More Mythic Greeks - Oracle and Bubo the Owl

I've just finished the Oracle model from Crocodile Games Wargods Of Olympus Kickstarter for my Mythical Greek warband for Dragon rampant. 

I love this model and I really enjoyed painting it! She will join Helen of Troy in my magic user unit along with 6 hoplites that have just been undercoated. One thing I've noticed with these 'supposed to be beautiful' female figures is that they don't photograph well with close-ups as my paint job makes them look anything but beautiful!! They look far better at normal gaming distance... Anyway, here are some pics of the oracle and a couple of her with Helen. 

Also, those of a certain age will recall the little mechanical owl from the original Clash of the Titans movie that I've added to the oracle's base and that also came with my Kickstarter...

Preparing for Infamy Infamy

I'm quite excited  by the pending release of 'Infamy, Infamy', the ancients rules from Too Fat Lardies and am busy sorting through my old WAB Caesarian Roman models to repurpose them for these rules. The first job was to rebase some 'big men' - Centurions, Optios, higher-ranking officers and allied leaders. The Centurions and Optios are on 30mm rounds and the higher-ranking chaps are on 40mm. No idea yet how many I'll need, so I've just done Centurions and Optios for each set of shield designs I have in the collection.

I still need to do a Gallic cavalry leader, so have bought a sprue of Victrix models.

My army was originally based on the army that Sulla took into Greece to take on Mithridates of Pontus (you know how I loved to theme my WAB forces) so I'm trying to use it as-is without buying loads of new minis as, due to lack of work, I'm not blessed with spare cash these days.

Here's what I have done so far to rebase the leaders: These first two are an Aventine Etruscan Centurion and a converted Foundry Caesarian Roman Optio (like all the Optios, converted with a couple of feathers that broke off some A&A Samnites I'd stored carelessly!)

 This next pair are both Foundry models...

 ...as are these.

 This chap will lead my allied Chaironean Thureophoroi (proxy Spanish Caetrati, as there's no options for allied Greeks as far as I know...)

 This fella below is an old GW Dogs of War character with his helmet crest re-positioned and with a Victrix Republican Roman shield.

 The mounted fella is an A&A Carthaginian General.

Mythic Greeks for Dragon Rampant pt 1 Crocodile Games' Helen of Troy

A bit of  change of theme today. Here is the first model in my Mythic Greek force. This is the Kickstarter exclusive Helen of Troy model from Crocodile Games, for their Wargods of Olympus range. My whole force will be built from their Athenians that I bought in the Kickstarter. 

This model will be part of a Heavy Foot unit with one of the magic-user options. I'm currently painting the Oracle model to go with Helen and have 6 Hoplites undercoated ready to join her. 

This model was a real test of my technique (mid-tone base coats over a light undercoat, Army painter Strong Tone dip, Dullcote, highlight with original mid-tone and light tones) as it's difficult getting female flesh right without extensive blending, which I don't do. Still, I'm pleased with how she turned out... The close-ups don't really do her face justice - she looks far more beautiful when the camera isn't on macro setting!! 

Indian Mutiny Project - the Rebel Raja of Rhanipur's Citizen Matchlock Men

Another unit completed for the (fictional) Raja of Rhanipur's army for my Indian Mutiny project. This is a unit of citizen matchlock men. The figures are by Mutineer Miniatures. I kept up the colour scheme from the Baluchis I previously posted, so yellow, purple and pale blue are the theme colours. In reality, these men would have worn civilian native dress, but keeping the theme colours on them keeps the force looking cohesive on the table top as well as adding that splash of Hollywood technicolour that I'm so fond of.

Next up, the first company of HM 95th foot...

TMWWBK Indian Mutiny - The Raja Of Rhanipur's Mercenary Baluchi Matchlock Men

Here is the first unit for the Indian Mutiny rebel forces. These are Mercenary Baluchi tribesmen serving in the Raja of Rhanipur's private army in his Baluchi Battalion. They are Foundry models from the Darkest Africa range. They'll be Irregular Infantry, with antiquated musket (matchlocks) and poor shots (representing low rate of fire) but I'll upgrade their fighting stat to 5+ due to the fact that the Baluchis were fierce raiders and these models have huge and hulking great tulwars and little bucklers. They'll not be a lot of use against British/Company regulars in open battle, but they'll be tougher to shift if holding a prepared position in any scenario where the British/Company are attacking.

I wanted the three units of the Raja's personal army to be quite brightly uniformed to contrast with the mass of sepoy rebels who'll mostly be clad in off-white, so I chose yellow, purple and pale blue as they are pleasing enough together. However, I had no idea how bloody awful Foundry Bright Yellow is as a colour. It went on ok as a base coat over the white undercoat, but didn't take the dip wash well and was a nightmare to highlight due to low pigment strength. Still, after a huge battle, I managed to get them to look half-decent, so they'll do. They look ok at table-top distance and the bright colours will look good on a big 6x6 table if and when we take this project to a wargame show.

Next up: Rhanipur Citizen Matchlockmen 

Change of Focus - TMWWBK Indian Mutiny Project Finally Launched!

Well, I'm stuck in for a week all on my own-some with a temperature and a bit of a cough (joy!) and as it's all pretty mild thus far, I've been busy painting. I needed a break from chopping up Plastics for Elves and I've been reading a book on the Indian Mutiny so I dragged my sorry carcass up the loft and got out the Indian Mutiny figures I bought 5 years ago and made a start.
As always with TMWWBK, I have a factual basis for my games but a fictional setting, so I'm obviously in the 1857 Mutiny, but in the fictional campaign to subdue the rebel Raja of Rhanipur (back-story to come later).
The British East India Company force is build around two companies of the 53rd Foot simply because I wanted some troops in red and the picture in the old Osprey book (below) really drew me in.

The trickiest bit was that this regiment have red facings on their scarlet tunics so finding the right reds was paramount. Luckily, Foundry Scarlet is perfect for the facings and their Light Red is perfect for the tunics. The lighting has washed out the colour a bit on the pics below but I can assure you the choices are as bang on as you can get. 

The models are Mutineer miniatures. Lovely sculpts. The only snag is that the sculptor (Mike Owen?), while brilliant at these advancing poses, is incapable of doing decent firing poses. So the next unit, which is a firing line, aren't quite as good on the pose front, but they'll paint up well enough. The rest of my British EIC force is Iron Duke miniatures which are universally superb, if very slightly smaller than the Mutineer figures. 

Anyway, here is the first company of the 53rd Foot. Painting is my usual method that you all know well enough by now. The Army Painter Strong Tone dip is perfect for the Mutiny as it gives everything a slightly 'dirty' feel with these reds and off-whites.

Next up, the Raja of Rhanipur's Baluchi Mercenary Battalion...

Mablung's Bodyguard

Busy time at work and a nasty back injury have resulted in less work on my Elves than I'd have liked, but I have now completed Mablung's bodyguard unit. They'll be Elite Foot in Dragon Rampant. Mablung himself will be worth 3 strength points and each of his guards will be worth 1, so a 4 model unit can equate to full 6 strength points the unit needs. I do this a lot with hero units. I now only have 5 axe-armed Elves to build and the whole Doriath force will be complete and ready for painting...