Liberators! Royalist Artillery etc.

Very steady progress is still being made in preparation for Boxing Days South American Wars of Liberation (henceforth known as SAWLs) game. Most recently off the production line is a Spanish artillery piece:

These fine chaps are an even bigger hash up than usual being a mixture of Victrix French heads & bodies and British artillery arms & 5 1/2" howitzer. What information I can glean on Spanish artillery in  theatre indicates they should have jackets not French style tunics, but until something suitable comes out in plastic they will have to serve.
In addition I've been bringing some of the other Royalist Battalions up to strength, first up a light company for Cantabria Regiment:

and a partly complete command group for Aragon Regt. :

Don't ask why I decided to add a pelisse to the one fella, perhaps he's holding it for a friend, maybe he feels the cold or its remotely possible I just may have been slightly pissed during this phase of the project.

Anyway moving swiftly on there's more Aragon Regiment in the pipeline along with another Peruvian Battalion for the Patriots which being frank is all I'm going to be able to squeeze in before Boxing Day. This will give us 5 foot battalions for the Patriots & 4 for the Royalists, 3 variously sized regiments of cavalry per side & one piece of artillery each, not a massive game by any means but playable in a day when taking into account eating & shooting the breeze etc.

Liberator! Royalist Aragon Regiment.

After a short discussion with my regular opponent Mr. Ireland last weekend the theme for our Boxing Day game this year is going to be South America, although we may yet squeeze in a quick ancients game as well depending on how things go. In view of this decision a certain amount of finger pulling out is required to field enough figures for a decent sized game, so in pursuance of this goal I've started another regiment of Spanish infantry:

As ever these are Victrix Miniatures with a paint job conversion, they're not perfect by any means but for a gamer on a budget ( some would say 'tightarse') they substitute very nicely.
More to follow soon.

First Unit of Victrix Hoplites. Fin.

I could offer up a number of excuses for taking so long in finishing up this unit but it ultimately comes down to the fact that real life keeps getting in the way of having fun. Despite that I hope you'll agree that the end result was worth the wait:

Actually really pleased with how these have turned out, I had a few doubts about all the different colour schemes on the shields but the sheer amount of bronze on the figures ties everything together really well. Increasing the density of 'tufts' on the bases helps as well, looking at a few old holiday snaps from Portugal brings home just how dense the low growing Mediterranean vegetation is.

15mm Donnington Miniatures Celts. A 25 year tribute.

This is where it all started for me as a callow 17 year old:

Money earned by cleaning out pigs and various other similarly unsavoury jobs then sent via postal order to Donnington miniatures & converted into lead alloy. Painting was squeezed in when I was supposed to be doing A level physics homework ( which is probably why I ended up with a U in that exam) using Pelican Plaka over a white enamel undercoat, hence the very bright colours. I seem to remember getting a few unsuccessful games in with these chaps before going away to Polytechnic, though whether that was down to my unfamiliarity with WRG 6th edition ( yes our local club used them as well) or just the fat, beardy bastard rules lawyers who constituted my opponents we shall never know.
Long story short, found these lurking under some other boxes and decided to give them a dust & get them all stood up straight again. I've no intention of moving this project forward but will let them stand proudly as they are, a tribute to 25 years of wargaming.