Another 1:1 Scale Project. This time a Lange Messer.

It's been a long time since I last tried my hand at any kind of smithing, but I've always wanted to have a go at making my own sword so I sourced some high tensile steel & got stuck in. There's still a way to go but here is a quick look at progress so far.

The hilt elements are all hand forged & the blade a mixture of forging & stock removal i.e grinding. There's still quite a bit of work to do & I'm not 100% happy with the proportions of the hilt but so far its been an interesting project. More on this soon.

More World War Two Stuff for Syria.

Having actually played a second game of Chain of Command and enjoyed it I decided to spend some  hard earned cash & add some extra support elements for my Diggers to call upon.

First up a Renault R35 freshly liberated from its former masters:

I was going to attempt a snazzy camp pattern but  the sources I've found indicate that the captured R35's were in plain dark green livery. I have Aussified it with the addition of 7th Division's Kookaburra & Boomerang device though. Although classified as light tanks these carried considerably thicker armour than the Vickers VIb's in use by the Commonwealth forces in Syria & were eagerly pressed into service.

Next up a 2 pounder AT gun:

As you can see still a work in progress, these are often seen portee'd on various trucks because the carriages had a habit of falling apart over too much rough terrain.

Orcadians.

The last of my Claymore Castings Men at Arms painted in the livery of the various Earls of Orkney:

Sinclair. Earl of Orkney & Caithness

Sinclair, Earl of Orkney.

Swedish Man at Arms, House of Baath.

Enjoyed painting these before the festive season descended upon us, but not had chance to photograph them until now. Merry Christmas all & a happy new year.

Scottish Men at Arms

Still making steady progress with my (not so) recent purchase from Claymore Castings. In order to have a change from painting Lymphads on a yellow background I have skipped a little further east into the Earldom of Mar for this weeks offering:

The Mormaer of Mar & Retainer.

I have no idea if the Mormaers of Mar ever allied themselves with the Lords of the Isles, but to be honest Scottish warfare & internal politics in the 14th/ 15th centuries is so incredibly byzantine anything is possible.
Final offering this week is another Macdonald retainer, in yellow.

A Few More West Highlanders.

A bit more progress this week on my burgeoning Isleman army for Lion Rampant.

Clan Chatton Man at Arms.

Another Scion of Clan Chatton

Clan MacDougall Command

Progress so far.

Really happy with how this project is shaping up. I wasn't too sure about painting heraldry by hand but for a small project like this it is manageable. Not sure I would want to tackle it on a grand scale though.

Rumours Of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated.

Its been a while now since my last post here & longer still since I actually laid brush to miniature. The reasons for this are long & somewhat tedious to relate but briefly come down to a lack of enthusiasm for wargaming in general & a renewal of interest in roleplaying; GMing is a very time consuming business.

Anyway with the lengthening evenings of Autumn upon us I laid out some hard earned cash to complete the Lion Rampant army I started back in 2014:

A few Highlands & Islands Fierce Foot. 

West Highland Men at Arms.

MacDonald Lord of the Isles.

Clan Chatton, strictly speaking not West Highland but closely affiliated.

Flemish Mercenary bearing the Arms of Ghent.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, painting Heraldry is a Royal pain in the arse; but not nearly so bad as applying transfers, a Dantesque torture in my book.
Almost as bad is researching West Highland heraldry, there are a few common elements scattered through it ( Ship, Eagle Rampant, Red Salmon, Red Hand) but these can be put together with a bewildering randomness, where they are recorded at all. Quartering arms! what a good idea, lets dispense with the expensive business of marrying then including the wife's heraldry on our kit, lets just bung a bunch of stuff on there in the first place.
You could look at this two ways I suppose, on one hand it gives you carte blanche as a painter to well, make it up; but that deprives one of the enjoyment of researching a subject & thus expanding your knowledge which is the approach I like to take. Could be why it takes me so long to finish projects, thank god for the internet, there's always some one out there who's beaten you to it; try typing in West Highland Heraldry, you'll be amazed.

A Small Corner of Palestine.

Have been suffering from burn-out in the miniature painting department since May, it will pass eventually, more than likely when I find something to inspire me sufficiently. In the meantime I have updated one of my old Panion boards for use in a planned game of Chain of Command, being as this is a skirmish game I have cluttered things up a bit to reduce sight lines.

I intend to add some scrub to the hillside prior to gaming & have some more wall sections ( in reality no more than stones cleared from fields & stacked round the margins) in production so nearly there, just need to set a date to game now.