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.

Liberators! More New Stuff.

This last few weeks I've been busy bulking out my Liberators! armies, though busy may be somewhat of an overstatement. What I actually mean is that some of my limited spare time has been taken up painting miniatures when not cooking, eating, nagging Mrs. Handgrenadealien & sleeping.

Here they are:

A cavalry Brigadier for the Royalists. I've put him in the uniform of Fernando VII Hussars & given him  a Cravat standard to carry.

Not entirely sure the cravat standard was ever issued to the infantry units operating in South America but it kind of works with the miniature, just the thing to throw into the enemy ranks to encourage the troops forward.

Peruvian Legion infantry battalion complete with grenadier & light companies.

The finished Patriot Santander Regt. in all their scarlet glory.

Theres a bit more to come on the Liberators front, I've enough Victrix figures left to do another Royalist  battalion ( probably the Aragon), a couple more artillery pieces and the Cacadores Britanicos for the Patriots. After that its onto another project, I've still 60 odd hoplites to finish off for the Achaean League army that will hopefully see action over the Christmas period & then I've a pair of 54 or 70mm fantasy figures to do for a friends wedding cake, no pressure there eh!

Peruvian Legion Command.

Just finished these up whilst dinner is in the oven. There are one or two details which are pure speculation on my part but I don't think they are too far off the mark. I've consulted Col. Wm Millers biography for a basic description & then filled in the blanks myself.

Built using the ubiquitous Victrix figures; the officer & drummer use British bodies & French heads, the ensign & hatless fusilero are pure French, packs in this case are British.

Casualty Markers.

Before I go any further with this entry into the blog I wish to make it perfectly clear that I won't take any credit whatsoever for the following idea, it only came about by the generous dissemination of information & raw materials by Messrs Johnson & Ireland the two other members of Shropshire's smallest wargaming club.

The following sequence of photographs demonstrates how a fairly horrible plastic pre-paint miniature & its accompanying base can be turned into a useful tool for the table top.

Wizkids Heroclix base. Original figure excluded for crimes against painting.

Exploded view of base & internal dial.

The textured base after talus is applied & base-coated, the decal on the dial comes off easily after quick blast of steam from the electric kettle.

The dial showing two of the twelve possible positions available.

Obviously with the current project being Liberators I've chosen to represent an appropriate casualty on the base. The numbers shown really don't tell very much, at present they're just an exercise in marking out the available dial slots ( hence the small dot above each number), but with twelve slots there is some fair scope for presenting casualty/ morale information as dictated by various rulesets.

There ought to be a few more Liberators miniatures finished later this week, but due to work proving a constant distraction progress is glacial to say the least.