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 :)

Japanese bridge

Hello, Happy New Year (it's never too late) !

The beginning of the year is the perfect moment to:

- have a look at the previous year, and write a summary of what was achieved, and what wasn't

- make plans for the year to come

You know what ? I have no desire to develop any of these items - I would have the feeling to be at work and to be compelled to write the annual review and the planned workload. And since this blog is about a hobby, I decided to have NO plan and to paint whatever I like... as usual :D

So, the year will begin with something different: a new civilization, and improved scenery.

Today, we have a look at a small Japanese bridge.

I have been deeply interested in Japan for years, and I have been lucky enough to visit some parts of Honshu (the main island), particularly the Tokyo and Kyoto areas. And since I am also interested in History, I appreciated to visit castles, temples and traditional houses, and also the wonderful gardens in which you can sometimes see some typical curved bridges such as this one:

The wooden Japanese bridges are often painted vermilion red, like the tori, because that colour indicates a passage between the world of the Humans and the world of the Gods.

Hence the color of my bridge, a mix of red and orange.

On this bridge, we can see 4 warrior monks standing their ground against invisible enemies (Redbox figures).

I realised, after writing this post, that my inspiration obviously came from Japanese woodblock prints. I'm a big fan of ukiyo-e, particularly the Edo period, and among all, my favourite artist is Kuniyoshi.

 Here you are a couple of prints that he designed:

Kuniyoshi 1839 Biography of Yoshitsune - Gojo bridge

Kuniyoshi 1839-41Yoshitsune fighting Benkei on Gojo bridge

The triptych and the diptych have the same subject: they represent Yoshitsune, a young boy and future famous samurai et fight with Benkei, a Sohei (warrior monk) who will become his most faithful ally.
 

Let's consider now the technical side of today's pictures. It's good to have a small bridge, but you also need a river if you want to take decent pictures!  Therefore, I had to dig in a plate of polystyrene, add some sand, paint, then add some flocking, and paint again... 3 days work for just  few pictures! Now you know why I haven't posted anything since Christmas :)

I hope you like the result :)

See you soon.

Edit 10/01/2020:

To answer a question asked by Eric, The bridge comes from a kit by Sarissa Precision Ltd. They have a very interesting range of 20mm buildings, but it would be very nice if they decided to adapt their whole 28mm range to 20mm :)

And I also added some woodblock prints reproductions above.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!

As promised yesterday, here you are, as a summary, a complete 2020 Advent Calendar in two versions.

Beware: by clicking on the images, you will get a big file (1,4 Mo).

 

 

See you soon, I hope to write a small 'making-of' before the end of the year :)

 

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 24

Today is the last day of the advent calendar, and for that particular day, we need a peaceful scene :-)

Day 24: Along the Silk Road

The name 'Silk Road' is given to a network of trade routes interconnecting all lands between Southern Europe and East Asia. A major item of this trade was the silk, first produced in China. Various historical events, particularly the conquests of Alexander, contributed to the opening of these intercontinental roads. One of the successor state to the Macedonian Empire, the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom, based in Bactria (modern Afghanistan) expanded to the East, leading to the first contacts with China in about 200 BC.

Of course, trade caravans gathered dozens, or even hundreds of beasts and men, certainly heavily guarded since they transported highly valuable goods. In the pictures below, we see only a part of a caravan, a man leading a camel and a yack in a mountainous area. Given the look of the fret, the animals are maybe carrying silk.

Wonderful figures by Linear A, I only wish I find time to paint more of them :)

Here you are, the end of the road for the 2020 advent calendar. The good thing is that I really used every single scene element I had, so beyond 24 images, I would have repeated myself very soon :)

I hope you all enjoyed the journey, that these pictures illustrate very wel.

See you... tomorrow for a short summary ;-)

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 23

 Hello! One more entry in the Advent Calendar, as it's getting more and more difficult to find an idea for a new scene :)

On day 23 of the 2020 Calendar, we have a look at Goth warriors.

Our guys are scouting near Adrianopolis, at the beginning of august, in 378. In a few days, the Wisigoth and Ostrogoth armies, under the command of Fritigern, will destroy the Roman army of Emperor Valens.

The man on the left is an ordinary warrior, fighting with spear and sword. His defensive weapons are a shield and a helmet, similar to those worn in the Roman army, in which he probably served as foederati only a few years before. Figure by Hät.

The man on the right is a chieftain, he's wearing a bronze scale armour. Figure by Miniart.

When I have painted enough Goths, I will be able to play a game against my Late Imperial Roman army.

 Still one day before the end of the calendar, see you tomorrow :)

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 22

One more day in the calendar, and a Roman day again.

Day 22: Roman Legionaries in action

These Legionaries were made by Strelets. They're considered in action since they've already thrown their pila and drawn their gladii (swords), which tells us that the close combat will begin very soon.

They're meant to be part of my Early Imperial Roman army, together with the auxiliary archers (already shown here), and the other Romans of this calendar.

Very classical but a must-have for any Ancients wargamer.

See you tomorrow.