Anglo-Saxon Levy Archers

These figures were recently painted to be part of Nicole's Anglo-Saxon force for Saga. When assembling the figures, all but one of the original bows broke in half. I wasn't sure if I had just been on the receiving end of a bad batch or if this is common place so I just engineered my own by using left overs from trimmed 80mm pikes. Since these will be high traffic playing pieces, I figured it wasn't a bad idea and they turned out looking ok.

The blog entry over on "1000 Foot General" in regards to Dark Age Color Palettes was the jumping off point for the overall color scheme. I avoided adding anything fancy or even simple embroidery as to play up their role as "levies" in the game mechanics. In the end, I used a Mig Productions filter for the first time and although the results were subtle, I do think it made a difference in tying the figures together. The bases are Litko with magnetic bottoms.

The building is a simple 4Ground building as yet untouched past assembly.

12 Gripping Beast Figures, Litko Bases

Pvt George Ross (Revolutionary War Veteran)

	During my recent visit to the Shiloh Battlefield and National Cemetery in Tennessee, I was surprised to find a single grave belonging to a Revolutionary War Veteran, Pvt George Ross. Using "Find a Grave" and various other websites I was able to glean some basic information including the following entry:
"This deponent is now nearly 78 years old. Sworn to before me March 7, 1833.S/ James Martin, M his mark S/ J. M. Ross, Q U State of Tennessee, Hardin County Personally appeared before me, the undersigned a Justice of the peace in Hardin County George Ross who being duly sworn, deposes and saith, that by reason of old age & the consequent loss of memory, he cannot swear positively as to the precise length of his service, but according to the best of his recollection he served not less than three months in the foot as a private & after that he served not less than 12 months as a private in the horse service up to the year 1782 and for such services he claims a pension. He further states that by reason of old age & the consequent loss of memory, at the time of being Examined in the circuit court of Hardin County before the circuit Judge of said County on the 14th day of November 1832, he could not recollect the different captains' companies he served under in the revolutionary war, but since that time recollects that he served three months as a private in militia foot companies in Captain Millar's company in Colonel William Bratton's Regiment was called out regularly sometime in the month of February 1780 & returned home sometime in the month of May 1780 & recollects being called out again (to the best of his recollection) in the month of October 1780 in the Horse service as a private in Colonel William Bratton's Regiment in the company commanded by James Martin in the State of South Carolina who will Testify of his services in the Army & who he have since found out is still alive & that he served in said Company not less than eight months & then returned home & after sitting [?] five or six weeks we joined the said Regiment (in the said Martin's company) the Regiment then under the command of General Greene at Russell's ferry on the Congaree River & marched to attack the British at Orangeburg & also recollects being one of a party who was sent under the command of Colonel Hampton & defeated a party of the British at the quarter house &after that Service two tours more in said James Martin's company of two months each tour in the year 1782 in which time they were employed as scouting & foraging parties, under the direction of General Henderson, intercepting scouting & foraging parties of the British &c further saith that when he was not immediately in the Army he was continually in readiness to march against the British or Tories." Birth: 16 Jul 1760 in South Branch, Potomac River, Virginia, USA Death: 21 Aug 1846 in Olive Hill, Hardin, Tennessee, USA

Rall Regiment

After a long time on the painting table, years in fact, I've finally put the last touches on the Rall Regiment. My plans for these figures are to represent the Trenton survivors for the Battle of Brandywine. Probably not my best paint job ever, but its not the worst either.

24 Figures, Perry Miniatures, Litko Bases, GMB Flags

About Bases - Litko & Shogun

     A few years ago when searching for movement trays I came across a company I had not heard about, Shogun Miniatures. As I was magnetizing my older kids' fantasy figures' bases the steel movement trays Shogun offered fit the bill perfectly. When my order arrived, they contained a few samples of the "Mag Bases". I was intrigued as they were sturdy, well made, and thin. I had always used Litko for nearly all my basing needs, but these got me thinking. I knew I had a couple of situations where I needed trays and magnetic bases. Namely TFL ACW and AWI SP variants.

Before I get too long winded, a few notes about their movement trays.
• They have ZERO sharp edges and corners, not even mildly pointy. This was a problem I had way back in the 90's when I experimented with metal bases.
• They can be made in custom sizes and they are really inexpensive.
• They can be primed, painted, protected and still hold magnets.
• They can be purchased with or without flanged edges.

     For TFL ACW, I want to individually base these figures, on 20x20mm bases, as depending on the situation and troop experience they can or cannot assume a skirmish formation. The problem is I don't want to move up to 80 figures individually each turn should they all be activated. The obvious solution was movement trays and preferably magnetic. I had originally purchased enough Gale Force Nine bases to cover the job, but I found these less desirable than I had hoped. The main reasons were that they were not clean on the sides and it took a fair amount of time to trim all the excess material off as well as them being so thick. I had thought about going with Litko as usual and as I did for my AWI skirmishers. However, when my order of Shogun trays arrived and I saw the sameples, the answer was right in front of me. These bases didn't need any special treatment and their trays made everything easy. The inexpensive nature of the movement trays meant I could load up for many different situations. Most ACW groups being 8 at full strength, I could get 160mm wide movement trays in either single or double ranks and simply place them together for formations. Pretty much cake at that point.

    For AWI skirmishers, I started basing these individually on 25x25mm using Litko bases and base bottoms for use in both skirmish games and placing them together on magnetized movement trays in 2's and 3's as is called for depending on troop grade in British Grenadier. After some warping on some larger wood bases, I decided to make the switch to Shogun for not only these, but as Shogun does custom sizes, I will be having some done for larger rank and file bases.

     There are a number of situations for which I will continue to use Litko. Namely Saga round and oval bases as well as hexes for use in such things as gladiator games. Now, there is little reason for magnetized bases in games like Saga or gladiator games, but I noticed he convenience of moving and storing miniatures with magnetic bottoms immediately. I can take a group of a warband or set of gladiators, put them on the steel tray, place it in the display cabinet and not have to worry whether or not I'll drop them if one of my kids practices their latest tackling technique on my leg or if I flinch suddenly stepping on a LEGO (the enemy of fathers' feet everywhere).

    The nice thing about both of these companies is that they represent the excellent choices we have. Both companies have great products and I've experienced great customer service from both. They've both rushed me items on short notice and I'll never forget Litko making sure I'd have a set of custom movement items for my oldest son's X-wing collection, on short notice and before Christmas. Hopefully the accompanying photos will give you an ideas as to thickness and other particulars.

American Skirmishers (1)

This could easily be entitled "Speed Painted Skirmishers". This somewhat eclectic group of militia/skirmisher types were painted over a couple days this week in an effort to clear the painting table. I could of spent more time on the details, but these are only the first group of this type that I'll do and the next batch will be better attended. That being said, I'm continuing to have difficulties with consistent lighting and photography and as a result I'm disappointed with how these figures appear. For being a speed paintjob, they are actually better looking in person and if you've followed my painting at all you know its rare for me to pay my figures/victims many compliments. If I get things figured out I may replace with new photos.

Once again I based them individually with magnetic bottoms so they'll work for my preferred skirmish trifecta; British Grenadier skirmishers, Muskets and Tomahawks, and TFL's Sharpe Practice AWI. One nice thing about basing them individually and magnetic for British Grenadier is that when it comes to mounting them as 2's or 3's I can mix and match to either make them look more militia like or more like seasoned riflemen, etc.

 

 

Perry Mounted British Officer - AWI

This is the figure that accompanied the multi-box deal they had for their plastic British Infantry. I decided to paint him as a General that could slide into any number of roles on the wargaming table. There was an absence of button hole lace and after much trepidation I decided to take the risk and paint some in place. I'm not real happy with the result, but they'll pass on the game table. It had also been a long time since I painted a pure black horse and since I was already going to risk the lace I thought why not risk the black horse. I've got some work to do in the future when it comes to black horses, but this one will likewise pass on the game table.

Horse Color Charts

I'm sure most, if not all, of you have your favorite references for painting different horse colors. I've personally always enjoyed perusing the pages of an old horse encyclopedia for ideas. Today however, I did a search looking for anything new or different when I came across these charts. You may have already come across them yourself, but on the chance somebody is interested I thought I'd post them.
They were authored by this fellow.

Pinkertons

I picked up a couple packages of Artizan's Pinkertons from Brigade Games last month as they looked both fun to paint and they looked ideal for some much needed shading/highlighting practice via their overcoats. They also allowed me some experimentation with colors for said overcoats. Not to mention one of the hats was painted using the Foundry Middle Eastern Flesh triad.

• 1 & 4 - Both of these were painted using the Andrea Color black set. A full 6 shades, happy with the result for the most part, but could have probably cut out a step or two and had similar results...especially when working toward a wargaming standard paintjob.
• 2 - This one was painted using the Andrea Color white set while leaving out the final (whitest) color highlight.
• 3 - This is where things get a little...different. I started with GW Steel Legion Drab and then washed with Devlan Mud. The first highlight was a mix of GW Steel Legion and Tallarn Sand. Another highlight was a mix of GW Tallarn Sand and Vallejo Model Color Khaki. with the final highlights being a very thinned VMC khaki
• 5 - Here I begin with a base of Americana craft paint color "Fawn" and then applied a thinned wash of Army Painter Soft Tone Ink. I painted up the highlights beginning again with Fawn then working with a mix of Fawn and Reaper Stained Ivory, I worked the mixed from 3:1 to 1:1 to 1:3 for the remaining highlights.
• 6 - GW's Baneblade Brown laid the base for this final attempt. I also used a wash of Army Painter Soft Tone Ink on this one. The first highlights where made from mixing GW Baneblade Brown and Foundry Rawhide 11B. The final highlights were of Baneblade and Foundry Rawhide 11B and 11C.

When basing them I didn't want to go the usual dusty Tombstone like setting fitting for anything from the Southern Plains, Southwest or Northern Badlands areas. I wanted to go a more muddy route for all those mountain or Black Hills mining towns. The bases themselves for GF9 magnetic. I'm not sure if I like these as much as Litko as there is a lot of clean up and there is still is a distinctive seam on the side. The figures themselves were very nice to work with and I hope that my attempts didn't make a sow's ear out of a silk purse...

    

Not sure when I will be gaming the old west so I'm not sure if I'll keep these or put them up for sale in hopes of recouping enough to buy a pack of gladiators or maybe ww1 U.S. Marines.