Chariot Madness

 I'm not even sure how I ended up with these 4 (FOUR???!!) Essex Scythed Chariots - it's a figure/model that many people will own and recognise, and I have had these sat around undercoated yet unpainted for years as I have a couple of more robust chariots from an unknown manufacturer that I use for Scythed Chariots in my Hellenistic armies anyway.

But, with the sun almost shining and a need to make space in the Bisley drawers for some new armies the lead pile has been taking some paints to see if I can turn unpainted projects into eBay fodder - and these are the next in line. 

This guy was painted mostly pale blue, using Talassar Blue Contrast as a final "wash" coat. The scale leather armour is Skeleton Horde over shite undercoat, as are the horses

This one was a base of yellow, with Iyanden Yellow Contrast as a wash  

I'm almost tempted to keep them now - or perhaps I'll do some "wallpaper" for the final two and keep them instead! 

Medieval Apocalypse - in 10mm !

 Listeners to the Podcast may have heard me mention some 10mm Barons wars-type medieval 10mm miniatures a few times, as Ryan from Apocalypse Mini's was kind enough to send me a few samples. 

I've not really got a plan to build a 10mm army, so they have languished a little in the lead pile, but finally I came up with a plan to potentially use them as game counters for some very lightweight Medieval board games which came as part of a Battlegames book about "Knights at War" which I've owned since I was a kid - it probably helped propel me into actual wargaming if I'm honest, so whilst the games are pretty flimsy I have a lot of affection for them even now.

There's a mix of foot spearmen, mounted knights and retainers, all of which I've done in basic Contrast paints and then based up on 15mm rounds - ideal to act as 3D game counters

Not bad at all!     Now... I wonder what other games I can use them for... maybe I need to buy Kingmaker, and then a few more of these figures... aaarrgh!! 

Ottomania!

 Just before Christmas (and the "B" word..) I placed an order with Guiseppe of Legio Heroica in Italy for a number of different figures to round out several armies.

The biggest batch were Ottomans, allowing me to transform my existing 15mm "Generic Arabs" into a convincing-enough Ottoman force - and now a mere 5 months later I've managed to get them finished.

These are from the Siege of Vienna range, but other than a few easily-overlooked pistols in holsters on the commanders figures they look just fine to my untrained eye for the Elite Sipahi's of the Ottoman Medieval army

They will be the two units of Impact Bow Elite cavalry in the army list, whether they do technically have an embedded General or not.

As they were the Elites, I painted the lancer figures up in uniform red. 

These are regular Sipahi - these two units are almost totally unarmoured, so can play as Medium Cavalry if asked.  The main colours are done with GW contrast paints for extra depth and a silky-effect.

The spears on all of these are bristles from a brush-head I bought some months ago, having read about it on wargaming forums for decades but never quite believing it. Trust me, it works and is a lot cheaper than buying spears commercially! 

These are all wearing chainmail, so are Heavy Cavalry in ADLG world. 

From the back you can see the distinctive red and white headgear

There's also a base of LH - I really should have bought a couple more, but some Arab horsemen will just have to turn out for the LH troop I suspect. 

 

ADLGv4 Changes - reviewed on Madaxeman.com

With Version 4 of ADLG now hitting doormats across the globe, Herve (the author) has just published a summary of the main changes between v3 and v4 on the ADLG website.

I've therefore taken the liberty of creating my own commentary on the changes - which you can find on my website here

I'm sure this will generate even more activity on the ADLG Facebook Group - it all seems pretty positive so far!

WW2 Germans - the full set

 More than a year after picking up some new 10mm tanks from Red3 at the PAW show in Plymouth, I've finally finished the daunting project of re-doing my WW2 10mm German forces, all with a coherent, hand-painted 3-tone cammo scheme.  

I've also uploaded all of these to the 10mm Gallery on my website: 

Puma, from Arrowhead - a stunningly detailed multi-part metal kit

Dragon King Tiger, with Arrowhead tank riders. I left their faces un-inked to make them pop a little more at this small scale. 

Arrowhead Tiger 1's - another stunning model

Pendraken Wirbelwind

Pendraken (I think?) Quad AA 

Pithead Diana. I know they were only used in the desert, but I ordered this one by accident and hey, one 'might' have been cobbled together and saved for later...? 

Nashorn from Minifigs. 

Arrowhead StuG with tank riders

Front view. 

Theree StuGs. From left to right, Arrowhead new kit, Pendraken old casting with Arrowhead barrel, Arrowhead now-discontinued one-piece model 

Old & new Arrowhead StuGs

Red3 PzIV  Really clean two piece casting (turret and "the rest")

Arrowhead PzIV with no Shurzen

Butlers Printed Models Steyr truck. A lot of printing lines on these which the cammo just about hides at wargaming distances.

Dragon pre-paint JagdTiger. The barrel melted when I was stripping the old paint job, so I bodged together a rather unappealing substitute.

Arrowhead 88. Something like 2.3 million pieces in this kit - but worth it!

Arrowhead and Pendraken 88's side by side

Pendraken Pak40. Crew could be anyones - I  mixed them up 

Pithead (I think?) 105mm infantry support gun

Slightly enhanced Dragon pre-paint Panther

Spinning StuG

The rest of the Germans are on this blog already

And, finally, a video of these and more photos and turntable clips as well:

Full Thracian Jacket

I've posted the individual units before, but here's a few pictures of the complete Thracian army all together.

They are almost all Xyston for the foot and generals, and Museum for the mounted troops. The only exceptions are that a few of the LF javelinmen are Corvis Belli gallic youths. 

Xyston can sometimes be really distinctive in style, but I think the Museum mounted look absolutely find set against them here.