Shiny, shiny, shiny wings of Leather...

 Following on from my post a couple of weeks ago, I dug out some more Balrogs and demons to paint in a similar manner.

Left is one of my first ever figures, a Ral Partha demon. Right is a recently acquired Heritage mini, who looks particularly nasty.

Both Heritage I think. Left hand chap

 has definite Maurice Sendak vibes, I love his slight pigeon toed stance.

I can't do a group shot with the previous demons as they have been summoned to Oakbound Studios to take part in a game at BOYL.

Ral Partha Goblins

This picture of one of Joe Dever's battles shows a unit of Ral Partha Goblin archers from the 1977 Wizards Warriors and Warlocks range ( bottom left partially in view). I think this regiment was split up and repurposed in Joe's Giak army, but I want to recreate it pre-Lone Wolf. 

These must have been some of Joe's earlier figures as the original unit is based with flock ( now faded) , rather than Tetrion or Pollyfilla. He mentions the advantages of the latter over the former in one of his Tabletop Heroes articles in White Dwarf. I only have 2 of the original regiment from Joe's collection in its pre Giak guise.

 

  But I do have a lot of this range, which were some of the first figures I bought from Forever People in Bristol around 1980, so I mustered 30 for service.

Unfortunately some of these soft lead

 figures had been bashed about and had lost their helmet spikes, so I drilled holes and added fine brass rod.

I had to repair 10, a few of which are shown above.

These will be off to the basing filler queue before undercoating. The detail is so crude on these figures I decided not to bother stripping the ones that were already painted. 

Raising your hat

 I recently made the mistake of buying some Warlord musketeers on eBay, and I have to say I didn't think much of them when they arrived. I can't really place my finger on why I dislike them, but they just don't have the right 17c 'feel' that Redoubt or even the venerable Foundry range do.

The hats come separately, which doesn't make for a very realistic fit on the little bald heads the figures have, but my main beef is that all the hat crowns are far too shallow (imo) for the early 17c . I cracked open the milliput to rectify this

The new recruits with their extended hat crowns. I'll skim over the top with liquid green stuff .

This guy has a sort of shoulder cloak on. The end of his musket is flared like a blunderbuss...meh.

Presumably an ensign. The coat and hose are about 40 years apart and he has a little purse on a string over his shoulder. Not very gentlemanly for the 17c.

I'm not sure about this fellow. Fine detail but just something that doesn't ring true.

Better clothing, and nice to see someone actually loading their musket, but really... resting the butt on the ground when moving with a unit? 

Better...I quite like the early feel of this one, definitely been on campaign and again, nice to see a musketeer priming his pan .

That's more like it. Lose the full beard though..

Another moan is all the hats have feathers stuck in them. Not ostrich plumes which were readily available and cheap, but presumably pheasant feathers.

Good pose. Leaning into the musket. 

So a mixed bag. I don't think they sculptor really understands 17c clothing and drill like Brian Rigelsford of Redoubt, Steve Jones of Captain General or the Perrys. But fine detail and crisp castings. 

Conflicting Intelligence

I've had the mounted figures of this command base finished for a while, but have just completed the standing chap.

I wanted another command base to represent a non specific leader, and possibly a bit of a bungler.

Lost in the Mist.

The chap on foot I picked up from a rummage bin at Overlord earlier this year. The other two I bought new, but all are Redoubt figures. Foot man I imagine to be a gentleman volunteer fighting with a partizan....

The base can be used for 1600 up to 1642 so fairly flexible. I'll flock it once I've decided what mixture to use.

Blow Wind Blow Part3

 I've finished the windmill ( apart from applying flock to the base).

Overall I'm quite happy with it. The sails are a bit on the small side, but any longer and I think they would have been a hindrance to transport and storage.

I'll set some pictures up on a proper tabletop one day, but here it is on the unholy mess of my workbench.

A Bavarian pikeman lays claim to the mill on behalf of the Emperor.

I added a worn millstone from Debris of War .

The ladder and tiller came out fairly well.

I was pleased with the brickwork, painting a light colour to represent the mortar and then dry brushing brick red

I've just watched a very good video on

 YouTube about the siege of Leiden in 1573. The defenders moved windmills

 from outside the walls and reassembled

 them within to provide flour.

I'm just chopping up some coffee stirrers to make some artillery bases , so hopefully I'll be posting those soon.

The Gallows Tree

 While I was in the terrain making mood, and the primer on the windmill was drying, I knocked up a couple of pieces that would have been seen all over Europe in the 17c.

Here are a couple of examples of paintings with gallows evident, and if course there's the well known Magpie on the gallows by Breughel.

Here's my version so far.

There is a bit more of a twist on them than is visible in this picture, just to show the warped wood as in the last painting above.

Also a leaning crucifix. 

Hopefully these will add some flavour to the 17c tabletop.

Blow Wind Blow Part2

 I've finished all the modifications to the windmill kit, so it's ready for priming.

I added more bits of balsa to the sails as I thought they still didn't look organic enough.

Front and rear 

and the 'axle' end was made from the end of an old paintbrush.

The ladder, tiller and tilting mechanism are completed.

I then coated all the additions with Modpodge for extra strength and to hopefully disguise any visible printing ridges.

I was pleased to discover this was a common design in England as well as Northern Europe, so it will be usable in ECW games too. Ready to undercoat now. I'll attach the sails after painting, and add a few extra details.

Finally Sunrise from the Growlery (my mancave ) window this morning.