Blogger seems to have made some changes and I had problems fuinding this - I guess because it's been so long since I posted. Hopefully to corrwect this, my French Napoleonic Army no longer consists of juust the single squadron of Carabinier in this pic. I now have a full regiment (four squadrons).

Finally posting again..........

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted anything for four and a half years!

A computer virus knocked out the software that enabled me to load pics from my old camera, and I haven't been able to find the disc to reload it. Plus, moving house and other "life" issues have also contributed.......but I have kept painting and have several new armies I can show off.

Hopefully, I will be able to return to regular posting soon. Currently I'm working on a Bronze Age Minoan/Mycenaean (Greek) army that can also contribute to my Sea Peoples army if needed. The figures aren't wuite ready to photograph yet, but I can include some of my existing Sea Peoples - the Peleset (blue hats) and Sherdan.

Amazons Vs Picts

Yes, I know I haven't written up the 100 Years War battle yet - that's still something to look forward to in the future.

This weekend, my Amazon women find their kingdom invaded by a bunch of marauding Picts. (Amazons deployed on the right in the above photo).

Though their homeland is hilly and pretty much covered in forest, the Amazon Queen (pictured above with her warband bodyguard) has decided to do battle in an open clearing, challenging the Picts to face them in open battle.

Currently, the Picts remain sheltered in the woods, with just the first few warriors emerging.

The Amazons, meanwhile, have deployed their full army and are waiting for the chance to fight. They have deployed their heavy cavalry on the right flank, and appear set to launch their main attack here, while using lighter troops to fend off any assault on their left.

We'll see how this turns out!

Battle Time!

I've had this table set up for a couple of months now intending to get a battle going on it, but so far no luck.

Hopefully, this week, that will change, as my 100 Years' War armies approach the village (English from the top left - the north-west - and the French from the bottom right - the south-east).

In pressing his claims for the French throne, the English king has landed in Normandy and now approaches Paris.

The French have hastily gathered an army to bring a stop to their progress, and plan to intercept the invaders before they reach the featured village (just above the bridge in the battlefield picture above), denying them access to vital supplies and shelter from the elements.

I'm expecting the main battle to be contested somewhere between the village and the far river, which the English must yet cross. With the two armies entering at opposite ends of the 12'x4' table, it's going to take a while for them to come to grips. Hopefully that will mean plenty of interesting maneuvering for position before the fighting begins in earnest.

My plan is to fight a few rounds each evening after work this week, and finish it off over the weekend (and hopefully find time to paint the last of my Huns too!) so I can have lots of lovely pics and a nice story for next Monday.

Have a nice week!

Ottoman Turk Light Cavalry

Not quite such a productive weekend painting this time around due to having to work Saturday, but I did manage to get most of the light cavalry for my Late Period Ottoman Empire painted up. Just a few more figures to buy and paint - hopefully should be finished within the next month.

For an earlier period army, I can borrow the horse archers I use for most of my Asian armies, from Achaemenid Persian through to Mongol Conquest, as they all pretty much look the same.

I'm looking forward to giving these guys a run real soon though.

Another Good Painting Weekend

Two weekends in a row......what I can achieve when I don't have to work Saturday overtime!

First up, my Ottoman Empire heavy cavalry is "finished".

Yes, I still have some unpainted figures left over that I might do later anyway, just to get them done. But I have what I need for an Ottoman army. (Light cavalry scheduled for attention next weekend!)

Lots of color, and it should look especially good when these guys go up against the Winged Hussars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. They also have historical enemies in the form of Germans, Muscovites (Early Russians) and Swedes waiting to test them out too. And I'm sure that by selecting figures from my Mongol and Indian armies, I might even be able to put together an historical Eastern Asian enemy for them to fight. So lots of options available.

And from the same period, but a different part of the world, more samurai artillery from the Sengoku Jidai (Japanese Civil War) period - this time for my "Blue Faction" army.

Whereas my Red Faction guns are simply barrels of guns mounted on boxes and bags, the Blue Faction has made their gun mobile by putting it on a wheeled carriage in a similar style to the European guns we are more used to. The barrels tended to be provided by the Western nations trying to get a foothold in Japan at the time, and supplying the various Japanese warlords with guns from their ships. The wheeled carriage was apparently more popular in the later years of the period - given that my Blue Faction is probably the most "westernized" of my six factions, I figured it was most appropriate for them to adapt the European style of mounting the gun.

My reading suggests that the samurai armies tended to use their artillery against fortifications rather than against enemy troops, but the guns provided seem a little small to make much of a dent in the walls of a well-built Japanese castle.

Oh well, we'll see how it all works out once the fighting begins!

Ottomans Turks Now Have Artillery

Also completed this weekend - the first four (of eight planned) guns for my Ottoman Turkish army.

These are the four lighter guns, more suitable for field operations. The remaining four are bigger, heavier pieces, more common in sieges, which don't feature much on the wargames table, but might provide an interesting "objective" for an enemy army trying to prevent the Turks bringing their big guns up for a siege.

This army really still needs more cavalry (and possibly infantry). I have enough to represent the Early Ottoman forces, (by borrowing horse archers from my other "Asian" armies - Mongols, Huns, maybe even Skythians) when they were initially building their empire, but not so much for the later years. Hopefully I can get the cavalry finished over the next week or two.

I've started using small "cotton balls" that I found in the crafts department at Walmart to indicate a gun has fired (this game turn) - representing the smoke from the blast. Hopefully that will save me trying to remember which guns are firing this turn and which aren't.

I'll probably also use them to mark the targets of the shot (the smoke from the explosion when the cannonball landed).

Maybe this will put more "action" into the photos I take of the battles?

Oh, and just a reminder of how colorful Ottoman cavalry is, take a look at these guys.....

I think I'll be able to get some pretty nice looking photos with them racing across the battlefield.