A little bit more brush-time with the Meso-american project:
It might be a little hard to see, but the headdress feathers on these Eagle-suit wearers have been touched up slightly.
The Huaxtec-style suit wearers have received their base colors and a shadowing wash, prior to highlights.
More slow progress on the Spanish - lots more work to do!
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A few new books occupy my shelves, new to me at least:
The newest one of the lot. I picked this up on the recommendations of a person posting on The Wargames Website, a new forum/news source that started up recently. There is an article in WS&S 70 about converting these from Dark Ages to Ancients - from there it should not be too hard to slot them into use for Tékumel battles!
An addition to my small set of Meso-American books:
This should be good for some background reading and illustrations.
And, two interesting prospects for new projects:
The first is an overview of the Punic Wars, and the second details the border conflicts of the Scots. I see both of these eras as potential gaming projects, although the current CFO - my lovely wife - is most interested in the Scots. It is kind of a win-win situation for me as either one is great! This will not see much work until the Meso-American project gains more traction...
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Some small progress:
Aztec eagle suits, from Eureka. For eagle suits, of all the different factions, I am going to stay with natural colors, i.e. browns of various sorts. Some sources list eagle suits as being in the brighter colors, blue, red, etc. but I am choosing to ignore them! Besides, there are plenty of brightly-hued suits in the armies...
Here is the start of the Huaxtec-style suits. These suits will be brightly colored. Also in the pic: a pair of Old Glory orc archers! On a whim, I started to work on their skin color, just as a change of pace, even though those conquistadors are patiently waiting...
Another little project:
Here are some examples of my attempt to organize my painting choices - file cards with details on units. These are for my first Aztec suits; as I am not too particular about specific paint choices they are not listed here, but I can see that other units, my Tékumel and Half Continent units especially, will also list the specific brand and type of paint used.
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The first of my Aztecs have been prepped for priming:
This is Eureka Miniatures pack 100AZT07, Eagle knights. Not shown are the shields, which I try to leave off of miniatures, as it is easier to paint with them separate. These are nice miniatures, if maybe a bit flat although the poses are most likely the culprit. One word of caution - Eureka uses a soft, bendy metal and thin pieces can flex a lot. I have put super glue on the handles of the macuahuitls (the 'cricket bat'-looking weapon) as they bent somewhat during their journey to my table. They did not break, however.
And, the second set:
This is Eureka Miniatures pack 100AZT12, Huaxtec suit wearers. In my original post, I stated that these were Huaxtecs, another Mesoamerican tribe. They are not - these represent Aztecs wearing a Huaxtec-style suit, sort of similar to imitation Legionaires! Huaxtecs were not considered a big threat by the Aztecs at the time of the Conquest, but once they were ferocious (and more numerous). The problem with the bendy metal is not so obvious with the Huaxtec suit wearers, as the macuahuitl-wielding hand of the middle two miniatures in the above pic are a separate piece from the rest of the miniature.
Although it might seem daunting, I am looking forward to trying my hand at painting these chaps up!
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