Odds and Sods painting.

 

Been busy finishing off a few painting projects , first up some English sword and bucklermen for my 'Close Wars' - Pilgrims versus Native Americans , for some reason the English seem to have reverted to these troops to counter the Indians in hand to hand fighting. The figures are 28mm Flint and Feather range from Crucible Crush .

And to oppose them some Native Americans again from the Flint and Feather range. 

These plastic tents have been hanging around for ages and I've just found some offcut MDF pieces on a neighbours skip and so I've glued them down and textured the bases and finally got them painted , they will do for objective markers on the tabletop , they are Rendra plastics.

A Skullking Waye Of Warre.

 

Been playing around with the Featherston "Close War" rules and slightly adapted them for the earlier period and the first clashes between the Natives and Settlers/Explorers in the early 17th cent.. I have made the Matchlock Muskets more powerful (the Indians couldn't wait to get their hands on them) but slower to use than bows and allowed for the armour worn by the Europeans . Very much a work in progress - no morale yet - perhaps Natives retire when they loose 33% of their force and the Europeans 50% ? (click on photo to enlarge)

A problem solved and a bit of whimsy .

So my new screen for the computer arrived this morning very promptly and  we are back up and running . To celebrate this I've taken a few pictures of my 25mm Miniature Figurines which I use for my Featherstone 'Close Wars' rules . Newly varnished a patrol of Rogers Rangers set out lead by an Indian scout (who we hope is reliable)

An Indian scout reports back to a French Officer and some Canadian Militia  , not the same Indian I must add so no treachery afoot !.

A group of Woodsmen / Settlers , these have been painted a while but their first photo shoot I think . I've got just a few more figures to paint in this project , so hopefully will get them done soon .

 

A few more Shinys

 

I've had a few figures awaiting a coat of gloss varnish after my last tin finally died on me , due to the present pandemic I've not been going into town much but I had to have a flu jab so whilst in there I called into my local DIY store and got a new can . Here is a Hellenyk Republican General , he's a Irregular 40mm Deutsche Homage , I also took the opportunity of the absence of the dog to photograph him outdoors .

I also varnished some 25mm Minifigs for my Featherstone 'Close Wars' . Here we see (Left to Right) Chingachgook , Hawk-eye and Uncas on the lookout for Magua .

'He's behind you !' - Magua the villain from The Last of the Mohicans  , again a 25mm Miniature Figurine . I've got a few more of these to finish off and they are due a return to the gaming table soon .

Close Wars , The Battle .

The British main force moves onto the table .

The Frontiersmen cover the flanks .

The first casualty ! .

The Rangers take cover .

The Light Infantry take the high ground .

The Indians are alerted and move onto the table .

The French Militia hold up the British advance .

The Regulars deploy and fire a devastating volley ! .

The position is overrun and the British push on .

The Indians sneak up on some  of the isolated British .

The French Infantry arrive but it's to late , sad to say at this point as the battle hotted up I got carried away and forgot to take photos . The British caused 50% casualties on the French before the bulk of the reinforcements arrived and so won the game being able to exit the table without any serious interference . A good quick game with just a few figures on a small table .

A 'Close Wars' Scenario .

My wife has been on holiday this week so we have been taking the dog for various long walks and returning damp, muddy and knackered , so there has been no painting done and little gaming . However I thought I would set up a small quick non-demanding game using Featherstone's rules for 'Close Wars' .

A 4'x4' table , the British come on the right top corner and have to exit bottom left . They must do this with 50% of their force . 

The British force of 12 Regulars , 6 Light Infantry , 4 Rangers , 4 Frontiersmen and 3 Officers move onto the table through a narrow gorge.

They fan out when they reach the open ground , the Frontiersmen keep a sharp eye open for 'injuns' ! .

The French have a small force of militia guarding the route hidden in some ruined buildings . they also have a couple of small patrols of Red Indians on the table .

The French reinforcements of 6 Regulars , 2 units of Red Indians and a Officer . These will arrive on the table when they are alerted by gunfire and the roll of a dice will decide where and when they turn up.

French Allied Indians sneak about the tabletop on the look out for 'white eyes' .

Not the wilds of North America - Mrs K in the wilds of Grisedale Forest in the Lake District . Report of the game to follow ......

A Skulking Way Of War.

I haven't got all the figures paint yet for this project but I decided to have a go with what I have ready. The British force - Captain Morgan and 8 men of the 60th Royal Americans , Lt Featherstone with 6 men of Gage's Light Infantry and 4 frontiersmen .

The French force - Captain Camembert  and 8 men of the Regiment Rousillon and 13 Red Indian allies. The French mission is to get half their force from one side of the board to the other , the British is to prevent this.

The Royal Americans under Capt. Morgan advance through the heavily wooded terrain . As I was playing solo I diced for the entry positions of the various groups and drew cards - red for British , black for the French to activate the units .

Two of the Frontiersmen creep forward cautiously .

The British fire a volley at some hidden Frenchmen - killing one .

The Redskins dash forward to break through the British line .

The 'Long Carbine' speaks !

A quick update on my wet palette , it seems to be working very well and apart from a accidental spillage of grey paint is very satisfactory . The only thing I've noticed is that certain colours ( mainly metallic )seem to need stirring as the pigments separate somewhat .

Playsheet for 'Close Wars'.

Hope this makes sense - not a lot to them .

Redskins !.

I haven't got as many of these figures done this week as I would have hoped , 'real' life being the dominant factor .

They are very easy to paint , none of this modern creases and advanced moulding - but they have a charm of their own . Planning to crack on with the rest of the figures and knock up a play sheet for the rules this week .

Early Sunday Morning.

I got the figures based up and ready for spraying and so 'earlyish' on Sunday morning having fed the hens and dog - and taken my wife a cup of tea in bed I decided to spray them black - not ideal conditions - rather frosty ! .

Of course you need the proper gear for this sort of thing - carpet slippers and dressing gown .

Hugo came to see what was going on - and promptly left when I started shaking the spray can ! .

The leaders of the two forces , the French Officer on the left the British on the Right .

Once sprayed I quickly took them inside to let them dry , my wife came downstairs and said "what's that funny smell ?", oops ! thought she was still in bed !?.

Wallowing in Nostalgia .

I've been looking at Featherstone's 'Close Wars' rules and wondering about them , he suggests you only need about two dozen figures a side , Hmm ! - I have a thing about Old Schools rules - you need O.S. figures for it to look right .

I was looking through some boxes of figures sorting them out for melting down and I came across these , Mini Figs Seven Years War figures , rather cute ! . The only trouble was no French or Indians .

I sat down with a cup of tea and biscuits and had a think about it ! . I like projects with a limit to them and this would only need about fifty figures of which I had about half already .

You can see how I was talking myself into this ! . Sooooooo - I sent an order off to Caliver Books who do Mini Figs now and this arrived very promptly today . So I have spent the evening cleaning the figures up (very clean castings , hardly any flash at all), I am going to base them on pennies - I have a large box full of these which many of my Napoleonic were based on and scraping the remaining base texture took most of the time .

Some of Redskins based up ready for spraying tomorrow morning . I will paint them up in a Old School style and give them a couple of coats of gloss varnish . Better photos to follow .