30 Years War, part 1

Well, the first handful of 15mm figures from Khurasan arrived late last week.  I was a bit anxious about these, as I have not purchased 15mm figures for a long time.  But, these did not disappoint.  Here is the first pack:

This is the Rear Rank pikemen pack from Khurasan's own line of 30YW figures.  Each square in the pics above and following is ¼", making these figures on the large side of 15mm, or 18mm.  There are three different poses in the pack, and pikes are included.  Those pikes are very finely cast, and just about 2" in length overall.  Nice figures!



This is one of Khurasan's Testudo line:

Unarmored pikemen.  These are also about 18mm in height, with three different poses.  No pikes are included, however.



And, the second of the Testudo packs:

Armored pikemen.  Again, these are 18mm, with no pikes.  This pack has four poses, however - the top two ranks look very similar, but have different helmets.



I did not take a direct comparison pic!  Perhaps, I will get one after they are painted, as bare pewter is not too photogenic...



First off, I rather like both lines of figures.  Size-wise, they appear to fit in with each other well.  Style-wise, the Khurasan originals are from the earlier portions of the conflict, while the Testudo figures are later.  I do not think that I am going to follow that too much, but I have yet to find a suitable battle to provide a framework for the army compositions.  The lack of included pikes in the Testudo line is slightly more problematic.  At this stage, I think that I am going to replace the Khurasan pikes with plastic rod, so all of the pikes look similar.


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Painting table, April 2016

Just enough time for a quick pic from the table:

The usual assortment of characters here - Shén, Huaxtec, elves, orcs, and Reptus.  Also featured is the rebasing project of my Monster Blood Tattoo musketeers and my newest delivery - a handful of 15mm Thirty Years War pikemen from Khurasan, still in bags!  And the first squad of SCW Republican infantry has been primed with black gesso. 



This also marks my 400th post on this blog.


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More books

In my previous post, I started to do the planning for yet another project, this time around it is the Thirty Years War.  I have a few books that are about the subject already on my bookshelves:

These two volumes were found at a local bookshop - Merryweather Books - some time ago.  Parker's work on the Spanish aspect of the period has a very good reputation, and Alatriste is Alatriste!

This edition of the popular Osprey MAA series also covers the Spanish aspect.  Seems like a pattern?

And that is where the book buying is, sadly, going to stop for now at least.  The overreaching theme that I am getting in my web searches is that the TYW is a very complicated subject, with very distinct periods within the framework.  More reading of basic materials is needed first before I set off to do some serious work.  At the moment, I am leaning towards either the earliest phase - the campaigns in Bohemia - or the last phase - France and Spain in the Low Countries.


In other news, the tester order has been placed with Khurasan for the first 15mm figures, just a few packs to start off, and should arrive by the end of April.  This is an important phase as well, as I have not painted 15mm figures for a long time, and my ability to get a decent (to my very self-critical eye) paint job on them is really going to help determine the potential for this project.  The choice of miniatures is important as well, as the Khurasan figure line is based largely on the early part of the conflict, while the Testudo figures seem to be later.


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Project

What happens when your lovely wife is sick and unable to get out for a week-end, you feel a bit under the weather yourself, there are plenty of miniatures to paint on or under or near your desk, and your bookshelves are full?

In true Larry Leadhead fashion, one should always plan another project!

In my defense, I have been considering this for a long time, and it might not work out at all.  But, the household CFO has given a small purchase the stamp of approval, and I am striking while the iron is hot  -  30 Years War in 15mm.

The figures, for this test order at least, will be ordered from Khurasan, with a pack coming from their own range and a pack from their rejuvenated Testudo line.

As always, the real problem with this project will be rules, as it is with almost all of my projects.  That will be the next item on the agenda, as buying miniatures is easy...


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Boschenburg musketeers, part 4

There are times when I look back on a project and ask myself, 'What was I thinking?'

Well, I know what I was thinking when I mounted my Half Continent troops on ¾" washers - smaller footprint for the figures is good, and I can just make my own sabot bases.  That did not turn out as planned, so I am re-basing them onto 25mm MDF:

Here is the carnage so far.  Fortunately, no major damage has been done to the figures!  But, I have many more to go before the task is finished.

Luckily, many of the monsters were put onto 25mm bases at the start, and the grinnlings will keep their ¾" bases as I do not foresee them being grouped for mass battle...

WW1 German ships, part 2

With a little bit of spare time, I was able to make a little more progress with my WTJ 1/1800 ships. 

Magdeburg and Strassburg, and their masts.  I am not certain of the diameter of the brass rod used for the masts, but the yards are made of 0.006" brass wire (the long piece in the pic above).  Again, the mounting holes for the masts are printed into the WTJ cruisers, so just a bit of glue and in they go.

It is a different story with the TB's.  Their masts are also made from the thin brass wire, but I had to use a drill bit to make a hole for them.  I did not put yards on the masts for the TB's.

All of my 1/1800 ships now have their masts, although it is a bit hard to see from that angle.  Primer will make it much easier to see - more pics after that!

WW1 Russian ships, part 3

Inspiration can strike suddenly, and this time I took advantage of the situation and worked on my WTJ ships a bit.

Here is my small flotilla of 1/1800 ships - German cruisers on the left, Russians on the right.  One can see that I have already primed the first Russian cruiser - Bogatyr - but I forgot one small detail... masts!  So, back to work.



I have some thin brass wire that I use for masts, and this time I decided to use plastic rod as well.



Before putting in the masts, I looked around for some pictures to
help guide the work.  The WTJ ships have holes for masts already present
in the model, in cruisers and larger at least, so siting the masts was
not a problem, and I found a pair of pictures in one of my books - The Imperial Russian Navy by A.J. Watts - showing differences between Bogatyr and Oleg. 
The book shows that Oleg has a slightly different bridge structure,
without searchlight wings, and the masts are slightly different also.



In the pics below, one can just barely see the trimmed bridgework on Oleg, the rightmost cruiser.

Bogatyr from the bow

Oleg from the bow

It will be difficult to see the change until I get some primer on him.



And, some simple masts:

Bogatyr (the grey one) has slightly shorter masts, and Oleg has a lookout position on the mainmast.  I think, after the fact, that using the plastic rod is a bit off for the yards.  I will not repeat it with the German ships but the rest of the Russians will, except using the same brass rod as the masts.