Wars of the Roses (2)

So although have a new job, which means I have less painting time, I have still been working on my WOTR project. I have come to the conclusion, that I will base my forces on the 1469-1471 Campaigns ie Barnet and Tewkesbury and other what ifs. With that in mind I have orders the relavant osprey.

Anyway freshly painted are all my men at arms, and some tudor/welsh bow and bills.

First are the Bills in Green and white




Next are the archers also in green and white, I have yet to decide whether the bow and bills will be deployed in mixed units or seperately.


And Finally two units of 10 men at arms.







Next up mercanary crossbowmen...

War of the Roses

Well, I sorta bought a box of the "perry miniatures Wars of the Roses Infantry" and a box of the "Mercenaries" as well. Mainly to be generic fantasy Humans to fight my Mantic Undead, but also for a bit of Wars of the Roses as well. I have since bought another box of infantry.

This is what I have painted so far.

You can see a group of billmen in Blue and Murry, and a group of men at arms, and some odd bowmen at the back. My Plan is to do two sides with what I have both with a unit of Bill, a unit of bow and a unit of men at arms. One side will have blue and murry livery (Edward IV/Richard III) , the other green and white (Welsh/Tudors).
That should use up about 60 of the troops leaving another 60, of which some will be crossbow men, but that's as far as I have planned.

Some Yorkist archers

The first of the Tudors

With some creative part swapping I managed to get 20 men at arms out of three boxes. These are just the first 8 painted.

All of this means My ratio of archers to men at arms is none of the bold claims of 4:1 or even 2:1 but in fact 1:2, or more truthfully Archers to Bill to MAA 1:1:1, based on an article of Miniature Wargames and the Basic impetus lists.

Yorkist Bills

Tomorrow's War

Well after reading the buzz on The miniatures page. I went on amazon and got tomorrow's war. I'm not gonna review it or anything or even talk about it much, that's been covered out there on the web, on a hundred other blogs, basically it's Force on Force in space.

Anyway this gives a use for my Shock Troops. I had painted 11, so I've painted up a few more. Here are some or the more interesting types; a Team Leader wearing a field service cap, 3 gunners with various types of laser guns and a specialist with a scanner.

Here is my platoon. I haven't painted a third squad, it won't be needed in most games.

In Tomorrow's war they are as follows:

Shock Troops
Quality: D8
Moral: D10
Confident
Normal Supply
Tech Level 2
Amour: Light (1D)

Platoon
1 HQ squad
3 Shock troop squads (I only have 2 squads painted)
1 Fire support team

HQ
Platoon Leader
Radio Operator
Shock troop squad
2 x fire teams

Fire Team
Team Leader
Grenadier or Laser gunner (AP:1 AT:1)
2 x Troopers

Fire support Team
2 x Gunners with GPMG's (AP:2)
2 x assistant gunners

But who will they fight for control on the universe?

My old Imperial Guard the 29th Witchinuka!!! (They may or may not remain the Witchinuka depends if I think of a better name. It's supposed to sound like one of those towns in the US midwest. They will remain the 29th 'cus they have XXIX painted on that flag).

Laters...

Black powder battle

Some time back I had a little battle in the loft, using the Blackpowder rules. Anyway here are some pictures I took.
The basic set up was, a US regular Brigade and Militia Brigade, supported by two guns had to hold off the attacking British. The British had 2 veteran Brigades with plenty of light infantry (the majority of who cleared the woods at the top of the picture).

The Americans started out holding the wall with two militia battalions and both guns. The British stormed the wall and drove off the Americans. The Regular US infantry then counter attacked with some success.

However, as the counter attack started to push the British back, the British Light Infantry took the wood, and so gave enfilading fire on to nearby US counter attack.

On the other flank, the British committed the single battalion which had been held in reserve. They arrived just as the British battalion in front broke. The already weakened US infantry couldn't hold against fresh troops, and the British made sort work of them. And with that, all the US troops where either dead or falling back. The Britsh carried the field.

It was a fun few hours, but I really need some generals. I only have two mounted officers one US and one British. The lack of commanders is so dire that one British was led by a rifle Sergeant! So general officers are next thing on the buy list.

Laters..

10mm medieval basic Impetus

Well a new project. oh dear. But it does have "smart" targets.

Specific:
Buy and paint 4 10mm armies for basic impetus. Medieval English, French, Scots and Welsh

Measurable:
Well when the four armies are painted and based, its finished. First I will do English and French Hundred years war. With a few changes in and out, they will be able to represent Feudal English and French as well. Next I will do the Scots and Welsh.

Attainable:
In terms of expense, this being a 10mm project for impetus, it shouldn't be too much. I have already bought HYW English and French, costing £25. So I reckon the whole project shouldn't be much more than £60 or so. Easily affordable when spread over a few months.
The other thing in painting time. I am a very quick painter, however I only paint when on holiday, but I am having a long weekend in a couple of weeks, and I'll try and do the English and French in that time, before buying the Welsh and Scots.

Relevant :
This will satisfy a long time ambition to have medieval armies, as I have a big interest in English medieval military history, also it'll be a change from the 'skirmish' wargames I do most of the time. I haven't ever done 'grand' scale armies before.

Timely:
Like I just said when I have a weekend off in a couple of weeks I'll do the French and English.
After that I'll buy the rest of the miniatures needed, paint them over my summer holidays.
The whole project should be wrapped up by September.

Basic impetus Rules and army list from thier website
I'm using Vol 19 and Vol 25.

Laters...

Manitic Zombies

Well these are the infamous mantic zombies. Good ain't they. These actually have a few bits from the ghouls set mixed in; some legs and heads. There is the small issue of only being three torsos with fixed left arms (one has both arms fixed), although this can be overcome, to a degree, by vairing the position you glue the torso to the legs.

But, even with this and cutting and repositioning a few of the fixed arms, you can still still see the amount of similar poses. I think this unit of 20 just about gets away with it. But a 'horde' of 30-40 or more it would look a bit silly.

I really enjoyed painting these, the detail is astounding, they are top notch sculpts for the low price. Bellow are the obligatory 'zombies-busting-from-the-ground' which will look even better when the have been based. All in all, I love these miniatures and they deserve the hype they get on the internet. They just look so bloody good (even after my average quality painting).

Laters...

ebay!

Well, over the bank holiday weekend I became slightly obsessed with ebay. I was sure there was a warhammer bargin on there somewhere. I lost several autions, which at the time almost made me cry, but on refection they weren't even good deals at the end. Most stuff seems to sell around the RRP anyway, which makes sence I guess; people stop bidding when the box that would cost you £15 in the shop get to £15 on ebay, I know I do.

In the end I found this lot on the 'buy it now' section, £15 for 19 spearmen. Not bad, considering that it would cost £30 if you where to buy 20 empire state troops from GW nowdays. Also there the classic 6th edition, and so go with my existing empire troops. I plan to partioally repaint them; the black parts of the uniform will get a blue coat so they match the Nordland blue and yellow of my army.

Laters....