2020 Advent Calendar: Day 7

Back to Ancients, in a time when the density of population allowed you to stand without seeing anyone else... except for your comrade on duty with you.

For day 7 of the calendar, let's go to the edge of the Roman Empire.

As the Empire kept on growing, more and more soldiers were needed in the army. There were never enough legionaries to control the borders, so non citizen men were recruited in Auxilia units in order to assist the legionaries in battle. At the end of the service, these men could become Roman citizens.

The figures represent Auxilia during the early period of the Empire (1st and 2nd century AD). They wear mail armors and oval shields as defensive weapons. They also use spears and swords as offensive weapons.

Hope you like these simple, anonymous soldiers in Roman service.See you soon.

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 6

Another time, another latitude, no snow for Day 6 of this Advent Calendar. Let's go to Middle-East! Today we have a look at some medieval Muslim foot soldiers.

These men are part of the Ayyubid army, in the 12th century AD. The Ayyubid dynasty was a Muslim Dynasty founded by Saladin who abolished the Fatimid caliphate in 1171. Starting in Egypt, the Ayyubid created a vast empire including Syria, a part of north Africa, Hejaz, Yemen. They also conquered most of the Crusader states, including the kingdom of Jerusalem.

We can see them in action at the entrance of a small village.

Wait, wasn't there a goat ? I think we already saw this one in the pages of this blog.

The figures have been painting from time to time in the past three years, the last ones were made in 2020. They are meant to be part of my Ayyubid army against the crusaders.

Some Ayyubid knights can be seen here.

My (complete) crusader army is there.

The regular visitors will have recognized the goat that travels through time and space, rarely seen these days (I don't remember the last time :)).

The newest element in this scene is the house, that I've painted yesterday. Simple but nice (I think). This is a resin model that I bought a long time ago. I will try to create (scrath-building) some more to have a real village.

Hope you're not fed up with this calendar. See you tomorrow for day 7 :)

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 5

The fifth image of the Calendar represents a winter scene, again - winter is almost here after all :) Only one  figure, a french hussar during the Napoleonic wars.

This rider belongs to the 5th regiment of hussars (ex "Hussards de Lauzun"). During 1806, the 5th regiment, together with the 7th, formed a Light cavalry brigade under the command of General Lassalle. They took part of the 1806 winter campaign against the Russian Empire and were involved in the battle of Golymin (December 26, 1806).

Our man is scouting in the area of Golymin just before the battle. His sword is drawn because the place might be occupied by Cossacks. But so far, the forest is quiet and the sky rather bright.

The white uniform revealed extremely pleasant to paint. These Italeri hussars were released in 1996, but they are still among the best Napoleonic figures ever made.

This is the first post related to the Napoleonic era since January, the last one was dedicated to the fusiliers-grenadiers of the Imperial Guard.

See you soon :)

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 4

In the first post of this Calendar, I explained that I recently painted figures just because I had a color scheme in mind, and not necessarily to complete existing armies. This is the case today, because we will follow the steps of two warriors lost in the forest, and they won't find their friends...

Here you are, the fourth image of the calendar.

These two Housecarls might be Saxons, or Danes, in the north of England at the beginning of the 11th century AD. They got lost in the forest, and discovered by chance an old Neolithic site, a circle of huge vertical stones named a cromlech.

These guys are carrying two-handed axes. They are probably the ancestors of some Galloglaich who will walk on the same land 500 years later - see here if you want to know more about them.

A technical thought about photographs: I took pictures in the same conditions as usual, i.e. with two lamps on each side to lighten the scene. The result was so bright that I found necessary to lower light and contrast, in order to locate my guys in northern England... I was probably influenced by the TV series Vikings, in which the sky is mostly cloudy.

Hope you like them :)

See you tomorrow.

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 3

This blog wouldn't be complete without Fantasy figures. Luckily, 1/72 Fantasy figures are rather easy to find these days, even unexpected ones, such as the crew of the Flying Dutchmen.

For Day 3 of 2020 Advent Calendar, let's discover two new recruits in the service of Davy Jones.

On the left is Koleniko. He's serving as the ship's primary navigator and keeps order on the ship. On the right is Clanker. His face is covered in barnacles and mussels—his left eye being completely covered—and he had seaweed in place of hair under his algae-covered hat, while sea anemones grew from his left shoulder. He's fighting with a pair of chain-shots.

And then, a picture of the new recruits in front of the crew so far.

Here are links to former posts if you want to know more about this crew and their painting:

- Penrod and Old Haddy

- Skirmish on the dock

- Hadras

- Undead pirates

Well, not exactly Magi Kings, but a good entry for the Calendar, I hope :)

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 2

 Today we leave the winter atmosphere of northern Europe for the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.

Let's open the second window in this year's Advent Calendar.

This guy is a new recruit for my Sea People army. I gave him a light skin color (as for his companions), and his clothes follow the basic blue / red / white color scheme (very french indeed :)). But this time, I wanted to use both light blue and dark blue, as can be seen on Egyptian bas-reliefs.

A closer look:

And even closer, to see this guy among his people, composed of fierce warriors with bronze weapons.

Figures by Caesar, who are the masters of anatomy in 1/72.

That's all for today. We're still at the beginning of the calendar...

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 1

 Hello, dear fellow readers!

After a lot of activity during Orctober, it seems that I needed a break before posting anything new on this blog. A break during the whole of November... but I wasn't inactive. After focusing on a single project, I decided to paint any figure I wanted, just for the pleasure of melting colors, as many colors as possible. And here we are, I now have enough figures, single or groups, to show you something different every day... and the timing is perfect, since we are in December, so this year, you will find an Advent Calendar in these pages.

Remember that an advent calendar is a way to help children to wait for Christmas... I hope it will work :)

Let's start with the figures for Day 1:

These guys are Swiss halberdiers from the 15th century - exactly the sort of men that fought against the army of the Duke of Burgundy. So let's say that, in this winter atmosphere, they are looking for food in the woods around the city of Nancy, in 1477.

A closer look:

It looks like they eventually caught birds for dinner today.

Hope you like them (the guys, and also the birds) :)

See you tomorrow for the next image.