645 at Tippermuir, Aberdeen, Inverlochy, Auldearn, and finally culminating in the coup de grace at Kilsyth making him all but master of Scotland in effect crushing his rival Argyll. However, with King Charles defeat at Naseby Montrose had to try and save the king so had leave before he could consolidate his grip on Scotland, but lost his highlander support along the way leaving him with a force to small to resist the Leslie Covenanters blocking him thus leading to his defeat at Philiphaugh.

In 1649/50 Montrose once again tried to rally the Royalist cause in Scotland to avenge the death of Charles I and support a return of Charles II but failed to get enough highlanders to join back up resulting in a defeat at Carbisdale. He escaped capture only to turn himself into Neil MacLeod who he believed was friendly only to discover he was a political enemy and was soon after hanged in Edinburgh. Ironically just a short time later the Scots Covenanters supported Charles II attempt to regain his throne and were soundly defeated by Cromwell's New Model army thus depriving themselves of an excellent commander who may have been able to change the outcome or at least mitigate the defeat.

This is my Montrose command stand to lead my Scots Royalist forces and is on an 80mm round base. The figures are from Bicorne and the flag is from Flags of War. The figures are large 28mm and a pleasure to paint and the flag I believe represents the severed head of Charles I so would place this command vignette just after Montrose ill fated attempt to retake Scotland in 1649/50 although I will use this stand for the entire service of Montrose in Scotland, but included the flag as I felt it was such a striking symbol. I removed the blood droplets from the head as I wish to interest people in the composition and not turn any off to something some may find gruesome although my flag still has the drops on the actual flag. I'm quite pleased how the overall piece turned out.  I still need to make some more commanders for both sides so expect more to come. Eventually I will get a game of Baraque I tell you! Don't arch your eyebrows at me!:-)

Plenty of more material for the blog waiting in the wings already finished just waiting for me to do some write ups like AWI, ECW, Terrain and CoC battle reports so more on the way for those interested!

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company-Bicorne Miniatures