Day 16

No painting today 😦

but I did receive a delivery 🙂

My band arrived, in the form of three mounted drummers from Bears Den.

Think they will be just the job.

Cheers W.

Day 15

Managed to get the brush out today. First off, I finished up the majority of the mortar crew – just got one figure to finish and to base them up.

I also finally got around to making a start on the first cavarly unit. Figures have been based up using Renedra plastic bases with mag strip on the bottom. I’ve then used quick drying poly-fila with some sand and the odd bit of cork aded into the mix, on the bases.

Followers of my previous army builds will know that I like to do a test figure before embarking on painting the unit. i find it gives me a feel for how best to paint up the figure.

I was reasonably pleased with how the figures came out, especially considering that it is from Old Glory. I decided to make the figure into the unit standard bearer. I need to add a shield to the model. I’m having difficulty choosing what sort of  colour and pattern to use on the shield and have spent far too long messing  about with different colour schemes.

Will post some better pics when the unit is done.

Cheers W.

Day 14

Work has a nasty havit of getting in the way of painting time so just managed an hour today on the mortar crew. Another hour should finish them off.

Have been thinking about the generals unit that is going to contain three mounted musicians. Bears Den make a mounted drummer that comes as part of a command pack. I’ve emailed them tonight to see if they will sell me three drummers without me having to buy 3 command packs. Fingers crossed.

Had a good “Very British Civil War” game last night, run by my chum Matt Slade. You can see a few pics of the game on his blog at http://mattsgamepage.blogspot.com/

I was part of the Berkshire Defence League and led my brave bicycle patrol in a head long charge across open ground against some ne’r do wells dug in behind a hedge. Took some heavy casualties but managed to drive the socialists back, although my own chaps decided to bugger off aswell.

cheers W.

Day 13

Slow but steady progress I guess. First of all I finished the Veteran Carathaginian spearmen.

Then I started on the second mortar crew which I hope to have painted by Thursday.

I’ve entered the Axes and Axis one day event which is 1500pts classical. Having sold on the Carthagininans the only real army I have that would be suitable are my rulebook Greeks. I have around 70 hoplites so could scrape 1500pts together especially if I take some of the upgrades available.  They will be easy prey for the pike/companion combination of the Macedonians and the heavy throwing meat grinding romans but last year I took along my Samurai so maybe this year its my turn to be the whipping boy.

Cheers W.

Day 12

17th Wedding anniversary today so not much painting time.

Put first coat of varnish on mortar team one. I tend to use a 2 stage varnish nowdays. First coat is with a Humbrol enamel gloss to provide a seal for the paint. The second coat is with a matt varnish to tone down the colour. The varnish does seem to help tone down the contrasts, so you can have quite a strong highlight and the varnish helps to blend it in.

I’m going to leave the first mortar unbased and list it on E-bay next week. The model itself cost £20 so I am hoping to get around £30 – £40. I’m open to offers if anyone wants to put in a bid before I list it. I will post a picture of the complete gun and crew tomorrow.

Also, undercoated the 2nd mortar crew.

Finally, I spent some time doing 8 Carthaginian spearmen for Mr G, I hope to have these done by tomorrow.

Cheers W.

Day 11

Only a little progress today. Glued horses to bases prior to adding poly-fila.

Did a bit more on the mortar crew.

Also, glued this fine fellow onto a base. It is a figure kindly donated to me by Martin G. I might use it as the officer for the Guard archers but haven’t decided yet. looking forward to painting him though.

Cheers W.

Day 10

Another package. This time the plastic cavalry bases and magnectic strip from Gripping Beast (top quality service as always).

Talking of “GB” – I managed to pick up some Ottoman Banners from them at the Salute show earlier this year. Can’t remember how much they cost, around £8 I think, but a healthy selection covering command, cavlary and infantry units, as follows;

 Cheers Wayne

Day 9

The spears from North Star arrived so I was able to drill out the hands of the Old Glory Sipahi with a pin drill and glue the spears into place.

The artillery from Fighting 15’s has also arrived, so I have been able to make a start on that. Here is the mortar. The wood is painted with foundry Muskets Brown (a,b,c) and the barrel with Valejo Tin Bitz.

I’ve also made a start on some of the crew. The model actually comes with 6 figures but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to fit all of them on the base, so I probably won’t use them all.

WIll let the figures dry overnight and then give them a varnish tomorrow.

Cheers Wayne.

Day 8

The final piece of the Army composition. As you might have guessed, I’m going for a small force as it’s a) less figures to paint and b) less figures to carry ! Both important given the short amount of time available. Therefore to complete the army I’m adding a unit of Serbian Vlastella. These are lance armed knights with the first charge ability. I don’t have enough points to give them barding. A unit of 11 with full command comes to 378pts.

So the approximate list is looking something like this

1 x General

1 x ASB

3 x Musicians

7 x Guard Cavalry

10 x Sipahi

9 x Akinci

5 x Akinci

20 x Solak

1 x Mortar

11 x Serbian Vlastella

A total of 70 figures.

Cheers W.

Day 7

Cleaned up the Old Glory cavlary. Took around 35mins. The riders don’t sit very well on the horses – there is minimal points of contact and a noticable gap so I will need to find something suitable for filling it that will also provide a good bond. All suggestions welcome.

Continuing with the army selection. I came across this model by Eureka Miniatures which I really liked.

The Ottoman errata limits you to one mortar and it counts against the special troop allowance for the list. The model is quite expensive at  just over £20. I’ve ordered two from fighting 15’s (uk stockist for Eureka miniatures), one for the army and one to paint up and sell. the good news is that they only cost 50pts each.

The model is the closest thing I’ve seen to the bombards of the period.

Cheers W.