Persians and other Projects

First some more figures as I test my skills against my newest project.

This shot is of the Immortal heavy cavalry. Like all the other Immortal figures so far I am enjoying painting these. Chain and scale armour on the upper body, including an excellent representation of the high necked shoulder protection, and quilted trousers. There is some armour on the horse chest which is also very well done. Funnily enough one of the things I especially like is the way Steve has sculpted the ears. Little details make big impressions.

Next is a plastic archer from the Wargames Factory Persian infantry box.

I think I did a better job with this one than the Sparabara. Most annoying thing? Learning that Immortal are to release some plastic Persians! If I'd known that a few weeks ago my money would have stayed in my pocket for longer.

I haven't just been painting the odd Persian figure.

I'm also trying to finish off my Scots ECW army. With just 80 figures to go I thought it was about time to clear the backlog and move on.

So I've just finished a unit of Scots horse. All Perry figures, a bit of an extravaganze I know compared to the Warlord figures but they are lovely. I chose not to go with the lance but went with swors and pistols, lots of pistols.

They are a little smaller than Warlord but really nice.

So with those twelve that leaves 68.

Not quite.

I've also completed three Scots commanders. Perry figures again. Having these means that the Scots now have options in either being led by Scots or more European styled generals.

So just a couple more units of horse and one foot then it will be one less project on the go.

Persians - more test figures

It's all a bit academic now I suppose, because I've bought just about everything I intend to have for this project. Still I'm as interested as you in just how the various figures and ranges go together.
First my initial attempt at the Wargames Factory plastic Persian infantry.
I gave this one a spear and the large shield. The pack gives you a choice from a variety of shields. At the same time there are multiple choices of sword and scabbard along with quivers and other weapons. The torso and head options are numerous and as varied as the other options in the box.

In terms of size they are larger than the Immortal figure I painted last week. However, I think in their own units they will be fine.

Next is one of the Wargames Factory Persian cavalry.

I made several errors with this figure. I thought that with the multitude of sprues and options that there were enough to make different types of horse. Wrong.

I gave the figure two javelins, but it is only after I finished that I realised there are not enough to equip all twelve figures in the box with one weapon type. First mistake.

Second mistake was not to trim the mane back so that the saddle cloth and rider sat plum on the horse. Third mistake was to glue the front harness on before the saddle cloth, the reason why it isn't flush.

Having said all that I like the figure a lot and rather more than the foot figures.

Like the foot they are larger than the Immortal horse but not as significant. I think with a shim under the metal base of the Immortal figure the difference would not be so significant.

Franco Prussian War

Not a new project for me but a note to let you know that there is a great spread of photographs on our club website of Malc Johnstones labour of love.
The gallery shows the inaugral game of his collection. Having taken well over a year to paint the spectacle on display justifys the time and effort spent. The figures are a mixture of Renegade, Helion, Perry conversions and a host of others converted by Malc. Great stuff.
Go to "galleries" to see for yourself (and try and avoid the temptation to start another project).

Wars of the Roses Completed

As I said in the previous post, my Wars of the Roses project is complete.
Some 500 figures in three battles, two English & one Irish and with the option of having an extra mounted wing.
The figures are mostly Foundry & Citadel, with the remainder split between Perry and Old Glory. Happily the difference in sizes is not that noticeable where the figures are mixed in units rather than in their own groups.

For every melee unit there is a missile unit. Mostly longbows but with a couple of artillery pieces.

It is the Irish that I am probably most pleased with. Eight units of Kerns all from Old Glory (old and new).

I decided to have the figures randomly based so that the units look a little rough and ready rather than neat lines. So each unit is two bases with 7-8 figures per base.

Why Irish? Well living where I do The Battle of Stoke Field is the nearest large battle of the wars and is so very different to the other battles of the period.

All we need to do now is get the revamp of the rules completed and that will be that.

The End and the Beginning

The end is actually the completion of another project. This weekend I've managed to finish my Wars of the Roses array, albeit a few banners short essentially that is it.
I needed to paint the last of my archers and get 50 figures based ready for a game on Monday. I'll take some pictures of them all then - I don't want to give too much information to my opponent before then!

The start is some test figures for my newest project. Remember me wondering what I was going to do? Well I've decided to go for an army in the "ancient" period. Persians to tackle the Macedonians and Greeks in other club members collections.

The first figures are from Immortal Miniatures (www.immortalminiatures.com) which are available through North Star Military Figures (www.northstarfigures.com).

I've painted a Persian light cavalry figure. This is a single piece casting and is one of three different poses in the pack. Very little flash and cleanly cast it is a lovely little figure. Immortal market their ranges as being the most historically accurate figures on the market. I can't comment on that but they are excellent with a level of detail that is very pleasing. Little things like having the scale armour crisply sculpted even though it is hard to see and difficult to get to. The faces are not as crisp as other makers but given the rest of the figure I'll let that one go (I just need to find a way to paint them because it doesn't suit my current style).

The other figure is a Saka horse archer also from Immortal.

Now I really like these figures. Depicted as riding on Przewalski's horse they are excellent. The horse is deep chested and looks just like photographs of them. The riders are dressed in simple clothing but with the elaborately decorated bow cases and quivers. A little more flash on these but like the Persians the mould lines are well thought out and can be difficult to remove as a result.

Lacking stirrups they guide the horse by pressure of the knee which explains the odd pose.

I've also just assembled some Wargames Factory plastic figures so I'll post some comparison shots when they're finished.

Triples

Just a quick post to let you know that there are even more mouthwatering pics of the game now on the Grimsby Wargames Website. Just click the link to the right.

Thanks to Steve for taking the pics and Mal for the presentation. I have to admire people who can make my figures look that good!

Paint

It's no secret that I have been a long time admirer of GW paints. I like them for several reasons; they're of good quality with the majority of them having high levels of pigment and thus good coverage, they are acrylic which means fast drying and thinned with water (or even better with floor polish) and, I can be sure that when I buy the next pot of a colour it will be the same as the previous.
But recently I've also been looking for alternatives because of the price - £2.30 a pot!
And now I have two strong contenders as replacements.

Firstly, as posted recently, a local department store is now stocking the full range of Vallejo paints. I bought some to try and am impressed so far with the quality. Boyes have them in stock at £1.75.

Then there are the Miniature Paints from Coritani (www.magneticdisplays.co.uk) which are just lovely. Good pigment levels easily mixed and with excellent coverage (at least the ones I bought and tried anyway). £1.30 a pot. The really nice thing with these is the satisfying clunk of the heavy glass jar they come in.

So goodbye GW & hello their replacements.