Public Enemies and Friends

Long time since the following miniatures were painted. Basing was an issue, and I decided to show them (as all figures seen on this blog) only after the final touches were done, just to keep myself motivated.
Obviously, these miniatures are meant to appear in a 'Pulp' setting, i.e. against the background of the "Roaring Twenties". Originally meant to tell stories of all kinds of gangsters, private eyes, cops, villains and heroes, there are also close links to adventure games (think of Indiana Jones) or Cthulhu-setting. I've planned to connect some of these aspects in a single series of games to be played in the forseeable future.

I started with some stereotypes, which make for an easy introduction into setting and story. First there's this infamous pair: Hardy "Twisted Heart" Olivier and his twin brother "Strange" Lorel.


Born from an old French dynasty exiled back in revolutionary days to the West Indies they became employed by one of the countless East Coast gangster bosses. Although at times rather... eccentric - maybe a hereditary problem - the Oliviers are said to be rising stars in the Unites States' ever changing underworld.
Any similarity to contemporary comedy duos is purely coincidental.


Adding flavour, I painted some city slickers, too. These men could be harmless passersby, helpful bystanders or even bad-tempered collaborators. Who knows?


The man with the white hat is a resemblance of the original Caribbean setting of my campaign. The 'Tintin lookalike' started his career on my painting desk as a wannabe Clark Gable watching from the stairs of his estate. Both were eventually pressed into service as streetcrowd. Perhaps one day I will rebase them.


Not yet decided which side to join, this young lady is dressed to fit into any surrounding, be it city streets or desert sites. In our last (fun) game she was introduced as Bolly Duster (not the best wordplay ever, admittedly), mistress of the Oliviers' boss. Maybe truth, might be disguise...


Note: I'm aware that beverage cans were introduced not before the 1930's; but maybe this girl is on the trail of something here...?


Where evil lurks there has to be a contender for peace and justice as well. Therefore I added these two policemen to my collection. They immediately appealed to me because of their seemingly differents tempers: There's this friendly veteran officer, cooled down by experience of countless razzias against organised crime; on the other side: his younger partner, a bit too enthusiastic for the older man's taste. A perfect pair?


My guide were contemporary NYPD uniforms. I used a dark blue undercoat and added highlights with blue grey (from Foundry's Napoleonic British range). It's not the exact tone, a bit too blue, but on the other hand I didn't want it to look rather dull on the table.


Finally, every gangster / adventurer soon or later needs wheels. These two beauties were purchased at Ebay and are from a model range by Matchbox called "Yesteryears". They are perfectly in scale when paired with average 28mm models, and they actually don't need a repaint. I tried it just to get away from their 'shiny toy' appearance, but I really don't know if it was worth the effort.


Anyway, now I'm humming about appropriate terrain. As said before, the original plan was to stage a pure adventure campaign. After seeing other people's ventures into this genre, and by basing the miniatures on 'urban' stands, I'm quite keen on building urban canyons and backyards as well. Storage problems hurray!

Miniatures by Copplestone Castings and Matchbox, painted spring to autumn 2009.

AWI: A View to a Kill

A minor update today, but nevertheless an important one methinks. Once someone commented on a forum that "dead bodies enliven every gaming board". Sounds a bit grim, and I'm absolutely no fan of gory effects or 'realistic' representation of actual battle events, but for all that there's a deeper meaning. We all love to push our painfully painted miniatures around on well-crafted, realistic looking terrain (okay, most of us do). Only if it gets down to keeping track of morale status or casualties, we simply put lots of coloured chits or dice onto the table - and the whole effort is spoilt somehow.
Therefore (and for being a sucker for diorama bits, of course) I decided to use sculpted markers as soon as possible. So, here's the first pair:


Fortunately, the Perrys have taken care and have added casualty packs to all of their ranges. That spared some thinking and humming - put them on a base, and you're done. At least, after you've decided which format to use.


I've gone for an octogon, because it's most versatile. Admittedly, the idea was stolen from Martin at Befreiungskriege (a big thank you to SW-fellow Phobos for the advice!). I've altered it only a bit by not using pre-cut bases, adding 18th century font numbers (no visible change, I'm afraid) and by scaling down the bases so that they fit better with my 40x40mm bases.
Here are two examples how the markers can be used:

1) Counting casualties before removing a base.

2) Displaying the number of lost bases/miniatures.

You may have noticed that I painted the uniforms according to the regiments (of the line) in my collection. I'm planning to add at least one marker for every new unit as they come along. Furthermore there are some more ideas for other markers (morale status being the foremost) shaping - however, more input from my dear readers is most welcome!

Painted in September/October 2009. Models by Perry Miniatures.

AWI: 55th Regiment of Foot

Okay, understood, you came here for looking at miniatures - no wishy-washy chat, no bad excuses any more! Just miniatures. And here we are, back on track. After much ado and fiddling with bases and stuff I've finished another regiment for the AWI. No skirmishers, no foreigners, no generals, but some ordinary footsloggers of the 55th:


Once more, they are wearing the informal Southern dress as I want this campaign look for all my (British) AWI-forces. Here the soldiers are portrayed without their coats (in contrast to my version of the 28th Foot), which gives them a Light Infantry appearance.


That's also why I could use the "hatmen" as lined up Light Infantry by simply exchanging the command base. Well, some experts might take offence at the white belts and the regimental lace (which I painted although the sculpting wasn't clear in this point).


The 55th was assembled for service at the Scottish border (hence their nickname 'Cattle Reavers') in 1755. Since 1775 it was commanded by Gen. James Grant and saw some action during the American war, in particular taking part in the "Paoli Massacre" (September 20th 1777).


Therefore I gave them red plumes, a distinction worn by the men of the 46th, also involved in this famous skirmish. But that's a purely conjectural analogy.
However, if you want to know more: There's an detailed historical overview on the recreated regiment's website.


The miniatures were a great fun to paint. I simply love the mixed bag of uniform pieces and casual dress - you might have espied already the drummer in striped trousers. Poor guy, his comrade attending Gen. Grant obviously got the better part.
Regarding the figures themselves: Again, awesome detail and expressive modelling without becoming a caricature. The firing models are a bit fiddly, but be assured: you actually cannot cripple those Perry sculpts even by hasty paintjobs. Hopefully the detail shots give you an idea.


I plan to add at least one base to the regiments finished so far to bring them 'to required strength' for playing games with the Rank & File rules. This is by now my favorite system as it doesn't require too many miniatures per unit and extra-big tables (like recommended for all new Black Powder). Unfortunately, for both I don't have time and space.


Anyway, with the 55th I've achieved my aim of painting another regiment of the line. No later than at the end of this year I'll stage a little parade of what has been assembled for the AWI so far. Obviously, in the end this conflict/period got me hooked.

Painted in September/October 2009. Models by Perry Miniatures, additional stuff by GMB (flags) and Front Rank (tassels).

A New Home

Believe it or not, a sign of life on this blog. After much ado I've finally managed to put up my desk and started actual painting again. Not that I have that much spare time these days - a new city, a new job, all the things one needs to get accustomed to. Whatever, I don't want to bother you with my apologies and alibies - I hope to take the promised pictures any time soon. For now, maybe as an appetizer, here's the setup:


Admittedly, I'm very happy with my new 'working place', as it has a lot of natural light, and it doesn't take ages to get the essentials ready: Paints and basing materials are stowed in the boxes in the background; the station itself can be deposited on a nearby rack. I'm still experimenting with the setup and adding features, but generally it's done.

For those not too sharp-sighted: I'm in the process of finishing the last models for my second regiment of British regulars for the AWI. However, the next heap (Hessian infantry) has just arrived - we'll see if they can get right out of the box and onto my desk.

On the move

A quick note justifying the recent lack of updates: I'm moving house, so my wargaming stuff is packed and ready for lift-off. Fingers crossed, that the collection will survive the process unharmed. Hopefully, as soon as things begin to settle down again, I will be able to post pictures of my latest work - i.a. Pulp, AWI and Antiquity. Please, dear visitors, stay tuned! :-)

Gently down the stream

To cut a long story short: Here's another entry featuring Napoleonic troops for our Sharpe & Aubrey games. This time I tried to stage a little levée en masse, that is painting two small units instead of single miniatures in a set time frame (1 week). Fellows who can build up an army litterally overnight may laugh at my trial, but I'm proud that I managed to do it. Now I have quite enough troops to stage the (hopefully) gran finale of our campaign. We will be using Triumph & Tragedy, a quite innovative rule set for bigger to large skirmish games (perhaps comparable to Sharp Practice in size).

So, here's the first bunch, five British Light Infantrymen and two Rifles:


The riflemen are once again Perry plastics (with the former ones I've build all variations of this kit), the Light Bobs are Foundry. Although the Perrys' style has changed - and improved - a lot since they worked for Foundry, I've to admit that even their earlier Napoleonics are looking still up to date.
As you can see, the rifles are of the 95th (of course!), and the Lights are painted as soldiers of Sharpe's imaginary regiment, the South Essex.


They are joined by a landing party, built up from Foundry's small Napoleonic seamen range. First I was disappointed by the physiognomy of these figures; some of them look rather distorted.

On the other hand their expressive (or better: aggressive) faces and poses just fit the bill. At last, these are angry sailormen, ready for boarding and beating the devil out of some Frenchmen...


Fantasy was my guide when painting the uniforms (one seems to have looted an army depot), since my Osprey books are already packed up for I'm currently moving house. That's also why I cannot post as regularly as I want to. Fortunately, painting is going well, so there are already some updates in the line, when things will be settled down again.

Models by Perry Miniatures and Wargames Foundry, painted in July 2009 (terrain by Grand Manner or scratch-built by me).

Todo va revuelto

In order to continue our skirmish campaign inspired by the works of Patrick O'Brian & Bernard Cornwell, I had to paint some Spanish guerrilleros. Fortunately, the Perrys provided me with appropriate miniatures, taken from their Carlist range.


Guerrilla (literally 'small war') tactics weren't an invention of the Peninsular Wars. However, as the main form of resistance against the French occupation of Spain the guerrilla made its lasting impact on warfare. By blurring the boundaries of civilians and combattants it also led to a high degree of cruelties on both sides - depicted in Goya's disturbing drawings Los desastres de la guerra (The Disasters of War).


Although, in fact, there were more than a few bandits and other dark figures around, the guerrilleros are mostly depicted as proud Spaniards fighting for the just cause of national self-determination. Be that as it may, I chose the somewhat heroicized image (also seen in the Sharpe novels) for my guerrilla gang.
I tried to give them an appearance of civilians hastily equipped from different sources. For example, muskets with white straps and black pouches with white belts could have been borrowed from military funds, both French and British ones; other men are even wearing clothes propably made from uniforms or obscure foreign supplies...


As a common distinction I painted their sashes spotless white, as a reference to the Bourbon king of Spain, the deposed Ferdinand VII. I have absolutely no clue, if such colours/things were ever worn by Spanish guerrilleros - but I found it quite appropriate looking. Please feel free to advise me in this matter.


At last, I apologise for the shiny miniatures; I ran out of my accustomed matt varnish, and had to improvise a bit. Under normal circumstances one wouldn't even notice a difference, but the daylight lamp I'm using is quite relentless.

I will add a link here as soon as our report of these miniatures' first game is put online.

Models by Perry Miniatures, painted in May/June 2009 (terrain by Grand Manner or scratch-built by me).