Orc Mystic Warrior 1

 Hi! As the older readers of this blog already know, I sometimes paint Rackham figures (see here), that are much taller (32mm) than the usual 1/72 figures on display in these pages.

I left this range aside for years, but I started to paint some at the beginning of 2021, in order to finish at least what was already begun.

The following pictures depict an Orc from the Bran-O-Kor faction, that is Orcs that live in a hot, desertic area.

This guy is a mystic warrior, which is a sort of mage warrior. He's got blue tattoos on his arms to represent his magic powers, linked to the earth. A snake is coiled around his right arm.

His skin is of a lighter green than that of the other members of his tribe - a birthmark that indicates his predisposition for magic.

SInce I've already painted several other Rackham figures this year, you will probably see some more in the next weeks.

Hope you like him - even if he is not of the only true scale :)

Sassanid levy infantry

Hi everyone! Today's post is dedicated to my first unit of Sassanid infantry, the Sassanid levy infantry by Hät.

According to Roman authors such as Ammianus Marcellinus (an ancient historian from the 4th century BC), the majority of the Sassanid infantry was composed of Paygan, a conscript force recruited among the peasants of the Sassanian Empire. These mean were poorly equipped, and with a very low morale, thus not very effective against the Roman legionaries on the battlefield.

Hät released this set in 2013, a very long time after the first drawings became visible on their site (the cataphracts and the elephants are still awaited). The figures are nice and the number of poses large enough to build interesting units.

These figures don't look like peasant levies, in my opinion, because they are much too well armed - too many iron swords in particular. But they are nice enough, and rather easy to paint, so I am happy with the result.

What do you think of them ?

Kislev army, episode 2: arquebusiers

 The Orcs of Bran-o-kor will wait until another day, I keep on painting the Kislev army (see here for the presentation of the project). Today, we have a look at Kislevite arquebusiers.

As for the lancers in the previous post, these arquebusiers come from a Redbox set, Ukrainian Cossack (Infantry) Set 3. The figures are beautiful: very well sculpted, very well cast and full of details... and not that easy to paint.

Since I wish to paint an entire army, I have to be quicker than usual, so this is an attempt at speed painting. I try to simplify the process, but keep a certain level of quality. For instance, the painting of the flesh was reduced to three steps (base color / wash / enlightenment) instead of four or five in my previous method: only one step of enlightenment instead of two or three.

The color scheme of this unit is slightly different from that of the lancers, but remains in the spirit of the army: red, brown, grey, and even black shirts.

On the following pictures, you can see the many details sculpted on these figures.

That's all for today. Hope you like them :)

A new project: to paint a Kislevite army in 1/72

 Dear fellow readers, it's been a while since last post, but I have not been inactive during this period. Some news and plans for the coming year (yes, most of you write this sort of things in December or January, but I've decided, after all, to have a plan in February :D):

- After years of pause, I've been interested in Rackham figures once again, and I wish to complete my Orc warband first, then my Goblin warband. I already have 12 Orcs, painted and BASED, they will probably be on display in the next post

- In the previous post, I explained that I had started to paint a large wargame terrain (60 cm x 125 cm), I will try to add 2 more panels this year, so that I will have a 180 cm x 125 cm table, perfect for KOW or l'Art de la Guerre

- I will try to paint some Japanese houses, and some elements for a samurai army too

- I will try to remember that it's already Orctober before Orctober !

- I will organize the realization of a 2021 Advent Calendar as a shared project with the volunteers at Benno's

- I will paint some 1/72 Kislev allies for my Fantasy Empire army

And today, I am ready to reveal that this last project has begun!

For those not familiar with the Warhammer world, let's say that it's a Medieval Fantasy universe, in which Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins, Lizardmen, chaos warriors, undead... are at constant fight with one another (of course). The most technically advanced human faction is the Empire, which looks like Renaissance Europe - I've painted this army last year. And the Kislevites, allied to the Empire, are inspired by 16th and 17th Eastern Europe kingdoms - an excuse to paint Winged Hussars, isn't that cool ?

 

The first painted figures represent some Kislevite foot lancers:

These figures come from a Redbox set, Ukrainian Cossack (Infantry) Set 1.

 They are very nice figures, rather easy to paint.

After the lancers, I will have to paint arquebusiers, close-combat troops, light and heavy cavalry, using Cossacks and Polish Winged Hussars.

See you soon for the next steps of the project :)