Wild thing, you make my heart sing…

 Or to be more accurate Wild Man. Been working on these figures today-

This splendid set of two figures is based on this-

“ The fight in the forest” by Hans Burgkmair.

They were a joy to paint and are lovely miniatures. The armoured figure is 28mm with the Wild man being larger.

Wild men pop up in lots of art -

Including the Danish Coat of Arms as below-

Glossed and ready for flocking

 With the sound of the Test in my ears l finally got 99% of my 15th Century French Ordonnance DBM Army ( all that is left to finish are the Minifigs and there are only six of them) gloss varnished and ready to flock tomorrow-

Gloss varnish, you might ask, what else l might say! I am not a huge fan of flocked basing but I am proceeding with it as that is how my Burgundian opponents were based by their owner. As we speak a litre of pva is on its way…

The French artillery are from Duc Phillipe D’Olly who painted them, based them and most generously gave them to me many years ago. Thanks Phil, they will hopefully take to the wargaming table finally!

Go East

 Wee trip to St Andrews cut short by the arrival of rain..

A deserted beach with few visitors due to the weather.

Before hand we asked the guy serving our table about the size of the pancakes , he wildly underestimated hence the arrival of portions neither of us could finish.

Dramatic sky sound to be replaced with black clouds approaching from all sides.

An inviting path leading straight from the beach to housing.

Interesting old timber at the side of the river near where it flows into the sea.

Board gaming in the USA…

 G & I set up a strategic game based on the ACW including military, naval, political and economic aspects. Today was a trial run and first look at the mechanics. Complicated, interesting and with a lot to think about, we barely got one turn finished. So it’s back to reading the rules and reflecting on today. Due to circumstances the next game won’t be for a few weeks.

Put out more flags etc

 The other day saw me flagging, not in the sense of exhaustion but rather more in terms of paper and glue-

Most came from the instruction sheets that come with the Perry Plastic boxes of figures. I have decided that a fifteenth century French Ordonance vibe is what l would go for rather than slavish authenticity. I also decided that I would not spend on new flags. If you can’t be with the flags you love, love the ones you have. Any way they work for me. Secondly l looked at the relative height of Minifigs and Perry-

With a double height base I think these old veterans will serve well . They will be mounted on a single base with frontage of sixty millimetres and depth of forty millimetres. One glorious old school element of uncontrolled chivalry with heads firmly looking to the past…

Unapologetically Old School

 I got these recently-

The knights are Minifigs and were bought because I liked them and because I felt they might have a use in some portable fantasy gaming. However plans have changed. I am currently trying to complete a 15th century French army for dbm. Yesterday saw a most successful session taking the project forward. This morning I checked points values and army size . I needed two elements of feudal knights ( to be irr Kn(I) and double based , for those interested) who , in my mind anyway, wear out of date armour and are less controllable when their blood is up! So that’s what these venerable figures will be used for. Not 100% historically accurate but who cares,I certainly don’t. Looking forward to getting started on them…

Secondly l bought these broken semi flat/ flat trees to renovate and repair. I’m looking for ideas of how to get them sorted out and table top ready. Particularly l am not sure how best to proceed with adding extra foliage and what to make it out of. All ideas greatly appreciated.

Update

 Morning all. I have been busy since my last post . Normal life gets in the way of hobby matters at times not to mention black dog battling. Anyway things are progressing well on the plastic mountain front-

The ACW figures are patiently waiting for their bases to arrive and they are on hold until then. I have been sorting out flags for the fifteenth century French as well as collecting together sprues. My command elements are moving forward. One represents the King surrounded by his armoured Scots Guard archers whist the other is made up of three heavily armoured knights.

I have based the knights along with their followers for colour and variety. They fight under dbm rules as Kn (S) . On the bottom right hand of the screen you can see the Old Glory militia archers kindly given to me by Ronnie . They will represent Franc Archers on the table. These archers were given tax exemption in exchange for training and service. They had the reputation of not being particularly good. Under dbm they are Bw (I) and it was said at the time they were only able to kill chickens! For this reason I will put a model chicken on some of the bases.

Finally something different l have been working on-

Rocks from the garden glued on to mdf bases, fish off eBay also glued onto mdf and the “big fish” in the background is a cut down soy sauce plastic fish from a sushi set. Cut in half he works not too badly. I will reveal what this is about soon.

Finally my painting has been accompanied by the Civil War Podcast which is excellent and has guided me through the political and social background leading up to the ACW. Just reached the episodes on Fort Sumter. On television l have been enjoying the Tour de France coverage greatly. It has given me a yen to visit the Alps in summer again. I went there in my youth with my folks once or twice. Enthusiastically looking up holidays they do seem very expensive…