Mostly Renaissance Command Stands

I was recently looking through my renaissance armies and AWI continentals and realized I was missing a few command stands.

I had the  2 of the miniatures for the Continental light infantry stand painted already. I did an arm swap on the NCO and I built the musician form an extra  figure I had left over.  The musician arm holding the horn and the both the NCO arms are modified Victrix French 1808-1812 arms.  I had seen some research when I was reenacting that hunting horns may have actually been used in the continental army. one specific reference is to using  conch shells as substitutes because the musician's "horns" hadn't arrived yet.  Horns or bugle-horns adopted by the british jsut ptior to hte American revolution, and presumably by the Continental army, had more in common initially with hunting horns than modern or later 19th century bugles(see Article). Also given the propensity of  Colonists of German descent to equip themselves with German weapons(german rifles anyone?),  it follows they might use the traditional German hunting horns also.  This unit in my collection was painted to be light infantry of a Pennsylvania regiment, so there you go. that's my rationale. 

Continental Penn. Light Infantry Command Stand,
Perry Miniatures, with Victrix arms.

Different angle with better view of musician.

The Eastern renaissance Command stands consist of a Sipahi, a Janissary, and a Polish guard Haiduk stand, All The Assault Group(TAG) Miniatures. TAG  Miniatures are always fun to paint.  THE Polish Haiduk command packs each come with a young boy holding a weapon for his officer, which adds a lot of character I think. The musician is from the haiduk musician pack. the Ottoman Janissary command stand is one janissary officer with one of the "exclusive" miniatures, which is an ottoman higher officer of some sort.

TAG Sipahi command stand

Sipahis Reverse angle

Polish and Ottoman Infantry command stands

Infantry reverse views.

so with this the AWI and Ottoman projects are pretty much done for now. I still have 24-ish renaissance polish cavalry to paint, but I have no where to store them at the moment. and I won't bother finishing them until I have a decent storage option.  Sadly that will be a while as I'm still unemployed at the moment and very low on funds.

More Pandemic Projects: Ottoman Additions

 Earlier this week I decided I was going to paint my 2nd unit of Ottoman Sipahis of the Porte.  I don't paint these lightly, as the first unit I painted took something like 12 hours?  That is roughly 3 times what a unit of 8 normally takes me. In fact I have had the second unit of 8 kicking around for more then 6 months, and I was finally recharged enough to take them on.  I hadn't photographed the first unit, janissary bases, or giant friggin' cannon because although they were painted, they were not based when I took photos of the whole army.

 

The Assault Group Ottoman Sipahis of the Porte
(the Sultans household cavalry)

 

Other side with shields.
newly painted unit in the lead

 I'm less happy with the geometric patterns on the new unit.  I though I should cover up the black lines I had painted on as guides, but it turns out they give everything a crispness that really makes them pop.  I don't really have the skill to paint them without those lines. it was way more obvious once i saw the pictures. I Also noticed i forgot the white feathering. I'll be going back over with the black lines  and feathering the legs to finish them.

 

New bases for my TAG Jannisaries

I got some new bases for my TAG Jannisaries to bring them closer to the basing for Beneath the Lilly Banners: With Tooth and Claw Suggestions.

Ottoman Giant Friggin' Cannon.  Crew are TAG
miniatures, cannon is from Wizkids Deep cuts line

Giant Friggin' Cannon from the other side

Finally there is the Ottoman Giant Friggin' Cannon, as I call it.  this is a cannon from the Wizkids "Deep Cuts" line of fantasy terrain and accessories. This line has a lot of great generic items. This thing was only $7 bucks canadian!! That's almost half the price of any normal sized cannon from Front rank etc.  Its actually modeled on the Tsar cannon but it looks great with my ottomans. Now all I need is a 12 horse limber for it!

That's it for now. All the ottomans I own are painted now. in a week or two I may have some terrain projects ready to be photographed.

Long Time No See!

well I'm back for what is hopefully not another few and far between post.

I've been fairly unmotivated to post since I moved to Alberta.  The Historical gaming scene in edmonton is much smaller then I had grown used to in Hamilton, Ontario.   For a while some local guys and myself tried to host a monthly game day at the clubhouse in my condo subdivision, but after 2 years we weren't making enough money to break even on the rental fee. so we shut it down.  the local cons are almost entirely devoted to Mainstream and tournament related games like Warhammer 40K , Kings of War, and Bolt Action. 

I have discovered Beneath the Lilly Banners for my Imagination armies. Its a great set of rules, and the 3rd edition makes it a little easier to use armies from a slightly later period.  they released the  eastern wars supplement, With Talon and Claw, which introduces some Polish and Ottoman specific rules, both of which are armies I use in whole or part in my Imaginations.

For the One small historically oriented Convention we have in Edmonton, MayDay, I always help out and host a big game as well as smaller games.  I've run  a 10 foot napoleon game using Field of Battle, Imaginations using Muskets and Tomahawks and Beneath the Lilly Banners, a Big Chain of Command Battle of France game.  I've used all of these to get some serious work put in on  the related projects.


I've Expanded my Ottoman army substantially to include more heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and non-Janissary infantry. My Electorate  army(imaginations) is all painted, and i only have a few figures left for my Polish.  I've expanded my 28mm WW2 collection to include French Cuirassier Portes, German Schutzen, and more tanks and support teams for both sides. I've also reorganised my Soviets into early war squads to fight the Japanese I've added, with tanks for both sides.

I now have a 28mm Napoleonic Prussian brigade painted, with a 2nd one waiting to be painted.  sadly there is no one I've found who seriously plays big battle Napoleonics here, so all the unpainted stuff I have for that project has languished in its boxes.

I've also recently  begun painting my long awaited AWI project for Sharp Practice.

I don't have decent pictures of all of this available yet, but here is some pics of my Ottoman army as it stands now:

Ottoman Akinji light cavalry, TAG miniatures

Ottoman Artillery.  TAG guns and crew, Front Rank carts and Limbers

Ottoman artillery from another angle

Timariot Sipahis, TAG minis

Janissaries, TAG Minis

Levant, TAG minies

Tufekci Skirmishers, TAG minies

Ottoman Command Stands, Tag Miniatures

TAG Sipahis of the Porte, TAG miniatures

I still have 1 unit of Sipahis of the Porte(Kapikulu) waiting to be painted, and I've added a large bombard with crew to the artillery recently, but no picture yet.

Here's to hoping I post more often!

Ottoman reinforcements

After bolstering the ranks of the electorate army last week, i decided that i needed to do hte same for the Turks. I've had most of these miniatures kicking around for a year, I just didn't have any motivation to paint them.

Sunday night I painted the last 8 tufecis skirmishers, and another officer. These figures are of course The Assault Group miniatures. I highly recommend them for anyone doing Ottoman Turks. the price seems a little high , but the quality is second to none, and shipping is free.

The freshly painted Tufecis Skirmishers(TAG minis)

all 3 groups of tufecis with 3 officers in the lead.

Next up i decided to finish off the 3rd  group of Timarli Sipahis. these would be the feudal Sipahis. once again, these are The Assault Group miniatures.

8 new Sipahis.

all 24 Sipahis in 3 ranks, with command in the lead

I decided that I am going to field them in 3 ranks of 8 (each rank a group)  because lets the Lancers make up the entire front rank, while the other 2 ranks are  swordsmen. another interesting thing is that the musician is actually an extra TAG polish trumpeter.

I have eventual plans to expand the Turks with a unit of 24 light cavalry(haven't decided between Delhis or  Akinjis), 2 unit of 24 Levent infantry and, after all that,  unit of 12 Sipahis of the porte.

More painted Plus Hotlead

Last Thursday I finished up the Kurfurst Regiment battalion guns and the 1st squadron of Metzger Kuirassier.

Battalion Guns of the Kurfurst Regiment

1st Squadron of the Metzger Kuirassier, along with Kurfurst

Friedhelm Iwo Großgesaß(left) and

Colonel Inhaber Heinrich Metzger(right)

And  this is how the armies look now:

the Current state of the Turkish army.

The Current State of the Electorate Army.

 I need 2 Tufekci and 3 Sipahi to finish off another unit of 8 of each. then I will eventually also add 2 or 3 units of Delhi cavalry, and maybe a battalion of Levant Infantry.  For the electorate army, i have the 2nd  battalion of the Kurfurst Regiment, plus a company(8 figures) of Kurfurst grenadiers(which get detached to and  combined with Kurprinz Grenadiers to form a grenadier battalion in the field).  In the future, i plan to finish off the Metzger Kuirassier, then add a unit of Pandurs, and a regiment of 30 Osterhaagen Dragoons(3squadrons of 8 dragoons, 1 of 6 Dragoon Grenadiers). Once that is done, I'll probably also add the Kurprinz Regiment.



This weekend was Also The annual Southern-Ontario Convention, Hotlead.  I've attended this  for 15 years now.  this year I got a Ride up with Martin Jensen and Mike Thompson(no relation) in the WGG Distribution truck. I also shared a room with Martin.  Both guys are Great fun to chat too about all things gaming.

I took about $300 worth of stuff up to the Hotlead brin & Buy.  I used to help out at the MIGS Bring and Buy, so i always take the time the night before i leave to take the bring&buy PDF sheet off the Hotlead website and fill out on the computer, and print off corresponding labels.  Some friends joke about how anal it is, but it really simplifies the process for both me and the Bring & Buy guys. Also, i don't have teh neatest of handwriting, so it solves that problem also. anyway I sold eerything for $295(less 10%) and was a very happy camper!

This year at the Bring & Buy, I saw a gentleman bring in a File box with 6 OOP HG walls Buildings, including my favourite Church model. I told the B&B guys to toss the box aside and I'd buy it all. well i lied a little, I bought 4 and got another Con-going acquaintance , Gary Shoefield to buy the rest.  They were amazingly cheap too, ranging from $20 CDN for the Church, down to just 12 dollars each for the small buildings.  This was the highlight of my weekend, as i always find myself, lacking buildings for my games(since I only enjoy making the more natural terrain).  I also bought 1 AGNM Somua and 2 Crusader 25mm AT guns for my french , and a pair of AGNM Panzer 38(t)s, An AGNM PaK 36, and a pair of Crusader AT rifles teams for my Germans.  I bought a set of Renendra Tents for my various horse& musket periods, and on sunday afternoon, i spotted a BH JS II that Don Cameron(Five Arrows Books) was trying to get rid of, for $5!!  I don't do late war, but i couldn't resist the price.  I'll have to pull this on Dave one day and scare the crap out of him!

Last but not least I bought 3 boxes of Victrix figures for Peninsular war skirmish.  I've been thinking about doing this for a while.   Martin gave me a bit of a deal if i would do a bit of historical demoing at stores in the area(to create some interest) which pushed me over the edge.  aside from the buildings, these will probably be my immediate priority.

In addition I talked to new friends, new & old. I talked to Jeff from JTFM enterprises about casting techniques and materials for a while Friday night.  I talked to a number of locals about possible future painting commissions, and saw the first attempt at sculpting from my friend Gordy. Gordy's first attempt at sculpting was on Thursday. he had it essentially finished when he showed me on friday night at the con. I was very surprised at how nice his first attempt was. while not quite production quality(at least by my standards)  it was very near(and better then some stuff people do produce).  I'm sure his next few sculpts  will easily get there as he clearly has the talent(and speed!) for it.

I ran a few games at Hotlead last minute.  I emailed James Manto(con organiser) on wednesday about it.  I ran a game on friday(which did not get played) and then I ran a pick-up game Saturday evening, in which James Manto Himself took up the defense of the Electorate. I ran the game again for a full crowd of 4 people on sunday morning.  In both games, the electorate forces did very well, despite having a bit of an up-hill battle( outnumbered both in cavalry and infantry). in the  saturday game james manto doggedly defended his line, never wavering and keeping the pressure on the turkish.   In Sundays game  The Eletorate forces were played by Barry holden and Nick W. and once again the performed very well, holding off the Turks controlled by Mark Degner and Chris.

Pic of the Saturday night game, courtesy of James Manto`s Blog
I`m the guy in black bending over, and James is seated next to me

The scenario was set in the dire days of the Kurfurst's rise to power.  With his father dead, several neighbors thought that Friedrich I would be a pushover.  His father had secured the borders for many years, and Friedrich has never actually seen combat. The electorate's forces were stretched thin  dealing with border incursions on nearly all sides, when a sizable force of  Janissaries and cavalry had attacked and sacked several towns and villages along the eastern marches of the electorate.  wasting no time,  Friedrich raced back with his childhood Mentor  Heinrich Metzger to the capital, grabbed the depot battalions of both their regiments(and a battalion of Militia) and raced off to hold the Turks until reinforcements arrived.

In both games the Metzger Kurassier were outnumbered 2-1 by Sipahis (half of which were also lancers) but enjoyed a slight advantage in quality, and being aggressive when initiating fisticuffs.(defending the homeland and such). In both games, the Kuriassier, led by the (now) hero of the Electorate, Colonel-Inhaber Heinrich Metzger was badly wounded. but in both games, the Kuirassier crippled the Turkish cavalry and secured the flank  before becoming ineffective themselves. the outcome of the game would partially decide

in both games, the Kurfurst took direct control of his regiment's artillery for the 1st half of the battle  and then proceeded to Rally his troops were needed in the 2nd half.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the games, and the convention seemed well attended. Now I look ahead to trying to get back down to Historicon this year(need to raise the money)  and then Council Fires & MIGSCON in October.

TAG Tufekcis infantry

Yesterday i finished off the last of the complete units I have for the Turkish: 2 untis of Tufekcis Infantry.  I still have 5 Sipahis and 6 more Tufekcis to paint, but they will wait until I can afford to fill them up to 8 figures each.

The Assault Group Tufekcis Infantry.

detailed information on these guys is hard to find.  Pictures are even harder.  the only picture I have found was in a copy of Osprey Men-at-arms 140 - Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1776. also in the book it has a short paragraph saying that they appeared in Rumelia around the middle of the 1500s, and became a common troop type in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.  they were well trained and disciplined marksmen, and that some of them may have been mounted infantry.

Closeup of Officers Sinan Ralca and Erkan Basoglu

What is interesting is how very much different they are from most Turkish units. their uniforms are  remarkably uncolourful, and have short-cut coats.  they also look like they are wearing putees.  they could easily fit in with most Colonial period armies.  I deviated from the picture in osprey on 2 details. I changed the Brown waist sash to the same colour as the electorate coat(mustard yellow)  and i also added a yellow feather on the 2 officers headgear.


As usual,these TAG figures are beautiful. All my Turkish and Polish are TAG figures, and they are second to none in quality. 

AAR: first Imagination Game

Last Sunday, Dave Hoyt & I decided to play the first game of Sharp Practice with our Imagination project. so it was to be that the armies of Asarya and Gourmandie would come to blows.

Both armies are starting at poor quality. we will be tracking our armied using Dave's modified campaign system seen HERE .   Because our troopers are starting at poor quality, even a devastating loss is not that bad.  our troops cannot become worse then         poor!

We set up the our armies in secret( some lookers-on held a terrain board down the middle of the table)  and then we began.

Initial setup & playing board

Asarya Commander Zafer Yilmaz

Gourmandie Commander Phillipe Grand-Nez, Comte de Roquefort

the 1st turn saw movement forward to get into musket range.not much happened. the 1er Escadron, Grenadiers à Cheval Boursin surged forward, and my Sipahis attempted to a flanking maneuver on the opposite flank.  

the 2nd turn was a bit more eventful.  my new red-feathered formation of Janissaries opened fire on the  Grenadiers à Cheval, inflicting 3 casualties! luckily the  Chef d'Escadron Langeron was not attached.  the Grenadiers à Cheval  surged forward again in an attempt to get into the cover of the town on my right flank, falling just short. on hte other flank my Sipahi jumped a low hedge and decided to take a nap in the yard. the next time their card came up was 5 turns later!)  the infantry in the center traded fire with little effect.

 

In the 3rd turn, the Grenadiers à Cheval attempted to get into the town, but were foiled when some gold coins were flung into the road(loot! card).  They quickly lept from their horses to scramble after the coins, and failed to move. As they remounted and ordered themselves, the Janissaries loosed another volley, killing a further 2 cavalrymen.  on hte opposit flank, the Gourmandie formation commander saw the sipahis jump a hedge down hte road and detached a  1/3 of his men to cover the flank.  the rest of the raged on, with both sides accumulating a few shock.  

 turn 4  began with the  Gourmandie cavalry making  it to the village. the red-feathered Janissaries broke formation.   Hazbija Backo Took half of the men and entered the village for safety from cavalry and a  for a better firing position. Asil Serhat took the other half and advanced alongside the village toward the road. on hte far side of the table the sipahis lounge in the mid-day sun amidst the ineffectual fire being rained down upon them by the detached Gourmandie flank guards.in 4 turns of fire, only 2 sipahis were felled.

Turn 5 the blue-feathered Janissary formation finally caught a break.  they fired a Crushing Volley  at the smaller formation of Gourmandie infantry, causing 8 shock! one of the red feathered janissary groups also fired, causing 2 kills on the same Gourmandie formation.

through turn 6 and 7  there was mostly just an exchange of fire between the blue-feathered janissaries and Groumandie infantry.  by the end of turn 7, the Red Feathered janissaries has re-postioned to launch another attack from the town.  ove the next 2 turns tehy would cause another 4 casualties and numourous shock the the smaller Gourmandie formation, and force it to retire. 

On the 8th turn, the sipahi finally awoke from their nap and charged the flank guard, routing them.    At the same time, the Blue feathered janissaries  Fired a volley and charged the only Goumandie formation still holding it's ground.  the volley caused  2 casualties  but the charge fell short. on the next turn, the sipahis  charged into the flank of the Gourmandi formation, and defeated them.   after that,  the army of gourmandie retired from the field.

Sipahi roused from their midday nap 

The Army of Asarya won the day.   The accurate fire of the red-feathered  Janissaries made them the deadliest  formation on the table.   with the win, they get 2 points to use for unit advances.  I'm considering giving the red-feathers a +1 on the dice to musketry, and make then the true sharp-shooters of the army of Asarya.

 The Newest addition to my turks, the "red-feathers"

 Dave has finished some grenadiers and a cannon this week, and he has more cavalry awaiting paint in the background. he also is ordering figures for his second nation.  it Looks like I need to catch up!  I'm probably going to order the remaining Janissaries and Tufekci skirmishers from TAG this week, as well as a Turkish cannon and crew. Depending on how things go  in the next 2 weeks, I may also order the first figures for the  Zuztigzollern-Großgesaßische Armee

Enter the Spahis!

 Joining the Janissaries that i painted earlier in the week,  these are the first cavalry to be finished since i decided to rebase to the pill hsaped base.  I definitely prefer them to the 40mm bases i  had originally planned on using. these guys will eventually be joined by a mostly lance-armed Sipahi unit.

These guys are lead by Devrim Uzanlar. he is athletic and an  accomplished rider who is universally loved by his troops(so says the Character generation in Sharp Practice). 

I have 2 more groups of 8  Janissaries to paint, and 2 more Sipahis with lances before i run out of figures. but i have to devote some more time to some commissioned War Machine figures. I'm planning to finish 20 figures for Sunday, and then the remaining figures of the commission by the following Sunday.

Imagination Surprise!

OK, so yesterday I told you I had some Imagination Stuff done, but that it wasn't what you would think it was. so here it is:

TAG Janissaries

These Janissaries are from my Eastern Renaissance Collection, but I've decided to use them for this as well. Janissaries didn't change much in the 100 years between when i bought the for and the Imagination stuff we are doing. I almost have enough more figures at the moment to do 16 more janissaries and a unit of 8 Timarli Sipahi with a big man.  I need to grab 3 more packs (8 figs) of janissaries to finish of the second 'battalion' in the janissary regiment, plus another pack of command, and a regimental Kazan(soup anyone?) I also want to grab a Turkish cannon & crew, and a unit of 8 Tufecis as a skirmish screen.

These particular Janissaries are from the Asarya beylerbeylik (adminstrative area made up of several provinces, each having a military governor) of the former Ohtaran Empire. Asarya was one of the Major western regions  in the empire, and had been occupied for several hundred years before the collapse.  Asarya had also been one of the largest sources of Janissary infantry for the empire and had a long, rich Military history.

When the Beylerbeyi (military Governor-general) Saw that the Empire was headed for Open rebellion in other provinces, he made sure to poisiton Military officers Loyal to Asarya in all critical military positions.  only one of his subordinate governors had intended to declare independence, but he "drowned" mysteriously before he could do so. as a result,  the Ohtaran empire lives on in a much smaller form in Asarya.

Geographically, Asarya borders the the Electorate of Lustigzollern - Großgesaß to the southeast. Even though the Beylerbeyi and  Kurfurst Großgesaß are on good terms, some of the Asarya governors like to raid along the Border.




some time in the next month or two I will Acquire and start painting  the Electorate forces. I just decided to start with these guys because i've had them sitting around for 7 or 8 months. plus it starts 2 projects with 1 stone.